"Chinese film-makers are going to shoot a documentary about Baku, the soundtrack of which will be a Chinese song about Baku performed by [Azerbaijani singer] Rashid Behbudov," Valeriy Ruzin, president of the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio and a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia, told a press conference in Baku.

But the biennial...has long been one of the oddities of the rapidly growing Middle Eastern art scene: a relatively freewheeling survey of recent work from around the region and around the world, underwritten by one of the most culturally ambitious but conservatively Islamic of the seven states that make up the United Arab Emirates.

Italian Consul-General Simone Petroni said that the festival reflected the passion for art and cinema alive in Europe. It remained, he believed, a powerful medium in which to express ideas as well as help cultural exchange.

The New Zealand High Commission as part of its public diplomacy program showcased one of the most successful New Zealand films of all times to local audiences.

Julian Schnabel must have known that screening a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations General Assembly would be scene-stealing. To set the town talking, the event would unite all the trappings — provocative subject matter, prestigious venue, Hollywood glamour.

CPD Assistant Director for Research and Publications, Naomi Leight, will be participating on a panel, organized by BINA LA, discussing the impact of film and culture in Israel’s public diplomacy strategy.

It's been a very patriotic period for Irish Ambassador Breifne O’Reilly. Aside from the St. Patrick’s Day reception he hosted at his residence in Herzliya Pituah last Thursday, the previous week he hosted another reception at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque to mark the opening of the annual Irish Film Week...

AT the Oscars last month the gap between what interests Hollywood and what the rest of the world seems to be doing was sharp and clear. Of the five nominees for the best foreign-language film, all but one, among them the winner, “In a Better World,” from Denmark, dealt in some way with relationships between the West and Islam.