Film Festivals
60th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 6
The jurist Fritz Bauer and Germany’s Nazi past
By Bernd Reinhardt, March 17, 2010
The documentary Fritz Bauer—Tod auf Raten (Fritz Bauer—Death by Instalments), directed by Ilona Ziok, celebrates the German jurist and prosecutor Fritz Bauer (1903-1968), who now—unjustly—is a...
60th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
Romania, Bosnia, and the problems of immigrants
By Stefan Steinberg, March 11, 2010
Romanian cinema has won a reputation in the last few years with a series of films by younger directors attempting to come to grips with the consequences of the introduction of the capitalist free mark...
60th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4
This year’s German films: In general, a more serious tone
By Bernd Reinhardt, March 6, 2010
A number of trends currently find expression in German cinema. On the whole, this year’s feature and documentary films on view at the Berlinale adopted a more serious tone.
60th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3
Kanikosen: a Japanese “proletarian novel,” updated
By Stefan Steinberg, March 3, 2010
This is the third in a series of articles on the recent Berlin International Film Festival, February 11-21.
60th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2
Moloch Tropical and Jew Suss: Rise and Fall
By Stefan Steinberg, February 26, 2010
One of the most engrossing films at the Berlinale was the new film by Raoul Peck. After treating developments in a number of African countries in his more recent films, Peck has turned his attention t...
60th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1
Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, a new version of Metropolis, and other matters
By Stefan Steinberg, February 24, 2010
There was a dearth of substantial social and political films at the Berlinale, despite the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s. Nevertheless, a small number of the works on view made an attempt to...
Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 6
Thoroughly lost, or playing at it
By David Walsh, October 17, 2009
Lars von Trier from Denmark, once associated with the Dogme 95 group, has been making films for some two decades. His latest effort is Antichrist. It is a murky, hopelessly contrived, and, frankly, ri...
Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 5
Compassion, vision, genius
By Joanne Laurier, October 14, 2009
The poor throughout the world are neglected and abandoned, increasingly left by the authorities to their own devices. In an imaginative and sensitive fashion, some artists are beginning to concern the...
Toronto International Film Festival 2009
An interview with Asli Özge, director of Men on the Bridge
By David Walsh, October 10, 2009
Asli Özge is the director of Men on the Bridge, a Turkish film screened at the recent Toronto film festival. We spoke during the festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 4
More human (and artistic) problems
By David Walsh, October 10, 2009
Where are the extraordinary and captivating film dramas, and comedies, that go to the heart of our time?
Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 3
Filmmakers on violence and social tension in the Middle East
By Joanne Laurier, October 7, 2009
The seven-year artistic collaboration between Israeli Yaron Shani and Palestinian Scandar Copti produced one of the Toronto film festival’s most important and courageous films, Ajami.
Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 2
“The Iraq war poisoned the water—you can’t undo that, it’s there forever”
By David Walsh, October 3, 2009
Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein have directed at least three remarkable documentaries about the US invasion of Iraq and its consequences: (Gunner Palace (2004), The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Ki...
