Interview

By Neila Driss. During the 40th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which took place from November 20 to 29, 2018, the Tunisian actor Dhafer L’Abidine was chosen as a member of the international competition jury, the most important competition of the festival. The Jury was presided by […]

By Tom Ue. Vladimir de Fontenay’s Mobile Homes follows a young mother (Imogen Poots), her boyfriend (Callum Turner), and her eight-year-old son (Frank Oulton) as they drift from one motel to the next. This nuclear family has been scraping by until they discover a mobile home community which promises an alternative life. […]

By Travis Merchant. At some point, films focused on teenage characters started growing stale with repeating motifs, themes, and story arcs. It may have been set in stone with the films by John Hughes, such as Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986). By the […]

By Tom Ue. My Life with James Dean finds Géraud Champreux (Johnny Rasse), the film’s central protagonist, presenting his first feature film – also titled My Life with James Dean – in Normandy. His box office may be pitiable, but this screening proves life changing. This comedy is Dominique Choisy’s third feature, […]

By Anna Weinstein. Rachel S. Harris’s book Warriors, Witches, and Whores: Women in Israeli Cinema (Wayne State University Press, 2017) is a fascinating feminist study of Israeli cinema and changes in the film industry since the 1990s. The book examines film representations of Israeli women, including narratives in classic Israeli films […]

By Sergey Toymentsev. Alexei Uchitel is the leading Russian director whose features regularly receive awards at international and domestic festivals. He was born to the family of the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Efim Uchitel, who is known for his chronicles about Leningrad’s blockade during World War II. By following the footsteps of […]

By Tom Ue. With A Moment in the Reeds, London-based filmmaker Mikko Mäkelä seeks to fill the queer void in Finnish cinema: he returns, imaginatively and literally, to his native Finland through the character of Leevi (Janne Puustinen), who seeks to help his father Jouko (Mika Melender) repair their lakehouse. […]

By Ali Moosavi. Iranian cinema has made its mark on the global film world thanks to film makers such as Kiarostami, Farhadi, Panahi and many other distinguished Iranian film makers who have attracted widespread critical acclaim and won numerous awards and accolades. One branch of filmmaking in which Iranian cinema […]

By Tom Ue. Much of contemporary crime fiction revolves around the search for resolution rather than solution. Some, such as Epix’s new television adaptation of Joël Dicker’s bestselling novel The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (2018), offers both. Christophe Charrier’s Jonas (also known as Boys) (2018) offers neither. The […]

By Roberto Cavallini. Yom Adaatou Zouli (The Day I Lost my Shadow) by Syrian director Soudade Kaadan, was presented as a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Orizzonti Competition, where it won the prestigious “Lion of the Future, Luigi De Laurentiis award for a debut film”. The film soon […]