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NOW PLAYING: Right on Time with CAIRO 678

By The Global Film Initiative, on February 13th, 2013%

“Cairo 678 is an important film — one all women should watch and all men should pay attention to.” – The Huffington Post

Global Lens 2013 is full-steam ahead, wrapping up at the Santa Barbara IFF and Portland IFF, and this month we’re putting the spotlight on CAIRO 678.

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MONTH IN REVIEW: Seasonal Changes

By The Global Film Initiative, on July 23rd, 2012%

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in summer.

“The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.” – not Mark Twain

June saw the start of San Francisco’s official “summer,” when the fog bank rolls in off Ocean Beach around 5pm and stays there until Noon the next day. Sometimes, it doesn’t burn off at all, which makes for a cold, blustery “summer” day that San Franciscans know well, and which begs the often-quoted and incorrectly attributed Mark Twain-ish phrase: “The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.”

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NOW PLAYING: There Will Be No AMNESTY If You Miss Global Lens This Summer!

By The Global Film Initiative, on June 7th, 2012%

“A subtle exploration of a society in flux and divided between morality and passion.“ -Cineuropa

“Even in this, his first feature film, director Bujar Alimani demonstrates an assured hand, timing all his shots with precision so that they are lyrical and contemplative…“ -The Moving Arts Film Journal

The story: A new law allowing conjugal visits in Albanian prisons presents the opportunity for a sympathetic affair between a man and woman visiting their incarcerated spouses—until a prisoner amnesty threatens their fragile new bond.

First-time filmmaker Bujar Alimani’s sensual and pensive drama, AMNESTY (awarded the FIPRESCI Prize and Cineuropa Prize at the 2011 Festival del Cinema Europeo), is now available for booking in your festival or theater, along with nine other award-winning and critically acclaimed films from the new Global Lens 2012 series!

Programmers and curators: View the 2012 lineup now on Festival Scope and email us at bookings@globalfilm.org to schedule the films today!

Film fans and enthusiasts: Read the list below and click on the map to find out where you can catch these fantastic films!

Continue reading NOW PLAYING: There Will Be No AMNESTY If You Miss Global Lens This Summer!

FESTIVALS & AWARDS: Seattle IFF, Toronto Jewish FF, Silk Screen Asian American FF and more!

By The Global Film Initiative, on May 31st, 2012%

MOURNING and THE MIRROR NEVER LIES meet in Seattle, all eyes on THE PRIZE in Toronto and MOURNING, QARANTINA and TOLL BOOTH show their roots in Pittsburgh!

Congratulations are in order for our GFI grant recipients and Global Lens films, with special mention to those that have recently screened in festivals all over the world:

Latin American films in Global Lens 2012, clockwise from top right: CRAFT (Brazil), FAT, BALD, SHORT MAN (Colombia), THE FINGER (Argentina), THE PRIZE (Argentina).

CHICAGO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL: Citizens of the Windy City had a chance to see four Global Lens 2012 films from Latin America as part of the Chicago Latino Film Festival! CRAFT, (dir. Gustavo Pizzi, Brazil), FAT, BALD SHORT MAN (dir. Carlos Osuna, Colombia), THE FINGER (dir. Sergio Teubal, Argentina) and THE PRIZE (dir. Paula Markovitch, Argentina) all played during the festival’s 28th run.

INSIDE OUT TORONTO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL: BEAUTY (dir. Oliver Hermanus, South Africa, 2010 grant recipient) continues to light up screens, this time at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival!

Continue reading FESTIVALS & AWARDS: Seattle IFF, Toronto Jewish FF, Silk Screen Asian American FF and more!

Seems Like Old Times: Global Lens 2011 @ SIFF and the TIFF Lightbox

By Santhosh Daniel, on May 31st, 2011%

If memory serves correctly, the first opening night film gala I ever attended was in 1995, at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). The film was Braveheart (which when complemented with a later screening of Swimming With Sharks, effectively convinced me not to work in Hollywood), and it was just before I left for graduate school–and I remember wondering if I would ever return to home to attend another SIFF screening.