Programme includes ‘top 10’ films selected by director Wang Bing and selection of Peter Greenaway films.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has revealed the first 50 titles for this year’s edition, running Nov 8 to Nov 19.
As part of a previously announced Wang Bing retrospective, the director has been invited to programme his “top 10”. The films he has selected are all Chinese and all date from 1999 or later.
They are: Before the Flood (2005) directed by Yifan Li, Yu YanBing’ai (2007) by Yan Feng; Born in Beijing (2011) by Li Ma; Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan; The Next Life (2011) by Jian Fan...
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has revealed the first 50 titles for this year’s edition, running Nov 8 to Nov 19.
As part of a previously announced Wang Bing retrospective, the director has been invited to programme his “top 10”. The films he has selected are all Chinese and all date from 1999 or later.
They are: Before the Flood (2005) directed by Yifan Li, Yu YanBing’ai (2007) by Yan Feng; Born in Beijing (2011) by Li Ma; Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan; The Next Life (2011) by Jian Fan...
- 9/20/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Documentary festival IDFA, which runs Nov. 8 to 19 in Amsterdam, has revealed its first 50 titles, including the top 10 Chinese films selected by Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing, IDFA’s Guest of Honor.
The festival has also revealed the films playing in two of the three Focus programs: Fabrications, which probes the difference between reality and realism, and 16 Worlds on 16, an homage to 16mm film.
Wang’s selection will take the viewer “on a contemplative journey into contemporary Chinese cinema,” according to the festival. “The films and their politics are subtle in their film language, representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.”
The selection (see below), which covers films produced since 1999, includes Lixin Fan’s 2009 film “Last Train Home,” which was supported by IDFA’s Bertha Fund. The film documents the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.
Fabrications explores the relationship of trust between documentary film and audiences,...
The festival has also revealed the films playing in two of the three Focus programs: Fabrications, which probes the difference between reality and realism, and 16 Worlds on 16, an homage to 16mm film.
Wang’s selection will take the viewer “on a contemplative journey into contemporary Chinese cinema,” according to the festival. “The films and their politics are subtle in their film language, representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.”
The selection (see below), which covers films produced since 1999, includes Lixin Fan’s 2009 film “Last Train Home,” which was supported by IDFA’s Bertha Fund. The film documents the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.
Fabrications explores the relationship of trust between documentary film and audiences,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Mark Deeble, co-director with Victoria Stone for The Elephant Queen, won the Short List Feature Cinematography Award
The tenth anniversary Doc NYC Viewfinders, Metropolis, Shorts, and Short List juried award winners were announced on Tuesday night at the Flatiron Room. Petra Costa’s The Edge of Democracy, producers Steven Bognar, Julie Parker Benello, Jeff Reichert and Julia Reichert for American Factory, Todd Douglas Miller for Apollo 11, Mark Deeble for The Elephant Queen, and Waad al-Kateab for For Sama received honours in the new Short List Features award section.
Apollo 11 director Todd Douglas Miller was honoured with the Short List Feature Editing Award
Viewfinders Competition:
Grand Jury Prize Winner: City Dream, directed by Weijun Chen
Special Mention: Love Child, directed by Eva Mulvad
Jurors’ statement: “City Dream is an incisive and compassionate look at the disconnect between authority and democracy and its impact on the day to day lives of ordinary civilians.
The tenth anniversary Doc NYC Viewfinders, Metropolis, Shorts, and Short List juried award winners were announced on Tuesday night at the Flatiron Room. Petra Costa’s The Edge of Democracy, producers Steven Bognar, Julie Parker Benello, Jeff Reichert and Julia Reichert for American Factory, Todd Douglas Miller for Apollo 11, Mark Deeble for The Elephant Queen, and Waad al-Kateab for For Sama received honours in the new Short List Features award section.
Apollo 11 director Todd Douglas Miller was honoured with the Short List Feature Editing Award
Viewfinders Competition:
Grand Jury Prize Winner: City Dream, directed by Weijun Chen
Special Mention: Love Child, directed by Eva Mulvad
Jurors’ statement: “City Dream is an incisive and compassionate look at the disconnect between authority and democracy and its impact on the day to day lives of ordinary civilians.
- 11/13/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Updated with Doc NYC winners, 6:30 Pm: CNN Films has acquired the documentary feature Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice and set its television premiere for New Year’s Day on CNN.
Ronstadt was 21 when she first hit the national charts with the Stone Poneys’ “Different Drum,” and her plaintive vocal leapt off the radio from the opening line. By the mid-’70s, she was cranking out smash singles and multiplatinum albums as fast as the public could consume them. Three of her LPs hit No. 1 en route to her becoming the most successful female singer of the decade.
Two-time Oscar winner Rob Epstein and Oscar nominee Jeffrey Friedman directed the docu from Greenwich Entertainment, 1091 and CNN Films and also produce alongside James Keach and Michele Farinola. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday, January 1.
‘Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice...
Ronstadt was 21 when she first hit the national charts with the Stone Poneys’ “Different Drum,” and her plaintive vocal leapt off the radio from the opening line. By the mid-’70s, she was cranking out smash singles and multiplatinum albums as fast as the public could consume them. Three of her LPs hit No. 1 en route to her becoming the most successful female singer of the decade.
Two-time Oscar winner Rob Epstein and Oscar nominee Jeffrey Friedman directed the docu from Greenwich Entertainment, 1091 and CNN Films and also produce alongside James Keach and Michele Farinola. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday, January 1.
‘Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice...
- 11/13/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Directors of films in the forthcoming BBC series Why Poverty? explain how they tackled the subject and what it taught them
Are Us billionaires destroying the American Dream? Can large-scale agricultural development have a positive effect in Africa? Are Bono and Bob Geldof actually doing any good? And can the history of human poverty over 10,000 years be told in less than 60 minutes? These and many other questions are being posed in a new series of documentaries and short films entitled Why Poverty? launching on Monday night on BBC1. The series, which will be screened in 180 countries including India, Zimbabwe and Brazil, aims to kick-start a global debate in the hope of addressing a broader question: why, in the 21st century, do a billion people live in poverty?
"I think it's an important time to be having this conversation for two reasons," says Nick Fraser, editor of BBC Storyville and co-founder of Steps International,...
Are Us billionaires destroying the American Dream? Can large-scale agricultural development have a positive effect in Africa? Are Bono and Bob Geldof actually doing any good? And can the history of human poverty over 10,000 years be told in less than 60 minutes? These and many other questions are being posed in a new series of documentaries and short films entitled Why Poverty? launching on Monday night on BBC1. The series, which will be screened in 180 countries including India, Zimbabwe and Brazil, aims to kick-start a global debate in the hope of addressing a broader question: why, in the 21st century, do a billion people live in poverty?
"I think it's an important time to be having this conversation for two reasons," says Nick Fraser, editor of BBC Storyville and co-founder of Steps International,...
- 11/18/2012
- by Killian Fox
- The Guardian - Film News
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences kicks off Part 2 of its 27th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" screening series with James Longley's "Sari's Mother" and Michael Moore's "Sicko" at 7 p.m. March 25 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.
A showcase for both feature-length and short documentaries drawn from among films considered for the 2007 Academy Awards, the program, for which admission is free, runs through June.
The schedule includes:
March 25: Longley's "Sari's Mother" and Moore's "Sicko"
April 1: Jon Blair's "Ochberg's Orphans" and Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham and Bonni Cohen's "The Rape of Europa"
April 15: Theordore Braun's "Darfur Now" and Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's "The Devil Came on Horseback"
April 29: Neil Leifer's "Portraits of a Lady" and Peter Raymon'ts "A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman"
May 13: Richard E. Robbins' "Operation Homecoming: Writing the...
A showcase for both feature-length and short documentaries drawn from among films considered for the 2007 Academy Awards, the program, for which admission is free, runs through June.
The schedule includes:
March 25: Longley's "Sari's Mother" and Moore's "Sicko"
April 1: Jon Blair's "Ochberg's Orphans" and Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham and Bonni Cohen's "The Rape of Europa"
April 15: Theordore Braun's "Darfur Now" and Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's "The Devil Came on Horseback"
April 29: Neil Leifer's "Portraits of a Lady" and Peter Raymon'ts "A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman"
May 13: Richard E. Robbins' "Operation Homecoming: Writing the...
By Michael Atkinson
Our official "B-movie" distribution stream -- straight-to-dvd releases -- grows in number and variety every year, as fewer films can be, or at least are, affordably shown theatrically than ever before. And these titles still can't qualify for awards or polls of any kind, or often even reviews, as the number of theatrical screens continues to drop. Does this make any sense? Here're my favorites from this year, the movies that first saw American screens (big or small) on digital video in 2008, be they brand new or decades old.
1. "Sophie's Place"
Lawrence Jordan, U.S., 1986
The renowned yet all-but-forgotten avant-garde filmmaker's grand animated masterpiece, a Victorian-styled dream-collage-painting-fever-feature brimming with hundreds of inexplicable epiphanies and a sense of visual magic that is all but utterly unique to Jordan. This honey was ensconced in Facets' lavish, under-celebrated set "The Lawrence Jordan Album," which in itself is more of an...
Our official "B-movie" distribution stream -- straight-to-dvd releases -- grows in number and variety every year, as fewer films can be, or at least are, affordably shown theatrically than ever before. And these titles still can't qualify for awards or polls of any kind, or often even reviews, as the number of theatrical screens continues to drop. Does this make any sense? Here're my favorites from this year, the movies that first saw American screens (big or small) on digital video in 2008, be they brand new or decades old.
1. "Sophie's Place"
Lawrence Jordan, U.S., 1986
The renowned yet all-but-forgotten avant-garde filmmaker's grand animated masterpiece, a Victorian-styled dream-collage-painting-fever-feature brimming with hundreds of inexplicable epiphanies and a sense of visual magic that is all but utterly unique to Jordan. This honey was ensconced in Facets' lavish, under-celebrated set "The Lawrence Jordan Album," which in itself is more of an...
- 12/17/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
By Michael Atkinson
The new Chinese documentary "Please Vote for Me" (2007) has an irresistible arc: take a class of average middle class third-graders, give them the opportunity to vote for "class monitor;" tell the three candidates that they have to run campaigns, in order to net as many votes as they can; and let the political process run its course . that is, let it corrupt, humiliate and demoralize the children just as they were led to believe they were creating "democracy." Weijun Chen's film . which runs a mere 55 minutes . has an almost crystalline purity to its ironies. Three Wuhan children are "selected" by the teachers . two boys (one of whom is the incumbent monitor, and given to shoving his classmates around) and a girl, whose shy demeanor would seem to make her a dubious candidate. Right out of the gate, the campaigns become hilarious-yet-chilling mirror images of adult political...
The new Chinese documentary "Please Vote for Me" (2007) has an irresistible arc: take a class of average middle class third-graders, give them the opportunity to vote for "class monitor;" tell the three candidates that they have to run campaigns, in order to net as many votes as they can; and let the political process run its course . that is, let it corrupt, humiliate and demoralize the children just as they were led to believe they were creating "democracy." Weijun Chen's film . which runs a mere 55 minutes . has an almost crystalline purity to its ironies. Three Wuhan children are "selected" by the teachers . two boys (one of whom is the incumbent monitor, and given to shoving his classmates around) and a girl, whose shy demeanor would seem to make her a dubious candidate. Right out of the gate, the campaigns become hilarious-yet-chilling mirror images of adult political...
- 8/26/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
By Michael Atkinson
Chances are you've never seen a wholphin (a rare hybrid of dolphin and false killer whale), or a Wholphin, the short film DVD magazine emanating on a subscription basis from the Dave Eggers/McSweeney's publishing factory. But it might be the most relentlessly fascinating and inventive showcase for new short films in the country. Not that it has much competition . shorts can appear haphazardly on auteurist-minded DVDs or on public television or the Sundance Channel, but otherwise there's no dependable cultural outlet for them, and they are for the most part considered cinema non grata in the culture at large. Movies began in the short form, but quickly shorts became nothing more than ballast for features, and then, come the '60s, were not even that. (Anthology-style TV series may count . think of each "Twilight Zone" episode as a 24-minute short . but look how that format has...
Chances are you've never seen a wholphin (a rare hybrid of dolphin and false killer whale), or a Wholphin, the short film DVD magazine emanating on a subscription basis from the Dave Eggers/McSweeney's publishing factory. But it might be the most relentlessly fascinating and inventive showcase for new short films in the country. Not that it has much competition . shorts can appear haphazardly on auteurist-minded DVDs or on public television or the Sundance Channel, but otherwise there's no dependable cultural outlet for them, and they are for the most part considered cinema non grata in the culture at large. Movies began in the short form, but quickly shorts became nothing more than ballast for features, and then, come the '60s, were not even that. (Anthology-style TV series may count . think of each "Twilight Zone" episode as a 24-minute short . but look how that format has...
- 7/30/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Steps International
PALM SPRINGS -- Two men and a woman vie for office, indulging in low blows and spin, character assassination and gestures of goodwill, all the while gauging their standing with voters. The setting is not the Democratic presidential campaign trail but a third-grade class at Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China.
Please Vote for Me, which is on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary feature shortlist and recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, packs its fleet hour with keen observations.
Chronicling a public school's first open elections -- at stake is the position of class monitor -- filmmaker Weijun Chen has crafted a witty, engaging macro-lens view of Human Nature, China's one-child policy and the democratic electoral process as the ultimate exercise in marketing.
The three candidates are chosen by their teachers, who might want to think about becoming casting directors. The ham in the bunch is Cheng Cheng, pudgy, charismatic and a born wheeler-dealer. Low-key Luo Lei, the incumbent, is known for his tough stance as a disciplinarian, no doubt learned from his police officer parents. Shy and sensitive, Xuxiao Fei enters the fray reluctantly, but she soon gets into the spirit of things, that being dirty tricks. With two campaign assistants each at their disposal, the candidates collect negative info on their opponents while their teacher strikes a somewhat laissez-faire approach to the proceedings.
Keeping the political machines running are the parents. Cheng Cheng stands in his underpants as his TV producer mother coaches him in the art of sound bites; Luo Lei's folks convince him of the importance of buying votes; and Xuxiao Fei's mother advises her to go for the jugular in the debates. Not only is the film a transparent look at electoral politics at their most basic, but it also provides a fascinating glimpse of a nation of only children. Without sibling dramas to play out, these 8-year-olds have in many ways adopted a practical, adult view of life.
Still, they're just kids. When smear tactics get the better of one contender, much of the class dissolves in sympathetic tears. Perhaps they've seen too deeply into adulthood. At the film's end, two defeated students stand before the class, sobbing, and you can only shudder as their teacher tells them, "I hope this experience will be useful in the future."...
Steps International
PALM SPRINGS -- Two men and a woman vie for office, indulging in low blows and spin, character assassination and gestures of goodwill, all the while gauging their standing with voters. The setting is not the Democratic presidential campaign trail but a third-grade class at Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China.
Please Vote for Me, which is on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary feature shortlist and recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, packs its fleet hour with keen observations.
Chronicling a public school's first open elections -- at stake is the position of class monitor -- filmmaker Weijun Chen has crafted a witty, engaging macro-lens view of Human Nature, China's one-child policy and the democratic electoral process as the ultimate exercise in marketing.
The three candidates are chosen by their teachers, who might want to think about becoming casting directors. The ham in the bunch is Cheng Cheng, pudgy, charismatic and a born wheeler-dealer. Low-key Luo Lei, the incumbent, is known for his tough stance as a disciplinarian, no doubt learned from his police officer parents. Shy and sensitive, Xuxiao Fei enters the fray reluctantly, but she soon gets into the spirit of things, that being dirty tricks. With two campaign assistants each at their disposal, the candidates collect negative info on their opponents while their teacher strikes a somewhat laissez-faire approach to the proceedings.
Keeping the political machines running are the parents. Cheng Cheng stands in his underpants as his TV producer mother coaches him in the art of sound bites; Luo Lei's folks convince him of the importance of buying votes; and Xuxiao Fei's mother advises her to go for the jugular in the debates. Not only is the film a transparent look at electoral politics at their most basic, but it also provides a fascinating glimpse of a nation of only children. Without sibling dramas to play out, these 8-year-olds have in many ways adopted a practical, adult view of life.
Still, they're just kids. When smear tactics get the better of one contender, much of the class dissolves in sympathetic tears. Perhaps they've seen too deeply into adulthood. At the film's end, two defeated students stand before the class, sobbing, and you can only shudder as their teacher tells them, "I hope this experience will be useful in the future."...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.