Second edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival in Doha to include 90 films from 43 countries.
A total of 90 films have been selected for the second edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival (Dec 1-6) at the Cultural Village Katara in Doha.
Ten of these features are by first and second-time filmmakers including Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai, Antboy by Ask Hasselbalch, #chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes On a Dictator by Joe Piscatella and the opening night world premiere of Speed Sisters by Amber Fares.
Other highlights of this year’s feature film line-up include the Mena premiere of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, produced by and starring Salma Hayek-Pinault. The animated feature, which is the Festival’s closing night gala presentation, is an adaptation of Gibran’s book directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), featuring sequences by directors including Gulf animator Mohammed Saeed Harib.
Special guests confirmed to attend the festival include a delegation from Kahlil Gibran...
A total of 90 films have been selected for the second edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival (Dec 1-6) at the Cultural Village Katara in Doha.
Ten of these features are by first and second-time filmmakers including Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai, Antboy by Ask Hasselbalch, #chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes On a Dictator by Joe Piscatella and the opening night world premiere of Speed Sisters by Amber Fares.
Other highlights of this year’s feature film line-up include the Mena premiere of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, produced by and starring Salma Hayek-Pinault. The animated feature, which is the Festival’s closing night gala presentation, is an adaptation of Gibran’s book directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), featuring sequences by directors including Gulf animator Mohammed Saeed Harib.
Special guests confirmed to attend the festival include a delegation from Kahlil Gibran...
- 11/12/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Mumbai Film Festival (Oct 14-21), recently saved by public donations following a funding crunch, unveiled its line-up today including the India Gold Competition and International Competition for first features.
The festival also announced that Catherine Deneuve will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, while master classes will be held by DoP Christopher Doyle and director Mahamat Saleh Haroun.
The International Competition includes Benjamin Naishtat’s History Of Fear, Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo and Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court, fresh from its Venice success. The India Gold competition includes Bikas Mishra’s Chauranga, Avinash Arun’s The Fort (Killa) and Ms Prakash Babu’s Fig Fruit And The Wasps (see full list below).
Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic will head the India Gold jury, while the Dimensions Mumbai short film competition jury comprises directors Gauri Shinde and Homi Adajania, actors Satish Kaushik and Huma Qureshi and critic Rajeev Masand.
Key films outside the competition sections include Xavier Dolan’s [link...
The festival also announced that Catherine Deneuve will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, while master classes will be held by DoP Christopher Doyle and director Mahamat Saleh Haroun.
The International Competition includes Benjamin Naishtat’s History Of Fear, Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo and Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court, fresh from its Venice success. The India Gold competition includes Bikas Mishra’s Chauranga, Avinash Arun’s The Fort (Killa) and Ms Prakash Babu’s Fig Fruit And The Wasps (see full list below).
Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic will head the India Gold jury, while the Dimensions Mumbai short film competition jury comprises directors Gauri Shinde and Homi Adajania, actors Satish Kaushik and Huma Qureshi and critic Rajeev Masand.
Key films outside the competition sections include Xavier Dolan’s [link...
- 9/17/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
The 16th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival announced its line-up in a press conference today.
Here is the complete list of films which will be screened at the festival:-
International Competition
Difret
Dir.: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia / 2014 / Col / 99)
History of Fear (Historia del miedo)
Dir.: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina-France-Germany-Qatar-Uruguay / 2014 / Col / 79)
With Others (Ba Digaran)
Dir.: Nasser Zamiri (Iran / 2014 / Col / 85)
The Tree (Drevo)
Dir.: Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia / 2014 / Col / 90)
Next to Her (At li layla)
Dir.: Asaf Korman (Israel / 2014 / Col / 90)
Schimbare
Dir.: Alex Sampayo (Spain / 2014 / Col / 87)
Fever
Dir.: Raphaël Neal (France / 2014 / Col / 81)
Court
Dir.: Chaitanya Tamhane (India (Marathi-Gujarati-English-Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 116)
Macondo
Dir.: Sudabeh Mortezai (Austria / 2014 / Col / 98)
India Gold Competition 2014
The Fort (Killa)
Dir.: Avinash Arun (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 107)
Unto the Dusk
Dir.: Sajin Baabu (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 118)
Names Unknown (Perariyathavar)
Dir.: Dr. Biju (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 110)
Buddha In a Traffic Jam
Dir.
Here is the complete list of films which will be screened at the festival:-
International Competition
Difret
Dir.: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia / 2014 / Col / 99)
History of Fear (Historia del miedo)
Dir.: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina-France-Germany-Qatar-Uruguay / 2014 / Col / 79)
With Others (Ba Digaran)
Dir.: Nasser Zamiri (Iran / 2014 / Col / 85)
The Tree (Drevo)
Dir.: Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia / 2014 / Col / 90)
Next to Her (At li layla)
Dir.: Asaf Korman (Israel / 2014 / Col / 90)
Schimbare
Dir.: Alex Sampayo (Spain / 2014 / Col / 87)
Fever
Dir.: Raphaël Neal (France / 2014 / Col / 81)
Court
Dir.: Chaitanya Tamhane (India (Marathi-Gujarati-English-Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 116)
Macondo
Dir.: Sudabeh Mortezai (Austria / 2014 / Col / 98)
India Gold Competition 2014
The Fort (Killa)
Dir.: Avinash Arun (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 107)
Unto the Dusk
Dir.: Sajin Baabu (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 118)
Names Unknown (Perariyathavar)
Dir.: Dr. Biju (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 110)
Buddha In a Traffic Jam
Dir.
- 9/17/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
This year’s European Film Awards are officially out of the gates with a not so lean 50 film submissions to select from. The 27th edition collects titles that date back to last year’s Venice and Toronto Int. Film Festivals moving into Sundance-Rotterdam-Berlin and finally Cannes of ’14. Among the 31 European countries represented, we’ve got likes of the Palme d’Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan leading the huge pack of contenders including Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida. Here’s the complete list of 50!:
Alienation
ОТЧУЖДЕНИЕ (Otchujdenie)
Bulgaria
Directed By: Milko Lazarov
Written By: Milko Lazarov, Kitodar Todorov & Georgi Tenev
Produced By: Veselka Kiryakova
Amour Fou
Austria/Luxembourg/Germany
Written & Directed By: Jessica Hausner
Produced By: Martin Gschlacht, Antonin Svoboda, Bruno Wagner, Bady Minck, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu & Philippe Bober
Beautiful Youth
Hermosa Juventud
Spain/France
Directed By: Jaime Rosales
Written By: Jaime Rosales & Enric Rufas
Produced By: Jaime Rosales,...
Alienation
ОТЧУЖДЕНИЕ (Otchujdenie)
Bulgaria
Directed By: Milko Lazarov
Written By: Milko Lazarov, Kitodar Todorov & Georgi Tenev
Produced By: Veselka Kiryakova
Amour Fou
Austria/Luxembourg/Germany
Written & Directed By: Jessica Hausner
Produced By: Martin Gschlacht, Antonin Svoboda, Bruno Wagner, Bady Minck, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu & Philippe Bober
Beautiful Youth
Hermosa Juventud
Spain/France
Directed By: Jaime Rosales
Written By: Jaime Rosales & Enric Rufas
Produced By: Jaime Rosales,...
- 9/16/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
More than 30 European countries represented in the line-up.Scroll down for list in full
The 50 films recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards (EFAs) have been unveiled.
The European Film Academy and Efa Productions revealed the titles at a press conference in Riga, Latvia where this year’s 27th EFAs will take place on Dec 13.
A total of 31 European countries are represented. In the 20 countries with the most Efa members, these members have voted one national film directly into the selection list.
To complete the list, a selection committee consisting of Efa Board Members and invited experts have included further films. Those experts include Screen International chief film critic and reviews editor Mark Adams (UK), Marit Kapla (Sweden), Stefan Kitanov (Bulgaria), Paz Lázaro (Spain), Christophe Leparc (France) and Elma Tataragic (Bosnia & Herzegovina).
In the coming weeks, more than 3,000 members of the European Film Academy will vote for the nominations in the categories European Film, Director...
The 50 films recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards (EFAs) have been unveiled.
The European Film Academy and Efa Productions revealed the titles at a press conference in Riga, Latvia where this year’s 27th EFAs will take place on Dec 13.
A total of 31 European countries are represented. In the 20 countries with the most Efa members, these members have voted one national film directly into the selection list.
To complete the list, a selection committee consisting of Efa Board Members and invited experts have included further films. Those experts include Screen International chief film critic and reviews editor Mark Adams (UK), Marit Kapla (Sweden), Stefan Kitanov (Bulgaria), Paz Lázaro (Spain), Christophe Leparc (France) and Elma Tataragic (Bosnia & Herzegovina).
In the coming weeks, more than 3,000 members of the European Film Academy will vote for the nominations in the categories European Film, Director...
- 9/16/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
A total of 12 films from Switzerland, Germany, Austria will compete for the Golden Eye award.Scroll down for full list of titles
Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 5) has unveiled the line-up for its new Focus: Switzerland, Germany, Austria competition section.
Selected films include Toronto titles Labyrinth of Lies, a post-war German drama from Giulio Ricciarelli; and Baran bo Odar’s computer hacker thriller Who Am I - No System is Safe.
Others include Sudabeh Mortezai’s refugee drama Macondo, first seen at the Berlinale in February, which went on to pick up prizes in Hong Kong and Sarajevo; and Ingo Haeb’s The Chambermaid Lynn, which debuted at Montreal and centres on a maid in a large hotel with a fear of human interaction but who craves intimacy.
Documentaries in the line-up include Jørg M. Kundinger and Timon Birkhofer’s Capital C, which explores crowdfunding; Nick Brandestini’s Children of the Arctic, about five native...
Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 5) has unveiled the line-up for its new Focus: Switzerland, Germany, Austria competition section.
Selected films include Toronto titles Labyrinth of Lies, a post-war German drama from Giulio Ricciarelli; and Baran bo Odar’s computer hacker thriller Who Am I - No System is Safe.
Others include Sudabeh Mortezai’s refugee drama Macondo, first seen at the Berlinale in February, which went on to pick up prizes in Hong Kong and Sarajevo; and Ingo Haeb’s The Chambermaid Lynn, which debuted at Montreal and centres on a maid in a large hotel with a fear of human interaction but who craves intimacy.
Documentaries in the line-up include Jørg M. Kundinger and Timon Birkhofer’s Capital C, which explores crowdfunding; Nick Brandestini’s Children of the Arctic, about five native...
- 9/10/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Fury (David Ayer)
[via the BFI]
The programme for the 58th BFI London Film Festival launched today, with Festival Director Clare Stewart presenting this year’s rich and diverse selection of films and events. The lineup includes highly anticipated fall titles including David Ayer’s Fury, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, the Sundance smash Whiplash, Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Jason Reitman’s Men, Women and Children and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Wild.
As Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, it introduces the finest new British and international films to an expanding London and UK-wide audience, offering a compelling combination of red carpet glamour, engaged audiences and vibrant exchange. The Festival provides an essential profiling opportunity for films seeking global success at the start of the Awards season, promotes the careers of British and...
[via the BFI]
The programme for the 58th BFI London Film Festival launched today, with Festival Director Clare Stewart presenting this year’s rich and diverse selection of films and events. The lineup includes highly anticipated fall titles including David Ayer’s Fury, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, the Sundance smash Whiplash, Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Jason Reitman’s Men, Women and Children and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Wild.
As Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, it introduces the finest new British and international films to an expanding London and UK-wide audience, offering a compelling combination of red carpet glamour, engaged audiences and vibrant exchange. The Festival provides an essential profiling opportunity for films seeking global success at the start of the Awards season, promotes the careers of British and...
- 9/3/2014
- by John
- SoundOnSight
World premieres include Wwi drama Testament of Youth, Carol Morley’s The Falling and sci-fi sequel Monsters: Dark Continent.
The line-up for the 58th London Film Festival (Oct 8-19) has been revealed this morning and it is packed with awards contenders and the best of this year’s festivals.
Click here for full line-up
Titles already generating awards buzz that will receive gala screenings at Lff include Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, which proved the breakout hit at Sundance.
Other galas will give European premieres to Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children, starring Adam Sandler and Ansel Elgort with a racy voiceover by Emma Thompson, and biopic Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and directed by Jean-Marc Vallee.
Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner will also feature among the main gala screenings as will the world premiere of Testament of Youth, a First World...
The line-up for the 58th London Film Festival (Oct 8-19) has been revealed this morning and it is packed with awards contenders and the best of this year’s festivals.
Click here for full line-up
Titles already generating awards buzz that will receive gala screenings at Lff include Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, which proved the breakout hit at Sundance.
Other galas will give European premieres to Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children, starring Adam Sandler and Ansel Elgort with a racy voiceover by Emma Thompson, and biopic Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and directed by Jean-Marc Vallee.
Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner will also feature among the main gala screenings as will the world premiere of Testament of Youth, a First World...
- 9/3/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Docu Rough Cut Boutique awards for documentary project also revealed
The 20th Sarajevo Film Festival partner awards were revealed at a ceremony on the Festival Square.
The award of the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (Cicae) went to Macondo by Austria’s Sudabeh Mortezai.
Sinisa Dragin won the Edn Talent Grant for The Forest (Romania-Serbia). This prize was created as co-operation between the Sarajevo Film Festival and the European Documentary Network with the purpose of supporting promising new documentary film-makers from the region.
Emergency Calls by Finnish film-makers Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen has been selected as the Sarajevo Short Film Nominee for the Efa Award.
In the Bosnian-Herzegovinian student programme, Mirna Dizdarevic won the Best Film award for Redemption,.
The Special Jury Award went to Zulfikar Filandra for The Wall. Anja Kavic’s Some Of Us received a special mention.
Cinematographer Mustafa Mustafic received the honorary Ivica Matic Award for contribution to Bosnian cinema.
Danis Tanovic got the...
The 20th Sarajevo Film Festival partner awards were revealed at a ceremony on the Festival Square.
The award of the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (Cicae) went to Macondo by Austria’s Sudabeh Mortezai.
Sinisa Dragin won the Edn Talent Grant for The Forest (Romania-Serbia). This prize was created as co-operation between the Sarajevo Film Festival and the European Documentary Network with the purpose of supporting promising new documentary film-makers from the region.
Emergency Calls by Finnish film-makers Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen has been selected as the Sarajevo Short Film Nominee for the Efa Award.
In the Bosnian-Herzegovinian student programme, Mirna Dizdarevic won the Best Film award for Redemption,.
The Special Jury Award went to Zulfikar Filandra for The Wall. Anja Kavic’s Some Of Us received a special mention.
Cinematographer Mustafa Mustafic received the honorary Ivica Matic Award for contribution to Bosnian cinema.
Danis Tanovic got the...
- 8/25/2014
- by vladan.petkovic@gmail.com (Vladan Petkovic)
- ScreenDaily
The 2014 Viennale gets underway on October 23rd and runs to November 6th. The festival has published a preview of their lineup:
Features
Frank (Lenny Abrahamson)
Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
Two Day, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
Li'l Quinguin (Bruno Demont)
Hard to Be a God (Aeksej German)
Adieu au langage (Jean-Luc Godard)
Mambo Cool (Chris Gude)
Amour fou (Jessica Hausner)
The Last Summer of the Rich (Peter Kern)
Time Lapse (Bradley King)
The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid)
Sorrow and Joy (Nils Malmros)
Suddarth (Richie Mehta)
Macondo (Sudabeh Mortezai)
Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund)
I'm Not Him (Tayfun Pirselimoglu)
Favula (Raúl Perrone)
Buzzard (Joel Potrykus)
A Proletarian Winter's Tale (Julian Radlmaier)
Two Shots Fired (Martín Rejtman)
Mauro (Hernán Rosselli)
The Sad Smell of Flesh (Cristóbal Arteaga Rozas)
Love is Strange (Ira Sachs)
The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy)
Why Don't You Play in Hell?...
Features
Frank (Lenny Abrahamson)
Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
Two Day, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
Li'l Quinguin (Bruno Demont)
Hard to Be a God (Aeksej German)
Adieu au langage (Jean-Luc Godard)
Mambo Cool (Chris Gude)
Amour fou (Jessica Hausner)
The Last Summer of the Rich (Peter Kern)
Time Lapse (Bradley King)
The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid)
Sorrow and Joy (Nils Malmros)
Suddarth (Richie Mehta)
Macondo (Sudabeh Mortezai)
Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund)
I'm Not Him (Tayfun Pirselimoglu)
Favula (Raúl Perrone)
Buzzard (Joel Potrykus)
A Proletarian Winter's Tale (Julian Radlmaier)
Two Shots Fired (Martín Rejtman)
Mauro (Hernán Rosselli)
The Sad Smell of Flesh (Cristóbal Arteaga Rozas)
Love is Strange (Ira Sachs)
The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy)
Why Don't You Play in Hell?...
- 8/22/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Vienna film festival to include a tribute to Viggo Mortensen and a retrospective on John Ford.Scroll down for list of higlights
Highlights of the 52nd Vienna International Film Festival (Oct 23-Nov 6) have been unveiled, including buzz titles from Cannes and Sundance as well as a tribute to actor Viggo Mortensen and a retrospective on director John Ford.
The feature film programme includes Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, Olivier Assayas’s Clouds of Sils Maria and the Dardenne brothers’ Two Days, One Night. Other titles include Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, Ruben Ostlund’s Turist and Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank.
In the documentary line-up, highlights include Nick Cave doc 20,000 Days On Earth, from directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard; Frederick Wiseman’s National Gallery; and Tessa Louise Salome’s Mr Leos Carax.
The Viennale will pay tribute to American-Danish actor Viggo Mortensen, whose films range from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to David Cronenberg features...
Highlights of the 52nd Vienna International Film Festival (Oct 23-Nov 6) have been unveiled, including buzz titles from Cannes and Sundance as well as a tribute to actor Viggo Mortensen and a retrospective on director John Ford.
The feature film programme includes Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, Olivier Assayas’s Clouds of Sils Maria and the Dardenne brothers’ Two Days, One Night. Other titles include Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, Ruben Ostlund’s Turist and Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank.
In the documentary line-up, highlights include Nick Cave doc 20,000 Days On Earth, from directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard; Frederick Wiseman’s National Gallery; and Tessa Louise Salome’s Mr Leos Carax.
The Viennale will pay tribute to American-Danish actor Viggo Mortensen, whose films range from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to David Cronenberg features...
- 8/22/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 20th edition which runs August 15-23.
The 20th Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 15-23) has announced its official selection. Among nine films in the feature competition, there are three world premieres, including the new film by Kosovo veteran Isa Qosja, Three Windows And A Hanging. Qosja won the Special Jury Award at Sff with Kukumi in 2005.
Two other world premieres in competition are first feature films: Georgian director Lasha Tskvitinidze’s I Am Beso, and Song Of My Mother by Turkey’s Erol Mintas.
The list of debuts in the competition is completed with Berlinale titles Brides by Georgia’s Tinatin Kajrishvili, Land Of Storms by Hungary’s Ádám Császi, and Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai from Austria.
Cure - The Life Of Another, the new film by Andrea Staka who won Heart of Sarajevo for best film in 2006 with Das Fräulein, will have its...
The 20th Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 15-23) has announced its official selection. Among nine films in the feature competition, there are three world premieres, including the new film by Kosovo veteran Isa Qosja, Three Windows And A Hanging. Qosja won the Special Jury Award at Sff with Kukumi in 2005.
Two other world premieres in competition are first feature films: Georgian director Lasha Tskvitinidze’s I Am Beso, and Song Of My Mother by Turkey’s Erol Mintas.
The list of debuts in the competition is completed with Berlinale titles Brides by Georgia’s Tinatin Kajrishvili, Land Of Storms by Hungary’s Ádám Császi, and Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai from Austria.
Cure - The Life Of Another, the new film by Andrea Staka who won Heart of Sarajevo for best film in 2006 with Das Fräulein, will have its...
- 7/17/2014
- ScreenDaily
With past winners being The Broken Circle Breakdown and Lorna’s Silence and past finalists being 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Attenberg and The Selfish Giant, the annual Lux prize (an annual spotlight on films that go to the heart of the European public debate) acts as a barometer for the latest in solid European fare. Announced yesterday at the Karlovy Vary Film Fest, this year’s batch of noms include several Cannes winners in Alice Rohrwacher’s sophomore, Main Comp selected, Grand Prix winning family drama, Kornél Mundruczó’s Un Certain Regard winning film with a little bit, and Ruben Östlund darkly comical slope-side gem. If I were a betting man, my two euros is on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida. Here are the ten, with attached trailers:
Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud) – (Jaime Rosales) – Spain, France
Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik) – (Rok Biček) – Slovenia
Force Majeure (Turist) – (Ruben Östlund) – Sweden, Denmark, France,...
Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud) – (Jaime Rosales) – Spain, France
Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik) – (Rok Biček) – Slovenia
Force Majeure (Turist) – (Ruben Östlund) – Sweden, Denmark, France,...
- 7/9/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The cast from Lux prize contender Girlhood Every year in Karlovy Vary the European Parliament announces the contenders for the Lux prize which is designed to celebrate “the richness, diversity and excellence of European cinema.”
This year’s crop includes no less than five features that deal with the challenges faced by young people in Europe. The films are Celine Sciamma’s Girlhood (Bande de filles) from France; The Wonders (Le Meraviglie) by Alice Rohrwacher from Italy; Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik) by Rok Bicek from Slovenia; Xenia by Panos H Koutras from Greece, and Jaime Rosales’ Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud) from Spain.
Two other titles in the selection had younger people in prominent roles: Kornel Mundruczo’s White God (Hungary, Germany, Sweden) and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (Poland, Denmark). The rest of the selection comprises Dietrich Brueggemann’s Stations Of The Cross (Germany), Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo (Austria) and Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure (Sweden,...
This year’s crop includes no less than five features that deal with the challenges faced by young people in Europe. The films are Celine Sciamma’s Girlhood (Bande de filles) from France; The Wonders (Le Meraviglie) by Alice Rohrwacher from Italy; Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik) by Rok Bicek from Slovenia; Xenia by Panos H Koutras from Greece, and Jaime Rosales’ Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud) from Spain.
Two other titles in the selection had younger people in prominent roles: Kornel Mundruczo’s White God (Hungary, Germany, Sweden) and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (Poland, Denmark). The rest of the selection comprises Dietrich Brueggemann’s Stations Of The Cross (Germany), Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo (Austria) and Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure (Sweden,...
- 7/8/2014
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Girlhood, White God and The Wonders among the finalists announced in Karlovy Vary; 2013 audience winner revealed.
The official selection of films competing for the European Parliament’s 2014 Lux Prize has been unveiled at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff).
At a packed event on the terrace of Kv’s Hotel Thermal on Sunday night, the 10 films were unveiled by Lux Prize co-ordinator Doris Pack, European Parliament member Olga Sehnalova and Kviff artistic director Karel Och, who is also a member of the Lux Prize selection panel.
The 10 films are:
Girlhood (Bande De Filles)
Céline Sciamma – France
White God (Feher Isten)
Kornél Mundruczó – Hungary, Germany, Sweden
Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud)
Jaime Rosales – Spain, France
Ida
Pawel Pawlikowski – Poland, Denmark
Stations Of The Cross (Kreuzweg)
Dietrich Brüggemann – Germany, France
The Wonders (Le Meraviglie)
Alice Rohrwacher – Italy, Switzerland, Germany
Macondo
Sudabeh Mortezai – Austria
Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik)
Rok Biček – Slovenia
Force Majeure (Turist)
Ruben Östlund – Sweden, Denmark, France...
The official selection of films competing for the European Parliament’s 2014 Lux Prize has been unveiled at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff).
At a packed event on the terrace of Kv’s Hotel Thermal on Sunday night, the 10 films were unveiled by Lux Prize co-ordinator Doris Pack, European Parliament member Olga Sehnalova and Kviff artistic director Karel Och, who is also a member of the Lux Prize selection panel.
The 10 films are:
Girlhood (Bande De Filles)
Céline Sciamma – France
White God (Feher Isten)
Kornél Mundruczó – Hungary, Germany, Sweden
Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud)
Jaime Rosales – Spain, France
Ida
Pawel Pawlikowski – Poland, Denmark
Stations Of The Cross (Kreuzweg)
Dietrich Brüggemann – Germany, France
The Wonders (Le Meraviglie)
Alice Rohrwacher – Italy, Switzerland, Germany
Macondo
Sudabeh Mortezai – Austria
Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik)
Rok Biček – Slovenia
Force Majeure (Turist)
Ruben Östlund – Sweden, Denmark, France...
- 7/7/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo won the Firebird Award in the Young Cinema Competition of this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff), while Tetsuichiro Tsuta’s The Tale Of Iya took the Jury Prize.
The jury praised Macondo, an Austrian drama centring on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee, for its “simplicity and humanity [which] show great sensitivity to universal human problems”. Ayumi Sakamoto’s Forma received a special mention in the Young Cinema Competition.
The Firebird Award in the Documentary Competition went to Farida Pacha’s My Name Is Salt, while the Jury Prize went to Gu Tao’s The Last Moose Of Aoluguya and Bernard Bloch’s Meat And Milk received a special mention.
Hu Wei’s The Butter Lamp, about Tibetan nomads, won the Firebird Award in the Short Film Competition. The Jury Prize went to Leo Woodhead’s Cold Snap, while Janie Geiser’s Kriminalistik won the Internet Audience Award and Reka Bucsi’s [link...
The jury praised Macondo, an Austrian drama centring on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee, for its “simplicity and humanity [which] show great sensitivity to universal human problems”. Ayumi Sakamoto’s Forma received a special mention in the Young Cinema Competition.
The Firebird Award in the Documentary Competition went to Farida Pacha’s My Name Is Salt, while the Jury Prize went to Gu Tao’s The Last Moose Of Aoluguya and Bernard Bloch’s Meat And Milk received a special mention.
Hu Wei’s The Butter Lamp, about Tibetan nomads, won the Firebird Award in the Short Film Competition. The Jury Prize went to Leo Woodhead’s Cold Snap, while Janie Geiser’s Kriminalistik won the Internet Audience Award and Reka Bucsi’s [link...
- 4/8/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
“All composed things are like a dream
A phantom, a drop of dew, or a flash of lightning…”
All composed things are a dream, even those composed to mimic the real, to give the impression of nullified artifice, with contents concealed behind handle-less cabinets, smoothed-over cuts, and vanished work. And if all composed things are but an illusion, then what brings certain composed films to gravely insist, through arguments of form, upon their veracity ? This is the unreal real, a form inspired from amateurishness, from the documentary, from the nouvelle vague, a dogma with its muted colors, shaky camerawork, and pretense of observational neutrality which clamors like a commandment, “I am the real, thy Lord, Thou shalt have no other reals before Me.”
This unreal real originated from a cinematic form of revolt against the polished professional artifices of industrial giants, but its rebellious forms have been assimilated and dissolved,...
A phantom, a drop of dew, or a flash of lightning…”
All composed things are a dream, even those composed to mimic the real, to give the impression of nullified artifice, with contents concealed behind handle-less cabinets, smoothed-over cuts, and vanished work. And if all composed things are but an illusion, then what brings certain composed films to gravely insist, through arguments of form, upon their veracity ? This is the unreal real, a form inspired from amateurishness, from the documentary, from the nouvelle vague, a dogma with its muted colors, shaky camerawork, and pretense of observational neutrality which clamors like a commandment, “I am the real, thy Lord, Thou shalt have no other reals before Me.”
This unreal real originated from a cinematic form of revolt against the polished professional artifices of industrial giants, but its rebellious forms have been assimilated and dissolved,...
- 3/27/2014
- by Yaron Dahan
- MUBI
You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Given the front-loaded nature of the 2014 Berlin Film Festival, as the second weekend approached, I’d started to despair of finding anything remarkable in the remaining competition line-up. And then along came “Macondo” the fiction feature debut from Iranian director Sudabeh Mortezai, and a wonderfully engaging, absorbing coming of age/culture clash tale set in a Chechen refugee community in Austria. Knowing shamefully little of Chechen culture beforehand, the film’s lived-in feel exerted its own pull, with Mortezai, who spent time in Austria but is herself a newcomer to this particular milieu, expertly finding a balance between her (and our) outsider perspective, and the unquestionable authenticity of the actors and the environment. But beyond the exercise in cultural understanding (or in the case of some facets of Chechen tradition, especially as regards treatment of women, condemnation) “Macondo” is marked out by an absolutely astonishing performance from its young, effortlessly.
- 2/16/2014
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
The Berlin International Film Festival is handing out its awards tonight in the German capital, with jury head James Schamus and company (including Greta Gerwig and Christoph Waltz) announcing their decision for the Golden Bear -- among other awards. Who will take the top prize? "Boyhood"? "The Great Budapest Hotel"? Or perhaps Sudabeh Mortezai's under-the-radar "Macondo"? Watch below to find out. The ceremony and following press conference begins at 7:30pm Berlin time (1:30pm Est). Watch it here.
- 2/15/2014
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Though the annual Berlin Film Festival may have reached its 64th year, this year’s event is the very first HeyUGuys have had the distinct pleasure of covering. We can also proudly boast to having seen all 20 of this year’s films in Competition. So, with the award ceremony taking place tonight, to see which feature will take home the much coveted, prestigious Golden Bear, we’ve provided a run-down of all competing productions…
The Unmissable
The festival certainly got off to a good start, as the opening night film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, by American auteur Wes Anderson is one of the very best on offer. The quaint, whimsicality that alleviates the director’s work is matched on this occasion by a tender, emotional core to create one of his finest pieces yet. Polarising he may be, given his often contrived stylistic approach, but this seems to be a...
The Unmissable
The festival certainly got off to a good start, as the opening night film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, by American auteur Wes Anderson is one of the very best on offer. The quaint, whimsicality that alleviates the director’s work is matched on this occasion by a tender, emotional core to create one of his finest pieces yet. Polarising he may be, given his often contrived stylistic approach, but this seems to be a...
- 2/15/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Exclusive: Difret, Macondo, Ping Pong Summer among sellers for German outfit.
Jean-Christophe Simon’s German sales house Films Boutique has seen strong demand for its versatile slate of festival and market titles.
Sundance award-winner Difret, directed by Zeresenay Mehari and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, has been acquired during the Efm by Cinéart for Bénélux, Agora films in Switzerland and Golem is Spain.
Films Boutique is licensing for French outfit Ad Vitam who picked up world rights last week and will release in France.
French rights on competition title Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai have been snapped up by Memento after the film’s first market screening and CEO Simon is now weighing up a number of other offers.
Berlin-based Films Boutique has closed sales on Michael Tully’s Sundance premiere Ping Pong Summer, starring Susan Sarandon, for French-speaking countries (Potemkine), Russia (P&I Films), Turkey (Birfilms) and world airlines rights with Cinesky Pics.
Deals have also...
Jean-Christophe Simon’s German sales house Films Boutique has seen strong demand for its versatile slate of festival and market titles.
Sundance award-winner Difret, directed by Zeresenay Mehari and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, has been acquired during the Efm by Cinéart for Bénélux, Agora films in Switzerland and Golem is Spain.
Films Boutique is licensing for French outfit Ad Vitam who picked up world rights last week and will release in France.
French rights on competition title Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai have been snapped up by Memento after the film’s first market screening and CEO Simon is now weighing up a number of other offers.
Berlin-based Films Boutique has closed sales on Michael Tully’s Sundance premiere Ping Pong Summer, starring Susan Sarandon, for French-speaking countries (Potemkine), Russia (P&I Films), Turkey (Birfilms) and world airlines rights with Cinesky Pics.
Deals have also...
- 2/11/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Richard Lormand has been a friend on the circuit of ours for may years.
He has an exciting new lineup of women directed films at Berlin.
Wow!!
Can't wait to see them all!
Following is his press release on them. Now you now what to watch (and buy!!) at Berlin!!
from Richard -
Hola Film Lovers!
I've been prepping my Berlinale films in sunny, sumptuous Buenos Aires, but I'm still excited to get back to the European winter. After recent debates about the sparse presence of female directors in competition at major film festivals, I'm pleased to announce that I'm handling three Berlinale Competition films directed by women! Here's my bottom line on all four of my Berlinale 2014 films (in order of appearance):
Goran Hugo Olsson's Concerning Violence: Swedish filmmaker Goran Hugo Olsson is a true talent at turning archival footage into thought-provoking pertinent films, as in the 2011 Sundance hit The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. His new film Concerning Violence was just shown at Sundance and will be presented in the Berlinale's Panorama Doc section. Based on radical political writer Frantz Fanon's post-colonial studies work, the film shows how the price of freedom in Africa has usually been paid with violence. Ms. Lauryn Hill's distinctive and asssertive voice bring extra force to the texts. Unique style and editing add to the powerful experience this important film offers.
Feo Aladag's Inbetween Worlds (Zwischen Welten): I admire directors for the persistence, focus and stamina the best of them demonstrate in sticking to the long and multifaceted process of making a film. Berlin-based director Feo Aladag is a fine example of a writer-director-producer's unshakeable commitment to a project. Feo puts the same passionate talent for cross-cultural interconnection into Inbetween Worlds as she did in the Tribeca winner When We Leave (Die Fremde). Ronald Zehrfeld (Christian Petzold's Barbara) as the troubled German soldier and the mostly non-professional Afghani cast are all terrific in this smart and compassionate human drama.
Celina Murga's The Third Side Of The River (La Tercera Orilla): Argentinian director Celina Murga gives us a tight exercise in teenage tension in her new film La Tercera Orilla (lit. The Third Bank). This rigorously-constructed film boasts a smoldering performance by first-timer Alian Devetec as the broody Nicolas. Celina keeps us guessing about her main character's path as his overbearing father begins to dictate Nicolas' future. Celina previously showed her knack for films about youth in her acclaimed features A Week Alone and Ana And The Others. Her former Rolex Arts Initiative mentor Martin Scorsese executive produced.
Sudabeh Mortezai's MacOndo: It's always a surprise when a first film makes it into Competition at a major festival. It's the prestigious festival way of saying "You must check out this amazing new filmmaker!" I definitely agree that's the case for Vienna-based Iranian Sudabeh Mortezai. She has successfully captured the heart and soul of the refugee condition in her touching first fiction feature. In the leading role, 11-year-old Ramasan Minkailov is phenomenal - sensitive, strong, charismatic.
Richard Lormand - Film|Press|Plus
www.FilmPressPlus.com...
He has an exciting new lineup of women directed films at Berlin.
Wow!!
Can't wait to see them all!
Following is his press release on them. Now you now what to watch (and buy!!) at Berlin!!
from Richard -
Hola Film Lovers!
I've been prepping my Berlinale films in sunny, sumptuous Buenos Aires, but I'm still excited to get back to the European winter. After recent debates about the sparse presence of female directors in competition at major film festivals, I'm pleased to announce that I'm handling three Berlinale Competition films directed by women! Here's my bottom line on all four of my Berlinale 2014 films (in order of appearance):
Goran Hugo Olsson's Concerning Violence: Swedish filmmaker Goran Hugo Olsson is a true talent at turning archival footage into thought-provoking pertinent films, as in the 2011 Sundance hit The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. His new film Concerning Violence was just shown at Sundance and will be presented in the Berlinale's Panorama Doc section. Based on radical political writer Frantz Fanon's post-colonial studies work, the film shows how the price of freedom in Africa has usually been paid with violence. Ms. Lauryn Hill's distinctive and asssertive voice bring extra force to the texts. Unique style and editing add to the powerful experience this important film offers.
Feo Aladag's Inbetween Worlds (Zwischen Welten): I admire directors for the persistence, focus and stamina the best of them demonstrate in sticking to the long and multifaceted process of making a film. Berlin-based director Feo Aladag is a fine example of a writer-director-producer's unshakeable commitment to a project. Feo puts the same passionate talent for cross-cultural interconnection into Inbetween Worlds as she did in the Tribeca winner When We Leave (Die Fremde). Ronald Zehrfeld (Christian Petzold's Barbara) as the troubled German soldier and the mostly non-professional Afghani cast are all terrific in this smart and compassionate human drama.
Celina Murga's The Third Side Of The River (La Tercera Orilla): Argentinian director Celina Murga gives us a tight exercise in teenage tension in her new film La Tercera Orilla (lit. The Third Bank). This rigorously-constructed film boasts a smoldering performance by first-timer Alian Devetec as the broody Nicolas. Celina keeps us guessing about her main character's path as his overbearing father begins to dictate Nicolas' future. Celina previously showed her knack for films about youth in her acclaimed features A Week Alone and Ana And The Others. Her former Rolex Arts Initiative mentor Martin Scorsese executive produced.
Sudabeh Mortezai's MacOndo: It's always a surprise when a first film makes it into Competition at a major festival. It's the prestigious festival way of saying "You must check out this amazing new filmmaker!" I definitely agree that's the case for Vienna-based Iranian Sudabeh Mortezai. She has successfully captured the heart and soul of the refugee condition in her touching first fiction feature. In the leading role, 11-year-old Ramasan Minkailov is phenomenal - sensitive, strong, charismatic.
Richard Lormand - Film|Press|Plus
www.FilmPressPlus.com...
- 1/31/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
New films by Michael Tully, Denis Coté, Göran Hugo Olsson and Maximilian Leo are among the latest pickups by German sales agents Films Boutique and Media Luna.
Jean-Christophe Simon’s Berlin-based outfit Films Boutique has four world premieres at next week’s Berlin Film Festival:
Sudabeh Mortezai’s first feature Macondo after his acclaimed documentaries The Bazaar of Sexes and Children of the Prophet, in the Official Competition.
Brazilian Daniel Ribeiro’s coming of age comedy-drama The Way He Looks, in the Panorama.
Umut Dag’s stark drama Cracks In Concrete, in Panorama Special.
Canadian film-maker Denis Coté’s documentary Joy Of Man’s Desiring about the energies and rituals of the workplace, in the Berlinale’s Forum.
In addition, Films Boutique will have the market premiere of Michael Tully’s comedy Ping Pong Summer, starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, Judah Friedlander and Lea Thompson, which premiered in Sundance and is screening at Rotterdam this week.
The...
Jean-Christophe Simon’s Berlin-based outfit Films Boutique has four world premieres at next week’s Berlin Film Festival:
Sudabeh Mortezai’s first feature Macondo after his acclaimed documentaries The Bazaar of Sexes and Children of the Prophet, in the Official Competition.
Brazilian Daniel Ribeiro’s coming of age comedy-drama The Way He Looks, in the Panorama.
Umut Dag’s stark drama Cracks In Concrete, in Panorama Special.
Canadian film-maker Denis Coté’s documentary Joy Of Man’s Desiring about the energies and rituals of the workplace, in the Berlinale’s Forum.
In addition, Films Boutique will have the market premiere of Michael Tully’s comedy Ping Pong Summer, starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, Judah Friedlander and Lea Thompson, which premiered in Sundance and is screening at Rotterdam this week.
The...
- 1/29/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Nancy Buirski [pictured], Valeria Golino and Hernán Musaluppi to decide on the Best First Feature Award; 18 films are in contention.
Berlinale has unveiled the three-person jury for its Best First Feature Award.
Us director and producer Nancy Buirski, Italian actress and director Valeria Golino and Argentinian producer Hernán Musaluppi will decide the award, with the winner announced at the official award ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on Feb 15.
The award comes with a €50,000 prize, donated by the Gwff, and will be split between the producer and director of the winning film, while the director will also be awarded with a high-quality viewfinder.
A total of 18 directorial debuts have been nominated by the heads of the Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.
They are:
Competition
´71 - United Kingdom
By Yann Demange
With Jack O’Connell, Sean Harris, Richard Dormer
Historia del miedo (History of Fear) – Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France
By Benjamin Naishtat
With Jonathan Da Rosa, [link...
Berlinale has unveiled the three-person jury for its Best First Feature Award.
Us director and producer Nancy Buirski, Italian actress and director Valeria Golino and Argentinian producer Hernán Musaluppi will decide the award, with the winner announced at the official award ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on Feb 15.
The award comes with a €50,000 prize, donated by the Gwff, and will be split between the producer and director of the winning film, while the director will also be awarded with a high-quality viewfinder.
A total of 18 directorial debuts have been nominated by the heads of the Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.
They are:
Competition
´71 - United Kingdom
By Yann Demange
With Jack O’Connell, Sean Harris, Richard Dormer
Historia del miedo (History of Fear) – Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France
By Benjamin Naishtat
With Jonathan Da Rosa, [link...
- 1/23/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
Joining the titles already announced—including films by Alain Resnais and Dominik Graf—the following films complete the lineup for the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival's Competition section.
Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice)
People’s Republic of China
By Yinan Diao (Night Train, Uniform)
With Fan Liao, Lun Mei Gwei, Xuebing Wang
World premiere
Boyhood
USA
By Richard Linklater (Before Midnight, Me & Orson Welles)
With Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater
International premiere
Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)
Japan
By Yoji Yamada (Tokyo Family, About Her Brother)
With Takako Matsu, Haru Kuroki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chieko Baisho
International premiere
Historia del miedo (History of Fear)
Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France
By Benjamin Naishtat - feature debut
With Jonathan Da Rosa, Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual, Cesar Bordon, Tatiana Gimenez
World premiere
Jack
Germany
By Edward Berger
With Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jacob Matschenz,...
Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice)
People’s Republic of China
By Yinan Diao (Night Train, Uniform)
With Fan Liao, Lun Mei Gwei, Xuebing Wang
World premiere
Boyhood
USA
By Richard Linklater (Before Midnight, Me & Orson Welles)
With Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater
International premiere
Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)
Japan
By Yoji Yamada (Tokyo Family, About Her Brother)
With Takako Matsu, Haru Kuroki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chieko Baisho
International premiere
Historia del miedo (History of Fear)
Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France
By Benjamin Naishtat - feature debut
With Jonathan Da Rosa, Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual, Cesar Bordon, Tatiana Gimenez
World premiere
Jack
Germany
By Edward Berger
With Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jacob Matschenz,...
- 1/15/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
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