Continuing our countdown of the best movies released in Australia this year: an extraordinary study of the photographer Sebastião Salgado, made by his son – and Wim Wenders
• The list so far
• Tell us your favourite film of the year … and comment on ours
Two heavyweight presences – photographer Sebastião Salgado and film-maker Wim Wenders – come together for this profoundly moving meditation on photography, environment, and human experience; all disguised, only superficially, as a biographical profile of Salgado himself. In simple terms, this film takes us from Salgado’s boyhood in Brazil, though his early years as a struggling photography in Paris and his increasingly ambitious project-based work, and finally to his retreat from front-line photojournalism to rainforest conservation back on the family farm on Brazil’s Atlantic coast.
Wenders co-directs here with Salgado’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, and what emerges is an intriguing hybrid which derives part of its interest from intra-family tension.
• The list so far
• Tell us your favourite film of the year … and comment on ours
Two heavyweight presences – photographer Sebastião Salgado and film-maker Wim Wenders – come together for this profoundly moving meditation on photography, environment, and human experience; all disguised, only superficially, as a biographical profile of Salgado himself. In simple terms, this film takes us from Salgado’s boyhood in Brazil, though his early years as a struggling photography in Paris and his increasingly ambitious project-based work, and finally to his retreat from front-line photojournalism to rainforest conservation back on the family farm on Brazil’s Atlantic coast.
Wenders co-directs here with Salgado’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, and what emerges is an intriguing hybrid which derives part of its interest from intra-family tension.
- 12/6/2015
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Telluride Film Festival. 25 years ago, director Wim Wenders’ discovered the haunting black-and-white artwork of celebrated Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Now a 70-year-old man who has traveled to nearly every corner of the Earth for more than 40 years, Salgado has documented some of the most tragic and catastrophic events in recent history: revolutions and international conflicts, genocide in Rwanda, wars in Yugoslavia, starvation in Ethiopia, the Saddam Hussein-devastated Kuwaiti oilfields, mass exoduses around the globe, and more. So taken with Salgado's iconic photos — striking works often bearing witness to the poor, the suffering, and neglected members of society — Wenders bought two prints and promptly framed them above his office desk where they remain to this day. But the more Salgado’s ghostly photos preoccupied Wenders’ heart and psyche (this photo in particular), the more the venerable German filmmaker...
- 3/26/2015
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
Even if you think you don't know the photographs of Sebastião Salgado, you've probably seen them. In one of his most famous pictures, taken in the mid-1980s in Mali, a woman whose face is half-hidden by a dark, rough-textured cotton veil, her bearing as elegant as anything you'd see in fashion photography, appears to gaze off into the middle distance. When you look closely, you realize that she can't be gazing at anything at all, at least not in the way we see with our eyes: Her left eye is clouded, obviously sightless. The image is both arresting and moving — you want to stop short of calling it "beautiful," which implies patronization, objectification, and all other sorts of -ations that we've been schooled to avoid. Susan Sontag, in fact, railed against wha...
- 3/25/2015
- Village Voice
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…
Matthias Grunsky: The amazing “Collection de l’Art Brut” in Lausanne, Switzerland. The record “Lieblingsfarben und Tiere” of the German band “Element of Crime”. The exhibition of the spectacular black and white photographs of Sebastião Salgado: “Genesis”
Lavallee: In Results, Andrew Bujalski proposes natural, physical attraction between the sexes, could you discuss framing and how you potentially pulled people together in two shots.
Grunsky: The actors did the part of showing physical attraction. But really the characters have difficulties getting together and communicating. And we tried to emphasize that with the camera. Void spaces around them and lens choices were something we gave a lot of thought in that regard. Because Andrew and I felt that in most of her scenes we wanted to be close to Kat (Cobie Smulders), I mainly shot her with a 35 mm lens, while...
Matthias Grunsky: The amazing “Collection de l’Art Brut” in Lausanne, Switzerland. The record “Lieblingsfarben und Tiere” of the German band “Element of Crime”. The exhibition of the spectacular black and white photographs of Sebastião Salgado: “Genesis”
Lavallee: In Results, Andrew Bujalski proposes natural, physical attraction between the sexes, could you discuss framing and how you potentially pulled people together in two shots.
Grunsky: The actors did the part of showing physical attraction. But really the characters have difficulties getting together and communicating. And we tried to emphasize that with the camera. Void spaces around them and lens choices were something we gave a lot of thought in that regard. Because Andrew and I felt that in most of her scenes we wanted to be close to Kat (Cobie Smulders), I mainly shot her with a 35 mm lens, while...
- 2/5/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Palm Springs International Film Festival is the most accommodating to the industry, the easiest to get around with a frequent shuttle, the easiest to see great films, the best environment, the best audiences (all the shows are sold out) of festivals.
However, it is strange being surrounded by old people who are all my age. My prejudices against “old people” remains the same as when I considered them to be a part of my mother’s generation. However, some of these “old people” know so much more about the films, and their educated way of making choices of what to see are so much better than mine. I thought I knew everything...what a laugh. They know every director, all their past films, and they painstakingly plan with handwritten schedules and lots of discussion which films they will see.
I have been coming to the festival, almost “dropping in” on it since it is a mere 2 hour drive from L.A. for many years and everyone is always so helpful. It is totally familiar to me; it’s leisurely, very few restaurants (if any) are really great, there is a certain tackiness to the shops And there are always new film adventures and new folks to see.
This year I was happily hanging out the first weekend with Nancy Gerstman from Zeitgeist, and on the second weekend with Fortissimo’s Michael Werner and Tom Davia whose new company CineMaven (www.Cinemaven.com) sounds like a great company for festivals, filmmakers and companies needing acquisition help. We had a great dinner at Spencer’s where the Awards Luncheon was held.
On the recommendation of Mattijs Wouter Knol, the new head of the European Film Market at Berlin – on Facebook as he is now preparing the Efm and was not here – I watched “Clouds of Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas. Opinions on this film as with most films by Assayas, vary, but mine is that this languid study on acting and real life and how aging and death fit into the mix was a major treat. Like Polanski’s “Venus in Fur”, the alternating currents of acting and real life flow electrically with shocks and illumination included. Rather than aging, let’s call ourselves “ageless” and have an end to confusion about the inevitable life processes.
Like “Winters Sleep," another of my favorite “intellectual cinema” choices, in “Sils Maria”, the interior processes of the protagonists are revealed only in the unfolding of the story.
Kirsten Stewart played an amazing role as the actress’s young assistant in this deeply felt, intellectually worked out study of aging vs. ageless.
By biting off what seems like more than she can chew in consenting to play opposite the great Juliette Binoche who is at the height of her career, a young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) gives Juliette Binoche the resolution to the unhappiness that has been nagging at her throughout the film.
Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years earlier. But back then, she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She doesn’t want to play this role but is coaxed by circumstances into playing it and when she discusses it with the young actress who blithely tells her it’s time to move on, she becomes the Eve of “All About Eve” and Juliette “gets” it.
Cinematography is by Yorick Le Saux (“Only Lovers Left Alive," “Potiche," “Carlos”). IFC has North American rights.
Moving on, I can’t wait to see Juliette Binoche in her next role, the Opening Night film of the Berlinale, Isabel Croixet's “Nobody Wants the Night ”. The film co-stars Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) and Gabriel Byrne (as explorer Robert Peary) and takes place in 1908 in the Arctic and Greenland. (Isa: Elle Driver
The other film I saw that first weekend was “Dancing Arabs” (Isa: The Match Factory) by Eran Riklis who was there to discuss the film as well. He had been a soldier in Israel’s worst war. He witnessed Sadat making peace with Israel. However, when Perez was assassinated, he saw Israel declining into a violent nation as peace became more and more elusive.
Dancing Arabs is a very popular novel in Israel. It is an odd title for this film, but it derives from a saying, “you can't dance at two weddings at the same time”. The film is also loosely based on another novel...Second Person Singular. But after filming a while, the characters took on lives of their own and the novels were more or less forgotten in the process of making the movie.
Lots of questions are left open in this film because there are no answers. In a way, the film is experimental. It opens as a charming family film, but changes and actually becomes almost morbid. People however do change, and the young “genius” living in a small Arab town in Israel/ Palestine becomes a mature man living in Berlin at the end of the story.
This is the first film of the male lead, Tawfeek Barhom. Who plays Eyad. While casting, Riklis said that the young actor told him he had known him since he was ten when he saw him making the movie “The Syrian Bride” in his village. He went to set every day for three weeks, and he knew he wanted to be an actor. On screen he is playing himself, and a lot of the story was true...he lived too long with the Jews, his Arab was no longer good. This he said at a screening held in the north of Israel to an audience of mostly Arabs who do not go to many movies, but were invited by Israel to see the film.
In the film he gives up his education for love of girl and she gives up her love for him for the love of her country. This is how minority relationships often turn out.
Eyad’s father’s reaction to the relationship of his university student son with an Israeli Jewish student is unexpected, but he too is buried by tradition whereas the mother with her small smile gives a ray of hope.
The scriptwriter-novelist, Sayed Kashua is brilliant, and this is a part of his real life. Kashua and Riklis have a love-hate relationship: when Kashua, who based the novel on his own life, saw the fine cut...he fainted. His wife said, “What are you complaining about, did your mother look like that?”
Sayed said complained that his own kids don't speak Arabic anymore, and so he took a sabbatical and is now in Champaign-Urbana at the University of Illinois.
The audience in Israel, judging by the 20 to 30 Facebook comments, they get daily consists of 20% Arabs which is great because they don't normally go to movies. Even a right wing Israeli said he liked the movie. The goes beyond right and left.
It is not a blockbuster, but it doing well. The word “Arab” might keep some people away.
On the second weekend I went to see “Salt of the Earth” (Isa: Ndm), now nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards, and “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” by her grandniece Michelle Boyaner.
Sebastião Salgado’s photographs are linked by his son and director Wim Wenders to his life. With his own voice and that of his son, Juliano, they discover the undiscovered in photography and in their own lives.
“Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” is the story of artist Edith Lake Wilkinson, committed to an asylum in 1925 and never heard from again. All her worldly possessions were packed into trunks and shipped to a relative in West Virginia where they sat in an attic for 40 years. Edith's great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, grew up surrounded by Edith's paintings, thanks to her mother who had gone poking through that dusty attic and rescued Edith's work. The film follows Jane in her decades-long journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith's buried life, return the work to Provincetown and have Edith's contributions recognized by the larger art world.
Read More: Sydney Levine on "Finding Vivian Maier"
In many ways this is similar to “Finding Vivian Maier," which also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Documentary category, in that both recover long lost and never acknowledged art which is astoundingly good art. This one goes further into the lesbian relationships of artists Edith and Jane and takes another unexpected step into the psychic world of a medium who actually solves the mystery of why Edith was committed and then forgotten. This is a must-see for art lovers and would make a great fiction film as well.
Another notable aspect of Psiff that is how, just before the Awards begin for Golden Globe and for the Academy, all the big name stars are here for two awards events. One, the opening night gala raises millions for the festival. The other, Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch brunch, brings more stars and that funny speech by Chris Rock (See Video Here).
Read More: Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev on his Oscar-Nominated "Leviathan"
Also remarkable is that, aside from the above Awards and then the final festival awards bestowed, the Golden Globes mirrored the Palm Springs Fest’s awards:
Actress in a drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (Isa: Memento) won Psiff’s Achievement Award
Actor in a drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” (Uip) also received the Psiff Desert Palm Achievement Award.
Supporting actor, drama: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” (Isa: Sierra/ Affinity) received the Psiff Spotlight Award.
Director Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” (Uip/ Paramount) received the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.
Foreign Language Film: "Leviathan” (Isa: Pyramide) received the PSiFF Best Foreign Language Film.
Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, “Birdman” (Fox Searchlight), Inarritu received Psiff Director of the Year Award which was bestowed by “Birdman” star Michael Keaton. And the Golden Globe Award for Actor, musical or comedy, went to Michael Keaton for “Birdman”...
However, it is strange being surrounded by old people who are all my age. My prejudices against “old people” remains the same as when I considered them to be a part of my mother’s generation. However, some of these “old people” know so much more about the films, and their educated way of making choices of what to see are so much better than mine. I thought I knew everything...what a laugh. They know every director, all their past films, and they painstakingly plan with handwritten schedules and lots of discussion which films they will see.
I have been coming to the festival, almost “dropping in” on it since it is a mere 2 hour drive from L.A. for many years and everyone is always so helpful. It is totally familiar to me; it’s leisurely, very few restaurants (if any) are really great, there is a certain tackiness to the shops And there are always new film adventures and new folks to see.
This year I was happily hanging out the first weekend with Nancy Gerstman from Zeitgeist, and on the second weekend with Fortissimo’s Michael Werner and Tom Davia whose new company CineMaven (www.Cinemaven.com) sounds like a great company for festivals, filmmakers and companies needing acquisition help. We had a great dinner at Spencer’s where the Awards Luncheon was held.
On the recommendation of Mattijs Wouter Knol, the new head of the European Film Market at Berlin – on Facebook as he is now preparing the Efm and was not here – I watched “Clouds of Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas. Opinions on this film as with most films by Assayas, vary, but mine is that this languid study on acting and real life and how aging and death fit into the mix was a major treat. Like Polanski’s “Venus in Fur”, the alternating currents of acting and real life flow electrically with shocks and illumination included. Rather than aging, let’s call ourselves “ageless” and have an end to confusion about the inevitable life processes.
Like “Winters Sleep," another of my favorite “intellectual cinema” choices, in “Sils Maria”, the interior processes of the protagonists are revealed only in the unfolding of the story.
Kirsten Stewart played an amazing role as the actress’s young assistant in this deeply felt, intellectually worked out study of aging vs. ageless.
By biting off what seems like more than she can chew in consenting to play opposite the great Juliette Binoche who is at the height of her career, a young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) gives Juliette Binoche the resolution to the unhappiness that has been nagging at her throughout the film.
Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years earlier. But back then, she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She doesn’t want to play this role but is coaxed by circumstances into playing it and when she discusses it with the young actress who blithely tells her it’s time to move on, she becomes the Eve of “All About Eve” and Juliette “gets” it.
Cinematography is by Yorick Le Saux (“Only Lovers Left Alive," “Potiche," “Carlos”). IFC has North American rights.
Moving on, I can’t wait to see Juliette Binoche in her next role, the Opening Night film of the Berlinale, Isabel Croixet's “Nobody Wants the Night ”. The film co-stars Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) and Gabriel Byrne (as explorer Robert Peary) and takes place in 1908 in the Arctic and Greenland. (Isa: Elle Driver
The other film I saw that first weekend was “Dancing Arabs” (Isa: The Match Factory) by Eran Riklis who was there to discuss the film as well. He had been a soldier in Israel’s worst war. He witnessed Sadat making peace with Israel. However, when Perez was assassinated, he saw Israel declining into a violent nation as peace became more and more elusive.
Dancing Arabs is a very popular novel in Israel. It is an odd title for this film, but it derives from a saying, “you can't dance at two weddings at the same time”. The film is also loosely based on another novel...Second Person Singular. But after filming a while, the characters took on lives of their own and the novels were more or less forgotten in the process of making the movie.
Lots of questions are left open in this film because there are no answers. In a way, the film is experimental. It opens as a charming family film, but changes and actually becomes almost morbid. People however do change, and the young “genius” living in a small Arab town in Israel/ Palestine becomes a mature man living in Berlin at the end of the story.
This is the first film of the male lead, Tawfeek Barhom. Who plays Eyad. While casting, Riklis said that the young actor told him he had known him since he was ten when he saw him making the movie “The Syrian Bride” in his village. He went to set every day for three weeks, and he knew he wanted to be an actor. On screen he is playing himself, and a lot of the story was true...he lived too long with the Jews, his Arab was no longer good. This he said at a screening held in the north of Israel to an audience of mostly Arabs who do not go to many movies, but were invited by Israel to see the film.
In the film he gives up his education for love of girl and she gives up her love for him for the love of her country. This is how minority relationships often turn out.
Eyad’s father’s reaction to the relationship of his university student son with an Israeli Jewish student is unexpected, but he too is buried by tradition whereas the mother with her small smile gives a ray of hope.
The scriptwriter-novelist, Sayed Kashua is brilliant, and this is a part of his real life. Kashua and Riklis have a love-hate relationship: when Kashua, who based the novel on his own life, saw the fine cut...he fainted. His wife said, “What are you complaining about, did your mother look like that?”
Sayed said complained that his own kids don't speak Arabic anymore, and so he took a sabbatical and is now in Champaign-Urbana at the University of Illinois.
The audience in Israel, judging by the 20 to 30 Facebook comments, they get daily consists of 20% Arabs which is great because they don't normally go to movies. Even a right wing Israeli said he liked the movie. The goes beyond right and left.
It is not a blockbuster, but it doing well. The word “Arab” might keep some people away.
On the second weekend I went to see “Salt of the Earth” (Isa: Ndm), now nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards, and “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” by her grandniece Michelle Boyaner.
Sebastião Salgado’s photographs are linked by his son and director Wim Wenders to his life. With his own voice and that of his son, Juliano, they discover the undiscovered in photography and in their own lives.
“Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” is the story of artist Edith Lake Wilkinson, committed to an asylum in 1925 and never heard from again. All her worldly possessions were packed into trunks and shipped to a relative in West Virginia where they sat in an attic for 40 years. Edith's great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, grew up surrounded by Edith's paintings, thanks to her mother who had gone poking through that dusty attic and rescued Edith's work. The film follows Jane in her decades-long journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith's buried life, return the work to Provincetown and have Edith's contributions recognized by the larger art world.
Read More: Sydney Levine on "Finding Vivian Maier"
In many ways this is similar to “Finding Vivian Maier," which also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Documentary category, in that both recover long lost and never acknowledged art which is astoundingly good art. This one goes further into the lesbian relationships of artists Edith and Jane and takes another unexpected step into the psychic world of a medium who actually solves the mystery of why Edith was committed and then forgotten. This is a must-see for art lovers and would make a great fiction film as well.
Another notable aspect of Psiff that is how, just before the Awards begin for Golden Globe and for the Academy, all the big name stars are here for two awards events. One, the opening night gala raises millions for the festival. The other, Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch brunch, brings more stars and that funny speech by Chris Rock (See Video Here).
Read More: Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev on his Oscar-Nominated "Leviathan"
Also remarkable is that, aside from the above Awards and then the final festival awards bestowed, the Golden Globes mirrored the Palm Springs Fest’s awards:
Actress in a drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (Isa: Memento) won Psiff’s Achievement Award
Actor in a drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” (Uip) also received the Psiff Desert Palm Achievement Award.
Supporting actor, drama: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” (Isa: Sierra/ Affinity) received the Psiff Spotlight Award.
Director Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” (Uip/ Paramount) received the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.
Foreign Language Film: "Leviathan” (Isa: Pyramide) received the PSiFF Best Foreign Language Film.
Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, “Birdman” (Fox Searchlight), Inarritu received Psiff Director of the Year Award which was bestowed by “Birdman” star Michael Keaton. And the Golden Globe Award for Actor, musical or comedy, went to Michael Keaton for “Birdman”...
- 1/17/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
From stories about Roger Ebert, Aaron Swartz and Sebastião Salgado, to an inside look at Studio Ghibli and Edward Snowden's whistle-blowing, 2014 documentaries have been nothing short of extraordinary. I'm honestly still a bit new to documentaries, it took my years to get into them in a way where I could actually feel comfortable about delivering a Top 10 list. But in 2013 I fell in love with docs, there were so many I saw that blew me away, that showed me the power of documentary filmmaking and the potential it has to be as exhilarating and enlightening as any narrative feature. After catching many excellent docs at film festivals this year, I submitted my Top 10 picks to the outstanding doc site Nonfics, and I'm sharing them below. The first note is that I choose films from this year based on when I saw them, including at film festivals. So, for example,...
- 12/24/2014
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Human Capital (Il Capitale Umano) director Paolo Virzì in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences yesterday announced the Oscar shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film. Paula van der Oest's Accused (Netherlands); Giorgi Ovashvili's Corn Island (Georgia); Ruben Östlund's Force Majeure (Sweden); Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida (Poland); Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan (Russia); Alberto Arvelo's The Liberator (Venezuela); Zaza Urushadze's Tangerines (Estonia); Abderrahmane Sissako's Timbuktu (Mauritania); and Damian Szifron's Wild Tales (Argentina) are the nine films. Earlier this month, Human Capital (Il Capitale Umano) director Paolo Virzì and I discussed Slavoj Žižek's reading of Kierkegaard, an old theatre in the Como backyard of George Clooney and Giorgio Armani, Sebastião Salgado's Genesis photography exhibition, what's coming up next with Francesca Archibugi, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Micaela Ramazzotti and the responsibility of having his film as Italy's Oscar submission.
Fabrizio Bentivoglio as...
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences yesterday announced the Oscar shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film. Paula van der Oest's Accused (Netherlands); Giorgi Ovashvili's Corn Island (Georgia); Ruben Östlund's Force Majeure (Sweden); Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida (Poland); Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan (Russia); Alberto Arvelo's The Liberator (Venezuela); Zaza Urushadze's Tangerines (Estonia); Abderrahmane Sissako's Timbuktu (Mauritania); and Damian Szifron's Wild Tales (Argentina) are the nine films. Earlier this month, Human Capital (Il Capitale Umano) director Paolo Virzì and I discussed Slavoj Žižek's reading of Kierkegaard, an old theatre in the Como backyard of George Clooney and Giorgio Armani, Sebastião Salgado's Genesis photography exhibition, what's coming up next with Francesca Archibugi, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Micaela Ramazzotti and the responsibility of having his film as Italy's Oscar submission.
Fabrizio Bentivoglio as...
- 12/20/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
These are the documentaries everyone needs to see; you must see them, they are worth your time. These are not the only documentaries that matter, but of course, nor are they the only good documentaries this year, but if you're looking for a list of some documentaries to start watching - well, start here, with any of these. This week, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced (list via Deadline/Variety) the "shortlist" of documentaries that made the cut from 134 eligible submissions down to just 15. From Roger Ebert to Alejandro Jodorowsky, from Edward Snowden to Sebastião Salgado, the selection this year is fantastic, and I'm glad that all of my favorites made the cut. Many of these are already out on VOD + DVD. The next step of the process involves additional screening before the nominations are announced January 15th, with Oscar ceremonies next year taking place on February 22nd...
- 12/4/2014
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Few modern photographers have covered as much of the planet as Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. For several decades, he travelled the continents to document major events shaping history: genocide, war, starvation, and exodus. Deeply affected by the intense trauma he witnessed, he put down his camera. He picked it up again for Genesis, a hugely ambitious project dedicated to the earth’s beauty, where he photographed areas of the planet untouched by humans. Filmmaker Wim Wenders joined forces with Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado to co-direct this intimate portrait of one our greatest living artists. The film won the Special Prize in the Un Certain Regard section […]...
- 12/3/2014
- by Ariston Anderson
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Few modern photographers have covered as much of the planet as Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. For several decades, he travelled the continents to document major events shaping history: genocide, war, starvation, and exodus. Deeply affected by the intense trauma he witnessed, he put down his camera. He picked it up again for Genesis, a hugely ambitious project dedicated to the earth’s beauty, where he photographed areas of the planet untouched by humans. Filmmaker Wim Wenders joined forces with Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado to co-direct this intimate portrait of one our greatest living artists. The film won the Special Prize in the Un Certain Regard section […]...
- 12/3/2014
- by Ariston Anderson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
"The Shawshank Redemption," "Fargo," "Kundun," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "The Man Who Wasn't There," "No Country for Old Men," "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "The Reader," "True Grit," "Skyfall," "Prisoners." Surely one of those films won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, right? Nope. Roger Deakins has 11 Oscar nominations but, to date, has not been granted access to the Dolby Theater stage (or the Kodak Theater…or the Shrine Auditorium…he's a veteran of multiple Oscar venues at this point). Could that change with Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken?" Possibly. Deakins pushed himself quite a bit on the film and played with a few aesthetic ideas he hadn't really dabbled in before. It's only the second time he's worked in the war genre (after 2005's "Jarhead"), but he paints Jolie's canvas with striking hues of contrast. For a film that could be a formidable prestige Oscar player,...
- 12/3/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
25 years ago, director Wim Wenders’ discovered the haunting black and white artworks of celebrated Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Now a 70-year-old man who has traveled to nearly every corner of the Earth for more than 40 years, Salgado has documented some of the most tragic and catastrophic events in recent history: revolutions and international conflicts, genocide in Rwanda, wars in Yugoslavia, starvation in Ethiopia, the Saddam Hussein-devastated Kuwaiti oilfields, mass exoduses around the globe and more. So taken with Salgado's iconic photos —striking works often bearing witness to the poor, the suffering and neglected members of society— Wenders bought two prints and promptly framed them above his office desk where they remain to this day. But the more Salgado’s ghostly photos preoccupied Wenders’ heart and psyche (this photo in particular), the more the venerable German filmmaker felt compelled to understand the man who took them. Eventually Wenders would...
- 9/4/2014
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
Wim Wenders' upcoming documentary "The Salt of the Earth" screened well at Cannes this year: the audience sprang to its feet and burst into applause after its premiere. Check out the first batch of clips: they're beautiful, evocative and very Wenders-esque. "The Salt of the Earth" focuses on Brazilian photographer and photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, whose work over the last 40 years has focused on social issues, exploring the challenges facing the Earth's diverse--and dispersed--communities. Salgado has travelled to more than 100 countries, and in the last 10 years has shifted his attention to a project he calls "Genesis," a series that focuses on documenting unspoiled nature and the human societies that live in such environments in accordance with ancestral and not modern conventions. At Cannes, Wenders's film, which he made along with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado--the photographer's son--won the Un Certain Regard jury's special Prize. Variety called it a...
- 6/5/2014
- by Jacob Combs
- Thompson on Hollywood
As we eagerly await Wim Wenders‘ next narrative effort, the James Franco-led 3D drama Every Thing Will Be Fine, the legendary director has been hard at work on another project, the documentary The Salt of the Earth. Exploring a globe-spanning journey of Sebastião Salgado, the famous Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist, the film premiered at Cannes to favorable reviews and […]...
- 6/4/2014
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
In a couple weeks soccer fans will set their sights on the South American country. Just before the ball starts rolling, there is an opportunity to see a different form of Brazilian expression off the field. The 12th Brazilian Film Festival of New York will screen a varied selection of features and shorts, which provide a concise but powerful look at the state of the country’s cinema and the issues that intrigue its filmmakers. Being Brazil a country in constant transition, the films also bear the array of concerns and experiences that define the current Brazilian society. Revisiting the years of the dictatorship, touching on environmental problems, or simply focusing on the lives of regular citizens, this selection of films continues to present unique Brazilian visions that transcend their local contexts to offer engaging stories to international audiences. Presented Inffinito Festival Circuit the festival runs June 1 -7 at Tribeca Cinemas. These are some of the highlights
A Wolf at the Door
Dir. Fernando Coimbra
A marvelously calculated mystery ignited by a woman’s disenchanted with her unlawful romantic relationship. Passion that evolves into maniacal obsession is rarely compelling on its own, but in this slow-burning drama the subtle exposition hides a shocking conclusion. When a young girl is kidnapped from her school, the investigation to find her reveals the terrifying shades of evil that hide under benevolent actions. Astutely written to drag the viewer through the story several times until the gruesome truth is unveiled, this is one of the best Brazilian films to reach American shores in recent years. Leandra Leal’s performance as Rosa is chillingly nuanced, definitely a highlight of this extraordinary debut by writer/director Fernando Coimbra. If you only see one film at the festival, this is the one to choose. Full review coming soon.
Tattoo
Dir. Hilton Lacerda
Sexual liberation and political rebellion went hand in hand in Brazil during the late 70s. Opposing a repressive dictatorship that tried to further marginalize them, a group of Lgbt theater artists known as “Start-Spangled Floor” performs satirical and sexually explicit numbers that mock the government in a sophisticated fashion. At the center of the irreverent songs and extravagant costumes is the romance between the group’s leader Clécio (Irandhir Santos) and a young soldier, Fininho ( Jesuita Barbosa) who struggles with his sexuality. Interestingly arranged to serve both as a coming-of-age story and an experimental quest for justice, Tattoo is a visually inventive work that capitalizes on its vibrant ensemble cast. They give life to a group of misfits who advocate for love, pleasure, and the abolishment of ownership – even that of a monogamous relationship.
The invisible Collection
Dir. Bernard Attal
After serendipitously escaping an accident that kills all of his friends, Beto (Vladimir Brichta), a young womanizing DJ, is faced with an insufferable guilt that pushes him to change his life. Needing to make money by new means, he decides to go in a quest to find several rare art works sold by his father – an art dealer – to an eccentric collector in the countryside many years ago. Underneath the utterly familiar premise of a fish-out-of-water trying to rediscover himself, there are interesting ideas about class and environmental devastation. In his relentless mission to obtain these valuable items for his personal gain, Beto will be faced with an unexpected twist that will test his ability to feel compassion for others.
Meeting Sebastião Salgado
Dir. Betse De Paula
Part activist, part photographer, but 100% globe trekker, Brazilian economist turned artist Sebastiao Salgado revisits his adventurous career via the images he captured. In this extensive conversation, the lover of the light discusses subjects that range from the tyrannical government that ruled Brazil in the past, adapting to extreme weather around the world, and how the new digital technology has affected his creative process. More than a comprehensive documentary about his life, the film is simply crafted as a conversation with Salgado intercutting some of his most memorable photographs. Although not incredibly revelatory, the film does a great job at showcasing his work and highlighting his unique journey.
Rio of Faith
Dir. Carlos Diegues
This docu-diary encapsulates the 2013 World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. The event brought thousands of Catholic teens from every corner of the planet eager to receive a message of hope from Pope Francis. Following the pilgrimage of these devoted young men and women, one learns of the diverse motivations and perspectives all of which connect in one place. A crucial element is the fact that the filmmaker includes the voice of the Lgbt and atheist community in the conversation. Their conflicted relationship with a religious institution that has often exclude them is important to understand the place of Catholicism in today's world. Surprisingly, the film is less about the Pope as an omnipotent figure, and more about the youth that still considers religion as the best path to navigate their complex modern lives.
A Wolf at the Door
Dir. Fernando Coimbra
A marvelously calculated mystery ignited by a woman’s disenchanted with her unlawful romantic relationship. Passion that evolves into maniacal obsession is rarely compelling on its own, but in this slow-burning drama the subtle exposition hides a shocking conclusion. When a young girl is kidnapped from her school, the investigation to find her reveals the terrifying shades of evil that hide under benevolent actions. Astutely written to drag the viewer through the story several times until the gruesome truth is unveiled, this is one of the best Brazilian films to reach American shores in recent years. Leandra Leal’s performance as Rosa is chillingly nuanced, definitely a highlight of this extraordinary debut by writer/director Fernando Coimbra. If you only see one film at the festival, this is the one to choose. Full review coming soon.
Tattoo
Dir. Hilton Lacerda
Sexual liberation and political rebellion went hand in hand in Brazil during the late 70s. Opposing a repressive dictatorship that tried to further marginalize them, a group of Lgbt theater artists known as “Start-Spangled Floor” performs satirical and sexually explicit numbers that mock the government in a sophisticated fashion. At the center of the irreverent songs and extravagant costumes is the romance between the group’s leader Clécio (Irandhir Santos) and a young soldier, Fininho ( Jesuita Barbosa) who struggles with his sexuality. Interestingly arranged to serve both as a coming-of-age story and an experimental quest for justice, Tattoo is a visually inventive work that capitalizes on its vibrant ensemble cast. They give life to a group of misfits who advocate for love, pleasure, and the abolishment of ownership – even that of a monogamous relationship.
The invisible Collection
Dir. Bernard Attal
After serendipitously escaping an accident that kills all of his friends, Beto (Vladimir Brichta), a young womanizing DJ, is faced with an insufferable guilt that pushes him to change his life. Needing to make money by new means, he decides to go in a quest to find several rare art works sold by his father – an art dealer – to an eccentric collector in the countryside many years ago. Underneath the utterly familiar premise of a fish-out-of-water trying to rediscover himself, there are interesting ideas about class and environmental devastation. In his relentless mission to obtain these valuable items for his personal gain, Beto will be faced with an unexpected twist that will test his ability to feel compassion for others.
Meeting Sebastião Salgado
Dir. Betse De Paula
Part activist, part photographer, but 100% globe trekker, Brazilian economist turned artist Sebastiao Salgado revisits his adventurous career via the images he captured. In this extensive conversation, the lover of the light discusses subjects that range from the tyrannical government that ruled Brazil in the past, adapting to extreme weather around the world, and how the new digital technology has affected his creative process. More than a comprehensive documentary about his life, the film is simply crafted as a conversation with Salgado intercutting some of his most memorable photographs. Although not incredibly revelatory, the film does a great job at showcasing his work and highlighting his unique journey.
Rio of Faith
Dir. Carlos Diegues
This docu-diary encapsulates the 2013 World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. The event brought thousands of Catholic teens from every corner of the planet eager to receive a message of hope from Pope Francis. Following the pilgrimage of these devoted young men and women, one learns of the diverse motivations and perspectives all of which connect in one place. A crucial element is the fact that the filmmaker includes the voice of the Lgbt and atheist community in the conversation. Their conflicted relationship with a religious institution that has often exclude them is important to understand the place of Catholicism in today's world. Surprisingly, the film is less about the Pope as an omnipotent figure, and more about the youth that still considers religion as the best path to navigate their complex modern lives.
- 6/2/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
We live on a remarkably beautiful planet, filled with diverse man-made and natural creations, spanning all corners of the world. From lush rain forests to massive deserts to extraordinary mountain ranges to epic landscapes of every kind. In the documentary The Salt of the Earth, filmmaker Wim Wenders connects with legendary photographer Sebastião Salgado, and explores the world with him by telling the story of his life, growing up in Brazil, eventually photographing the atrocities of humanity as well as the remarkable splendor of this world. Take a deep breath, sit back, and let this man's incredible images and story wow you. Born and raised in Brazil, Salgado is a photographer whose photos you have mostly likely seen at some point in your life (see some of his work here). He started out in black & white, capturing many images of the brutality, bravery, intensity and tenacity of humanity, from international conflicts to starvation and exodus.
- 5/27/2014
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado's "The Salt of the Earth," which won the Special Prize Award for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for U.S. distribution. Sony Pictures also picked up Cannes entries "Saint Laurent," "Wild Tales," "Jimmy's Hall" and "Leviathan." Read More: The 2014 Indiewire Cannes Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival"The Salt of the Earth" is a tribute to Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who is most known for traveling the world documenting international conflicts. Recently, Salgado has shifted his attention to a subject matter not so grave: photographing some of the beautiful landscapes on our planet. In this documentary, Sebastião's son Juliano, who accompanied his father on his trips, reveals some of the magic behind his photos. "Sony Pictures Classics has the legacy of releasing some of the.
- 5/27/2014
- by Eric Eidelstein
- Indiewire
Sony Pictures Classics bought U.S. distribution rights to director Wim Wender and Juliano Ribero Salgado's documentary “Salt of the Earth,” about the epic photography of Sebastião Salgado, the studio announced on Sunday. The film was in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Special Prize Award. Also read: Turkish Drama ‘Winter Sleep’ Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes Here's the full announcement: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Un Certain Regard Special Prize Winner The Salt Of The Earth New York (May 25, 2014) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all Us rights to Wim.
- 5/26/2014
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
The German presence at this year's Cannes Film Festival will be numerous and varied across many of the festival's sections. Four German co-productions are screening in the Competition. Two German co-productions are featured in Un Certain Regard. Wim Wenders will also be showing his documentary The Salt of the Earth there. Paris, Texas is showing in the Cannes Classics. The German director Angela Schanelec has a short film in the omnibus project The Bridges of Sarajevo (Fr/BA/Ch/Pt/De/It, unafilm), which has been invited as a Special Screening.
The following German co-productions are in the Competition: Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas, (Fr/De/Ch, Pallas Film),Winter's Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Tr/De/Fr, Bredok Film Production), Maps to the Stars by David Cronenberg (CA/Fr/De, Integral Film) and Le Meraviglie by Alice Rohrwacher (It/Ch/De, Pola Pandora Filmproduktion).
The section of Un Certain Regard will be presenting Amour fou by Jessica Hausner (At/Lu/De, Essential Filmproduktion) and Away From His Absence by Keren Yedaya (Il/De/Fr, Riva Filmproduktion). It will also feature the documentary The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a French production about the Brazilian photographer and explorer Sebastião Salgado.
A Special Screening will be presented of The Bridges of Sarajevo, produced on the German side by unafilm. The film is a collaboration by leading European directors to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The German director Angela Schanelec is one of the film-makers contributing a short film.
The films in the programs of the independent sidebars Semaine de la Critique and Quinzaine des Réalisateurs will be made known on 21 and 22 April 2014 . The German producer Benny Drechsel, co-managing director of Rohfilm, is a member of the jury for the Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize of Semaine de la Critique. It awards the prize for the Best Film in the Short Films Competition. The Cannes Competition Jury and the films of the Cannes Classics sidebar will be published in the coming week.
German Films will be present again this year at the Festival de Cannes with a total of 35 new German films at Cannes, they will also be present at the International Village of the Marché du Film.
The following German co-productions are in the Competition: Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas, (Fr/De/Ch, Pallas Film),Winter's Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Tr/De/Fr, Bredok Film Production), Maps to the Stars by David Cronenberg (CA/Fr/De, Integral Film) and Le Meraviglie by Alice Rohrwacher (It/Ch/De, Pola Pandora Filmproduktion).
The section of Un Certain Regard will be presenting Amour fou by Jessica Hausner (At/Lu/De, Essential Filmproduktion) and Away From His Absence by Keren Yedaya (Il/De/Fr, Riva Filmproduktion). It will also feature the documentary The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a French production about the Brazilian photographer and explorer Sebastião Salgado.
A Special Screening will be presented of The Bridges of Sarajevo, produced on the German side by unafilm. The film is a collaboration by leading European directors to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The German director Angela Schanelec is one of the film-makers contributing a short film.
The films in the programs of the independent sidebars Semaine de la Critique and Quinzaine des Réalisateurs will be made known on 21 and 22 April 2014 . The German producer Benny Drechsel, co-managing director of Rohfilm, is a member of the jury for the Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize of Semaine de la Critique. It awards the prize for the Best Film in the Short Films Competition. The Cannes Competition Jury and the films of the Cannes Classics sidebar will be published in the coming week.
German Films will be present again this year at the Festival de Cannes with a total of 35 new German films at Cannes, they will also be present at the International Village of the Marché du Film.
- 4/20/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
#98. Shade & Light
Gist: Co-directed with Juliano Salgado (the subject’s son), Shade & Light focuses on photographer and explorer Sebastião Salgado’s latest work an eight-year project (called Genesis) which discovers parts of the world still untouched by modern civilization. What we have here is also a layered docu – not only an exposé in far away places of the world, but a strained father and son alongside the presence of Wenders who returns to his first love: photography.
Prediction: Special Screenings category. Since the festival starting making a concerted effort in the last decade or so to include global/environmental issue documentaries, this could easily slide into a spot and considering that in the line-up and Wenders made the trip out to the Croisette on sixteen occasions (his last presence was for 2008′s Palermo Shooting) and in the naughts, he landed an Out of Competition slot on three separate occasions for...
Gist: Co-directed with Juliano Salgado (the subject’s son), Shade & Light focuses on photographer and explorer Sebastião Salgado’s latest work an eight-year project (called Genesis) which discovers parts of the world still untouched by modern civilization. What we have here is also a layered docu – not only an exposé in far away places of the world, but a strained father and son alongside the presence of Wenders who returns to his first love: photography.
Prediction: Special Screenings category. Since the festival starting making a concerted effort in the last decade or so to include global/environmental issue documentaries, this could easily slide into a spot and considering that in the line-up and Wenders made the trip out to the Croisette on sixteen occasions (his last presence was for 2008′s Palermo Shooting) and in the naughts, he landed an Out of Competition slot on three separate occasions for...
- 4/2/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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