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'1982' • Premiered at TIFF • 2019
During the 1982 invasion of Lebanon at a private school on the outskirts of Beirut, 11-year-old Wissam tries to tell a classmate about his crush on her..

'The Perfect Candidate' • Haifaa al-Mansour • 2019
For Haifaa al-Mansour, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the progress made by courageous women like her. A message movie admirable for its subtlety as well as its execution..

'The Truth • La Vérité' • 2019
At 76, Catherine Deneuve can still blow all-comers off a cinema screen, and she does exactly that in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Truth, which playfully explores the vexed relationship between..

'Paddleton' • An Awkward Embrace With Fragile Masculinity
A drily ambling exploration of masculinity and overcoming self-imposed barriers. An unlikely bromance between two misfit neighbors..

'The Lunchbox (DABBA)' • Cannes Review
Cinema loses giant Irrfan Khan to cancer and we take a look at the tenderness of his performance in The Lunchbox. It's carried off with charm and wit, and a pair of very..

'This Beautiful Fantastic' • An Oddball Modern-Day Fairy Tale
A charming, beautifully photographed modern fairy tale about love and gardening, This Beautiful Fantastic is worth seeing in spite of its dumb deterrent of a title..

'Bombshell' • #MeToo docudrama
Bombshell benefits from a terrific cast and a worthy subject, but its impact is muffled by a frustrating inability to go deeper than the sensationalistic surface..

'Just Mercy' • Law Drama Inspired by True Events
Just Mercy dramatizes a real-life injustice with solid performances, a steady directorial hand, and enough urgency to overcome a certain degree of earnest advocacy..

'Imitation of Life' • A Melodramatic Torrent of Rage
Douglas Sirk unleashed a melodramatic torrent of rage at the corrupt core of American life - the unholy trinity of racism, commercialism, and puritanism..

'Adopt a Highway' • Movie review
Logan Marshall-Green's directorial debut stars Ethan Hawke as a sweet ex-con who finds new purpose when he discovers a baby in a dumpster..

'Away'• A beautifully crafted minimalist adventure
Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis has written, animated, designed, edited, directed, and composed the music for his feature debut himself, with impressive results..

'Live Twice, Love Once' • Movie review
An award-winner in Spain, 'Live Twice, Love Once' is a mature film that deals effectively with both family separation and reconciliation in sorrowful times..

A Writer Named Tove • CPH:DOX 2020
A mosaic portrait of the Danish writer and poet Tove Ditlevsen. The self-confident and outspoken author, and the fragile woman behind the books..

'Arab Blues' • An Entertaining Tunisian Culture-Clash Comedy
Mildly amusing froth, kept all the more buoyant by Farahani's deadpan reactions and immensely watchable face and fine comic..

'Donbass' • Brutally powerful and brilliantly filmed
In its own absurdist way, it does shed some light on just what the war did to the lives - and sensibilities - of civilians caught up in the nightmare. It illustrates man's inhumanity..

The Flu That Killed 50 Million • More Deadly Than War
In 1918, as the Armistice bells rang out across the world to celebrate the end of World War I, a silent killer made its way home with the soldiers - Spanish flu...

'Uzak' (Distant) • The Art of Slow Cinema
Hauntingly beautiful, 'Distant' communicates volumes with its almost pervasive silence. Ceylan contrasts rich and poor, educated and uneducated. But the quest for love remains..

BERLINALE 2020 Awards • Rasoulof's There Is No Evil triumphs at the Berlinale
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof's 'There Is No Evil' has triumphed at the 70th Berlinale, picking up the Golden Bear..

'The Sea Inside' • Bardem is simply astounding
If ever there was a film that deserved to get the proverbial bump from Oscar, this is it. Rarely has any film so focused on death felt so vibrantly alive..

'PARI' • Review • BERLINALE 2020 Panorama
The debut feature by Siamak Etemadi, world-premiered in the Panorama section of the 70th Berlinale, depicts an Iranian mother’s compelling journey in a foreign place..

Wildland • Interview • World premiere at the Berlinale
In 'Wildland', we follow a small family clan where love and violence become dangerously merged. In the interview, they talk about how they created the narrative, how they use..

Berlinale 2020 • 11 films to look out for
Screen Daily picks out just a few of the stand-out titles playing at the event, from across the Competition, Berlinale Special, and Panorama sections..

Mahnaz Afshar • 'Die Hochzeit'
The Iranian superstar Mahnaz Afshar was at the world premiere of the new Til Schweiger film "Die Hochzeit". She flew to Berlin for Schweiger and experienced a free wedding ceremony on the red carpet..

'RAAZI' • Movie Review
Despite its shortcomings, Raazi has a lot going for it, especially its leading lady. If you are willing to suspend your imagination a bit, it can make for a fulfilling watch. The story of a Kashmiri spy married to a Pakistani man..

‘The Two Popes’ • Movie Review
Superbly acted and a lot of fun to watch. Can two Catholic men share the Papacy without driving each other crazy? The Two Popes is a wonderful showcase of great acting..

As Lean experienced Khomeini's Arrival
Lean Waage Beck tells about her experiences as a sister-in-law to the revolutionary Foreign Minister of Iran. About the Iranian Revolution, also described in her book "Tehran Round-Trip"..

‘Pain and Glory’ • Movie Review
The Spanish filmmaker’s tale of a memory, regret and an aging director making peace with his past isn’t just his most personal film — it’s also one of his greatest..

SUNDANCE 2020 • Massoud Bakhshi • Interview
Iranian filmmaker Massoud Bakhshi discusses Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness, a majority European production recognised in Sundance and on its way to the Berlinale..

Oscars 2020 • 'Parasite' wins in four categories
For the first time in history of the Oscars Parasite, an international film, Wins in four categories. Parasite, a South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho..

SUNDANCE 2020 • 'Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness'
The future of a young woman facing retributive justice plays out live on the country’s most popular reality show..

Reaching for the Moon (2014) • 'The art of losing isn’t hard to master'
An exotic love story becomes an empowering portrait of two highly gifted women who defy social convention. The life of American Poet..

'Things to Come' • A Rare, Mature film of Ideas
Visually arresting, but never precious, it's filled with ideas that have relevance to actual life, ideas that are based on a moral conviction that a question well-posed is far more..

‘Madame’ • A cute inversion of the Cinderella tale
Madame's retrograde trappings are further weighted down by unlikable characters and an overall inability to do justice to its themes. Rossy de Palma, a past muse of Spanish..

FURIE • Don't Make a Vietnamese Mother Mad
When a little girl is kidnapped by a trafficking ring, her mother, a notorious former gang leader, is close on their trail and will go to any lengths to bring her child home..

‘What They Had’ • A stunning feature debut
What They Had finds laughter and tears in its portrait of a family at a crossroads, with writer-director Elizabeth Chomko getting outstanding performances out of a talented..

Marriage Story • Reaching for life after the death of divorce
Johansson and Driver are remarkably, heartbreakingly good in every scene; showing their characters' journeys to an unflinching camera, , letting the gap between them..

‘The Tale’ • HBO’s Most Controversial Movie Ever?
The Tale handles its extraordinarily challenging subject matter with sensitivity, grace, and the power of some standout performances led by a remarkable Laura Dern..

Bille August • To direct psychological drama The Pact
The new feature by the Danish filmmaker centres on the secret relationship between Karen Blixen and young poet Thorkild Bjørnvig..

Hotel by the River 2019 • Movie Review
Feeling, for no apparent reason, like he is going to die, an old poet, staying for free in a riverside hotel, summons his two estranged sons..

The Irishman 2019 • Movie Review
Scorsese's expert direction allows the three and a half hour runtime to fly by. In fact, as soon as it's over you'll want to experience this achievement all over again..

Payman Maadi • To receive the Stockholm Achievement Award
Iranian actor Payman Maadi will be awarded the 2019 Stockholm Achievement Award for his unique quality of reaching through the screen, past prejudices and over borders..

Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)
Time moves differently in "Long Day's Journey Into Night," a sensuous, dream-like Chinese drama set in and around the Southeast mainland city of Kaili..

Written on the Wind • A Masterpiece Of Self-Parody
Douglas Sirk is the one who established the kind of tone in melodramas, in which shocking behavior is treated with passionate solemnity, while parody burbles beneath...

VENICE 2019 Out of Competition • ‘ZeroZeroZero’
Gabriel Byrne plays Edward Lynwood, an important shipbroker from New Orleans who hides tonne-loads of cocaine in the hundreds of containers he moves between the New..

Venice Film Festival 2019 • Polanski Is Silver Lion Winner
Roman Polanski has won the Grand Jury Prize for 'An Officer and a Spy'. He did not attend the festival and the prize was instead collected by his wife Emmanuelle Seigner, who stars in..

Venice Film Festival 2019 • ‘Joker’ Wins Golden Lion
‘Joker’ Wins Venice Film Festival Golden Lion, Roman Polanski Gets Grand Jury Prize. The top prize of the Lido went to Todd Phillips' revisionist take on the DC comic villain..

The Souvenir • Movie Review
Tom Burke and Honor Swinton Byrne appear in The Souvenir by Joanna Hogg, an official selection of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival..

Filmmakers Escorted Rasoulof to the Revolutionary Court
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof went to the Revolutionary Court to appeal his sentence on Monday, with a group of filmmakers reportedly accompanying him..

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower • 2017
Documentary about Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activist Joshua Wong. When the Chinese Communist Party backtracks on its promise of autonomy to Hong Kong, teenager Joshua..

'Astronaut' • Film Review • Edinburgh 2019
Richard Dreyfuss plays a grouchy grandfather with interstellar ambitions in writer-director Shelagh McLeod's debut feature. Even though he knows the mission could kill him..

Cannes, New York Film Festivals • Calls for Release of Mohammad Rasoulof
Organizers of the Cannes Film Festival are calling on Iran to release dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who was sentenced..

Bahman Mohasses •
Fifi Howls From Happiness
Bahman Mohassess was a celebrated artist at the time of the Shah. Trained in Italy, he created sculptures and paintings in his homeland. Mitra Farahani's direction is..

ROBERT BRESSON • Retrospective
Despite a relatively small body of work consisting of thirteen feature films made over forty years, Robert Bresson is one of the most revered and pivotal of French filmmakers..

Disconnect • Movie Review
A complicated view of life in the Digital Age with its conflicts and relationships initiated through laptops, iPads and cell phones. People fall in love, exploit one another, reveal their deepest secrets and even commit..

Dictatorland • Series 1 •
1. Kazakhstan
From golden handprints of the president to the scene of a massacre, in Kazakhstan Ben Zand experiences the sinister and bizarre sides to living in a dictatorship..

“Travel to the Morning”
To commemorate Abbas Kiarostami at Tehran gallery
Tehran’s E1 Gallery will organize an exhibition entitled “Travel to the Morning” in memory of legendary artist Abbas Kiarostami..

‘Diego Maradona’ (2019) • Movie Review • Cannes
A Gripping Saga of Soccer Legend’s Fall From Grace. It’s a dramatic shift, but only a starting point. "Amy" director Asif Kapadia's crafts an absorbing look at Maradona's epic journey..

How the Tiananmen Massacre Changed China forever
“There is a lesson the world could learn here, engagement as a policy is not wrong, but engagement… that obscures human rights is morally and politically wrong.”

A Love Letter to Caramel • What happened to you Nadine Labaki?
I just finished watching Caramel on MUBI and, ladies and gentlemen, I am totally shocked. How on earth could I have misjudged this film?

Cannes 2019 • Atlantics
Mati Diop’s Dazzling Ghost Story
Mati Diop’s feature-length directorial debut is a romantic and melancholy film, part social commentary, part ghost tale, that works best in its evocation of loss and female solidarity..

First Reformed • Review
A Stunning, Enrapturing Film
Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed,” in which Ethan Hawke brilliantly plays an alcoholic Protestant minister undergoing a profound spiritual and psychological crisis, is..

CANNES 2019 • Competition
Antonio Banderas • Pain & Glory
Antonio Banderas wins Cannes ‘best actor’ as Almodovar alter ego. Cineuropa met Spanish thesp Antonio Banderas to discuss Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain & Glory..

CANNES 2019 • Competition
Elia Suleiman • It Must Be Heaven
Cineuropa sat down with Palestinian director Elia Suleiman to delve deeper into his Palme d’Or contender It Must Be Heaven. Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds..

Cannes 2019 • Winners List
Bong Joon-ho Wins Palme d’Or
Alejandro González Iñárritu and his jury has announced the festival's best performances and films.The 2019 Cannes Film Festival officially comes to an end..

CANNES 2019 • Sylvester Stallone • Cannes Darling
Stallone was at the festival to promote "Rambo V: Last Blood" opening this fall. But the conversation, moderated by the journalist Didier Allouch, was mainly a look back at his..

CANNES 2019 • Critics’ Week
Cesar Diaz • Our Mothers
"Once we’ve all finished killing each other, what do we do with our dead? How do we heal our wounds? We need to take a look at the scars of our past. It has to start with..

Sorrentino’s Youth (2015)
A Meditation on Art and Aging
Watching Youth, you'd swear Fellini had risen from his grave and returned to make another movie. Give it up for Michael Caine and Jane Fonda in this autumn-years drama that’s an..

Cannes 2019 • Nadine Labaki
President of the Un Certain Regard Jury at the 72nd Annual Cannes Film Festival, the director, actress and screenwriter Nadine Labaki's career was first launched on the Croisette, and it is here that all her films..

Cannes 2019
Refn's "Too Old To Die Young"
After world premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, the television series will hit Amazon Prime Video this summer. A detective thriller from film provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn..

Nancy (2018) • Review
This is a movie whose behind-the-camera creative team is almost entirely female. In several respects, “Nancy” exhibits a seriousness of purpose that’s rare in American movies today..

‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’
Melissa McCarthy is a lock for a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the true story of Lee Israel, a lonely, embittered author of celebrity biographies who took up forgery to pay the bills..

BIF&ST 2019 • Ali Vatansever • Director of Saf
How do you stay human in a difficult place, when you’re surrounded by monsters? How do you manage to stay pure when the world obliges you to take one side or the other?

‘Never Look Away’ • Review
Germany’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language Oscar turns a Gerald Richter-like painter into a symbol of social change. 'Never Look Away' concerns itself with love and war and the limitless reach of art..

Fernando Colomo • La Banda Picasso (2013)
Filmed in French and set principally in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, La banda Picasso is a caper comedy about a burglary that is based on real characters and events..

Sundance Review • 'Queen Of Hearts' (2019)
An intriguing, smartly sustained drama in which we learn to be wary of those who claim the moral high ground. Things are never going to end well in Queen Of Hearts, which follows a..

Rotterdam Review • 'Sons Of Denmark' (2019)
This political thriller has shades of traditional tragedy and revolves around the question: How do you stay calm when society succumbs to fear and hate?..

CANNES 2019 Opening
Cannes to be opened by 'The Dead Don’t Die'
The film by US director Jim Jarmusch will raise the curtain on the 72nd Cannes Film Festival (14-25 May) and will be screened in..

VISIONS DU RÉEL 2019
Review: The Wind. A Documentary Thriller
Michał Bielawski's fourth feature-length documentary about a mysterious and destructive wind is a real tour de force..

'Born in Evin' • Processing the trauma of the Islamic Revolution
Born in Evin tells the story of the family of director and actor Maryam Zaree, who sets out to investigate the circumstances of her birth in one of the world’s most notorious jails for..

'All the Money in the World'
Replacing Kevin Spacey in true-life kidnap thriller 'All the Money in the World,' Christopher Plummer plays tycoon John Paul Getty "with acid humor, stunted emotion and magisterial skill," writes Peter Travers..

'The Wild Pear Tree' • A study of the conversational art
Whereas 'Winter Sleep' played like a journey into the darker corners of a troubled brain, 'The Wild Pear Tree' spends as much time being playful as it does cogitating on the great..

'The Bookshop' • Review
The script may stutter but the cast - especially Mortimer and Nighy - hold this uneven project together. And Clarkson is but one of a legion of baddies to enjoy loathing. A free-spirited widow arrives in a whispering community..

'3 FACES' by JAFAR PANAHI • at the Irish Film Institute
Iranian film '3 Faces' by Jafar Panahi is among three new films open at the Irish Film Institute on the 29th of March 2019: Irish documentary 'The Man Who Wanted to Fly,' drama..

CPH:DOX 2019 • Marie Skovgaard’s The Reformist
Marie Skovgaard’s fascination with the woman behind Europe’s first mosque run by female imams is contagious. The opening title of this year’s edition of CPH:DOX (20-31 March)..

'Beautiful Boy' • Review
Beautiful Boy, made through Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B, is a moving, insightful and very delicately observed drama about a dad whose son is a crystal meth addict. Carell gives his finest performance..

"I DO Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians"
[The film] makes clear that you can have all the right answers, but they hardly matter when you're missing the questions and in fact aren't even having the same conversation..

'The Eyes of Orson Welles'
Mark Cousins’ extraordinary, singular, complex take on a man who gave us Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, some of the most baroque screen adaptations of the Bard ever made..

Under the Tree (2018)
• Movie Review
What makes 'Under the Tree' a better-than-average satire on the unthinking hostilities that human beings are prone to is its steady intelligence, combined with a humor ..

'Before We Vanish' (2018) • Movie Review
What happens to people when they're no longer sure of their character-defining obligations? We get it, we are prisoners of our beliefs. What now?..

They Shall Not Grow Old • Movie Review
In this profound documentary event, Peter Jackson creates digital miracles-in 3D yet-to revitalize archival footage of World War I until faded history comes to vivid, vital life..

'Capernaum' • Movie Review
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Nadine Labaki's Capernaum ("Chaos") tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the "crime" of giving him life..

The Kindergarten Teacher
• Movie Review
Elevated by a bravura performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Kindergarten Teacher is one American remake that retains its impact the second time around..

'Synonyms' • Movie Review’
Nadav Lapid’s astonishing, maddening, brilliant, hilarious, obstinate, and altogether unmissable new film “Synonyms” opens with a sequence that might be described as a sideways attempt at psychic suicide..

BERLIN 2019 • Competition
Roberto Saviano • Author
Cineuropa met up with Italian author Roberto Saviano to discuss Piranhas, the newest adaptation of one of his novels. 'The more they want me to keep silent, the more I talk'..

‘At Eternity’s Gate’ • Review
There have been plenty of films about the tortured Dutch artist, but none as evocative and affecting as Julian Schnabel’s latest, led by mesmerizing work from Willem Dafoe in the central role..

Shoplifters (2018) • Review
“Shoplifters” is full of gray areas. What exactly does family mean? Does giving birth to someone automatically make you a mother? One of Kore-eda's most nuanced, layered examinations of the concept..

Hollywood's DiCaprio
has voiced his support for jailed Iranian environmentalists
In a tweet on February 6, DiCaprio calls for support for the eight Iranian detainees who went on trial last month, some facing serious..

BERLIN 2019 • Lone Scherfig's film to open the Berlinale
The 69th Berlin International Film Festival has announced its opening film. The world premiere of Lone Scherfig's latest English-language film The Kindness of Strangers will..

The Panama Papers (2018)
The Panama Papers is a lively and level-headed exposé, but it's also a moral inquiry into how the top echelon is now united, structurally and spiritually, in robbing the rest of us blind..

Becoming Astrid • Review
This film about an exemplary woman, made by women, is as much a pleasure as it is a lesson. A story that shows how overcoming turns to becoming if you’re able to stick to your principles..

Gifted • Movie Review
A man tries to raise the brilliant young daughter of his dead sister, but battles his mother over custody. Gifted isn't quite as bright as its pint-sized protagonist, but a charming cast wrings respectably engaging..

The Wife • Movie Review
In Swedish director Bjorn Runge’s film version of the 2003 Meg Wolitzer novel, the brilliant Glenn Close plays Joan Castleman, the wife of celebrated author Joe Castleman..

The Hours • Movie Review
Three women, three times, three places. Three suicide attempts, two successful. All linked in a way by a novel. In Sussex in 1941, the novelist Virginia Woolf fills the pockets of her coat with rocks and walks into a river to..

Juliette Binoche Will Head The 2019 Berlinale Int. Jury
With French actress and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche serving as Jury President, the International Jury will decide who will receive the Golden Bear and Silver..

Collette (2018)
Formally familiar but a brilliant match for its lead, Colette is a thoroughly entertaining biopic and an overdue testament to Keira Knightley's underrated gifts..

Julia (1977) • Movie Review
Fascinating, well structured drama with Fonda and Redgrave at their best. "Julia" is the story of a fascinating woman, told from the point of view of someone who hardly knew her..

'Bad Times at the El Royale' Movie review
A piece of major studio entertainment so patient, artful, and thrilling that it might as well be a time machine to the mid-'90s...

'Bird Box' Review • Susanne Bier's inventive drama
A welcome addition to the post-apocalyptic canon. If ever you find yourself trying to survive the end of the world, don’t look to Malorie for an inspiring pep talk..

Claude Lelouch pays a final tribute to Francis Lai
Claude Lelouch brings honor to his "angel", French composer Francis Lai, who won an Oscar for the iconic "Love Story" soundtrack. He died on Wednesday November 7..

Roma (2018) • Alfonso Cuarón’s Masterpiece of Memory
In “Roma,” the Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón uses a large canvas to tell the story of lives that some might think small..

Searching (2018) • Movie Review
“Searching” follows a panicked father’s online moves as he tries to track down his missing teenage daughter. It aims for and earns genuine emotion rather than cheap thrills..

CAIRO 2018 • Bille August • Director of A Fortunate Man
At the Cairo Film Festival, Cineuropa chatted to Bille August about his duties as head of the international jury and his latest feature, A Fortunate Man, which is screening at the gathering..

Bernardo Bertolucci Oscar Winner Dead at 77
Bernardo Bertolucci, the legendary Italian director behind classics such as “Last Tango in Paris” and “The Last Emperor,” has died at age 77..

Lars Mikkelsen wins international Emmy award
Lars Mikkelsen last night became the first ever Danish actor to win an international Emmy, picking up the gong at a lavish ceremony in New York..

Death in Tehran • Murder In The Name Of God
On November 28, 1998, the couple, now well-known Iranian opposition politicians, are murdered in their home in Tehran. A touching film documentary by the German journalist..

Last of the 'Olsen Banden' stars dies at 83
Morten Grunwald, the last surviving member of the 'Olsen Gang', passed away after a brief stay in hospital. He was 83. Grunwald played the affable goof Benny who is best..

IDFA 2018
Review: Kabul, City in the Wind
“This is our beloved country; this is Afghanistan, the fatherland of thieves,” sings bus driver Abas, sporting a charming smile, in the opening scene. The documentary debut..

The Ice Storm • Movie Review
In a wooded suburb, affluent adults stir restlessly in their split-level homes, depressed not only by their lives but by their entertainments. Their teenage children have started experimenting with the same forms..

Valkyrie • Movie Review
The 20 July plot in 1944 Germany
"Valkyrie" is a meticulous thriller based on a large-scale conspiracy within the German army to assassinate Hitler, leading to a failed bombing attempt on July 20, 1944..

Movie Review:
The Guilty (2018)
With its single setting and real-time story, “The Guilty” is a brilliant genre exercise, a cinematic study in tension, sound design, and how to make a thrilling movie with a limited..

Looking for Mummy:
Nazanin's Story
This electrifying portrayal of Nazanin-Zaghari Ratcliffe’s ongoing struggle to be released from an Iranian prison is a brand new play by Emi Howell..

Michael Moore on 'Fahrenheit 11/9' documentary
'We got here not by Trump. Trump didn’t create the mess we are in. When we get rid of him, we are still going to have the mess. We are still going to have mass shootings..'

Movie Review: Casino Jack
“Casino Jack” is so forthright, it is stunning. Political movies often play cute in drawing parallels with actual figures. They drop broad hints that a character is “really” Dick Cheney or Bill Clinton and so on. The film is “inspired by..

'Disappearance' • Venice Review
Teenage architecture student Sara claims to have been raped. She is bleeding and may require an operation. Yet, there is something about the situation that doesn’t ring true..

Movie Review: The Children Act (2017)
'The Children Act showcases yet another powerful performance from Emma Thompson, who elevates this undeniably flawed picture into an affecting adult drama..

TIFF 2018 • It’s That Time of Year for Paprika Steen
From Danish director and actor Paprika Steen comes a caustic comedy about the deep-rooted grievances that can rip families apart -- and the ties that bind them together..

TORONTO 2018: Soudade Kaadan • Director • Interview
'You don’t know how much you are traumatised until you leave.' Soudade Kaadan’s magical realist tale set in Syria in 2012 won Best Debut Film at Venice. Cineuropa chatted to..

VENICE 2018 • Interview
Sudabeh Mortezai on "Joy"
The second film by Sudabeh Mortezai, winner of the Europa Cinemas Label in the Giornate degli Autori, is a provocative unique and feminine take on human trafficking..

Film Review: A Fortunate Man
Bille August, the director of Pelle the Conqueror, nails another Danish classic. A Fortunate Man, as challenging as any project that August has taken on, is based on Henrik Pontoppidan’s Nobel Prize-winning Lucky Per..

As I Lay Dying (2018)
Mostafa Sayyari's free adaptation of William Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' will be screened in the Orizzonti Competition, which is dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in..

Three Iranian films at Venice festival 2018
Three Iranian movies will be screened in the various categories of the 75th Venice International Film Festival which opened in the Lido on Wednesday..

Iranian 'Master Actor' Entezami Dies at 94
Ezzatollah Entezami, one of the most prominent actors of the Iranian cinema and theater, who was named ‘master actor’ in his memoirs, died on Friday at the age of 94..

Tickets on Sale Now:
The 11th Annual Iranian Film Festival - San Francisco
Iranian Film Festival - San Francisco, the first independent Iranian film festival outside of Iran, will present 48 films at its 11th annual event..

Putin's Witnesses
Interview • Vitaly Mansky
Cineuropa met up with Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky at the Odesa IFF to discuss his latest award-winning movie, Putin’s Witnesses. Putin in 1999 and what he is..

Brothers (Kardeşler) (2018)
Turkish filmmaker Ömür Atay’s Brothers is a heady slice of familial melodrama that centres on the fractured relationship between two brothers and the secrets of the past that threaten to tear them apart..

Tully (2018)
The Importance of Self-care
"Tully" unearths uncomfortable truths in a wry, wise way. It delves into the modern parenthood experience with an admirably deft blend of humor and raw honesty..

Film Review: ‘Pollock’
What happened to Jackson Pollock when he was painting? That's what Ed Harris communicates in the film. What Harris, in an Oscar-nominated turn, is able to show in "Pollock" is that..

'20th Century Women'
Chain-smoking and Birkenstock-wearing 55-year-old Dorothea "comes from the Depression," explains her 15-year-old son Jamie, as though "The Depression" is the planet Jupiter..

Film Review: ‘Aquarius’
Led by a powerful performance from Sônia Braga, Aquarius uses a conflict between a tenant and developers to take an insightful look at the relationship between space and identity..

Factory of Lies (2018)
The False News From Russia
Russia has launched an information war - introducing a new weapon. Hundreds of young Russian are producing fake news from fake profiles. But some brave Russian..

Film Review: ‘Mary Shelley’
“Mary Shelley” is a rarity: a literary biopic with an argument. Which is by no means to say that the film, directed by Haifaa al-Mansour (“Wadjda”) forgoes the expected pleasures of the genre..

The legendary actress leaves our world
Today the legendary Iranian-American actress Vida Ghahremani passed away after battling cancer for many years. She went beyond taboos of her time to have the very first..

A Thousand Times Goodnight: Absorbing fact-based drama
Beautifully filmed and powerfully acted, 1,000 Times Good Night achieves absorbing fact-based drama without overindulging in Hollywood contrivances. Starring Juliette..

Cannes 2018 • Changeless Change • Jean-Luc Godard and Jia Zhangke
“We are never sad enough for the world to be better,” laments a concluding female voice in 'The Image Book.' “Something that burns so..

Sridevi honoured At the Cannes Film Festival 2018
Veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi was honoured with the TITAN Reginald F Lewis Film Icon Award at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival..

CANNES 2018 • Awards
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film has scooped the top prize, while other names on the winners’ list include Europeans Alice Rohrwacher, Marcello Fonte, Pawel Pawlikowski and Jean-Luc Godard..

CANNES 2018 • Un Certain Regard • Awards
CANNES 2018: Victory for the film by Swedish-Iranian director Ali Abbasi. Girl scoops the Award for Best Performance, while Sofia, Donbass and The Dead and the Others are..

Cannes Film Review: ‘Ash Is Purest White’
Jia Zhangke’s gangster epic is a twisting tale of love and survival in 21st-century China. A winding tale of love, disillusionment and survival that again represents his vision of..

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Interview
Gints Zilbalodis • Director of Away
A beautifully crafted minimalist adventure

By Laurence Boyce, Cineuropa
11/06/2019

A beautifully crafted minimalist adventure. --Hollywood Reporter

“I was working on it alone for a long time, and I really didn’t know if people would like it or not”

Viewers weary of the detailed look and upbeat tone of many big-budget American films may enjoy contemplating Zilbalodis' highly personal, austere vision. --Los Angeles Times

The production history of this feature by Latvian animator Gints Zilbalodis is fascinating, but it’s what finally made it to the big screen that truly impresses.

Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis has written, animated, designed, edited, directed, composed the music and designed the sound for his feature debut himself, with impressive results.

We caught up with Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis to chat about his fairy tale-like animated adventure Away, which was screened at the Annecy Film Festival

Away, an animated feature by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis, is a fairy tale-like adventure in which an unnamed protagonist finds himself pursued by a malevolent creature across a lush landscape. With animals as his only companions, our hero must find some sort of safety in the midst of his beautiful yet strange surroundings. The film eschews dialogue to create a rich and satisfying world full of both dread and wonder.

An expansion of his 2017 short Oasis – itself nominated for numerous Latvian film awards – Away is remarkable for various reasons. Not only does it feel like a completely different style of animation from what one might traditionally associate with the Baltic regions (it being a slick, 3D computer animation), but it also represents an immense technical achievement for an animator.

Everything in the movie – from the animation to the editing to the music – was done solely by Zilbalodis. Without any other crew on board, the film is a testament to the singular vision and dedication of an animator whose work will be eagerly awaited over the years to come.

As the film screened at the Animafest Zagreb and the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Cineuropa caught up with Zilbalodis to ask about how it all came together.

Cineuropa: Can you tell us a little about your background?

Gints Zilbalodis: I’ve made seven short films – two hand-drawn, one live-action and four CGI. Away is my first feature.

What are your influences? Especially as it seems like such a different film from what you might class as your typical Baltic animation. There seems to be a myriad of influences, from anime to computer games.

Away was influenced by a lot of different things. The long-take camera shots were inspired by films like I Am Cuba (1964) and Y tu Mamá También (2001). There were also TV series such as Future Boy Conan, a 1978 post-apocalyptic science-fiction anime series made by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, which is an example of incredible world building. There are bands and musicians like Sigur Rós, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Max Richter, and Gustavo Santaolalla alongside computer games like Journey and Shadow of the Colossus. I also admire the books of Haruki Murakami.

Gints Zilbalodis • Director of Away

The production of the film can be described as being that of a “one-man band”. Can you expand on the production process and how long the film took to make?

It took three-and-a-half years to make. I decided to split it up into four chapters. This helped me to transition from shorts to features more smoothly, and made it easier to structure the story and find the funding. There were no storyboards or script. I could do this because I didn’t have a crew.

You’re screening the movie at Annecy and Zagreb. What does that mean to you as an animator, and how do you hope audiences are going to react?

I’m very excited that the film is finally finished and people will see it. I was working on it alone for a long time, and I really didn’t know if people would like it or not, so I’m very happy that it’s been selected for so many festivals. I feel encouraged and motivated to work on my next film.

And what will that next film be?

I’ll be adapting my short film Aqua (2012) into a feature, which is going to be called Flow. I’m still in very early development with it, but once the story is more fleshed out, I’ll try to get a small crew to help me with it.

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