By Ali Moosavi. British writer-director Vaughn Stein’s feature film debut was Terminal (2018), starring Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Mike Myers and Dexter Fletcher. Getting such a cast for your first feature may seem to be very lucky and quite unusual. However, when you delve in Vaughn Stein’s filmography, it becomes […]
Rocket Mom: An Interview with Alice Winocour on Proxima
March 16, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. A welcome fact at San Sebastian was that women film directors were conspicuous by their presence this time. Proxima (dir. Alice Winocour) depicts the challenges that a woman astronaut, who is also a single mother, has to face in order to realize her lifelong ambition of going […]
Interweaving Korean Film and Performance: A Conversation with Korean Filmmaker and Performance Director Kim Tae-yong
Areum Jeong
February 19, 2020
By Areum Jeong. Korean filmmaker Kim Tae-yong made his directorial debut in 1999 with Memento Mori (directed with Min Kyu-dong), the second installment of the girls’ high school horror film series. The film was hailed as one of the most beautiful horror films in Korean cinema and received Best New Director at […]
A National Tradition Continues: Festival Director Kamel Aouij on the 2020 Panorama International Short Film Festival
January 31, 2020
By Matthew Fullerton. Tunisia is no stranger to film festivals. Well before its 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which toppled a 25-year old authoritarian regime that had stifled freedom of expression, film festivals were not uncommon in the North African country of 11.5 million. The JCC (Journées cinématographiques de Carthage), for instance, […]
“A Love Letter to Life and Film”: An Interview with Willem Dafoe on My Hindu Friend
January 24, 2020
By Patrick McGilligan. Five years after it was made, My Hindu Friend, directed by Hector Babenco, finally is being shown in limited English-language markets. Fans and scholars familiar with the Argentinian-Brazilian filmmaker’s best-known works – Pixote in 1981, his breakthrough, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Ironweed (1987) and At […]
Much to Remember: Chris Wade on Memories of Lindsay Anderson
Tony Williams
December 10, 2019
By Tony Williams. Leeds-born Chris Wade is one those unique talents thankfully outside the existing psychologically dysfunctional terrain of higher education. A highly creative and prolific artist, filmmaker and musician, he has distinguished himself in so many areas. His name came to my attention when reading one of my favorite […]
Refusal to Respond – David Shields and Lynch: A History
Matthew Sorrento
October 22, 2019
By Matthew Sorrento. Review Filmmaker David Shields found an ideal style to document the onscreen (but off the field) career of NFL running back Marshawn Lynch (2007-18). Far from a fan documentary, Lynch: A History uses collage to portray the news media’s possession and the public’s consumption of a star player […]
“Cinema is strong and some people are afraid of it”: François Ozon on By the Grace of God
October 11, 2019
By Alex Ramon. Speaking with Film International last year, François Ozon asserted that, for him, “the story comes first” when choosing a project. In his new film, By the Grace of God (Grâce à Dieu) Ozon draws for the first time on current events for the narrative, telling the story of […]
A Hidden Gem: Interview with Trương Minh Quý (Nhà cây / Tree House, 2019)
Yun-hua Chen
September 10, 2019
By Yun-hua Chen. A hidden gem in the sidebar section “Concorso Cineasti del presente” at Locarno Film Festival, Trương Minh Quý’s Nhà cây (Tree House) is a co-production from Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, France and China which sets in the futuristic 2045 but recounts a story of the past. In the imagined […]
The Method to His Madness: Grady Hendrix and Satanic Panic
John Duncan Talbird
September 5, 2019
By John Duncan Talbird. Grady Hendrix is a novelist, sometimes-journalist, essayist, and screenwriter. He’s written several horror novels, including the very recent We Sold Our Souls, “a heavy metal take on the Faust legend.” He is one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival and, on his […]