News

“Wonder Woman,” the latest addition to DC’s blockbuster superhero universe, was scheduled to be released in Lebanon on May 31. The day of it was meant to open, the movie’s theatrical run was abruptly halted by the announcement that Lebanon’s interior ministry had banned the film because actor Gal Gadot (aka Wonder Woman) is an Israeli citizen.

This wasn’t a complete surprise: Lebanon and Israel have been in an official state of war for decades; Lebanese law boycotts Israeli products, and bars Lebanese citizens from traveling to Israel or having contacts with its citizens.

And it has happened before, albeit on a smaller scale. “The Attack,” Ziad Doueiri’s 2012 adaptation of Yasmina Khadra’s novel, was ultimately denied screening permission in Lebanon because the Lebanese-born filmmaker had shot the film in Israel and Palestine with an Israeli cast and crew. But unlike “The Attack,” “Wonder Woman” has nothing to do with Israel.

More than 80 documentaries to receive world premieres.

The line-up for the 27th Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) has been unveiled.

A total of 298 titles, selected from 3,200 submissions, will be screened from Nov 19-30 in Amsterdam - of which 81 will receive their world premiere.

This year, a special themed programme, titled The Female Gaze, is dedicated to the role of women in documentary.

Another strand, Of Media and Men, will focus on how opinions are shaped within a democracy through the media.

This year’s Top 10 is provided by Heddy Honigmann, and a retrospective of her work will also be screening. Her film, Around the World in 50 Concerts, opens this year’s Idfa and also plays in Competition.

Idfa and Eye, the Netherlands national museum for film, will be present a joint themed programme concentrating on hybrid film: Framing Reality.

The festival’s main locations will once again be Pathé Tuschinski, Pathé de Munt...

The line-up of the 2nd edition of the Dharamshala International Film festival has been announced. The festival will showcase feature films, documentaries and short films.

Organised by White Crane Arts & Media; the festival will be held from October 24 – 27, 2013 in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.

This year, a new section ‘Art and Film’ has been introduced at the festival in collaboration with Vienna-based Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation. The section will feature art films made by international artists Sean Snyder, Wael Shawky, Marine Hugonnier, Omer Fast, Walid Raad and Rabih Mroué.

The Best of recent Indian Shorts curated by filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni will also be showcased.

Besides, Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky’s Watermark will make its world premiere at the festival.

Some of the film personalities who will attend the festival are: Jacek Borcuch (Lasting), Nishtha Jain (Gulabi Gang), Nitin Kakkar (Filmistaan), Avijit Mukul Kishore (To Let the World In), Nagraj Manjule (Fandry...

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced a whole load of films, including many world premiers, to be added as part of their lineups. Some of the more interesting looking ones are Lance Daly's Kisses about two Irish kids who run away from home and deal with the dark underside of Dublin. Another film I'm definitely interested in is Scott McGehee and David Siegel's Uncertainty which stars one of my personal favorites, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's about a couple in love who find out she's pregnant and they flip a coin from where it apparently follows both possible storylines, but with the same disastrous consequences. Also screening will be Fabrice du Welz's Vinyan (trailer here) which is about a couple who lost their son in a Tsunami and won't give up looking for him. In the Discovery program, the stop-motion animation $9.99 which is about a man seeking the meaning to life.

Where is Ali G or Borat to do a post-screening interview with Catherine Deneuve about this docu in which she takes a field-trip through the war rubble of Lebanon?

Ali G wants to know: Will a new cutting-edge fragrance emerge from the adventure? Will Middle-East peace talks be spurred by the appearance of an international star amid the ruins? Will her hoop earrings inspire Hillary Clinton to spruce up her pants-suit ensemble? Will the trek inspire reality-show producers to launch Paris Hilton into Darfur?

Actually, you don't have to be Ali G or any other social satirist to think of those questions in reaction to this vanity odyssey. Although one applauds Deneuve for her kind spirits and serious resolve to see first-hand the horrors of the never-ending Arab-Israeli fighting, this trip is not even up to Dan Rather's turban treks.

In this serioso sojourn, Deneuve is trundled into the front seat of a vehicle and given the E-ride tour of Beirut. With a security car in tandem, she's informed of the particulars of the rubble by her young male driver. Aptly, they are traversing to his hometown, which he has not visited since it was, basically, blown to smithereens.

Throughout, Deneuve is very solemn, and says little, other than to grouse about anti-smoking types and inform her driver, Rabih Mroue, to fasten his seat belt (after she is roused by Israeli mock attack-noises). Although it's refreshing not to endure an actress spouting politics, Deneuve's silence sheds no insight into what we've already seen much better on the TV news. In essence, this odyssey never even rises to the level of informative superficiality.

There is a moment of high-drama, prompted by the young male driver's recollection of her performance in "Belle de Jour", which pleases her. He is so inspired by memories of certain scenes that he inadvertently drives off-road into an area of landmines. (Later on, she gets him into her gala, and the shot lingers on her warm smile when she sees him in his tux).

Filmmakers Joana Hudjithomas and Khalil Joreige' aesthetic is in harmony with the scenario itself: It lacks focus, consistency and point-of-view. The film's hodge-podge of music further confounds any editorial impetus that this bad trip might have inspired.

--Duane Byrge...

Film Review, Je Veux Voir, Cannes, Un Certain RegardWhere is Ali G or Borat to do a post-screening interview with Catherine Deneuve about this doc in which she takes a field-trip through the war rubble of Lebanon?

Ali G wants to know: Will a new cutting-edge fragrance emerge from the adventure; will Mid-east peace talks be spurred by the appearance of an international star amid the ruins, will her hoop ear-rings inspire Hillary Clinton to spruce up her pants-suit ensemble; will the trek inspire reality-show producers to launch Paris Hilton into Darfur?

Actually, you don't have to be Ali G or any other social satirist to think of those questions in reaction to this vanity odyssey. Although one applauds Deneuve for her kind spirits and serious resolve to see first-hand the horrors of the never-ending Arab-Israeli fighting, this trip is not even up to Dan Rather's turban treks.

In this serioso sojourn, Deneuve is trundled into the front seat of a vehicle and given the E-ride tour of Beirut. With a security car in tandem, she's informed of the particulars of the rubble by her young male driver. Aptly, they are traversing to his hometown, which he has not visited since it was, basically, blown to smithereens.

Throughout Deneuve is very solemn, and says little, other than to grouse about anti-smoking types and inform her driver, Rabih Mroue, to fasten his seat belt (after she is roused by Israeli mock attack-noises). Although it's refreshing not to endure an actress spouting politics, Deneuve's silence sheds no insight into what we've already seen much better on the TV news. In essence, this odyssey never even rises to the level of informative superficiality.

There is a moment of high-drama, prompted by the young male driver's recollection of her performance in "Belle de Jour", which pleases her. He is so inspired by memories of certain scenes that he inadvertently drives off-road into an area of landmines. (Later on, she gets him into her gala, and the shot lingers on her warm smile when she sees him in his tux). We'll definitely leave that question for Ali G.

Filmmakers Joana Hudjithomas and Khalil Joreige' aesthetic is in harmony with the scenario itself: It lacks focus, consistency and point-of-view. The film's hodge-podge of music further confounds any editorial impetus that this bad-trip might have inspired.