Festivals

Statistically, across much of Asia, Eastern Europe, North America and Oceania, the average number of cigarettes consumed by the typical smoker is around 20 to 25 cigarettes per day. After viewing the world premiere of the drama Golda at the 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival, it is obvious, statistics never met Golda Meir.

Touted as the one of the most influential awards events to impact the Oscars, this year’s BAFTA’s took place at the Royal Festival Hall in London. It was a busy weekend of tea parties, cocktail receptions and dinners, some hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences at the Claridge’s Hotel, the National Gallery, or Soho House.

The 38th edition of the Santa Barbara Film Festival took place from February 8 to 18, offering movie screenings and celebrity tributes. Receiving variously named awards for their performances and participating in conversations were Angela Bassett for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever directed by Ryan Coogler, Cate Blanchett for TÁR written and directed by Todd Field, Jamie Lee Curtis for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Brendan Fraser for The Whale by Darren Aronovsky, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for The Banshees of Inisherin written and directed by Martin McDonagh.

The Berlin International Film Festival, also known as the Berlinale, is one of the world's largest and most prestigious film festivals. It has gained a reputation for being the most political of the leading film festivals owing to its origins as a divided city on the front lines of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West.

After Cannes and Venice were able to restore themselves to full splendor for their 2022 editions, the 73rd Berlin Film Festival gets its chance for cinematic glory from February 16 – 28 at its Potsdamer Platz ground zero.   Kicking things off will be the world premiere of director Rebecca Miller’s romantic comedy She Came to Me, starring Anne Hathaway and Peter Dinklage.

Marija Kavtaradze’s new movie Slow recently held its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where the magical mountain honored the Lithuanian native with the best directing price in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition category. Slow, Kavtaradze’s second feature after Summer Survivors, tells a uniquely intriguing love story between a modern dancer named Elena (Greta Grinevičiūtė), who falls in love with a sign language interpreter Dovydas (Kęstutis Cicėnas), who identifies himself as an asexual.

“I have a geographically scattered background,” replies Ása Hjörleifsdóttir to the question of how she got into writing and directing. The native of Iceland spent years of her childhood in the USA, UK and Canada and had originally aspired to become an actress.

Following international acclaim for high octane thriller shows such as Fauda, Tehran and Prisoners of War, the last adapted stateside as Homeland, the Israeli television landscape now boasts a new comedy series, romantic while somewhat on the raunchy side, which has opened to rave reviews. Fresh from its North American premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it appeared as part of its Indie Episodic Program, Chanshi follows the defiant yet charming titular character as she breaks away from her traditional observant Jewish community in Brooklyn in order to fulfill her most intimate fantasies in the Holy Land in a series whose premise tackles religion and sexuality in an unconventional and provocative manner.

Sundance is all about pre-planning and making difficult choices as there are so many screenings happening at the same time, often across town from each other. But I’m a sucker for any story about woman musicians, so I made sure to prioritize seeing two films in particular: It’s Only Life After All and Flora and Son.