Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. National Geographic Films releases the film in theaters on Friday, October 13.
In 2018, an Evangelical Christian man named John Chau made a covert voyage to North Sentinel Island to visit one of the last voluntarily “uncontacted” tribes on the planet. The people of the island enjoy the protection of the Indian government after choosing to eschew contact with modern society — and outsiders are prohibited due to their hostile attitude toward uninvited visitors. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old Chau ignored the advice of his family and attempted to preach his Christian beliefs to the islanders. He was killed with an arrow at the start of his second visit.
Chau’s story is the subject of “The Mission,” a new documentary from “Boys State” directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss. Using Chau’s extensive diaries and a long letter from his grieving father as a starting point,...
In 2018, an Evangelical Christian man named John Chau made a covert voyage to North Sentinel Island to visit one of the last voluntarily “uncontacted” tribes on the planet. The people of the island enjoy the protection of the Indian government after choosing to eschew contact with modern society — and outsiders are prohibited due to their hostile attitude toward uninvited visitors. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old Chau ignored the advice of his family and attempted to preach his Christian beliefs to the islanders. He was killed with an arrow at the start of his second visit.
Chau’s story is the subject of “The Mission,” a new documentary from “Boys State” directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss. Using Chau’s extensive diaries and a long letter from his grieving father as a starting point,...
- 9/1/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Stanley Tucci, Catherine Deneuve dramas join competition; TV dramas and Oleg Sentsov doc set to get world premiere.
The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.
Joining the festival in Out Of Competition berths are Stanley Tucci-directed Final Portrait and Catherine Deneuve drama Sage Femme.
James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z will have its interntional premiere while documentary The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov will have its world premiere.
Among TV world premieres are Amazon’s Patriot and BBC One’s SS-gb.
In total, 18 of the 24 films selected for Competitionwill be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.
For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year...
The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.
Joining the festival in Out Of Competition berths are Stanley Tucci-directed Final Portrait and Catherine Deneuve drama Sage Femme.
James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z will have its interntional premiere while documentary The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov will have its world premiere.
Among TV world premieres are Amazon’s Patriot and BBC One’s SS-gb.
In total, 18 of the 24 films selected for Competitionwill be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.
For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year...
- 1/20/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Stanley Tucci, Catherine Deneuve dramas join competition; TV dramas and Oleg Sentsov doc set to get world premiere.
The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.
Joining the competition are
18 of the 24 films selected for Competition will be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.
The Berlinale Special will present recent works by contemporary filmmakers, documentaries, and extraordinary formats, as well as brand new series from around the world.
Berlinale Special Galas will be held at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and Zoo Palast. Other Special premieres will take place at the Kino International. Moderated discussions will follow the screenings at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year. Audiences...
The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.
Joining the competition are
18 of the 24 films selected for Competition will be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.
The Berlinale Special will present recent works by contemporary filmmakers, documentaries, and extraordinary formats, as well as brand new series from around the world.
Berlinale Special Galas will be held at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and Zoo Palast. Other Special premieres will take place at the Kino International. Moderated discussions will follow the screenings at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year. Audiences...
- 1/20/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
There is no other place where fact and fiction become more indistinguishable from one another than at the cinema. What you see isn’t always what you get: a manufactured image might feel genuine, while an image that feels inauthentic might be the real thing. The finest stories can often be found somewhere in the middle. As Pablo Picasso once said, “Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”
Kate Plays Christine, the latest film from Actress and Fake It So Real director Robert Greene, caught a great deal of attention at Sundance — we gave it the highest grade at the festival — and is now in limited release. It’s a documentary that follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards) as she prepares for the role of Christine Chubbuck, a real-life news reporter who committed suicide via handgun on live television in 1974, and the...
Kate Plays Christine, the latest film from Actress and Fake It So Real director Robert Greene, caught a great deal of attention at Sundance — we gave it the highest grade at the festival — and is now in limited release. It’s a documentary that follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards) as she prepares for the role of Christine Chubbuck, a real-life news reporter who committed suicide via handgun on live television in 1974, and the...
- 8/31/2016
- by Tony Hinds
- The Film Stage
The real magic of the I for Iran series in Toronto lies in curation: the talent they have recruited to present and contextualize the various films screened is a testament to their commitment to offering the best possible cinematic experience. More so than not, each film is accompanied by a presenter – a variety of filmmakers, writers and scholars – who offer invaluable insight and context. While this has always been the case, the I for Iran series has been particularly rich.
Presenting the opening screening was Roya Akbari, who participated with Abbas Kiarostami on the film Ten and is a filmmaker in her own right. Her poetic short Only Image Remains was the opening film of the series, and featured her own reminiscence as well as interviews with many top Iranian filmmakers. This set the tone for presenters like Shahram Tabe, Hamid Naficy, Amir Soltani and, perhaps most notably, acclaimed Iranian...
Presenting the opening screening was Roya Akbari, who participated with Abbas Kiarostami on the film Ten and is a filmmaker in her own right. Her poetic short Only Image Remains was the opening film of the series, and featured her own reminiscence as well as interviews with many top Iranian filmmakers. This set the tone for presenters like Shahram Tabe, Hamid Naficy, Amir Soltani and, perhaps most notably, acclaimed Iranian...
- 3/27/2015
- by Justine Smith
- SoundOnSight
Nema-ye Nazdik / Close-up (1990) Direction and Screenplay: Abbas Kiarostami Cast: Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica: Abbas Kiarostami is one of those "name" non-American directors who is looked to as a god. The low-budget Nema-ye Nazdik / Close-Up is the second Kiarostami effort I have seen and it is an excellent film. [Note: spoilers ahead] Close-Up is a pseudo-documentary — not a mockumentary, even though it has been labeled as such. Written and directed by Kiarostami between the making of two bigger-budgeted projects, Close-Up shows what pouncing upon something that just happens can do for an artist. Sometimes it’s not the force of creation, but the moment of recognition that defines when a piece of good art is wrought. Everyone in the film plays themselves, as the tale is putatively based upon real events. I should add that there is some dispute over [...]...
- 4/4/2011
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
Chicago – Nothing transfixes me quite like transcendent acting and writing when viewed under a cinematic lens. My favorite films of early 2011 have been Tommy Lee Jones’s stunning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s play, “The Sunset Limited,” and Abbas Kiarostami’s beguiling new masterwork, “Certified Copy.” Both films derive their dramatic power from the differing philosophies of two articulate characters who may or may not be what they seem.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Neither picture can truly be experienced when viewed casually. They demand an audience’s full attention, engagement and participation. If you don’t leave these films with the overpowering need to discuss and dissect their intricacies, then you obviously zoned out long before the end credits. And yet, neither of these films are rendered inaccessible to the mainstream because of their inherent intellectualism. They are compulsively watchable, effortlessly entertaining, deeply provocative and guaranteed to haunt you for days.
Read Matt...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Neither picture can truly be experienced when viewed casually. They demand an audience’s full attention, engagement and participation. If you don’t leave these films with the overpowering need to discuss and dissect their intricacies, then you obviously zoned out long before the end credits. And yet, neither of these films are rendered inaccessible to the mainstream because of their inherent intellectualism. They are compulsively watchable, effortlessly entertaining, deeply provocative and guaranteed to haunt you for days.
Read Matt...
- 3/18/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It’d be inaccurate to classify Abbas Kiarostami’s 1990 film Close-Up as “suspense,” though it does get more gripping as it plays on, if more on a philosophical and spiritual level than a narrative one. Kiarostami based Close-Up on a bizarre 1989 incident in which a mentally unstable film buff named Hossain Sabzian befriended a middle-class Tehran family by pretending to be filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Sabzian was charged with fraud, and Kiarostami filmed the trial, while also convincing the con man and his marks—the Ahankhah family—to recreate a few scenes from their story. Close-Up cuts between the ...
- 7/14/2010
- avclub.com
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