Hedgehog’s Home (Ježeva kuća), an animated film by Canadian-Croatian Eva Cvijanović based on a classic tale by Branko Ćopić, will have its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
The film, which was part of the national curriculum for primary school literature in Croatia, has been included in the Generation Kplus competition programme at the famous festival, which will be held from 9 – 19 February 2017.
Hedgehog’s Home is about a hedgehog who lives in a lush and lively forest. He is respected and envied by the other animals. However, the hedgehog’s unwavering devotion to his home annoys a quartet of insatiable beasts. Together, they march off towards Hedgehog’s home and spark a tense and prickly standoff.
Cvijanović’s 10-minute animated film is based on Ćopić’s classic story which is a warm and universal tale for young and old that reminds us there truly is no place like home.
The film has been narrated in three languages – Croatian (by actor Rade Šerbedžija), English (by actor Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks), and in French (by actor France Castel).
The film is co-produced by The National Film Board (NFB) of Canada, winner of 12 Oscar Awards, and Croatia’s Bonobostudio.
Telefilm Canada hosted a party at Lulu California Bistro to celebrate the great talent of Canadian filmmakers and their work. Looks like a pretty great party, eh?
HERE ARE SOME MORE GREAT FILM CHOICES FOR SATURDAY, JANUARY 14
MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI
Switzerland/France – 2016 – 66 minutes
Director: Claude Barras
AWARDS BUZZ-BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Delightful, brightly-colored stop-motion animation makes this sensitive coming-of-age story about an orphan nicknamed Zucchini all but irresistible. Submitted for the Academy Award® in the Animated Feature category and again as Switzerland’s FLO entry, it will charm children and adults alike. Winner: Best Feature and Audience Award, Annecy
Set against China’s rugged Taihang Mountains and superbly photographed by Patrick Murgia, Larry Yang’s forceful melodrama tells of the love between a mute widow and the man responsible for the death of her husband. A gorgeous film with the feel of a timeless allegory. Winner: Best Director, Screenplay, Shanghai.
This powerful, nuanced and resonant drama follows a teenage girl living in Amsterdam, who becomes disillusioned by daily encounters with racism, and turns to Islam. Her relationship with a Jihadist completes her radicalization, but her journey is far from over… Winner: Outstanding Performance, Philadelphia.
A stand-alone Film Festival Store for the Palm Springs International Film Festival is featuring a complete collection of Film Festival Merchandise at Destination PSP. The Festival Store is now open and will be open every day through January 16.
The Festival Store is located in the Regal Cinema Courtyard Plaza, unit 16,
just down from the Regal Cinemas and across the courtyard from the
Festival Ticket and Information Center.
You can also shop online at Destination PSP by clicking HERE.
IN BETWEEN
Israel/France – 2016 – 96 minutes
Director: Maysaloun Hamoud
NEW VOICES/NEW VISIONS
US Premiere
A spiky, compelling dramedy about strong, modern, sexually active Palestinian-Israeli women, living independently in the center of Tel Aviv, far from their families and the weight of tradition. Winner, Best Debut, Haifa; NETPAC Award, Toronto.
A casual brush-off has profound and terrible consequences in the latest morality tale from the Dardenne brothers (Two Days, One Night; The Kid with a Bike). A young doctor turns detective to investigate the circumstances around a suspicious death in which she feels implicated.
A fresh take on the coming-of-age story, this surreal tale follows the artistically driven Oscar (AMERICAN CRIME’s Connor Jessup) hovering on the brink of adulthood. Struggling to find his place in the world after a rough childhood and haunted by images of a tragic incident, Oscar dreams of escaping his small town. After he meets a mysterious and attractive new co-worker, Oscar follows the guidance of his pet hamster Buffy (voiced by Isabella Rossellini) and faces his demons to find the life he wants.
CLOSET MONSTER
Written & Directed
by
Stephen Dunn
Starring:
Connor Jessup, Aaron Abrams, Joanne Kelly, Aliocha Schneider,
Sofia Banzhaf, Jack Fulton, Mary Walsh, Isabella Rossellini
Country of Origin: Canada
Running Time: 90 min
Screening at the Riviera Theater, 2044 Alameda Padre Serra, Santa Barbara, CA
Showtimes:
Sunday October 16 @ 2:00pm Monday October 17 @ 7:30pm Tuesday October 18 @ 5:00pm Wednesday October 19 @ 7:30pm
3rd time 27-year-old filmmaker tapped as Canada’s Oscars pick
Canada is pinning Oscar hopes on Xavier Dolan’s latest film, It’s Only the End of the World.
The drama, about a terminally ill man returning home to his estranged family, will be Canada’s official submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the group behind the Oscars — for consideration in the best foreign-language film category at the upcoming awards.
The announcement was made Friday in Montreal, with 27-year-old Dolan chosen by a 23-member Telefilm Canada committee comprising government and film industry representatives from across the country.
“The film has already been a very rich experience,” Dolan told media gathered in Montreal. “It’s a gift.”
This is the third time Dolan has been tapped as Canada’s Oscar pick: he was earlier selected as the foreign-language film submission in 2009 for his startling debut I Killed My Mother and again in 2014 for Mommy.
“Back when Mommy was selected two years ago, we had the opportunity to talk about the film in many places and communities. It was such a journey and we’re ready to embark on that again,” Dolan said.
“There’s no doubt [this film] will move members of the academy as it has engaged thousands of movie-lovers to date,” Telefilm executive director Carolle Brabant said in a statement.
Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel play a marreied couple in Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only The End of the World (Photo credit: eOne)
Known in French as Juste la fin du monde, Dolan’s drama is based on a play of the same name by the late French writer Jean-Luc Lagarce and features a star-studded cast of French actors, including Gaspard Ulliel, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, Nathalie Baye and Marion Cotillard.
The selection of Dolan is further vindication for the young filmmaker and the movie, which was panned by a host of American critics upon its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
However, It’s the End of the World closed Cannes by winning two awards — the prestigious Grand Prix and a prize from Cannes Ecumenical Jury — and earned a spot at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.
“I don’t think today is an appropriate day to cry over spilled milk,” Dolan said Friday about past criticism.
“This is about what is next. Not what is gone already.”
Canada’s tradition of Francophone picks
Oscar organizers limit the foreign-language film category to non-American productions that primarily feature dialogue in languages other than English.
Hence, Canada’s choices have overwhelmingly been French, although we’ve also submitted Kim Nguyen’s French- and Lingala-language child-solder tale War Witch, Deepa Mehta’s Hindi-language romantic tragedy Water as well as Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and The Necessities of Life, both starring main characters speaking Inuktituk.
Canadian directors whose movies have been Canada’s official picks for Oscar best foreign-language film consideration include, from left, Denis Villeneuve, Xavier Dolan, Deepa Mehta, Zacharias Kunuk and im Nguyen (Canadian Press)
Canada’s past three submissions for Oscar consideration were:
Félix et Meira, Maxime Giroux’s French and Yiddish-language drama about an unlikely romance
Mommy, Dolan’s celebrated French-language mother-son drama
Gabrielle, Louise Archambault’s French-language coming-of-age tale about a developmentally challenged woman.
Over the years, Canada has made the foreign-language film Oscar short list seven times, most recently in 2013 for Nguyen’s War Witch. Past contenders have also included Monsieur Lazhar (directed by Philippe Falardeau), Incendies (directed by Denis Villeneuve) and Mehta’s Water.
Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand is Canada’s lone foreign-language film Oscar-winner. He picked up the prize in 2004 for his film The Barbarian Invasions, which was his third movie nominated in the category. (Photo from Getty Images
The country’s lone foreign-language Oscar winner, however, is Denys Arcand, who triumphed with 2003’s The Barbarian Invasions after having previously been a contender for his films The Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montreal.
Nominations for the 89th Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 24, 2017, with the awards gala to follow on Feb. 26.
