Category Archives: Film Festivals

The Telluride Film Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, recognizing this achievement by expanding to five days, beginning today, Thursday, August 29 and concluding this coming Monday, September 2. For many, the event marks not only the end of Summer, but the beginning of Awards season. Annually cultivating an impressive lineup of standouts from Cannes, and some of the most eagerly anticipated films of the latter half of the year, Telluride offers attendees an opportunity to enjoy a more intimate sneak peek at many titles that will screen the following week at Toronto to much larger, and often more business-minded, crowds. Though I’ve never been to the festival, many friends who have regularly attended have sworn by it, likening the small Coloradan resort town to a film lover’s paradise, a serene setting in contrast to the stress that often accompanies larger events. Organizers have cultivated this sense of wonder and excitement, withholding the public announcement of their lineup until the day before the festival begins, in contrast to standard operating procedure of virtually every other fest. It’s a testament to their power as curators and to the trust they’ve engendered over the decades that attendees are willing to make the trek out on blind faith, but they’re rarely disappointed with the range of offerings. These consist of more than three dozen new feature-length films, in addition to various retrospective programs, shorts, conversations, and unannounced sneak previews. Of the features, more than 20 are documentaries. The following runs down many of the more intriguing selections, with full descriptions available by downloading Telluride’s program guide. Continue reading →

The oldest film festival in the world, the Venice International Film Festival, opens its 70th edition tonight, and continues through Saturday, September 7. Together with Locarno, Telluride, Toronto, and the New York Film Festival, Venice is one of the key film events of the late Summer/early Fall, introducing the latest slate of high profile titles that will figure on cinephiles’ must-see lists. Decidedly more focused on fiction offerings, only 20 new documentary features screen in the fest’s relatively tight 100-strong lineup, which is split between the larger official selection and two smaller autonomous sections programmed by independent film associations. The following offers a brief overview, highlighting the more notable nonfiction scheduled to screen: Continue reading →

The 12th edition of Kosovo’s Dokufest kicks off this Saturday, August 17, and continues through Sunday, August 25. Held in the historic city of Prizren, the event is well-regarded within the international documentary community, notable not only for its programming but also for its larger mission to foster film culture in the once war-torn region that for more than a decade counted no cinemas within the city. The festival’s lineup of more than 75 documentary features largely consists of selections of some of the best international nonfiction featured in other fests over the past year, included in multiple competitions, including human rights and environmental categories, as well as several out of competition thematic sections.

Because I’ve covered the majority of these films out of other festivals, my focus of interest here rests primarily on Dokufest’s Balkan Dox competition, showcasing more than a dozen films from the region. Among the intriguing, and less familiar, titles here are: Kaltrina Krasniqi’s SEX (pictured), an investigation into the religious controversy set off by a recent Kosovan magazine’s sex-focused edition; Jurij Meden’s KARL MARX AMONG US, described as “agitprop in eight chapters;” Petra Seliškar’s MAMA EUROPA, a personal look at life along various European borders; and Can Candan’s MY CHILD, which profiles the parents of LGBT people in conservative Turkey.

The Sarajevo Film Festival begins its nineteenth edition this Friday, August 16, and runs through Saturday, August 24. The festival is famed for launching in 1995, in the midst of the Bosnian War, while the city was under siege for what ended up being nearly four years. It has long since established itself as the largest film event in the Balkans, drawing notable international attention – and celebrity guests – each year, while also showcasing films from the region, especially shorts. Of its nearly 100 feature presentations this year, more than twenty are nonfiction, centered in its official documentary competition, but also sprinkled throughout other fest sections. The following offers a selection of newer notable titles that caught my eye.

The official doc competition includes eight features and several shorts. Among the former are Juri Rechinsky’s provocative SICKFUCKPEOPLE, following two Ukrainian streetkids facing the very worst of humanity; Diana Groó’s REGINA, the story of the world’s first female rabbi; Marta Popivoda’s YUGOSLAVIA, HOW IDEOLOGY MOVED OUR COLLECTIVE BODY (pictured), an exploration of state ideology through mass public spectacle; and Mladen Kovačević’s UNPLUGGED, a look at the unusual musical art of leaf-playing.

Nonfiction appearing in other sections includes: Bryan Little’s THE AFRICAN CYPHER (pictured), a survey of South African street dance culture; Hinde Boujemaa’s IT WAS BETTER TOMORROW, which follows a poor Tunisian woman in the aftermath of the revolution; Khaled Jarrar’s INFILTRATORS, an immersion into the experiences of Palestinians trying to make their way through the West Bank; and Kaveh Bakhtiari’s STOP-OVER, an insider’s look at migrants in Greece, in limbo as they try to secure passage to other countries.