"This edited collection aims to document the effects of Covid-19 on film festivals and to theorize film festivals in the age of social distancing. To some extent, this crisis begs us to consider what happens when festivals can't happen; while films have found new (temporary) channels of distribution
...
(most often in the forms of digital releases), the festival format appears particularly vulnerable in pandemic times. Imperfect measures, such as the move to a digital format, cannot recapture the communal experience at the very core of festivals. Given the global nature of the pandemic and the diversity of the festival phenomenon, this book features a wide range of case studies and analytical frameworks. With contributors including established scholars and frontline festival workers, the book is conceived as both a theoretical endeavour and a practical exploration of festival organizing in pandemic times." (Publisher description)
more
"Katholische Filmarbeit dient der kirchlichen Gemeinschaft und dem Dialog zwischen Kirche und Gesellschaft. Sie ist in vielen Segmenten der Filmbranche und Kreativwirtschaft engagiert: in der Herstellung von Filmen bzw. Bewegtbildformaten und ihrer Verbreitung durch Vertrieb und Verleih, in der film
...
kulturellen Bildung und der Film-Publizistik, in der Jury-Arbeit bei deutschen und internationalen Festivals. Eine wesentliche Rolle spielt der Einsatz für den Jugend-(Medien-)Schutz. Die vorliegende Arbeitshilfe versteht sich als Feldbeschreibung dessen, was katholische Filmarbeit leistet. Die Beiträge richten sich insbesondere an Fachpublikum und Multiplikatoren sowie an interessierte Laien. Das Heft stellt Reflexionen zum Zusammenhang zwischen Film und Theologie, zur pastoralen Bedeutung des Films, zur Entwicklung, Kriteriologie sowie zu digitaler Kontextualisierung katholischer Filmarbeit bereit. Die Differenzierung des Engagements katholischer Filmarbeit wird im Teil „Arbeitsbereiche“ ersichtlich, filmkulturelle Statements bilden den Abschluss." (https://www.dbk-shop.de)
more
"This book examines transformations in the production and domestic and international reception of Iranian cinema between 2000 and 2013 through the intersection of the political markers - the presidential terms of Reformist president Mohammad Khatami and his successor, the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadi
...
nejad - and filmic markers, particularly Jafar Panahi's The Circle (2000) and Asghar Farhadi's About Elly (2009). Through extensive field and media research, the book considers the interaction of a range of factors including government policy, Iranian national cinema genres and categories, intended audience, funding source, and domestic and international reception, to demonstrate the interplay between filmmakers and the government over these two successive presidencies. While the impact of politics on Iranian filmmaking has been widely examined, this work argues for a more nuanced understanding of politics in and of the Iranian cinema than has generally been previously acknowledged." (Publisher description)
more
"In 2013 I became the co-organizer of the Human Rights, Human Dignity Film Festival in Yangon. We organized the festival for a simple reason - we were very suspicious of the political reform process initiated by the Thein Sein administration, the transformed military government. Like many of our fel
...
low citizens, we wanted to push the boundaries of the so-called quasi-civilian rule, by using the human rights film festival as a tool. That's how Myanmar's first international human rights film festival came to be. The landmark human rights event was held in Yangon for five years. A mobile film festival that brought human rights films to audiences across Myanmar also grew in scope. The abolition of pre-publication censorship in Myanmar resulted in a certain level of media freedom for the print media, but not for the film industry. In 2014 the film censorship board was recreated as the "Film Classification Board" under the Ministry of Information. In order to screen human rights films in downtown cinemas, authorization was required from the Film Classification Board. Without that official piece of paper, none of the commercial entertainment companies would allow us to host the human rights film festival in their theatres. Therefore, in order to keep the festival running, we did not select overly sensitive films. That might be called self-censorship; yet, in 2013, the first year of the festival, all films submitted to the Film Classification Board - including a documentary film about human rights violations in Myanmar prisons based on the story of a political prisoner - got the go-ahead to be publicly screened." (Pages 307-308)
more
"Bringing theory and practice together, 'African Cinema and Human Rights' argues that moving images have a significant role to play in advancing the causes of justice and fairness. The contributors to this volume identify three key ways in which film can achieve these goals: documenting human rights
...
abuses and thereby supporting the claims of victims and goals of truth and reconciliation within larger communities; legitimating, and consequently solidifying, an expanded scope for human rights; and promoting the realization of social and economic rights. Including the voices of African scholars, scholar-filmmakers, African directors Jean-Marie Teno and Gaston Kaboré, and researchers whose work focuses on transnational cinema, this volume explores overall perspectives, and differences of perspective, pertaining to Africa, human rights, and human rights filmmaking alongside specific case studies of individual films and areas of human rights violations." (Publisher description)
more
"Going to the cinema means going on a journey” reads one of the banners in Ouagadougou that have been put up to promote the legendary pan-African FESPACO film festival. Afrika Film Festival Köln has also been taking its guests on audiovisual journeys through African cinescapes for 25 years. More
...
than 750 films from 45 African countries have been shown in Cologne since the first festival in 1992. They have showcased some hugely diverse and multi-faceted filmmaking talents from Africa and the global African diaspora [...] In addition to showing films relating to this year’s theme of “Land Grabbing and Migration”, one of the first ideas we came up with regarding the make-up of the festival programme was to present a retrospective with the highlights from the last 25 years. But this was soon scrapped due to the huge number of exciting new films that were submitted to FilmInitiativ in 2017 and the many discoveries at major festivals, such as those in Tunis, Ouagadougou and Durban. FilmInitiativ was ultimately again spoilt for choice, with more than 400 new features, documentaries and short films. We therefore decided to keep the focus on contemporary African cinema for the anniversary festival, and to complement the films with a small selection of classics." (Introduction)
more
"This book explores how human rights developed as a language located in history, space and time, and how the festivals continue with this tradition by adapting it for local audiences. The tensions produced by human rights' search for universality and the located-ness of the festivals are explored in
...
detail through two case studies: one located in Buenos Aires, South America; the other in New York, North America, which was the first human rights film festival worldwide." (Back cover)
more
"Tracing the history of Africa's relationship to film festivals and exploring the festivals' impact on the various types of people who attend festivals (the festival experts, the ordinary festival audiences, and the filmmakers), Dovey reveals what turns something called a "festival" into a "festival
...
experience" for these groups." (Publisher description)
more