The dearth of African contenders in the main competition at this year’s Berlinale might come as no surprise to the continent’s perennially disappointed filmmakers. One could argue — not unfairly — that Africa is still underrepresented at the world’s top film festivals.
But you wouldn’t have to look hard to find emerging African voices in festival strands like Berlin’s Panorama, Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema, or Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. That many of these films are from first- and second-time directors bodes well for a continent still grappling to reclaim its own narrative.
Three years after Senegal’s Alain Gomis won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for his Kinshasa-set drama “Félicité,” other kudos for African filmmakers have followed. The past 12 months alone have seen Sudanese director Suhaib Gasmelbari’s documentary “Talking About Trees” scoop a pair of prizes in last year’s Berlinale; Sudan’s Amjad Abu Alala...
But you wouldn’t have to look hard to find emerging African voices in festival strands like Berlin’s Panorama, Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema, or Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. That many of these films are from first- and second-time directors bodes well for a continent still grappling to reclaim its own narrative.
Three years after Senegal’s Alain Gomis won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for his Kinshasa-set drama “Félicité,” other kudos for African filmmakers have followed. The past 12 months alone have seen Sudanese director Suhaib Gasmelbari’s documentary “Talking About Trees” scoop a pair of prizes in last year’s Berlinale; Sudan’s Amjad Abu Alala...
- 2/20/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
This interview was originally conducted by Serge Kaganski. Suhaib Gasmelbari's Talking About Trees is Mubi Go's Film of the Week of January 31, 2020. Special thanks to Serge Kaganski and Mathieu Berthon for their permission to republish it.Suhaib Gasmelbari's documentary Talking About Trees is about Ibrahim, Manar, Suleiman and Altayeb, members of the Sudanese Film Club founded in 1989. Unable to make films for years, they have decided to revive an old cinema. They are united not only by their love of cinema and their passionate desire to restore old films and draw attention to Sudanese film history once more, but also by the fact that they all enjoyed a film education outside Sudan.Serge Koganski: What sort of cinema viewer were you during your youth in Sudan?Suhaib Gasmelbari: My journey as a cinephile is not very classic. I grew up in Sudan in the nineties, a period when...
- 1/30/2020
- MUBI
“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” — the story about a young displaced teacher who travels to Bhutan and is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals (including a yak) — won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at The Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff), it was announced Sunday.
“Gay Chorus Deep South” — a documentary following the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as the group embarks upon a high-risk tour of the Deep South to spread a message of tolerance — won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“Parasite” screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won won the Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay for their tale about two Korean families — one wealthy and one poor — whose live intersect in the most unexpected way.
Among the acting awards, Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” took top honors.
Also Read: Palm Springs: Renée Zellweger,...
“Gay Chorus Deep South” — a documentary following the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as the group embarks upon a high-risk tour of the Deep South to spread a message of tolerance — won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“Parasite” screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won won the Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay for their tale about two Korean families — one wealthy and one poor — whose live intersect in the most unexpected way.
Among the acting awards, Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” took top honors.
Also Read: Palm Springs: Renée Zellweger,...
- 1/13/2020
- by Lawrence Yee
- The Wrap
Updated with Audience Award winners: The 31st annual Palm Springs Film Festival has named the Bhutan drama Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom the winner of its Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Gay Chorus Deep South its Audience Award for Best Documentary.
The news Sunday comes after the fest yesterday revealed its juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs. There, Russian pic Beanpole took the Fipresci prize, while Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar favorite Parasite copped the Fipresci Screenplay prize.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, from director Pawo Choyning Dorji, was filmed on location at more than 16,000 feet in one of the most remote villages in Bhutan. The pic centers on a young displaced teacher who is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals.
David Charles Rodrigues’ U.S. docu Gay Chorus Deep South follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus...
The news Sunday comes after the fest yesterday revealed its juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs. There, Russian pic Beanpole took the Fipresci prize, while Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar favorite Parasite copped the Fipresci Screenplay prize.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, from director Pawo Choyning Dorji, was filmed on location at more than 16,000 feet in one of the most remote villages in Bhutan. The pic centers on a young displaced teacher who is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals.
David Charles Rodrigues’ U.S. docu Gay Chorus Deep South follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus...
- 1/13/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Foreign Oscar Contenders Win Big at Palm Springs Fest: ‘Parasite,’ ‘Beanpole,’ ‘Corpus Christi’ Lead
The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which began just after the New Year and wraps January 13, screened 188 films; 51 of them were submitted for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award. The Palm Springs Film Festival prize winners announced Saturday over brunch at the Hilton included a handful of these films. See the full list of winners below. Audience awards will be announced on Sunday.
Fipresci Prize for Best International Feature Film: “Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov.
Fipresci Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” (Poland).
Fipresci Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” (Germany).
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay: “Parasite” (South Korea), Screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-Won.
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay Special Mention: “Antigone” (Canada), Screenwrier Sophie Deraspe.
The Fipresci jury members were film critics Pamela Biénzobas, Alferov Gavrylyshyn, and Tina Hassannia.
Fipresci Prize for Best International Feature Film: “Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov.
Fipresci Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” (Poland).
Fipresci Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” (Germany).
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay: “Parasite” (South Korea), Screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-Won.
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay Special Mention: “Antigone” (Canada), Screenwrier Sophie Deraspe.
The Fipresci jury members were film critics Pamela Biénzobas, Alferov Gavrylyshyn, and Tina Hassannia.
- 1/11/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Palm Springs Film Festival has announced its juried winners, with “Beanpole” taking the Fipresci prize for films in the international feature film Oscar submissions program. The documentary award went to “Talking About Trees.”
Acting prizes went to Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” for actor and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” for actress. “Parasite” won the screenplay prize from the Fipresci jury of international film critics.
The festival, held from January 2-13, screened 192 films from 81 countries.
The New Voices New Visions award for first and second time filmmakers went to “Song Without a Name,” while “Monos” received the Ibero-American Award for films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.
Other prizes included the local jury award to “Adam,” the Young Cineastes Award to “Corpus Christi,” and the Bridging the Borders award to “Advocate.”
The audience prizes will be announced Sunday.
A complete list of winners follows:
Fipresci Prize for Best International...
Acting prizes went to Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” for actor and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” for actress. “Parasite” won the screenplay prize from the Fipresci jury of international film critics.
The festival, held from January 2-13, screened 192 films from 81 countries.
The New Voices New Visions award for first and second time filmmakers went to “Song Without a Name,” while “Monos” received the Ibero-American Award for films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.
Other prizes included the local jury award to “Adam,” the Young Cineastes Award to “Corpus Christi,” and the Bridging the Borders award to “Advocate.”
The audience prizes will be announced Sunday.
A complete list of winners follows:
Fipresci Prize for Best International...
- 1/11/2020
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Industry veterans, Dov Kornits and Lou Balletti have announced the launch of a new theatrical distributor operating in Australia. The company pitches itself as a one-stop shop straddling distribution and media promotion, and will begin operations with a Friday 13 December release of horror title “Wrinkles the Clown.”
Kornits is publisher of Australian film magazine and website FilmInk. He has also been head of theatrical for specialty distributor Umbrella Entertainment, and has consulted with distributors Label, Bonsai, Universal and Athabasca on local releases.
The company’s co-director Lou Balletti had her earlier career in exhibition, before becoming head of theatrical sales for distributor Hopscotch Films. In recent years she headed digital sales across Australia and New Zealand for Entertainment One, with responsibility for launching titles including “Peppa Pig,” “Vice,” “Green Book” and “The Walking Dead.”
The company’s 2020 release slate includes “Talking About Trees” (an audience winner at the Berlin and...
Kornits is publisher of Australian film magazine and website FilmInk. He has also been head of theatrical for specialty distributor Umbrella Entertainment, and has consulted with distributors Label, Bonsai, Universal and Athabasca on local releases.
The company’s co-director Lou Balletti had her earlier career in exhibition, before becoming head of theatrical sales for distributor Hopscotch Films. In recent years she headed digital sales across Australia and New Zealand for Entertainment One, with responsibility for launching titles including “Peppa Pig,” “Vice,” “Green Book” and “The Walking Dead.”
The company’s 2020 release slate includes “Talking About Trees” (an audience winner at the Berlin and...
- 11/29/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
AFI Fest 2019 November 14–21: Full Festival Lineup
The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today the films that will play in the New Auteurs, Cinema’s Legacy, Midnight, Shorts and AFI Conservatory Showcase sections at AFI Fest 2019 presented by Audi, completing the festival’s program.
The complete AFI Fest program includes 142 titles of which 51% are directed by women. This year’s program represents 52 countries, and includes eight official International Feature Film Oscar®submissions as well as four World Premieres. The total film breakdown by section is: Galas (6), Alan J. Pakula Tribute (4), Special Screenings (8), New Auteurs (24), World Cinema (16), Midnight (2), Cinema’s Legacy (5), Documentary Films & Encore Screenings (16), Short Films (40) and AFI Conservatory Showcase (21).
Highlighting emerging directors, New Auteurs is the festival’s platform for internationally diverse new filmmakers to showcase their latest films. This year, the section is comprised of 24 films, with 17 helmed by female filmmakers. The section includes two official International Feature...
The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today the films that will play in the New Auteurs, Cinema’s Legacy, Midnight, Shorts and AFI Conservatory Showcase sections at AFI Fest 2019 presented by Audi, completing the festival’s program.
The complete AFI Fest program includes 142 titles of which 51% are directed by women. This year’s program represents 52 countries, and includes eight official International Feature Film Oscar®submissions as well as four World Premieres. The total film breakdown by section is: Galas (6), Alan J. Pakula Tribute (4), Special Screenings (8), New Auteurs (24), World Cinema (16), Midnight (2), Cinema’s Legacy (5), Documentary Films & Encore Screenings (16), Short Films (40) and AFI Conservatory Showcase (21).
Highlighting emerging directors, New Auteurs is the festival’s platform for internationally diverse new filmmakers to showcase their latest films. This year, the section is comprised of 24 films, with 17 helmed by female filmmakers. The section includes two official International Feature...
- 10/31/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Debut director Prateek Vats’ “Eeb Allay Ooo!”, a satirical social commentary revolving around a monkey wrangler in New Delhi, won three awards at the 21st edition of the Mumbai Film Festival, which concluded Thursday.
The film won the Golden Gateway first prize in the festival’s India Gold competition, the best actor award for Shardul Bhardwaj, and the Young Critics’ Choice award. It had its world premiere at the Pingyao festival earlier this month in China.
Gitanjali Rao’s “Bombay Rose,” a Mumbai-set animated romance, which has played in Toronto, Venice, Busan and London, won the Silver Gateway award. It shared the inaugural Manish Acharya award for new voices in Indian cinema with first-time director Achal Mishra’s family drama, “Gamak Ghar.”
Another debut feature, Kislay’s “Aise Hi,” a portrait of an elderly woman’s emancipation, won best actress for Mohini Sharma and the Film Critics Guild award. The...
The film won the Golden Gateway first prize in the festival’s India Gold competition, the best actor award for Shardul Bhardwaj, and the Young Critics’ Choice award. It had its world premiere at the Pingyao festival earlier this month in China.
Gitanjali Rao’s “Bombay Rose,” a Mumbai-set animated romance, which has played in Toronto, Venice, Busan and London, won the Silver Gateway award. It shared the inaugural Manish Acharya award for new voices in Indian cinema with first-time director Achal Mishra’s family drama, “Gamak Ghar.”
Another debut feature, Kislay’s “Aise Hi,” a portrait of an elderly woman’s emancipation, won best actress for Mohini Sharma and the Film Critics Guild award. The...
- 10/24/2019
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Pictured: Louise Detlefsen and Louise Kjeldsen’s “Fat Front,” about a rebellious movement started by plus-sized women in Scandinavia, world premieres at Idfa.
Danish documentarian Jørgen Leth, whose 1967 short “The Perfect Human” inspired fellow countryman Lars Von Trier as a film student, will be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at Idfa this year. The prolific 82-year-old, based in Haiti, is just one of a number of non-fiction heavyweights to be celebrated at the Amsterdam festival, which will also offer posthumous tributes to Agnes Varda and D.A. Pennebaker, who passed away this year.
Under festival director Orwa Nyrabia, in his second year, Idfa continues to focus on directors from emerging territories as well as films dealing with pressing contemporary issues. In the Frontlight section, Claudia Sparrow’s “Maxima” deals with a Peruvian farmer forced to defend her land against the gold-mining industry; Jia Yuchuan’s “The Two Lives of Li Ermao...
Danish documentarian Jørgen Leth, whose 1967 short “The Perfect Human” inspired fellow countryman Lars Von Trier as a film student, will be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at Idfa this year. The prolific 82-year-old, based in Haiti, is just one of a number of non-fiction heavyweights to be celebrated at the Amsterdam festival, which will also offer posthumous tributes to Agnes Varda and D.A. Pennebaker, who passed away this year.
Under festival director Orwa Nyrabia, in his second year, Idfa continues to focus on directors from emerging territories as well as films dealing with pressing contemporary issues. In the Frontlight section, Claudia Sparrow’s “Maxima” deals with a Peruvian farmer forced to defend her land against the gold-mining industry; Jia Yuchuan’s “The Two Lives of Li Ermao...
- 10/8/2019
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
‘You Will Die at Twenty’, ‘Talking About Trees’ and ‘Exam’ Win Golden Stars, and ‘Cinema for Humanity’ Award Goes to Ladj Ly’s Les MisérablesEl Gouna Film Festival concluded its third edition with a closing ceremony where the award-winning films were announced, with total award value at Us$224,000.
The winners were as follows.
Watch the Awards on Euronews here.
Feature Narrative Competition
El Gouna Golden Star for Narrative Film: You Will Die at Twenty by Amjad Abu Alala. See my review.
El Gouna Silver Star for Narrative Film: Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa
El Gouna Bronze Star for Narrative Film: Adam by Maryam Touzani. See my review.
El Gouna Star for the Best Arab Narrative Film: Papicha by Mounia Meddour
El Gouna Star for the Best Actor: Bartosz Bielenia, Corpus Christi
El Gouna Star for the Best Actress: Hend Sabry, Noura’s Dream
The gritty, Tunisian film tells the story...
The winners were as follows.
Watch the Awards on Euronews here.
Feature Narrative Competition
El Gouna Golden Star for Narrative Film: You Will Die at Twenty by Amjad Abu Alala. See my review.
El Gouna Silver Star for Narrative Film: Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa
El Gouna Bronze Star for Narrative Film: Adam by Maryam Touzani. See my review.
El Gouna Star for the Best Arab Narrative Film: Papicha by Mounia Meddour
El Gouna Star for the Best Actor: Bartosz Bielenia, Corpus Christi
El Gouna Star for the Best Actress: Hend Sabry, Noura’s Dream
The gritty, Tunisian film tells the story...
- 10/5/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Winner of El Gouna Golden Star for Narrative Film went to ‘You Will Die at 20’/ ‘Satamout fi aleshrin’ by Amjad Abu Alala.Very few films come out of Sudan, so it was revealing to see two here in El Gouna: ‘You Will Die at 20’, the debut film made by the young Amjad Abu Alala, and ‘Talking About Trees’, a doc about four veteran filmmakers from Sudan in the 1960s who are still going strong and fighting the good fight in a country torn apart by dictators and wars.
However, although Amjad Abu Alala is a Sudanese filmmaker and screenwriter, he was born and raised in the UAE, where he studied media at the United Arab Emirates University. As a producer and director, he wrote and directed numerous short films that participated in various festivals, including Coffee and Orange (2004), Feathers of the Birds (2005), and Teena (2009). His film Studio (2012) was supervised...
However, although Amjad Abu Alala is a Sudanese filmmaker and screenwriter, he was born and raised in the UAE, where he studied media at the United Arab Emirates University. As a producer and director, he wrote and directed numerous short films that participated in various festivals, including Coffee and Orange (2004), Feathers of the Birds (2005), and Teena (2009). His film Studio (2012) was supervised...
- 10/5/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
El Gouna Ff 2019: ‘Talking About Trees’ Winner Golden StarThe winner of El Gouna Golden Star for Documentary Film was ‘Talking About Trees’ by Suhaib Gasmelbari. Its previous Berlinale Award for Best Documentary and its Panorama Audience Award makes this a must-see.
Four idealistic and intensely humane filmmakers who have been lifetime friends reunite after long years of distance and exile. Their love of cinema is deeply embedded in them and allows them to function in a near dysfunctional Sudan as they seek to rebuild their dreams of cinema which were formed in the 1960s.
In the 1960s, when an idealist fervor for independence and cinema thrived throughout the “third world”, Ibrahim Shaddad, Suliman Ibrahim, Eltayeb Mahdi and Manar Al-Hilofour went to film schools abroad with idea of creating a new Sudanese cinema. Politics quashed their plans but they remained true to their dream. the 1989 Coup d’Etat and the continuously deteriorating economy,...
Four idealistic and intensely humane filmmakers who have been lifetime friends reunite after long years of distance and exile. Their love of cinema is deeply embedded in them and allows them to function in a near dysfunctional Sudan as they seek to rebuild their dreams of cinema which were formed in the 1960s.
In the 1960s, when an idealist fervor for independence and cinema thrived throughout the “third world”, Ibrahim Shaddad, Suliman Ibrahim, Eltayeb Mahdi and Manar Al-Hilofour went to film schools abroad with idea of creating a new Sudanese cinema. Politics quashed their plans but they remained true to their dream. the 1989 Coup d’Etat and the continuously deteriorating economy,...
- 10/5/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Sudan’s “You Will Die at Twenty,” a “call for freedom” in the words of director Amjad Abu Alala, won the Golden Star award for best narrative feature film at the El Gouna Film Festival, one of the Arab world’s top film events. The film previously won the Venice Film Festival’s award for best debut film.
The picture is about a young man, Muzamil, raised to believe that he will die at 20, due to a holy man’s prophecy. Muzamil is torn between the counsel of religious leaders to study the Koran and the advice of a hedonistic father figure to enjoy what little time he has left.
Interviewed at the festival, the director said: “I think all I did was put a mirror up to what I see. It has to do with this absolute faith in the prophecies of holy men.” He had previously told Variety:...
The picture is about a young man, Muzamil, raised to believe that he will die at 20, due to a holy man’s prophecy. Muzamil is torn between the counsel of religious leaders to study the Koran and the advice of a hedonistic father figure to enjoy what little time he has left.
Interviewed at the festival, the director said: “I think all I did was put a mirror up to what I see. It has to do with this absolute faith in the prophecies of holy men.” He had previously told Variety:...
- 10/1/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Suhaib Gasmelbari, whose Sudanese documentary “Talking About Trees” premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section, received the Variety Middle East and North Africa Region Talent Award Saturday at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt from festival director Intishal Al Timimi.
Variety critic Jay Weissberg, who selected the honoree, said that it is not usual that within five minutes of a film starting he begins to cry, but he did so when watching “Talking About Trees.” “There is this most beautiful scene of these Sudanese directors who have not been able to make films, who have not been able to watch films on a big screen, who are expressing their love for cinema by recreating a scene from ‘Sunset Boulevard,’” he explained.
The documentary has as its backdrop the destruction of cinema in Sudan due to a toxic mix of dictatorial government and religious fundamentalism, but front and center are...
Variety critic Jay Weissberg, who selected the honoree, said that it is not usual that within five minutes of a film starting he begins to cry, but he did so when watching “Talking About Trees.” “There is this most beautiful scene of these Sudanese directors who have not been able to make films, who have not been able to watch films on a big screen, who are expressing their love for cinema by recreating a scene from ‘Sunset Boulevard,’” he explained.
The documentary has as its backdrop the destruction of cinema in Sudan due to a toxic mix of dictatorial government and religious fundamentalism, but front and center are...
- 9/22/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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