Festivals

Tarantino. Malick.

A lively crowd of mostly Balkan Europeans filled the Writers Guild Theater on Doheny in Beverly Hills on May 1st, 2019 for the opening of SEEfest. The Los Angeles festival, whose mission is to promote works from the South Eastern European regions, has grown slowly but steadily over the last 14 years.

BAFICI, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, celebrated its 21st birthday with 10 days of intense activity. Non-stop screenings, some of them at capacity, professional meetings, labs, a 48-hour marathon of free cinema marked the festival as well as parties, lots of them.

New Filmmaker Los Angeles is an organization devoted to showcasing innovative films by emerging film makers. Throughout the year, the non-profit organization hosts a monthly film festival for the public and for industry professionals, showcasing the innovative cinematic works of talented rising filmmakers.

The Indian Film festival in Los Angeles (IFFLA) is a showcase for emergent Indian filmmakers to find their own personal voice amidst the giant two poles of Bollywood and Hollywood. By showcasing their best works in Los Angeles they strive to create awareness, not only in local audiences and the sprawling local Indian community but also among the filmmakers themselves.

A parade of actors and directors of different colors, genders, and ethnicities took the stage at this year's CinemaCon to add variety and glamour as studio executives promoted their upcoming releases to theater owners. At the annual convention of NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) which was held April 1 to 4 in Las Vegas, Diane Keaton, introduced Poms, a comedy about cheerleaders in a retirement home from STX, playfully lifting her billowy black skirt over white boots to prove how her skinny legs prevented her from cheerleading in high school.

The 2019 edition of SXSW left no doubt in anyone’s mind that it has a rightful place among the major festivals. It has become a leader in combining film, music, art, keynote speakers, discussions and forums in one nice ten-day package.

As far as festivals in big cities go, SXSW is as good as it gets. Unlike Berlin, where sliding on icy sidewalks from screening to press conference to party to another screening in the dead of winter, or Rome where the event locations are so spread out that it might take an hour and a half to get there on public transportation, Austin is an easy place to navigate and a pleasant one for attendees.

The reviewers who wrote about Official Secrets after its Sundance premiere must have left by the time the credits finished rolling and the director of the film, Golden Globe nominee and Oscar winner Gavin Hood, came out to the stage. What followed was very impressive.

An intimately scaled, uniquely heartrending nonfiction film that serves as an emotionally fortifying takedown of the dehumanizing demagoguery dominating much of the discourse of the modern-day American political landscape, Midnight Traveler is a powerful snapshot of refugee reality, capturing the first-person dangers and universal love of a family on the run. Shot entirely on three cell phones and telling the story of a journey spanning over 3,500 miles and three-plus years, Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s movie, which just enjoyed its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, is a handcrafted, openhearted vaccination against ignorance and hate.