Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired “Happy Holidays,” the sophomore feature of Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Scandar Copti.
Copti’s feature debut, “Ajami,” co-directed by Yaron Shani, won the Camera d’Or Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and was nominated for an Oscar in the international feature category.
“Happy Holidays” takes place in contemporary Israel, where a minor accident in Jerusalem triggers a chain of events. “Lies and unspoken truths will sow division among a multi-faceted patriarchal society,” reads the synopsis.
Nicolas Eschbach, Indie Sales’ CEO and co-founder, described “Happy Holidays” as a “highly-expected second feature from Palestinian director Scandar Copti after his Cannes-selected critically-acclaimed debut.”
Currently in post-production, the film is expected to be delivered in the spring. “Happy Holidays” is produced by Red Balloon Film in Germany, together with Tessalit Productions in France, Intramovies in Italy and Fresco Films in Palestine.
Indie Sales will introduce the...
Copti’s feature debut, “Ajami,” co-directed by Yaron Shani, won the Camera d’Or Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and was nominated for an Oscar in the international feature category.
“Happy Holidays” takes place in contemporary Israel, where a minor accident in Jerusalem triggers a chain of events. “Lies and unspoken truths will sow division among a multi-faceted patriarchal society,” reads the synopsis.
Nicolas Eschbach, Indie Sales’ CEO and co-founder, described “Happy Holidays” as a “highly-expected second feature from Palestinian director Scandar Copti after his Cannes-selected critically-acclaimed debut.”
Currently in post-production, the film is expected to be delivered in the spring. “Happy Holidays” is produced by Red Balloon Film in Germany, together with Tessalit Productions in France, Intramovies in Italy and Fresco Films in Palestine.
Indie Sales will introduce the...
- 2/2/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Industry speakers at festival include ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ director Jasmila Zbanic, former Marvel exec Karim Zreik.
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has selected 26 feature film projects for its Red Sea Souk Project Market; plus a Work-in-Progress showcase, and speakers for its 360° industry events programme.
The 26 Souk projects hail from Africa and the Arab region. Titles include Djeliya, Memory Of Manding, a documentary from Burkinabe filmmaker Boubacar Sangare, whose third film A Golden Life played at the Berlinale earlier this year.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
Also included is Scandar Copti’s animated documentary A Childhood,...
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has selected 26 feature film projects for its Red Sea Souk Project Market; plus a Work-in-Progress showcase, and speakers for its 360° industry events programme.
The 26 Souk projects hail from Africa and the Arab region. Titles include Djeliya, Memory Of Manding, a documentary from Burkinabe filmmaker Boubacar Sangare, whose third film A Golden Life played at the Berlinale earlier this year.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
Also included is Scandar Copti’s animated documentary A Childhood,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Schory was head of the Israel Film Fund for 21 years.
Katriel Schory, former long-time head of the Israel Film Fund, has received a lifetime achievement award from the Israel Academy of Film and Television.
Schory was presented with the award at a special event on August 27, ahead of the Ophir Awards ceremony on September 10 – the main ceremony for the Israeli Academy.
“Israeli cinema would not look the same without Katriel Schory,” read a statement from the Academy, which selected the executive for the award “for his work and public achievements over the past 30 years, with great respect and endless appreciation.
Katriel Schory, former long-time head of the Israel Film Fund, has received a lifetime achievement award from the Israel Academy of Film and Television.
Schory was presented with the award at a special event on August 27, ahead of the Ophir Awards ceremony on September 10 – the main ceremony for the Israeli Academy.
“Israeli cinema would not look the same without Katriel Schory,” read a statement from the Academy, which selected the executive for the award “for his work and public achievements over the past 30 years, with great respect and endless appreciation.
- 8/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The programme supports work-in-progress films from Africa and the Middle East
Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays is among the seven selected projects for the 11th edition of Venice Final Cut, supporting work-in-progress films from Africa and the Middle East.
The programme, which runs as part of Venice Film Festival’s production bridge, has selected four fiction and three documentary projects to be screened to producers, distributors, buyers, post-production companies and programmers during the three-day workshop in Venice (September 3-5).
Happy Holidays follows a student whose double life is exposed when she gets involved in a minor accident. It’s a co-production between Palestine,...
Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays is among the seven selected projects for the 11th edition of Venice Final Cut, supporting work-in-progress films from Africa and the Middle East.
The programme, which runs as part of Venice Film Festival’s production bridge, has selected four fiction and three documentary projects to be screened to producers, distributors, buyers, post-production companies and programmers during the three-day workshop in Venice (September 3-5).
Happy Holidays follows a student whose double life is exposed when she gets involved in a minor accident. It’s a co-production between Palestine,...
- 7/14/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Series Mania has always been about discovery: Of drama series as an art form, in its early days from launch in 2009; then of key players on a burgeoning international premium TV scene.
Series Mania’s International Panorama now catches a new wave of creatives transitioning from film to scripted TV – Israel’s Yaron Shani with “Innermost,” Spain’s Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo with episodes of “Apagón”; and highlights notable emerging auteurs: Denmark’s Kasper Møller Rask, Canada’s Alexis Durand-Brault, Spain’s Fran Araujo, Pakistan’s Assim Abassi and Germany’s Jakob and Jonas Weydemann.
But for having already bowed at national festivals, some of the 12 titles below could well have been in the running for a Competition berth.
Below, the Series Mania’s rich 2023 International Panorama:
“Apagón,” (“Offworld,” Spain)
One of Variety’s Best International TV Shows of 2022, a realistic, sophisticated disaster thriller from Movistar+ and Buendía Estudios...
Series Mania’s International Panorama now catches a new wave of creatives transitioning from film to scripted TV – Israel’s Yaron Shani with “Innermost,” Spain’s Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo with episodes of “Apagón”; and highlights notable emerging auteurs: Denmark’s Kasper Møller Rask, Canada’s Alexis Durand-Brault, Spain’s Fran Araujo, Pakistan’s Assim Abassi and Germany’s Jakob and Jonas Weydemann.
But for having already bowed at national festivals, some of the 12 titles below could well have been in the running for a Competition berth.
Below, the Series Mania’s rich 2023 International Panorama:
“Apagón,” (“Offworld,” Spain)
One of Variety’s Best International TV Shows of 2022, a realistic, sophisticated disaster thriller from Movistar+ and Buendía Estudios...
- 3/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Israel’s Yaron Shani, best known for his feature debut “Ajami,” nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar in 2010, is presenting his debut television series, “Innermost,” at Series Mania.
Variety is unveiling an exclusive first look at the series, which world premieres March 20 at the prominent television event unspooling in Lille, France over March 17-24.
The six-episode limited series, world premiering in Series Mania’s International Panorama section, follows three characters whose lives intersect. Among them is a police officer, played by Eran Naim, a former cop himself, who first appeared in “Ajami.” The second is an upcoming writer who struggles to recover from a traumatic experience, while the third is a young aspiring musician who chafes against his parents’ wish to do his duty and join the military service, mandatory in Israel.
“ ’Innermost’ dives into a multi-layered reality of violence and grace, storming under the calm blanket of modernity in contemporary Tel Aviv,...
Variety is unveiling an exclusive first look at the series, which world premieres March 20 at the prominent television event unspooling in Lille, France over March 17-24.
The six-episode limited series, world premiering in Series Mania’s International Panorama section, follows three characters whose lives intersect. Among them is a police officer, played by Eran Naim, a former cop himself, who first appeared in “Ajami.” The second is an upcoming writer who struggles to recover from a traumatic experience, while the third is a young aspiring musician who chafes against his parents’ wish to do his duty and join the military service, mandatory in Israel.
“ ’Innermost’ dives into a multi-layered reality of violence and grace, storming under the calm blanket of modernity in contemporary Tel Aviv,...
- 3/14/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Federation is a France-based production and distribution company.
France-based production and distribution company Federation Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in UK-based independent production outfit Vertigo Films.
Vertigo Films will continue to operate as a separate entity, specialising in development, production, marketing and financing of film and TV projects, with Federation bringing its expertise in international co-productions, and handling international sales where appropriate.
The deal is the first UK acquisition for the Federation group, which was founded in 2013 and now has around 20 subsidiaries or associate production companies around the world. The group’s credits include French-language series’ The Bureau, Marseilles...
France-based production and distribution company Federation Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in UK-based independent production outfit Vertigo Films.
Vertigo Films will continue to operate as a separate entity, specialising in development, production, marketing and financing of film and TV projects, with Federation bringing its expertise in international co-productions, and handling international sales where appropriate.
The deal is the first UK acquisition for the Federation group, which was founded in 2013 and now has around 20 subsidiaries or associate production companies around the world. The group’s credits include French-language series’ The Bureau, Marseilles...
- 9/7/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Federation is a France-based production and distribution company.
France-based production and distribution company Federation Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in UK-based independent production outfit Vertigo Films.
Vertigo Films will continue to operate as a separate entity, specialising in development, production, marketing and financing of film and TV projects, with Federation bringing its expertise in international co-productions, and handling international sales where appropriate.
The deal is the first UK acquisition for the Federation group, which was founded in 2013 and now has around 20 subsidiaries or associate production companies around the world. The group’s credits include French-language series’ The Bureau, Marseilles...
France-based production and distribution company Federation Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in UK-based independent production outfit Vertigo Films.
Vertigo Films will continue to operate as a separate entity, specialising in development, production, marketing and financing of film and TV projects, with Federation bringing its expertise in international co-productions, and handling international sales where appropriate.
The deal is the first UK acquisition for the Federation group, which was founded in 2013 and now has around 20 subsidiaries or associate production companies around the world. The group’s credits include French-language series’ The Bureau, Marseilles...
- 9/7/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
If you haven’t heard of The Match Factory, you probably don’t work in the international arthouse film arena. The German sales and production outfit is one of the world’s leading champions of auteur cinema and has consistently been involved in a raft of festival-winning titles since its inception in 2006. From Cannes Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives to Berlin Golden Bear winners Grbavica and Honey to Oscar-nominated titles Waltz With Bashir, Ajami, The Milk Of Sorrow, The Broken Circle Breakdown and Omar, the Cologne-based company is unwavering in its effort to bring distinct and striking titles to an international audience.
Michael Weber, managing director and mastermind behind the European outfit, and the company’s well-respected head of sales Thania Dimitrakopoulou, are in Cannes this week with their biggest and most eclectic festival slate to date. They’re representing 14 titles including Competition titles Memoria,...
Michael Weber, managing director and mastermind behind the European outfit, and the company’s well-respected head of sales Thania Dimitrakopoulou, are in Cannes this week with their biggest and most eclectic festival slate to date. They’re representing 14 titles including Competition titles Memoria,...
- 7/15/2021
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
The Eurimages Fund is supporting 28 features.
European support body Eurimages has selected 28 features for a total of €6.1m ($6.9m) funding, including new works by Robert Guédiguian and Jim Sheridan.
French filmmaker Guédiguian – who has directed 21 features since 1981 including his most recent, Venice 2019 selection Gloria Mundi – receives €470,000 for France-Canada co-production Bamako Twist.
Ireland’s Sheridan, who has been nominated for six Oscars across his career since his breakthrough debut feature My Left Foot, receives €280,000 for Ireland-uk-France documentary In Absentia, co-directed with Colm Quinn. The documentary looks into the murder of French producer Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in Ireland, in December 1996.
Other...
European support body Eurimages has selected 28 features for a total of €6.1m ($6.9m) funding, including new works by Robert Guédiguian and Jim Sheridan.
French filmmaker Guédiguian – who has directed 21 features since 1981 including his most recent, Venice 2019 selection Gloria Mundi – receives €470,000 for France-Canada co-production Bamako Twist.
Ireland’s Sheridan, who has been nominated for six Oscars across his career since his breakthrough debut feature My Left Foot, receives €280,000 for Ireland-uk-France documentary In Absentia, co-directed with Colm Quinn. The documentary looks into the murder of French producer Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in Ireland, in December 1996.
Other...
- 6/5/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Yaron Shani is a graduate of Tel Aviv University Film Department. His debut feature-length film Ajami was an Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film and won fifteen international awards, including the Golden Alexander Award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Over the last years, Shani has been working on his highly ambitious project Love Trilogy: Love Trilogy: Stripped premiered at the Venice Orizzonti section, while the second installment Love Trilogy: Chained premiered at the Berlinale Panorama.
On the occasion of “Chained” screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival, we speak with him his unique procedure of filmmaking, the main protagonist, police tactics, perceiving the world and many other topics
Can you tell me a bit about this unique procedure you implement regarding the acting aspect in your films?
Let’s imagine a surprise party for your grandmother. Let’s imagine it in a fiction film where you see actors performing as if they are surprised,...
On the occasion of “Chained” screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival, we speak with him his unique procedure of filmmaking, the main protagonist, police tactics, perceiving the world and many other topics
Can you tell me a bit about this unique procedure you implement regarding the acting aspect in your films?
Let’s imagine a surprise party for your grandmother. Let’s imagine it in a fiction film where you see actors performing as if they are surprised,...
- 11/12/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Service called KinoHerz is globally accessible but some films will be geo-blocked according to the rights availability.
The German Producers Association (Vdfp) has launched its own TVoD (transactional video on demand) platform, KinoHerz, to achieve a greater visibility and accessibility for its members’ films.
Titles available in this non-exclusive service include international successes such as Maren Ade’s Everyone Else and Toni Erdmann, Emily Atef’s 3 Days In Quiberon, Fatih Akin’s Tschick as well as documentaries like Tristan Ferland Milewski’s Dream Boat and Arne Birkenstock’s Chandani und ihr Elefant.
The Vdfp’s member companies also have a...
The German Producers Association (Vdfp) has launched its own TVoD (transactional video on demand) platform, KinoHerz, to achieve a greater visibility and accessibility for its members’ films.
Titles available in this non-exclusive service include international successes such as Maren Ade’s Everyone Else and Toni Erdmann, Emily Atef’s 3 Days In Quiberon, Fatih Akin’s Tschick as well as documentaries like Tristan Ferland Milewski’s Dream Boat and Arne Birkenstock’s Chandani und ihr Elefant.
The Vdfp’s member companies also have a...
- 4/5/2019
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The first of Shani’s ‘The Love Trilogy’ premieres on August 29.
Celluloid Dreams has unveiled the first trailer for Israeli director Yaron Shani’s emotional drama Stripped ahead of its premiere in Venice’s Horizons sidebar this evening (Aug 29).
The film revolves around the life-changing relationship between successful 34-year-old novelist Alice, who is suffering from acute anxiety, and 17-year-old Ziv, a talented classical musician who is forced to put his passion on hold while he completes compulsory military service.
Stripped is Shani’s debut solo feature, after the award-winning 2009 drama Ajami, which he co-directed with Scandar Copti, and is also...
Celluloid Dreams has unveiled the first trailer for Israeli director Yaron Shani’s emotional drama Stripped ahead of its premiere in Venice’s Horizons sidebar this evening (Aug 29).
The film revolves around the life-changing relationship between successful 34-year-old novelist Alice, who is suffering from acute anxiety, and 17-year-old Ziv, a talented classical musician who is forced to put his passion on hold while he completes compulsory military service.
Stripped is Shani’s debut solo feature, after the award-winning 2009 drama Ajami, which he co-directed with Scandar Copti, and is also...
- 8/29/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Producer of Rafi Pitts’ Berlinale Competition title is lining up several new projects.
Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, the German producer of Rafi Pitts’ Berlinale Competition title Soy Nero [pictured], is lining up projects from Israel and Cyprus.
Twenty Twenty’s managing director Thanassis Karathanos told Screen that principal photography on Israeli filmmaker Veronica Kedar’s Family began at locations in the German city of Halle last week.
Although the film’s story is set in Israel, Family will be shot completely in Germany. It marks another collaboration for Karathanos with Mosh Danon’s Inosan Productions after working together on Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani’s 2009 film Ajami.
Kedar’s second feature had been pitched at the 2014 edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market where Twenty Twenty’s second project, Christos Georgiou’s Happy Birthday, was also presented to potential co-producers.
A March start is planned for the shooting of Georgiou’s first feature since the 2008 comedy Small Crime and...
Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, the German producer of Rafi Pitts’ Berlinale Competition title Soy Nero [pictured], is lining up projects from Israel and Cyprus.
Twenty Twenty’s managing director Thanassis Karathanos told Screen that principal photography on Israeli filmmaker Veronica Kedar’s Family began at locations in the German city of Halle last week.
Although the film’s story is set in Israel, Family will be shot completely in Germany. It marks another collaboration for Karathanos with Mosh Danon’s Inosan Productions after working together on Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani’s 2009 film Ajami.
Kedar’s second feature had been pitched at the 2014 edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market where Twenty Twenty’s second project, Christos Georgiou’s Happy Birthday, was also presented to potential co-producers.
A March start is planned for the shooting of Georgiou’s first feature since the 2008 comedy Small Crime and...
- 2/14/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
People are still talking about that unfortunate year at the Oscars when Paul Haggis' "Crash" won Best Picture over "Brokeback Mountain." The 2004 winner is here on our list (check the bottom portion), but this week, Paul Haggis returns to the same form with "Third Person," which jumps from Paris to Rome to New York as it traces the hidden connections between three very different men played by Liam Neeson, Adrien Brody and James Franco. That got us thinking about our favorite films that have multiple story lines that either run simultaneously, or are interconnected in some way. Here's our list of nine of the best indies that use hyperlinked narratives, and four that aren't so memorable. Let us know your favorites in the comments. "Third Person" opens June 20. "Ajami" Dir. Scandar Copti, Yaron Shandi (2009) "Ajami" is the result of an astonishing collaboration between Palestinian Scandar Copti and Israeli Yaron Shani.
- 6/19/2014
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Originally titled simply Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas’ upcoming drama recently underwent a slight title change to Clouds of Sils Maria, and now the first promo poster has been released, along with the first official synopsis.
Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloë Grace Moretz make for an impressive leading trio, and the synopsis below teases some interesting dynamics between them.
At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena.
She departs with her assistant (Kristen Stewart) to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a...
Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloë Grace Moretz make for an impressive leading trio, and the synopsis below teases some interesting dynamics between them.
At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena.
She departs with her assistant (Kristen Stewart) to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a...
- 2/10/2014
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Filmmaker Veronica Kedar was awarded $50,000 (Usd) this weekend at the Jerusalem International Film Lab. Kedar, known for Joe + Belle, received the award for her new feature project, Family. Moshe Danon of Inosan Productions, producer of Academy Award nominee Ajami, will produce. Another $30,000 (Usd) was awarded to director Dani Rosenberg and producer Eilon Ratzkovsky of July-August Productions for The Vanishing Soldier. Producer Paulo Branco, chairman of the jury, explained the decision, firstly by stating that they were extremely impressed by the high level of all projects developed in the lab. The jury chose to award prizes to the scripts and directors that presented a unique voice, artistic audacity and strong statements on the complex social and political realities that surround them. Furthermore, these...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 7/9/2013
- Screen Anarchy
If you are attending the Berlinale, there's still time to register for Scandar Copti's two day workshop on directing actors. The intensive workshop, limited to 25 participants, takes place February 16-17 and will focus on Copti's method to elicit natural performances from actors. It is intended for directors, actors and film students. Copti's 2009 film "Ajami" won the Camera d'Or Special Mention at Cannes, and was also nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar (watch the trailer below). More info on the workshop is below and here. Workshop info: Filmmakers often use the element of surprise to direct actors for certain scenes to get authentic emotional responses. The directors of Ajami based their film entirely on this principal. Unlike other forays into improvisation, Ajami had a very precise screenplay and a well-constructed plot that demanded precise emotional responses from its actors. The actors ended up acting out a...
- 1/2/2013
- by Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
Last week's Doha Tribeca film festival showcased an uprising of Arab films shot straight from the streets
Last week, delegates from across the Arab world met in Doha to discuss the future of a liberated Libya. Meanwhile, across town, Tarak Ben Ammar was launching his new movie. Black Gold is an epic spun from the discovery of oil on the Arabian peninsula, and as its producer, Ben Ammar was keen to keen to play up its timeliness. "We were shooting in Tunisia just as Ben Ali fell," he told a sweaty crowd in a small air-conditioned room at the Doha Tribeca film festival. "Those events became history not only for Tunisia but for the world. Let's hope this is a new age for Arab cinema too."
Across from Ben Ammar sit some of his cast: Freida Pinto, Tahar Rahim and Mark Strong. They echo his sentiments, project their belief that,...
Last week, delegates from across the Arab world met in Doha to discuss the future of a liberated Libya. Meanwhile, across town, Tarak Ben Ammar was launching his new movie. Black Gold is an epic spun from the discovery of oil on the Arabian peninsula, and as its producer, Ben Ammar was keen to keen to play up its timeliness. "We were shooting in Tunisia just as Ben Ali fell," he told a sweaty crowd in a small air-conditioned room at the Doha Tribeca film festival. "Those events became history not only for Tunisia but for the world. Let's hope this is a new age for Arab cinema too."
Across from Ben Ammar sit some of his cast: Freida Pinto, Tahar Rahim and Mark Strong. They echo his sentiments, project their belief that,...
- 11/3/2011
- by Paul MacInnes
- The Guardian - Film News
When Fifa awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, there was widespread disbelief. But the bid was just another step in the ambitious emirate's plan to become a global player – not just in sport, but culturally, with events such as a Robert De Niro-endorsed film festival. Welcome to the Gulf's latest Brave New World
"Rich is good, obviously," an eminent Qatari tells me. Obviously. "But to be cultured, well, that's something else…" He's talking less about individuals than states, in particular his own which is now – on a per-capita basis – the richest country in the world, a status chiefly explained by Qatar possessing plenty of what the world most wants: oil and gas.
It also now has the World Cup – or will have in 2022, after Fifa's decision late last year to award the tournament to the Gulf state. The decision provoked plenty of commentary, little of it entirely complimentary.
A...
"Rich is good, obviously," an eminent Qatari tells me. Obviously. "But to be cultured, well, that's something else…" He's talking less about individuals than states, in particular his own which is now – on a per-capita basis – the richest country in the world, a status chiefly explained by Qatar possessing plenty of what the world most wants: oil and gas.
It also now has the World Cup – or will have in 2022, after Fifa's decision late last year to award the tournament to the Gulf state. The decision provoked plenty of commentary, little of it entirely complimentary.
A...
- 1/23/2011
- by Robert Yates
- The Guardian - Film News
Going into any year’s respective Oscar season, one area of Academy Awards is often unknown to the general public: the foreign film category.
With most of the film’s not getting the chance to screen outside of places like New York or La, many of the films that are nominated for the Best Foreign Film award seem to come out of nowhere, particularly knowing the process behind getting nominated (each country can submit only one film for consideration).
Well, with nominated films like A Prophet and The White Ribbon both hitting DVD earlier this year, and the award winner The Secret In Their Eyes still making its way throughout theaters stateside, Israel’s submission and subsequent nominated film, Ajami, has finally been released on DVD.
And I have to say, it was well worth the wait.
Ajami, named after an area of Jaffa where Jews, Christians, Palestinians and Arabs attempt to live together,...
With most of the film’s not getting the chance to screen outside of places like New York or La, many of the films that are nominated for the Best Foreign Film award seem to come out of nowhere, particularly knowing the process behind getting nominated (each country can submit only one film for consideration).
Well, with nominated films like A Prophet and The White Ribbon both hitting DVD earlier this year, and the award winner The Secret In Their Eyes still making its way throughout theaters stateside, Israel’s submission and subsequent nominated film, Ajami, has finally been released on DVD.
And I have to say, it was well worth the wait.
Ajami, named after an area of Jaffa where Jews, Christians, Palestinians and Arabs attempt to live together,...
- 9/5/2010
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): ***
Scandar Copti, a Palestinian, and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew, teamed up to direct the crime drama Ajami. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language film, which seems more a result of that behind-the-scenes achievement than anything that occurs onscreen. Indeed, comparing it to some of Amos Gitai's better films (Yom Yom, Kadosh, etc.) it feels rather graceless, and compared to something like City of God,Ajami feels practically inert.
And yet the film is still effective in its own, small way. It follows several characters in five overlapping chapters, all set in one multi-ethnic section of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv. It begins as a man working on a car is gunned down in the street. It turns out that the real target was the neighbor who sold him the car, Omar (Shahir Kabaha), an Arab Israeli. Worse, Omar...
Rating (out of 5): ***
Scandar Copti, a Palestinian, and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew, teamed up to direct the crime drama Ajami. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language film, which seems more a result of that behind-the-scenes achievement than anything that occurs onscreen. Indeed, comparing it to some of Amos Gitai's better films (Yom Yom, Kadosh, etc.) it feels rather graceless, and compared to something like City of God,Ajami feels practically inert.
And yet the film is still effective in its own, small way. It follows several characters in five overlapping chapters, all set in one multi-ethnic section of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv. It begins as a man working on a car is gunned down in the street. It turns out that the real target was the neighbor who sold him the car, Omar (Shahir Kabaha), an Arab Israeli. Worse, Omar...
- 8/27/2010
- by underdog
- GreenCine
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"$5 a Day" (2008)
Directed by Nigel Cole
Released by Image Entertainment
A refugee of the bankrupt Capitol Films, this dramedy starring Christopher Walken as a raconteur who claims he's able to live a full life on the titular Lincoln bill is finally seeing the light of day after premiering at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Alessandro Nivola co-stars as his son who drives him to New Mexico when he falls ill. Sharon Stone and Amanda Peet are along for the ride.
"2:22" (2008)
Directed by Phillip Guzman
Released by Inception Media Group
A quartet of thieves scheme to rob a boutique hotel on New Year's Eve, but find out that what's waiting for them on the inside is even colder than the snow-caked streets outside. Just as he did for his 2006 crime thriller "Played," star/co-writer Rossi called upon famous pals Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer...
"$5 a Day" (2008)
Directed by Nigel Cole
Released by Image Entertainment
A refugee of the bankrupt Capitol Films, this dramedy starring Christopher Walken as a raconteur who claims he's able to live a full life on the titular Lincoln bill is finally seeing the light of day after premiering at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Alessandro Nivola co-stars as his son who drives him to New Mexico when he falls ill. Sharon Stone and Amanda Peet are along for the ride.
"2:22" (2008)
Directed by Phillip Guzman
Released by Inception Media Group
A quartet of thieves scheme to rob a boutique hotel on New Year's Eve, but find out that what's waiting for them on the inside is even colder than the snow-caked streets outside. Just as he did for his 2006 crime thriller "Played," star/co-writer Rossi called upon famous pals Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer...
- 8/24/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
The Secret In Their Eyes scooped the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s award ceremony, beating other nominees Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani), The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke), A Prophet (Jacques Audiard) and The Milk of Sorrow(Claudia Llosa). Now, after month’s of waiting, the film is being released in the UK.
Synopsis: In 1999, retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old closed case as the source material. That case is the brutal rape and murder of Liliana Coloto. In addition to seeing the extreme grief of the victim’s husband Ricardo Morales, Benjamín, his assistant Pablo Sandoval, and newly hired department chief Irene Menéndez-Hastings were personally affected by the case as Benjamín and Pablo tracked the killer, hence the reason why the unsatisfactory ending to the case has always bothered him. Despite the department already having two other suspects,...
Synopsis: In 1999, retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old closed case as the source material. That case is the brutal rape and murder of Liliana Coloto. In addition to seeing the extreme grief of the victim’s husband Ricardo Morales, Benjamín, his assistant Pablo Sandoval, and newly hired department chief Irene Menéndez-Hastings were personally affected by the case as Benjamín and Pablo tracked the killer, hence the reason why the unsatisfactory ending to the case has always bothered him. Despite the department already having two other suspects,...
- 8/4/2010
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Taking its name from a benighted neighbourhood of the ancient coastal city of Jaffa, Ajami represented Israel with a nomination in the foreign language category at the Academy Awards earlier this year. It is, however, co-directed and co-scripted by Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew, and Scandar Copti, who carefully calls himself a "Palestinian citizen of the Israeli state". As their film shows, what you are and where you're from ultimately defines your destiny in Ajami.
The film borrows from the techniques of Gomorrah and the Mexican new wave as typified by, say, Amores Perros, in weaving characters and storylines to create a tapestry of lives. The drama is kickstarted by a drive-by shooting that kills an innocent boy, mistaken for one of the main characters, Omar (Shahir Kabaha). It's the result of a vendetta between two crime clans and revenge for the shooting of a Bedouin weeks earlier.
Terrorised, Omar's...
The film borrows from the techniques of Gomorrah and the Mexican new wave as typified by, say, Amores Perros, in weaving characters and storylines to create a tapestry of lives. The drama is kickstarted by a drive-by shooting that kills an innocent boy, mistaken for one of the main characters, Omar (Shahir Kabaha). It's the result of a vendetta between two crime clans and revenge for the shooting of a Bedouin weeks earlier.
Terrorised, Omar's...
- 6/19/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Ajami (15)
(Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani, 2009, Isr/Ger) Shahir Kabaha, Ibrahim Frege, Eran Naim. 125 mins.
If any situation justifies the multi-angled Crash/Amores Perros-style treatment, it's modern-day Israel. Co-written and directed by an Israeli and a Palestinian, mostly using non-professional actors, this is more hip, streetwise and even-handed than we're used to. Set in a mixed neighbourhood of Tel Aviv, the plot skilfully juggles intertwined stories of feuds, families, drugs and violence involving characters from all faiths.
Trash Humpers (18)
(Harmony Korine, 2009, Us/UK) Brian Kotzue, Travis Nicholson, Rachel Korine. 78 mins.
Korine preserves his enfant terrible reputation with a scrappy, seedy home video following a group of masked delinquents around. It's a vaudeville of depravity (they literally hump dustbins) that manages to be grimy without being explicit.
Wild Grass (12A)
(Alain Resnais, 2009, Fra/Ita) André Dussolier, Sabine Azéma. 104 mins.
Veteran Resnais crafts a silky, genre-hopping middle-aged romance that's full of wonders and mysteries.
(Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani, 2009, Isr/Ger) Shahir Kabaha, Ibrahim Frege, Eran Naim. 125 mins.
If any situation justifies the multi-angled Crash/Amores Perros-style treatment, it's modern-day Israel. Co-written and directed by an Israeli and a Palestinian, mostly using non-professional actors, this is more hip, streetwise and even-handed than we're used to. Set in a mixed neighbourhood of Tel Aviv, the plot skilfully juggles intertwined stories of feuds, families, drugs and violence involving characters from all faiths.
Trash Humpers (18)
(Harmony Korine, 2009, Us/UK) Brian Kotzue, Travis Nicholson, Rachel Korine. 78 mins.
Korine preserves his enfant terrible reputation with a scrappy, seedy home video following a group of masked delinquents around. It's a vaudeville of depravity (they literally hump dustbins) that manages to be grimy without being explicit.
Wild Grass (12A)
(Alain Resnais, 2009, Fra/Ita) André Dussolier, Sabine Azéma. 104 mins.
Veteran Resnais crafts a silky, genre-hopping middle-aged romance that's full of wonders and mysteries.
- 6/18/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
This week Jason Solomons meets the master of French animation, Sylvain Chomet, best known for Belleville Rendez-Vous. Chomet's The Illusionist, an animated reinvention of Jacques Tati's classic, opened this year's Edinburgh film festival – and that's where Jason caught up with Chomet to discuss his love of Scotland, where he set the film.
Jason also meets Scandar Copti, co-director of Oscar-nominated Israeli film Ajami. Scandar discusses the real characters and situations that were the inspiration for this tale of low-level drug dealing and communal violence.
Finally, we review the week's big releases, including Rebecca Hall in Please Give, Ashton Kutcher in Killers, and Wild Grass from veteran director Alain Resnais.
Jason SolomonsJason PhippsXan Brooks...
Jason also meets Scandar Copti, co-director of Oscar-nominated Israeli film Ajami. Scandar discusses the real characters and situations that were the inspiration for this tale of low-level drug dealing and communal violence.
Finally, we review the week's big releases, including Rebecca Hall in Please Give, Ashton Kutcher in Killers, and Wild Grass from veteran director Alain Resnais.
Jason SolomonsJason PhippsXan Brooks...
- 6/18/2010
- by Jason Solomons, Jason Phipps, Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Ajami was a labour of love for its two directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani. It took them seven years to get into production and shot for a mere 23 days using non professional actors, real locations, no scripted dialogue and without rehearsals. Such dedication to experimental techniques is exemplary.
What Copti and Shani decided to do was develop storylines that were true to every day life in the multi-faith, multi-cultural neighbourhood of Ajami, which gives the film its title. This quest for unrelenting realism and authenticity recalls the post-WW2 cinema of Italy.
There’s the sense the directors wanted to free themselves of certain contrivances and rules so cast ex-police officers and real neighbourhood kids putting them through a ten-week workshop, and pointedly, shooting in chronological order.
Ajami follows the lives of several, seemingly disparate, characters and moves between individual plotlines. At first it appears slightly confusing until finding its rhythm.
What Copti and Shani decided to do was develop storylines that were true to every day life in the multi-faith, multi-cultural neighbourhood of Ajami, which gives the film its title. This quest for unrelenting realism and authenticity recalls the post-WW2 cinema of Italy.
There’s the sense the directors wanted to free themselves of certain contrivances and rules so cast ex-police officers and real neighbourhood kids putting them through a ten-week workshop, and pointedly, shooting in chronological order.
Ajami follows the lives of several, seemingly disparate, characters and moves between individual plotlines. At first it appears slightly confusing until finding its rhythm.
- 6/18/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
The tensions between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East are interestingly exposed in this multi-linear Israeli film, set in a mixed neighbourhood in Jaffa, writes Peter Bradshaw
This interesting Israeli film by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani could be seen as a Middle-Eastern Short Cuts. It is a tense mosaic-anthology of embattled lives in the district of Ajami in Jaffa, Israel – a neighbourhood known for having Jewish and Arab populations living in close proximity. The brutal drive-by shooting of a teenage boy is the starting point: it appears to be a gang-grudge hit, but a further disclosure shows the killing is related to another matter entirely, involving an illegal worker from the Occupied Territories and the killing of an Israeli soldier. The pattern of connections and coincidences is a little overschematic, but the movie has energy, especially in the grippingly real shooting scene at the beginning.
Rating: 3/5
World cinemaThrillerPeter Bradshaw
guardian.
This interesting Israeli film by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani could be seen as a Middle-Eastern Short Cuts. It is a tense mosaic-anthology of embattled lives in the district of Ajami in Jaffa, Israel – a neighbourhood known for having Jewish and Arab populations living in close proximity. The brutal drive-by shooting of a teenage boy is the starting point: it appears to be a gang-grudge hit, but a further disclosure shows the killing is related to another matter entirely, involving an illegal worker from the Occupied Territories and the killing of an Israeli soldier. The pattern of connections and coincidences is a little overschematic, but the movie has energy, especially in the grippingly real shooting scene at the beginning.
Rating: 3/5
World cinemaThrillerPeter Bradshaw
guardian.
- 6/17/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Arab-Israeli Scandar Copti and Jewish-Israeli Yaron Shani co-directed Ajami, a powerful film intertwining five stories of everyday life in the religiously mixed community of the Ajami neighbourhood in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Copti caused controversy earlier this year when he renounced his connection to Israel, saying that 'the film technically represents Israel, but I don't represent Israel". Screenrush caught up with the provocative director to learn more about his explosive directorial debut...
How did you and your co-director Yaron first meet?
In 2001 I finished school - I graduated as a mechanical engineer but I decided not to practice engineering, so I was waiting for something to happen. Yaron had just finished film school at Tel Aviv university and he had this project where they gave cameras to five people to make movies, and I was one of those people.
How did you develop the story for Ajami?...
How did you and your co-director Yaron first meet?
In 2001 I finished school - I graduated as a mechanical engineer but I decided not to practice engineering, so I was waiting for something to happen. Yaron had just finished film school at Tel Aviv university and he had this project where they gave cameras to five people to make movies, and I was one of those people.
How did you develop the story for Ajami?...
- 6/17/2010
- Screenrush
Ajami and Lebanon, two new acclaimed films, put different faces of Israel up on show. But can they really change anything – or are they being championed for the wrong reasons?
On the one hand, you have a claustrophobic, clapped-out Israeli army tank stuck on enemy soil; on the other, a suffocating, dead-end Arab ghetto that bleeds racial tension. Two locations, two new Israeli films. Both have won multiple awards, both have been praised as the brave new face of Israeli cinema – yet each is built on entirely different foundations, seemingly symbolising the struggle for the soul of the country.
The tank film is Lebanon, the winner of the Golden Lion at last year's Venice film festival, and the work of Samuel Maoz, who was an Israeli soldier during the 1982 Lebanon war. The army sent Maoz into combat as a tank gunner, an experience that left him emotionally crippled, in shock but unable to articulate why.
On the one hand, you have a claustrophobic, clapped-out Israeli army tank stuck on enemy soil; on the other, a suffocating, dead-end Arab ghetto that bleeds racial tension. Two locations, two new Israeli films. Both have won multiple awards, both have been praised as the brave new face of Israeli cinema – yet each is built on entirely different foundations, seemingly symbolising the struggle for the soul of the country.
The tank film is Lebanon, the winner of the Golden Lion at last year's Venice film festival, and the work of Samuel Maoz, who was an Israeli soldier during the 1982 Lebanon war. The army sent Maoz into combat as a tank gunner, an experience that left him emotionally crippled, in shock but unable to articulate why.
- 5/6/2010
- by Rachel Shabi
- The Guardian - Film News
Istanbul is enjoying its year as the European Capital of Culture, with cultural and arts events taking place in the city from one end to the other, inaugurated with a series of ceremonies held in January. The 29th International Istanbul Film Festival took place in the city’s vibrant cultural atmosphere this year from the 3rd of April through the 18th.
Having been conceived as the Istanbul Cinema Days in 1982, the festival eventually became one of Europe’s most important film festivals thanks to the extraordinary work of the organizer, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (Iksv), led by its charismatic chairman Şakir Eczacıbaşı. This year’s festival was marked by the absence of this important figure, as he passed away in January 24, 2010. Another absent friend of the festival was the Emek Movie Theatre, an beautiful old movie theatre which has been the host venue of the festival from the beginning,...
Having been conceived as the Istanbul Cinema Days in 1982, the festival eventually became one of Europe’s most important film festivals thanks to the extraordinary work of the organizer, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (Iksv), led by its charismatic chairman Şakir Eczacıbaşı. This year’s festival was marked by the absence of this important figure, as he passed away in January 24, 2010. Another absent friend of the festival was the Emek Movie Theatre, an beautiful old movie theatre which has been the host venue of the festival from the beginning,...
- 4/28/2010
- by N. Buket Cengiz
- The Moving Arts Journal
Ajami is a neighborhood in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa region of Israel where Arabs and Jews reside uncomfortably side-by-side. Ajami is also the name of a gripping new drama that plays like an Israeli Pulp Fiction from rookie co-directors Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti, respectively a Jew and an Arab. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar last year, Ajami is proof of how far great storytelling can elevate a film that may lack Hollywood slickness and style. It’s bracing, must-see cinema.
Ajami is comprised of five interwoven tales, identified as chapters, and the story is set in motion when a teen is murdered in a drive-by shooting as he works on his car. We soon learn the bullets were not meant for him but for his young neighbor Omar, whose entire family has been targeted after his uncle shot a connected gangster in self-defense. Omar has to try...
Ajami is comprised of five interwoven tales, identified as chapters, and the story is set in motion when a teen is murdered in a drive-by shooting as he works on his car. We soon learn the bullets were not meant for him but for his young neighbor Omar, whose entire family has been targeted after his uncle shot a connected gangster in self-defense. Omar has to try...
- 4/23/2010
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The juror panel at the Tribeca Film Festival is going to look like the red carpet at a major Hollywood premiere.
Several celebrities, including Jessica Alba, Whoopi Goldberg, Aaron Eckhart and Brooke Shields, were asked to serve on the six competitive festival categories. They will announce the winning films, filmmakers and actors in their respective categories at the Tff Awards Night Party, which will be held on April 29. The 2010 Tribeca Festival runs from April 21 to May 2 in New York City.
“This year’s jury features the same impressive range and depth as our films playing in competition. They are distinctive and accomplished storytellers, artists and entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, theater, culture, fashion, television and new media – all of whom share a passion for film, a thirst for discovery and a spirit of independence,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Here’s a list of all...
Several celebrities, including Jessica Alba, Whoopi Goldberg, Aaron Eckhart and Brooke Shields, were asked to serve on the six competitive festival categories. They will announce the winning films, filmmakers and actors in their respective categories at the Tff Awards Night Party, which will be held on April 29. The 2010 Tribeca Festival runs from April 21 to May 2 in New York City.
“This year’s jury features the same impressive range and depth as our films playing in competition. They are distinctive and accomplished storytellers, artists and entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, theater, culture, fashion, television and new media – all of whom share a passion for film, a thirst for discovery and a spirit of independence,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Here’s a list of all...
- 4/13/2010
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
By Steve Pond
Actors Hope Davis, Aaron Echkart, Jessica Alba and Zach Braff will serve on the the Tribeca Film Festival’s juries, along with director Gary Ross, musician Alicia Keys and art dealer Larry Gagosian.
America Ferrera, Brooke Shields, Aidan Quinn, Selma Blair, Peter Facinelli, past Tribeca juror Whoopi Goldberg (below), Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and “Ajami” director Scandar Copti are also among the jurors who will award $130,000 in cash and prizes. <img alt="Whoopi Goldberg" style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; hei...
Actors Hope Davis, Aaron Echkart, Jessica Alba and Zach Braff will serve on the the Tribeca Film Festival’s juries, along with director Gary Ross, musician Alicia Keys and art dealer Larry Gagosian.
America Ferrera, Brooke Shields, Aidan Quinn, Selma Blair, Peter Facinelli, past Tribeca juror Whoopi Goldberg (below), Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and “Ajami” director Scandar Copti are also among the jurors who will award $130,000 in cash and prizes. <img alt="Whoopi Goldberg" style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; hei...
- 4/13/2010
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Tribeca Film Festival announced Tuesday morning the 35 jurors for its six competition categories.
Filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, journalists and media figures such as Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Alba, Cheryl Hines, America Ferrera, Alicia Keys, Zach Braff, Hope Davis, Gary Ross, Whoopi Goldberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will participate on the juries.
"This year's jury features the same impressive range and depth as our films playing in competition," fest co-founder Jane Rosenthal said. "They are distinctive and accomplished storytellers, artists and entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, theater, culture, fashion, television and new media -- all of whom share a passion for film, a thirst for discovery and a spirit of independence."
Winners in the world narrative, world documentary, New York narrative, New York documentary, narrative short and documentary and student short film categories will be announced at the awards night party April 29. Together, the six juries will award $130,000 in cash and prizes,...
Filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, journalists and media figures such as Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Alba, Cheryl Hines, America Ferrera, Alicia Keys, Zach Braff, Hope Davis, Gary Ross, Whoopi Goldberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will participate on the juries.
"This year's jury features the same impressive range and depth as our films playing in competition," fest co-founder Jane Rosenthal said. "They are distinctive and accomplished storytellers, artists and entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, theater, culture, fashion, television and new media -- all of whom share a passion for film, a thirst for discovery and a spirit of independence."
Winners in the world narrative, world documentary, New York narrative, New York documentary, narrative short and documentary and student short film categories will be announced at the awards night party April 29. Together, the six juries will award $130,000 in cash and prizes,...
- 4/13/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The triumphant ones at the 82nd annual Academy Awards, in bold, alongside their fellow nominees
Actor in a supporting role
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
Animated feature film
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)
Music (original song)
Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname, from Paris 36, by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
Take It All, from Nine, by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart, by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Writing (original screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino...
Actor in a supporting role
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
Animated feature film
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)
Music (original song)
Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname, from Paris 36, by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
Take It All, from Nine, by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart, by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Writing (original screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino...
- 3/8/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Here it is at last! The 2010 Academy Awards! Who’s bringing home the Oscars? James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow, or will Tarantino stage an upset? Will The Dude Lebowski have a best actor win under his belt? The stars are crossing the Red Carpet right now and in a few hours Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be hosting 82nd Academy Awards.
Prior the main event, you can check out the AP staff picks for all of the winners and check back often as I’ll be updating all the wins with my own commentary as the evening progresses. Feel free to drop your own guesses and thoughts on the evening as it progresses.
Me, I’m pulling for District 9 for best screenplay!
See you at the Oscars!
Updated! The entire list of winners with my thoughts and earlier predictions below:
— Motion Picture: “The Hurt Locker.”
— Actor: Jeff Bridges,...
Prior the main event, you can check out the AP staff picks for all of the winners and check back often as I’ll be updating all the wins with my own commentary as the evening progresses. Feel free to drop your own guesses and thoughts on the evening as it progresses.
Me, I’m pulling for District 9 for best screenplay!
See you at the Oscars!
Updated! The entire list of winners with my thoughts and earlier predictions below:
— Motion Picture: “The Hurt Locker.”
— Actor: Jeff Bridges,...
- 3/7/2010
- by Nathan Bartlebaugh
- Atomic Popcorn
Forget the media-initiated battle between ex-husband and wife, the real face-off at this year's Oscars was between new technology and old-fashioned storytelling... and the victor, we're happy to report, is the latter.
As the dust settles on the gong-giving broo-ha-ha that was the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, it's Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant and brave The Hurt Locker that has emerged the big winner with golden baldies for Best Picture and Best Director among its five statuette haul, while former hubbie James Cameron's Avatar was left holding his rightful prizes for technical prowess in the Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects categories.
After the Academy made its big decision about which movie to put their weight behind (and we do think they went with the right one!), the rest of the big winners were fairly predictable with the likes of Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock walking away with Best Actor...
As the dust settles on the gong-giving broo-ha-ha that was the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, it's Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant and brave The Hurt Locker that has emerged the big winner with golden baldies for Best Picture and Best Director among its five statuette haul, while former hubbie James Cameron's Avatar was left holding his rightful prizes for technical prowess in the Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects categories.
After the Academy made its big decision about which movie to put their weight behind (and we do think they went with the right one!), the rest of the big winners were fairly predictable with the likes of Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock walking away with Best Actor...
- 3/7/2010
- Screenrush
The five Oscar-nominated directors in the Foreign Language Film Award category for the 82nd Academy Awards were on the Red Carpet at the Kodak Theatre on Friday. Pictured (from left to right): Jacques Audiard, “A Prophet (Une Prophete)”, Michael Haneke, “The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)”, Yaron Shani, “Ajami”, Foreign Language Film Award Committee Chair Mark Johnson, Claudia Llosa, “The Milk Of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada)”, Scandar Copti, “Ajami”, Juan Jose Campanella, “The Secret In Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)”.
As you can see, the media was there in full force to hear from the directors and their respective actors and actresses.
Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon
Jacques Audiard, A Prophet
Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Ajami
Claudia Llosa, The Milk Of Sorrow
Juan Jose Campanella, The Secret In Their Eyes
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center,...
As you can see, the media was there in full force to hear from the directors and their respective actors and actresses.
Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon
Jacques Audiard, A Prophet
Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Ajami
Claudia Llosa, The Milk Of Sorrow
Juan Jose Campanella, The Secret In Their Eyes
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center,...
- 3/6/2010
- by Michelle
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The directors of the Oscar-nominated Foreign Language films paused for a photo-op along with Foreign Language Film Award Committee Chair Mark Johnson. Pictured (from left to right): Jacques Audiard ("A Prophet"), Michael Haneke ("The White Ribbon"), Yaron Shani ("Ajami"), Mark Johnson, Claudia Llosa ("The Milk of Sorrow"), Scandar Copti ("Ajami"), Juan Jose Campanella ("The Secret in Their Eyes"). The 82nd Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010. [Photo by Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.]...
- 3/5/2010
- Indiewire
Taylor Lautner could follow the step of his "Twilight" co-star Kristen Stewart who has just landed Orange Rising Star Award at 2010 BAFTAs. The 18-year-old hunk has been announced as one of the contenders to win Best Performance by Leading Young Actor at the 31st Annual Young Artist Awards for his portrayal of Jacob Black in "The Twilight Saga's New Moon". For the said prize, he will be up against Jake T. Austin ("Hotel For Dogs"), Jimmy Bennett ("Alabama Moon"), Max Records ("Where The Wild Things Are") and Devon Bostick ("Adoration").
Meanwhile, Emma Roberts and Saoirse Ronan are put under the same category, facing each other for the Best Performance by Leading Young Actress kudo. The "Hotel For Dogs" star and the "The Lovely Bones" beauty are additionally joined by Abigail Breslin ("My Sister's Keeper"), Jolie Vanier ("Shorts") and Yara Shahidi ("Imagine That") in the competition for the award.
The nominations...
Meanwhile, Emma Roberts and Saoirse Ronan are put under the same category, facing each other for the Best Performance by Leading Young Actress kudo. The "Hotel For Dogs" star and the "The Lovely Bones" beauty are additionally joined by Abigail Breslin ("My Sister's Keeper"), Jolie Vanier ("Shorts") and Yara Shahidi ("Imagine That") in the competition for the award.
The nominations...
- 2/22/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato are placed in competition against each other at the upcoming 31st Annual Young Artist Awards. As the Young Artist Foundation unveiled this year's nominees, it is revealed that the two Disney stars and best friends are vying for Leading or Supporting Young Actress title in a category for TV movie, mini-series or special.
Both Selena and Demi received the nomination for their performance as Carter Mason and Rosalinda respectively in "Princess Protection Program". Beside each other, they are also up against two other hopefuls, Tori Barban of "The Christmas Hope" and Patricia Raven of "Dear Harvard".
The two teen stars are not the only Disney's leading lady to get nominated for 2010 Young Artist Awards. Miley Cyrus has earned a nod for Leading Young Actress in TV series for her role on "Hannah Montana". She is listed among four other contenders that include the star of Nickelodeon's "iCarly", Miranda Cosgrove.
Both Selena and Demi received the nomination for their performance as Carter Mason and Rosalinda respectively in "Princess Protection Program". Beside each other, they are also up against two other hopefuls, Tori Barban of "The Christmas Hope" and Patricia Raven of "Dear Harvard".
The two teen stars are not the only Disney's leading lady to get nominated for 2010 Young Artist Awards. Miley Cyrus has earned a nod for Leading Young Actress in TV series for her role on "Hannah Montana". She is listed among four other contenders that include the star of Nickelodeon's "iCarly", Miranda Cosgrove.
- 2/22/2010
- by celebrity-mania.com
- Celebrity Mania
The title of the Academy Award-nominated drama Ajami refers to the neighborhood in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa sub-city where the action begins. In the opening scene, a boy is shot dead in the street, because of a misunderstanding related to a mob vendetta. The man whom the assassins meant to kill, Shahir Kabaha, attempts to broker a deal to keep his family safe, but he needs money, and his illicit romance with his boss’ daughter threatens both his livelihood and his life. Meanwhile, Kabaha’s co-worker Ibrahim Frege has just arrived back in town from the Palestinian territories—illegally—and ...
- 2/18/2010
- avclub.com
The Middle East is such a powder keg that we've come to assume every film from that region will be About the fact that it's a powder keg. Ajami is what you'd expect in that regard, but in nearly every other way it's a surprise, a bold and serious film about the frail threads that keep -- or fail to keep -- a society from falling apart.
The title refers to a rather sketchy neighborhood in the Israeli city of Jaffa, where Muslims, Christians, and Jews live uneasily with each other. To begin with, a teenager is gunned down outside his house. Our narrator, a young boy named Nasri (Fouad Habash), lives next door and reports that the intended victim was his 19-year-old brother, Omar (Shahir Kabaha), a decent young man who became a target for a Bedouin group only because Omar's uncle shot one of them. Sure, the guy...
The title refers to a rather sketchy neighborhood in the Israeli city of Jaffa, where Muslims, Christians, and Jews live uneasily with each other. To begin with, a teenager is gunned down outside his house. Our narrator, a young boy named Nasri (Fouad Habash), lives next door and reports that the intended victim was his 19-year-old brother, Omar (Shahir Kabaha), a decent young man who became a target for a Bedouin group only because Omar's uncle shot one of them. Sure, the guy...
- 2/17/2010
- by Eric D. Snider
- Cinematical
Best Foreign Language Film: Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon Other nominees: Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani’s Ajami (Israel), Juan José Campanella’s The Secret of Her Eyes (Argentina), Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow (Peru), Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet (France). Because only a relatively small group of Academy members vote in the special categories — short films, documentaries, foreign language films — winners often surprise and shock, e.g., last year’s Departures over shoo-in Waltz with Bashir. Compounding matters, oftentimes those voters tend to be (much) older than the average Academy member, and their tastes are usually much more conservative. They’re probably the people who placed The Blind Side at the top of their Best Film ballot, thus earning Sandra Bullock’s [...]...
- 2/12/2010
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Quickcard Review
Ajami
Directed by: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani
Cast: Shahir Kabaha, Ibrahim Frege, Eran Naim
Running Time: 2 hrs
Rating: unrated
Complete Coverage – 33rd Portland International Film Festival
Country: Israel
Plot: Palestinians’ and Israelis’ lives intersect, usually in violent ways, in an interracial neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Who’S It For? This nominee for the Best Foreign Feature Oscar is Israel’s answer to Pulp Fiction.
Overall
Ajami sort of confounded my expectations. I was expecting a more linear film, which this isn’t. First-time filmmakers Copti and Shani were definitely influenced by Tarantino to create their elliptical narrative. Like Pulp Fiction, the film is divided into chapters that focus on different characters, all of whom ebb and flow into one another’s lives. Also both films deal heavily with drugs and violence and the consequences of messing with either. But from there, the paths diverge as Ajami takes a much more serious turn,...
Ajami
Directed by: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani
Cast: Shahir Kabaha, Ibrahim Frege, Eran Naim
Running Time: 2 hrs
Rating: unrated
Complete Coverage – 33rd Portland International Film Festival
Country: Israel
Plot: Palestinians’ and Israelis’ lives intersect, usually in violent ways, in an interracial neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Who’S It For? This nominee for the Best Foreign Feature Oscar is Israel’s answer to Pulp Fiction.
Overall
Ajami sort of confounded my expectations. I was expecting a more linear film, which this isn’t. First-time filmmakers Copti and Shani were definitely influenced by Tarantino to create their elliptical narrative. Like Pulp Fiction, the film is divided into chapters that focus on different characters, all of whom ebb and flow into one another’s lives. Also both films deal heavily with drugs and violence and the consequences of messing with either. But from there, the paths diverge as Ajami takes a much more serious turn,...
- 2/11/2010
- by Megan Lehar
- The Scorecard Review
Two Oscar nominations - one for La teta asustada and one for Ajami - marks the Berlinale's World Cinema Fund as an early arbiter of the world's taste in the finest of international cinema.
Congratulations to directors Claudia Llosa, Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti on the Oscar nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film 2010. The winner of the Golden Bear 2009, La Teta Asustada (Milk of Sorrow) by Claudia Llosa from Peru, and Ajami by Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti (Israel) were both funded by the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund.
World Cinema Fund Day at the Berlinale: Feb 17, 2010, 11am-2 pm at the Filmhaus, Potsdamer Str. 2, 4th floor
“Strategy makes sense, and passion does, too…”
The Wcf Day will once again provide an opportunity to learn more about the programme, successes, funding strategies, films, initiatives, and partners of the Wcf. On this occasion the World Cinema Fund will present its...
Congratulations to directors Claudia Llosa, Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti on the Oscar nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film 2010. The winner of the Golden Bear 2009, La Teta Asustada (Milk of Sorrow) by Claudia Llosa from Peru, and Ajami by Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti (Israel) were both funded by the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund.
World Cinema Fund Day at the Berlinale: Feb 17, 2010, 11am-2 pm at the Filmhaus, Potsdamer Str. 2, 4th floor
“Strategy makes sense, and passion does, too…”
The Wcf Day will once again provide an opportunity to learn more about the programme, successes, funding strategies, films, initiatives, and partners of the Wcf. On this occasion the World Cinema Fund will present its...
- 2/10/2010
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
An Oscar nominee as best foreign-language film, Israel's Ajami is a reminder that things can always -- always -- be worse. Set in the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Tel Aviv known as Ajami, the film looks at the lives of an intersecting group of Israeli Arabs. The political tensions in this always tense area are a given -- but, in this case, so are the factors of crime and poverty. In other words, a world already proscribed by life as a minority in a country wrought with conflict gets harder still when you factor in these other negative variables. Directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Ajami begins with a street shooting, a mistaken identity drive-by in which the neighbor of the target is accidentally shot in his stead. As the narrative widens, we learn that the actual target, a young man...
- 2/9/2010
- by Marshall Fine
- Huffington Post
The 33rd Portland International Film Festival (Piff) Screens Oscar Nominees
Click Here for the full Festival Schedule
The 33rd Portland International Film Festival (Piff) will provide Portland audiences with an early look at four of this year’s 2010 Oscar Nominees including two films in the Foreign Language Film category (Ajami and A Prophet) and two Short Film nominees, a Live Action and Animated (Miracle Fish and Granny O’Grimm’S Sleeping Beauty). Last year’s 32nd Portland International Film Festival opened with nominee Coraline in the Animated Feature category and included Il Divo, nominated for Make-up. Burma VJ, nominated for Best Documentary Feature screened in the Northwest Film Center’s annual Human Rights on film series last October.
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Ajami
Director: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani – Israel
Winner of the Best Film, Director, and Screenplay awards at this year’s Israeli Film Academy ceremony, this...
Click Here for the full Festival Schedule
The 33rd Portland International Film Festival (Piff) will provide Portland audiences with an early look at four of this year’s 2010 Oscar Nominees including two films in the Foreign Language Film category (Ajami and A Prophet) and two Short Film nominees, a Live Action and Animated (Miracle Fish and Granny O’Grimm’S Sleeping Beauty). Last year’s 32nd Portland International Film Festival opened with nominee Coraline in the Animated Feature category and included Il Divo, nominated for Make-up. Burma VJ, nominated for Best Documentary Feature screened in the Northwest Film Center’s annual Human Rights on film series last October.
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Ajami
Director: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani – Israel
Winner of the Best Film, Director, and Screenplay awards at this year’s Israeli Film Academy ceremony, this...
- 2/4/2010
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
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