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 November 13, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | Dreaming Kawabatas: "House of Sleeping Beauties" Director Vadim Glowna
by indieWIRE (November 13, 2008) Based on Yasunari Kawabata's novel, Vadim Glowna's "House of Sleeping Beauties" follows Edmond, a man in his sixties whose wife has recently passed away, and who is told about a secret establishment where men can spend an entire night in bed alongside beautiful, sleeping young women who never awaken. The German film is being released stateside by First Run Features, and opens at the Quad Cinema in New York this Friday, November 14. indieWIRE talked to Glowna about the film and its U.S. release. [ read more in People ] November 12, 2008 iW NEWS | "Spanish Cinema Now" Set For Next Month
The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present Spanish Cinema Now in New York City for its 17th year at the Walter Reade Theater, December 5-24. The annual showcase of new filmmaking from Spain will present festival prizewinners "Before the Fall," "Chef's Special," "Pretexts," Spain's best foreign language film Oscar-nominee "Blind Sunflowers," and 16 other new features, many in their North American, U.S., or New York premieres, along with a special program of short films. A sidebar offers a glimpse at the experimental films that emerged in Spain during cinema's early rise, while several recent classics including Pedro Almodovar's "Talk To Her" fill out the series's spotlight look at celebrated actor Javier Camara, who will attend several screenings. "Contemporary Spanish directors have led the way in exploring new approaches to traditional film genres," says Richard Pena, program director at the Film Society, in a statement, "and this year's selections for Spanish Cinema Now powerfully illustrate this tendency." For the full program, visit this website. [Peter Knegt]  [permalink] [ filed under Events, World Cinema ] November 11, 2008 REVIEW | You Can Go Home Again: Arnaud Desplechin's "A Christmas Tale"
by Leo Goldsmith (November 11, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Though it often seems the nadir of schmaltz and sentimentality, the Hollywood Christmas movie has always been a bit bipolar. From "A Christmas Story" to "Gremlins," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" to (undoubtedly) the forthcoming "Four Christmases," the subgenre requires a course of dysfunction and chaos before the dessert of earnest holiday cheer is served. Mom and Dad's best-laid plans go awry, Santa Claus gets trapped in the chimney and asphyxiates, and Arnold and Sinbad vie for the last available Turbo Man action figure -- but in the end, families are reconciled and the true, noncommercial meaning of Christmas is reified. [ read more in Movies ] November 6, 2008iW NEWS | Strand Takes Trapero's "Lion's Den"
Strand Releasing has announced another deal today, this one for U.S. rights to Pablo Trapero's Brazilian, Argentine and Korean co-production, "Lion's Den," the Argentinean entry for foreign language consideration at the Academy Awards. A Cannes Film Festival debut, the drama is described as the story of "a young, beautiful college student who is imprisoned after being convicted for a murder [who] discovers that she is pregnant while incarcerated." It was produced by Matanza Cine, Cineclick Asia (Fantom), Patagonik, and co-produced by Videofilms with the support of INCAA-Programma Ibermedia. It was executive produced by Martina Gusman, associate produced by Juan Pablo Galli, Alejandro Cacetta and Juan Vera. Producers are Trapero and Youngjoo Suh and co-producer Waltes Salles. Strand's Jon Gerrans made the deal with Youngjoo Suh from Fine Cut. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] October 27, 2008iW NEWS | AFI Announces European Union Film Showcase
AFI unveiled the complete lineup for the 2008 edition of its AFI European Union Film Showcase, to run November 6-25, 2008 at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. Thirty-four films from 24 different EU countries, including 11 official Oscar selections for 2009 are among the selections. The fest will open with "I've Loved You So Long," will include Centerpiece screenings of "A Christmas Tale," "Gomorrah" and "The Baader Meinhof Complex," and close with "Eldorado." Other announced film include Oscar selections "I Was Here" (Estonia), "The Home of Dark Butterflies" (Finland), "Correction" (Greece), "Defenders of Riga" (Latvia), "Loss" (Lithuania), "Arabian Nights" (Luxembourg), "Dunya & Desie" (Netherlands) and "Rooster's Breakfast" (Slovenia). For a complete list of films, visit the festival's website. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] October 23, 2008 REVIEW | A Matter of Taste: Philippe Claudel's "I've Loved You So Long"
by Nick Pinkerton (October 23, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Juliette, a middle-aged woman, waits alone, gray and taciturn -- two words that pretty well describe "I've Loved You So Long." She stands to haltingly greet her rendez-vous, her sister, Lea. We gather they've been apart a long time. Juliette's been "away," her past a talked-around negative space that's filled out as the film nurses us for two hours on a drip-feed of withheld backstory. [ read more in Movies ]  REVIEW | Winter Kills: Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In"
by Michael Koresky (October 23, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] With its calm, wintry rural setting, Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of novelist John Ajvide Lindqvist's Swedish best-seller "Let the Right One In" depicts slaughter, death, and dismemberment as though sprung from the stanzas of Robert Frost. This is hardly the first film to drench teen angst and burgeoning sexuality in supernatural bloodletting (De Palma's "Carrie," Romero's "Martin," and, more recently, John Fawcett's "Ginger Snaps" equate, respectively, telekinesis, vampirism, and lupine transformation with pubescent turmoil), but Alfredson sets his film apart with a memorably stringent (dare I say, Scandinavian) visual design. [ read more in Movies ] October 13, 2008iW NEWS | Regent Gets "Sparrows"
Regent Releasing has announced its deal for U.S. rights to Majid Majidi's "The Song of Sparrows," the Iranian submission for the best foreign language Oscar. The film is set for a theatrical release next spring. Regent's Mark Reinhart brokered the deal with Fortissimo's Winnie Lau. Set in today's Tehran among the underprivileged, the film is described as exploring, "how a world of material goods and technology can corrupt man - making him lose spiritual purity and all-important connections to family, friends and nature." Anthony Kaufman recently took a closer look at this year's foreign language film Oscar race for indieWIRE. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] October 12, 2008 DISPATCH FROM MEXICO | Todd Haynes, "Wadley," Christian Mungiu, and Mexico's First Lady at Morelia Fest
by Eric Kohn (October 12, 2008) Security measures suddenly became intense on Thursday at the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), but not due to a looming threat. Quite the opposite, in fact: The wife of Mexican president Felipe Calderon paid a visit to the small town and spent the day watching films, bringing a protective army in tow. Her presence attracted a swarm of media attention, while droves of filmgoers clustered at the door to the Cinepolis Central, their progress hindered by the abrupt installation of two metal detectors at the entrance. (The next day, the metal detectors were gone, and so was the Mexican first lady.) The high profile brouhaha would seem to contradict festival founder Daniela Michel's frequently stated intention of limiting the size of the six-year-old festival to maintain its intimate reputation. However, FICM's largely non-commercial program allows it to continue cultivating a unique, tightly controlled identity. "Luckily, we're growing in audience, not in number of films," Michel told indieWIRE on Friday, once the madness died down everywhere but in the papers. [ read more in On The Scene ] October 2, 2008iW NEWS | IFC Gets Bela Tarr Title
IFC Entertainment has acquired Bela Tarr's 2007 Cannes Film Festival entry "Man From London," starring Tilda Swinton, for its on-demand platform Festival Direct. IFC's Lizzie Nastro negotiated the deal with Winnie Lau from Fortissimo Films. The film, based on a novel by Georges Simenon, is described by IFC as, "the story of Maloin, a dour old railway worker trapped in a bleak routine. His home life with his nagging wife and daughter is equally dire until one day, Maloin sees a suitcase being passed off while passengers from London disembark a boat and transfer to a waiting train. After the man who receives the suitcase gets thrown into the harbour by an indistinct assailant, Maloin retrieves the drowned stranger's soggy case and finds it full of British bills. Soon, a police inspector is searching for the money and Maloin must decide what he will do with his ethically compromised windfall." [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] iW NEWS | Cinevolve Picks Up Venezuela's Oscar Bid
Alejandro Bellame Palacios' "The Color of Fame" (El Tinte de la Fama) has been announced as Venezuela's official selection for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards by a committee of the country's film industry professionals. In a deal that will deliver this film to a variety of screens in the US, Los Angeles-based Cinevolve Studios has announced their acquisition of the film from Venezuela's Totem Films. The deal, which encompasses all domestic and international rights for theatrical (excluding Venezuela), home entertainment, television and internet and new media, was negotiated by Arik Treston and Nicole Ballivian, respectively the CEO and President of Cinevolve Studios and Totem Films. Cinevolve plans a limited theatrical release between the fourth quarter of 2008 and and the first quarter 2009, with a home entertainment release to follow. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] September 24, 2008 Fantastic Fest Favorite "Chocolate" Acquired By Magnet
by Peter Knegt (September 24, 2008) North American rights to Prachya Pinkaew's "Chocolate" have been acquired by Magnet Releasing. The film, which premiered in the Midnight Madness section at the Toronto International Film Festival and just won the Audience Award runner-up prize at Fantastic Fest, will be released theatrically in 2009. Pinkaew is best known for his 2005 release "Onk Bak: The Thai Warrior." indieWIRE published a dispatch from Fantastic Fest this morning. [ read more in Biz ] iW NEWS | "Country" For Film Movement
Czech drama "The Country Teacher," directed by Bohdan Slama, will be released in North American through Film Movement. The film, about a young teacher that takes a job teaching at a grammar school in the Bohemian countryside, played at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. "It is very exciting for us to acquire another film by gifted director Bohdan Slama," said Adley Gartenstein, President of Film Movement, in a statement. "He has proven once again that he can get incredibly nuanced and heartfelt performance from his actors, while telling a simple yet universal story that we know North American audiences will respond to in a very positive way." The acquisition of the film was negotiated by Gartenstein, and Laurent Baudens of Wild Bunch. Film Movement will release the film in 2009. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] September 23, 2008iW NEWS | "Mancora" For Maya
Ricardo de Montreuil's "Mancora," which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, has been acquired by Maya Entertainment, a vertically integrated, multi-platform media company targeting the U.S. Latino market. The announcement was made at the film's screening at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. The film stars Elsa Pataky, Jason Day and Enrique Murciano as three people on a road trip. The deal was negotiated by Jose Martinez, Jr., head of acquisitions, and Tonantzin Esparza, director of acquisitions for Maya Entertainment, along with Debra Fisher of Cinetic Media on behalf of De Montreuil and the film's Producer, Diego Ojeda. As part of the agreement Maya Entertainment will roll out "Mancora" in Los Angeles and Miami in the spring of 2009. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] September 22, 2008iW NEWS | German Currents To Highlight Bavaria
The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and the American Cinematheque are presenting their annual film series, German Currents, at the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles, and the focus is on Bavaria and their industry and films. The series kicks off with the U.S. premieres of Uli Edel's "The Baader Meinhoff Complex" and Caroline Link's "A Year Ago In Winter." In addition to the film series, special industry events during German Currents will include an exhibition honoring The Hof International Film Festival on September 28 followed by a multi-media presentation of film technology by ARRI, makers of the Arriflex camera, on September 29. Both special events will take place at the Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Events, World Cinema ] September 4, 2008iW NEWS | Regent Makes North American "Serbis" Deal
In a deal with Fortissimo Films, North American rights to Brillante Mendoza's "Serbis." have been acquired by Regent Releasing. The company is planning a limited winter release for the film, from the competition at this year's Cannes fest. It is now screening at the Toronto fest and is on tap for the upcoming New York Film Festival. Set in the Filipino city of Angeles, the film follows a family dealing with -- in the words of an announcement -- "bigamy, unwanted pregnancy, possible incest and bothersome skin irritations." [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] September 1, 2008iW NEWS | Sony Classics Embraces New Almodovar Film
Continuing their relationship with Pedro Almodovar, Sony Pictures Classics has announced the acquisition of Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces." The film, starring Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar, and Blanca Portilla, is currently shooting in Madrid and the Canary Islands. The company describes the film as "a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of '50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray's 'In A Lonely Place' and Vincente Minnelli's 'The Bad And The Beautiful', with signature Almodovar themes such as Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers." In a statement, the company said, "'Broken Embraces' promises to be Almodovar's richest work to date. He has surpassed himself here by providing Penelope Cruz with TWO great roles for her to play! Every new Almodovar film presents us with fresh opportunities to expand his audience. To watch him grow as an artist and help him gain the popularity he deserves has been very fulfilling for us. Our adventures with Agustin and Pedro Almodovar have been enduring and it is a relationship that is the lifeblood of Sony Pictures Classics." [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] August 29, 2008 DISPATCH FROM MONTREAL | World Film Festival Hits, Misses With Expansive Program
by Sylvain Verstricht (August 29, 2008) After weeks of rain, the sky finally cleared in Montreal this week right for the start of the 32nd World Film Festival. Many used the opportunity to gather on the steps of Place des Arts and enjoy the free outside screenings of "Some Like It Hot" and "The Right Stuff." The latter was part of the homage reserved for producer Alan Ladd, Jr., who also participated in a Q&A after a screening of "Young Frankenstein." Ladd, who does not usually watch his films after their initial release, had not seen it in 33 years. He agreed to watch it because, after such a long time, "memory gets foggy." He found himself pleasantly surprised. "It holds up pretty good," he exclaimed. The producer otherwise appeared shy, quiet, and humble. In a complaint that is only too common these days, Ladd deplored that the studio system is now run by accountants who are only interested in making the same movies over and over again, predicting that soon "Transformers 15" will appear on our screens. [ read more in On The Scene ] August 25, 2008iW NEWS | Visit Films Acquires "Adela"
Visit Films has announced its worldwide acquisition of Toronto International Film Festival title "Adela." Screening it Toronto's Contemporary World Cinema section, the film is directed by Filipino Adolfo Alix Jr.. It tells the story of a former radio personality who is celebrating her 80th birthday in the slums of Manila. "This film marks a significant move forward for Visit," said Visit Films partner Sylvain Tron in a statement. "We have acquired a top tier international project from a director whose first film was the Filipino entry for the Academy Awards Foreign Language category. The film is deeply poetic and addresses the basic need to survive amidst the chaos of life." The Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4-13, 2008. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Toronto, World Cinema ] August 23, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SARAJEVO | At Annual Fest in Bosnia: Honestly Owning It; A Great City and Maybe a Short Window...
by Brian Brooks (August 23, 2008) Human and political conflict form an important nucleus for programming choices at the Sarajevo Film Festival. And that should come as no surprise as the city's name itself conjures up war. Sarajevo's 400,000 or so citizens endured 44 months of constant bombing and sniper fire from the beautiful hills that surround it resulting in 10,000 deaths and countless injuries. When I told a friend in Europe I was going to Sarajevo in a few days, he jokingly (and a bit sarcastically) replied, "great, I have a cheap ticket to Baghdad myself..." But if it's at all possible to make lemonade out of an f'd up situation like that, the people of Sarajevo have managed to re-invent their beautiful city and create a world-class film festival from like-- what choice is there? [ read more in On The Scene ] August 22, 2008iW NEWS | SPC Buys "Paris"
Christophe Barratier's "Paris 36" (Faubourg 36), which opened the Montreal World Film Festival last night, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The company announced today a deal for U.S., Australasian and Scandinavian rights rights to the movie. Described as the story of "a bygone era in France," the film is Barratier's follow-up to "The Chorus" (Les Choristes). The film was produced by Jacques Perrin, and Nicolas Mauvernay and co-produced by Romain Le Grand for Pathe. "This is one of those amazing populist movies no one seems to make anymore: a big, boisterous, moving 1930's music hall movie with perfect attention to detail in performance, cinematography, and production design," SPC's Michael Barker said in a statement today. "Director Christophe Barratier integrates the power and beauty of music with great visual storytelling seamlessly." It is also set for next month's Toronto International Film Festival. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Toronto, World Cinema ] August 20, 2008iW NEWS | Pusan Promotion Plan Announces Projects
The 11th Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) has announced its official selection of film projects for 2008. The official line-up will showcase 30 projects from 17 countries, selected out of 200 submissions. The largest project market in Asia, it allows projects to seek various possibilities for financings and co-production through individual meetings and networking chances organized by the event. This year's event will feature work from filmmakers such as Lee Chang-dong, Zhang Lu, Choi Dong-hoon, Chang Tso Chi, Sabu, Lee Sang-il, Marat Sarulu, Zhang Yuan and Viet Linh. The 30 finalists will be presented at Paradise Hotel at Haeundae beach on Oct 3-6, 2008, during the 13th Pusan International Film Festival. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Events, World Cinema ]  DISPATCH FROM SARAJEVO | Talk of Naturalism and Artifice Stirs Fest
by Brian Brooks (August 19, 2008) Sarajevo is not a city easily intimidated by the odds. Its citizens withstood a 44 month siege by Serbian forces in the '90s that pounded it daily from the surrounding picturesque hills, while the world mostly looked the other way. And even as the snipers and fire bombs continued, the city, like many others around the world, started its own film festival. And again beating the odds, Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, has managed to consistently attract big names and an impressive slate of films in a crowded festival circuit. And this in a city - while slowly working its way into modern Europe - that is is hardly a deep-pocketed shiekdom with money to throw around. Perhaps one of its biggest pluses, however, are its enthusiastic audiences which bring Toronto-sized enthusiasm to screenings. [ read more in On The Scene ] August 19, 2008iW NEWS | 28 Films On Tap For Latinbeat
The Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual Latinbeat series announced their 2008 programming, which presents 28 films from 11 different countries. This year's series hosts films from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela and the United States. "Never before has the landscape of Latin American film been richer and more varied in style, genre, theme, location and the number of countries explored," says the Film Society's Marcela Goglio, who curated the series with Film Society program director Richard Pena, in a statement. "The number of strong, arresting works and the range of exciting unique personal voices reflect the diversity and overall cultural effervescence of the region itself." Announced titles include Lucia Cedron's "Lamb of God," Laura Amelia-Guzman's "Cochochi," Ishtar Yasin Gutierrez's "The Path," Wolney Oliveira's "El cayo de la muerte," Mariana Randon's "Postcards from Leningrad," Anahi Berneri's "Encarnacion" and Enrique Fernandez and Cesar Charlone's "The Pope's Toilet." Latinbeat runs from September 5-25, 2008 at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City. For tickets and more information, visit their website. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, New York, World Cinema ] August 17, 2008 in Switzerland, Rivero's "Paraque Via" from Mexico Wins Locarno Fest's Top Prize
by Eugene Hernandez (August 17, 2008) Enrique Rivero won Mexico's first Golden Leopard as the 2008 Locarno International Film Festival came to a close this weekend. His first feature, "Paraque via," was awarded the top jury prize at the festival on Saturday night in Switzerland. The film also won the FIPRESCI critics award at the event. Garth Jennings' "Son of Rambow" won the fest's audience award. [ read more in On The Scene ] August 12, 2008 REVIEW | Split Ends: Claude Chabrol's "A Girl Cut in Two"
by Kristi Mitsuda (August 12, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] At first glance, Claude Chabrol's latest seems yet another in his long line of slow-boiling thrillers, set mostly amongst the upper classes, in which the sinister bobs up above a seemingly placid surface -- compulsively watchable and strangely unsettling, sure, but par for the course for the erstwhile New Waver. Yet while "A Girl Cut in Two" treads in waters made murky with mysterious allusions to disreputable pasts and intimations of impending murder, the filmmaker intriguingly muddies the generic proceedings by probing his characters' ingrained sexism; it's an approach that deepens what could have been just another true crime story. [ read more in Movies ] August 11, 2008iW NEWS | iArthouse Launches World Cinema Service
iArthouse, the first online site dedicated specifically to world cinema officially launched today, with an initial library of more than 800 films. Featuring download-to-burn technology, the iArthouse library aims to include several thousand international and arthouse films by year's end, many previously inaccessible. iArthouse is the first major company to succeed in bringing international cinema to the online arena through this means. iArthouse is a new division of EZTakes, and led by EZTakes founders Jim Flynn and Bill Clarke, together with veteran cinema distribution and marketing executives John Lawrence Re and Larry Jackson. "Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the entertainment industry today is learning how to compete with free, illegal downloads," said Flynn in a statement. "By offering a high caliber of quality, legitimate content and enabling customers to burn their purchased downloads to playable DVDs, iArthouse is providing the kind of value and convenience that millions of people are willing to pay for, which we've already proven with the success of EZTakes." [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under New Media & Technology, World Cinema ] July 30, 2008iW NEWS | Locarno Festival to Salute the Late Youssef Chahine
Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, who died over the weekend, will be saluted at this year's Locarno International Film Festival with a special screening of "Al Massir" ("Destiny") on Thursday August 7. Festival artistic director Frederic Maire said in a statement, "This extraordinary storyteller, who ranged across film genres so brilliantly, commanded admiration also for the courage of the positions he took, insisting on the importance of tolerance. Throughout the length of his career, and his rich oeuvre, Chahine displayed a unique combination of political outrage and pleasure in narrative. He was a great auteur and a formidable provocateur." A complete Chahine retrospective was presented at the Locarno festival in 1996. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] July 28, 2008 REVIEW | Dropped Ball: Paul Weiland's "Sixty-Six"
by Leo Goldsmith (July 28, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] There is a certain class of British film -- for which John Boorman's "Hope and Glory" is perhaps the prototype -- which follows an adolescent boy's coming of age during a notable or sentimentality-laced period of twentieth-century English history. Invariably in such films, there is a female object of incipient pubescent desire; a belligerent older brother who usurps most of the family's attention; and a redemptive father figure through whom the protagonist learns to stiffen his upper lip and be an Englishman. More often than not, the garden shed is a focal point of action. [ read more in Movies ] July 26, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Brideshead Revisited" Director Julian Jarrold
by Erica Abeel (July 25, 2008) [EDITOR'S NOTE: Miramax Films will open "Brideshead Revisited" Friday, July 25 in limited release.] Bringing "Brideshead Revisited" to the screen presented a trifecta of challenges. Director Julian Jarrold and screenwriters Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brock had to compress and reconfigure Evelyn Waugh's layered, elegiac novel, while finding a visual equivalent to convey its famously lyrical prose. In a work that Waugh conceived as a paean to the power of Catholicism they had to highlight themes that would chime with contemporary viewers. And most daunting, perhaps, they'd have to brave the enchantments, still potent after twenty-six years, of the opulent 11-part BBC version with Jeremy Irons. [ read more in People ] July 21, 2008iW NEWS | Fortissimo Gets "Native Dancer"
Fortissimo Films has announced a deal for Guka Omarova's "Native Dancer." Written "Mongol" director Sergei Bordov, the film is the story of a spiritual healer from Kazakhstan. Set for a fall festival debut, the movie was co-produced and financed by The CTB Film Company, The National Studio "Kazakhfilm", Kinofabrika GmbH and Les Petites Lumieres. The deal was brokered between Fortissimo Co-Chairmen Wouter Barendrecht and Michael J. Werner and producers Sergey Selyanovfrom CTBwith Natacha Devillers from Les Petites Lumieres. [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] July 17, 2008 REVIEW | Post Traumatic Stress: Aditya Assarat's "Wonderful Town"
by Michael Koresky (July 17, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] In many ways, the debut feature from Bangkok-born, American-educated Aditya Assarat, "Wonderful Town," has all the hallmarks of a workshopped Sundance indie: an eminently tasteful romance between two ingratiatingly sweet people burgeoning against a backdrop of recent tragedy, buoyed by delicate guitar score, bracketed by self-consciously lovely landscape shots. A detailing of the emotionally and physically ravaged coastal area of Takua Pa following the December 2004 tsunami that cost it more than 8,000 local lives, "Wonderful Town" means to use the event's aftereffects to evoke its characters' personal displacement. There's no doubt that Assarat has talent for situating people within gracefully framed environments, but in an overly studied manner that leaves no room for the sort of spontaneity in performance and composition that the film's subject matter warrants. [ read more in Movies ] iW NEWS | IFC Gets "Weird"
Kim Jee-Woon's Asian Western, "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" has been acquired by IFC Films, in a deal for North American rights. Inspired by Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," the film debuted this year in Cannes and is on tap as a Gala at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. It will hit IFC's day-and-date theatrical/VOD windows next year. "Kim Jee-Woon has taken the action-western to a new level," said Jonathan Sehring, IFC Entertainment president, in a statement "It is a film that both in size and scope looks and feels like Hollywood studio production; a tremendous achievement in filmmaking that solidifies Kim's status as a major international talent. "The Good, the Bad, the Weird will thrill American audiences and will become and instant classic." Arianna Bocco, IFC Films' VP of production and acquisitions and Jeff Deutchman, manager of production and acquisitionsnegotiated the deal with CJ Entertainment. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] July 16, 2008 WORLD CINEMA COLUMN | Slovenian Cinema and "Rooster's Breakfast"
by Vadim Rizov (July 16, 2008) In 2007, "Rooster's Breakfast" became the most successful Slovenian film of all time, third in seats only to "Troy" and "Titanic." (176,807 admissions and counting.) Yet it has virtually no presence outside the ex-Yugoslavia area: appearances at FilmFest Munich and a small Madrid festival aside, its success is a perversely insular affair, built around engagements in Sarajevo, Croatia and the like. If dank, depressing Romanian films can conquer the film festival world, why not a leisurely, ingratiating portrait of small-town life built around drinking hijinx and a low-key romance? (Variety didn't even review it.) Showing tomorrow and Saturday as part of a Slovenian retrospective organized by Lincoln Center and the Slovenian Film Fund, the most commercially successful film in Slovenian film history is barely a blip on the international radar. Director Marko Nabersnik has a few explanations for both why it's domestically successful and internationally a little inert, and why the Slovenian film industry generally remains below the radar. [ read more in Movies ] July 15, 2008Sony Classics Gets "O'Horten"
North American rights to Bent Hamer's "O'Horten" have been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. Described as "a bittersweet tale of train engineer Odd Horten, retiring after 40 years of traveling a very stable rail and now, uneasily, having to adapt to his new life as a pensioner," the film debuted in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes and will have its North American premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, with an early '09 release on tap. Michael Weber from The Match Factory made the deal with Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Dylan Leiner from Sony Pictures Classics. "We are excited to be working on "O'Horten" and with Bent Hamer, a filmmaker we have long watched and have been eager to forge a relationship with," said Sony Pictures Classics, in a statement. "Bent has a wonderfully skewed view of the human condition and, "O'Horten" gives us that somewhat absurdist vision with great warmth, a little melancholy and universal understanding." [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] July 14, 2008 "Terribly Happy" Wins Top Prize at Karlovy Fest; "Night Owls" Sweeps Acting Awards
by indieWIRE (July 12, 2008) Henrik Ruben Genz's "Terribly Happy" from Denmark won the Crystal Globe, the top prize at the 2008 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which came to a close this weekend in the Czech Republic. The festival, which took place from July 4 - 12, awarded its directing prize to Alexey Uchitel for "Captive," while James Marsh's "Man on Wire" won the award for best documentary (over 30 minutes long). Michaela Pavlatova's "Night Owls" won a pair of acting awards, best actress for Martha Issova and best actor for Jiri Madi. [ read more in On The Scene ] July 11, 2008 DISPATCH FROM CZECH REPUBLIC | Karlovy Vary Mixes the Big Cheese with Local Gems
by Damon Wise (July 11, 2008) Karlovy Vary has always been an odd place to categorise. Like many other festivals, it is multi-layered, with three competitions -- one for the world, another, East Of The West, for local features, a third for documentaries -- and at least four more official strands (Horizons, Forum Of Independents, Another View and Open Eyes) alongside the usual out-of-competition slots, tributes, midnight screenings and retrospectives. That's not to mention "Variety's Critics' Choice" selection, an eclectic pick of overlooked independents that willfully blurs genres, this year putting the enjoyable Spanish, Primer-esque thriller "Fermat's Room" alongside the chirpy girls-together road movie "Dunya And Desie" from Belgium. [ read more in On The Scene ] July 9, 2008-thumbnail.jpg) REVIEW | The Material World: Silvio Soldini's "Days and Clouds"
by Kristi Mitsuda (July 9, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] In its detailing of a couple's financial freefall after the loss of a job, Silvio Soldini's "Days and Clouds" -- recently featured in the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual roundup of new Italian cinema -- couldn't ask for a more fittingly precipitous point in time for its American theatrical release than this disquieting summer of soaring gas prices, staycations, anxious awaiting of stimulus checks, and shuttering Starbucks. [ read more in Movies ] July 2, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SWEDEN | Bergman Island: "Faro Document," "Persona," "Summer Interlude," and More from Faro
by Michael Koresky (July 3, 2008) A film festival unlike any other, Bergmanvecken (or Bergman Week), now in its fifth year in operation and its first incarnation since the death of the man at its center last July, is a celebration of location as much as film. For Swedish cinema, Ingmar Bergman was always a one-man-show, its industry glue, its irreproachable standard-bearer, its looming demon genius -- and he has been resented throughout the industry for the past half-century nearly as often as he's been embraced. Not so on Faro, the island located on the northern tip of Gotland, where he made his permanent residence for decades even as he lived and worked in Stockholm during the off seasons. [ read more in On The Scene ] July 1, 2008 REVIEW | Best Kept Secret: Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One"
by Leo Goldsmith (July 1, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One" begins with a certain nonchalance that one wouldn't ordinarily expect from a suspense thriller, least of all one that adapts Harlan Coben's multi-twist mystery plotting with the brio of a distinctly "Bourne"-again action film. In its first minutes, the film draws us into a group of French yuppies summering enviably in woody Rambouillet. Kristin Scott-Thomas rolls a joint, someone passes a baby around, and all seems serene enough for Dr. Alex Beck to take his wife Margot for a languorous, moonlit skinny-dip at a nearby lake where they used to swim as children. How cruel it seems of Canet to ruin this moment, allowing Dr. Beck to be beaten unconscious and left naked on the dock, while Margot falls prey to a knife-wielding, cat-murdering serial killer. [ read more in Movies ] June 30, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SCOTLAND | "Somers Towns" Leads Winners in Edinburgh
by Charlie Olsky (June 30, 2008) The 62nd annual Edinburgh International Film Festival came to a close this weekend, after screening over 130 films over the course of 12 days, throughout the cobblestoned medieval cluster of the Scottish capital. Founded in 1947 in conjunction with Edinburgh Festival in August, the festival was intended to help revive the city's post-war economy. This year marked the first year the film festival ran at a different time and the event had tremendous help in smoothing the transition from its dedicated patrons, Sean Connery and Tilda Swinton, who were present throughout the EIFF's duration at many screenings, dinners and gatherings. Connery hosted the awards ceremony on Sunday night, presenting the Michael Powell Award, named for Britain's leading golden-era director, to the best in British cinema. [ read more in On The Scene ]  indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Tell No One" Director Guillaume Canet
by Erica Abeel (June 30, 2008) It's not exactly clear when the trend started, but French filmmakers are currently making the best old-style Hollywood thrillers. The caffeinated pace, requisite chase scenes, intricate plots are all there. But Gallic filmmakers bring something more to the party: distinctive camera work along with a social critique and complex characters who resonate with the over-thirteen crowd. Claude Lelouche's recent thriller "Roman de Gare" plumbed the darker corners of the fame game and a writer's ego. Now comes "Tell No One" from actor-turned-director Guillaume Canet, a major hit in France and winner of two Cesars. Adapted from the novel by Harlan Coben - six million copies sold, translated in twenty-seven languages - "Tell No One" essentially hangs an action thriller and police procedural on a story of romantic obsession. [ read more in People ] June 29, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SWEDEN | Cinema, Past and Present: "Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moment," "Involuntary," "Wolf"
by Michael Koresky (June 29, 2008) How to get rid of the ghost that you want to keep close? It's been more than twenty-five years now since Ingmar Bergman was regularly making feature films, but the master's mammoth shadow looms over the national cinema with undiminished dominance, and indeed most of European art cinema in general; meanwhile it's just one year after his death, at age 89, and Swedish cinema is still struggling with the legacy of this fearsomely popular and canonized auteur. Despite the domestic success of homegrown films such as Kay Pollack's "As It Is in Heaven" and Mikael Hafstrom's "Evil," and the ever-growing international reputations of festival-circuit favorites Roy Andersson and Lukas Moodysson (not to mention the imminent international release of Tomas Alfredson's already widely acclaimed, and Tribeca-feted "Let the Right One In"), Swedish cinema longs to crawl out from under the shadow of Bergman, even as it cannot afford to forget him. [ read more in On The Scene ] June 26, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SCOTLAND | Hop Scotch: Edinburgh Fest Moves Out On Its Own
by Charlie Olsky (June 26, 2008) The city of Edinburgh holds endless treasures. The dense, medieval city center, built in the crater of an ancient volcano, breathes history from the massive Edinburgh Castle, down the gothic Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyrood. The beautifully planned "New City" remains one of the best examples in the world of Georgian architecture, and throughout, the city is interrupted vivid green hills and cliffs. It is also known for the annual Edinburgh Festival in August, a massive conglomeration of arts and music events that has made up the largest arts festival in the world since its founding in 1947. This year, the 62nd annual Edinburgh International Film Festival struck out on its own, moving to June; ever since it opened on Wednesday, the 18th, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. [ read more in On The Scene ]  REVIEW | Woman on Top: Catherine Breillat's "The Last Mistress"
by Chris Wisniewski (June 26, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] The first time Asia Argento appears in Catherine Breillat's "The Last Mistress," she fills the frame, reclining on a couch with devilish confidence as her character, Vellini, discusses the upcoming marriage of Ryno (Fu'ad Ait Aattou), her lover of ten years, to another woman. It's an appropriate entrance for a woman who could fittingly be described as a force of nature -- a "goddess of capriciousness," as one character calls her -- someone who trembles with erotic delight as she climaxes on a tiger-skin rug, moans with unfathomable grief clutching the corpse of a loved one, and drinks blood from a man's bullet wound with carnal glee. [ read more in Movies ] June 18, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Brick Lane" Director Sarah Gavron
by Erica Abeel (June 18, 2008) The theme of the immigrant experience has become a burgeoning sub-genre in both cinema and literature. The latest such film on tap is "Brick Lane," a debut feature helmed by Sarah Gavron, who previously had mainly a BAFTA-winning TV movie to her credit. The project presented multiple challenges. Writers Laura Jones and Abi Morgan had to compress the acclaimed 500 page novel by Monica Ali (short listed for Britain's Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003). Gavron needed to devise a visual equivalent for the rich inner life of a notably silent heroine. The filmmakers scoured the world in search of actors to play the Bangladeshi characters. Add to that, Gavron, who's Caucasian, was making a movie about Bangladeshis. [ read more in People ] June 17, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SYDNEY | A Comeback For Australia's Troubled Fest?
by Shane Danielsen (June 17, 2008) Having suffered from a decade of leadership that ranged from lackluster to inept, and eclipsed during that time by rival events in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, 2008 ranked as something of a make-or-break year for the Sydney Film Festival. It saw, among other things, a substantial rise in state funding, and, as an emblem of this renewed confidence, the launch of a new international competition. It also marked the sophomore outing for new Artistic Director Clare Stewart, upon whose shoulders many hopes for the festival's resurrection have come to rest. [ read more in On The Scene ] June 3, 2008 REVIEW | Fascist Faux Pas: Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol"
by Michael Joshua Rowin (June 4, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] "Mongol" marks a personal first for this reviewer: a bloated epic so boring and unengaging that by its numbing conclusion (the word anticlimactic can only be used for stories that actually build) he was zapped even of the conviction to hate it. An international co-production that probably broke the bank of several film companies from Russia, Germany, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, and 2008's official Academy Awards foreign film entry for the latter country, "Mongol" is one of those violent, historical blockbusters that have been multiplying like swamp rats ("Gladiator," "Apocalypto," "300") ever since the head-slapping enshrinement of "Braveheart" by the Academy back in 1995. [ read more in Movies ] May 31, 2008 REVIEW | Trouble in Paradiso: Giuseppe Tornatore's "The Unknown Woman"
by Kristi Mitsuda (May 31, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] A deliberately titillating scene opens Giuseppe Tornatore's "The Unknown Woman": three women wearing masks, asses to audience, stand naked in a strangely gilded room to be examined through peepholes. After they're dismissed, a second round comes out, and a blonde is asked to step forward and strip; "She'll do fine," an offscreen male voice intones. As usual, the "Cinema Paradiso" director has an eye for the voluptuous female form, but the lascivious voyeurism of his camera -- contained (Tornatore thinks) in his preceding movie, "Malena," by embedding its obsessive gaze within the point of view of a horny adolescent boy -- is made explicit here by its alignment with a prurient perspective. This objectifying introduction to his film's protagonist (played by Xenia Rappoport) is curiously at odds with the rest of the film, which is filtered through her subjectivity. This slippage explains the unintentional unease which colors the movie from the start, and undermines its attempt to create a credible portrait of a woman. [ read more in Movies ] May 18, 2008 REVIEW | Scattered People: Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven"
by Elbert Ventura (May 17, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] A German filmmaker of Turkish descent, Fatih Akin has made hybrid cultures and hyphenated identities his great subject. "Head-On," his acclaimed breakthrough film from 2004, told a love story between two German Turks that wended its way back to the homeland. In "The Edge of Heaven," his latest, the fixation on blurred borders and social dislocation continues on a larger canvas. Several characters shuttle back and forth between Turkey and Germany, even as the quest for home and rest seems increasingly quixotic. But let the overstuffed "The Edge of Heaven" be a lesson: Just multiplying and magnifying your obsessions does not make them any more powerful. [ read more in Movies ] May 14, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Reprise" Director Joachim Trier
by Eric Kohn (May 14, 2008) Combining pop whimsy with nuanced characters, Joachim Trier's "Reprise" constructs a simultaneously moving and satiric portrayal of two young struggling writers, Erik (Espen Klouman-Hoiner) and Phillip (Anders Danielson Lie), in Norway's chic modern professional scene. After a warm reception at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and a similar response later that year at New Directors/New Films, "Reprise" remained without distribution until producer Scott Rudin, a fan of the film, pressured Miramax's Daniel Battsek to purchase it. Incessantly lively, filled with contemporary references, and containing a number of creative flourishes to help give the heavier ideas a sense of levity, "Reprise" marks Trier's directorial debut. In a conversation with indieWIRE last week at the Soho Grand Hotel, the filmmaker matched the positive qualities that make his movie so distinct. [ read more in People ] May 12, 2008 DISPATCH FROM KOREA | Jeonju Fest: Eyeing Korean Film, and Some Major Talent
by Shane Danielsen (May 12, 2008) This year's Jeonju International Film Festival, the 9th, boasted ten world premieres of features and feature-length documentaries. There was a retrospective dedicated to Bela Tarr, and another to Alexander Kluge. There were works by James Benning and Nina Menkes and sidebars dedicated to Vietnamese and Central Asian cinema. But with the exception of a brief revisit to Kluge's 1965 debut, "Yesterday Girl" (which still seems remarkable, more than four decades on), it was the Korean films that I chose to focus upon. It only made sense, having come so far to South Korea... [ read more in On The Scene ] April 23, 2008 REVIEW | Knock Off: Claude Lelouch's "Roman de gare"
by Nick Pinkerton (April 23, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Sixties art-house standby Claude Lelouch is, as it turns out, alive and well and living in Paris. He's even directed a new film; the title, "Roman de gare," incessantly punned with in the film, apparently refers to those cheap paperback thrillers available at train stations, tawdry stuff good for a vacation perusal. A glance at my unusually thick press kit shows an interviewed Lelouch defensive about his alleged status as a "popular" or "mass" director (everything is relative) -- hence his adoption of X material. [ read more in Movies ] April 21, 2008indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Roman de Gare" Director Claude Lelouch
by Erica Abeel (April 21, 2008) That the number of French films to find distribution here continues to dwindle is hardly news. What's less noted is that while American cinephiles are familiar with French art film -- Jacques Rivette, Olivier Assayas, Arnaud Desplechin come to mind -- they've had less exposure to France's "boulevard" crowd pleasers. (Exceptions, of course, are art crossovers "Amelie" and "La Vie en Rose"). Now along comes "Roman de Gare" from Claude Lelouch, a thriller with the pace and jolting twists of a studio film. It proudly flaunts its pop creds: roman de gare translates as "airport reading' or "potboiler" and Lelouch embraces the strong suit, as he sees it, of commercial fare. [ read more in People ] VAR | Belladonna, Matson form partnership
Launching "a yearlong film festival," Belladonna Productions and Matson Films will join forces to acquire and distribute six Latin American films per year in 20 U.S. cities. The initiative is called the New World Cinema Series (NWCS), according to Variety. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] April 14, 2008VAR | 'Warlords' dominates HK film awards
Peter Chan's "The Warlords" was the big winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday, reports Variety. [permalink] [ filed under Honors, World Cinema ] April 2, 2008 iW PROFILE | "My Blueberry Nights" Director Wong Kar Wai
by Benjamin Crossley-Marra (April 2, 2008) "I don't think of this as a road movie," filmmaker Wong Kar Wai told New Yorkers last night, during a conversation about his new movie, "My Blueberry Nights," which was partially filmed in Lower Manhattan. "The original idea was to have the film just be about Norah and her relationship with the owners of this restaurant," Wong Kar Wai revealed. "But it was too expensive to shoot just in New York and the characters began to expand across the country." [ read more in People ] March 29, 2008 REVIEW | Such Great Heights: Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Flight of the Red Balloon"
by Chris Wisniewski (March 29, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Like his 2004 film "Cafe Lumiere," Hou Hsiao-hsien's sublime new movie "The Flight of the Red Balloon" finds the director in a foreign country paying homage to another filmmaker. With "Lumiere," Yasujiro Ozu was Hou's reference point and Tokyo his canvas; here, Hou reimagines Albert Lamorisse's classic 1956 short "The Red Balloon" as a Parisian family melodrama. Hou's film, much like Lamorisse's, opens with the magnificent titular object hovering barely out of the reach of seven-year-old Simon (Simon Iteanu); as he gets on the Metro, it floats just above the station, drifting up into the trees. The balloon, and by proxy Lamorisse's film, serves as our point of departure -- our way into Simon's world and our guide through the streets of Paris -- but the delicate, charming, quietly heartbreaking portrait of childhood and family that follows is distinctively and unforgettably Hou. [ read more in Movies ] March 20, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Love Songs" Director Christophe Honore
by Lisa Rosman (March 20, 2008) Whatever it is that Americans glamorize about Paris, the films of Christophe Honore possess in spades. Stylish, irreverent, gorgeously rendered and unabashedly romantic, his features are both modern and classically Gallic and "Love Songs," a musical that IFC Films opens in the U.S. this Friday theatrically (and also on demand), may be his best yet. indieWIRE couldn't have been more enthused to talk with him about this film and on the state of French film in general during an interview during NYC's Rendezvous With French Cinema series. [ read more in People ] March 12, 2008iW NEWS | "Amal" To Open LA Indian Film Fest
Richie Mehta's "Amal" has been announced as the Opening Night Gala of the 6th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The festival additionally announced that the world premiere of "Mumbai Cutting: A City Unfolds," which features the work of ten top Indian directors, will be its Closing Night Gala presentation. This year, the festival will honor the work of Madhuri Dixit with a tribute and screening of her films "The Death Sentence" (Mrityudand) and "My Heart is Crazy" (Dil To Pagal Hai). The festival will take place April 22-27, 2008 at the ArcLight Hollywood Cinemas in Los Angeles, and will feature close to 40 films. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] March 10, 2008iW NEWS | Fortissimo Acquires "Captain Abu Raed"
2008 Sundance Film Festival award winner "Captain Abu Raed" has been acquired for worldwide rights outside the Middle East and North America by Fortissimo Films. "Captain," directed by Amin Matalqa is the first Jordanian feature film to ever be exported for the world's cinemas. It garnered the World Cinema Audience Award and Best Actor for Nadim Sawalha at Sundance, and will have its market premiere at upcoming Hong Kong Filmart and the Cannes Market. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] February 29, 2008 FESTIVALS | French Vets Reign Supreme in a Roller Coaster Rendez Vous
by Erica Abeel (February 29, 2008) A trio of dazzling films from seasoned directors marks this year's Rendez-vous With French Cinema (running from February 29 to March 9 at the Walter Reade Theater and IFC Center in New York). Claude Lelouch -- known here primarily for his 1966 "A Man and a Woman" -- is in wicked form with thriller and series opener, "Roman de Gare," which hits more curves and speed bumps than Sarkozy's love life. "Paris" by Cedric Klapisch offers an eagle's eye view of the city's lives, while a young man waits for a heart transplant. And Claude Miller's "A Secret," suffused with personal resonance, probes the buried past of French Jews trying to pass as Aryans during the Occupation. Sad to say, though, the remaining twelve films, many from newcomers, are somewhat disappointing. Yes, they offer a hand-tooled look of French film -- always a welcome respite from studio product -- but overall, the selection is a grab bag ranging from worthy but flawed, to mildly entertaining, to duds. This year's uneven lineup raises questions about the always popular Rendez-vous, increasingly presented as a wine-and-cheese event for armchair travelers. Are some films included just to pad the roster and give viewers their French fix? [ read more in On The Scene ] February 27, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "City of Men" Director Paolo Morelli
by indieWIRE (February 27, 2008) In 2002, Fernando Meirelles' "City of God" became a $7.5 million foreign-language hit in North America, managing a bunch of Oscar nods with it, including best director. Six years later, longtime Meirelles collaborator Paulo Morelli is releasing a companion piece to that film, "City of Men." Largely based on characters and some storylines developed in television series loosely spawned from "God," "Men" largely uses the same cast as the series, which ran four seasons on Brazil's TV Globo (and was released on DVD in the U.S. in fall 2006). But apart from the setting, "Men" has no actual plot connections to "God," as Morelli's film follows the friendship of two favela teenagers. indieWIRE talked to Morelli about the film, which is being released in 77 locations across North America this Friday. [ read more in People ] February 26, 2008 DISPATCH FROM BRAZIL | Golden Bear Upset: A Look at the Controversy Behind "Tropa de Elite"
by Michael Gibbons (February 26, 2008) Shocking critics and industry insiders in a move that no one saw coming, the 58th Berlin International Film Festival awarded its top prize, the Golden Bear, to the Brazilian film "Elite Squad" (Tropa de Elite). The award was a remarkable coup for the film that made its international premiere with subtitle problems and that Variety had written off as "a one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist thugs." Yet, earlier this month the Berlin jury headed by Costa-Gavras, a renowned political filmmaker, defiantly gave the award in what they said was a unanimous decision. While it may seem like it came from nowhere, "Elite Squad"'s Golden Bear is far from the first time this provocative film has pushed buttons, nor will it be the last. [ read more in Biz ]  FESTIVALS | No !Fs Ands or Buts, Turkey Eats up the Indies
by Kerem Bayrak (February 26, 2008) Although in my last report from the Antalya/ Eurasia Film Festival back in October 2007, I had mentioned that there were two major film festivals in Turkey, it was a comment that I had not wholly given due care. The cities of Istanbul and Ankara have for the past seven years given way to a movement and creation of the !F Istanbul Film Festival whose onus was to promote global independent films to Turkish audiences and to screen international works that would not have necessarily secured a domestic theatrical release. The main event in Istanbul took place between the 14th - 24th February and in Ankara a smaller selection of Istanbul's screenings will be held between 28th February - 2nd March. [ read more in On The Scene ] February 21, 2008 REVIEW | Holding Court: Jacques Rivette's "The Duchess of Langeais"
by Nick Pinkerton (February 21, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] A chamber piece for two tragic almost-lovers, a coquettish Duchess and a noble French General. A chance flirtation at a Fauborg St-Germain party initiates an arduous campaign of romantic outflankings, accomplished through feigned illnesses, epistolary sallies, evocations of God, and threats of force. Abstemious with close-ups, "The Duchess of Langeais" is a two-shot duet for Jeanne Balibar and Guillaume Depardieu. The performances are precise in the extreme, the combatants' war games regulated by elaborate rules of engagement, incremental charges and retreats. In visits to the Duchess's residence, they push and pull their conversations between the bedchamber, drawing room, and foyer, the camera softly slipping after. The Duchess, however, has underestimated the fortitude of this suitor, whose continual, nauseous glowering at his loose forelock hides a master strategian. [ read more in Movies ] February 20, 2008 REVIEW | Money for Nothing: Stefan Ruzowitzky's "The Counterfeiters"
by Michael Koresky (February 20, 2008) [An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Let's get it out of the way first: Stefan Ruzowitzky's "The Counterfeiters" was nominated for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar, controversially at the exclusion of a handful of borderline masterpieces, from Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" to the upcoming "Silent Light" and "Secret Sunshine." Though it feels disingenuous to bring up the most notoriously boorish, nonsensically designed of all Academy Award categories when discussing a film's merits, perhaps it's productive to point out all the reasons why a film such as "The Counterfeiters" gets that slot over more difficult, rewarding, and harder to categorize films that would need the recognition to make any waves outside of small, cinephilic circles. [ read more in Movies ] February 19, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "The Year My Parents Went On Vacation" Director Cao Hamburger
by indieWIRE (February 19, 2008) Brazil's official submission for the 2008 Academy Awards (for which it made the "longlist" of finalists but failed to receive one of the controversial nominations), Cao Hamburger's "The Year My Parents Went On Vacation" has made the rounds of over 30 worldwide film festivals, including Berlin and Toronto. Set around the 1970 World Cup, "Vacation" details a couple who leave their son Marco with his grandfather, only to have his grandfather die of a heart attack just after the parents leave. Alone and without knowing where is parents are, Marco stays with his grandfather's next door neighbor Shlomo in the Jewish community of Bom Retiro. Screening in limited release as of last Friday, Hamburger spoke with indieWIRE about his experiences on "Vacation." [ read more in People ] February 14, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "The Counterfeiters" Director Stefan Ruzowitzky
by Howard Feinstein (February 14, 2008) No, it's not for his famous flop of an American drag film, "All the Queen's Men," that he received an Oscar nomination. Forty-six-year-old Viennese director Stefan Ruzowitzky learned something facile but important in the industry: actors carry baggage. He had no idea that he cast not Matt LeBlanc as a World War Two interloper in women's clothes trying to learn war secrets, but in fact Joey from "Friends." How should Ruzowitzky know how popular the program was? In fact, his nomination is for Best Foreign Language Film, Austria's selection "The Counterfeiters," with less exposed but better performers who are known quantities, with serious drama outweighing the bad attempts at humor, and about a topic he knows well: the fact-based story of Jews who know how to create fake bills surviving, even living and eating fairly well, in concentration camps in return for their assistance in betraying the Allies in favor of the Nazis by creating money to undermine the enemies' economies. [ read more in People ] February 11, 2008iW NEWS | Benten Films Acquires "Free Will"
Benton Films, the first DVD label run by film critics, has acquired the North American DVD rights to Bavaria Film International's award winning 2006 drama "The Free Will." Directed by Matthias |