Sovereign is proud to announce that award-winning Mexican director Amat Escalante’s powerful thriller Lost In The Night received its UK premiere at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival, as part of the ‘Thrill’ section, and now the film is available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
From acclaimed Mexican director Amat Escalante, following Heli, for which he won Best Director at Cannes in 2013, and The Untamed, which won him the Best Director prize at Venice in 2016, comes Lost In The Night, a taut, engrossing thriller that blends traditional elements of Latin American cinema with astute social commentary on Mexican society and contemporary influencer culture.
The film, which premiered at Cannes this year, stars Juan Daniel García Treviño (Narcos México), and Latin American influencer superstar Ester Expósito, who has 27 million followers, and features a superb score by Stranger Things composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein.
The film...
From acclaimed Mexican director Amat Escalante, following Heli, for which he won Best Director at Cannes in 2013, and The Untamed, which won him the Best Director prize at Venice in 2016, comes Lost In The Night, a taut, engrossing thriller that blends traditional elements of Latin American cinema with astute social commentary on Mexican society and contemporary influencer culture.
The film, which premiered at Cannes this year, stars Juan Daniel García Treviño (Narcos México), and Latin American influencer superstar Ester Expósito, who has 27 million followers, and features a superb score by Stranger Things composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein.
The film...
- 4/11/2024
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Prominent Paris-based producer Marianne Slot, who has been instrumental to bringing works by auteurs such as Lars Von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso to the big screen, is being honored by the Locarno Film Festival.
Slot will receive the Swiss festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico prize for a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. She will be bestowed with the award on Aug. 5 with a tribute that will include a screening of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s environmental-themed black comedy “Woman At War,” followed by an on-stage conversation on Aug. 6.
Born in Denmark, Slot set up the Paris-based production company Slot Machine in 1993. She has been Von Trier’s French producer since 1995, starting with “Breaking the Waves.” Over the years Slot has shepherded works by a slew of indie auteurs at various stages of their careers. Besides Martel and Erlingsson these include Bent Hamer, Małgorzata Szumowska, Paz Encina,...
Slot will receive the Swiss festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico prize for a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. She will be bestowed with the award on Aug. 5 with a tribute that will include a screening of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s environmental-themed black comedy “Woman At War,” followed by an on-stage conversation on Aug. 6.
Born in Denmark, Slot set up the Paris-based production company Slot Machine in 1993. She has been Von Trier’s French producer since 1995, starting with “Breaking the Waves.” Over the years Slot has shepherded works by a slew of indie auteurs at various stages of their careers. Besides Martel and Erlingsson these include Bent Hamer, Małgorzata Szumowska, Paz Encina,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Locarno Film Festival will honor French-Danish producer Marianne Slot with its Raimondo Rezzonico Award, given to figures who have played a major role in international production, at its 76th edition running from August 2 to 12.
Over the course of her 30-year career, Slot has worked with a host of internationally renowned auteurs including Lars von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, Bent Hamer, Malgoska Szumowska, Paz Encina, Lisandro Alonso, Sergei Loznitsa, Naomi Kawase and Benedikt Erlingsson.
Slot broke into producing on the early works of von Trier, taking co-producer credits on the original The Kingdom TV series as well as Breaking The Waves and The Idiots, and has since become a key figure on the international arthouse co-production scene.
The producer will be in Cannes this year with Lisandro Alonso’s ambitious historical drama Eureka starring Viggo Mortensen, which world premieres in the Cannes Premiere section.
“Marianne Slot’s approach to film production has...
Over the course of her 30-year career, Slot has worked with a host of internationally renowned auteurs including Lars von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, Bent Hamer, Malgoska Szumowska, Paz Encina, Lisandro Alonso, Sergei Loznitsa, Naomi Kawase and Benedikt Erlingsson.
Slot broke into producing on the early works of von Trier, taking co-producer credits on the original The Kingdom TV series as well as Breaking The Waves and The Idiots, and has since become a key figure on the international arthouse co-production scene.
The producer will be in Cannes this year with Lisandro Alonso’s ambitious historical drama Eureka starring Viggo Mortensen, which world premieres in the Cannes Premiere section.
“Marianne Slot’s approach to film production has...
- 4/27/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Sony’s ’65’ and Universal’s ’Champions’ are also new this weekend.
This weekend’s widest opener at the UK-Ireland box office is Scream VI, the latest offering from the iconic horror franchise, hitting 624 locations for Paramount.
It is slightly up on locations to Scream – the fifth film in the slasher series – which opened to an impressive £2.5m from 622 sites in January 2022, at an average of £3,955, making it the highest-performing horror title since the pandemic at the UK-Ireland box office.
Recent horrors to do well in the territory includes Universal’s M3GAN, the second best-performer for the genre since the pandemic,...
This weekend’s widest opener at the UK-Ireland box office is Scream VI, the latest offering from the iconic horror franchise, hitting 624 locations for Paramount.
It is slightly up on locations to Scream – the fifth film in the slasher series – which opened to an impressive £2.5m from 622 sites in January 2022, at an average of £3,955, making it the highest-performing horror title since the pandemic at the UK-Ireland box office.
Recent horrors to do well in the territory includes Universal’s M3GAN, the second best-performer for the genre since the pandemic,...
- 3/10/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Bent Hamer’s films are known for their deadpan humour but nothing funny – nor sad, nor plausible – happens in this film about a man whose job is to break the news to those whose relations have been killed
Bent Hamer is a Norwegian film-maker who began his career with quirky absurdist movies in the 00s such as Kitchen Stories and O’Horten, and also his rather tougher film Factotum from 2005 – a fictionalised study of Charles Bukowski starring Matt Dillon. Perhaps Hamer’s career benefited a good deal from international festival juries having a soft spot for his kind of goofy deadpan humour, but I was never entirely sure exactly how funny or meaningful his creations ultimately were. However, his film-making had a certain rigour and poise.
The same, sadly, can’t be said for his new film, set in some featureless anytown in North America, in which a bland young guy...
Bent Hamer is a Norwegian film-maker who began his career with quirky absurdist movies in the 00s such as Kitchen Stories and O’Horten, and also his rather tougher film Factotum from 2005 – a fictionalised study of Charles Bukowski starring Matt Dillon. Perhaps Hamer’s career benefited a good deal from international festival juries having a soft spot for his kind of goofy deadpan humour, but I was never entirely sure exactly how funny or meaningful his creations ultimately were. However, his film-making had a certain rigour and poise.
The same, sadly, can’t be said for his new film, set in some featureless anytown in North America, in which a bland young guy...
- 3/7/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Click here to read the full article.
American actor Matt Dillon, whose career has ranged from gritty independent cinema with Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989) through the blockbuster comedy of the Farrelly brothers’ There’s Something About Mary (1998) to the European auteur cinema of Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2018) and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic (2019), will be honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Locarno International Film Festival.
Dillon will receive his award in Locarno on August 4. The festival will pay tribute to the versatile actor with a screening of Drugstore Cowboy and City of Ghosts, Dillon’s 2002 directorial debut. Dillon will also participate in a Q&a with the Locarno audience Friday, Aug. 5.
Since his film debut at age 14, in Jonathan Kaplan’s cult classic Over the Edge (1979), Dillon has carved out a unique career moving seamlessly between the indie cinema of Gus Van Sant and...
American actor Matt Dillon, whose career has ranged from gritty independent cinema with Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989) through the blockbuster comedy of the Farrelly brothers’ There’s Something About Mary (1998) to the European auteur cinema of Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2018) and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic (2019), will be honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Locarno International Film Festival.
Dillon will receive his award in Locarno on August 4. The festival will pay tribute to the versatile actor with a screening of Drugstore Cowboy and City of Ghosts, Dillon’s 2002 directorial debut. Dillon will also participate in a Q&a with the Locarno audience Friday, Aug. 5.
Since his film debut at age 14, in Jonathan Kaplan’s cult classic Over the Edge (1979), Dillon has carved out a unique career moving seamlessly between the indie cinema of Gus Van Sant and...
- 6/21/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Death is a hard way to make a living." LevelFilm has revealed an official trailer for the indie dark comedy The Middle Man, the latest film made by an award-winning Norwegian filmmaker named Bent Hamer - one of his biggest hits was the indie Factotum from 2005 with Matt Dillon. This new one already premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, but it hasn't made its way down to the US yet despite taking place in the US. The film is set in Karmack, a small town in the American Midwest that is so economically depressed that it hires Frank Farrelli as a middle man to deliver bad news to people because none of the residents can bear to do it themselves anymore. Norwegian actor Pål Sverre Hagen stars as Frank, with a cast including Don McKellar, Kenneth Welsh, Paul Gross, Trond Fausa, Aksel Hennie, and Bill Lake. This looks like a very strange,...
- 5/18/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Cologne-based The Match Factory, one of the world’s leading arthouse sales agencies, is at Mia Market in Rome with two German features and one upcoming Italian project, following a busy summer with 20 premieres between Cannes and Toronto.
Nana Neul, best known for her film “My Friend From Faro,” is back with an entertaining German-Italian-Greek feature “Daughters,” starring Birgit Minichmayr, Alexandra Maria Lara and Josef Bierbichler. Produced by Germany’s Heimatfilm and distributed by Warner Bros Germany, the comedy hit German cinemas last week and has its international market premiere at Mia on Friday. The international festival premiere will follow soon.
Andreas Kleinert’s “Dear Thomas” is an authentic portrait of Thomas Brasch, one of the most talked about German authors of the last 50 years. The film stars the German actor Albrecht Schuch from “System Crasher,” “Berlin Alexanderplatz” and “Fabian: Going to the Dogs.” It celebrated its world premiere in...
Nana Neul, best known for her film “My Friend From Faro,” is back with an entertaining German-Italian-Greek feature “Daughters,” starring Birgit Minichmayr, Alexandra Maria Lara and Josef Bierbichler. Produced by Germany’s Heimatfilm and distributed by Warner Bros Germany, the comedy hit German cinemas last week and has its international market premiere at Mia on Friday. The international festival premiere will follow soon.
Andreas Kleinert’s “Dear Thomas” is an authentic portrait of Thomas Brasch, one of the most talked about German authors of the last 50 years. The film stars the German actor Albrecht Schuch from “System Crasher,” “Berlin Alexanderplatz” and “Fabian: Going to the Dogs.” It celebrated its world premiere in...
- 10/15/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Don’t be surprised if you feel disoriented watching Bent Hamer’s dark, absurdist comedy, which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The director-screenwriter is Norwegian, adapting a book written by a Norwegian-Danish author. The cast includes European and Canadian actors speaking English with varied accents, and although the shooting locations were Canada and Germany, the action takes place in a small town somewhere in the American Rust Belt. The deadpan tone is redolent of the work of many Scandinavian filmmakers, including Aki Kaurismaki and Roy Andersson. The resultant polyglot feeling, presumably meant to feel universal, only underscores the confused ...
- 9/20/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Don’t be surprised if you feel disoriented watching Bent Hamer’s dark, absurdist comedy, which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The director-screenwriter is Norwegian, adapting a book written by a Norwegian-Danish author. The cast includes European and Canadian actors speaking English with varied accents, and although the shooting locations were Canada and Germany, the action takes place in a small town somewhere in the American Rust Belt. The deadpan tone is redolent of the work of many Scandinavian filmmakers, including Aki Kaurismaki and Roy Andersson. The resultant polyglot feeling, presumably meant to feel universal, only underscores the confused ...
- 9/20/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Frank Farelli (Pål Sverre Hagen) has been unemployed in a dying town for quite some time. The area used to attract visitors in the past—not many, but enough to staff a hotel that’s now been closed for years. So too has the local movie theater. As the so-called “Commission” explains it, they may not be able to keep the streetlights going thanks to a dwindling budget caused by a lack of taxpayers. Not only has most of the town left, but those who inexplicably remain are currently suffering from a rash of accidental tragedies. And since Town Hall consists of those three men and a secretary (Tuva Novotny’s Brenda), someone is needed to break the bad news.
Enter a newly formed government position: The Middle Man. It won’t be easy, but Frank used to work a train station window before it also shut down and left...
Enter a newly formed government position: The Middle Man. It won’t be easy, but Frank used to work a train station window before it also shut down and left...
- 9/13/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
With a full year of creative pauses and improvisational workflow behind them, Canadian producers hit the 2021 Toronto festival bullish that in-person screenings and heightened fall fest excitement will focus critics and sales buzz to connect their films with audiences beyond their home turf.
Luc Dery and Kim McCraw of Montreal’s micro_scope, who introduced Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” and Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” to North American audiences at TIFF, return with Ivan Grbovic’s “Drunken Birds” (pictured), one of eight titles screening in Platform, the festival’s juried competition program.
Jorge Antonio Guerrero (“Roma”) stars as a Mexican drug-cartel worker who falls in love with his boss’s wife and whose pursuit of her lands him in rural Quebec, where he gets mixed up in his host family’s troubles. The film is exec produced by Nicolas Celis (“Roma”), with Wazabi Films selling.
“The marketplace is quite brutal right now,...
Luc Dery and Kim McCraw of Montreal’s micro_scope, who introduced Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” and Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” to North American audiences at TIFF, return with Ivan Grbovic’s “Drunken Birds” (pictured), one of eight titles screening in Platform, the festival’s juried competition program.
Jorge Antonio Guerrero (“Roma”) stars as a Mexican drug-cartel worker who falls in love with his boss’s wife and whose pursuit of her lands him in rural Quebec, where he gets mixed up in his host family’s troubles. The film is exec produced by Nicolas Celis (“Roma”), with Wazabi Films selling.
“The marketplace is quite brutal right now,...
- 9/10/2021
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
Festival issues list of talent expected to attend TIFF.
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has added the world premiere of a hitherto secret Steven Soderbergh film to the line-up ahead of the festival’s start next week.
The film was programmed in collaboration with the veteran filmmaker and further details will be announced in due course. Soderbergh was one of three Oscar show producers earlier this year and last played TIFF with The Laundromat in 2019.
“It wouldn’t be TIFF if we didn’t have a surprise element to tease out — and this year it’s coming from a TIFF friend,...
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has added the world premiere of a hitherto secret Steven Soderbergh film to the line-up ahead of the festival’s start next week.
The film was programmed in collaboration with the veteran filmmaker and further details will be announced in due course. Soderbergh was one of three Oscar show producers earlier this year and last played TIFF with The Laundromat in 2019.
“It wouldn’t be TIFF if we didn’t have a surprise element to tease out — and this year it’s coming from a TIFF friend,...
- 9/2/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
I remain committed to showcasing key art that makes good use of textured wallpaper. In this case, the poster is for a Canadian/Norwegian production from deadpan director Bent Hamer. Hamer's films are difficult to describe, oddball dramas, subtle comedies, ultra-niche subjects; however, they are full of delightful observations about people. Here the image of a pressed suit is the showcase for an accident-plagued town that hires a "Middle Man" to break bad news to a resident's family in the case of injury or death. While there is a superb mixture of Canadian, Norwegian and Danish talent in this English language film, the poster designer opted for the striking image of an anonymous black suit as the singular image, with unfussy block yellow text, and an...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/20/2021
- Screen Anarchy
BenedictionThe lineup has been unveiled for the 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which will take place over 10 days (September 9-18) both in-person and physically in Toronto, and digitally across Canada. Wavelengths - FEATURESFutura (Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher)The Girl and the Spider (Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher)Neptune Frost (Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman)A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette)The Tsugua Diaries (Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes)Wavelengths - SHORTSThe Capacity for Adequate Anger (Vika Kirchenbauer)Dear Chantal (Querida Chantal) (Nicolás Pereda)earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto)Inner Outer Space (Laida Lertxundi)Polycephaly in D (Michael Robinson)“The red filter is withdrawn.” (Minjung Kim)Train Again (Peter Tscherkassky)Midnight Madness After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (Bertrand Mandico)Dashcam (Rob Savage)Saloum (Jean Luc Herbulot)Titane (Julia Ducournau)You Are Not My Mother (Kate Dolan)Zalava (Arsalan Amiri)TIFF DOCSAttica (Stanley Nelson)Beba (Rebeca Huntt)Becoming Cousteau...
- 8/4/2021
- MUBI
Festival will open with Stephen Chbosky’s ‘Dear Evan Hansen’.
The world premiere of Stephen Chbosky’s musical adaptation Dear Evan Hansen will open 2021 Toronto International film Festival, which runs from September 9-18.
Playing as a Gala Presentation, the film is one of 20 additions to the programme, alongside the North American premiere of Zhang Yimou’s One Second as the closing night film. Shortly after the line-up announcement, Neon said it had acquired the film for North America.
Other newly-announced Gala Presentation world premieres include Walt Becker’s Clifford The Big Red Dog; and Barry Levinson’s The Survivor starring Ben Foster.
The world premiere of Stephen Chbosky’s musical adaptation Dear Evan Hansen will open 2021 Toronto International film Festival, which runs from September 9-18.
Playing as a Gala Presentation, the film is one of 20 additions to the programme, alongside the North American premiere of Zhang Yimou’s One Second as the closing night film. Shortly after the line-up announcement, Neon said it had acquired the film for North America.
Other newly-announced Gala Presentation world premieres include Walt Becker’s Clifford The Big Red Dog; and Barry Levinson’s The Survivor starring Ben Foster.
- 7/20/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Festival will open with Stephen Chbosky’s ‘Dear Evan Hansen’.
The world premiere of Stephen Chbosky’s musical adaptation Dear Evan Hansen will open 2021 Toronto International film Festival, which runs from September 9-18.
Playing as a Gala Presentation, the film is one of 20 additions to the programme, alongside the North American premiere of Zhang Yimou’s One Second as the closing night film. Shortly after the line-up announcement, Neon said it had acquired the film for North America.
Other newly-announced Gala Presentation world premieres include Walt Becker’s Clifford The Big Red Dog; and Barry Levinson’s The Survivor starring Ben Foster.
The world premiere of Stephen Chbosky’s musical adaptation Dear Evan Hansen will open 2021 Toronto International film Festival, which runs from September 9-18.
Playing as a Gala Presentation, the film is one of 20 additions to the programme, alongside the North American premiere of Zhang Yimou’s One Second as the closing night film. Shortly after the line-up announcement, Neon said it had acquired the film for North America.
Other newly-announced Gala Presentation world premieres include Walt Becker’s Clifford The Big Red Dog; and Barry Levinson’s The Survivor starring Ben Foster.
- 7/20/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Taking place September 9-18, Toronto International Film Festival will feature a mix of in-person as well as digital screenings. On the heels of an initial lineup announcement that included Terence Davies’ Benediction, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, and more, they’ve now unveiled more of their slate.
Featuring 2021 festival highlights from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Mia Hansen-Løve, Céline Sciamma, and Joachim Trier, the lineup also includes Michael Showalter’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Michael Pearce’s Riz Ahmed-led Encounter (pictured above), Phillip Noyce’s Lakewood, Mélanie Laurent’s The Mad Women’s Ball, Zhang Yimou’s One Second, Fabrice du Welz’s Inexorable, and more.
See the lineup below.
Gala Presentations 2021
*previously announced
*Belfast Kenneth Branagh | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Clifford the Big Red Dog Walt Becker | USA/United Kingdom/Canada
World Premiere
.Opening Night Film.
Dear Evan Hansen Stephen Chbosky | USA
World Premiere
The Electrical...
Featuring 2021 festival highlights from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Mia Hansen-Løve, Céline Sciamma, and Joachim Trier, the lineup also includes Michael Showalter’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Michael Pearce’s Riz Ahmed-led Encounter (pictured above), Phillip Noyce’s Lakewood, Mélanie Laurent’s The Mad Women’s Ball, Zhang Yimou’s One Second, Fabrice du Welz’s Inexorable, and more.
See the lineup below.
Gala Presentations 2021
*previously announced
*Belfast Kenneth Branagh | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Clifford the Big Red Dog Walt Becker | USA/United Kingdom/Canada
World Premiere
.Opening Night Film.
Dear Evan Hansen Stephen Chbosky | USA
World Premiere
The Electrical...
- 7/20/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Toronto Film Festival organizers declared two weeks ago they will be welcoming back in-person audiences for a fest that will run from September 9-18. This after Canada made an exemption to allow for the National Hockey League playoffs to happen in country, and more recently that the Toronto Blue Jays will resume playing in the ballpark on Blue Jay Way by the end of the month. The fest also allowed fans to wet their beaks with a few films that were set.
On Tuesday morning, Tff unveiled its first big batch of premieres and galas. Co-heads Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey have set Dear Evan Hansen at the Opening Night Gala Presentation, with the Stephen Chbosky-directed adaptation of the Broadway hit to premiere September 9 at Roy Thomson Hall.
The festival will close with the Zhang Yimou-directed One Second. That film was originally due to play in 2019 Berlinale, but was...
On Tuesday morning, Tff unveiled its first big batch of premieres and galas. Co-heads Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey have set Dear Evan Hansen at the Opening Night Gala Presentation, with the Stephen Chbosky-directed adaptation of the Broadway hit to premiere September 9 at Roy Thomson Hall.
The festival will close with the Zhang Yimou-directed One Second. That film was originally due to play in 2019 Berlinale, but was...
- 7/20/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The Middle Man
2020 should see the premiere of Norwegian auteur Bent Hamer’s long-awaited eighth film The Middle Man, which will star actor/director Tuva Novotny and Pal Sverre Hagen. John Christian Rosenlund serves as Dp on the Norwegian-Canadian-German co-production. Hamer has become one of Norway’s most noted art-house auteurs, thanks partially to his programming at Cannes, where his 1995 debut Eggs played in Directors’ Fortnight, as did his 2005 English language debut Factotum. His 2007 title O’Horten played in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.…...
2020 should see the premiere of Norwegian auteur Bent Hamer’s long-awaited eighth film The Middle Man, which will star actor/director Tuva Novotny and Pal Sverre Hagen. John Christian Rosenlund serves as Dp on the Norwegian-Canadian-German co-production. Hamer has become one of Norway’s most noted art-house auteurs, thanks partially to his programming at Cannes, where his 1995 debut Eggs played in Directors’ Fortnight, as did his 2005 English language debut Factotum. His 2007 title O’Horten played in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.…...
- 1/1/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
From TorontoFilm.Net here is the Toronto Film Production Update for October 2019 including "Titans", "The Boys", "Jupiter's Legacy" and a whole lot more:
Against The Wild III
The Journey Home
Feature Films – Theatrical
Prod.: Jesse Ikeman
Dir.: Richard Boddington
Oct 2 - Oct 30/19
Angel Falls 2
Movies for Television
Hp Angel Falls 2 Productions Inc.
Prod.: David Anslemo, James Moorhouse
Dir.: Jonathan Wright
Oct 7 - Oct 26/19
Coroner Season 2
Episodic Series – TV
Coroner 2 Productions (Ontario) Inc.
Prod.: Suzanne Colvin-Golding
Exec. Prod.: Adrienne Mitchell, Jonas Prupas, Morwyn Brebner,
Dir.: Adrienne Mitchell, Winne Jong, Charles Officer
Aug 19 – Nov 6/19
Cosmic Dawn
Feature Films – Theatrical
CosmicDawn Entertainment Inc.
Prod.: Joseph Raso, Mark Raso, Brian Robertson
Sept 30 - Nov 1/19
Dodge And Miles Season 1
Episodic Series – Streaming
Sagia Productions Inc./
CBS Studios
Prod.: John Weber
Sep 23 - Nov 22/19
Endlings Season 2
Episodic Series – TV
Sinking Ship Entertainment Inc.
Co-Prod.: Alexis Grieve
Line Prod.
Against The Wild III
The Journey Home
Feature Films – Theatrical
Prod.: Jesse Ikeman
Dir.: Richard Boddington
Oct 2 - Oct 30/19
Angel Falls 2
Movies for Television
Hp Angel Falls 2 Productions Inc.
Prod.: David Anslemo, James Moorhouse
Dir.: Jonathan Wright
Oct 7 - Oct 26/19
Coroner Season 2
Episodic Series – TV
Coroner 2 Productions (Ontario) Inc.
Prod.: Suzanne Colvin-Golding
Exec. Prod.: Adrienne Mitchell, Jonas Prupas, Morwyn Brebner,
Dir.: Adrienne Mitchell, Winne Jong, Charles Officer
Aug 19 – Nov 6/19
Cosmic Dawn
Feature Films – Theatrical
CosmicDawn Entertainment Inc.
Prod.: Joseph Raso, Mark Raso, Brian Robertson
Sept 30 - Nov 1/19
Dodge And Miles Season 1
Episodic Series – Streaming
Sagia Productions Inc./
CBS Studios
Prod.: John Weber
Sep 23 - Nov 22/19
Endlings Season 2
Episodic Series – TV
Sinking Ship Entertainment Inc.
Co-Prod.: Alexis Grieve
Line Prod.
- 10/2/2019
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Haugesund, Norway — Actress-turned-helmer Tuva Novotny thrives on big challenges. Her feature debut “Blindspot,” Norway’s entry for the 2019 Nordic Council Prize, was shot in real-time in one take and illuminates mental health issues.
Her sophomore mainstream Swedish pic “Britt Marie Was Here” –slated for a Sept. 20 U.S. release via Cohen Media Group – was based on Fredrik Backman’s best-selling novel. With her third directing endeavor “Diorama,” produced by Nordisk Film, she will take a new leap.
“After ‘Blindspot’ and ‘Britt Marie Was Here,’ I felt safer about directing small or bigger-budget movies and taking on new creative challenges,” the helmer told Variety.
Anxious to tell urgent stories that “not only entertain the audience but also make them reflect, Novotny says her next film will depict what she calls “biological human monogamy.”
“I’m interested in examining the normative boundaries and common patterns of human monogamy and question if the...
Her sophomore mainstream Swedish pic “Britt Marie Was Here” –slated for a Sept. 20 U.S. release via Cohen Media Group – was based on Fredrik Backman’s best-selling novel. With her third directing endeavor “Diorama,” produced by Nordisk Film, she will take a new leap.
“After ‘Blindspot’ and ‘Britt Marie Was Here,’ I felt safer about directing small or bigger-budget movies and taking on new creative challenges,” the helmer told Variety.
Anxious to tell urgent stories that “not only entertain the audience but also make them reflect, Novotny says her next film will depict what she calls “biological human monogamy.”
“I’m interested in examining the normative boundaries and common patterns of human monogamy and question if the...
- 8/22/2019
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
With more international co-productions in cinemas than ever before and a new crop of high-profile titles this year, Germany’s renown as fertile ground for foreign filmmakers continues to soar.
The number of German-backed cross-border titles in local theaters rose 30% last year to 98 — the most ever — and the trend looks set to continue. This year a slew of German co-productions are vying for Cannes’ Palme d’Or, among them Terrence Malick’s historical drama “A Hidden Life”; Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi thriller “Little Joe”; Marco Bellocchio’s mafia pic “The Traitor”; Corneliu Porumboiu’s “The Whistlers”; and Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven.”
Key to the country’s filmmaking allure is a generous system of federal and regional funding sources and a dynamic film industry geared toward international co-production.
Leading companies include Pallas Films, whose credits include “It Must Be Heaven” and Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka”; Pandora Film, co-producer...
The number of German-backed cross-border titles in local theaters rose 30% last year to 98 — the most ever — and the trend looks set to continue. This year a slew of German co-productions are vying for Cannes’ Palme d’Or, among them Terrence Malick’s historical drama “A Hidden Life”; Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi thriller “Little Joe”; Marco Bellocchio’s mafia pic “The Traitor”; Corneliu Porumboiu’s “The Whistlers”; and Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven.”
Key to the country’s filmmaking allure is a generous system of federal and regional funding sources and a dynamic film industry geared toward international co-production.
Leading companies include Pallas Films, whose credits include “It Must Be Heaven” and Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka”; Pandora Film, co-producer...
- 5/14/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Cold Pursuit is latest in a series of Liam Neeson revenge pictures. It is a remake of Hans Petter Moland's (here directing again) thriller, In Order Of Disappearance, which starred Stellan Skarsgård and Bruno Ganz. The 2014 version had a swanky retro poster. The new film might a first glance look like any run of the mill procedural, although points for credit block placement, and intrepid use of negative space. Buried in the middle of the snowy whitespace, the tagline, "Citizen of the Year" drops the hint that the film will retain its dry, dark sense of humour, a hallmark of this type Norwegian movie-making, from Troll Hunter to Jo Nesbø adaptations, and even the more gentle cinema of Bent Hamer. It is subtle, and...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 12/14/2018
- Screen Anarchy
At a time when the arthouse market is struggling with declining viewers, Germany’s Pandora Film continues to achieve success in both production and distribution with an eclectic lineup of domestic and international films.
The Cologne-based company’s shareholders, producers Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel, Reinhard Brundig and Raimond Goebel, attribute their strong performance in part to their close working relationships with filmmakers. Pandora’s recent co-productions include Claire Denis’ upcoming science fiction drama “High Life,” starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche, Marcelo Martinessi’s award-winning Paraguayan drama “The Heiresses” and Ulrich Köhler’s German feature “In My Room,” which premieres in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
Steffen and Friedel spoke with Variety about the company’s latest productions, the current industry climate and the company’s inner workings.
Where is Pandora Film today, both as a producer-distributor in Germany as well as a key co-production partner for international filmmakers?
Steffen: With...
The Cologne-based company’s shareholders, producers Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel, Reinhard Brundig and Raimond Goebel, attribute their strong performance in part to their close working relationships with filmmakers. Pandora’s recent co-productions include Claire Denis’ upcoming science fiction drama “High Life,” starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche, Marcelo Martinessi’s award-winning Paraguayan drama “The Heiresses” and Ulrich Köhler’s German feature “In My Room,” which premieres in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
Steffen and Friedel spoke with Variety about the company’s latest productions, the current industry climate and the company’s inner workings.
Where is Pandora Film today, both as a producer-distributor in Germany as well as a key co-production partner for international filmmakers?
Steffen: With...
- 5/12/2018
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
As the arthouse market is struggling with declining audiences, Germany’s Pandora Film continues to achieve success in both production and distribution with an eclectic lineup.
The Cologne-based company’s shareholders — producers Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel, Reinhard Brundig and Raimond Goebel — attribute their strong performance in part to their close working relationships with filmmakers. Pandora’s recent co-productions include Claire Denis’ upcoming science-fiction drama “High Life,” starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche; Marcelo Martinessi’s award-winning Paraguayan drama “The Heiresses”; and Ulrich Koehler’s German feature “In My Room,” which premieres in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
Steffen and Friedel spoke with Variety about the company’s latest productions, the current industry climate and the company’s inner workings.
Where is Pandora Film today, both as a producer-distributor in Germany and as a key partner for international filmmakers?
Steffen: With our distribution colleagues we have been reacting to the increasingly difficult German arthouse market.
The Cologne-based company’s shareholders — producers Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel, Reinhard Brundig and Raimond Goebel — attribute their strong performance in part to their close working relationships with filmmakers. Pandora’s recent co-productions include Claire Denis’ upcoming science-fiction drama “High Life,” starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche; Marcelo Martinessi’s award-winning Paraguayan drama “The Heiresses”; and Ulrich Koehler’s German feature “In My Room,” which premieres in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
Steffen and Friedel spoke with Variety about the company’s latest productions, the current industry climate and the company’s inner workings.
Where is Pandora Film today, both as a producer-distributor in Germany and as a key partner for international filmmakers?
Steffen: With our distribution colleagues we have been reacting to the increasingly difficult German arthouse market.
- 5/12/2018
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
€5m funding is shared between 17 fiction, 2 animation and 1 documentary films.
Following its 150th meeting in Yerevan, Armenia from March 13-16, European cinema body Eurimages has awarded funding to 20 film projects.
Of the supported titles, 17 are fiction, two are animated and one is a documentary. 30% of those receiving support have female directors, who cumulatively receive 34% of the total money awarded.
See below for the full list of projects
Among the projects are Bergman Island, the next film from French director Mia Hansen-Løve (Things To Come). Launched at Cannes last year, the story centres on an American filmmaking couple who find the...
Following its 150th meeting in Yerevan, Armenia from March 13-16, European cinema body Eurimages has awarded funding to 20 film projects.
Of the supported titles, 17 are fiction, two are animated and one is a documentary. 30% of those receiving support have female directors, who cumulatively receive 34% of the total money awarded.
See below for the full list of projects
Among the projects are Bergman Island, the next film from French director Mia Hansen-Løve (Things To Come). Launched at Cannes last year, the story centres on an American filmmaking couple who find the...
- 3/19/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Duo first collaborated on Berlinale Generation title Adam.
Veteran indie producer Jim Stark is to continue his collaboration with the Icelandic filmmaker Maria Solrun on her third feature Man In The Storeroom after their first partnership on the Berlinale Generation title Adam.
“Adam benefited a great deal from Jim’s long experience and extensive contacts,” said Solrun who produced the project through the Berlin-based production outfit Big Key Film which she set up last year with her actor son Magnus Mariuson, who also played the lead role.
“We all want to do Man In The Storeroom with a larger budget...
Veteran indie producer Jim Stark is to continue his collaboration with the Icelandic filmmaker Maria Solrun on her third feature Man In The Storeroom after their first partnership on the Berlinale Generation title Adam.
“Adam benefited a great deal from Jim’s long experience and extensive contacts,” said Solrun who produced the project through the Berlin-based production outfit Big Key Film which she set up last year with her actor son Magnus Mariuson, who also played the lead role.
“We all want to do Man In The Storeroom with a larger budget...
- 3/14/2018
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
It will be the Norwegian filmmaker’s fifth collaboration with Cologne-based Pandora Film Production.
The Match Factory has boarded Bent Hamer’s new feature The Middle Man as international sales agent. It will be the Norwegian filmmaker’s fifth collaboration with Cologne-based Pandora Film Production after O’Horten, Factotum, Kitchen Stories and 1001 Grams.
Pandora Film’s Claudia Steffen, one of the co-producers of Berlin Competition title The Heiresses, revealed that the English-language film will be a co-production between Hamer’s BulBul Film, Pandora Film and Canada’s The Film Farm, with principal photography planned for this summer on location in Manitoba and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Pandora Verleih will release the film theatrically in Germany in 2019.
Based in part on a 2012 novel by Norwegian author Lars Saabye Christensen and described as “a bizarre and absurd look at Trump’s USA”, the €3.4m production is set in Karmack, a small town in the Midwest with a declining population and a wrecked...
The Match Factory has boarded Bent Hamer’s new feature The Middle Man as international sales agent. It will be the Norwegian filmmaker’s fifth collaboration with Cologne-based Pandora Film Production after O’Horten, Factotum, Kitchen Stories and 1001 Grams.
Pandora Film’s Claudia Steffen, one of the co-producers of Berlin Competition title The Heiresses, revealed that the English-language film will be a co-production between Hamer’s BulBul Film, Pandora Film and Canada’s The Film Farm, with principal photography planned for this summer on location in Manitoba and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Pandora Verleih will release the film theatrically in Germany in 2019.
Based in part on a 2012 novel by Norwegian author Lars Saabye Christensen and described as “a bizarre and absurd look at Trump’s USA”, the €3.4m production is set in Karmack, a small town in the Midwest with a declining population and a wrecked...
- 2/17/2018
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
It will be the Norwegian filmmaker’s fifth collaboration with Cologne-based Pandora Film Production.
The Match Factory has boarded Bent Hamer’s new feature The Middle Man as international sales agent. It will be the Norwegian filmmaker’s fifth collaboration with Cologne-based Pandora Film Production after O’Horten, Factotum, Kitchen Stories and 1001 Grams.
Pandora Film’s Claudia Steffen, one of the co-producers of Berlin Competition title The Heiresses, revealed that the English-language film will be a co-production between Hamer’s BulBul Film, Pandora Film and Canada’s The Film Farm, with principal photography planned for this summer on location in Manitoba and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Pandora Verleih will release the film theatrically in Germany in 2019.
Based in part on a 2012 novel by Norwegian author Lars Saabye Christensen and described as “a bizarre and absurd look at Trump’s USA”, the €3.4m production is set in Karmack, a small town in the Midwest with a declining population and a wrecked...
The Match Factory has boarded Bent Hamer’s new feature The Middle Man as international sales agent. It will be the Norwegian filmmaker’s fifth collaboration with Cologne-based Pandora Film Production after O’Horten, Factotum, Kitchen Stories and 1001 Grams.
Pandora Film’s Claudia Steffen, one of the co-producers of Berlin Competition title The Heiresses, revealed that the English-language film will be a co-production between Hamer’s BulBul Film, Pandora Film and Canada’s The Film Farm, with principal photography planned for this summer on location in Manitoba and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Pandora Verleih will release the film theatrically in Germany in 2019.
Based in part on a 2012 novel by Norwegian author Lars Saabye Christensen and described as “a bizarre and absurd look at Trump’s USA”, the €3.4m production is set in Karmack, a small town in the Midwest with a declining population and a wrecked...
- 2/17/2018
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
This first feature of Kirsten Tan premiered in Sundance ‘17 World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Its provenance is Singapore but it takes place in Thailand. It continued onward to the Hivos Tiger Competition at Iffr (R’dam).
The thrill of interviewing here in Sundance is that you see a film; you have an impression and while it is still fresh you meet the filmmakers without having much time for any research or reflection. And then you get to see them again as “old friends” when you meet again in Rotterdam.
As Kirsten, her producer Weijie Lai and I sat down at the Sundance Co-op on Main Street here in Park City, I really had little idea of where the interview would take us, somewhat analogously to her film in which an architect, disenchanted with life in general, being put aside as “old” in his own highly successful architectural firm and in a stale relationship with his wife,...
The thrill of interviewing here in Sundance is that you see a film; you have an impression and while it is still fresh you meet the filmmakers without having much time for any research or reflection. And then you get to see them again as “old friends” when you meet again in Rotterdam.
As Kirsten, her producer Weijie Lai and I sat down at the Sundance Co-op on Main Street here in Park City, I really had little idea of where the interview would take us, somewhat analogously to her film in which an architect, disenchanted with life in general, being put aside as “old” in his own highly successful architectural firm and in a stale relationship with his wife,...
- 2/7/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The winner of the Eurimages Lab Project Award from Haugesund’s Works In Progress presentations was Katrín Ólafsdóttirs The Wind Blew On from Iceland.
The new prize, worth $56,000 (€50,000) was given to “the most promising cutting-edge film presented as a work in progress”.
The jury was comprised of Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer, Dorien van de Pas of the Netherlands Filmfund, and Heidi Zwicker of Sundance.
Head of New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust noted that the award was aimed at a film that was “experimental in form or content”.
Of the 20 films presented, industry buzz was highest for pitches including Izer Aliu’s energetic and funny teenage story 12 Dares; Norwegian debut The Tree Feller; Fenar Ahmad’s Danish criminal underworld drama/thriller Darkland, Danish debut Winter Brothers; family animation Richard The Stork (already a hot seller for Global Screen); absurdist Norwegian comedy Lake Over Fire; and Danish drama Mesteren, starring Soren Malling and Jakob Oftebro and directed by [link...
The new prize, worth $56,000 (€50,000) was given to “the most promising cutting-edge film presented as a work in progress”.
The jury was comprised of Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer, Dorien van de Pas of the Netherlands Filmfund, and Heidi Zwicker of Sundance.
Head of New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust noted that the award was aimed at a film that was “experimental in form or content”.
Of the 20 films presented, industry buzz was highest for pitches including Izer Aliu’s energetic and funny teenage story 12 Dares; Norwegian debut The Tree Feller; Fenar Ahmad’s Danish criminal underworld drama/thriller Darkland, Danish debut Winter Brothers; family animation Richard The Stork (already a hot seller for Global Screen); absurdist Norwegian comedy Lake Over Fire; and Danish drama Mesteren, starring Soren Malling and Jakob Oftebro and directed by [link...
- 8/26/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Simon Brew Jul 29, 2016
The co-director of Finding Dory on making the film. Plus, he recommends an awful lot of movies to watch...
From working as an animator on A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2, through to directing shorts such as Burn-e and Toy Story Of Terror, Angus MacLane has worked his way up through his career at Pixar. So much so, that he’s now making his feature co-directing debut on Finding Dory, that lands in UK cinemas today.
He spared us some time for a chat – and it’s worth staying to the end where he starts firing out film recommendations….
I first spoke to you eight or nine years ago when you were talking about Wall-e, that you were supervising animator. And you told me then of an eight-year old who asked you a question about that film at a Q&A. And I do think...
The co-director of Finding Dory on making the film. Plus, he recommends an awful lot of movies to watch...
From working as an animator on A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2, through to directing shorts such as Burn-e and Toy Story Of Terror, Angus MacLane has worked his way up through his career at Pixar. So much so, that he’s now making his feature co-directing debut on Finding Dory, that lands in UK cinemas today.
He spared us some time for a chat – and it’s worth staying to the end where he starts firing out film recommendations….
I first spoke to you eight or nine years ago when you were talking about Wall-e, that you were supervising animator. And you told me then of an eight-year old who asked you a question about that film at a Q&A. And I do think...
- 7/28/2016
- Den of Geek
Rough tenderness forged from a life of silent hard work and self-imposed isolation is the defining quality of Grímur Hákonarson’s
characters and the trials they endure in “Rams,” a story about brotherly love gone awry set in the vast Icelandic countryside mostly populated by highly-regarded sheep. As is often the case with Scandinavian cinema, the film’s narrative is enhanced by its clever and precise use of dark and dry humor. However, Hákonarson’s rural portrayal of a relationship in need of mending is grounded on compelling human interpersonal afflictions, which serves as a sensible vehicle for the comedy to be delivered.
During a local competition between sheep farmers, Gummi, a levelheaded man who enjoys the pleasures of solitude, notices that his brother Kiddi’s most precious ram shows signs of a scrapie, a deadly and infectious disease that can kill entire flocks. Though the simplest way to ensure the safety of everyone’s sheep would be to talk to his brother, Gummi is aware this is not a viable path because, despite living on the same property they entire lives, they haven’t spoken in several decades. The looming possibility of losing their shared livelihood will widen the emotional gap between the two, one that can only be resolved if they join forces against the mortal virus and the authorities. Authentically Icelandic in content and execution, "Rams" was Iceland's official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards.
In our recent conversation with the Cannes-winning Icelandic filmmakers, Hákonarson discussed the relationship between the location and the film's visual approach, his homelands deeply ingrained love for sheep, the emerging local film industry, and the casting process to find the right four-legged stars for "Rams."
Carlos Aguilar: Tell me about the importance of sheep in Icelandic culture. Why do you think Icelandic people relate to these animals in such endearing fashion? They seem to not only be part of the pastoral lifestyle but of their interpersonal relationships.
Grímur Hákonarson: When the first settlers came to Iceland, the Vikings who came from Norway, they brought the sheep with them. Sheep were the main livelihood throughout the centuries. They used the wool for clothing and the meat and milk to feed themselves. It was their main livelihood. We didn’t have so many cows. People ate or use every part of the sheep except the anus. The anus was the only part people didn’t utilize. It stayed that way until the 20th century. Older people lived in farms until the 19th century and then it totally changed. Now older people live in the cities. There is this historical and cultural connection between Icelandic people and sheep. The farmers take the sheep to the highlands in the spring, then they have a competition, they hang around drinking and singing songs about sheep, so there is definitely a culture around sheep. But there also seems to be some kind of unexplained spiritual connection between farmers and their sheep. Many farmers say they relate in a stronger emotional way to sheep than to cows. Numerous farmers have told me this. I know farmers that have lost their sheep because of scrapie, and even though they had horses and cows, it was somehow much more difficult for them to get over losing their sheep.
CA: What was the motivation for using a story of two estrange brothers to tackle this singular aspect about Icelandic culture? Was any part of the premise based on actual events or stories you heard from people who made a living as sheep farmers?
Grímur Hákonarson: The film is based on a true story that my father told me years ago about two brothers who lived on the same land next to each other for 40 years and didn’t speak. I thought that story was interesting. I think it’s very Icelandic and it describes us a bit as a nation being an island and being isolated. People tend to be very independent and nationalistic. I also thought these idea could be a tragicomedy. The basic idea of these brothers is funny and sad at the same time. It’s sad that they don’t speak, but it’s also unique situation. I though that was interesting, and on the other hand I also wanted to make a film about this relationship with sheep, so I combined these two ideas.
CA: Both brothers seem to very territorial and they use concrete, not always well-intentioned, acts rather than using language to express their feelings.
Grímur Hákonarson: The reason they don’t speak to each other, of course, is because they don’t need to speak to each other. They act more than they talk. They rather speak to the sheep and they become very close with them. That’s also the reason there is not a lot of dialogue in the movie. It’s told mainly through images and through actions. The story I’m telling affected the filmmaking process in a way because it creates a unique kind of atmosphere. I was trying to capture life in this part of the world, which is kind of slow and relaxed. People live alongside sheep. The visual style of the film is also a bit slow-paced. This visual style is also trying to capture this way of living and its atmosphere.
CA: Did you based these two brothers on real life characters in the story your father told you, were they the result of different traits from people you know, or were they entirely fictitious? Once you have brought them to life on paper, how challenging was it to match them with the right actors?
Grímur Hákonarson: I had some prototypes to base them on. The real life characters died in the 90s because it’s an old story. I never met them, but I had some prototypes based on a pair of brothers I know. These brothers were living together and they were good friends, but they were very different characters. One of them was an introverts and the other was more of an extrovert. One was an alcoholic and the other was more feminine and cleaned and took care of things. I used these guys as prototypes for the characters, and when I selected the actors I knew the actor a little bit and I knew they shared some personality elements with the characters. In a way they were typed-cast both mentally and physically, Sigurður Sigurjónsson who plays Gummi is a small guy, and Theodór Júlíusson, who plays Kiddi, looks more macho and is bigger. They were physically and mentally perfect for the roles. I think that’s a good thing when you are picking an actor. It's important that the actor has experienced something similar or knows something about the inner emotions of the character.
CA: Loneliness comes across as an underlying theme in "Rams." These brothers who live so close to each other are still very lonely by choice. Is this concept something that you decisively considered when creating the characters?
Grímur Hákonarson: Of course, that makes it really tragic. They actually need to talk to each other but they are so stubborn that they never call a mediator or psychiatrist. The dog is the only link between them. Of course there is loneliness. Gummi, the main character, I think he is an introvert and he enjoys his life a lot. He enjoys his life, he is not unhappy. He is quite satisfied with his life, but his older brother is not and that’s because of this division of the land. He is unhappy. The idea was that the older brother Kiddi had had some girlfriends or wives before, but they got sick of him and moved out. Gummi, on the hand, was kind of this puritan who had never had any sex in his life. This loneliness is one of the reasons we shot on CinemaScope with anamorphic lenses. Also, the framing, which is kind of wide and static, was trying to capture this loneliness. They live lonely lives.
CA: In terms of the visual style and your decisions regarding the film's cinematography, how did the landscape and the nature of the story influenced these choices?
Grímur Hákonarson: The characters are living very close to nature and they spend a lot of time on the field with the sheep, so we wanted to capture the landscape and the nature around them and to connect them to it. That’s why we shot it using anamorphic lenses. I think 10 years ago we probably would have shot it on 35mm or 16mm because it’s that kind of film. It’s about these old farmers stuck in the past and it takes place in nature, so we tried to imitate this film look with the anamorphic lenses. The look of the film it’s a bit like a Western, if it had cows perhaps they would look like cowboys. We might have been a bit inspired by a movie like “There Will Be Blood.” There are some shots and scenes in “Rams” that were shot very similarly to those in “There Will Be Blood.” It’s an Icelandic Western with sheep and guns.
CA: I'm curious to know how was the casting process and working dynamic with the sheep. They are the stars of the film. Were they difficult to work with in a film like ths in which they play a very integral part? How did you know which sheep were the right ones to appear on camera?
Grímur Hákonarson: The most important thing was to find the right sheep. We had to select the right sheep and we did sheep casting. We saw a lot of sheep because the sheep that were living on the farm were too afraid of people. They would just ran away from you. We then found these sheep that looked really pretty because they are a good breed, but they were also very calm and they ere used to people. The reason for that is that their owners treat them as pets. They talk to them and pet them like if they were dogs. Those sheep were not afraid of humans. Then we hired a professional sheep farmer to train them and to be with us on set. We rehearsed all the sheep scenes before shooting them, like when Gummi bathes the ram. We said, “Ok lets bathe this ram,” and we found out that we needed five people to hold the ram in the bathtub but we couldn’t have all of them in the shot. When we filmed I told the actor, “ Ok Sigurður they are going to hold the ram but then they are going to run away and you just have to do it yourself and we’ll see what happens.” I said, “Action,” and the guys ran away and the actor was alone trying to hold the ram - it was interesting.
Thomas Vinterberg, who made “Far from the Madding Crowd,“ said that it was a disaster to work with sheep and that it was very difficult, but I have a different opinion about that. We usually didn’t have to shoot many takes with the sheep. Usually we did less than five takes in the scenes involving sheep. The sheep were very professional. Some of the actors went to 12 or 15 takes, but the sheep usually didn’t. They were one-take sheep.
CA: When the disease, scrapie, threatens the farmers way of life in the film a lot of them contemplate leaving it all behind and moving away. Would you say this this way of living is slowly dying not only because of occurrences like this but also because it's being overpowered by modern farming practices?
Grímur Hákonarson: Today there are not many sheep farmers like these brothers who live only from their sheep. It’s becoming more like a hobby today. It’s lees of a business. It’s difficult to make a living from sheep farming. There are not so many farmers like the brothers in the film who can only live from that. They have a tough life. They are quite poor. They can’t afford much. Sheep farming in Iceland has been declining and it’s struggling. It’s always going to be there and it’s always going to be a part of our culture, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to live from it. The brothers in the film are a bit like the last Mohicans. They are the last remains of this old farming society. This disease, scrapie, has caused a lot of harm in Iceland. Sheep are becoming less abundant. About 30 years ago, in the 1980s, there were three times more sheep in Iceland.
CA: Scandinavian humor is clearly idiosyncratic and definitely dry, but you managed to blend the comedy elicited from the characters' circumstance with the emotional poignancy of the story rather organically. How did merging these two tonal elements come about when crafting the film?
Grímur Hákonarson: The basic idea about these brothers living so close together but not speaking to each other is a good premise for black comedy. It has a tragicomic element. That’s why humor is a naturally underlying element throughout the whole film because the basic idea is a bit humorous itself. Then there are some scenes that are very funny of course, and those are supposed to make you laugh. I don’t like to make films that are too serious or too heavy. I try to pick stories that have a little bit of lightness in them and in “Rams,” maybe, I managed to master this balance. Some people cry in “Rams” and it can get really emotional. It has a strong message, but it’s also entertaining. I’m inspired by filmmakers like Aki Kaurismäki, known for his Finnish dark comedies, Bent Hamer in Norway, or Swedish director Roy Andersson. I’m inspired by these Scandinavian directors. My humor is pretty dry and people who know me see Grímur’s humor in the film. If I wasn’t a humorous person I would make different films.
CA: Despite the overall comedic tone of the film, the ending is particularly moving and shows a tenderness we hadn't fully seen before in the film. Why did you feel this was the correct way to conclude this tale about two brothers whose broken relationship gets a second chance thanks to the sheep?
Grímur Hákonarson: I think the ending is symbolic. It’s about these two brothers and their relationship. It’ a very powerful ending and it’s also an open ending. It makes people think and it stays with people. I’m really happy with it. It’s also a kind of risky ending, many people who read the screenplay warned me, “Grímur, you really think it should end like this? You don’t want to explain it a bit more?” But I went for this ending. When I was shooting, making the ending work was one of the most difficult things. It was worth the risk.
CA: Do you have any brothers? If so, is anything in "Rams" specifically related to your personal relationship with your brothers or siblings and what did they think of that being depiction in the film?
Grímur Hákonarson: Yes I have a brother. We were just Skyping recently. He’s seen the film and I think he never though it was about him because we have a good relationship. There is nothing in my family like in the film. My family is quite peaceful, so the story of the brothers is not connected to me personally. What’s connected to me personally is that my mother passed away when I was writing the script. The film is dedicated to her. She grew up on a sheep farm, so I feel like “Rams” is a bit a film about my ancestors, my family, and where we come from.
CA: Considering the acclaim and attention "Rams" received abroad, how as the reaction to the film in Iceland? Was it embrace by your compatriots?
Grímur Hákonarson: It was good. We decided to go straight to cinemas after Cannes to use the attention we got there. We won the Un Certain Regard Prize, it was a big prize for the Icelandic film industry. It’s maybe the biggest prize an Icelandic film has won, so of course it was a big thing. Iceland is a small country. People were really proud of it. I think about 10% of the nation’s population saw the film.
CA: How difficult, financially and logistically, is it to make films in Iceland? It appears that in recent years there has been an explosion of talent that has made a mark in the international festival scenes. What makes these new Icelandic voices distinct from the rest of the world?
Grímur Hákonarson: It’s a small industry. The Icelandic Film Fund is not very big, so we depend on doing co-productions and getting money from abroad. Icelandic films are cheaper to make than those in the rest of Scandinavia - like three times cheaper. “Rams” was made for 1 million Euros, mostly made up of Icelandic money. We got maybe 15% of the money from the Danish Film Fund. We don’t make so many movies so we have to be practical and we have to make contemporary simple stories. We can’t really make an expensive sci-fi film or large period movies in Icelandic. Maybe it’s a bit sad that we haven’t. I think it would be nice to do a costume drama set in the 30s, but it’s not possible to do that in Iceland.
What connect these new directors from Iceland like me, Dagur Kári, Rúnar Rúnarsson, or Benedikt Erlingsson, is that we are making contemporary, humanistic, and simple stories. We are not trying to hunt Hollywood. We are not trying to make blockbusters. Maybe because we don’t have so much money we have to make simple stories and we make films taken from Icelandic reality. Maybe that’s the right recipe for our films. Maybe that’s the reason they are special. Maybe that’s the reason people want to see them.
"Rams" is currently playing in La at the Laemmle Royal and in NYC at the Film Forum and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas...
characters and the trials they endure in “Rams,” a story about brotherly love gone awry set in the vast Icelandic countryside mostly populated by highly-regarded sheep. As is often the case with Scandinavian cinema, the film’s narrative is enhanced by its clever and precise use of dark and dry humor. However, Hákonarson’s rural portrayal of a relationship in need of mending is grounded on compelling human interpersonal afflictions, which serves as a sensible vehicle for the comedy to be delivered.
During a local competition between sheep farmers, Gummi, a levelheaded man who enjoys the pleasures of solitude, notices that his brother Kiddi’s most precious ram shows signs of a scrapie, a deadly and infectious disease that can kill entire flocks. Though the simplest way to ensure the safety of everyone’s sheep would be to talk to his brother, Gummi is aware this is not a viable path because, despite living on the same property they entire lives, they haven’t spoken in several decades. The looming possibility of losing their shared livelihood will widen the emotional gap between the two, one that can only be resolved if they join forces against the mortal virus and the authorities. Authentically Icelandic in content and execution, "Rams" was Iceland's official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards.
In our recent conversation with the Cannes-winning Icelandic filmmakers, Hákonarson discussed the relationship between the location and the film's visual approach, his homelands deeply ingrained love for sheep, the emerging local film industry, and the casting process to find the right four-legged stars for "Rams."
Carlos Aguilar: Tell me about the importance of sheep in Icelandic culture. Why do you think Icelandic people relate to these animals in such endearing fashion? They seem to not only be part of the pastoral lifestyle but of their interpersonal relationships.
Grímur Hákonarson: When the first settlers came to Iceland, the Vikings who came from Norway, they brought the sheep with them. Sheep were the main livelihood throughout the centuries. They used the wool for clothing and the meat and milk to feed themselves. It was their main livelihood. We didn’t have so many cows. People ate or use every part of the sheep except the anus. The anus was the only part people didn’t utilize. It stayed that way until the 20th century. Older people lived in farms until the 19th century and then it totally changed. Now older people live in the cities. There is this historical and cultural connection between Icelandic people and sheep. The farmers take the sheep to the highlands in the spring, then they have a competition, they hang around drinking and singing songs about sheep, so there is definitely a culture around sheep. But there also seems to be some kind of unexplained spiritual connection between farmers and their sheep. Many farmers say they relate in a stronger emotional way to sheep than to cows. Numerous farmers have told me this. I know farmers that have lost their sheep because of scrapie, and even though they had horses and cows, it was somehow much more difficult for them to get over losing their sheep.
CA: What was the motivation for using a story of two estrange brothers to tackle this singular aspect about Icelandic culture? Was any part of the premise based on actual events or stories you heard from people who made a living as sheep farmers?
Grímur Hákonarson: The film is based on a true story that my father told me years ago about two brothers who lived on the same land next to each other for 40 years and didn’t speak. I thought that story was interesting. I think it’s very Icelandic and it describes us a bit as a nation being an island and being isolated. People tend to be very independent and nationalistic. I also thought these idea could be a tragicomedy. The basic idea of these brothers is funny and sad at the same time. It’s sad that they don’t speak, but it’s also unique situation. I though that was interesting, and on the other hand I also wanted to make a film about this relationship with sheep, so I combined these two ideas.
CA: Both brothers seem to very territorial and they use concrete, not always well-intentioned, acts rather than using language to express their feelings.
Grímur Hákonarson: The reason they don’t speak to each other, of course, is because they don’t need to speak to each other. They act more than they talk. They rather speak to the sheep and they become very close with them. That’s also the reason there is not a lot of dialogue in the movie. It’s told mainly through images and through actions. The story I’m telling affected the filmmaking process in a way because it creates a unique kind of atmosphere. I was trying to capture life in this part of the world, which is kind of slow and relaxed. People live alongside sheep. The visual style of the film is also a bit slow-paced. This visual style is also trying to capture this way of living and its atmosphere.
CA: Did you based these two brothers on real life characters in the story your father told you, were they the result of different traits from people you know, or were they entirely fictitious? Once you have brought them to life on paper, how challenging was it to match them with the right actors?
Grímur Hákonarson: I had some prototypes to base them on. The real life characters died in the 90s because it’s an old story. I never met them, but I had some prototypes based on a pair of brothers I know. These brothers were living together and they were good friends, but they were very different characters. One of them was an introverts and the other was more of an extrovert. One was an alcoholic and the other was more feminine and cleaned and took care of things. I used these guys as prototypes for the characters, and when I selected the actors I knew the actor a little bit and I knew they shared some personality elements with the characters. In a way they were typed-cast both mentally and physically, Sigurður Sigurjónsson who plays Gummi is a small guy, and Theodór Júlíusson, who plays Kiddi, looks more macho and is bigger. They were physically and mentally perfect for the roles. I think that’s a good thing when you are picking an actor. It's important that the actor has experienced something similar or knows something about the inner emotions of the character.
CA: Loneliness comes across as an underlying theme in "Rams." These brothers who live so close to each other are still very lonely by choice. Is this concept something that you decisively considered when creating the characters?
Grímur Hákonarson: Of course, that makes it really tragic. They actually need to talk to each other but they are so stubborn that they never call a mediator or psychiatrist. The dog is the only link between them. Of course there is loneliness. Gummi, the main character, I think he is an introvert and he enjoys his life a lot. He enjoys his life, he is not unhappy. He is quite satisfied with his life, but his older brother is not and that’s because of this division of the land. He is unhappy. The idea was that the older brother Kiddi had had some girlfriends or wives before, but they got sick of him and moved out. Gummi, on the hand, was kind of this puritan who had never had any sex in his life. This loneliness is one of the reasons we shot on CinemaScope with anamorphic lenses. Also, the framing, which is kind of wide and static, was trying to capture this loneliness. They live lonely lives.
CA: In terms of the visual style and your decisions regarding the film's cinematography, how did the landscape and the nature of the story influenced these choices?
Grímur Hákonarson: The characters are living very close to nature and they spend a lot of time on the field with the sheep, so we wanted to capture the landscape and the nature around them and to connect them to it. That’s why we shot it using anamorphic lenses. I think 10 years ago we probably would have shot it on 35mm or 16mm because it’s that kind of film. It’s about these old farmers stuck in the past and it takes place in nature, so we tried to imitate this film look with the anamorphic lenses. The look of the film it’s a bit like a Western, if it had cows perhaps they would look like cowboys. We might have been a bit inspired by a movie like “There Will Be Blood.” There are some shots and scenes in “Rams” that were shot very similarly to those in “There Will Be Blood.” It’s an Icelandic Western with sheep and guns.
CA: I'm curious to know how was the casting process and working dynamic with the sheep. They are the stars of the film. Were they difficult to work with in a film like ths in which they play a very integral part? How did you know which sheep were the right ones to appear on camera?
Grímur Hákonarson: The most important thing was to find the right sheep. We had to select the right sheep and we did sheep casting. We saw a lot of sheep because the sheep that were living on the farm were too afraid of people. They would just ran away from you. We then found these sheep that looked really pretty because they are a good breed, but they were also very calm and they ere used to people. The reason for that is that their owners treat them as pets. They talk to them and pet them like if they were dogs. Those sheep were not afraid of humans. Then we hired a professional sheep farmer to train them and to be with us on set. We rehearsed all the sheep scenes before shooting them, like when Gummi bathes the ram. We said, “Ok lets bathe this ram,” and we found out that we needed five people to hold the ram in the bathtub but we couldn’t have all of them in the shot. When we filmed I told the actor, “ Ok Sigurður they are going to hold the ram but then they are going to run away and you just have to do it yourself and we’ll see what happens.” I said, “Action,” and the guys ran away and the actor was alone trying to hold the ram - it was interesting.
Thomas Vinterberg, who made “Far from the Madding Crowd,“ said that it was a disaster to work with sheep and that it was very difficult, but I have a different opinion about that. We usually didn’t have to shoot many takes with the sheep. Usually we did less than five takes in the scenes involving sheep. The sheep were very professional. Some of the actors went to 12 or 15 takes, but the sheep usually didn’t. They were one-take sheep.
CA: When the disease, scrapie, threatens the farmers way of life in the film a lot of them contemplate leaving it all behind and moving away. Would you say this this way of living is slowly dying not only because of occurrences like this but also because it's being overpowered by modern farming practices?
Grímur Hákonarson: Today there are not many sheep farmers like these brothers who live only from their sheep. It’s becoming more like a hobby today. It’s lees of a business. It’s difficult to make a living from sheep farming. There are not so many farmers like the brothers in the film who can only live from that. They have a tough life. They are quite poor. They can’t afford much. Sheep farming in Iceland has been declining and it’s struggling. It’s always going to be there and it’s always going to be a part of our culture, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to live from it. The brothers in the film are a bit like the last Mohicans. They are the last remains of this old farming society. This disease, scrapie, has caused a lot of harm in Iceland. Sheep are becoming less abundant. About 30 years ago, in the 1980s, there were three times more sheep in Iceland.
CA: Scandinavian humor is clearly idiosyncratic and definitely dry, but you managed to blend the comedy elicited from the characters' circumstance with the emotional poignancy of the story rather organically. How did merging these two tonal elements come about when crafting the film?
Grímur Hákonarson: The basic idea about these brothers living so close together but not speaking to each other is a good premise for black comedy. It has a tragicomic element. That’s why humor is a naturally underlying element throughout the whole film because the basic idea is a bit humorous itself. Then there are some scenes that are very funny of course, and those are supposed to make you laugh. I don’t like to make films that are too serious or too heavy. I try to pick stories that have a little bit of lightness in them and in “Rams,” maybe, I managed to master this balance. Some people cry in “Rams” and it can get really emotional. It has a strong message, but it’s also entertaining. I’m inspired by filmmakers like Aki Kaurismäki, known for his Finnish dark comedies, Bent Hamer in Norway, or Swedish director Roy Andersson. I’m inspired by these Scandinavian directors. My humor is pretty dry and people who know me see Grímur’s humor in the film. If I wasn’t a humorous person I would make different films.
CA: Despite the overall comedic tone of the film, the ending is particularly moving and shows a tenderness we hadn't fully seen before in the film. Why did you feel this was the correct way to conclude this tale about two brothers whose broken relationship gets a second chance thanks to the sheep?
Grímur Hákonarson: I think the ending is symbolic. It’s about these two brothers and their relationship. It’ a very powerful ending and it’s also an open ending. It makes people think and it stays with people. I’m really happy with it. It’s also a kind of risky ending, many people who read the screenplay warned me, “Grímur, you really think it should end like this? You don’t want to explain it a bit more?” But I went for this ending. When I was shooting, making the ending work was one of the most difficult things. It was worth the risk.
CA: Do you have any brothers? If so, is anything in "Rams" specifically related to your personal relationship with your brothers or siblings and what did they think of that being depiction in the film?
Grímur Hákonarson: Yes I have a brother. We were just Skyping recently. He’s seen the film and I think he never though it was about him because we have a good relationship. There is nothing in my family like in the film. My family is quite peaceful, so the story of the brothers is not connected to me personally. What’s connected to me personally is that my mother passed away when I was writing the script. The film is dedicated to her. She grew up on a sheep farm, so I feel like “Rams” is a bit a film about my ancestors, my family, and where we come from.
CA: Considering the acclaim and attention "Rams" received abroad, how as the reaction to the film in Iceland? Was it embrace by your compatriots?
Grímur Hákonarson: It was good. We decided to go straight to cinemas after Cannes to use the attention we got there. We won the Un Certain Regard Prize, it was a big prize for the Icelandic film industry. It’s maybe the biggest prize an Icelandic film has won, so of course it was a big thing. Iceland is a small country. People were really proud of it. I think about 10% of the nation’s population saw the film.
CA: How difficult, financially and logistically, is it to make films in Iceland? It appears that in recent years there has been an explosion of talent that has made a mark in the international festival scenes. What makes these new Icelandic voices distinct from the rest of the world?
Grímur Hákonarson: It’s a small industry. The Icelandic Film Fund is not very big, so we depend on doing co-productions and getting money from abroad. Icelandic films are cheaper to make than those in the rest of Scandinavia - like three times cheaper. “Rams” was made for 1 million Euros, mostly made up of Icelandic money. We got maybe 15% of the money from the Danish Film Fund. We don’t make so many movies so we have to be practical and we have to make contemporary simple stories. We can’t really make an expensive sci-fi film or large period movies in Icelandic. Maybe it’s a bit sad that we haven’t. I think it would be nice to do a costume drama set in the 30s, but it’s not possible to do that in Iceland.
What connect these new directors from Iceland like me, Dagur Kári, Rúnar Rúnarsson, or Benedikt Erlingsson, is that we are making contemporary, humanistic, and simple stories. We are not trying to hunt Hollywood. We are not trying to make blockbusters. Maybe because we don’t have so much money we have to make simple stories and we make films taken from Icelandic reality. Maybe that’s the right recipe for our films. Maybe that’s the reason they are special. Maybe that’s the reason people want to see them.
"Rams" is currently playing in La at the Laemmle Royal and in NYC at the Film Forum and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas...
- 2/5/2016
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Of all the upcoming talent in the recent weeks in Mexico at the writers residency "Pueblo Magico", at Flicc, the Latin American Forum for Coproduction and New Talent, in Morelia and at Los Cabos, producer Nicolás Celis ("Heli", "We Are What We Are") stands out on many fronts.
Nico : At 29 years of age, I have worked on 20 to 25 movies. I have learned my craft from the directors I have worked with like Tatiana Huezo and Amat Escalante, to name just two.
I have created my own unique creative process and have learned about financing and distribution as well as production.
Sl: I noticed you work with Sebastian Celis. Who is that?
When our father died, my older brother who was a physicist wanted to do something with me. It was easier for him to go into film than for me to go into physics. We like spending time together. Really he is the perfect partner -- 100% trustworthy: we won't let each other down. We like the the same movies and both work a lot. Working with him brings us very close and we are more attached than ever and more interested in making long term plans. Working with my brother is very interesting. He can work well with the abstract and can understand ideas before they are totally conceived and then put those ideas onto paper. What's beautiful about film is your background is irrelevant.
Sl: What is your approach to producing films?
We always try to budget carefully. We aim to make the films for a reasonable cost which can actually be recouped. With low budgets, you can shoot quickly. We believe now is a very good time to make movies in Mexico. There is a lot of money available here through the various funding schemes, even if there is a lot of competition for that funding. With more and more people coming out of film schools that competition is only going to increase. So we are aggressively looking for private equity as well.
Sl: How did you get into film?
I was never formally schooled in filmmaking. I was rejected twice by Ccc (one of the top film schools in Mexico). In time though by helping to make shorts, I realized that I had skills that directors needed. My first short, "Ver llover" (2006)--I was unit production manager---was directed by Elisa Miller who did study at Ccc. The film went to Cannes and her second short—which I produced – went to Critics Week in Cannes and won the Palme d'Or She has returned to work with me on our upcoming feature "Skin Deep" which is now being presented as a project in development in Los Cabos. I came to realize I did not have to go to film school to be sought after. Directors seek me out now because we enjoy collaboration and they value my ability to work with them.
Sl: What are your most recent and upcoming films?
I have a number of films that are in post production or just completed.
A private screening of the documentary "Tempestad" was held in Morelia just weeks ago in its first edition of Impulso, which is only for works-in-progress. The audience for those screenings is exclusively sales agents, distributors, financiers and festival programmers who want to see films that are currently in post-production. We have big expectations for that film . We are aiming at Berlin or Cannes. This is the second documentary film by Tatiana Huezo whose first doc, “El Lugar Mas Pequeno"/ "The Tiniest Place” (which I also produced) won numerous Best Picture prizes at festivals around the world.
"Soy Negro" now is also in post. It is by Rafi Pitts from Iran and tells a story of migration to the USA from a different point of view with a Mexican touch. It has received support from the French Cnc, funds from Eurimages, Ffa in Germany, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenberg support, and Zdf/ Arte support. The Match Factory will represent the film internationally.
"Desierto" directed by Jonás Cuarón premiered in Toronto where it was acquired from Im Global for the U.S. by Stx, the new China-backed company headed by Robert Simonds and Cathy Schulman. "All of Me", the emotionally touching doc about Las Patronas, premiered in Los Cabos festival last year, won a top prize and was picked up for U.S. by Outsider Films from the new Berlin-based boutique international sales agent for award-winning docs, Rise and Shine.
"Semana Santa" whose international sales agent is Mundial was coproduced with Jim Stark, our new partner. He is the U.S. indie producer of the early Jarmusch films, Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridrikson, Bent Hamer and many others.
Sl: How did you join up with Jim Stark? I used to buy his films for the U.S. so I am very interested in what he is doing these days.
Jim was giving a workshop in Morelia four years ago that I attended. Later, he introduced me to Rafi Pitts in Guadalajara. And now he and I are working together on a lot of projects.
Jim makes the same sort of movies we do and is also good at raising money and making international connections. He shoots everywhere and has a couple of projects in Turkey, is still working with Icelanders and even has a project in Africa in Ivory Coast.
We're now working together on a Georgian doc and talking about other coproductions with international co-producers.
We just finished "Semana Santa" together and are finishing Tatania Huezo's new film "Tempestad".
We enjoy the process of working together. We're developing a couple of scripts based on novels we like and on our own ideas. We never know if the film will be a success or failure but we would rather have three years of a good experience working with directors we enjoy on projects we believe in than making "sure hits" or commercial films with directors we don't get along with.
Sl: You've done very well so far.
This is the most important year for us. We have finally established ourselves as an important Mexican production company involved with good directors. There are interesting voices in Mexico. We're now expanding into minority coproductions to do post and at the same time looking at foreign projects at the script stage. It's cheaper to work in Mexico than in Europe and Mexico is ready for coproductions.
It is a way to widen our reach. That's why we're working on Colombian Ciro Guerra's next film. His last film, "Embrace of the Serpent" (Colombia's submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film) is a Colombian-Argentinean-Venezuelan coproduction being sold by Films Boutique, a French-German international sales company. Its U.S. distributor is Oscilloscope. Its French distributor, Diaphana, is a producer as well as a distributor.
Our long range goal is to grow our slate of coproductions. We think it is our best strategy for beating the competition which is quickly escalating here in Mexico.
From our side we can offer all the opportunities we have for financing and the high quality of Mexican services and crew. Also the low costs here mean shooting in Mexico is not a big risk. But having access to international partners and getting additional funding from Norway or Denmark is very prestigious and increases the chances that our films will be seen and appreciated outside of Mexico.
When I can, I like to participate in international workshops, coproduction meetings and even residencies like the new one in Tepoztlan where I met you. I went to an Eave workshop with ten other producers. We still keep in touch, we work together and try to spend some quality time together and when links with these other international producers are strong it increases the likelihood we can collaborate in the future.
Nico : At 29 years of age, I have worked on 20 to 25 movies. I have learned my craft from the directors I have worked with like Tatiana Huezo and Amat Escalante, to name just two.
I have created my own unique creative process and have learned about financing and distribution as well as production.
Sl: I noticed you work with Sebastian Celis. Who is that?
When our father died, my older brother who was a physicist wanted to do something with me. It was easier for him to go into film than for me to go into physics. We like spending time together. Really he is the perfect partner -- 100% trustworthy: we won't let each other down. We like the the same movies and both work a lot. Working with him brings us very close and we are more attached than ever and more interested in making long term plans. Working with my brother is very interesting. He can work well with the abstract and can understand ideas before they are totally conceived and then put those ideas onto paper. What's beautiful about film is your background is irrelevant.
Sl: What is your approach to producing films?
We always try to budget carefully. We aim to make the films for a reasonable cost which can actually be recouped. With low budgets, you can shoot quickly. We believe now is a very good time to make movies in Mexico. There is a lot of money available here through the various funding schemes, even if there is a lot of competition for that funding. With more and more people coming out of film schools that competition is only going to increase. So we are aggressively looking for private equity as well.
Sl: How did you get into film?
I was never formally schooled in filmmaking. I was rejected twice by Ccc (one of the top film schools in Mexico). In time though by helping to make shorts, I realized that I had skills that directors needed. My first short, "Ver llover" (2006)--I was unit production manager---was directed by Elisa Miller who did study at Ccc. The film went to Cannes and her second short—which I produced – went to Critics Week in Cannes and won the Palme d'Or She has returned to work with me on our upcoming feature "Skin Deep" which is now being presented as a project in development in Los Cabos. I came to realize I did not have to go to film school to be sought after. Directors seek me out now because we enjoy collaboration and they value my ability to work with them.
Sl: What are your most recent and upcoming films?
I have a number of films that are in post production or just completed.
A private screening of the documentary "Tempestad" was held in Morelia just weeks ago in its first edition of Impulso, which is only for works-in-progress. The audience for those screenings is exclusively sales agents, distributors, financiers and festival programmers who want to see films that are currently in post-production. We have big expectations for that film . We are aiming at Berlin or Cannes. This is the second documentary film by Tatiana Huezo whose first doc, “El Lugar Mas Pequeno"/ "The Tiniest Place” (which I also produced) won numerous Best Picture prizes at festivals around the world.
"Soy Negro" now is also in post. It is by Rafi Pitts from Iran and tells a story of migration to the USA from a different point of view with a Mexican touch. It has received support from the French Cnc, funds from Eurimages, Ffa in Germany, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenberg support, and Zdf/ Arte support. The Match Factory will represent the film internationally.
"Desierto" directed by Jonás Cuarón premiered in Toronto where it was acquired from Im Global for the U.S. by Stx, the new China-backed company headed by Robert Simonds and Cathy Schulman. "All of Me", the emotionally touching doc about Las Patronas, premiered in Los Cabos festival last year, won a top prize and was picked up for U.S. by Outsider Films from the new Berlin-based boutique international sales agent for award-winning docs, Rise and Shine.
"Semana Santa" whose international sales agent is Mundial was coproduced with Jim Stark, our new partner. He is the U.S. indie producer of the early Jarmusch films, Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridrikson, Bent Hamer and many others.
Sl: How did you join up with Jim Stark? I used to buy his films for the U.S. so I am very interested in what he is doing these days.
Jim was giving a workshop in Morelia four years ago that I attended. Later, he introduced me to Rafi Pitts in Guadalajara. And now he and I are working together on a lot of projects.
Jim makes the same sort of movies we do and is also good at raising money and making international connections. He shoots everywhere and has a couple of projects in Turkey, is still working with Icelanders and even has a project in Africa in Ivory Coast.
We're now working together on a Georgian doc and talking about other coproductions with international co-producers.
We just finished "Semana Santa" together and are finishing Tatania Huezo's new film "Tempestad".
We enjoy the process of working together. We're developing a couple of scripts based on novels we like and on our own ideas. We never know if the film will be a success or failure but we would rather have three years of a good experience working with directors we enjoy on projects we believe in than making "sure hits" or commercial films with directors we don't get along with.
Sl: You've done very well so far.
This is the most important year for us. We have finally established ourselves as an important Mexican production company involved with good directors. There are interesting voices in Mexico. We're now expanding into minority coproductions to do post and at the same time looking at foreign projects at the script stage. It's cheaper to work in Mexico than in Europe and Mexico is ready for coproductions.
It is a way to widen our reach. That's why we're working on Colombian Ciro Guerra's next film. His last film, "Embrace of the Serpent" (Colombia's submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film) is a Colombian-Argentinean-Venezuelan coproduction being sold by Films Boutique, a French-German international sales company. Its U.S. distributor is Oscilloscope. Its French distributor, Diaphana, is a producer as well as a distributor.
Our long range goal is to grow our slate of coproductions. We think it is our best strategy for beating the competition which is quickly escalating here in Mexico.
From our side we can offer all the opportunities we have for financing and the high quality of Mexican services and crew. Also the low costs here mean shooting in Mexico is not a big risk. But having access to international partners and getting additional funding from Norway or Denmark is very prestigious and increases the chances that our films will be seen and appreciated outside of Mexico.
When I can, I like to participate in international workshops, coproduction meetings and even residencies like the new one in Tepoztlan where I met you. I went to an Eave workshop with ten other producers. We still keep in touch, we work together and try to spend some quality time together and when links with these other international producers are strong it increases the likelihood we can collaborate in the future.
- 11/15/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Competition titles include Couple In A Hole, Sparrows, A Bigger Splash; Norway will be in the spotlight country.
Tom Geens’ Couple in a Hole [pictured], Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Sparrows and Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash will be among the 10 titles competing at the seventh edition of the Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 12-19) in the French Alps.
Another 20 short films will compete in the Igloo Short Programme including British Bafta-winning animators Greg and Myles McLeod’s 365 and Dutch Edmond De Nina’s Gantz.
The shorts will be shown in an “ice cinema” built at an altitude of 2,200 metres and only accessible by skis or on foot.
In total, some 120 films, selected to by the festival’s artistic director Frédéric Boyer, will screen across the week-long event, which drew nearly 20,000 spectators in 2014.
New Sidebars
In addition to the competitive selections, the Les Arcs team - led by co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop - has added...
Tom Geens’ Couple in a Hole [pictured], Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Sparrows and Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash will be among the 10 titles competing at the seventh edition of the Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 12-19) in the French Alps.
Another 20 short films will compete in the Igloo Short Programme including British Bafta-winning animators Greg and Myles McLeod’s 365 and Dutch Edmond De Nina’s Gantz.
The shorts will be shown in an “ice cinema” built at an altitude of 2,200 metres and only accessible by skis or on foot.
In total, some 120 films, selected to by the festival’s artistic director Frédéric Boyer, will screen across the week-long event, which drew nearly 20,000 spectators in 2014.
New Sidebars
In addition to the competitive selections, the Les Arcs team - led by co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop - has added...
- 11/5/2015
- ScreenDaily
After ten days of screenings and events, the Tokyo International Film Festival 2015 wrapped for another year with a closing ceremony announcing the winners of its many awards. For the festival's 30th year, director Bryan Singer took time away from finishing X-men: Apocalypse to sit as Jury President for a Competition which consisted of 16 films, including three from here in Japan. The rest of the jury was made up of of producer Nansun Shi and directors Omori Kazuki, Tran Anh Hung, Bent Hamer and Susanne Bier. Samurai AwardAwarded to filmmakers who continue to 'create groundbreaking films that carve out a path to a new era' continuing to convey innovation in films, the previously announced recipients were Japan's own Yamada Yoji and Hong Kong action legend...
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- 10/31/2015
- Screen Anarchy
The Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off its 28th edition on Thursday with Robert Zemeckis’ 3D high-wire thriller The Walk.
Just a day after Back to the Future Day – 21 October 2015, the date to which Marty McFly and Doc travel through time in part two of Zemeckis’ iconic trilogy – fans along the red carpet eagerly sought out the director’s autograph, with many seen holding Back to the Future memorabilia.
“Being here with all the excitement of everyone here and the film opening the festival is just a thrill beyond belief,” said Zemeckis.
The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is based on the true story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit and his walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
“I understood the passion this man had to express himself creatively, and I identify with that and I think everyone can identify with that,” Zemeckis added.
A total of 16 films will vie for the festival’s Grand...
Just a day after Back to the Future Day – 21 October 2015, the date to which Marty McFly and Doc travel through time in part two of Zemeckis’ iconic trilogy – fans along the red carpet eagerly sought out the director’s autograph, with many seen holding Back to the Future memorabilia.
“Being here with all the excitement of everyone here and the film opening the festival is just a thrill beyond belief,” said Zemeckis.
The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is based on the true story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit and his walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
“I understood the passion this man had to express himself creatively, and I identify with that and I think everyone can identify with that,” Zemeckis added.
A total of 16 films will vie for the festival’s Grand...
- 10/22/2015
- ScreenDaily
Competition section features six world premieres including titles from Koji Fukada and Yoshihiro Nakamura.
The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-31) has unveiled its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section, including Turkish director Mustafa Kara’s Cold Of Kalandar, Hao Jie’s My Original Dream and Thai film-maker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee’s Snap.
Also world-premiering in Competition are three Japanese titles: Kohei Oguri’s Foujita, Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable and Koji Fukada’s Sayonara – the most local films in the main section since 2004.
The other selections are either Asian or international premieres. The topics of war or refugeeism are a common thread among some films, echoing current day headlines. “We were not conscious about choosing those types, it just happened that way and we noticed afterwards,” said Competition programming director Yoshi Yatabe.
“As much as possible we’d like to cover a wide range of geographical areas and genres,” he said of...
The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-31) has unveiled its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section, including Turkish director Mustafa Kara’s Cold Of Kalandar, Hao Jie’s My Original Dream and Thai film-maker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee’s Snap.
Also world-premiering in Competition are three Japanese titles: Kohei Oguri’s Foujita, Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable and Koji Fukada’s Sayonara – the most local films in the main section since 2004.
The other selections are either Asian or international premieres. The topics of war or refugeeism are a common thread among some films, echoing current day headlines. “We were not conscious about choosing those types, it just happened that way and we noticed afterwards,” said Competition programming director Yoshi Yatabe.
“As much as possible we’d like to cover a wide range of geographical areas and genres,” he said of...
- 9/29/2015
- ScreenDaily
Competition section features six world premieres including titles from Koji Fukada and Yoshihiro Nakamura.
The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-31) has unveiled its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section, including Turkish director Mustafa Kara’s Cold Of Kalandar, Hao Jie’s My Original Dream and Thai film-maker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee’s Snap.
Also world-premiering in Competition are three Japanese titles: Kohei Oguri’s Foujita, Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable and Koji Fukada’s Sayonara – the most local films in the main section since 2004.
The other selections are either Asian or international premieres. The topics of war or refugeeism are a common thread among some films, echoing current day headlines. “We were not conscious about choosing those types, it just happened that way and we noticed afterwards,” said Competition programming director Yoshi Yatabe.
“As much as possible we’d like to cover a wide range of geographical areas and genres,” he said of...
The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-31) has unveiled its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section, including Turkish director Mustafa Kara’s Cold Of Kalandar, Hao Jie’s My Original Dream and Thai film-maker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee’s Snap.
Also world-premiering in Competition are three Japanese titles: Kohei Oguri’s Foujita, Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable and Koji Fukada’s Sayonara – the most local films in the main section since 2004.
The other selections are either Asian or international premieres. The topics of war or refugeeism are a common thread among some films, echoing current day headlines. “We were not conscious about choosing those types, it just happened that way and we noticed afterwards,” said Competition programming director Yoshi Yatabe.
“As much as possible we’d like to cover a wide range of geographical areas and genres,” he said of...
- 9/29/2015
- ScreenDaily
Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s action comedy Børning received both the jury and the audiences’ film prize at the ceremony in Haugesund’s Maritim HallScroll down for full list of winners
Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s feature debut, Børning – a local twist of Cannonball Run (1981), which became last year’s most popular Norwegian film, taking 381,648 admissions – was also the big winner at the Amanda awards ceremony in Haugesund on Saturday (Aug 15).
At the TV2 Norge televised presentation in Haugesund’s Maritim Hall, preceding today’s opening of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival, Børning received Amandas – Norway’s national film prizes - including Best Norwegian Feature, the People’s Amanda, Best Supporting Actor (Henrik Mestad) and Best Sound Design (Fredric Vogel, Petter Fladeby).
The frontrunner for the awards - Norwegian director Bent Hamer 1001 Grams (1001 gram), which has so far toured 25 international film festivals – was nominated in six categories, but won only Best Original Screenplay.
For the first...
Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s feature debut, Børning – a local twist of Cannonball Run (1981), which became last year’s most popular Norwegian film, taking 381,648 admissions – was also the big winner at the Amanda awards ceremony in Haugesund on Saturday (Aug 15).
At the TV2 Norge televised presentation in Haugesund’s Maritim Hall, preceding today’s opening of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival, Børning received Amandas – Norway’s national film prizes - including Best Norwegian Feature, the People’s Amanda, Best Supporting Actor (Henrik Mestad) and Best Sound Design (Fredric Vogel, Petter Fladeby).
The frontrunner for the awards - Norwegian director Bent Hamer 1001 Grams (1001 gram), which has so far toured 25 international film festivals – was nominated in six categories, but won only Best Original Screenplay.
For the first...
- 8/17/2015
- by jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
- ScreenDaily
World premiere of Nordic disaster movie The Wave to open festival in Haugesund.
Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs, starring Jesse Eisenberg, has been named as the closing film of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival (Aug 16-21) in Haugesund.
The drama, about how a father and his two sons confront their feelings of their deceased wife and mother, was Norway’s first Palme d’Or contender at Cannes in 36 years and is set to play at Toronto next month.
As previously announced, Niff will open with the world premiere of Roar Uthaug’s disaster movie, The Wave (Bølgen), when the festival is launched by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon on Aug 16.
It means Norwegian films will both open and close the festival.
Tonje Hardersen, who was named the new Niff festival director in March, said: “I am very happy to see that local cinema is so well represented, and in so many genres.”
Considering the wider...
Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs, starring Jesse Eisenberg, has been named as the closing film of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival (Aug 16-21) in Haugesund.
The drama, about how a father and his two sons confront their feelings of their deceased wife and mother, was Norway’s first Palme d’Or contender at Cannes in 36 years and is set to play at Toronto next month.
As previously announced, Niff will open with the world premiere of Roar Uthaug’s disaster movie, The Wave (Bølgen), when the festival is launched by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon on Aug 16.
It means Norwegian films will both open and close the festival.
Tonje Hardersen, who was named the new Niff festival director in March, said: “I am very happy to see that local cinema is so well represented, and in so many genres.”
Considering the wider...
- 8/4/2015
- by jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
- ScreenDaily
Bent Hamer is easily Norway's Wes Anderson. Like Anderson, the Norwegian director's immaculate frames, with highly coordinated color palettes and obsessive symmetry, tell stories of off-beat characters through the lens of the comic absurd. The difference, though, is that while Anderson chooses fantasy, Hamer chooses to depict reality — albeit a reality bathed in such absurdity that it feels like fantasy. This is Hamer's particular form of magic. In the vein of his previous films "Kitchen Stories," about Swedish efficiency researchers, and "Factotum," a close reading of enigmatic Charles Bukowski, "1001 Grams" is another idiosyncratic character study in which Hamer dissects his protagonist's rigidly defined world. Thirty-something Marie (Ane Dahl Torp) works for the Norwegian Institute of Weights and Measures, where Norway's prototype of the kilo is harbored like a national treasure. Under the tutelage of her father, a revered scientist in the field,...
- 5/8/2015
- by Emily Buder
- Indiewire
Deeply ambitious, Bent Hamer's 1001 Grams deserves recognition for pure nerve. Earning its place in the Gutsy Premises Hall of Fame, it's a straight-faced drama about a seminar on the kilogram held in Paris by the Bureau of International Weights and Measures. The seminar takes "pure kilograms" that have been constructed by various nations' measurement calibration organizations and uses them to construct an international standard for how much a kilo actually weighs. Representing Norway is Marie (Ane Dahl Torp), a scientist going instead of her father, Ernst (Stein Winge), a revered figure in the community. Ernst is ailing, and during the conference Marie finds her grief over her father's impending death inspiring her to reflect on her own loneliness. It isn't long ...
- 5/6/2015
- Village Voice
The Lesson by co-directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov was the big winner at this year’s Sofia International Film Festival in Bulgaria.
The duo’s feature debut became the second Bulgarian feature in Siff’s 19-year history to receive the international jury’s Grand Prix after Dragomir Sholev’s Shelter in 2011.
The Lesson also picked up the Audience Award, the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize and the award for the Best Bulgarian Feature Film.
Accepting the award, Valchanov pointed to the importance of the Sofia Meetings where The Lesson had originally been pitched and said that this event should be ¨an example¨ to the Bulgarian state to develop a long-term and sustainable film policy for the future.
The sentiment was echoed by international jury president Stephan Komanderev (The Judgement) when he presented the ¨Sofia City Of Film¨ Grand Prix to the young directors.
The Lesson, which is handled internationally by Wide Management, premiered last year...
The duo’s feature debut became the second Bulgarian feature in Siff’s 19-year history to receive the international jury’s Grand Prix after Dragomir Sholev’s Shelter in 2011.
The Lesson also picked up the Audience Award, the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize and the award for the Best Bulgarian Feature Film.
Accepting the award, Valchanov pointed to the importance of the Sofia Meetings where The Lesson had originally been pitched and said that this event should be ¨an example¨ to the Bulgarian state to develop a long-term and sustainable film policy for the future.
The sentiment was echoed by international jury president Stephan Komanderev (The Judgement) when he presented the ¨Sofia City Of Film¨ Grand Prix to the young directors.
The Lesson, which is handled internationally by Wide Management, premiered last year...
- 3/16/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
1001 Grams
Written and directed by Bent Hamer
Norway/Germany, 2014
Norwegian writer-director Bent Hamer’s 1001 Grams is a low-key but likeable romantic comedy, built around an endearing central premise. The protagonist Marie (Ane Dahl Torp) works for her father Ernst (Stein Winge) at the Norwegian Institute of Weights and Measures, performing calibrations on equipment ranging from petrol pumps to weighing scales. When he suddenly dies of a heart attack, Marie is required to attend an annual conference at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, where she must safely take the national prototype – the Norwegian kilo – to be verified against the global standard.
The kilo is stored in a padded case and protected from contact with the outside world by a series of glass bell jars. Apart from causing issues for Marie when she tries to take it through customs, this arrangement reflects her own ordered but isolated lifestyle.
Written and directed by Bent Hamer
Norway/Germany, 2014
Norwegian writer-director Bent Hamer’s 1001 Grams is a low-key but likeable romantic comedy, built around an endearing central premise. The protagonist Marie (Ane Dahl Torp) works for her father Ernst (Stein Winge) at the Norwegian Institute of Weights and Measures, performing calibrations on equipment ranging from petrol pumps to weighing scales. When he suddenly dies of a heart attack, Marie is required to attend an annual conference at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, where she must safely take the national prototype – the Norwegian kilo – to be verified against the global standard.
The kilo is stored in a padded case and protected from contact with the outside world by a series of glass bell jars. Apart from causing issues for Marie when she tries to take it through customs, this arrangement reflects her own ordered but isolated lifestyle.
- 3/2/2015
- by Rob Dickie
- SoundOnSight
It's been five years now since Norwegian helmer Bent Hamer was last on screens with 2010 effort Home For Christmas so fans of his smart and quirky fare have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of latest effort 1001 Grams. Selected as part of the Masters program at the Toronto International Film Festival in September the film is now gearing up for theatrical release around Europe which means the first trailer has arrived and, yep, it's looking like fans of the auteur's work aren't going to be disappointed.When Norwegian scientist Marie attends a seminar in Paris on the actual weight of a kilo, it is her own measurement of disappointment, grief and, not least, love, that ends up on the scale.Take a look at the trailer...
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- 2/18/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Released for a two week autumn window stateside via the Film Movement folks, winner of three awards, including Best Film at the Amanda Awards (Norwegian Oscars), Erik Poppe’s English language directorial debut 1,000 Times Goodnight, was a noticeable item due the internationally renowned cast that’s headlined by a masterful performance from Juliette Binoche.
Basically a family melodrama hedged by topical issues, Poppe’s own experiences as a war photographer serve as the semi-autobiographical impetus for the film, which is perhaps why it’s presented with such nuance. Bolstering the importance of such a hazardous occupation, the film’s tense juxtaposition lies in how one reconciles working in such dangerous conditions while trying to raise a family. Obviously changing his own perspective to that of a mother ups the dramatic potential, and is met with a terrifically inspired performance from Binoche. A photojournalist that specializes in conflict zones, Rebecca (Binoche...
Basically a family melodrama hedged by topical issues, Poppe’s own experiences as a war photographer serve as the semi-autobiographical impetus for the film, which is perhaps why it’s presented with such nuance. Bolstering the importance of such a hazardous occupation, the film’s tense juxtaposition lies in how one reconciles working in such dangerous conditions while trying to raise a family. Obviously changing his own perspective to that of a mother ups the dramatic potential, and is met with a terrifically inspired performance from Binoche. A photojournalist that specializes in conflict zones, Rebecca (Binoche...
- 12/23/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Palm Springs International Film Festival has increasingly become an important stop on the awards calendar for foreign language films. While the desert fest hands out an international critics prize, it’s more about the filmmakers getting a chance to rub shoulders with Academy members just before nominations ballots are due. The upcoming 26th annual fest is running January 2-12 and has announced the movies that will compete for the Fipresci prize in its Awards Buzz section. Fifty of the 83 official submissions for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar are on the list with the titles chosen believed by festival programmers to be the strongest entries in this year’s Academy Awards race. A special jury of international film critics will screen the films and hand out a Fipresci for an individual title as well as Best Actor and Best Actress. While the fest doesn’t always match the eventual Oscar winner,...
- 12/2/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
The organisers of the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) will screen 50 of the 83 foreign-language Oscar submissions.
A jury of international film critics will be convened to bestow the Fipresci Award for best foreign language film of the year, as well as best actor and best actress in this category.
Further film programmes will be announced in the coming weeks. Psiff is set to run from January 2-12.
The Awards Buzz selections in alphabetical order of country are:
A Few Cubic Meters Of Love (Afghanistan), Jamshid Mahmoudi:
Wild Tales (Argentina), Damián Szifrón;
Charlie’s Country (Australia), Rolf de Heer;
The Dark Valley (Austria), Andreas Prochaska;
Nabat (Azerbaijan), Elchin Musaoglu;
Two Days, One Night (Belgium-France-Italy), Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne;
The Way He Looks (Brazil), Daniel Ribeiro;
Mommy (Canada), Xavier Dolan;
To Kill A Man (Chile), Alejandro Fernández Almendras;
The Nightingale (China), Philippe Muyl;
Mateo (Colombia), Maria Gamboa;
Cowboys (Croatia), Tomislav Mršić;
Behavior (Cuba), Director [link=nm...
A jury of international film critics will be convened to bestow the Fipresci Award for best foreign language film of the year, as well as best actor and best actress in this category.
Further film programmes will be announced in the coming weeks. Psiff is set to run from January 2-12.
The Awards Buzz selections in alphabetical order of country are:
A Few Cubic Meters Of Love (Afghanistan), Jamshid Mahmoudi:
Wild Tales (Argentina), Damián Szifrón;
Charlie’s Country (Australia), Rolf de Heer;
The Dark Valley (Austria), Andreas Prochaska;
Nabat (Azerbaijan), Elchin Musaoglu;
Two Days, One Night (Belgium-France-Italy), Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne;
The Way He Looks (Brazil), Daniel Ribeiro;
Mommy (Canada), Xavier Dolan;
To Kill A Man (Chile), Alejandro Fernández Almendras;
The Nightingale (China), Philippe Muyl;
Mateo (Colombia), Maria Gamboa;
Cowboys (Croatia), Tomislav Mršić;
Behavior (Cuba), Director [link=nm...
- 12/2/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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