film

The Italian American documentarian Gianfranco Rosi, who's 56, is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers working in cinema today. His latest feature, Notturno ('Nocturne'), shot over the course of three years in Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon and offers a timely and urgent chronicle of ordinary people in war zones of the Middle East as they struggle to exist and hope for more peaceful lives.

The 2020 edition of the  Annual Foreign Language Film Series kicked off on August 29 with the first of four symposia with directors of Foreign Films qualifying for Golden Globe consideration: Valentyn Vasyanovych (Atlantis - Ukraine), Agnieszka Holland (Charlatan - Czech Republic), Linda Dombrovszky (Pilátus -Hungary), Klim Shipenko (Text - Russia).  Watch it again here.

Aviva Kempner who recently met with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as part of our Roundtable series talked about the documentary she made about businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who partnered with Booker T. Washington and African American communities to build over 5,000 schools in the Jim Crow South, and whose Rosenwald Fund also provided grants to support a Who's Who of African American artists and intellectuals.

In the US, only 30% of moviegoers are comfortable with the idea of going back to the cinema; in most European countries, the percentage is even less; and as far as Asia and Australia are concerned, in a lot of areas stricter regulations prevent them from opening altogether – for now. Regular movie theaters, that is.

Back in July of 2010, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald challenged the inhabitants of Planet Earth: “Help me make a movie about a day in your life,” and with that, the director threw open an opportunity that more than 80,000 people in 189 countries responded to. Pick up a camera and show what a day in your life looks like.

Greta Thunberg’s strong words that have loudly echoed across the Globe for the past three years, her actions, her personality, and her mission is compelling enough for an upcoming documentary titled Greta. This week 17-year old climate activist Greta Thunberg was named as the first recipient of the Gulbenkian “Prize for Humanity” which comes with a 1 million euro endowment from the Portuguese fund.

As the Black Lives Matter movement is gaining more and more ground in the wake of countless police killings, the number of (mostly white) people interested in getting an education in Black history is steadily growing. The streamers have reacted accordingly and added many films and documentaries to their library.

Two film events will highlight HFPA restoration efforts. Continuing its mission to restore and preserve film heritage, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives major contributions and grants to print and digital restoration projects and holds an annual Film Restoration Summit.

Juneteenth 2021 It took 156 years but Juneteenth was finally made a Federal Holiday in 2021. In a rare show of bipartisan unity, Congress voted almost unanimously to consecrate the date in which Texas slaves were notified of the emancipation (two years after it had been promulgated).

Last year’s Venice Film Festival got a bracing blast of fresh air from Shannon Murphy’s directorial debut, Babyteeth. The dynamic, devastatingly curtailed coming-of-age dramedy was adapted by Rita Kalnejais from her Australian stage play of the same name and earned a Golden Lion nomination for Best Film as well as the Best Young Actor Marcello Mastroianni award for its star, Toby Wallace.