Movie Magazine International Blog

By Moira Sullivan Joanna Scanlan and Lily Newmark in "Pin Cushion" The 40th edition of the Créteil International Women’s Film Festival ended on March 18 after a 10-day run that began on March 9. The palmarès - awards - were given out on March 17. This festival was outstanding in many ways. The films selected by programmer Norma Guevara were excellent and nearly every screening contained a film of high quality. One of my favorites was T he Road Forward , an innovative musical documentary directed by Marie Clements, on Canada's First Nations activism and history going back to the 1930’s. The stories are told by Native brothers and sisters who are artists and performers that reveal their strength and experience in a dynamic film form. The Prix du Public - "Public Prize" went to Pin Cushion by Deborah Haywood from the UK –a story about a teenage girl and her mother Lyn. They both move to a new town for a fresh start, but Iona falls in with the wrong crowd...

By Moira Sullivan Delphine Seyrig in "Jeanne Dielman" The 40th edition of the Créteil International Women's film festival opened on March 9 for a 10-day run. Guest of honor is the German director Margarethe von Trotta whose films have been extremely important to feminists and have screened at Créteil in the past years - such as The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum    (1975) with co-director Volker Schlöndorff , The Second Awakening of Christa Klages    (1978),  Marianne & Juliane   (1981).   Rosa Luxemburg (1986) wasn nominated for a Palme d’Or and winner of the best actress award for Barbara Sukowa and Trois soeurs    (1988) was also nominated for the Palme d’Or. More recent films by von Trotta include Rosenstrasse   (2003) - and Vision  (2009) - on the German nun Hildegard von Bingen. Her most recent film   Hannah Arendt   (2012) is about the political theorist. Both von Bingen and Hanna Arendt were played by Barbara Sukowa. At the Cannes...