BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME at the 2007 San Sebastian Film Festival
"As an 18-year-old girl who lives in Iran today and who faces very specific ideological, political and social pressures, I have a lot to say … Even though my film was not made in Iran, it shows my desire to speak of collective suffering, in Iran as well as in Afghanistan."
That’s director Hana Makhmalbaf, whose feature-film debut, Buda as sharm foru rikht / Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame, was screened yesterday at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Written by Marzieh Meshkini, the Franco-Iranian Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame is set in central Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley, where the Taliban blew up two rock-carved giant Buddhas in 2001. The film tells the story of a six-year-old Afghan girl’s struggle to receive a formal [...]
by Andre Soares | September 23, 2007
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: Film Festivals, Iranian Cinema, Religion
TASTE OF CHERRY by Abbas Kiarostami
Ta’m e guilass / Taste of Cherry (1997)
Direction and Screenplay: Abbas Kiarostami. Cast: Homayon Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Mir Hossein Noori
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
There is the old, and often neglected, nostrum about ‘gilding the lily.’ I was reminded of this while watching Abbas Kiarostami’s acclaimed Ta’m e guilass / Taste of Cherry, co-winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Even though Taste of Cherry comes close to being a great film for the bulk of its 99 minutes (not the oft-claimed 95 minutes), its much-discussed ending — the breaking the fourth wall (à la Ingmar Bergman in the 1960s) to reveal what has just been witnessed is all a film — is [...]
by Dan Schneider | June 15, 2007
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: DVDs, Film Reviews, Iranian Cinema
Asian Film Awards – 2007 Winners
"It’s almost strange that it’s the first ceremony," remarked French director Luc Besson at the 1st Asian Film Awards presentation held this evening at Hong Kong’s Convention and Exhibition Centre, as part of the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival which kicked off last night.
"Good films come from everywhere," added Besson. "Artists are like mushrooms, a little sun, a little water and they grow, they don’t need passports, visas to create."
The South Korean sci-fi-horror, political suspense thriller, and comedy-drama (yup, it’s all that) Gwoemul / The Host came out as the big winner of the evening, with a total of four awards: best film, best actor (Song Kang-ho, left, as the film’s ditzy blond), best cinematographer (Kim Hyung-goo), and best [...]
by Andre Soares | March 20, 2007
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: Chinese Cinema, Film Awards, Iranian Cinema, Japanese Cinema, Korean Cinema
Thessaloniki Film Festival 2006 Winners
The top winner at the 2006 edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which wrapped today, was Kim Tae-yong’s Korean drama Gajokeui Tansaeng / Family Ties, about different relationships within a dysfunctional family.
In addition to the Golden Alexander Award for Best Film (worth 37,000 euros), Family Ties won a joint Best Actress award (for Moon So-ri, Goh Doon-shim, Kong Hyo-jin and Kim Hae-ok), while screenwriters Sung Ki-young and Kim Tae-yong shared the Best Screenplay award with Maurício Zacharias, Felipe Bragança, Karim Ainouz for the dramatic comedy O Céu de Suely / Suely in the Sky, the story of a woman (Hermila Guedes) from the Brazilian Northeast who dreams of a better life elsewhere. (Last month, O Céu de Suely won [...]
by Andre Soares | November 26, 2006
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: Brazilian Cinema, Film Awards, Film Festivals, Iranian Cinema, Korean Cinema, South American Cinema
Oscar 2007: BORDER CAFE and SWEET MUD Submitted
Kambuzia Partovi’s Café Transit / Border Café, the story of an Iranian widow who encounters a number of social and personal obstacles once she begins managing her late husband’s roadhouse (a practice forbidden in Iran), has been chosen as the Iranian entry for the 2006 Best Foreign-Language Film Academy Award. The film’s star, Fereshteh Sadr-Orafaii won the Best Actress Award at the 9th Iran Cinema Celebration last year.
According to Payvand, Border Café was selected from among three other films, Asghar Farhadi’s Chaharshanbeh-Suri, Bahman Farmanara’s A Little Kiss, and Maziar Miri’s Slowly.
The Israeli Academy of Film and Television has submitted Adama Meshuga’at / Sweet Mud, co-winner of Israel’s 2006 Ophir Awards, as the Israeli entry for the Oscars. The [...]
by Andre Soares | October 1, 2006
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: Film Awards, Iranian Cinema, Israeli Cinema
Iran Cinema Celebration Awards 2005
2005 Iran Cinema Celebration Awards
2005 Iran Cinema Celebration: Vahdat Hall in Tehran on September 11, 2005.
Reza Mir-Karimi’s Khilli dors khilli nazdek / So Close, So Far, a tale of two Irans — one modern and secular, the other ancient and religious — has been chosen best Iranian film at the 9th Iran Cinema Celebration Awards.
Mir-Karimi also won the best director award, and the film’s star, Masud Rayegan, took best actor honors.
Best Film: Khilli dors khilli nazdek / So Close, So Far directed and produced by Reza Mir-Karimi
Best Director: Reza Mir-Karimi (Khilli dors khilli nazdek / So Close, So Far)
Best Actor: Masud Rayegan (Khilli dors khilli nazdek / So Close, So Far)
Best Actress: Fereshteh Sadr-Orafaii (Border Café) [...]
by Andre Soares | September 12, 2005
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: Film Awards, Iranian Cinema
