Film Festivals

#MeToo at the Cannes Film Festival: All about money and power

By Stefan Steinberg, 21 May 2018

An examination of recent movies by prominent women filmmakers reveals that they share the problems of their male counterparts.

2018 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 5

The generally—and genuinely—inadequate character of global filmmaking

By David Walsh, 2 May 2018

The impact of years of stagnation and official reaction still sharply influences artistic work.

2018 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 4

Documentary about singer M.I.A. (“Use your art to say something!”) and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed (small-town preacher struggles with life and death)

By Toby Reese, 30 April 2018

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., a feature-length documentary about rapper-songwriter, “M.I.A.” is a breath of fresh air. First Reformed is a dismal, confused film about a middle-aged former military chaplain turned preacher.

2018 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3

Poverty, war and right-wing politics—and the lives of two artists

I Am Not a Witch, The Workshop, The Distant Barking of Dogs, Garry Winogrand and Louise Lecavalier

By Joanne Laurier, 27 April 2018

I Am Not a Witch in particular is an elegantly crafted tale that comments on the exploitation of Zambia’s poor by an elite that shamelessly promotes superstition and backwardness.

2018 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 2

How are striking miners (Bisbee ’17), a great painter (Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti), Native Americans (The Rider) and others treated by the filmmakers?

By Joanne Laurier, 20 April 2018

A further look at the recent San Francisco film festival and its variety of films. Interesting, complex subjects may still receive inadequate or uneven treatment.

2018 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 1

Contemporary life, and those who make films about it (in Iran, the US, Russia, Switzerland, Kyrgyzstan …)

By David Walsh, 18 April 2018

The San Francisco International Film Festival, founded in 1957 and one of the longest-running such events in the Americas, this year screened some 180 films from 45 countries.

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 8

Brothers (1929) and Comradeship (1931): Two films dealing with the workers movement

By Bernd Reinhardt, 6 April 2018

Two feature films, part of the Berlin International Film Festival retrospective section, reflect a militant mood among workers in the late 1920s, in particular their striving for a common struggle and international solidarity.

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 7

A fresh look at German cinema in the Weimar Republic era (1919-1933)

By Bernd Reinhardt, 3 April 2018

The major retrospective at this year’s Berlinale, “Weimar Cinema Revisited,” presented films—along with their directors in many cases—that have been forgotten for decades.

Babylon Berlin: A lavish television series about 1920s’ Germany

By Sybille Fuchs, 2 April 2018

Babylon Berlin’s action takes place in the German capital, then the third largest municipality in the world, at the end of the so-called Golden Years of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933).

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5

Central Airport THF: In Berlin, the end of the road for many refugees

By Verena Nees, 26 March 2018

Karim Aïnouz’s impressive documentary about the mass housing of refugees at the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport was awarded the Amnesty International Film Prize.

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4

Styx and Eldorado: Once again on the plight of refugees

By Stefan Steinberg, 22 March 2018

A handful of movies at the 2018 Berlinale dealt powerfully and insightfully with the European Union’s criminal policy toward refugees.

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3

The Waldheim Waltz: A timely film about the World War II role of former Austrian president

By Stefan Steinberg, 20 March 2018

The events surrounding Kurt Waldheim’s campaign and subsequent election in 1985-86 played a major role in uncovering the real role played by the Austrian ruling elite in the Second World War.

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2

The shattering of what’s left of the American Dream: Generation Wealth, Game Girls, Lemonade

By Stefan Steinberg, 16 March 2018

Three films at this year’s festival shed a piercing light on social relations in the United States.

68th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1

The 2018 Berlinale and the #MeToo campaign

By Stefan Steinberg and Verena Nees, 14 March 2018

The 68th Berlin Film Festival, whose 2018 edition ended February 25, is the world’s largest film festival open to the public.

Berlin film festival: SPD cabinet minister promotes #MeToo campaign

By Katerina Selin, 10 March 2018

The media circus at this year’s Berlinale was all centred on one topic: #MeToo. Virtually every interview, meeting and media report mentioned the sexual misconduct campaign in one way or another.

Film director Michael Haneke criticizes #MeToo movement on eve of Berlinale film festival

By Katerina Selin, 20 February 2018

The reactionary #MeToo campaign is playing a central role at the 68th Berlinale International Film Festival.

Toronto International Film Festival: Part 6

A Season in France, Catch the Wind, Arrhythmia, Sweet Country: The refugee crisis, social disintegration in Russia…

By Joanne Laurier, 11 October 2017

The never-ending wars in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa have driven millions to seek what they perceive to be more stable conditions in Western Europe.

Toronto International Film Festival: Part 5

African American playwright Lorraine Hansberry, a revolution betrayed in Portugal and other matters

By Joanne Laurier, 4 October 2017

The Hansberry documentary presents a straightforward and enlightening picture of a woman who was smart, sensitive and rebellious, tragically dying of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34.

Toronto International Film Festival: Part 4

The Death of Stalin, The Other Side of Everything, Insyriated—The filmmakers’ inability to deal with complex questions, or worse

By David Walsh, 30 September 2017

Several films on political and historical questions underscore ongoing intellectual and artistic difficulties.

Toronto International Film Festival 2017: Part 2

Directions, Disappearance, A Drowning Man: Realistic about harsh conditions

By David Walsh, 26 September 2017

Certain films at the recent Toronto film festival depict reality in important ways.

Toronto International Film Festival 2017

An interview with Stephan Komandarev, director of Directions: “The first step is to have a clear picture of what’s happening. I don’t see any other way.”

By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 26 September 2017

We spoke with Bulgarian filmmaker Stephan Komandarev, the writer-director of Directions, in Toronto.

San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3

War (The Stopover), scientific progress (Marie Curie), the police (The Force) and other issues

By Joanne Laurier, 4 May 2017

Honest films about the character and impact of the brutal neo-colonial wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are extremely hard to come by.

San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 2

Muhi—Generally Temporary, or, a real concern for human suffering

By Joanne Laurier, 29 April 2017

The film focuses on a young Palestinian boy from Gaza, whose arms and legs have been amputated and who remains in limbo in an Israeli hospital.

San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 1

By David Walsh, 26 April 2017

The 2017 San Francisco International Film Festival screened some 180 films from 50 countries or so. This is the first of several articles.

“Is there a bigger lightning rod for racism, bigotry, fear-mongering and hate than immigration?”

An interview with Rodrigo Reyes, director of Lupe Bajo el Sol (Lupe Under the Sun)

By Kevin Martinez, 10 April 2017

The WSWS conducted an email interview with Rodrigro Reyes, director of Lupe Bajo el Sol (Lupe Under the Sun).

San Diego Latino Film Festival—Part 3

On the assassination of Leon Trotsky, Latin American death squads and pictures of immigration

By Toby Reese, Kevin Martinez and Andrea Ramos, 10 April 2017

El Elegido (The Chosen) dramatizes the role of Ramon Mercader in the assassination of Leon Trotsky in 1940. El Amparo recounts the 1988 massacre of innocent fishermen in Venezuela. Lupe Bajo el Sol and X500 look at immigration and immigrants.

San Diego Latino Film Festival—Part 2

Conditions in Latin America, treated concretely…and more abstractly

By Kevin Martinez and Toby Reese, 6 April 2017

Films from Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic were shown at the festival, including a tense political drama, a dialogue-free drama and two documentaries.

San Diego Latino Film Festival—Part 1

Films on social life, past and present, in Mexico, the US and Peru

By Kevin Martinez and Toby Reese, 3 April 2017

The festival screened films from Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, the US and other countries.

An interview with Jose Ramon Pedroza, director of Los Jinetes Del Tiempo (Time Riders)

By Kevin Martinez and Toby Reese, 3 April 2017

The WSWS conducted an interview with Mexican film director Jose Ramon Pedroza.

67th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3

The absence for the most part of the big wide world: German films at the Berlinale

By Bernd Reinhardt, 9 March 2017

The dramatic social and political developments of the past several years were evidently not high on the German filmmakers’ agenda.

67th Berlin International Film Festival--Part 2

A film about the legendary guitarist: Django

By Bernd Reinhardt, 4 March 2017

The debut film of Étienne Comar focuses on the year 1943, when the Nazis tried unsuccessfully to convince Django Reinhardt to undertake a tour of fascist Germany.

67th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1

Filmmaking in “apocalyptic” times

By Stefan Steinberg, 2 March 2017

There was very little evidence in Berlin this year of filmmakers and the festival as a whole taking up burning social and political issues.

Toronto International Film Festival 2016: Part 4

Sami Blood from Sweden, Werewolf from Canada, Park from Greece: Society’s cruelty to its youngest members

By David Walsh, 5 October 2016

Amanda Kernell’s Sami Blood, from Sweden, is not an easy film to watch. It was also one of the most moving and authentic films shown in Toronto this year.

Toronto International Film Festival 2016

Ma’ Rosa from the Philippines: Small-time drug dealers set upon by the police

By Dylan Lubao, 5 October 2016

The 14th film from Filipino director Brillante Mendoza was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and earlier premiered at Cannes.

Toronto International Film Festival 2016: Part 2

The Chosen, on Trotsky, and other political subjects

By David Walsh, 29 September 2016

The appearance of an honest and accurate film about the plot to assassinate Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1940 is a welcome—and long overdue—event.

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.