By Janine Gericke. The San Francisco Film Society’s fall season completes its three weekend season with New Italian Cinema. The weekend offers dysfunctional families, supernatural horror, romantic comedies, and much more as part of its stellar lineup. Sofia Loren makes an appearance in director Edoardo Ponti’s short film Human Voice. […]
Liverpool Radical Film Festival 2014
By Anthony Killick. “Kurdish people don’t just say democracy, we say radical democracy.” (Sema Yildiz) The Liverpool Radical Film Festival ran from the 13th–16th November. As part of an emerging UK wide Radical Film Network the festival makes its contribution towards regaining access to the city through the creation of […]
10.000 Km (2014)
November 16, 2014
By Zhuo-Ning Su. Spanish writer/director Carlos Marques-Marcet’s 10.000 Km is the kind of movie that’s powered by so much honesty and insight that, despite the built-in developmental restrictions from its limited thematic focus, casts a universal spell and hits you on the most visceral level. Photographer Alex (Natalia Tena) wins an […]
Casting David Fincher: An Interview with Laray Mayfield
By Paul Risker. David Fincher’s work features a compelling cast of characters. Working alongside the filmmaker to give these characters life on the screen, by lifting them off the page and placing them into the hands of actors, has been casting director Laray Mayfield. One of the many integral collaborative roles in […]
San Francisco Film Society: Hong Kong Cinema – November 14-16
November 13, 2014
By Janine Gericke. The San Francisco Film Society continues it’s fall season with the Hong Kong cinema series. The three day event has Chow Yun-Fat, a little bit of kung fu, and a special 20th anniversary screening of Wong Kar-wai’s Chunking Express (Chung Hing sam lam, Hong Kong 1994, 98 […]
The 19th Busan International Film Festival
November 11, 2014
By Chris Neilan. The 19th Busan International Film Festival was, as ever, an unrivalled showground for Asian filmmaking talent. A handsome 312 films were screened this year (up from 299 last year) from 79 countries including efforts from Kyrgyzstan, Kurdistan, Iraq, Bangladesh and Nepal as well as the usual heavyweight […]
The Good Life: A San Francisco Film Society French Cinema Now Review
November 9, 2014
By Janine Gericke. The Good Life is director Jean Denizot’s feature film debut, and it proves to be a solid one. The film, based on actual events, follows a father, Yves (Nicholas Bouchaud), and his two teenage sons, 16-year-old Sylvain (Zacharie Chasseriaud) and 18-year-old Pierre (Jules Pelissier), as they live […]
Five Iranian Voices on Reza Mirkarimi’s Today
COLLECTED AND INTRODUCED BY AMIR GANJAVIE. Reza Mirkarimi’s Today (Emrooz, 2014) was selected to represent Iran at the 2015 Oscars despite being unpopular with Iranian critics from the beginning and despite expectations that it would be a great box office failure. According to the website of Hamshari, a leading Iranian […]
San Francisco Film Society: French Cinema Now – November 6-9, 2014
November 7, 2014
By Janine Gericke. The San Francisco Film Society’s Fall season begins with the seventh annual French Cinema Now series on November 6. As expected, this year’s lineup doesn’t disappoint, providing enough storytelling variety and star power to satisfy any San Francisco Francophile. The four-day event kicks off with Paris Follies […]
Fate and History: Volker Schlöndorff’s Diplomacy
November 6, 2014
By Paul Risker. Cities rise, or fall, at the will of men. In a conflict of wills in 1944, Paris, the “City of Light,” was spared. Beyond the narrative presented in Volker Schlöndorff’s Diplomacy (2014) there inevitably lies a more compelling and intricate story of the events leading up to […]