Albert Einstein reportedly said that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Like many quotes commonly attributed to historical figures who have appeared in the Night at the Museum franchise, Einstein never actually said this. But to paraphrase another famous historical figure, Caroline Marie Bradshaw, I couldn’t help but think about that quote while watching this season of And Just Like That…, the oft-maligned Sex and the City reboot. Specifically, I couldn’t help but apply it to Che Diaz,...
- 7/1/2023
- by Ej Dickson
- Rollingstone.com
"A Haunting in Venice" is the new mystery feature, directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on the story "Hallowe'en Party" by Agatha Christie, as a sequel to "Murder on the Orient Express" (2017) and "Death on the Nile" (2022), starring Branagh as detective 'Hercule Poirot', with Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Kelly Reilly and Michelle Yeoh, opening September 15, 2023 in theaters:
"...everyone is preparing games and decorations for a 'Hallowe'en' party held at the home of 'Rowena Drake', when young 'Joyce Reynolds' tells everyone attending she had once seen a murder, but had not realized it until now.
"When the party ends, Joyce is found dead, having been drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. 'Ariadne Oliver', attending the party while visiting her friend' Judith Butler', calls on 'Hercule Poirot', now retired, to come and investigate the murder, as well as Joyce's claim..."
Click the images to enlarge...
"...everyone is preparing games and decorations for a 'Hallowe'en' party held at the home of 'Rowena Drake', when young 'Joyce Reynolds' tells everyone attending she had once seen a murder, but had not realized it until now.
"When the party ends, Joyce is found dead, having been drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. 'Ariadne Oliver', attending the party while visiting her friend' Judith Butler', calls on 'Hercule Poirot', now retired, to come and investigate the murder, as well as Joyce's claim..."
Click the images to enlarge...
- 4/26/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
The Czech Republic’s premier nonfiction fest, the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, launched its 25th edition Tuesday in the historic town’s renovated cultural center, previewing an impressive program that accompanies its first fully live version in two years.
Fest director Marek Hovorka greeted the audience with fond memories of the improvements the event – and the communist-era hall – have seen since the Ji.hlava fest was launched as colleagues recalled it was considered a crazy idea at the time. Noting that not just film festivals but education and culture were largely sidetracked over the past year due to Covid risks, Hovorka said the lesson is that losing these “can have bad consequences for society.”
Following tradition, the prize for the Short Joy competition winner, chosen by a global audience watching the films online on the fest platform DAFilms.cz, was awarded this year to Colombian-Portuguese film “Open Mountain...
Fest director Marek Hovorka greeted the audience with fond memories of the improvements the event – and the communist-era hall – have seen since the Ji.hlava fest was launched as colleagues recalled it was considered a crazy idea at the time. Noting that not just film festivals but education and culture were largely sidetracked over the past year due to Covid risks, Hovorka said the lesson is that losing these “can have bad consequences for society.”
Following tradition, the prize for the Short Joy competition winner, chosen by a global audience watching the films online on the fest platform DAFilms.cz, was awarded this year to Colombian-Portuguese film “Open Mountain...
- 10/27/2021
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Marking its 25th edition later this month, the Czech Republic’s Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival will celebrate its silver anniversary with an expanded slate, a streamlined number of sections and pointed focus on renewal and wellbeing. As it runs from Oct. 26-31, this year’s in-person edition will screen 300 films, including 54 world premieres spread out across five competitive sections.
“Over the 25 years of its existence, [Ji.hlava] has confirmed its position of the leading European documentary festival, known for its trailblazing approach and innovative program,” said festival director Marek Hovorka. “Therefore, we have upgraded the competitions as well as the structure of the awards in order to highlight the complexity of documentary cinema.”
Alongside the 19 local productions screening in the Czech Joy competition, 10 out of the 15 titles selected for the Opus Bonum section – the festival’s competitive category for international projects – will be world premieres. Among them are Rikun Zhu...
“Over the 25 years of its existence, [Ji.hlava] has confirmed its position of the leading European documentary festival, known for its trailblazing approach and innovative program,” said festival director Marek Hovorka. “Therefore, we have upgraded the competitions as well as the structure of the awards in order to highlight the complexity of documentary cinema.”
Alongside the 19 local productions screening in the Czech Joy competition, 10 out of the 15 titles selected for the Opus Bonum section – the festival’s competitive category for international projects – will be world premieres. Among them are Rikun Zhu...
- 10/15/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
The acting in Leonie Krippendorff’s tale of sexual awakening is outstanding, as a girl comes out during a hot Berlin summer
This is nothing to do with Ron Howard’s movie about Don Ameche being rejuvenated by aliens. German director Leonie Krippendorff has created a coming-of-age awakening in the 2018 summer of love, with swimming-pool rapture, yearning bedroom reveries and rooftop party scenes in the Kotti Kreuzberg, Berlin’s Kottbusser Tor district. There are also some noodling YA-style video-journaling inserts, which are an acquired taste. It’s a bit derivative and the metaphor in the title is right on the nose – but Cocoon is also seductive and well-acted.
Fourteen-year-old Nora (Lena Urzendowsky) nerdishly keeps caterpillars in jars in her bedroom, the sort of childish hobby that many people of her age have junked in favour of Instagram. She hangs out with her older sister Jule (Lena Klenke) and Jule’s...
This is nothing to do with Ron Howard’s movie about Don Ameche being rejuvenated by aliens. German director Leonie Krippendorff has created a coming-of-age awakening in the 2018 summer of love, with swimming-pool rapture, yearning bedroom reveries and rooftop party scenes in the Kotti Kreuzberg, Berlin’s Kottbusser Tor district. There are also some noodling YA-style video-journaling inserts, which are an acquired taste. It’s a bit derivative and the metaphor in the title is right on the nose – but Cocoon is also seductive and well-acted.
Fourteen-year-old Nora (Lena Urzendowsky) nerdishly keeps caterpillars in jars in her bedroom, the sort of childish hobby that many people of her age have junked in favour of Instagram. She hangs out with her older sister Jule (Lena Klenke) and Jule’s...
- 12/9/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Yorinde Segal talks about the second edition of the new media-focused DocLab Forum.
IDFA’s DocLab Forum is taking place for the second time in 2020, providing co-production and co-financing opportunities for web-based docs, VR projects, multimedia installations and other new formats. It’s the industry-oriented offshoot of the festival’s DocLab, the new media programme for interactive and immersive non-fiction founded in 2007.
Fifteen projects are being pitched while a further four have been chosen for one-on-one meetings for the DocLab Forum, which is running online from November 16 until November 20. The selections range from big-scale immersive, psychedelic documentaries such as Jo...
IDFA’s DocLab Forum is taking place for the second time in 2020, providing co-production and co-financing opportunities for web-based docs, VR projects, multimedia installations and other new formats. It’s the industry-oriented offshoot of the festival’s DocLab, the new media programme for interactive and immersive non-fiction founded in 2007.
Fifteen projects are being pitched while a further four have been chosen for one-on-one meetings for the DocLab Forum, which is running online from November 16 until November 20. The selections range from big-scale immersive, psychedelic documentaries such as Jo...
- 11/17/2020
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
A wide group of global entertainment figures have signed a letter supporting the Polish LGBT+ community in the face of growing controversy in the country.
On Tuesday, the government stepped in to support the Polish town of Tuchow, which recently lost financial support from the EU after it set up a ‘LGBT-free’ zone. The authorities said they were “supporting a municipality that has a pro-family agenda”; the decision has provoked angry responses around the world. On August 8, authorities detained 48 people at a reportedly peaceful pro-lgbt+ protest.
The responses now include an open letter signed by a cross-section of notable figures from film, literature and further afield, including the Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodóvar and Oscar-nominated Luca Guadagnino, the Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk, The Handmaid’s Tale writer Margaret Atwood, and Polish filmmakers Agnieszka Holland and Jan Komasa.
The letter, published on the website wyborcza.pl, states that homophobia in Poland is...
On Tuesday, the government stepped in to support the Polish town of Tuchow, which recently lost financial support from the EU after it set up a ‘LGBT-free’ zone. The authorities said they were “supporting a municipality that has a pro-family agenda”; the decision has provoked angry responses around the world. On August 8, authorities detained 48 people at a reportedly peaceful pro-lgbt+ protest.
The responses now include an open letter signed by a cross-section of notable figures from film, literature and further afield, including the Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodóvar and Oscar-nominated Luca Guadagnino, the Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk, The Handmaid’s Tale writer Margaret Atwood, and Polish filmmakers Agnieszka Holland and Jan Komasa.
The letter, published on the website wyborcza.pl, states that homophobia in Poland is...
- 8/18/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
“Pain and Glory” director Pedro Almodovar, “The Nun” actor Isabelle Huppert and “Call Me by Your Name” filmmaker Luca Guadagnino are among a galaxy of 70 film, television, literature and eminent personalities from other walks of life who have signed an open letter expressing “outrage” over the repression of the LGBT+ community in Poland.
Addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the letter states: “We, the undersigned, express our outrage at repressions directed against the LGBT+ community in Poland. We speak out in solidarity with activists and their allies, who are being detained, brutalized, and intimidated. We voice our grave concern about the future of democracy in Poland, a country with an admirable history of resistance to totalitarianism and struggle for freedom.”
Other signees include Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski, whose “Ida” won an Oscar, “The Favourite” director Yorgos Lanthimos, “Vera Drake” director Mike Leigh, and actors Ed Harris and James Norton.
Addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the letter states: “We, the undersigned, express our outrage at repressions directed against the LGBT+ community in Poland. We speak out in solidarity with activists and their allies, who are being detained, brutalized, and intimidated. We voice our grave concern about the future of democracy in Poland, a country with an admirable history of resistance to totalitarianism and struggle for freedom.”
Other signees include Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski, whose “Ida” won an Oscar, “The Favourite” director Yorgos Lanthimos, “Vera Drake” director Mike Leigh, and actors Ed Harris and James Norton.
- 8/18/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
For generations of queer people and people of color, “Paris Is Burning” offered a rare glimpse of a more colorful and love-filled future than they ever could have imagined. Jennie Livingston’s seminal 1990 documentary chronicled New York’s ballroom scene in the mid-to-late ’80s, introducing the world to vogueing, reading, shade, house culture, and a rich tapestry of the magnetic drag queens, trans women, and queer street kids who give the film its palpable magic.
“Paris Is Burning” was a massive critical hit, winning both the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991 as well as the Teddy Award for Best Documentary from the Berlinale. Nearly 30 years after “Paris Is Burning” first struck a pose in the cultural milieu, a new restoration of the queer cinema classic has been re-released in select theaters this month. However, with great success comes great scrutiny; over the years, “Paris Is Burning” has walked more...
“Paris Is Burning” was a massive critical hit, winning both the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991 as well as the Teddy Award for Best Documentary from the Berlinale. Nearly 30 years after “Paris Is Burning” first struck a pose in the cultural milieu, a new restoration of the queer cinema classic has been re-released in select theaters this month. However, with great success comes great scrutiny; over the years, “Paris Is Burning” has walked more...
- 6/24/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Now in its fifth year, European Film Promotion’s Future Frames is a next-generation showcase comprising short works by students and recent graduates of European film schools, curated by the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival in cooperation with the Efp.
The program has already established itself as an important platform for discovering European talent; this year’s program, which includes two student Academy Award winners, promises to be especially exciting. Participants will take part in a master class led by Greek helmer Syllas Tzoumerkas (“The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea”) and meet with industry experts from various fields in order to build up their international networks.
The selected directors and their films will be introduced to the public, press and industry at the festival over June 30-July 3. The program is supported by the Creative Europe — Media Program of the European Union and the respective Efp member organizations. AMC Networks and...
The program has already established itself as an important platform for discovering European talent; this year’s program, which includes two student Academy Award winners, promises to be especially exciting. Participants will take part in a master class led by Greek helmer Syllas Tzoumerkas (“The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea”) and meet with industry experts from various fields in order to build up their international networks.
The selected directors and their films will be introduced to the public, press and industry at the festival over June 30-July 3. The program is supported by the Creative Europe — Media Program of the European Union and the respective Efp member organizations. AMC Networks and...
- 6/21/2019
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Since 2012, IndieWire has lent its support to the Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop developed as part of the Summer Academy initiative at the Locarno Film Festival designed to foster aspiring film critics. This year’s participants will contribute essays on the 71st edition of the festival, currently underway in Switzerland. Here’s an overview of their backgrounds and interests.
Name: Pedro Emilio Segura Bernal
Age: 28
Twitter Handle: @PedroEmilioSB / @LAOLACine
Home: Mexico City
Cinematic Area of Expertise: I can’t say I have expertise in anything… I can confess certain predilection for “non-traditional” narratives.
Best You’ve Seen in 2018: “Le Livre d’Image” (“The Image Book”) – Jlg
Movie You’re Most Looking Forward to Seeing At Locarno: It’s a tie between Mariano Llinas’ “La Flor” and “Gangbyeon Hotel” by Hong Sang Soo
Favorite Book or Piece of Writing About Film: The poem-essay used and composed by Godard as a...
Name: Pedro Emilio Segura Bernal
Age: 28
Twitter Handle: @PedroEmilioSB / @LAOLACine
Home: Mexico City
Cinematic Area of Expertise: I can’t say I have expertise in anything… I can confess certain predilection for “non-traditional” narratives.
Best You’ve Seen in 2018: “Le Livre d’Image” (“The Image Book”) – Jlg
Movie You’re Most Looking Forward to Seeing At Locarno: It’s a tie between Mariano Llinas’ “La Flor” and “Gangbyeon Hotel” by Hong Sang Soo
Favorite Book or Piece of Writing About Film: The poem-essay used and composed by Godard as a...
- 8/4/2018
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
To say that the films of 29-year-old documentarian Astra Taylor are thought-provoking is not such a lofty compliment; it's literally the goal she has in marrying cinema with philosophy. 2005's "Žižek!" trailed Slovenian psychoanalyst, philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek around the world as he expounded on ideology and made eccentric observations on love, revolution and his own self-critique. Taylor's latest feature, "Examined Life," is no less absorbing, an intelligent yet accessible anthology of ideas that sees eight highly influential thinkers of our time (including Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Michael Hardt -- and yes, the wild and wooly Žižek) pontificating while taking walks through modern culture. Kwame Anthony Appiah talks cosmopolitanism from inside an airport, Žižek dissects ecology while digging through a garbage facility and Cornel West compares philosophy to jazz and blues while being driven around the streets of Manhattan by the director herself. When Taylor and I met up over coffee in Williamsburg,...
- 2/19/2009
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
By Aaron Hillis
To say that the films of 29-year-old documentarian Astra Taylor are thought-provoking is not such a lofty compliment; it's literally the goal she has in marrying cinema with philosophy. 2005's "Žižek!" trailed Slovenian psychoanalyst, philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek around the world as he expounded on ideology and made eccentric observations on love, revolution and his own self-critique. Taylor's latest feature, "Examined Life," is no less absorbing, an intelligent yet accessible anthology of ideas that sees eight highly influential thinkers of our time (including Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Michael Hardt -- and yes, the wild and wooly Žižek) pontificating while taking walks through modern culture. Kwame Anthony Appiah talks cosmopolitanism from inside an airport, Žižek dissects ecology while digging through a garbage facility and Cornel West compares philosophy to jazz and blues while being driven around the streets of Manhattan by the director herself. When Taylor...
To say that the films of 29-year-old documentarian Astra Taylor are thought-provoking is not such a lofty compliment; it's literally the goal she has in marrying cinema with philosophy. 2005's "Žižek!" trailed Slovenian psychoanalyst, philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek around the world as he expounded on ideology and made eccentric observations on love, revolution and his own self-critique. Taylor's latest feature, "Examined Life," is no less absorbing, an intelligent yet accessible anthology of ideas that sees eight highly influential thinkers of our time (including Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Michael Hardt -- and yes, the wild and wooly Žižek) pontificating while taking walks through modern culture. Kwame Anthony Appiah talks cosmopolitanism from inside an airport, Žižek dissects ecology while digging through a garbage facility and Cornel West compares philosophy to jazz and blues while being driven around the streets of Manhattan by the director herself. When Taylor...
- 2/18/2009
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
- A couple of months after premiering at Toronto International film festival, the documentary film pick ups are continuing to pile in for many film distribs, and after several months of inactivity, NY-based foreign film/documentary distributor Zeitgeist Films has picked up Astra Taylor's latest doc offering which once again visits with Slavoj Zizek with whom she had visited in Zizek!. Commencing its theater play in January at the IFC Center, Examined Life features the “rock star” philosophers of our time, including Cornel West, Peter Singer, Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler, Avital Ronell, Michael Hardt, Anthony Appiah and Martha Nussbaum. This interweaves fascinating “walks” with them through places that hold special resonance for them and their ideas -- crowded city streets, deserted alleyways, Central Park and even a garbage dump. ...
- 11/19/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
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