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WSWS : Arts Review : Film Reviews

Film Festivals

The 58th Berlinale Part 1: Some alarm signals in contemporary film Part 2: Katyn--The political agenda of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda Vancouver International Film Festival 2007 Part 1: The "new seriousness" in cinema... Part 2: ... And the new problems Part 3: Some of the old problems, too Toronto International Film Festival 2007 Part 1: The world is so poorly understood--or is it? Part 2: Urgency about human matters An interview with Ramin Bahrani, director of Chop Shop Part 3: Compassion toward the most despised and other matters Part 4: A remarkable film about the Iraq war Part 5: The lives of two overlooked women An interview with Philippe Faucon director of Dans la vie Edinburgh Film Festival Two antiwar films Beaufort by Joseph Cedar and Extraordinary Rendition by Jim Threapleton Edinburgh Film Festival: Solitary fragments or part of social experience? 54th Sydney Film Festival 2007 Part 1: Uneven responses to real human problems Part 2: "New Crowned Hope" films from Asia: Strengths and weaknesses Part 3: Some documentaries from China, Israel and Australia Part 4: 12:08 East of Bucharest and Beauty in Trouble: mixed results from Eastern Europe Part 5: Australian reflections: Boxing Day, The Home Song Stories and Lucky Miles "I'm interested in a documentary and fiction hybrid": filmmaker Kriv Stenders speaks with WSWS 54th Sydney Film Festival-Part 6 Turkish films: mostly serious but lacking lasting impact 54th Sydney Film Festival—Part 7 John Huston: a prolific filmmaker with some brilliant works San Francisco International Film Festival 2007 Part 1: For honesty and urgency in filmmaking Part 2: An artist's circle of hell Part 3: Smiling through the pain Part 4: Films on Africa--"The problem always comes back to poverty" Part 5: Serious, but flawed 57th Berlin Film Festival Part 1: Stumbling over political and historical themes Part 2: Some rumblings in German film Vancouver International Film Festival 2006 Part 1: What we see and what we do not yet see Part 2: Not everything but certainly something Part 3: The passive voice Part 4: Political documentaries Toronto International Film Festival 2006 Part 1: Some things are sinking in Part 2: The past is present An interview with Bahman Ghobadi, director of Half Moon "If I only want to say what the government wants me to, then I have to be a government employee, not a filmmaker" Part 3: "I am not terrorist or monster. I am not Dracula. I am not a monkey or cow. I am a man" Part 4: Our tumultuous times Part 5: John Lennon vs. his celebrators Part 6: Where death threatens to be more real than life 53rd Sydney Film Festival Part 1: Not deep enough Part 2: Ten Canoes: a dramatic exploration of ancient Aboriginal culture Part3: Some films about South America: a disappointing collection Part 4: Middle East and North African focus "The Bush administration is using Sami Al Hajj to fight Al Jazeera" An interview with Abdallah el-Binni, director of Prisoner 345 Part 5: Three serious, but unchallenging, films from Eastern Europe Part 6: The Archive Project and Beyond Hatred--two documentaries "To encourage people to think more deeply about this social tragedy" An interview with Olivier Meyrou, director of Beyond Hatred Part 7: Jean-Pierre Melville--a minor but intriguing figure San Francisco International Film Festival 2006 Part 1: Film and history Part2: Creditable works Part 3: Political exposures and more ... or less Part 4: Other European and Asian films 56th Berlin Film Festival Part 1: Further stirrings Part 2: Crossing the "red line": Iranian films and censorship Part 3: The work of theatre director Robert Wilson and other documentary films Part 4: 5 Back to Basics?: The Elementary Particles by Oskar Roehler Film festivals in Cottbus and Neubrandenburg Part 1: Documentary films Part 2: Feature films Vancouver International Film Festival 2005 Part 1: Iraq and American life Part 2: Working class life and other problems Part 3: Strengths and weaknesses of Asian cinema Toronto International Film Festival 2005 Part 1: World cinema and the world's problems Part 2: Valuable films from France An interview with Alain Tasma, director of October 17, 1961 Part 3: Scars of war An interview with Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, co-director of Gilaneh Part 4: Art and the social element An interview with Shonali Bose, director of Amu Part 5: The wars inside and out 52nd Sydney Film Festival A generally disappointing selection Reality confronted, with passion and humanity "A return from a different kind of investment" Amma Asante, A Way of Life writer and director, speaks with WSWS Some interesting documentaries Yugoslav filmmaker at an impasse Life is a Miracle (Zivot Je Cudo), directed and co-written by Emir Kusturica The struggle against superstition in a West African village Moolaadé, written and directed by Ousmane Sembène Some valuable dramatisations of social life San Francisco International Film Festival 2005 Part 1: What should be encouraged Part 2: Problems with history Part 3: There is no shortage of subjects The 55th Berlin Film Festival Part 1: Social life and history intrude Part 2: Four films on Africa and the Middle East Part 3: An increasingly complex portrayal of German anti-fascism Part 4: Aesthetic choices: Aleksandr Sokurov's The Sun Vancouver International Film Festival 2004 Part 1: Asian films and Asian life Part 2: Once again, avoiding the more difficult problems Part 3 : No answers yet to new problems Toronto International Film Festival 2004 Part 1: A certain polarization Part 2: The problem of producing great works ... and today's best works Interview with Jia Zhang-ke, director of The World Part 3: Orphaned by history Interview with Bahman Ghobadi, director of Turtles Can Fly Part 4: Some things are difficult, but they need to be done Part 5: Limited range Showcomotion 2004: Part 1 Part 2 Interview with Reuben Irving of Gorilla Cinema 51st Sydney Film Festival Part 1: Some positive signals Part 2: A timely and disturbing drama Blind Flight, written and directed by John Furse "The democratic potential for independent filmmaking already exists" An interview with John Furse, writer and director of Blind Flight Part 3: Some Australian documentaries: plenty of room for improvement Part 4: The human cost of fratricidal war Witnesses directed by Vinko Bresan San Francisco International Film Festival 2004 Part 1: Outrage in the Middle East Part 2: For greater complexity, more uncovering Part 3: Several new filmmakers, but ongoing problems Part 4: Viola Liuzzo: martyr in the struggle for social equality, "She wanted equal rights for everyone,no matter what the cost!" Interview with Paola di Florio director of Home of the Brave Interview with Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe daughter of Viola Liuzzo A letter from the great niece of civil rights martyr Viola Liuzzo 6th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema Part 1: A possible experiment: to feel something more deeply for the world Part 2 :Documentary films: the French role in counter-insurgency, American radicalism in the 1970s and other matters Interview with Sam Green, co-director of The Weather Underground Part 3: Looking beyond one's nose Interview with Ana Poliak, director of Palapalos Interview with Clark Lee Walker, director of Levelland 54th Berlin Film Festival Part 1: Disentangling "dark and difficult" cinema Part 2: The legacy of the 1960s: films by Fernando Solanas and Theo Angelopoulos Part 3: New films by Ken Loach, John Boorman and Hans Petter Moland Part 4: German films at the Berlin Film Festival: Confused emotions Vancouver International Film Festival Part 1: Toward a painstaking analysis of what actually is Part 2: Critical and intelligent voices, not squeezed lemons Part 3: Art and the facts of daily life Part 4: Groping their way toward power and wealth Toronto International Film Festival 2003 Part 1: Encouraging signs An interview with Jafar Panahi, director of Crimson Gold Part 2: Reproductions of life Part 3: Intimate moments, genuine protest An interview with Tom Zubrycki, director of Molly & Mobarak Part 4: How does the artist portray historical tragedy? Interview with Babak Payami, director of Silence Between Two Thoughts Part 5: Seven films, genuinely concerned with humanity or not Showcomotion 2003: Children and young peoples' film festival screens more than 100 films Part One Part Two 2003 Sydney Film Festival Part 1: Classic films a festival highlight Part 2: Blind Shaft director speaks about filmmaking in China Part 3: Two perceptive Indian films Part 4: Courageous and thoughtful cinema Titicut Follies directed by Frederick Wiseman and The Spirit of the Beehive directed by Victor Erice 2003 San Francisco International Film Festival Part 1: A modest proposal: a cinema of ideas Part 2: But there is a great deal more to say Part 3: A growing seriousness 2003 Buenos Aires 5th International Festival of Independent Cinema Part 1: The two paths Part 2: Films on the Middle East, texture in cinema and certain elusive figures Part 3: Structures of evasion Part 4: An Argentine tragedy 2003 53rd Berlin Film Festival Part 1: Varied responses to the state of the world Part 2: Additional Berlinale competition films 2002 12th Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema Part 1: Some hopeful signs Part 2: Two ways of depicting war The Toronto International Film Festival 2002 A conversation about cinema Why are there so many disappointing films? Part 2 Even in success, problems Part 3 Eight films Part 4 An interview with Frederick Wiseman, director of The Last Letter Part 5 Films on social and historical questions Part 6 Interview with Travis Wilkerson director of An Injury to One 49th Sydney Film Festival The danger of war on the Indian subcontinent War and Peace, directed by Anand Patwardhan Grappling with the plight of immigrants and asylum seekers Glimpses of daily life for ordinary Palestinians Wedding at Ramallah, directed by Sherine Salama San Francisco International Film Festival 2002 Part 1 Rewards, disappointments and surprises Part 2 Four films Part 3 Pasolini and other questions Buenos Aires 4th International Festival of Independent Cinema Part 1 Changed conditions and some of the same problems Steel and the Virgin Mary Part 2 Films of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, and a number of documentaries Part 3 Drama, ideas and life Part 4 Discussions on the Argentine crisis 52nd Berlin Film Festival Part 1 Still awaiting the long anticipated revival of German film Part 2 Three German films: Heaven, A Map of the Heart, Grill Point Part 3 Three films dealing with Fascism: Amen, Taking Sides, Safe Conduct 2001 Vancouver International Film Festival Part 1 Once again on the problem of perspective Part 2 Too modest by half Part 3 I'm Going Home and Mulholland Drive 2001 Toronto International Film Festival Part 1 The success and failure of the international "Style of Quality" in cinema Part 2 Five films on historical and political themes Part 3 Struggling, alive, contradictory... Part 4 Films by Godard, Cox, Imamura and others Edinburgh Film Festival 2001 A director treading water What Time is it There? Directed by Tsai Ming-liang Two contrasting films about asylum seekers Gas Attack, directed by Kenny Glenaan, and Roadblocks directed by Stavros Ioannou Sydney Film Festival 2001 Part 1 An ironic look at some reluctant heroes Divided We Fall, directed by Jan Hrebejk, script by Petr Jarchovsky "Art wedded to truth must, in the end, have its rewards" The Apu Trilogy, written and directed by Satyajit Ray Collaboration and resistance in Vichy France The Sorrow and the Pity directed by Marcel Ophuls Two flawed attempts to dramatise child poverty Ali Zaoua and Animals Crossing the Road 2001 Sydney Film Festival Two fine examples of "direct cinema" LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton and Facing the Music 2001 Balkan Film Festival in Berlin Part 1 Part 2 The films of Zelimir Zilnik Interview with the filmmaker Zelimir Zilnik 2001 San Francisco International Film Festival Part 1 Six films Part 2 Some limited but honest films, and the social role of pessimism Buenos Aires 3rd International Festival of Independent Cinema Part 1 Filmmaking needs a new perspective Part 2 Intuition and consciousness in filmmaking Part 3 Problems in Latin American cinema Part 4 Some Argentine films An interview with Ana Poliak, director of La fe del volcán ( The Faith of theVolcano) 12th Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London An overview Trade Off and Pester Power: Radicalism's dead end critique of globalisation Five political films Injustice: A film by Ken Fero 51st Berlinale Part 1 A miserable gruel: European films at this year's Berlin Film Festival Part 2 More works from the Berlin film festival Part 3 Unresolved historical questions German feature and documentary films at the Berlin Film Festival Part 4 Revealing old and enduring horrors Spiegelgrund by Angelika Schuster and Tristan Sindelgruber An interview with the directors of the Austrian documentary Spiegelgrund Part 5 Asian films at the Berlin Film Festival Part 6 Berlin retrospective devoted to the films of Fritz Lang Tenth film festival in Cottbus, Germany Another glimpse at the state of film in Eastern Europe 2000 Vancouver International Film Festival Part 1 Drama, protest, sensuality Part 2 Less and more interesting films Interviews with Singing Chen (Chen Xinyi), director of Bundled, and Kim Sang-Jin, director of Attack the Gas Station Part 3 The difference between feeling and playing at feeling 2000 Toronto International Film Festival Part 1 Who makes up the artistic vanguard today? Part 2 Without flinching Bye Bye Africa, written and directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun An interview with David Gordon Green, director of George Washington Part 3 Why are these women escaping? The Circle, directed by Jafar Panahi, screenplay by Kambozia Partovi, based on an original work by Panahi An interview with Jafar Panahi, director of The Circle Part 4 Children in the mountains A Time for Drunken Horses, written and directed by Bahman Ghobadi Part 5 "The world is so complicated, who'd want to see it?" The House of Mirth, directed by Terence Davies, based on the novel by Edith Wharton Little Cheung, written and directed by Fruit Chan Part 6 Independent filmmaking that is genuinely independent Platform, written and directed by Jia Zhang-ke Yi Yi [A One and a Two], written and directed by Edward Yang Part 7 A conversation with film critic Robin Wood 2000 Sydney Film Festival Artistic variety and substance sacrificed to commercial considerations A critical look at aspects of life in contemporary India A sympathetic look at the complexities of old age Innocence, written and directed by Paul Cox Two young Czech filmmakers investigating real human experiences Recent films from China: Shower and Seventeen Years Teaching stories and empty posturing Dora Heita and Beau Travail "The pleasure of seeing should be the moving force" A selection of Max Ophuls films Idle Running: a comic story about a lethargic student 2000 San Francisco International Film Festival The compassionate gaze Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami at the San Francisco film festival Preserving the utopian moment An interview with Daniel Schmid, director of Beresina or the Last Days of Switzerland The big idea that everybody has An interview with Bibiana Beglau, actress in The Legends of Rita, directed by Volker Schlöndorff A French film of a different sort An interview with Claire Devers, director of The Thief of St. Lubin Films about important subjects that don't explain enough War and peace An interview with Khalil Joreige, co-director of Around the Pink House There are still some courageous people, even in the film industry An interview with Yesim Ustaoglu, director of Journey to the Sun Everything must be done to restore hope 53rd Cannes Film Festival 53rd Cannes Film Festival comes to an end Reviews from 13th Singapore International Film Festival Two films from Vietnam: The Wild Field and Collective Flat An interview with Viet Linh, director of Collective Flat Film directors and critics at Singapore film festival oppose Hindu extremist attempt to stop Deepa Mehta film Film festival director talks to WSWS about censorship in Singapore The Silence and The Door, two films by Mohsen Makhmalbaf "Some films can change the fate of their characters" Mohsen Makhmalbaf speaks to WSWS An interesting experiment in cinematic education An interview with Bernice Chauly--Malaysian filmmaker Films from India: The Servant's Shirt and Split Wide Open Reviews from 2000 Berlin Film Festival The 50th Berlin film festival: pomp and paucity The tension between cinematic vision and life itself The Million Dollar Hotel, directed by Wim Wenders The successful depiction of a zeitgeist Zoe, directed by Maren-Kea Freese An interview with the director of Zoe, Maren-Kea Freese Putting his finger on a wound Rita's Legends (Die Stille nach dem Schuß) Beyond the shadow of Milosevic The Punishment, a documentary film by Goran Rebic Interview with Goran Rebic, director of The Punishment Art and poverty Russia's Wonder Children, directed by Irene Langemann Interview with Irene Langemann, director of Russia's Wonder Children An onlooker in a world falling apart Paths In The Night (Wege in die Nacht), directed by Andreas Kleinert Reviews from 1999 Toronto International Film Festival First in a series of articles by David Walsh A dry bone in a stream: The Wind Will Carry Us, written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami, based on an idea by Mahmoud Ayedin Films from Taiwan and China Some problems the cinema is equipped to deal with The importance of knowing something about the world Reviews and interviews from 1999 Sydney Film Festival 1999 Sydney Film Festival Works of genuine artistry, worthy efforts and some others It All Starts Today A film by Bertrand Tavernier, starring Philippe Torreton and Maria Pitarresi A work of authenticity, artistic substance and optimism An Interview with Bertrand Tavernier "My job is to dream and invent, and out of this produce something that will change the world" Outskirts and Checkpoint: two films from Russia A conversation with Petr Lutsik "To show there is still something alive in the soul of the people" An interview with Deepa Mehta, director of Earth 'If people want to separate they should understand what it would really mean' Earth, written and directed by Deepa Mehta One of this century's human tragedies, as witnessed by a child My Name is Joe Well-deserved accolades for new Loach film David Walsh on the San Francisco International Film Festival Part 1: The anatomy of melancholy Part 2: Conversations with three filmmakers Part 3: Some films from the Balkans and Africa Part 4: Chris Marker and the Talking Heads: two films from 1983 Part 5: Sixteen films, briefly Part 6: Some older or lesser known films The 49th Berlin Film Festival: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Notes from the Amsterdam documentary film festival A review of recent east European cinema: Film festival in Cottbus, Germany--November 11-15, 1998 David Walsh at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival 1998 Sydney Film Festival Reviews and Interviews by the WSWS 1998 San Francisco Film Festival Reviews by David Walsh The 48th Berlin International Film Festival: A number of valuable new works The Toronto International Film Festival: Film, social reality and authenticity		WSWS Film Reviews: Full list (in alphabetical order) By Category Hollywood Independent Documentaries Iranian Asian British & Irish European Australian & New Zealand By Reviewer Paul Bond Joanne Laurier Richard Phillips Stefan Steinberg David Walsh Film Festival Reviews Films on US television: 1,000 capsule reviews from the WSWS (large file) Interviews with Directors & Actors Film History & Features Correspondence on WSWS Film Reviews