Tag: Foreign Films Interview
Interview: Marie Amachoukeli – Àma Gloria
Dialling into a unique relationship dynamic that isn't portrayed in cinema, Marie Amachoukeli, who won the Camera d'Or award at the 2014 edition of...
Interview: Houman Seyyedi & Azad Jafarian – World War III
In anticipation for the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, I chatted with director Houman Seyyedi and screenwriter Azad Jafarian, whose film World War III is...
Interview: Ellie Foumbi & Joe Mastantuono – Our Father, the Devil
Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil (Mon Père, le Diable) is an exceptionally haunting, masterful film. A highlight from both Venice (a Biennale College...
Interview: Francisca Alegria, Mia Maestro & Leonor Varela – The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
Francisca Alegria’s The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future is unlike any other experience offered by Sundance ’22: a deeply moving onscreen...
Interview: Agnieszka Smoczynska – Fugue
Agnieszka Smoczynska's 2015 The Lure was quite the sensation, having made a splash at Sundance and having enjoyed a growing reputation in the years...
Fugue | Review
Staring into the Known: Smoczyńska Offers Low-key, Uncompromising Sophomore Feature
Surely not the follow up effort audiences might have had in mind from the creator...
Interview: Yorgos Gousis – Magnetic Fields
In anticipation of the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, I chatted with Yorgos Gousis, whose debut film Magnetic Fields is Greece’s official submission in consideration...
Interview: Charlotte Wells – Aftersun
This year's "buzz" title at the Cannes Film Festival was tucked away in the Critics' Week section and everywhere Charlotte Wells' debut feature has...
Interview: Adrian Moyse Dullin – The Right Words (Haut les coeurs)
Taking place within the confines of a chaotic city bus, The Right Words (Haut les Coeurs) is about seizing the moment, taking chances and...
Interview: Michal Blaško – Victim
In anticipation of the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, I spoke with Michal Blaško, whose debut film Victim is Slovakia’s official submission in consideration for...
Interview: Emre Kayiş – Anatolian Leopard
The old adage (and threat) of out with the old and in with the new is especially true in Emre Kayiş' directorial debut. It's...
Interview: Mounia Akl – Costa Brava, Lebanon
Arriving at TIFF after having premiered at the Venice Film Festival, first-time Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl who actually penned the screenplay with Clara Roquet...
Interview: Lenny & Harpo Guit – Mother Shmuckers
Lenny Guit and Harpo Guit are the masterminds behind Mother Shmuckers (Fils de Plouc), one of the most unhinged comedies to grace Sundance’s Midnight...
Interview: Hirokazu Kore-eda (Air Doll)
Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to a thematic subject matter he knows well: loneliness and emptiness. This time out, he does so via the...
Video Interview: Ayten Amin – Souad
Egypt's official submission for the 'Best International Feature' category at the 94th Academy Awards is Ayten Amin's Souad, which received the official Cannes 2020...
Video Interview: Péter Kerekes – 107 Mothers
Slovakia's official submission for the 'Best International Feature' category at the 94th Academy Awards is Péter Kerekes's 107 Mothers, which premiered at the 2021...
Video Interview: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
Filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s mesmerizing character studies (2015’s Happy Hour, 2018’s Asako I & II) often snag awards at major film festivals, and 2021 was...
Interview: Joanna Hogg & Honor Swinton Byrne – The Souvenir Part II
After premiering in the Directors' Fortnight and landing at the New York Film Festival, The Souvenir Part II - filmmaker Joanna Hogg’s highly-anticipated follow...
Interview: Agustina San Martín – To Kill The Beast
An already celebrated filmmaker (and cinematographer) on the fest circuit due to her short films that landed in Berlinale and Cannes, Matar a la...
Interview: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed – The Gravedigger’s Wife
Making a moral complicated medley on death being at someone's doorstep...and footsteps, with his feature debut film, Somalia-born, Finnish filmmaker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed proposes...
Video Interview: Kazik Radwanski – Anne at 13,000 ft
Making friends can be easy...unless you happen to be the central character in Radwanskian cinema. In Toronto-based filmmaker Kazik Radwanski's third feature film, we...
Video Interview: Jeanne Leblanc – Our Own (Les nôtres)
Insular and close-knit communities are great at keeping unwanted problems (or people) at bay, but want happens when social woes mushroom from within? Passive...
Video Interview: Fabrice du Welz – Adoration
A philosopher once said that despair can never be dissolved through escape, but by observing it. There isn't much in terms of reprieve Locarno...
Video Interview: Zaida Bergroth & Alma Pöysti – Tove
Finland’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 is Tove, the fifth film from Zaida Bergroth,...
Interview: Anthony Chen & Yann Yann Yeo – Wet Season
Hot news from PYIFF, Singapore’s Wet Season takes home a whopping three awards, including the Cinephilia Critics’ Award, and two Fei Mu Awards for...
Interview: Midi Z – Nina Wu
Under the guise of a topical film detailing a #Metoo experience, Myanmar-born Taiwanese director Midi Z investigates the broader point of view of an...
Video Interview: Martin Edralin (Islands) – 2021 SXSW Film Festival
Filmmaker Martin Edralin’s tender debut feature Islands introduces us to Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas): a taciturn, 49-year-old Filipino immigrant who still lives with his elderly...
Video Interview: Beppe Tufarulo – Baradar | Best Live Action Short Entry for the 93rd Academy Awards
Eligible for consideration in the ‘Best Live Action Short’ category at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 is ‘Baradar (Brother)’ from director Beppe Tufarulo....
Dea Kulumbegashvili – Beginning [Video Interview]
One of the brighter notes in world cinema circa year one of the pandemic, Dea Kulumbegashvili's directorial debut (an official entry for Georgia for...
Video Interview: Melina Leon – Song Without a Name | Intl. Feature Film Entry for the 93rd Academy Awards
Peru’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 is Melina Leon’s directorial debut Song Without a...
Video Interview: Milcho Manchevski – Willow | Intl. Feature Film Entry for the 93rd Academy Awards
North Macedonia’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 is Willow, the latest title from Milcho...
Video Interview: Karolis Kaupinis – Nova Lituania | Intl. Feature Film Entry for the 93rd Academy Awards
Lithuania’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 is Karolis Kaupinis’ directorial debut Nova Lituania, which...
Video Interview: Zeina Durra – Luxor
The soaked in history backdrop of Egypt serves as a reminder that the past is sometimes more present than one can anticipate and while...
Interview: Sacha Polak – Dirty God
Dutch director Sacha Polak has blossomed into a perceptively humanist filmmaker with her third feature - and first in English - Dirty God. In...
Video Interview: Sean Durkin – The Nest
One of the hallmark signature hallmarks found in Durkinian cinema is the ability to capture the psychology of his characters through their inaction. This...
Video Interview: Maïmouna Doucouré – Cuties | 2020 Sundance Film Festival
With her award-winning short Maman(s), Maïmouna Doucouré masterfully details the traumas associated by living in a nonsecular upbringing. Mining from her own experiences and...
Interview: Composer Jean-Michel Blais – Matthias & Maxime
Deemed as a return to his indie filmmaking roots, Xavier Dolan's film character sets will be forever tied to soundtracks that lyrically express a...
Interview: Melina León – Song Without a Name
This past May, Melina León made history with her haunting debut feature, Song Without a Name, as the first female Peruvian director to premiere...
Interview: César Díaz – Our Mothers (Nuestras Madres)
Directed by Guatamalan filmmaker César Diaz, Our Mothers premiered at Cannes Critics' Week section and took home the top prize for a first time...
Interview: Hlynur Pálmason & Ingvar E. Sigurdsson – A White, White Day
At the last Critics' Week in Cannes 2019, critics took notice of Hlynur Pálmason’s second feature, A White, White Day. Pálmason’s debut, Winter Brothers,...
Video Interview: Dylan Holmes Williams – The Devil’s Harmony (Short Film) 2020 Sundance Film Festival
With a certain clinical Lanthimos-like aestheticism and The Stepford Wives sorting of the character set, London-based filmmaker Dylan Holmes Williams has been super-charged by...
Video Interview: Teemu Niukkanen & Antti Toivonen – Are You Hungry? (Short Film) 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Making their second Park City trip in just as many outings with 2020's Are You Hungry? following in the footsteps of Fucking Bunnies (2017), the...
Interview: Lucía Garibaldi & Romina Bentancur – The Sharks (Los tiburones)
The apex of the ocean's pyramid of predators, the mystic and misunderstood animal is most renowned for its powerful bite. Sundance preemed The Sharks (Los...
Video Interview: Fanyana Hlabangane (The Spirit Guest) – 2020 Sundance Screenwriters Lab
Once again reflected in this year's batch, the 2020 January Screenwriters Lab truly emphasizes geographic inclusion and diversity perhaps best exemplified in this future...
Interview: Kantemir Balagov – Beanpole
We sat down with director Kantemir Balagov at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival following the premiere of his sophomore film Beanpole in Un Certain...
Interview: Gitanjali Rao – Bombay Rose | 2019 International Film Festival • Macao (IFFAM)
Love is a lingering suggestion examined through various ages and art forms in Gitanjali Rao’s feature debut Bombay Rose, an exquisite Indian animated film...
Interview: Johnny Ma – To Live to Sing | 2019 International Film Festival • Macao (IFFAM)
Art and legacy clash with progress and commerce in a lightly dramatized account of life as one of the few remaining Sichuan Opera troupes...
Video Interview: Peter Strickland – In Fabric
We sat with filmmaker Peter Strickland following the premiere of his latest film In Fabric at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Strickland shares...
Interview: Benjamín Naishtat – Rojo
Selected for the Platform section competition at TIFF and San Sebastian (winner of the Silver Shell for Best Director, the Silver Shell for Best...
Interview: Carlo Sironi – Sole | 2019 PYIFF
Italian filmmaker Carlo Sironi — whose shorts have already brought him attention at Venice and Locarno — has now given us a striking first...