prepared by Nika Bohinc

And so he came, our Abbas Kiarostami. On a lovely thursday in Gorizia, during the Amidei film festival. One of the great authors of our time. A poet, a philosopher, a painter, a photographer, all that and more. Reserved at first, he got completely relaxed when he started to talk about his work and his art. After the press conference he sat among the audience, conversed with his fans and that very evening receieved an Amidei prize for his opus. A lot has been said in these days and we have collected a few of his precious thoughts below. » read more

More videos from the daily Happy DV workshops. Today’s guests are Yasmine Kassari and Saman Salur, both of them are presenting their feature films, The Sleeping Child and From the Land of Silence on the Manzioli Square this evening.

Yasmine Kassari
[6.4 Mb]

Saman Salur
[5.3 Mb]

We met two of the most eager festival guests, who have arrived in Izola before the official opening. Pablo Trapero and Lisandro Alonso, the godfather and the enfant terrible of the new Argentinian cinema provided us with some insights into their work and a few fresh impressions on the festival hustle and bustle. Both interviews were made by the prolific international Happy DV gonzo-outfit (Salud!).

interview with Pablo Trapero [2.6 Mb]

interview with Lisandro Alonso [6.7 Mb]

Helmut Groschup, for Isola Cinema

African filmmaking is too often equated with film production from Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso. It is true, of course, that these countries have produced many excellent directors, such as Djibril Diop Mambéty from Dakar, Bamako’s Souleyman Cissé and Idrissa Ouédraogo from Ouagadougou. Yet the cinema of these countries is largely influenced by the traditions of their colonial past. Besides being critical, it also reflects a conformity which is the inevitable result of economic restrictions. Being involved in filmmaking means, first and foremost, complying with the dictates of the market and with production demands.
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a festival diary by olaf möller

More guests pop up: Mika Kaurismäki, Asa Mader - who seems to make a lot of the females of the species mighty nervous… -, Shaji Karun, Girish Kasaravalli, and my special friend Želimir Žilnik - so, they all really came.
Apichatpong seems to enjoy himself immensly - Izola is probably a Godsend after the usual Cannes-terror. Also, the table-football is in constant demand: Another good sign …
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a festival diary by olaf möller

So, that’s Izola - you can fit it in a borough of my hometown and nobody would notice the change; and yet, I’m utterly incapable to get the hang of it, the lay of the land (probably to small for me…). But nice, very nice, pretty relaxed, just the kind of place to watch great films and feel fucking guilty about it: the call of the beach… but we’re good little cinephiles, so we’ll have joy, we’ll have fun, we’ll have seasons in the dark …
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