Oscar-winning drama “Call Me By Your Name” has been pulled from the Beijing International Film Festival’s lineup, according to a report by Reuters.The coming of age drama, starring Armie Hammer and newcomer Timothee Chalamet as lovers, was pulled after the film’s screening proposal was not approved by China regulators. The move comes as the Chinese parliament voted to allow the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party’s Central Committee to have control over film, news and publishing.Adapted from a 2007 novel by Andre Aciman, the film follows a love story set in 1980s Italy between a 17-year-old boy (Timothee Chalamet from “Homeland”) and a twentysomething man (Armie Hammer).“Call Me By Your Name” was directed by Italy’s Luca Guadagnino (“A Bigger Splash”) from a script by James Ivory, Walter Fasano and Guadagnino. It was produced by Peter Spears, Emilie Georges, Guadagnino, Ivory, Marco … [Read more...] about Oscar-winning drama ‘Call Me By Your Name’ pulled from Beijing Film Festival
Palm springs international film festival
Oscar Hopefuls Hammer Home Talking Points at Palm Springs Int’l Film Fest Gala (Analysis)
The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival's awards gala was held in the desert city's convention center on Saturday evening, drawing A-list presenters and stars who were willing to make the two-hour drive from Hollywood -- or 20-minute flight by private jet, the preferred means of travel for some -- in order to be seen and heard in a room packed with a considerable number of the hundreds of Academy members who have a home here. PHOTOS: Todd McCarthy's 10 Best Movies of 2012 For A-list Oscar hopefuls, the appeal of the gala, which was long held during the Oscar nominations voting period, was somewhat diminished this awards season after the Academy moved up the deadline for members to submit Oscar nomination ballots to the day before it. But, while showing up at Palm Springs can no longer boost contenders' Oscar nomination prospects, it does still offer a nice opportunity to reach Academy members -- with clips of films they may not have seen yet and/or looking like a … [Read more...] about Oscar Hopefuls Hammer Home Talking Points at Palm Springs Int’l Film Fest Gala (Analysis)
‘The Train of Salt and Sugar’ (‘Comboio de Sal e Acucar’): Film Review | Palm Springs 2018
During the final phase of the Mozambican civil war, which spanned 15 years over the 1970s-1990s, well-armed anti-government rebels cut off access to basic commodities in the African country. Caught in the middle of a brutal conflict, desperate civilians attempted to survive by any means available, traveling hundreds of miles to trade locally produced salt for sugar in neighboring Malawi.Licinio Azevedo’s involving Portuguese-language feature The Train of Salt and Sugar insightfully personalizes that journey for an imperiled group of travelers, representing an auspicious awards-season debut for Mozambique’s emerging national cinema.Azevedo zooms in on the waning years of the war in the late 1980s, when the country’s beleaguered railroad offers the only reliable means of transportation, despite frequent sabotage and insurgent attacks. Recently graduated from nursing school, Rosa (Melanie de Vales Rafael) wants nothing to do with politics, but the train trip offers her … [Read more...] about ‘The Train of Salt and Sugar’ (‘Comboio de Sal e Acucar’): Film Review | Palm Springs 2018
‘Constructing Albert’: Film Review | Palm Springs 2018
If ever a restaurant fundamentally shifted the course of contemporary culinary tradition, it would have to be the three-Michelin-starred El Bulli, the Spanish eatery now enshrined in gastronomic history following its 2011 closure. While head chef Ferran Adria has been justifiably credited with spearheading El Bulli’s widely admired innovations in fine dining, behind the scenes his younger brother Albert was forging an award-winning career as the restaurant’s lead pastry chef while contributing to development of the restaurant’s wildly creative menus.After Ferran announced El Bulli’s closing, Albert decided to move ahead with an audacious plan to independently establish five new restaurants in Barcelona within the space of a year. Recognizing that Albert was acknowledged within the industry as one of the world’s top underrated chefs, filmmakers Laura Collado and Jim Loomis spent four years shadowing him as he implemented his ambitious agenda. Constructing … [Read more...] about ‘Constructing Albert’: Film Review | Palm Springs 2018
‘Ayla: The Daughter of War’: Film Review
The touching real-life tale of a Turkish sergeant who saves a small Korean girl becomes long, heart-tugging fiction in Ayla: The Daughter of War, directed by Can Ulkay. The story is well-known both in South Korea and in Turkey, and was told in the 2010 South Korean doc Kore Ayla, which inspired the present film. A documentary feeling still persists in Yigit Guralp’s screenplay, which struggles to stay focused while faithfully recounting a passel of real-life incidents.Ismail Hacioglu headlines a professional Turkish cast as the patriotic, level-headed but warm-hearted young officer, with little Kim Seol (who made her bow as a toddler on South Korean TV) in the role of the adorable Ayla and a cameo by a distinguished Eric Roberts as Lt. Gen. John Breitling Coulter, the deputy commander of U.S. forces in Korea. Turkey proposed the film for the foreign-language Oscar, a calculated choice but one that didn't make the shortlist amid many other films about children and war. … [Read more...] about ‘Ayla: The Daughter of War’: Film Review