Prior to making headlines the next day after a short-lived health scare that required a brief stay in hospital, Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins arrived at Dublin’s Complex arts center last Wednesday to present the Dublin film festival’s highest honor to Steve McQueen. Introduced in 2007 and named the Volta Award, after the first commercial cinema set up in Dublin in 1909 by writer James Joyce, its previous recipients include Daniel Day Lewis, Claudia Cardinale and Al Pacino. The famously serious director was in high spirits, enthusing that “festivals are about passion, a passion for film.” “There’s always a buzz, isn’t there?” he continued. “[As you] go to the next picture, the next film, you tend to give people tips and say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to see this, you’ve got to see that…’”
McQueen was in and out of the festival, flying home the same night, fueling...
McQueen was in and out of the festival, flying home the same night, fueling...
- 3/4/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Senegalese and French director Ramata-Toulaye Sy is only the second Black woman to make it into Competition in Cannes. Her debut feature, Banel & Adama, which had its debut Saturday, follows in the footsteps of Mati Diop’s 2019 Atlantics.
Sy draws on her roots in the Fulani, or Peul, culture of the Futa region in northern Senegal for her magic-realist film about a young couple whose passion brings chaos to their remote rural community. “The people of Futa have the reputation of being very dignified and sticking to their community,” says Sy, who was born and grew up in France. “I was raised in the Fulani tradition at home and French culture outside.”
Inspiration for Banel & Adama came from a desire to create a tragic African heroine on par with Pierre Corneille’s Médée or Jean Racine’s Phèdre. “We don’t really have these mythical, tragic characters, or we do,...
Sy draws on her roots in the Fulani, or Peul, culture of the Futa region in northern Senegal for her magic-realist film about a young couple whose passion brings chaos to their remote rural community. “The people of Futa have the reputation of being very dignified and sticking to their community,” says Sy, who was born and grew up in France. “I was raised in the Fulani tradition at home and French culture outside.”
Inspiration for Banel & Adama came from a desire to create a tragic African heroine on par with Pierre Corneille’s Médée or Jean Racine’s Phèdre. “We don’t really have these mythical, tragic characters, or we do,...
- 5/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Completing the thematic trilogy that Denys Arcand began in 1986 with “The Decline of the American Empire,” and continued in 2002 with the Oscar-winning “The Barbarian Invasion,” “The Fall of the American Empire” is another of the Quebecois auteur’s playful and damning philosophical excoriations of societal values. Less of a sequel than it is a spiritual successor — there are no returning characters, and Arcand newcomers won’t have any trouble following the action — this thoroughly modern financial caper finds that America’s corruptive influence is still creeping up North, infecting its closest neighbor like a gangrenous rot that needs to be cut off at the knees.
What else is new? But if Arcand’s worldview hasn’t changed, his angle continues to grow more acute. Where “The Decline of the American Empire” focused on social ills, and “The Barbarian Invasions” was preoccupied with ideology, “The Fall of the American Empire” finds...
What else is new? But if Arcand’s worldview hasn’t changed, his angle continues to grow more acute. Where “The Decline of the American Empire” focused on social ills, and “The Barbarian Invasions” was preoccupied with ideology, “The Fall of the American Empire” finds...
- 9/6/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
I'm drawn to Straub-Huillet’s usage of direct quotations rather than adapting or interpreting original material for a film. To me this is, among other things, a very straightforward and concrete way of highlighting that people are much less original than they are often assumed to be. (I think that Danièle Huillet once said this, but she was certainly not the first one.) It might be worth being reminded of this, especially today, in a time where we see and seek constant innovation and renewal everywhere while nothing really changes at the core. But for Straub-Huillet, quotation is also about something else. Every film of theirs is a documentation of their loving relationship to a preexisting text, artwork, or artist. The films are more genuinely about the work of the other and less about the couple's so-called vision. Quotation, to Straub-Huillet, is an act of respect, one...
- 2/7/2017
- MUBI
London — Helen Mirren is a star of stage and screen – and now stage on-screen.
Mirren's award-winning performance as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience" will be beamed this week from London's Gielgud Theatre to hundreds of movie theaters around the world in a live broadcast.
It's the latest step in Mirren's glittering regal procession as the monarch. She won an Academy Award for playing Elizabeth in the 2006 movie "The Queen," and gained an Olivier stage trophy in April for her reprise in box-office hit "The Audience."
But the actress, who has made a career of not being typecast, had to be persuaded to wear the crown a second time.
"I really didn't want to play the role again," Mirren said in an interview before another evening donning tiara and pearls. "I was very resistant."
Mirren was won over by the quality of the creative team, which includes director Stephen Daldry,...
Mirren's award-winning performance as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience" will be beamed this week from London's Gielgud Theatre to hundreds of movie theaters around the world in a live broadcast.
It's the latest step in Mirren's glittering regal procession as the monarch. She won an Academy Award for playing Elizabeth in the 2006 movie "The Queen," and gained an Olivier stage trophy in April for her reprise in box-office hit "The Audience."
But the actress, who has made a career of not being typecast, had to be persuaded to wear the crown a second time.
"I really didn't want to play the role again," Mirren said in an interview before another evening donning tiara and pearls. "I was very resistant."
Mirren was won over by the quality of the creative team, which includes director Stephen Daldry,...
- 6/10/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
West End production starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II will be streamed to cinemas around the world on 13 June
Helen Mirren's return to the role of Queen Elizabeth II has already made The Audience one of the most eagerly anticipated West End events of the year. Now, a global audience will get to see Peter Morgan's new play when it is live-broadcast to cinemas as part of National Theatre Live.
The Audience will be the third non-National theatre production to be broadcast under its Nt Live scheme, following similar showings of the Donmar Warehouse's production of King Lear and Complicite's A Disappearing Number. It will be shown in cinemas in the UK and around the world on 13 June, live from the Gielgud theatre in London, with further international and repeat screenings planned throughout the summer.
Morgan's play, which opens on 5 March, shows a series of the Queen's...
Helen Mirren's return to the role of Queen Elizabeth II has already made The Audience one of the most eagerly anticipated West End events of the year. Now, a global audience will get to see Peter Morgan's new play when it is live-broadcast to cinemas as part of National Theatre Live.
The Audience will be the third non-National theatre production to be broadcast under its Nt Live scheme, following similar showings of the Donmar Warehouse's production of King Lear and Complicite's A Disappearing Number. It will be shown in cinemas in the UK and around the world on 13 June, live from the Gielgud theatre in London, with further international and repeat screenings planned throughout the summer.
Morgan's play, which opens on 5 March, shows a series of the Queen's...
- 2/22/2013
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
Following a tad slowly on the heels of "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" and the upcoming "Clash of the Titans" remake is another blockbuster involving Greek mythology: "War of the Gods" (aka "Dawn of War"), a sword-and-sandals epic being helmed by visionary filmmaker Tarsem ("The Fall") that will tell the story of Athens founder and legendary Minotaur-killer Theseus. Henry Cavill (Showtime's "The Tudors") will star as the hero, and now joining him, according to Variety, is Indian actress Freida Pinto ("Slumdog Millionaire").
Pinto will play Phaedra, "an oracle priestess" and (future?) wife of Theseus, who joins him in the quest to stop the titular war -- pitting the younger Olympian gods against the elder Titan gods -- from beginning. The character has been portrayed many times on screen, mainly in adaptations of plays by Euripides and Jean Racine, the most recent of which starred Helen Mirren in the part.
Pinto will play Phaedra, "an oracle priestess" and (future?) wife of Theseus, who joins him in the quest to stop the titular war -- pitting the younger Olympian gods against the elder Titan gods -- from beginning. The character has been portrayed many times on screen, mainly in adaptations of plays by Euripides and Jean Racine, the most recent of which starred Helen Mirren in the part.
- 2/24/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- MTV Movies Blog
Tickets for Minnesota's only two screenings of the National Theatre's production of Phédre - July 8 and 9 at the Guthrie Theater - go on sale to the general public on Sunday, June 14 at 11 a.m. A new initiative by the UK's National Theatre to broadcast high-definition performances of its plays to more than 230 movie theaters and performing arts centers worldwide, Nt Live begins its pilot season with Nt Director Nicholas Hytner's production of Phédre by Jean Racine.
- 6/14/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Steppenwolf Theatre is pleased to present the exclusive Chicago screening of the National Theatre of London's performance of PHÈDRE starring Helen Mirren, Dominic Cooper and Margaret Tyzack on Monday, July 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. PHÈDRE is written by Jean Racine, adapted by Ted Hughes and directed by National Theatre Director Nicholas Hytner. The filmed version of this classic play will also include a behind-the-scenes feature at the National Theatre.
- 6/11/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Tickets for Minnesota's only two screenings of the National Theatre's production of Phédre - July 8 and 9 at the Guthrie Theater - go on sale to the general public on Sunday, June 14 at 11 a.m. A new initiative by the UK's National Theatre to broadcast high-definition performances of its plays to more than 230 movie theaters and performing arts centers worldwide, Nt Live begins its pilot season with Nt Director Nicholas Hytner's production of Phédre by Jean Racine.
- 6/10/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
London -- Coming to a movie screen near you: National Theatre plays.
The U.K.'s largest circuit of independent cinemas, operated by City Screen, said Tuesday that it has struck a deal with the National Theatre to beam plays live via satellite into movie screens across the country.
The initiative, titled Nt Live, will kick off in June with the Nt's new production, a production of Jean Racine's "Phaedre" that will star Helen Mirren, Margaret Tyzack and Dominic Cooper.
Picturehouse Cinemas, owned and operated by City Screen, will carry the alternative content on select screens. The movie theater operator also said it will sub-license broadcasts to other independent cinemas throughout the U.K., and certain key cities will screen the production through Cineworld and Odeon multiplexes.
The performance of "Phaedre" will be filmed in high-definition and broadcast via satellite to approximately 50 cinemas across the U.K. and 100 worldwide.
The U.K.'s largest circuit of independent cinemas, operated by City Screen, said Tuesday that it has struck a deal with the National Theatre to beam plays live via satellite into movie screens across the country.
The initiative, titled Nt Live, will kick off in June with the Nt's new production, a production of Jean Racine's "Phaedre" that will star Helen Mirren, Margaret Tyzack and Dominic Cooper.
Picturehouse Cinemas, owned and operated by City Screen, will carry the alternative content on select screens. The movie theater operator also said it will sub-license broadcasts to other independent cinemas throughout the U.K., and certain key cities will screen the production through Cineworld and Odeon multiplexes.
The performance of "Phaedre" will be filmed in high-definition and broadcast via satellite to approximately 50 cinemas across the U.K. and 100 worldwide.
- 3/3/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
London's National Theatre announced Wednesday, Jan. 14th, that it will transmit live performances to movie theaters around the world in a quest to widen its audience and test the public appeal for watching stage productions onscreen. The first of four planned simulcasts will be the June 25th performance of Jean Racine's tragedy "Phedre" starring Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren and mega hit "Mamma Mia" film star Dominic Cooper. The National's artistic director Nicholas Hytner said Mirren, who won a best actress Oscar for "The Queen," was "tremendously excited" by the idea.
- 1/15/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Dame Helen Mirren is set to return to the stage for the first time in six years.
The Oscar winner will star in a three-month run of Jean Racine's 17th-century drama, Phèdre, at London's National Theatre.
The actress has been in talks with the theatre's director, Nicholas Hytner, for months after expressing an interest in starring in a theatre production.
Mirren will play the wife of Theseus, King of Athens, in the Greek tragedy.
The Oscar winner will star in a three-month run of Jean Racine's 17th-century drama, Phèdre, at London's National Theatre.
The actress has been in talks with the theatre's director, Nicholas Hytner, for months after expressing an interest in starring in a theatre production.
Mirren will play the wife of Theseus, King of Athens, in the Greek tragedy.
- 9/18/2008
- WENN
PARIS -- Suddenly, France's classical age is in fashion. "Jean de la Fontaine, le defi" ("le defi" means "the challenge") is the second film about a 17th century cultural icon to appear this year, and director Daniel Vigne's portrayal of the willful poet and fabulist inevitably will be compared with "Moliere", the highly successful portrait of the dramatist as a young man released here in January.
Where the earlier costume drama essentially is a lighthearted comic romp, Vigne -- director of the medieval mystery tale "The Return of Martin Guerre" -- aims to pack a thin story with contemporary relevance. The results are diverting but unfocused, and "Fontaine" is unlikely to play as well at the boxoffice.
When the young Louis XIV (Jocelyn Quivrin) ascends to the throne in 1661 and axes the chief minister Fouquet (Nicky Naude) to replace him with his personal favorite Colbert (Philippe Torreton), the air is thick with the turning of coats.
But Fouquet's protege Jean de la Fontaine (Lorant Deutsch), a dreamy, insouciant poet who at 35 has yet to prove himself as a writer, springs to his defense. He denounces his drinking partners Moliere (Julien Courbey) and the tragedian Jean Racine (Romain Rondeau) for their supine indifference to a flagrant injustice and launches a campaign for the release of the imprisoned ex-minister.
He is blackballed for his pains, and the campaign achieves nothing other than to mark him as a troublemaker in the eyes of the ruthless Colbert.
In the process, though, La Fontaine has honed his writing skills. In particular, he develops and perfects the ancient form of the animal fable, using it as a vehicle for a series of satirical portraits of an increasingly conformist society. His pithy one-liners soon are all the rage. He plans to have his fables published in book form, for which he will need the king's authorization.
Being personable, good-looking and well-connected, La Fontaine finds no shortage of ladies of noble lineage willing to offer him food and board, though sometimes he has to wait on tables. But he's more at home among the people. For love interest, he dallies with Perrette (Sara Forestier), the tavern serving girl who seeks to better herself by learning to read.
The movie wends its amiable way to La Fontaine's predictable vindication with just enough incident to keep the spectator interested, notably the arrival of Colbert's hitman Terron (Daniel Duval), who challenges the poet to a duel to which there can be only one outcome but is foiled by the arrival by a group of La Fontaine's lowlife friends.
There is pathos in his midnight confrontation with Racine, whom he accuses of acting "no better than a dog, eating out of the king's hand." But too often in such exchanges the dialogue is overly schematic as the filmmakers hammer home their point about the need for artists to maintain their independence.
The film makes good use of France's heritage locations. As a historical political thriller, it has its moments but fails to thrill. However, the closing scenes provide a convincing visual metaphor for the steady drift under the Sun King to what was to become the prototype of a totalitarian regime.
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, LE DEFI
Cineteve, France 2 Television
Credits:
Director: Daniel Vigne
Screenwriter: Jacques Forgeas
Producers: Philippe Rey, Fabienne Servan Schreiber
Executive producer: Jean-Pierre Fayer
Director of photography: Flore Thuillez
Production designer: Regis Nicolino
Music: Michel Portal
Costume designer: Florence Sadaune
Editor: Thierry Simonnet
Cast:
Jean de la Fontaine: Lorant Deutsch
Colbert: Philippe Torreton
Perrette: Sara Forestier
Chateauneuf: Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Moliere: Julien Courbey
Louis XIV: Jocelyn Quivrin
Terron: Daniel Duval
Racine: Romain Rondeau
Duchesse d'Orleans: Fabienne Babe
Jannart: Jean-Pierre Malo
Fouquet: Nicky Naude
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Where the earlier costume drama essentially is a lighthearted comic romp, Vigne -- director of the medieval mystery tale "The Return of Martin Guerre" -- aims to pack a thin story with contemporary relevance. The results are diverting but unfocused, and "Fontaine" is unlikely to play as well at the boxoffice.
When the young Louis XIV (Jocelyn Quivrin) ascends to the throne in 1661 and axes the chief minister Fouquet (Nicky Naude) to replace him with his personal favorite Colbert (Philippe Torreton), the air is thick with the turning of coats.
But Fouquet's protege Jean de la Fontaine (Lorant Deutsch), a dreamy, insouciant poet who at 35 has yet to prove himself as a writer, springs to his defense. He denounces his drinking partners Moliere (Julien Courbey) and the tragedian Jean Racine (Romain Rondeau) for their supine indifference to a flagrant injustice and launches a campaign for the release of the imprisoned ex-minister.
He is blackballed for his pains, and the campaign achieves nothing other than to mark him as a troublemaker in the eyes of the ruthless Colbert.
In the process, though, La Fontaine has honed his writing skills. In particular, he develops and perfects the ancient form of the animal fable, using it as a vehicle for a series of satirical portraits of an increasingly conformist society. His pithy one-liners soon are all the rage. He plans to have his fables published in book form, for which he will need the king's authorization.
Being personable, good-looking and well-connected, La Fontaine finds no shortage of ladies of noble lineage willing to offer him food and board, though sometimes he has to wait on tables. But he's more at home among the people. For love interest, he dallies with Perrette (Sara Forestier), the tavern serving girl who seeks to better herself by learning to read.
The movie wends its amiable way to La Fontaine's predictable vindication with just enough incident to keep the spectator interested, notably the arrival of Colbert's hitman Terron (Daniel Duval), who challenges the poet to a duel to which there can be only one outcome but is foiled by the arrival by a group of La Fontaine's lowlife friends.
There is pathos in his midnight confrontation with Racine, whom he accuses of acting "no better than a dog, eating out of the king's hand." But too often in such exchanges the dialogue is overly schematic as the filmmakers hammer home their point about the need for artists to maintain their independence.
The film makes good use of France's heritage locations. As a historical political thriller, it has its moments but fails to thrill. However, the closing scenes provide a convincing visual metaphor for the steady drift under the Sun King to what was to become the prototype of a totalitarian regime.
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, LE DEFI
Cineteve, France 2 Television
Credits:
Director: Daniel Vigne
Screenwriter: Jacques Forgeas
Producers: Philippe Rey, Fabienne Servan Schreiber
Executive producer: Jean-Pierre Fayer
Director of photography: Flore Thuillez
Production designer: Regis Nicolino
Music: Michel Portal
Costume designer: Florence Sadaune
Editor: Thierry Simonnet
Cast:
Jean de la Fontaine: Lorant Deutsch
Colbert: Philippe Torreton
Perrette: Sara Forestier
Chateauneuf: Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Moliere: Julien Courbey
Louis XIV: Jocelyn Quivrin
Terron: Daniel Duval
Racine: Romain Rondeau
Duchesse d'Orleans: Fabienne Babe
Jannart: Jean-Pierre Malo
Fouquet: Nicky Naude
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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