Riding hot on the success of the last year’s Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name, producer Genki Kawamura dished out yet another animated, fantasy high-school romance film this year – but as highly expected as it was, the remake of the 1993 live-action TV drama of the same name, Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side…
The 22nd Busan International Film Festival: Australia Day Review
Australia Day is the official holiday – National Day – of Australia, celebrating the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the British to Port Jackson in New South Wales. It is a controversial holiday for many reasons, especially for the indigenous peoples of Australia. It is this day that was chosen as the titular background…
The 22nd Busan International Film Festival: Glass Garden Review
South Korean filmmaker Shin Su-won is one of those rare female Asian filmmakers that have managed to break through the male-dominated walls of the industry to not only get noticed, but acknowledged. Her debut, self-produced feature Passerby #3 managed to immediately snag both domestic and international attention – it even won the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: The Shape of Water Review
Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, Pacific Rim) is an intriguing, imaginative and fearless filmmaker, whose dedication to his work and signature film technique made him into one of the most recognisable contemporary film directors. What makes his work even more alluring is the fact that he is very precise when it comes to “his”…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: In Conversation with Robert Gulaczyk – Vincent van Gogh in ‘Loving Vincent’
Robert Gulaczyk is a Polish actor, who in 2006 graduated from the prestigious National Academy of Theatre Arts in Wroclaw. After the graduation, he worked extensively in the Lubuski Theatre in Zielona Gora and is currently employed as an actor at Modjeska Theatre in Legnica. His experience includes around 40 theatre plays and – as of…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: In Conversation with Hugh Welchman, Director of ‘Loving Vincent’
Hugh Welchman, an Oxford University graduate in Philosophy, Politics and Economy, has always had his eyes on film-making. Subsequently, he worked hard by doing almost everything, from teaching history to selling fish, just to support himself while working on film corporates in London. After a few calamitous encounters, Hugh came to a decision that training at…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: Loving Vincent Review
Who was Vincent van Gogh? To some, he was a madman; to others, an artist; but most people simply saw him as a genius. Vincent was a man with a unique personality and a great gift, whose life wasn’t filled with roses, but with the difficult reality of being rejected by many. What can be…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: Journey’s End Review
Journey’s End, by English playwright R.C Sherriff, was performed for the first time at the Apollo Theatre in 1928 with Lawrence Olivier – an emerging young actor at the time – in one of the lead roles. Within a short period of time the show was moved to a West End theatre where it ran for…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: Wajib Review
Annemarie Jacir, a Palestinian poet and filmmaker, is – to me – the true queen of independent cinema; she is also the voice of those who need to be heard and seen – the ‘voice’ of Palestine. Her career has been marked by unforgettable (and several award-winning) projects, such as A Post Oslo History (2001), The…
The 61st BFI London Film Festival: Devil’s Freedom Review
What makes us humane? What are the characteristics that we value and aspire to, the qualities that make us human rather than brutish? These are the questions that one might ask oneself after watching Devil’s Freedom by Everardo González, a Mexican writer, cinematographer and filmmaker, known for his extraordinary documentaries, including Monsenor: The Last Journey of Oscar Romero (2011)…
The 2nd London East Asia Film Festival: In Conversation with Jeon Hye-jung, the Festival Director
Jeon Hye-jung – who was once a lecturer at a prestigious university in Korea with a background in performing arts – left South Korea many years ago and settled in London. At the beginning of her UK ‘adventure’, she took a position at London Korean Cultural Centre UK, heading government projects and festivals to promote…
The 25th Raindance Film Festival: Lies We Tell Review
Lies We Tell is the debut feature for Mitu Misra, a British-Indian film director who also wrote the film’s story – the screenplay adaptation was done by Ewen Glass and Andy McDermott, two accomplished authors of the thriller genre. The film had its world premiere during this year’s edition of Raindance and – especially for…
The 25th Raindance Film Festival: In Conversation with Matan Yair, Director of ‘Scaffolding’
Matan Yair had been teaching literature in Israel for almost a decade before he made his feature debut Scaffolding. While teaching the subject, he came across individuals from various backgrounds – including challenging youngsters. Matan Yair believed that he could inspire his pupils by letting them follow their own path of self-awareness, by reading poetry and…
The 25th Raindance Film Festival: In Conversation with Rade and Danilo Šerbedžija, Directors of ‘The Liberation of Skopje’
Rade Šerbedžija, born in Bunić, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), is a well-established actor with over 180 (!) film credits. He began his career after graduating from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the University of Zagreb. He started to perform in films while he was a student, while he also performed at the Gavella Drama Theatre and at…
