Festivals

There is a great sense of nostalgia for many filmmakers settling into Park City, Utah for the 2023 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. Not only are they fondly recalling the last in person edition of the world’s most famous independent showcase of films, which was 2020 right before the pandemic hit, but more so; there is a sense memory to the plethora of dollars showered on films as studios and streamers looked to buy movies to fill their release calendars.

The probability is pretty high that, before 2020, Sofia Alaoui had no idea where Utah was. Born in Casablanca, the filmmaker spent her childhood between Morocco and China before moving to Paris after high school to study cinema.

Partying in the snow is back! So are the long lines in the freezing cold. And for the couch potatoes among us, there’s always online watching.

All the Sins is a Finnish crime drama television series created and written by film director Mika Ronkainen and journalist Merja Aakko. The series, in Finnish Kaikki synnit, is set in a deeply religious Laestadian Lutheran community in northern Finland.

India’s Last Film Show, about a little boy who watches a movie for the first time and is instantly captivated by the light that comes out of a projector and the stories it tells, won the Snow Leopard Award for best film in the recently concluded 8th Asian World Film Festival (AWFF). The awards night, held November 18 at the Beverly Hills Saban Theater, feted the competition winners, and previously announced honorees in the festival, which ran from November 9 to 18 in Los Angeles.

Set in the 90s in Western Australia, Bassendream is a coming-of-age drama written and directed by Tim Barretto. In his debut feature, he takes the audience on a nostalgic journey through one particular day in Bassendean, a suburb of Perth, on the final day of the summer school holidays.

In the vein of Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, and more recently, The Sapphires, comes another Australian musical comedy, Seriously Red, about a redhead realtor who turns her life around when she achieves her dream of becoming a Dolly Parton impersonator. Directed by Gracie Otto (Under the Volcano), the film, which premiered at the recent Brisbane International Film Festival on October 27, was written by Krew Boylan who takes on the leading role as Raylene ‘Red,’ Delaney.

This was a special year for the Mostra, as the São Paulo Film Festival is popularly and affectionately known at home. Founded in 1977 as a small event by film critic Leon Cakoff, head of the cinema department of the legendary art museum MASP, the Mostra has grown through the years to become one of Brazil's key festivals, never losing its independent spirit.

At the 27th Busan International Film Festival, Tony Leung, an actor and singer from Hong Kong, was presented with the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award. The award has been given out since the festival's eighth edition in 2003 to filmmakers and organizations who have supported the development of the Asian film industry and culture throughout the year.

At the London Film Festival, writer-director Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, In Fabric, The Duke of Burgundy) presented his new film, Flux Gourmet, followed by a Q and A after the screening.  This eccentric film isn’t for everyone, and is, indeed, an acquired taste.