A film critic for more than 55 years and Screen International’s critic-at-large, Dan has written for the title since 2001. Honorary vice-president of Fipresci, he is editor of Israel’s film magazine Cinematheque.
Click here for more Screen critics’ top films of 2015
Top Five
- Journey To The Shore
Dir Kiyoshi Kurosawa
A tale of departed spirits who come back to earth to fix the business they have left unfinished in their terrestrial life. This unpredictably gentle, moving, intimate, lovingly observational work from a film-maker usually associated with the eerier, more threatening aspects of humanity, is like a breath of fresh air in the polluted atmosphere of our times. Who but a Japanese director would be capable of such a calm, comforting perception of the world? A realistic ghost story — if such a thing is at all possible — where revenants and the living look just the same, this may be too whimsical and restrained a statement for Kurosawa’s regular customers. But taken at face value, without prejudice, Journey To The Shore could easily gain him a whole new set of followers.
CONTACT MK2 intlsales@mk2.com - My Golden Years
Dir Arnaud Desplechin
CONTACT Wild Bunch edevos@wildbunch.eu - Our Little Sister
Dir Hirokazu Kore-eda
CONTACT Wild Bunch c.baraton@wildbunch.eu - Taxi Tehran
Dir Jafar Panahi
CONTACT Celluloid Dreams info@celluloid-dreams.com - The Assassin
Dir Hou Hsiao-hsien
CONTACT Wild Bunch edevos@wildbunch.eu
Best Documentary
Hitchcock/Truffaut
Dir Kent Jones
Jones’ film is pure delight for cinema lovers, using the original sound tapes and photo material from the iconic Hitchcock/Truffaut interview book, adding well-judged clips from Hitchcock’s movies and topping it all with contributions from some of the most illustrious film-makers of our time who discuss enthusiastically Hitchcock’s impact on their work.
CONTACT Cohen Media Group lmackiewicz@cohenmedia.net
Best UK Film
Sunset Song
Dir Terence Davies
Rarely has an adaptation of a classic novel managed to transmit so faithfully not just the plot and its characters but the spirit and the whole weight of tiny details, which are so often absent in even the most elaborate transitions to the screen.
CONTACT Fortissimo info@fortissimo.nl
Undiscovered Gem
As I Open My Eyes
Dir Leyla Bouzid
Bouzid’s debut offers a glimpse into an Arab world eroded by corruption, tied down by old-fashioned customs and traditions, and ready to rebel against dictators and their hordes of lackeys. All this through the eyes of a vibrant 18-year-old Tunisian girl, who is on course to learn some disturbing facts of life the hard way.
CONTACT Doc@Film International d.elstner@docandfilm.com
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