Stories about Film from February, 2009
Jordan: The Unborn Banned in Cinemas
Jordanian Moey reports that The Unborn has been banned in his country's cinemas – because of its ‘violent’ content.
Jordan: Oscar Predictions
Jordanian Hareega made some Oscar predictions here. Check out whether any of his guesses were right.
Singapore: Amended law to allow filming of “factual” political rallies
Individuals who use their mobile phones to film illegal rallies can be arrested under an amended law in Singapore. Live film recordings of political events are allowed but the events being filmed must first be held in accordance with the law.
India: Slumdog Millionaire Sweeps The Oscar Awards
Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, a British social film based on a novel set out in India made a clean sweep at the The 81st Academy Awards Ceremony. Its British and Indian crews bagged 8 awards including the best picture award. It was truly India's day as ‘Smile Pinky‘, another short...
Costa Rica: Creativity Through Collectivity
Like a delicious recipe, artistic, musical and visual talents are placed together as ingredients in a functional and creative tendency: collectives. Across Costa Rica, many creative groups and collectives are using social media to showcase their work and connect with like-minded enthusiasts. These are some examples of collectives in the fields of film, music and the visual arts.
India: Clean Sweep by Slumdog Millionaire At The Oscars
Kamla Bhatt reports that last evening British and Indian cast and crew of the movie Slumdog Millionaire (a British film based on a novel set out in India) made a clean sweep at the Oscars by winning 8 awards out of 10 nominations including the best picture award.
Czech Republic: Prague Filming Fees
The Czech Daily Word writes that “Budapest, Vienna and other cities” are likely to replace Prague as “a favorite spot for American filmmakers” – due to newly-introduced filming fees.
Egypt: A walk down memory lane in NY
Mostafa, an Egyptian student living in Virginia, US, writes a beautiful review for the movie “The Visitor” , relating to his own experience.
India: Loathing ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Lekhni at The Imagined Universe questions ‘why do Indians hate Slumdog Millionaire?‘
Peru: Portrayal of Andean Life in Llosa's Movies
The recent film "The Milk of Sorrow" by Peruvian director Claudia Llosa was recently awarded with the Golden Bear at an international film festival in Berlin. Even though the film has yet to open in Peru, debate has started whether or not Llosa's portrayal of Andean life is accurate or in some cases racist towards the indigenous communities that figure prominently in her movies.
Libya: Movie Reviews
Libyan Highlander reviews some of the movies she has recently watched in this post.
India: Interview with A. R. Rahman and Danny Boyle
The Kamla show, the radio/podcast show of Kamla Bhatt, in collaboration with NDTV has published interviews with Danny Boyle and A R Rahman, the director and music director of the film Slumdog Millionaire.
Colombia: Three Local Films Make Top 50 List
Three Colombian movies recently made the list of the Top 50 Ibero-American films [es] of all time in a survey sponsored by Noticine writes Jerónimo Rivera.
Japan: Hetalia Axis Powers and the limits of parody
Hetalia, a satirical manga set mainly during the Second World War and featuring national protagonists of that era, has attracted attention among both domestic and international audiences for its caricature of world nations. In this post, read reactions in translation from bloggers in both Japan, where the manga originated, and in Italy, the country most strongly ridiculed.
Jordan: Ikbis New Feature
Arab video sharing site Ibkis, launched from Jordan, has just added a new feature to their site – webcam upload. It means that now you can record directly from your webcam and publish to Ikbis.
Israel/Arab World: Reflections on Waltz with Bashir
Rantings of an Arab Chick posts a trailer from Waltz with Bashir by Israeli Ari Folman about his experiences during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. “I think this is a film I'll want to see… And not see,” she notes.
East Timor: Suai Media Space Challenges the Digital Divide
In this second post of a series to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the arrival of the Internet in East Timor, Sara Moreira interviews Australian documentary-maker Jen Hughes - founder of Suai Media Space, whose main objective is to make the voices of Suai youth heard all over the world - and discusses the fight to minimize the digital divide even without broadband connection in Suai.
Martinique: Bitterness after “The Last Masters”
Ever since the February 5th broadcast of The Last Masters of Martinique, a documentary about the Békés, the French West Indies have experienced the equivalent of a sociological tsunami. Bloggers and regular citizens alike are writing to express the shock, sadness and humiliation felt by many non-Béké Martinicans after watching the documentary.
The Balkans: War Movies
Gray Falcon critiques some of the Balkan war movies.
Cuba: “Cachaito” Passes On
Havana Times reports that one of the founding members of the famous Buena Vista Social Club, Cuban bass player Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez, has died at a Havana hospital after complications following surgery.
Uganda: Behind The Mirror
Sokari writes about the documentary Behind the Mirror, which investigates and advocates for responses to the many challenges faced by the LGBTI community in Uganda.
