The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a raft of titles across strands and also 33 film projects vying for coin at the coproduction market.
Selections for the topical Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand from emerging German talent include “Seven Winters in Tehran” by Steffi Niederzoll, “Elaha” by Milena Aboyan, “Ararat” by Engin Kundag, “The Kidnapping of the Bride” by Sophia Mocorrea, Fabian Stumm’s “Bones and Names,” “Long Long Kiss” by Lukas Röder, Tanja Egen’s “On Mothers and Daughters,” “Ash Wednesday,” by João Pedro Prado and Bárbara Santos, “Nuclear Nomads” by Kilian Armando Friedrich and Tizian Stromp Zargari and “Lonely Oaks” by Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff.
All the selected films in the strand will compete for the Heiner Carow Prize and the Compass-Perspektive-Award, both of which are endowed with €5,000.
A 4K restoration of David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch” will open the Berlinale Classics section, which also includes Oliver Schmitz’ “Mapantsula,...
Selections for the topical Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand from emerging German talent include “Seven Winters in Tehran” by Steffi Niederzoll, “Elaha” by Milena Aboyan, “Ararat” by Engin Kundag, “The Kidnapping of the Bride” by Sophia Mocorrea, Fabian Stumm’s “Bones and Names,” “Long Long Kiss” by Lukas Röder, Tanja Egen’s “On Mothers and Daughters,” “Ash Wednesday,” by João Pedro Prado and Bárbara Santos, “Nuclear Nomads” by Kilian Armando Friedrich and Tizian Stromp Zargari and “Lonely Oaks” by Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff.
All the selected films in the strand will compete for the Heiner Carow Prize and the Compass-Perspektive-Award, both of which are endowed with €5,000.
A 4K restoration of David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch” will open the Berlinale Classics section, which also includes Oliver Schmitz’ “Mapantsula,...
- 1/9/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Mohammad-Ali Talebi is an Iranian director. While studying film and TV programme directing at the university, he made about ten short films for children. He begun his career in TV documentary and continued to work for the television writing and directing over 50 video programmes and various educational, documentary and fictional pictures. He has been directing films since 1986 and “The Finish Line”, while his most renowned works include “The Boot”, “Bag of Rice” and “Willow and Wind”, based on a script by Abbas Kiarostami.
On the occasion of “Bag of Rice” screening at the 27th Art Film Fest Kosice, we speak with him about working with children, the film and his career, how he was “re-discovered” by Mark Cousins and the BFI, Iranian cinema, and other topics.
Why do you like to work with children?
I do not only work with children, I have some films with teenagers and some with female leads.
On the occasion of “Bag of Rice” screening at the 27th Art Film Fest Kosice, we speak with him about working with children, the film and his career, how he was “re-discovered” by Mark Cousins and the BFI, Iranian cinema, and other topics.
Why do you like to work with children?
I do not only work with children, I have some films with teenagers and some with female leads.
- 6/27/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“Everyone is helping so there is no need to be sad.”
There is still a certain prejudice when it comes to films made for children. Some see the bright colors, the at times silly comedy and the kind of characters and regard these films as “something only a child would find funny”. While there are certainly stories, films and novels, which may confirm this judgment, it is, nevertheless, a rather short-sighted assessment, ignoring the expressive power of art and how adult (or even universal) themes are reflected in these tales. In fact, many filmmakers have made their child characters carry the emotional weight of the story, presenting the relevance of their themes for everyone in society. For example, Enzo Staiola’s Bruno in Vittorio de Sica’s “Ladri di biciclette” expresses what it means to experience poverty in post World War II-Italy as well as the sadness when his own...
There is still a certain prejudice when it comes to films made for children. Some see the bright colors, the at times silly comedy and the kind of characters and regard these films as “something only a child would find funny”. While there are certainly stories, films and novels, which may confirm this judgment, it is, nevertheless, a rather short-sighted assessment, ignoring the expressive power of art and how adult (or even universal) themes are reflected in these tales. In fact, many filmmakers have made their child characters carry the emotional weight of the story, presenting the relevance of their themes for everyone in society. For example, Enzo Staiola’s Bruno in Vittorio de Sica’s “Ladri di biciclette” expresses what it means to experience poverty in post World War II-Italy as well as the sadness when his own...
- 6/21/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
★★★★☆To coincide with the release of Mark Cousins' A Story of Children and Film (2013), Filmhouse Edinburgh are rolling out The Cinema of Childhood - a touring film season exposing audiences to some of the rarest film's covered in Cousins' passionate celebration of childhood and film. The season launches this week with Mohammad-Ali Talebi's Willow and Wind (1999), a poetic and beautifully realised allegory for the disquiet felt in Iran at the turn of the century. Written by Abbas Kiarostami, this simple tale of a young boy's quest to replace a pane of glass broken during a playground football match is transformed into an adventure of tremendous poignancy thanks to the brevity of Talebi's direction.
- 4/17/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
A boy's quest to repair the school window he broke with a football is a trance-like wonder that beautifully conveys the vulnerability of childhood
This unclassifiably mysterious picture from Iran, first released in 2000, and scripted by Abbas Kiarostami and directed by Mohammad-Ali Talebi, is part of the roadshow season of films mentioned in Mark Cousins's personal cine-essay A Story of Children and Film. It really is quietly bizarre, yet never behaves as if it is anything other than a realist study of a small child's woes. In fact, it is utterly unreal, like a lucid dream, of such stark plainness that it seems like a quest fable from the middle ages. Talebi's other films, such as Bag of Rice (1998) and The Boot (1993) have similar "quest" motifs, and they are perhaps indicative of the way in which Iranian film-makers found childlike parables to be a way of avoiding state scrutiny and censorship.
This unclassifiably mysterious picture from Iran, first released in 2000, and scripted by Abbas Kiarostami and directed by Mohammad-Ali Talebi, is part of the roadshow season of films mentioned in Mark Cousins's personal cine-essay A Story of Children and Film. It really is quietly bizarre, yet never behaves as if it is anything other than a realist study of a small child's woes. In fact, it is utterly unreal, like a lucid dream, of such stark plainness that it seems like a quest fable from the middle ages. Talebi's other films, such as Bag of Rice (1998) and The Boot (1993) have similar "quest" motifs, and they are perhaps indicative of the way in which Iranian film-makers found childlike parables to be a way of avoiding state scrutiny and censorship.
- 4/10/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Peter Bradshaw recommends the Iranian film Willow and Wind, directed by Mohammad-Ali Talebi. It follows a young boy on a treacherous quest to bring a pane of glass back to the schoolhouse whose window he broke. It's bizarre and other-worldly, says Bradshaw and quite brilliant.
Find out if Willow and Wind is playing in a cinema near you Continue reading...
Find out if Willow and Wind is playing in a cinema near you Continue reading...
- 4/10/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw and Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Gentle and ruminative, this documentary from Mark Cousins takes a rich and clever look at how children appear on screen
This utterly beguiling and idiosyncratic cine-essay by critic and film-maker Mark Cousins is a personal journey through the subject of children on film. It was first shown at last year's Cannes film festival and is now on release here: a brilliant mosaic of clips, images and moments chosen with masterly flair, and accompanied by Cousins' own gentle, ruminative, almost murmured voiceover. Just as in his mighty television series, A Story of Film, Cousins dances nimbly between films old and new, cleverly intuits the connections, and digresses into the history of art, as well as into that of his own family.
A Story of Children and Film could be read as simply the story of Cousins himself, through film, and his own refusal to reproduce the cynical/knowing tone of modern grownup criticism.
This utterly beguiling and idiosyncratic cine-essay by critic and film-maker Mark Cousins is a personal journey through the subject of children on film. It was first shown at last year's Cannes film festival and is now on release here: a brilliant mosaic of clips, images and moments chosen with masterly flair, and accompanied by Cousins' own gentle, ruminative, almost murmured voiceover. Just as in his mighty television series, A Story of Film, Cousins dances nimbly between films old and new, cleverly intuits the connections, and digresses into the history of art, as well as into that of his own family.
A Story of Children and Film could be read as simply the story of Cousins himself, through film, and his own refusal to reproduce the cynical/knowing tone of modern grownup criticism.
- 4/3/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Edinburgh exhibitor Filmhouse is to tour a season of films about childhood across the UK, curated by documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins.
The season will comprise 17 films about childhood (see below for full list).
Most of the titles in the season are featured in Cousins’ documentary A Story of Children and Film, which premiered at Cannes last year.
The April-June tour will take in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Brighton, Bristol and Sheffield among other cities.
The season is managed by Filmhouse, which has also licensed VoD rights to a number of the titles.
The project is backed by the BFI’s Programming Development Fund. Adam Dawtrey and Mary Bell, who also produced A Story of Children and Film, are producers.
The full list of titles screening in the Cinema of Childhood season are:
• “Willow and Wind” (Bid-o Baad). Iran, Japan, 1999. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 77 mins. A boy breaks a school window, and must mend...
The season will comprise 17 films about childhood (see below for full list).
Most of the titles in the season are featured in Cousins’ documentary A Story of Children and Film, which premiered at Cannes last year.
The April-June tour will take in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Brighton, Bristol and Sheffield among other cities.
The season is managed by Filmhouse, which has also licensed VoD rights to a number of the titles.
The project is backed by the BFI’s Programming Development Fund. Adam Dawtrey and Mary Bell, who also produced A Story of Children and Film, are producers.
The full list of titles screening in the Cinema of Childhood season are:
• “Willow and Wind” (Bid-o Baad). Iran, Japan, 1999. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 77 mins. A boy breaks a school window, and must mend...
- 2/4/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Mark Cousins on cinema's obsession with childhood, Jeff Nichols on the rise of Us indie films, and another one bites the dust on troubled western Jane Got a Gun
Through a child's eyes
Another late British entry to the Cannes jamboree is Mark Cousins's personal documentary, A Story of Children and Film. It appeared as a quiet announcement in the increasingly influential and cherishable Cannes Classics sidebar, alongside great names and important restorations such as Mankiewicz's Cleopatra, Hitchcock's Vertigo (Kim Novak will be guest of honour), Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon and the new 3D version of Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. Cousins's film taps into the glory of film history, comprising clips of 53 films from 25 countries woven around footage of his own niece and nephew at play. Cousins tells me: "When we think of Cannes we think of Catherine Deneuve and Brad Pitt. Yet the starting point of my little...
Through a child's eyes
Another late British entry to the Cannes jamboree is Mark Cousins's personal documentary, A Story of Children and Film. It appeared as a quiet announcement in the increasingly influential and cherishable Cannes Classics sidebar, alongside great names and important restorations such as Mankiewicz's Cleopatra, Hitchcock's Vertigo (Kim Novak will be guest of honour), Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon and the new 3D version of Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. Cousins's film taps into the glory of film history, comprising clips of 53 films from 25 countries woven around footage of his own niece and nephew at play. Cousins tells me: "When we think of Cannes we think of Catherine Deneuve and Brad Pitt. Yet the starting point of my little...
- 5/4/2013
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
still from Alafzar
Iranian film Alafzar (Meadow) directed by Mohammad-Ali Talebi won the Golden Elephant for Best feature Film in the international category at the 17th International Children Film Festival India (Icffi), which concluded in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Chillar Party directed by Nitesh Tiwari and Vikas Bahl won the Best Feature Film in Indian section. It also bagged the Best Feature Film award from the children’s jury.
The award for the Best Indian director went to Umesh Kulkarni for Vihir. Sanjay Chouhan won the Best Screenplay for I Am Kalam.
German film Vorstadkrokodile 2 (The Crocodiles Strike Back) by Christian Ditter was named the Best Feature Film in the international category of children’s jury.
The award for the Best little director was given to Varun Haldar and Vinita Nayak for Hamare Duniya.
The seven-day film festival was organised jointly by the Children’s Film Society of India, and Central and Andhra Pradesh governments.
Iranian film Alafzar (Meadow) directed by Mohammad-Ali Talebi won the Golden Elephant for Best feature Film in the international category at the 17th International Children Film Festival India (Icffi), which concluded in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Chillar Party directed by Nitesh Tiwari and Vikas Bahl won the Best Feature Film in Indian section. It also bagged the Best Feature Film award from the children’s jury.
The award for the Best Indian director went to Umesh Kulkarni for Vihir. Sanjay Chouhan won the Best Screenplay for I Am Kalam.
German film Vorstadkrokodile 2 (The Crocodiles Strike Back) by Christian Ditter was named the Best Feature Film in the international category of children’s jury.
The award for the Best little director was given to Varun Haldar and Vinita Nayak for Hamare Duniya.
The seven-day film festival was organised jointly by the Children’s Film Society of India, and Central and Andhra Pradesh governments.
- 11/21/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Asghar Farhadi’s Nader And Simin: A Separation has recently won the Golden Bear for the best film at the 61st Berlin Film Festival and its ensemble cast received the best actor and actress Silver Bears. Another Iranian filmmaker Mohammad-Ali Talebi, who won the Cinema Fairbindet award at Berlinale for Wind And Fog, a story about an 8-year-old boy who loses his ability to speak after witnessing...
- 3/3/2011
- Bollywood Trade
While planning a trip to a village in rural Iraq to show films to children who had never seen any before, Mark Cousins had to decide which films to show them. Here's what he chose
What are the best kids' films ever made? I had to answer this question about 18 months ago when I was planning a trip to a village in the Kurdish part of northern Iraq, to make a little tented outdoor cinema there. I wanted to entertain the kids in the village by showing them films, and I filmed them watching the movies for my new documentary, The First Film. None of them had ever been to the cinema before, and I had just three nights – so what would I show?
My first choice was easy. There's a Danish film called Palle Alone in the World, about a wee boy who wakes up one morning to find all the adults have disappeared.
What are the best kids' films ever made? I had to answer this question about 18 months ago when I was planning a trip to a village in the Kurdish part of northern Iraq, to make a little tented outdoor cinema there. I wanted to entertain the kids in the village by showing them films, and I filmed them watching the movies for my new documentary, The First Film. None of them had ever been to the cinema before, and I had just three nights – so what would I show?
My first choice was easy. There's a Danish film called Palle Alone in the World, about a wee boy who wakes up one morning to find all the adults have disappeared.
- 10/7/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
The exuberant film critic's tremendous new documentary The First Movie records the triumph of imagination, even over war
Not many critics also get to be accomplished film-makers, but one such is Mark Cousins, a brilliantly exuberant movie writer whose passionate, celebratory and sensual relationship with the cinema is, I think, a refreshing corrective to the over-snarky tendencies of Fleet Street criticism. Many will know him from the sadly defunct BBC series Scene by Scene, which ran from 1996 to 2001, from his excellent one-volume cinema history The Story of Film and also from his collaborative partnership with Oscar-winning actor Tilda Swinton. It was this partnership which gave birth to the Nairn film festival.
This was, and is, an ongoing experiment in reinventing cinema as a grassroots audience experience, a way of bringing the cinema to people without the intermediate commercial panoply of exhibitors and distributors. Cousins and Swinton created a travelling roadshow,...
Not many critics also get to be accomplished film-makers, but one such is Mark Cousins, a brilliantly exuberant movie writer whose passionate, celebratory and sensual relationship with the cinema is, I think, a refreshing corrective to the over-snarky tendencies of Fleet Street criticism. Many will know him from the sadly defunct BBC series Scene by Scene, which ran from 1996 to 2001, from his excellent one-volume cinema history The Story of Film and also from his collaborative partnership with Oscar-winning actor Tilda Swinton. It was this partnership which gave birth to the Nairn film festival.
This was, and is, an ongoing experiment in reinventing cinema as a grassroots audience experience, a way of bringing the cinema to people without the intermediate commercial panoply of exhibitors and distributors. Cousins and Swinton created a travelling roadshow,...
- 12/10/2009
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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