By Ali Moosavi. Atabai is about loneliness and the estrangement with environment that we feel all over the world.” My very first contribution to Film International was an interview with the Iranian actress-writer-director Niki Karimi in 2014 (issue 12.3). Since then she has appeared in ten movies and three TV […]
More Than Tradition: Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
By Elias Savada. An affectionate tribute blending some behind-the-scenes material and mostly older (but still quite original) interviews with the film’s star Topol and others.” Harvesting a long-running infatuation with thrice Oscar-nominated director Norman Jewison, producer-director-editor Daniel Raim, an Oscar-nominated (for the 2001short subject The Man on Lincoln’s Nose) documentarian […]
Healing in Nature: Jacquelyn Mills on Geographies of Solitude (Berlinale 2022)
By Yun-hua Chen. I am dedicated to creating films that facilitate our healing process with the natural world.” Geographies of Solitude, screened at the Berlinale Forum 2022, is a breathtakingly beautiful experimental documentary which affectionately portrays the ecosystem on the Sable island, the remote sliver of land in the Northwest […]
More Vulnerable Than Tough: Tarik Saleh on The Contractor
By Ali Moosavi. One thing that I loved about [Chris Pine’s] performance is how vulnerable he is…. He is not just a tough guy running around with a gun, but a real man with real fear and that creates real stakes important in film. The Contractor is the latest film […]
Blood Brothers in Arms: Lino Brocka’s Cain and Abel (Kani Releasing)
By Thomas Puhr. A significant piece of Philippine cinematic history, given the royal treatment by Kani.” The biblical tale of Cain and Abel is fewer than 1,000 words long, with Abel biting the dust a mere eight verses in. “Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to […]
Nature and Individuation: the 41st Istanbul Film Festival
By N. Buket Cengiz. The programs at 41st Istanbul offer an ideal occasion for cinephiles, local and abroad, to return to movie theatres.” Istanbul Film Festival, organized by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), returned to theatres, after two years of the pandemic exile, to the great enthusiasm of […]
B-Movie Love from Iran: An Interview with Farzad Motamen
By Ali Moosavi. Motamen has dabbled in many genres: noir, comedy, social-drama, romance, thriller. And even Dostoevsky.” Farzad Motamen is one of several Iranian directors who are well-known and respected in their homeland but remain largely unknown outside of Iran. Motamen is a self-confessed American B-Movie lover and fan of […]
The Brutality of Revenge: Robert Eggers The Northman
By Elias Savada. If you’re not having your senses bludgeoned by The Northman, you’ll admire all the historical detail and period madness. Fire and brimstone meet rot and decay, yet there’s ambition afoot here.” The dark intensity that has imbued director-writer Robert Eggers first two directorial features has matured with […]
Out-Cageing Himself: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
By Elias Savada. Two-thirds broad comedy, one part chase film, it’s also a gimmick and an enjoyable bromance. Yeah, this is one nutty film. Its premise revolves around a famous actor named Nick Cage, played by the real Nicolas Cage. Two-thirds broad comedy, one part chase film, it’s not the […]
Restoring History: Nikolai Izvolov on the 2021 Restoration of Dziga Vertov’s The History of the Civil War
By Tony Williams. Nikolai Izvolov discusses his restoration of Dziga Vertov’s The History of the Civil War in 2021. In his recent review essay, Williams described the restoration as an interesting re-discovery not only for its role as one of Vertov’s early works but also in depicting images of an historical […]