Launched last year by Wes Anderson’s producing partners at Indian Paintbrush, Galerie has emerged as a well-curated film club publishing unique selections of films from artists with their personal annotations. With past lists from the likes of James Gray, Ed Lachman, Mike Mills, Karyn Kusama, Ethan Hawke, and more, today we’re pleased to exclusively share a sneak peek from the lists of two celebrated Chilean filmmakers, Pablo Larraín and Sebastián Lelio, which have recently landed on the site.
Both filmmakers are currently working on their latest projects: Larraín is helming the Angelina Jolie-led Maria Callas drama, while Lelio is handling the musical The Wave, inspired by Chile’s “feminist May” movement in 2018. While in post-production on the projects, they’ve shared their curated collections.
The Spencer and El Conde director features Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendor and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing on his list,...
Both filmmakers are currently working on their latest projects: Larraín is helming the Angelina Jolie-led Maria Callas drama, while Lelio is handling the musical The Wave, inspired by Chile’s “feminist May” movement in 2018. While in post-production on the projects, they’ve shared their curated collections.
The Spencer and El Conde director features Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendor and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing on his list,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As some of the lists of the previous years were not on par with the ones we have been publishing lately, we decided to take a closer look at some of the years that were not as covered at the time. In that fashion, here is a list with the 50 of the Best Asian movies of 2015, in completely random order.
1. Monster Hunt
Raman Hui evidently shot a film to indulge every demographic category in the country. In that fashion, the movie entails elements of RPGs, comics, martial arts, comedy, musicals, romance, some drama and a plethora of action scenes. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
on Amazon by clicking on the image below 2. Spl 2: A Time for Consequences
The action scenes are magnificent, with Tony Jaa as Chatchai and Wu Jing as Kit giving their best selves. Furthermore, the film excels in the technical department, both in cinematography and special effects,...
1. Monster Hunt
Raman Hui evidently shot a film to indulge every demographic category in the country. In that fashion, the movie entails elements of RPGs, comics, martial arts, comedy, musicals, romance, some drama and a plethora of action scenes. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
on Amazon by clicking on the image below 2. Spl 2: A Time for Consequences
The action scenes are magnificent, with Tony Jaa as Chatchai and Wu Jing as Kit giving their best selves. Furthermore, the film excels in the technical department, both in cinematography and special effects,...
- 4/1/2024
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
In a remote region of Thailand, on the banks of the Mekong River, a group of soldiers haves been struck by a mysterious illness that causes them to fall into an endless sleep. As she takes care of one of them, Jen (Jenjira Pongpas) delves into his dream, revealing haunting visions of past conflicts. In the final scene, she sits on a bench and observes a wasteland where children play while excavators turn over the ground. She displays a strange expression of terror, and… end of movie.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul leaves us pondering Jen's gaze. Is she merely observing the scene or glimpsing something beyond reality? Does she see the shocking cycle of military violence that has taken place since Ayutthaya and the 1960s-70s? Is she about to fall into the strange sleeping sickness? Does she see a form of the future that terrifies her? Certainly a bit of all.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul leaves us pondering Jen's gaze. Is she merely observing the scene or glimpsing something beyond reality? Does she see the shocking cycle of military violence that has taken place since Ayutthaya and the 1960s-70s? Is she about to fall into the strange sleeping sickness? Does she see a form of the future that terrifies her? Certainly a bit of all.
- 3/10/2024
- by Hugo Hamon
- AsianMoviePulse
Five years after the remarkable success of “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” that won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2010 and many more festival awards, director and eclectic Thai video artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul presented “Cemetery of Splendour”, another imaginative and enigmatic work that elaborates on the author's fascination with the act of sleeping as a means of accessing deeper layers of consciousness and understanding.
Cemetery of Splendour is screening at Metrograph
In order to be enchanted by the director's imaginative and hypnotic world you need to unlock a certain receptiveness towards a non-traditional narrative, a storytelling that is more stratified than linear. The film takes place in the town of Khon Kaen, Isan province, Northwest of Thailand where the director grew up, and more than a story, there are many places and many stories. There is a former school transformed into a small country hospital in a...
Cemetery of Splendour is screening at Metrograph
In order to be enchanted by the director's imaginative and hypnotic world you need to unlock a certain receptiveness towards a non-traditional narrative, a storytelling that is more stratified than linear. The film takes place in the town of Khon Kaen, Isan province, Northwest of Thailand where the director grew up, and more than a story, there are many places and many stories. There is a former school transformed into a small country hospital in a...
- 2/14/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Christian Petzold, the director of the well-timed summer movie Afire with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I’m really sure that we don’t have summer movies. The Americans have summer movies, the French have summer movies.”
Christian Petzold’s slow-burning Afire, shot by Hans Fromm, stars Paula Beer, Thomas Schubert, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs, and Matthias Brandt.
Nadja (Paula Beer) with Devid (Enno Trebs), Felix (Langston Uibel), and Leon (Thomas Schubert) in Afire
A scene in Leo McCarey’s An Affair To Remember (with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr); Sophie Calle’s Voir La Mer and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs; Astrid Lindgren; a Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre touch; Uwe Johnson’s Mutmassungen über Jakob and Margarethe von Trotta’s Jahrestage series; Johan Wolfgang von Goethe; a Nanni Moretti quote; meeting Paul Dano’s Wildlife cinematographer Diego García (Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery Of Splendor) in Tel Aviv; Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak,...
Christian Petzold’s slow-burning Afire, shot by Hans Fromm, stars Paula Beer, Thomas Schubert, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs, and Matthias Brandt.
Nadja (Paula Beer) with Devid (Enno Trebs), Felix (Langston Uibel), and Leon (Thomas Schubert) in Afire
A scene in Leo McCarey’s An Affair To Remember (with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr); Sophie Calle’s Voir La Mer and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs; Astrid Lindgren; a Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre touch; Uwe Johnson’s Mutmassungen über Jakob and Margarethe von Trotta’s Jahrestage series; Johan Wolfgang von Goethe; a Nanni Moretti quote; meeting Paul Dano’s Wildlife cinematographer Diego García (Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery Of Splendor) in Tel Aviv; Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak,...
- 7/2/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Eight years ago, the most famous Thai director in the world told IndieWire that was finished making movies in Thailand. After the release of his haunting “Cemetery of Splendour,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul said the threat of censorship had become too much for him. “I’ll say about a topic, ‘Hey, you cannot say that because you’ll be in jail,’” he said. “I’ve started to feel suffocated by this limitation.”
Weerasethakul — he goes by “Joe,” perhaps as an act of mercy for Westerners who struggle to pronounce his name — has only started the international phase of his career. “Memoria,” his first movie made outside of Thailand, became the country’s official Oscar submission in 2021. He’s already planning another one in Sri Lanka.
Yet Thailand remains the one place he feels most comfortable even as his work takes him elsewhere. He was calling from the northeastern region of the country while visiting his mother.
Weerasethakul — he goes by “Joe,” perhaps as an act of mercy for Westerners who struggle to pronounce his name — has only started the international phase of his career. “Memoria,” his first movie made outside of Thailand, became the country’s official Oscar submission in 2021. He’s already planning another one in Sri Lanka.
Yet Thailand remains the one place he feels most comfortable even as his work takes him elsewhere. He was calling from the northeastern region of the country while visiting his mother.
- 5/4/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
When Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul made the 2021 Colombian Oscar entry “Memoria,” his first movie outside of his home country, it was only the start of his new chapter in Latin America. Last year summer, Apichatpong hosted a workshop for aspiring filmmakers in the Amazon rainforest of Peru, an ideal backdrop for his languid, otherworldly cinematic creations. Now, he’s ready to do it again.
“The second workshop is coming in September,” Apichatpong told IndieWire in a video call from Thailand this week. “I think it’s going to be called ‘How Not to Make Movies.’” He smiled. “I’m serious,” he said. “Sometimes you really don’t need cinema.”
That’s a bold statement from a filmmaker whose entire career has been defined by uncompromising, immersive filmmaking on his own terms. Apichatpong’s films, the subject of an upcoming retrospective at New York City’s Film at Lincoln Center in May,...
“The second workshop is coming in September,” Apichatpong told IndieWire in a video call from Thailand this week. “I think it’s going to be called ‘How Not to Make Movies.’” He smiled. “I’m serious,” he said. “Sometimes you really don’t need cinema.”
That’s a bold statement from a filmmaker whose entire career has been defined by uncompromising, immersive filmmaking on his own terms. Apichatpong’s films, the subject of an upcoming retrospective at New York City’s Film at Lincoln Center in May,...
- 3/30/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The Story of Film: A New Generation opens at two dozen theaters this weekend — Laemmle Royal in LA, Museum of the Moving Image in NY, Music Box Theatre in Chicago and Brattle in Cambridge. It’s a mix of arthouses, cinematheques, museums and even a few multiplexes for Mark Cousins’ follow-up to his 15-hour, 2011 opus The Story Of Film: An Odyssey. (This one clocks a relatively brief three hours.)
Several theaters are programming repertory series with the release, “which we feel will elevate its profile and continue the conversation,” said Kyle Westphal, head of theatrical sales for Music Box Films, the distributor for both installments.
A New Generation debuted at Cannes to strong reviews, Deadline’s here. Now, Westphal said, the first film, only available in standard definition, has been remastered in HD and both works will be released in a Blu-ray box set. The earlier work, which essentially played...
Several theaters are programming repertory series with the release, “which we feel will elevate its profile and continue the conversation,” said Kyle Westphal, head of theatrical sales for Music Box Films, the distributor for both installments.
A New Generation debuted at Cannes to strong reviews, Deadline’s here. Now, Westphal said, the first film, only available in standard definition, has been remastered in HD and both works will be released in a Blu-ray box set. The earlier work, which essentially played...
- 9/9/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
“We use ambience to tell the story. It’s more important than music. Ambience.” —Akritchalerm KalayanamitrApichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria starts with a sonic sensation, a “bang” that wakes up Tilda Swinton’s Jessica Holland. The noise propels her body and thus the narrative, inasmuch as it sets the viewer’s trajectory onto the realms of sound. In other words, the film becomes all about sound; about hearing, listening and feeling; about the whole notions of the smallest details the sound can produce, which we, the viewers-listeners, microdose along with the screening. To talk about the sonic sphere of Apichatpong’s works, I met with Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, one of the most active sound designers in South East Asia, who worked with the Thai director on most of his films and art installations, including the latest one, Memoria.The conversation started about a vinyl compilation, “Metaphors.” “A happy customer!”, said Akritchalerm (also...
- 4/19/2022
- MUBI
The presence or absence of sound in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films is a fundamental element, as is its timing. Sound is a character alluding to memory, touch, the erotic, the urban and natural world. At just under two hours, this mix is a dreamscape journey into Apichatpong’s cinema sonics. From the opening edit, we’re surrounded by the luscious sounds of Syndromes and a Century (2006), traveling through the Thai director’s singular vision of place, love, desire, family, the body, history, and the conscious versus unconscious. Moments of song or dialogue tend to break the chapters. A jolt of song at the titles (not necessarily approaching at the presumed moment) making way for the next act, a motorcycle ride, or a much-favored exercise class, music bursts out momentarily relieving ambient trance. Here there's a focus on several films, Syndromes and a Century, Blissfully Yours (2002), Tropical Malady (2004) and Mysterious Object at Noon...
- 1/26/2022
- MUBI
Over the course of his career, the name of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul has become a synonym for a special kind of storytelling and an aesthetic combining his home culture, geography and themes such as sexuality and dreams. There is no doubt that watching one of his features is quite a unique experience, but while “Blissfully Yours” and “Cemetery of Splendor” are well-known among cinephiles, Weerasethakul’s first project is one that many have yet to discover. From 1997 to 1998, the director and a small crew shot “Mysterious Object at Noon”, a feature-documentary hybrid, on no budget at all. The movie premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and later on won the Grand Prize at Jeonju International Film Festival and has been restored as well as preserved by the Austrian Film Museum and the Film Foundation, resulting in releases by companies such as Criterion or Second Run.
- 1/3/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Ten years after Mark Cousins created The Story of Film: An Odyssey, his compelling 15-hour history of cinema, the filmmaker has graced us with a sequel, The Story of Film: A New Generation. At 2hrs and 40 minutes, it is a sweeping topography of 21st century cinema, referencing some 97 films from Britain and America to Senegal and India. An absorbing, informative and even therapeutic experience, I have to concur with our critic Jo-Ann Titmarsh when she says it is,“a true celebration of what cinema is and what it means to us”.
Ever the busy and nomadic filmmaker, Mark was kind enough to speak with me about his new film, his cinema-going habits, the defining films of the 2010s, and the future of the theatrical experience.
Jh: A New Generation covers an impressive breadth of international films. How many films do you watch per month and year? Are you a grazer or a binger?...
Ever the busy and nomadic filmmaker, Mark was kind enough to speak with me about his new film, his cinema-going habits, the defining films of the 2010s, and the future of the theatrical experience.
Jh: A New Generation covers an impressive breadth of international films. How many films do you watch per month and year? Are you a grazer or a binger?...
- 12/13/2021
- by Jack Hawkins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Ever since his Palme d’Or victory with “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” in 2010, Thai filmmaker Apichatapong Weerasethakul is somewhat of a star player in Cannes Film Festival line-up. With his foreign-language debut “Memoria”, he has achieved success, Jury Prize, at this year’s edition of the festival. We were lucky to catch it at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it played in the Horizons programme segment.
It is a bit corny to start a film review with William Faukner’s quote about the nature of the past, how it is not dead and maybe not even past, but here it can serve as nice introduction. The same kind of thinking, but with some of the theoretical scientific proof could be told for the nature of the sound. It does not die out, it just infinitely tones down to fall out of the limits of our perception.
It is a bit corny to start a film review with William Faukner’s quote about the nature of the past, how it is not dead and maybe not even past, but here it can serve as nice introduction. The same kind of thinking, but with some of the theoretical scientific proof could be told for the nature of the sound. It does not die out, it just infinitely tones down to fall out of the limits of our perception.
- 9/1/2021
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
“Memoria” begins with the first jump scare in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s career, but the sudden impact isn’t as relevant as the way it resonates in the silence that follows. Anyone familiar with the slow-burn lyricism at the center of the Thai director’s work knows how he adheres to a dreamlike logic that takes its time to settle in. The Colombia-set “Memoria,” his first movie made outside his native country, does that as well as anything in “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” or “Cemetery of Splendor.” But this time around, there’s a profound existential anxiety creeping in.
With Tilda Swinton’s puzzled gaze as its guide, “Memoria” amounts to a haunting, introspective look at one woman’s attempts to uncover the roots of a mysterious sound that only she can hear. More than that, it’s a masterful and engrossing response to rush of modern...
With Tilda Swinton’s puzzled gaze as its guide, “Memoria” amounts to a haunting, introspective look at one woman’s attempts to uncover the roots of a mysterious sound that only she can hear. More than that, it’s a masterful and engrossing response to rush of modern...
- 7/15/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Tilda Swinton plays a character shaken by a strange boom in the new trailer for Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s upcoming film, Memoria.
In the film, Swinton plays a Scottish woman named Jessica, who hears a loud “bang” at daybreak, which triggers a mysterious sensory syndrome that follows her as she travels through the jungles of Colombia.
The new trailer for Memoria gives few other details away, comprising a series of seemingly disconnected scenes, all threaded together by the presence of the boom. In the opening scene, Jessica tries to describe the sound to an audio engineer,...
In the film, Swinton plays a Scottish woman named Jessica, who hears a loud “bang” at daybreak, which triggers a mysterious sensory syndrome that follows her as she travels through the jungles of Colombia.
The new trailer for Memoria gives few other details away, comprising a series of seemingly disconnected scenes, all threaded together by the presence of the boom. In the opening scene, Jessica tries to describe the sound to an audio engineer,...
- 7/12/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the acclaimed Thai filmmaker behind Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Cemetery of Splendour, and more, is back with Memoria. The movie is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and we now have a mysterious, intriguing trailer that’s bound to make this shoot up to the top of your “must-see” list (if it […]
The post ‘Memoria’ Trailer: Tilda Swinton Experiences a Mysterious Sensory Syndrome in the New Film From Apichatpong Weerasethakul appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Memoria’ Trailer: Tilda Swinton Experiences a Mysterious Sensory Syndrome in the New Film From Apichatpong Weerasethakul appeared first on /Film.
- 7/12/2021
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Irish documentarian Mark Cousins is in a jovial mood. He has two films in Cannes and the first one debuted on opening day, “The Story of Film: A New Generation.” It’s a wide-ranging update to his 15-hour film-school staple “The Story of Film: An Odyssey” (the new one is a slimmer two hours and 20 minutes). Cannes director Thierry Fremaux felt that Cousins’ new film could provide a welcome transition for moviegoers as the festival returned after two years. Indeed, reviews are raves and sales agent Dogwoof is fielding offers.
“Lockdown happened,” said Cousins on Zoom from his home office in Edinburgh just before the festival. “A lot of us had more thinking time and creative time. So I made three films.” His portrait of radical British producer, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas,” will play in Cannes Classics. The third is a personal documentary based on his 2018 history of the visual world,...
“Lockdown happened,” said Cousins on Zoom from his home office in Edinburgh just before the festival. “A lot of us had more thinking time and creative time. So I made three films.” His portrait of radical British producer, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas,” will play in Cannes Classics. The third is a personal documentary based on his 2018 history of the visual world,...
- 7/8/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Irish documentarian Mark Cousins is in a jovial mood. He has two films in Cannes and the first one debuted on opening day, “The Story of Film: A New Generation.” It’s a wide-ranging update to his 15-hour film-school staple “The Story of Film: An Odyssey” (the new one is a slimmer two hours and 20 minutes). Cannes director Thierry Fremaux felt that Cousins’ new film could provide a welcome transition for moviegoers as the festival returned after two years. Indeed, reviews are raves and sales agent Dogwoof is fielding offers.
“Lockdown happened,” said Cousins on Zoom from his home office in Edinburgh just before the festival. “A lot of us had more thinking time and creative time. So I made three films.” His portrait of radical British producer, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas,” will play in Cannes Classics. The third is a personal documentary based on his 2018 history of the visual world,...
“Lockdown happened,” said Cousins on Zoom from his home office in Edinburgh just before the festival. “A lot of us had more thinking time and creative time. So I made three films.” His portrait of radical British producer, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas,” will play in Cannes Classics. The third is a personal documentary based on his 2018 history of the visual world,...
- 7/8/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Leos Carax’s Annette is the much publicized and awaited opening film of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival kicking off tonight, but actually it is filmmaker Mark Cousins who can claim the glory of being the first film of the festival this year, and it just wrapped up its premiere screening this afternoon at the Debussy.
When fest director Thierry Fremaux saw The Story of Film: A New Generation, Cousins’ mouthwatering and mesmerizing two-hour, 40-minute tribute to recent cinema, he knew it was just what was needed for this year’s fest — the first in over two years and moved to July from May because of the lingering effects of the world pandemic that forced cancellation in 2020 of the all-important Cannes event for the first time since World War II. The aftermath of that pandemic is also part of Cousins’ sweeping survey of cinema spanning 2010-21 as a way of uncovering...
When fest director Thierry Fremaux saw The Story of Film: A New Generation, Cousins’ mouthwatering and mesmerizing two-hour, 40-minute tribute to recent cinema, he knew it was just what was needed for this year’s fest — the first in over two years and moved to July from May because of the lingering effects of the world pandemic that forced cancellation in 2020 of the all-important Cannes event for the first time since World War II. The aftermath of that pandemic is also part of Cousins’ sweeping survey of cinema spanning 2010-21 as a way of uncovering...
- 7/6/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
How Mark Cousins Created His Epic Lockdown Doc on the Most Boundary-Pushing Films of the Last Decade
A decade after producing his epic 15-hour series “The Story of Film: An Odyssey,” Mark Cousins has created another cinematic survey of Homeric proportions.
In ”The Story of Film: A New Generation,” whose international distribution is handled by Dogwoof Sales, the writer and filmmaker applies a wide lens to the last 10 years of cinema, asking where filmmakers have pushed the language of storytelling, and where they have blown it up entirely.
Using snippets from Hollywood and Bollywood bangers like “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Pk,” from VR masterpieces like “The Deserted,” and from urgent docs like Syria’s “For Sama,” Cousins fashions a compelling, ultimately optimistic collage on where cinema has been, and where it’s going next.
Cousins is set to unveil “A New Generation” at a special Cannes Film Festival screening on Tuesday, but before that, he caught up with Variety to discuss the challenges of making his...
In ”The Story of Film: A New Generation,” whose international distribution is handled by Dogwoof Sales, the writer and filmmaker applies a wide lens to the last 10 years of cinema, asking where filmmakers have pushed the language of storytelling, and where they have blown it up entirely.
Using snippets from Hollywood and Bollywood bangers like “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Pk,” from VR masterpieces like “The Deserted,” and from urgent docs like Syria’s “For Sama,” Cousins fashions a compelling, ultimately optimistic collage on where cinema has been, and where it’s going next.
Cousins is set to unveil “A New Generation” at a special Cannes Film Festival screening on Tuesday, but before that, he caught up with Variety to discuss the challenges of making his...
- 7/5/2021
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
This year, the leading Berlinale initiative is welcoming 205 Talents who are keen to dream and collaborate. The 19th edition of Berlinale Talents has published its “dreamy” programme and aims to retain its encounter-led character for this online version. Under this year’s theme of “dreams”, the summit, which runs during the European Film Market (1-5 March), is inviting 205 film professionals to collaborate, share solidarity and explore the collectivity of new visions as a source of courage in the face of the pandemic, but also as a way out of it. This time, the Berlinale Talents will have a chance to meet a number of prominent guests in the virtual “sDream”, including Céline Sciamma, whose Petite Maman is in the 2021 Competition; Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cemetery of Splendour); and American filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Selma). The latter will be in conversation with Array and Berlinale filmmakers Takeshi Fukunaga, Hepi Mita...
With the ongoing Covid 19-pandemic, the majority of our daily routine has been reduced to the bare minimum since the lockdown of many countries means closing down social life, from pubs to concert halls and even playgrounds, all in the name of social distancing. However, given humans are social by nature, this feature of the tragic year of 2020 is perhaps one of the most trying aspects and many people suffer from a state of isolation and loneliness at present, the concept of the quarantine has become a fact of life, even though you may be perfectly healthy. Considering his collaboration with actress Tilda Swinton “Memoria” has been delayed to 2021, Thai film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has been going through the same emotions, with the craving for human connection resulting in a re-connection with nature, one of the core themes in his many works.
In his new short feature “October Rumbles” the...
In his new short feature “October Rumbles” the...
- 11/16/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
We speak with Sompot Chidgasompongse about Railway Sleepers, trains, Thailand, his collaboration with Weerasethakul and many other topics
Tell us a bit about the British you talk to at the end of the film. The dialogues seemed kind of surrealistic.
It’s getting late at night, and you start to talk about your past, about your life. But then the morning comes, and you’re not sure if you were dreaming or not. The British character was constructed from real historical figures who have worked on Thai trains since the very beginning. They are all dead by now, so I needed to re-create the character. The dialogues were also based on actual academic studies, historical research, oral-histories, diaries of many people. I wanted to create a dreamlike feeling where you cannot be sure what is real and what is not. History is also like that.
You have collaborated with Apichatpong Weerasethakul a number of times,...
Tell us a bit about the British you talk to at the end of the film. The dialogues seemed kind of surrealistic.
It’s getting late at night, and you start to talk about your past, about your life. But then the morning comes, and you’re not sure if you were dreaming or not. The British character was constructed from real historical figures who have worked on Thai trains since the very beginning. They are all dead by now, so I needed to re-create the character. The dialogues were also based on actual academic studies, historical research, oral-histories, diaries of many people. I wanted to create a dreamlike feeling where you cannot be sure what is real and what is not. History is also like that.
You have collaborated with Apichatpong Weerasethakul a number of times,...
- 7/12/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
RaMell Ross, director/cinematographer of the Oscar-nominated Hale County This Morning, This Evening Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
RaMell Ross, director/cinematographer of the Oscar-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening will participate in a Film at Lincoln Center free virtual conversation moderated by Time director Garrett Bradley on June 24, starting at 6:00pm (Edt). Hale County This Morning, This Evening has an impressive producing team with Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover of Louverture Films to Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and Charlotte Cook of Field of Vision, Susan Rockefeller (Oceana), Tony Tabatznik, Lynda Weinman, Su Kim, and co-writer Maya Krinsky.
RaMell Ross's subjects Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, a scene with Bert Williams from Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913), the atmosphere of the local community in Hale County, Alabama, thunderstorms, starlit night...
RaMell Ross, director/cinematographer of the Oscar-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening will participate in a Film at Lincoln Center free virtual conversation moderated by Time director Garrett Bradley on June 24, starting at 6:00pm (Edt). Hale County This Morning, This Evening has an impressive producing team with Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover of Louverture Films to Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and Charlotte Cook of Field of Vision, Susan Rockefeller (Oceana), Tony Tabatznik, Lynda Weinman, Su Kim, and co-writer Maya Krinsky.
RaMell Ross's subjects Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, a scene with Bert Williams from Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913), the atmosphere of the local community in Hale County, Alabama, thunderstorms, starlit night...
- 6/24/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Thai independent filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul has remained defiantly outside of any studio system, making the films he wants to make, from the beautiful and beguiling queer love story “Tropical Malady” to the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning, avant-garde folk tale “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” His next project, and first solo feature since 2015’s “Cemetery of Splendor,” is “Memoria.” Shot and set in Colombia with Tilda Swinton — who practically has always seemed fated to star in a Weerasethakul outing — the film is yet another rumination on memory from the “Syndromes and a Century” director. Now, the publication La Tempestad has shared exclusive first images from “Memoria,” and a new interview with the filmmaker, offering the first taste of what’s sure to be another cosmic mystery from Weerasethakul.
Filmed in the mountains of the municipality of Pijao and Bogotá, “Memoria” centers on Swinton as a woman from Scotland who,...
Filmed in the mountains of the municipality of Pijao and Bogotá, “Memoria” centers on Swinton as a woman from Scotland who,...
- 2/14/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
10 Great ‘Small’ Movies You Might Have Missed in the 2010s, From ‘Manakamana’ to ‘The Fits’ (Photos)
The films on this admittedly non-comprehensive list were not distributed by major studios, but by smaller specialty companies. They played for a couple of weeks (or less) in big cities, maybe even just one night in a museum. They weren’t on the multiplex radar at all. But to adventurous film audiences, they were a vital part of any discussion about cinema. They told complex stories ignored by major studios. The dug deeper into abstraction or discomfort. And they pushed at the edges of filmmaking practice in ways that will influence the mainstream in the future.
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
- 12/11/2019
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
Hale County This Morning, This Evening director RaMell Ross on Apichatpong Weerasethakul: "His editing consultation was more about grand emotional feeling or the way in which the film could be distilled into certain ideas, you know." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Cinema Eye Awards last week, Yance Ford, the director of the last year's Oscar-nominated Strong Island, presented to RaMell Ross the Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking Award for his Oscar-shortlisted film Hale County This Morning, This Evening.
Quincy Bryant
RaMell Ross has an impressive producing team with Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover of Louverture Films to Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and Charlotte Cook of Field of Vision, Susan Rockefeller (Oceana), Tony Tabatznik, Lynda Weinman, Su Kim, and co-writer Maya Krinsky.
Ross's subjects Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, a scene with Bert Williams from Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913), the atmosphere of the local community in Hale County,...
At the Cinema Eye Awards last week, Yance Ford, the director of the last year's Oscar-nominated Strong Island, presented to RaMell Ross the Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking Award for his Oscar-shortlisted film Hale County This Morning, This Evening.
Quincy Bryant
RaMell Ross has an impressive producing team with Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover of Louverture Films to Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and Charlotte Cook of Field of Vision, Susan Rockefeller (Oceana), Tony Tabatznik, Lynda Weinman, Su Kim, and co-writer Maya Krinsky.
Ross's subjects Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, a scene with Bert Williams from Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913), the atmosphere of the local community in Hale County,...
- 1/17/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Divine Love
Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro’s third feature, Divine Love (previously known as Overgod) has been highly anticipated ever since his 2015 breakout Neon Bull (read our review). A co-production between Uruguay, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden, the film is produced by Rachel Ellis. Mascaro reunites with his Neon Bull Dp Diego Garcia (who also lensed Cemetery of Splendor and this year’s Wildlife) and among the cast are Dira Paes, Julio Machado (of Hard Labor and Joaquim), and Emilio de Mello.…...
Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro’s third feature, Divine Love (previously known as Overgod) has been highly anticipated ever since his 2015 breakout Neon Bull (read our review). A co-production between Uruguay, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden, the film is produced by Rachel Ellis. Mascaro reunites with his Neon Bull Dp Diego Garcia (who also lensed Cemetery of Splendor and this year’s Wildlife) and among the cast are Dira Paes, Julio Machado (of Hard Labor and Joaquim), and Emilio de Mello.…...
- 1/6/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Martin Eden
Italian director Pietro Marcello tackles Jack London’s 1909 novel Martin Eden for his second narrative feature. Although various television versions have been made, the last cinematic venture of the novel was Sidney Salkow’s 1942 adaptation. Starring Luca Marinelli, Marco Leonardi, Vincenzo Nemolato, Rinat Khismatouline, and Pietro Ragusa the project is and Italian-French co-production through Avventurosa and Shellac Sud, produced by Thomas Ordonneau and Francisco Paolillo, with Viola Fugen and Michael Weber serving as co-producers (both of whom also worked on Cemetery of Splendor and Foxtrot).…...
Italian director Pietro Marcello tackles Jack London’s 1909 novel Martin Eden for his second narrative feature. Although various television versions have been made, the last cinematic venture of the novel was Sidney Salkow’s 1942 adaptation. Starring Luca Marinelli, Marco Leonardi, Vincenzo Nemolato, Rinat Khismatouline, and Pietro Ragusa the project is and Italian-French co-production through Avventurosa and Shellac Sud, produced by Thomas Ordonneau and Francisco Paolillo, with Viola Fugen and Michael Weber serving as co-producers (both of whom also worked on Cemetery of Splendor and Foxtrot).…...
- 1/4/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Directing your first feature is always a daunting experience, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone has ever been better prepared for that particular challenge than Paul Dano. Familiar to audiences as one of the most compelling and accomplished actors of his generation, the 34-year-old New York native has spent the last two decades attending the greatest film school on Earth.
Only the Criterion Collection has collaborated with more of modern cinema’s top auteurs: Richard Linklater, Spike Jonze, Ang Lee, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kelly Reichardt, Steve McQueen, Bong Joon-ho, Denis Villeneuve, So Yong Kim, Rian Johnson, etc. He’s the only person on the planet who’s done a stint on “The Sopranos,” worked with Tom Cruise, and starred in an unexpectedly emotional movie about a farting corpse (“Swiss Army Man”).
Read More: ‘Wildlife’ Review: Carey Mulligan Is on Fire in Paul Dano’s Stunningly Beautiful Directorial Debut — Sundance 2018
Needless to say,...
Only the Criterion Collection has collaborated with more of modern cinema’s top auteurs: Richard Linklater, Spike Jonze, Ang Lee, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kelly Reichardt, Steve McQueen, Bong Joon-ho, Denis Villeneuve, So Yong Kim, Rian Johnson, etc. He’s the only person on the planet who’s done a stint on “The Sopranos,” worked with Tom Cruise, and starred in an unexpectedly emotional movie about a farting corpse (“Swiss Army Man”).
Read More: ‘Wildlife’ Review: Carey Mulligan Is on Fire in Paul Dano’s Stunningly Beautiful Directorial Debut — Sundance 2018
Needless to say,...
- 10/30/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Six years after Post Tenebras Lux, Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas is returning. The highly-anticipated Our Time (aka Nuestro Tiempo) will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival next week, followed by a stop at Toronto International Film Festival, and now the first trailer has landed.
The film follows Reygadas himself alongside his real-life wife Natalia López in a story of a marriage in crisis, though the trailer teases a film far more expansive than that logline, especially considering its 173-minute runtime. Shot by Diego García, the cinematographer behind Neon Bull, Cemetery of Splendor, and the forthcoming Wildlife, we know it’ll at least be thoroughly gorgeous.
Reygadas has said in a director’s statement, “When we love someone, do we want her or his wellbeing above all else? Or only to the extent that such implicit act of generosity does not affect us too much? In short: Is love a relative matter?...
The film follows Reygadas himself alongside his real-life wife Natalia López in a story of a marriage in crisis, though the trailer teases a film far more expansive than that logline, especially considering its 173-minute runtime. Shot by Diego García, the cinematographer behind Neon Bull, Cemetery of Splendor, and the forthcoming Wildlife, we know it’ll at least be thoroughly gorgeous.
Reygadas has said in a director’s statement, “When we love someone, do we want her or his wellbeing above all else? Or only to the extent that such implicit act of generosity does not affect us too much? In short: Is love a relative matter?...
- 8/28/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Having worked with Derek Jarman, Wes Anderson, Sally Potter, Luca Guadagnino, Bong Joon-ho, David Fincher, Lynne Ramsay, the Coens, and the list goes on, Tilda Swinton has better taste than just about any other actor. Her next role, however, is certainly the ultimate union of international cinema greats. It’s been revealed that she will star in the new film from Thai master Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Titled Memoria, it will mark the Palme d’Or-winning director’s first film shot outside Thailand, with a 2019 production planned in Colombia. “During the 70s and 80s, it was very violent [in Colombia], much more than now… when you were driving, there could be a bomb and sometimes the traffic stops and you don’t know [why],” the director told Screen Daily. “People imagine things and have a fear. The movie is about this, waiting for something you don’t know.”
Swinton’s casting was confirmed by The Independent,...
Titled Memoria, it will mark the Palme d’Or-winning director’s first film shot outside Thailand, with a 2019 production planned in Colombia. “During the 70s and 80s, it was very violent [in Colombia], much more than now… when you were driving, there could be a bomb and sometimes the traffic stops and you don’t know [why],” the director told Screen Daily. “People imagine things and have a fear. The movie is about this, waiting for something you don’t know.”
Swinton’s casting was confirmed by The Independent,...
- 3/14/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
The Films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul
If you’re looking for a dreamy weekend, a quartet of the finest films by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul are now available on FilmStruck: Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century, Cemetery of Splendor, and his Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
Where to Stream: FilmStruck
The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How...
The Films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul
If you’re looking for a dreamy weekend, a quartet of the finest films by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul are now available on FilmStruck: Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century, Cemetery of Splendor, and his Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
Where to Stream: FilmStruck
The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How...
- 2/2/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“I feel like I need to wake up, but I don’t know what from… or to,” Carey Mulligan’s Jeanette declares to her teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) in Wildlife, Paul Dano’s remarkably assured, thematically rich directorial debut. The haze Jeanette finds herself in is due to her husband Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) having abandoned them to fight a wildfire close to the Canadian border. The absence of a patriarchal figure in their family, who have recently relocated to small-town Montana, leads to Jeanette discovering newfound, untidy emotional independence and her son is there to witness the protracted, quietly devastating unraveling of a marriage.
Dano has worked with the likes of Denis Villeneuve, Bong Joon-ho, Rian Johnson, Steve McQueen, and Paul Thomas Anderson, but the past collaborations that he seems to draw the most from for Wildlife are Ang Lee and Kelly Reichardt. Blending the emotional subtleties of a...
Dano has worked with the likes of Denis Villeneuve, Bong Joon-ho, Rian Johnson, Steve McQueen, and Paul Thomas Anderson, but the past collaborations that he seems to draw the most from for Wildlife are Ang Lee and Kelly Reichardt. Blending the emotional subtleties of a...
- 1/21/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
After exploring sleep-induced hallucinations in one of last year’s best films, Cemetery of Splendor, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is planning his next film and it will mark a distinct shift in location for the Palme d’Or winner. Although his previous features have been set in his homeland of Thailand, he’s heading to South America to shoot the latest.
No plot details have been revealed yet, but THR reports, from a talk with the director at the Cartagena Film Festival, that he has been “frustrated by censorship and a suppressive political climate in his native Thailand, which remains under military rule.” As a result, he recently kicked off a two-month trip throughout Colombia — specifically Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Chocó — as he researches this next project.
“I’ve been really obsessed with Latin America for quite a while,” he says. “I’ve been wanting to know about all the violence that happened here,...
No plot details have been revealed yet, but THR reports, from a talk with the director at the Cartagena Film Festival, that he has been “frustrated by censorship and a suppressive political climate in his native Thailand, which remains under military rule.” As a result, he recently kicked off a two-month trip throughout Colombia — specifically Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Chocó — as he researches this next project.
“I’ve been really obsessed with Latin America for quite a while,” he says. “I’ve been wanting to know about all the violence that happened here,...
- 3/13/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As a critic, especially if you cover the festival circuit, befriending filmmakers is both a pleasant matter of course and a recurring cause for minor ethical quandaries. When they release a new film, do you avoid writing about it? And if not, will you be able to remain critical even if you dislike it, potentially severing a friendship?It’s therefore with some trepidation that I approached Railway Sleepers by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, whom I’d met in 2014 on the set of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour, where he was the 1st Assistant Director (since starting out as an intern on The Adventure of Iron Pussy, Sompot has worked on the majority of Apichatpong’s films). He first told me about his film on the ride back from the shoot one day, during a discussion about the Dardennes’ Two Days, One Night. He wanted to see the Dardennes’ film to...
- 2/14/2017
- MUBI
Django. © Roger ArpajouThe Berlinale is the most political of the big film festivals. This claim is repeated ad nauseam every year, not least by the festival itself. But is it justified? What does it even mean for a film, for a festival to be political? These were two of the questions put forward in the organizers’ opening speeches at last night’s launch of the Berlin Critics’ Week, an independent program of screenings and subsequent discussions that runs in parallel to the Berlinale. Born as a staunchly cinephilic counterpart to the heavily commercialized main event, the Critics’ Week has made impressive strides in the two years since its inception. The quality of the program has improved each year, and the attendance numbers have risen accordingly. The launch of the inaugural edition had been a modest affair held in a medium-sized cinema, whereas last night’s event took place in a...
- 2/11/2017
- MUBI
The incapability of many to consider 2016, now a week dead, as anything other than “teh worst year evar” gives yours truly an inclination to run positive and say, with no insincerity, that it offered one of the best collection of films I’ve encountered in some time — better yet, speaking not for quantity so much as the breadth and plurality of options. A good litmus test: group your bottom five with your five honorable mentions and ask, “Would this have made a proper top ten?” The answer to this year, perhaps more than any other I’ve been making countdowns, firmly leaned towards an affirmative, in no small part because it’s futile to consider one individual work — among nine-to-fourteen other works of such utter individuality — as inherently superior to another. This isn’t even to account for those that slip just out of reach: Paterson, The Bfg, De Palma,...
- 1/6/2017
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Mysterious Object at Noon (2000) is playing January 2 - 31, 2017 in the United Kingdom.“My story is not really connected. I just made it up in an instant.”—Mysterious Object at Noon “Too much like a game. You should at least have a script.”—Mysterious Object at NoonOnce upon a time, dot dot dot. As beginnings go, the silent cinema-style intertitle that opens Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s debut feature, Mysterious Object at Noon, is especially apposite. In terms of both action and theme, the ellipsis is everything: its promise of adventure structures our suspension of disbelief into the very premise of the film. Go with this, it suggests. Or come. The fiction into which it accelerates us is simultaneously one that has already happened and one we have yet to hear. Mixed tenses, and tensions, abound: we fluctuate,...
- 1/5/2017
- MUBI
For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2016. We’ve asked our contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions — those personal lists unspool following this one — and, after tallying the votes, a top 50 has been assembled.
It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2016 below, our complete year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2017. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
50. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
A note from Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul to the...
It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2016 below, our complete year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2017. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
50. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
A note from Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul to the...
- 12/30/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Every year, IndieWire looks beyond the countless top 10 lists written by critics to widen the field. We turn to friends and colleagues in the independent film community — programmers, distributors, publicists and others — to give them the opportunity to share their favorite films and other media from the past 12 months. We also invited them to share their resolutions and anticipated events for 2017.
The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible
Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival
I’m limiting my list to films that had Us and Canadian theatrical releases in 2016. I saw far more than 10 this year that I liked, but if I have to be brutal, I’ll limit it to the films that lifted me.
1. “Moonlight”
2. “Julieta”
3. “Toni Erdmann”
4. “Cemetery of Splendor”
5. “Arrival”
6. “Fences”
7. “13th”
8. “American Honey”
9. “Things to Come”
10. “Moana”
Michael Barker, Co-President, Sony Pictures Classics
“Now is the winter of our discontent.
The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible
Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival
I’m limiting my list to films that had Us and Canadian theatrical releases in 2016. I saw far more than 10 this year that I liked, but if I have to be brutal, I’ll limit it to the films that lifted me.
1. “Moonlight”
2. “Julieta”
3. “Toni Erdmann”
4. “Cemetery of Splendor”
5. “Arrival”
6. “Fences”
7. “13th”
8. “American Honey”
9. “Things to Come”
10. “Moana”
Michael Barker, Co-President, Sony Pictures Classics
“Now is the winter of our discontent.
- 12/30/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
As the year comes to a close, there is one group we’ve yet to hear from about the Best of 2016: The Directors.
Filmmakers are busy folks, and some were instantly wary about making a list, with “I haven’t seen enough movies to make a top ten list” a common reply. So we decided to keep it loose. Including TV and other forms of entertainment was encouraged, how they chose to frame their list was totally flexible, and even if they only had a handful of projects they wanted to highlight, IndieWire made it clear we wanted to know what inspired them this year.
The most exciting thing, beyond how many great directors replied, is the time and energy they put into their lists. Be it Kirsten Johnson’s tribute to Abbas Kiarostami, Paul Feig’s surprise message to “Ghostbuster” trolls, Jennifer Kent teasing the start of her new film,...
Filmmakers are busy folks, and some were instantly wary about making a list, with “I haven’t seen enough movies to make a top ten list” a common reply. So we decided to keep it loose. Including TV and other forms of entertainment was encouraged, how they chose to frame their list was totally flexible, and even if they only had a handful of projects they wanted to highlight, IndieWire made it clear we wanted to know what inspired them this year.
The most exciting thing, beyond how many great directors replied, is the time and energy they put into their lists. Be it Kirsten Johnson’s tribute to Abbas Kiarostami, Paul Feig’s surprise message to “Ghostbuster” trolls, Jennifer Kent teasing the start of her new film,...
- 12/28/2016
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
“A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist — moving an audience through a movie […] making them think the way you want them to think, painting pictures in the dark,” said the late, great Gordon Willis. As we continue our year-end coverage, one aspect we must highlight is, indeed, cinematography, among the most vital to the medium. From talented newcomers to seasoned professionals, we’ve rounded up the examples that have most impressed us this year. Check out our rundown below and, in the comments, let us know your favorite work.
Arrival (Bradford Young)
At this point, it would be unfair to call Bradford Young an up-and-coming cinematographer. While it’s an accurate description in terms of his relative years behind the camera, the caliber of his work already feels like one of the most accomplished in the genre. Ahead of a Han Solo prequel, he got his first taste with sci-fi thanks to Denis Villeneuve‘s Arrival.
Arrival (Bradford Young)
At this point, it would be unfair to call Bradford Young an up-and-coming cinematographer. While it’s an accurate description in terms of his relative years behind the camera, the caliber of his work already feels like one of the most accomplished in the genre. Ahead of a Han Solo prequel, he got his first taste with sci-fi thanks to Denis Villeneuve‘s Arrival.
- 12/28/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
If it were only about the numbers, the top specialized movies of 2016 would be a simple story: “Hell Or High Water” earned the most at $27 million, but “La La Land” will wind up making a magnitude more. Both are released by Lionsgate. The end.
However, if 2016 taught us anything it’s that the landscape for specialized releases is incredibly complex. Is Lionsgate a specialty distributor or minimajor? Should we only look at those films that were independently made? (Then we can fight over what that means.) Is it only for films that opened in limited release, then expanded slowly? Should we only consider theatrical releases? Do all documentaries qualify? What about subtitled films?
The top-grossing documentary was “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” released by the faith-and-family label Quality Flix; it took in $13 million, more than triple Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next.” The short...
However, if 2016 taught us anything it’s that the landscape for specialized releases is incredibly complex. Is Lionsgate a specialty distributor or minimajor? Should we only look at those films that were independently made? (Then we can fight over what that means.) Is it only for films that opened in limited release, then expanded slowly? Should we only consider theatrical releases? Do all documentaries qualify? What about subtitled films?
The top-grossing documentary was “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” released by the faith-and-family label Quality Flix; it took in $13 million, more than triple Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next.” The short...
- 12/23/2016
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Ten projects from South-East Europe, Middle East and North Africa comprise Sarajevo’s Work in Progress section.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s (Aug 12-20) Works in Progress strand is set to present the line-up of projects, which will compete for three awards during the festival’s Industry Days on Aug 17-18.
Ten projects in post-production - from Southeast Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caucasus region - will be screened to about 40 industry decision-makers who are active on the supply end of the chain: funders, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers.
Prizes will include the traditional post-production in-kind awards from Slovenia’s Restart (€20,000) and Berlin-based The Post Republic (€50,000), as well as a newly established €30,000 cash prize from Turkish broadcaster Trt.
The jury is comprised of Jan Naszewski of New Europe Film Sales, Giona A. Nazzaro from the Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week, Michael Reuter of The Post Republic and a representative from the Trt.[p...
Sarajevo Film Festival’s (Aug 12-20) Works in Progress strand is set to present the line-up of projects, which will compete for three awards during the festival’s Industry Days on Aug 17-18.
Ten projects in post-production - from Southeast Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caucasus region - will be screened to about 40 industry decision-makers who are active on the supply end of the chain: funders, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers.
Prizes will include the traditional post-production in-kind awards from Slovenia’s Restart (€20,000) and Berlin-based The Post Republic (€50,000), as well as a newly established €30,000 cash prize from Turkish broadcaster Trt.
The jury is comprised of Jan Naszewski of New Europe Film Sales, Giona A. Nazzaro from the Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week, Michael Reuter of The Post Republic and a representative from the Trt.[p...
- 8/17/2016
- by vladan.petkovic@gmail.com (Vladan Petkovic)
- ScreenDaily
2016 New York Film Festival poster - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Cemetery Of Splendor director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has designed the 54th New York Film Festival poster to join the ranks of Laurie Anderson, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
Bruce Conner's Angels (1986) at MoMA in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th will open the festival, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women starring Annette Bening with Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann and Greta Gerwig is the centrepiece and James Gray's The Lost City Of Z with Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Charlie Hunnam is the Closing Night Gala selection.
“Apichatpong Weerasethakul is more than just a ‘logical’ choice to do our poster—he’s one of the world’s greatest filmmakers...
Cemetery Of Splendor director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has designed the 54th New York Film Festival poster to join the ranks of Laurie Anderson, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.
Bruce Conner's Angels (1986) at MoMA in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th will open the festival, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women starring Annette Bening with Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann and Greta Gerwig is the centrepiece and James Gray's The Lost City Of Z with Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Charlie Hunnam is the Closing Night Gala selection.
“Apichatpong Weerasethakul is more than just a ‘logical’ choice to do our poster—he’s one of the world’s greatest filmmakers...
- 8/15/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
The Films of Albert Brooks
We can think of no better way to celebrate the holiday weekend then curling up with the hilarious, often touching films of Albert Brooks. All of his directorial features — Real Life, Modern Romance, Lost in America, Defending Your Life, Mother, The Muse, and Looking For Comedy in a Muslim World — have now been added to Netflix. What are you waiting for?...
The Films of Albert Brooks
We can think of no better way to celebrate the holiday weekend then curling up with the hilarious, often touching films of Albert Brooks. All of his directorial features — Real Life, Modern Romance, Lost in America, Defending Your Life, Mother, The Muse, and Looking For Comedy in a Muslim World — have now been added to Netflix. What are you waiting for?...
- 7/1/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Later this week, 2016 will cross the halfway mark, so now’s the time to take a look back at its first six months and round up our favorite films thus far. While the end of this year will bring personal favorites from all of our writers, think of the below 30 entries as a comprehensive rundown of what should be seen before heading into a promising fall line-up.
As a note, this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical releases from 2016, with many currently widely available on home video, streaming platforms, or theatrically. Check them out below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions and films to keep on your radar for the remaining summer months. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
Forget the Cloverfield connection. The actors who were in this film didn’t even know what the title was until moments before the first trailer dropped.
As a note, this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical releases from 2016, with many currently widely available on home video, streaming platforms, or theatrically. Check them out below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions and films to keep on your radar for the remaining summer months. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
Forget the Cloverfield connection. The actors who were in this film didn’t even know what the title was until moments before the first trailer dropped.
- 6/28/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
If it is by now redundant to say that Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who understands pronunciation troubles and insists people call him “Joe”) is truly in a class of his own, we might blame both the general excellence of his output — a large oeuvre consisting of features, shorts, and installations — and the difficulty that’s often associated with describing them in either literal or opinion-based terms. The further one gets into his work,...
Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
If it is by now redundant to say that Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (who understands pronunciation troubles and insists people call him “Joe”) is truly in a class of his own, we might blame both the general excellence of his output — a large oeuvre consisting of features, shorts, and installations — and the difficulty that’s often associated with describing them in either literal or opinion-based terms. The further one gets into his work,...
- 6/28/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Nearing the halfway mark of the movie year and teetering, as we all are, on the edge of another summer movie abyss which holds only the thinnest promise of providing strong reason to tread amongst the mall-igentsia in search of air-conditioned escape, I find myself feeling far less regret than usual over the movies I’ve missed so far in 2016. Usually by this point I’m bemoaning having had to sideline 20 or 30 interesting pictures because I couldn’t get out to a theater. This year I’ve whiffed on about the same number of movies of interest, but only nine or 10 of those misses have anything like real regret attached to them. It does actively annoy me that I will have to catch up with the likes of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendor, the foodie doc City of Gold, Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special, Ethan Hawke as Chet Baker in Born to Be Blue,...
- 5/22/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
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