‘We Still Have to Close Our Eyes’ is an intriguing documentary feature by John Torres. It was a part of this year’s Tiff apart from the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and the Valdivia International Film Festival. Within about 12 minutes, the film is able to be an unreal mood-piece while focusing its narrative on one such strange notion. The film primarily uses clips from the footage captured from the sets of many Filipino productions, such as the movies of Lav Diaz and Erik Matti. And yet, it re-purposes those mismatched parts in such a symphony that it fits the tone of a sci-fi narrative it aims to build within.
“We Still Have to Close Our Eyes” is screening at Across Asia Film Festival
The film works largely as a found-footage production that we have seen often in several avant-garde works. It has a similar amount of low-key approach...
“We Still Have to Close Our Eyes” is screening at Across Asia Film Festival
The film works largely as a found-footage production that we have seen often in several avant-garde works. It has a similar amount of low-key approach...
- 12/20/2019
- by Akash Deshpande
- AsianMoviePulse
After a rocky few years, cinema from the Philippines is once again bristling with energy and innovation. International interest is rising, and the Tokyo International Film Festival’s 2019 selection reflects some of that. The recent launch of two incentive schemes by the Philippines government may help the country’s production become more international.
The Tokyo festival this year includes a total of eight films and TV episodes from the Philippines across its different sections: “Mananita” in the main competition section; Brillante Mendoza’s “Mindanao” and Erik Matti’s erotic drama “Food Lore Series—Island of Dreams,” in the World Focus section; and Bradley Liew’s “Motel Acacia” in the Asian Focus category.
Philippines films also dominate Tokyo’s Crosscut Asia sidebar, which this year focuses on Southeast Asian fantasy and genre titles: Lav Diaz’ “The Halt,” Antoinette Jadaone’s “Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay,” Matti’s “The Entity...
The Tokyo festival this year includes a total of eight films and TV episodes from the Philippines across its different sections: “Mananita” in the main competition section; Brillante Mendoza’s “Mindanao” and Erik Matti’s erotic drama “Food Lore Series—Island of Dreams,” in the World Focus section; and Bradley Liew’s “Motel Acacia” in the Asian Focus category.
Philippines films also dominate Tokyo’s Crosscut Asia sidebar, which this year focuses on Southeast Asian fantasy and genre titles: Lav Diaz’ “The Halt,” Antoinette Jadaone’s “Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay,” Matti’s “The Entity...
- 10/28/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The 60th Thessaloniki International Film Festival invites audience and filmmakers to the large celebration of global independent cinema from October 31 to November 10, 2019, showcasing the best films from all over the world, important guests and tributes, cinematic surprises, as well as a series of parallel events in the city of Thessaloniki.
Here are all the Asian Films in the Official Programme:
International Competition
“Wet Season” by Anthony Chen – Singapore, Taiwan – 2019
Out Of Competition
“Beanpole” by Kantemir Balagov – Russia, 2019
”Abou Leila” – by Amin Sidi-boumediene – Algeria, France, Qatar – 2019
“Sister”
Balkan Survey
“Noah Land” by Cenk Erturk – Germany, Turkey, USA – 2019
”Sister” by Svetla Tsotsorkova – Bulgaria, Qatar – 2019
Film Forward
“From Tomorrow On, I Will” by Ivan Markovic, Wu Linfeng – Germany, China, Serbia – 2019
”Krabi 2562” by Anocha Suwichakornpong, Ben Rivers – United Kingdom, Thailand – 2019
“Africa”
Meet The Neighbors
”Africa” by Oren Gerner – Israel – 2019
“The Criminal Man” by Dmitry Mamuliya – Georgia, Russia – 2019
Special Screenings
”Chained” by Yaron Shani – Israel,...
Here are all the Asian Films in the Official Programme:
International Competition
“Wet Season” by Anthony Chen – Singapore, Taiwan – 2019
Out Of Competition
“Beanpole” by Kantemir Balagov – Russia, 2019
”Abou Leila” – by Amin Sidi-boumediene – Algeria, France, Qatar – 2019
“Sister”
Balkan Survey
“Noah Land” by Cenk Erturk – Germany, Turkey, USA – 2019
”Sister” by Svetla Tsotsorkova – Bulgaria, Qatar – 2019
Film Forward
“From Tomorrow On, I Will” by Ivan Markovic, Wu Linfeng – Germany, China, Serbia – 2019
”Krabi 2562” by Anocha Suwichakornpong, Ben Rivers – United Kingdom, Thailand – 2019
“Africa”
Meet The Neighbors
”Africa” by Oren Gerner – Israel – 2019
“The Criminal Man” by Dmitry Mamuliya – Georgia, Russia – 2019
Special Screenings
”Chained” by Yaron Shani – Israel,...
- 10/22/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Known for his epic–and epically long–films that examine the woeful past and troubled present of the Philippines, Lav Diaz has established an unmistakable name for himself and become a staple at A-list film festivals worldwide over the last decade.
He was awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlinale for his 8-hour opus A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, the Golden Leopard at Locarno for the 5.5-hour From What Is Before, and won over Sam Mendes’ jury to take home the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2016 for The Woman Who Left.
His latest feature, The Halt (4 hours and 36 minutes in case anyone is keeping score), premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in Cannes earlier this year and screened recently at Filmfest Hamburg. It’s set in 2034, when volcanic eruptions have plunged Southeast Asia into darkness and the Philippines is ruled by a ruthless...
He was awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlinale for his 8-hour opus A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, the Golden Leopard at Locarno for the 5.5-hour From What Is Before, and won over Sam Mendes’ jury to take home the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2016 for The Woman Who Left.
His latest feature, The Halt (4 hours and 36 minutes in case anyone is keeping score), premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in Cannes earlier this year and screened recently at Filmfest Hamburg. It’s set in 2034, when volcanic eruptions have plunged Southeast Asia into darkness and the Philippines is ruled by a ruthless...
- 10/17/2019
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Wang Xiaoshuai‘s ‘So Long, My Son‘ secures a record six nominations.
Chinese films dominate the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) which will be held in Brisbane, Australia, on Novemer 21.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
Films from 22 countries will be represented at the awards but while the likes of India, Japan and Russia have picked up a handful of nods, Chinese films have more than double that of any other country with 13 nominations across seven features.
Wang Xiaoshuai‘s family drama So Long, My Son has secured a record six nominations, including best feature where...
Chinese films dominate the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) which will be held in Brisbane, Australia, on Novemer 21.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
Films from 22 countries will be represented at the awards but while the likes of India, Japan and Russia have picked up a handful of nods, Chinese films have more than double that of any other country with 13 nominations across seven features.
Wang Xiaoshuai‘s family drama So Long, My Son has secured a record six nominations, including best feature where...
- 10/16/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Chinese drama “So Long, My Son” was nominated in six categories for this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards, an unprecedented haul that makes the Wang Xiaoshuai-directed film a clear favorite.
A drama about separation, secrets, a lifetime of regret, and the consequences of China’s one-child policy, “So Long, My Son” had its premiere in February at the Berlin festival. There it won Silver Bear prizes for both lead actor Wang Jingchun and actress Yong Mei. Both received Apsa nominations, most of which were announced Wednesday.
Those unveiled encompass 11 categories, and cover 37 films from 22 countries and territories.
China emerged as the dominant contender. Seven mainland Chinese films together earned 13 nominations, more than double the six nods for films from Iran and four for pictures from India.
Surprisingly, Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is considered a hot favorite for an Oscar nomination,...
A drama about separation, secrets, a lifetime of regret, and the consequences of China’s one-child policy, “So Long, My Son” had its premiere in February at the Berlin festival. There it won Silver Bear prizes for both lead actor Wang Jingchun and actress Yong Mei. Both received Apsa nominations, most of which were announced Wednesday.
Those unveiled encompass 11 categories, and cover 37 films from 22 countries and territories.
China emerged as the dominant contender. Seven mainland Chinese films together earned 13 nominations, more than double the six nods for films from Iran and four for pictures from India.
Surprisingly, Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is considered a hot favorite for an Oscar nomination,...
- 10/16/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Lav Diaz is one of the most renowned directors from the Philippines. Born in 1958 as a son of two teachers, he started being interested in music and film early on. At the Mowelfund Film Institut he studied directing as well as film production, experimenting with various other media and disciplines such as photography and writing.
Most of the films Diaz directs are very long features, sometimes with a duration of several hours, focusing on the significance of the history of his country, its past, present and possible future. Features like “Lullaby to a Sorrowful Mystery”, “Norte, the End of History” and “The Woman Who Left” have brought Diaz to the attention of critics and audiences worldwide. For his work he has received numerous prizes, for example, the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival or the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival.
At this year’s Filmfest Hamburg, three of Diaz’s features were screened,...
Most of the films Diaz directs are very long features, sometimes with a duration of several hours, focusing on the significance of the history of his country, its past, present and possible future. Features like “Lullaby to a Sorrowful Mystery”, “Norte, the End of History” and “The Woman Who Left” have brought Diaz to the attention of critics and audiences worldwide. For his work he has received numerous prizes, for example, the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival or the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival.
At this year’s Filmfest Hamburg, three of Diaz’s features were screened,...
- 10/6/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Viewers about to journey into the latest feature of Filipino auteur Lav Diaz should get “hold of some acid” because it “would serve you really well”. Among other pieces of advice and explanation about his latest film, a text written by Diaz was read to the waiting audience at the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival where the film was screened later this year. Whether or not this was an ironic way to gain the audience’s attention remains to be seen, but given the film’s rather serious nature, it also foreshadows the darkness of the visions represented in “The Halt”.
“The Halt” is screening at Filmfest Hamburg 2019
In 2034, after catastrophic volcanic eruptions, large parts of South-East Asia live in constant darkness since the sun is blocked. Additionally, many people have died due to a flu pandemic called “the Dark Killer” which the government has attempted to contain.
“The Halt” is screening at Filmfest Hamburg 2019
In 2034, after catastrophic volcanic eruptions, large parts of South-East Asia live in constant darkness since the sun is blocked. Additionally, many people have died due to a flu pandemic called “the Dark Killer” which the government has attempted to contain.
- 9/27/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
”I wonder if this has something to do with countries going through a crisis.” he said.
Albert Wiederspiel has become synonymous with Germany’s FilmFest Hamburg during his 16 years at the helm as festival director. He recently extended his contract for a further three years until 2023. The festival opens tonight (September 26) with the German premiere of French comedy-drama La Belle Époque with director Nicolas Bedos and lead actress Doria Tillier in attendance.
It will close with the German premiere of Ken Loach’s socio-political drama Sorry We Missed You on October 5.
More than 40,000 film fans are expected to attend across 10 days of screenings,...
Albert Wiederspiel has become synonymous with Germany’s FilmFest Hamburg during his 16 years at the helm as festival director. He recently extended his contract for a further three years until 2023. The festival opens tonight (September 26) with the German premiere of French comedy-drama La Belle Époque with director Nicolas Bedos and lead actress Doria Tillier in attendance.
It will close with the German premiere of Ken Loach’s socio-political drama Sorry We Missed You on October 5.
More than 40,000 film fans are expected to attend across 10 days of screenings,...
- 9/26/2019
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Festival director also discusses selecting films by women directors.
Albert Wiederspiel is set to enter his 16th Filmfest Hamburg (September 26 to October 5) as festival director, having extended his contract last year through 2023.
This year’s edition will present 144 films from 56 countries in 12 sections. It will open on Thursday (September 26) with the German premiere of French comedy-drama La Belle Époque with director Nicolas Bedos and lead actress Doria Tillier in attendance.
More than 40,000 film fans are expected to attend across ten days of screenings, concerts, film talks, and industry events. It will draw to a close on with the German premiere...
Albert Wiederspiel is set to enter his 16th Filmfest Hamburg (September 26 to October 5) as festival director, having extended his contract last year through 2023.
This year’s edition will present 144 films from 56 countries in 12 sections. It will open on Thursday (September 26) with the German premiere of French comedy-drama La Belle Époque with director Nicolas Bedos and lead actress Doria Tillier in attendance.
More than 40,000 film fans are expected to attend across ten days of screenings, concerts, film talks, and industry events. It will draw to a close on with the German premiere...
- 9/26/2019
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Festival director also discusses selecting films by women directors.
Albert Wiederspiel is set to enter his 16th Filmfest Hamburg (September 26 to October 5) as festival director, having extended his contract last year through 2023.
This year’s edition will present 144 films from 56 countries in 12 sections. It will open on Thursday (September 26) with the German premiere of French comedy-drama La Belle Époque with director Nicolas Bedos and lead actress Doria Tillier in attendance.
More than 40,000 film fans are expected to attend across ten days of screenings, concerts, film talks, and industry events. It will draw to a close on with the German premiere...
Albert Wiederspiel is set to enter his 16th Filmfest Hamburg (September 26 to October 5) as festival director, having extended his contract last year through 2023.
This year’s edition will present 144 films from 56 countries in 12 sections. It will open on Thursday (September 26) with the German premiere of French comedy-drama La Belle Époque with director Nicolas Bedos and lead actress Doria Tillier in attendance.
More than 40,000 film fans are expected to attend across ten days of screenings, concerts, film talks, and industry events. It will draw to a close on with the German premiere...
- 9/26/2019
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Below you will find an index of our coverage from the Cannes Film Festival, Directors' Fortnight, and Critics' Week in 2019, as well as our favorite films.Awardstop 101. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)2. Liberté (Albert Serra)3. Jeanne4. Bacurau5. Atlantics (Mati Diop)6. Zombi Child (Bertrand Bonello)7. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)8. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)9. The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu)10. Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)
(Contributors: Pedro Emilio Segura Bernal, Ela Bittencourt, Annabel Ivy Brady-Brown, Giovanni Marchini Camia, Jordan Cronk, Jesse Cumming, Flavia Dima, Leonardo Goi, Daniel Kasman, Roger Koza, Boris Nelepo, Blake Williams)Correspondences#1 Daniel Kasman previews the festival | Read#2 Leonardo Goi reviews The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch), Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux) | Read#3 Daniel Kasman reviews Bacurau, Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov), Atlantics (Mati Diop) | Read#4 Leonardo Goi reviews Sorry We Missed You (Ken Loach), Les misérables (Ladj Ly), A White, White Day (Hlynur Pálmason) | Read#5 Daniel Kasman reviews...
(Contributors: Pedro Emilio Segura Bernal, Ela Bittencourt, Annabel Ivy Brady-Brown, Giovanni Marchini Camia, Jordan Cronk, Jesse Cumming, Flavia Dima, Leonardo Goi, Daniel Kasman, Roger Koza, Boris Nelepo, Blake Williams)Correspondences#1 Daniel Kasman previews the festival | Read#2 Leonardo Goi reviews The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch), Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux) | Read#3 Daniel Kasman reviews Bacurau, Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov), Atlantics (Mati Diop) | Read#4 Leonardo Goi reviews Sorry We Missed You (Ken Loach), Les misérables (Ladj Ly), A White, White Day (Hlynur Pálmason) | Read#5 Daniel Kasman reviews...
- 5/28/2019
- MUBI
The Notebook is covering Cannes with an on-going correspondence between critic Leonardo Goi and editor Daniel Kasman.The HaltDear Leo,My last dispatch was focused on excess, confessions, and the vulgar. My final letter from Cannes will be devoted to political filmmaking. For Filipino director Lav Diaz there is no such thing as “political filmmaking,” for filmmaking is an inherently political act. This has always been true of his movies but has reached a greatly more heightened and indeed possibly perilous degree as his country has fallen under the blood-stained and repressive leadership of Rodrigo Duterte. Diaz’s last few movies have addressed this painful and dangerous new era indirectly: A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery is set in the time of the Philippine revolution in order to explore where the hopes for the country after colonialism could have gone, and his last, the musical Season of the Devil, is...
- 5/27/2019
- MUBI
Dumont writes and directs the drama, his seventh feature-length fiction after Joan Of Arc which premieres in Un Certain Regard this year.
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded international sales on Bruno Dumont’s upcoming drama On A Half Clear Morning, starring Léa Seydoux as a celebrity journalist juggling her busy career and personal life whose life is over-turned by a freak car accident.
Dumont writes and directs the drama, his seventh feature-length fiction after Joan Of Arc which premieres in Un Certain Regard this year.
Seydoux – who is also in Cannes this year in Arnaud Desplechin’s Palme d’Or contender Oh Mercy!
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded international sales on Bruno Dumont’s upcoming drama On A Half Clear Morning, starring Léa Seydoux as a celebrity journalist juggling her busy career and personal life whose life is over-turned by a freak car accident.
Dumont writes and directs the drama, his seventh feature-length fiction after Joan Of Arc which premieres in Un Certain Regard this year.
Seydoux – who is also in Cannes this year in Arnaud Desplechin’s Palme d’Or contender Oh Mercy!
- 5/14/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Indie Sales has announced a slew of major deals on Matteo Rovere’s ambitious Italian epic film “Romulus & Remus: The First King” in the run-up to Cannes, where the movie will have a market screening.
The film is based on the legend of Romulus and Remus, twin brothers and shepherds who lived in peace near the Tiber river and embarked on an incredible journey to found Rome. “Romulus & Remus: The First King” is headlined by Italian star Alessandro Borghi (“Suburra”) and shot in Proto-Italic language, the ancestor of Latin.
The Paris-based sales company has sold the film in North America (WellGo USA), Germany and Austria (Capelight), Spain (Mediaset), Switzerland (Pathé), South Korea (Kth), Poland (Wistech Media), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Cinemart).
“’The First King’ is an intense action epic in the hands of a cinematic auteur that takes the founding of Rome out of legend and grounds it in history,...
The film is based on the legend of Romulus and Remus, twin brothers and shepherds who lived in peace near the Tiber river and embarked on an incredible journey to found Rome. “Romulus & Remus: The First King” is headlined by Italian star Alessandro Borghi (“Suburra”) and shot in Proto-Italic language, the ancestor of Latin.
The Paris-based sales company has sold the film in North America (WellGo USA), Germany and Austria (Capelight), Spain (Mediaset), Switzerland (Pathé), South Korea (Kth), Poland (Wistech Media), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Cinemart).
“’The First King’ is an intense action epic in the hands of a cinematic auteur that takes the founding of Rome out of legend and grounds it in history,...
- 5/13/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Acquisition marks one of the first deals for new sales company Totem Films.
Arp Séléction has snapped up French rights to Swedish filmmaker Levan Akin’s And Then We Danced, exploring the struggles of Georgia’s Lgbt+ community through the prism of dancers at a conservative national dance company, ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight next week (May 16).
It marks one of the first deals for new French sales company Totem Films which makes its market debut this Cannes, after its launch last year by sales veterans Agathe Valentin, Bérénice Vincent and film finance expert Laure Parleani.
Arp also...
Arp Séléction has snapped up French rights to Swedish filmmaker Levan Akin’s And Then We Danced, exploring the struggles of Georgia’s Lgbt+ community through the prism of dancers at a conservative national dance company, ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight next week (May 16).
It marks one of the first deals for new French sales company Totem Films which makes its market debut this Cannes, after its launch last year by sales veterans Agathe Valentin, Bérénice Vincent and film finance expert Laure Parleani.
Arp also...
- 5/9/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Diaz’s black and white sci-fi is set in in Filipino capital Manila in 2034.
Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international sales rights to Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s black and white sci-fi work The Halt, ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.
The drama is set in Filipino capital Manila in 2034, which has been enveloped in darkness ever since massive volcanic eruptions in the Celebes Sea three years prior deprived Southeast Asia of sunlight.
It is a world in which “madmen control countries, communities, enclaves and new bubble cities. Cataclysmic epidemics ravage the continent. Millions have died and millions more...
Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international sales rights to Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s black and white sci-fi work The Halt, ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.
The drama is set in Filipino capital Manila in 2034, which has been enveloped in darkness ever since massive volcanic eruptions in the Celebes Sea three years prior deprived Southeast Asia of sunlight.
It is a world in which “madmen control countries, communities, enclaves and new bubble cities. Cataclysmic epidemics ravage the continent. Millions have died and millions more...
- 5/2/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
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