The 22nd Busan International Film Festival: A Tiger In Winter Review

The topic of a creative slowdown is popular among authors in all nooks and crannies of the creative dimension, since it is the ultimate “tiger” that prays upon the auteur world. With the tiger also being one of the strongest animal representations of Korea and its people, the layers of metaphor in the title of…

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: 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…