If Vladimir Putin was watching the Academy Awards on Sunday night from his dacha on the Black Sea, his mood may have been blackened by the Best Documentary Feature category. As Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast had predicted, the Oscar went to 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing film about the early days of Russia’s brutal siege of the Ukrainian port city.
Chernov delivered emotional remarks as he accepted the Oscar, saying he would gladly trade his trophy for the lives of the thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed by Russia’s aggression. Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera served as presenters for that category as well as for Best Documentary Short; Doc Talk called that race accurately as well, predicting victory for The Last Repair Shop, the film by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers.
In the new episode of the pod, hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to...
Chernov delivered emotional remarks as he accepted the Oscar, saying he would gladly trade his trophy for the lives of the thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed by Russia’s aggression. Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera served as presenters for that category as well as for Best Documentary Short; Doc Talk called that race accurately as well, predicting victory for The Last Repair Shop, the film by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers.
In the new episode of the pod, hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to...
- 3/12/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Documentary chronicles the Armenian director’s search for her missing soldier brother.
Shoghakat Vardanyan’s documentary 1489, which chronicles the Armenian director’s search for her missing soldier brother, has won the best film award in international competition at The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
The title 1489 refers to the anonymous number of a “body of an individual missing in action,” and was the number assigned to Soghomon Vardanyan, a 21-year-old student and musician who was close to completing his military service when the conflict between Azerbaijan and his home country Armenia over Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) flared up again in September...
Shoghakat Vardanyan’s documentary 1489, which chronicles the Armenian director’s search for her missing soldier brother, has won the best film award in international competition at The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
The title 1489 refers to the anonymous number of a “body of an individual missing in action,” and was the number assigned to Soghomon Vardanyan, a 21-year-old student and musician who was close to completing his military service when the conflict between Azerbaijan and his home country Armenia over Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) flared up again in September...
- 11/17/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Shoghakat Vardanyan’s “1489,” which follows the director’s family after her brother goes missing while serving in the Armenian army, won documentary festival IDFA’s best film prize Thursday.
The jury of the International Competition section said the film “acts as a piercing light that makes visible the vast hidden interior landscape of grief and creates a tangible presence from unbearable absence.”
The jury added that it was “cinema as a tool of survival — to allow us all to look at the things we would rather not see, and ultimately, an unforgettable example of cinema as an act of love.”
The best directing award went to Mohamed Jabaly for “Life Is Beautiful,” in which the Palestinian filmmaker documents his life in 2014 when he was visiting Norway and was prevented from returning home to Gaza because the border was closed.
“Life Is Beautiful”
The jury members said the film was “a...
The jury of the International Competition section said the film “acts as a piercing light that makes visible the vast hidden interior landscape of grief and creates a tangible presence from unbearable absence.”
The jury added that it was “cinema as a tool of survival — to allow us all to look at the things we would rather not see, and ultimately, an unforgettable example of cinema as an act of love.”
The best directing award went to Mohamed Jabaly for “Life Is Beautiful,” in which the Palestinian filmmaker documents his life in 2014 when he was visiting Norway and was prevented from returning home to Gaza because the border was closed.
“Life Is Beautiful”
The jury members said the film was “a...
- 11/16/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
From Pablo Picasso’s Guernica to modern disaster films, real-tragedy has always provided inspiration to artists. Nonetheless, while some artworks seek to illuminate or entertain, there is always the lingering suspicion that not all artists have the most honest or helpful intentions. Munich-based Director Sylvain Cruiziat tackles this topic head-on with The Raft, a film that doesn’t just want to provide lively discussion but to provoke heated arguments long after the credits have rolled. Set within an art gallery, it shows the ways in which a well-monied artist has exploited the refugee crisis to serve her own career. At once biting, bracingly beautiful and potentially controversial, this is a film that looks deep into the art world’s heart of darkness, providing a cynical vision of its potential to say anything meaningful about recent tragedies. Making its online premiere with Dn today, we talked to Cruiziat about being inspired by a real exhibition,...
- 5/10/2022
- by Redmond Bacon
- Directors Notes
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