tagged w/ Berlin Film Festival
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Berlin, Germany - Mokhtar, a lyrical tale set in a remote Moroccan village, premieres in Germany at the Berlinale this February in the Generation Kplus short film category. Director Halima Ouardiri cinematically captures the moment in life when a young boy's relationship to his world grows less magical.
Canada's The Globe & Mail writes, “It's a very clear-eyed look at the moment a boy's relationship to his world completely changes.” Andrea Henning, executive director arts and culture for British Columbia, Canada notes, “It's a morality tale without being didactic and it is rooted in a sense of place.”
Halima, born in Switzerland to a Swiss mother and a Moroccan father, moved to Canada to study film and political science. Following her studies she decided to stay and later joined forces with EyeSteelFilm, a documentary and multimedia production company that aims to use film as a catalyst to promote social change.
Winning a screenwriting award for Mokhtar--which is based on a true story, enabled Halima to move this film into production. Opting to use untrained actors to populate her vision and lend Mokhtar a deeper level of authenticity, Halima and her international crew actively sought out new faces for the lead role of Mokhtar as well as the rest of the cast. She found local people from the countryside near Agadir in Morocco not far from the Atlas mountains, where the film was shot.
Abdellah Ichiki, who portrays Mokhtar, is 10 and comes from a family of farmers. S’fia Moussa, Mokhtar's grandmother in the film, is also Abdellah's actual grandmother. After a long search, the director discovered the boy acting out scenes with his friends, and based on his charm, enthusiasm and strong desire to act, selected him for the key role of Mokhtar,
The film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and Halima picked up a Most Promising Director award at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Last December, the film was awarded second prize in the shorts category at the Dubai International Film Festival.Berlin, Germany - Mokhtar, a lyrical tale set in a remote Moroccan village, premieres... more
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If you've got time to kill, and lord knows you do on The Internet, you should go to the Berlin Film Festival to see the restored version of Metropolis. Or, you know, watch it live and streaming from your office desk like me.
As Roger Ebert points out, the restored cut adds nearly an hour of footage to the Fritz Lang classic. Now get watchin'.
If you've got time to kill, and lord knows you do on The Internet, you should... more
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Though the 59th Berlin International Film festival is history now, it doesn’t mean we can forget the redcarpet and A-listers showing off glam and style in Berlin.
Here are some bright moments of the Berlinale fashion, some I’m sure I will not soon forget.Though the 59th Berlin International Film festival is history now, it doesn’t... more
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"The unofficial theme of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival was hard to miss, and not just because it was spelled out in the title of the opening-night movie, “The International.” A Hollywood action spectacle by the German director Tom Tykwer, this tricked-up tale of a worldwide financial conspiracy has a whiff of accidental topicality. In a news conference last month, the festival’s director, Dieter Kosslick, declared the film a virtual documentary of the current economic crisis, which is sexier, if less accurate, than calling it a clichéd, paranoid thriller in which the villains happen to be bankers.
A different notion of globalism emerged from the intensely local, even ethnographic dispatches throughout the Forum section, home to the festival’s more experimental fare. “Sweetgrass,” by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash, scrutinizes the lives of sheep ranchers (and their sheep) in the Montana mountains.
Two strong American independents that had bypassed the Sundance Film Festival last month to make their world premieres here were Bradley Rust Gray’s “Exploding Girl,” starring Zoe Kazan and Mark Rendall, an atmospheric story of teenagers losing and finding love over the course of a summer in New York City, and “Beeswax,” the third feature by Andrew Bujalski, the D.I.Y. auteur whose critically beloved “Funny Ha Ha” and “Mutual Appreciation” earned him — or perhaps saddled him with — the role of mumblecore godhead.""The unofficial theme of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival was... more
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Peruvian film "The Milk of Sorrow" (La Teta Asustada) won the coveted Golden Bear award for best picture at the Berlin film festival on Saturday.
Festival organisers said it was the first Peruvian film to feature in the main competition lineup in Berlin.
The mournful Spanish-Peruvian production revolves around Fausta, the product of a rape inflicted on her mother during the wave of violence in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s.Peruvian film "The Milk of Sorrow" (La Teta Asustada) won the coveted Golden... more
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Actor Steve Martin on Friday dismissed poor reviews of the latest Pink Panther movie saying critics are always snobs when it comes to comedy.
"I have received bad reviews my whole life," Martin said as he presented "Pink Panther 2" at the Berlin film festival, his second turn as bungling French detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a role made famous by Peter Sellers.Actor Steve Martin on Friday dismissed poor reviews of the latest Pink Panther movie... more
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Life hangs in the balance in a new film about an Iraqi girl whose father betroths her to a local sheikh, leaving her with a very adult choice: submit and forget dreams of education or risk death in the name of honor.
In "Niloofar," the determined 13-year-old is caught in a trap where opportunism and tradition push families to propagate customs that lead to their own regret -- unless individuals step up to tempt fate.Life hangs in the balance in a new film about an Iraqi girl whose father betroths her... more
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Photographs of actress Tilda Swinton at the Berlin Film Festival in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday, February 10, 2009.Photographs of actress Tilda Swinton at the Berlin Film Festival in Berlin, Germany on... more
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An Iranian drama exploring the lengths to which people go to uphold the country's social conventions has won warm reviews at the Berlin film festival, putting it in the early running for prizes.
"About Elly" (Darbareye Elly), starring Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani as Sepideh, centers around a group of middle-class Iranians who drive to the shores of the Caspian Sea for a short break from Tehran.An Iranian drama exploring the lengths to which people go to uphold the country's... more
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Swedish director Lukas Moodysson tries to put a human face on globalisation with his movie "Mammoth" but its first press screening got a frosty reception at the Berlin film festival Sunday.
"Mammoth," like several other films in this year's festival, is set in multiple locations and languages. The action shifts from New York to the Philippines and Thailand with one family linked to all three dramatically different settings.Swedish director Lukas Moodysson tries to put a human face on globalisation with his... more
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Cinemagoers are yearning for temporary escape from the world's economic crisis so the Berlin Film Festival will cater to that with more "feel-good" films than in the past, festival director Dieter Kosslick said.
Shifting away from its usual diet of dark and difficult films, this year the Berlinale will showcase comedies, romances and other upbeat films at the February 5-15 festival which kicks off the European season.
"A lot of people are going to the cinema to escape," Kosslick told a small group of foreign journalists. "Obviously the world's financial crisis is a big factor. It's the same sort of escapist behaviour they had after World War Two.Cinemagoers are yearning for temporary escape from the world's economic crisis so... more
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Oscar-winning French composer Maurice Jarre will receive a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin International Film Festival, which runs from February 5-15.
Jarre, 84, is best known for his work with British director David Lean. He won three Oscars with arrangements for Lean films: "Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago" and "A Passage to India."Oscar-winning French composer Maurice Jarre will receive a lifetime achievement award... more
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Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese's documentary about the Rolling Stones, has opened the Berlin Film Festival.Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese's documentary about the Rolling Stones, has opened... more
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