One of excellent proofs that a documentary doesn’t have to stretch over 90+ minutes to offer a well-rounded story is “Meyrem” by Reber Dosky, a film about the female commander of almost all-female Kurdish combatants in the region of Rojava, Syria’s West Kurdistan. As she leads her troop through the debris of Kobane, passing by […]
Registrations are now open for the selection of films for the 76th Venice International Film Festival,directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. To be admitted to the selection, please complete the entry form on or before June 14th 2019 (or on or before May 31st 2019 for the VR projects) and follow the instructions in the Regulations of the 76th Venice Film Festival which may be found online at the […]
Ronit Kertsner’s 6th feature-length documentary Refugee Lullaby which world-premiered in Graz at the Diagonale, is an intimate portrait or Hans Breuer who became famous as “the Austrian sheperd who drives refugees across borer to safety” (Patrick Kingsley for The Guardian) and his attempts to help as many people as possible on their hellish way to […]
There is something quite irresistible in the introductory information that „Cinema Povero“ presents „A Millionaire’s Melancholy”, a film by the Austrian director Caspar Pfaunder which in its core proves the old proverb that money doesn’t buy happiness. Its main protagonist Dr.Haid, the millionaire by chance and a typical Viennese “Grantler”, never happy, slightly moaning, self-referencing […]
The British film critic, curator, programmer and festival advisor Neil Young has made his first feature-length film Rihaction which has just had its world-premiere at the Diagonale. The film is completely based on 37 YouTube reaction videos on the performance by Tom Holland in the popular American musical competition series ‘Lip Sync Battle’, where he […]
It takes more than a plain interest in experimental films to go to see Rihaction, a debut feature-length film by the British film critic, curator and programmer Neil Young. Stretching over 108 minutes, it is an unusually long take on the phenomena of exposure on the social media and the yearning for fame, likes and […]
What is left after huge tragedies on the open sea, when refugees drown? Scattered along the rocky coastal part of the Greek island Lesbos are small, wracked ships and clothes, shoes, mobile phones and children toys. The coastal guard patrols daily, equipped with the infra-red light which reacts on the body temperature, thus able to […]
In her sixth documentary Refugee Lullaby, Ronit Kertsner aims her focus at Hans Breuer, a shepherd who had chosen a secluded, modest life-style in the countryside over his previous, Viennese. As the film opens, we see him teaching a lamb how to follow the sound of sheep, before he returns to what he likes the […]
It’s Bertolt Brecht’s quote – What kind of times are these, when to talk about trees is almost a crime because it implies silence about so many horrors? – that served as the inspiration for the title of Suhaib Gasmelbari’s documentary “Talking About Trees” about the attempts of four enthusiasts to bring the art cinema […]
