She produced her first film on tick in 1973 and straightaway it won her a German Film Prize. Now, in 2008, Regina Ziegler is considered Germany?s most successful film and television producer, and this year marks her production company?s 35th anniversary....
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Le point
| Le Nouvel Observateur | L'Express |
Outlook India |
The Spectator |
The Nation | La Rivista dei Libri | Reportajes | Die Weltwoche | Ozon | Magyar Narancs |
The New York Times Magazine
Le Point, 01.12.2005 (France)
France
is coming to blows over what Le Point last week called the
"vague iconoclaste" or as the Nouvel Observateur calls them this week,
the "neo-reactionaries". They are referring to
intellectuals such as Alan Finkielkraut, Marcel Gauchet, Luc Ferry and
various politicians and groups of activists whose comments on the riots
in the banlieues and on Islam in France have turned the time-worn
division of left and right on its head. The debate was essentially triggered
by an interview with Alain Finkielkraut in the Israeli
newspaper Haaretz in November, in which he focused
on the "ethnic and religious" nature of the riots, pinpointing the cause as a general "hatred of the west". After
Le Monde printed extracts from the interview all hell broke loose in the media, and Finkielkraut was branded a
racist. In an attempt to distance himself from incident, Finkielkraut
subsequently gave two more interviews. This week in Le Point Elisabeth Levy
summarises the reactions from his critics and advocates and goes on to
defend him: Evidently many intellectuals are no longer capable of
"distinguishing between criticism of a belief and criminalising any
opinion that differs from the norm."
Le Nouvel Observateur, 01.12.2005 (France)
For the Nouvel Obs Finkielkraut and his cronies are just
"neo-reacs". After decades of the "dominance of progress" these
"intellectuals from the new Right" support a "shift" in the current
mainstream and risk exacerbating the rifts within French society. In
his introductory article Laurent Joffrin lists the theories and
arguments of the group in full and states that "like the neo-cons in
the USA, the neo-reacs are intellectual forerunners of a policy, which
is significantly stronger than the Gaullist centrism of Chirac or
Villepin."
Pascal Bruckner, on the other hand, writes
that in some passages of the interview Finkielkraut may have overshot
the mark, but he has nonetheless hit a nerve and prefers to express his
views rather than kowtow to the dictates of political correctness,
which "has been playing into the hands of the Front National for the
last twenty years." Like Finkielkraut, Bruckner also doubts the youth
revolts can be explained simply by the racism thesis: "I thought the
world vision opposing an automatically guilty Europe to an innocent and
untouchable South was done with. To hear today, in 2005, that France is
experiencing a 'colonial fracture', that is, that it remains a colonial power in its own territory and occupies the banlieues like a foreign army, leaves one speechless."
Claude Askolovitch sees things differently, however. "The leaders of the Front National are now reading Finkielkraut, and bragging about it!"
L'Express, 05.12.2005 (France)
Star French journalist Pierre Pean, who attained celebrity when he uncovered the Vichy past of Francois Mitterrand, has written a book, "Noires fureurs, blancs menteurs", about the attack on Ruandan president Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994, after which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutus. Pean contests that the events amounted to genocide. He explains in an interview: "I have this to say: there were no death squadrons such as described by the witness Janvier Afrika,
and as often alleged by the adherents of the 'official truth'." Pean is
not convinced the mass killings were planned: "There were death lists
on both sides. That's not what I call planning." Pean also contests
that the French army bears part of the responsibility. "The
French army cannot be accused of complicity in genocide. That's a
despicable allegation. France's attitude was entirely respectable."
Outlook India, 12.12.2005 (India)
The nineteen year-old Indian tennis player Sania Mirza is a Muslim.
Islamic clergy have passed a fatwa against her tennis outfits (examples here and here). She's a
"national treasure" protests Vinod Mehta in his weekly column, and she
should be left in peace. "Instead of interrogating Sania on her weak
second serve or poor backhand, we quiz her on intricate theological
matters. Soon, we will be asking her to pronounce on the Rushdie fatwa,
or whether archangel Gabriel was a Muslim or Jewish saint, or if the
Sharia permits divorces through sms. For god's sake, she plays tennis,
she is not an imam at Deoband Islamic university."
The Spectator, 03.12.2005 (UK)
The Spectator is still preoccupied by Bush's alleged proposal to blow up
the headquarters of the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera in the Qatari
capital Doha. After talking to the "affable" managing director Wadah
Khanfar, Richard Beeston has the impression that far from being a
"rabble rouser of the Arab masses", the channel is increasingly
becoming a stabilising element in the region. "Al-Jazeera is becoming
richer, bigger and more a part of the establishment that it once loved
to undermine."
The Nation, 19.12.2005 (USA)
Jeremy Scahill is full for praise Al-Jazeera, calling it a journalistic
role model. "Al-Jazeera's real transgression during the 'war on terror'
is a simple one: being there. While critical of the Bush Administration
and US policy, it is not anti-American--it is independent. In fact, it
has angered almost every Arab government at one point or another and
has been kicked out of or sanctioned by many Arab countries. It holds
the rare distinction of being shut down by both Saddam and the new
US-backed government. It was the first Arab station to broadcast
interviews with Israeli officials. It is hardly the Al-Qaida mouthpiece
the administration has wanted us to believe it is. The real threat
Al-Jazeera poses is in its unembedded journalism--precisely what is
needed now to uncover the truth about the Bush-Blair meeting."
La Rivista dei Libri, 01.12.2005 (Italy)
In
the Italian version of the New York Review of Books Sandro Barberas
discusses two new books about the German philosopher Paul Ree. Both
Hubert Treiber, who published Rees complete works, and Domenico Fazio, who has written a book on the philosopher, attempt to free Ree and his philosophy from the
shadows of his friend Friedrich Nietzsche, who held Ree in
high regard in his own arrogant way: "Ree was Nietzsche's preferred
confidant, particularly once he had manoeuvred himself into a state of virtual
isolation after breaking off contact with the Wagners." Nietzsche describes the relationship between the two in a letter to
his mother Franziska in 1884: "You cannot imagine
how agreeable Prof. Ree has been over the past years – faute de mieux
(for want of better) naturally."
Reportajes, 04.12.2005 (Chile)
Moises Naim, the former director of the World Bank and current
editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, portrays a rather
sobering image of modern-day Latin America in an interview: "Latin
America was always considered the backyard of the USA. But since the
attacks on September 11th this backyard has turned into a new Atlantis,
a lost continent. No one in Washington or on Wall Street is the
slightest bit interested in Latin America. The problem with this part
of the world is not globalisation, but that it is being consistently
marginalised. Latin America is undergoing deglobalisation. What no one
could have foreseen is that the most influential person in Latin
America nowadays is not Bush but Fidel Castro.
In the same vein Alvaro Vargas Llosa (more) comments on the meteoric ascent of
the Peruvian "national, populist" presidential candidate, Ollanta
Humala, according to the latest surveys. Vargas Llosa's analysis
couldn't be more sombre: "It may be too early to give a real prognosis
for the elections. But one thing is certain: Peru is backing
barbarity once again. Self-satisfied barbarity."
Die Weltwoche, 05.12.2005 (Switzerland)
In conversation with the Viennese physics professor Anton Zeilinger,
Mathias Plüss attempts to find out why the human race will have to
spend at least a thousand years carrying out more research before it can even beam a
coffee cup. And Zeilinger is a world heavy weight in this arena. "Last
year we managed to teleport light particles under the river Danube across a
distance of 600 meters. The theoretical range is unlimited. I always
say that when the Americans really start their Mars mission, the
280-day journey will be deadly boring
for the astronauts. They might be interested in taking part in a
few teleportation experiments on the way, and reduce their trip by a
hundred million kilometres or so."
Ozon, 01.12.2005 (Poland)
Since the word has been out that Volker Schlöndorff is making a film
based on the biography of the 'Solidarnosc' co-founder Anna
Walentynowicz, increasing numbers of voices in the Polish press are
warning about a false representation of Polish history. "Actually, it's
more than we could ever have dreamed of – a world famous director is
making a film about an icon of Polish opposition, which reminds the
world that the fall of Communism began in Gdansk not Berlin," writes
Wojciech Duda-Dudkiewicz. But it's not only Walentynowicz, who first
heard about the project through the media, who is disappointed:
"Riddled with clichees and ignorance about reality at the time, some
claim. It's a pity that a film like this is not being made in Poland.
Instead we are in the midst of controversy over the vision of a
foreign film maker."
Magyar Narancs, 01.12.2005 (Hungary)
More European films should be shown in Europe, Claude Miller, chairman
of Europa Cinemas, demands in an interview. "European film makers
occasionally discuss why it is that around 80 percent of all films
shown in Europe's cinema's come from the USA." It's up to politicians
to solve the problem at a legal level. "It worked in Korea. Ten years
ago, 95 percent of all the films shown there were from the USA. Today
this figure cannot legally exceed 50 percent. Korean films suddenly
became not only the most popular in their own country but in Japan
and China too, and some Korean film makers have become internationally
famous."
The New York Times Magazine, 04.12.2005 (USA)
Peter Schneider's article in the New York Times Magazine paints a
grisly picture of the "honour killings" in Germany's parallel Muslim
society from the perspective of Berlin. "There is a new wall rising in
the city of Berlin. To cross this wall you have to go to the city's
central and northern districts - to Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Wedding -
and you will find yourself in a world unknown to the majority of
Berliners. Until recently, most Berliners held to the illusion that
living together with some 300,000 Muslim immigrants and children of
immigrants was basically working."
RSS
In Die Welt, Victor Erofeyev collects his thought on Solzhenitsyn's life and work. The New Republic laments the Europeanisation of American cities. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, theatre directors Monika Strzepka and Pawel Demirski are pining for the equality that neoliberalism has abolished. Prospect magazine covers the re-emergence of character in Britain. Przekroj magazine covers both Sarkozy and heavy metal, albeit in separate articles. And Roberto Saviano tells us in L'Espresso why Italy's boxers will be packing a punch with Southern gusto.
The London Review of Books finds one point on which to agree with General Franco. Rue89 asks: How anti-Semitic is the cartoonist Sine? The Wall Street Journal reports on a Dutch cartoonist who landed in jail for making anti-Muslim jokes. In the New York Times Thomas Schweich looks at myopia, corruption and poppies in Afghanistan. Al-Ahram watched the Egyptian remake of 'Cabaret'. In Espresso, Umberto Eco uses taxi drivers to justify the rise in global security. And political scientist Seyla Benhabib tells ResetDoc why we need blogs.
In the Hungarian Quarterly, Magda Szabo remembers how her first manuscript was smuggled out of Hungary and into the hands of a German publisher's reader by the name of Hermann Hesse. Portfolio portrays the new publisher of the Washington Post, Katherine Weymouth. The Financial Times portrays the editor of the New Yorker, David Remmick. In Espresso, Robert Saviano meet actors who would never join the Mafia. The Economist is amazed to see that the music industry is starting to wise up at last. And in the New Yorker, Chinese students ask why they need democracy.
"Hands off Lech Walesa!" demands Adam Michnik in the Gazeta Wyborcza. Polityka also defends the Solidarnosc leader against the hatred of the Kaczynski brothers. La vie des idees introduces a resistance programme against the dominance of English. In The Nation, Naomi Klein explains the neat rationale for pillaging Iraqi oil. Suketu Mehta encourages slum tourism in Espressso. Martina Navratilova lobs and smashes her way into the art world in the Spectator. And Elet es Irodalom can't get over the Dutch in Hungary.
In American Scholar, Yale professor William Deresiewicz sees the downside of his elite education while standing opposite his plumber. Wired welcomes in the Petabyte Age. Tygodnik Powszechny visits the "Sacroexpo" to look at camouflaged chalices. In the New York Review of Books, Zadie Smith analyses the supra-Kafka. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco explains the vocative to Italian ministerial officials. Merkur recommends that art critics take a leaf out of Theocritus' Fifteenth Idyll. And the New York Times goes out in search of children in Europe.
The New Republic portrays the last hero of Tiananmen, the surgeon Jiang Yanyong. In Tygodnik Powszechny, historian Jochen Staadt explains why Polish lustration is anything, but not a witch hunt. Polityka says Poles just wanna have fun. The Spectator fears that the Catholic Church is on the brink of civil war. Espresso portrays Italy's two most famous fugitives. The TLS reads Prokofiev's diaries. And the best English-language books of the moment, Outlook India claims, all come from Pakistan.
In Lettre International, philosopher Michail Ryklin explains how power functions. In Le Point, historian Patrice Gueniffey explains the revolutionary passion of the French. In the London Review, psychogeographer Iain Sinclair watches on as Olympic preparations destroy London's East End. In Polityka Adam Krzeminski is irritated by the Polish neo-National Democrats and the German Left. Atlantic hears the music in Rupert Murdoch's plans for the Wall Street Journal. The New Statesman remembers Austrian football hero Matthias Sindelar. Elet es Irodalom asks why we need literature?
The Economist watches the evolution of the book market. Theatre director Pawel Demirski tells Tygodnik Powszechny that Lech Walesa is a dead symbol for Polish youth. The TLS tells us why we're all geeks now. Espresso looks into the female face of India's future labour market. The New York Review of Books has the latest on the love affair between dopamine and the human brain. In Nouvel Obs anti-globalisation network Attac explains the effects of globalisation. In ResetDoc Zygmunt Bauman tells us what to do about it. And the New York Times takes us down to PigCity.
The London Review wishes Elfriede Jelinek's novel "Gier" had never been translated. Polityka provides a history of Polish anti-Semitism - in German too. In Clarin, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is confident that our cities will soon become pleasant places to live. In Gazeta Wyborcza, political scientist Ivan Krastev assuages ex-Yugoslavian fears that the end of the EU is nigh. In the Guardian, Ian McEwan pours cold water on apocalyptic belief. Al Ahram looks back at the history of the Jews in Egypt. And the New York Times admires Pakistan's strongest democratic weapon: men in black.
The New Humanist observes the rise of Muslim Creationism. Nepszabadsag wonders how democracy should deal with covert racism. The New Yorker introduces Dr. Fadl, a reformed terrorist and one of al-Qaeda's fiercest critics. In the New York Review of Books, the head of the Harvard library explains why the news is only a story. Caffe Europa describes the xenophobia of Italian politicians. Die Weltwoche warily watches the vicious hoodies in the new Justice video.
In the London Review of Books, Kevin Kopelson spills the beans about his plagiarism-littered path to professorship. Elet es Irodalom is green with envy over the independence of the Polish press. The Christians had it better under Nasser and Saddam Hussein, claims Coptic priest Giuseppe Scattolin in Resetdoc. In Le point, Bernard-Henri Levy spits out a colourful array of adjectives to describe the regime in Burma. And in L'Espresso, Umberto Eco analyses how the Mafia is murdering with the times.
In Eurozine the 69-year-old Catalan philosopher Xavier Rubert de Ventos admits to his growing radicality. In Nepszabadsag the 75-year-old writer György Konrad declares: remembering is rebellion. In Artforum the 84-year-old philosopher Artur C. Danto thinks about art and revolution. In The New Republic Anne Applebaum takes a hammer to Nicholson Baker's pacifist polemic "Human Smoke". In Folio Christian Demand sends out a distress signal for art criticism. And the Spectator portrays the Anglican Church's only openly gay Bishop.
In the TLS, tenor Ian Bostridge writes about music under totalitarianism. The New Yorker introduces the millionaire-nerd-led group "Intellectual Ventures". Caffe Europe describes Aldo Moro's attempt to reconcile Church and communism. Nepszabadsag and Elet es Irodalom analyse the frequently misundertood concept of "competition" in Hungary. The London Review of Books explains Thabo Mbeki's motivations for backing Mugabe. And in the Weltwoche, violinist Julia Fischer demonstrates how to put up a wall.
Literaturen searches in the giant haystack of literature on '68 for a book on equal rights. The TLS rediscovers the man who sexed the English language. In Outlook India, political scientist Kishore Mahbubani closes the lid on Western cultural dominance. The New York Review of Books looks at the dominance of the national conservatives in Putin's Russia. Le Monde des livres reports on a clash of historians over the role of Islam in the Middle Ages. The Economist fears for freedom of the press in Eastern Europe. And the New York Times portrays Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswan.