Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays, Damian Kocur’s Under The Volcano, Silvina Schnicer’s The Cottage and Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise shared the awards handed out at the 21st edition of the Marrakech Intl.

Pushpa 2-The Rule, Review: You can Push-swag Smuggler Superhero Pa to the brink, but he’ll be back in a blink

Pushpa means flower in Hindi. Our protagonist is not a flower, but a fire. Not any ordinary fire, but as he declares, to his nemesis, Shekhawat, “wild fire.”. This ‘flowery wild fire’ learns the skill of swimming and holding his breath underwater for much longer than the average swimmer, instantaneously, when forced to fetch a cricket ball from the bottom of a pond. Apparently illiterate, or, at best, semi-literate, he lives in the Chittoor district of Telangana, so his natural mother tongue is Telugu. We watched the Hindi version, and the lip sync differs only slightly, thanks to good dubbing. Almost all the credit titles are in Hindi. Pushpa speaks to his wife and a few others, occasionally in Marathi, and masters spoken Japanese while being transported hidden in a container, to Yokohama, Japan, for about 3 weeks. He can also speak Bengali. These are some of the minor skills in which Pushpa has majored. In the pre-credit titles scene (a là James Bond movies) at Yokohama, he shows you that when he is bound by hands and feet, and suspended high above (The Rule?), lifted by a giant crane, you must suspend your cinematic disbelief totally, for what follows is a display of calisthenics that circus performers, with decades of experience and training, would shy away from, but are innate to Pushpa, and greeted with thunderous applause by fans of Allu Arjun, in the auditorium. Pushpa 2-The Rule is for them. Others are not likely to whistle or applaud at such ultra-super-human acts. And that includes some discerning and demanding critics, like me.

Okay, so the hero has the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in the 160s-180s range. He uses that to transport contraband red sandalwood from Telangana to Madras, and onwards to SriLanka. After all, he is President of the Syndicate. This syndicate consists of two types of men: First, the harvesters of the sandalwood, and second, the henchmen and ‘slaves’ of Pushpa. Both will go to any extent to deliver the pricey red sandalwood to foreign shores, where it fetches a price of crores of rupees (one crore equals ten million) per consignment. The route to the port at Rameswaram in Chennai is hundreds of kilometres long, and there are some 100 trucks in the convoy, add to that a bald super-cop named Shekhawat (a Rajasthani surname), with a scar along his pate, who will do anything to stop the Pushpakers from crossing the Telangana state borders. Never mind the fact that Shekhawat is dumb enough to let the crops grow, the trees felled, the wood cut to size, loaded on trucks and well on its way. He believes in catching the smugglers red-handed, and getting media and police glory. Also, never mind the fact that besides doing his duty as a Superintendent of Police (SP), he is not averse to demanding a large share of the spoils in order to let the business prosper, when he is in a bargaining position. Shekhawat was there in Pushpa 1: The Rise, but will not be seen in Pushpa 3-The Rampage.

Writer-director Sukumar could well have named the trilogy Pushpa SWAG, Pushpa SWAGGER and Pushpa-SWAGGIEST (assuming that the flower power runs out of ammo after Part 3), for Pushpa is nothing without the swag. He walks with one shoulder raised, wears a stone dead look, and several metallic accessories around his neck and on his hands, which he jangles time and again to remind you that they are there, and what is Pushpa without the cross-legged, inciting sitting position? It was this posture that led to his sacking as an ordinary day-labourer, carrying wood from one place to another. That he is doing so deliberately is explained in one scene, wherein Pushpa is sitting in an aircraft, thousands of feet abov

Pushpa 2-The Rule, Review: You can Push-swag Smuggler Superhero Pa to the brink, but he’ll be back in a blink

Pushpa means flower in Hindi. Our protagonist is not a flower, but a fire. Not any ordinary fire, but as he declares, to his nemesis, Shekhawat, “wild fire.”. This ‘flowery wild fire’ learns the skill of swimming and holding his breath underwater for much longer than the average swimmer, instantaneously, when forced to fetch a cricket ball from the bottom of a pond. Apparently illiterate, or, at best, semi-literate, he lives in the Chittoor district of Telangana, so his natural mother tongue is Telugu. We watched the Hindi version, and the lip sync differs only slightly, thanks to good dubbing. Almost all the credit titles are in Hindi. Pushpa speaks to his wife and a few others, occasionally in Marathi, and masters spoken Japanese while being transported hidden in a container, to Yokohama, Japan, for about 3 weeks. He can also speak Bengali. These are some of the minor skills in which Pushpa has majored. In the pre-credit titles scene (a là James Bond movies) at Yokohama, he shows you that when he is bound by hands and feet, and suspended high above (The Rule?), lifted by a giant crane, you must suspend your cinematic disbelief totally, for what follows is a display of calisthenics that circus performers, with decades of experience and training, would shy away from, but are innate to Pushpa, and greeted with thunderous applause by fans of Allu Arjun, in the auditorium. Pushpa 2-The Rule is for them. Others are not likely to whistle or applaud at such ultra-super-human acts. And that includes some discerning and demanding critics, like me.

Okay, so the hero has the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in the 160s-180s range. He uses that to transport contraband red sandalwood from Telangana to Madras, and onwards to SriLanka. After all, he is President of the Syndicate. This syndicate consists of two types of men: First, the harvesters of the sandalwood, and second, the henchmen and ‘slaves’ of Pushpa. Both will go to any extent to deliver the pricey red sandalwood to foreign shores, where it fetches a price of crores of rupees (one crore equals ten million) per consignment. The route to the port at Rameswaram in Chennai is hundreds of kilometres long, and there are some 100 trucks in the convoy, add to that a bald super-cop named Shekhawat (a Rajasthani surname), with a scar along his pate, who will do anything to stop the Pushpakers from crossing the Telangana state borders. Never mind the fact that Shekhawat is dumb enough to let the crops grow, the trees felled, the wood cut to size, loaded on trucks and well on its way. He believes in catching the smugglers red-handed, and getting media and police glory. Also, never mind the fact that besides doing his duty as a Superintendent of Police (SP), he is not averse to demanding a large share of the spoils in order to let the business prosper, when he is in a bargaining position. Shekhawat was there in Pushpa 1: The Rise, but will not be seen in Pushpa 3-The Rampage.

Writer-director Sukumar could well have named the trilogy Pushpa SWAG, Pushpa SWAGGER and Pushpa-SWAGGIEST (assuming that the flower power runs out of ammo after Part 3), for Pushpa is nothing without the swag. He walks with one shoulder raised, wears a stone dead look, and several metallic accessories around his neck and on his hands, which he jangles time and again to remind you that they are there, and what is Pushpa without the cross-legged, inciting sitting position? It was this posture that led to his sacking as an ordinary day-labourer, carrying wood from one place to another. That he is doing so deliberately is explained in one scene, wherein Pushpa is sitting in an aircraft, thousands of feet abov

Bruno Chatelin and Tiina Lokk 

Interview courtesy PÖFF

What are the main themes in PÖFF’s Official Selection Competition programme this year? What genres and viewpoints are dominant?

The diverse selection of films sent to us is what determines the directions. As always, there are many genres in our competition programme and the same goes for other programmes. At the same time we never accept a film based only on the genre – for us the genre is one way to express the message. The competition programme has everything from a psychological thriller bordering on horror to psychological family drama and science fiction. The selection is broad also when it comes to different countries. We are not concentrating on one major theme or highlighting specific regions, we are free in our choices. Talking about tendencies, this year the recurring themes are ageing, the end of life and euthanasia – could be that these were influenced by COVID-19. Bullying at school, children’s issues and rights are also some more prominent themes. These films belong mainly in the Just Film programme, but the Official Selection Competition programme has films on these themes for adults. Last year there were many intense political films, but this year world politics is not in focus like that. Then again war is a theme that comes up, but not in a traditional way. The Official Selection Competition programme has two unconventional and psychologically interesting war films. There are also films about domestic violence.

Will the Official Selection Competition programme offer more audience-friendly films that have a potential of being easily distributed or is the focus more on elitist film d’auteur?

Like I’ve always said, we are focused on authors. We have films by authors who all use very different cinematic language. We also have films that use forms of expression and structure that far exceeds the psychological storytelling style that the audience has become used to. These are aesthetically more interesting, but also harder to grasp. So we have both. I’d say the Official Selection Competition programme is the crossroad where the author and the audience should meet.

For freaks and film buffs we have other programmes like Rebels With A Cause and Critic’s Picks. The Official Selection Competition programme and the First Feature Competition programme have a wide frame and are meant for a wider audience.
As someone who has a degree in film theory and is from the generation that had great film directors with an audiovisual way of thinking, I am always happy when we are sent the kind of films where the story is developing through shapes and symbols, not only through a causal narrative. These films need a certain level of expertise. At the same time there are dramas that use linear storytelling and are psychologically multifaceted, while being cinematically literary. I find both enjoyable and the Official Selection Competition programme offers both.

What were the principles of putting together the programme?

Time brings up one theme or another and we try to select films that are fresh and original both when it comes to the theme and the forms of expression. The films for our programme are chosen by an international team that has quite many members, because there are a lot of films. Even though other festivals have also big teams, we do things more democratically – we don’t label our contributors as selectors and film scouts, for most of them are doing both. The fact that our team is international, is determined by the location. The programme team needs to consist of people, who go from festival to festival and literally breathe in the atmosphere of the film world. It is much easier to go to festi

Bruno Chatelin met for a quick interview with David Jovanovic after his successfull screening in PÖFF competition (first feature) and an incredingly long and passionate Q&A!

Dule (pictured above at Tallinn Nordic Forum Hotel with the director) is a happy boy who spends his childhood together with his hero father and mother, too small to understand that his home will soon be taken by the mine next to the village. If death caused by pollution does not take the boy sooner. Dule’s father Vid knows.

Dule playfully tries to find magic solutions in order to extinguish the pulsating ache in his father’s behaviour patterns and to save plants growing in his home garden. One after the other, everyday activities become iconic sparks of hope and the greenhouse becomes an Eden that needs Dule’s protection.

A remarkable feature of “Sun Never Again” is its pervasive symbolism which has been created using the main techniques of the art of film in a manner where besides iconic references, the relationship between light and shadow and composition is meaningfully eloquent. A seemingly unnoticeable story is thereby intertwined with the deeply contemplated philosophical approach of director David Jovanović to create a power pearl of a film which captures the audience with its detail-sensitive dramaturgic flow and fills the soul with meaning.

Elise Jagomägi

 Sports is the motto and main theme of the 11th Duhok International Film Festival

The 11th edition of Duhok International Film Festival will be held in the city of Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, with the theme of sports, focusing on Indian cinema and with the films of directors from different countries of the world.

According to the report of Mansour Jahani, an independent and international cinema journalist, Presided by Amir Ali Mohammed Tahir and artistic management by the Kurdish director, Shawkat Amin Korki, the 11th round of Duhok International Film Festival is set to be held on 9-16 December, 2024, at Duhok University's congregation hall and the Duhok Mall Cineplex in Duhok, Kurdistan Region. Heralding the motto of Sports, this edition of Duhok will showcase 107 films by directors of different geographical backgrounds, in a variety of formats such as feature films, shorts, and documentaries in the two categories of competition and out-of-competition.

Promotion and development of cinema and progress of Duhok Film Festival
The first press conference of the 11th Duhok international film festival was held in the Panorama Azadi hall in the city of Duhok, with the presence of directors of various departments of this cinema event and mass media journalists, and Massoud Arif, the official spokesperson of this festival, stated in a press conference, every year, at the same time as the Duhok international film festival, two things, including; The promotion and development of cinema and the development of the festival and culture of Duhok, as well as the development of art in general and cinema in particular, are very important for us. We believe that when we are setting up the first news conference of the new period of the festival; We celebrate it with great excitement. Because our colleagues in different parts of the festival were working for many months to bring the festival to this stage.

Received 750 movies in World Cinema and Kurdish Cinema
He added: We announced that from June 15 to September 1, 2024, we will accept films to participate in the 11th edition of the Duhok International Film Festival, through the film portal. Fortunately, this year, 750 foreign and Kurdish films from the directors of the countries different parts of the world, was sent to the festival secretariat After the evaluation by the selection board of the festival, consisting of experienced artists, finally 107 films made it to the competition, of which 61 foreign films including; 9 feature films, 7 documentaries and 11 short films in the competition of World Cinema and 34 films in the out-of-competition of World Cinema from 31 countries, as well as 46 Kurdish films including; 7 feature films, 8 documentaries and 12 short films will be screened in the competition of Kurdish Cinema and 19 films in the out-of-competition of Kurdish Cinema.

We are happy to hold the festival at this specific time every year
By Amir Ali Mohammed Tahir, the president of Duhok International Film Festival, stated in a press conference, each cycle of the Duhok film festival is the result of a year's effort, diligence and perseverance of my colleagues who are working in different departments. All these sympathies have made us able to add this year to the previous periods of the festival. We are truly blessed to have colleagues who are cheerful, professional, friendly and non-stop; They try to hold the festival at this specific time every year. I hope that we can continue this process and hold the Dahuk film festival well and professionally every year; This also requires the presence of knowledgeable, skilled and caring colleagues behind the scenes of this cinematic

Celebrated truly indie-focused film festival will feature 77 Feature-length Narrative and Documentary films, Pilots and Shorts making World, North American, and US Premieres. Evan Oppenheimer’s PEAS AND CARROTS makes its World Premiere as the Opening Night selection, and Christina Elioupolos’ HERE’S YIANNI! is the Closing Night selection.

Photo: Peas and Carrots

Dances With Films announced the film lineup for the 3rd New York City edition of the bicoastal film festival juggernaut. December 5-8 will be packed with an incredible number of feature-length narratives, documentaries, pilots, and shorts making their world, North American, and US premieres as DWF showcases those new works as part of the only indie film-focused film festival with a foothold in both Los Angeles and The Big Apple. Evan Oppenheimer’s Peas and Carrots makes its world premiere on Opening Night, and Christina Elioupolos’ Here’s Yianni! is the Closing Night selection.

Among DWF NYC’s lineup of 141 films, including 22 narrative and midnight features, 9 documentary features, 18 television and streaming pilots, and 92 short films (76 combined narrative and midnight, with 16 documentaries). More than half of this year’s DWF NYC presentation will be making their world, North American or US premieres during the ambitious four-day film event in December. All screenings will take place at Regal Union Square (850 Broadway).

In addition to Oppenheimer’s Peas and Carrots, additional feature length films making their world premieres are Liam Le Guillou’s A Cursed Man, Victoria Kupchinetsky’s Calico Rebellion, Jason Mendoza’s Good Friday, Bari King’s Itch!, Mikaela Shwer’s The Kids Are Not Alright, Dom Cutrupi’s Lola Dust, William Tyler Wiseman’s Moonwater, Paul Bickel’s One Happy Place, Jarrett Jung’s Sergeant Pickle Breath And The Rooftop Warriors, and Kristen Hansen’s Sonny Boy. Andrew Bell’s Bleeding, and Howard Goldberg’s Double Exposure will make their North American Premieres, and Nicola Rose’s Magnetosphere will make its US Premiere at DWF NYC.

Pilots for TV and streaming series making their world premieres, include Sergio Camacho’s United Crafts Of America, Victoria Myers’ A Legend Is Hatched: I Become Famous... In My Own Mind, Lucy Hirschfeld’s Dropped, Christine Lakin’s The Fun In Funny, Christopher Gerson and Julie Kramer’s Gasbag, Dan Jones’ Hive, Olivia Lambert’s Like Comment Subscribe, Serena Schuler’s Makeshift Society, Karl Janisse’s Passage, Ana Breton’s Rat Czar, and Ruthie Marantz’s Raging Doll. 

Cited by Moviemaker Magazine as one of the 2024 “Coolest Film Festivals” in the world, Dances With Films’ rapid growth in New York City along with its current place as L.A.’s top film festival for platforming truly independent filmmaking, makes DWF the only film festival organization offering “discovery” titles in major film festival events in both of those