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“BLACK BURNS FAST”
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THE STORY – Seventeen-year-old Luthando, adorkable, bookish and forever drifting between reality and her vivid inner world, returns for another year at a prestigious South African all-girls’ boarding school. The place is governed by a conservative culture where reputation is everything,...
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Berlinale Review: Alain Gomis’ Dao is a Riveting Family Saga
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To belong to the diaspora is to inhabit a paradox: a state of in-betweenness, neither fully inside or outside one’s home and adoptive countries. Films trying to map that condition also tend to feel somewhat “suspended,” populated as they are...
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“PARADISE”
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THE STORY – In Ghana, Kojo is a teenager torn between the freedom of the streets of Accra and the traditional values of his father, a fisherman. Then, during a storm, his father disappears at sea. Devastated and short on money,...
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Rosebush Pruning | 2026 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
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The Killing of a Sacred Dogtooth: Ainouz Paints with Contempt Karim Aïnouz doesn’t so much eat the rich as he does regurgitate them in his latest feature, Rosebush Pruning, a hyper stylized rehash of Marco Bellocchio’s breakout classic, Fists in...
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Berlinale Review: Rosebush Pruning is a Maximalist, Muddled Attempt at Cinematic Transgression
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Moulding cruel or nihilistic characters into darkly attractive protagonists requires a deceptively delicate touch. We’ve grown so used to seeing it done effortlessly that a movie like Rosebush Pruning can perhaps be some useful reminder of how difficult it is...
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2026 Qumra Masters: Alice Diop, Faouzi Bensaïdi, Ambulante’s Gael García Bernal + Diego Luna & Gustavo Santaolalla
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Every edition, the Doha Film Institute lands some bold global filmmaker folk to offer mentorship and masterclasses for the next generation of filmmakers and this year’s Qumra have selected the likes of Alice Diop, who gave us the masterwork Saint...
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Nightborn | 2026 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
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Only Mothers Left Alive: Bergholm Tackles Motherhood Malaise Finnish director Hanna Bergholm adds to the subgenre of motherhood body horror with Nightborn (Yön Lapsi), an arguably more contained palette than her 2022 debut Hatching, which similarly dealt with female body image...
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“ALLEGRO PASTELL”
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THE STORY – Allegro Pastell tells the story of a long-distance relationship that is almost flawless. At its core lie the individual perceptions of two lovers who have mostly had things go their way and who seem to have everything under control....
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The 2025 Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS) Winners
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The Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS) winners have been announced, representing the best in the field for 2025. Here are this year’s winners… FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE Best Contemporary Make-Up“Bugonia” (Focus Features) – Torsten Witte“Eddington” (A24) – Colin Penman,...
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The Next Best Picture Podcast – “Wuthering Heights”
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For this week’s main podcast review, Katie Johnson, Josh Parham, Cody Dericks, Giovanni Lago, and Daniel Howat join me to discuss the latest film from Emerald Fennell, “Wuthering Heights,” starring Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, and Ewan Mitchell. Adapted...
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