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Cinema Fashion

Smooth Operator

Hidetoshi Nishijima stars in the four time nominated film DRIVE MY CAR. The Japanese actor won acclaim for role as an actor on a journey. Hidetoshi stood for our camera in 2017 wearing a Brioni suit. The man is a master of style.

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Cinema

4 out of 5 from Ryusuke

I screened Ryûsuke Hamaguchi‘s three episode Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy last year. To my amazement, I liked it, giving the film 4/5 stars.

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Fashion

Reaching Out

Chat Cinema talks to filmmakers Tom Berkeley and Ross White about their ROY. The duo give us insight on making the timely film starring David Bradley.

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Cinema podcast

New Chat Cinemas Coming Soon

Stay tuned for the podcast conversations with the creative teams of some two acclaimed short features.

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Cinema podcast

Is An Oscar In The Future?

For this episode of Chat Cinema, a conversation with Film Director Martin Strange-Hansen about his short film ON MY MIND. A personal story drawn from real life experience. The Danish work received a nomination in the Best Short Film category for the 94th Academy Awards.

One question asked, “how did he come with the one sheet tag line?” If you want to know the answer, click below.

The Academy Awards winners are announced on March 27th.

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Cinema podcast

A Childhood Lost.

This episode of Chat Cinema talks to award-winning director Murad Abu Eisheh about his work, TALAVISION. A short film centered on lost childhood innocence during the Syrian conflict.

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Cinema

IFFR 2022

The International Film Festival Rotterdam starts on January 26th. There are some interesting works on the 50th anniversary slate.

Below are some titles we are looking forward to watching.

Black and Paper will attend the festival virtual. Stay tuned for the interviews and reviews.

IFFR runs from January 26th to February 6th.

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Cinema

George Has Gone A Long Way

Actor George MacKay has gone far since we took this picture in 2014. Black and Paper interviewed the young actor in Berlin at the Shooting Stars event. A nice guy with a lot of charm. MacKay has starred in Sam Mendes’ World War 1 Drama “1917”. Currently his new feature “Munich-The Edge of War” is in cinemas.

George MacKay
Actor George MacKay
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Cinema

The Compellingly Divine

A seemingly straightforward two-hour documentary of Pope Francis, Francesco otherwise manages to compel. Directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, the film is noteworthy for mostly competent direction and production values.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936. He is the first Pope to be born outside Europe since Gregory III (731–741). As the new Pope he took the name of Francis. His untimely succession to Pope Benedict XVI was the result of the former’s ill health. Francis was also following a conservative Pope with outspoken and often controversial values.

A Pope Who Questions the Institutional Status Quo

Francesco follows Fernando Meirelles’s dramatization The Two Popes (2019). Jonathan Pryce played Pope Francis, and Anthony Hopkins was Pope Benedict XVI. The Two Popes imagined a bromance of sorts between the outgoing conservative and incoming liberal. There was also Wim Wenders’ documentary Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (2018). This film lauded Francis’ concerns with issues such as the climate crisis, refugees and inequality. Likewise, Francesco shows he is an outspoken critic of unbridled capitalism and free market economics, consumerism, and over development. Since 2018, he has also been an opponent of populism. At the same time, he has welcomed tolerance for the LGBT community in the Church.

On the global stage, Pope Francis has helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. He also supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises. Furthermore, he has tackled child abuse, particularly a case in Santiago, Chile. Juan Carlos Cruz wrote to the Pope detailing his abuse from Father Fernando Karadima. After initially dismissing this claim, Francis eventually defrocked Karadima and apologized to Cruz.

Francesco also remains respectably (or, perhaps, forcibly) distanced. At times it raises the question of how much the director had direct access to his subject. For example, included is some footage of Francis talking to someone off-camera. There are also excessive drone shots, and Francis only seemingly gives interviews to friends and colleagues.

On the whole, Francesco is a worthwhile and at times enigmatic portrait of Pope Francis. Despite occasional editing flaws and questionable one-sidedness, it opens a window on the head of the Catholic Church.

By Steve Yates

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Fashion

Chat Cinema with Erica

The episode of Chat Cinema talks to Bay Area filmmaker Erica Eng about her new short film AMERICANIZED.

Americanized was screened at the Bentonville Film Festival.

Running time: 17 minutes.