cafebabel.com

Megaupload vs Sopa and Pipa: it'll be e-right on the night

('Adam Wyett',) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:44:29 -0000

Act one: stop online piracy. Act two: protect international property. Act three: shut down a famous file-sharing site. Act four: anti-counterfeiting trade agreement. We call for a bit of order in the debate on internet freedom versus intellectual property rights which has kicked off 2012

Arturo Ripstein: ‘Making films is like waking from a nightmare’

('Annie Rutherford',) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:16:11 -0000

The Mexican director was the guest of honour at a French international festival of film schools in the town of Poitiers. Whilst he has been in the business for more than forty years, with twenty films under his belt and numerous Cannes appearances, the 68-year-old remains unknown for a European public

‘Desi Boyz’ and a German girl: am I now a bollywood star?

('Lilian Maria Pithan',) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:07:56 -0000

A European traveller who accidentally becomes an extra for the latest film of India's 'Tom Cruise', Akshay Kumar, winds up filming and reflects on her experience after watching the completed movie in the cinemas. Part II of a travel diary

Dinner for one in 2012

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:32:23 -0000

The Brits have spent the end of year in a 'lull' whilst the Germans are going through 'new year's fatigue'. In their new year's addresses at least, Europe's Franco-German leaders warned us it won't be getting any better this new year

Steve James: 'In the 80s, I can’t imagine anyone wanted a documentary-making career'

('Helene Bienvenu',) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:22:46 -0000

The American director perhaps best known for his 1994 film Hoop Dreams is in Amsterdam for the city’s international documentary film festival. We talk 'new media', starting out in the eighties and why an oscars snub doesn't matter when you've got good old Europe to fall back on

Lowdown on Bulgarian cinema in 2011

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:28:09 -0000

Of the at least dozen films released in Bulgaria this year, two were screened at the Cannes film festival whilst seven were backed by the national film council. Here’s hoping for a better 2012

Von Trier, Bier, Mikkelsen: Denmark cleans up at European Film Awards 2011

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:35:40 -0000

On 4 December the 24th edition of the European film academy’s (EFA) annual film awards gave the top prizes to Melancholia and The King’s Speech, as well as an honorary award for Mads Mikkelsen

Hipster director, Quebecer, who cares? Welcome to Xavier Dolan's world

('Annie Rutherford',) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:22:56 -0000

European cinema nourishes a certain ignorance towards the seventh art, cinema - particularly when this cinema comes from Canada. One director is in the process of taking all philistines of Canadian cinema down a peg at the age of 22

Tearjerker tips for Europe in crisis

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:01:07 -0000

Read ‘em and weep: ‘tearjerker’ is a noun which translates practically perfectly into other European languages. It is used mostly to describe a film, book, play or song which moves us to tears. The entertainment industry gets an excessively sentimental Europe down, but these pearls could also abate our crisis-ridden depression

French actress and singer Melanie Laurent’s directorial debut: ‘The Adopted’

('Cari19',) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:32:19 -0000

At the age of 28, the actress and singer released her first film as a director, ‘Les Adoptés’, on 23 November in her native France. Do all good things come in threes? Film review

Documentary Italy: love it or leave it in a Fiat 500

('Eva Vanhee',) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:00:00 -0000

When the lease on their flat in Rome was up, film critic Luca Ragazzi convinced television journalist Gustav Hofer to spend a last six months touring their country and understand why they were moving abroad. Little did they know that those were the six months that changed Italy

Silencio: Paris club where David Lynch is more Papa Smurf

('Marta Nathansohn',) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:05:58 -0000

You certainly will not be greeted by 'Silencio, no hay banda…' upon entering David Lynch’s exclusive Parisian club, which opened in the French capital on 6 October. Although the name of the club is a tribute to his cult movie Mulholland Drive, don’t expect to find Rita, dead corpses or unresolved mysteries here, advises one Italian journalist

Spain: leaving crisis behind to find 'happiness' in and of Latin America

('Buzz',) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:22:21 -0000

Valencian-born Ainara Aparici, who has lived in Italy and the US, has been travelling Latin America since March 2010 and has directed a documentary. She says the continent has much to teach us about things that we often overlook and forget about

Heartbreaking Movies Of Staggering Bosnian Conflicts

('sladana perkovic',) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:33:54 -0000

Sixteen years since the end of conflicts, Bosnia is becoming the ‘promised land’ for moviemakers from Hollywood and Europe starving for a real commercial war story. Is the tragic Bosnian story finally beginning to make money?

'Hitler in Hollywood': American European cinema conspiracy

('Molmash',) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:00:10 -0000

Everyone knows it deep down inside; there's no way you can overshadow a Hollywood motion picture, it's pure utopia. But once upon a time European cinema had a glorious and prosperous future. So what happened? This Franco-Belgian docu-fiction tackles the question of a conspiracy

Cinema psyche: the enemy is within us

('Alexandra Baxter',) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:53:15 -0000

Black Swan, Melancholia, A Dangerous Method; recent screen outings seem to feel the need to place psychological disturbances at the heart of their storylines. Depression, personality disorders, feelings of inadequacy and suicidal tendencies are but a few of the themes dealt with by the great Aranofskys, Von Triers and Cronenbergs of today

Malmo, London, Berlin, Glasgow: roller girls derby in Europe

('Annie Rutherford',) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:01:18 -0000

Cat fights on wheels? Or a sport to be taken seriously? In the run up to the first ever ‘roller derby’ world championships in Toronto in early December, the women’s team sport on wheels brought to the big screen in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut ‘Whip It’ (2009) has been steadily sweeping through Europe. To mark the film's release in Germany, a German roller girl gets on the case

Digging out Macedonian documentary film and its female directors

('Annie Rutherford',) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:40:58 -0000

Did you know that it was a Macedonian team who did the visual effects for Martin Scorcese’s The Aviator? Or that the George Clooney-vehicle The Peacemaker was also partly filmed in Macedonia? Twenty years after Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia, we discover there are actually new angles on the Balkan country's claim to fame

Sila Sahin, Turkish-German actress and first 'muslim playboy model'

('Lyndsey Smith',) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:14:25 -0000

In May 2011 the 25-year-old posed on the cover of German Playboy, becoming the 'first muslim’ to pose nude for a glossy magazine. Her 'act of liberation’, as the tabloids called it, sparked religious outrage and divided the Turkish community from Berlin to Istanbul. Yet was it just a marketing coup, or even a daring act of integration? Interview

EU culture capital 2016 Wrocław: 'Bermuda' triangle between Germany, Ukraine and Poland

('Peter Robbins',) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:14:32 -0000

A snapshot from the Kino Lwów cinema, reflections on a city with various historical names and looking forward to the country's Euro 2012 football championships - debriefing on Wrocław

Can contemporary art change 'new capitalist' Tirana?

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:00:00 -0000

Far from having a ‘pan-Balkan’ culture and being under the influence of a consumerist society, the Albanian capital is exploring new ways of expressing itself. Whilst politicians are tripping on the urns and ignoring blank canvases (literally), local artists are boosting a non-existent contemporary scene

Reindeerspotting director Joonas Neuvonen: story of a Finnish junkie

('Nicola Potter',) — Mon, 09 May 2011 12:00:00 -0000

Reindeerspotting - Escape from Santaland, a Finnish documentary about drug addicts, is a film that you will probably never see at the cinema. Widely criticised in Finland, where it is accused of promoting the use of hard drugs, it’s been a viral hit. Could this be the birth of the internet version 2.0 of Trainspotting?

Forget Cannes - go to FiSahara, 'only film festival in a refugee camp'

('Madalina Pierseca',) — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:06:59 -0000

It's an unusual festival created by a group of enthusiastic young Spaniards to disappear on the day Western Sahara regains its independence. Sandy perspectives from the Dakhla camp of the eigth FiSahara festival, which takes place each year from 2 - 8 May

Are men dominant or dominated? View from Super France

('Madalina Pierseca',) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:39:16 -0000

With the release of the 'anti-male' documentary Masculine Domination in November 2009, the debate regarding the crisis in masculinity has flared up in the French media. But we are still far from the 'masculinist' theses which originated in America. Perspective from early 2010

Aleksandar Radivojevic of ‘A Serbian Film’: it’s catharsis more than ‘torture porn’

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:00:00 -0000

In Belgrade artistic culture and creativity seem to be menaced by the muzzle of conformism and the dictatorship of political correctness. Many believe that Serbia’s entry into the 27-nation European union could make the situation worse. We meet the co-writer of a controversial 2010 horror film, which he says is the perfect 'plastic metaphor' onscreen of the indignant cry of an art which wants to break free

Berlin citizen power: GreenLeaks, Stuttgart 21 and water privatisation

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:08:22 -0000

One of Europe's most politicised and strictly environmentally-ruled cities is home to a green-themed Wikileaks spin-off, run by an Australian documentary maker. The mood for disclosure is also celebrated in the annual film festival, which has incorporated the city's first successful referendum into its programme

Director Roozbeh Behtaji: 'Young Europeans live in an existential no-mans land'

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:43:11 -0000

The 30-year-old filmmaker and screenwriter from Gothenburg stands out, not only because he doesn't look like your average Swede, but because he dons a different hat everyday. He played a cap-wearing tourist who becomes a terror suspect because of his looks in his own debut film London Transfer. Time to find out what's under his hat

Giacomo Abbruzzese: 'I’m no longer able to make a film without talking about Palestine'

('Carol Howard',) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:20:45 -0000

The Italian director's short film Archipelago (2010) explores the West Bank from its various forms of transport. The arduous journey from Ramallah to Jerusalem and back highlights the absurdity of the situation that Israel and Palestine have been in for decades. Interview

'Give food a chance': culinary cinema in Berlin

('Annie Rutherford',) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:14:32 -0000

At the 61st Berlin international film festival, the 'culinary cinema' series of events drew attention to the 'relationship between film, culture, cuisine and the environment' for the fifth time. Together with menus from top chefs in the Gropius Mirror restaurant, a mixture of films about nutrition and the environment reinforce the belief of festival director Dieter Kosslick: 'Food brings people together and connects them to their surroundings'

Berlin film festival 2011 winner goes to Iran: Asghar Farhadi's Nader and Simin, a Separation

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:50:57 -0000

In 2009 the Iranian director scooped a Silver Bear for best director for About Elly. This year's competition entry 'Jodaeiye Nader az Simin' was a clear frontrunner for the 2011 Golden Bear award, beating twenty-one other films in competition. Review

Berlin film festival 2011: Coen brothers True Grit opener not true to Coen

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 18:23:14 -0000

After the road movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and the thriller No Country For Old Men (2007) the Coen brothers are back in the deserted vastness of the American landscape. The ten-times Oscar nominated film opened the 61st Berlin film festival on 10 February

Jacek Borcuch, Poland’s 2011 Oscar candidate: 'America doesn’t impress me'

('Peter Robbins',) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:00:17 -0000

'All That I Love' by the 40-year-old Polish director is one of 65 films competing for an oscar in the 2011 'best foreign language film' category. It is a nostalgic childhood tale about growing up with a punk rock band in a Poland under martial law

Film review: The Last Station

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The pre-Bolshevik biopic of the Leo Tolstoy's life stars a British cast and was shot in Germany rather than Russia. A Spaniard reviews the drama, which was released in the UK in February 2010 - the centenary of the great writer's death

Snitch, grass or rat?

('Nicola Potter',) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:30:00 -0000

In France, three employees having a field day ranting about their bosses on their social network pages are fired. Between these two events is a connection, the ‘rat’ who was their ‘friend’ on facebook. Between the internet and the DDR via some classic film thrillers, a glance at how to say 'snitch' in Europe

Mario Monicelli: 'commedia all’italiana encompassed everything from love to death'

('Mary Maistrello',) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The 93-year-old Italian director and father of the ‘commedia all’Italiana’ film genre, on the power of cinema which ‘acts like a mirror, tells a story, but doesn’t preach’.

Pick of Serbian, Estonian and Russian film at Cottbus festival

('Helen Crumpton',) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:22:34 -0000

'Germany’s second most important film festival' according to the former German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier celebrated its twentieth anniversary between 2 and 7 November this year. Top prize at the 'young European cinema' festival went to 'White White World' by Serb director Oleg Novkovi. Retrospective

Cinema horror in Europe: happy yucky Halloween

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:00:00 -0000

In light of the ‘love-it-or-hate-it’ upcoming Halloween on 31 October, we propose three of Europe’s best horror movies at the moment from Serbia, France and Holland, with a running commentary from Franco Calandrini, director of the Ravenna nightmare film festival

The parallel (and enigmatic) life of Russian cinema

('Kate Stansfield',) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:12:19 -0000

Russia and its cinema are developing behind the EU's back. The films succeeding over there fail over here, and vice versa. Why? From Paris, a panel of experts decipher the unfathomable tastes of audiences on both sides of the former iron curtain over a screening of Pervyi Etazh (‘Ground Floor’)

Film review: terrorist comedy ‘Four Lions’ by Chris Morris

('Louis',) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:08:28 -0000

The Brit’s satirical debut feature film follows a group of jihadists from the northern city of Sheffield, struggling to make an impact. To coincide with its final European release dates, another reflection on how and why Morris pokes fun at the delicate issue just five years after the 7/7 bombings

Awa Ly: ‘Italians are curious to find out how I ended up in Italy’

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:30:00 -0000

From Paris and Dakar to Rome where the singer discovered two of her most important talents – a voice and lyrics full of energy

Death of the Italian stallion?

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:24:56 -0000

An August survey reports that the myth is dying, with Italian men becoming 'too feminised'. Whilst we make up our minds, a quick filmic tribute to Italian action hero Sylvester Stallone, who has long claimed the nickname and is back on the big screen, where sexual stereotypes from Europe are prevalent. Term of the week

Optimistic ideas for a low-cost August

('Franglesa',) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:36:34 -0000

If your work or your wallet are forcing you to stay at home…congratulations! Seriously, congratulations. Let's be positive - you have spared yourself from traffic jams, excess baggage, queues for beach bars and air traffic controllers

Film dubbing is not only stupid and evil

('nisimasian',) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:13:24 -0000

It's also wrong and economically counterproductive, says a UK-based, Italian member of the gang behind the latest blog on cafebabel.com, from the European youth cinema network Nisi Masa

Arno Jullien: 'erasmus should be obligatory to compare simple things in life'

('Nicola Potter',) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:00:00 -0000

He collaborated with Yann-Arthus Bertrand on '6 Billion Others', and he's back with Europalive. The 52-minute film from his travels in 24 EU countries over two months gives 'Europe a human face'. With no financial support, the 32-year-old from Cannes filmed the homeless to company execs to immerse himself in their perceptions, loves and hates

Cinema review: Danish documentary Armadillo

('Alison Frank',) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:15:00 -0000

To make this documentary, Danish director Janus Metz Pedersen spent three and a half months at the allied camp on the front lines of southern Afghanistan. There's a tenuous division between fiction and reality in a film which finds the cruel violence of the fighters unbelievable

'Glamping' with Europe's happy campers

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:59:11 -0000

The Spanish wake up with tent poles, the French use sardines to hold their tents up, the Italians camp 'abusively' and the English invented caravans and coined 'glamorous camping' - aka glamping. What does it come to? Expressions of the week

Madrid's Theatre Yeses troupe breaks prison bars

('James Friscia',) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:37:57 -0000

Its director is a prison officer with a degree in stage and performance management. Its actresses are inmates of the Alcalá de Henares penitentiary centre. The studio has allowed many to eventually begin new lives in the 'free world' and its story is depicted in a movie: everything about this artistic group is unique. Quick, the show is about to begin…

Cannes film festival: three flicks and arty Palme to look out for

('Ole Skambraks',) — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:42:27 -0000

The glamorous European movie marathon wrapped on 23 May with the Golden Palme d'Or going to Thailand for the first time. Artistically, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was the most daring film of the competition and the closest to jury president Tim Burton's fantastic universe

Julie Gray: Europe scriptwriting Hollywood

('Nicholas Newman',) — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:52:27 -0000

An average 90 minutes film will consist of 90 to 100 pages of A4. Of the daily lorryload of unsolicited scripts that Hollywood film production offices receive, only one in every hundred scripts will be looked at. The LA-based scriptwriting consultant is in Oxford to talk tips, trends and Hollywood disappointment

The Office, Spiral: tour of European TV shows, American style

('Nicola Potter',) — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:10:00 -0000

A lack of resources, ambition or originality mean that national TV series across Europe pale into insignificance beside hugely successful American shows such as House or Dexter. There are however some exceptions