Cannes at Home: Champions of the Neon God

by Cláudio Alves

Let's hope Neon gives Panahi's Palme winner a proper release. No LA CHIMERA nonsense, please.

Neon is on a hot streak. Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident marks the sixth Palme d'Or winner in a row that the distributor will handle for its US release. Then again, they achieved this by leaving nothing to chance, going on a shopping spree of perceived frontrunners. To the point where they have American distribution rights for four of the eight prizewinning films. The other heavy-hitter was Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, which took the Grand Prix, tantamount to second-place honors. But, of course, we shouldn't forget about the films that got no trophy. In between the two big champions, Mario Martone presented Fuori, and Carla Simón moved audiences with her Romería. If Oliver Hermanus' The History of Sound wasn't as acclaimed as one would hope, remember that much can change as far as critical consensus is concerned once more people see these Cannes titles. 

For the penultimate Cannes at Home special, let's examine some of these auteur's earlier efforts, all character studies in their own way. There's Panahi's The White Balloon, Martone's Nostalgia, Simón's Summer 1993, Hermanus' Moffie, and Trier's Reprise…

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Goodbye, 2023...

by Cláudio Alves

SUPERSTAR is my favorite new-to-me film of 2023. What's yours?

As the year draws to a close, it's time for reflection and hopes for the year to come. All over film publications, lists dominate, cataloging the best pictures of 2023, rushing to proclaim their champions before the ball drops. Here, however, let's do another exercise. Looking back at the past twelve months, I like to think about my favorite first-time watches of years gone by, classics and other sorts that were new to me, even if they were well known to everybody else. 

I think of Brian De Palma's Body Double, a perverse predilection I discovered on my travails through Erotic Thrillers. Then, there was Labyrinth of Cinema, Nobuhiko Obayashi's swan song, and a wild counterpoint to Nolan's Oppenheimer. While I wrote about those two, I have yet to mention my affection for Jafar Panahi's rebellious Offside or how Jan Svankmajer's Food seemed to synthesize its auteur's visceral cinema in one bite-sized grotesque. However, no flick inspired as much adoration as Todd Haynes' long-banned Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. In the year when Barbie reigned supreme, his was still the superior plastic picture, nightmarish and moving, a song on biopic limitations and truth at 24 frames per second.

New or old, may 2024 bring more cinema triumphs. Happy New Year!

Review: "No Bears" is new on VOD

by Cláudio Alves

One of 2022's most essential films, a title that will probably continue to accrue power in retrospect, is now available on VOD. It's none other than No Bears, Jafar Panahi's latest feat of illicitly-made cinema, premiered in Venice just as the director faced another period behind bars. He's since been released after announcing a hunger strike in protest. As with all of Panahi's creations since the 2010 sentence that resulted in a 20-year ban on moviemaking as decreed by the Islamic Revolutionary Court, it's challenging to approach No Bears as just another film. Well, that's logical since it's not just another film...

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AFI Fest: Jafar Panahi’s stark portrait of Iran in “No Bears”

by Eurocheese

Director/Writer Jafar Panahi is currently sitting in an Iranian prison cell. By way of introduction at the AFI Fest, currently taking place in Los Angeles, our audience was reminded of this. That's not all. We were also informed that he has told his wife that this prison stay has been his most difficult – a shocking statement considering his arrest in 2010 led to him to a hunger strike. This set the backdrop perfectly, as the film portrays Panahi’s take on the current state of affairs in his country. 

Within the first few minutes, the fourth wall is broken as we learn Panahi (playing himself) is using a stand-in director to film his new feature, presumably because he is not allowed to direct himself. Meanwhile, he is staying close to his cast and crew in a small town close to Iran's border for a few days...

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Venice Diary #10 - Saints and martyrs

by Elisa Giudici

It's the last full day of Venice with the awards about to be announced as you're reading this... or maybe they've already been announced depending on when you clicked over. Yesterday, I was chatting with some Italian colleagues. Our country's films in competition ranged from distinctive to very good. We were quite proud... but then two more Italian films arrived and some of us had to rethink our position.

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