Stories about Film from August, 2008
Iran: Watch an old commercial
Thanks to You Tube we can watch an Iranian pre-revolution commercial.
India: Cinema and Activism
Winds from the East on activism and cinema in India.
Japan and Thailand: Children of the Dark
Roy Berman from Multant frog elaborated his comments on a newly released film “Children of the Dark” which is about how children in Thailand are exploited by developed countries.
Iran:Award-winning documentary about murdered bishop
According to Iranian.com, the winner of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, “A Cry from Iran” is a film about Haik Hovespian, the Christian bishop who was murdered in Iran.
Iran: Iran bans a top actress from leaving for Hollywood
Golshifteh Farahani, an Iranian actress who recently palyed in Ridley Scott's latest movie “Body of Lies”, was banned from leaving Iran. Iranian blogger, Atighe says[Fa] that she is our national pride.[Update: She left Iran in early October to present the film in New York. Watch her photos]
Egypt: Death of Three Arab Cultural Icons
The Arab world lost three of its cultural icons in the spam of a month. They are Egyptians philosopher Dr Abdelwahab El Mesery and film maker Yousef Chahine and Palestinian poet Mahmood Darwish. Egyptian Blogger, ElGharep, or The Stranger, reflects on the loss in this post [Ar].
Haiti: Future of Film
“It would be impossible to understand Haiti without knowing its music, art, and dance”: Haiti Innovation thinks that film-making should be no different and has high hopes for Haitian cinema.
Call for video journalists for You Tube Contest
You Tube's Citizen News channel has released a video promo for an upcoming citizen journalism contest. They will be receiving videos of less than 3 minutes in length, in English, of a video profile about someone in your community you believe should be known by the rest of the world. The prizes and other information will be released in September.
Palestine: H Daboor at the Islamic University
Gazan blogger Nostalgia parodies the recent Egyptian comedy H Daboor in a critique of Islamist trends in Gaza today.
Morocco: Saida Fekry's Return
cinema and movies discusses the return of Moroccan singer Saida Fekry, who has been studying film in America.
China: Olympics as mass ritual, rite of passage, or just one big party?
Is Zhang Yimou China’s Leni Riefenstahl, or an artist who has turned mass spectacle ritual into a modern art form? Haiyan Lee delves into this question, and others, at The China Beat.
Ethiopia: Haile Gerima's film in Venice
Arefe of Addis Journal reported that Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima‘s latest feature is going to be in the official competition for the 65th Venice's Film Festival, starting at the end of this month. Sean of Africa is a country also noted the participation of the film, titled Teza, in the...
China: Citizen reporter to be deported
The day after live-vlogging the rare phenomenon that is a loud Free Tibet protest in the middle of Tiananmen Square, Noel ‘noneck’ Hidalgo has just tweeted that he is to be deported. Guess he wasn't using Tor.
Morocco: Burgeoning Mollywood
Morocco has long been a mecca for foreign filmmakers. Iconic films like The Last Temptation of Christ and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as more recent films Rendition and Black Hawk Down, use Morocco as their backdrop. Other films like Babel utilize more than Morocco's landscape, taking its culture and people into account as well. Morocco's film industry hasn't escaped the blogosphere, reports Jillian York, on Mollywood.
Morocco: The True Story of Andalusia
die blog van toons expresses frustration at an Al Jazeera documentary and clarifies the history of Andalusia.
Estonia: Review of the Singing Revolution
Babel Tallinn posts a review of the recent documentary The Singing Revolution (Laulev Revolutsioon) about the period 1986-1991, when Estonia – along with Latvia and Lithuania – gradually reconquered its independence.
