Nick Holdsworth

Europe

Freelance Writer and Filmmaker at Freelance

Correspondent at Variety

Variety correspondent covering Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

Articles

The Helsinki Effect

4 weeks ago | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

DIPLOMACY / With a gently satirical outer wrapping and a deadly serious inner core, Arthur Franck's account of the seminal Helsinki Agreement of 1975—The Helsinki Effect—demonstrates just how historic a diplomatic process that was at the time seen as tedious and irrelevant really was. Country: Finland, Germany, NorwayDocumentary directors occasionally produce a film that is an instant classic. Arthur Franck’s entertaining and deeply insightful The Helsinki Effect is one of the few.
The Veto | MODERN TIMES REVIEW

1 month ago | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

UN / Expert insiders reveal tensions and calls for reform at the UN, questioning its future amid great-power politics and veto abuse. Producer: Tim Slade, The Gotham Film & Media InstituteInternational sales: Country: USAWith a rapidly increasing threat to the international rules-based order as countries including Russia and the USA seek to return to the era of great power «might is right» politics – the role of the United Nations is under growing scrutiny. What is the point of the United Nations?
Letters From Wolf Street

1 month ago | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

MIGRANTS / When immigrants are the scapegoats for all of Europe's ills, and the far right is resurgent, Arjun Talwar's poetic glimpse into the experience of life as a foreigner in Poland is a potent antidote to hatred. Producer: Uni-Solo Studio, Insel Film ProduktionInternational sales: FilmotorCountry: Poland, GermanyWe are living in an age of intolerance. The ‘other’ is made into an object onto which those with fear in their minds and hate in their hearts can project their fevered prejudices.
Holding Liat | MODERN TIMES REVIEW

2 months ago | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

GAZA: The horror of the conflict in Gaza for all innocents is underlined. Producer: Meridian Hill Pictures, Protozoa Pictures, KartemquinCountry: USAAt a time when so many views are locked into polar opposites, and truth has become a relative concept, Brandon Kramer’s Israeli-hostage documentary, Holding Liat which had its World Premiere at the Berlinale Sunday (16 February), stands out for the pains it takes to offer a nuanced view of a brutal conflict.
Mr Nobody Against Putin

2 months ago | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

RUSSIA / How a small-town teaching assistant became an unlikely whistleblower on the grim reality of wartime propaganda. Director: David Borenstein, Pavel TalankinCountry: Czech Republic, DenmarkIf you watch one documentary this year, Mr Nobody Against Putin should be it.
A poignant picture of solitude

Jan 16, 2025 | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

SOLITUDE / A hauntingly beautiful portrait of old age and loneliness in a timelessly rural setting. The images draw you into a liminal world that seems to exist out of time and space in Maja Novaković’s feature documentary debut, At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking. Without dialogueFilmed, produced, and directed by Novaković in a remote rural corner of her native Bosnia and Herzegovina, this is a film virtually without dialogue.
Mikroplast er overalt

Jan 1, 2025 | nytid.no | Nick Holdsworth

Plastic People Regissør: Ziya Tong og Ben Addelman (Canada)HELSE / Homo plasticus’ tidsalder er her. Plast kommer til å ta livet av oss, med mindre vi gjør noe med det. Mikroplasten er full av farlige kjemikalier – og forbindelser som kan endre DNA-et vårt og forårsake kreft, betennelser, svulster og demens. Død. De færreste plastmaterialer er faktisk resirkulerbare; mindre enn ti prosent resirkuleres i dag. Dette er en av de mest skremmende filmene jeg noensinne har sett, og jeg er ikke lettskremt.
Lies, luxury, and endless war

Dec 17, 2024 | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth

CORRUPTION / Alexis Bloom's gripping exposé of the web of lies apparently woven by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid corruption charges shows how one man's fear of jail has led to war and instability in the Middle East.
On tracks of war and peace

Nov 28, 2024 | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

TRANSPORT / IDFA best film award winner Polish director Maciej Drygas's entrancing Trains is a mesmerising journey through much of the 20th century by rail, accompanied by a subtly intense soundtrack. Producer: Drygas Film Production, Era FilmDistributor: Country: Poland, LithuaniaAs a metaphor for life, the upheavals of the 20th century, and our own journey—inner and outer—Maciej Drygas’ majestic and beautiful Trains is hard to beat.
The cost of paradise

Nov 27, 2024 | moderntimes.review | Nick Holdsworth |Eastern Europe

TOURISM / The contrast between the poverty and resignation of Cape Verde's locals and the western big game marlin fishermen who are beginning to change a traditional way of life could not be greater. Producer: Le Laboratoire Central, Terratreme FilmesCountry: Switzerland, PortugalThere is barely any dialogue in Far West, Pierre-François Sauter’s quiet film of the lives of others in the former Portuguese island colony of Cape Verde.