About Elly (2009 Chicago International Film Festival)
About Elly (Asghar Farhadi, Iran) How to discuss a film about which the less you know going in the better… which may or may not get enough U.S. distribution to matter… though if it does, you really should try to see… and getting you to do so may depend on someone like me convincing you to… without telling you too much… perhaps it’s nearly as difficult as... Read More
TIFF 2009 Festival Preview
Last week, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) posted its complete line-up of films. As usual, it’s a veritable smorgasbord for cineastes and filmlovers, containing a diverse array of movies that span as many genres as they do countries. The fact that I won’t be at this year’s TIFF has not stopped me from pretending that I’m going, from looking... Read More
Programming: Imaginarium ’09
This is the second part of an admittedly self-indulgent but nonetheless possibly mutually-edifying consideration of film-programming: specifically, the process that created the 2009 programs for two venues I oversee at the annual Cornerstone Festival. Last week, I talked a bit about programming this year’s Flickerings. This week: the Imaginarium. “What’s the difference between... Read More
25th Chicago Latino Film Festival – April 17-29
The Silver Anniversary edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival gets underway this week in the Windy City, featuring over one-hundred films from more than a dozen countries across Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Called the “biggest, oldest, and best Latino Film Festival in the United States,” by Hispanic magazine, the festival will screen a wide variety of high-profile... Read More
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