The Buddhist film festival Europe will be held in Amsterdam’s Tuschinski theater this weekend. The two-day event is a platform for feature films, documentaries and television programs that are inspired or influenced by Buddhism. The festival opens with a screening of Takahashi Banmei’s ‘Zen‘, a fascinating look into the life and times of 13th-century monk Dogen, founder of the Soto sect in Zen Buddhism. Other highlights include Rob Epstein’s acclaimed biopic of Allen Ginsberg ‘Howl‘ and John J. Healey’s documentary ‘The Practice of The Wild‘, which traces the career of Buddhist poet and environmentalist Gary Snyder. Whether you are a devout monk, a film buff or merely an intrigued onlooker, the scheduled films are diverse and interesting enough to keep everyone happy and at peace. Feel the Zen.
An art festival about Japan in Amsterdam?! The Camera Japan Festival is on it’s fifth year of celebrating everything Japanese. There will be feature films, dance, anime, food, music, documentaries, and exhibitions! It will be held from October 7-13 at the Melkweg and Kriterion.
Here’s what I’m excited about:
Lullatone, the amazing pajama pop band will perform a free show at the Kriterion, Friday October 8 at 21:00.
Brunch & Movie! The feature film “Pool” or “Puru” will be screened alongside an oishii Japanese style brunch for only 10 euros! Sunday October 10 at 11:00, Kriterion.
The beautiful Pathé Tuschinski will be hosting the 10th annual Bicycle Film Festival this saturday May 8. Short films, documentaries, features, and animations all relating to the bicycle will be screened. The after party will be held at Mediamatic from 20.00 till late.
Movies That Matter Film Festival in association with Amnesty International begins on March 25-March 31 in The Hague. 70 feature films and documentaries will be screened along with talks and discussions. Check out the full list of films in the program and get your tickets here.
More than 200,000 men, women and children in North Korea imprisoned in concentration camps. Occasionally successful opponents of the dictatorial regime to unleash the to flee. Some of them now lives in Seoul, South Korea. Together they make a musical based on their experience in the Yodok concentration camp. Abuse, starvation and murder in the concentration on the order of the day. Only Few manage to survive, but the number residents of the camps continues to rate as a constant new ‘class enemies’ camps. Occasionally hitting those opponents of the regime to unleash the camp and North Korea to escape, for example Seoul. They decisions together a special and controversial musical to about their experiences in the Yodok concentration camp.
The international festivals winning, ironic “Suddenly, Last Winter” tells the story of Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi, the two makers of the film. Their lives are put on its head when the Italian government adopted a bill pending to gay couples and unmarried couples rights. The proposal provides a great national debate. A wave of homophobia is sweeping Italy.
When Devi, mother of a fifteen year old daughter, witnesses the murder of her cousin by the Royal Nepal Army, she decided to publicly speak out about this crime. That is not thanked her. The army retaliated by kidnapping her daughter. “The Sari Soldiers” follows Devi in her search for her daughter and her fight for justice. Besides Devi in the film are five other brave women who portrayed from different beliefs try to shape future of Nepal.
Woman in the Dunes was for many the grand unveiling of the surreal, idiosyncratic worldview of Hiroshi Teshigahara. Eija Okada plays an amateur entomologist who has left Tokyo to study an unclassified species of beetle that resides in a remote, vast desert; when he misses his bus back to civilization, he is persuaded to spend the night in the home of a young widow who lives in a hut at the bottom of a sand dune. What results is one of cinema’s most bristling, unnerving, and palpably erotic battles of the sexes, as well as a nightmarish depiction of everyday Sisyphean struggle.
The screening costs 4 euros and the show starts at 20:30 hrs.
I love this photograph. Photographer Jeff Phillips takes black and white street photographs and develops the film in his kitchen sink. This picture looks like it was taken in the forties with the women in hats and men wearing classic suits. The preserved historical architecture in this city makes it really easy to replicate historical happenings though I’m pretty sure this photograph was taken last year for a modern wedding. Really beautiful.
The 39th edition of the International Film Festival in Rotterdam will be held on January 27th through February 7th. It looks like there is going to be tons of interesting films from all over the world. Here is the full list of films.
My favorite festival is back in Amsterdam! The International Documentary Film Festival is the largest documentary festival in the world and has been held annually in Amsterdam since 1988. This years festival will be held from November 19-29, 2009 and will play over 300 films. Here some films I’m looking forward to seeing.
An art festival about Japan in Amsterdam?! Yay. The Camera Japan Festival celebrates everything Japanese. There will be feature films, dance, anime, food, music, documentaries, exhibitions and even a cosplay cafe! It will be held from October 1-7 at the Melkweg and Kriterion.
This film called Tokyo! looks amazing! Playing Friday night at the Kriterion at 19.30.
