By Gary M. Kramer The lovingly made documentary Saving Brinton, which received its World Premiere at the recent AFI DOCS festival, introduces viewers to Michael Zahs, an Iowa man who found a treasure trove of old films exhibited by Frank and Indiana Brinton in his Washington County basement next to […]
Viennale and Thessaloniki Film Festival 2016
July 3, 2017
By Yun-hua Chen. Viennale and Thessaloniki Film Festival are two of the finest film festivals in Europe. Viennale curates the best arthouse films of the year from all major film festivals and is an elegant audience festival which also provides a cosy environment for film professionals to exchange ideas and […]
Doku.Art Essaybox and Around The World in 14 Films 2016 Report
July 3, 2017
By Yun-hua Chen. Doku.Arts Essaybox and Around The World in 14 Films are embellishing Berlin’s autumn cinemascape for sure, each in its own way. The former prides itself on the curation of documentaries and an impressive guest list graced by renowned film scholars in the symposium including Sarah Cooper, Thomas […]
The 2017 AFI DOCS Short Films
June 21, 2017
By Gary M. Kramer. The short documentary films at this year’s AFI DOCS ranged from the political to the personal. The political shorts were part of the festival’s “World Views” program. One of the best shorts in this program was Election Night, which chronicled the reactions of a group of […]
An Appreciation of Call Me By Your Name
June 21, 2017
By Zhuo-Ning Su. Films are lives imagined, projected, simulated. When the play-pretend is effective and the make-believe works, we can hope to lose ourselves in a staged reality that convincingly reflects our own. Every once in a long while, however, a movie would come along that, for reasons often too […]
The 3rd Annual Ecuadorian Film Festival
June 8, 2017
By Gary M. Kramer. Ecuadorian cinema has been booming in recent years, and the 3rd Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York, June 9-17, showcases films by some of the most intriguing directors from Latin America. This year’s program screens not only in Manhattan, but also in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, […]
The 36th Istanbul Film Festival: Golden Tulip Scents in Istanbul
May 20, 2017
By N. Buket Cengiz. No matter how much face Turkey loses on the international stage particularly with its friction with European countries, Istanbul Film Festival is a phenomenon in Turkey that has always been and will always be a symbol of international communication and collaboration. The 36th edition held on […]
Tribeca Talks: Alejandro González Iñárritu and Marina Abramović
May 20, 2017
By Gary M. Kramer. This year, at the Tribeca Film Festival, one of the Tribeca Talks programs featured Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu being interviewed by Yugoslavia-born artist, Marina Abramović. “She is the queen,” says Iñárritu, acknowledging Abramović grandly as they arrived on stage. “I’m super-nervous.” The artist opened the […]
Amit Masurkar on Newton: A Tribeca Film Festival Interview
May 11, 2017
By Gary M. Kramer. Newton is co-writer/director Amit Masurkar’s nifty film about title character (a charismatic Rajkummar Rao), an election official who is sent to the jungle in central India to monitor a particular voting district. He is warned about Maoist guerrillas operating in the area, as well as explosives. […]
A look back at the Alien franchise, and why fans have reason to be cautiously optimistic about Alien: Covenant
By Vanessa Crispin. A milestone for many and still going strong with the fans, Alien (1979), was not only the first film in a successful franchise, but also a first in many other ways. Just in time for the upcoming Alien: Covenant, let’s take a look at what made the […]