Cate Blanchett has joined the cast of 'Rumors'.The 'Tar' actress is set to start shooting Guy Maddin's upcoming movie on 9 October after the director signed an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA to allow the 54-year-old star to appear in the project without breaching Hollywood actor strike restrictions, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed.The independent movie has been written and will be directed by the 'Keyhole' filmmaker with his longtime collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson.Meanwhile, Cate recently joked she is always "trying to get out" of acting so enjoyed producing her film 'The New Boy', which was released earlier this year,She said at her Kering Women in Motion talk at the Cannes Film Festival: “I’m always trying to get out of acting. I’ve been trying to stop acting my entire professional life.”Cate was in conversation with her producing partner,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Viki Waters
- Bang Showbiz
Cate Blanchett has boarded arthouse favorite Guy Maddin’s latest movie, Rumours, which is set to start shooting on Oct. 9, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The indie has been written and will be directed by Maddin with longtime collaborators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. Their last joint film was The Green Fog, an experimental feature that combed through San Francisco-produced films and TV shows as it followed the structure of Vertigo.
Blanchett played a composer-conductor whose reputation is suddenly shattered by revelations of her personal life in Tár. Her other film credits include The Aviator and Blue Jasmine, for which she won Oscars, as well as Elizabeth, Notes on a Scandal, I’m Not There and Carol.
Her star turn in Rumours is seen as the latest A-lister and auteur collaboration as Canadian indie film looks to break out into the global market with distribution and critical acclaim. Maddin’s latest...
The indie has been written and will be directed by Maddin with longtime collaborators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. Their last joint film was The Green Fog, an experimental feature that combed through San Francisco-produced films and TV shows as it followed the structure of Vertigo.
Blanchett played a composer-conductor whose reputation is suddenly shattered by revelations of her personal life in Tár. Her other film credits include The Aviator and Blue Jasmine, for which she won Oscars, as well as Elizabeth, Notes on a Scandal, I’m Not There and Carol.
Her star turn in Rumours is seen as the latest A-lister and auteur collaboration as Canadian indie film looks to break out into the global market with distribution and critical acclaim. Maddin’s latest...
- 10/5/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dreams! Visions! Madness!: Maddin & Johnson’s Extravagant Symphony of Silent Cinema Fantasia
Those familiar with the works of auteur Guy Maddin, sometimes referred to as the Canadian David Lynch, know to expect strange hybrids of silence film techniques mixed with zany weirdness that often reflect delightfully perverse and sometimes queer dynamics mixed in with its dashes of visual inventiveness and extreme narrative playfulness. While he still creates a healthy amount of short film projects and is involved with other installations in-between feature films, including several notable unions with actress Isabella Rossellini, who has starred in The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Keyhole (2011) and as narrator of the brilliant Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), his latest has been in gestation over a period of several years, at one point known as Seances and Spiritismes, and it was uncertain whether this would ever be a theatrical release. Known finally as The Forbidden Room,...
Those familiar with the works of auteur Guy Maddin, sometimes referred to as the Canadian David Lynch, know to expect strange hybrids of silence film techniques mixed with zany weirdness that often reflect delightfully perverse and sometimes queer dynamics mixed in with its dashes of visual inventiveness and extreme narrative playfulness. While he still creates a healthy amount of short film projects and is involved with other installations in-between feature films, including several notable unions with actress Isabella Rossellini, who has starred in The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Keyhole (2011) and as narrator of the brilliant Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), his latest has been in gestation over a period of several years, at one point known as Seances and Spiritismes, and it was uncertain whether this would ever be a theatrical release. Known finally as The Forbidden Room,...
- 10/9/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Imagine this. As you sit down in a full theater, the lights dim, curtain opens, and the projector strategically placed in the back of the room begins playing what you assume will be a relatively standard narrative feature film akin to the rest of the fall film slate. Oscar bait is on your mind, as all of a sudden, a prologue begins instructing the viewer on how to properly take a bath. Surreal, experimental, absurdest and delightfully childish, this is not the opening of the latest awards hopeful. Instead, this is how one of today’s greatest surreal auteurs has begun his latest masterpiece, one of 2015’s most dream-like, breathlessly original motion pictures.
Guy Maddin is at it once again with The Forbidden Room, a film beyond description. Opening with the aforementioned ode to proper hygiene, the film then shifts to what one could possibly describe as its central narrative,...
Guy Maddin is at it once again with The Forbidden Room, a film beyond description. Opening with the aforementioned ode to proper hygiene, the film then shifts to what one could possibly describe as its central narrative,...
- 10/6/2015
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin is poised to return to the big screen with his first feature since 2011.
Titled The Forbidden Room, Maddin takes on co-directing duties with fellow Winnipeg filmmaker Evan Johnson, with the two also collaborating on the screenplay with Robert Kotyk. Roy Dupuis, Charlotte Rampling, Mathieu Amalric, Caroline Dhavernas, and Udo Kier star in the film.
The movie’s synopsis is as follows.
A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that’s been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears.
While this is the first feature Maddin and Johnson have collaborated on, the duo have worked on four short films, all of which were released in 2014. Cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke, who worked with Lynn Shelton on her last three features,...
Titled The Forbidden Room, Maddin takes on co-directing duties with fellow Winnipeg filmmaker Evan Johnson, with the two also collaborating on the screenplay with Robert Kotyk. Roy Dupuis, Charlotte Rampling, Mathieu Amalric, Caroline Dhavernas, and Udo Kier star in the film.
The movie’s synopsis is as follows.
A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that’s been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears.
While this is the first feature Maddin and Johnson have collaborated on, the duo have worked on four short films, all of which were released in 2014. Cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke, who worked with Lynn Shelton on her last three features,...
- 9/9/2015
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
The celebrated Canadian director, Guy Maddin (Keyhole), is back with what is potentially his wildest, weirdest outing to date. It's called The Forbidden Room and we're in heaven!
Much more vivid and colourful than the last few Maddin outings, the world of The Forbidden Room is a technicolour wonder that plays with movie history.
Synopsis:
A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that's been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears.
The film, co-directed by Evan Johnson, [Continued ...]...
Much more vivid and colourful than the last few Maddin outings, the world of The Forbidden Room is a technicolour wonder that plays with movie history.
Synopsis:
A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that's been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears.
The film, co-directed by Evan Johnson, [Continued ...]...
- 9/8/2015
- QuietEarth.us
Jan Miller is a connector – and she loves doing it! Supporting producers around the world is in her DNA. After she invited us to speak at the second Strategic Partners in Halifax, (which she created and directed for 15 years), we would then meet Jan regularly in Cuba, Berlin and Cannes where she is a regular moderator at the Producers’ Network Breakfasts. Cartegena was also on her regular beat. She is in demand everywhere as a trainer for directors, writers and producers of pitching and content development as well as an international consultant, from regular events like Poland’s ScriptEast, to Guangzhou, Manaus, Capetown, Glasgow, Yellowknife and most recently, Tehran to name just a few of the more exotic locales.
After bringing the stars in alignment to launch Canada’s first national film school, the National Screen Institute and its highly regarded Features First and Drama Prize programs almost three decades ago, Jan moved from Canada’s west to the east coast where she launched Strategic Partners, Canada’s premiere international co-production market.
In Sp’s 10th year, Jan was approached by Nadja Radojevic of the The Erich Pommer Institut – Epi to partner on a brand new training concept Trans Atlantic Partners (Tap) where Jan Miller serves as its Head of Studies. Together they have developed the program in to one-of-a-kind training that brings together experienced producers from Europe, Canada and the U.S. with a team of Experts, to develop projects for international co-production and co-venturing. Tap is co-presented by the Erich Pommer Institut and the Canadian Media Production Association – Cmpa. Industry partners are Telefilm Canada and Canada Media Fund.
Always responding to the industry, Tap began with only European and Canadian involvement but both Nadja and Jan realized bringing U.S. indie producers into the mix would take the program to a whole other level. Each year, three additional producers from beyond these three ‘regions’ are also selected to participate in this two-module program.
The Tap 2015 line-up includes producers from India, Australia and Mexico. And now in its 7th year, Tap, responding to the industry needs, has opened its program to independent producers with international television series projects in development as well.
This year’s expert line-up of award winning producers include Belladonna’s René Bastian of Belladonna Productions whose film “ Cold in July” is directed by Jim Mickie, and whose newest film “Live Cargo” was presented at Ifp’s No Borders and Us in Progress this past month, K5’s Oliver Simon, Dynamic Television’s Klaus Zimmermann (“100 Code”, “Borgia”, “Death In Paradise”, “The Transporter”), international television consultant Lorri Faughan (“Pillars Of The Earth”), and Buffalo Gal’s Phyllis Laing, (“Aloft”, “Keyhole”, Heaven is for Real”) of Buffalo Gal Pictures, Canada, who was herself a Tap’er in its very first year.
Jan says that they often draw on previous Tap producer talent to come back as resources as so many have remarkable track records.
The Erich Pommer Institut of Germany is a leading training provider in the European media industry dealing with cutting-edge legal and economic topics. Nadja Radojevic, has recently moved into the CEO and Director of Training.
Epi was founded in 1998. Erich Pommer himself was the producer of “Metropolis” and “The Blue Angel”. He left Germany in the war and his grandson, Erich Pommer is a Los Angeles entertainment attorney. The Institute’s core business is advanced professional training in film and media. Aside from Trans Atlantic Partners which is held in Berlin in June and in Halifax in September post Tiff, Epi hosts a European TV Drama Series Lab following the American model with top showrunners and Scandinavian trainers. Now in its fourth edition - former editions featured Showrunners James Manos (“Sopranos”), Carol Flint (“West Wing”, “Emergency Room”), Frank Spotnitz (“The X-Files”), Simon Mirren (“Criminal Minds”) and Glen Mazzara of “Walking Dead” – David Semel, Executive Producer “Madam Secretary”, Co-Executive Producer “House MD” and Director of “The Man in the High Castle”, “Hannibal”, Hemlock Grove”, “Homeland”, “Heroes”will be trainer amongst others.
Epi also hosts Essential Legal Framework, a program consisting of three independent workshops for European professionals on negotiating, European coproduction and digital strategies. A national section for German speakers only, runs four hours a day with 20-30 seminars per year. Its focus is on media law and deals with television, film production, labor and tax revisions which – one of their best-selling seminars as there have recently been quite a lot of changes in tax law in Germany. Classes in film financing and film funding are also popular.
There is also a Copyright Policy Congress, Writers Room Simulation and other conventions featuring various current topics relevant to the media industry. In fall Epi is pioneering with Epi e:training starting with a course on European Co-Production. Epi e:training is offering crucial knowledge and business insights by top-level experts online – at your own pace and wherever and whenever you want. “We developed the online training program according to the demands of today’s media industry. It offers more flexibility and adapts to individual preferences," comments Nadja Radojevic. Epi is located at the historic Babelsberg Studios and can be found at www.epi-medieninstitut.de
Trans Atlantic Partners (Tap) is designed for experienced film and television producers from Europe, Canada and the U.S. including 3 additional seats for International producers. The 24 Tap 2015 producers below were selected by the Erich Pommer Institut (Epi) (Germany) and the Canadian Media Production Association (Cmpa) (Canada).
European Producers
-Simon Amberger, Germany (Producer, "Eastalgia", Molodist Int. Ff 2012, Tallinn Int. Ff 2013 | Producer, Blockbustaz, 2014, Winner ZDFneo TV Lab 2014 | Producer, Ada, 2014)
-Sebastien Aubert, France ("Patardzlebi" (Brides), 2014, Berlinale 2014, 3rd Audience Award)
-Rudolf Biermann, Czech Republic (Producer, "Kawasaki's Rose," 2009, Berlinale 2010, Ecumenical Award Panorama Section, Czech Lion 2010 | Executive Producer, "I Served the King of England," 2006, Berlinale 2006, Fipresci Critics Award | Producer, "Garden," 1995, Karlovy Vary Iff 1995, Jury Award)
-Jacqueline de Goeij, Belgium (Producer, "Allez, Eddy!," 2012, Chemnitz Ff, Main Prize & Diamant Award For Most Convincing Acting Performance Of A Child, Palm Springs Best of the Fest Selection | Producer, "Zus & Zo," 2002, Academy Awards, Nominee Best Foreign Language Film, Dutch Ff, Golden Calf Best Actor)
-Sylvia Günthner, Germany (Producer, "Bela Kiss: Prologue," 2013, Twisted Celluloid Ff Ireland 2013, Audi Festival of German Films Australia 2014)
-Martin Heisler, Germany (Producer, "Houston," 2013, Sundance Ff 2013, Independent Ff Boston 2013, Special Prize of the Jury | Producer "Forget Me Not," 2012, Ff Locarno, Settima Della Critica 2012, Best film | Producer "David Wants to Fly," 2010, Berlinale 2010)
-Rachel Lysaght, Ireland (Producer, "Patrick's Day," 2015, Ifta 2014, Best Script, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Sound | Producer, "One Million Dubliners," 2014, TV Award Sandford Saint Martin Trust, UK, Irish Ff Boston 2015, Director's Choice, Galway Film Fleadh Ireland 2014, Best Feature Documentary)
-Christof Neracher, Switzerland (Producer, "War" (Chrieg), 2014, San Sebastian Ff 2014, Max Ophüls 2014, Max Ophüls Prize | Producer Vitus, 2006, Shortlist Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film 2006, Berlinale 2006, AFI Fest 2006, Audience Award)
-Diarmid Scrimshaw, UK (Producer / Production Co., "Tyrannosaur," 2012, Sundance 2011, Best Director, Satellite Awards 2011, Best First Feature)
Canadian Producers
-Coral Aiken, Canada (Producer, Big Muddy, 2014, Toronto Iff 2014, Arizona Iff 2015 | Producer, "The People Garden")
-Patrick Banister, Canada (Executive Producer, "Bitten," 2014 | Executive Producer, "Whistler," 2006)
-John Barbisan, Canada (Executive Producer, "Bitten," 2014 | Executive Producer, "Whistler," 2006)
-Amy Belling, Canada (Producer / DoP / Cam Op / Post Supervisor, Songs She Wrote About People She Knows, 2014, Toronto Iff 2014, Santa Barbara Iff 2015 | Producer / DoP / Cam Op / Post Super, Stress Position, 2013, Sci Fi London 2013, Las Vegas Ff 2013, Best Cinematography / Best Supporting Actor)
-Isaac Clements, Canada (Senior Production Executive, "The Pinkertons," 2014-15 | Production Executive, "Sunnyside,"2014-15 | Associate Producer, "Silent Night," 2012)
-Jeff Kopas, Canada (Producer / Director / Writer, "An Insignificant Harvey," 2011, Busan Iff 2012, Audience Award)
-Linda Ludwick, Canada (Exec. Producer/Producer: "Mohawk Girls Season 2," 2014, Yorkton Ff 2015, Banff Media Festival 2015 | Exec. Producer/Producer, "Smoke Traders," 2012, Yorkton Ff 2013 | Exec. Producer/Producer, "Reel Injun," 2009, 3 Gemini awards 2010 | Exec. Producer/Producer, "Moose TV," 2006, "Cfpta" 2008)
-Robyn Wiener, Canada (Producer, "Numb," 2015 | Producer, "Black Fly," 2014, Viff 2014 , Marché du Film Telefilm Perspective Canada Cannes 2015| Co-Producer / Line Producer, "Lawrence & Holoman," 2013, "Viff" 2013, Best Director | Co-Producer / Line Producer, "American Mary," 2012, London Fright Ff 2012)
American Producers
-Mollye Asher, USA (Producer, "Fort Tilden," 2015, SXSW 2014 Grand Jury Prize | Producer, "She's Lost Control," Independent Spirit Award Nominee 2015, Berlinale 2014 | Producer, "Songs My Brother Taught Me," 2015, Sundance 2015, Cannes 2015)
-Diane Houslin, USA (Producer, "Yelling to the Sky," 2011)
-Tommy Oliver, USA (Producer, 1982, 2015, Toronto Ff 2013, Austin Ff 2013, Marquee Audience Award | Producer, "The Perfect Guy," 2015 | Producer, "Kinyarwanda," 2011, Sundance Ff 2011, World Audience Award, AFI Fest 2011, Audience Award)
-Riel Roch Decter, USA (Producer, "The Wait," 2014, South by Southwest 2013, Deauville 2013 | Producer, "Bottled Up," 2014, Tribeca Film Festival 2013 | Producer, "Life After Death from Above 1979," 2014.
International Producers
-Vivek Kajaria, India (Producer, "Fandry," 2014, Indian Ff of La 2014, Grand Jury Prize Best Film, Fipresci India 2014, Film Critic Award Best Indian Film 2013 | Presenter, "Anumati," 2013, National Film Award for Best Actor 2013, New York Indian Ff 2013, Best Film Award | Producer, "Siddhant," 2015, Mumbai 2014)
-Ozcar Ramirez Gonzalez, Mexico (Producer, "Ciclo," 2013, DocsDF 2012, Vancouver Latino Iff 2013, Audience Award | Producer, "The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man," 2013, Tokyo Iff 2011, La Iff 2012 | Producer, "Days of Grace," 2012, Cannes Iff 2011, Guadalajara Iff 2012, Best Director, Best Score, Press Award)
-Lisa Shaunessy, Australia (Executive Producer, "Killing Ground," 2016 | Co-Producer, "Black & White & Sex," 2012, Iff Rotterdam 2012, Sydney Ff 2011, Best Experimental Film | Producer, "Hipsters," Sbs Australia, 2015)
Who is Jan Miller and how did she arrange such an organization?
It’s in Jan’s nature to look for opportunities to support the individual filmmaker, her local industry and work internationally as well. Most recently Jan served as an international consultant for the Canadian Media Production Association helping to develop their international strategy and contributing to Cmpa led delegations to Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. In March she led a delegation of 18 production companies to the Hk Filmart for Creative BC and Cmpa BC.
Jan divides her time on Tap, on international contracts, on teaching and on Wift-at.
How do you see the place of women in the film industry?
Recognizing that there was a real need in Atlantic Canada for women to come together and support, celebrate and learn from each other in the industry, I started Women in Film and Television - Atlantic which I headed up as Founding Chair and architect for six years. During this time I was working with a remarkable team to launch Women Making Waves an annual Conference that brings in the best female talent to offer master classes, panels, conversations and networking opportunities to men and women in the industry. I continue as one of the organization’s primary resources and mentors. And most recently, strongly believing that women in the industry need to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills and business strategies, I worked with Mount Saint Vincent University’s Centre for Women in Business, to launch Wift-at’s first six month Advanced Management and Mentoring Program.
Can you explain your connection to the music business?
Close to a decade ago, I was approached by Canada’s vibrant east coast music industry to adapt my pitching workshop into a program that has become “export readiness for the music industry”... During this intensive workshop I work with artists, bands and managers to develop their communication and pitch skills to present their work to international music supervisors, festival programrs and tour managers in 1-2-1 meetings. It was a very steep learning curve, but I loved the challenge of redesigning her training to fit a new market.
Can you explain your connection to romance writers?
When the Music Export Readiness workshops took off, other disciplines began approaching me to ask if I could adapt her teaching for a workshop for Romance Writers wanting to pitch to potential film and TV producers and then theatre practitioners wanting to pitch their properties internationally. My un-designed career path came full circle!
How did you come into the film world?
I first came into the entertainment industry through my theatre troupe that performed clown and mask shows internationally for 10 years as one of Canada’s cultural calling cards. During this period I successfully auditioned for a short film and the seed was planted …
What do you do in Nova Scotia? (or What did you do?)
Amazingly I call home Nova Scotia. Living 40 feet from the ocean, I connect daily to the world and travel the world almost as often. I am an international resource for the local industry and mentor talent both for the short term and long term as the demand requires. My husband and I also breed standard poodles!
How would you sum up your “portfolio”?
I am an initiator, a passionate connector devoted to helping people do what they want to do well.
After bringing the stars in alignment to launch Canada’s first national film school, the National Screen Institute and its highly regarded Features First and Drama Prize programs almost three decades ago, Jan moved from Canada’s west to the east coast where she launched Strategic Partners, Canada’s premiere international co-production market.
In Sp’s 10th year, Jan was approached by Nadja Radojevic of the The Erich Pommer Institut – Epi to partner on a brand new training concept Trans Atlantic Partners (Tap) where Jan Miller serves as its Head of Studies. Together they have developed the program in to one-of-a-kind training that brings together experienced producers from Europe, Canada and the U.S. with a team of Experts, to develop projects for international co-production and co-venturing. Tap is co-presented by the Erich Pommer Institut and the Canadian Media Production Association – Cmpa. Industry partners are Telefilm Canada and Canada Media Fund.
Always responding to the industry, Tap began with only European and Canadian involvement but both Nadja and Jan realized bringing U.S. indie producers into the mix would take the program to a whole other level. Each year, three additional producers from beyond these three ‘regions’ are also selected to participate in this two-module program.
The Tap 2015 line-up includes producers from India, Australia and Mexico. And now in its 7th year, Tap, responding to the industry needs, has opened its program to independent producers with international television series projects in development as well.
This year’s expert line-up of award winning producers include Belladonna’s René Bastian of Belladonna Productions whose film “ Cold in July” is directed by Jim Mickie, and whose newest film “Live Cargo” was presented at Ifp’s No Borders and Us in Progress this past month, K5’s Oliver Simon, Dynamic Television’s Klaus Zimmermann (“100 Code”, “Borgia”, “Death In Paradise”, “The Transporter”), international television consultant Lorri Faughan (“Pillars Of The Earth”), and Buffalo Gal’s Phyllis Laing, (“Aloft”, “Keyhole”, Heaven is for Real”) of Buffalo Gal Pictures, Canada, who was herself a Tap’er in its very first year.
Jan says that they often draw on previous Tap producer talent to come back as resources as so many have remarkable track records.
The Erich Pommer Institut of Germany is a leading training provider in the European media industry dealing with cutting-edge legal and economic topics. Nadja Radojevic, has recently moved into the CEO and Director of Training.
Epi was founded in 1998. Erich Pommer himself was the producer of “Metropolis” and “The Blue Angel”. He left Germany in the war and his grandson, Erich Pommer is a Los Angeles entertainment attorney. The Institute’s core business is advanced professional training in film and media. Aside from Trans Atlantic Partners which is held in Berlin in June and in Halifax in September post Tiff, Epi hosts a European TV Drama Series Lab following the American model with top showrunners and Scandinavian trainers. Now in its fourth edition - former editions featured Showrunners James Manos (“Sopranos”), Carol Flint (“West Wing”, “Emergency Room”), Frank Spotnitz (“The X-Files”), Simon Mirren (“Criminal Minds”) and Glen Mazzara of “Walking Dead” – David Semel, Executive Producer “Madam Secretary”, Co-Executive Producer “House MD” and Director of “The Man in the High Castle”, “Hannibal”, Hemlock Grove”, “Homeland”, “Heroes”will be trainer amongst others.
Epi also hosts Essential Legal Framework, a program consisting of three independent workshops for European professionals on negotiating, European coproduction and digital strategies. A national section for German speakers only, runs four hours a day with 20-30 seminars per year. Its focus is on media law and deals with television, film production, labor and tax revisions which – one of their best-selling seminars as there have recently been quite a lot of changes in tax law in Germany. Classes in film financing and film funding are also popular.
There is also a Copyright Policy Congress, Writers Room Simulation and other conventions featuring various current topics relevant to the media industry. In fall Epi is pioneering with Epi e:training starting with a course on European Co-Production. Epi e:training is offering crucial knowledge and business insights by top-level experts online – at your own pace and wherever and whenever you want. “We developed the online training program according to the demands of today’s media industry. It offers more flexibility and adapts to individual preferences," comments Nadja Radojevic. Epi is located at the historic Babelsberg Studios and can be found at www.epi-medieninstitut.de
Trans Atlantic Partners (Tap) is designed for experienced film and television producers from Europe, Canada and the U.S. including 3 additional seats for International producers. The 24 Tap 2015 producers below were selected by the Erich Pommer Institut (Epi) (Germany) and the Canadian Media Production Association (Cmpa) (Canada).
European Producers
-Simon Amberger, Germany (Producer, "Eastalgia", Molodist Int. Ff 2012, Tallinn Int. Ff 2013 | Producer, Blockbustaz, 2014, Winner ZDFneo TV Lab 2014 | Producer, Ada, 2014)
-Sebastien Aubert, France ("Patardzlebi" (Brides), 2014, Berlinale 2014, 3rd Audience Award)
-Rudolf Biermann, Czech Republic (Producer, "Kawasaki's Rose," 2009, Berlinale 2010, Ecumenical Award Panorama Section, Czech Lion 2010 | Executive Producer, "I Served the King of England," 2006, Berlinale 2006, Fipresci Critics Award | Producer, "Garden," 1995, Karlovy Vary Iff 1995, Jury Award)
-Jacqueline de Goeij, Belgium (Producer, "Allez, Eddy!," 2012, Chemnitz Ff, Main Prize & Diamant Award For Most Convincing Acting Performance Of A Child, Palm Springs Best of the Fest Selection | Producer, "Zus & Zo," 2002, Academy Awards, Nominee Best Foreign Language Film, Dutch Ff, Golden Calf Best Actor)
-Sylvia Günthner, Germany (Producer, "Bela Kiss: Prologue," 2013, Twisted Celluloid Ff Ireland 2013, Audi Festival of German Films Australia 2014)
-Martin Heisler, Germany (Producer, "Houston," 2013, Sundance Ff 2013, Independent Ff Boston 2013, Special Prize of the Jury | Producer "Forget Me Not," 2012, Ff Locarno, Settima Della Critica 2012, Best film | Producer "David Wants to Fly," 2010, Berlinale 2010)
-Rachel Lysaght, Ireland (Producer, "Patrick's Day," 2015, Ifta 2014, Best Script, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Sound | Producer, "One Million Dubliners," 2014, TV Award Sandford Saint Martin Trust, UK, Irish Ff Boston 2015, Director's Choice, Galway Film Fleadh Ireland 2014, Best Feature Documentary)
-Christof Neracher, Switzerland (Producer, "War" (Chrieg), 2014, San Sebastian Ff 2014, Max Ophüls 2014, Max Ophüls Prize | Producer Vitus, 2006, Shortlist Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film 2006, Berlinale 2006, AFI Fest 2006, Audience Award)
-Diarmid Scrimshaw, UK (Producer / Production Co., "Tyrannosaur," 2012, Sundance 2011, Best Director, Satellite Awards 2011, Best First Feature)
Canadian Producers
-Coral Aiken, Canada (Producer, Big Muddy, 2014, Toronto Iff 2014, Arizona Iff 2015 | Producer, "The People Garden")
-Patrick Banister, Canada (Executive Producer, "Bitten," 2014 | Executive Producer, "Whistler," 2006)
-John Barbisan, Canada (Executive Producer, "Bitten," 2014 | Executive Producer, "Whistler," 2006)
-Amy Belling, Canada (Producer / DoP / Cam Op / Post Supervisor, Songs She Wrote About People She Knows, 2014, Toronto Iff 2014, Santa Barbara Iff 2015 | Producer / DoP / Cam Op / Post Super, Stress Position, 2013, Sci Fi London 2013, Las Vegas Ff 2013, Best Cinematography / Best Supporting Actor)
-Isaac Clements, Canada (Senior Production Executive, "The Pinkertons," 2014-15 | Production Executive, "Sunnyside,"2014-15 | Associate Producer, "Silent Night," 2012)
-Jeff Kopas, Canada (Producer / Director / Writer, "An Insignificant Harvey," 2011, Busan Iff 2012, Audience Award)
-Linda Ludwick, Canada (Exec. Producer/Producer: "Mohawk Girls Season 2," 2014, Yorkton Ff 2015, Banff Media Festival 2015 | Exec. Producer/Producer, "Smoke Traders," 2012, Yorkton Ff 2013 | Exec. Producer/Producer, "Reel Injun," 2009, 3 Gemini awards 2010 | Exec. Producer/Producer, "Moose TV," 2006, "Cfpta" 2008)
-Robyn Wiener, Canada (Producer, "Numb," 2015 | Producer, "Black Fly," 2014, Viff 2014 , Marché du Film Telefilm Perspective Canada Cannes 2015| Co-Producer / Line Producer, "Lawrence & Holoman," 2013, "Viff" 2013, Best Director | Co-Producer / Line Producer, "American Mary," 2012, London Fright Ff 2012)
American Producers
-Mollye Asher, USA (Producer, "Fort Tilden," 2015, SXSW 2014 Grand Jury Prize | Producer, "She's Lost Control," Independent Spirit Award Nominee 2015, Berlinale 2014 | Producer, "Songs My Brother Taught Me," 2015, Sundance 2015, Cannes 2015)
-Diane Houslin, USA (Producer, "Yelling to the Sky," 2011)
-Tommy Oliver, USA (Producer, 1982, 2015, Toronto Ff 2013, Austin Ff 2013, Marquee Audience Award | Producer, "The Perfect Guy," 2015 | Producer, "Kinyarwanda," 2011, Sundance Ff 2011, World Audience Award, AFI Fest 2011, Audience Award)
-Riel Roch Decter, USA (Producer, "The Wait," 2014, South by Southwest 2013, Deauville 2013 | Producer, "Bottled Up," 2014, Tribeca Film Festival 2013 | Producer, "Life After Death from Above 1979," 2014.
International Producers
-Vivek Kajaria, India (Producer, "Fandry," 2014, Indian Ff of La 2014, Grand Jury Prize Best Film, Fipresci India 2014, Film Critic Award Best Indian Film 2013 | Presenter, "Anumati," 2013, National Film Award for Best Actor 2013, New York Indian Ff 2013, Best Film Award | Producer, "Siddhant," 2015, Mumbai 2014)
-Ozcar Ramirez Gonzalez, Mexico (Producer, "Ciclo," 2013, DocsDF 2012, Vancouver Latino Iff 2013, Audience Award | Producer, "The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man," 2013, Tokyo Iff 2011, La Iff 2012 | Producer, "Days of Grace," 2012, Cannes Iff 2011, Guadalajara Iff 2012, Best Director, Best Score, Press Award)
-Lisa Shaunessy, Australia (Executive Producer, "Killing Ground," 2016 | Co-Producer, "Black & White & Sex," 2012, Iff Rotterdam 2012, Sydney Ff 2011, Best Experimental Film | Producer, "Hipsters," Sbs Australia, 2015)
Who is Jan Miller and how did she arrange such an organization?
It’s in Jan’s nature to look for opportunities to support the individual filmmaker, her local industry and work internationally as well. Most recently Jan served as an international consultant for the Canadian Media Production Association helping to develop their international strategy and contributing to Cmpa led delegations to Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. In March she led a delegation of 18 production companies to the Hk Filmart for Creative BC and Cmpa BC.
Jan divides her time on Tap, on international contracts, on teaching and on Wift-at.
How do you see the place of women in the film industry?
Recognizing that there was a real need in Atlantic Canada for women to come together and support, celebrate and learn from each other in the industry, I started Women in Film and Television - Atlantic which I headed up as Founding Chair and architect for six years. During this time I was working with a remarkable team to launch Women Making Waves an annual Conference that brings in the best female talent to offer master classes, panels, conversations and networking opportunities to men and women in the industry. I continue as one of the organization’s primary resources and mentors. And most recently, strongly believing that women in the industry need to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills and business strategies, I worked with Mount Saint Vincent University’s Centre for Women in Business, to launch Wift-at’s first six month Advanced Management and Mentoring Program.
Can you explain your connection to the music business?
Close to a decade ago, I was approached by Canada’s vibrant east coast music industry to adapt my pitching workshop into a program that has become “export readiness for the music industry”... During this intensive workshop I work with artists, bands and managers to develop their communication and pitch skills to present their work to international music supervisors, festival programrs and tour managers in 1-2-1 meetings. It was a very steep learning curve, but I loved the challenge of redesigning her training to fit a new market.
Can you explain your connection to romance writers?
When the Music Export Readiness workshops took off, other disciplines began approaching me to ask if I could adapt her teaching for a workshop for Romance Writers wanting to pitch to potential film and TV producers and then theatre practitioners wanting to pitch their properties internationally. My un-designed career path came full circle!
How did you come into the film world?
I first came into the entertainment industry through my theatre troupe that performed clown and mask shows internationally for 10 years as one of Canada’s cultural calling cards. During this period I successfully auditioned for a short film and the seed was planted …
What do you do in Nova Scotia? (or What did you do?)
Amazingly I call home Nova Scotia. Living 40 feet from the ocean, I connect daily to the world and travel the world almost as often. I am an international resource for the local industry and mentor talent both for the short term and long term as the demand requires. My husband and I also breed standard poodles!
How would you sum up your “portfolio”?
I am an initiator, a passionate connector devoted to helping people do what they want to do well.
- 6/22/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Albert Maysles at Simon Trevor's White Gold premiere at MoMA Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Documentary filmmakers Morgan Neville (2014 Oscar winner for 20 Feet From Stardom), Fabien Constant (Mademoiselle C), Varon Bonicos (A Man's Story) and Keyhole director Guy Maddin share their thoughts on the passing of the great documentarian Albert Maysles at the age of 88, Thursday, March 5, in New York City.
Author and journalist Gay Talese on an American Assignment for the New York Times in Selma, Alabama, sent a note, upon hearing the news, from the place where Gay had covered the civil rights march and "Bloody Sunday" 50 years ago.
Albert Maysles with Iris Apfel, the subject of his film Iris
Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer wrote "…this is very sad to lose a master of Cinema. We are playing his last film in the Tribeca [World Documentary] Competition,..." In Transit, co-directed by Maysles with Nelson Walker, Lynn True, David Usui,...
Documentary filmmakers Morgan Neville (2014 Oscar winner for 20 Feet From Stardom), Fabien Constant (Mademoiselle C), Varon Bonicos (A Man's Story) and Keyhole director Guy Maddin share their thoughts on the passing of the great documentarian Albert Maysles at the age of 88, Thursday, March 5, in New York City.
Author and journalist Gay Talese on an American Assignment for the New York Times in Selma, Alabama, sent a note, upon hearing the news, from the place where Gay had covered the civil rights march and "Bloody Sunday" 50 years ago.
Albert Maysles with Iris Apfel, the subject of his film Iris
Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer wrote "…this is very sad to lose a master of Cinema. We are playing his last film in the Tribeca [World Documentary] Competition,..." In Transit, co-directed by Maysles with Nelson Walker, Lynn True, David Usui,...
- 3/7/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Above: The music video for "Suit & Tie".
Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie" video—which premiered online way back in February—is part retro menswear fantasy, part razzle-dazzle tech demo. Directed by David Fincher and photographed by Matthew Libatique, "Suit & Tie" was the first widely-seen work to have been shot on Red's Epic Monochrome, a sensor that only images in black & white.
The Monochrome isn't the first dedicated black & white sensor. Sweden's Ikonoskop introduced one—called, no joke, the A-Cam dll Panchromatic Carl Th. Dreyer Edition—last year. The Monochrome does, however, have the distinction of being 5K—about as high-end as you can get. It represents the cutting edge of anachronism.
Last year, the Academy Award for Best Picture went to a black & white film—The Artist. Additionally, at least five major 2012 arthouse releases were in black & white: Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives, Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse,...
Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie" video—which premiered online way back in February—is part retro menswear fantasy, part razzle-dazzle tech demo. Directed by David Fincher and photographed by Matthew Libatique, "Suit & Tie" was the first widely-seen work to have been shot on Red's Epic Monochrome, a sensor that only images in black & white.
The Monochrome isn't the first dedicated black & white sensor. Sweden's Ikonoskop introduced one—called, no joke, the A-Cam dll Panchromatic Carl Th. Dreyer Edition—last year. The Monochrome does, however, have the distinction of being 5K—about as high-end as you can get. It represents the cutting edge of anachronism.
Last year, the Academy Award for Best Picture went to a black & white film—The Artist. Additionally, at least five major 2012 arthouse releases were in black & white: Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives, Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse,...
- 11/8/2013
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- MUBI
Keyhole's master locksmith Guy Maddin's Séances or Spiritismes project, the incomparable resurrection of 100 unfinished, abandoned, and lost silent films began on February 22, 2012 at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. He directed 18 short films in front of a live audience with an alluring cast that included Charlotte Rampling, Geraldine Chaplin, Maria de Medeiros, Mathieu Demy, Udo Kier, and Mathieu Amalric. Luce Vigo, daughter of Jean Vigo acted in Lines Of The Hand, the spirited channeling of her father's unrealised movie. The filming of the Parisian leg concluded 20 days later on March 12.
Guy Maddin's Séances at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Another 12 short films in 13 days are in the process of coming to life at the Phi Centre, Montréal right now till July 20. The installation will eventually be transformed also into a film and an interactive work. The public is invited to attend these séances of "cinematic spiritualism".
In response to.
Guy Maddin's Séances at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Another 12 short films in 13 days are in the process of coming to life at the Phi Centre, Montréal right now till July 20. The installation will eventually be transformed also into a film and an interactive work. The public is invited to attend these séances of "cinematic spiritualism".
In response to.
- 7/12/2013
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Writer/director Chad Hartigan's second feature (after 2008's "Luke and Brie are on a First Date") "This is Martin Bonner" received plenty of attention at Sundance this year, where it won the Audience Award for Best of Next. Starring Paul Eenhoom and Richmond Arquette (whose performances were praised), the film follows the titular character (Eenhoom), a 50-something man who moves to Reno and takes a job helping transition newly released prisoners back into the real world. Arquette plays one such prisoner, who soon forms a tight bond with Bonner. Read More: 'This is Martin Bonner' Director Chad Hartigan, Winner of Best of Next Monterey Media, who of late have handled such notable films as Guy Maddin's "Keyhole" and Monte Hellman's "Road to Nowhere," just announced that it's acquired the film, with plans for a late summer theatrical distribution before an awards-season push attempt in the fall.
- 2/28/2013
- by Mark Lukenbill
- Indiewire
Anna Karenina; Taken 2; Keyhole; Hotel Transylvania; Barbara
After a sojourn away from the somewhat staid literary adaptations (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) with which he made his name, Joe Wright returns to another classic text, clearly invigorated by the audience-pleasing lessons learned on the somewhat sentimental The Soloist and the full-on action-romp Hanna. For all its flaws, his adaptation of Anna Karenina (2012, Universal, 12) is a laudably full-throttle affair, packed with unembarrassed flourishes of Russellian visual invention, theatrical daring and even dance.
Using a proscenium arch device to circumvent the problems and/or expenses of location shooting, Wright's rendering of a well-worn but still thorny narrative boasts splendidly fluid cinematography by Seamus McGarvey, a swoony score from Dario Marianelli, and an especially fine turn from Jude Law as Anna's unloved husband. That the film itself should be perhaps more cerebrally impressive than emotionally engaging is partly a result of Anna's frosty...
After a sojourn away from the somewhat staid literary adaptations (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) with which he made his name, Joe Wright returns to another classic text, clearly invigorated by the audience-pleasing lessons learned on the somewhat sentimental The Soloist and the full-on action-romp Hanna. For all its flaws, his adaptation of Anna Karenina (2012, Universal, 12) is a laudably full-throttle affair, packed with unembarrassed flourishes of Russellian visual invention, theatrical daring and even dance.
Using a proscenium arch device to circumvent the problems and/or expenses of location shooting, Wright's rendering of a well-worn but still thorny narrative boasts splendidly fluid cinematography by Seamus McGarvey, a swoony score from Dario Marianelli, and an especially fine turn from Jude Law as Anna's unloved husband. That the film itself should be perhaps more cerebrally impressive than emotionally engaging is partly a result of Anna's frosty...
- 2/3/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
This week’s Must Read is a rarity: Underground icon Damon Packard being interviewed in a major newspaper, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, on the occasion of his genius new film Foxfur screening at Craig Baldwin’s Other Cinema last night.And, you know it, it’s also not every day an underground film is profiled in the New York Times, so super congrats to director Adam Rehmeier and particularly Rodleen Getsic for this Nyt piece about the controversial nature of their The Bunny Game.Here’s a new “Must Bookmark” blog: A movie journal site by Melanie Wilmink, formerly of the $100 Film Festival, where she now hopes to open up discussion generated by indie films — and she’s doing a fantastic job so far!Also to bookmark: Eric Krasner has a blog regarding his in-progress documentary on legendary Yiddish comedian Mickey Katz.The Huffington Post reports on the totally...
- 9/16/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The independent Canadian movie-maker Guy Maddin has been ploughing his own avant-garde furrow out there in Winnipeg for some years now, and rarely more weirdly than in this parodic thriller about a gangster taking over a middle-class, midwestern household at some uncertain time in the 1930s or 40s. Specifically it invokes three Bogart classics – The Petrified Forest, Key Largo, The Desperate Hours – with twists: first the antihero is called Ulysses Pick and this is a version of the homecoming in The Odyssey; second, the house is haunted, and half the characters are ghosts. Shot in black-and-white, Keyhole is a genuine curiosity, rather less interesting perhaps than I've made it sound, and an example of that narrow sub-genre, whimsical noir.
DramaIsabella RosselliniPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
DramaIsabella RosselliniPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 9/15/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The Sweeney (15)
(Nick Love, 2012, UK) Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Hayley Atwell, Damian Lewis, 112 mins
The original TV cop show has been so updated here, it barely registers as the same product. But for all the steely modern cityscapes and pulsating action, this a 21st century cop thriller with 1970s values, both in terms of its shouty, louty, rule-bending lawmen (Winstone is a parody of himself) and its "hand in your badge" cop-movie cliches. And as for political correctness – leave it aaaaht!
Premium Rush (12A)
(David Koepp, 2012, Us) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Michael Shannon. 91 mins
This zippy-chase thriller puts you in the saddle of an ace New York cycle courier, seeking to deliver a mystery package that everyone's after. It's a carbon-neutral Speed.
To Rome With Love (12A)
(Woody Allen, 2012, Us/Ita/Spa) Jesse Eisenberg, Penélope Cruz, 112 mins
After the blip of Midnight In Paris, it's back to the usual late-period...
(Nick Love, 2012, UK) Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Hayley Atwell, Damian Lewis, 112 mins
The original TV cop show has been so updated here, it barely registers as the same product. But for all the steely modern cityscapes and pulsating action, this a 21st century cop thriller with 1970s values, both in terms of its shouty, louty, rule-bending lawmen (Winstone is a parody of himself) and its "hand in your badge" cop-movie cliches. And as for political correctness – leave it aaaaht!
Premium Rush (12A)
(David Koepp, 2012, Us) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Michael Shannon. 91 mins
This zippy-chase thriller puts you in the saddle of an ace New York cycle courier, seeking to deliver a mystery package that everyone's after. It's a carbon-neutral Speed.
To Rome With Love (12A)
(Woody Allen, 2012, Us/Ita/Spa) Jesse Eisenberg, Penélope Cruz, 112 mins
After the blip of Midnight In Paris, it's back to the usual late-period...
- 9/14/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
★★☆☆☆ A super stylised, visually evocative ode to good ol' bricks and mortar from experimental Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin, Keyhole (2011) is a difficult film to truly get a grasp of due to its myriad of textual influences. Part-Homer's The Odyssey, part-Shock Corridor (1963), part-supernatural drama, Maddin's monochrome mystery both confounded and astounded critics at Toronto and Berlin, but still arguably remains slightly less than the sum of its parts. Read more »...
- 9/13/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Anna Karenina (12A)
(Joe Wright, 2012, UK/Fra) Keira Knightley, Kelly Macdonald, Jude Law, 130 mins
Bringing period drama up-to-date, Wright's radical reinterpretation of Tolstoy's tragedy stages the action almost entirely in a theatre – backstage areas, red curtains and all. It's a smart framing device for the Imperial Russia on display, even if the stylisation puts emotion at a slight remove, not helped by the love-or-loathe leads. But it's still a sight to behold, with rich colours, doll's-house sets and costumes to die for (spoiler alert!).
Dredd (18)
(Pete Travis, 2012, UK) Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Rakie Ayola. 95 mins
Aiming to please old 2000Ad fans rather than convert new ones, this post-apocalyptic sci-fi has all the violent justice and jutting-chin action you'd want, with some visual flourishes to make up for a straightahead plot.
Lawless (18)
(John Hillcoat, 2012, Us) Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Guy Pearce. 116 mins
Cops, gangsters and a family of moonshine...
(Joe Wright, 2012, UK/Fra) Keira Knightley, Kelly Macdonald, Jude Law, 130 mins
Bringing period drama up-to-date, Wright's radical reinterpretation of Tolstoy's tragedy stages the action almost entirely in a theatre – backstage areas, red curtains and all. It's a smart framing device for the Imperial Russia on display, even if the stylisation puts emotion at a slight remove, not helped by the love-or-loathe leads. But it's still a sight to behold, with rich colours, doll's-house sets and costumes to die for (spoiler alert!).
Dredd (18)
(Pete Travis, 2012, UK) Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Rakie Ayola. 95 mins
Aiming to please old 2000Ad fans rather than convert new ones, this post-apocalyptic sci-fi has all the violent justice and jutting-chin action you'd want, with some visual flourishes to make up for a straightahead plot.
Lawless (18)
(John Hillcoat, 2012, Us) Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Guy Pearce. 116 mins
Cops, gangsters and a family of moonshine...
- 9/7/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The avant-garde director's new film is a woozy homage to Homer and gangster movies. He explains his vision
Even with a new film to sell, Guy Maddin is not your standard-issue eager-to-please director. "So many people are baffled," he says, with well-practised irony. "The movie will be crystal-clear upon your third viewing." This is Keyhole, Maddin's ninth full-length film since 1988; and against all the odds it's secured a theatrical release in the UK. Most of Maddin's work simply doesn't get to Britain, so resolutely has he followed his own path.
If you know him at all, it is probably for his ballet film Dracula: Pages from a Virgin Diary, or just possibly My Winnipeg, his heartfelt docu-essay tribute to his Canadian hometown. More energetic cineastes may remember 2003's The Saddest Music in the World, Maddin's most determined shot at the mainstream, an elaborate parody musical starring Isabella Rossellini. The...
Even with a new film to sell, Guy Maddin is not your standard-issue eager-to-please director. "So many people are baffled," he says, with well-practised irony. "The movie will be crystal-clear upon your third viewing." This is Keyhole, Maddin's ninth full-length film since 1988; and against all the odds it's secured a theatrical release in the UK. Most of Maddin's work simply doesn't get to Britain, so resolutely has he followed his own path.
If you know him at all, it is probably for his ballet film Dracula: Pages from a Virgin Diary, or just possibly My Winnipeg, his heartfelt docu-essay tribute to his Canadian hometown. More energetic cineastes may remember 2003's The Saddest Music in the World, Maddin's most determined shot at the mainstream, an elaborate parody musical starring Isabella Rossellini. The...
- 8/30/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
The 6th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival is taking over all three screens of the Factory Theatre for a blow-out four-day event on Sept. 6-9.
Making it’s World Premiere at the fest on the 8th is the highly anticipated President Wolfman, the latest “green movie” by director Mike Davis that he’s cobbled together from public domain footage and feature films and set to an outrageous new soundtrack. The film looks like it promises to be a rollicking good time.
Other highlights of the fest include Guy Maddin‘s latest trippy film noir, Keyhole, about a mobster revisiting his homestead’s old memories; Bob Ray‘s documentary about Austin, Texas’ homegrown Total Badass; Bobcat Goldthwait’s media takedown God Bless America; Michal Kosakowski’s underground murder fantasy documentary hit Zero Killed; Richard Griffin’s funky The Disco Exorcist; and more.
Some of the extra special events of the fest...
Making it’s World Premiere at the fest on the 8th is the highly anticipated President Wolfman, the latest “green movie” by director Mike Davis that he’s cobbled together from public domain footage and feature films and set to an outrageous new soundtrack. The film looks like it promises to be a rollicking good time.
Other highlights of the fest include Guy Maddin‘s latest trippy film noir, Keyhole, about a mobster revisiting his homestead’s old memories; Bob Ray‘s documentary about Austin, Texas’ homegrown Total Badass; Bobcat Goldthwait’s media takedown God Bless America; Michal Kosakowski’s underground murder fantasy documentary hit Zero Killed; Richard Griffin’s funky The Disco Exorcist; and more.
Some of the extra special events of the fest...
- 8/30/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Since I skipped a links post last week due to other projects taking up my weekend, some of these are from awhile ago, but very, very worthy of a click:
Once again for this week’s Must Read, Mark Toscano has another amazing film restoration post up, this time discussing restoring two films by Will Hindle, Pastorale d’Ete (1959) and Later That Same Night (1971). This is an important article because, as Mark notes, Hindle’s place in the underground universe has been on a bit of a slide the past few years.If you’re interested in accurately archiving Shaw Brothers movie releases, then Temple of Schlock has the ultimate post for you.This interview on Experimental Cinema with German filmmaker Klaus Wyborny goes into fascinating depth on his theories of film construction.San Francisco’s Artists Television Access interviewed Chicago filmmaker/curator Amir George on his touring program called “Watch This!
Once again for this week’s Must Read, Mark Toscano has another amazing film restoration post up, this time discussing restoring two films by Will Hindle, Pastorale d’Ete (1959) and Later That Same Night (1971). This is an important article because, as Mark notes, Hindle’s place in the underground universe has been on a bit of a slide the past few years.If you’re interested in accurately archiving Shaw Brothers movie releases, then Temple of Schlock has the ultimate post for you.This interview on Experimental Cinema with German filmmaker Klaus Wyborny goes into fascinating depth on his theories of film construction.San Francisco’s Artists Television Access interviewed Chicago filmmaker/curator Amir George on his touring program called “Watch This!
- 8/26/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 45th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia will be held from October 4-14, 2012. We already know that The Body, by debut director Oriol Paulo, is opening the fest, and now word has come as to several of the other films that will be shown. Some may not be pure horror, but we're including everything here so you'll be 100% in the know.
From the Press Release:
Catalan cinema will be one of the stars in the Festival’s Official Selection, with two films that will be going in for the María Award for Best Motion Picture, the Festival’s main prize, based on the popular robotic character from Fritz Lang’s classic Metropolis. The first is Painless, Juan Carlos Medina’s first feature film, a passionate fantastic fable that takes root in the Spanish Civil war and stars Alex Brendemühl. The second film is El Bosc, based on a...
From the Press Release:
Catalan cinema will be one of the stars in the Festival’s Official Selection, with two films that will be going in for the María Award for Best Motion Picture, the Festival’s main prize, based on the popular robotic character from Fritz Lang’s classic Metropolis. The first is Painless, Juan Carlos Medina’s first feature film, a passionate fantastic fable that takes root in the Spanish Civil war and stars Alex Brendemühl. The second film is El Bosc, based on a...
- 6/27/2012
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Moviefone's New Release Pick of the Week "The Fp" What's It About? In a hyper-ridiculous society that bares a few similarities to our own, a mysterious eye-patch-wearing hero battles evil gang leaders in "Dance, Dance Revolution"-style combat where only one man walks away. See It Because: Is it cheesy? Absolutely. Is it technically good? Not really. But an over-the-top midnight movie like this is perfect for a get-together with friends. Moviefone's Blu-ray Pick of the Week "Evita," "Newsies," and "Sister Act 1" & "2" Anniversary Editions What's It About? They were crowd-pleasers then, and they're crowd-pleasers now; four musical hits from the '90s are already eligible for "Anniversary editions." See It Because: They're entertaining as hell. (Also, did we mention you could win all four for free in our giveaway?) New on DVD & Blu-ray "And Everything is Going Fine" (Criterion Collection) What's It About? Steven Soderbergh's documentary of Spalding Gray,...
- 6/18/2012
- by Eric Larnick
- Moviefone
TorontoFilm.Net reports that actor Jake Gyllenhaal will star, beginning next week, in the 'doppelganger' movie "An Enemy" for director Denis Villeneuve. The film adapts a novel by author José Saramago, that was inspired by author Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella "The Double".
Gyllenhaal will portray a history teacher "...whose life is thrown off the rails when he discovers a man that appears to be his exact double physically, living nearby..."
Also starring are Isabella Rossellini ("Keyhole"), Mélanie Laurent ("Inglourious Basterds") and Sarah Gadon ("Cosmopolis").
The film starts shooting in Toronto towards late May 2012, with a release scheduled for 2013.
Click the images to enlarge...
Gyllenhaal will portray a history teacher "...whose life is thrown off the rails when he discovers a man that appears to be his exact double physically, living nearby..."
Also starring are Isabella Rossellini ("Keyhole"), Mélanie Laurent ("Inglourious Basterds") and Sarah Gadon ("Cosmopolis").
The film starts shooting in Toronto towards late May 2012, with a release scheduled for 2013.
Click the images to enlarge...
- 5/14/2012
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Last year Jake Gyllenhaal showed us a more mind-bending side to the thriller genre with Duncan Jones' time-travel mystery Source Code, and next he'll tackle a tale of doppelgangers with Denis Villeneuve's An Enemy. Based on the José Saramago book inspired by the Fyodor Dostoevsky novella The Double, the film will star Gyllenhaal as a history teacher whose life is thrown off the rails when he discovers a man that appears to be his exact double physically, living nearby. With a knack for intensity and an everyman quality, Gyllenhaal is a solid base on which to build the cast, and Deadline reports Villeneuve is bringing in some international stars to add even more panache to his ensemble. Isabella Rossellini (Keyhole), Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) and Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis) have all signed on to play supporting roles in the feature, though no specifics on their parts have been released.
- 5/14/2012
- cinemablend.com
I can't remember a time I went to the Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) press launch and looked over the list of films and saw so many I was interested in seeing. The claim to fame for over the years is to call it the largest and most-highly attended festival in the United States. This is a fact I've often taken issue with as I don't equate quantity with quality. Granted, there has been a large number of quality features to play the fest over the years, including Golden Space Needle (Best Film) winners such as Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), My Life as a Dog (1987), Trainspotting (1996), Run Lola Run (1999), Whale Rider (2003) and even recent Best Director winner, Michel Hazanavicius's Oss 117: Nest of Spies in 2006. That said, looking over this year's crop of films I see a lot of films I will be doing my absolute best to see.
- 4/27/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Title: Keyhole Director: Guy Maddin Starring: Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini, Louis Negin, Brooke Palsson, Udo Kier Canadian auteur Guy Maddin — he of the black-and-white art film — attempts to give genre a bit of a nominal spin in much the same way that Lars von Trier did last year with “Melancholia.” His stab at the cops-and-robbers template arrives in the form of ”Keyhole,” a kind of quarter-hearted siege/stand-off film cross-pollinated with psychological melodrama, and a heavy side of metaphorical import. The result, while characteristically full of some beautiful and evocative images, seems doggedly intent on achieving art status through obfuscation. Jason Patric stars as Ulysses, an on-the-lam criminal holed up with his gang inside [ Read More ]...
- 4/17/2012
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Decades before “The Artist,” Canadian director Guy Maddin was mining the look, feel and sound of silent cinema and early talkies for his stylish and provocative films. When “Grindhouse” directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino were deliberately putting scratches and missing frames into their film to make it look like an old print from the 1970s, they were picking up tricks that Maddin was doing back in the ’90s with early films like “Careful” and “Archangel.” Maddin’s new film “Keyhole” reminds us that his aesthetic owes as much to David Lynch...
- 4/6/2012
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
So “The Hunger Games” is still doing quite well, “Wrath of the Titans” is performing tolerably, but looking to ripple the waters this weekend is the behemoth of behemoth blockbuster movies, “Titanic (in 3D),” which (re)opened on Wednesday. It will again make James Cameron a boatload of money (Ha) so he can buy another submarine or whatever he uses his money for. Not a bad life, Cameron, not bad at all. Oh, and some other movies opened as well, in the event that you’re in the mood for something other than a large-budget epic with sick CGI. Thrillers, indie comedies, and dramedies set in Vatican City abound this week: sit back, relax, and “never let go, Jack.” (I'm so sorry for that. I just couldn’t resist.)
As summer creeps closer, so do the blockbusters, and “American Reunion,” fourth in the “American Pie” series, is here to help ring in the season.
As summer creeps closer, so do the blockbusters, and “American Reunion,” fourth in the “American Pie” series, is here to help ring in the season.
- 4/6/2012
- by Emma Bernstein
- The Playlist
Guy Maddin's surreal black-and-white noir "Keyhole" hits theaters today with the same grand pastiche we've come to expect from the Canadian director over the years. As Indiewire explored in a piece earlier this week, Maddin's movies aren't simply filled with random weirdness, but rather inspired by countless movies from the silent era and beyond. In honor of Maddin's persistent ability to deal with cinema in his own works, we offer this list of some of our favorite movies about movies. Guy Maddin's surreal black-and-white noir "Keyhole" hits theaters today with the same grand pastiche we've come to expect from the Canadian director over the years. As Indiewire explored in a piece earlier this week, Maddin's movies aren't simply filled with random weirdness, but rather inspired by countless movies from the silent era and beyond. In honor of Maddin's persistent ability to deal...
- 4/6/2012
- by Austin Dale, Steve Greene, Peter Knegt, Eric Kohn, and Nigel M. Smith
- Indiewire
Trailer and Poster for Keyhole, starring Jason Patric. Monterey Media's thriller/drama which was seen at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, finds theaters today. Guy Maddin helms from a script he wrote alongside George Toles. Also starring are Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner, Louis Negin, Kevin McDonald, Daniel Enright, Olivia Rameau, Tattiawna Jones, Johnny Chang and Darcy Fehr. In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence tow-ing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journey-ing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. The equilibrium of the house has been disturbed and his odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour,...
- 4/6/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Trailer and Poster for Keyhole, starring Jason Patric. Monterey Media's thriller/drama which was seen at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, finds theaters today. Guy Maddin helms from a script he wrote alongside George Toles. Also starring are Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner, Louis Negin, Kevin McDonald, Daniel Enright, Olivia Rameau, Tattiawna Jones, Johnny Chang and Darcy Fehr. In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence tow-ing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journey-ing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. The equilibrium of the house has been disturbed and his odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour,...
- 4/6/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Trailer and Poster for Keyhole, starring Jason Patric. Monterey Media's thriller/drama which was seen at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, finds theaters today. Guy Maddin helms from a script he wrote alongside George Toles. Also starring are Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner, Louis Negin, Kevin McDonald, Daniel Enright, Olivia Rameau, Tattiawna Jones, Johnny Chang and Darcy Fehr. In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence tow-ing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journey-ing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. The equilibrium of the house has been disturbed and his odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour,...
- 4/6/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Guy Maddin's Keyhole opens in limited release in New York tomorrow before rolling out across the U.S. in the following weeks. We've been tracking the film since before it began production, so it's no surprise that several of our writers were keen to take a look. First, the official synopsis: In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence towing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journeying through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her...
- 4/5/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Below beloved Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin shares a scene from "Keyhole," his black-and-white riff on Homer's "Odyssey," that opens in select theaters this Friday. The Film A long-absent father turns up at the back door of his home carrying a drowned girl over his shoulder. Is he really there? Or is he being dreamt into existence by his abandoned son and wife? The man is a handsome and dangerous gangster right out of a children’s adventure story, the girl the dead and desperately missed girlfriend of the son, but now she lives again, wanders around, only partially drowned now, half alive, half dead and entirely blind. This is a reunion of characters that have torn each other’s hearts apart in the past, but it’s also a reunion of amnesiacs who aren’t quite sure where they are or why. And if anyone or everyone is dead, each...
- 4/5/2012
- by Guy Maddin
- Indiewire
This is a reprint of our review from Tiff.
Let us pause, then, to contemplate the fate and fortunes of the director who does not have his or her eye set on the five-picture deal, the glossy franchise, the production wing in the bungalow offices of some major studio; what becomes of the director who only wants to make art and make it well? Canada's Guy Maddin clearly has no eye on commercial success -- rumor has it that his next feature might actually be in color -- and instead prefers to stand at the edge and peer into the abyss to look for what's next. This is a unique vantage point, to be sure, but it's also perilous if one should fall; "Keyhole" is both too much and too little, a crowded smorgasbord of genre picture tropes and haunted house tricks that leaves your eyes and brain distended with...
Let us pause, then, to contemplate the fate and fortunes of the director who does not have his or her eye set on the five-picture deal, the glossy franchise, the production wing in the bungalow offices of some major studio; what becomes of the director who only wants to make art and make it well? Canada's Guy Maddin clearly has no eye on commercial success -- rumor has it that his next feature might actually be in color -- and instead prefers to stand at the edge and peer into the abyss to look for what's next. This is a unique vantage point, to be sure, but it's also perilous if one should fall; "Keyhole" is both too much and too little, a crowded smorgasbord of genre picture tropes and haunted house tricks that leaves your eyes and brain distended with...
- 4/4/2012
- by James Rocchi
- The Playlist
Guy Maddin's movies exist on a bizarre dreamscape, but they also retain a certain disarming familiarity. Everything original about Maddin's surreal black-and-white excursions come with a simultaneous reference to the movies that inspired him, particularly silent cinema and sultry film noirs. His latest effort, "Keyhole," culls not only from those same influences but from Maddin's existing filmography, from "Tales from the Gimli Hospital" to "The Saddest Music in the World." Even by those standards, "Keyhole" never comes together, but that's part of Maddin's creed. He makes movies about movies to express his love for movies, which is to say he makes movies about himself. The free-associative "Keyhole" follows a 1940's gangster cliché with family issues named Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) literally battling through the memories locked within his old home. Arriving in a hail of gunfire, he journeys to...
- 4/3/2012
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
by Steve Dollar
One loquacious greybeard, that most Canadian of Canadian filmmakers (or should we say "most Winnipeggian"?) Guy Maddin never so much sits for an interview as he does take occasion to deliver what sounds like a old-time radio drama, only far more wild and vivid and philosophical. Images whirl through the air. Ideas take shape and dissolve. Time collapses into a black hole that suddenly reopens like the iris of a camera lens. One senses—while processing the bitter jolt of a Starbucks coffee, alert to the home movie flickering across the director's eyes—that, for Maddin, everything really is cinema.
Visiting SXSW 2012 to show his latest film Keyhole, Maddin has made what might seem to be a more mainstream work: a gangster flick based around The Odyssey. But this haunted house hallucination is quite a bit more than that begins to describe. As Maian Tran noted in...
One loquacious greybeard, that most Canadian of Canadian filmmakers (or should we say "most Winnipeggian"?) Guy Maddin never so much sits for an interview as he does take occasion to deliver what sounds like a old-time radio drama, only far more wild and vivid and philosophical. Images whirl through the air. Ideas take shape and dissolve. Time collapses into a black hole that suddenly reopens like the iris of a camera lens. One senses—while processing the bitter jolt of a Starbucks coffee, alert to the home movie flickering across the director's eyes—that, for Maddin, everything really is cinema.
Visiting SXSW 2012 to show his latest film Keyhole, Maddin has made what might seem to be a more mainstream work: a gangster flick based around The Odyssey. But this haunted house hallucination is quite a bit more than that begins to describe. As Maian Tran noted in...
- 4/2/2012
- GreenCine Daily
A criminal undertakes a surreal and supernatural journey through his own house.
"The ghosts are imposing their memories on the living" as we draw back the curtain to follow Ulysses through the keyhole into his mind. Guy Maddin's latest filmic inquiry into the nature of memory was commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts and personates an enigma.
Keyholes make for curious frames and whenever you look through them, you are gazing at something forbidden, locked away - Santa Claus or the secrets of adults and children at work.
In Maddin's Keyhole, there are gangster...
"The ghosts are imposing their memories on the living" as we draw back the curtain to follow Ulysses through the keyhole into his mind. Guy Maddin's latest filmic inquiry into the nature of memory was commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts and personates an enigma.
Keyholes make for curious frames and whenever you look through them, you are gazing at something forbidden, locked away - Santa Claus or the secrets of adults and children at work.
In Maddin's Keyhole, there are gangster...
- 4/1/2012
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Independent Film Festival Boston has announced its lineup for the 2012 edition. The Opening Night film will be Mike Birbiglia's "Sleepwalk With Me." The co-writer of the film, Ira Glass, will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A session. Closing out the festival will be Lauren Greenfield's "The Queen of Versailles." Greenfield will also be in attendance. The festival will be screening over 130 films. Additonal films that will shown include: Todd Solondz's "Dark Horse"; Julie Delpy's "2 Days In New York"; Guy Maddin's "Keyhole"; Michael Winterbottom's "Trishna"; plus speacial sneak previews of two documentaries: "Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself" and "Knuckeball!" The festival runs from April 25-May 2. Full lineup below: Narrative Features 2 Days In New York directed by Julie Delpy Beyond The...
- 3/22/2012
- by Aaron Bogert
- Indiewire
The Six Best and One Worst Movies I Saw at SXSW 2012 Scary cabins, time-travel comedy, and a respectful tribute to a beloved indie classic. by Andrew Osborne If I had to identify a prevailing trend at SXSW this year, it'd probably be semi-nude and even stark-naked fat men (see: Matt Lucas' underwear-clad oddball in Small Apartments, Louis Negin's cackling/free-balling narrator in Keyhole, Steve Zizzis' saggy-chested suburbanite in The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, etcetera). But the other big theme running through this year's films was the consequences of bad choices. So in that spirit, here are my cautious choices for the best and worst movies of SXSW 2012. 1. The Cabin in the Woods Thanks to the 2010 bankruptcy of MGM, director Drew Goddard's inventive horror picture has been locked in a scary basement of legal maneuvering for years, fueling rabid speculation in the online geek community. Yet despite Lionsgate's [...]...
- 3/21/2012
- by Andrew Osborne
- Nerve
March 11, 2012 1:05 P.M. I’m alive! (as folks who read part 1 of my SXSW diary might be surprised to learn). And some point during my sleep the sun came out -- this is the Austin I remember. Now I’ve gotta get a ride over to the Alamo Lamar, which is the only major SXSW location outside of the downtown area. 1:20 P.M. My choices to get from the hotel to the Lamar are as follows: A $75 chariot ride from one of Austin’s inexplicably cute pedicab drivers, or a $15 taxi from one of Austin’s explicably not as cute taxi drivers. Given that I am a movie blogger and thus have even fewer dollars than I do social graces, I decide to walk. 2:01 P.M. I’m seated for Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, which is a bit outré for the SXSW...
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- 3/19/2012
- by David Ehrlich
- Movies.com
March 11, 2012 1:05 P.M. I’m alive! (as folks who read part 1 of my SXSW diary might be surprised to learn). And some point during my sleep the sun came out -- this is the Austin I remember. Now I’ve gotta get a ride over to the Alamo Lamar, which is the only major SXSW location outside of the downtown area. 1:20 P.M. My choices to get from the hotel to the Lamar are as follows: A $75 chariot ride from one of Austin’s inexplicably cute pedicab drivers, or a $15 taxi from one of Austin’s explicably not as cute taxi drivers. Given that I am a movie blogger and thus have even fewer dollars than I do social graces, I decide to walk. 2:01 P.M. I’m seated for Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, which is a bit outré for the SXSW...
Read More...
Read More...
- 3/19/2012
- by David Ehrlich
- Movies.com
SXSW is officially done for another year. Well, technically, it's been done since Saturday, but it's taken a few days for The Playlist team members to emerge from their BBQ & queso comas. Nevertheless, the film strand of the festival is over and it's time to look forward, to Tribeca, Cannes and whatever else lies beyond.
And we have to confess, from most people that we've talked to, the line-up turned out to be somewhat underwhelming this time around. For whatever reason (a comparatively strong Sundance, perhaps?), there were few breakout hits that hadn't played at other festivals first. Indeed, the movies that emerged with the best reactions were mainstream studio pictures, in the shape of "21 Jump Street" and "The Cabin In the Woods," with no breakout buzz films to rival "Attack The Block" or "Weekend" last year.
Not that the festival was a wash out: while there were few stunning surprises,...
And we have to confess, from most people that we've talked to, the line-up turned out to be somewhat underwhelming this time around. For whatever reason (a comparatively strong Sundance, perhaps?), there were few breakout hits that hadn't played at other festivals first. Indeed, the movies that emerged with the best reactions were mainstream studio pictures, in the shape of "21 Jump Street" and "The Cabin In the Woods," with no breakout buzz films to rival "Attack The Block" or "Weekend" last year.
Not that the festival was a wash out: while there were few stunning surprises,...
- 3/19/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
For the tenth edition of Film Art: An Introduction, David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson are partnering with Criterion to present Connect Film, an hour-long set of twenty videos on various aspects of filmmaking addressed in the now-classic textbook. Above: "Elliptical Editing in Vagabond (1985)." Kristin Thompson: "Most of the other Connect examples illustrate the chapters on the four types of film technique: mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. There's also a short documentary about digital animation."
More books. You may remember that Dave Kehr is quite an admirer of the writing of Arlene Croce, a dance critic for the New Yorker from 1973 to 1998. She's also the author of The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book and, in the new issue of the New York Review of Books, she reviews Todd Decker's Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz and Kathleen Riley's The Astaires: Fred and Adele. As the Boston Globe's Mark Feeney writes,...
More books. You may remember that Dave Kehr is quite an admirer of the writing of Arlene Croce, a dance critic for the New Yorker from 1973 to 1998. She's also the author of The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book and, in the new issue of the New York Review of Books, she reviews Todd Decker's Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz and Kathleen Riley's The Astaires: Fred and Adele. As the Boston Globe's Mark Feeney writes,...
- 3/19/2012
- MUBI
If you've been at a film festival at the last few months, chances are you've bumped into Guy Maddin. The idiosyncratic Canadian director of "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs," "The Saddest Music In the World" and "My Winnipeg" has a new film, the offbeat haunted house tale "Keyhole" starring Jason Patric and Isabella Rossellini. And he's been on the festival circuit in a big way, debuting the film at Tiff (read our review from there), before heading to Halifax's Atlantic Film Festival, and then last month in Berlin (where we interviewed the director) before landing in the last week at SXSW.
We were able to talk to the filmmaker in Austin about the project, as well as what he's working on at the moment, an intriguing-sounding tribute to lost cinema named "Spiritismes." Maddin told us,"I just wrapped the first stage of an insanely over-ambitious project, the first eighteen days...
We were able to talk to the filmmaker in Austin about the project, as well as what he's working on at the moment, an intriguing-sounding tribute to lost cinema named "Spiritismes." Maddin told us,"I just wrapped the first stage of an insanely over-ambitious project, the first eighteen days...
- 3/16/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
This is a reprint of our review from Tiff.
Let us pause, then, to contemplate the fate and fortunes of the director who does not have his or her eye set on the five-picture deal, the glossy franchise, the production wing in the bungalow offices of some major studio; what becomes of the director who only wants to make art and make it well? Canada's Guy Maddin clearly has no eye on commercial success -- rumor has it that his next feature might actually be in color -- and instead prefers to stand at the edge and peer into the abyss to look for what's next. This is a unique vantage point, to be sure, but it's also perilous if one should fall; "Keyhole" is both too much and too little, a crowded smorgasbord of genre picture tropes and haunted house tricks that leaves your eyes and brain distended with...
Let us pause, then, to contemplate the fate and fortunes of the director who does not have his or her eye set on the five-picture deal, the glossy franchise, the production wing in the bungalow offices of some major studio; what becomes of the director who only wants to make art and make it well? Canada's Guy Maddin clearly has no eye on commercial success -- rumor has it that his next feature might actually be in color -- and instead prefers to stand at the edge and peer into the abyss to look for what's next. This is a unique vantage point, to be sure, but it's also perilous if one should fall; "Keyhole" is both too much and too little, a crowded smorgasbord of genre picture tropes and haunted house tricks that leaves your eyes and brain distended with...
- 3/11/2012
- by James Rocchi
- The Playlist
Viggo Mortensen (Sigmund Freud), Michael Fassbender (Carl Jung), A Dangerous Method Monsieur Lazhar Tops Genie Awards Meilleur Film / Best Motion Picture A Dangerous Method – Martin Katz, Marco Mehlitz, Jeremy Thomas CAFÉ De Flore – Pierre Even, Marie-Claude Poulin, Jean-Marc Vallée * Monsieur Lazhar – Luc Déry, Kim McCraw Starbuck – André Rouleau The Whistleblower – Christina Piovesan, Celine Rattray Meilleure RÉALISATION / Achievement In Direction David Cronenberg – A Dangerous Method Steven Silver – The Bang Bang Club Jean-marc VALLÉE – Café de Flore * Philippe Falardeau – Monsieur Lazhar Larysa Kondracki – The Whistleblower Meilleures Images / Achievement In Cinematography Miroslaw Baszak, C.S.C. – The Bang Bang Club Pierre Cottereau – Café de Flore Jon Joffin – Daydream Nation * Jean-FRANÇOIS Lord – Snow & Ashes Ronald Plante – Monsieur Lazhar Meilleur Montage / Achievement In Editing Jean-FRANÇOIS Bergeron – The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom Michael Czarnecki – In Darkness Patrick Demers – Jaloux * STÉPHANE Lafleur – Monsieur Lazhar Ronald Sanders, C.C.E. A.C.E. – A Dangerous Method...
- 3/9/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Yesterday, we ran through fifteen movies that we're dying to see at this year's SXSW, but the Austin, Texas festival doesn't just have world premieres: there's also a selection of films that have played film fests elsewhere in the world over the few last months, from Venice and Toronto to Sundance and Berlin.
As it happens, we've had Playlist agents at all those festivals too, and below we've picked out thirteen known quantities, films that we can definitively say are either worth checking out, and worth avoiding (thankfully, not too many of the latter). Read on for our verdicts, and stay tuned for comprehensive coverage from SXSW, which runs from Friday March 9th to Saturday the 17th.
“21 Jump Street”
Synopsis: Two bored, fresh-faced cops are transferred to a new department and sent undercover to bust a drug-running ring in a high school.
Our Verdict: After "Bridesmaids" had a raucous reception last year,...
As it happens, we've had Playlist agents at all those festivals too, and below we've picked out thirteen known quantities, films that we can definitively say are either worth checking out, and worth avoiding (thankfully, not too many of the latter). Read on for our verdicts, and stay tuned for comprehensive coverage from SXSW, which runs from Friday March 9th to Saturday the 17th.
“21 Jump Street”
Synopsis: Two bored, fresh-faced cops are transferred to a new department and sent undercover to bust a drug-running ring in a high school.
Our Verdict: After "Bridesmaids" had a raucous reception last year,...
- 3/7/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Erroneously labeled a gangster flick or noir ghost drama, wacky Canadian writer/director Guy Maddin's art house flick Keyhole is more likely the abstract appreciation of the trauma and memory inherent in an old house, which is in itself a potent psychological symbol. Happiness is quick to leave a home, but melancholy lingers, we're told early in the story. How you view the hole perhaps depends on which key you have in your mind.
Continue reading...
Continue reading...
- 3/6/2012
- QuietEarth.us
You had better brush up on your knowledge of expressionist cinema, film noir, Greek mythology, psychoanalysis, as well as Guy Maddin’s oeuvre and biography, before heading out to go see his newest fiction feature! Keyhole is a highly complex, multilayered construction that is anything but easy to cope with on first viewing (which probably helps to account for the fleeing audience members). “Remember, Ulysses, remember!” is the key phrase to unlocking this journey deep into this black and white, psychologically-charged construction of ideas. While some aspects will initially leave you lost and puzzled – at least that’s what happened to me – Maddin’s sense of undeniable suspense, aesthetic appeal and composition are what ultimately make this a strong cinematic experience regardless of whether or not you’re able to unpack it in one viewing.
Edwin’s Kebun Binatang (Postcard from the Zoo) aims to be an intriguing adventure into artificially created adventure and wildlife.
Edwin’s Kebun Binatang (Postcard from the Zoo) aims to be an intriguing adventure into artificially created adventure and wildlife.
- 2/20/2012
- by Merle Fischer
- SoundOnSight
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