By N. Buket Cengiz. Documentarist, an independent documentary film festival held in Istanbul since 2007, had the acclaimed British documentary filmmaker Sean McAllister as its honorary guest this year. The festival audience found the opportunity to watch five feature films of the director: A Northern Soul (2018), shot in Hull […]
Exposing the Filmmaker: An Interview with Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek About My Friend the Polish Girl
July 2, 2019
By Alex Ramon. As the place that produced the likes of Wajda, Polański, Kieślowski and Skolimowski, and that, under the current Rectorship of Mariusz Grzegorzek, continues to nurture new talents in cinema and theatre, Łódź Film School remains the most storied and prestigious of such institutions in Poland. It’s the […]
“If You Don’t Learn from the Greats, You’d Be Stupid”: An Interview with Cinematographer Robin Vidgeon
David A. Ellis
June 6, 2019
By David A. Ellis. Robin Vidgeon BSC born in August 1939 is a retired cinematographer. For many years he was a focus puller, working with the late cinematographer Douglas Slocombe and camera operator Bernard (Chic) Waterson. His last outing with them was on Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple […]
Violent Urban Transformation: Ali Vatansever on Saf
N. Buket Cengiz
May 7, 2019
By N. Buket Cengiz. Ali Vatansever’s Saf (2018) was one of the outstanding films at the Human Rights in Cinema Competition at the 38th Istanbul Film Festival (2019). The film, which made its premiere at the 43rd Toronto Film Festival (2018), has received the Honorable Mention at the New Voices New Visions […]
Surveying Shorts in 2019: A Interview with Sharon Badal (Tribeca Film Festival)
April 22, 2019
By Gary M. Kramer. This year, the Tribeca Film Festival had more than 5,100 submissions for its shorts programs. With help from an international programming team, curator Sharon Badal has compiled 11 shorts programs with various themes from the annual New York shorts program – this year’s entry, Streetwise is […]
In Retrospekt: An Interview with Esther Rots and Dan Geesin
Yun-hua Chen
April 8, 2019
By Yun-hua Chen. With a puzzle plotline that resembles Memento, Retrospekt focuses on two women, Mette and Lee Miller, whose life at home is tumultuous in different ways. Mette, very convincingly portrayed by Circé Lethem, is on parental leave after having her second child. Her husband is not as family-centered […]
Living the Truth: Claus Räfle on The Invisibles
Tom Ue
April 2, 2019
By Tom Ue. Claus Räfle has directed over forty feature-length documentaries for German television. Die Heftmacher earned the Grimme Award for best work of TV journalism. Der Kandidat, received honorable mention at the Max Ophüls Awards. His documentaries Blitzhochzeit in Dänemark and Die Stunde davor each received nominations for Best […]
Probing Bannon: Alison Klayman and Marie Therese Guirgis on The Brink
Elias Savada
March 27, 2019
By Elias Savada. The Kimpton Hotel Monaco is just 9 blocks east of the White House, the work place of Stephen K. Bannon, a friend and strategist of the Commander in-Chief until his banishment from official duties in 2017. He still haunts the Capitol Hill neighborhood where he lives and […]
Heisting Nixon: Mark Steven Johnson on Finding Steve McQueen
March 12, 2019
By Jake Rutkowski. The 1972 United California Bank robbery and the gang that pulled it off don’t occupy a lot of space in the popular American bank heist imagination. The story has been covered in some true crime television documentaries here and there, but it doesn’t quite have the flashiness of […]
Beyond the Stereotypes of a Selfie: An Interview with Agostino Ferrente
Yun-hua Chen
March 8, 2019
By Yun-hua Chen. Agostino Ferrente, the director of Selfie, started this film project with the initial intention to document the story of the 16-year-old Davide Bifolco, who was mistakenly shot dead by carabinieri in the Neapolitan district of Traiano. After casting several teenage boys and girls, the director gave a […]