Stories about Film from March, 2011
Greece: Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Succeeds in Hard Times
The week-long 13th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival presented a line up of approximately 220 films from around the world from 11-30 March, 2011, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Themes included regional retrospectives (this year focusing on the Middle East and Africa) and tributes to Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa and Czech Helena Trestikova.
Africa: Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA)
Mighty African writes about Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA): “Viva Riva, a film from the Democratic Republic of Congo (yes, they make films there too and they ain't always about rape) was the big winner at the Africa Movie Academy Awards held last weekend in Bayelsa State.”
Tanzania: Space Education Documentary in Swahili for Kids
Unawe-Tanzania writes about a Space Education Documentary in Swahili: “Based on the questions asked by kids during Kids Sky Exploration project and Books For Us project conducted by UNAWE-Tanzania, we have decided to produce a documentary that answers some of those questions.”
Puerto Rico: Documentary on the UPR
The art blog The Fractal [es] features Osvaldo Budet's documentary “More than 800 Reasons” on the student strike at the University of Puerto Rico. The title refers to the protest against the imposition of an $800 special tuition fee.
Russia: Heroin Epidemic; Attitude to Sex
Posts about heroin epidemic and attitudes to sex in Russia – at OpenDemocracy.net.
Brazil: The Cost of Financing Culture
Recent news that the Brazilian Ministry of Culture has authorized famous singer Maria Bethânia to raise R$ 1.3 million tax free (Brazilian reais - approximately US$ 777,000) to create a poetry blog, has aroused the anger of bloggers, Twitter users and other cultural activists.
Africa: African movies to watch
African movies that MightyAfrican would like to watch: “Africa United (Rwanda), Figurine (South Africa), From a Whisper (Kenya), Seasons of a Life (Malawi), Teza (Ethiopia)”
Gabon: Citizen Web Documentary Wins Award
Website Web Docu [fr] has announced that the citizen web documentary Gabon : violences d'un coup d'état électoral [fr] (Gabon: The violence of an electoral coup) has won the award for best web-politics documentary at the Web TV-Festival 2011 [fr]. The documentary was produced in 2009 during the post-electoral turmoil that...
Kenya: Kenya Film Commission Animation Expo
Moses attends Kenya Film Commission’s Animation Expo in Nairobi: “I was surprised on entering the Expo that there we’re far more companies than I had imagined who offer Animation services locally in Kenya. One definitely got a sense of a burgeoning industry that is much larger than what it looked...
Macedonia, Japan: Anime vs. Reality
poljaff, a contributor to Japan@MK blog, compared [MKD] the experiences of learning about Japanese culture and disaster response by watching the award-winning anime Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 a year ago, and intensely following the aftermath of the March 11 catastrophe. According to her, reality is much scarier, but the Japanese people...
Thailand film named best Asian film of the year
Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was named best picture of the year in the 5th Asian Film Award in Hong Kong.
Puerto Rico: On the film “América”
In 80 grados [es] film director Sonia Fritz reflects on her latest film “América,” based on the novel by Puerto Rican author Esmeralda Santiago, and the challenges and the joys of making movies in Puerto Rico.
Mexico: Documentary ‘Presumed Guilty’ Back in Theaters
David Sasaki updates a thorough post on the legal actions against the documentary ‘Presumed Guilty‘: “An appellate court has ruled that the movie can again be shown in movie theaters in Mexico. The ruling claims that removing the movie from theaters would damage social interest, and violates the public’s right...
Mexico: Possible Documentary Censorship Causes Commotion
A Mexican judge ordered theaters to temporarily halt screenings of the popular Mexican documentary Presunto Culpable (Presumed Guilty). The filmmakers, in an announcement posted on their website, state that the documentary will continue to be shown until they receive a government or judicial order. Still, the Mexican blogosphere has been actively discussing the issue, mostly focusing on censorship and freedom of expression.
Nigeria: Jesus Film in Hausa
The “Jesus film”, a 2 hour docudrama on the life of Jesus Christ based on the Gospel of Luke is now available in Hausa.
South Africa: Body parts for cash
What about body parts for cash in South Africa?: “Ogilvy advertising agency has apologised “unreservedly” for a pamphlet and website offering money for body parts that was actually part of a campaign to advertise a South African horror movie.”
Lebanon: Web Documentary About Young Lebanese Artists
The Libalel Project [fr] highlights the diversity of contemporary Lebanese art through web documentary. Their blog publishes analyses, biographies, interviews, videos and photos: “The Lebanese scene is a true laboratory of artistic experimentation attuned with a distinctive political context rich with deep questioning. The Libalel project endeavours to decipher this...
Japan: Controversial documentary The Cove released free online
Joi Ito announced on his blog that the award-winning documentary The Cove has been dubbed in Japanese and released for free online. In the post, Ito-san wrote: “Why the online release of the film in Japan is so important is that the Japanese people should watch the movie and make...
