Tag: Film Festival

  • Lebanon’s Foreign Film Pick

    Mira Shaib’s Arze has been chosen as Lebanon’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Film. The story of a single mother keeping her family above water with a home pastry business.  Ambition can be a bad counselor.  After buying a scooter for business expansion, Arze finds herself on a quest through Beirut trying […]

  • Tribeca Fest 24

    Tribeca Fest 24

    The 22nd Tribeca Film Festival starts June 5th. With 103 films and 86 premieres this yer looks promising. Get the news, reviews and interviews here and on the Chat Cinema Podcast.

  • Feeling #Vindicated

    Feeling #Vindicated

    The Berlinale must have a deal with Airbnb. Another creative head is relocating to Berlin, the fourth in five years. After the September shock resignation of Chatrian, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth announced she and a replacement committee would actively seek one artistic head instead of a duo team. Minister Roth felt the festival needed […]

  • Feeling #Vindicated

    I have no pleasure in Carlo Chatrian’s abrupt departure. The Swiss native is a cinema enthusiasts. During my interview with the former Locarno Film Festival head, I found him to be engaging, positive and passionate about the cinematic art form. After taking the helm in Berlin in 2020 following the departure of Kosslick, Carlo seemed […]

  • 2023 Tribeca part 2

    2023 Tribeca part 2

    What is the expression? “Be careful what you wish for.” It might come true. CYPHER could be a cautionary work about modern fame and its downside. Tierra Whack from Philadelphia, found online fame rapping on the streets. Her journey to the top had a fairy-tale angle, a young lady from the wrong side of the […]

  • An Emotional Journey on Chat Cinema

    An Emotional Journey on Chat Cinema

    Chat Cinema Podcast talks to director Maziyar Khatam about his well received Sundance Film Festival premiered short BABA.

  • Personal Favs From The Berlinale

    Personal Favs From The Berlinale

    After the announcements of the main awards of this year’s Berlinale, other films also deserve recognition. In the Encounters section, The Klezmer Project was directed by Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann. Although it did not win (Here, by Bas Devos, took the prize), The duo’s work deserves stand-alone appraisal. Leandro, a frustrated Jewish wedding cameraman […]

  • Femme moves to 2023

    Femme moves to 2023

    I interviewed filmmakers Sam Freeman and Ng Ping for a Chat Cinema podcast last year. The BAFTA nominees had completed their short film noir FEMME. Fast forward to this week, the duo unrolled their feature debut FEMME at the Berlinale. A continuation on the sexual repression theme from the duo’s first work, the longer version […]

  • A Belarusian Spirit

    A Belarusian Spirit

    I admit when I first interviewed Aliaksei Paluyan about his film COURAGE I was a bit nervous for him. Our conversation happened after a plane was “diverted” to Minsk with a Belarusian dissident. Mr. Paluyan has a defiant spirit considering there is a nemesis only a few hours away with a long arm, thin skin […]

  • A Balancing Act at the Berlinale #73

    A Balancing Act at the Berlinale #73

    The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival is the first fully in-person Berlinale event since 2020.  Before the festival, Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian spoke about their objectives this year. Overcoming the impact of the pandemic and closer ties with the U.S. are two such challenges. Meanwhile, there has also been a […]