During the last edition of the Beirut Art Film Festival, a young but already indispensable event for art and cinema lovers in the Lebanese capital, we chanced upon what is believed to be the biggest movie posters collection in the Arab world. While casually browsing a local magazine our eyes were caught by a photo portraying a smiling middle-aged man surrounded by huge stacks of old posters in what looked like a treasure trove for cinephiles. Thanks to the generosity and good offices of the Lebanese playwright Nadine Mokdessi, the day after we found ourselves before that very man in that very vault of film memorabilia. Abboudi Abou Jaoudé very kindly welcomed us in the charming cubicle where he has stored the proceeds from over 40 years of assiduous film collecting. Nestled in the back of the archives of the publishing house he runs, its cozy walls protect from deterioration and...
- 6/27/2018
- MUBI
Films by Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, and Buster Keaton are among the “hundreds of thousands” of books, musical scores, and motion pictures that will enter the public domain on January 1, according to The Atlantic. All of the works were first made available to audiences in 1923, four years before the introduction of talkies. Due to changed copyright laws, this will be the largest collection of material to lose its copyright protections since 1998.
Artists looking to incorporate black-and-white era throwbacks into their modern creations will have lots of new options. The Atlantic consulted unpublished research from Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which shared with IndieWire a list of 35 films that will soon become available to all.
“Our list is therefore only a partial one; many more works are entering the public domain as well, but the relevant information to confirm this may...
Artists looking to incorporate black-and-white era throwbacks into their modern creations will have lots of new options. The Atlantic consulted unpublished research from Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which shared with IndieWire a list of 35 films that will soon become available to all.
“Our list is therefore only a partial one; many more works are entering the public domain as well, but the relevant information to confirm this may...
- 4/9/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
Syria’s first ever submission in the Motion Picture Academy’s Foreign Language category, “Little Gandhi”, is one of a handful of documentaries submitted for Best Foreign Language Film nomination this year.
It comes to the Academy in a most unusual way. It was selected not by the country which is how submissions are always made, but by a committee of artists in exile. If any of these people had actually been in Syria they would likely have been imprisoned, tortured and executed, for this was the fate of Ghiyath Matar, the Syrian activist who became known for giving flowers and roses to army soldiers in his home town of Daraya, leader of the once peaceful Syrian revolution and the Little Gandhi of the title. It premiered at the ongoing Asian World Film Festival.
I have yet to see the documentary submission for Academy Award® nomination entitled Syria Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of Isis...
It comes to the Academy in a most unusual way. It was selected not by the country which is how submissions are always made, but by a committee of artists in exile. If any of these people had actually been in Syria they would likely have been imprisoned, tortured and executed, for this was the fate of Ghiyath Matar, the Syrian activist who became known for giving flowers and roses to army soldiers in his home town of Daraya, leader of the once peaceful Syrian revolution and the Little Gandhi of the title. It premiered at the ongoing Asian World Film Festival.
I have yet to see the documentary submission for Academy Award® nomination entitled Syria Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of Isis...
- 10/29/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
First Run Features
NEW YORK -- In this documentary, German director Michael Verhoeven applies a nonfiction approach to themes explored in such films as The White Rose and the Oscar-nominated The Nasty Girl.
This exploration of the uproar stirred up in Germany by a touring exhibition that made the case for the complicity of ordinary soldiers in the Holocaust lacks stylistic distinction, but the relevancy and importance of its subject matter more than compensate. The Unknown Soldier is playing at New York's Quad Cinema.
The Wehrmacht exhibition, which began in 1997 Munich and proceeded to tour German cities for the next several years, was a wake-up call to a country that had long comforted itself with the idea that only specific entities of Hitler's military forces carried out the policy of mass extermination.
Using home movies, photographs and documents, the exhibition made a strong case that many German soldiers were not only aware of what was going on but also took part in it without hesitation.
Needless to say, the exhibit stirred great controversy, which Verhoeven elucidates with interviews with many of the historians who contributed to it, as well as those who oppose its assertions. Ordinary citizens, including several military vets, weigh in as well, often in turbulent fashion.
The film's momentum becomes somewhat bogged down by the daunting procession of talking heads, and the issues are not always made clear enough for those not intimately familiar with World War II history. But ultimately Unknown Soldier emerges as a complicated and troubling portrait of the diverse aspects of the German national psyche.
NEW YORK -- In this documentary, German director Michael Verhoeven applies a nonfiction approach to themes explored in such films as The White Rose and the Oscar-nominated The Nasty Girl.
This exploration of the uproar stirred up in Germany by a touring exhibition that made the case for the complicity of ordinary soldiers in the Holocaust lacks stylistic distinction, but the relevancy and importance of its subject matter more than compensate. The Unknown Soldier is playing at New York's Quad Cinema.
The Wehrmacht exhibition, which began in 1997 Munich and proceeded to tour German cities for the next several years, was a wake-up call to a country that had long comforted itself with the idea that only specific entities of Hitler's military forces carried out the policy of mass extermination.
Using home movies, photographs and documents, the exhibition made a strong case that many German soldiers were not only aware of what was going on but also took part in it without hesitation.
Needless to say, the exhibit stirred great controversy, which Verhoeven elucidates with interviews with many of the historians who contributed to it, as well as those who oppose its assertions. Ordinary citizens, including several military vets, weigh in as well, often in turbulent fashion.
The film's momentum becomes somewhat bogged down by the daunting procession of talking heads, and the issues are not always made clear enough for those not intimately familiar with World War II history. But ultimately Unknown Soldier emerges as a complicated and troubling portrait of the diverse aspects of the German national psyche.
- 10/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Michael Verhoeven, one of Germany's most prolific political filmmakers, best known for his films dealing with Germany's Nazi past, will receive a lifetime achievement honor at next year's Bavarian Film Awards, organizers announced Wednesday. The award will be presented Jan. 19 at a gala ceremony in Munich.
Verhoeven, a director, actor, writer and producer, told the story of the failed anti-Nazi resistance group led by siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl in The White Rose, (1982), a film that was an inspiration for Marc Rothemund's Oscar-nominated "Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days." (2005).
The director's My Mother's Courage (1995) is the true story of how one woman escaped the Nazis' deportation of 4,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in 1944. And 1990's Nasty Girl, which won a Berlin Silver Bear and a U.K. Bafta award for best foreign-language film, follows a German high school student who uncovers her town's secret collaboration with the Nazis during the war.
Verhoeven's latest film, the documentary The Unknown Soldier, is an examination of the German army's involvement in the Holocaust.
Verhoeven, a director, actor, writer and producer, told the story of the failed anti-Nazi resistance group led by siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl in The White Rose, (1982), a film that was an inspiration for Marc Rothemund's Oscar-nominated "Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days." (2005).
The director's My Mother's Courage (1995) is the true story of how one woman escaped the Nazis' deportation of 4,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in 1944. And 1990's Nasty Girl, which won a Berlin Silver Bear and a U.K. Bafta award for best foreign-language film, follows a German high school student who uncovers her town's secret collaboration with the Nazis during the war.
Verhoeven's latest film, the documentary The Unknown Soldier, is an examination of the German army's involvement in the Holocaust.
- 12/13/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BERLIN -- Taking advantage of the discovery of long buried documents in old East German archives and recent interviews with witnesses or relatives and friends of those involved in the historical episode, the makers of Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days provide a clear and compelling account of the last six days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a resister of the Nazi regime in Germany in 1943. The movie is understandably static as the guts of the film are Sophie's interrogations by Gestapo officer Robert Mohr. But it's static electricity. The film has a jumpy, nervous energy as the two verbally dual over matters of life and death.
Rock solid performances by up-and-coming German actress Julia Jentsch as Sophie and Alexander Held (Downfall) as Mohr along with an excellent cast of supporting players insure that no one mistakes this for a lifeless docu-drama. Sophie Scholl will have its largest impact, of course, in German-speaking territories. But with interest in that era recently sparked by Downfall, the film could get picked up in many other territories.
Sophie may be a major heroine in German history, but Jentsch plays her for what she was -- an ordinary young woman who in extraordinary times finds the courage to do what is right. She and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) are members of the White Rose resistance, a group portrayed in other German films, most notably Michael Verhoeven's The White Rose. A foolish decision to smuggle anti-Nazi leaflets into Munich University and secretly distribute them while classes are in session results in the arrest of Sophie and Hans on February 18, 1943.
Director Marc Rothemund and his frequent collaborator, writer Fred Breinersdorfer, then let events speak for themselves. Separated from the others, Sophie is grilled by Mohr for hours. Initially, she denies involvement and is so convincing she is nearly released. Then comes damning evidence found in a search of the siblings' apartment. When Sophie sees her brother's confession, she too admits guilt -- and does so with pride.
Now comes Sophie's verbal dance with Mohr to protect friends and fellow collaborators. Later, Mohr offers Sophie a chance to get a milder sentence at the price of renouncing her ideals. She refuses. But the most interesting part of the interrogation comes when these two debate the goals and methods of the Nazi government and the question of how posterity will remember their differing points of view.
Mohr is a long time interrogator. His interest lies in upholding the law and not who wrote the law or whether it has anything to do with justice. Sophie contends that there is a thing called right and wrong that is separate from what any particular law says.
Mohr was a man who in 1943 must have known how badly things were going in the war -- which is the major point of the students' leaflets -- as well as being aware of the heinous deeds in the Nazi's rule. Held's Mohr never equivocates or concedes any of Sophie's points. Yet he develops a grudging admiration for her and struggles to answer some points.
Certainly, his offer to save her neck is curious if he truly believes what he says he does. It may be his final, futile attempt to win the argument. And herein lies the dramatic and moral value of the movie: Their argument transcends the Nazi era. It looks to civil courage, a thing in short supply even today.
Rothemund keeps sets, costumes and camerawork simple so the greater concentration is on his actors and the play of words. He and Breinersdorfer refuse to sentimentalize any of Sophie's decisions over these few days. But they do see her battle against tyranny as a dramatic assertion of human beings' desire for freedom no matter what the cost.
SOPHIE SCHOLL -- THE FINAL DAYS
Bavaria Films International presents a Goldkind Film and Broth Film production
Credits:
Director: Marc Rothemund
Writer: Fred Breinersdorfer
Producers: Christoph Mueller, Sven Burgemeister, Fred Breinersdorfer, Marc Rotheremund
Director of photography: Martin Langer
Production designer: Jana Karen
Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil
Costumes: Natascha Nesslauer
Editor: Hans Funck.
Cast: Sophie Scholl: Julia Jentsch
Robert Mohr: Alexander Hold
Hans Scholl: Fabian Hinrichs
Else Gebel: Johanna Gastdort
Dr. Freisier: Andre Hennicke
Christoph Pobst: Florian Stetter
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
Rock solid performances by up-and-coming German actress Julia Jentsch as Sophie and Alexander Held (Downfall) as Mohr along with an excellent cast of supporting players insure that no one mistakes this for a lifeless docu-drama. Sophie Scholl will have its largest impact, of course, in German-speaking territories. But with interest in that era recently sparked by Downfall, the film could get picked up in many other territories.
Sophie may be a major heroine in German history, but Jentsch plays her for what she was -- an ordinary young woman who in extraordinary times finds the courage to do what is right. She and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) are members of the White Rose resistance, a group portrayed in other German films, most notably Michael Verhoeven's The White Rose. A foolish decision to smuggle anti-Nazi leaflets into Munich University and secretly distribute them while classes are in session results in the arrest of Sophie and Hans on February 18, 1943.
Director Marc Rothemund and his frequent collaborator, writer Fred Breinersdorfer, then let events speak for themselves. Separated from the others, Sophie is grilled by Mohr for hours. Initially, she denies involvement and is so convincing she is nearly released. Then comes damning evidence found in a search of the siblings' apartment. When Sophie sees her brother's confession, she too admits guilt -- and does so with pride.
Now comes Sophie's verbal dance with Mohr to protect friends and fellow collaborators. Later, Mohr offers Sophie a chance to get a milder sentence at the price of renouncing her ideals. She refuses. But the most interesting part of the interrogation comes when these two debate the goals and methods of the Nazi government and the question of how posterity will remember their differing points of view.
Mohr is a long time interrogator. His interest lies in upholding the law and not who wrote the law or whether it has anything to do with justice. Sophie contends that there is a thing called right and wrong that is separate from what any particular law says.
Mohr was a man who in 1943 must have known how badly things were going in the war -- which is the major point of the students' leaflets -- as well as being aware of the heinous deeds in the Nazi's rule. Held's Mohr never equivocates or concedes any of Sophie's points. Yet he develops a grudging admiration for her and struggles to answer some points.
Certainly, his offer to save her neck is curious if he truly believes what he says he does. It may be his final, futile attempt to win the argument. And herein lies the dramatic and moral value of the movie: Their argument transcends the Nazi era. It looks to civil courage, a thing in short supply even today.
Rothemund keeps sets, costumes and camerawork simple so the greater concentration is on his actors and the play of words. He and Breinersdorfer refuse to sentimentalize any of Sophie's decisions over these few days. But they do see her battle against tyranny as a dramatic assertion of human beings' desire for freedom no matter what the cost.
SOPHIE SCHOLL -- THE FINAL DAYS
Bavaria Films International presents a Goldkind Film and Broth Film production
Credits:
Director: Marc Rothemund
Writer: Fred Breinersdorfer
Producers: Christoph Mueller, Sven Burgemeister, Fred Breinersdorfer, Marc Rotheremund
Director of photography: Martin Langer
Production designer: Jana Karen
Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil
Costumes: Natascha Nesslauer
Editor: Hans Funck.
Cast: Sophie Scholl: Julia Jentsch
Robert Mohr: Alexander Hold
Hans Scholl: Fabian Hinrichs
Else Gebel: Johanna Gastdort
Dr. Freisier: Andre Hennicke
Christoph Pobst: Florian Stetter
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
- 2/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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