“Faith is what I am searching for”--answers the film’s main character, Thien, to his toddler nephew’s question, on what is faith, soon after his dead mother is described publicly as someone who had strong faith   “Would you give your favorite toys to your friend and did you think he would to return them to you?” Thien asks his nephew   “He will return them to me because he is good,” answers the nephew   “Faith is a little bit like that,” Thien explains to his nephew Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is nearly 3-hours long ..read more

Krzysztof Zanussi (84) has won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival for his film A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984), the Jury prize at the Cannes film festival for The Constant Factor (1980)., the Golden Leopard at Locarno film festival for Illumination (1973), among 69 international awards. The latest is his Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by the International Film Festival of Kerala, India. He spoke to the author of this blog, Jugu Abraham.  Mr Zanussi addressing the media at IFFK on 14 Dec 2023 at Trivandrum, Kerala Mr Zanussi listening to his interview ..read more

    "Limbo is the continuation of themes I explored in my previous films. Those earlier films dealt with indigenous perspective through the eyes of an indigenous police officer. Limbo explores the deeper impact of a crime on an indigenous family through the eyes of a white police officer. Some of these ideas have largely come from my own personal experience, from family members and friends.”  --director, original screenplay-writer, music composer, editor and cinematographer Ivan Sen of Limbo “Every single negative can lead to a positive”  ---from t ..read more

    “Of course, he took me seriously, respected my opinions.. but, nevertheless, he wanted to be the breadwinner. That way, oppression lies; that’s obvious. It’s like this, ‘I hear what you are saying and, of course I understand, but who brings home the bacon?’ So there you are—two sets of rules.”---Petra von Kant on her professional success as a fashion designer breaking up her once perfect marriage  “I may seem hard, but it is because I am using my head.  You’re evidently not used to women using their brains” -- Petra von Kant to her cousin, Sidonie   ..read more

“Arrogance is sin”   “I wanted to find God; I only found Man”      “Money always rubs elbows with infamy”               --key lines spoken in Sin--co-scripted by Andrei Konchalovsky and Elena Kisaleva Andrei Konchalovsky’s Sin is a film more on the thoughts of the amazingly gifted painter, sculptor and writer Michelangelo (1465-1564) and less on his famous works and how he created those masterpieces of art. The film presents a frenetic individual at the time of his life when he was sculpting night and day, more than he was pa ..read more

Mohammad Rasoulof is different from most filmmakers. He does not adapt written works—he writes his own original screenplays stitched together from what he observes and hears from Iranian compatriots. He has made a modest tally of seven fictional feature films to date and these have picked up a Golden Bear at Berlin, a Golden Peacock in India, a Gold and a Silver Hugo at Chicago and three major awards at Cannes’ important  Un Certain Regard section, among 36 prestigious awards and prizes won globally. The seven feature films do not include his two feature-length docu-dr ..read more

  Quotes from the film that provide glimpses of the thought-provoking script: (Tár, being interviewed by Adam Gopnik in front of a live audience on Tár conducting  Mahler’s Adagietto Symphony no.5)  Tár: And this piece was not born into aching tragedy. It was born into young love.  Gopnik (real life writer of New Yorker magazine): And you chose... Tár: Love Gopnik: Right, but precisely how long? Tár: Well, seven minutes. (That conversation could go beyond face value, if the viewer is familiar with Irving Wallace)           ..read more

    "'Thank you for being born.' - A single sentence that touches the audience in such a way that entire films rarely can. When every character, no matter how small or large, is intricately layered, simultaneously fractured and in the end so lovingly developed, that's cinema. Great cinema. This film is a journey. One filled with longings, with decisions, with detours. Sometimes it is precisely these detours that we must take in life to find ourselves and each other. And we found a bit of ourselves in this film." --Citation of the Best International film award for Broke ..read more

    "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 There 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 ..read more

    “Have any of you read Pirandello?” asks a senior priest in a Sicilian seminary to his junior priests  “I read him in secret, then I confessed” replies a junior priest meekly, with penitence, “I have read one novel--The Old and The Young.”  “Do you remember the inscription? It reads –To my children: young today, old tomorrow” adds the senior priest, a Pirandello admirer --conversation between priests in a seminary within the film Leonora addio Paolo Taviani collaborated with his late elder brother Vittorio on 20 feature films until Vittorio’s demise in 2018 a ..read more