Awards

  • Helen Mirren to Receive Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 45th Chaplin Award

    Helen Mirren Academy Award–winning actor Helen Mirren will be honored with the 45th Chaplin Award by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, at a gala event on Monday, April 30, 2018. “It is an honor and a pleasure for us to present Helen Mirren with our 45th Chaplin Award,” said Ann Tenenbaum, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Board Chairman. “From housemaid to Queen and everything in between, Ms. Mirren has delivered masterful performances of complex characters, upending stereotype after stereotype along the way.” “Ever since her debut in Michael Powell’s Age of Consent in 1969, Helen Mirren has been lighting up screens with one finely crafted performance after another,” said Lesli Klainberg, the Executive Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. “From her Oscar-winning role in The Queen to her brilliant work in The Long Good Friday, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Madness of King George, Gosford Park, The Tempest, The Last Station, Red, Hitchcock, Woman in Gold, and Eye in the Sky, she has shown her exquisite range and proven her commitment to excellence and the art of cinema. The Film Society is honored to present the 45th Chaplin Gala Award to Helen Mirren.” Mirren began acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967, and over the past five decades has become one of the most respected and recognizable figures in multiple media. In film, she is perhaps best known for The Queen, though she has appeared in more than sixty films, with notable recent titles including Trumbo and The Fate of the Furious. Upcoming films include The Leisure Seeker, Winchester, and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Mirren was awarded the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship in 2014 for her outstanding career in film. The Film Society’s Annual Gala began in 1972 when it honored Charlie Chaplin, who returned to the U.S. from exile to accept the commendation. Since then, the award has been renamed for Chaplin, and has been presented to many of the film industry’s most notable talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sidney Poitier, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, and, last year, Robert De Niro.

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  • HAITI MY LOVE is Haiti’s First Entry for Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | Trailer

    Haiti, My Love (Ayiti Mon Amour) For it’s first submission ever, Haiti has selected Haiti, My Love (Ayiti Mon Amour) by Guetty Feli Cohen as its candidate for nomination in the foreign-language category of the 2018 Oscars. Haiti, My Love, an official selection of the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, is set in post-earthquake Haiti, and invokes the country’s past and present with stories that intertwine and collide. A grieving young boy discovers he has a superpower. An old fisherman realizes the cure for his ailing wife can be found in the sea. A muse struggles to exit the story her author is penning. In Guetty Felin’s magical neorealist tale, these three stories combine to create a poetic portrait of the island nation Haiti. Set five years after the devastating 2010 earthquake, Felin’s film eschews the images that saturated screens after the disaster. While the pain of the destruction remains evident — in young Orphée’s grief over the loss of his father, in the rubble of decimated buildings, in ghostly images that float beneath the ocean’s surface — Felin refuses to tell a tale of victimhood. Instead, she places the island’s narrative back in the hands of Haitians whose lives aren’t reducible to headlines. And as her characters begin to heal, Felin suggests that the island will too. Felin taps into her past work in the documentary field, infusing the realities of modern-day Haiti with a lyrical touch. From its verité-style moments of Jaures the fisherman labouring by the beach to the theatrical scenes between muse Ama and her author, the film makes its fluid tonal shifts at a lulling, rhythmic pace. Shot on location with local actors and crew, Felin’s film is an important addition to the body of work coming out of Haiti’s burgeoning film scene. Ayiti Mon Amour doesn’t just mark the emergence of a distinct new directorial voice; it’s a key development in the evolution of a national cinema. TIFF

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  • Street Cats of Istanbul Documentary KEDI, Leads 2nd Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominations

    [caption id="attachment_20047" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Kedi Kedi[/caption] Kedi, a beautiful documentary about the street cats of Istanbul, leads the nominations for the second annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, with nominations for Best Documentary, Best First Documentary, Most Innovative Documentary, Best Director for Ceyda Torun, and Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary for The Cats of Istanbul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKq7UqplcL8 California Typewriter, Chasing Coral, City of Ghosts, Cries From Syria,  and  Dawson City: Frozen Time,  followed with three nominations each; and  Abacus: Small Enough to Jail and  An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power  receiving two nominations each. The second annual awards ceremony takes place November 2 in Brooklyn.  Academy Award and seven-time Emmy nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger will receive the Critics’ Choice Impact Award.

    Second Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominations

    BEST DOCUMENTARY

    Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production) Beware the Slenderman – Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky (HBO, Warner Bros. Television Distribution / HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films) Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – Directors: Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens (HBO / Bloomfish Pictures, HBO Documentary Films, Insurgent Docs, RatPac Documentary Films) California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures) Chasing Coral – Director: Jeff Orlowski (Netflix / Exposure Labs) City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects) Cries From Syria – Director: Evgeny Afineevsky (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu) Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures) Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks (HBO / Live Nation Productions, Company Name) Ex Libris: The New York Public Library – Director: Frederick Wiseman (Zipporah Films) Faces Places – Directors: Agnès Varda & JR (Cohen Media Group / Ciné Tamaris, Social Animals, Rouge International, Arte France Cinéma, Arches Films) Jane – Director: Brett Morgen (National Geographic Documentary Films / National Geographic Studios, Public Road Productions) Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) One of Us – Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady (Netflix / Loki Films) Spettacolo – Directors: Jeff Malmberg, Chris Shellen (Grasshopper Film / Open Face) Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford (Netflix / Yanceville Films, Louverture Films)

    BEST DIRECTOR

    Evgeny Afineevsky – Cries from Syria (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu) Amir Bar-Lev – Long Strange Trip (Amazon / Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, Sikelia Productions, AOMA Sunshine Films) Matthew Heineman – City of Ghosts (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects) Bill Morrison – Dawson City: Frozen Time (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures) Doug Nichol – California Typewriter (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures) Jeff Orlowski – Chasing Coral (Netflix / Exposure Labs) Irene Taylor Brodsky – Beware the Slenderman (HBO, Warner Bros. Television Distribution / HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films) Ceyda Torun – Kedi (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Agnès Varda & JR – Faces Places (Cohen Media Group / Ciné Tamaris, Social Animals, Rouge International, Arte France Cinéma, Arches Films) Frederick Wiseman – Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Zipporah Films)

    BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY

    California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures) Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Nowhere to Hide – Director: Zaradasht Ahmed (East Village Entertainment / Ten Thousand Images) Step – Director: Amanda Lipitz (Fox Searchlight / Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions) Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford (Netflix / Yanceville Films, Louverture Films) Whose Streets? – Director: Sabaah Folayan, Co-Director: Damon Davis (Magnolia Pictures)

    BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY

    11/8/16 – Directors: Duane Andersen, Don Argott & Sheena M. Joyce, Yung Chang, Garth Donovan, Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker, Vikram Gandhi, Raul Gasteazoro, Jamie Goncalves, Andrew Beck Grace, Alma Har’el, Daniel Junge, Alison Klayman, Ciara Lacy, Martha Shane, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Bassam Tariq (The Orchard / Cinetic Media) Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production) An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media) City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects) Dolores – Director: Peter Bratt (PBS Distribution / 5 Stick Films) The Reagan Show – Directors: Sierra Pettengill, Pacho Velez (Gravitas Ventures, CNN Films)

    BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY

    AlphaGo – Director: Greg Kohs (Submarine Entertainment / Moxie Pictures, Reel As Dirt) Disgraced – Director: Pat Kondelis (Showtime Networks / Bat Bridge Entertainment) Icarus – Director: Bryan Fogel (Netflix / Alex Productions, Diamond Docs, Impact Partners) Speed Sisters – Director: Amber Fares (First Run Features) Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton – Director: Rory Kennedy (Sundance Selects / Moxie Firecracker Films) Trophy – Directors: Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz (CNN Films, The Orchard / Candescent Films, Pulse Films, Reel Peak Films)

    BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

    Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives – Director: Chris Perkel (Apple Music / IM Global, Scott Free Productions) Contemporary Color – Directors: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross (Oscilloscope / The Department of Motion Pictures, Public Domain, Todo Mundo) Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks (HBO / Live Nation Productions, Company Name) I Called Him Morgan – Director: Kasper Collin (FilmRise, Submarine Entertainment / Kasper Collin Produktion, Sveriges Television, Film i Väst) Long Strange Trip – Director: Amir Bar-Lev (Amazon / Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, Sikelia Productions, AOMA Sunshine Films) Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World – Director: Catherine Bainbridge, Co-Director: Alfonso Maiorana (Kino Lorber / ARTE G.E.I.E, Rezolution Pictures)

    MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECT OF A DOCUMENTARY

    The Cats of Istanbul – Kedi (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Etty – One of Us (Netflix / Loki Films) Al Gore – An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media) Laird Hamilton – Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton (Sundance Selects / Moxie Firecracker Films) Dolores Huerta – Dolores (PBS / 5 Stick Films) Gigi Lazzarato – This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (YouTube Red / SelectNext, Cabin Creek Films) The Sung Family – Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production)

    MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY

    78/52 – Director: Alexandre O. Philippe (IFC Midnight / ARTE, Exhibit A Pictures, Milkhaus, Screen Division, Sensorshot Productions) Casting JonBenet – Director: Kitty Green (Netflix / Forensic Films, Symbolic Exchange, Meridian Entertainment) Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures) Karl Marx City – Directors: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker (Bond/360 / Pepper & Bones) Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Last Men in Aleppo – Director: Firas Fayyad, Co-Director: Steen Johannessen (Grasshopper Film / Aleppo Media Center, Larm Film)

    BEST SONG IN A DOCUMENTARY

    An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – “Truth to Power” – OneRepublic (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media) Chasing Coral – “Tell Me How Long” – Kristen Bell (Netflix / Exposure Labs) Cries From Syria – “Prayers for This World” – Cher (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu) Dina – “Best I Can” – Michael Cera featuring Sharon Van Etten (The Orchard / Cinereach, El Peligro, Killer Films) Served Like a Girl – “Dancing Through the Wreckage” – Pat Benatar (Entertainment Studios, Freestyle Digital Media) Step – “Jump” – Cynthia Erivo (Fox Searchlight / Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions)

    BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)

    The Defiant Ones (HBO) Five Came Back (Netflix / Amblin Television, IACF Productions, Netflix, Passion Pictures, Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment) The Keepers (Netflix / Film 45, Tripod Media) The Nineties (CNN / CNN, Playtone, Herzog & Company) Planet Earth II (BBC America, AMC, SundanceTV / BBC Natural History Unit, BBC America, ZDF, Tencent, France Télévisions) The Vietnam War (PBS / Florentine Films, WETA-TV Washington)

    BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)

    30 for 30 (ESPN / ESPN Films) American Masters (PBS / WNET New York City) Frontline (PBS / WGBH-TV Boston) Independent Lens (PBS / Independent Television Service, Inc.) POV (PBS / American Documentary, Inc.) VICE (HBO / VICE Media)

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  • George Clooney to Receive AFI Life Achievement Award

    George Clooney Actor, director, writer and producer George Clooney will be the recipient of the 46th AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film. The award will be presented to Clooney at a Gala Tribute on June 7, 2018, in Los Angeles, CA. “George Clooney is America’s leading man,” said Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman of the AFI Board of Trustees. “Director, producer, writer and actor — a modern-day screen icon who combines the glamour of a time gone by with a ferocious passion for ensuring art’s impact echoes beyond the screen. AFI is proud to present him with its 46th Life Achievement Award.” His latest project is Suburbicon (2017),which he directed, and also co-wrote alongside his frequent collaborators the Coen brothers.

    AFI Life Achievement Award Recipients

    George Clooney joins an esteemed group of individuals who have been chosen for this distinguished honor since its inception. 1973 John Ford 1974 James Cagney 1975 Orson Welles 1976 William Wyler 1977 Bette Davis 1978 Henry Fonda 1979 Alfred Hitchcock 1980 James Stewart 1981 Fred Astaire 1982 Frank Capra 1983 John Huston 1984 Lillian Gish 1985 Gene Kelly 1986 Billy Wilder 1987 Barbara Stanwyck 1988 Jack Lemmon 1989 Gregory Peck 1990 David Lean 1991 Kirk Douglas 1992 Sidney Poitier 1993 Elizabeth Taylor 1994 Jack Nicholson 1995 Steven Spielberg 1996 Clint Eastwood 1997 Martin Scorsese 1998 Robert Wise 1999 Dustin Hoffman 2000 Harrison Ford 2001 Barbra Streisand 2002 Tom Hanks 2003 Robert De Niro 2004 Meryl Streep 2005 George Lucas 2006 Sean Connery 2007 Al Pacino 2008 Warren Beatty 2009 Michael Douglas 2010 Mike Nichols 2011 Morgan Freeman 2012 Shirley MacLaine 2013 Mel Brooks 2014 Jane Fonda 2015 Steve Martin 2016 John Williams 2017 Diane Keaton

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  • 92 countries in Competition for Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards

    [caption id="attachment_19636" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Pop Aye – Kirsten Tan Pop Aye – Kirsten Tan[/caption] A record 92 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 90th Academy Awards.  Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. The 2017 submissions are: Afghanistan, “A Letter to the President,” Roya Sadat, director; Albania, “Daybreak,” Gentian Koçi, director; Algeria, “Road to Istanbul,” Rachid Bouchareb, director; Argentina, “Zama,” Lucrecia Martel, director; Armenia, “Yeva,” Anahit Abad, director; Australia, “The Space Between,” Ruth Borgobello, director; Austria, “Happy End,” Michael Haneke, director; Azerbaijan, “Pomegranate Orchard,” Ilgar Najaf, director; Bangladesh, “The Cage,” Akram Khan, director; Belgium, “Racer and the Jailbird,” Michaël R. Roskam, director; Bolivia, “Dark Skull,” Kiro Russo, director; Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Men Don’t Cry,” Alen Drljević, director; Brazil, “Bingo – The King of the Mornings,” Daniel Rezende, director; Bulgaria, “Glory,” Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva, directors; Cambodia, “First They Killed My Father,” Angelina Jolie, director; Canada, “Hochelaga, Land of Souls,” François Girard, director; Chile, “A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastián Lelio, director; China, “Wolf Warrior 2,” Wu Jing, director; Colombia, “Guilty Men,” Iván D. Gaona, director; Costa Rica, “The Sound of Things,” Ariel Escalante, director; Croatia, “Quit Staring at My Plate,” Hana Jušić, director; Czech Republic, “Ice Mother,” Bohdan Sláma, director; Denmark, “You Disappear,” Peter Schønau Fog, director; Dominican Republic, “Woodpeckers,” Jose Maria Cabral, director; Ecuador, “Alba,” Ana Cristina Barragán, director; Egypt, “Sheikh Jackson,” Amr Salama, director; Estonia, “November,” Rainer Sarnet, director; Finland, “Tom of Finland,” Dome Karukoski, director; France, “BPM (Beats Per Minute),” Robin Campillo, director; Georgia, “Scary Mother,” Ana Urushadze, director; Germany, “In the Fade,” Fatih Akin, director; Greece, “Amerika Square,” Yannis Sakaridis, director; Haiti, “Ayiti Mon Amour,” Guetty Felin, director; Honduras, “Morazán,” Hispano Durón, director; Hong Kong, “Mad World,” Wong Chun, director; Hungary, “On Body and Soul,” Ildikó Enyedi, director; Iceland, “Under the Tree,” Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, director; India, “Newton,” Amit V Masurkar, director; Indonesia, “Turah,” Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo, director; Iran, “Breath,” Narges Abyar, director; Iraq, “Reseba – The Dark Wind,” Hussein Hassan, director; Ireland, “Song of Granite,” Pat Collins, director; Israel, “Foxtrot,” Samuel Maoz, director; Italy, “A Ciambra,” Jonas Carpignano, director; Japan, “Her Love Boils Bathwater,” Ryota Nakano, director; Kazakhstan, “The Road to Mother,” Akhan Satayev, director; Kenya, “Kati Kati,” Mbithi Masya, director; Kosovo, “Unwanted,” Edon Rizvanolli, director; Kyrgyzstan, “Centaur,” Aktan Arym Kubat, director; Lao People’s Democratic Republic, “Dearest Sister,” Mattie Do, director; Latvia, “The Chronicles of Melanie,” Viestur Kairish, director; Lebanon, “The Insult,” Ziad Doueiri, director; Lithuania, “Frost,” Sharunas Bartas, director; Luxembourg, “Barrage,” Laura Schroeder, director; Mexico, “Tempestad,” Tatiana Huezo, director; Mongolia, “The Children of Genghis,” Zolbayar Dorj, director; Morocco, “Razzia,” Nabil Ayouch, director; Mozambique, “The Train of Salt and Sugar,” Licinio Azevedo, director; Nepal, “White Sun,” Deepak Rauniyar, director; Netherlands, “Layla M.,” Mijke de Jong, director; New Zealand, “One Thousand Ropes,” Tusi Tamasese, director; Norway, “Thelma,” Joachim Trier, director; Pakistan, “Saawan,” Farhan Alam, director; Palestine, “Wajib,” Annemarie Jacir, director; Panama, “Beyond Brotherhood,” Arianne Benedetti, director; Paraguay, “Los Buscadores,” Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schembori, directors; Peru, “Rosa Chumbe,” Jonatan Relayze, director; Philippines, “Birdshot,” Mikhail Red, director; Poland, “Spoor,” Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik, directors; Portugal, “Saint George,” Marco Martins, director; Romania, “Fixeur,” Adrian Sitaru, director; Russia, “Loveless,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director; Senegal, “Félicité,” Alain Gomis, director; Serbia, “Requiem for Mrs. J.,” Bojan Vuletic, director; Singapore, “Pop Aye,” Kirsten Tan, director; Slovakia, “The Line,” Peter Bebjak, director; Slovenia, “The Miner,” Hanna A. W. Slak, director; South Africa, “The Wound,” John Trengove, director; South Korea, “A Taxi Driver,” Jang Hoon, director; Spain, “Summer 1993,” Carla Simón, director; Sweden, “The Square,” Ruben Östlund, director; Switzerland, “The Divine Order,” Petra Volpe, director; Syria, “Little Gandhi,” Sam Kadi, director; Taiwan, “Small Talk,” Hui-Chen Huang, director; Thailand, “By the Time It Gets Dark,” Anocha Suwichakornpong, director; Tunisia, “The Last of Us,” Ala Eddine Slim, director; Turkey, “Ayla: The Daughter of War,” Can Ulkay, director; Ukraine, “Black Level,” Valentyn Vasyanovych, director; United Kingdom, “My Pure Land,” Sarmad Masud, director; Uruguay, “Another Story of the World,” Guillermo Casanova, director; Venezuela, “El Inca,” Ignacio Castillo Cottin, director; Vietnam, “Father and Son,” Luong Dinh Dung, director. Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018. The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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  • A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT is Afghanistan’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | Trailer

    A Letter to the President A Letter to the President directed by Roya Sadat, has been submitted by Afghanistan as its candidate for nomination in the foreign-language category of the 2018 Oscars. Roya Sadat is the first director and producer to successfully shoot and produce films after the fall of the Talibans. “A Letter to the President” made its world premiere at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival in August and will screen at the upcoming 2017 Busan Film Festival. In the film, Soraya is a public official struggling to enforce the law in Afghanistan today. When she decides to save a young woman accused of adultery from the justice of a clan, things spiral for the worse to the point that she’s arrested and put on death row. Asking for justice, she writes to the president, the last person who can save her. But will he listen to her plea? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_txke5_nnXY

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  • A CIAMBRA is Italy’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | Trailer

    A Ciambra Jonas Carpignano’s A Ciambra has been selected by Italy as the official candidate in the foreign-language film category at the 2018 Oscars. The film, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, recently won the Europa Cinemas Label Award in Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s 2017 Cannes Film Festival. In A Ciambra, a small Romani community in Calabria, Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. At 14, he drinks, smokes and is one of the few to easily slide between the region’s factions – the local Italians, the African refugees and his fellow Romani. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets of their hometown. When Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong, Pio sets out to prove he’s ready to step into his big brother’s shoes but soon finds himself faced with an impossible decision that will show if he is truly ready to become a man. The film will released in theaters in the US in 2018 via Sundance Selects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1l4Hpp27A4

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  • EVA (YEVA) is Armenia’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | Trailer

    Eva (Yeva)  Eva (Yeva) directed by Anahid Abad, has been selected by Armenia as the country’s submission for the best foreign-language film race at the 2018 Oscars. The Armenian-language film stars many recognized actors and actresses from Armenia, such as Narine Grigoryan, Shant Hovhannisyan, Marjan Avetisyan, Rozi Avetisyan, Sergey Tovmasyan, Vrezh Qasuni, Tigran Davtyan, Nanor Petrosyan, Evelina Adamyan, and Marat Davtyan.
    The film follows Yeva, a young woman, who escapes her influential in-laws with her daughter Nareh, after her husband’s tragic death and takes refuge in one of the villages of Karabakh, Armenia. A complete stranger in the village, the woman is obliged to live her life in disguise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t8rxzDQ5o0

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  • ZAMA is Argentina’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | Trailer

    Zama directed by Lucrecia Martel Zama directed by Lucrecia Martel has been selected by Argentina as the country’s submission in the foreign-language film category at the 2018 Oscar, as well as the Spanish Goya Awards. The decision was made by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Argentina (Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de la Argentina).
    This long-awaited adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto’s 1956 classic of Latin American modernism transports us to a remote corner of 18th-century South America, where a servant of the Spanish crown slowly loses his grip on reality. Written and directed by Lucrecia Martel, the Argentine auteur behind The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman, Zama is that rarest of creative feats: a perfect coupling of literary source material and cinematic sensibility. Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Giménez Cacho) leads a suspended existence as a sort of upper-tier government clerk in what is now Paraguay. He has not seen his wife and children in years. His relationships with his fellow Europeans are strained due to competition and confusion, while his interactions with the settlement’s Black and Indigenous servants are addled by desire and hostility. Zama’s entire sense of purpose is tied up in the promise that he will soon be delivered to his rightful position in faraway Buenos Aires, but the waiting seems endless. As time passes, Zama’s paranoia and capacity for violence burgeons — while his circumstances become only more precarious. TIFF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3bJeHCOwYo

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  • THE WOUND is South Africa’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | Trailer

    The Wound, John Trengove The Wound (“Inxeba”), directed by John Trengove, has been selected as South Africa’s submission in the foreign-language category at the 2018 Oscars. The film explores tradition and masculinity, and the clash between age-old rituals and modernity. The Wound stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel. The Wound is the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, and is co-written by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu. The Xhosa initiation ritual which forms the landscape of the film is also the subject of ‘Inxeba’ co-writer Mgqolozana’s novel, ‘A Man Who Is Not a Man’. The Wound premiered at this year’s 2017 Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama; and went on to win a string of awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I

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  • KHACHA is Bangladesh’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film

    Khacha Khacha directed by Akram Khan has been selected as Bangladesh’s entry to represent the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards. Based on author Hasan Azizul Haque’s short story Khacha, the screenplay for the film was co-written by actor Azad Abul Kalam and the film’s director Akram Khan. The film also stars Mamunur Rashid, and Jaya Ahsan; and chronicles the plight of a Hindu family trying to migrate to India after the Indian Parition of 1947. Khacha and Shonabondhu directed by the Jahangir Alam Sumon, were the only two films submitted to the Bangladesh Oscar selection committee this year.

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  • ONE THOUSAND ROPES is New Zealand’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | TRAILER

    One Thousand Ropes Tusi Tamasese’s One Thousand Ropes is New Zealand’s submission for the best foreign language category of the 90th Academy Awards. Written and directed by Tamasese and produced by Catherine Fitzgerald, One Thousand Ropes is the story of a Samoan family living in suburban New Zealand, re-connecting and putting to rest the ghosts that haunt them. Starring Uelese Petaia, Frankie Adams, Beulah Koale and Sima Urale, One Thousand Ropes is Tamasese’s follow up to his much-awarded feature debut, The Orator. The film had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the 2017 Berlin Film Festival. One Thousand Ropes is a powerful character drama of a father reconnecting with his youngest daughter and together putting to rest the ghosts that haunt them. She arrives vulnerable: badly beaten and heavily pregnant. He struggles on one hand, with the inner temptation and the encouragement from the men in his life to take revenge in the way he knows best, and on the other, to build the new family and companionship so desperately missing from his life. One Thousand Ropes is a deeply moving film about connections, redemption and new beginnings. One Thousand Ropes will next be seen in October’s London Film Festival and Adelaide Film Festivals, with more festival outings to follow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWsfITbkkTc

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