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    "For its commitment to everyday heroism, its multi-layered approach to an array of social problems, and for the visual force of the storytelling.” --Citation of the FIPRESCI award bestowed on the film It All Starts Today at the Berlin International Film Festival T here have been several films made on uplifting student-teacher relationships. These include To Sir, With Love (1967) a film on boisterous white high school students from slums of London eventually admiring and respecting their black rookie teacher;   Dead Poet’s Society (1989) on another rookie teacher kindling creative self-expression through poetry in   a US boarding school for senior US students from wealthy   backgrounds resulting in their unwavering respect and love for him; Goodbye, Mr Chips (1969), a remake of a film made 30 years before, where a stodgy Latin teacher after his marriage transforms   himself into an endearing school headmaster winning the hearts of his students; ...

A majority of film critics and viewers tend to dismiss Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky’s films in their initial assessments, especially in recent decades. Why is that? To answer that question, one needs to know some key facts about Konchalovsky and the three phases of his career. Who is Konchalovsky? F ew know or recall that Konchalovsky was partly responsible for the early masterpieces of Andrei Tarkovsky— The Steamroller and The Violin; Ivan’s Childhood ; and Andrei Rublyev . As a screenplay-writer, Konchalovsky collaborated with Tarkovsky (his film school classmate) as a co-scriptwriter on these films as well as for other directors’ films: Shaken Ajmanov’s The End of the Ataman (1971) and Tolomush Okeev’s The Fierce One (1974). He also contributed, as a screenplay-writer, to his half-brother Nikita Mikhalkov’s film A Slave of Love (1976). Many of these films dealt with children and childhood. This was the specifically highlighted in his own debut film as a director and co-scriptwr...

    And recall when Moses said to his people, “Allah commands you to slaughter a cow” They answered, “ Do you make a mockery of us?” ---“Surah of the Cow” in the Holy Quran (Opening quote in the film) I ran continues to make interesting feature films, year after year, bereft of sex, nudity, escapist car chases and on-screen violence. Ballad of a White Cow is a tale of the bread-winner of small nuclear family found guilty of the killing of a known friend by a court, condemned to death by a three judge bench according to Iranian law and consequently executed for the crime. Later, the real killer confesses to the crime. A miscarriage of justice has unintentionally taken place. While the wife of the hastily executed innocent man approaches the Iranian Supreme Court for justice for her and her mute daughter and retribution for the judges, one of the three judges is devastated by the revelations of the real killer and reaches out to help the wife and child of the executed prisone...

      “You always need a living sailor on a ship full of the dead. That was me.” (Final spoken lines of the film) “Never forget that memories, imagination and understanding must be used for an honest and productive life.” --Two separate statements of the sailor, narrating the stories, reflecting Ruiz’ own life of self-imposed exile, moving from one country to the other, making extraordinary films I f there are two Raoul (Raul) Ruiz films that are extraordinary, these would be Three Crowns of the Sailor (1983) and Mysteries of Lisbon (2010). Both have absorbing, non-linear screenplays with stunning cinematography. Yet, the two films are different in one significant aspect: the former is based on Ruiz’ own original tale while the latter is based on a novel of Camilo Castelo Branco. Both films have lead characters mirroring Ruiz’ departure from and memories of his land of birth and incorporate biographical elements. The sailor (Guillard, left) who narrates the tales, ask...

      “If they hurt others, it’s because they hurt, too.”--  Benedicta, mother of Amador, responding to Amador’s comment on the root formation of the Eucalyptus tree, a tree that can cause explosive burning during forest fires, a metaphor of trees used in the film to describe human behavior                                         **** “They told you about me?” Amador to Elena “Yes, but..well, you know how people are.” Elena’s response   I n a 2021 interview for American Cinematheque, Russian film director Andrei Konchalovsky stated “ Sometimes silence is better than action .” That is a comment applicable to Oliver Laxe’s film Fire Will Come . The lead character Amador rarely speaks but his body language and the soundtrack do the talking, not words. Laxe’s film urges the viewer to explore the soundtrack that is expressive and offers much food for thought for an...

C éline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire may be described by some as a feminist film that tells a tale of four women characters in 18 th century France devoid of any significant male characters, and made by a female director and a female cinematographer.   At the end of this remarkable film, you tend to discount the female element. You are stunned by the sophisticated quality of cinema the film offers that makes you discount the overwhelming female gender quotient.   The following two citations of awards bestowed on Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire amply describe the worth of the film. "The Gold Hugo for Best Film goes to Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma. The film portrays not only the exuberance of falling in love and the all-consuming nature that is love, but also the beauty of women's solidarity and the attempt to fit in a world that rarely seems to be made for them. The strength of the filmmaking combined with amazing acting, photography, and music ...