Hakeem Kae-Kazim is a Nigerian-British, classically trained actor, who (after graduating Bristol Old Vic Theatre School) was given a place at the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company. According to Hakeem, his voyage into acting was a gradual thing. “First, I did the National Youth Theatre; I attended their summer programs when I was still in school….
Category: Film
Hold Me Down – Short Film Review
Statistics show that around 49 million Americans live in poverty, which includes over 16 million children. Without much support from their own government, people get pushed to the margin and are forced to take on jobs that are not necessarily legal. Single mothers, predominantly African-Americans, are among the victims of this penury; some turn to…
I Can Speak Review
We often associate Kim Hyun-seok, a South Korean film director and screenwriter, with the 2000 Park Chan-wook feature Joint Security Area, for which Kim co-wrote the script. The audience might also recognize the filmmaker for his feel-good films such as When Romance Meets Destiny (2005), Cyrano Agency (2010) or C’est si bon (2015). The newest Hyun-seok’s production, which received Best…
The Third Murder Review
Following the success of his family dramas Like Father, Like Son, which won the Jury Prize at 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Our Little Sister, which competed for Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and the critically acclaimed After the Storm (2016), Japanese film director, producer and screenwriter Hirokazu Kore-eda surprised his faithful audience by veering…
68th Berlin International Film Festival: Dressage Review
The growing divide within social classes is a global problem, and the contemporary Iranian society is no exception. With his feature debut Dressage, director Pooya Badkoobeh brings attention to this divide from a fresh angle – through the eyes of a stubborn teen girl whose story serves to shed a light not only on the…
68th Berlin International Film Festival: Marilyn Review
It takes courage to follow your heart, and the pain of self-discovery is at times hard to endure. This is the journey that awaits Marco (a superb performance by the emerging actor Walter Rodriguez), the young protagonist of Marilyn. Marilyn – a directorial feature debut from Martín Rodríguez Redondo, an Argentinian filmmaker – is based on…
68th Berlin International Film Festival: Horizon Review
After her feature debut Brides, which won the Panorama Audience award at the 64th Berlinale, Georgian filmmaker Tinatin Kajrishvili returns with another drama that delves into intimate human relationships – Horizon (Horizonti), which had its world premiere last week in the Panorama section of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival. Giorgi (George Bochorishvili), known to…
68th Berlin International Film Festival: Ceres Review
“I would rather talk to animals than to people,” exclaims Koen – pigs, piglets, chickens, roosters… in the eyes of the boy, they are all his true friends. Koen, Sven, Daan and Jeanin live on different farms somewhere in The Netherlands, they go about their lives while helping their families with basic chores on the land…
In Conversation with the Oscar Nominee Dorota Kobiela, Director of ‘Loving Vincent’
How much passion does it take for a person to take on a task of making a movie such as Loving Vincent? Probably a lot, since it took almost a decade to bring the sublime production – the world’s first full-length painted animation, consisting of about 65,000 paintings, painted with oil paint on canvas –…
In Conversation with the Oscar Nominee Nora Twomey, Director of ‘The Breadwinner’
Nora Twomey, an Irish animator and filmmaker, studied animation at Ballyfermot College in Dublin. In 1999, she co-founded – alongside Paul Young and Tomm Moore – Cartoon Saloon. Her journey into filmmaking started in 2002, when she directed From Darkness, an award-winning animated short. With Tomm Moore, she co-directed the beautiful animated feature film The…
Black Panther Review
For over 80 years, superheroes have ignited fans’ imaginations around the world; that is eight decades of history, full of ups and downs – and eight decades of adventures of various iconic heroes. Sadly, while white superheroes were praised during these decades, black characters got pushed to the margin. It was only in 2016 that…
Phantom Thread Review
Can any of us really comprehend that Daniel Day-Lewis now ended his acting career? Hear me weep… Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most awarded (three Oscars under his belt) and the most fastidious – he had always carefully chosen his projects – actors out there, gave his farewell performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread….
Maze Runner: The Death Cure Review
Maze Runner: The Death Cure, directed by Wes Ball and written by T.S. Nowlin, is the final chapter of the popular saga about the young protagonist Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his friends. Thomas has been running around ragged during the first two of The Maze Runner series. Initially, he had to escape the Maze with his Glader friends in the…
Call Me by Your Name Review
The 9 Best Picture nominees for the 90th Academy Awards include a film that has charmed audiences everywhere, shining a bitter-sweet light on our memories of our first love, as well as flaming our desires to feel that special connection, with that special person, again (and again). Call Me By Your Name, based on the novel…
