Bright Sparks In Hong Kong
“Snow in Midsummer,” which quietly probes the 1969 massacre of Malaysian Chinese during post-election turmoil, was named the winner of the best film for young cinema competition (Chinese-language) at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Liang Ming was named best director for “Carefree Days,” while the film’s female lead Lyu Xingchen collected the best actress award. Jason King won the best actor award for his performance in “A Journey in Spring.”
In the equivalent competition for non-Chinese films Gustav Moeller’s “Sons” was named the Firebird winner. Meryam Joobeur won the best director award for her “Who Do I Belong To.” The best actor award went to Vangelis Mourikis for his role in “Arcadia.” Minna Wuendrich was named best actress for her performance in “Ivo.” The jury also gave a special mention to “Pepe,” directed by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.
In the documentary competition,...
“Snow in Midsummer,” which quietly probes the 1969 massacre of Malaysian Chinese during post-election turmoil, was named the winner of the best film for young cinema competition (Chinese-language) at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Liang Ming was named best director for “Carefree Days,” while the film’s female lead Lyu Xingchen collected the best actress award. Jason King won the best actor award for his performance in “A Journey in Spring.”
In the equivalent competition for non-Chinese films Gustav Moeller’s “Sons” was named the Firebird winner. Meryam Joobeur won the best director award for her “Who Do I Belong To.” The best actor award went to Vangelis Mourikis for his role in “Arcadia.” Minna Wuendrich was named best actress for her performance in “Ivo.” The jury also gave a special mention to “Pepe,” directed by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.
In the documentary competition,...
- 4/8/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Malaysia-Singapore-Taiwan co-production Snow in Midsummer and Swedish title Sons took top prizes in the Young Cinema Competition at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff).
Winners of the festival’s 15 Firebird Awards and Fipresci Prize were announced at an awards gala held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Directed by Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat-aun, Snow in Midsummer was named Best Film (Chinese Language) in the Young Cinema Competition, with the jury commending the director for “demonstrating extraordinary courage in recounting the traumatic experiences of Malaysian travelling players.”
The feature revolves around a Cantonese street opera troupe during a turbulent period in Malaysia’s political history in the late 1960s. Cast includes Wan Fang, Pearlly Chua, Rexen Cheng, Pauline Tan, Peter Yu and Alvin Wong.
Other winners in the Chinese-language category included the Best Director award for Chinese filmmaker Liang Ming for his film Carefree Days, while the film’s female lead,...
Winners of the festival’s 15 Firebird Awards and Fipresci Prize were announced at an awards gala held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Directed by Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat-aun, Snow in Midsummer was named Best Film (Chinese Language) in the Young Cinema Competition, with the jury commending the director for “demonstrating extraordinary courage in recounting the traumatic experiences of Malaysian travelling players.”
The feature revolves around a Cantonese street opera troupe during a turbulent period in Malaysia’s political history in the late 1960s. Cast includes Wan Fang, Pearlly Chua, Rexen Cheng, Pauline Tan, Peter Yu and Alvin Wong.
Other winners in the Chinese-language category included the Best Director award for Chinese filmmaker Liang Ming for his film Carefree Days, while the film’s female lead,...
- 4/8/2024
- by Sara Merican
- Deadline Film + TV
Favoriten.Speaking at the press conference to inaugurate the 74th Berlinale, actor and competition jury president Lupita Nyong'o said that she had heard one remark repeated since she had arrived in the German capital: “how political the Berlinale is.” She was not alone in being “curious to learn what that meant.”When we expect the Berlinale to be political, what indeed do we expect? Dependent on nation-states and multinational corporations for funding, major film festivals like the Berlinale are only politically outspoken, today, when it is convenient or uncontroversial. Given that the Berlinale is typically perceived as more political than Cannes and Venice, the hypocrisy of that reputation combined with the sad reality of the institution’s commitments under late capitalism can be—for cinephiles who are dedicated both to radical film and radical politics—a bitter pill to swallow. At the height of the festival, the United Nations estimated...
- 3/25/2024
- MUBI
Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well has been set as the opening film of the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which has unveiled its full lineup today.
It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.
Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...
It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.
Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...
- 3/8/2024
- ScreenDaily
Austrian documentary sales powerhouse Autlook has been racking up sales on Ruth Beckermann’s Favoriten, which premiered in the Berlinale Encounters programme last month. It will also screen at the upcoming Cph:Dox in the Artists & Auteurs section.
Autlook has now closed deals for theatrical distribution with FilmIn (Spain), Against Gravity (Poland), Grand Film (Germany), Vertigo, Discovery (former Yugoslavia), Cinema Delicatessen (Benelux) in collaboration with Dalton, Ost For Paradis (Denmark), Lev (Israel), Ambulante (Mexico), and Filmladen in Austria.
Autlook is also reporting strong interest from Taiwan, Japan, and the USA.
The fly-on-the-wall film follows a class of kids aged seven...
Autlook has now closed deals for theatrical distribution with FilmIn (Spain), Against Gravity (Poland), Grand Film (Germany), Vertigo, Discovery (former Yugoslavia), Cinema Delicatessen (Benelux) in collaboration with Dalton, Ost For Paradis (Denmark), Lev (Israel), Ambulante (Mexico), and Filmladen in Austria.
Autlook is also reporting strong interest from Taiwan, Japan, and the USA.
The fly-on-the-wall film follows a class of kids aged seven...
- 3/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
The independent juries of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival early Saturday unveiled their picks of the best movies at the 2024 Berlinale.
Matthias Glasner’s German family epic Sterben (Dying), and the Iranian feature My Favourite Cake from directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, both of which are considered frontrunners for the top prize at the official festival ceremony on Saturday night, received multiple awards for the indie juries, as did Dag Johan Haugerud’s Norwegian drama Sex, a critical favorite from this year’s Panorama sidebar.
Sterben, which follows a classical conductor (played by Lars Eidinger) and his very dysfunctional family, won the best film honor from the guild of German arthouse cinemas and the top prize awarded by the jury of Berliner Morgenpost readers representing the Berlin newspaper.
My Favourite Cake, a quiet drama about a 70-year-old widow who takes a chance on new love, won the Fipresci...
Matthias Glasner’s German family epic Sterben (Dying), and the Iranian feature My Favourite Cake from directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, both of which are considered frontrunners for the top prize at the official festival ceremony on Saturday night, received multiple awards for the indie juries, as did Dag Johan Haugerud’s Norwegian drama Sex, a critical favorite from this year’s Panorama sidebar.
Sterben, which follows a classical conductor (played by Lars Eidinger) and his very dysfunctional family, won the best film honor from the guild of German arthouse cinemas and the top prize awarded by the jury of Berliner Morgenpost readers representing the Berlin newspaper.
My Favourite Cake, a quiet drama about a 70-year-old widow who takes a chance on new love, won the Fipresci...
- 2/24/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The kids in Ilkay Idiskut’s third grade class are, as they let you know within about five minutes of Ruth Beckermann’s delightful Berlin Encounters documentary “Favoriten,” very much their own people. These 25 boisterous, funny, clattering seven-year-olds attend the largest elementary school in Vienna and for the most part hail from migrant family backgrounds from Turkey or Syria or Serbia. Diminutive in form but outsized in personality, they are also, however, eminently recognisable and relatable, and you can find all the various versions of your own grade-school self in one or other of them at some point. The class clown. The naughty kid. The slacker. The braniac. Or the eager doofus enduring the very specific agony that is knowing the right answer, and waving your arm madly in the air, only to not be called on.
That we can instantly feel so cosy with these children is down to...
That we can instantly feel so cosy with these children is down to...
- 2/16/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSBreathless.The Mubi Podcast returns on January 25. Titled “Tailor Made,” the fifth season will consider landmark movies that captured major fashions of their times—from Jean Seberg in Breathless to Sofia Coppola’s body of work to date—with insights from leading costume designers, fashion designers, cinematographers, and directors.Alongside the announcement of the Competition and Encounters sections, with the addition of new films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Ruth Beckermann, and more, we’ve updated our Berlinale lineup post ahead of the festival’s commencement on February 15.June Givanni, a writer on and curator of African and African diasporic cinema and the founder of the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, is to be recognized by BAFTA with an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
Berlinale co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are going out with a bang in their final year, with a lineup unveiled today featuring the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jane Schoenbrun, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Matias Pineiro, Travis Wilkerson, Kazik Radwanski, Annie Baker, and more.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
- 1/22/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Competition line-up for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival will be announced today at a press conference at 11am Cet (10am GMT).
Scroll down for line-up
Co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will reveal the titles for the Competition and Encounters sections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin.
The announcement will also be live-streamed on the festival’s homepage and social channels. Watch it live above.
Screen will update this page with the Competition titles as they are announced. Refresh the page for latest updates.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of...
Scroll down for line-up
Co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will reveal the titles for the Competition and Encounters sections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin.
The announcement will also be live-streamed on the festival’s homepage and social channels. Watch it live above.
Screen will update this page with the Competition titles as they are announced. Refresh the page for latest updates.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Ruth Beckermann’s documentary centres around a fake audition in which men read aloud from a once scandalous 1906 novel, revealing the grotesque and humorous nature of male fantasy
Here is a strange, stark documentary from Austrian film-maker Ruth Beckermann, first presented at last year’s Berlin film festival: somewhere between a lab experiment and a practical joke, featuring the kind of non-professional performers who could easily crop up in a movie by Ulrich Seidl, that renowned Austrian chronicler of male grotesqueness.
The film’s purpose is to challenge the gendered nature of erotica and pornography through the simple but effective expedient of making men the object of the porn gaze. Beckermann puts men on camera as they read aloud – at various levels of excruciating discomfort – the female narrative voice from Josephine Mutzenbacher, a once-scandalous Viennese novel that contains the fictional confessions of a prostitute, published anonymously in 1906 and now thought...
Here is a strange, stark documentary from Austrian film-maker Ruth Beckermann, first presented at last year’s Berlin film festival: somewhere between a lab experiment and a practical joke, featuring the kind of non-professional performers who could easily crop up in a movie by Ulrich Seidl, that renowned Austrian chronicler of male grotesqueness.
The film’s purpose is to challenge the gendered nature of erotica and pornography through the simple but effective expedient of making men the object of the porn gaze. Beckermann puts men on camera as they read aloud – at various levels of excruciating discomfort – the female narrative voice from Josephine Mutzenbacher, a once-scandalous Viennese novel that contains the fictional confessions of a prostitute, published anonymously in 1906 and now thought...
- 9/25/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSStanley Kubrick in Filmworker.Stanley Kubrick’s long-lost passion project, a biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, may soon be realized. This week at the Berlinale, Steven Spielberg expanded on plans to executive-produce a seven-part series for HBO based on Kubrick’s original script.In June, Terence Davies will begin filming an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s The Post-Office Girl. According to a production announcement, the cast includes Sophie Cookson, Richard E. Grant, and Verena Altenberger.Recommended VIEWINGWe’ve been enjoying the “redefining the food film” video-essay series on Vittles, a food and culture newsletter. Below is Andrew Key’s discussion of A Woman Under the Influence, and the ways that food can tear us apart:Shellac has shared a first trailer for Angela Schanelec’s Music,...
- 2/22/2023
- MUBI
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Armageddon Time (James Gray)
Armageddon Time is the sort of film usually invoked as a “portrait of the nation” or “state of the union address,” something taking the temperature of a country—most likely the United States—at a particular time in history. But it’s also a work that makes self-consciousness a virtue: its wonderful writer-director, James Gray, is informed up to his eyes about the virtues and pitfalls of films like these, and here makes something so idiosyncratically his own but that audiences and critics might still mislabel with one of those aforementioned ideas. – David K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Peacock
The Civil Dead (Clay Tatum)
For Clay, the man at the center of The Civil Dead, there isn’t much happening in life.
Armageddon Time (James Gray)
Armageddon Time is the sort of film usually invoked as a “portrait of the nation” or “state of the union address,” something taking the temperature of a country—most likely the United States—at a particular time in history. But it’s also a work that makes self-consciousness a virtue: its wonderful writer-director, James Gray, is informed up to his eyes about the virtues and pitfalls of films like these, and here makes something so idiosyncratically his own but that audiences and critics might still mislabel with one of those aforementioned ideas. – David K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Peacock
The Civil Dead (Clay Tatum)
For Clay, the man at the center of The Civil Dead, there isn’t much happening in life.
- 2/17/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Ruth Beckermann's Mutzenbacher is now showing exclusively on Mubi in most countries starting February 16, 2023, in the series Festival Focus: Berlinale.Men and sex. Male sexuality. What do men really want? Do men speak about sex? And if so, how? Those were the questions on my mind when I started the Mutzenbacher project. How could I find answers to these questions? Not by speaking to one or two or even ten men, but by starting a kind of field experiment with a random sample of dozens of men engaging in a dialogue about sex.To achieve this we put out a casting call: “Looking for men between ages 16 and 99 for a documentary about Josefine Mutzenbacher.” 150 men applied!It was a running gag of my professional career. Whenever we were stuck in the editing room or I didn’t know how to continue shooting I shouted, “Next time I will make a film about Mutzenbacher!
- 2/15/2023
- MUBI
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, a series celebrating Black cinema with works from Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ephraim Asili, Bill Duke, and more.
Additional highlights include Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Albert Brooks’ Modern Romance, Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, shorts by Emilija Škarnulytė, and the beginning of a series spotlighting Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
February 1 – Softie, directed by Samuel Theis | From France with Love
February 2 – The Sleeping Negro, directed by Skinner Myers
February 3 – Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater
February 4 – To Sleep with Anger, directed by Charles Burnett
February 5 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer | Performers We Love
February 6 – Aphotic Zone, directed by Emilija...
Additional highlights include Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Albert Brooks’ Modern Romance, Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, shorts by Emilija Škarnulytė, and the beginning of a series spotlighting Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
February 1 – Softie, directed by Samuel Theis | From France with Love
February 2 – The Sleeping Negro, directed by Skinner Myers
February 3 – Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater
February 4 – To Sleep with Anger, directed by Charles Burnett
February 5 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer | Performers We Love
February 6 – Aphotic Zone, directed by Emilija...
- 1/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As various critics groups and awards bodies dole out their top films of the year, it can be hard to parse which ones are actually worth paying attention to. One such list has arrived today with Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Revealed at a special live talk last night, in an unexpected but welcome surprise, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future topped the list, which also included Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo, Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun, two by Hong Sangsoo, and more. They also revealed their top undistributed films list, which included David Easteal’s The Plains, Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, and Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen.
“That the winner of this year’s poll is a strange, gory, apocalyptic film about a future where art and humanity are both on the precipice of extinction is a striking reflection of what we’re seeking from cinema in 2022,” said Film...
“That the winner of this year’s poll is a strange, gory, apocalyptic film about a future where art and humanity are both on the precipice of extinction is a striking reflection of what we’re seeking from cinema in 2022,” said Film...
- 12/15/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The 60th New York Film Festival kicks off on September 30th! Below you'll find all of Notebook's coverage of the films in the selection, gathered in one convenient place. As we cover more titles, this page will be updated with new essays and interviews, so check back frequently for updates.Main SLATEFilmmaker Interviews:De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor)Pacifiction (Albert Serra)Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)Dispatch Coverage:All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)Armageddon Time (James Gray)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Enys Men (Mark Jenkin)Eo (Jerzy Skolimowski)The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)No Bears (Jafar Panahi)The Novelist's Film (Hong Sang-soo)One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Løve)R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu)Saint Omer (Alice Diop)Scarlet (Pietro Marcello)Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)Stars at Noon (Claire Denis)TÁR...
- 10/11/2022
- MUBI
Acquisition marks the start of a new division at MetFilm.
UK independent production and sales firm MetFilm has moved into distribution with the acquisition of Republic Film Distribution, the distribution company run by former Icon Films executive Zak Brilliant.
Brilliant will operate as head of MetFilm Distribution, a new distribution division of MetFilm, and will also be head of MetFilm Sales.
MetFilm Distribution will aim to release six to eight titles per year, and says the majority of its releases “will have a strong theatrical focus”. It is planning to make further staff hires soon.
Film plans
It will take on Republic’s all-rights slate,...
UK independent production and sales firm MetFilm has moved into distribution with the acquisition of Republic Film Distribution, the distribution company run by former Icon Films executive Zak Brilliant.
Brilliant will operate as head of MetFilm Distribution, a new distribution division of MetFilm, and will also be head of MetFilm Sales.
MetFilm Distribution will aim to release six to eight titles per year, and says the majority of its releases “will have a strong theatrical focus”. It is planning to make further staff hires soon.
Film plans
It will take on Republic’s all-rights slate,...
- 9/28/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Festival programmes tribute to Mantas Kvedaravicius, filmmaker killed in Ukraine.
New films from Martin Scorsese, Patricio Guzman, Gianfranco Rosi and Ruth Beckermann are among the Masters selection for the 35th International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s music film Personality Crisis: One Night Only will have its international premiere at IDFA, following a world debut at New York Film Festival in October. The film shows a set from US singer-songwriter David Johansen at New York’s Café Carlyle from January 2020.
The festival will also play Gianfranco Rosi’s first archive-based film In viaggio, which considers the human...
New films from Martin Scorsese, Patricio Guzman, Gianfranco Rosi and Ruth Beckermann are among the Masters selection for the 35th International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s music film Personality Crisis: One Night Only will have its international premiere at IDFA, following a world debut at New York Film Festival in October. The film shows a set from US singer-songwriter David Johansen at New York’s Café Carlyle from January 2020.
The festival will also play Gianfranco Rosi’s first archive-based film In viaggio, which considers the human...
- 9/27/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Documentary festival IDFA will host the international premieres of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s music film “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” and Barbara Kopple’s “Gumbo Coalition” as part of its Masters program, as well as the world premiere of Coco Schrijber’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”
The selection includes the work of several renowned directors who have reinvented their cinematic language. Patricio Guzmán breaks from his poetic approach to adopt a more direct, political form of filmmaking with “My Imaginary Country,” centering on the October 2019 protests in Santiago. Gianfranco Rosi directs his first archive-based film “In viaggio,” which sees Pope Francis’ journeys as a map of the human condition. Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed co-direct a film together for the first time with “Music for Black Pigeons,” a reflection on aging through jazz music, and Ruth Beckermann’s “Mutzenbacher” takes a look at a controversial erotic...
The selection includes the work of several renowned directors who have reinvented their cinematic language. Patricio Guzmán breaks from his poetic approach to adopt a more direct, political form of filmmaking with “My Imaginary Country,” centering on the October 2019 protests in Santiago. Gianfranco Rosi directs his first archive-based film “In viaggio,” which sees Pope Francis’ journeys as a map of the human condition. Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed co-direct a film together for the first time with “Music for Black Pigeons,” a reflection on aging through jazz music, and Ruth Beckermann’s “Mutzenbacher” takes a look at a controversial erotic...
- 9/27/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, starring Louise Labeque from Bertrand’s Zombi Child is a Currents highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film at Lincoln Center has announced the Currents selections for the 60th New York Film Festival. Highlights include the Opening Night film João Pedro Rodrigues’s Will-o’-The-Wisp; Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher; Alain Gomis’s Rewind & Play on Thelonious Monk’s 1969 interview with Henri Renaud screened with Maria Schneider’s short Elisabeth Subrin; Jonás Trueba’s (Fernando Trueba’s son) You Have To Come And See It screening with Pedro Neves Marques’s short Becoming Male In The Middle Ages; Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, starring Louise Labeque from Bonello's Zombi Child, and Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists screening with Balufu Bakupu-Kanyinda’s Le Damier (in the Revivals programme).
Dennis Lim with Bertrand Bonello for Saint Laurent: “Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness...
Film at Lincoln Center has announced the Currents selections for the 60th New York Film Festival. Highlights include the Opening Night film João Pedro Rodrigues’s Will-o’-The-Wisp; Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher; Alain Gomis’s Rewind & Play on Thelonious Monk’s 1969 interview with Henri Renaud screened with Maria Schneider’s short Elisabeth Subrin; Jonás Trueba’s (Fernando Trueba’s son) You Have To Come And See It screening with Pedro Neves Marques’s short Becoming Male In The Middle Ages; Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, starring Louise Labeque from Bonello's Zombi Child, and Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists screening with Balufu Bakupu-Kanyinda’s Le Damier (in the Revivals programme).
Dennis Lim with Bertrand Bonello for Saint Laurent: “Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness...
- 8/26/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Following the Main Slate and Spotlight announcements, the 60th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Currents section. The slate of boundary-pushing work features Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’-the-Wisp, Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers of Flesh, Alessandro Comodin’s The Adventures of Gigi the Law, Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós’s Dry Ground Burning, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, and Ashley McKenzie’s Queens of the Qing Dynasty, plus new shorts by Bi Gan, Mark Jenkin, Simón Velez, Nicolás Pereda, Courtney Stephens, Ben Russell, and more.
“Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness in contemporary cinema, and this is, by design, the most expansive section of the festival,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “There are familiar names here—including multiple filmmakers who will be known to NYFF and Flc audiences—as well as some electrifying new talents,...
“Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness in contemporary cinema, and this is, by design, the most expansive section of the festival,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “There are familiar names here—including multiple filmmakers who will be known to NYFF and Flc audiences—as well as some electrifying new talents,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Director Ruth Beckermann is best known for investigating the uncomfortable corners of her country’s psyche. Now she’s won an award for her latest film, which explores male sexuality
In Mutzenbacher, Viennese film-maker Ruth Beckermann’s latest hybrid documentary, a young man sitting on a tufted pink sofa set against a bare concrete wall explains why he threw caution to the wind to talk on camera about his sex life. “Because I trust you as a director,” he says with an apologetic smile.
“So if I told you take off your clothes and have sex with whomever, a tree, you would do it, because you trust me?” Beckermann prods. “Well,” the young man replies. “At least I’d think about it.”...
In Mutzenbacher, Viennese film-maker Ruth Beckermann’s latest hybrid documentary, a young man sitting on a tufted pink sofa set against a bare concrete wall explains why he threw caution to the wind to talk on camera about his sex life. “Because I trust you as a director,” he says with an apologetic smile.
“So if I told you take off your clothes and have sex with whomever, a tree, you would do it, because you trust me?” Beckermann prods. “Well,” the young man replies. “At least I’d think about it.”...
- 3/25/2022
- by Philip Oltermann
- The Guardian - Film News
That the Viennese author Felix Salten wrote the book Bambi was based on while also being an avid hunter—so much so that he’s said to have killed over 100 deer—is a fine paradox for a life’s work; but then Salten had another. In 1906 a book was released anonymously, titled Josefine Mutzenbacher; or, The Story of a Viennese Whore, as Told by Herself. Aside from a smattering of bans over the last century, the novel has stayed in print ever since, selling around three million copies. It has always been controversial, and it has always been attributed to him.
In a recent article on Bambi for the New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz wrote “he was an unlikely figure to write one of the most famous children’s stories of the twentieth century, since he wrote one of its most infamous works of child pornography.” That same thorny piece of...
In a recent article on Bambi for the New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz wrote “he was an unlikely figure to write one of the most famous children’s stories of the twentieth century, since he wrote one of its most infamous works of child pornography.” That same thorny piece of...
- 3/23/2022
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Ruth Beckermann’s investigation into Kurt Waldheim’s Austrian presidential campaign is as engrossing as it is relevant
During Kurt Waldheim’s Austrian presidential campaign in the spring of 1986, that nation’s collective consciousness experienced a painful return of the repressed, a psychological agony recalled by director Ruth Beckermann in this documentary. Waldheim, who had been Un secretary general from 1972 to 1981, was running for the presidency very largely on the grounds of his international prestige. As far as his war service went, Waldheim had claimed in his autobiography to have been invalided out of (conscripted) military service on sustaining a wound at the eastern front in 1942. But in the febrile few weeks leading up to the election, investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin, together with New York Times reporters and researchers from the World Jewish Congress, discovered documents showing his active membership of the Sa, the Nazi Party’s original paramilitary wing,...
During Kurt Waldheim’s Austrian presidential campaign in the spring of 1986, that nation’s collective consciousness experienced a painful return of the repressed, a psychological agony recalled by director Ruth Beckermann in this documentary. Waldheim, who had been Un secretary general from 1972 to 1981, was running for the presidency very largely on the grounds of his international prestige. As far as his war service went, Waldheim had claimed in his autobiography to have been invalided out of (conscripted) military service on sustaining a wound at the eastern front in 1942. But in the febrile few weeks leading up to the election, investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin, together with New York Times reporters and researchers from the World Jewish Congress, discovered documents showing his active membership of the Sa, the Nazi Party’s original paramilitary wing,...
- 3/21/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The Swiss documentary festival has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections, ahead of the full programme’s announcement on March 15, which includes A House Made Of Splinters, set in a children’s home in Eastern Ukraine.
A statement from the festival said: “Visions du Réel is joining the international movement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom. We express our support for Ukrainian artists and filmmakers, and for all those whose lives are threatened and upended by the war.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections, ahead of the full programme’s announcement on March 15, which includes A House Made Of Splinters, set in a children’s home in Eastern Ukraine.
A statement from the festival said: “Visions du Réel is joining the international movement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom. We express our support for Ukrainian artists and filmmakers, and for all those whose lives are threatened and upended by the war.
- 3/8/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Alcarràs won the Golden Bear Photo: Courtesy of Berlinale Spanish director Carla Simon’s Alcarràs won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival yesterday.
The film, which charts the tale of a family of peach farmers facing the squeeze in Eighties Catalonia was praised for its "extraordinary" child performances by the jury, headed by M Night Shyamalan.
The Grand Jury Prize Silver Bear went to Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film, while Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s Robe Of Gems won the Jury Prize and Claire Denis' Fire took home the best eirector Silver Bear.
The acting awards are gender neutral, with the top prize going to Meltem Kaptan for Rabiye Kurnaz vs George W Bush - which also saw Laila Stieler take best screeenplay - and Laura Basuki taking the best supporting performance for Before, Now And Then.
Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher was named best film prize in the Encounters section,...
The film, which charts the tale of a family of peach farmers facing the squeeze in Eighties Catalonia was praised for its "extraordinary" child performances by the jury, headed by M Night Shyamalan.
The Grand Jury Prize Silver Bear went to Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film, while Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s Robe Of Gems won the Jury Prize and Claire Denis' Fire took home the best eirector Silver Bear.
The acting awards are gender neutral, with the top prize going to Meltem Kaptan for Rabiye Kurnaz vs George W Bush - which also saw Laila Stieler take best screeenplay - and Laura Basuki taking the best supporting performance for Before, Now And Then.
Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher was named best film prize in the Encounters section,...
- 2/17/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Top prizes for Hong Sangsoo’s ‘The Novelist’s Film’, Claire Denis’ ‘Fire’.
Carla Simon’s Alcarras won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, in a ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast this evening (Wednesday 16).
“I feel like I should just move here, because every time I come here something amazing happens,” said Simon on accepting the award.
Alcarras: Berlin review
The award was presented by Competition jury president M. Night Shyamalan, who praised the film “for its extraordinary performances from the child actors to the actors in their 80s and for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy...
Carla Simon’s Alcarras won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, in a ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast this evening (Wednesday 16).
“I feel like I should just move here, because every time I come here something amazing happens,” said Simon on accepting the award.
Alcarras: Berlin review
The award was presented by Competition jury president M. Night Shyamalan, who praised the film “for its extraordinary performances from the child actors to the actors in their 80s and for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy...
- 2/16/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The winners for the 2022 Berlin Film Festival have been revealed. The in-person event took place this year February 10–20. The competition jury, led by president M. Night Shyamalan, included filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, producer Saïd Ben Saïd, filmmaker Anne Zohra Berrached, filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga, Oscar-nominated “Drive My Car” director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, and actor Connie Nielsen.
The festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear for Best Film, was presented by Shyamalan. “For its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy and struggle,” he awarded Spanish drama “Alcarras,” from director Carla Simon.
The festival did away with gendered acting awards once again, instead offering Silver Bears for Best Supporting and Best Lead Performance. Beloved auteur Claire Denis won best director for her romantic psychodrama “Both Sides of the Blade” — or “Fire,” as it’s known in the United States. (IFC Films has stateside rights.
The festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear for Best Film, was presented by Shyamalan. “For its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy and struggle,” he awarded Spanish drama “Alcarras,” from director Carla Simon.
The festival did away with gendered acting awards once again, instead offering Silver Bears for Best Supporting and Best Lead Performance. Beloved auteur Claire Denis won best director for her romantic psychodrama “Both Sides of the Blade” — or “Fire,” as it’s known in the United States. (IFC Films has stateside rights.
- 2/16/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Competition(Jury: M. Night Shyamalan, Karim Aïnouz, Saïd Ben Saïd, Anne Zohra Berrached, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Connie Nielsen)Golden BearAlcarràs (Carla Simón)Silver Bear — Grand Jury PrizeThe Novelist’s Film (Hong Sang-soo)Silver Bear — Jury PrizeRobe of Gems (Natalia Lopez Gallardo)Silver Bear for Best DirectorClaire Denis (Both Sides of the Blade)Silver Bear for Best Leading PerformanceMeltem Kaptan (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush)Silver Bear for Best Supporting PerformanceLaura Basuki (Nana)Silver Bear for Best ScreenplayLaila Stieler (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush)Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic ContributionRithy Panh (Everything Will Be Ok)Silver Bear — Special MentionA Piece of Sky (Michael Koch)Encounters(Jury: Chiara Marañón, Ben Rivers, Silvan Zürcher)Award for Best FilmMUTZENBACHER (Ruth Beckermann)Special Jury AwardSee You Friday, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)Award for Best DirectorCyril Schäublin (Unrest)Generation — Kplus(Jury: Daniela Cajías, Nicola Jones, Samuel Kishi Leopo)Grand Prix for Best Film The Quiet Girl...
- 2/16/2022
- MUBI
Winners have been announced at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival, with Carla Simon’s Alcarràs scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Wednesday night at the Berlinale Palast.
Alcarràs follows the life of a family of peach farmers in a small village in Catalonia, whose world changes when the owner of their large estate dies and his lifetime heir decides to sell the land, suddenly threatening their livelihood.
Simon previously picked up Berlin’s Best First Feature Award in 2017 for her debut Summer 1993.
Other winners in the International Competition included Hong Sang-soo’s The Novelist’s Film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (read Deadline’s review here); Natalia Lopez Gallardo, who picked up the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Robe of Gems (review here); and Claire Denis, who...
Alcarràs follows the life of a family of peach farmers in a small village in Catalonia, whose world changes when the owner of their large estate dies and his lifetime heir decides to sell the land, suddenly threatening their livelihood.
Simon previously picked up Berlin’s Best First Feature Award in 2017 for her debut Summer 1993.
Other winners in the International Competition included Hong Sang-soo’s The Novelist’s Film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (read Deadline’s review here); Natalia Lopez Gallardo, who picked up the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Robe of Gems (review here); and Claire Denis, who...
- 2/16/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish director Carla Simón has won the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, for her second feature “Alcarràs,” a moving drama about a Catalan farming family facing eviction from their land. She received the prize from jury president M. Night Shyamalan, capping a strong night for female filmmakers. Full report to follow.
Official Competition
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh
Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...
Official Competition
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh
Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The real star of Mutzenbacher, an austere Austrian documentary screening in the Encounters strand at the Berlin Film Festival, is a gaudy but once elegant settee that has seen better days, and likely even service in a 1970s pornographic movie (it is described early on as looking like “a former erotic sofa”). Fittingly, it is literally a casting couch for director Ruth Beckermann, who entertains a parade of men aged between 16 and 99 — her specific criteria — as she holds an open audition for a role in her latest film.
What the men know is that Beckermann is putting together a film based on Josefine Mutzenbacher or The Story Of A Viennese Whore, a scandalous book published anonymously in the early 1900s, purportedly penned by Felix Salten, the author of Bambi. What they don’t know is that there is no film, just pages of explicit content from the book that Beckermann...
What the men know is that Beckermann is putting together a film based on Josefine Mutzenbacher or The Story Of A Viennese Whore, a scandalous book published anonymously in the early 1900s, purportedly penned by Felix Salten, the author of Bambi. What they don’t know is that there is no film, just pages of explicit content from the book that Beckermann...
- 2/13/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Wolschlager was a member of the European and Austrian Film Academies and the project commission of the Austrian Film Institute.
Austrian producer, screenwriter and educator Ursula Wolschlager died on September 26 in Vienna at the age of 52, after suffering from an illness.
Wolschlager has collaborated with filmmakers including Barbara Albert, Ruth Beckermann, Nathalie Borgers, Christian Frosch, Michael Glawogger, Bakhtiar Khodoynazarov, Marie Kreutzer, Tina Leisch, Tony Pemberton and Kirill Serebrennikov.
Alongside Robert Buchschwenter, she founded the script development and later also film production company Witcraft Scenario in 2008. She was also a mentor at the Diverse Stories script development programme, a founding member...
Austrian producer, screenwriter and educator Ursula Wolschlager died on September 26 in Vienna at the age of 52, after suffering from an illness.
Wolschlager has collaborated with filmmakers including Barbara Albert, Ruth Beckermann, Nathalie Borgers, Christian Frosch, Michael Glawogger, Bakhtiar Khodoynazarov, Marie Kreutzer, Tina Leisch, Tony Pemberton and Kirill Serebrennikov.
Alongside Robert Buchschwenter, she founded the script development and later also film production company Witcraft Scenario in 2008. She was also a mentor at the Diverse Stories script development programme, a founding member...
- 9/29/2021
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
2019 Foreign Language Film Oscar Submissions Algeria – Until The End Of Time – Yasmine Chouikh Argentina– The Angel (El Angel) – Luis Ortega Austria – The Waldheim Waltz – Ruth Beckermann Belarus – Crystal Swan – Darya Zhuk Belgium – Girl – Lukas Dhont Bolivia – Muralla – Rodrigo Patiño Bosnia – Never Leave Me – Aida Begic Brazil – The Great Mystical Circus – Carlos Diegues Bulgaria – Omnipresent – Ilian Djevelekov Cambodia – Graves Without A Name – Rithy Pan Canada – Watch Dog – Sophie Dupuis Chile – And Suddenly The Dawn – Silvio Caiozzi Colombia– Birds of Passage, Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra Croatia – The Eighth Commissioner – Ivan Salaj Czech Republic – Winter Flies – Olmo Omerzu Denmark – The Guilty – Gustav Möller Dominican Republic – Cocote – Nelson Carlo de los Santos Ecuador – A Son Of Man – Jamaicanoproblem and Pablo Agüero Egypt – Yomeddine – Abu Bakr Shawky Estonia – Take It Or Leave It – Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo Finland – Euthanizer – Teemu Nikin France – Memoir Of War – Emmanuel Finkiel Georgia – Namme – Zaza Khalvashi Germany – Never Look Away – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck...
- 8/21/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
In 2018 we've published 70 interviews whose subjects have ranged from old masters to emerging new voices, and including some unexpected conversations, including those with curators (Dave Kehr of the Museum of Modern Art), as well as archival finds (a 1971 talk with Jerry Lewis).Below you will find an index of our conversations throughout the year, listed in order of publication date.Blake Williams (Prototype)Samira Elagoz (Craigslist Allstars)F.J. Ossang (9 Fingers)Jerry LewisAndré Gil Mata (The Tree)Christian Petzold (Transit)Raoul Peck (Young Karl Marx)Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf)Penelope SpheerisTed Fendt (Classical Period)Dominik Graf (The Red Shadow)Blake Williams ("Stereo Visions")Arnaud Desplechin (Ismael's Ghosts)Ruth Beckermann (The Waldheim Waltz)Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias (Cocote)Esther GarrelPhilippe Garrel (Lover for a Day)Jonas MekasJohann Lurf (★)Karim Aïnouz (Central Airport Thf)Juliana Antunes (Baronesa)Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Birds of Passage)Wang Bing (Dead Souls)Donal Foreman...
- 12/27/2018
- MUBI
Palm Springs International Ff 2019: ‘Waldheim Waltz’ directed by Ruth Beckermann‘The Waldheim Waltz’, a film about truth and lies or “alternative facts” shows exactly how a dishonest man can rise to power. This documentary by director Ruth Beckermann, one of contemporary Europe’s finest documentarians premiered in Berlin’s Forum section in 2018 where it won the Glashütte Original Documentary Award. Us Distribution by Menemsha marks it immediately as a film which will be watched in Us for many years to come.Ruth Beckermann. photo by Lukas Beck‘The Waldheim Waltz’, screening at this year’s Palm Springs Film Festival was released in New York on October 19 and in Los Angeles in November 19. The film has received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was Austria’s submission for Academy Award consideration for Best Foreign Language Film and was also submitted for Best Doc Oscar nomination.By concealing two years of his wartime service,...
- 12/24/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
For 11 years running, our end-of-the-year tradition on the Notebook has been to poll our roster of contributors to create fantasy double features of new and old films. But what about the curators behind Mubi itself? This year we begin what we hope to be a new tradition: publishing the favorite films of the year as chosen by our programming team: Daniel Kasman in the U.S., Anaïs Lebrun and Chiara Marañón in the U.K. We each have two lists: our top new films that premiered in 2018, and then a selection of revivals screened in cinemas.PREMIERESDaniel Kasman1. Blue (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)2. The Image Book (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland)3. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski, USA)4. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, USA)5. The Waldheim Waltz (Ruth Beckermann, Austria)6. Unsane (Steven Soderbergh, USA)7. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, USA)8. The Red Shadow [director's cut]9. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?...
- 12/24/2018
- MUBI
Phase I voting for the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film race closes on Tuesday, which means it’s time for our annual preview of the movies that have shaped up as the strongest contenders, and most interesting prospects, for the shortlist. That group of nine titles will be revealed on December 17, whittled down from a field of 87 total submissions this year. While that’s not a record number of entries, this is one of the richest rosters to be put forth in recent memory, and the Phase I Committee and the Executive Committee have their work cut out for them.
Most would agree that there is a frontrunner for the ultimate gold this year in Alfonso Cuaron’s deservingly lauded Roma, but that doesn’t mean an upset couldn’t happen — and it shouldn’t discount other movies from around the world that have struck a chord with audiences, festival juries and cinema bodies.
Most would agree that there is a frontrunner for the ultimate gold this year in Alfonso Cuaron’s deservingly lauded Roma, but that doesn’t mean an upset couldn’t happen — and it shouldn’t discount other movies from around the world that have struck a chord with audiences, festival juries and cinema bodies.
- 12/10/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Paris-based sales company Wide House has sealed a flurry of deals for two titles playing this week at Amsterdam’s Idfa documentary festival: Ruth Beckermann’s “The Waldheim Waltz,” Austria’s candidate for the 2019 Oscars, and Marcus Lindeen’s “The Raft.”
World premiering at February’s Berlinale, where it won the Glashutte Award for best documentary, “The Waldheim Waltz” focuses on the Nazi war-crimes scandal surrounding Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. secretary general, who was president of Austria from 1986 to 1992.
Svod rights have been bought by Filmin in Spain and Turn Key Films for Scandinavia and Italy.
Distribution rights were acquired respectively by Menemsha Films in North America -in an already announced deal-, Elf Pictures in Hungary and Tricontinental in former-Yugoslavia territories.
In Switzerland, pubcaster Rsi took Italian-language rights; Israeli broadcasting rights went to Channel 8 and Kan.
“Waldheim” receives its Dutch premiere Thursday Nov. 22 as part of Master...
World premiering at February’s Berlinale, where it won the Glashutte Award for best documentary, “The Waldheim Waltz” focuses on the Nazi war-crimes scandal surrounding Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. secretary general, who was president of Austria from 1986 to 1992.
Svod rights have been bought by Filmin in Spain and Turn Key Films for Scandinavia and Italy.
Distribution rights were acquired respectively by Menemsha Films in North America -in an already announced deal-, Elf Pictures in Hungary and Tricontinental in former-Yugoslavia territories.
In Switzerland, pubcaster Rsi took Italian-language rights; Israeli broadcasting rights went to Channel 8 and Kan.
“Waldheim” receives its Dutch premiere Thursday Nov. 22 as part of Master...
- 11/18/2018
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Among the 87 entries this year, down five from 2017’s whopping 92, there are more documentaries than ever, plus two African countries submitting for the first time: Malawi and Niger. Here’s a guide to the films, including logline, sales, and production contact.
Afghanistan
“Rona, Azim’s Mother”
Director: Jamshid Mahmoudi
Logline: A touching drama set in the milieu of Afghan immigrants in Iran who lack full citizens’ rights, with laborer Azim struggling to care for his mother.
Key Cast: Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fatemeh Hosseini
Intl. Sales: Noori Pictures
Algeria
“Until the End of Time”
Director: Yasmine Chouikh
Logline: An elderly grave digger and a 60-something widow meet in the cemetery of Sidi Boulekbour and develop feelings for one another.
Key Cast: Djillali Boudjemaa, Djamila Arres
Intl. Sales: MakingOf Film
Argentina
“El Ángel”
Director: Luis Ortega
Logline: A portrait of the infamous teenage serial killer “The Angel of Death,” who took Argentina by...
Afghanistan
“Rona, Azim’s Mother”
Director: Jamshid Mahmoudi
Logline: A touching drama set in the milieu of Afghan immigrants in Iran who lack full citizens’ rights, with laborer Azim struggling to care for his mother.
Key Cast: Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fatemeh Hosseini
Intl. Sales: Noori Pictures
Algeria
“Until the End of Time”
Director: Yasmine Chouikh
Logline: An elderly grave digger and a 60-something widow meet in the cemetery of Sidi Boulekbour and develop feelings for one another.
Key Cast: Djillali Boudjemaa, Djamila Arres
Intl. Sales: MakingOf Film
Argentina
“El Ángel”
Director: Luis Ortega
Logline: A portrait of the infamous teenage serial killer “The Angel of Death,” who took Argentina by...
- 11/8/2018
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
For most of the 60-plus years in which foreign-language film and documentary feature have been competitive Oscar categories, they have had very little to do with each other: separate fields to honor the kinds of film that most Academy voters won’t consider for best picture, with no intersection between them. To this day, no film has ever been nominated for both awards.
In recent years, however, a few have come close, beginning with a 2008 landmark: Israel’s “Waltz With Bashir.” Ari Folman’s path-breaking animated Lebanon War memoir made history by becoming the first documentary ever nominated for foreign-language film; the documentary branch, however, ruled it ineligible due to its lack of a bi-coastal qualifying run. (The animation branch didn’t spring for it either.) One doc has cracked the foreign-language category since: Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s Khmer Rouge reflection “The Missing Picture,” in 2013. Unlike Folman’s film,...
In recent years, however, a few have come close, beginning with a 2008 landmark: Israel’s “Waltz With Bashir.” Ari Folman’s path-breaking animated Lebanon War memoir made history by becoming the first documentary ever nominated for foreign-language film; the documentary branch, however, ruled it ineligible due to its lack of a bi-coastal qualifying run. (The animation branch didn’t spring for it either.) One doc has cracked the foreign-language category since: Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s Khmer Rouge reflection “The Missing Picture,” in 2013. Unlike Folman’s film,...
- 11/8/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The Waldheim Waltz director Ruth Beckermann on getting the footage of Kurt Waldheim before he delivers his presidential acceptance speech: "This was really a lucky moment."
In the final instalment of my conversation with Ruth Beckermann on The Waldheim Waltz, Austria's Oscar submission for the 91st Academy Awards, we discussed her filmmaking style (for The Dreamed Ones on the letters of Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann; Those Who Go Those Who Stay on chance encounters; Paper Bridge on Beckermann's family; Return To Vienna with Josef Aichholzer; East Of War), the Waldheim family, the historians, and the archival footage that included a "lucky moment" finding Kurt Waldheim preparing, minutes before he delivered his televised presidential acceptance speech.
We met at the Hudson, the former American Woman's Association clubhouse, that was turned into a hotel. It was renovated by designer Philippe Starck and Ian Schrager, co-owner of Studio 54, who is featured in Matt Tyrnauer's documentary.
In the final instalment of my conversation with Ruth Beckermann on The Waldheim Waltz, Austria's Oscar submission for the 91st Academy Awards, we discussed her filmmaking style (for The Dreamed Ones on the letters of Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann; Those Who Go Those Who Stay on chance encounters; Paper Bridge on Beckermann's family; Return To Vienna with Josef Aichholzer; East Of War), the Waldheim family, the historians, and the archival footage that included a "lucky moment" finding Kurt Waldheim preparing, minutes before he delivered his televised presidential acceptance speech.
We met at the Hudson, the former American Woman's Association clubhouse, that was turned into a hotel. It was renovated by designer Philippe Starck and Ian Schrager, co-owner of Studio 54, who is featured in Matt Tyrnauer's documentary.
- 10/19/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Waldheim Waltz director Ruth Beckermann: "Roland Barthes wrote that it's strange that some people when they speak about culture, they go back to nature." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ruth Beckermann's documentary on Kurt Waldheim, The Waldheim Waltz, is Austria's Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film and was a Spotlight on Documentary selection of the 56th New York Film Festival. The director, cinematographer, writer, narrator and producer of The Waldheim Waltz, edited by Dieter Pichler (Constantin Wulff's Ulrich Seidl: A Director At Work) joined me for a conversation at the Hudson hotel the afternoon following her New York festival première at the Walter Reade Theater of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Roland Barthes and nature, Claude Lanzmann and Shoah, Us Congressman Tom Lantos and Kurt Waldheim's son, Austrian folklore and an American-style election campaign came up in the first instalment.
Ruth Beckermann on Kurt Waldheim's presidential...
Ruth Beckermann's documentary on Kurt Waldheim, The Waldheim Waltz, is Austria's Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film and was a Spotlight on Documentary selection of the 56th New York Film Festival. The director, cinematographer, writer, narrator and producer of The Waldheim Waltz, edited by Dieter Pichler (Constantin Wulff's Ulrich Seidl: A Director At Work) joined me for a conversation at the Hudson hotel the afternoon following her New York festival première at the Walter Reade Theater of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Roland Barthes and nature, Claude Lanzmann and Shoah, Us Congressman Tom Lantos and Kurt Waldheim's son, Austrian folklore and an American-style election campaign came up in the first instalment.
Ruth Beckermann on Kurt Waldheim's presidential...
- 10/17/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Honorees to include Asghar Farhadi, Mary Harron and Gunnell Lindblom.
The Stockholm International Film Festival has revealed its 2018 programme, with the festival kicking off Nov 7 with the anticipated world premiere of Anna Odell’s X&Y, in competition.
Odell, the Swedish artist and filmmaker who last directed 2013’s award-winning The Reunion, returns starring as a fictionalized version of herself, collaborating with the celebrated actor Mikael Persbrandt to deconstruct themselves. The cast also features Trine Dyrholm, Sofie Gråbøl, Vera Vitali, Shanti Roney, Jens Albinus and Thure Lindhardt. New Europe handles sales.
Stockholm will close Nov 18 with The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos, from the Open Zone section.
The Stockholm International Film Festival has revealed its 2018 programme, with the festival kicking off Nov 7 with the anticipated world premiere of Anna Odell’s X&Y, in competition.
Odell, the Swedish artist and filmmaker who last directed 2013’s award-winning The Reunion, returns starring as a fictionalized version of herself, collaborating with the celebrated actor Mikael Persbrandt to deconstruct themselves. The cast also features Trine Dyrholm, Sofie Gråbøl, Vera Vitali, Shanti Roney, Jens Albinus and Thure Lindhardt. New Europe handles sales.
Stockholm will close Nov 18 with The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos, from the Open Zone section.
- 10/16/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
The Waldheim Waltz Menemsha Films Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Ruth Beckermann Screenwriter: Ruth Beckermann Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 9/24/18 Opens: October 19, 2018 Pete Seeger once sang a Tom Paxton song, a section going like this: What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine, What did you learn in […]
The post The Waldheim Waltz Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Waldheim Waltz Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/15/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Screen’s complete list of foreign language Oscar submissions.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the 87 submissions for best foreign-language film have now been announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in...
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the 87 submissions for best foreign-language film have now been announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in...
- 10/12/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Screen’s complete list of foreign language Oscar submissions.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the 87 submissions for best foreign-language film have now been announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in...
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the 87 submissions for best foreign-language film have now been announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in...
- 10/12/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Screen’s complete list of foreign language Oscar submissions.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the 87 submissions for best foreign-language film have now been announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in...
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the 87 submissions for best foreign-language film have now been announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in...
- 10/10/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
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