Cannes Classics, the festival’s selection for tributes and retrospectives, has announced the rest of its program after the previously-announced opening night film “Napoleon Par Abel Gance.”
Among the highlights are a restoration of Charles Vidor’s 1946 “Gilda” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures, with Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, attending. Wim Wenders will be on hand for a 40th anniversary screening of Palme d’Or winner “Paris, Texas,” while Faye Dunaway will be present for the screening of “Faye,” the first documentary about her life.
Ron Howard will present his documentary “Jim Henson Idea Man,” while Nanette Burstein brings the premiere of her documentary “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.”
See the full program of Cannes Classics below.
100 years of Columbia Pictures
“Gilda”
Charles Vidor
1946, 1h50, United States
A Sony Pictures Entertainment presentation. Restoration from the original 35mm nitrate negative and a 35mm nitrate internegative.
Among the highlights are a restoration of Charles Vidor’s 1946 “Gilda” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures, with Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, attending. Wim Wenders will be on hand for a 40th anniversary screening of Palme d’Or winner “Paris, Texas,” while Faye Dunaway will be present for the screening of “Faye,” the first documentary about her life.
Ron Howard will present his documentary “Jim Henson Idea Man,” while Nanette Burstein brings the premiere of her documentary “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.”
See the full program of Cannes Classics below.
100 years of Columbia Pictures
“Gilda”
Charles Vidor
1946, 1h50, United States
A Sony Pictures Entertainment presentation. Restoration from the original 35mm nitrate negative and a 35mm nitrate internegative.
- 4/25/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Though festivals and distributors were very excited to sell you a “final” film by Jean-Luc Godard, Fabrice Aragno made clear Phony Wars would not be the last transmission. Continuing Tupac-like beyond-the-grave releases, it’s been announced this year’s Cannes Film Festival will include in their “Events” sidebar the “ultimate film by Jean-Luc Godard,” Scenarios, which I cannot possibly summarize better than their official description and thus:
Scenarios is the title that Jean-Luc Godard chose to give to a final 18-minute gesture, made, literally, the day before his voluntary death. Furthermore, Jean-Luc Godard recorded a 34-minute film in which, mixing still images and moving images, halfway between reading and vision, he presented the Scenarios project .
Worth noting that Scenario was, with Phony Wars, one of two films with which Godard planned to end his career. A project made with single-digit hours left on Earth… well, one’s mind reels at the potential.
Scenarios is the title that Jean-Luc Godard chose to give to a final 18-minute gesture, made, literally, the day before his voluntary death. Furthermore, Jean-Luc Godard recorded a 34-minute film in which, mixing still images and moving images, halfway between reading and vision, he presented the Scenarios project .
Worth noting that Scenario was, with Phony Wars, one of two films with which Godard planned to end his career. A project made with single-digit hours left on Earth… well, one’s mind reels at the potential.
- 4/25/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Cannes Film Festival’s Classics sidebar celebrates 20 years this year with a lineup of films including a 4K restoration of Wim Wenders’s Palme d’Or winning Paris, Texas, and a debut screening of Ron Howard’s 2024 doc Jim Henson Idea Man.
Wenders and Howard will be on the ground in Cannes, where they will present the films alongside Faye Dunaway, who will present the feature-long doc Faye about her life and career.
Other Cannes Classics screenings will include a 4k restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to mark the late Japanese filmmaker’s 70th birthday while Frederick Wiseman will present his 1969 documentary Law And Order. Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman will also attend to screen Charles Vidor’s 1946 film Gilda as part of a 100-year celebration of Columbia Pictures.
The sidebar will also screen Scénario, an 18-minute film by Jean-Luc Godard. The project was...
Wenders and Howard will be on the ground in Cannes, where they will present the films alongside Faye Dunaway, who will present the feature-long doc Faye about her life and career.
Other Cannes Classics screenings will include a 4k restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to mark the late Japanese filmmaker’s 70th birthday while Frederick Wiseman will present his 1969 documentary Law And Order. Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman will also attend to screen Charles Vidor’s 1946 film Gilda as part of a 100-year celebration of Columbia Pictures.
The sidebar will also screen Scénario, an 18-minute film by Jean-Luc Godard. The project was...
- 4/25/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Perched on the shores of lake Revine, in North East Italy, Lago Film Fest has cemented itself as a go-to event for short film enthusiasts around the world. Now at its nineteenth edition, each July Lff brings together filmmakers and film lovers for a nine-day cornucopia of over 170 shorts screening in open-air cinemas set up around the lake. But the crowning jewel may well be A Shape of Film to Come, a series of thought-provoking and candid conversations that run parallel to the festival, and invite some of its most distinguished guests to speak about their craft. Just last year, Alexandre Koberidze, Kiro Russo, Mitra Farahani, and Matías Piñeiro traveled to Lff to talk about their cinephilia, their filmographies, and how they see the medium evolving in the not so distant future.
In a wide-ranging chat with Kiro Russo, the Bolivian filmmaker behind such marvels as, most recently, El Gran...
In a wide-ranging chat with Kiro Russo, the Bolivian filmmaker behind such marvels as, most recently, El Gran...
- 4/27/2023
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
Hainan Island International Film Festival (Hiiff) in China’s Sanya has returned as an in-person event, following a relatively short Covid-related postponement, with separate competition sections for features, documentaries and shorts.
The festival opened on December 18 with a screening of Chinese filmmaker Da Peng’s Post Truth and is scheduled to wrap on December 25. It was originally scheduled to run December 3-10, but was postponed due to the on-going Covid situation.
Veteran festival director Marco Mueller recently joined Hiiff as artistic director. He previously headed programming for China’s Pingyao International Film Festival.
Hiiff’s 11-title competition section will screen recent festival favourites including Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts. Chinese titles in competition include Chakme Rinpoche’s Georgia and Qiao Siyu’s The Cord Of Life. The documentary competition will screen eight titles (see line-up below).
In addition to the competition sections,...
The festival opened on December 18 with a screening of Chinese filmmaker Da Peng’s Post Truth and is scheduled to wrap on December 25. It was originally scheduled to run December 3-10, but was postponed due to the on-going Covid situation.
Veteran festival director Marco Mueller recently joined Hiiff as artistic director. He previously headed programming for China’s Pingyao International Film Festival.
Hiiff’s 11-title competition section will screen recent festival favourites including Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts. Chinese titles in competition include Chakme Rinpoche’s Georgia and Qiao Siyu’s The Cord Of Life. The documentary competition will screen eight titles (see line-up below).
In addition to the competition sections,...
- 12/19/2022
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Marco Mueller overseeing fourth edition of festival.
China’s Hainan Island International Film Festival (Hiiff) is to take place from December 18-25, after being postponed at short notice, and has revealed the titles in its feature and documentary competitions.
The fourth edition of the festival, held in the city of Sanya, was set to run from December 3-10 but was abruptly put on hold following a rise in Covid cases. Now, following the relaxation of pandemic measure in China over the past week, the festival is back on and has unveiled its line-up of titles.
Scroll down for competition titles
The Hiiff Competition,...
China’s Hainan Island International Film Festival (Hiiff) is to take place from December 18-25, after being postponed at short notice, and has revealed the titles in its feature and documentary competitions.
The fourth edition of the festival, held in the city of Sanya, was set to run from December 3-10 but was abruptly put on hold following a rise in Covid cases. Now, following the relaxation of pandemic measure in China over the past week, the festival is back on and has unveiled its line-up of titles.
Scroll down for competition titles
The Hiiff Competition,...
- 12/16/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Entrance to the Invisible Cinema at the Austrian Filmmuseum.In 1989, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the Austrian Filmmuseum opened its famed “Invisible Cinema,” according to specifications laid out by filmmaker, theorist, and museum co-founder Peter Kubelka. Modeled after Kubelka’s original invisible cinema, built in 1970 at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, the Filmmuseum’s version is a black box creation that, by allowing for the least amount of peripheral light possible, points the viewer’s focus directly at the projected image. It is, as far as seating, quality of projection, and immersive atmosphere, an essentially perfect cinema. It was one of the places I most eagerly hoped to visit upon my first trip to the Vienna International Film Festival (Viennale), which this year celebrated its 60th anniversary; luckily, as one of the the festival’s primary venues, the Filmmuseum is a frequent destination during the Viennale’s...
- 11/15/2022
- MUBI
A pioneering, revolutionary titan of the cinematic form, Jean-Luc Godard has passed away at the age of 91, as reported by French newspaper Liberation. The paper also reported he died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, where it is authorized and supervised. “He was not sick, he was simply exhausted,” noted a relative of the family. “So he had made the decision to end it. It was his decision and it was important for him that it be known.”
Born on December 3, 1930, Godard would go on to become a film critic for Cahiers du Cinéma before changing the very language of the cinematic medium with his French New Wave contributions, including Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou, and many more. Going through an evolution virtually every decade, the director recently delivered the most radical usage of 3D in a film yet with Goodbye to Language in 2014 and his last feature,...
Born on December 3, 1930, Godard would go on to become a film critic for Cahiers du Cinéma before changing the very language of the cinematic medium with his French New Wave contributions, including Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou, and many more. Going through an evolution virtually every decade, the director recently delivered the most radical usage of 3D in a film yet with Goodbye to Language in 2014 and his last feature,...
- 9/13/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Swiss documentary festival has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections, ahead of the full programme’s announcement on March 15, which includes A House Made Of Splinters, set in a children’s home in Eastern Ukraine.
A statement from the festival said: “Visions du Réel is joining the international movement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom. We express our support for Ukrainian artists and filmmakers, and for all those whose lives are threatened and upended by the war.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections, ahead of the full programme’s announcement on March 15, which includes A House Made Of Splinters, set in a children’s home in Eastern Ukraine.
A statement from the festival said: “Visions du Réel is joining the international movement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom. We express our support for Ukrainian artists and filmmakers, and for all those whose lives are threatened and upended by the war.
- 3/8/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSCarla Simón’s Alcarrás (Courtesy of MK2 Films)This year's Berlinale has now concluded, with Carla Simón’s Alcarrás taking home the Golden Bear, and Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis and Natalia Lopez Gallardo taking home prizes as well. Check out the full list of awards winners here.Horror filmmaker and production designer Alfred Sole has died at the age of 78. Sole famously directed the cult horror classic Alice, Sweet Alice (1976). However, he first gained notoriety with his X-rated film Deep Sleep (1972), which was pulled from theaters. Sole continued as a prolific production designer for many television films and shows like Veronica Mars and Melrose Place. Netflix has officially signed an updated windowing agreement with France's film industry, which will "see the window between theatrical and SVOD release significantly reduced" from 36 months to 15 months. And as Deadline points out,...
- 2/23/2022
- MUBI
Top prizes for Hong Sangsoo’s ‘The Novelist’s Film’, Claire Denis’ ‘Fire’.
Carla Simon’s Alcarras won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, in a ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast this evening (Wednesday 16).
“I feel like I should just move here, because every time I come here something amazing happens,” said Simon on accepting the award.
Alcarras: Berlin review
The award was presented by Competition jury president M. Night Shyamalan, who praised the film “for its extraordinary performances from the child actors to the actors in their 80s and for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy...
Carla Simon’s Alcarras won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, in a ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast this evening (Wednesday 16).
“I feel like I should just move here, because every time I come here something amazing happens,” said Simon on accepting the award.
Alcarras: Berlin review
The award was presented by Competition jury president M. Night Shyamalan, who praised the film “for its extraordinary performances from the child actors to the actors in their 80s and for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy...
- 2/16/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The winners for the 2022 Berlin Film Festival have been revealed. The in-person event took place this year February 10–20. The competition jury, led by president M. Night Shyamalan, included filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, producer Saïd Ben Saïd, filmmaker Anne Zohra Berrached, filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga, Oscar-nominated “Drive My Car” director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, and actor Connie Nielsen.
The festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear for Best Film, was presented by Shyamalan. “For its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy and struggle,” he awarded Spanish drama “Alcarras,” from director Carla Simon.
The festival did away with gendered acting awards once again, instead offering Silver Bears for Best Supporting and Best Lead Performance. Beloved auteur Claire Denis won best director for her romantic psychodrama “Both Sides of the Blade” — or “Fire,” as it’s known in the United States. (IFC Films has stateside rights.
The festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear for Best Film, was presented by Shyamalan. “For its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy and struggle,” he awarded Spanish drama “Alcarras,” from director Carla Simon.
The festival did away with gendered acting awards once again, instead offering Silver Bears for Best Supporting and Best Lead Performance. Beloved auteur Claire Denis won best director for her romantic psychodrama “Both Sides of the Blade” — or “Fire,” as it’s known in the United States. (IFC Films has stateside rights.
- 2/16/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Competition(Jury: M. Night Shyamalan, Karim Aïnouz, Saïd Ben Saïd, Anne Zohra Berrached, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Connie Nielsen)Golden BearAlcarràs (Carla Simón)Silver Bear — Grand Jury PrizeThe Novelist’s Film (Hong Sang-soo)Silver Bear — Jury PrizeRobe of Gems (Natalia Lopez Gallardo)Silver Bear for Best DirectorClaire Denis (Both Sides of the Blade)Silver Bear for Best Leading PerformanceMeltem Kaptan (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush)Silver Bear for Best Supporting PerformanceLaura Basuki (Nana)Silver Bear for Best ScreenplayLaila Stieler (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush)Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic ContributionRithy Panh (Everything Will Be Ok)Silver Bear — Special MentionA Piece of Sky (Michael Koch)Encounters(Jury: Chiara Marañón, Ben Rivers, Silvan Zürcher)Award for Best FilmMUTZENBACHER (Ruth Beckermann)Special Jury AwardSee You Friday, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)Award for Best DirectorCyril Schäublin (Unrest)Generation — Kplus(Jury: Daniela Cajías, Nicola Jones, Samuel Kishi Leopo)Grand Prix for Best Film The Quiet Girl...
- 2/16/2022
- MUBI
Winners have been announced at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival, with Carla Simon’s Alcarràs scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Wednesday night at the Berlinale Palast.
Alcarràs follows the life of a family of peach farmers in a small village in Catalonia, whose world changes when the owner of their large estate dies and his lifetime heir decides to sell the land, suddenly threatening their livelihood.
Simon previously picked up Berlin’s Best First Feature Award in 2017 for her debut Summer 1993.
Other winners in the International Competition included Hong Sang-soo’s The Novelist’s Film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (read Deadline’s review here); Natalia Lopez Gallardo, who picked up the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Robe of Gems (review here); and Claire Denis, who...
Alcarràs follows the life of a family of peach farmers in a small village in Catalonia, whose world changes when the owner of their large estate dies and his lifetime heir decides to sell the land, suddenly threatening their livelihood.
Simon previously picked up Berlin’s Best First Feature Award in 2017 for her debut Summer 1993.
Other winners in the International Competition included Hong Sang-soo’s The Novelist’s Film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (read Deadline’s review here); Natalia Lopez Gallardo, who picked up the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Robe of Gems (review here); and Claire Denis, who...
- 2/16/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish director Carla Simón has won the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, for her second feature “Alcarràs,” a moving drama about a Catalan farming family facing eviction from their land. She received the prize from jury president M. Night Shyamalan, capping a strong night for female filmmakers. Full report to follow.
Official Competition
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh
Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...
Official Competition
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh
Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Switzerland, thanks to its prolific co-production activity, has a hand in a record-breaking 11 titles in the Berlinale’s official selection, including two films competing for the Golden Bear, and two more in Berlin’s cutting-edge Encounters section, as well as a Swiss talent selected for the fest’s Shooting Stars event, Souheila Yacoub.
Ursula Meier’s “The Line” (competition) — Following “Home” and “Sister,” Meier continues to pursue “this idea of family that is as much necessary, as it is toxic,” says the film’s producer Pauline Gygax. After a violent argument with her mother, Margaret, 35 (Stephanie Blanchoud), who has a long history of inflicting and suffering from violence, is subjected to a restraining order. She is not allowed to make contact with her mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) or come within 100 meters of the family home. But the separation exacerbates her desire to be closer to her family, so she returns...
Ursula Meier’s “The Line” (competition) — Following “Home” and “Sister,” Meier continues to pursue “this idea of family that is as much necessary, as it is toxic,” says the film’s producer Pauline Gygax. After a violent argument with her mother, Margaret, 35 (Stephanie Blanchoud), who has a long history of inflicting and suffering from violence, is subjected to a restraining order. She is not allowed to make contact with her mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) or come within 100 meters of the family home. But the separation exacerbates her desire to be closer to her family, so she returns...
- 2/11/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The U.S. lineup for films coming to Mubi this September has been announced, featuring some of my personal favorites of the last few years, notably Philippe Lesage’s severely overlooked coming-of-age drama Genesis, John Gianvito’s Helen Keller documentary Her Socialist Smile, Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten’s formally thrilling Slow Machine, and Robert Greene’s documentary Bisbee ’17, as well as Jia Zhangke’s latest release Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.
Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.
See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice
September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered
September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight
September...
Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.
See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice
September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered
September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight
September...
- 8/21/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A long-gestating non-conventional documentary directed by Iranian multi-hyphenate Mitra Farahani centered around a conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Iranian filmmaker and literary figure Ebrahim Golestan that took place via regular weekly email exchanges involving videos, images, aphorisms, and letters, is set to soon surface on the international festival circuit.
The film, called “See You Friday Robinson: A Film Unlike Any Other,” stems from Farahani’s desire to initiate and portray a dialogue between the French New Wave icon, who is now 90, and Golestan, a revered intellectual who is 98 and lives in the West Sussex village of Bolney, south of London. Golestan is considered an Iranian cinema pioneer and is known for the films “Brick and Mirror” (1965) and “The Secrets of the Treasure of the Jinn Valley (1974). He left Iran in 1975, settling in the U.K. and has focused entirely on his writing since then. The two men do not know each other personally.
The film, called “See You Friday Robinson: A Film Unlike Any Other,” stems from Farahani’s desire to initiate and portray a dialogue between the French New Wave icon, who is now 90, and Golestan, a revered intellectual who is 98 and lives in the West Sussex village of Bolney, south of London. Golestan is considered an Iranian cinema pioneer and is known for the films “Brick and Mirror” (1965) and “The Secrets of the Treasure of the Jinn Valley (1974). He left Iran in 1975, settling in the U.K. and has focused entirely on his writing since then. The two men do not know each other personally.
- 8/5/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Eurimages Fund is supporting 28 features.
European support body Eurimages has selected 28 features for a total of €6.1m ($6.9m) funding, including new works by Robert Guédiguian and Jim Sheridan.
French filmmaker Guédiguian – who has directed 21 features since 1981 including his most recent, Venice 2019 selection Gloria Mundi – receives €470,000 for France-Canada co-production Bamako Twist.
Ireland’s Sheridan, who has been nominated for six Oscars across his career since his breakthrough debut feature My Left Foot, receives €280,000 for Ireland-uk-France documentary In Absentia, co-directed with Colm Quinn. The documentary looks into the murder of French producer Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in Ireland, in December 1996.
Other...
European support body Eurimages has selected 28 features for a total of €6.1m ($6.9m) funding, including new works by Robert Guédiguian and Jim Sheridan.
French filmmaker Guédiguian – who has directed 21 features since 1981 including his most recent, Venice 2019 selection Gloria Mundi – receives €470,000 for France-Canada co-production Bamako Twist.
Ireland’s Sheridan, who has been nominated for six Oscars across his career since his breakthrough debut feature My Left Foot, receives €280,000 for Ireland-uk-France documentary In Absentia, co-directed with Colm Quinn. The documentary looks into the murder of French producer Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in Ireland, in December 1996.
Other...
- 6/5/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
This text, generously provided by curator Elhum Shakerifar, is adapted from the introduction to a zine co-edited by Faye Harvey and published on occasion of "Poetry in Motion: Contemporary Iranian Cinema," running April 3–24, 2019 at the Barbican in London. Mitra Farahani's Fifi Howls from Happiness is showing April 8 - May 7, 2019 on Mubi in many countries around the world.A few years ago, I attended the Tokyo International Film Festival, where a handful of Iranian films received their World Premieres. The first one I attended was by a debut director. His film told the story of a musician whose life ended suddenly, abruptly, whilst he was still in his youth. It was an unfettered reflection on the greater, unanswerable questions in life. When the Q&A began, the first question was about a scene in which the young musician had visited a man to borrow an instrument. This man was portrayed as overweight,...
- 4/4/2019
- MUBI
Cannes — Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Palme d’Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival for his film “Shoplifters,” marking just the second time this century that an Asian film has claimed the festival’s top prize (the other being Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” in 2010). A moving portrait of a self-made family whose secret ultimately jeopardizes their ability to stay together, the widely praised drama represents Hore-eda’s fifth time in competition, making him one of the few veterans in a lineup weighted toward less established directors.
American director Spike Lee won the Grand Prix for his blaxploitation-styled anti-racism satire “BlacKkKlansman,” one of just two American films in the official competition. After accepting the prize “on behalf of the People’s Republic of Brooklyn, New York,” Lee told the press, “Cannes was the perfect launchpad for this film. I hope the film...
American director Spike Lee won the Grand Prix for his blaxploitation-styled anti-racism satire “BlacKkKlansman,” one of just two American films in the official competition. After accepting the prize “on behalf of the People’s Republic of Brooklyn, New York,” Lee told the press, “Cannes was the perfect launchpad for this film. I hope the film...
- 5/19/2018
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Mubi has acquired Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Image Book” for the U.K. The movie played in competition at Cannes this year. The U.K. deal was signed with sales company Wild Bunch Films. Kino Lorber has already acquired North American rights.
In its Cannes review, Variety said the film premiered at the Festival “with a sense of momentousness…It felt as though we were getting the Godard bulletin on the state of the world.”
French New Wave icon Godard’s new film was produced by Fabrice Aragno of Casa Azul Films and Mitra Farahani from Ecran Noir Productions. The producers plan to create a traveling exhibition based on the film that will tour major cities.
Mubi is a curated streaming service that has a limited number of classic, indie, and festival movies that play on the platform. As a new film is added to its 30-strong lineup, another is removed.
In its Cannes review, Variety said the film premiered at the Festival “with a sense of momentousness…It felt as though we were getting the Godard bulletin on the state of the world.”
French New Wave icon Godard’s new film was produced by Fabrice Aragno of Casa Azul Films and Mitra Farahani from Ecran Noir Productions. The producers plan to create a traveling exhibition based on the film that will tour major cities.
Mubi is a curated streaming service that has a limited number of classic, indie, and festival movies that play on the platform. As a new film is added to its 30-strong lineup, another is removed.
- 5/18/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Mubi takes project’s UK theatrical and streaming rights.
Streaming service Mubi has secured a significant Cannes acquisition in the form of Jean-Luc Godard’s Competition title The Image Book (Le Livre D’Image).
The film, which premiered at the festival last week to strong reviews and also scored an impressive 3.0 rating on Screen’s Cannes jury grid, has had both its theatrical and streaming rights for the UK taken by Mubi.
The Image Book is an essay film examining the role of cinema in world history. The release will mark the Breathless director’s first UK theatrical roll-out in seven years,...
Streaming service Mubi has secured a significant Cannes acquisition in the form of Jean-Luc Godard’s Competition title The Image Book (Le Livre D’Image).
The film, which premiered at the festival last week to strong reviews and also scored an impressive 3.0 rating on Screen’s Cannes jury grid, has had both its theatrical and streaming rights for the UK taken by Mubi.
The Image Book is an essay film examining the role of cinema in world history. The release will mark the Breathless director’s first UK theatrical roll-out in seven years,...
- 5/17/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
In today’s film news roundup, Paul Feig and Neal Moritz are added to the Produced By Conference, a “Jumanji” double feature gets scheduled, and Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Image Book” gets bought.
Conference Additions
The Producers Guild of America has added Paul Feig and Neal Moritz as speakers at its 10th annual Produced By Conference, which will be held June 9 and 10 at Paramount Pictures Studios.
Moritz will be joining Jim Gianopulos in his headlining “Conversations With…” session. Additional speakers include Stephanie Allain, Ian Bryce, Donald DeLine, Tracey Edmonds, Lucy Fisher, Lynette Howell Taylor, James F. Lopez, Chris Moore, Ronald D. Moore, Mary Parent, Stacy Rukeyser, and Doug Wick.
The Produced By Conference will bring back its Mentoring Roundtables to give attendees a chance to ask questions about their own projects in development and learn in a more personalized, intimate setting with one-on-one feedback. No pitching is allowed — the roundtables...
Conference Additions
The Producers Guild of America has added Paul Feig and Neal Moritz as speakers at its 10th annual Produced By Conference, which will be held June 9 and 10 at Paramount Pictures Studios.
Moritz will be joining Jim Gianopulos in his headlining “Conversations With…” session. Additional speakers include Stephanie Allain, Ian Bryce, Donald DeLine, Tracey Edmonds, Lucy Fisher, Lynette Howell Taylor, James F. Lopez, Chris Moore, Ronald D. Moore, Mary Parent, Stacy Rukeyser, and Doug Wick.
The Produced By Conference will bring back its Mentoring Roundtables to give attendees a chance to ask questions about their own projects in development and learn in a more personalized, intimate setting with one-on-one feedback. No pitching is allowed — the roundtables...
- 5/14/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
As I type these words, a new Jean-Luc Godard film is minutes from premiering at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. General excitement around Le livre d’image (or just The Image Book) does not come close to equaling Goodbye to Language, but the prospect of a montage-based study of the Middle East that incorporates everything from Shakespeare to Michael Bay is, for me, immense. Godard must feel similarly about its possible paths, given news from collaborator Fabrice Aragno — whose ingenuity played as big a part as its director in bringing Goodbye to Language alive — that the film will be turned into an exhibit in New York, Paris, Madrid, and Singapore, courtesy production partners Casa Azul and Ecran Noir. [Variety]
Spread between 500 and 600 square meters, it “will break down the images of Godard’s film to deliver an interactive experience” described by Aragno as “a forest of images and sounds” not, in bold words,...
Spread between 500 and 600 square meters, it “will break down the images of Godard’s film to deliver an interactive experience” described by Aragno as “a forest of images and sounds” not, in bold words,...
- 5/11/2018
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
French New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard is set to adapt his latest film, “The Image Book,” which is competing at Cannes Film Festival into an exhibit in Paris, Madrid, New York and Singapore.
The roadshow tour is being produced by the team behind the film, Fabrice Aragno at Casa Azul and Mitra Farahani at Ecran Noir Productions.
Aragno told Variety that both Casa Azul and Ecran Noir Productions are currently in talks with the Beaubourg museum in Paris, Arte Reina Sofía in Paris, and the National Gallery in Singapore.
The installation will spread over 500 to 600 square meters and will break down the images of Godard’s film to deliver an interactive experience. “Those who will discover the exhibit will walk through a forest of images and sounds,” explained Aragno, who compared “The Image Book” to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica.” “Except that ‘Guernica’ related to one historical chapter, whereas ‘The Image...
The roadshow tour is being produced by the team behind the film, Fabrice Aragno at Casa Azul and Mitra Farahani at Ecran Noir Productions.
Aragno told Variety that both Casa Azul and Ecran Noir Productions are currently in talks with the Beaubourg museum in Paris, Arte Reina Sofía in Paris, and the National Gallery in Singapore.
The installation will spread over 500 to 600 square meters and will break down the images of Godard’s film to deliver an interactive experience. “Those who will discover the exhibit will walk through a forest of images and sounds,” explained Aragno, who compared “The Image Book” to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica.” “Except that ‘Guernica’ related to one historical chapter, whereas ‘The Image...
- 5/10/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
You don't know his name, but Bahman Mohassess was a titan — a publicly gay, happily misanthropic midcentury Persian art-world powerhouse whose brutally Expressionist paintings ring up six figures at auctions today, and who galvanized his reputation by mysteriously vanishing from Iran for good after the ayatollahs had much of his work destroyed.
The man's Pynchon-esque absence gets punctured years later by Mitra Farahani, who tracks Mohassess down to a Rome hotel and settles in to shape the chain-smoking septuagenarian's final testament.
The resulting documentary is never less than addictively fascinating — Mohassess's story is a heroic torch of individualism battling mad-state ideology, from the Shah to the mullahs, and his autumnal stance toward all...
The man's Pynchon-esque absence gets punctured years later by Mitra Farahani, who tracks Mohassess down to a Rome hotel and settles in to shape the chain-smoking septuagenarian's final testament.
The resulting documentary is never less than addictively fascinating — Mohassess's story is a heroic torch of individualism battling mad-state ideology, from the Shah to the mullahs, and his autumnal stance toward all...
- 8/6/2014
- Village Voice
Drafthouse Films has acquired North American rights to recent Cannes premiere The Tribe, winner of three sidebar prizes in Critics’ Week.
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s story takes place at a Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf and unfolds purely through sign language.
Paris-based Alpha Violet scored a number of key sales on the Croisette including UFO for France, Mimosa Films for Japan and Ost For Paradis for Denmark.
“When working with a film like The Tribe, we immediately became more sensitive to signs and language: passion speaks first,” said Alpha Violet co-CEOs Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato.
“We received an amazing response after our first market screening in Cannes and Drafthouse Films showed from the very beginning all the right signs – and the strongest passion – to distribute our film in North America,” noted
The Tribe will screen in select theatres across North America and will be released on a variety of VOD platforms and digital, DVD and Blu-ray...
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s story takes place at a Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf and unfolds purely through sign language.
Paris-based Alpha Violet scored a number of key sales on the Croisette including UFO for France, Mimosa Films for Japan and Ost For Paradis for Denmark.
“When working with a film like The Tribe, we immediately became more sensitive to signs and language: passion speaks first,” said Alpha Violet co-CEOs Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato.
“We received an amazing response after our first market screening in Cannes and Drafthouse Films showed from the very beginning all the right signs – and the strongest passion – to distribute our film in North America,” noted
The Tribe will screen in select theatres across North America and will be released on a variety of VOD platforms and digital, DVD and Blu-ray...
- 7/2/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Drafthouse Films has acquired North American rights to recent Cannes premiere The Tribe, winner of three sidebar prizes in Critics’ Week.
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s story takes place at a Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf and unfolds purely through sign language.
Paris-based Alpha Violet scored a number of key sales on the Croisette including UFO for France, Mimosa Films for Japan and Ost For Paradis for Denmark.
“When working with a film like The Tribe, we immediately became more sensitive to signs and language: passion speaks first,” said Alpha Violet co-CEOs Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato.
“We received an amazing response after our first market screening in Cannes and Drafthouse Films showed from the very beginning all the right signs – and the strongest passion – to distribute our film in North America,” noted
The Tribe will screen in select theatres across North America and will be released on a variety of VOD platforms and digital, DVD and Blu-ray...
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s story takes place at a Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf and unfolds purely through sign language.
Paris-based Alpha Violet scored a number of key sales on the Croisette including UFO for France, Mimosa Films for Japan and Ost For Paradis for Denmark.
“When working with a film like The Tribe, we immediately became more sensitive to signs and language: passion speaks first,” said Alpha Violet co-CEOs Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato.
“We received an amazing response after our first market screening in Cannes and Drafthouse Films showed from the very beginning all the right signs – and the strongest passion – to distribute our film in North America,” noted
The Tribe will screen in select theatres across North America and will be released on a variety of VOD platforms and digital, DVD and Blu-ray...
- 7/2/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Buenos Aires -- Mitra Farahani’s Fifi Howls From Happiness won the International Competition at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (Bafici), which closed Saturday night. The Z Films Award for Best Film, El Premio Z Films, includes a $5,000 acquisition rights prize for theatrical, DVD and TV exhibition of the film in Argentina. Village Cinemas adds a week of exhibition time in two of its multiplexes. “This was a very large edition, with almost 500 films playing in different neighborhoods, and a great audience response”, said Buenos Aires Minister of Culture Hernan Lombardi at the awards announcement Saturday morning. “We’re
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- 4/13/2014
- by Agustin Mango
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This year's Berlinale winners have just been announced at the Closing Night Gala. The members of the 2014 International Jury, James Schamus (President), Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrholm, Mitra Farahani, Greta Gerwig, Michel Gondry und Christoph Waltz, awarded the following prizes:
Golden Bear for Best Film
Qu Vivian, Wan Juan for
Bai Ri Yan Huo
(Black Coal, Thin Ice)
by Diao Yinan
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
The Grand Budapest Hotel
by Wes Anderson
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize
For a feature film that opens new perspectives
Aimer, boire et chanter
(Life of Riley)
by Alain Resnais
Silver Bear for Best Director
Richard Linklater for
Boyhood
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Haru Kuroki in
Chiisai Ouchi
(The Little House)
by Yoji Yamada
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Liao Fan in
Bai Ri Yan Huo
(Black Coal, Thin Ice)
by Diao Yinan
Silver Bear for Best Script
Dietrich Brüggemann , Anna Brüggemann for
Kreuzweg
(Stations of the Cross)
by Dietrich Brüggemann
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Zeng Jian for the camera in
Tui Na
(Blind Massage)
by Lou Ye...
Golden Bear for Best Film
Qu Vivian, Wan Juan for
Bai Ri Yan Huo
(Black Coal, Thin Ice)
by Diao Yinan
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
The Grand Budapest Hotel
by Wes Anderson
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize
For a feature film that opens new perspectives
Aimer, boire et chanter
(Life of Riley)
by Alain Resnais
Silver Bear for Best Director
Richard Linklater for
Boyhood
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Haru Kuroki in
Chiisai Ouchi
(The Little House)
by Yoji Yamada
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Liao Fan in
Bai Ri Yan Huo
(Black Coal, Thin Ice)
by Diao Yinan
Silver Bear for Best Script
Dietrich Brüggemann , Anna Brüggemann for
Kreuzweg
(Stations of the Cross)
by Dietrich Brüggemann
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Zeng Jian for the camera in
Tui Na
(Blind Massage)
by Lou Ye...
- 2/15/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
James Schamus was on hand at the Berlin International Film Festival this morning to ring in the start of his tenure as head of this year's competition jury. At a press conference also featuring his fellow jurors Greta Gerwig, Christoph Waltz, Michel Gondry, Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrholm, Mitra Farahani and Tony Leung, Schamus talked about how much he was looking forward to his festival experience, but things turned sombre when a journalist asked about his thoughts on the recent passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman. "That news was pretty tough on all of us in the business," Schamus said. "And Philip Seymour Hoffman will be here. There's going to be a screening and I know a lot of his friends are going to be joining together to remember him. It's places like Berlin where you have the opportunity -- in a sense -- to remember and to mourn and to celebrate.
- 2/6/2014
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
The Brokeback Mountain producer and former Focus Features chief will be joined by James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli and Frances Ha actress Greta Gerwig among others.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has named Us producer and writer James Schamus as president of the international jury, whose members will decide the winners of the Golden Bear and Silver Bears of the 2014 Berlinale Competition.
In his work with Ang Lee, Schamus has won awards as a screenwriter (The Ice Storm) and producer (Brokeback Mountain). He was also the chief executive of Focus Features - the company he co-founded - before it merged with FilmDistrict.
The strong line-up of filmmakers and actors that make up the rest of the jury including Barbara Broccoli (Us), Trine Dyrholm (Denmark), Mitra Farahani (Iran), Greta Gerwig (Us), Michel Gondry (France), Tony Leung (China) and Christoph Waltz (Austria).
Broccoli is best known for co-producing the James Bond films while Danish actor Dyrholm recently...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has named Us producer and writer James Schamus as president of the international jury, whose members will decide the winners of the Golden Bear and Silver Bears of the 2014 Berlinale Competition.
In his work with Ang Lee, Schamus has won awards as a screenwriter (The Ice Storm) and producer (Brokeback Mountain). He was also the chief executive of Focus Features - the company he co-founded - before it merged with FilmDistrict.
The strong line-up of filmmakers and actors that make up the rest of the jury including Barbara Broccoli (Us), Trine Dyrholm (Denmark), Mitra Farahani (Iran), Greta Gerwig (Us), Michel Gondry (France), Tony Leung (China) and Christoph Waltz (Austria).
Broccoli is best known for co-producing the James Bond films while Danish actor Dyrholm recently...
- 1/14/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin International Film Festival has named James Schamus jury president for its 64th edition, which runs Feb. 6-16. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter and former Focus Features head will oversee Berlin's international jury, which votes on the winners of the festival's coveted Gold and Silver Bear honors, organizers announced Tuesday. He will be joined on the Berlin jury by two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, Skyfall producer Barbara Broccoli, French director Michel Gondry and Danish actress Trine Dyrholm (In a Better World). Francis Ha star Greta Gerwig, Iranian filmmaker and painter Mitra Farahani and Hong Kong action star Tony
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- 1/13/2014
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 40th annual Telluride Film Festival just announced its lineup of movies. The Labor Day weekend fest will include the North American premieres of hotly anticipated movies like the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis," as well as debuts of movies like Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" and Jason Reitman's "Labor Day."
This initial announcement isn't necessarily the final lineup of movies at the Colorado movie festival. Some other sneak preview premieres of films that will be shown outside of the main program will likely be announced soon. In honor of Telluride's 40th anniversary, there will be an extra day of prigramming, six guest directors including Don Delillo and Salman Rushdie, and a new Werner Herzog Theatre venue.
Here's the full list of movies in the 2013 Telluride lineup:
- "All Is Lost" (directed by J.C. Chandor, U.S., 2013)
- "Before The Winter Chill" (directed by Philippe Claudel, France, 2013)
- "Bethlehem" (directed by Yuval Adler,...
This initial announcement isn't necessarily the final lineup of movies at the Colorado movie festival. Some other sneak preview premieres of films that will be shown outside of the main program will likely be announced soon. In honor of Telluride's 40th anniversary, there will be an extra day of prigramming, six guest directors including Don Delillo and Salman Rushdie, and a new Werner Herzog Theatre venue.
Here's the full list of movies in the 2013 Telluride lineup:
- "All Is Lost" (directed by J.C. Chandor, U.S., 2013)
- "Before The Winter Chill" (directed by Philippe Claudel, France, 2013)
- "Bethlehem" (directed by Yuval Adler,...
- 8/28/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
The 40th anniversary edition of the Telluride Film Festival unveiled its lineup, as per custom, just days in advance of its presentation in the mountains of Colorado. The five-day event begins tomorrow and will include several movies with Oscar ambitions, including the world premiere of Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin.
The Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis (pictured above), Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, the Robert Redford movie All is Lost, and the erotic French film Blue is the Warmest Color, all of which premiered at Cannes in May, will make their American debuts at Telluride.
The Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis (pictured above), Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, the Robert Redford movie All is Lost, and the erotic French film Blue is the Warmest Color, all of which premiered at Cannes in May, will make their American debuts at Telluride.
- 8/28/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The 2013 Telluride Film Festival begins tomorrow, Thursday, August 29 and runs through Monday, September 2 and this morning the organizers announced the official lineu-up of 27 films along with word there will be three, as yet unannounced, secret screenings that will take place. Begin the speculation... As for what is playing, notable entries from this year's Cannes Film Festival include All is Lost, Blue is the Warmest Color, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska and The Past. Last night the Venice Film Festival got underway withg Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity with rave reviews. It too will play Telluride before heading up to the Toronto Film Festival. Other Toronto titles among the line up are Jason Reitman's Labor Day, Ralph Fiennes' The Invisible Woman and Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin. Those are the more obvious titles while the three secret screenings will probably grab the biggest headlines and they could be anything from...
- 8/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Apart from the three sneak screening titles that will stir up the buzz in the coming days, Julie Huntsinger and Tom Luddy’s 40th edition of the Telluride Film Festival excels in bringing a concentration of solid docus from the likes of Errol Morris and Werner Herzog who this year cuts the ribbon on a theatre going by his name and introduces Death Row, a pinch of Berlin Film Fest items (Gloria, Slow Food Story, Fifi Howls from Happiness) Palme d’Or winner (this year Abdellatif Kechiche will be celebrated), upcoming Sony Pictures Classics items (Tim’s Vermeer, The Lunchbox), Venice to Telluride to Tiff titles (Bethlehem, Tracks and Under the Skin), the latest Jason Reitman film (Labor Day) and the barely known docu-home-movie whodunit (by helmers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine) The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden which features narration from the likes of Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger and Connie Nielsen.
- 8/28/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
While many film festivals announce their titles weeks or months in advance, the annual Telluride Film Festival saves that list until the day before the festival begins.
As a result, they've just announced this year's slate which includes the world premieres of Jason Reitman's "Labor Day". David Mackenzie's "Starred Up" will also have its debut screening.
Other high profile titles include "Gravity," "Inside Llewyn Davis," "Nebraska," "All Is Lost," "Blue Is The Warmest Color," "Under The Skin," "Tracks" and "The Past". The festival kicks off on August 29th and here's the full list:
All Is Lost (d. J.C. Chandor, U.S., 2013)
Before The Winter Chill (d. Philippe Claudel, France, 2013)
Bethlehem (d. Yuval Adler, Israel, 2013)
Blue Is The Warmest Color (d. Abdellatif Kechiche, France, 2013)
Burning Bush (d. Agnieszka Holland, Czech Republic, 2013)
Death Row: Blaine Milam + Robert Fratta (d. Werner Herzog, U.S., 2013)
Fifi Howls From Happiness (d. Mitra Farahani,...
As a result, they've just announced this year's slate which includes the world premieres of Jason Reitman's "Labor Day". David Mackenzie's "Starred Up" will also have its debut screening.
Other high profile titles include "Gravity," "Inside Llewyn Davis," "Nebraska," "All Is Lost," "Blue Is The Warmest Color," "Under The Skin," "Tracks" and "The Past". The festival kicks off on August 29th and here's the full list:
All Is Lost (d. J.C. Chandor, U.S., 2013)
Before The Winter Chill (d. Philippe Claudel, France, 2013)
Bethlehem (d. Yuval Adler, Israel, 2013)
Blue Is The Warmest Color (d. Abdellatif Kechiche, France, 2013)
Burning Bush (d. Agnieszka Holland, Czech Republic, 2013)
Death Row: Blaine Milam + Robert Fratta (d. Werner Herzog, U.S., 2013)
Fifi Howls From Happiness (d. Mitra Farahani,...
- 8/28/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Indian feature project “Wild Fire” by Bikas Ranjan Mishra* has been selected to receive the Hubert Bals Fund for script development from the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
The fund selected 11 projects from nine countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Wild Fire was also selected for Cinemart, the international co production market of the festival in January this year.
A selection of film projects supported by the Hbf will also participate in Boost!, the coaching trajectory of the Hbf, CineMartand Rotterdam Lab, in cooperation with Binger FilmLab. This year, three new partners will join the initiative: the National Film Development Corporation of India, Fundacion TyPA in Argentina and the Durban FilmMart in South Africa. Supported by Media Mundus, every year five Hbf-supported filmmakers are given the possibility to further develop their scripts at Binger Filmlab. Additionally these projects participate in co-production markets and workshops in India, Argentina or South Africa,...
The fund selected 11 projects from nine countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Wild Fire was also selected for Cinemart, the international co production market of the festival in January this year.
A selection of film projects supported by the Hbf will also participate in Boost!, the coaching trajectory of the Hbf, CineMartand Rotterdam Lab, in cooperation with Binger FilmLab. This year, three new partners will join the initiative: the National Film Development Corporation of India, Fundacion TyPA in Argentina and the Durban FilmMart in South Africa. Supported by Media Mundus, every year five Hbf-supported filmmakers are given the possibility to further develop their scripts at Binger Filmlab. Additionally these projects participate in co-production markets and workshops in India, Argentina or South Africa,...
- 5/23/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
PARIS -- Director Laurent Cantet and his jury have chosen six filmmakers for the 14th annual session of the Residence du Festival taking place March 1-July 15, Festival de Cannes organizers said Wednesday.
The Residence program, inaugurated in 2000 by the festival's Cinefondation, invites foreign filmmakers to the Festival de Cannes and shepherds them in the writing and development of their feature films.
This year's class, chosen from a field of 140 competitors, are Rusudan Chkonia of Georgia (for his project "Keep Smiling"), Turkey's Pelin Esmer ("K and Ali"), Milagros Mumenthaler of Argentina ("Absences"), Malayan Tan Chui Mui ("Living Quietly"), Mitra Farahani of Iran ("Coq, Legendes urbaines") and Israeli Naday Lapid ("Le Policier").
In addition to lodging at the festival residence in Paris while working on their projects, the selected helmers will attend next year's Festival de Cannes and screenings of their films will take place in Paris next June.
The Residence program, inaugurated in 2000 by the festival's Cinefondation, invites foreign filmmakers to the Festival de Cannes and shepherds them in the writing and development of their feature films.
This year's class, chosen from a field of 140 competitors, are Rusudan Chkonia of Georgia (for his project "Keep Smiling"), Turkey's Pelin Esmer ("K and Ali"), Milagros Mumenthaler of Argentina ("Absences"), Malayan Tan Chui Mui ("Living Quietly"), Mitra Farahani of Iran ("Coq, Legendes urbaines") and Israeli Naday Lapid ("Le Policier").
In addition to lodging at the festival residence in Paris while working on their projects, the selected helmers will attend next year's Festival de Cannes and screenings of their films will take place in Paris next June.
- 12/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- International politics and local social issues dominate the lineup at this year's Dokumente, the nonfiction section of the Berlin International Film Festival's Panorama sidebar, organizers said Thursday. The Dokumente slate touches on issues from the homeless in Los Angeles (Madeleine Farley's Trollywood) and political and religious transformation in Iran (Mitra Farahani's Zohre & Manouchehr) to German director Romuald Karmakar's visit to a forgotten Nazi concentration camp in Poland in Land of Annihilation. Karmakar's latest feature film, Nightsongs, will screen in competition in Berlin. The war in Iraq, a front-and-center issue at last year's Berlin festival, gave birth to Freedom2Speak, an organization of German filmmakers who recorded public protests and private opposition to the conflict. The movement went on the road to the Istanbul and Cannes film festivals, documenting the war's aftermath. The result, Freedom2Speak V.2.0, will screen in the Panorama's Dokumente this year.
- 1/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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