Film Festivals
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 4
Maggie’s Plan, Frank & Lola, along with Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932)
By Joanne Laurier, 20 May 2016
Some not very good new films—and better old ones.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3
Radio Dreams, about Iranian Americans—and the problem of images without insight
By David Walsh, 17 May 2016
Radio Dreams is a pleasurable experience. Other films at the San Francisco festival––The Event, No Home Movie, Counting, Five Nights in Maine––fared less well.
An interview with Babak Jalali, director of Radio Dreams
By David Walsh, 17 May 2016
The WSWS spoke to Babak Jalali during the recent San Francisco International Film Festival.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 2
The Return, about released prisoners, and other social dramas (or comedies)
By Joanne Laurier, 13 May 2016
In a number of the films screened at the festival, their creators were evidently overwhelmed by the disintegrating social structures in some of the most impoverished parts of the world.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 1
Look at today’s filmmaking … then look at the world
By David Walsh, 11 May 2016
The recent San Francisco International Film Festival, in its 59th edition, screened some 175 films, including approximately 100 feature-length films, from 46 countries.
San Diego Latino Film Festival 2016—Part 3
From Cuba a grim drama (La obra del siglo) and from Argentina a political thriller (El Clan) and a road trip (Camino a La Paz)
By Kevin Martinez and Toby Reese, 1 April 2016
The festival showcased films and documentaries from throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including Cuba, Spain, Mexico, and South and Central America.
San Diego Latino Film Festival 2016—Part 1
Films from Argentina, Spain and Guatemala: El Movimiento, Hablar, Ixcanul and Tras Nazarin
By Kevin Martinez and Toby Reese, 28 March 2016
The festival showcased films and documentaries from throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including Cuba, Spain, Mexico, South and Central America.
66th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4:
Flight and persecution—yesterday and today (The Diary of Anne Frank and Meteorstraße)
By Bernd Reinhardt, 14 March 2016
A new adaptation of the immortal Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, about Nazi persecution, and a film about Palestinian refugees in contemporary Germany.
66th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3:
Alone in Berlin—a working class couple opposes the Nazis
By Bernd Reinhardt, 7 March 2016
Vincent Pérez’s film is a new adaptation of Hans Fallada’s novel Every Man Dies Alone (published posthumously in 1947).
66th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2:
A critique of Europe’s refugee policy: On the Berlinale’s Golden Bear for Fire at Sea
By Verena Nees and Bernd Reinhardt, 27 February 2016
This is the second in a series of articles on the recent Berlin international film festival, the Berlinale, held February 11-20, 2016.
66th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1:
Refugee crisis takes centre stage at the Berlinale
By Stefan Steinberg, 22 February 2016
The main prize of the festival went to Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare) by Gianfranco Rosi, dealing with the fate of refugees attempting to enter Europe.
Canada’s role in Afghanistan
Hyena Road: Neither pro- nor anti-war? Not so fast, Mr. Gross…!
By Lee Parsons, 18 December 2015
Paul Gross’s film follows the construction of a tactically important road being built in the heart of Taliban territory by Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan.
Toronto International Film Festival 2015: Part Five
Eight films from Africa, the Middle East, China, Latin America and Eastern Europe: Contemporary social realism
By David Walsh, 14 October 2015
A number of films at the recent Toronto film festival sought, with varying degrees of persuasiveness, to present pictures of modern life with an emphasis on social relationships.
FICUNAM 2015: Part 4
Tackling life head on: The films of Uzbek-Soviet director Ali Khamraev
By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 28 March 2015
One of the genuine contributions of the recent FICUNAM film festival in Mexico City was its presentation of the works of veteran film director Ali Khamraev.
FICUNAM 2015
I Remember You: A comment on the history of his film by director Ali Khamraev
28 March 2015
Filmmaker Ali Khamraev explains the difficulties surrounding the making of his remarkable film I Remember You in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
FICUNAM 2015: Part 3
Pedro Costa’s Horse Money, Jean-Marie Straub’s “leftism” and other problems
By David Walsh, 25 March 2015
The recent FICUNAM festival in Mexico City screened a number of films which, while not belonging to a single school by any means, provide the opportunity for something of a generalized overview.
FICUNAM 2015: Part 2
The rule and the exceptions—three good films: Court, National Gallery and The Gold Bug
By David Walsh, 20 March 2015
There are filmmakers who devote themselves seriously and conscientiously to representing life, not life in the abstract, not “life as a river,” but concrete life, the life of social classes and relationships.
FICUNAM 2015
An interview with Alejo Moguillansky, co-director of The Gold Bug
By David Walsh, 20 March 2015
David Walsh spoke to Alejo Moguillansky, the co-director of The Gold Bug, in Mexico City during the FICUNAM film festival.
FICUNAM 2015: Part 1
A remarkable film festival in Mexico City
By David Walsh, 18 March 2015
David Walsh and Joanne Laurier recently attended the film festival associated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.
65th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
Two stories of German resistance: The Resistors “their spirit prevails ...” and 13 Minutes
By Bernd Reinhardt, 3 March 2015
One film makes only a partial examination of Hitler’s middle class opponents, while the other makes a more significant look at the opposition from below.
65th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4
Every Thing Will Be Fine from Wim Wenders, Taxi from Jafar Panahi, and other films
By Hiram Lee, 27 February 2015
New films from veteran German director Wim Wenders and Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi were screened at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
65th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3
Haiti and Romania: Drama and social life in Murder in Pacot and Why me?
By Stefan Steinberg, 25 February 2015
Raoul Peck’s film focuses on a middle class couple whose home in Port-au-Prince has been ruined by the 2011 earthquake. Tudor Giurgiu’s feature looks at all-pervasive corruption in Romania.
65th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2
Marcel Ophüls’ Memory of Justice and other documentaries
By Hiram Lee, 21 February 2015
A newly restored version of Marcel Ophüls’ 1976 documentary Memory of Justice was given a special screening at this year’s Berlinale.
15th Tokyo Filmex—Part 2
Life in modern Tokyo, and life during the two world wars: Kabukicho Love Hotel, Tsili and Theeb
By John Watanabe, 5 January 2015
Kabukicho Love Hotel is the latest film by Japanese director Ryuichi Hiroki. Amos Gitai’s Tsili takes place during World War II, and Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb during the First World War.
15th Tokyo Filmex—Part 1
The Prince and A Few Cubic Meters of Love: Two films about Iran and Afghanistan
By John Watanabe, 17 December 2014
The Prince, the better of the pair of films, is a “docu-fiction” about the life journey of Jalil Nazari, an Afghan refugee in Iran, who subsequently applied for asylum in Germany.
Distortion and dishonesty: Ukrainian films at the Cottbus Film Festival
By Stefan Steinberg, 20 November 2014
The Festival of East European Cinema in Cottbus, Germany has been an annual event since 1991.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014—Part 6
Tigers and global corporate criminality: “We’ve got a really bad system”
By David Walsh, 15 October 2014
Danis Tanović’s new film focuses on a scandal that stretches back at least four decades—the marketing of infant formula to women in poor countries, which has caused untold suffering and death.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014—Part 5
99 Homes, Shelter and harsh American realities: Filmmakers inch their way toward important truths
Director Ramin Bahrani: “The villain is the system”
By Joanne Laurier, 10 October 2014
99 Homes deals with the foreclosure and eviction crisis, Shelter with the homeless. Also screened was a documentary about a Mexican citizen 30 years on death row, The Years of Fierro.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014—Part 3
Drone warfare in Good Kill
and a roundtable interview with writer-director Andrew Niccol and actor Ethan Hawke
By David Walsh, 26 September 2014
New Zealand-born writer-director Andrew Niccol has taken on the subject of drone warfare in Good Kill, featuring Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, Zoë Kravitz and January Jones.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014—Part 2
Phoenix and Labyrinth of Lies: German history and other complex questions
By Joanne Laurier, 24 September 2014
Christian Petzold’s Phoenix and Italian-born Giulio Ricciarelli’s Labyrinth of Lies are both skillfully made, intelligent films that delve, in quite different ways, into the legacy of German fascism.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014—Part 1
Something different in filmmaking
By David Walsh, 18 September 2014
A number of remarkable films were screened at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, out of a total of 284 feature films and 108 shorts, from some 80 countries.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2014
Part four: Manos Sucias, Freedom Summer and others: Bitter social conflict present and past
By Joanne Laurier, 26 May 2014
A film about Colombia, a short conversation with its director, and a documentary about the civil rights movement in the 1960s, among other things.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2014
Part three: Bad Hair, School of Babel, South is Nothing: Struggling in a harsh reality
By David Walsh, 21 May 2014
It is difficult to conceive of a serious artistic treatment of life today that avoids the economic realities and pressures relentlessly bearing down on the overwhelming majority of humanity.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2014
Part two: Tamako in Moratorium, Standing Aside, Watching, Three Letters from China: Greater urgency from Japan, Greece and China
By Joanne Laurier, 16 May 2014
Several films screened at the San Francisco film festival this year shed light on the dire physical and emotional impact of the global economic crisis on the lives of the general population.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2014
Part one: There is realism, and then there is realism
By David Walsh, 12 May 2014
The recent San Francisco International Film Festival, its 57th edition, screened some 168 films, including 100 or so fiction or documentary features.
64th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 6
Art and commerce: Austrian documentary The Great Museum
By Bernd Reinhardt, 7 March 2014
Austrian director Johannes Holzhausen’s film is a fond, and at the same time scathing documentary about the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) in Vienna.
64th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
Age of Cannibals and Amma and Appa: Two sides of globalisation
By Berndt Reinhardt, 5 March 2014
German films were well represented at this year’s Berlin film festival, with no less than four productions screened in the festival competition programme alone.
64th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4
Between faith and the striving for truth: German films in competition at the Berlinale
By Bernd Reinhardt, 28 February 2014
German films were well represented at this year’s Berlin film festival, with no less than four productions screened in the festival competition programme alone.
64th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3
We Come as Friends and Run Boy Run: Two more films that take a serious approach
By Stefan Steinberg, 26 February 2014
Hubert Sauper’s documentary examines the record of Western intervention in Africa, while Pepe Danquart’s fiction film recounts the experience of a fatherless Jewish boy in wartime Poland.
64th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2
A serious approach to history: Non-Fiction Diary by South Korea’s Jung Yoon-suk
By Stefan Steinberg, 24 February 2014
A refreshingly serious approach to history is taken by South Korean filmmaker Jung Yoon-suk in his new documentary, Non-Fiction Diary, which deservedly won a prize at the 64th Berlinale.
64th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1
Political agendas at this year’s Berlinale
By Stefan Steinberg, 20 February 2014
A notable feature of the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival was the manner in which certain leading figures in the film word openly promoted their retrograde political agendas.
Tokyo Filmex 2013
Transit, Ilo Ilo and Youth: Three films that rise above the average
By John Watanabe, 4 December 2013
Tokyo Filmex, founded in 2000, is a film festival that features mostly new Asian releases. The 14th Filmex, held from November 23 to December 1, presented a number of interesting films.
Tokyo International Film Festival 2013—Part 2
Blind Dates from Georgia and Nobody’s Home from Turkey
By John Watanabe, 2 November 2013
The recent Tokyo International Film Festival, held October 17-25, screened a number of films worth commenting on.
Tokyo International Film Festival 2013—Part 1
Two films from China: One is honest and sympathetic, the other is not
By John Watanabe, 28 October 2013
The recent Tokyo International Film Festival, held October 17-25, screened a number of films worth commenting on.
Toronto International Film Festival 2013
An interview with Dyana Gaye, director of Under the Starry Sky
By David Walsh, 2 October 2013
David Walsh spoke to Dyana Gaye, the Franco-Senegalese director of Under the Starry Sky during the recent Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2013—Part 5
A filmmaker sees and does something important
By David Walsh, 2 October 2013
Franco-Senegalese director Dyana Gaye’s Under the Starry Sky takes place in three cities simultaneously, over the course of one winter.
Toronto International Film Festival 2013—Part 4
The drama of life in Britain, the Middle East, India, Poland and Bosnia…
By Joanne Laurier, 30 September 2013
The Toronto film festival screened a number of honest and compassionate works. Some tackled World War II and its aftermath, while others immersed themselves in current issues.
Toronto International Film Festival 2013—Part 3
Tensions and pressures that are almost unbearable
By David Walsh, 27 September 2013
Films by Palestinian, Chinese, Greek and Moroccan directors stood out.
2013 Toronto International Film Festival
Interview with Hany Abu-Assad, director of Omar
By David Walsh, 27 September 2013
David Walsh spoke to Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, director of Omar, at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2013–Part 2
12 Years a Slave and other films
By Joanne Laurier, 23 September 2013
One of the most prominently featured and commented upon films at the 2013 Toronto film festival was 12 Years a Slave from British director Steve McQueen, based on the remarkable 1853 account written by Solomon Northup.
Toronto International Film Festival 2013—Part 1
Twenty years of covering the Toronto film festival
By David Walsh, 20 September 2013
The recent Toronto International Film Festival screened some 366 films from 70 countries. This is the first in a series of articles.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part six
Two very different documentaries: Sofia’s Last Ambulance and Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You—A Concert for Kate McGarrigle
By David Walsh, 4 June 2013
The recent San Francisco film festival screened a number of documentary films, including these two, contrasting works.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part five
La Sirga and In the Fog: When will the “fog of war” settle?
By Kevin Kearney, 30 May 2013
La Sirga from Colombia and In the Fog, from a Belarusian filmmaker, deal with painful wartime situations, with varying degrees of success.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part four
The plight of African boat people in The Pirogue, and other films
By Joanne Laurier, 27 May 2013
Moussa Touré’s The Pirogue is a fictional account of West Africans seeking to escape grinding poverty in a desperate voyage. Also, Joanne Laurier comments on documentaries about the Beatles’ secretary and the Chinese art scene.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part three
Museum Hours and The Artist and the Model: In defense of art and the artistic personality
By David Walsh, 24 May 2013
At least two films at the San Francisco festival treated art, the artistic personality, or both, in a compelling fashion.
San Francisco Film Festival 2013
An interview with Jem Cohen, director of Museum Hours: “Art is something people do like breathing.”
By David Walsh, 24 May 2013
David Walsh spoke to Jem Cohen, director of Museum Hours, during the recent San Francisco film festival.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part two
Let the Fire Burn and The East: The MOVE bombing in 1985 and present-day anarchism
By Kevin Kearney, 22 May 2013
Let the Fire Burn, about the police bombing of the MOVE compound in Philadelphia in 1985, was one of the most outstanding and challenging documentaries at the San Francisco film festival this year.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part one
The Kill Team: The murderous reality of the US war in Afghanistan
By Joanne Laurier, 16 May 2013
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival recently concluded. The event this year screened 158 films from 51 countries, including 67 fiction features, 28 documentary features and 63 short films.
Bryan Wizemann’s About Sunny (Think of Me) released on video on demand
By David Walsh, 26 March 2013
One of the most compelling films screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, Think of Me, directed by American filmmaker Bryan Wizemann, now retitled About Sunny, is finally available.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 8
No holds barred: Two German documentaries— I Will Not Lose and Metamorphoses
By Bernd Reinhardt, 18 March 2013
One of the documentaries examines the former East German sports programme and the other the terrible consequences of the 1957 nuclear accident near Kyshtym in the USSR.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 7
“The Weimar Touch”: An interview with Rainer Rother, director of the 2013 Berlin film festival’s retrospective
By Stefan Steinberg and Berndt Reinhardt, 13 March 2013
WSWS reporters spoke recently to the head of the Deutsche Kinemathek (German Cinematheque) and the curator of this year’s Berlin film festival retrospective on German films of the Weimar era (1919-1933).
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
Raoul Peck’s Fatal Assistance: An indictment of Western aid to Haiti, but…
By Stefan Steinberg:, 6 March 2013
The latest film by Haitian-born director Raoul Peck focuses on the aid operation organised by the US and Western powers in the wake of the deadly earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4
An honest Russian citizen: Boris Khlebnikov’s A Long and Happy Life
By Bernd Reinhardt, 4 March 2013
The film depicts the futile struggle of a small farmer in the Russian provinces against corrupt local authorities.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3
What Ken Loach makes of The Spirit of ’45
By Stefan Steinberg, 1 March 2013
The veteran British filmmaker’s new documentary deals with the nationalisation of sections of industry carried out by the Labour government following the Second World War.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2
The Plague: The “loneliness, strength, humanity and beauty” of ordinary people
By Francisca Vier, 27 February 2013
The Plague (La Plaga) from Spain, directed by Neus Ballús, was one of the most satisfying films at the 63rd Berlinale.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1
Unresolved issues in today’s filmmaking
By Stefan Steinberg, 21 February 2013
A number of interesting films from central and eastern Europe were awarded prizes in Berlin this year, but, unfortunately, they were not characteristic of the festival as a whole.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012—Part 7
Underground: The Julian Assange Story and Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out
By Joanne Laurier, 12 October 2012
Julian Assange’s early life is fictionalized by Australian director Robert Connolly, while documentarian Marina Zenovich offers the latest installment in the Roman Polanski saga.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012—Part 6
Interviews with five filmmakers about life and art in India, Ivory Coast, Guatemala, Angola and Haiti
By David Walsh, 9 October 2012
A good many honest and intriguing films screened at the recent Toronto film festival. The WSWS interviewed a number of directors about their films and the conditions in their respective countries.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012—Part 5
Detroit’s belated “renaissance”—on film
By Joanne Laurier, 5 October 2012
A number of films about Detroit have suddenly emerged … including now a fiction work about the complicated interactions between the city’s Arab and African American populations.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012—Part 4
Far From Afghanistan: Significant, moving, uneven
By David Walsh, 2 October 2012
Far From Afghanistan is an effort by five US directors to come to terms with the decade-long Afghanistan war and its implications for both the Afghan and American populations.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012--Part 3
Filmmakers respond to important events—but how they respond is also important …
By Joanne Laurier, 28 September 2012
The 2012 Toronto film festival screened numerous serious documentaries and docu-dramas, reflecting the impact of the current social crisis and the increasing resistance of the global working class.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012—Part 2
A World Not Ours: Where do the Palestinians go from here?
By David Walsh, 26 September 2012
Mahdi Fleifel’s A World Not Ours, one of the most remarkable films presented at the Toronto festival this year, is both a personal memoir and a tracing out of the Palestinian history and condition.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012
An interview with Mahdi Fleifel and Patrick Campbell, director and co-producer of A World Not Ours
By David Walsh, 26 September 2012
The WSWS spoke to Mahdi Fleifel, writer and director of A World Not Ours and Patrick Campbell, co-producer (along with Fleifel) of the film, during the recent Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2012—Part 1
The wide range of human passion, action and adventure
By David Walsh, 22 September 2012
The Toronto International Film Festival screened some 372 films this year from 72 countries. This year’s festival and the general state of the film world present a sharper contradiction than ever.
Sydney Film Festival—Part 6: Bernardo Bertolucci’s rise and fall
By Richard Phillips, 18 August 2012
Bernardo Bertolucci has been the focus of much commentary by film critics during his 50-year filmmaking career.
Sydney Film Festival—Part 5: Dead Europe and Mabo, two Australian features
By Gabriela Zabala, 16 August 2012
Australian features Dead Europe and Mabo are weak and unconvincing works.
Sydney Film Festival 2012—Part 4: Two love stories and a couple of class-conscious dramas from Korea and Brazil
By Robert Maras, 15 August 2012
Tabu by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes and Amour, Michael Haneke recent film, are different takes on the subject of love.
Sydney Film Festival—Part 3: Some naturalistic and mostly credible depictions
By Richard Phillips, 10 August 2012
Noteworthy features screened at the festival included Just the Wind, The Angels’ Share and Captive.
Sydney Film Festival—Part 2: Music as a dividing or unifying social force
By Gabriela Zabala, 8 August 2012
El Gusto was the most engaging of the three music documentaries seen at this year’s festival.
Sydney Film Festival 2012—Part 1: To shine a light on reality or flee from it
By Richard Phillips, 4 August 2012
This year’s festival screened over 150 titles with 12 features in the official competition. Most of the competing features, including the prize winner, failed to impress.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2012—Part 4
Twixt and Trishna: Weak films from Coppola and Winterbottom
By Kevin Kearney, 30 May 2012
New films by veteran directors Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Winterbottom were screened at the recent San Francisco film festival.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2012—Part 3
Two significant works: Fritz Lang’s House by the River (1950) and Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949)
By Kevin Kearney, 22 May 2012
Screenings of Fritz Lang’s House by the River (1950) and Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949) were highlights of the 2012 an Francisco film festival.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2012—Part 2
Crulic—The Path to Beyond from Romania: The tragic fate of a decent, humble human being
By Kevin Kearney, 19 May 2012
The second film by Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian, Crulic—The Path to Beyond, was another noteworthy documentary (or semi-documentary) featured at the 2012 San Francisco film festival.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2012—Part 1
How have filmmakers responded to the new global situation?
By Kevin Kearney, 17 May 2012
The recently concluded 55th San Francisco International Film Festival screened nearly 200 films (including shorts) from several dozen countries. The Law in These Parts from Israel was one of the most intriguing and powerful.
Citizen Gangster: A drama of postwar Canadian life
By David Walsh, 15 May 2012
Citizen Gangster [Edwin Boyd] is an unusual film, which depicts social relations in Canada in a relatively harsh light and does not take as its premise the “kinder, gentler” nature of life there.
The Deep Blue Sea: Love and emotional truth in post-war Britain
By Ruby Rankin and Richard Phillips, 25 April 2012
The Deep Blue Sea, with its flawed individuals, living through the depths of despair but finding the strength to behave with personal integrity, has been revived on film by Terence Davies.
62nd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
Left-wing German films in the 1920s reveal problems
By Bernd Reinhardt, 16 March 2012
This year’s retrospective section at the Berlin film festival, “The Red Dream Factory”, included a number of intriguing German films produced by the German-Soviet film company Mezhrabpom in the 1920s and 1930s.
62nd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4
Sergei Eisenstein’s October: a monumental work
By Bernd Reinhardt, 10 March 2012
The new HD version of Eisenstein’s epic October is a testament to the restored film’s ability to retain the spirit of the “ten days that shook the world”, despite its philistine truncation at the hands of the Stalinist bureaucracy.
62nd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3
Interview with Rainer Rother, director of a Soviet-German film retrospective: “These films are a pledge that things can be different”
By Bernd Reinhardt and Stefan Steinberg, 6 March 2012
This year’s Berlin Film Festival featured a fascinating retrospective of films resulting from the collaboration between German and Soviet film producers and directors in the 1920s and 1930s. The WSWS spoke to its organiser.
62nd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2
Political films in Berlin
By Stefan Steinberg, 29 February 2012
A number of film reviewers have been quick to draw a parallel between the Arab Spring revolutions and the opening film of the Berlinale, Farewell, My Queen, by the French director Benoît Jacquot.
62nd Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1
A few nuggets on display at the Berlinale
By Stefan Steinberg, 24 February 2012
This year’s Berlinale jury, headed by veteran British director Mike Leigh, awarded the festival’s principal prizes to a number of interesting and significant works.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 5
The defense of Iranian filmmakers, and their artistic decline
By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 26 October 2011
The recent Toronto film festival screened several films from Iran—including This is Not a Film, about the house arrest of filmmaker Jafar Panahi, co-directed by Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and Good Bye from Mohammad Rasoulof.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 4
The permanent, painful search for truth
By Joanne Laurier, 15 October 2011
A number of films at the recent Toronto film festival offered serious presentations of life and artistic problems themselves.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 3
The drama of everyday life
By David Walsh, 12 October 2011
Certain filmmakers are beginning to reckon with social questions as factors in human psychology and behavior. Others continue to take the line of least resistance.
“Emotional truth and social truth are what I’m interested in”
An interview with Bryan Wizemann, director of Think of Me
By David Walsh, 12 October 2011
David Walsh spoke to Bryan Wizemann, the director of Think of Me, during last month’s Toronto international film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 2
Crimes and upheavals past and present
By Joanne Laurier, 5 October 2011
The best films from France in recent years have concerned themselves with the country’s colonial past and related issues today.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 1
The world at large and closer to home
By David Walsh, 30 September 2011
The recent 36th Toronto International Film Festival screened some 335 features and shorts from 65 countries.
Sydney Film Festival 2011—Part 6: Douglas Sirk’s elegant imitations of life
By Richard Phillips, 4 August 2011
Sirk’s best work reveals an exceptional artist and one whose visually-rich and socially-incisive observations still have a timeless quality.
Sydney Film Festival 2011—Part 5: A classic novel intelligently reworked, a light comedy and some less impressive efforts
By Richard Phillips, 1 August 2011
A new version of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and three other features looking for a niche somewhere between commercial and independent cinema.
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