Malaise is the order of the day in Dutch-Bosnian writer-director Ena Sendijarević’s costume drama Sweet Dreams. Set in the Dutch East Indies at the dawn of the 20th century, the film captures the putrefaction of colonial rule with a morbid sense of humor. But for a work that’s all about boredom, Sweet Dreams is far from boring.
It’s the suspicious demise of Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan (Hans Dagelet) that sets the plot in motion. Agathe (Renée Soutendijk), the man’s profoundly cynical widow, writes to their son, Cornelis (Florian Myjer), telling him to return from the Netherlands to take over the estate. But when Cornelis and his pregnant wife, Josefien (Lisa Zweerman), arrive, it turns out that Jan has left everything to Karel (Rio Kak Den Haas), the progeny of his unconcealed liaisons with the family’s domestic servant, Siti (Hayati Azis). If Cornelis and Josefien...
It’s the suspicious demise of Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan (Hans Dagelet) that sets the plot in motion. Agathe (Renée Soutendijk), the man’s profoundly cynical widow, writes to their son, Cornelis (Florian Myjer), telling him to return from the Netherlands to take over the estate. But when Cornelis and his pregnant wife, Josefien (Lisa Zweerman), arrive, it turns out that Jan has left everything to Karel (Rio Kak Den Haas), the progeny of his unconcealed liaisons with the family’s domestic servant, Siti (Hayati Azis). If Cornelis and Josefien...
- 4/7/2024
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
Ena Sendijarević’s “Sweet Dreams,” Netherlands’ submission in the Academy Awards international feature category, has secured North American distribution via Dekanalog.
The film had its world premiere at Locarno, where it won the Pardo for best performance for Renée Soutendijk (“Suspiria”) and the second prize of the junior jury. The film debuted in North America in Toronto’s Centrepiece section and won the Silver Hugo new directors award at Chicago. It opened the Nederlands Film Festival, where it won another six awards, including best film, best director and best leading role.
Set on a remote Indonesian island, “Sweet Dreams” explores the final days of European colonialism. It follows Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife Agathe, who are at the top of the food chain. Jan, upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine Siti, suddenly drops dead in front of his wife. Desperate to keep the privileges of her status quo,...
The film had its world premiere at Locarno, where it won the Pardo for best performance for Renée Soutendijk (“Suspiria”) and the second prize of the junior jury. The film debuted in North America in Toronto’s Centrepiece section and won the Silver Hugo new directors award at Chicago. It opened the Nederlands Film Festival, where it won another six awards, including best film, best director and best leading role.
Set on a remote Indonesian island, “Sweet Dreams” explores the final days of European colonialism. It follows Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan and his wife Agathe, who are at the top of the food chain. Jan, upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine Siti, suddenly drops dead in front of his wife. Desperate to keep the privileges of her status quo,...
- 12/7/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
With the writers’ strike over, a new studio brand and new management in part of international, Paramount Global execs are attending Madrid’s Iberseries & Platino Industria, Rome’s Mia market and Mipcom as they talk up their competitive assets and priorities to the international market.
In one move, five months after the launch of Paramount Television International Studios in May, Paramount Global’s Darío Turovelzky delivered a keynote on Thursday at Iberseries & Platino Industria.
A rising star at Paramount, with oversight of ViacomCBS’ Argentine and Chilean broadcast networks Telefe and Chilevisión from 2019, Turovelzky himself was promoted to executive VP, Broadcast & Studios, Paramount Global, Latin America in late July.
His on-stage interview came just one day after Paramount’s U.K.’s chief marketing officer Anna Priest was announced as senior VP and head of Paramount+ for U.K. market, overseeing its “strategic vision” and pursuing growth opportunities.
Nicole Clemens, president...
In one move, five months after the launch of Paramount Television International Studios in May, Paramount Global’s Darío Turovelzky delivered a keynote on Thursday at Iberseries & Platino Industria.
A rising star at Paramount, with oversight of ViacomCBS’ Argentine and Chilean broadcast networks Telefe and Chilevisión from 2019, Turovelzky himself was promoted to executive VP, Broadcast & Studios, Paramount Global, Latin America in late July.
His on-stage interview came just one day after Paramount’s U.K.’s chief marketing officer Anna Priest was announced as senior VP and head of Paramount+ for U.K. market, overseeing its “strategic vision” and pursuing growth opportunities.
Nicole Clemens, president...
- 10/9/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Pedro Almodóvar’s El Deseo is teaming up once again with Peru’s most prominent producer, Tondero, to co-produce Peruvian filmmaker Salvador del Solar’s second pic after his lauded feature debut, “Magallanes.”
Titled “Un lugar para Ramon” (“A Place for Ramon”), the drama is set against the backdrop of Peru’s months-long Covid-19 lockdown where two men, a Peruvian national who is confined to his apartment with the ashes of his estranged father, meets a Spaniard who is unable to leave the country because Lima’s airport has been shut down.
Thrown together by the unusual circumstances, their friendship evolves into deeper and more ambiguous terrain.
“I would liken it to two beings stuck on an island together where they are isolated and detached from the rest of the world,” said Del Solar who wrote the script with Hector Galvez, best known for directing and/or writing “Nn” and “Paraiso.
Titled “Un lugar para Ramon” (“A Place for Ramon”), the drama is set against the backdrop of Peru’s months-long Covid-19 lockdown where two men, a Peruvian national who is confined to his apartment with the ashes of his estranged father, meets a Spaniard who is unable to leave the country because Lima’s airport has been shut down.
Thrown together by the unusual circumstances, their friendship evolves into deeper and more ambiguous terrain.
“I would liken it to two beings stuck on an island together where they are isolated and detached from the rest of the world,” said Del Solar who wrote the script with Hector Galvez, best known for directing and/or writing “Nn” and “Paraiso.
- 10/2/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
It takes place on a sugar plantation, but Ena Sendijarević’s magnificently composed, eerily satirical “Sweet Dreams” has something more like acid flowing through its veins. Acid — or maybe formaldehyde, given the embalmed pallor of the dysfunctional Dutch colonial family whose values are so elegantly dissected within it. In only her second feature, after the Rotterdam-awarded “Take Me Somewhere Nice,” the Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker has established herself as a formidable talent with an eye for absurdity in Academy ratio, and a feel for the manicured, placid surfaces that contain rot and rebellion just as corsetry cinches in flesh.
It is 1900, and this little corner of the Dutch East Indies is verdant, damp jungle terrain. The air is thick with biting insects. Vincent Sinceretti’s extravagantly rich sound design is so multilayered that you can differentiate the crickets from the gnats from the omnipresent, whining mosquitoes. But part of the wilderness has been tamed — or more accurately,...
It is 1900, and this little corner of the Dutch East Indies is verdant, damp jungle terrain. The air is thick with biting insects. Vincent Sinceretti’s extravagantly rich sound design is so multilayered that you can differentiate the crickets from the gnats from the omnipresent, whining mosquitoes. But part of the wilderness has been tamed — or more accurately,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Writer-director Ena Sendijarević’s second feature, Sweet Dreams, follows a recent trend of arthouse films — including Zama, The Settlers and The Tale of King Crab — that explore Europe’s troubled colonial history through a postmodern mix of satire, surrealism and cinematic lyricism.
All of these elements are present in a story set in 1900 in the Dutch East Indies, where a family running a prosperous sugar plantation finds its status quo upended when their patriarch suddenly passes away. Left to deal with the fallout, the landowner’s wife and children are quickly exposed to the limits, as well as the terrors, of colonialism, in the face of Indigenous people who refuse to keep bowing down.
Shot in the 1.33:1 Academy ratio and divided into chapters like a novella, Sendijarević’s movie maintains a certain distance from its subject, gazing at it through a contemporary prism that critiques the racism and exploitation of the epoch.
All of these elements are present in a story set in 1900 in the Dutch East Indies, where a family running a prosperous sugar plantation finds its status quo upended when their patriarch suddenly passes away. Left to deal with the fallout, the landowner’s wife and children are quickly exposed to the limits, as well as the terrors, of colonialism, in the face of Indigenous people who refuse to keep bowing down.
Shot in the 1.33:1 Academy ratio and divided into chapters like a novella, Sendijarević’s movie maintains a certain distance from its subject, gazing at it through a contemporary prism that critiques the racism and exploitation of the epoch.
- 8/7/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Once upon a time, after “Zama” wowed audiences at the Venice Film Festival, Marvel Studios had its eye on Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel to direct “Black Widow.” The short version: Marvel wanted a woman to helm the Scarlett Johansson vehicle, and they met with several female filmmakers about the movie in 2018. Martel wasn’t interested, and directing duties eventually landed with Cate Shortland.
Continue reading Lucrecia Martel Rips Into Marvel Movies For Their “Very Ugly” Sound: “The Way Music Is Used Is Actually Horrible” at The Playlist.
Continue reading Lucrecia Martel Rips Into Marvel Movies For Their “Very Ugly” Sound: “The Way Music Is Used Is Actually Horrible” at The Playlist.
- 6/29/2023
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
Lucrecia Martel is calling out Marvel for what she feels is the films’ poor production quality.
The “Zama” director, who previously revealed she was approached by Marvel to helm “Black Widow,” told The Film Stage that she never ended up seeing the 2021 film directed by Cate Shortland.
“No, no, no. I didn’t see ‘Black Widow.’ I tried to,” Marvel said. “It turns out some of the Marvel films are available on planes so I’ve seen a few. I find the sound in them is absolutely in very poor taste, the visual effects, and the sound of the effects.”
She added, “It’s the selection of the sounds that they’re connecting to the effects, which is actually very ugly. And the way the music is used is actually horrible.”
Martel gave more details about her Marvel meetings back in 2018 about “Black Widow.”
“They contacted a great number of female directors,...
The “Zama” director, who previously revealed she was approached by Marvel to helm “Black Widow,” told The Film Stage that she never ended up seeing the 2021 film directed by Cate Shortland.
“No, no, no. I didn’t see ‘Black Widow.’ I tried to,” Marvel said. “It turns out some of the Marvel films are available on planes so I’ve seen a few. I find the sound in them is absolutely in very poor taste, the visual effects, and the sound of the effects.”
She added, “It’s the selection of the sounds that they’re connecting to the effects, which is actually very ugly. And the way the music is used is actually horrible.”
Martel gave more details about her Marvel meetings back in 2018 about “Black Widow.”
“They contacted a great number of female directors,...
- 6/26/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
There’s been a recent trend in international arthouse cinema that dates roughly back to two Argentine movies of the past decade: Lucrecia Martel’s Zama (2017) and Lisandro Alonso’s Jauja (2014).
Both films told dark tales of European colonization, and the massacres inflicted on South America’s Indigenous populations, in ways that felt altogether contemporary, eschewing traditional narratives in favor of something more enigmatic and modern. In such movies, the past was reflected through the lens of the present. The characters all wore period costumes and the sets were made to look like they dated from the epoch, but the stories being told, and the way they were being told, felt very much of our time, as if the horrors were still with us.
This trend continued, albeit in a more playful sense, in the Italian film The Tale of King Crab (2021), and in a more spiritual sense in the...
Both films told dark tales of European colonization, and the massacres inflicted on South America’s Indigenous populations, in ways that felt altogether contemporary, eschewing traditional narratives in favor of something more enigmatic and modern. In such movies, the past was reflected through the lens of the present. The characters all wore period costumes and the sets were made to look like they dated from the epoch, but the stories being told, and the way they were being told, felt very much of our time, as if the horrors were still with us.
This trend continued, albeit in a more playful sense, in the Italian film The Tale of King Crab (2021), and in a more spiritual sense in the...
- 5/22/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Luis Ortega has wrapped production in Argentina on “Kill the Jockey,” starring Úrsula Corberó, “Money Heist’s” Tokyo, and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (“120 Bpm”), which is shaping up as one of the biggest upcoming movies from Latin America.
Ortega’s follow-up to 2018 Un Certain Regard hit “El Angel,” which sold worldwide and set a box office record in Argentina, “Kill the Jockey” has been snapped up for overseas sales by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Entertainment, which also sold “El Angel.”
TelevisaUnivision VOD service ViX will roll out “Kill the Jockey” in the U.S. and Latin America. Scanbox handles distribution in Scandinavia.
“Kill the Jockey’s” top-notch cast also features Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, Daniel Fanego (“El Ángel”) and Roly Serrano (“Youth”).
It turns on Remo (Pérez Biscayart), the best jockey of his generation, whose addictions, however, have gradually cast a shadow over his glory. Like Abril (Corberó), another jockey,...
Ortega’s follow-up to 2018 Un Certain Regard hit “El Angel,” which sold worldwide and set a box office record in Argentina, “Kill the Jockey” has been snapped up for overseas sales by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Entertainment, which also sold “El Angel.”
TelevisaUnivision VOD service ViX will roll out “Kill the Jockey” in the U.S. and Latin America. Scanbox handles distribution in Scandinavia.
“Kill the Jockey’s” top-notch cast also features Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, Daniel Fanego (“El Ángel”) and Roly Serrano (“Youth”).
It turns on Remo (Pérez Biscayart), the best jockey of his generation, whose addictions, however, have gradually cast a shadow over his glory. Like Abril (Corberó), another jockey,...
- 5/17/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The technology of cinematography has undergone some of the most seismic shifts in film history this century, with what began in the 2000s as an almost entirely photochemical process transforming into the digitally captured, manipulated, and projected images of today. The art of cinematography, however — using light, color, and texture to express ideas and elicit emotional reactions from the audience — remains intact.
In 2017, IndieWire made a list of the best shot feature films of the century thus far; the list was updated in 2020, and what follows is the third and most extensive version of the list. It’s also the first to be spearheaded by the IndieWire Craft team, which has grown considerably since this list was first published. Ranking cinematography is, in some ways, a fool’s errand given the broad variety of genres, resources, and intentions encompassed by the films below, but these are 60 titles that IndieWire believes...
In 2017, IndieWire made a list of the best shot feature films of the century thus far; the list was updated in 2020, and what follows is the third and most extensive version of the list. It’s also the first to be spearheaded by the IndieWire Craft team, which has grown considerably since this list was first published. Ranking cinematography is, in some ways, a fool’s errand given the broad variety of genres, resources, and intentions encompassed by the films below, but these are 60 titles that IndieWire believes...
- 5/3/2023
- by Jim Hemphill, Chris O'Falt, Bill Desowitz and Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
The life and work of writer-director Hlynur Pálmason seems suspended in a liminal space between his homeland of Iceland and the neighboring Scandinavian nation of Denmark, where he studied filmmaking and has now raised a family. And nowhere is that interstitial status more evidently reflected than in his third and finest feature yet, “Godland,” about the arrogance of mankind in the face of nature’s unforgiving prowess, the inherent failures of colonial enterprises, and how these factors configure the cultural identities of individuals.
As in Pálmason’s previous studies of seemingly mild-mannered male characters on the brink of a violent outburst, “Winter Brothers” and “A White, White Day,” his latest maps the mental and physical decay of Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove), a 19th century Danish priest of the Lutheran faith tasked with overseeing the construction of a church in a remote corner of Iceland, at the time still a territory...
As in Pálmason’s previous studies of seemingly mild-mannered male characters on the brink of a violent outburst, “Winter Brothers” and “A White, White Day,” his latest maps the mental and physical decay of Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove), a 19th century Danish priest of the Lutheran faith tasked with overseeing the construction of a church in a remote corner of Iceland, at the time still a territory...
- 2/3/2023
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
After last month kicked off with Sight and Sound unveiling of their once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll, detailing the 100 films that made the cut that were led by Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, they’ve now unveiled the full critics’ top 250. While the discourse up until now has featured many wondering why certain directors were totally absent and why other films that previously made the top 100 were left out, more clarity has arrived with this update.
Check out some highlights we clocked below, the full list here, and return on March 2 when all ballots and comments will be unveiled.
The films closest to making the top 100 were Rio Bravo, The House Is Black, and Vagabond, which tied for #103. Four directors absent in the top 100––Terrence Malick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Jacques Demy––have two films each in the top 250: The Tree of Life...
Check out some highlights we clocked below, the full list here, and return on March 2 when all ballots and comments will be unveiled.
The films closest to making the top 100 were Rio Bravo, The House Is Black, and Vagabond, which tied for #103. Four directors absent in the top 100––Terrence Malick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Jacques Demy––have two films each in the top 250: The Tree of Life...
- 1/31/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Click here to read the full article.
1. The Banshees of Inisherin Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in the film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin.’
The rugged Aran Islands off Ireland’s west coast were evocative settings for two lauded Martin McDonagh plays, The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. But the intended third part of that trilogy was never produced or published; the playwright expressed doubts about its merits and stated a desire to return to it when he was older. His new film — about the lifelong friendship of two men, abruptly severed with dark consequences — represents the rebirth of that long-gestating project, reuniting McDonagh’s In Bruges stars, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell.
2. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths ‘Bardo, False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths’
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first Mexican feature since his 2000 breakout, Amores Perros, has been precipitously dubbed by some observers as his Roma,...
1. The Banshees of Inisherin Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in the film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin.’
The rugged Aran Islands off Ireland’s west coast were evocative settings for two lauded Martin McDonagh plays, The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. But the intended third part of that trilogy was never produced or published; the playwright expressed doubts about its merits and stated a desire to return to it when he was older. His new film — about the lifelong friendship of two men, abruptly severed with dark consequences — represents the rebirth of that long-gestating project, reuniting McDonagh’s In Bruges stars, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell.
2. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths ‘Bardo, False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths’
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first Mexican feature since his 2000 breakout, Amores Perros, has been precipitously dubbed by some observers as his Roma,...
- 8/29/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Portugal’s documentary festival runs October 6-15.
A new short film from Argentian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel will open the 20th edition of Portuguese documentary festival, Doclisboa.
North Terminal will have its Portuguese premiere on October 6 and play simultaneously at both Cinema São Jorge in Lisbon and Cinema Trindade in Porto.
The Headless Woman director made the documentary during the pandemic and it follows singer Julieta Laso meeting up with various Argentine artists in the Salta region.
Martel’s last feature film Zama premiered in competition at Cannes 2017 and won best film at Argentina’s Academy Awards.
Closing the festival on...
A new short film from Argentian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel will open the 20th edition of Portuguese documentary festival, Doclisboa.
North Terminal will have its Portuguese premiere on October 6 and play simultaneously at both Cinema São Jorge in Lisbon and Cinema Trindade in Porto.
The Headless Woman director made the documentary during the pandemic and it follows singer Julieta Laso meeting up with various Argentine artists in the Salta region.
Martel’s last feature film Zama premiered in competition at Cannes 2017 and won best film at Argentina’s Academy Awards.
Closing the festival on...
- 8/17/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Netflix has reaffirmed its 300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series, announcing a slew of new movie projects to celebrate the country’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 and as part of its #QueMéxicoSeVea initiative.
The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.
Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.”
“Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will...
The year-old initiative, which can be roughly translated to “Let Mexico Be Seen” has the mission “to make visible the work of Mexican creators, screenwriters, writers, directors, actors and people who make national cinema possible,” as well as its wealth of original stories.
Leading the pack is the widely anticipated directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who is helming an adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s seminal novel, “Pedro Paramo.” Produced by Redrum, the film’s crew includes Oscar-nominated production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Anna Terrazas, whose notable credits include “Roma,” “Spectre” and “Bardo.”
“Our commitment to Mexican culture also includes adapting great Mexican works to the cinema, and ‘Pedro Páramo’ will...
- 8/11/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has officially secured another high-profile Oscar contender after Jane Campion‘s fantastic western “The Power of The Dog” landed the filmmaker a Best Director prize at the Academy Awards earlier this year. The streamer has announced they’ve bought the next feature film from Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, which is titled “Bardo, False Chronicle of A Handful of Truths.”
The so-called “nostalgic comedy” stars Daniel Giménez Cacho (Lucrecia Martel‘s “Zama“)and Griselda Sicilian with striking 65mm cinematography from Academy Award-nominee Darius Khondji (“Se7en“), production design by the Oscar-winning Mexican designer Eugenio Caballero and costume design by Anna Terrazas.
Continue reading Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s New Film ‘Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths’ Coming Later This Year On Netflix at The Playlist.
The so-called “nostalgic comedy” stars Daniel Giménez Cacho (Lucrecia Martel‘s “Zama“)and Griselda Sicilian with striking 65mm cinematography from Academy Award-nominee Darius Khondji (“Se7en“), production design by the Oscar-winning Mexican designer Eugenio Caballero and costume design by Anna Terrazas.
Continue reading Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s New Film ‘Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths’ Coming Later This Year On Netflix at The Playlist.
- 4/27/2022
- by Christopher Marc
- The Playlist
Adding to its notable lineup in Latin American movies, Paris-based sales agent MPM Premium has taken international sales rights to “Fogaréu,” from writer-director Flávia Neves, part of Brazil’s new wave of female filmmakers, which is one of the most exciting developments the country’s cinema currently has going for it.
MPM Premium is introducing the film at this week’s Berlin Festival, where it world premieres in Panorama on Feb. 15.
First glimpsed at 2020’s Ventana Sur project market, “Fogaréu” shares a sense of attitude and a feminist agenda and a visual verve with fellow Brazilian Ventana Sur titles “The Pink Cloud,” Iuli Gerbase’s a sci-fi character-driven thriller, and “The Joy of Things,” Thais Fujinaga’s portrait of motherhood, also playing at the same market.
It begins, for example, with menacing shots of the Klu Klux Klan, marching towards the Brazilian colonial town of Goiás, or so it seems...
MPM Premium is introducing the film at this week’s Berlin Festival, where it world premieres in Panorama on Feb. 15.
First glimpsed at 2020’s Ventana Sur project market, “Fogaréu” shares a sense of attitude and a feminist agenda and a visual verve with fellow Brazilian Ventana Sur titles “The Pink Cloud,” Iuli Gerbase’s a sci-fi character-driven thriller, and “The Joy of Things,” Thais Fujinaga’s portrait of motherhood, also playing at the same market.
It begins, for example, with menacing shots of the Klu Klux Klan, marching towards the Brazilian colonial town of Goiás, or so it seems...
- 2/13/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Louverture Films, the production company founded by actor Danny Glover and Joslyn Barnes, is moving into television as well as animation, gaming and installation works. With two new principal partners in situ, the expansion has enlisted a host of creatives, including directors Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Lucrecia Martel.
Co-founded by Glover and Barnes in 2005 — alongside long-time partners Susan Rockefeller and the Bertha Foundation’s Tony Tabatznik — the company has brought on board Sawsan Asfari and Jeffrey Clark as principal partners. Variety understands that the new partners will allow Louverture to access more funding resources.
In addition, producer Karin Chien, who on Sunday delivered a rousing Sundance Institute Producing Fellows’ keynote, is becoming a partner and executive VP. Meanwhile, Barnes has been promoted to president while Glover remains CEO and co-founder.
Louverture, named after Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, has built its reputation on international and arthouse films and a strong theatrical documentary slate.
Co-founded by Glover and Barnes in 2005 — alongside long-time partners Susan Rockefeller and the Bertha Foundation’s Tony Tabatznik — the company has brought on board Sawsan Asfari and Jeffrey Clark as principal partners. Variety understands that the new partners will allow Louverture to access more funding resources.
In addition, producer Karin Chien, who on Sunday delivered a rousing Sundance Institute Producing Fellows’ keynote, is becoming a partner and executive VP. Meanwhile, Barnes has been promoted to president while Glover remains CEO and co-founder.
Louverture, named after Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, has built its reputation on international and arthouse films and a strong theatrical documentary slate.
- 1/24/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
New York-based Visit Films has swooped on world sales rights to “Robe of Gems” (“Manto de Gemas”) which will world premiere in main competition at next’s month’s Berlinale.
Produced by some of the best known producers on the art film and crossover scene in Mexico and Argentina, “Robe of Gems” marks the directorial debut feature of Natalia López Gallardo who has edited some of the most acclaimed and challenging films coming out of Latin America in the last decade, such as Lisandro Alonso’s “Jauja,” starring Viggo Mortensen, and Carlos Reygadas’ “Post Tenebras Lux” and Amat Escalante’s “Heli,” the latter two both best director award winners at the Cannes Festival.
Written, directed and edited by López Gallardo, “Robe of Gems” turns on Isabel, a woman in the midst of divorce who moves to an old country house her family once owned.
There she discovers her helper Marta...
Produced by some of the best known producers on the art film and crossover scene in Mexico and Argentina, “Robe of Gems” marks the directorial debut feature of Natalia López Gallardo who has edited some of the most acclaimed and challenging films coming out of Latin America in the last decade, such as Lisandro Alonso’s “Jauja,” starring Viggo Mortensen, and Carlos Reygadas’ “Post Tenebras Lux” and Amat Escalante’s “Heli,” the latter two both best director award winners at the Cannes Festival.
Written, directed and edited by López Gallardo, “Robe of Gems” turns on Isabel, a woman in the midst of divorce who moves to an old country house her family once owned.
There she discovers her helper Marta...
- 1/20/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.
Anthology Film Archives
One of the great filmmakers, experimental or otherwise, is given a major retrospective—it’s Michael Snow Season.
Spectacle
A muse of Godard and Rivette, Juliet Berto made her directorial debut with the crime film Neige; long unavailable, it’s been restored and screens this Saturday.
Film at Lincoln Center
A series on Danny Glover and Louverture Films features Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives on 35mm, Zama, and more.
IFC Center
As World of Wong Kar-wai keeps going, Death Proof (on 35mm), Showgirls, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., House,...
Anthology Film Archives
One of the great filmmakers, experimental or otherwise, is given a major retrospective—it’s Michael Snow Season.
Spectacle
A muse of Godard and Rivette, Juliet Berto made her directorial debut with the crime film Neige; long unavailable, it’s been restored and screens this Saturday.
Film at Lincoln Center
A series on Danny Glover and Louverture Films features Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives on 35mm, Zama, and more.
IFC Center
As World of Wong Kar-wai keeps going, Death Proof (on 35mm), Showgirls, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., House,...
- 12/2/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Brazilian Gregorio Graziosi’s “Tinnitus” is co-written by Andrés Julian Vera and Marco Dutra, a Locarno best director winner for “Good Manners”; its Dp is Rui Poças, whose credits include Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” and upcoming “Tabu.”
Its score is from David Boulter, who played keyboard on Claire Denis’ “Bastards,” collaborated on the score of her “High Life.”
Such credentials will make, almost inevitably, for one of the most polished of entries at Copia Final, Ventana Sur’s pix-in-post competition, where it screens on-site at the Cinemark Puerto Madero on Wednesday.
Developed at the Cannes Festival’s Résidence, “Tinnitus” looks set to weigh in as high art in the service of what on paper may seem a classic sports comeback narrative involving Marina, a high-board synchronized diver, who suffers a serious diving accident caused by tinnitus. She is encouraged by her substitute Teresa, she stages a comeback, though still terrorized...
Its score is from David Boulter, who played keyboard on Claire Denis’ “Bastards,” collaborated on the score of her “High Life.”
Such credentials will make, almost inevitably, for one of the most polished of entries at Copia Final, Ventana Sur’s pix-in-post competition, where it screens on-site at the Cinemark Puerto Madero on Wednesday.
Developed at the Cannes Festival’s Résidence, “Tinnitus” looks set to weigh in as high art in the service of what on paper may seem a classic sports comeback narrative involving Marina, a high-board synchronized diver, who suffers a serious diving accident caused by tinnitus. She is encouraged by her substitute Teresa, she stages a comeback, though still terrorized...
- 12/1/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
New films from Oscar laureate Vanessa Ragone (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) and Camera d’Or winners Edher Campos (“Leap Year”) and Juan Pablo Miller (“Las Acacias”) are among attractions at this year’s Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte and Copia Final, the pix-in-post industry centerpieces at Latin America’s biggest film-tv market.
Ragone co-produces “The Face of the Jellyfish,” from Argentina’s Rotterdam-prized Melisa Liebenthal. Campos unveils “Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara,” Mexican Federico Cecchetti’s follow-up to the multi-prized “Mara’akame’s Dream.”
Miller introduces “Sublime,” one of the section’s buzz titles, along with “Diogenes,” from Peru’s Leonardo Barbuy, and two titles from Brazil: Gregorio Graziosi’s “Tinnitus” and Gabriel Martin’s “Mars One,” winner of Ventana Sur’s prestigious Paradiso Wip Award.
Titles brim with talent, observes Eva Morsch-Kihn, curator of Primer Corte and Copia Final along with Mercedes Abarca and Maria Nuñez.
Ragone co-produces “The Face of the Jellyfish,” from Argentina’s Rotterdam-prized Melisa Liebenthal. Campos unveils “Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara,” Mexican Federico Cecchetti’s follow-up to the multi-prized “Mara’akame’s Dream.”
Miller introduces “Sublime,” one of the section’s buzz titles, along with “Diogenes,” from Peru’s Leonardo Barbuy, and two titles from Brazil: Gregorio Graziosi’s “Tinnitus” and Gabriel Martin’s “Mars One,” winner of Ventana Sur’s prestigious Paradiso Wip Award.
Titles brim with talent, observes Eva Morsch-Kihn, curator of Primer Corte and Copia Final along with Mercedes Abarca and Maria Nuñez.
- 11/2/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Alejandro G. Iñárritu has wrapped production in Mexico City on his next film, “Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths).” The new movie is being billed by Iñárritu’s representatives as “a nostalgic comedy set against an epic journey.” The film marks Iñárritu’s feature film follow-up to the 2015 survival drama “The Revenant,” although he did return in 2017 with the acclaimed virtual installation project “Carne y Arena.” With “Bardo,” the director returned to shoot and produce a film entirely in Mexico for the first time since “Amores Perros” over 20 years ago.
An official release on “Bardo” reads: “Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Nicolás Giacobone, ‘Bardo’ is a nostalgic comedy set against an epic journey. A chronicle of uncertainties where the main character, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker, returns to his native country facing his identity, familial relationships, the folly of his memories as well as...
An official release on “Bardo” reads: “Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Nicolás Giacobone, ‘Bardo’ is a nostalgic comedy set against an epic journey. A chronicle of uncertainties where the main character, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker, returns to his native country facing his identity, familial relationships, the folly of his memories as well as...
- 9/23/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Grantham Coleman is set to join Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu latest film, which is currently shooting in Mexico City. The Spanish-language movie going by the title Limbo also stars Daniel Giménez Cacho, the Mexican actor who starred in Lucrecia Martel’s Zama.
Story details are unknown as of yet, but it is understood to be a form of fable exploring the political and social modernity of Mexico.
Coleman, a Juilliard trained stage actor, most recently starred in Central Park in Much Ado About Nothing opposite Danielle Brooks for Kenny Leon and also played Martin Luther King in The Great Society with Brian Cox on Broadway. Also was in Hamlet at the Old Globe.
He was also recently seen as Bobby Seale in Seberg.
He is repped APA and Inspire Entertainment.
Story details are unknown as of yet, but it is understood to be a form of fable exploring the political and social modernity of Mexico.
Coleman, a Juilliard trained stage actor, most recently starred in Central Park in Much Ado About Nothing opposite Danielle Brooks for Kenny Leon and also played Martin Luther King in The Great Society with Brian Cox on Broadway. Also was in Hamlet at the Old Globe.
He was also recently seen as Bobby Seale in Seberg.
He is repped APA and Inspire Entertainment.
- 7/29/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Alejandro G. Iñárritu is underway on his first feature in the director’s chair since he won three Oscars for The Revenant.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the new project has rolled cameras in Iñárritu’s hometown of Mexico City and that it is going under the title Limbo.
The Spanish-language movie is being led by Daniel Giménez Cacho, the Mexican actor who starred in Lucrecia Martel’s Zama. Story details are unknown as of yet but it is understood to be a form of fable exploring the political and social modernity of Mexico.
Crew include the Oscar-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero (Pan’s Labyrinth) and DoP Darius Khondji (Seven).
First images from the set show Cacho walking among a collection of extras who are lying on the ground. The pic is understood to be filming for a further five months around Mexico, including at Churubusco Studios, and it could...
The Los Angeles Times reported that the new project has rolled cameras in Iñárritu’s hometown of Mexico City and that it is going under the title Limbo.
The Spanish-language movie is being led by Daniel Giménez Cacho, the Mexican actor who starred in Lucrecia Martel’s Zama. Story details are unknown as of yet but it is understood to be a form of fable exploring the political and social modernity of Mexico.
Crew include the Oscar-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero (Pan’s Labyrinth) and DoP Darius Khondji (Seven).
First images from the set show Cacho walking among a collection of extras who are lying on the ground. The pic is understood to be filming for a further five months around Mexico, including at Churubusco Studios, and it could...
- 3/5/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Alejandro González Iñárritu is now in production on his first feature film since “The Revenant,” the Los Angeles Times confirms. The newspaper describes Iñárritu’s latest as “a colossal production” filming in Mexico City and tentatively titled “Limbo.” The director wrote the film’s screenplay, which explores “the political and social modernity of Mexico.” While portions of Iñárritu’s “Babel” were filmed in Mexico, “Limbo” marks the director’s first movie shot entirely in Mexico City since his 2000 breakthrough directorial feature debut “Amores Perros.”
Plot details for “Limbo” are remaining under wraps for now. The cast is led by Daniel Giménez Cacho, whose credits include Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bad Education,” Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama,” and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s upcoming “Memoria.” Production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Oscar winner for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” who also worked on Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” is also on board for “Limbo.”
In the...
Plot details for “Limbo” are remaining under wraps for now. The cast is led by Daniel Giménez Cacho, whose credits include Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bad Education,” Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama,” and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s upcoming “Memoria.” Production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Oscar winner for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” who also worked on Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” is also on board for “Limbo.”
In the...
- 3/5/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks Int’l has scooped up worldwide rights to Paraguayan filmmaker Simon Franco’s “Charlotte,” a dramedy starring the grande dame of Spanish cinema, Angela Molina.
“Charlotte” is produced by Franco’s Paraguay-based Lemon Cine, along with Argentina’s Pelicano Cine and Fam Contenidos.
In addition, Lemon Cine has acquired the remake rights to Chilean comedy “Sin Filtro” from FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company, to make a Paraguayan version.
Shot mostly in Paraguay, the titular Charlotte, played by Molina, is an actress past her prime who sets off from her home in Argentina to Paraguay to chase down a director who’s prepping a film that she believes is just the tonic to revive her flagging career.
The official trailer and poster of the Paraguayan-Argentine co-production bow exclusively in Variety.
In the trailer, Charlotte/Molina finds out that the director who launched her career is planning to shoot his swan song in Paraguay.
“Charlotte” is produced by Franco’s Paraguay-based Lemon Cine, along with Argentina’s Pelicano Cine and Fam Contenidos.
In addition, Lemon Cine has acquired the remake rights to Chilean comedy “Sin Filtro” from FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company, to make a Paraguayan version.
Shot mostly in Paraguay, the titular Charlotte, played by Molina, is an actress past her prime who sets off from her home in Argentina to Paraguay to chase down a director who’s prepping a film that she believes is just the tonic to revive her flagging career.
The official trailer and poster of the Paraguayan-Argentine co-production bow exclusively in Variety.
In the trailer, Charlotte/Molina finds out that the director who launched her career is planning to shoot his swan song in Paraguay.
- 3/2/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Medusa
With her 2015 debut Kill Me Please, Brazil’s Anita Rocha da Silveira presented a vibrant giallo inspired film, arriving amongst a first wave of women director’s from her country gearing up to make a mark through Vania Catani of Bananeira Filmes (who produced Lucrecia Martel’s last feature in Zama in 2018 as well as Lisandro Alonso’s upcoming epic Eureka). Her latest finds her returning to work with Dp Joao Atala (who also recently lensed the 2019 doc The Edge of Democracy). Rocha de Silveira’s 2015 debut Kill Me Please premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival in the Horizons sidebar.…...
With her 2015 debut Kill Me Please, Brazil’s Anita Rocha da Silveira presented a vibrant giallo inspired film, arriving amongst a first wave of women director’s from her country gearing up to make a mark through Vania Catani of Bananeira Filmes (who produced Lucrecia Martel’s last feature in Zama in 2018 as well as Lisandro Alonso’s upcoming epic Eureka). Her latest finds her returning to work with Dp Joao Atala (who also recently lensed the 2019 doc The Edge of Democracy). Rocha de Silveira’s 2015 debut Kill Me Please premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival in the Horizons sidebar.…...
- 1/3/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Bananeira Filmes’ Vania Catani, a producer on Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” and Lisandro Alonso’s “Eureka,” is set to produce Anne Guimaraes’ “Super Powers,” as Catani primes films from leading lights in Brazil’s youngest generation of emerging female filmmakers.
Two titles from such directors – Flavia Neves, with Primer Corte’s “Fogaréu” and Monica Demes with “Requiem for Clara,” a Punto Género project – will be unveiled at Ventana Sur. Another, “Medusa,” from Anita Rocha de Silveira (“Kill Me Please”), now in post-production, looks, as “Fogaréu,” like a good bet for major festival play in 2021.
Between them, the four movies sum up many of the trends coursing one of the most exciting new talent builds in Latin America, as more movies from young Brazilian women directors are hitting the market: Think IuIi Gerbase’s “The Pink Cloud,” a sci-fi character-driven thriller from MPM Premium; Thais Fujinaga’s “The Joy of Things,...
Two titles from such directors – Flavia Neves, with Primer Corte’s “Fogaréu” and Monica Demes with “Requiem for Clara,” a Punto Género project – will be unveiled at Ventana Sur. Another, “Medusa,” from Anita Rocha de Silveira (“Kill Me Please”), now in post-production, looks, as “Fogaréu,” like a good bet for major festival play in 2021.
Between them, the four movies sum up many of the trends coursing one of the most exciting new talent builds in Latin America, as more movies from young Brazilian women directors are hitting the market: Think IuIi Gerbase’s “The Pink Cloud,” a sci-fi character-driven thriller from MPM Premium; Thais Fujinaga’s “The Joy of Things,...
- 12/2/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Miami-based Btf Media, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is planning a series reboot for Fabián Bielinsky’s Argentine modern classic “Nine Queens” (“Nueve Reinas”), a feature film which 20 years ago introduced the world to one of Argentina’s most bankable actors in Ricardo Darín and film-tv crossover superstar Gastón Pauls.
It also established, just as the New Argentine Cinema was lifting off in the country, a crossover style of movie which could combine artistic ambition and genre heft to appeal to broad audiences at home and abroad, a filmic mode inherited by Juan José Campanella and Pablo Trapero among others.
The announcement is the latest in what could prove a trend for the company, as earlier this year Btf Media also secured the remake rights to Alejandro Amenabar’s Golden Globe-nominated “The Others,” starring Nicole Kidman, and are planning a Spanish-language series version of the horror classic.
Btf Media...
It also established, just as the New Argentine Cinema was lifting off in the country, a crossover style of movie which could combine artistic ambition and genre heft to appeal to broad audiences at home and abroad, a filmic mode inherited by Juan José Campanella and Pablo Trapero among others.
The announcement is the latest in what could prove a trend for the company, as earlier this year Btf Media also secured the remake rights to Alejandro Amenabar’s Golden Globe-nominated “The Others,” starring Nicole Kidman, and are planning a Spanish-language series version of the horror classic.
Btf Media...
- 11/18/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Actress Carrie Coon joins Josh and Joe to discuss the Best of what she’s been watching during the pandemic.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Nest (2020)
Gone Girl (2014)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Sabrina (1954)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Opening Night (1977)
Husbands (1971)
Too Late Blues (1961)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Faces (1968)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Gloria (1980)
Mephisto (1981)
The Cremator (1969)
Zama (2017)
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)
Wanda (1970)
Blue Collar (1978)
The Lunchbox (2013)
63 Up (2019)
To Sleep With Anger (1990)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
The Glass Shield (1994)
My Brother’s Wedding (1983)
Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
The Magician (1958)
The Silence (1963)
The Magic Flute (1975)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Virgin Spring (1963)
Summer with Monika (1953)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Black Girl (1966)
Fat Girl (2001)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Parasite (2019)
Jesus of Montreal (1989)
Other Notable Items...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Nest (2020)
Gone Girl (2014)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Sabrina (1954)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Opening Night (1977)
Husbands (1971)
Too Late Blues (1961)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Faces (1968)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Gloria (1980)
Mephisto (1981)
The Cremator (1969)
Zama (2017)
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)
Wanda (1970)
Blue Collar (1978)
The Lunchbox (2013)
63 Up (2019)
To Sleep With Anger (1990)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
The Glass Shield (1994)
My Brother’s Wedding (1983)
Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
The Magician (1958)
The Silence (1963)
The Magic Flute (1975)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Virgin Spring (1963)
Summer with Monika (1953)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Black Girl (1966)
Fat Girl (2001)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Parasite (2019)
Jesus of Montreal (1989)
Other Notable Items...
- 11/17/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Claudia Huaiquimilla’s “My Brothers Dream Awake,” Thais Fujinaga’s “The Joy of Things” and Flavia Neves’ “Fogareu” will screen in Primer Corte or Copia Final, the two art film pix-in-post showcases at this year’s Ventana Sur, the biggest movie market in Latin America.
The Cannes Festival and Film Market’s biggest initiative outside France, Ventana Sur will run from Nov.30 to Dec. 4.
“My Brothers Dream Awake” weighs in as another call to resistance from Mapuche writer-director Huaiquimilla whose debut, “Bad Influence” (“Mala Junta”) won the audience award at the Toulouse Latin American Cinema Festival.
“The Joy of Things” marks the feature debut of Brazil’s Fujinaga, a co-writer on Netflix’s “Omniscient,” from Boutique Filmes, as well as on a new season of HBO Latin America’s “Joint Venture,” co-directed by “City of God’s” Fernando Meirelles.
Neves’ debut, “Fogaréu” forms part of a burgeoning line in new...
The Cannes Festival and Film Market’s biggest initiative outside France, Ventana Sur will run from Nov.30 to Dec. 4.
“My Brothers Dream Awake” weighs in as another call to resistance from Mapuche writer-director Huaiquimilla whose debut, “Bad Influence” (“Mala Junta”) won the audience award at the Toulouse Latin American Cinema Festival.
“The Joy of Things” marks the feature debut of Brazil’s Fujinaga, a co-writer on Netflix’s “Omniscient,” from Boutique Filmes, as well as on a new season of HBO Latin America’s “Joint Venture,” co-directed by “City of God’s” Fernando Meirelles.
Neves’ debut, “Fogaréu” forms part of a burgeoning line in new...
- 10/31/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Laureled way back in 1995 for her short “Dead King” in feature anthology “Historias Breves,” a Sundance/Nhk Award winner for the screenplay of her debut feature “The Swamp” in 1999, Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel is no stranger to jury prizes, handing them out as president of the Venice Film Festival main competition jury last year.
That said, her top Pardo 2020 prize in the Locarno Festival’s The Films After Tomorrow – awarded Friday – may be special, both for its money, as Argentine cinema hits a perfect storm of economic crisis capped by Covid-19, and because of the festival that gives it. It may be special too for Locarno. If any filmmaker were to embody the films that Locarno has championed and loved, it may be Martel, a filmmaker who always questions received wisdom, but whose films have a visual power to entrap the spectator while she does so.
In a brief interview with Martel,...
That said, her top Pardo 2020 prize in the Locarno Festival’s The Films After Tomorrow – awarded Friday – may be special, both for its money, as Argentine cinema hits a perfect storm of economic crisis capped by Covid-19, and because of the festival that gives it. It may be special too for Locarno. If any filmmaker were to embody the films that Locarno has championed and loved, it may be Martel, a filmmaker who always questions received wisdom, but whose films have a visual power to entrap the spectator while she does so.
In a brief interview with Martel,...
- 8/14/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The news that Lucrecia Martel was working on a new feature film — less than three years after premiering 2017’s “Zama” — was excitedly received by world cinema buffs: nine long years had separated “Zama” and her previous feature, “The Headless Woman,” and admirers of the enigmatic Argentine auteur had no reason to expect a suddenly increased work rate.
“Zama,” after all, was a film that reflected its lengthy gestation and repeated delays in its hypnotic style. A scathing post-colonial portrait of a Spanish magistrate in a remote South American colony, spiraling into madness as he awaits a reassignment that never seems to come, the film’s feverish, intoxicated atmospherics bespoke a filmmaker fully immersed and entangled in her own creative process: the type of cinema Lucrecia Martel makes is not conceived, much less made, overnight.
Perhaps, then, Marcel will take the pandemic-induced limbo in which the film industry finds itself more in her stride than most.
“Zama,” after all, was a film that reflected its lengthy gestation and repeated delays in its hypnotic style. A scathing post-colonial portrait of a Spanish magistrate in a remote South American colony, spiraling into madness as he awaits a reassignment that never seems to come, the film’s feverish, intoxicated atmospherics bespoke a filmmaker fully immersed and entangled in her own creative process: the type of cinema Lucrecia Martel makes is not conceived, much less made, overnight.
Perhaps, then, Marcel will take the pandemic-induced limbo in which the film industry finds itself more in her stride than most.
- 8/7/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about plans for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival comes news about two more upcoming events: San Sebastian and Locarno. Variety reports Woody Allen’s new comedy-drama “Rifkin’s Festival” will open the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival in September. The event is celebrating its 68th edition this year. “Rifkin’s Festival” will mark Allen’s second San Sebastian opener after “Melinda and Melinda” at the 2004 festival, where he was also the recipient of the Donostia Award for career achievement. Other Allen films that have played San Sebastian include “Manhattan,” “Zelig,” “Match Point,” and “Irrational Man,” among others.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
- 6/25/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Thompson on Hollywood
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about plans for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival comes news about two more upcoming events: San Sebastian and Locarno. Variety reports Woody Allen’s new comedy-drama “Rifkin’s Festival” will open the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival in September. The event is celebrating its 68th edition this year. “Rifkin’s Festival” will mark Allen’s second San Sebastian opener after “Melinda and Melinda” at the 2004 festival, where he was also the recipient of the Donostia Award for career achievement. Other Allen films that have played San Sebastian include “Manhattan,” “Zelig,” “Match Point,” and “Irrational Man,” among others.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
- 6/25/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
New works by prominent auteurs Lucrecia Martel, Lav Diaz, Lisandro Alonso and Wang Bing grace the lineup of works-in-progress unveiled by the Locarno Film Festival.
The canceled Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema on Thursday announced 20 titles that made the cut for its innovative The Films After Tomorrow initiative that will provide support to filmmakers forced to stop working due to the global pandemic. Of these, 10 are international and 10 from Switzerland. Prizes will be awarded by juries made up by still unspecified filmmakers on Aug. 15.
“Our role is to act as a link between films, the industry and audiences, and so (when Locarno was canceled due to coronavirus concerns) we looked at alternative ways of carrying out that mission, assessing where our intervention could be most useful at this time,” said Locarno artistic director Lili Hinstin at a Zoom presentation during the Cannes Virtual Market. A total of 545 projects from 101 countries were submitted,...
The canceled Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema on Thursday announced 20 titles that made the cut for its innovative The Films After Tomorrow initiative that will provide support to filmmakers forced to stop working due to the global pandemic. Of these, 10 are international and 10 from Switzerland. Prizes will be awarded by juries made up by still unspecified filmmakers on Aug. 15.
“Our role is to act as a link between films, the industry and audiences, and so (when Locarno was canceled due to coronavirus concerns) we looked at alternative ways of carrying out that mission, assessing where our intervention could be most useful at this time,” said Locarno artistic director Lili Hinstin at a Zoom presentation during the Cannes Virtual Market. A total of 545 projects from 101 countries were submitted,...
- 6/25/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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
The Venice Film Festival has named Cate Blanchett the president of the 2020 competition jury. The announcement follows in the footsteps of Cannes, which announced this week that Spike Lee will be leading the jury for its 2020 festival. Blanchett picks up the baton from “Zama” and “La Ciénaga” filmmaker Lucretia Martel, who was the president of 2019 Venice Film Festival jury. Martel and her jurors selected Todd Phillips’ “Joker” as the best of the festival. Blanchett becomes just the eighth woman in Venice’s 77-year history to serve as jury president.
“Every year I look expectantly to the selection at Venice and every year it is surprising and distinct,” Blanchett said in a statement. “Venice is one of the most atmospheric film festivals in the world — a celebration of the provocative and inspirational medium that is cinema in all its forms. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be this year’s jury president.
“Every year I look expectantly to the selection at Venice and every year it is surprising and distinct,” Blanchett said in a statement. “Venice is one of the most atmospheric film festivals in the world — a celebration of the provocative and inspirational medium that is cinema in all its forms. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be this year’s jury president.
- 1/16/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
La Nuit des rois
Six years after his 2014 debut Run, Ivory Coast director Philippe Lacôte returns with sophomore feature La Nuit des rois (Night of the Kings and originally announced as Zama King). Reuniting with Isaach de Bankole and Abdoul Bah, both who appeared in his first film, the project is produced by Ernest Konan through Wassakara Productions and co-produced by Delphine Jacquet of Banshee Film. Lacôte’s debut played in Un Certain Regard at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Gist: Set in Abidjan’s MacA prison, the aging Black Beard, in attempt to maintain control over his fellow inmates, resorts to a “story” ritual, wherein one prisoner is forced, Scheherazade-style, to tell stories for an entire night.…...
Six years after his 2014 debut Run, Ivory Coast director Philippe Lacôte returns with sophomore feature La Nuit des rois (Night of the Kings and originally announced as Zama King). Reuniting with Isaach de Bankole and Abdoul Bah, both who appeared in his first film, the project is produced by Ernest Konan through Wassakara Productions and co-produced by Delphine Jacquet of Banshee Film. Lacôte’s debut played in Un Certain Regard at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Gist: Set in Abidjan’s MacA prison, the aging Black Beard, in attempt to maintain control over his fellow inmates, resorts to a “story” ritual, wherein one prisoner is forced, Scheherazade-style, to tell stories for an entire night.…...
- 12/30/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
To begin with, a disclaimer: There are practically no 2019 titles on my Best of the Decade list, not because there weren’t a lot of great films this year, but because I haven’t had the opportunity to live with them for all that long. My Best of 2019 list was its own challenge to write, but this year’s movies are just too new for them to have knocked around in my central nervous system the way these earlier titles have. Film historians can debate the major movie-related events of the decade — the rise of streaming, the dominance of Disney — but these are the films took up residency with me and refuse to move out:
11-30 (alphabetically): “Anomalisa,” “Before Midnight,” “Bernie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Certain Women,” “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Ex Machina,” “Force Majeure,” “The Great Beauty,” “The Handmaiden,” “Happy Hour,” “Holy Motors,” “Leave No Trace,...
11-30 (alphabetically): “Anomalisa,” “Before Midnight,” “Bernie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Certain Women,” “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Ex Machina,” “Force Majeure,” “The Great Beauty,” “The Handmaiden,” “Happy Hour,” “Holy Motors,” “Leave No Trace,...
- 12/24/2019
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
The Toronto Film Festival today unveiled The Best Of The Decade: An Alternative View, a top ten movie list from the last decade. Tiff asked film curators, historians, and archivists from Canada and around the world to choose the best films of the 2010s — any length, genre, or format. Judging by the list, it’s fair to say that superhero movies weren’t front of mind.
Coming out on top of the arthouse list was…Lucrecia Martel’s 2017 festival favourite Zama, the dreamlike tale about a Spanish officer in Seventeenth century Asunción, Paraguay, awaiting his transfer to Buenos Aires. Plenty of great movies make the cut. Check it out below.
“Many of the films in the poll’s top 10 address the perilous era we have just lived through, with such prescient works as Film Socialisme, Neighboring Sounds, and Sieranevada predicting various types of ecological, political, and social calamity,” said Tiff Senior Programmer James Quandt.
Coming out on top of the arthouse list was…Lucrecia Martel’s 2017 festival favourite Zama, the dreamlike tale about a Spanish officer in Seventeenth century Asunción, Paraguay, awaiting his transfer to Buenos Aires. Plenty of great movies make the cut. Check it out below.
“Many of the films in the poll’s top 10 address the perilous era we have just lived through, with such prescient works as Film Socialisme, Neighboring Sounds, and Sieranevada predicting various types of ecological, political, and social calamity,” said Tiff Senior Programmer James Quandt.
- 11/27/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Toronto Film Festival on Wednesday listed the best films of the last decade, led by Lucrecia Martel's Zama, a 2017 adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto's existential novel.
Naming in all 19 films that stood out during the 2010s, Tiff programmers chose Maren Ade's 2017 tragicomedy Toni Erdmann as their second-best, followed by Jean-Luc Godard's 2014 drama Goodbye to Language in third place.
Barry Jenkins' 2017 Oscar best picture winner Moonlight and Cristi Puiu's 2016 drama Sieranevada round out the top five.
The best-of-the-decade also includes Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Jordan Peele's Get Out among ...
Naming in all 19 films that stood out during the 2010s, Tiff programmers chose Maren Ade's 2017 tragicomedy Toni Erdmann as their second-best, followed by Jean-Luc Godard's 2014 drama Goodbye to Language in third place.
Barry Jenkins' 2017 Oscar best picture winner Moonlight and Cristi Puiu's 2016 drama Sieranevada round out the top five.
The best-of-the-decade also includes Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Jordan Peele's Get Out among ...
- 11/27/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The Toronto Film Festival on Wednesday listed the best films of the last decade, led by Lucrecia Martel's Zama, a 2017 adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto's existential novel.
Naming in all 19 films that stood out during the 2010s, Tiff programmers chose Maren Ade's 2017 tragicomedy Toni Erdmann as their second-best, followed by Jean-Luc Godard's 2014 drama Goodbye to Language in third place.
Barry Jenkins' 2017 Oscar best picture winner Moonlight and Cristi Puiu's 2016 drama Sieranevada round out the top five.
The best-of-the-decade also includes Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Jordan Peele's Get Out among ...
Naming in all 19 films that stood out during the 2010s, Tiff programmers chose Maren Ade's 2017 tragicomedy Toni Erdmann as their second-best, followed by Jean-Luc Godard's 2014 drama Goodbye to Language in third place.
Barry Jenkins' 2017 Oscar best picture winner Moonlight and Cristi Puiu's 2016 drama Sieranevada round out the top five.
The best-of-the-decade also includes Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Jordan Peele's Get Out among ...
- 11/27/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 76th Venice Film Film Festival kicked off Wednesday evening with Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche on the red carpet for the world premiere of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Truth,” in which they play a mother and daughter in conflict. The well-received opening film by a male director, but with women at its core, encapsulates the mood on the Lido, where the ongoing uproar over female representation took center stage.
Deneuve in black and devilish red, Binoche in silver sequins, and fellow French actress Ludivine Sagnier, who is also in the film, had the flashbulbs popping in the balmy Lido evening glow. Ethan Hawke, who also stars, did not make the trek.
Earlier in the day at the opening press conference, fest director Alberto Barbera defended the often-cited fact that there are just two films directed by women in the 21-title competition. Barbera also stood firm on the inclusion in...
Deneuve in black and devilish red, Binoche in silver sequins, and fellow French actress Ludivine Sagnier, who is also in the film, had the flashbulbs popping in the balmy Lido evening glow. Ethan Hawke, who also stars, did not make the trek.
Earlier in the day at the opening press conference, fest director Alberto Barbera defended the often-cited fact that there are just two films directed by women in the 21-title competition. Barbera also stood firm on the inclusion in...
- 8/28/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Argentine auteur Lucrecia Martel, who presides over the Venice Film Festival jury, defended the inclusion of Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and A Spy” in the competition but said she would not attend a gala dinner for Polanski’s movie later this week.
“I will not congratulate him,” Martel said during the festival’s opening press conference. “But I think it is right that his movie is here at this festival.”
Martel, whose credits include “The Headless Woman” and “Zama,” added that “we have to develop our dialogue with him, and this is the best possible place to go on with this type of discussion.”
Polanski, who was convicted of statutory rape in 1977, will not be making an appearance on the Lido, according to his film’s publicist.
Speaking of the case, Martel said: “A man who commits a crime of this size who is then condemned, and the victim...
“I will not congratulate him,” Martel said during the festival’s opening press conference. “But I think it is right that his movie is here at this festival.”
Martel, whose credits include “The Headless Woman” and “Zama,” added that “we have to develop our dialogue with him, and this is the best possible place to go on with this type of discussion.”
Polanski, who was convicted of statutory rape in 1977, will not be making an appearance on the Lido, according to his film’s publicist.
Speaking of the case, Martel said: “A man who commits a crime of this size who is then condemned, and the victim...
- 8/28/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The 2019 Venice Film Festival officially kicked off with a press conference featuring the event’s chief, Alberto Barbera, and this year’s jury president Lucrecia Martel, the Argentine director behind “La Ciénaga,” “The Headless Woman,” and “Zama.” As reported by Deadline, one of the most pressing topics discussed was the inclusion of Roman Polanski in this year’s competition lineup. The French director is debuting his Dreyfus affair drama “An Officer and a Spy,” starring Emmanuelle Seigner, Louis Garrel, Jean Dujardin, and Mathieu Amalric.
The Venice Film Festival has been under fire for including Polanski in this year’s competition because the director was charged with rape in the 1970s. The #MeToo era has put a new focus on Polanski’s behavior, resulting in his expulsion from the Academy in May 2018. Barbera continued to defend Polanski’s inclusion at Venice 2019 during the opening press conference.
“[I am] convinced that we have to...
The Venice Film Festival has been under fire for including Polanski in this year’s competition because the director was charged with rape in the 1970s. The #MeToo era has put a new focus on Polanski’s behavior, resulting in his expulsion from the Academy in May 2018. Barbera continued to defend Polanski’s inclusion at Venice 2019 during the opening press conference.
“[I am] convinced that we have to...
- 8/28/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Filming kicked off in Colombia on August 19 for Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tilda Swinton-led “Memoria,” the filmmaker’s first feature to be shot outside his home country.
Germany’s The Match Factory, which has represented several of Weerasethakul’s previous films on the international market including 2010 Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” will do so again on “Memoria,” and have shared with Variety exclusive first images of Weerasethakul and Swinton on set.
Filling out the international cast for the film are César and San Sebastian best actress award-winner Jeanne Balibar, Daniel Gimenez Cacho – star of Lucrecia Martel’s 2018 Argentine Oscar submission “Zama,” Colombian TV star Juan Pablo Urrego and “Surviving Escobar’s” Elkin Diaz.
The eight-week shoot will split time between the mountain village of Pijao and the Colombian capital, Bogota.
While on vacation in Colombia, Weerasethakul was struck by the country’s natural beauty,...
Germany’s The Match Factory, which has represented several of Weerasethakul’s previous films on the international market including 2010 Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” will do so again on “Memoria,” and have shared with Variety exclusive first images of Weerasethakul and Swinton on set.
Filling out the international cast for the film are César and San Sebastian best actress award-winner Jeanne Balibar, Daniel Gimenez Cacho – star of Lucrecia Martel’s 2018 Argentine Oscar submission “Zama,” Colombian TV star Juan Pablo Urrego and “Surviving Escobar’s” Elkin Diaz.
The eight-week shoot will split time between the mountain village of Pijao and the Colombian capital, Bogota.
While on vacation in Colombia, Weerasethakul was struck by the country’s natural beauty,...
- 8/27/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Jennifer Kent, a member of this year’s jury for the Venice International Film Festival whose film “The Nightingale” was the only female-directed film in last year’s competition, says she’s disappointed that this year’s Venice features only two films directed by women out of 21 in competition.
“I think it’s an issue,” Kent told TheWrap, who broke out with her 2014 debut feature “The Babadook” and won a special jury prize for “The Nightingale” in Venice last year. “I hoped there would be more. I really did.”
The Australian filmmaker noted the challenges that she and women like this year’s jury president, Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel (“Zama”), faced in the film industry even in the midst of calls for greater gender representation. “There are some incredible women out there making films, and we need to see them, and they need to be in festivals, A-list festivals, and...
“I think it’s an issue,” Kent told TheWrap, who broke out with her 2014 debut feature “The Babadook” and won a special jury prize for “The Nightingale” in Venice last year. “I hoped there would be more. I really did.”
The Australian filmmaker noted the challenges that she and women like this year’s jury president, Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel (“Zama”), faced in the film industry even in the midst of calls for greater gender representation. “There are some incredible women out there making films, and we need to see them, and they need to be in festivals, A-list festivals, and...
- 7/31/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
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