The Geneva and Suisse Romande area is a goldmine for cinema lovers – films from all over the world, often in original versions (vo) and in easy-to-reach locations. Just a bit pricey – but this is Switzerland. There are the multiple film festivals all around the year. The Oriental one just ended, now get ready […]
FILM: Gold – human perseverance, greed and folly
21 April 2017. GOLD *** Yet another true story. There have been so many of them lately – one better than the next, for they truly happened, which makes them that much more compelling. Matthew McConaughey has become an aficionado of these biopics – losing and gaining an extraordinary amount of weight depending on the role. […]
A walk in the park with the man behind a film festival spanning 5 continents
This week Renu Chahil-Graf takes A Walk in the Park with Hervé Gransart, Director, Cinema of 5 Continents Festival. Only someone with very broad shoulders would take on a film festival covering five continents! This someone is Hervé Gransart, director of a festival now in its 12th year. This year it runs from 17 to […]
FILM: Backstage documentary on the Opéra de Paris
14 April 2017. L’OPÉRA (The Paris Opera) **** (vo French) How is it to run an opera house, especially one as prestigious as the Opéra de Paris? In fact it is two opera houses: the grand old Garnier and the modern Bastille. With 1600 employees and a budget of more than €200 million, it does not […]
FILM: A United Kingdom – an African king marries a white British woman
31 March 2017. A UNITED KINGDOM *** How does one rate and describe a film that is not very well written, is overly sentimentalized, yet is a pleasing, touching film that should be seen? Seen for its intriguing, true historic story, and for its main star, David Oyelowo, the brilliant Nigerian/English actor who recently portrayed Martin […]
FILM: I am not your negro – incredibly moving and must be seen
24 March 2017. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO **** Here is a searing, damning document on the black people’s condition in American history. The last work of the infinitely intelligent and eloquent writer and social critic James Baldwin (1924-1987) is narrated here by Samuel L. Jackson in this powerful documentary by Haitian director Raoul Peck. Baldwin’s […]
FILM: Moonlight – story of the life of a black man in three stages of his existence – boy, adolescent and man
17 March 2017. MOONLIGHT **** There is a captivating alchemy in Moonlight that is quite intangible. It is as delicate as a flower and as powerful as a fist in the stomach. This story of the life of a black man in three stages of his existence – boy, adolescent and man – is a full […]
Film: true story of three black women vital to the U.S. space program in the 1960s
10 March 2017. HIDDEN FIGURES **** Before the summer drought of mediocre films (already started after the long award-season culminating with the Oscars), check out this excellent film about a trio of black women who were vital (one of them – Katherine Johnson – was pivotal) to the U.S. space program in the 1960s. The beauty […]
Film: a true story about a small boy accidentally separated from his family
24 February 2017. LION **** India, a small village, a very poor but loving family, and an incident that overturns all their lives. For the younger boy, around 4 or 5 – with the sweetest face and biggest eyes you’ll ever see – follows his brother to work, they become separated, and he ends up […]
FILM: Loving – a true story of a multiracial couple who took their case to the Supreme Court
17 February 2017. LOVING *** Richard and Mildred Loving fell in love and got married in 1959 in a small town in Virginia. They had known each other for many years and were very happy together. The only problem was that Richard was white and Mildred was black. And mixed marriages were not legal in […]
