Tag Archives: Art

Venice International Film Festival

BERLINALE POSTER 2017 – BELOVED BEARS RETURN

December 23, 2016 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

To attract attention to the Festival these inquisitive animals are again making their rounds throughout town!

*All poster motifs of the 67th Berlinale

“Berlin is big and this year we’ll again follow the bear tracks to some typical spots in the capital,” remarks a delighted Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

Once more the motifs have been designed by Velvet, a Swiss advertising agency.

The six posters in the series will be visible around town as of mid-January 2017. They will also be on sale at the Berlinale Online Shop starting January 16.

(Source: Press Release provided by Berlinale Press Office)

BERLIN ANNOUNCES GENERATION 2017: PERIL AND PROMISE – WALKING FINE LINES AND LIFE ON THE ROAD

December 23, 2016 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Selection Process for Feature Film Programme at Halfway Mark

In the two competitions Kplus and 14plus, 15 feature films have already been selected for the 40th edition of Generation. Exhibiting an impressive range of cinematic approaches, these productions tell the stories of young people on inner and outer journeys and capture a sense of longing for new and altered horizons. The complete programme for Generation will be made public in mid-January.

Opening Film 14plus

Michael Winterbottom is slated to open the programme of Generation 14plus in the newly renovated Haus der Kulturen der Welt with a special screening of his vibrant music documentary On the Road. Shot in the characteristic hybrid style that has become the English director’s trademark, his newest outing follows the members of the band Wolf Alice on tour as they travel back and forth across their native Great Britain, where they have caused quite a stir in recent years. The film intimately portrays life on the road, in all its ecstasy and exhaustion. The connection between the musicians and their fans is palpable and there is a fine interplay between watching and listening amongst concert and film audiences

David Darcy © Good Dog Enterprises

Red Dog: True Blue by Kriv Stenders

Generation 14plus

Almost Heaven
United Kingdom
By Carol Salter
World premiere
Far from home, 17-year-old Ying Ling practices for her examination to become a mortician at one of China’s largest funeral homes. In addition to frequent qualms and farewell ceremonies, the everyday routine of this unusual occupation also serves up both humorous and life affirming moments. Carol Salter’s debut outing is an empathetic documentary portrait touching on fears, friendship and coming of age amidst ghosts and the dearly departed.

Butterfly Kisses
United Kingdom
By Rafael Kapelinski
World premiere
Jake and his friends pass their time hanging out in the courtyards of their high-rise development or in pool halls, talking about girls, watching pornos and getting drunk. Jake is burdened by a dark secret that distances him more and more from the others and drives him into dangerous isolation. Rafael Kapelinski stages his debut film in contrasting black and white, moving in respectful proximity to his characters, brought to life vividly here by an ensemble cast of new discoveries and young talents (including Thomas Turgoose – This Is England, Generation 2007).

Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau (Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves)
Canada
By Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie
European premiere
With epic scope and stunning polymorphism, the film follows a group of young people in Québec who resolve to form a revolutionary cell together in the aftermath of student protests. This unflinching work from Mathieu Denis (Corbo, Generation 2015) and Simon Lavoie employs its protagonists to play through what it might mean to instigate a revolution and devote one’s life to a cause in today’s world.

Emo the Musical
Australia
By Neil Triffett
International premiere
The forbidden high school love between Ethan, the shy Emo kid with suicidal tendencies, and chipper Christian activist Trinity previously delighted Generation audiences as a short film in 2014. Director Neil Triffett is back with his heartbreakingly funny musical grotesque, now in feature-film length, and chock full of even more colourful characters to light up the big screen.

Mulher do pai (A Woman and the Father)
Brazil / Uruguay
By Cristiane Oliveira
International premiere
After the death of her grandmother, 16-year-old Nalu is left to care for her father alone. Any hope of leaving her dismal village now seems to have receded far off into the distance. Cristiane Oliveira’s coming-of-age drama, a work of slowly paced cinema characterised by respectful intimacy and subtle physicality, paints the complex portrait of a relationship between an adolescent daughter and her blind father.

My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea
USA
By Dash Shaw
European premiere
He’s not exactly popular, he’s got friend problems, he wants to make it big with the school paper and he goes by the name of his inventor, Dash. In the school basement, he discovers a secret that rocks the very foundations of his world. Graphic novelist Shaw hopes that his film will reach 15-year-old nerds who are just as crazy about drawings and paintings as he himself was at their age. This work of animation virtually spilling over with ingenuity (and featuring the voice-over talents of Jason Schwartzman, Maya Rudolph, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon) is sure to delight young viewers outside of this particular demographic as well.

Krolewicz Olch (The Erlprince)
Poland
By Kuba Czekaj
European premiere
The action in The Erlprince builds and surges as dramatically as the ballad by Goethe from which it borrows its title. The boundaries between reality, desire and appearance are blurred in this futuristically tinged film about an extraordinarily gifted young man and his ambitious and wondrous mother. Expressed in a form as unconventional as the characters it portrays, the film oscillates between the poles of both science and nature and love and violence.

Weirdos
Canada
By Bruce McDonald
European premiere
Just after the end of the Vietnam War and in the midst of the American bicentennial celebrations of 1976, runaway Kit and his girlfriend Alice hitchhike their way along the east coast of Canada. Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments, Panorama 2007) has managed to create a coming-of-age film that shines equally as a road movie, one driven by a fantastic soundtrack composed of deep cuts from the era in question. A rebellious trip in black and white, in which all sense of certainty gets left by the wayside.

Generation Kplus

As duas Irenes (Two Irenes)
Brazil
By Fabio Meira
World premiere
In the shimmering heat of Brazil, 13-year-old Irene discovers a dark secret her father’s been hiding: he has another family and even another daughter with the same name. Irene embarks on a risky game that could blow up in her face at any moment. The languid summer atmosphere of Fabio Meira’s feature film debut can’t hide the fact that something is simmering right under the surface.

Die Häschenschule – Jagd nach dem Goldenen Ei (Rabbit School – Guardians of the Golden Egg)
Germany
By Ute von Münchow-Pohl
World premiere
Scrappy city rabbit Max finds shelter in a hidden Easter bunny school after a misadventure with a model plane leaves him stranded far beyond the city limits. Here he encounters the keepers of the legendary Golden Egg, itself the coveted prize of scheming foxes. After an initial bout with boredom, the secret techniques of the Easter bunnies finally arouse Max’s curiosity. This lovingly drawn German animation film, based on the 1924 classic, is a pure delight buoyed by imagination and brisk pacing and graced with the voices of Senta Berger, Friedrich von Thun, Jule Böwe and Noah Levi.

Primero enero (January)
Argentina
By Darío Mascambroni
European premiere
Primero enero is the directorial debut of Argentinian filmmaker Darío Mascambroni. 11-year-old Valentino’s life goes off the rails when his parents get divorced, challenging him to see the world from a different angle. In a tender and moving father-son story, the director takes his protagonists and his viewers out to the countryside, into a world of heightened sensitivity.

Red Dog: True Blue
Australia
By Kriv Stenders
European premiere
Australian director Stenders delighted Generation audiences in 2011 with a legendary story about a very special dog. Now, at the centre of this sequel – which is also a prequel- the red canine is joined by 11-year-old Mick, who treasures his bond with his four-legged friend above all else. Destiny has brought the duo together on a farm in the Australian outback, where the two partake in mystical adventures and Mick encounters his first true love. With great humour and sensitivity, the film is a tale of growing up in a time of transformation.

Richard the Stork
Germany / Belgium / Luxemburg / Norway
By Toby Genkel, Reza Memari
World premiere
Even though everybody else thinks he’s a sparrow – Richard himself holds tight to the conviction that he is in fact a stork. In this fast-paced adventure, Toby Genkel and Reza Memari tell the story of a bird who sets off self-confidently on a winter trip to Africa in a literal rite of passage that simultaneously serves as an empathetic tale about otherness and self-discovery. This German-international co-production provides spellbinding entertainment with its fantastic and fanciful fable showcasing top-shelf animation.

Tesoros
Mexico
By María Novaro
World premiere
Siblings Dylan and Andrea set off with their new friends on a marvellous journey of discovery in search of long lost pirate loot. In refreshingly sunny images, María Novaro gets up close to her characters to tell a story of children confidently indulging their lust for life and curiosity. In a commune on Mexico’s Pacific coast, they are given space to go their own ways and together find something much more valuable than buried treasure.

Shi Tou (Stonehead)
People’s Republic of China
By Xiang Zhao
World premiere
10-year-old Shi Tou, the son of a migrant labourer, grows up alone with his grandmother. It’s so hard to tell right from wrong! Sharing a reward with a classmate or waiting until his father returns, obeying his teacher of protecting his friend – which one should he choose? With documental authenticity, Xiang Zhao paints a portrait of life in rural China and a society in which an entire generation has too often been left to grow up in the absence of their parents.

(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

#SBIFF, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Showcase Series

#SBIFF The Showcase – Neruda

December 22, 2016 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

The eventful and unorthodox life of the Nobel Prize–winning poet, politician, committed communist, unapologetic hedonist, and Chilean cultural icon Pablo Neruda provides plentiful territory for cinematic exploration. The poet’s early-1950s exile in Procida previously inspired Michael Radford’s Il Postino, a fictionalized story about Neruda’s relationship with a local postman that left few cinemagoers dry-eyed. Now, Pablo Larraín, Chile’s most inventive and provocative contemporary filmmaker, takes a wholly unique approach to his famous countryman’s life and work with Neruda, which is set during the poet’s sojourn underground in the late 1940s.

“A captivating original literary chase thriller.”
Justin Chang – LA Times

“Stunningly inventive… A work of cleverness, beauty and power.”
Jay Weissberg – Variety

“Neruda is a warmhearted film about a hot-blooded man that is nonetheless troubled by a subtle, perceptible chill.”
A.O. Scott – NY Times

Get tickets here

Screening:
Friday, December 23 @ 11:00am
Saturday, December 24 @ 11:00am
Sunday, December 25 @ 2:00pm
Monday, December 26 @ 7:30pm
Tuesday, December 27 @ 5:00pm
Wednesday, December 28 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, December 29 @ 11:00am
Friday, December 30 @ 11:00am
Saturday, December 31 @ 11:00am
Sunday, January 1 @ 2:00pm
Monday, January 2 @ 7:30pm
Tuesday, January 3 @ 5:00pm
Wednesday, January 4 @ 7:30pm
at the Riviera Theatre – 2044 Alameda Padre Serra

NERUDA
Directed by Pablo Larraín
Written by Guillermo Calderón
Starring Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco, Alfredo Castro, Michael Silva, Mercedes Morán, Pablo Derqui
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Rated R (for sexuality/nudity and some language)
Subtitled

Check out the trailer below:

(Source: sbiff.org)

#AFI, IMDB

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’: 16 Surprising Facts on the Film’s 70th Anniversary

December 22, 2016 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

This is one of my all-time favorite holiday films!

TheWrap takes a look at some fun trivia about “It’s a Wonderful Life” directed by Frank Capra, courtesy of Alonso Duralde, IMDb and Old Hollywood biographer Robert Matzen in his new book, “Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe.

From Beatrice Verhoeven and Alonso Duralde, provided by The Wrap

According to Alonso Duralde’s book, “Have Yourself a Very Movie Christmas,” Uncle Billy actor Thomas Mitchell was actually considered to play Mr. Potter, but Lionel Barrymore got the role because of his popularity after radio versions of “A Christmas Carol.”

Jimmy the Raven appeared in Capra’s “You Can’t Take It With You” (1938) and other post-“Wonderful Life” Capra movies.

The film was such a financial disappointment that it busted Capra’s production company, Liberty Films.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” was the first and last time Capra produced, financed, directed and co-wrote a film.

The original screenplay began with a scene in Benjamin Franklin’s workshop in heaven.

Yes, Bert and Ernie from “Sesame Street” have the same names as the cop and the cab driver in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But it’s just a coincidence, “Muppet” insiders have claimed.

It’s a Wonderful Life” was Jimmy Stewart’s first picture after 20 months on the front lines of WWII. He was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder while filming.

According to IMDb, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was ranked as the #1 Most Inspiration Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute in 2006.

It is also the only film in history to originate from a greeting card.

James Stewart has said that while filming the scene in which George prays in the bar, he began to sob and later, Capra re-framed the now much closer shot to capture his expression. That’s why the shot appears grainy compared to the rest of the film.

screen-shot-2016-12-22-at-11-53-16-am — Nick the Bartender (left) in a scene from It’s a Wonderful Life. (Photo via Bostonhassle.com)

Actor and producer Sheldon Leonard said that he only agreed to play Nick the bartender so he could buy baseball tickets with his paycheck.

Robert J. Anderson said H.B. Warner really was drunk in the scene in which Mr. Gower slaps George. The real slaps caused real blood to ooze out of Anderson’s ear. After the cameras stopped rolling, he comforted Anderson.

(Source: Excerpt from http://m.chron.com)

#SBIFF, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Showcase Series

Note from Roger – Daughters of the Dust

December 21, 2016 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Dear Cinephiles,

Julie Dash’s DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST is one of the most important indie films. It was the first film directed by an African American woman to receive a wide release 25 years ago. The film is beautiful, haunting and a true work of art. Beyonce’s groundbreaking feature length music film “Lemonade” pays homage to “Daughters of the Dust”.

Below is an article about the film from the Los Angeles Times. Come check out the 25th Restoration of this masterpiece tonight (Thursday) at 7:30pm at the Riviera Theatre.

See you at the movies!
Roger Durling

‘Daughters of the Dust,’ Julie Dash’s 1991 triumph, makes a welcome return
By Justin Chang

“Daughters of the Dust,” Julie Dash’s magical 1991 debut feature, captures a sad, thrilling moment of transformation for a community of Gullahs, who are the descendants of African slaves who lived on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. On an August day in 1902, several generations of the Peazant family are preparing to move to the U.S. mainland, bidding farewell to their island home and the vibrant, uniquely African-influenced culture they’ve succeeded in keeping alive.

All good period pieces achieve and sustain a sense of immersion in a different time and place. “Daughters of the Dust,” which Dash spent many years researching, producing, writing and directing, goes further than most. Its examination of a bygone way of life is so patient and evocative, so beholden to its own storytelling conventions and rhythms, that watching it is a bit like submitting to a form of time travel. You emerge from the experience feeling slightly dazed and disoriented, but also deeply and thoroughly ravished.

This is partly due to the hypnotic pull of Arthur Jafa’s cinematography (which won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival) and the atmospheric drumbeats of John Barnes’ score, which conspire to establish an enveloping, dreamlike mood at the outset. But it is also because of the strong, vividly detailed personalities of the women at the film’s center, each one representing a different voice in a timeless tug of war between tradition and modernity, assimilation and isolation.

There is the family’s octogenarian matriarch, Nana Peazant (Cora Lee Day), who is determined to remain on the island with her rituals and herbal potions to the chagrin of her embittered granddaughter-in-law, Haagar (Kaycee Moore), who looks forward to the prosperity that she hopes awaits them on the mainland.

Two other women have returned for the Peazants’ final island gathering after leaving home years ago, though their experiences could scarcely have been more different. Viola (Cheryl Lynn Bruce) has become an outspokenly devout Baptist while Yellow Mary (Barbara O.), who returns with her girlfriend (Trula Hoosier) in tow, is ostracized by her family members for being a prostitute.

One of the few who openly embraces Yellow Mary is the spirited Eula (Alva Rogers), who was raped by a white man on the mainland and may be carrying his child, to the horror of her husband, Eli (Adisa Anderson). It is Eula who becomes the film’s wrenching voice of conscience and sanity when she cries, “Let’s live our lives without living in the fold of old wounds!” — a plea that, even for ears unaccustomed to the thick, West African-inflected creole of the region, cuts to the bone.

Viola has brought a photographer (Tommy Redmond Hicks) to the island to document the occasion. He’s something of a stand-in for Dash, whose father was a Gullah, and whose film becomes its own striking act of witness. The manner of that witness — including the use of voice-over narration from the perspective of Eula’s unborn child — shows a remarkable integrity.

Rather than telling her story via clean, linear strokes and manufactured crises, Dash lingers on the sights and sounds of Sea Island life, from the unforgettable images of women on the beach in floor-length white dresses to the close-ups of fresh-cooked prawns, hard-boiled eggs and other dishes served at the Peazants’ feast. These moments are not incidental to the narrative; they are essential to it, as Dash seeks to convey the very look, feel and texture of something that is about to be lost forever.

When “Daughters of the Dust” premiered in the dramatic competition at Sundance in 1991, the field included two other major indie breakthroughs: Todd Haynes’ “Poison” (which won the grand jury prize) and Richard Linklater’s “Slacker.” That their directors have gone on to become prominent auteurs on the independent scene is an undeniable testament to their genius.

But it also speaks to the cultural and gender-based norms that kept a singular talent like Dash from the filmmaking career she deserved — in part because “Daughters of the Dust,” one of the most striking American independent movies ever made, didn’t conform to any studio executive’s ideal of what a “black” movie should look and sound like. (The year 1991 saw a mini-renaissance for African American commercial cinema, including “Boyz n the Hood,” “New Jack City,” “Jungle Fever” and “A Rage in Harlem.”)

Even still, “Daughters of the Dust” hasn’t exactly languished in obscurity. Although it struggled to find a distributor post-Sundance, it did become the first film directed by an African American woman to receive a wide theatrical release (courtesy of Kino International). Its reemergence in theaters is timely for any number of reasons, a widely spotted shout-out in Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” not least among them.

The present-day resonance of a movie about an immigrant community caught between a traumatic past and an uncertain future can largely speak for itself. But it’s especially meaningful in a year marked by a remarkable range of serious new works from black filmmakers, from Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” and Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” to Denzel Washington’s forthcoming “Fences” — each one offering a different vision of African American families trying to rise above a deeply entrenched legacy of oppression.

As an example of how to realize that vision without compromise, “Daughters of the Dust” remains a pioneering work of art — a vibrant dispatch from our historical and cinematic past that continues to look ahead to a more hopeful future.

(Source: sbiff.org)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

Back for Good – Mia Spengler’s graduation film to Open Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2017

December 21, 2016 HollywoodGlee 2 Comments

Posted by Larry Gleeson

The first seven films have now been invited to participate in Perspektive Deutsches Kino’s programme in 2017: to date, four full-length graduation films and three 30-minute ones. “More so than ever it’s worth going to the Perspektive’s opening film and then making yourself comfortable in Berlinale cinemas for the subsequent nine days. Coming and staying guarantees you’ll feel lucky ten times over,” section head Linda Söffker says in anticipation of these ten fiery days in icy February.

Mia Spengler’s graduation film, Back for Good (prod: Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion, co-prod: Filmakademie Ludwigsburg) will open the Perspektive with the story of Angie, a former trash-TV starlet (Kim Riedle), her despised mother (Juliane Köhler), and her pubescent sister (Leonie Wesselow). By returning to the hick town of her childhood, Angie wreaks havoc on their relationships, so that all three have to redefine their roles in life. Back for Good is an ode to humanity – softly hummed while an auto-tuned pop song blares from the radio.

Angie (Kim Riedle) in *Back for Good by Mia Spengler (Photo credit: @Zum Goldenen Lamm)*

The fiction film Ein Weg (Paths, dir: Chris Miera, co-prod: Miera Film, Hildebrandt Film) was made while studying at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and is the cautious exploration of a long love relationship that ends in separation. Over 15 years, as son Max gradually grows up, we accompany Andreas (Mike Hoffmann) and Martin (Mathis Reinhardt) through the highs and lows in the daily life of a partnership. Shot like a documentary, with a small team and budget at real locations, Ein Weg develops with great intensity and flexibility – and through the process of editing finds its special form of telling a story over time.

Director Tian Dong grew up in China and attended the KHM in Cologne. He has now completed his studies with the documentary Eisenkopf (Ironhead), about a young soccer team skilled in Shaolin kung fu. Tian Dong visits its young members at their sports school, and talks to them about their everyday lives and dreams. In doing so he paints an unsettling picture of China’s political situation.

In Julian Radlmaier’s new film, Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-criticism of a Bourgeois Dog, prod: Faktura Film, co-prod: dffb), a bourgeois dog confesses how he has gone through multiple transformations, from a love-struck filmmaker, to an apple picker, a traitor of the revolution, and, last but not least, a four-legged creature. In a political comedy full of burlesque escapades, we meet Camille, a young Canadian (Deragh Campbell); Hong and Sancho, a pair of proletarians who believe in miracles; a mute monk with magical powers; and a bunch of strange field labourers who indulge in idealistic visions.

All three of the medium-long works contemplate Europe and its future in quite similar yet different ways. What would happen if one day people in Europe had to flee, director Felicitas Sonvilla asks in her poetic science fiction film, Tara (prod: MOTEL Film Kollektiv; co-prod: HFF Munich). A young woman called Mira (Sasha Davydova) tells of her flight from Paris. In search of a different life she takes a train heading east to the utopianesque town of Tara. Kontener (Container) was the first medium-long fiction film that Sebastian Lang made at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. In it he portrays “two Polish ladies” who work at a dairy in Brandenburg. From the perspective of Maryna (Joanna Drozda), who narrates the story, the film depicts the last night before Tava (Anka Graczyk) disappears. The third film, titled Mikel, is about a young refugee who has left Nigeria for Berlin in search of a decent life with a properly paid job. It is the first medium-long film by Cavo Kernich, who with this work has completed his studies in “narrative film” under Thomas Arslan at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

The entire Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme will be announced in January.

The following films have been invited so far:

Back for Good
By Mia Spengler
With Kim Riedle, Juliane Köhler, Leonie Wesselow
Feature film
World premiere

Eisenkopf (Ironhead)
By Tian Dong
Documentary film
World premiere

Kontener (Container)
By Sebastian Lang
With Joanna Drozda, Anka Graczyk
Medium-long feature film
World premiere

Mikel
By Cavo Kernich
With Jonathan Aikins
Medium-long feature film
World premiere

Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-criticism of a Bourgeois Dog)
By Julian Radlmaier
With Julian Radlmaier, Deragh Campbell, Beniamin Forti, Kyung-Taek Lie, Ilia Korkashvili
Feature film
German premiere

Tara
By Felicitas Sonvilla
With Sasha Davydova, Leo van Kann, Lena Lauzemis
Medium-long feature film
World premiere

Ein Weg (Paths)
By Chris Miera
With Mike Hoffmann, Mathis Reinhardt
Feature film
World premiere

(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

Palm Springs International Film Festival

PSIFF Announces 2017 Book to Screen Line-up

December 20, 2016 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

13 Hours, Arrival, Denial, Genius, The Late Bloomer and Septembers of Shiraz to be Featured

Palm Springs, CA (December 19, 2016) – The 28^th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will host the 3rd annual two-day symposium “The Power of Words: Book to Screen,” curated by Barbara Keller and Susan Rosser. The event will take place on Wednesday, January 4 at the Hilton Palm Springs. During the event, authors will be joined by screenwriters and producers in sessions moderated by well-known film and literary critics in addition to other distinguished leaders. PSIFF will be held January 2-16, 2017.

Expected “Book to Screen” participants include author Mitchell Zuckoff and screenwriter screen-shot-2016-12-20-at-12-28-00-pm Chuck Hogan (13 Hours), author Ted Chiang and screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Arrival), author Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt and producer Gary Foster (Denial), author A. Scott Berg (Genius), author Ken Baker and screenwriter Joe Nussbaum (The Late Bloomer), and screenwriter/producer Hanna Weg (Septembers of Shiraz).

Select films from the “Book to Screen” symposium will screen the day before, on Tuesday, January 3 (full schedule of panels, discussions and screenings will be available by December 20). An all-day $200 pass provides full access to all “Book to Screen” panels, discussions and screenings. Benefactor and Concierge pass holders for the 2017 festival will also have access to the “Book to Screen” program/screenings at no charge, requiring only a confirmed RSVP.

Books will be available for purchase at a Barnes & Noble pop-up store at the venue, and authors will be onsite for a short period of time after each session to sign books. In addition, during the month of December, the Barnes & Noble in Palm Desert will feature a special section of “Book to Screen” authors and films.

For more information on “The Power of Words: Book to Screen,” visit www.psfilmfest.org/2017-ps-film-festival/events-2017/book-to-screen-2017. Sponsors include Spencer’s, Lulu California Bistro, Hilton Palm Springs, Barnes & Noble, Jensen’s and Jessup.

psiff16_logo_01_360

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 135,000 attendees last year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Film Awards Gala, an upscale black-tie event attended by 2,500, honoring the best achievements of the filmic year by a celebrated list of talents who, in recent years, have included Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Brad Pitt, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, David O. Russell, Meryl Streep, and Reese Witherspoon.

For more information, call 760-322-2930 or 800-898-7256 or visit www.psfilmfest.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Steven Wilson / Lauren Peteroy
B|W|R Public Relations
212-901-3920
steven.wilson@bwr-pr.com / lauren.peteroy@bwr-pr.com

David Lee
Palm Springs International Film Society
760-322-2930
david@psfilmfest.org

(Source: http://www.psfilmfest.org)

Palm Springs International Film Festival

ANDREW GARFIELD TO RECEIVE THE SPOTLIGHT AWARD AT 28th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FILM AWARDS GALA

December 20, 2016 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Palm Springs, CA (December 20, 2016) – The 28^th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Andrew Garfield with the Spotlight Award for his role in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge at its annual Film Awards Gala. Hosted by Mary Hart, the Film Awards Gala will be held Monday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-16, 2017.

“Andrew Garfield is one of the most versatile actors today and this is proven with his tremendous and critically acclaimed performance this year in Mel Gibson’s award-winning film Hacksaw Ridge,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In Hacksaw Ridge, Garfield brings to life the incredible true story of World War II soldier Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to touch a gun during wartime and instead dedicated himself to saving lives as a combat medic. For this brilliant awards worthy performance, it is an honor to present Andrew Garfield with the Spotlight Award.”

Past recipients of the Spotlight Award include Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain, Bryan Cranston, Helen Hunt, Rooney Mara, Julia Roberts and J.K. Simmons. All recipients received Academy Award^®nominations in the year they were honored, with Simmons receiving the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Hacksaw Ridge is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss (Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated wounded men from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The film is directed by Mel Gibson and also stars Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths and Vince Vaughn.

For his role, Garfield was nominated for a Critics Choice Award (Best Actor), a Golden Globe Award (Best Actor in a Drama) and Screen Actors Guild Award (Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role).

Garfield also stars this year in Martin Scorsese’s Silence. His previous film credits include The Social Network, 99 Homes, and Boy A.

Previously announced honorees attending the 2017 Film Awards Gala are Amy Adams, Casey Affleck, Mahershala Ali, Annette Bening, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Negga, Natalie Portman, the cast of Hidden Figures including Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons, and the cast of La La Land, including Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and director Damien Chazelle.

For more information, call 760-778-8979 or 800-898-7256 or visit www.psfilmfest.org.

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, annually welcoming more than 135,000 attendees for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Film Awards Gala, a glamorous, black-tie event attended by 2,500 guests, presented this year by Chopard and sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Entertainment Tonight. The Film Awards Gala honors the year’s best achievements in cinema in front of and behind the camera. The celebrated list of talents who have been honored in recent years includes Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Brad Pitt, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, David O. Russell, Meryl Streep, and Reese Witherspoon. PSIFF is organized by The Palm Springs International Film Society, a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit with a mission to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness.

# # #

Media contacts:

Steven Wilson / Lauren Peteroy David Lee

B|W|R Public Relations PSIFF

212.901.3920 760.322.2930

Steven.wilson@bwr-pr.com / Lauren.peteroy@bwr-pr.com david@psfilmfest.org

#Berlinale, #BIFF

Berlinale Panorama 2017: The Wound Selected to Open Panorama’s Main Programme

December 20, 2016 HollywoodGlee 2 Comments

Posted by Larry Gleeson

In the Panorama section, the first eleven films from a programme featuring a total of approximately 50 productions have been invited to be screened at the Berlinale, around a third of them for Panorama Dokumente. Two prominent themes have already emerged among the films selected to date: a fresh historically reflective approach to the history of black people in North America, South America and Africa (I Am Not Your Negro, Vazante, The Wound), and “Europa Europa”, which explores how progressive forces might best defend themselves in light of a zeitgeist that makes it seem as if yesterday never went away (Política, manual de instrucciones, Combat au bout de la nuit).

Further extraordinarily sensitive and artistic works have been invited, and festivalgoers can expect a high degree of formal and thematic diversity from the complete programme – also as regards rare countries of origin such as Bhutan or Kyrgyzstan.

In Focus: Reclaiming Black History

Vazante
Brazil / Portugal
By Daniela Thomas
With Adriano Carvalho, Luana Nastas, Juliana Carneiro da Cunha, Sandra Corveloni, Roberto Audio
World premiere
Daniela Thomas, co-director of many joint productions with Walter Salles, presents her solo directorial debut. Brazil was the last country to officially abolish slavery in its historical form, in 1888. This film’s story (co-authored by Beto Amaral) is set in 1821, one year before the South American nation gained its independence from Portugal. The wealth that is extracted from the country comes in the form of gemstones from the mines of Minas Gerais. The precious jewels are excavated from the belly of the mountain by slaves; still absent today is any significant memorial to the suffering they endured. Although this era represents the foundation upon which today’s Brazil was built, its culture has yet to recover from the monstrosity of these events.

I Am Not Your Negro
France / USA / Belgium / Switzerland
By Raoul Peck
Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson
European premiere
Raoul Peck is also an esteemed guest at the Berlinale. With I Am Not Your Negro, he has embarked on a long overdue reflection on the life of the great African-American writer James Baldwin and his political struggle against racism, whose roots go back to slavery. The black point of view, a black historiography are not yet anchored in mainstream consciousness. History is always written by the victors, and black people were never among them, neither Africans nor African-Americans. In James Baldwin, a powerfully eloquent intellectual took to the stage and set marks that are as invigoratingly crucial to reckon with today as they were 50 years ago. With I Am Not Your Negro and The Young Karl Marx in Berlinale Special, Raoul Peck is represented twice in this year’s festival programme.

The Wound
South Africa / Germany / Netherlands / France
By John Trengove
With Nakhane Touré, Bongile Mantsai, Niza Jay Ncoyini
European premiere
The opening film for this year’s Panorama main programme comes from South Africa. The fabrication of masculinity has long been a consistent theme in Panorama. Here we are permitted to witness the initiation rites of an African tribe inhabiting the territory of the South African Republic. Tradition and modernity collide when an urbanised businessman from Johannesburg resolves to expose his 17-year-old son to the circumcision ceremony of his old tribe. Producer Elias Ribeiro previously delighted festival audiences in Panorama 2015 with Necktie Youth.

Europa Europa

Política, manual de instrucciones (Politics, Instructions Manual)
Spain
By Fernando León de Aranoa
European premiere
Feature film director Fernando León de Aranoa, a repeat guest at Panorama, enables us to take an in-depth look at the situation on the ground in Spain. The media noise concerning Syria, Trump and other earth-shaking events clouds the recognition of the foundation of our future: European politics. We think back to those heady days in West Germany as the Green Party was founded: Podemos was born of similar circumstances and can no longer be contained on the fringe, even as the dark forces of old regroup for an attack thanks to an unprocessed fascist past. A situation of repressed history, one which ticks away like a time bomb in many countries around the globe. This frightening zeitgeist requires the brave intervention of those who don’t want to be forced back behind the goal lines of recent history.

Combat au bout de la nuit (Fighting Through the Night)
Canada
By Sylvain L’Espérance
International premiere
This nearly five-hour-long documentary essay takes us directly to the heart of Europe’s misery: to Athens. In the Greek parliament building, innumerable articles are adopted to an audience of empty seats. The harbour landscape rolls past us, with its endless rows of administrative buildings, which will soon fall into the hands of financiers from other continents. Then we find ourselves right in the middle of an occupation of the tax office by its cleaning personnel – a long-term observation that plays out over the course of 286 days and provides space for empathetic encounters with marginalised individuals caught up in the crisis. The vacuum left behind by technocratic policies is filled by new fascists, who feign gestures of care for the forgotten – a scenario repeated in all of the nations of Europe and beyond its borders.

Casting JonBenet
USA
By Kitty Green
International premiere
Produced by James Schamus and Scott Macaulay, this film is a highly intelligent attempt to revisit the facts surrounding the unsolved violent death of six-year-old “beauty queen” JonBenet Ramsey. What was conceived as a celebration of the American dream family became a nightmare 20 years ago for the ever so omnipotent petty bourgeoisie.

Honeygiver Among the Dogs
Bhutan
By Dechen Roder
With Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk, Sonam Tashi Choden
European premiere
This debut feature from director Dechen Roder, who already presented a short film at the Berlinale in 2015, is a veritable Buddhist film noir. Atmospherically dense cinema, dynamically charged between tension and serenity, faith and morality.

Centaur
Kyrgyzstan / France / Germany / Netherlands
By Aktan Arym Kubat
With Nuraly Tursunkojoev, Zarema Asanalieva, Aktan Arym Kubat
World premiere
With a voice that speaks as if from another century and with the popular appeal of a fairy tale, this film tells the saga of the metaphysical bond between horse and humankind and how the former ended up becoming wings for the latter.

Pendular
Brazil / Argentina / France
By Julia Murat
With Raquel Karro, Rodrigo Bolzan
World premiere
Young director Julia Murat is a real discovery. Here she examines the relationship between a dance artist and a sculptor using the means of their particular art forms. A philosophical, original gender treatment of young bohemians poised on the verge of middle age.

Ri Chang Dui Hua (Small Talk)
Taiwan
By Hui-chen Huang
International premiere
A family story of a very special kind, produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien. The mother earns a living as a spirit guide for the deceased at their funerals: she was never at home, always out and about with her girlfriends instead. The daughter now goes to great lengths to attempt to understand her mother. A cosmos opens before us, one which manages to be of universal cultural significance and extremely intimate at the same time.

Untitled
Austria / Germany
By Michael Glawogger, Monika Willi
World premiere
“This film is intended to show an image of the world that can only be created when one does not pursue any subject, or make any value judgement or follow any objective. When one lets one’s self be carried along by nothing more than one’s own curiosity and intuition.” – Director Michael Glawogger passed away in 2014 during shooting for a movie. Monika Willi has realised a fascinating film with material that was shot during a journey of four months and 19 days through the Balkan states, Italy, and Northwest and Western Africa – a journey undertaken in order to observe, to listen and to experience, with attentive eyes, bold and raw.

(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

First Films for the Berlinale Classics 2017 Are Announced

December 20, 2016 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

In addition to the German production Schwarzer Kies (Black Gravel) directed by Helmut Käutner, Rafi Bukaee’s Avanti Popolo from Israel and the Mexican film Canoa by Felipe Cazals will be shown in digitally restored versions as part of the Berlinale Classics section. Since 2013, that segment of the Retrospective has attracted enthusiastic audiences with its newly-digitised versions of classic and newly-discovered films.

Canoa by Fililppe

Canoa by Felipe Cazals, Mexico 1976

Canoa by Mexican director Felipe Cazals won a Silver Bear (Special Jury Prize) at the 1976 Berlinale and has now been digitally restored by The Criterion Collection with the participation of the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) in honour of its 40th anniversary. The film is based on true events that took place in 1968 in the remote village of San Miguel Canoa. A group of young university employees from Puebla is stranded in Canoa during a weekend outing; suspected of being communist students, the villagers mount an attack on them. The digital restoration was approved by director Felipe Cazals. The screening of Canoa is part of a focus on Mexican cinema; Mexico is the partner country of the 2017 European Film Market (EFM).

Suhel Haddad and Salim Dau in *Avanti Popolo* by Rafi Bukaee’s, Israel 1986. (Photo credit: @Israel Film Archive/Maayan Milo)

Director Rafi Bukaee’s debut film Avanti Popolo (1986), a tragicomedy about the absurdity of war, is one of Israeli cinema’s most significant auteur films and was selected to represent the country at the Academy Awards in 1987. Telling the story of two Egyptian soldiers wandering through the Sinai desert after the Six-Day War, Bukaee played with the stereotypical images of Israelis and Arabs, and turned conventional clichés upside down. The film’s dialogue is largely Arabic; it was the first time in the history of Israeli film that Arab protagonists were portrayed by Arab actors. The restoration by the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israel Film Archive of the film was done on the basis of the original 16-mm negative.

Anita Hofer and Helmut Wildt in Schwarzer Kies (Black Gavel) by Helmut Kautner, West Germany 1961 (Photo Credit @Deutsche Kinemathek – Gabriele du Vinage)

Schwarzer Kies (Black Gravel), made in 1961, was directed in American B movie style. After its premiere, the press was critical of the film, which took a pessimistic view of society in post-war Germany. One scene in the film also exposed Käutner to accusations of anti-Semitism. Käutner re-edited the film for the German market, giving it a somewhat less gloomy ending. The original version, as well as the theatrical version, survived in the archives of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation. The foundation has now undertaken to digitise the original, premiere version, to safeguard it for the future.

“Käutner’s film is an outstanding example of an unvarnished view of the depths of Western Germany’s post-war reality. The use of the direct and high-contrast language of a B movie makes it a rarity that can now be re-discovered”, comments Rainer Rother, head of the Berlinale Retrospective section and artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek.

The full Berlinale Classics programme will be announced in January 2017.

The following films have been confirmed:

Avanti Popolo
By Rafi Bukai, Israel 1986
International premiere of the digitally restored version
In 2K DCP

Canoa
By Felipe Cazals, Mexico 1976
World premiere of the digitally restored version
In 2K DCP

Schwarzer Kies (Black Gravel)
By Helmut Käutner, West Germany 1961
World premiere of the digital version
In 4K DCP

(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

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Tag Archives: Art

BERLINALE POSTER 2017 – BELOVED BEARS RETURN

“Berlin is big and this year we’ll again follow the bear tracks to some typical spots in the capital,” remarks a delighted Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

Like this:

BERLIN ANNOUNCES GENERATION 2017: PERIL AND PROMISE – WALKING FINE LINES AND LIFE ON THE ROAD