A growing list of 300 film professionals, including Martin Scorsese, Olivier Assayas, Joanna Hogg, and Radu Jude, have signed an open letter calling for the contract of outgoing Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian to be reinstated and extended beyond 2024.
Late last week, Chatrian released a statement via the Berlinale website announcing his intention to step down following next year’s edition of the German festival. In his statement, Chatrian pointed to the German Ministry for Culture and Media’s decision to scrap the Berlinale’s dual management structure as the main catalyst for his departure.
Last month, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth announced that she wants the Berlinale to be placed back under the control of a single director. Roth is reported to have told a meeting on Thursday of the supervisory board of federal cultural events in Berlin (Kbb), which oversees the festival, that her conclusion was the film should be led by one person.
Late last week, Chatrian released a statement via the Berlinale website announcing his intention to step down following next year’s edition of the German festival. In his statement, Chatrian pointed to the German Ministry for Culture and Media’s decision to scrap the Berlinale’s dual management structure as the main catalyst for his departure.
Last month, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth announced that she wants the Berlinale to be placed back under the control of a single director. Roth is reported to have told a meeting on Thursday of the supervisory board of federal cultural events in Berlin (Kbb), which oversees the festival, that her conclusion was the film should be led by one person.
- 9/6/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Martin Scorsese, Radu Jude, Joanna Hogg, Claire Denis, Bertrand Bonello, M. Night Shyamalan, Kristen Stewart, Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Margarethe von Trotta are among the international filmmakers and talents who have signed an open letter in support of Carlo Chatrian whose mandate as artistic director of the Berlinale will come to an end next year. The number of signatories has now exceeded 400 names and keeps growing.
As we reported last week, Chatrian had been expected to stay on beyond 2024, and was surprised to learn that the German body which oversees the festival, Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (Kbb), announced that it would no extend his contract. The org had previously said it would abandon the model of having an executive director and an artistic director and return instead to having a single director, following the next edition. The festival’s executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek will also be leaving her post after the next edition.
As we reported last week, Chatrian had been expected to stay on beyond 2024, and was surprised to learn that the German body which oversees the festival, Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (Kbb), announced that it would no extend his contract. The org had previously said it would abandon the model of having an executive director and an artistic director and return instead to having a single director, following the next edition. The festival’s executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek will also be leaving her post after the next edition.
- 9/6/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
24 feature projects, including four documentary and three animation films, received funding
Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes and Danish director Charlotte Sieling have both received co-production support for projects from Eurimages’ third round of funding for 2022.
Some €6.7m sum has been awarded to 24 feature projects including four documentary and three animation films.
Gomes has received €500,000 for Grand Tour, about an engaged couple travelling from Burma to China in 1918. The film is a co-production between Portugal’s Uma Pedra No Sapato, Italy’s Vivo Film, France and Germany.
Also receiving €500,000 is Titanic Ocean, the feature debut from Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani whose shorts have been screened at Cannes,...
Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes and Danish director Charlotte Sieling have both received co-production support for projects from Eurimages’ third round of funding for 2022.
Some €6.7m sum has been awarded to 24 feature projects including four documentary and three animation films.
Gomes has received €500,000 for Grand Tour, about an engaged couple travelling from Burma to China in 1918. The film is a co-production between Portugal’s Uma Pedra No Sapato, Italy’s Vivo Film, France and Germany.
Also receiving €500,000 is Titanic Ocean, the feature debut from Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani whose shorts have been screened at Cannes,...
- 12/5/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
More than 90 film professionals in Romania have requested that the head of the Romanian Film Center (Cnc), Anca Mitran, steps down, after an interview in which she said that in recent years Romanian filmmakers have been making art films instead of films for the audience, and that documentaries are not meant to be screened in movie theaters, according to Film New Europe.
The first to protest were a handful of documentary filmmakers, including Alexandru Solomon, Andrei Ujica and Andrei Dascalescu, and film editor Dana Bunescu, who launched an open letter signed by Alexander Nanau, Radu Jude, Calin Peter Netzer, Radu Muntean and Stere Gulea, among others.
According to the signatories, Mitran is “attacking” Romanian art films while expressing her regret that films like those made under the Communist regime are not being made anymore.
She is also inaccurate, they said, when she said that documentaries are not popular in Romania.
The first to protest were a handful of documentary filmmakers, including Alexandru Solomon, Andrei Ujica and Andrei Dascalescu, and film editor Dana Bunescu, who launched an open letter signed by Alexander Nanau, Radu Jude, Calin Peter Netzer, Radu Muntean and Stere Gulea, among others.
According to the signatories, Mitran is “attacking” Romanian art films while expressing her regret that films like those made under the Communist regime are not being made anymore.
She is also inaccurate, they said, when she said that documentaries are not popular in Romania.
- 9/27/2022
- by Iulia Blaga
- Variety Film + TV
International documentary film festival IDFA has revealed the first films selected for its 34th edition, which runs Nov. 17-28 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. These are the program curated by the event’s guest of honor, the German filmmaker, media artist and writer Hito Steyerl, and a selection of four films directed by Armenia’s Artavazd Pelechian, who will receive IDFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Both helmers will attend the festival in person.
With her curated program of 14 titles, Steyerl offers a window into her world of film and media art. Helping us to understand her own body of work, Steyerl presents a lineup of dissident filmmakers who, each in their own way, have shaped the art of political documentary cinema.
Selected films include “Videograms of a Revolution,” the cult masterpiece by Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujica, in a nod to Steyerl’s long-held admiration of Farocki, who she has written about,...
With her curated program of 14 titles, Steyerl offers a window into her world of film and media art. Helping us to understand her own body of work, Steyerl presents a lineup of dissident filmmakers who, each in their own way, have shaped the art of political documentary cinema.
Selected films include “Videograms of a Revolution,” the cult masterpiece by Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujica, in a nod to Steyerl’s long-held admiration of Farocki, who she has written about,...
- 9/21/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Leading documentary festival Idfa has selected a diverse lineup for Idfa Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, which will be entirely online this year, as will the rest of the industry program. Among the 63 projects to pitch at Idfa Forum, there is a strong representation of female pitch teams.
In the Forum, women make up 64% of the producers and directors; in the DocLab Forum, the market’s new media strand, 46% are women. The entire Forum selection includes projects from 45 different production and co-production countries.
Many of the projects center on women. “How to Build a Library,” directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, follows two women as they transform a dilapidated, junk-filled library in downtown Nairobi into a vibrant space for the city’s residents.
“Queen of Chess,” directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, tells the story of the relationship and mind games of Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time,...
In the Forum, women make up 64% of the producers and directors; in the DocLab Forum, the market’s new media strand, 46% are women. The entire Forum selection includes projects from 45 different production and co-production countries.
Many of the projects center on women. “How to Build a Library,” directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, follows two women as they transform a dilapidated, junk-filled library in downtown Nairobi into a vibrant space for the city’s residents.
“Queen of Chess,” directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, tells the story of the relationship and mind games of Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time,...
- 10/13/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The forum will take place online from November 16 to 20.
New works from The Trial director Maria Ramos and The Other Side Of Everything filmmaker Mila Turajlić are among the 63 projects selected for Idfa Forum, the Dutch documentary festival’s co-production and co-financing market.
The online forum will take place from November 16 to 20.
Ramos will pitch her new investigative project Justice Under Suspicion, focusing on state rule in present-day Brazil. Her 2018 documentary The Trial debuted at Berlin, winning awards at IndieLisboa and Madrid documentary festivals.
Turajlić will present a rough cut of Serbia-France co-pro The Labudovic Reels, constructed from archive footage...
New works from The Trial director Maria Ramos and The Other Side Of Everything filmmaker Mila Turajlić are among the 63 projects selected for Idfa Forum, the Dutch documentary festival’s co-production and co-financing market.
The online forum will take place from November 16 to 20.
Ramos will pitch her new investigative project Justice Under Suspicion, focusing on state rule in present-day Brazil. Her 2018 documentary The Trial debuted at Berlin, winning awards at IndieLisboa and Madrid documentary festivals.
Turajlić will present a rough cut of Serbia-France co-pro The Labudovic Reels, constructed from archive footage...
- 10/13/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The Dutch gathering’s Forum will take place online from 16-20 November and will host a total of 63 new projects. The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has announced the 63 projects selected to be pitched at the 28th edition of the Idfa Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market. Traditionally, the section welcomes both established filmmakers and new voices to the international stage. Notable filmmakers in the selection include Maria Ramos, pitching the new investigative project Justice Under Suspicion, on state rule in present-day Brazil, and Andrei Ujica with his new found-footage project Things We Said Today, revolving around daily life in New York during the summer of 1965, when The Beatles first came to town. Alongside the established names are emerging directors and producers ready to join the pitch line-up. Among them are Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu with the project Testament, tracing the colonial atrocities of Kenya; and...
- 10/13/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Harun Farocki – the director whose perspicacious cinematic essays analyzed the new media world – died in July 2014. With his radical way of looking at things Farocki strove to endow images with their own form of self-will, to expose their political and cultural coding. The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and Los Angeles Filmforum join to present a free eight-screening series of some of Farocki’s masterworks, running on Wednesday nights from January 14 to March 4.
Farocki lived and worked in Berlin as a filmmaker, artist and writer. His essay and observational films question the production and perception of images, decoding film as a medium and examining how audiovisual culture is related to history, politics, technology and war. His projects have been shown in festivals and solo, group and retrospective exhibitions worldwide at important events and international institutions, including the 2010 São Paulo Biennial, Documenta X and Xxii in Kassel, Tate Modern in London, MacBa in Barcelona, Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Jeu de Paume in Paris.
Screenings In memory of filmmaker Harun Farocki
Wednesday nights from January 14 to March 4 at 7:00 pm
Where: At the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tickets: Free admission, but RSVP needed, by email to
rsvp@losangeles.goethe.org or by phone at 323.525.3388
Parking: $1 validated parking (for events only) on weekdays after 6:00 pm and all day on weekends in the Wilshire Courtyard West underground garage-P1.
For more event information visit Here
Screening on Wednesday, January 14th 2015, 7:00 pm
Leben: Brd (How to Live in the Frg)
1990, 88 min. color, German with English subtitles. Digital .
The author assembles a genre picture of the contemporary Frg with shots of scenes where life is rehearsed, ability/durability is tested. Wherever one looks, people appear as actors playing themselves; they take on roles. A play in the theater of life made up of training courses, fitness tests for things and people. Be it in birth preparation classes for expectant parents or in practice runs for sales talks, on the military training ground or during role-plays for educational purposes. Everywhere the incessant effort to be prepared for the emergency of "reality" can be felt.
"How To Live In The Frg" assembles out of a wealth of details a picture of a society in which childbearing and dying, crying and taking care of people, crossing streets and killing are taught and learned in state or private institutions, indeed have to be learned. The real mechanical ballet is not danced by machines but by people, who move to a music that feeds on bombastic phrases from the realms of social work, bureaucracy and therapy. All together, the collected scenes appear to support the view that a mentality of insurance and providing for the future prevails in the Frg, a country in which happiness as well as misery are supposed to be disciplined by means of social techniques and freed from any measure of unpredictability. And yet
"How To Live In The Frg" goes beyond such an interpretation. The participants in the games, tests, and therapy sessions are not degraded into pieces of evidence for some theory or other. They retain, to varying degrees, something of their dignity. This is a result of Farocki's working method: he has edited the scenes in such a way that even the most nonsensical occurrences as it were explain themselves.
Wednesday, January 21st 2015, 7:00 pm
Erkennen und Verfolgen (War at a Distance)
2003, 58 min. color and b/w. German with English subtitles, Digital.
In 1991, when images of the Gulf War flooded the international media, it was virtually impossible to distinguish between real pictures and those generated on computer. This loss of bearings was to change forever our way of deciphering what we see. The image is no longer used only as testimony, but also as an indispensable link in a process of production and destruction. This is the central premise of "War at a Distance", which continues the deconstruction of claims to visual objectivity Harun Farocki developed in his earlier work. With the help of archival and original material, Farocki sets out in effect to define the relationship between military strategy and industrial production and sheds light on how the technology of war finds applications in everyday life. (Antje Ehmann)
Nicht löschbares Feuer (Inextinguishable Fire)
1969, 25 min., B/W, German with English subtitles, Digital.
"When we show you pictures of napalm victims, you'll shut your eyes. You'll close your eyes to the pictures. Then you'll close them to the memory. And then you'll close your eyes to the facts." These words are spoken at the beginning of an agitprop film that can be viewed as a unique and remarkable development. Farocki refrains from making any sort of emotional appeal.
His point of departure is the following: "When napalm is burning, it is too late to extinguish it. You have to fight napalm where it is produced: in the factories." Resolutely, Farocki names names: the manufacturer is Dow Chemical, based in Midland, Michigan in the United States. Against backdrops suggesting the laboratories and offices of this corporation, the film then proceeds to educate us with an austerity reminiscent of Jean Marie Straub. Farocki's development unfolds: "(1) A major corporation is like a construction set. It can be used to put together the whole world. (2) Because of the growing division of labor, many people no longer recognize the role they play in producing mass destruction. (3) That which is manufactured in the end is the product of the workers, students, and engineers."
This last thesis is illustrated with an alarmingly clear image. The same actor, each time at a washroom sink, introduces himself as a worker, a student, an engineer. As an engineer, carrying a vacuum cleaner in one hand and a machine gun in the other, he says, "I am an engineer and I work for an electrical corporation. The workers think we produce vacuum cleaners. The students think we make machine guns. This vacuum cleaner can be a valuable weapon. This machine gun can be a useful household appliance. What we produce is the product of the workers, students, and engineers." (Hans Stempel, Frankfurter Rundschau, June 14, 1969)
Wednesday, January 28th 2015, 7:00 pm
Videogramme einer Revolution (Videograms of a Revolution)
Dir. Harun Farocki & Andrei Ujica, 1992, 106 min. color and b/w.Romanian, English and German with English subtitles, Digital.
Wednesday, February 4th 2015, 7:00 pm
Stilleben (Still Life)
1997, 58 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Ein Bild (An Image)
1983, 25 min., color, German with English subtitles, Digital.
Wednesday, February 11th 2015, 7:00 pm
Wie man sieht (As You See)
1986, 72 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Wednesday, February 18th 2015, 7:00 pm
Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges (Images of the world and the Inscription War)
1988, 75 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Wednesday, February 25th 2015, 7:00 pm
Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik & Gefängnisbilder (Workers Leaving The Factory)
1995, 36 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Gefängnisbilder (Prison Images)
2000, 60 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Wednesday, March 4th 2015, 7:00 pm
Schnittstelle (Section/Interface)
1995, 23 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Zum Vergleich (In Comparison)
2009, 61 min., color, no dialogue with English intertitles. Digital.
Farocki lived and worked in Berlin as a filmmaker, artist and writer. His essay and observational films question the production and perception of images, decoding film as a medium and examining how audiovisual culture is related to history, politics, technology and war. His projects have been shown in festivals and solo, group and retrospective exhibitions worldwide at important events and international institutions, including the 2010 São Paulo Biennial, Documenta X and Xxii in Kassel, Tate Modern in London, MacBa in Barcelona, Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Jeu de Paume in Paris.
Screenings In memory of filmmaker Harun Farocki
Wednesday nights from January 14 to March 4 at 7:00 pm
Where: At the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tickets: Free admission, but RSVP needed, by email to
rsvp@losangeles.goethe.org or by phone at 323.525.3388
Parking: $1 validated parking (for events only) on weekdays after 6:00 pm and all day on weekends in the Wilshire Courtyard West underground garage-P1.
For more event information visit Here
Screening on Wednesday, January 14th 2015, 7:00 pm
Leben: Brd (How to Live in the Frg)
1990, 88 min. color, German with English subtitles. Digital .
The author assembles a genre picture of the contemporary Frg with shots of scenes where life is rehearsed, ability/durability is tested. Wherever one looks, people appear as actors playing themselves; they take on roles. A play in the theater of life made up of training courses, fitness tests for things and people. Be it in birth preparation classes for expectant parents or in practice runs for sales talks, on the military training ground or during role-plays for educational purposes. Everywhere the incessant effort to be prepared for the emergency of "reality" can be felt.
"How To Live In The Frg" assembles out of a wealth of details a picture of a society in which childbearing and dying, crying and taking care of people, crossing streets and killing are taught and learned in state or private institutions, indeed have to be learned. The real mechanical ballet is not danced by machines but by people, who move to a music that feeds on bombastic phrases from the realms of social work, bureaucracy and therapy. All together, the collected scenes appear to support the view that a mentality of insurance and providing for the future prevails in the Frg, a country in which happiness as well as misery are supposed to be disciplined by means of social techniques and freed from any measure of unpredictability. And yet
"How To Live In The Frg" goes beyond such an interpretation. The participants in the games, tests, and therapy sessions are not degraded into pieces of evidence for some theory or other. They retain, to varying degrees, something of their dignity. This is a result of Farocki's working method: he has edited the scenes in such a way that even the most nonsensical occurrences as it were explain themselves.
Wednesday, January 21st 2015, 7:00 pm
Erkennen und Verfolgen (War at a Distance)
2003, 58 min. color and b/w. German with English subtitles, Digital.
In 1991, when images of the Gulf War flooded the international media, it was virtually impossible to distinguish between real pictures and those generated on computer. This loss of bearings was to change forever our way of deciphering what we see. The image is no longer used only as testimony, but also as an indispensable link in a process of production and destruction. This is the central premise of "War at a Distance", which continues the deconstruction of claims to visual objectivity Harun Farocki developed in his earlier work. With the help of archival and original material, Farocki sets out in effect to define the relationship between military strategy and industrial production and sheds light on how the technology of war finds applications in everyday life. (Antje Ehmann)
Nicht löschbares Feuer (Inextinguishable Fire)
1969, 25 min., B/W, German with English subtitles, Digital.
"When we show you pictures of napalm victims, you'll shut your eyes. You'll close your eyes to the pictures. Then you'll close them to the memory. And then you'll close your eyes to the facts." These words are spoken at the beginning of an agitprop film that can be viewed as a unique and remarkable development. Farocki refrains from making any sort of emotional appeal.
His point of departure is the following: "When napalm is burning, it is too late to extinguish it. You have to fight napalm where it is produced: in the factories." Resolutely, Farocki names names: the manufacturer is Dow Chemical, based in Midland, Michigan in the United States. Against backdrops suggesting the laboratories and offices of this corporation, the film then proceeds to educate us with an austerity reminiscent of Jean Marie Straub. Farocki's development unfolds: "(1) A major corporation is like a construction set. It can be used to put together the whole world. (2) Because of the growing division of labor, many people no longer recognize the role they play in producing mass destruction. (3) That which is manufactured in the end is the product of the workers, students, and engineers."
This last thesis is illustrated with an alarmingly clear image. The same actor, each time at a washroom sink, introduces himself as a worker, a student, an engineer. As an engineer, carrying a vacuum cleaner in one hand and a machine gun in the other, he says, "I am an engineer and I work for an electrical corporation. The workers think we produce vacuum cleaners. The students think we make machine guns. This vacuum cleaner can be a valuable weapon. This machine gun can be a useful household appliance. What we produce is the product of the workers, students, and engineers." (Hans Stempel, Frankfurter Rundschau, June 14, 1969)
Wednesday, January 28th 2015, 7:00 pm
Videogramme einer Revolution (Videograms of a Revolution)
Dir. Harun Farocki & Andrei Ujica, 1992, 106 min. color and b/w.Romanian, English and German with English subtitles, Digital.
Wednesday, February 4th 2015, 7:00 pm
Stilleben (Still Life)
1997, 58 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Ein Bild (An Image)
1983, 25 min., color, German with English subtitles, Digital.
Wednesday, February 11th 2015, 7:00 pm
Wie man sieht (As You See)
1986, 72 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Wednesday, February 18th 2015, 7:00 pm
Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges (Images of the world and the Inscription War)
1988, 75 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Wednesday, February 25th 2015, 7:00 pm
Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik & Gefängnisbilder (Workers Leaving The Factory)
1995, 36 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Gefängnisbilder (Prison Images)
2000, 60 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Wednesday, March 4th 2015, 7:00 pm
Schnittstelle (Section/Interface)
1995, 23 min., color and b/w, German with English subtitles. Digital.
Zum Vergleich (In Comparison)
2009, 61 min., color, no dialogue with English intertitles. Digital.
- 1/16/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A subset of Romanian cinema remains deeply informed by Nicolae Ceaușescu's tenure as General Secretary of the nation's Communist Party, a 24-year reign that ended with his execution in 1989. The title of Corneliu Porumboiu's 12:08 East of Bucharest refers to the exact moment at which the dictator attempted to flee the eponymous city, Radu Gabrea’s docudrama Three Days Till Christmas reenacts his last days alive, and Cătălin Mitulescu's The Way I Spent the End of the World tells of two siblings whose respective plans involve escaping the country and assassinating Ceaușescu. The most explicit example is Andrei Ujica's The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu, a three-hour-long documentary composed entirely of archival footage that gives as clear a sense of the authoritarian ruler's public persona (and, given the many mass demonstrations he's shown attending, how the populace was meant to act in his presence) as any layman such as...
- 3/9/2013
- by Michael Nordine
- MUBI
Before we unleash the beast that is our annual Top 100 Most Anticipated Films List for 2013, we thought we’d give our readers an eyeful on the projects we’re keeping tabs on for… the 2014 campaign. We’re a little nuts with ours lists, but in the upcoming year we’ll be reporting on several of these films as producers find coin, screenplays are finalized, tech crews are hired, cast come abroad and greenlights are announced. Our countdown begins with…:
100. Prodigal Summer – Dir. Nicole Kassell
99. Stepne – Dir. Maryna Vroda
98. We Are Now Beginning Our Descent – Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
97. Tree Shade – Dir. Pedro Gonzalez Rubio
96. In Your Name – Dir. Marco Van Geffen
95. Twinkle Twinkle – Dir. Harmony Korine
94. Dead Spy Running – Dir. Adam Wingard
93. Leningrad – Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
92. The Man Who Sold the World – Dir. Bill Condon
91. Used Guys – Dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
90. Untitled Freddie Mercury Biopic – Stephen Frears
89. Deux Nuits – Dir.
100. Prodigal Summer – Dir. Nicole Kassell
99. Stepne – Dir. Maryna Vroda
98. We Are Now Beginning Our Descent – Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
97. Tree Shade – Dir. Pedro Gonzalez Rubio
96. In Your Name – Dir. Marco Van Geffen
95. Twinkle Twinkle – Dir. Harmony Korine
94. Dead Spy Running – Dir. Adam Wingard
93. Leningrad – Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
92. The Man Who Sold the World – Dir. Bill Condon
91. Used Guys – Dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
90. Untitled Freddie Mercury Biopic – Stephen Frears
89. Deux Nuits – Dir.
- 1/8/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
At least since the 1990s, Austria has commanded a central place within global cinema culture, certainly within that portion of it governed in a semi-official manner by film festivals and arthouses. Like many such European film scenes, many of its members have moved quite easily between fiction and documentary modes (Ulrich Seidl and Michael Glawogger, to cite the most obvious and prolific). Still, the documentary element remains too seldom remarked upon as a spiritual source for the unique, penetrating gaze that characterizes so many of key Austrian films. Generally speaking, fictional features by the likes of Michael Haneke, Jessica Hausner and Michael Schleinzer have drawn more attention from programmers and distributors than the documentaries of Nikolaus Geyrhalter. This is par for the course with nonfiction cinema. But it nevertheless seems worth mentioning here because, in terms of the tone, construction, and global attitude of Geyrhalter’s cinema, his work seems...
- 7/24/2012
- MUBI
Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, Margaret's Anna Paquin (photo), Weekend's Tom Cullen, and The Tree of Life's Terrence Malick and Brad Pitt were some of the winners of the 2012 International Cinephile Society Awards. The honors are announced by "an online group made up of approximately 80 accredited journalists, film scholars, historians and other industry professionals who cover film festivals and events on five continents." And cinephiles they clearly are; some of their choices would put the U.S.-based National Society of Film Critics to shame. [Full list of International Cinephile Society winners and runners-up.] Writer-director Farhadi's Iranian family drama A Separation, which is up for the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay Academy Awards, won as Best Picture of 2011, in addition to Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Ensemble (including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress runners-up Peyman Moaadi and Shahab Hosseini). Farhadi was also the runner-up for Best Director.
- 2/22/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Chris New, Tom Cullen in Andrew Haigh's Weekend Anna Paquin, Terrence Malick: Cinephile Society Winners Best Picture 01. A Separation 02. The Tree of Life 03. Mysteries of Lisbon 04. Certified Copy 05. Weekend 06. Margaret 07. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 08. Drive 09. Meek's Cutoff 10. Hugo 11. Melancholia Best Director Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life Runner-up: Asghar Farhadi – A Separation Best Film Not In The English Language 01. A Separation 02. Mysteries of Lisbon 03. Certified Copy 04. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 05. The Skin I Live In 06. Poetry 07. House of Pleasures 08. Le Havre 09. Le Quattro Volte 10. Of Gods and Men Best Actor Tom Cullen – Weekend Runner-up: Peyman Moaadi – A Separation Best Actress Anna Paquin – Margaret Runner-up: Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy Best Supporting Actor Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life Runner-up: Shahab Hosseini – A Separation Best Supporting Actress J. Smith-Cameron – Margaret Runner-up: Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter Best Original Screenplay A Separation – Asghar Farhadi...
- 2/22/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
In the notes for 1983’s An Image, a fly-on-the-wall dissection of a German Playboy shoot, Harun Farocki explains his method for gaining access to sensitive locations, which involves a kind of dual deception, his backers expecting condemnation, his subjects expecting praise. “I try to do neither” Farocki writes, “nor do I want to do something in between, but beyond both.”
Above: An Image.
This sense of beyond, a restless contemplation lurking beneath a veneer of apparent flatness, is present in all Farocki’s films, with their fundamentally basic depictions of mundane practices and events. They seem, at first glance, to take in these events with complete objectivity, the camera hanging back deferentially, absorbing the action without direct comment. Yet like Frederick Wiseman’s similarly low-key documents, these observations ultimately prove to be sneaky inquisitions on a variety of issues, fundamentally questions of authorship, control and authority, and how these concepts...
Above: An Image.
This sense of beyond, a restless contemplation lurking beneath a veneer of apparent flatness, is present in all Farocki’s films, with their fundamentally basic depictions of mundane practices and events. They seem, at first glance, to take in these events with complete objectivity, the camera hanging back deferentially, absorbing the action without direct comment. Yet like Frederick Wiseman’s similarly low-key documents, these observations ultimately prove to be sneaky inquisitions on a variety of issues, fundamentally questions of authorship, control and authority, and how these concepts...
- 11/2/2011
- MUBI
Director: Andrei Ujica Rendered in the artistic fashion of a Leni Riefenstahl documentary, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu features a magnificent and poetic montage of archival footage about Romania's fallen ruler nm0147476 autoNicolae Ceausescu[/link]. Autobiography begins on the final day of Ceausescu's life, with television footage of him and his wife undergoing a hastily organized two-hour court session prior to their execution on Christmas Day 1989. From there, director Andrei Ujica's documentary delves into a rich archival array of propagandistic footage with a recurring theme of pomp and circumstance as it chronicles Ceausescu's reign as the Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party (1965-1989) and Romania's head of state (1967-1989). Ceausescu's reign started off promising with an open policy towards Western Europe and the United States (thus deviating from the other Warsaw Pact states during the Cold War); he even actively and openly condemned the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the other Warsaw Pact forces.
- 10/7/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
We perceive documentaries as records of truth; these things happened, the camera recorded them. "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" is a record of a lie. Yes, these things happened, and yes, the camera recorded them. But why did they happen and how? And what was going on when the camera wasn't around? Because of its unusual structure, the film doesn't say. But attentive viewers will realize this "autobiography" presents an incomplete view of history.
It comes from the perspective of Nicolae Ceausescu, Communist dictator of Romania from 1967 to 1989. A man with a taste for the spotlight, Ceausescu rarely missed an opportunity for a photo opportunity, and he filled his nation's official archive with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of himself at work and play. The footage is extensive but not comprehensive: lots of speeches and meetings with foreign heads-of-state, occasional travels abroad or hunting expeditions, but no mentions of food...
It comes from the perspective of Nicolae Ceausescu, Communist dictator of Romania from 1967 to 1989. A man with a taste for the spotlight, Ceausescu rarely missed an opportunity for a photo opportunity, and he filled his nation's official archive with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of himself at work and play. The footage is extensive but not comprehensive: lots of speeches and meetings with foreign heads-of-state, occasional travels abroad or hunting expeditions, but no mentions of food...
- 9/10/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
This week, everyone has an opinion on Steven Soderbergh's latest "Contagion," while "Tanner Hall" disappoints. Figure out what to see by checking out all the reviews published this week on indieWIRE and our Blog Network. “The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu” Reverseblog Andrei Ujica has made a documentary without voice-over narration or talking-head commentary of any kind, without introductory titles for principal personages, without scene-setting placards that provide context "Contagion" Leonard ...
- 9/9/2011
- Indiewire
Romanian émigré and film essayist Andrei Ujica’s acclaimed Videograms of a Revolution trilogy, which includes the 1992 film of that name as well as his profile of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, Out of the Present (1995), finally concludes with The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, his genre-bending final chapter, which he fondly calls part of the “new non-fiction” that is taking the world of cinema by storm. Culling through several decades worth of propaganda films from the Romanian National Television and Film Archives, he takes wildly out of context footage and gently stews it together into a three hour epic rumination on Romania’s mid and late Communist periods as told from the decidedly rosy verging on megalomaniacal perspective of the brutal 20th century dictator himself whose filmic autobiography we’re ostensibly watching. Unlike anything else that will find its way to commercial screens the year, the movie is a dazzling historical tour-de-force...
- 9/9/2011
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
At the start of Andrei Ujica’s epic documentary The Autobiography Of Nicolae Ceausescu, the late Romanian president is seen on video shortly before his 1989 execution, in a small room with his wife by his side, refusing to answer questions about his crimes against his people unless he’s taken in front of the Grand National Assembly. Ceausescu considers his interrogation undignified for someone of his stature—“a masquerade,” he calls it. His captors respond by saying, “It was your masquerade for 25 years.” It’s a bracing moment: the dictator laid low, called to account by the citizens ...
- 9/8/2011
- avclub.com
It was a wonderful night celebrating documentary filmmaking at the fourth annual Cinema Eye Honors, held in the beautifully renovated Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, N.Y. on January 18th. Hosted by filmmakers Aj Schnack (Kurt Cobain: About a Son) and Esther Robinson (A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory), the nominees comprised of some of the best documentary films of 2010, truly a celebration of nonfiction filmmaking rather than a competition. David Schwartz, the chief curator of the Museum, relayed the thoughts of many filmgoers who say that “the best films at festivals are the documentaries.” The night kicked off with musical accompaniment by the Quavers and an excerpt of Utopia in Four Movements, performed by Sam Green. His excerpt was at both funny and poignant, touching upon a mix of history and comedy, segueing between 1960s ideas of the future world to...
- 1/19/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Sunday, December 5th concludes the 5th annual Romanian Film Festival at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City. This year hosts The Romanian Cultural Institute and curator Mihai Chirilov added the moniker “A New Beginning,” in appreciation of the recent success of what has been dubbed the “Romanian New Wave.” This year, Cristi Puiu, arguably the one who started it all with his 2006 debut The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, returns with his second feature Aurora. The three-hour long film premiered earlier this year at the New York Film Festival to resoundingly positive reviews. Also returning from Nyff are Radu Montean’s Tuesday, After Christmas (opening May 25 at Film Forum) and Andrei Ujica’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, which opened the festival. All three were standouts this past May on the Croisette. Bobby Paunescu, producer of “Aurora” and “Lazarescu”, screens his directorial debut Francesca. Rounding out the “Romanian New Wave” roster of attendees is Razvan Radulescu,...
- 12/5/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
This weekend, December 3-5, Tribeca Cinemas is proud to host the 5th Romanian Film Festival in New York City, featuring a roster of shining stars from past and present. Hosted, as always, by The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, this year's festival is entitled A New Beginning and will feature the best and most recent films from Romania's unique and critically exalted national body of contemporary cinema. These include works from filmmakers at the forefront of the Romanian New Wave, such as Cristi Puiu, Radu Muntean and Razvan Radulescu, as well as debut features from Constantin Popescu and Bobby Paunescu. For its opening night, the festival will present the highly anticipated new work from Andrei Ujica (Videograms of a Revolution), The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu. The festival will conclude with the landmark Romanian film Carnival Scenes by filmmaker Lucian Pintilie, featuring celebrated Romanian stage and screen actor Victor Rebengiuc...
- 12/1/2010
- TribecaFilm.com
It’s been five years since an American film topped the annual poll of venerable British film mag Sight & Sound, but now in 2010 The Social Network has earned the rare distinction, for an American studio film, becoming listed as the best film of the year.
According to Guy Lodge at incontention.com, the full lists are only available in the print magazine right now, but will be online Dec. 7. Alsoworth mentioning is that this year’s Best Picture list is a Top 12, due to numerous ties.
1. The Social Network (David Fincher)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4. Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
5. The Arbor (Clio Barnard)
6. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
6. I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino)
8. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica)
8. Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
8. Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzman)
8. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
8. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard)
The Social Network, received...
According to Guy Lodge at incontention.com, the full lists are only available in the print magazine right now, but will be online Dec. 7. Alsoworth mentioning is that this year’s Best Picture list is a Top 12, due to numerous ties.
1. The Social Network (David Fincher)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4. Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
5. The Arbor (Clio Barnard)
6. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
6. I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino)
8. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica)
8. Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
8. Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzman)
8. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
8. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard)
The Social Network, received...
- 11/30/2010
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Andrei Ujica gave Cannes, Tiff and Nyff cinephiles The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (read our review), and now Radu Gabrea, the Romanian director who has recently made Red Gloves and Gruber's Journey, will start working to a docu-drama about the last days in Ceauşescu's life. Most probably the shooting will take place on January – February 2011, while the release is set for 2012. The Last Days of Ceauşescu recently received the biggest grant in the documentary section of this year's National Center for Cinema contest: 696.087 lei (more than 161.000 euro), while the entire budget is likley to be around 465.000 euro. Tudor Şerban and Orion Film are the producers, while the director of photography will be Alexandru Macarie. The Last Days of Ceauşescu is based on a story by Grigore Cartianu, editor-in-chief at Adevărul Daily Newspaper. Gabrea, mentioned that he wouldn't have to make any casting for the two dictators, because he already selected...
- 11/30/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
If you read In Contention and Awards Daily as I'm assuming a good hefty percentage of Film Experience readers, being Oscar obsessed, do, then you already know that The Social Network has landed its first major top ten list and #1 placement. Presumable many more will follow. It's that type of movie, both highbrow and mainstream enough to capture a good cross section of critical hosannas.
"One Top Ten list isn't cool. Do you know what's cool?Hundreds of Top Ten lists."
Sight and Sound's Top 10
1. The Social Network (David Fincher)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4. Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
5. The Arbor (Clio Barnard)
6. (Tie) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik) and I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino)
8. (Tie) The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica), Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard), Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzman), Poetry ♥ (Lee Chang-dong), and A Prophet (Jaques Audiard)
"Sight and...
"One Top Ten list isn't cool. Do you know what's cool?Hundreds of Top Ten lists."
Sight and Sound's Top 10
1. The Social Network (David Fincher)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4. Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
5. The Arbor (Clio Barnard)
6. (Tie) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik) and I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino)
8. (Tie) The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica), Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard), Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzman), Poetry ♥ (Lee Chang-dong), and A Prophet (Jaques Audiard)
"Sight and...
- 11/30/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The Cinema Eye Honors, devoted to highlighting the best of the year's nonfiction films, have flipped for Lixin Fan's fantastic "Last Train Home," which follows a family of migrant workers as they struggle to stay connected while living separated by hundreds of miles. "Last Train Home" received the most nominations -- seven -- while Banksy's "Exit Through The Gift Shop" and Afghanistan documentary "Armadillo" each received six. The award ceremony will take place on January 18 at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, and will be broadcast on the Documentary Channel.
Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
Armadilllo
Directed by Janus Metz
Produced by Sara Stockmann and Ronnie Fridthjof
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Directed by Banksy
Produced by Jaimie D'Cruz
Last Train Home
Directed by Lixin Fan
Produced by Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross
Marwencol
Directed by Jeff Malmberg
Produced by Jeff Malmberg, Tom Putnam, Matt Radecki, Chris Shellen...
Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
Armadilllo
Directed by Janus Metz
Produced by Sara Stockmann and Ronnie Fridthjof
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Directed by Banksy
Produced by Jaimie D'Cruz
Last Train Home
Directed by Lixin Fan
Produced by Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross
Marwencol
Directed by Jeff Malmberg
Produced by Jeff Malmberg, Tom Putnam, Matt Radecki, Chris Shellen...
- 11/5/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Few have ever seen a film like Andrei Ujica’s The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, and even fewer have seen it presented in such a way—as an art form. It is important to pay attention to the title. Director Andrei Ujica aims to make a film where former President of Romania Nicolae Ceauşescu (1918-1989) tells his own story. While Documentary filmmakers have tried for years to reach “authenticity” and “objectivity” (arguably in vain), Ujica looks for subjectivity—specifically Ceauşescu’s. The result is a three-hour piece that can most easily be compared to a political travelogue than any other documentary. We are treated to long “scenes” of Ceauşescu and his fellow politicians touring volcanoes, giving public speeches, Romanian Nationalist parades, courtrooms, political rallies, volleyball games and many more of the like. The only material that would be considered “exciting” is that of his faux-trial that was filmed during the...
- 9/22/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
0537 The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica, Romania)
Andrei Ujica has a simple, ingenious idea for this documentary on Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu: tell the man’s political story only through frictionless public appearance. The Autobiography, as per its clever title, is constructed entirely of such appearances, party congresses, international press conferences, tours through bakeries, markets, carnivals, building sites, trips to other Communist nations (including China and North Korea), and more. It’s a three-hour film and spans the entirety of his leadership of Romania, from the death of the previous leader in the late 1960s to the fall of the government at the end of the 1980s. Through this simple organizational technique what we have is a film almost entirely stripped of specific ideas of what Ceausescu’s policies or leadership was like both inside his country and in his relationship to the outside world. We get, instead,...
Andrei Ujica has a simple, ingenious idea for this documentary on Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu: tell the man’s political story only through frictionless public appearance. The Autobiography, as per its clever title, is constructed entirely of such appearances, party congresses, international press conferences, tours through bakeries, markets, carnivals, building sites, trips to other Communist nations (including China and North Korea), and more. It’s a three-hour film and spans the entirety of his leadership of Romania, from the death of the previous leader in the late 1960s to the fall of the government at the end of the 1980s. Through this simple organizational technique what we have is a film almost entirely stripped of specific ideas of what Ceausescu’s policies or leadership was like both inside his country and in his relationship to the outside world. We get, instead,...
- 9/14/2010
- MUBI
The Vancouver International Film Festival is my baby. In its 29th year, this is the event I look forward to every year. The lists I've kept through the year come out and I eagerly look through the list of titles in search of those little gems and every year Viff responds with a huge assortment of titles. This year's festival is no different.
Some of the titles we're most eagerly anticipating include Tsumetai Nettaigyo’s Cold Fish (trailer), Gareth Edwards’ Monsters (trailer, review), Jo Sung-Hee’s apocalyptic road movie End of Animal, Carl Bessai’s Repeaters (trailer) and Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats (trailer, review).
There's loads more so be sure to check the titles (so far) after the break. Many more to be announced in the coming days.
Canadian Images
Altitude (Kaare Andrews), B.C.
View trailer
A weekend getaway aboard a small plane turns deadly for a rookie pilot and four teenage friends.
Some of the titles we're most eagerly anticipating include Tsumetai Nettaigyo’s Cold Fish (trailer), Gareth Edwards’ Monsters (trailer, review), Jo Sung-Hee’s apocalyptic road movie End of Animal, Carl Bessai’s Repeaters (trailer) and Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats (trailer, review).
There's loads more so be sure to check the titles (so far) after the break. Many more to be announced in the coming days.
Canadian Images
Altitude (Kaare Andrews), B.C.
View trailer
A weekend getaway aboard a small plane turns deadly for a rookie pilot and four teenage friends.
- 9/8/2010
- QuietEarth.us
#5. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Director: Andrei Ujica Distributor: Rights Available. Buzz: If you're like me and have been moved by the auteur Romanian cinema of not even the past decade, then you might want to plunge into this three hour documentary film which focuses on the man who was the source for fifteen years of misery in this country. The pic preemed in an Out of Comp slot in Cannes and will surely receive love from festival programmers who've been promoting the likes of Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu and Catalin Mitulescu. The Gist: The film explores the image of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu using official footage from the Romanian National Television and National Film Archives. Tiff Schedule: Thursday September 16 5:30:00 Pm AMC 10 Friday September 17 5:00:00 Pm AMC 9 ...
- 9/6/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Wow, that's a lot of flicks. Everything from Peter Mullan's Neds to Benedek Fliegauf's Womb (that's right, it's a trailer!) to more Greek weirdness in Athena Tsangari's Attenberg. I wish I was going.
It's late so I'm not writing much of a post here.. Maybe I'll update tomorrow.
Full list after the break via Variety.
Contemporary World Cinema
(World preems)
* "Home for Christmas," Bent Hamer (Norway/Germany/Sweden)
* "Behind Blue Skies," Hannes Holm (Sweden)
* "Even The Rain," Iciar Bollain (Spain/France/Mexico)
* "The First Grader," Justin Chadwick (I.K.)
* "Neds," Peter Mullan (U.K./France/Italy)
* "White Irish Drinkers," John Gray (U.S.)
* "22nd of May," Koen Mortier (Belgium)
* "African United," Deb Gardner-Paterson (U.K.)
* "Blessed Events," Isabelle Stever (Germany)
* "The Edge," Alexey Uchitel (Russia)
* "Jucy," Louise Alston (Australia)
* "Lapland Odyssey," Dome Karukoski (Finland)
* "Late Autumn," Kim Teo-Yong (South Korea)
* "Matariki" Michael Bennet (New Zealand)
* "Tracker" Ian Sharp (U.
It's late so I'm not writing much of a post here.. Maybe I'll update tomorrow.
Full list after the break via Variety.
Contemporary World Cinema
(World preems)
* "Home for Christmas," Bent Hamer (Norway/Germany/Sweden)
* "Behind Blue Skies," Hannes Holm (Sweden)
* "Even The Rain," Iciar Bollain (Spain/France/Mexico)
* "The First Grader," Justin Chadwick (I.K.)
* "Neds," Peter Mullan (U.K./France/Italy)
* "White Irish Drinkers," John Gray (U.S.)
* "22nd of May," Koen Mortier (Belgium)
* "African United," Deb Gardner-Paterson (U.K.)
* "Blessed Events," Isabelle Stever (Germany)
* "The Edge," Alexey Uchitel (Russia)
* "Jucy," Louise Alston (Australia)
* "Lapland Odyssey," Dome Karukoski (Finland)
* "Late Autumn," Kim Teo-Yong (South Korea)
* "Matariki" Michael Bennet (New Zealand)
* "Tracker" Ian Sharp (U.
- 8/25/2010
- QuietEarth.us
Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower The Toronto International Film Festival has added even more films to their line-up today as the complete line-up was announced, which ended up causing the festival's server to crash, but I was lucky enough to get in and get out before missing out on the information.
First off, the festival's Mavericks line-up is quite interesting, which includes a series of guest presentations and this year will see Edward Norton interview Bruce Springsteen, NBA All-Star and native Canadian Steve Nash will present his hour-long film Into the Wind, Apichatpong Weerasethakul will talk with the audience as his Cannes Palm d'Or-winning film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives was just added to the Masters programme, Ken Loach and Paul Laverty will be interviewed by Michael Moore on politics and cinema and Philip Seymour Hoffman will have his own panel. Also on hand will be Bill Gates,...
First off, the festival's Mavericks line-up is quite interesting, which includes a series of guest presentations and this year will see Edward Norton interview Bruce Springsteen, NBA All-Star and native Canadian Steve Nash will present his hour-long film Into the Wind, Apichatpong Weerasethakul will talk with the audience as his Cannes Palm d'Or-winning film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives was just added to the Masters programme, Ken Loach and Paul Laverty will be interviewed by Michael Moore on politics and cinema and Philip Seymour Hoffman will have his own panel. Also on hand will be Bill Gates,...
- 8/24/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
I'm calling it now. Vanguard is the best program of the Toronto International Film festival 2010. Featuring titles from Romain Gavras, Adam Wingard, Sion Sono, Tatsuya Nakashima and more, this is exactly the sort of programming I was hoping for when the program was first created a few years back. Absolutely fantastic. Here are the announcements for both Visions and Vanguard.
Visions Programme
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Andrei Ujica, Romania North American Premiere
Culled from one thousand hours of archival footage and four years in the making, this spellbinding epic montage unfolds as if from the memory of former Romanian ruler Nicolae Ceausescu, after his reign was brought to an abrupt and
tumultuous end in December 1989.
Brownian Movement Nanouk Leopold, The Netherlands/Germany/Belgium World Premiere
Acclaimed Dutch filmmaker Nanouk Leopold explores a young mother's desires and needs in this langorous and atmospheric film.
The Ditch Wang Bing, France/Belgium...
Visions Programme
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Andrei Ujica, Romania North American Premiere
Culled from one thousand hours of archival footage and four years in the making, this spellbinding epic montage unfolds as if from the memory of former Romanian ruler Nicolae Ceausescu, after his reign was brought to an abrupt and
tumultuous end in December 1989.
Brownian Movement Nanouk Leopold, The Netherlands/Germany/Belgium World Premiere
Acclaimed Dutch filmmaker Nanouk Leopold explores a young mother's desires and needs in this langorous and atmospheric film.
The Ditch Wang Bing, France/Belgium...
- 8/24/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro Volte (aka The Four Times), one of treasured discoveries I made at Cannes this year is among those selected in Visions section -- a grouping of films that are definitely bending the narrative form. Other noticeable titles include Wang Bing's The Ditch, Acne director Federico Veiroj's A Useful Life and what should make for an interesting evening in Vincent Gallo's Promises Written in Water. Here are the selected titles, several began their life at Cannes this year. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Andrei Ujica, Romania North American Premiere Culled from one thousand hours of archival footage and four years in the making, this spellbinding epic montage unfolds as if from the memory of former Romanian ruler Nicolae Ceausescu, after his reign was brought to an abrupt and tumultuous end in December 1989. Brownian Movement Nanouk Leopold, The Netherlands/Germany/Belgium World Premiere Acclaimed Dutch...
- 8/24/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Amid today’s limp ’80s remakes and contrived, 3-D popcorn movies, a less-recognized genre is experiencing what some critics dub a “new wave.”
Two Romanian documentaries made their world premieres at Cannes this year, including the well-received “Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu,” a documentary about the late Communist dictator. Director Andrei Ujica, who fled to Germany in 1981 to escape Ceausescu’s reign in Romania, milled through 1,000 hours of archive footage to film the project.
“It was a kind of self-therapy,” Ujica told Tom Wilson of the BBC World Service last month. “I’m free from him now for the first time in my life.”
While the niche of Romanian documentaries has spent the last few years accruing critical success — Romanian films won “un certain regard” at Cannes in 2005, Camera d’Or in 2006 and Palm d’Or in 2007 — the public’s been less receptive, particularly some Romanians themselves.
“I’ve proven myself with documentaries,...
Two Romanian documentaries made their world premieres at Cannes this year, including the well-received “Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu,” a documentary about the late Communist dictator. Director Andrei Ujica, who fled to Germany in 1981 to escape Ceausescu’s reign in Romania, milled through 1,000 hours of archive footage to film the project.
“It was a kind of self-therapy,” Ujica told Tom Wilson of the BBC World Service last month. “I’m free from him now for the first time in my life.”
While the niche of Romanian documentaries has spent the last few years accruing critical success — Romanian films won “un certain regard” at Cannes in 2005, Camera d’Or in 2006 and Palm d’Or in 2007 — the public’s been less receptive, particularly some Romanians themselves.
“I’ve proven myself with documentaries,...
- 8/10/2010
- by Bryan Lufkin
- The Moving Arts Journal
Dispatch From Romania | A Cinema of Everyday Moments at the Transilvania International Film Festival
Yesterday brought a close to the ninth edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival, hosted in the university town of Cluj, Romania. The event has been steadily growing both in size and importance over the past few years with organizers touting 2010 as a record breaking year. During its ten days, bookended by Fatih Akin's "Soul Kitchen" and Andrei Ujica's "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu," Tiff (as the event is more ...
- 6/7/2010
- Indiewire
"As the title suggests, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu is hardly a conventional historical documentary," writes Dennis Lim, introducing another interview for the New York Times. "Andrei Ujica's three-hour-plus found-footage epic, screening out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, recounts the life of the Romanian dictator as Ceausescu himself saw it — or, as was often the case, stage-managed it. Devoid of explanatory titles and voice-overs, the film assembles a composite portrait of Ceausescu solely through the existing visual record: the speeches he gave, the parades thrown in his honor, the state visits he made (to the United States, China, Britain and, most memorably, North Korea) and the home movies of family vacations and hunting expeditions."...
- 5/25/2010
- MUBI
Hollywoodnews.com: On May 12, the Cannes Film Festival will start its 63rd edition. The president of the jury is Tim Burton and the jury consists of Kate Beckinsale – Actress / United Kingdom, Giovanna Mezzogiorno – Actress / Italy, Alberto Barbera – Director of the National Museum of Cinema / Italy, Emmanuel Carrere – Author – Screenwriter – Director / France, Benicio Del Toro – Actor / Porto Rico,Victor Erice – Director/ Spain, Shekhar Kapur – Director – Actor – Producer / India and Alexandre Desplat – Composer / France.
For this year’s line-up Scroll Down.
Below letter from one of the Cannes Film Festival bosses, Thierry Frémaux:
“As happens every year, the Festival´s programme was launched in January with the announcement of who would be the President of the Jury: Tim Burton! The news, which was unanimously greeted with enthusiasm, put the world of film in a good mood. The choice of Tim Burton to head the next edition of the Festival brings with...
For this year’s line-up Scroll Down.
Below letter from one of the Cannes Film Festival bosses, Thierry Frémaux:
“As happens every year, the Festival´s programme was launched in January with the announcement of who would be the President of the Jury: Tim Burton! The news, which was unanimously greeted with enthusiasm, put the world of film in a good mood. The choice of Tim Burton to head the next edition of the Festival brings with...
- 5/8/2010
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Over the weekend I was hard at work adding additional titles debuting at this year's 2010 Cannes Film Festival in an effort to make sure once I am in town it is all about seeing the movies and working as little as possible on the asset process. As a result, I now have 17 of the 18 films in competition in the database as information on Sergei Loznitsa's Schastye Moe (My Joy) doesn't seem to be available. However, information on the other 17 is now readily available along with some new pictures and trailers for several of them.
First off, to the right is one of the first three images available for Mathieu Amalric's Tournee, of which I also have the official synopsis for the film from the man most of you know as the villain from Quantum of Solace or Jean-Dominique Bauby from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
In Tournee...
First off, to the right is one of the first three images available for Mathieu Amalric's Tournee, of which I also have the official synopsis for the film from the man most of you know as the villain from Quantum of Solace or Jean-Dominique Bauby from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
In Tournee...
- 5/3/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
As I suggested in my last update, the Cannes film festival line-up we announced earlier this month has since changed slightly, with new additions coming quickly after the initial announcement, and the hoped for inclusion of Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life not making it to the party after all. Below is the new- and with only a week or so left until the Festival opens with Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood- presumably the absolute final line-up for this year’s programmes. All titles have been translated into English for ease where they re not obviously translatable.
Opening Film
Ridley Scott ‘Robin Hood’ [Out of Competition]
The Competition
Mike Leigh ‘Another Year’
Sergei Loznitsa ‘My Joy’
Apichatpong Weerasethakul ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives’
Doug Liman ‘Fair Game’
Im Sang-soo ‘The Housemaid’
Takeshi Kitano ‘Outrage’
Danielle Lucheti ‘Our Life’
Nikita Mikhalkov ‘Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus’
Mathieu Amalric ‘On Tour...
Opening Film
Ridley Scott ‘Robin Hood’ [Out of Competition]
The Competition
Mike Leigh ‘Another Year’
Sergei Loznitsa ‘My Joy’
Apichatpong Weerasethakul ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives’
Doug Liman ‘Fair Game’
Im Sang-soo ‘The Housemaid’
Takeshi Kitano ‘Outrage’
Danielle Lucheti ‘Our Life’
Nikita Mikhalkov ‘Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus’
Mathieu Amalric ‘On Tour...
- 5/2/2010
- by Simon Gallagher
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Recently a few additional titles were added to the previously released list of films screening at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Included is a special screening of Lucy Walker's Countdown to Zero, Pablo Trapero's Carancho, Jia Zhang Ke's I Wish I Knew, Andrei Ujica's The Autobiography of Nicole Ceausescu, Wang Xiaoshuai's Chongqing Blues and the previously announced additions of Olivier Assayas's Carlos and Carlos Diegues's ensemble effort 5xFavella. As you can see, only one of those is currently in the RopeofSilicon database, but as we get closer and closer to the May 12 - 23 festival dates the amount of information I have on each film will grow allowing me to give you additional information as well as assets for each.
One more film added to the festivities is Hungarian director, Kornel Mundruczo's Tender Son - The Frankenstein Project, which was inspired by Mary Shelley's original...
One more film added to the festivities is Hungarian director, Kornel Mundruczo's Tender Son - The Frankenstein Project, which was inspired by Mary Shelley's original...
- 4/26/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The final changes are in for the make-up of the 2010 edition of Cannes and as expected Kornél Mondruczó's latest which now goes by the complete title of Tender Son - The Frankestein Project has been included in the main comp and Wang Xiaoshuaï's Chongqing Blues which was entered in the Un Certain Regard section has been bumped up by one. This would mean there are only 18 titles in total, which is two less from last year's total, and four less from the previous year. - The final changes are in for the make-up of the 2010 edition of Cannes and as expected Kornél Mondruczó's latest which now goes by the complete title of Tender Son - The Frankestein Project (see pic) has been included in the main comp and Wang Xiaoshuaï's Chongqing Blues which was entered in the Un Certain Regard section has been bumped up by one.
- 4/23/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Paris -- As the countdown to the 63rd Festival de Cannes continues, organizers announced a special screening of Lucy Walker's "Countdown to Zero" on Friday, among other late additions to the lineup.
Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai's "Chongqing Blues," previously in Un Certain Regard lineup, and Hungarian helmer Kornel Mondruczo's "Tender Son -- the Frankenstein Project" will round out the 18-strong Competition selection.
Also representing China will be Croisette veteran Jia Zhang Ke with his latest film "I Wish I Knew," which will screen in Un Certain Regard alongside late entry "Carancho" from Argentinean director Pablo Trapero.
Andrei Ujica's Romanian film "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" will complete Out of Competition among the more glitzy Hollywood studio fare set to screen in that category this year.
The Festival de Cannes is set to run May 12-23.
Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai's "Chongqing Blues," previously in Un Certain Regard lineup, and Hungarian helmer Kornel Mondruczo's "Tender Son -- the Frankenstein Project" will round out the 18-strong Competition selection.
Also representing China will be Croisette veteran Jia Zhang Ke with his latest film "I Wish I Knew," which will screen in Un Certain Regard alongside late entry "Carancho" from Argentinean director Pablo Trapero.
Andrei Ujica's Romanian film "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" will complete Out of Competition among the more glitzy Hollywood studio fare set to screen in that category this year.
The Festival de Cannes is set to run May 12-23.
- 4/23/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The final changes are in for the make-up of the 2010 edition of Cannes and as expected Kornél Mondruczó's latest which now goes by the complete title of Tender Son - The Frankestein Project (see pic) has been included in the main comp and Wang Xiaoshuaï's Chongqing Blues which was entered in the Un Certain Regard section has been bumped up by one. This would mean there are only 18 titles in total, which is two less from last year's total, and four less from the previous year. The big surprise announcement is that Jia Zhang Ke's I Wish I knew (an excerpt was shown at MoMA last March) is actually ready (is it the alternative title to The Age of Tattoo? - I'll find out shortly) and Pablo Trapero's Carancho will be added to the Un Certain Regard section. Other items in the press release: The Sundance preemed Countdown to Zero...
- 4/23/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
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