Mahi Va Gorbeh: A Venice Film Festival Review

By Moira Sullivan.  The award at the 70th Venice Film Festival called the “Special Orizzonti Award for Innovative Content” went to Shahram Mokri’s Mahi Va Gorbeh (Fish and Cat). The Orrizzonti (Horizons) category features work that takes cinema into new directions. This is well exemplified by acclaimed Iranian writer-director’s amazing […]

Eastern Boys: A Venice Film Festival Review

By Moira Sullivan.  Eastern Boys, directed by Robin Campillo, won best film in the 70th Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti section. The film offers a complex and provocative narrative about a young gang of East European undocumented immigrants who plunder a middle-aged man (Olivier Rabourdin) after he tries to pick up one of […]

The 70th Venice Film Festival

By Moira Sullivan.  Venice is the oldest film festival in which artistic films that abandon the safe predictability of conventional narratives are often rewarded. This year’s festival featured fifty-two world and two international premieres. The festival has expanded with a need for larger facilities, and has created a “light market” […]

66th Cannes Film Festival Day 9 – La Belle et Le Bête and Opium

By Moira Sullivan. The remaining three days of the festival continued an ongoing feast of cinematic treasures. Salle Bunuel screened a double feature on May 24th to honor Jean Cocteau. Fifty years have gone by since his death in 1963 and the festival paid him tribute. Cocteau was a previous […]

66th Cannes Film Festival Day 7 – Wakolda and We Are What We Are

By Moira Sullivan. Two films that sounded promising on Day 7 were clearly well made but lacked any compelling pull for the cineaste. Lucía Puenzo’s Wakolda, a title referring to the name of a doll, promised a powerful story, but the narrative got flattened in the making of the film. […]

15th Udine Far East Film Festival

By Moira Sullivan.  The 15th Udine Far East Film Festival opened on April 19 and ran through April 27, with a great lineup of films from East Asia. Located in a small town in Italy near the Austrian border, and simply known as the Udine Festival for short, the event […]