Baaria (film)

A beautiful Sicilian movie about 3 generations living in town Bagheria (Baaria in Sicilian slang) where the director, Giuseppe Tornatore, was born. I saw it in the cinema and before going, I watched the trailer and from what I saw there, I expected almost a kitch romanticized image of Italian life - simply only nice views made in Italian comedy-style.
I almost declined going, but then changed my mind but did not expect much.
The film was great - slow camera work at times, yes - the images were great and beautiful, but the story was narrated with such sensitivity and sensuality that I completely fell for it. Fragile characters full of humanity, childhood innocence, light and at times ironic humor, symbolism and just hints at a much deeper symbolism involved in that region. It left deep emotions in me, one of rare films I saw, very sensitive and intelligent.

en.wiki / Giuseppe Tornatore / cz.review / febiofest.review

The Informers (film, 2009)

I watched it at home recently. It's based on a book by the author of American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis, directed by Gregor Jordan. It shows young spoiled teenagers living in the 80's Holywood - sex, drogs and rock-and-roll sort of thing, carelessness, not knowing the difference between right and wrong, lost and uprooted in the same way as their parents are. An artistic critique of the superficial shallow American culture. The film is dedicated to the actor Brad Renfro who died of drug abuse, he excelled in the role of Jack (hotel doorman). I found the dedication quite symbolic of the whole plot.



The Informers (2009 film)
Bret Easton Ellis (writer)
Gregor Jordan (director)
Brad Renfro (actor)
Mickey Rourke (actor)

Survival Song (film)

Today, when I was watching AlJazeera's news on China's plans to build twelve new hydroelectric dams along the Yangtze river and about how inhabitants are evicted and their life gets worse, I remembered a beautifully made film by a Chinese director, Survival Song - by Yu Guangyi. I saw this film at the Czech Jihlava Film Fest in 2009.

In Survival Song, a hunter/trapper and his wife take an unemployed drifter named Xiao Lizi into their home. When their house is demolished to make way for a nearby dam, the family scatters: the wife goes back to her hometown, Xiao Lizi finds temporary work on a construction site, and the hunter/trapper - who is wanted for poaching - flees to escape the law.

Survival Song - (Xiao Lizi) - 2008
Independent Chinese Documentaries
AlJazeera
Jihlava Film Fest

Michael Moore: Capitalism: A Love Story

This film is premiered next week at Jihlava Documentary Film Festival, Czech Republic.

30-minute interview with Michael Moore
MM
Jihlava doc film fest

Steve McQueen: Hunger (film)

A life in prison under Thatcher's rule and a hunger protest by IRA prisoners. Chilling.
wiki (film)
1981 Irish hunger strike
UDA (a tattoo on a guard's fingers)
20-minute interview with Steve McQueen

Venice Film Festival 2009

Pickups:
Michael Moore: Capitalism with Love



Steven Soderbergh: Informant!



Oliver Stone: South of the Border



Claire Denis: Matériel blanc

Lineup:

Opening film: Baaria - Giuseppe Tornatore - Italy

Soul Kitchen, Fatih Akin - Germany
La Doppia Ora, Giuseppe Capotondi - Italy
Yi ngoi (Accident), Cheang Pou-Soi - China/Hong Kong
Persecution, Patrice Chereau - France
Lo Spazio Bianco (White Space), Francesca Comencini - Italy
White Material - Claire Denis - France
Mr. Nobody, Jaco van Dormael - France
A Single Man, Tom Ford - US
Lourdes, Jessica Hausner - Austria
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of New Orleans, Werner Herzog - US
The Road, John Hillcoat - US
Ahasin Wetei (Between Two Worlds), Vimukhti Jayasundara - Sri Lanka
El Mosafer (The Traveller), Ahmed Maher - Eqypt
Levanon (Lebanon), Samuel Maoz - Israel
Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore - US
Zanan-e-bedun-e mardan (Women Without Men), Shirin Neshat - Germany
Il Grande Sogno (The Big Dream), Michele Placido - Italy
36 Vues Du Pic Saint Loup, Jacques Rivette - France
Life During Wartime,Todd Solondz - US
Tetsuo The Bullet Man, Shinya Tsukamoto - Japan
Lei wangzi (Prince of Tears), Yonfan - China/Taiwan/Hong Kong
There will be an additional “surprise film” in competition.

OUT OF COMPETITION

[Rec] 2 - Paco Plaza, Jaume Balaguero - Spain
Chengdu, Wo Ai Ni (Chengdu, I Love You), Fruit Chan, Cui Jian - China
The Hole, Joe Dante - US
The Men Who Stare At Goats, Grant Heslov - US
Ehky ya Schahrazad (Scheherazade, Tell Me A Story), Yousry Nasrallah - Egypt
Yona Yona Penguin, Rintaro - Japan
The Informant!, Steven Soderbergh - US

wiki
venice film festival official pages

Palestinian Film Festival in Toronto

Just watched on The Real News an invitation to Toronto Palestine Film Festival. It is not so frequent that there would be Palestinian Film Festivals, so let's see what's there..! (Links to other festivals here or here.)

The Libertine - Prologue

El prólogo de mi pelicula favorita.

Allow me to be frank at the commencement.
You will not like me.
The gentlemen will be envious and the ladies will be repelled.
You will not like me now and you will like me a good deal less as we go on.
Ladies, an announcement.
I am up for it.
All the time.
That is not a boast or an opinion.
It is bone-hard medical fact.

I put it round, you know.
And you will watch me putting it round and sigh for it.
Don't.
It is a deal of trouble for you and you are better off watching and drawing your conclusions from a distance than you would be if I got my tarse up your petticoats.
Gentlemen, do not despair.
I am up for that as well.
And the same warning applies.
Still your cheesy erections till I've had my say, but later when you shag, and later you will shag, I shall expect it of you, and I will know if you have let me down.
I wish you to shag with my homuncular image rattling in your gonads.
Feel... how it was for me, how it is for me.
And ponder.
Was that shudder the same shudder he sensed?
Did he know something more profound?
Or is there some wall of wretchedness that we all batter with our heads at that shining live-long moment?
That is it.
That is my prologue.
Nothing in rhyme.
No protestations of modesty.
You were not expecting that, I hope.
I am John Wilmot.
Second Earl of Rochester.
And I do not want you to like me.

Armenian Genocide (1915)

Vittorio (left) and Paolo Taviani on the set of "The Lark Farm." (Spiegel)

At the FebioFest in Prague, I am going to watch the film "The Lark Farm" by Italian directors Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani about the disputed genocide of Armenians in Turkey at the start of WWI. Supposedly 1.5 million Armenians died, which was 3/4 of Armenian population in Turkey at that time...
More links below.

Czech article on this
Wikipedia
Genocide disputed
Genocide disputed 2


LA MASSERIA DELLE ALLODOLE: Genocidio armeno


Armenian genocide

Film: Lake of Fire

Lake of Fire trailer

A good film on the dilemmas of abortion and fundamental religious right members who go and kill "abortionists" - doctors carrying out abortion. I was shocked to see how many doctors were killed and how brutal and blind in views the pro-life side could be, what fundamentalism lies behind the anti-abortion propaganda. This film is not a 'black and white' depiction of abortions, but shows how complex / personal / political and dubious this question can be.
Another great film treating abortion is the Romanian "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days".



Official info about the film from ThinkFilmNY:
Ever since Roe v. Wade, the United States has been deeply divided on the issue of abortion. In that landmark case, an unmarried pregnant woman was refused an abortion in Texas and, with the ensuing judicial challenge, won American women the right to safe, legal abortions. Ever since, proponents and opponents have lined up on either side of the issue, launching verbal abuse -- and worse -- at each other. As the religious right has increased in size and power in the past decade, the issue has become even more divisive -- and violent.

Filmmaker Tony Kaye, best known for "American History X," has been working on LAKE OF FIRE for the past fifteen years and has made a film that is unquestionably the definitive work on the subject of abortion. Shot in luminous black and white, which is in fact an endless palette of grays, the film has the perfect esthetic for a subject where there can be no absolutes, no 'right' or 'wrong.' He gives equal time to both sides, covering arguments from either extremes of the spectrum, as well as those at the center, who acknowledge that, in the end, everyone is 'right' -- or 'wrong.'

With graphic images of termination procedures and their aftermath, Kaye endeavors to show abortion's physical and psychological reality -- to make clear what exactly is at stake. LAKE OF FIRE -- the film's title comes from one person's description of what awaits abortionists in hell -- is a brave film, even a monumental one. And whatever you believe now, you are certain to think differently after seeing it.

Villains You Will Not See at OneWorld Human Rights Festival

Ondřej Slačálek, anarchist and political activist and scientist, comments well on the Czech OneWorld HR film festival. In this article, he points at the selectivity of the "dictators' advertisement", and in the anarchist magazine A-kontra he proposes other villains which would be in high competition as far as their criminal rate is concerned -- George W. Bush - USA, Hashim Thaçi - Kosovo, Islom Karimov - Uzbekistan, Joseph Kabila - Democratic Republic of Congo, Hu Jintao - China. In another article, he speaks about the controversial fact that human rights education organized in schools through the OneWorld organization is supported by the US government, which is not afraid to severely breach human rights, and whose president approves of torture, such as waterboarding or electric shocks!
Another article that looks behind the scenes of OneWorld and criticizes its cooperation with the US organization National Endowment for Democracy is written by Daniel Vesely.