I just experienced Jesus VR – The Story of Christ: a special 40-minute presentation of the first feature length Virtual Reality (VR) film in the VR Theater at the Venice Film Festival. The fi…
Source: Jesus VR – Comes To Life at Venice
The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner!
TIFF is pleased to announce the full lineup for the Special Screening Section. It presents high-profile films, both Japanese and international films and we are expecting to welcome many glamorous guests to the Opening Carpet and stage appearances!
*Screening schedule will be announced on the 29th TIFF official website (www.tiff-jp.net/en/) in mid-October.
(Source:www.tiff-jp.net)
I attended my first Venice International Film Festival at the Cinema del Palazzo complex in Lido this year from the Pre-Opening Night event August 30th through Closing Night September 10th, 2016 as…
Source: Wrap Up: 73rd Venice International Film Festival Continues to Mesmerize
The Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, starring Natalie Portman, has been acquired by Fox Searchlight, which plans to push the film directly into the Oscar season. Searchlight announced the acquisiti…
Source: Portman’s Jackie Kennedy film to get Oscar season release
The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner!
TIFF is pleased to announce that two Japanese films, Japanese Girls Never Die and Snow Woman have been selected for the 29th TIFF Competition section.
This year, a total of 1,502 titles from 98 countries and regions were submitted to TIFF.
A total of 16 films will be shown in the competition section at the 29th TIFF, to be held October 25 (Tue) – November 3 (Thu). The full lineup of the competition section will be announced at the press conference on September 26 (Mon), 2016.
(Source: http://www.2015.tiff-jp.net)
From writer/director Tom Ford comes a haunting romantic thriller of shocking intimacy and gripping tension that explores the thin lines between love and cruelty, and revenge and redemption. Academy Award nominees Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal star as a divorced couple discovering dark truths about each other and themselves in Nocturnal Animals.
A Focus Features presentation of a Fade To Black production. A Tom Ford Film. Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal. Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Karl Glusman, Armie Hammer, Laura Linney, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen. Casting by Francine Maisler, CSA. Costume Designer, Arianne Phillips. Music, Abel Korzeniowski. Film Editor, Joan Sobel, ACE. Production Designer, Shane Valentino. Director of Photography, Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC. Co-Producer, Diane L. Sabatini. Based upon the novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright. Produced by Tom Ford, p.g.a., Robert Salerno, p.g.a. Screenplay by Tom Ford. Directed by Tom Ford. A Focus Features Release.
(Excerpt from Nocturnal Animals Press Notes)
Heartstone, Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s debut feature, won the Queer Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. Heartstone was one of ten films from all of the sections of the festival that we…
Source: HEARTSTONE wins Queer Lion Award in Venice
Nepali film Seto Surya (White Sun) directed by Deepak Rauniyar was premiered in the Orizzonti section — an international competition — at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival to much appreciation on September 6.
*Video and photos are courtesy of ASAC Images/Biennale Cinema
It has also won 6th INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue under Collateral Awards of the 73rd Venice Film Festival.
“From a shortlist of finally three films the INTERFILM Jury at the 73rd International Film Festival Venice has chosen the winner of the 6th INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue.
The jury decided for the Nepalisian film Seta Surya (White Sun) by Deepak Rauniyar which was screened in the Orizzonti section of the festival,” the website of the Award writes.
“It is obviously a moment of joy to be receiving an award at one of the world’s oldest and biggest film festivals of the world. We all are happy,” director Rauniyar expressed to The Himalayan Times via a Facebook interview. Sadly, he wasn’t there to receive the award.
Highway was his first feature film and it also became “the first feature of Nepal to premiere in a major international film festival. Now, White Sun has taken us to another level”.
He has had a deep belief that “Nepali films like other films can be distributed and screened across the audience of the world.
I would be jubilant that day when our films will be distributed easily like other films reach us. My belief has been firm after White Sun was screened at two big film festivals in a gap of four days and the response we got.”
After Venice Film Festival, White Sun had a North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on September 10. The 87-minute-film is a story after the country’s civil war.
It features Dayahang Rai, Asha Magrati, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Sumi Malla and Amrit Pariyar among others.
With the win, lead actor Rai feels that “the country and Nepali films have garnered respect”. When the film was well received at the premiere at Venice with a long applause in a hall of more than 1,200 audience, he is on cloud nine.
He shared, “I felt that this is the success for what I have worked till now!” He had also not expected that people would be interested in a Nepali film.
The Festival ran from August 31 to September 10. INTERFILM is the international network for dialogue between church and film promoting the appreciation of cinema’s artistic, spiritual and social significance in the church and calls attention to the relevance of church, theology and religion for cinema.
As festivals are critical for the activities of INTERFILM, it participates in festivals like Venice and award prizes to outstanding films.
(Source:www.thehimalayantimes.com)
Posted by Larry Gleeson
By Jake Coyle
TORONTO (AP) — The Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, starring Natalie Portman, has been acquired by Fox Searchlight, which plans to push the film directly into the Oscar season.
Searchlight announced the acquisition early Tuesday shortly after the Pablo Larrain-directed film played at the Toronto International Film Festival. Though the market has been quiet in Toronto, Jackie has been the most hotly pursued film since its Venice Film Festival debut last week. The film cuts between the events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy and other moments in the first lady’s life.
Fox Searchlight will release the movie Dec. 9, and it’s widely expected to catapult Portman into the best-actress Oscar race. Fox’s specialty division is an awards season regular that has ushered many films into the Academy Awards, including best-picture winners “12 Years a Slave” and “Birdman,” as well as Portman’s own “Black Swan,” which won her best actress.
Searchlight’s other fall release, Nate Parker’s Nat Turner slave revolt drama “The Birth of a Nation,” had been seen as the studio’s horse in this year’s Oscar race. But that film’s awards hopes have been badly damaged by a rape accusation from Parker’s past. In Toronto, Parker deflected questions about the case in a press conference.
“Pablo Larrain’s Jackie is a daring, one-of-a-kind cinematic portrayal of a beloved icon,” said Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula.
Movies aren’t often acquired in Toronto and so quickly put into theaters. Usually they open sometime the following year. But Fox Searchlight has managed it before; in 2008, it picked up Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” and led it to Oscar nods for both Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei.
*Featured photo: Actress Natalie Portman arriving for the premiere of the film ‘Planetarium’ during the 73rd Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. (Photo credit: Ettore Ferrari/ANSA via AP)
(Source:www.boston.com)
Heartstone, Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s debut feature, won the Queer Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. Heartstone was one of ten films from all of the sections of the festival that were eligible for the award. The film also came in second in the voting for Best Film in the Venice Days section.
The Queer Lion Award is awarded to the best film with homosexual and queer culture themes. Regarding their choice of Heartstone for the award, the jury wrote, “For the exquisite touch in showing the coming of age of two young friends and analyzing the acceptance of homosexual feelings and passions. For the strong and valid representation of the inner conflict that separates and then re-unites the two main characters, set against a natural environment as breathtaking as it can be hard and cruel.”
The Queer Lion was awarded this year for the tenth time. Former winners include A Single Man by Tom Ford, Philomena by Stephen Frears and The Danish Girl by Tom Hooper.
Heartstone was one of 11 films invited to participate at Venice Days, where it had its world premiere. This was the first time that an Icelandic film has been selected for Venice Days, a competitive and autonomous section at the Venice Film Festival.
Heartstone now continues its festival run. Next up are the Toronto International Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, the Warsaw Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival.
About the film
Heartstone is set in a remote fishing village in Iceland. Teenage boys Thor and Christian experience a turbulent summer as one tries to win the heart of a girl while the other discovers new feelings toward his best friend. When summer ends and the harsh nature of Iceland reclaims its rightful place, it’s time for the boys to leave the playground and face the acrimony of adulthood.
Heartstone was written and directed by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson. In the last few years, Gudmundsson has garnered considerable notice for his award-winning short films, most notably Whale Valley. Among Whale Valley’s 45 international awards is a special mention in the main competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Heartstone was produced by Anton Máni Svansson and Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson for Join Motion Pictures and Lise Orheim Stender and Jesper Morthorst for the Danish production company SF Studios Production. The film was shot by the Norwegian cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, edited by the Danes Anne Østerud and Janus Billeskov Jansen, and the score was composed by the Dane Kristian Eidnes Andersen. International sales will be handled by the Berlin-based Films Boutique. The film was made with support from the Icelandic Film Centre and the Danish Film Institute.
Heartstone stars the promising young actors Baldur Einarsson, Blaer Hinriksson, Diljá Valsdóttir, Katla Njálsdóttir, Jónína Thórdís Karlsdóttir, Rán Ragnarsdóttir, Daníel Hans Erlendsson, Theodór Pálsson and Sveinn Sigurbjörnsson. The young cast is ably supported by veterans Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Søren Malling and Gunnar Jónsson.
(Source: http://www.icelandicfilmcentre.is)
