AFI Fest 2013

AFI Fest 2013: “The Unknown Known,” “The Past,” “Our Sunhi,” & “The Green Inferno”

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On my final night attending this year’s AFI Fest, I hustled across the Chinese multiplex lobby from a screening of Hong Sang-soo’s “Our Sunhi” to another of “Borgman,” the reportedly highly disturbing Dutch film that made waves at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. I was too late to secure anything better than a second-row seat, […]

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AFI Fest 2013: “The Marriage of Maria Braun” (1979)

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When a film festival includes previously released films on its schedule, especially older films, they are usually great achievements in cinematic history or straight-up crowd-pleasers. AFI did a gala presentation of “Mary Poppins” this year to coincide with its Opening Night Film, “Saving Mr. Banks,” the New York Film Festival debuted a restoration of “The

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AFI Fest 2013: “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974)

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Agnès Varda, Grand Dame of the film world, descended upon AFI Fest 2013 as Guest Artistic Director. In this role, she chose several canonical films to be screened with her own personal introductions. For Sunday morning she picked John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974), a kinetic and disturbing film that Varda, appearing in

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Sponsored Video: Syfy’s “Helix” Premieres January 10

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We’re in a golden age of television, what with the increasing diversity and abundance of original, high-quality cable programming. Great new shows crop up at an alarming rate, so it’s easy to let them pass you by. You don’t want this to be the case with Syfy’s cool new upcoming series “Helix,” which premieres January

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AFI Fest 2013: “The Wind Rises” & “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear”

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Another year, another AFI Fest. It’s hard to believe I’ve been attending this Los Angeles institution for seven years now, but there’s nothing I look forward to more each November. And while I’m no longer able to see the ludicrous number of movies I once was—back in 2007 and 2008, I ignored my undergraduate obligations

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MFF Interview: A Conversation with Maryam Sepehri

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Iranian filmmaker Maryam Sepehri (left) won an award at the 2013 Milwaukee Film Festival for “Habibeh,” a documentary about painter Habibeh Bedayat (right). In the dead of night she labors, trance-like, over a canvas. By the end of “Habibeh,” viewers will comprehend all of the thorny reasons why this fascinating woman—a painter, mother, teacher, and

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Review: “Carrie” (2013)

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When it was announced that Columbia’s new version of Stephen King’s “Carrie,” originally immortalized by Brian De Palma’s 1976 film, would be directed by Kimberly Peirce, there was reason to be optimistic. Peirce, who has made just one other movie since her groundbreaking 1999 debut “Boys Don’t Cry” (the overlooked soldier drama “Stop-Loss”), presumably would

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