Venice: Oscar Contender "The Voice of Hind Rajab"

by Elisa Giudici

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB © Venice Film Festival

Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania has always worked at the intersection of personal tragedy and political urgency. From The Man Who Sold His Skin to Four Daughters, she has shown a capacity to merge documentary impulses with bold formal invention. Yet with The Voice of Hind Rajab (the film that left Venice audiences openly sobbing halfway through its screening) she has taken that approach further, venturing into a space where cinema becomes almost unbearable.

The story is simple and shattering. On January 29, 2024, five-year-old Hind Rajab was trapped inside her family’s car in Gaza, surrounded by the corpses of her relatives and encircled by Israeli tanks...

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Gotham Awards: "No Other Land"

by Nick Taylor

As part of The Film Experience’s coverage of this year’s Gotham Awards, I’ll be reviewing a handful of nomination films. Some of you may remember No Other Land from Cláudio Alves’s impassioned review from TIFF a month and a half ago. I hope you’ve been able to see it since then. If you haven’t, I hope you’re able to in the future. It's one of six films recognized by the Gothams for Best Documentary, and as per usual with this awards body, this could very well be another season where they have one of the year's strongest Doc lineups. Let my coverage of this be another endorsement for No Other Land as a staggering feat, “important” in every way a documentary like this could be, as well as a remarkably sturdy piece of filmmaking...

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TIFF '24: From the River to the Sea

by Cláudio Alves

At the Berlinale, NO OTHER LAND won the Best Documentary and Panorama Audience awards.

The 2024 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival was marked by multiple instances of political protest. PETA came for Pharrell Williams, and the documentary Russians at War had its screenings delayed until after the official festival in response to the public outcry against it. While some organizers, guests, and audience members may have grumbled about it, one should expect such demonstrations at an event that purports "to transform the way people see the world" and lead in the "creative and cultural discovery through the moving image." Like every art form, cinema is political – everything is political – and a festival's program can delineate allegiances and avenues of dialogue. In its search for plurality, it can also illuminate contradictions of its own. 

In the realm of political cinema, No Other Land and From Ground Zero, two of the year's most essential films, were screened at TIFF. Both works deal with the plight of the Palestinian people…

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International Feature Race - 15 Contenders Thus Far

by Nathaniel R

Though I know I've been absent from writing, I have been updating the International Feature Film Oscar charts to track the submissions. So far 15 countries have announced their submissions, some of which are available to US viewers. After the jump, the list so far, impending decisions from Israel and South Korea, and general observations...

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7 More Films (Some Surprises) Join the International Oscar Race

by Nathaniel R

While Denmark and Germany have been Oscar's two favourite countries in the past 20 or so years, they weren't always the biggest draws. Four traditionally powerhouse countries in the International Oscar Race -- France, Italy, Sweden, and Spain -- haven't had as much consistent pull of late but underestimate them at your own peril. All four have now announced their horses for the Oscars so it's an exciting week for news in this category. And they weren't the only countries to share their golden news this week. The charts are updated but let's talk about 7 of the new submissions... 

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