“[Journey From the Fall] may be financed by producers Stateside, but the American influence is otherwise non-existent: there are no marines or platoons; no embittered war veterans in wheelchairs; nor is there the overbearing presence of an Oliver Stone. He may not admit to it, but Journey From the Fall is also Tran’s backlash against imperialism: just as Americans are compelled to impose themselves on every conflict overseas, so to are they insistent on making them into movies from their own perspective. A film about Vietnamese, by Vietnamese, this is an imprint of war that’s thirty years overdue, yet fresh off the boat,” writes TIM WONG....[Read More]

Also new on The Festival Reader: impressions on Christophe Honoré’s sweet and sour Dans Paris, a New Wavy soufflé with Roman Duris in the throws of a post-relationship depression, and Louis Garrel as his skirt-chasing younger brother, and Dominik Moll’s Lemming, another typecast for Charlotte Rampling, nevertheless in shrill form as the unwelcome guest in Laurent Lucus and Charlotte Rampling’s blissful South-of-France abode. The WCS website, worldcinemashowcase.co.nz, is also now updated and live, with one change to the programme: replacing Black Gold is Li Tao’s excellent documentary about Chinese exchange students in New Zealand, Waves, returning from last year’s New Zealand International Film Festivals.