cinema
Megaupload vs Sopa and Pipa: it'll be e-right on the night
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
cinema, freedom of opinion, downloads, techno-media, internet, music, media
Arturo Ripstein: ‘Making films is like waking from a nightmare’
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?
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
cinema, mumbai, bollywood, culture, lifestyle, india, culture calendar
Dinner for one in 2012
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
cinema, tower of babel, christmas, germany, alcohol, languages, new year´s eve
Steve James: 'In the 80s, I can’t imagine anyone wanted a documentary-making career'
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
cinema, netherlands, brunch, documentary, culture, united states, film festival
Gallery
Another 'new wave' of young European cinema
In the 1950s journalist Françoise Giroud coined the term ‘nouvelle vague’ in the columns of French weekly magazine 'l’Express' to describe a new group of insolent, revolutionary and incredibly talented directors. Now François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard are 'out of fashion', a new generation of directors are shaping the seventh art. These include a 22-year-old 'bobo' and pedantic Quebecer who is stirring up European cinema, whilst other French(wo)men jacks-of-all-trades act, produce, direct and sing in their own feature films. The award-winning Danes and Bulgarians pinpoint the problems of their times, be it about substances, sex or the sad end of the world, whilst one German director turns his nose up at the past and its worn-out refrains. Read the special edition (Image: © Kristof)
- Read the special edition Another 'new wave' of young European cinema
- French actress and singer Melanie Laurent’s directorial debut: ‘The Adopted’
- Twins who row – more East Germany than The Social Network in ‘Westwind’
- Von Trier, Bier, Mikkelsen: Denmark cleans up at European Film Awards 2011
- Lowdown on Bulgarian cinema in 2011
- Hipster director, Quebecer, who cares? Welcome to Xavier Dolan's world
Tearjerker tips for Europe in crisis
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
cinema, tower of babel, entertainment, languages, culture, love, music
Documentary Italy: love it or leave it in a Fiat 500
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
cinema, italy, germany, documentary, berlin, best of cafebabel.com, culture
Silencio: Paris club where David Lynch is more Papa Smurf
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
cinema, paris, david lynch, culture, lifestyle, culture calendar
Spain: leaving crisis behind to find 'happiness' in and of Latin America
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
cinema, documentary, travel, latin america, happiness, society
Heartbreaking Movies Of Staggering Bosnian Conflicts
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?
cinema, balkans, penélope cruz, bosnia and herzegovina, culture, jasmila žbanič, sarajevo
'Hitler in Hollywood': American European cinema conspiracy
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, hitler, pedro almodovar, documentary, complot, culture, actors
Cinema psyche: the enemy is within us
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
cinema, depression, psychology, lars von trier, culture, sigmund freud
Malmo, London, Berlin, Glasgow: roller girls derby in Europe
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
cinema, sport, lifestyle, men and women, film, best of cafebabel.com, europe
Digging out Macedonian documentary film and its female directors
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
cinema, balkans, filmmaking, culture, macedonia, skopje, orient express
Sila Sahin, Turkish-German actress and first 'muslim playboy model'
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
cinema, germany, sex, brunch, berlin, discrimination, turkish
EU culture capital 2016 Wrocław: 'Bermuda' triangle between Germany, Ukraine and Poland
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
cinema, football, poland, european capitals of culture, culture, wrocław
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