An oppressive regime, political propaganda and World Cup fever, all [...]

A purposeful crowd of Manhattanites and passers-by gathered on Union [...]

Michelangelo Antonioni died just a few hours after Bergman on [...]

On Monday morning, the world mourned the passing of the world’s greatest living filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman. His death comes as less of a tragedy and more of a shock, a jarring reminder of the frailty of human existence. Bergman outlived virtually every other cinema great of his generation – most notably, Federico Fellini (who died in 1993) and Akira Kurosawa (who died in 1998). And unlike those directors, Bergman seemed to be working constantly up until near the end. His last film, “Saraband” – a sequel-of-sorts to Scenes from a Marriage - was screened at the 2004 New York Film Festival.

(BY SAÏDEH PAKRAVAN) It is not too much to say [...]

The biggest problem with 300, Zack Snyder’s retelling of the Greco-Persian battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., is its audience. Or, rather, two specific segments of that audience, to wit: a) Iranians, not happy at the humiliating—for them—last stand of the 300 Spartan warriors against the Aechemenid king Xerxes’ vast army. Chatrooms have been buzzing with furious bitching, much in the spirit of the Kazakhs taking offense at Borat and the Islamic Republic’s official protests at Persepolis, another graphic novel brought to the screen and much lauded at the recent Cannes Film Festival. b) Serious film critics, who have been analyzing and criticizing 300 as they would Carl Dreyer’s Passion of Joan of Arc or Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.

Hear the word Bollywood and images of choreographed routines, bright [...]