ND/NF 2011 Review: Microphone
Watching Microphone now, which is basically a love letter to Alexandria, is all the more poignant considering what's been happening in Egypt for the last few months. Director Ahmad Abdalla succeeds in capturing the essence of the youth culture in... More »
  

YBCA: IRAN BEYOND CENSORSHIP: OFFSIDE (2006)

Like myself, both Doug Cummings and David D'Arcy caught Jafar Panahi's Offside when it screened at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). At Film Journey, Doug Cummings characterized Offside as Panahi's "most vibrantly energetic and entertaining film to date,... More »
  

SFIAAFF 2011: Review Capsules
[Our thanks to Michael Hawley for providing his capsule reviews for SFIAAFF 2011.] The 29th edition of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) begins this evening Thursday, March 10 and runs through March 20 at various Bay... More »
  

SFIAAFF 2011: LINE-UP REVIEWS
[Our thanks to Frako Loden for her capsule reviews from SFIAAFF 2011.] Over the course of attending press screenings and viewing over a dozen screener DVDs, I kept changing my mind about the overall quality of the offerings in the... More »
  

SFIAAFF 2011: EMIR (2010): REVIEW

[We revisit Francis "Oggs" Cruz's review of this Filipino musical programmed into SFIAAFF 2011.] Now that Michael Hawley has provided his helpful overview of the lineup for the 2011 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), let's hone in... More »
  

Room for one more? It's Eight Rooks' TOP TEN FOR 2010
And to think I thought it would be a dull year. I might not have been able to join in the fun on the other side of the Atlantic, but the IFFR in Rotterdam (thanks to fellow Twitcher Ard... More »
  

VIFF 2010: CITY OF LIFE Review
Like many people witnessing its rapid growth and obscene architectural preening (construction had recently been completed on the Burj Dubai, now the world's tallest building by quite the margin) from afar, I find Dubai to be an endlessly fascinating... More »
  

ARAB FILM FESTIVAL 2010: CRITICAL OVERVIEW of Masquerades (Mascarades, 2008)
As Michael Hawley synopsized in his lineup preview of the 14th edition of the Arab Film Festival (AFF): "This year's opening night AFF film is Lyès Salem's Mascarades, a comedy that was Algeria's submission for last year's Best Foreign... More »
  

Abbas Kiarostami's CLOSE-UP Blu-Ray Review
The DVD and Blu-Ray of Abbas Kiarastomi's 1990 film Close-up serendipitously follows the premiere of his latest work, Certified Copy, at Cannes in 2010. Close-up is a subtle, complex film that demands multiple viewings in order to fully grasp its themes and... More »
  

RESTREPO Review
"Restrepo" is a war film unlike any that you have seen before. Partly, because most war films you have seen were probably not documentaries; but mostly, because it plunges you deep into the heart of war in a way that... More »
  

FRAMELINE34 2010: 10 Preview Capsules
[Our thanks to Michael Hawley for offering these capsule previews to the Twitch readership.] This year's edition of Frameline, the world's oldest and largest LGBT film festival, is set to kick off this Thursday, June 17 and will run until... More »
  

WSFF 2010: Freaky
A notably better half of the Midnight Mania program screens tomorrow night at the Cumberland Cinema, Saturday June 5th, at 11:59pm. Purchase tickets here.... More »
  

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS Review
[Originally posted for its SXSW showing, this review reappears here on the eve of the film's North American release.]Kurdish Iranian filmmaker, Bahman Ghobadi is known for his downbeat and timely cultural statements. Films such as A Time For Drunken Horses... More »
  

SFIAAFF28 2010: Narrative Features PREVIEW
[Our thanks to Michael Hawley for offering this entry to the Twitch readership.] The 28th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) kicks off tomorrow night, March 11 and continues throughout the Bay Area until March 21. I've... More »
  

SFIAAFF28 2010: A Preview of Five Documentaries
[Our thanks to Michael Hawley for contributing his preview to the Twitch readership.] Of the five documentaries I previewed on DVD screener for this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), my favorite is one doc-purists might... More »
  

INDIEFEST 2010: Michael Hawley's Quartet Preview
[Our thanks to Michael Hawley for offering his preview of SF IndieFest 2010 to the Twitch readership.] The 12th edition of the San Francisco Independent Film Festival--better known as SF IndieFest--takes over the Roxie Theater for two weeks starting... More »
  

WALTZ WITH BASHIR Review
[Our thanks to regular reader Agent Wax for sending in the following review from the Singapore Animation Nation Festival.]In many ways, this is the hardest review I've ever sat down and committed myself to writing. I regret watching Ari Folman's... More »
By Todd Brown   
  

MVFF32: Michael Hawley's Capsule Reviews
Hipsters (Russia, dir. Valery Todorovsky)--I never expected that my favorite film of the fest would be a splashy, wide-screen Russian musical set in 1955 Moscow, but there you go. Hipsters recounts the phenomenon of stilyagi, the name given to... More »
  

TIFF09: IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?--William Blake, "The Tyger" Imagine for a moment, if you will, that the filmmaker's lens is William Blake's visionary eye, aiming... More »
  

TIFF 09: THE BAD LIEUTENANT - PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS Review
So is Bad Lieutenant:  Port of Call New Orleans a remake, a sequel, or what? Parse it any way you like (and I shall attempt this) but it is a dynamite piece of satire and perhaps something more.  Werner... More »
  
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