ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

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claire denis

News 

WEEK IN WOMEN: Claire Denis receives LA Film Critics Career Achievement Award – Brandy McDonnell reports

Brandy McDonnell , , , ,

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has chosen French writer-director Claire Denis as the recipient of its Career Achievement Award. The critics organization will honor the filmmaker on January 14, 2023, at its first in-person awards event in three years. The L.A. Film Critics Association also will recognize 2022’s top achievements in filmmaking as decided by the membership at the ceremony.

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Festivals Reviews 

STARS AT NOON (MIFF 2022) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas , , , , , , ,

Stars at Noon is a seductive, sexy ride, and when we’re in it it’s a pleasant enough journey. Running at well over two hours, however, it does at times overstay its welcome, a result perhaps of a too-loyal commitment to its literary source material. Stars at Noon is a satisfying one night stand of a film; it’s pleasurable enough while it is happening, but the second it’s over it’s almost far too easy to forget.

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Festivals 

NY Film Fest 2022: 37.5% of Main Slate Films are Femme-Helmed – Jennifer Merin reports

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , ,

The 32 films that comprise the Main Slate of the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF), taking place September 30–October 16, 2022, at Lincoln Center and in venues across the city include 11 films directed by women and one that was co-directed by a woman — equaling 37.5 percent. In comparison, New York Film Festival’s 2021 Main Slate roster of 32 titles included eight films directed by women, two films co-directed by women — or 31.25 percent. This year’s femme helmed films represent a diverse selection of styles, genres and themes directed by filmmakers who are returning to NYFF and those whose work is being shown at NYFF for the first time.

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Reviews 

BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE – Review by Leslie Combemale

Leslie Combemale , , , , , ,

Spending time with an old and not entirely extinguished flame when in a supposedly happy relationship is always a bad idea. It will be an ill-advised test of willpower at best, and at worst the height of hubris. That’s what happens in director Claire Denis’s romantic drama Both Sides of the Blade, which Denis wrote with co-screenwriter Christine Angot, based on Angot’s 2018 novel Un Tournant de Vie (A Turning Point of Life). They’ve created a visceral, intense slow burn about a destructive love triangle that spirals out of control with the help of stars Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, and Grégoire Colin. Denis won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival for her work on the film.

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Reviews 

BEAU TRAVAIL – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson 0 Comments , , , , ,

Inspired by Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor, French director Claire Denis’ Beau travai moves that apocryphal story from the vastness of the ocean to the desolate expanse of the desert bordering the Red Sea. Set in the East African country Djibouti at a French Foreign Legion outpost, Chief Master Sergeant Galoup narrates in flashback from Marseilles his self-destructive obsession with Gilles Sentain.

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News 

WEEK IN WOMEN: BBC Survey Shows Women Are Left Out of Cinema History — Brandy McDonnell reports

Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments , , , , , , ,

According to the BBC, 209 critics sent in their 10 greatest foreign-language films for the poll. Of these respondents, 94 were women – that’s 45 percent – yet there are only four female directors with titles in the top 100: Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels), Claire Denis (“Beau Travail), Agnès Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7), and Katia Lund (co-director of City of God).

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Festivals 

NYFF18: Just 4 Out of 30 Main Slate Films are Female-Directed – Jennifer Merin reports

Jennifer Merin 0 Comments , , , , , , , , ,

In 2017, New York Film Festival (NYFF) announced that its main slate lineup featured the most female-directed films in 10 years. This year it’s back below average with just four female-directed films in the lineup of 30. NYFF has made no mention of an equality pledge, nor commented on the inclusion rider circulating in Hollywood, and it shows.

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News 

WEEK IN WOMEN: Claire Denis’ HIGH LIFE Acquired by A24 – Brandy McDonnell reports

Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments , , , ,

French filmmaker Claire Denis’ long-awaited English-language debut “High Life” is coming to theaters. A24 has acquired North American distribution rights to the Beau Travail helmer’s new sci-fi drama, which recently made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. The distribution deal is reportedly in the low seven figures.

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Festivals Reviews 

TIFF18 Review: High Life – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas 0 Comments , ,

With all the spectacular SFX majesty that has dominated the representation of space across the science fiction genre, that Claire Denis’s High Life begins less fascinated with its cosmic surroundings than the ‘spectacle’ of a single working dad sets the tone in many ways for her first English-language feature.

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