Stories about Film from June, 2007
Iran:Persepolis pulled from Bangkok Film Festival
Cityboy informs us that the Bangkok International Film Festival dropped Marjan Satrapi's prize-winning animated movie,Persepolis.The blogger says Iranian embassy in Thailand announced that Festival managers responded positively to a request from the Iranian Embassy in Bangkok.The movie follows Satrapi's life through the 1979 Islamic revolution,war and mass executions.
China: Western movies insulting Chinese?
Chong translated Lu qui lu wei's commentary on the censorship of Pirates of the Caribbean . The censorship department argued that Chow Yun Fat’s character (a Singaporean Pirate) in movies smears Chinese people’s image.
Japanese Enlist for Billy's Boot Camp
Billy's Boot Camp has hit Japan, and Japanese bloggers are talking all about the show's star, Billy Blanks. Athlete of the year in the USA Karete Hall of Fame and actor in a number of American action-adventure feature films, Blanks has now brought his show to Japan, where it is making the rounds of local TV stations, drawing reactions from bloggers.
Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Fuse”
As Albanians prepared for George W. Bush's visit, Bosnia Vault was reminded of a wonderful film – “a dark comedy” – about Bill Clinton’s visit to the Bosnian town of Tesanj: Fuse.
India: A Tamil Film in Malaysia and a Riot
The Culture and Politics of Tamil Cinema on the near riot caused by the release of a film starring Rajnikanth. “Rioting probably has become yet another ritual for the subaltern film fans in diasporic contexts to give vent to their other anxieties.”
China: Poster: I'll Be Watching You
Wang Xiao feng is producing a video movie called “I'll be watching you” or “Where are you” or literal translation “Women hiding everywhere” (十面埋婦). He called for help in his blog for poster design. Within a few days, he got all these great design: 1, 2, and 3.
Iraq for Sale
Konfused Iraqi Kid kicks off his reviews of documentaries on Iraq with a look at the movie Iraq For Sale.
Egypt: Blogger is Released, Court Case to Block 50 Blogs, Press Attacked By Bloggers and More
In this week’s round-up from Egypt, Big Pharaoh is back, bloggers are unhappy with the Press, a blogger who was arrested last week is now free, public opinion is not taken on top movies, and finally a court case in motion to block and shut down 50 blogs and websites....
Arabeyes: World Refugee Day – Focus on Iraq
As the world marks the World Refugee Day today, the Middle East finds itself again at the centre of a mounting humanitarian tragedy. With more than 4 million of the 10 million refugees being Iraqi, let us see what bloggers are saying about this mounting humanitarian tragedy, often neglected by mainstream media.
Jordan: Sicko Review
Jordanian Naseem Al Tarawnah reviews Michael Moore‘s Sicko here.
Japan: Video Art, Media and Zen
An interview with Montreal-born Japan-based video producer Michael Goldberg has been posted at gyaku. In the interview, Goldberg discusses his experience with media art movements in the 60s and 70s, as well as his recent documentary entitled “A ZEN LIFE” about Japanese author/translator D.T. Suzuki, widely credited as having introduced...
Trinidad & Tobago: Film Director gets CBE
“Horace Ové, the Trinidadian film director…becomes a CBE, or a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for ‘services to the film industry'”. The Caribbean Beat Blog recognizes his achievement.
Iran:Watch a Film about Ahmadinejad and Tomatoes
Watch this short film on Current to “see why in Iran Ahmadinejad’s reputation hinges on tomatoes?”
India: Rajnikanth Movie Mania, Bollywood and Web Analytics
It is movie mania week and it is not from Bollywood but from Kollywood or the Tamil film industry. Rajnikanth's (or Rajni) Sivaji: The Boss is slated for release tomorrow (Friday, June 15, 2007) and the hype surrounding the movie has reached fever pitch level among his fans. Rajni is...
Egypt: Elections Rigging Videos, US Aid Cuts and A New Blog by Talented Movie Director
In this week’s round up from Egypt, bloggers write about domestic issues as well as Egypt-US relations and I am also introducing new interesting blogs about movies, photography and liberal youth, writes Freedom for Egyptians.
India: On Sholay
The Kerala Articles on the the movie Sholay. “The movie was later declared a superhit and went on to become the highest grossing film in Indian movie history. Some claim that it still is when you consider inflation and other factors. It created history when it ran in Bombay’s Minerva...
Senegal: Ousmane Sembéne is no more
Alexcia announces the death of Ousmane Sembéne: “Known to kenyan as the author of “God's Bits of Wood, London : Heinemann, 1995.” Senegal's Ousmane Sembéne has died at the age of 84.”
Haiti: Haitian Film
The Haitian Eclectic links to the trailer of a Haitian film that “follows two gang leaders who took over a slum in Haiti right before Aristide's 2004 forced exit.”
Colombia: Misery Porn
Juliana Rincon of Medea Material [ES] introduces the concept of Pornomiseria (Misery Porn), which is a term to describe film that exploits poverty and human misery to make money. In Colombia, “in certain manner we always wait to hear that in Colombia there is a lot of narcotrafficking, drugs, violence,...
Arabeyes: Greedy Doctors, Cheating Spouses and Parliamentary Scuffles
Today's translation of Arabic blogs makes five stops: one each in Libya, Tunisia and Kuwait and two stops in Egypt to give us a gist of what some of the bloggers are writing about. Issues being discussed include how doctors put money before their patients' interests; cheating spouses; why Arabs are not progressing and the latest on why the Kuwaiti Parliament is in a shambles.
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Caribbean Film
“Much of local and Caribbean cinema remains inaccessible to the majority of Caribbean people. Somehow they figure that we would rather see failed American sitcoms than our own people on screen.” A Caribbean film has left quite the impression on Eemanee.
