Archive for January, 2007
Austrian company Mischief Films has started filming a documentary about the life of Muhammad Asad, the most prominent Jewish convert to Islam in modern times. The film, Muhammad Asad — The Lion’s Journey, traces his life and journeys, and the first scenes were shot recently on the Dammam-Riyadh train and in the surrounding desert.
Born as Leopold Weiss in 1900, Asad was a descendant of a long line of rabbis in Lemberg in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which is now Lviv in Ukraine. After his conversion to Islam, he chose to be named Muhammad after the Prophet (peace be upon him). Asad is a literal translation of his first name, Leo, which means lion in Greek.
Continue reading ‘Documentary on life of prominent Jewish convert to Islam’
As of tomorrow, 33 narrative, documentary and animation shorts can be watched online, on the Sundance Film festival website. The films are available for free for three months, and can also be downloaded and owned for $1.99.
Filmmakers will receive 67% of the profits and also retain all rights to their works, including the option of selling them to other distributors. The remaining revenue will be divided up among iTunes, the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Channel.
From February 28 to March 8, 2007, the 9th edition of the One World International Documentary Film Festival will take place in Prague. The festival base will be at the Lucerna Cinema in the city centre, advence booking starts on February 19.
In the Main Competition, films compete for the Best Film Award and the Best Director Award. The 2007 jury will include prominent filmmakers, such as renowned Brazilian director Maria Ramos who is currently based in the Netherlands, and Mexican filmmaker Juan Carlos Rulfo, the author of The Pit, a documentary awarded at the Sundance Film Festival and at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Continue reading ‘One World festival dates announced’
An RTE documentary on the lives of Nazis fugitives and collaborators in Ireland had to be re-edited before going on air after complaints from family members about the documentary’s allegations. The widow of one the alleged fugitives won a ‘right to reply’ in a court settlement, which led to the removal of the second part of the programme from the RTE schedule.
Continue reading ‘Row over “Ireland’s Nazis” settled in court’
Of 143 presented projects, 24 have been selected for the DocsBarcelona Pitching Forum on 1-2 February. The public Pitching Sessions will be held between 10 am-2 pm on both days. Here is the distinguished jury of commissioning editors:
BBC – James Hayes (United Kingdom), ERT – Kostas Spiropoulos (Greece), Humanistische Omroep - Bert Janssens (The Netherlands), Lichtpunt – Wim Van Rompaey (Belgium), ORF – Burgl Czeitschner (Austria), SVT – Vera Bonnier (Sweden), TVC – Jordi Ambrós (Spain), TVE – Jesús González (Spain), YLE – Jenny Westergård (Finland).
Registration is now open for observer places at the forum. This registration also gives access to all the screenings of the Festival and the Xtra Activities, such as the masterclasses of Jean-Louis Comolli and Victor Kossakovsky. The deadline for registration is 25 January.
For more details see http://www.docsbarcelona.com/
The much-hyped George Clooney documentary “A Journey to Darfur” will be given its debut on a US network tomorrow night. In the film, Clooney and his television journalist father travel through affected areas in Sudan and Chad, filming in refugee camps and interviewing victims of the Janjaweed militia.
After shooting wrapped up, Clooney hit the television talk-show circuit and event went to the UN Security Council to campaign for a UN intervention in Darfur. (So far, without success.) “When you see entire villages raped and killed, wells poisoned and then filled with the bodies of its villagers, then all complexities disappear, and it comes down to simply right and wrong,” he said.
“Dear Mr. President,
Thanks for your address to the nation. It’s good to know you still want to talk to us after how we behaved in November.
Listen, can I be frank? Sending in 20,000 more troops just ain’t gonna do the job. That will only bring the troop level back up to what it was last year. And we were losing the war last year! We’ve already had over a million troops serve some time in Iraq since 2003. Another few thousand is simply not enough to find those weapons of mass destruction! Er, I mean… bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice! Um, scratch that. Try this — Bring democracy to the Middle East! Yes!
Continue reading ‘Michael Moore’s latest letter to George W.’
