Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts

Monday, October 23, 2023

AFI Fest 2023 Brings the Best of the World Cinema to Los Angeles

 By José Alberto Hermosillo


AFI Fest 2023 opens on Wednesday, October 25, and goes until 29, 2023. Film lovers will rejoice in the prestigious Angelino movie fiesta, which showcases over 140 films. Some of those are already Award-winning films from other festivals, such as Berlin, Venice, and Cannes. 


The Red Carpets and Special Screenings are the Oscars hopefuls such as "Maestro," "Leave the World Behind," and "Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story." Others, like "All of Us Strangers," "American Fiction," "The Bikeriders," "The End We Start From," "Fingernails," "Freud's Last Season," "Lee," "Memory," "Quiz Lady," and "Society of Snow" are contenders as well.

The audience will have only five days to watch as many marvelous gems as possible and meet some filmmakers and possibly the casts from many faraway countries. They will come to Los Angeles to support their respective films and show what they are capable of in Hollywood.

Twenty International Feature Films entries for the 96th Academy Awards:

ABOUT DRY GRASSES (KURU OTLAR ÜSTÜNE). Turkey’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

CITY OF WIND (SER SER SALHI). U.S. Premiere. Mongolia’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD. Romania’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. Screening is to be followed by a conversation with actor Ilinca Manolache.

FALLEN LEAVES (KUOLLEET LEHDET). Finland’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

FOUR DAUGHTERS (LES FILLES D’OLFA). Tunisia’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. Screening is to be followed by a conversation with director Kaouther Ben Hania.

INSHALLAH A BOY (INSHALLAH WALAD). U.S. Premiere. Jordan’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

ME CAPTAIN (IO CAPITANO). North American Premiere. Italy’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Matteo Garrone and actors Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall.

THE PEASANTS (CHLOPI). Poland’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with directors DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman.

PERFECT DAYS. Japan’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

PICTURES OF GHOSTS (RETRATOS FANTASMAS). Brazil’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Kleber Mondonça Filho.

THE PROMISED LAND (BASTARDEN). Denmark’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Nikolaj Arcel and actor Mads Mikkelsen.

THE SETTLERS (LOS COLONOS). Chile’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

SHAYDA. Australia’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Noora Nilasari.

SLOW. Lithuania’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD. Estonia’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Anna Hints and producer Marianne Ostrat.

SOCIETY OF THE SNOW (LA SOCIEDAD DE LA NIEVE). Spain’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director J.A. Bayona.

THE TASTE OF THINGS (THE POT-AU-FEU). France’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

TIGER STRIPES. Malaysia’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature.

TÓTEM. Mexico’s Oscar® submission for Best International Feature


DOCUMENTARIES


ANSELM 3D, Germany

COPA ’71, US.

THE ECHO (EL ECO), Mexico/Germany.

FOUR DAUGHTERS, Tunisia/France

PICTURES OF GHOSTS (RETRATOS FANTASMAS), Brazil.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS, Japan.

Sly, US.

STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING. The US.

THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER, Spain/France



Award-winning LGBTQ+ Films will be present at the
2023 AFI Fest:

20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (20.000 ESPECIES DE ABEJAS), Spain.
ALL OF US STRANGERS, United Kingdom.
BEYOND THE SEA, Belgium/France.
DILDOTECTONICS (DILDOTECTÓNICA), Shorts program.
GOING VARSITY IN MARIACHI, Documentary, USA.
MERMAN, Shorts program.
ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, Documentary. France.
SLOW, Lithuania.
Skin, Shorts program.
SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD, Stonia.
THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN, Greece.
THRIVING: A DISSOCIATED REVERIE, Shorts documentary.

2023 AFI FEST Guest Artistic Director is Greta Gerwig, director of "Barbie," "Little Women,""Lady Bird." She has curated the films she says influenced the most and will introduce some of the selected gems in person. 

ALL THAT JAZZ
October 28, 3:30 p.m. (Chinese 5)
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
October 29, 12:15 p.m. (Chinese 6)
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
October 26, 6:45 p.m. (Chinese 5)
PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE
October 26, 6:00 p.m. (TCL Chinese)
WINGS OF DESIRE
October 29, 8:30 p.m. (Chinese 6).

View the full festival lineup at FEST.AFI.com.

AFI FEST 2023 will occur in Los Angeles from October 25 through October 29. Individual tickets for all screenings are available for purchase at FEST.AFI.com.

IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE.

Festival in LA ©2023

Saturday, January 14, 2023

SCANDINAVIAN FILM FESTIVAL LA 2023

By José Alberto Hermosillo

The Scandinavian Film Festival Los Angeles 2023 is back for in-person screenings on the weekends of Jan 14-15 & 21-22, 2023, at the Writers Guild of America Theater, 135 W. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills, California, 90211. Tickets are for sale at the box office. 

The extraordinary selection of Nordic films includes Oscar entries from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden in the Best International Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.

For more information and a full calendar, visit Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. 2023

Set in Iran, “Holy Spider” chronicles the journey of a religious serial killer named “Spider Killer,” who murdered 16 prostitutes in Iran between 2000-2001, and the brave female Iranian journalist who discovered the truth. The Diminish production directed by Ali Abbasi (“Border”) is an international success.

Norway’s participation in WWII is exhibited in “War Sailor,” where two best friends joined the armed forces to bring supplies to G.B. and get cough in the middle. At the war’s end, the government did not treat the veterans with honor, respect, monetary retribution, or financial aid.  


The celebrated film “Cairo Conspiracy,” also known as “Boy From Heaven,” Made in Egypt, produced by Sweden, France, and Finland, and directed by Tarik Saleh, talks about Adam, a young son of a fisherman with a scholarship to go to study Muslim in Cairo when a classmate takes him for a night out in the city. The film won best screenplay at Cannes 2022. 

A Finnish coming-of-age film directed by Alli Haapasalo. The Audience Award winner in the International competition at Sundance 2022 talks about three best friends getting along during the darkness of the winter in Finland, trying to make sense of their lives and loves under those weather conditions. 

The Icelandic Oscar entry “Beautiful Beings” narrates the story of Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders. The boys explore aggression and violence but also learn about loyalty and love. As the group’s behavior escalates towards life-threatening situations, Addi begins to experience a series of dreamlike visions. Can his newfound intuition guide him and his friends back to a safer path, or will they dive irrevocably into further violence?

“The Wait” presents a love triangle between a pastor, his wife, and his friend on a remote Finnish island. The film is adapted from Juhani Aho’s novel The Pastor’s Wife. The music is composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the former Los Angeles Philharmonic music director.

 
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
 
“Everybody Hates Johan,” a Norwegian comedy about an adventurous and free-spirited middle-aged man named Johan Grande whose passion for horses and explosives represents a threat to his community. His quest for love will continue until the end.
 
For more information and a full calendar, visit:  
 
Related Articles:  
Violette, When Women Dare to Write  

IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.

Festival in L.A. ©2023

Thursday, September 8, 2022

The Extraordinary Artwork of Tania Póo (Exhibit)

By José Alberto Hermosillo
 
Tania Póo. Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © FestivalinLA

The “Extra + Ordinary Paper” exhibit at the Mexican Consulate of Los Angeles by Tania Póo features impressive and substantial works made by Mexican artists. 

Tania’s work includes harmonious and well-balanced pieces with recurrent topics of serpents and marine life sculpted on paper. We applaud the enormous amount of hard work by the artist and The Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles, especially the Cultural Affairs Consul Aida Velasco Pérez, for placing this magnificent solo exhibit.






Tania Póo en el Consulado General de México en Los Angeles. Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © FestivalinLA



The Artwork of Tania Póo. Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © FestivalinLA

 Selfie by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © FestivalinLA