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A restored edition of Chen Kaige’s “Yellow Earth” is one of the highlights of the selection for the 8th edition of China’s boutique Pingyao International Film Festival. The film, which helped put Chinese art-house cinema on the map overseas and signaled a new era of Chinese directors, now referred to the FIfth Generation, was originally released 40 years ago.

The festival, which runs Sept. 24-30, will open with the world premiere of Liu Juan’s “A River Without Tears.”

The festival’s Hidden Dragons section of Chinese-made films includes: the Asian premiere of Ma Lanhua’s “Hello, Spring”; the Asian premiere of Tang Yongkan’s “Stars and the Moon”; and world premieres of Wang Lina’s “Village Music”; Zhu Xin’s “A Song River”; Yang Suiyi’s “Karst”; Luka Yang Yuanyuan’s “Chinatown Cha-Cha”; Shen Tao’s “Floating Clouds Obscure the Sun”; Siu Koon-ho’s “True Love, For Once...

On the 4th of July 2016 Iranian filmmaker, producer, author and poet Abbas Kiarostami died in Paris. While he did not receive the same kind of recognition in his home country Iran as he did in the rest of world, his body of work is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in the history of cinema. Numerous authors have interpreted the various layers of meaning within his features, but perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of his works is the way he uses landscape. While many directors uses landscape, rural or urban, as the background for the story or the characters, Kiarostami has continued to explore means to use landscape as a means to not just tell a story, but to enhance it, which he perfected throughout his career. In the following, we will take a look at a few examples within his wide filmography emphasizing this very point.

1. Where is the Friend's Home?...

Madrid-based Aquí y Allí Films, one of Spain’s most successful auteur movie production houses, is joining forces with popular Spanish actor turned writer-director Daniel Guzmán to produce drama thriller “La deuda.”

Backed by Spain’s pay TV giant Movistar+ and public broadcaster Rtve, “La deuda” will be produced by Aquí y Allí’s Pedro Hernández and Guzmán at El Niño Producciones.

The film is scheduled to roll in Madrid by the fall.

Written by Guzmán, “La deuda” tells the story of Lucas, a 37-year-old man and the 86 year-old woman Antonia, who live together in a city too big to be alone. Lucas is looking for a job but the job seems not to be looking for him.

Despite the economic difficulties they are going through, and their generational difference, they live day to day with a certain enthusiasm. Until Lucas’ decision will change the rest of their lives.

“I...

Paris-based Haut et Court has closed French distribution rights with sales agent Film Factory Entertainment on Victor Erice’s ”Close Your Eyes” (“Cerrar los ojos”), the legendary Spanish director’s return to feature film direction 30 years after Cannes Jury Prize winner “Dream of Light” and a half century on from his milestone debut, “The Spirit of the Beehive.”

“Beehive” is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made. “Light” was chosen by the world’s cinematheques as the best film of the 1990s. “Close Your Eyes” reunites Erice with Ana Torrent, a wide-eyed mite in “Beehive.”

One of the most awaited Spanish films of 2023, it will be released in Spain by Avalon Films, the producer-distributor of “Alcarràs.”

“Close Your Eyes” turns on a famed actor who disappears while making a film. Many years later, a TV program airs the final scenes he shot, the beginning...

Three first features from Spain’s burgeoning next generation of female filmmakers, led by Cannes Critics’ Week winner Laura Ferrès, is one highlight at this year’s Málaga Work in Progress, an Málaga Festival industry centerpiece where productions such as “The Platform” first saw the light of day.

Playing in Malaga Wip, “The Platform” was acquired by Latido Film which sold the title to Netflix at Toronto. It has gone on to rank as the third most-watched non-English movie ever on Netflix.

At least three titles – Spanish road movie “Devil Dog Road,” horror pic “The Hidden City,” the neo-noir “Foremost by Night” – boast genre gristle. Some titles turn on gender oppression (“As Neves”), female self-discovery (“Mara’s Vacation”) or sexual diversity (“I Trust You”). Many, especially from Spain, have social-issue overtones.

Production companies range from established indie forces – Madrid’s Aquí y Allí, Buenos Aires’ Magma Cine, Portugal’s Ukbar Filmes – to on-the-rise outfits,...

Although features such as “Close-Up” (1990) received high praise from international critics, making it possible for director Abbas Kiarostami to seek financial backing for his projects in other countries, producing new features in his home country Iran proved to be increasingly difficult. Iranian authorities accused the director of becoming Westernized because of the use of Western music, especially classic, and also showing a rather clichéd image of Iran. However, Kiarostami still returned to the village of Koker, the setting of “Where is the Friend’s House”, to tell yet another story, inspired by one incident during the filming of one scene in “And Life Goes On”. The two actors, a boy and a girl, both local, had to do a scene together, but something was off and there was a certain tension between the two of them, which Kiarostami investigated further, uncovering a story of lost love and disappointment closely linked...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Martha Stewart in In A Lonely Place. Actress Martha Stewart, best known for playing Mildred Atkinson in Nicholas Ray's In A Lonely Place (1950), has died. Check out the new website for listings resource Screen Slate! The website now has sections for specially curated listings and articles, as well as a store featuring surveys and readers. Joaquin Phoenix is officially joining the cast of Ari Aster's next film, Disappointment Blvd. Produced by A24, the film reportedly is “an intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.” Recommended VIEWINGLingua Franca director Isabel Sandoval's short film Shang-ri Lais the latest of Miu Miu's Women's Tales, now playing on Mubi. The sensual story takes place in California during the Great Depression, and depicts a Filipino farmhand whose strong feelings...

Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Farhad Kheradmand, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Zarifeh Shiva, Buba Bayour, Khodabakhsh Defaei | Written and Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

They may not have a breakneck pace, and they may seem unbearably light on explicit incident, but Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy did the shared universe thing two decades before Marvel perfected the formula. Each film is a deeply humanistic fable in its own right and each is woven into the fabric of the others. Together they show just how powerfully mind-bending the use of sequels can be.

The first part, Where Is The Friend’s House?, starts simply. One day at school, Ahmed (Babek Ahmed Poor) witnesses his friend Mohammad Reda (Ahmed Ahmed Poor) being told off by their teacher for forgetting his notebook. Reda is on his last warning – one more strike and he’s expelled. When Ahmed gets home, he realises he’s accidentally picked up Reda’s notebook.

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

Films by Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, and Naruse kick off a retrospective of Japanese actress Machiko Kyō.

The Pasolini retrospective continues.

Streetwise and its follow-up, Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell, begin a run.

The restoration of A Bigger Splash continues screening, while the ’90s indie film Chalk has been restored.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Three years after Palme d’Or-winning Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami passed away at the age of 76, Janus Films is rolling out a wide-ranging and lovingly designed touring retrospective of some of his seminal works. The new retrospective includes restorations of The Koker Trilogy, plus features like “Close-Up,” “Taste of Cherry,” “Shirin,” “24 Frames,” “ABC Africa,” “The Wind Will Carry Us,” “Ten,” and “Five.”

The new restorations were undertaken by the Criterion Collection and mk2 with contributions by Kiarostami’s son, Ahmad Kiarostami.

Born in 1940 in Tehran, the filmmaker first studied painting at the University of Tehran; later, he worked as a graphic designer and commercial director. Kiarostami credited a job in the film department at Kanun (the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults) for shaping him into a filmmaker.

He made his first feature, “The Report,” in 1977, just two years before the 1979 revolution that saw so...