Film festivals
2012
The lost continent: opening up British silent film history Report
Conventional wisdom says Britain’s few canonised directors of the late silent era learned more from the Soviet cinema than their native culture. The true history, reports Henry K Miller from the British Silent Film Festival, is not so black and white
Doing time: ‘slow cinema’ at the AV Festival Postcard
Henry K Miller takes a deep breath, pulls up a seat and surrenders to a festival that celebrates slowness in music and the visual arts
The politics of ventilation:
Arika’s ‘A Film is a Statement’ festival Postcard
Chris Fujiwara communes with the participatory audience at the first of Arika’s three ambitious festival experiments for 2012
London Short Film Festival:
Winners and rejects Postcard
This year’s LSFF even showed the films it wasn’t showing. Dylan Cave peruses the award winners – and refusés
London Short Film Festival:
Nine of the best Preview
Dylan Cave picks out nine titles in this year’s festival line-up
2011
Encounters short film festival: Circumnavigating the world (and some time travel) Report
At Bristol’s short film expo, Nick Bradshaw and Dylan Cave encounter Mark Cosgrove’s philosophy of festival programming, the magical early silents of Segundo de Chomón and short highlights from Britain, Scandinavia and the Ukraine
Beyond extreme? The London Korean Film Festival Postcard
Anton Bitel finds genres straight and tangled in this year’s London showcase of new Korean cinema
FrightFest Hallowe’en:
Tricks but not enough treats Postcard
Emerging from the horror specialists’ annual all-night marathon, Anton Bitel wishes he’d only survived til 5am
London Film Festival
The Sight & Sound blog
Follow our team’s LFF peregrinations. Read the collated entries here, or see the index of individual blog posts
London Film Festival:
The best live-action shorts Preview
Dylan Cave highlights ten titles in this year’s festival line-up
Abandon Normal Devices:
Near chaos and a happy ending Postcard
David Sorfa on Park Chan-wook’s iPhone-shot ghost film Night Fishing, Doug Fishbone’s Elmina, Michael Tully’s Septien and a preview of Shezad Dawood’s Piercing Brightness
London Film Festival:
30 recommendations Preview
Our staff’s hand-picked selection of highlights in this year’s festival
FrightFest: women and horror Postcard
Mark Pilkington on The Woman, and two female-directed discoveries that bring “warmth and rounded characterisation to a genre that so often lacks it”
Uphill struggle:
Edinburgh International Film Festival Postcard
James Mottram finds Edinburgh feeling the pain in the wake of funding cuts
Vérité visions: Sheffield Doc/Fest Postcard
Nick Bradshaw on a rescheduled festival blessed by the sun, Lifetime Achievement awardee Albert Maysles, and his Direct Cinema heirs
East End Film Festival:
East London on Film Postcard
Frances Morgan picks out three new portraits of diversity, housing and upheaval in the capital’s unruliest quarter
This is our land: liminal Britain at the London Short Film Festival Postcard
Frances Morgan sees a fascination with the UK’s hinterlands unfold across two festival retrospectives and a guerilla filmmaking project
London Short Film Festival:
Eight of the best Preview
Dylan Cave highlights eight titles in this year’s festival line-up
2010
London Turkish Film Festival 2010:
in search of lost roots Postcard
Frances Morgan probes the poetry and prose of rootlessness in Reha Erdem’s Kosmos and Seren Yüce’s The Majority
Sheffield Doc/Fest 2010: rain, speed dates, glamour and fine films Postcard
Edward Lawrenson on a busy festival for meteorologists, documentarists and Joan Rivers fans
London Film Festival 2010
The Sight & Sound blog
Follow our team’s LFF peregrinations. Read the collated entries here, or see the index of individual blog posts
London Film Festival 2010:
Sight & Sound’s top 30 Preview
30 highlights of this year’s festival
FrightFest 2010 Hallowe’en all-nighter Postcard
Postcard: Anton Bitel sticks out the witching hour with new films devoted to the return (or revenge) of the past: Confessions, The Silent House, Choose and more
FrightFest 2010: the return of the censor? Postcard
Mark Pilkington on a new round of horror cuts, and a well-timed documentary about the 1980s Video Nasties scare
FrightFest 2010: looking back to giallo
– and Tobe Hooper’s debut Postcard
Mark Pilkington cuts through the corpses to praise giallo homage Amer and Tobe Hooper’s forerunner to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
FrightFest 2010: undead and kicking Postcard
Mark Pilkington interviews horror handmaiden and FrightFest founder Alan Jones
Romania 2010: Eastern promises
Report and preview
James Bell previews the Romanian Film Festival in London and finds the new wave still rolling on
The Palestine Film Festival 2010 Preview
Preview: Adania Shibli finds reality proving camera-shy at this year’s Palestine Film Festival in London
Glasgow International Art Festival 2010 Report
John Beagles hears voices from the past around every darkened corner of the Glasgow Festival
Kinoteka 2010: Celestial mail Preview
A 14-minute mini-masterpiece at the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival reminds Michael Brooke of a history of correspondences between the British documentary school and its great Polish counterpart
The short of it Preview
Dylan Cave previews some highlights of the 2010 London Short Film Festival
2009
Brief Encounters 2009: Bedlam in brief Report
Nick Bradshaw picks a hatful of the best movies at Bristol’s Encounters Short Film Festival
Aurora 2009: Eastern dusk Report
Norwich’s Aurora festival of progressive artists’ movies convenes its final gathering of the faithful
Sheffield Doc/Fest 2009: Every doc for itself Report
Documentaries with attitude, and film-makers with vision: the worst and best of Sheffield Doc/Fest 2009
London 2009: ‘Underground’, overground Report
This year’s London Film Festival brought archive films up onto the streets, and the Tube back onto the screen. We caught two of the festival’s archive showcases
London 2009: Everywhere girls? Preview
Chuffed with this year’s harvest of films made by women, the London Film Festival is hosting a panel debate on why the movies aren’t always so even-handed. Sophie Mayer sizes up the festival’s female perspectives
London 2009: Last remaining seats Preview
Sight & Sound’s recommendations of films still available for booking in this year’s festival
AND 2009: Tropical rocket Report
Tony Rayns sees Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Primitive installation at the inaugural Abandon Normal Devices Festival of New Media and Digital Culture in Liverpool
2008 and earlier
London 2008 Report
Various writers on The Class, Rachel Getting Married, Quiet Chaos, Liverpool and Lisandro Alonso, Ben Rivers and 20 further S&S recommendations
London 2006 Report
Various writers on Red Road, Bamako, Times and Winds and 12 more of the best at the London Film Festival
Edinburgh 2006 Preview
David Thomson on early 1970s Hollywood, and ten S&S selections
London 2005 Report
Various writers on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Good Night and Good Luck, The Death of Mr Lazarescu and ten more of the best at the London Film Festival
2012
Cannes Film Festival 2012
The Sight & Sound blog
Follow Nick James and our correspondents on the Croisette. Read the collated entries, or see the index of individual posts
Ebertfest: thumbs on hearts Postcard
At Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, films, filmmakers and fans come together under the guiding hand of the World’s Most Famous Film Critic. Scott Jordan Harris joins the communion
Artists (still) at play: Ann Arbor at 50 Postcard
Stephen Connolly pays his respects to a legacy of lively engagement at North America’s preeminent festival of artists’ movies
Berlinale 2012
The Sight & Sound blog
Nick James and S&S contributors report from the unknown quantity that is this year’s Berlin film festival. Read the collated entries, or see the index of individual posts
2011
The rebel confederacy:
the Doc Alliance at CPH:DOX Postcard
Copenhagen’s blossoming documentary festival was the latest stop for the Doc Alliance roadshow. Demetrios Matheou reports
Perugia: a new ‘experiential vertical’ in the Stratus galaxy Postcard
What does a big-talking new festival in the capital of Umbria have to do with American martial arts fighting, vintage car racing or the Stratus Rewards Visa White Card? Lee Marshall scoops a preview
Morelia: shelter from the sensation Postcard
Mark Cousins sees a running tussle between baroque culture and Bressonian art at Mexico’s foremost showcase of homegrown film
Rio: cool potatoes – and torpor in the favela Postcard
Jonathan Romney on three mixed-bag local curios – and a wanton lack of thrills and spills at a new cinema built in a recently pacified favela
KEEP CALM AND WATCH FILMS:
trinidad+tobago Report
Curfew cannot curb a festival devoted to promoting the voices of the Caribbean and its diasporas, finds Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
The sun still rises: CinDi 2011 Postcard
Ian Christie finds a clutch of exciting, exploratory new films from China, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Japan at Seoul’s Cinema Digital Festival
On the road to Telluride Report
Nick James on bringing home Sight & Sound’s ‘Special Medallion’ from the Telluride Film Festival, “given to a hero of cinema that preserves, honors and presents great movies”
Venice Film Festival 2011
The Sight & Sound blog
Follow Kieron Corless and our correspondents on the Lido. Read the collated entries, or see the index of individual posts
Locarno: big stage, new talent Postcard
Isabel Stevens on the emerging new film voices stepping up to Locarno’s 5,000-strong crowd
Il Cinema Ritrovato: restoration heaven Postcard
Jonathan Rosenbaum goes reevaluating the films of Soviet dramatist Boris Barnet, Howard Hawks and Louis Feuillade’s muse Musidora at Bolgona’s ‘festival of rediscoveries’
Midnight Sun: let there be light Postcard
Nick James investigates a wonderful blend of cinema and mild carousing with luminaries including Aki Kaurismäki, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Atom Egoyan and cinematographer Michael Chapman
Cannes Film Festival 2011
The Sight & Sound blog
Follow Nick James and our correspondents on the Croisette. Read the collated entries, or see the index of individual posts
IndieLisboa: The revolution will be dramatised Postcard
Demetrios Matheou on José Filipe Costa’s wonderfully conflicted Red Line and the truth behind Thomas Harlan’s 1975 Carnation Revolution documentary Torre Bela
San Francisco filmgrimage:
Falling from Nob Hill Postcard
Nick James takes the Vertigo tour
Berlinale:
Strange energies from the east Postcard
Jonathan Rommey on three festival finds from Russia and Austria, including a sci-fi cult attraction extraordinaire and a portrait of Chernobyl awaiting meltdown
The Rotterdam conundrum Postcard
It used to a festival that prided itself on bringing to light overlooked world cinema curios but not any longer. Nick James ponders what’s going wrong at Rotterdam
Sundance week two: the kids are too much Postcard
Hannah McGill on a surfeit of teen tales, the best of the fest’s docs and prizes for James Marsh, Asif Kapadia and Paddy Considine
Sundance week one: ‘lo-fi’, low-key Postcard
Hannah McGill on the best of the usual blend of coming-of-age tales, dysfunctional-family dramas and up-to-the-minute documentaries – plus Kevin Smith in revolt
2010
IDFA 2010: Santas, waffles and echoes of turmoil Postcard
Adina Bradeanu browses a typically rich festival whose pickings spanned Finnish saunas and Indonesian star-gazers – enveloped by some eccentric street theatre
Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival Postcard
Carmen Gray joins The Temptation of St. Tony’s Veiko Õunpuu in flight from the Baltic’s disillusioning post-Soviet realities
Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX: ‘naughty new vocabularies for documentary’ Postcard
Demetrios Matheou visits an increasingly confident European showcase for the documentary art in all its diversity
Telluride: walking on air Postcard
High in the Colorado mountains, Mark Cousins goes giddy for old films by Stanton Kaye and Mario Camerini, the latest from Harutyun Khachatryan, and Claudia Cardinale
Venice: storm in a bottle Postcard
After Miike Takashi’s ferocious 13 Assassins, this year’s festival ended on the lows of Monte Hellman’s Road to Nowhere and Julie Taymor’s The Tempest, says Nick James
Venice: waft breezily Postcard
Nick James enjoys the momentum of new films from Larraine, Ozon, Reichert, Woo and Hark
The festival directors:
Locarno’s Olivier Père Video interview
The new director of the Locarno Film Festival tells us about the challenges ahead for cinema and cinephilia
Sarajevo: changing trains Postcard
Nick James writes home from a friendly, growing Sarajevo Film Festival
Transilvania: Eastern promises Report / Preview
James Bell previews the Romanian Film Festival in London and finds the new wave still rolling on
Annecy: an animated crowd Report
Isabella Kaminski finds techniques from past, present and future meeting at the forward-thinking animation festival
IndieLisboa: the new school Report
Mar Diestro-Dópido finds a thriving IndieLisboa brimming with young international talent
Cannes: big stories, or the bigger picture? Postcard
This year’s Cannes mounted a fine survey of the art of modern cinema, writes Nick James
Argentine cinema: state of the grain Report
Maria Delgado on the best of this year’s Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival, spiritual home of the New Argentine Cinema
Cannes: some favourites Postcard
Geoff Andrew’s pick of the crop
Cannes: doom, chills and bewilderment Postcard
Nick James finds abnormal life in Cannes’ second-string selection
Oberhausen: bent pink soup Report
Isabel Stevens gets her kicks at the short film festival with a retrospective of New York’s late-70s No Wave Cinema
Cannes: time for TV? Postcard
Nick James finds respite from a predictable programme in Olivier Assayas’ television epic Carlos
Cannes: side tracks Postcard
Geoff Andrew hunkers down with 100 goats in a Calabrian village
Cannes: brotherly love Postcard
Nick James sees a gentle tide for Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men
Cannes: slow lift-off Postcard
Geoff Andrew is tested – and rewarded – by new films from Cristi Puiu and Mike Leigh
IndieLisboa: views from the edge Postcard
Kieron Corless revisits Chantal Akerman’s hypnotic Communist portmortem D’Est at this invigorating Portuguese festival
Berlinale: We have the stars Postcard
Nick James wonders if dreaming of a festival without instant ratings is asking for the moon
Rotterdam: Smoke gets in your eyes Postcard
James Benning’s slow-gaze Ruhr provides sights for Nick James’ sore eyes at Rotterdam
2009
Viennale: The whirls of time Report
The Viennale rings in the old, including Timothy Carey’s loopy The World’s Greatest Sinner
Toronto: Shoot him again Report
Returning to Toronto with trepidation, Nick James enjoys Claire Denis’ latest and a Cage-Herzog pairing
Venice, part two Postcard
Jonathan Romney picks his hits of the festival
Venice, part one Postcard
Jonathan Romney gets excited by Herzog’s new films on the Lido
Jeonju: Digital watch Report
James Bell discovers the hidden treasures in Jeonju festival’s Digital Project
Amazonas Report
In the footsteps of Fitzcarraldo, James Bell heads deep into the Brazilian jungle for the Amazonas Festival
In a lonely place: Pyongyang International Film Festival Report
What films are you allowed to see in North Korea, the world’s most secretive country? James Bell hands in his mobile phone and reports from the Pyongyang International Film Festival
2008 and earlier
Cannes 2008: British cinema on exhilarating form Report
Nick James sees Of Time and the City, Hunger and Better Things
Venice 2006: Jewels in the crown Report
Hollywood blockbusters mixed with more innovative indie film-making from Europe and the US. But a series of films from Asia and Africa commissioned in Vienna was Venice’s strongest suit, says James Bell
Cannes 2006: American decadence and other tales Report
Various writers report on terror and war subjects; the Europeans; the Americans; and the fringes
Eurasia 2006: Cinema at the crossroads Report
James Bell finds that not even a stroppy Theo Angelopoulos can mar Kazakhstan’s Eurasia film festival