Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns)[/caption]
This year, for the second time ever, the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival will present the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award. A total of 18 documentary films from the current program of the Competition, Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections and the special presentation Culinary Cinema are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award. All nominated films will celebrate their world premiere at the Berlinale 2018.
The Glashütte Original – Documentary Award is endowed with € 50,000, and trophy funded by Glashütte Original. The prize money will be split between the film’s director and producer. The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 24.
A three-member jury will pick the winner: Cíntia Gil (Portugal) – co-director of the Doclisboa, documentary film festival in Portugal ; Ulrike Ottinger (Germany) -director; and Eric Schlosser – (USA)investigative journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker.
The following films are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award:
Terry P.
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Berlinale 2018: 18 Documentary Films Nominated for Glashütte Original – Documentary Award
[caption id="attachment_26756" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns)[/caption]
This year, for the second time ever, the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival will present the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award. A total of 18 documentary films from the current program of the Competition, Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections and the special presentation Culinary Cinema are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award. All nominated films will celebrate their world premiere at the Berlinale 2018.
The Glashütte Original – Documentary Award is endowed with € 50,000, and trophy funded by Glashütte Original. The prize money will be split between the film’s director and producer. The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 24.
A three-member jury will pick the winner: Cíntia Gil (Portugal) – co-director of the Doclisboa, documentary film festival in Portugal ; Ulrike Ottinger (Germany) -director; and Eric Schlosser – (USA)investigative journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker.
The following films are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award:
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2018 Sundance Film Festival Awards – “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” “Kailash” Win Top Awards
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Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Desiree Akhavan.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jeong Park.[/caption] The 2018 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony took place last night and presented 28 prizes for feature filmmaking. The Grand Jury Prizes was awarded to The Miseducation of Cameron Post (U.S. Dramatic), Kailash (U.S. Documentary), Of Fathers and Sons (World Cinema Documentary) and Butterflies (World Cinema Dramatic). “From the beginning, the purpose of the Sundance Film Festival has been to support artists and their stories,” said Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford, “and this year, our mission seemed especially relevant. Supporting independent voices, and listening to the stories they tell, has never been more necessary.” Feature film award winners in previous years include: I don’t feel at home in this world anymore., Weiner, Whiplash, Fruitvale Station, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Searching for Sugarman, The Square, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Cartel Land, The Wolf Pack, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Dope, Dear White People, The Cove and Man on Wire.2018 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL FEATURE FILM AWARDS
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Kailash / U.S.A. (Director: Derek Doneen, Producers: Davis Guggenheim, Sarah Anthony) — As a young man, Kailash Satyarthi promised himself that he would end child slavery in his lifetime. In the decades since, he has rescued more than eighty thousand children and built a global movement. This intimate and suspenseful film follows one man’s journey to do what many believed was impossible. U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic The Miseducation of Cameron Post / U.S.A. (Director: Desiree Akhavan, Screenwriters: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele, Producers: Cecilia Frugiuele, Jonathan Montepare, Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub) — 1993: after being caught having sex with the prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed and controversial coming-of-age novel. Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle. World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Of Fathers and Sons / Germany, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar (Director: Talal Derki, Producers: Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, Tobias N. Siebert, Hans Robert Eisenhauer) — Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate. World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Butterflies / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Tolga Karaçelik, Producers: Tolga Karaçelik, Diloy Gülün, Metin Anter) — In the Turkish village of Hasanlar, three siblings who neither know each other nor anything about their late father, wait to bury his body. As they start to find out more about their father and about each other, they also start to know more about themselves. Audience Award: U.S. Documentary The Sentence / U.S.A. (Director: Rudy Valdez, Producers: Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kelman Bisbee) — Cindy Shank, mother of three, is serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement with a Michigan drug ring years earlier. This intimate portrait of mandatory minimum drug sentencing’s devastating consequences, captured by Cindy’s brother, follows her and her family over the course of ten years. Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic Burden / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Heckler, Producers: Robbie Brenner, Jincheng, Bill Kenwright) — After opening a KKK shop, Klansman Michael Burden falls in love with a single mom who forces him to confront his senseless hatred. After leaving the Klan and with nowhere to turn, Burden is taken in by an African-American reverend, and learns tolerance through their combined love and faith. Cast: Garrett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Andrea Riseborough, Tom Wilkinson, Usher Raymond. Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary This Is Home / U.S.A., Jordan (Director: Alexandra Shiva, Producers: Lindsey Megrue, Alexandra Shiva) — This is an intimate portrait of four Syrian families arriving in Baltimore, Maryland and struggling to find their footing. With eight months to become self-sufficient, they must forge ahead to rebuild their lives. When the travel ban adds further complications, their strength and resilience are put to the test. Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic The Guilty / Denmark (Director: Gustav Möller, Screenwriters: Gustav Möller, Emil Nygaard Albertsen, Producer: Lina Flint) — Alarm dispatcher Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman; after a sudden disconnection, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to solve a crime that is far bigger than he first thought. Cast: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Johan Olsen, Omar Shargawi. Audience Award: NEXT Search / U.S.A. (Director: Aneesh Chaganty, Screenwriters: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian, Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian, Adam Sidman, Natalie Qasabian) — After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens. Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing. Directing Award: U.S. Documentary Alexandria Bombach for her film On Her Shoulders / U.S.A. (Director: Alexandria Bombach, Producers: Hayley Pappas, Brock Williams) — Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to the world, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the international stage as the voice of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people’s good intentions. Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic Sara Colangelo, for her film The Kindergarten Teacher / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sara Colangelo, Producers: Talia Kleinhendler, Osnat Handelsman-Keren, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler) — When a Staten Island kindergarten teacher discovers what may be a gifted five year-old student in her class, she becomes fascinated and obsessed with the child– spiraling downward on a dangerous and desperate path in order to nurture his talent. Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Rosa Salazar, Anna Barynishikov, Michael Chernus, Gael Garcia Bernal. Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary Sandi Tan, for her film Shirkers / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sandi Tan, Producers: Sandi Tan, Jessica Levin, Maya Rudolph) — In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan shot Singapore’s first indie road movie with her enigmatic American mentor Georges – who then vanished with all the footage. Twenty years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges’ vanishing footprints. Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic Ísold Uggadóttir, for her film And Breathe Normally / Iceland, Sweden, Belgium (Director and screenwriter: Ísold Uggadóttir, Producers: Skúli Malmquist, Diana Elbaum, Annika Hellström, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir, Inga Lind Karlsdóttir) — At the edge of Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, two women’s lives will intersect – for a brief moment – while trapped in circumstances unforeseen. Between a struggling Icelandic mother and an asylum seeker from Guinea-Bissau, a delicate bond will form as both strategize to get their lives back on track. Cast: Kristín Thóra Haraldsdóttir, Babetida Sadjo, Patrik Nökkvi Pétursson. Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic Christina Choe, for her film NANCY / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Christina Choe, Producers: Amy Lo, Michelle Cameron, Andrea Riseborough) — Blurring lines between fact and fiction, Nancy becomes increasingly convinced she was kidnapped as a child. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief – and the power of emotion threatens to overcome all rationality. Cast: Andrea Riseborough, J. Smith-Cameron, Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd, John Leguizamo. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Vision Hale County This Morning, This Evening / U.S.A. (Director: RaMell Ross, Screenwriter: Maya Krinsky, Producers: Joslyn Barnes, RaMell Ross, Su Kim) — Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, this film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South – trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Crime + Punishment / U.S.A. (Director: Stephen Maing) — Over four years of unprecedented access, the story of a brave group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and one unrelenting private investigator who, amidst a landmark lawsuit, risk everything to expose illegal quota practices and their impact on young minorities. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling Three Identical Strangers / U.S.A. (Director: Tim Wardle, Producer: Becky Read) — New York,1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they’re identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking Minding the Gap / U.S.A. (Director: Bing Liu, Producer: Diane Quon) — Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship. U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Outstanding First Feature Monsters and Men / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Reinaldo Marcus Green, Producers: Elizabeth Lodge Stepp, Josh Penn, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Luca Borghese) — This interwoven narrative explores the aftermath of a police killing of a black man. The film is told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high-school baseball phenom inspired to take a stand. Cast:John David Washington, Anthony Ramos, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chanté Adams, Nicole Beharie, Rob Morgan. U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking I Think We’re Alone Now / U.S.A. (Director: Reed Morano, Screenwriter: Mike Makowsky, Producers: Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fernando Loureiro, Roberto Vasconcellos, Peter Dinklage, Mike Makowsky) — The apocalypse proves a blessing in disguise for one lucky recluse – until a second survivor arrives with the threat of companionship. Cast: Peter Dinklage, Elle Fanning. U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting Benjamin Dickey, for BLAZE / U.S.A. (Director: Ethan Hawke, Screenwriters: Ethan Hawke, Sybil Rosen, Producers: Jake Seal, John Sloss, Ryan Hawke, Ethan Hawke) — A reimagining of the life and times of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas Outlaw Music movement; he gave up paradise for the sake of a song. Cast: Benjamin Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Josh Hamilton, Charlie Sexton. World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award Stephen Loveridge and M.I.A., for MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. / Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, U.S.A. (Director: Stephen Loveridge, Producers: Lori Cheatle, Andrew Goldman, Paul Mezey) — Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions. World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing Editors Maxim Pozdorovkin and Matvey Kulakov, for Our New President / Russia, U.S.A. (Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin, Producers: Maxim Pozdorovkin, Joe Bender, Charlotte Cook) — The story of Donald Trump’s election told entirely through Russian propaganda. By turns horrifying and hilarious, the film is a satirical portrait of Russian media that reveals an empire of fake news and the tactics of modern-day information warfare. World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography Cinematographers Maxim Arbugaev and Peter Indergand, for Genesis 2.0 / Switzerland (Directors: Christian Frei, Maxim Arbugaev, Producer: Christian Frei) — On the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, hunters search for tusks of extinct mammoths. When they discover a surprisingly well-preserved mammoth carcass, its resurrection will be the first manifestation of the next great technological revolution: genetics. It may well turn our world upside down. World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting Screenwriters Julio Chavezmontes and Sebastián Hofmann, for Time Share (Tiempo Compartido) / Mexico, Netherlands (Director: Sebastián Hofmann, Screenwriters: Julio Chavezmontes, Sebastián Hofmann, Producer: Julio Chavezmontes) — Two haunted family men join forces in a destructive crusade to rescue their families from a tropical paradise, after becoming convinced that an American timeshare conglomerate has a sinister plan to take their loved ones away. World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Valeria Bertuccelli, for The Queen of Fear / Argentina, Denmark (Directors: Valeria Bertuccelli, Fabiana Tiscornia, Screenwriter: Valeria Bertuccelli, Producers: Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matias Roveda, Juan Vera, Juan Pablo Galli, Christian Faillace) — Only one month left until the premiere of The Golden Time, the long-awaited solo show by acclaimed actress Robertina. Far from focused on the preparations for this new production, Robertina lives in a state of continuous anxiety that turns her privileged life into an absurd and tumultuous landscape. Cast: Valeria Bertuccelli, Diego Velázquez, Gabriel Eduardo “Puma” Goity, Darío Grandinetti. World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting Dead Pigs / China (Director and screenwriter: Cathy Yan, Producers: Clarissa Zhang, Jane Zheng, Zhangke Jia, Mick Aniceto, Amy Aniceto) — A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai, China. Based on true events. Cast: Vivian Wu, Haoyu Yang, Mason Lee, Meng Li, David Rysdahl. NEXT Innovator Prize (tie) Night Comes On / U.S.A. (Director: Jordana Spiro, Screenwriters: Jordana Spiro, Angelica Nwandu, Producers: Jonathan Montepare, Alvaro R. Valente, Danielle Renfrew Behrens) — Angel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future. Cast: Dominique Fishback, Tatum Hall, John Earl Jelks, Max Casella, James McDaniel. We the Animals / U.S.A. (Director: Jeremiah Zagar, Screenwriters: Daniel Kitrosser, Jeremiah Zagar, Producers: Jeremy Yaches, Christina D. King, Andrew Goldman, Paul Mezey) — Us three, us brothers, us kings. Manny, Joel and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. As Manny and Joel grow into versions of their father and Ma dreams of escape, Jonah, the youngest, embraces an imagined world all his own. Cast: Raul Castillo, Sheila Vand, Evan Rosado, Isaiah Kristian, Josiah Gabriel. SHORT FILM AWARDS: Short Film Grand Jury Prize Matria / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Director and screenwriter: Álvaro Gago). Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction Hair Wolf / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Director and screenwriter: Mariama Diallo). Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction Would You Look at Her / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Goran Stolevski). Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction The Trader (Sovdagari) / Georgia (Director: Tamta Gabrichidze). The Short Film Jury Award: Animation GLUCOSE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeron Braxton). Special Jury Awards without designation Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: K.D. Dávila), Fauve / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Jérémy Comte) For Nonna Anna / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Luis De Filippis). SUNDANCE INSTITUTE OPEN BORDERS FELLOWSHIP PRESENTED BY NETFLIX Of Fathers and Sons (Syria) / Talal Derki Untitled (India) / Chaitanya Tamhane Night On Fire (Mexico) / Tatiana Huezo Sundance Institute / NHK Award His House (United Kingdom) / Remi Weekes. SUNDANCE INSTITUTE | ALFRED P. SLOAN FEATURE FILM PRIZE The 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, presented to an outstanding feature film about science or technology, was presented to Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian’s Search. The filmmakers received a $20,000 cash award from Sundance Institute with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. SUNDANCE INSTITUTE | AMAZON STUDIOS PRODUCERS AWARDS Sev Ohanian received the 2018 Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Awards. The award recognizes bold vision and a commitment to continuing work as a creative producer in the independent space, and grants money (via the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program and Documentary Film Program) to emerging producers of films at the Sundance Film Festival. Image: Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Desiree Akhavan, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2018 Sundance FIlm Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jeong Park.
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2018 New Orleans French Film Festival Announces Lineup + Agnès Varda Retrospective
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Back to Burgundy[/caption]
This year, the 21st edition of the New Orleans French Film Festival will kick off earlier than usual, beginning on February 23 and running through March 1, 2018, and will spotlight 17 feature films, 5 shorts, a retrospective of the magnificent Agnès Varda, French-themed live music performances prior to screenings, and special lectures, all in the historic Prytania Theater.
“The New Orleans Film Society’s French Film Festival was founded to engage and celebrate the French influence on our beloved city,” said Fallon Young, Executive Director of the New Orleans Film Society. “That’s why, in New Orleans’ tricentennial year, we are especially pleased that the French Film Festival features the world premiere of a uniquely New Orleans story. Created by a local director, cast and crew, the short film Le Grande Remix depicts New Orleans as a diverse and vibrant city with global cultural influences.”
Feature length films include the most awarded and sought after French films of the year: Back to Burgundy (opening night), Double Lover (closing night), 4 Days in France, After Love, All That Divides Us, Catch the Wind, Félicité, Ismael’s Ghosts, Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge, Montparnasse Bienvenüe, Nocturama, Souvenir, This is Our Land, as well as Jean Luc-Godard’s 1960 classic Breathless. The Agnès Varda retrospective includes three of her films, Le Bonheur (1965), The Gleaners and I (2000), and Faces, Places (2017). The shorts program includes Prestige Ingredients, We Are the Freak Show, The Elusive, Retaliation, and Le Grand Remix.
The only female director of the French New Wave and the only female director to ever receive an honorary Oscar, Agnès Varda (born in Belgium in 1928) has occupied a singular and well-respected role within the film industry since her first film La Pointe Courte in 1956. The French Film Festival presents Agnès Varda: A Retrospective, which includes an under-seen example of her early, formally audacious fiction work Le Bonheur (1965), as well as two of her more recent autobiographical documentaries The Gleaners and I (2000), and Faces, Places (2017) which is a nominee for the Best Documentary at the 90th Academy Awards.
The retrospective program includes a free lecture on Varda (on Sunday Feb 25, at 5pm) from Loyola professor Jean Brager, who will speak on Varda’s journey as a female filmmaker in a male-dominated industry as well as the ways in which her aesthetics paved the way for the Nouvelle Vague. The lecture will be followed by the screening of her latest documentary Faces, Places in which she collaborated with the phenomenal French photographer JR in search of the people and their villages that define rural France and make it what it is.
What’s the connection of Congo and New Orleans? Join a free lecture by Freddi Williams Evans on Wednesday, Feb 28 at 7:15pm which will be followed by a screening of the Congo-set film Félicité. Evans will address the not so well known connections between Congo and New Orleans, as detailed in her essay “Enslaved Africans Perpetuated Cultural and Commercial Practices at Congo Square,” featured in the new book New Orleans & the World: 1718-2018 Tricentennial Anthology.
Louisiana musicians Helen Gillet, Bart Ramsay, Bruce Sunpie Barnes, Thibault, Pascal Valcasara, and George Trahanis will be performing French-themed live music prior to select screenings during the French Film Festival. Performances will begin 30 minutes prior to the start time of the related films.
Opening Night: Back to Burgundy | Friday, February 23 | 7:00-7:30 pm | Bart Ramsay
Shorts Program | Saturday, February 24 | 2:00 – 2:30 pm | Bruce Sunpie Barnes
After Love | Sunday, February 25 | 2:00 – 2:30 pm | Thibault
Ismael’s Ghosts | Sunday, February 25 | 7:15 – 7:45 pm | Pascal Valcasara
All That Divides Us | Tuesday, February 27 | 7:30 – 8:00 pm | George Trahanis
Closing Night: Double Lover | Thursday, March 1 | 7:30 – 8:00 pm | Helen Gillet
FILMS AND SYNOPSES
Back to Burgundy, dir. Cedric Klapisch – Opening Night The latest from French director Cedric Klapisch (L’auberge espagnole) brings together three very different siblings who have inherited their father’s picturesque vineyard in the famous wine region of Burgundy in east-central France. Prodigal son Jean has spent 10 years away in Australia, and he and two siblings, Juliette and Jérémie, are forced to collectively decide if and how to save the family estate. Over the course of four seasons, from harvest through the stages of vinification, they must learn to forgive and trust themselves and one another, blossoming and maturing in step with the wine they make. An absorbing, bittersweet exploration of the complexities of family and winemaking, Back to Burgundy goes down like a fine pinot noir. Double Lover, dir. François Ozon – Closing Night Director François Ozon, French cinema’s “bad boy,” returns to his wild days with this erotic thriller, which screened in competition at Cannes in 2017. The film centers around Chloé, a beautiful young woman at a vulnerable time in her life, who begins therapy with Paul, an attractive and mysterious psychologist. Their charged conversations lead to an inevitable romance, and several months later Chloé is in love and living with her new partner. But she gradually comes to suspect that her lover is not exactly the man she thought he was. Starring Marine Vacth and Jeremie Renier, Ozon continuously deceives and mesmerizes in this this sensual and provocative film about identity, trust, and passion. (Not recommended for younger viewers.) Le Bonheur, dir. Agnès Varda Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse (Claire Drouot), young husband and father François (Jean-Claude Drouot) finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker. One of Varda’s most provocative films, Le Bonheur examines, with a deceptively cheery palette and the spirited strains of Mozart, the ideas of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world. Faces, Places , dir. Agnès Varda Varda, at 89 years old, hits the road in a van with superstar French photographer JR, 55 years her junior, in search of the people and their villages that define rural France and make it what it is. They travel the countryside, inviting villagers to pose for JR’s camera, and the massive prints he produces in the back of the van are then affixed to various buildings. The Gleaners and I, dir. Agnès Varda This delightful documentary is really a self-portrait of Varda, finding her fully embracing the freedom of digital video to craft a personal, political, and casually profound celebration of “gleaners”: those living on the margins of French society who scavenge for its leftovers–taking everything from surplus in the fields, to rubbish in trash cans, and oysters washed up after a storm. 4 Days in France, dir. Jérôme Reybaud On a seemingly ordinary night in Paris, Pierre takes a last look at his lover Paul’s sleeping body, then steals away into the morning light. Where he’s headed, neither of them know. Pierre’s only guide is his Grindr app, leading him on a series of encounters with an indelible cast of characters across the French countryside. Paul sets out after him, using his own phone to track Pierre’s movements in a strange and wonderful game of Grindr cat-and-mouse. A sly and sophisticated take on romance in the 21st century. After Love, dir. Joachim Lafosse Bernice Bejo (Oscar®-nominated for The Artist) and director-turned-actor Cedric Kahn star in this intimate family drama from acclaimed Belgian filmmaker Joachim Lafosse. After 15 years together, Boris and Marie have fallen out of love. After Love depicts the couple’s struggle to divide their assets and sort out custody of their two little girls, a task complicated by the fact that they aren’t married. Bejo and Kahn give unforgettable naturalistic performances in this intelligent and compassionate film. All That Divides Us, dir. Thierry Klifa A bourgeois family in a mansion in the middle of nowhere clashes with slum-dwellers residing in the projects in this engaging film noir starring acting heavyweights Catherine Deneuve and Diane Kruger. Intermingled in the mystery are a possible kidnapping, blackmail, and impossible love. Deneuve plays a mother trying desperately to save her daughter (Kruger) from a questionable relationship. Director Thierry Klifa created “authenticity of place” by shooting the film on location in region of Occitanie. Catch The Wind, dir. Gael Morel Edith, a 45-year-old textile factory worker, sees her life turned upside down by the company’s downsizing measures. Estranged from her son and without any other ties—and desperate to avoid unemployment—she decides to leave her life behind and follow the factory which has been relocated in Morocco. What follows is a revelatory story of immigration told from a new perspective, as Edith leaves France in search of opportunities in Northern Africa. Starring Sandrine Bonnaire from Agnès Varda’s seminal film Vagabond. Félicité, dir. Alain Gomis Félicité is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in the Congo. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son gets into a terrible accident. To raise the money to save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa, a world of music and dreams. From French director Alain Gomis, Félicité was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Ismael’s Ghosts, dir. Arnaud Desplechin The Opening Night selection at Cannes last year, Ismael’s Ghosts stars French screen regular Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) as a film director whose real life develops into a complex, Hitchcockian plot. He’s romantically involved with Sylvia (Charlotte Gainsbourg) but still grieving the loss of Carlotta (Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard), an old flame who disappeared mysteriously twenty years prior. When Sylvia attempts to leave, he must choose between the two and find an ending to the story. Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge, dir. Marie Noëlle Polish actress Karolina Gruszka stars in this sweeping biography of the legendary scientist Marie Curie. Curie courted controversy with her challenging of France’s male-dominated academic establishment with her unconventional romantic life. A pioneer in the study of radioactivity, Curie spent her life setting precedents: she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice. Director Marie Noëlle conjures her epic story in turn-of-the-century Europe in beautiful detail. Montparnasse Bienvenüe, dir. Léonor Serraille Thirty-something Paula has been dumped by her boyfriend after ten years together. Refusing to accept the role of the passive victim, she finds herself on an odyssey through Paris to recapture her independence and composure—a journey filled with rage, a fluffy cat, false identities, and a string of bizarre encounters. Recipient of the Caméra d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Montparnasse Bienvenüe is both unexpected and funny, while relying on an incredible, explosive performance by Laetitia Dosch. Nocturama, dir. Bertrand Bonello Paris is being stalked by a hidden menace. You’d never recognize them. They have no religion, no affiliation, no shared skin. But they’re there, young and angry, drifting through the streets and subways hunting for weakness. And when they find it, they’re going to bring the city to its knees, and drink champagne and dance until the dawn. A film of daring politics, ravishing style, and sublime soundtracking, Nocturama offers up a grim fantasia of terror and excess that will stay with you for weeks. Souvenir, dir. Bavo Defurne Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) lives a modest and monotonous life. By day, she works in an industrial pâté factory, and by night, she sits on the couch and watches TV. One day, a new worker in the factory named Jean (Kévin Azaïs) arrives, and he grows increasingly convinced that he recognizes Liliane from a European singing contest he saw as a child. Was it her? Souvenir is a touching portrayal of a relationship between two people from different generations, coming together to make a life-changing comeback. This Is Our Land, dir. Lucas Belvaux This Is Our Land is a film for our times. Not so loosely based on French politician Marine Le Pen, the plot follows Pauline, an apolitical nurse frustrated by local politics, who is targeted by a far right-wing group to run for office. As her political star rises, inner turmoil sets in as she becomes increasingly dominated by the political machine. Probing issues of immigration and populism, the film is an incisive look at how the Front National political party operates and how it is perceived by the French. Breathless, dir. Jean-Luc Godard There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du Cinéma. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same. French Short Films This 100-minute program includes 5 short films representing bold, new cinematic voices. Prestige Ingredients (26min | France | dir. Danielle + Adrian Rubi-Dentzel) A stifled, young Hollywood actress slips into a world of mouthwatering delicacies, sweet heartache, and bitter tears when she takes an unlikely job with an inspired rebel chef in Paris. We Are The Freakshow (10 min | Canada | dir. Fanny-Laure Malo, Philippe Lupien), A bingo game. An allegorical, wild, and humorous portrait. An homage to eccentricity and entertainment, to those things that remain unchanged. The Elusive (18min | Belgium | dir. Ely Chevillot), A complicated mother-son relationship becomes even more complicated when he acts inappropriately with another kid at the pool. Retaliation (26min I France, Benin I dir. Ange-Régis Hounkpatin) When her father is murdered in Benin, 18-year-old Awa is shaken by the brutal actions taken in her community to avenge his death. Le Grand Remix (17min I USA I dir. Austin Alward) Faced with not being allowed back into America if she leaves the U.S. to attend her sister’s wedding, a young African teacher at a French immersion school in New Orleans attempts to dance away her troubles to music is provided by a teenage Vietnamese-American DJ.
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2018 Berlin Film Festival Unveils Full Panorama Lineup, Opens with Wolfgang Fischer’s STYX
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Styx[/caption]
The 2018 Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the full lineup of the Panorama program, which will feature a total of 47 films from 40 countries, with 37 world premieres and 16 directorial debuts. 20 films will be screened in the scope of Panorama Dokumente , while 27 fiction features are shown in Panorama Special as well as the main program.
The section takes a look at Wolfgang Fischer’s Styx , which will open Panorama Special on February 16 at Zoo Palace. Nearly dialogue-free, the film tells the story of a female doctor on a sailing vacation.
A Czech production opens Panorama Dokumente. Jan Gebert’s Až přijde válka ( When the War Comes ) is the global trend of a socially acceptable form of nationalism using the example of the Slovak Slovenski Branci Slovak paramilitary organization. Árpád Bogdán’s feature film Genezis ( Genesis ) takes place on the series of attacks on Roma in Hungary in 2008/2009, exposing their effects on the victimized families and the community as well as casting light on the failures of the Hungarian judicial system pursuit of those guilty of crimes perpetrated under the dictatorial Franco regime is depicted in The Silence of Others, produced by Pedro Almodóvar. Former Brazilian president Dilma Roussef’s impeachment can be witnessed firsthand in O processo ( The Trial ).
In Generation Wealth , Lauren Greenfield raises awareness for the self-indulgent quest for luxury and the total surrender to vanity leading to a sort of “ultra-decadence,” while in Lemonade , produced by Cristian Mungiu, the American Dream remains tauntingly out of reach for those who can not afford to buy a piece of it. In the French-German production Game Girls , two women try to escape life on Skid Row, the USA’s “Capital City of the Homeless”. Shakedown immerses the viewer in the Afro-American queer strip club scene of Los Angeles 1990s, relating its protagonists’ search for freedom and self-determination to great immediacy. In the Italian production country, Iranian director Babak Jalali who is defending their cultural identity with dignity.
Family dynamics under the microscope: In Al Gami’ya ( What Comes Around ), the residents of one of Cairo’s poorest districts have developed a bank-free financing system for themselves. Two intimate portraits of rural conflict, set in Central China’s Henan province and the German state of Saxony-Anhalt respectively, are drawn in Jordan Schiele’s The Silk and the Flame and Rosa Hannah Ziegler’s family life ( Family Life ). Yang Mingming’s debut film Rou Qing Shi ( Girls Always Happy ) showcases the verbal duels of an odd mother-daughter duo looking for happiness in style or daydreams of getting rich quick. In La enfermedad del domingo ( Sunday’s Illness ), a mother and her daughter return to one another following years of estrangement. In Jibril , her final work for the Babelsberg University of Applied Sciences KONRAD WOLF, Henrika Kull depicts the isolation and love in the interaction between a single mom and a prison inmate.
The Argentinian production Marilyn and the Brazilian film Tinta Bruta ( Hard Paint ) both show the isolation and the inherent in their protagonists’ search for their place in the world. In the mafia tale La terra dell ‘abbastanza ( Boys Cry ), two young men discover an ostensibly simple way out of a sticky situation. A complex web of responsibilities is included in the two instalments of the miniseries Ondes de choc ( Shock Waves ), directed by Lionel Baier and Ursula Meier.
Three further films serve as reflections on cinema itself: Mes provinciales ( A Paris Education ), which is set in a Parisian millennial student milieu; Depending vois rouge ( I See Red People ), In Which Bojina Payanotova Confronts her parents With Their possible connections to the Bulgarian secret police; and Hotel Jugoslavija , in which director Nicolas Wagnières elevates at abandoned Grand Hotel to the status of contemporary witness to history, acting on his principle of “filming to retain and regain”.
Fluid boundaries between reality and fiction are especially present in four productions. Xiao Mei investigates the enigma surrounding the disappearance of a young woman while the dark fairy tale Koly padayut pereva ( When the Trees Fall ) includes the frightening and enchanting experiences of three generations of women. In a hybrid form between fiction and documentary film, Trinta Lumes ( Thirty Souls ) reimagines the Galician backcountry as a mythical place populated by both the living and the dead. Finally, in the deceptively calm flow of horizon ‘s ( Horizon ) images, a man is at risk of losing his footing in life after a separation.
The hard reality reflected in two productions from India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo was in stark contrast in this context. In Garbage , a young woman’s endures a nightmare of male violence. Kinshasa Makambo on the other hand provides insight into the brutal everyday existence of Congolese resistance fighters.
In addition to their appearance in Yocho , cinematic dystopias and allegories of reality are featured in Kim Ki-duk’s Inkan, gongkan, sikan grigo inkan ( Human, Space, Time and Human ) , in which of the widely differing backgrounds assembled on a warship develop a bestial need for patriarchal domination. From Iran comes the film Hojoom (Invasion ), which adeptly establishes an oppressive mood with its post-apocalyptic science-fiction world devoid of sunlight.
Partisan takes a look back at Frank Castorf’s twenty-five year legacy at Berlin’s Volksbühne theater. Chilly Gonzales, self-proclaimed president of the Berlin Underground, is the subject of Shut Up and Play the Piano . MATANGI / MAYA / MIA The Sri Lankan Resistance artist portrays the controversial star between the labels attached to the music and media industries. In Idris Elba’s directorial debut, Yardie , the score by Dickon Hinchcliffe (“Tindersticks”) accentuates the journey of a young man from Kingston to London .
Al Gami’ya ( What Comes Around ) – Lebanon / Egypt / Greece / Qatar / Slovenia
By Reem Saleh
Documentary
World Premiere
Až přijde válka ( When the War Comes ) – Czech Republic / Croatia
By Jan Gebert
Documentary
World Premiere
La enfermedad del domingo ( Sunday’s Illness ) – Spain
By Ramón Salazar
With Bárbara Lennie, Susi Sánchez, Greta Fernández, Miguel Ángel Solá, Richard Bohringer
World premiere
Familienleben ( Family Life ) – Germany
By Rosa Hannah Ziegler
Documentary
World Premiere
Game Girls – France / Germany
By Alina Skrzeszewska
Documentary
World Premiere
Garbage – India
By Q
With Tanmay Dhanania, Trimala Adhikari, Satarupa The
World Premiere
Generation Wealth – USA
By Lauren Greenfield
Documentary
International Premiere
Genezis ( Genesis ) – Hungary
By Árpád Bogdán
With Anna Marie Cseh, Enikő Anna Illési, Milán Csordá’s
World Premiere
Hojoom ( Invasion ) – Iran
By Shahram Mokri
With Abed Abest, Elaheh Bakhshi, Babak Karimi, Pedram Sharifi, Mehdi Etemad Saied
International Premiere
Horizonti ( Horizon ) – Georgia / Sweden
By Tinatin Kajrishvili
With George Bochorishvili, Ia Sukhitashvili, Jano Izoria, Soso Gogichaishvili
World Premiere
Hotel Jugoslavija – Switzerland
By Nicolas Wagnières
Documentary
European Premiere
Inkan, gongkan, sikan grigo inkan ( Human, Space, Time and Human ) – Republic of Korea
By Kim Ki-dukWith Mina Fujii, Jang Keun-suk, Ahn Sung-ki, Lee Sung-jae, Ryoo Seung-bum, Sung Ki-youn, Joe Odagiri
World premiere
Je vois rouge ( I See Red People ) – France / Bulgaria
By Bojina Panayotova
Documentary
World Premiere
Jibril – Germany
By Henrika Kull
With Susana Abdulmajid, Malik Adan, Doua Rahal, Emna El-Aouni
World Premiere
Kinshasa Makambo – Democratic Republic of the Congo / France / Switzerland / Germany / Qatar / Norway
By Dieudo Hamadi
Documentary
World Premiere
Koly padayut dereva ( When the Trees Fall ) – Ukraine / Poland / Macedonia
By Marysia Nikitiuk
With Anastasiia Pustovit, Sofia Halaimova, Maksym Samchyk, Mariya Svizhynska, Alla Samoilenko
World Premiere
Country – Italy / France / Netherlands / Mexico
By Babak Jalali
With Rod Rondeaux, Florence Klein, James Coleman, Wilma Pelly
World Premiere
Lemonade – Romania / Germany / Canada / Sweden
By Ioana Uricaru
With Mina Manovici, Steve Bacic, Dylan Scott Smith, Milan Hurduc, Ruxandra Maniu
World Premiere
Marilyn – Argentina / Chile
By Martín Rodríguez Redondo
With Walter Rodriguez, Catalina Saavedra, Germán de Silva, Ignacio Giménez, Rodolfo Garcia Werner
World Premiere
MATANGI / MAYA / MIA – USA / United Kingdom / Sri Lanka
By Steve Loveridge
With Maya Arulpragasam
Documentary
International Premiere
Mes provinciales ( A Paris Education ) – France
By Jean Paul Civeyrac
With Andranic Manet, Corentin Fila, Gonzague Van Bervesselès, Diane Rouxel, Jenna Thiam, Sophie Verbeeck
World Premiere
O processo ( The Trial ) – Brazil / Germany / Netherlands
By Maria Ramos
Documentary
World Premiere
Ondes de choc – Journal de ma tête ( Shock Waves – Diary of My Mind ) – Switzerland
By Ursula Meier
With Fanny Ardant, Kacey Mottet-Klein, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, Carlo Brandt, Stéphanie Blanchoud, Jean-Quentin Châtelain
International Premiere
Ondes de choc – Prénom: Mathieu ( Shock Waves – First Name: Mathieu ) – Switzerland
By Lionel Baier
With Maxime Gorbatchevsky, Michel Vuillermoz, Ursina Lardi, Mickael Amman, Adrien Barazzone, Piere-Isaïe Duc, Nastassja Tanner
International Premiere
Partisan – Germany
By Lutz Pehnert, Matthias Ehlert, Adama Ulrich
With Frank Castorf, Sophie Rois, Kathrin Angerer, Herbert Fritsch, Henry Hübchen, Alexander Scheer
Documentary
World Premiere
Rou qing shi ( Girls Always Happy ) – People’s Republic of China
Yang Mingming
With Nai An, Yang Mingming, Zhang Xianmin, Li Qinqin, Huang Wei, Yuan Li
World Premiere
Shakedown – USA
By Leilah Weinraub
Documentary
World Premiere
Shut Up and Play the Piano – Germany / France / United Kingdom
By Philip Jedicke
With Chilly Gonzales, Peaches, Feist, Sibylle Berg, Jarvis Cocker
Documentary
World Premiere
La terra dell’abbastanza ( Boys Cry ) – Italy
By Damiano D’Innocenzo, Fabio D’Innocenzo
With Matteo Olivetti, Andrea Carpenzano, Milena Mancini, Max Tortora, Luca Zingaretti
World Premiere
The Silence of Others – USA / Spain
By Almudena Carracedo, Robert Bahar
Documentary
World Premiere
The Silk and the Flame – United States
By Jordan Schiele
Documentary
World Premiere
Styx – Germany / Austria
By Wolfgang Fischer
With Susanne Wolff, Gedion Oduor
World Premiere
Tinta bruta ( Hard Paint )- BrazilBy Marcio Reolon, Filipe Matzembacher
With Shico Menegat, Bruno Fernandes, Guega Peixoto, Sandra Dani, Frederico Vasque’s
World Premiere
Trinta Lumes ( Thirty Souls )- SpainBy Diana Toucedo
With Alba Arias, Samuel Vilariño’s
World Premiere
Xiao Mei – Taiwan
By Maren Hwang
With Chen Yi-Wen, Liu Kuan-Ting, Na Dow, Wu Chien-Ho, Yin Shin, Laurence Chiu, Chang Shao-Huai, Samantha Ko, Wu Kang-jen, Jao Cincin
World Premiere
Yardie – United Kingdom
By Idris Elba
With Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson, Stephen Graham, Fraser James, Sheldon Shepherd, Everaldo Creary
European Premiere
Already featured films:
L’Animale – Austria by Katharina Mückstein
Bixa Travesty ( Tranny Fag ) – Brazil by Claudia Priscilla, Kiko Goifman
Ex Pajé ( Ex Shaman ) – Brazil by Luiz Bolognesi
Malambo, el hombre bueno (Malambo, the Good Man) – Argentina by Santiago Loza
Obscuro Barroco – France / Greece by Evangelia Kranioti
La omisión ( The Omission ) – Argentina / Netherlands / Switzerland by Sebastián Schjaer
River’s Edge – Japan by Isao Yukisada
Profiles – USA / UK / Cyprus by Timur Bekmambetov
That Summer – Sweden / Denmark, USA by Göran Hugo Olsson
Yocho (Foreboding) – Japan by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Central Airport THF ( Central Airport THF ) – Germany / France / Brazil by Karim Aïnouz
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2018 MidWest WeirdFest Reveals First 7 Films
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FUTURE[/caption]
The MidWest WeirdFest described as ‘a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird’ revealed the first seven feature films for the upcoming 2nd edition taking place March 9 to 11, 2018 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
“We are delighted to unveil this first glimpse at some of the 2018 festival’s incredible program”, says fest founder and veteran programmer Dean Bertram. “The selection encapsulates MidWest WeirdFest‘s mission of showcasing a heady combination of the latest and most original horror, sci-fi, underground, and documentary films. We can’t wait for the festival’s audience to journey with us on another twisting, terrifying, and at times hilarious journey through the cutting-edge of this season’s weird cinema.”
The first seven feature films announced follow:
3 DEAD TRICK OR TREATERS (dir: Torin Langen)
After stumbling upon the graves of three murdered trick or treaters, a small town paperboy discovers a series of handwritten horror stories tacked to the children’s headstones. Penned by a deranged pulp author driven mad by his craft, the stories chronicle grisly tales of Halloween rites, rituals and traditions. Absent of dialogue and heavy on atmosphere, 3 DEAD TRICK OR TREATERS is a horror chiller unlike any you’ve seen before.
ATTACK OF THE TATTIE-BOGLE (dir: Pete Marcy)
A group of unlikely bunkmates gathers at a mutual friend’s cabin in remote Wisconsin. Armed with all the comforts of urban life, they are ready to celebrate Independence Day; but when the group is attacked, they are sent reeling. Confused, scared, and unprepared to handle real danger, survivors are forced to battle fears, balance egos, and summon their courage – or die. Forget “cabin in the woods” slashers in the style of FRIDAY THE 13TH. This edge of your seat film depicts believable adult characters being killed with unpredictable, rapidly descending, and brutal violence. It feels uncannily real, and is all the more disturbing for it.
BORLEY RECTORY (dir: Ashley Thorpe)
This spine-tingling film chronicles the true story of “The most haunted house in England”. Narrated by Julian Sands (WARLOCK, GOTHIC, LEAVING LAS VEGAS), and starring Reece Shearsmith (THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, SHAUN OF THE DEAD), BORLEY RECTORY features a stunning combination of live action re-enactments, animated photographs from the period, and eerie visual effects. Be prepared to be mesmerized and chilled in equal portions by the most haunting film of the festival season.
FAKE BLOOD (dir: Rob Grant)
Rob Grant and Mike Kovac receive a disturbing fan video inspired by their previous horror movie MON AMI, motivating them to investigate the responsibility of filmmakers in portraying violence in movies. In their pursuit of the truth they are unwittingly introduced to the real world of violent criminals and their victims. Few films have managed to so successfully examine the blurred lines between real and imagined violence. FAKE BLOOD will keep you engaged and unbalanced until the final frame.
THE FLATWOODS MONSTER: A LEGACY OF FEAR (dir: Seth Breedlove)
Ahead of its official release this April, MidWest WeirdFest proudly presents this special sneak-peak screening of the latest, highly anticipated offering from production company Small Town Monsters. It is a terrifying documentary that revisits one of the earliest and most famous alien encounter reports of American UFO lore. The film’s director, Seth Breedlove (BOGGY CREEK MONSTER, THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT, INVASION ON CHESTNUT RIDGE) is the most important documentarian working in the UFO/paranormal/cryptid field today, and was the recipient of 2017’s “Cryptozoologist of the Year” award. Don’t miss your chance to be one of the first people on this haunted planet to see his latest film.
FUTURE (dir: Robert Cousineau, Chris Rosik)
A drunken train-wreck of a time traveler offers a suicidally depressed tea store barista a do-over. The catch is, the do-over comes at a murderous price. FUTURE is a poignant and funny low-fi sci-fi that begs the question: If you only had a few days left to live, and you felt like no one wanted you around, what would you do with that time? Would you climb a mountain, fall in love, invent a world saving device? Or would you eat all the junk you usually don’t let yourself have, and blow off work to get drunk with your old friends?
THE MOOSE HEAD OVER THE MANTEL (dir: Rebecca Comtois, Bryan Enk, Jessi Gotta, Matthew Gray, Shannon K. Hall, Jane Rose)
Lillian Hoffhienze-Bachman and her family move into the previously abandoned Hoffhienze ancestral home, where their hopeful new start becomes tainted by the discovery of a century’s worth of abuse, dysfunction and violence. Lillian becomes consumed by her sordid ancestry, terrified that the past might dictate her son’s future. The grisly events of the past 100 years are revealed through the eyes of the family’s victims… including the moose head hanging on the mantel wall. Influenced and inspired by the notorious real lives of H.H. Holmes, The Bender Family, Lizzie Borden, Carl Panzram and The Fox Sisters, this dark and unsettling anthology chills to the core.
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2018 Pan African Film & Arts Festival Reveals Highlights, Opens with “Love Jacked”
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Love Jacked[/caption]
The 26th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) will take place Thursday, February 8 through Monday, February 19, 2018. The festival will open with Love Jacked directed by Alfons Adetuyi, and close with Traffik directed by Deon Taylor, starring Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso.
“The Pan African Film and Arts Festival has been recognized as one of the largest celebrations of Black culture and Black films,” mentions Ayuko Babu, PAFF Executive Director. “For 26 years, we have presented diverse and inclusive programming that features the creative work of leading disruptors in film and entertainment. The 2018 PAFF experience aims to step outside the ‘business as usual’ film festival norms and move the needle forward by amplifying the game-changing voices of influential, ethnic, millennial and LGBTQIA storytellers.”
With pride, PAFF shares reign as one of two international film and art festivals that screen a large selection of new Black films and exhibit fine art and unique crafts from around the world. This year’s confirmed lineup showcases over 170 films from over 40 countries within five continents and in 26 languages! What’s more, as an official Oscar-qualifying festival for shorts and live-action films, PAFF will hold special screenings for several works that are up for consideration for the 90th Annual Academy Awards
The festival will be held at the Cinemark Rave 15 Theatres/Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (3650 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd) in Los Angeles, California.
Highlights of the 2018 Pan African Film & Arts Festival
MARQUEE FILMS OPENING NIGHT Love Jacked (US) Directed By: Alfons Adetuyi Date: Thursday, February 8 Time: 6PM Red Carpet | 7PM Screening A warm family comedy centered around Maya, a headstrong 28-year-old with artistic ambitions and her father Ed, who wants a dutiful daughter to run the family store. Ed is shocked when Maya, asserting her independence, decides to travel to Africa for inspiration and returns with a fiancé. Stars Amber Stevens-West, Shamier Anderson, Lyriq Bent, Keith David, Mike Epps, Marla Gibbs, Angela Gibbs, Demetrius Grosse and Nicole Lyn. Cast members will be present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3XQ09nocQM CLOSING NIGHT Traffik (US) Directed By: Deon Taylor Date: Sunday, February 18 Time: 5:45PM Red Carpet | 6:45PM Screening Journalist Brea and her boyfriend John are off for a romantic weekend in the mountains. On their way up the coast they stop in a small town and are accosted by a group of men on motorcycles. Barely avoiding a fight, Brea and John continue on their trip, unaware that they have inadvertently come into possession of a cell phone–a cell phone that the bikers are desperate to retrieve. Now, alone in the mountains in an isolated rental home, Brea and John must defend themselves against the bikers who will stop at nothing to get the phone, destroy the evidence it holds and kill anyone who would tell their secrets. Stars Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso. Cast members will be present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttOv6zVsl6E SPOTLIGHT SCREENINGS Behind the Movement (US) – Presented by TVOne Directed By: Aric Avelino Date: Friday, February 9 Time: 7PM Red Carpet | 8PM Screening King of the Stage: The Woodie King, Jr. Story (US) – World Premiere Directed By: Juney Smith Date: Saturday, February 10 Time: 6PM Red Carpet | 7:15PM Screening | 9PM Lifetime Achievement Presentation Nothing Like Thanksgiving (US) Directed By: Mark Harris Date: Saturday, February 17 Time: 7:15PM Red Carpet | 8PM Screening UP FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION Félicité (Senegal) – Oscar Short List Directed By: Alain Gomis Screening Dates & Times: Friday, February 9 @ 8:50PM Saturday, February 17 @ 9PM The Train of Salt and Sugar (Mozambique) – LA Premiere Directed By: Licínio Azevedo Screening Dates & Times: Wednesday, February 14 @ 7:30PM Saturday, February 17 @ 8PM The Wound (Inxeba) (South Africa) – Oscar Short List Directed By: John Trengrove Screening Dates & Times: Saturday, February 10 @ 7:05PM Tuesday, February 13 @ 6PM Monday, February 19 @ 9PM Woodpeckers (Dominican Republic) Directed By: José Maria Cabral Screening Dates & Times: Saturday, February 10 @ 8:40PM Friday, February 16 @ 1:25PM Image via Screen Shot
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Berlinale 2018: “NATIVe − A Journey into Indigenous Cinema” Spotlights Films from Pacific Ocean Region
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MA’OHI NUI, au cœur de l’océan mon pays (MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies)[/caption]
This year, the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival will focus on Indigenous film-making in the countries and islands bound together by the Pacific Ocean, in the special program NATIVe − A Journey into Indigenous Cinema.
Climate change is the most obvious link between the two seemingly very different regions: Melting ice masses are among the leading causes of the rising sea level, which threatens the whole Pacific region, including the island nations and regions of Polynesia, Melanesia/New Guinea and Micronesia, along with their primarily Indigenous populations. But climate change is not the only regional commonality. Industrialization, the repression of Indigenous languages and cultures, forced relocations and other long-term effects of colonizing practices still have consequences for both the peoples of the Arctic regions and the cultural areas in and around the Pacific.
The documentary film MA’OHI NUI, au cœur de l’océan mon pays (MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies) clearly outlines one form of colonial aggression specific to the Pacific region: From 1966 to 1996, France ran an intensive nuclear testing program across French Polynesia. The film shows the catastrophic effects on the region’s environment and on the health and social structures of the Ma’ohi people. NATIVe will celebrate the documentary’s world premiere.
The destructive effects of centuries of colonial repression are also illustrated in Anastasia Lapsui’s and Markku Lehmuskallio’s poetic, activist film Fata Morgana, and in the short film Three Thousand by Asinnajaq. In one striking scene in Fata Morgana, the children of the Chukchi explain how they must choose new Russian names for themselves at school so that their Russian teacher can pronounce them better. And the narrator in Three Thousand, an evocative tapestry of animated images and archival material, comments: “My father was born in a spring igloo − half snow, half skin. I was born in a hospital, with jaundice and two teeth.”
As in previous years, there will be a number of talks and special presentations around the core film-program.
The panel discussion “Establishing Indigenous Cinema” will continue NATIVe’s long-standing and successful collaboration with the Embassy of Canada. The industry talk, in which film professionals will discuss the role of Indigenous cinema within the global film scene, will be followed by a screening of the short film programme Reel Kanata VI.
For the second time, NATIVe will be hosting an event together with the Helmholtz Climate Initiative Regional Climate Change (REKLIM) at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research and the DEKRA University of Applied Sciences Berlin. At “Indigenous Life and Global Climate Change − From Polar Regions to Pacific Islands. From Melting Sea Ice to Sea Level Rise” scientists and film-makers will take a closer look at the dramatic consequences of global warming and its regional effects in scientific talks, film screenings, and panel discussions.
Furthermore, Berlinale Special will present the international premiere of the Australian documentary film Gurrumul. The screening will take place at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in cooperation with NATIVe. Gurrumul is an intimate portrait of the life and musical career of the late Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, the internationally celebrated blind Aboriginal singer who masterfully combined rhythms and melodies of his people, the Yolngu, with contemporary western music.
Film program:
Feature-length Films at NATIVe:
Fata Morgana By Anastasia Lapsui, Markku Lehmuskallio, Finland 2005 Through a mesmerizing mix of filmic and storytelling styles, legendary film-making team Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio recount thousands of years of history of the Chukchi people, from their mythology to the Russian colonisation and the modern-day survival of this culture. MA’OHI NUI, au cœur de l’océan mon pays (MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies) By Annick Ghijzelings, Belgium 2018 Documentary World premiere A poetic testimony on the adversities the Ma’ohi have undergone in times of contemporary colonization, portraying the aftermath of nuclear testing in French Polynesia, and the desire of a people to re-claim their identity.Short Film at NATIVe:
Three Thousand By Asinnajaq, Canada 2017 Documentary By combining historic footage with original animation in a poetic tapestry, Asinnajaq explores her Inuit heritage throughout its entire audio-visual history and beyond, projecting a hopeful future.
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Sundance 2018: Aneesh Chaganty’s SEARCH Wins Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
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John Cho appears in Search by Aneesh Chaganty, an official selection of the NEXT program at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. photo by Juan Sebastian Baron.[/caption]
The Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation handed out $71,000 in grants at a reception held at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize was awarded to Aneesh Chaganty’s Search, who was presented with a $20,000 check. Other winners include Cherien Dabis’s What The Eyes Don’t See (Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant), produced by Rosalie Swedlin for Anonymous Content and executive produced by Michael Sugar; C. Wrenn Ball’s Katie Wright (Sundance Institute | Sloan Lab Fellowship) and John Lopez’ Untitled J.P. Morgan Project (Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Storytelling Grant).
Search: Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
Search has been awarded the 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and received a $20,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at today’s reception. The Prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character. The jury stated, “For its gripping and original interrogation of our evolving relationship with technology and how it mediates every other relationship in our lives, both positively and negatively, and for its rigorous formal experimentation with narrative, the 2018 Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival goes to Aneesh Chaganty’s Search.” Search / U.S.A. (Director: Aneesh Chaganty, Screenwriters: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian, Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian, Adam Sidman, Natalie Qasabian) — After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens. Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing. Aneesh Chaganty is a 26-year-old writer/director whose two minute short film, a Google Glass spot called “Seeds”, became an internet sensation after garnering more than 1 million YouTube views in 24 hours. Following its success, Aneesh was invited to join the Google Creative Lab in New York City, where he spent two years developing, writing and directing Google commercials. He is a recipient of the Future of Storytelling Fellowship, awarded to only five young creatives around the world “who have demonstrated a fearlessness to tell stories in unconventional ways” and whose works “will be instrumental in shaping the future of storytelling.” Search is Aneesh’s first feature. Sev Ohanian is a 30-year-old screenwriter and producer native to Los Angeles. At the age of 20, he produced and self-distributed My Big Fat Armenian Family, a no-budget indie feature film that became popular with Armenian audiences around the world. Shortly after, he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA program — using the profits from his film to pay for tuition. Since graduating in 2012, he has been a producer on thirteen feature films, four of which have been Sundance Film Festival Official Selections. His first film, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Andrew Bujalksi’s Results premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. Clea DuVall’s The Intervention premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Paramount. At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Ohanian was awarded the Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Producers Award.Sundance Institute / Sloan Commissioning Grant
Cherien Dabis will receive a $25,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for What the Eyes Don’t See, produced by Rosalie Swedlin for Anonymous Content and executive produced by Michael Sugar. Previous winners include Alex Rivera’s La Vida Robot and Robert Edwards’s American Prometheus. What the Eyes Don’t See (U.S.A.) / Cherien Dabis (Writer/Director), Rosalie Swedlin (Producer) and Michael Sugar (Executive Producer) — A true story of how Iraqi American pediatrician and scientist Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha blew the whistle on local and state government officials for poisoning thousands of Flint, Michigan residents, especially children, by exposing them to disastrous levels of toxic lead in the water. Cherien Dabis is an award winning filmmaker and television writer director who made her feature debut with Amreeka. The film world-premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the coveted FIPRESCI at Cannes. It went on to win a dozen more international awards including the Humanitas Prize and was nominated for a Best Picture Gotham Award, and 3 Independent Spirit Awards. Dabis returned to Sundance with her second feature May in the Summer, which opened the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition section and had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Dabis has also written and directed on such shows as Showtime’s groundbreaking series The L Word, Fox’s hit Empire and USA Network’s Golden Globe nominated crime thriller The Sinner. Rosalie Swedlin is a producer and literary manager at Anonymous Content. Swedlin began her career in New York book publishing, followed by six years handling publicity and marketing for various UK book publishers. Prior to joining Anonymous Content, she was a literary manager, producer, and partner at ICM for twelve years after having served as a senior vice president. Swedlin was an agent at CAA from 1981 – 1991 and was named co-head of the agency’s motion picture department. Swedlin executive produced the upcoming TNT limited series The Alienist based on Caleb Carr’s bestselling novel. The Wife, Swedlin’s most recent feature film, debuted at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Her upcoming film projects include Jane Anderson’s adaptation of The Women in the Castle and Haifaa Al Mansour’s adaptation of the Cara Hoffman novel Be Safe I Love You. Michael Sugar recently launched Sugar23 — a management and production company with a multi-year, first-look deal with Anonymous Content — where he was a partner for many years. He was awarded the Oscar® for Best Picture for Spotlight and most recently wrapped production on the Netflix series Maniac, with Cary Fukunaga. He is currently in production on One Day She’ll Darken at TNT. He is an Executive Producer on the Netflix series The OA and the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Sugar also Executive Produced Cinemax’s critically acclaimed drama series The Knick directed by Steven Soderbergh. Sugar’s impressive roster of literary and talent clients includes Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Cary Fukunaga, Edgar Wright, Marc Webb, Patty Jenkins, and Robin Wright. He has been nominated for multiple Emmys, and won a Peabody Award for The Knick.Sundance Institute / Sloan Lab Fellowship
C. Wrenn Ball will receive a $15,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Previous winners include Logan Kibens’s Operator, Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter and Marjorie Prime, and Rob Meyer’s A Birder’s Guide to Everything. Katie Wright (U.S.A.) / C. Wrenn Ball (Writer) — Just as the Wright Brothers are about to capitalize on the invention of their airplane, Orville is badly injured in a public crash, and sister Katie unexpectedly emerges to lead their business. Fighting resistance from businessmen, society, and even her own brothers, she strives to keep the family together and claim her place as part of their legacy. Based on the forgotten true story. Hailing from North Carolina, C. Wrenn Ball exchanged life in the Southeast for work as an assistant on network television. He directed web series pilots in Los Angeles before completing an MFA at USC’s John Wells Division of Writing for Screen and Television. Obsessed by the twang and rhythm of life, Ball is constantly merging his Southern sensibilities with feature and television writing.Sundance Institute / Sloan Episodic Storytelling Grant
John Lopez will receive an $11,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Untitled J.P. Morgan Project (U.S.A.) / John Lopez (Writer, Creator) — A look at the family drama and professional innovations of American financier J.P. Morgan as the 20th century dawns and the country he helped build transforms radically. A Los Angeles native, John Lopez has covered film and the arts for Grantland, Vanity Fair online and Bloomberg Business Week. His short Plan B, starring Randall Park and Rosa Salazar, was a finalist in the NBC Short Cuts Film festival; he also directed segments for NBC’s 2014 Actor’s Showcase and served as associate producer on Hossein Amini’s film The Two Faces of January. In 2015, John was selected as a fellow for the 2015 Sundance Episodic Lab with his pilot Crude. Most recently, John has written for Netflix’s upcoming crime drama Seven Seconds and CBS All Access’s upcoming period drama Strange Angel, and he has just completed a mini-room for AMC’s Silent History.
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Berlinale 2018: 12th Culinary Cinema to Feature 10 Films Focusing on Food, Culture and Politics, Opens with “Chef Flynn”
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Flynn McGarry appears in Chef Flynn by Cameron Yates[/caption]
Nine documentaries and a fictional film focussing on the relationship between food, culture, and politics are being presented this year in the 12th Culinary Cinema at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, held under the motto “Life Is Delicate” from February 18 to 23, 2018.
“When it comes to cultural and political matters, sensitive decisions have to be made all the time. It’s like in a kitchen, where it’s also tricky to make, at the very least, something edible and, at the very best, something delicate,” Festival Director Dieter Kosslick says in explaining the motto.
The main program of Culinary Cinema will present three world premieres, as well as an international and a German premiere. Following these screenings, top chefs Thomas Bühner, Sonja Frühsammer, Michael Kempf, Flynn McGarry, and The Duc Ngo will take turns serving menus inspired by the films in the Gropius Mirror Restaurant.
Chef Flynn, a US documentary by Cameron Yates, will open the program. The film’s protagonist, Flynn McGarry, was born in 1998 and is already a famous chef. In the film we see how at the early age of ten, he transforms his parents’ living room in Los Angeles into a pop-up restaurant called Eureka and serves multi-course menus. Culinary superstars are impressed by his dishes. The New York press celebrates him as a ‘culinary prodigy’. In addition, on February 22, 2018, during “Youth Food Cinema” Day, Flynn McGarry will cook together with school kids. Afterwards he will talk with experts about how to prepare tasty food with good, clean and fair products, and the positive impact using them has on living conditions, the climate and sustainable development worldwide.
In La quête d’Alain Ducasse (The Quest of Alain Ducasse) by Gilles de Maistre, culinary visionary Ducasse defines his task: “We create memories that last.” To accomplish it he tirelessly travels the world, inspects his 23 restaurants on three continents and maintains his 18 Michelin stars.
Vines have been cultivated in Georgia for around 8,000 years. But during the Soviet regime, ancient methods of vinification were almost lost. In Our Blood Is Wine by Emily Railsback we experience how the tradition is being revived. Michael Kempf (two Michelin stars, “Facil”, Berlin) will be interpreting Georgia’s gastronomic heritage.
In Cuba, culinary traditions were also being neglected for a long time. But now they say that “the taste is back” on the island. The road movie Cuban Food Stories by Asori Soto takes us to remote places where delicacies are prepared al fresco. Sonja Frühsammer (two Michelin stars, “Frühsammers Restaurant”, Berlin) will be paying culinary homage to Cuba.
After participating in 2016, director Eric Khoo will be returning to Culinary Cinema with his new fictional film, Ramen Teh, set in the multi-ethnic city state and nation of Singapore. Here food serves as a means not only to preserve painful memories, but also to achieve reconciliation.
The late-night screenings (where no meals are served afterwards) explore many aspects of the culinary cosmos. The Green Lie by Werner Boote unmasks the sometimes subtle, often crass methods of ‘greenwashing’ with which companies deceive consumers. In The Game Changers by Oscar-winner Louie Psihoyos, outstanding athletes show how they maintain a healthy weight and stay in form without eating meat. Patrimonio by Lisa F. Jackson and Sarah Teale is also encouraging: in this film, Mexicans manage to protect their village from takeover by a US construction company. How a group of women in a Lebanese refugee camp succeeds in organising a food truck and getting out of the camp is recounted in Soufra by Thomas Morgan. In Tuscany, the views of the landscape are magnificent but there is no future in sight for the peasant farmers in Lorello e Brunello by Jacopo Quadri.
Culinary Cinema Program 2018 Films
Chef Flynn USA By Cameron Yates Documentary International premiere Cuban Food Stories USA / Cuba By Asori Soto Documentary World premiere The Game Changers USA By Louie Psihoyos Documentary International premiere The Green Lie Austria By Werner Boote Documentary World premiere La quête d’Alain Ducasse (The Quest of Alain Ducasse) France By Gilles de Maistre Documentary German premiere Lorello e Brunello Italy By Jacopo Quadri Documentary German premiere Our Blood Is Wine USA By Emily Railsback Documentary World premiere Patrimonio USA By Lisa F. Jackson, Sarah Teale Documentary World premiere Ramen Teh Singapore / Japan / France By Eric Khoo World premiere Soufra USA By Thomas Morgan Documentary European premiere
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Complete List of 90th Academy Awards Nominations, “The Shape of Water” Leads With 13
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Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in the film THE SHAPE OF WATER.[/caption]
Actress-comedian Tiffany Haddish and actor-director Andy Serkis, joined by Academy President John Bailey, announced the 90th Academy Awards nominations today, with “The Shape of Water” leading with 13 nominations, followed by “Dunkirk,” with got eight nominations, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” received seven nominations.
The 90th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour Denzel Washington in Roman J. Israel, Esq.Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project Woody Harrelson in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, MissouriPerformance by an actress in a leading role
Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water Frances McDormand in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Margot Robbie in I, Tonya Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird Meryl Streep in The PostPerformance by an actress in a supporting role
Mary J. Blige in Mudbound Allison Janney in I, Tonya Lesley Manville in Phantom Thread Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird Octavia Spencer in The Shape of WaterBest animated feature film of the year
The Boss Baby Tom McGrath and Ramsey Naito The Breadwinner Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo Coco Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson Ferdinand Carlos Saldanha Loving Vincent Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan MactaggartAchievement in cinematography
Blade Runner 2049 Roger A. Deakins Darkest Hour Bruno Delbonnel Dunkirk Hoyte van Hoytema Mudbound Rachel Morrison The Shape of Water Dan LaustsenAchievement in costume design
Beauty and the Beast Jacqueline Durran Darkest Hour Jacqueline Durran Phantom Thread Mark Bridges The Shape of Water Luis Sequeira Victoria & Abdul Consolata BoyleAchievement in directing
Dunkirk Christopher Nolan Get Out Jordan Peele Lady Bird Greta Gerwig Phantom Thread Paul Thomas Anderson The Shape of Water Guillermo del ToroBest documentary feature
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Steve James, Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman Faces Places Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda Icarus Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan Last Men in Aleppo Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed and Søren Steen Jespersen Strong Island Yance Ford and Joslyn BarnesBest documentary short subject
Edith+Eddie Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wright Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 Frank Stiefel Heroin(e) Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon Knife Skills Thomas Lennon Traffic Stop Kate Davis and David HeilbronerAchievement in film editing
Baby Driver Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos Dunkirk Lee Smith I, Tonya Tatiana S. Riegel The Shape of Water Sidney Wolinsky Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Jon GregoryBest foreign language film of the year
A Fantastic Woman Chile The Insult Lebanon Loveless Russia On Body and Soul Hungary The Square SwedenAchievement in makeup and hairstyling
Darkest Hour Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick Victoria & Abdul Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard Wonder Arjen TuitenAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Dunkirk Hans Zimmer Phantom Thread Jonny Greenwood The Shape of Water Alexandre Desplat Star Wars: The Last Jedi John Williams Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Carter BurwellAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Mighty River from Mudbound Music and Lyric by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson Mystery Of Love from Call Me by Your Name Music and Lyric by Sufjan Stevens Remember Me from Coco Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Stand Up For Something from Marshall Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Lonnie R. Lynn and Diane Warren This Is Me from The Greatest Showman Music and Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin PaulBest motion picture of the year
Call Me by Your Name Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers Darkest Hour Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers Dunkirk Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers Get Out Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr. and Jordan Peele, Producers Lady Bird Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill, Producers Phantom Thread JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi, Producers The Post Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, ProducersAchievement in production design
Beauty and the Beast Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer Blade Runner 2049 Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Alessandra Querzola Darkest Hour Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer Dunkirk Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis The Shape of Water Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff MelvinBest animated short film
Dear Basketball Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant Garden Party Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon Lou Dave Mullins and Dana Murray Negative Space Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata Revolting Rhymes Jakob Schuh and Jan LachauerBest live action short film
DeKalb Elementary Reed Van Dyk The Eleven O’Clock Derin Seale and Josh Lawson My Nephew Emmett Kevin Wilson, Jr. The Silent Child Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton Watu Wote/All of Us Katja Benrath and Tobias RosenAchievement in sound editing
Baby Driver Julian Slater Blade Runner 2049 Mark Mangini and Theo Green Dunkirk Richard King and Alex Gibson The Shape of Water Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira Star Wars: The Last Jedi Matthew Wood and Ren KlyceAchievement in sound mixing
Baby Driver Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis Blade Runner 2049 Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth Dunkirk Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo The Shape of Water Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier Star Wars: The Last Jedi David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart WilsonAchievement in visual effects
Blade Runner 2049 John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick Kong: Skull Island Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus Star Wars: The Last Jedi Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould War for the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel WhistAdapted screenplay
Call Me by Your Name Screenplay by James Ivory The Disaster Artist Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber Logan Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold Molly’s Game Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin Mudbound Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee ReesOriginal screenplay
The Big Sick Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani Get Out Written by Jordan Peele Lady Bird Written by Greta Gerwig The Shape of Water Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Written by Martin McDonagh
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Berlinale 2018: More Films Added to Competition and Berlinale Special Lineup
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Museum[/caption]
Another five films, including Steven Soderberg’s Unsane, and Gael García Bernal in Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Museum, have been added to the Competition lineup of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival; and a further six films have been invited to participate in the Berlinale Special Program.
The 68th Berlin International Film Festival will take place from February 15 to 25, 2018. The complete program will be presented on February 6, 2018.
Competition
7 days in Entebbe USA / United Kingdom By José Padilha ( The Elite Squad, Garapa ) With Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan, Lior Ashkenazi, Denis Menochet, Ben Schnetzer, Angel Bonanni, Juan Pablo Raba, Nonso Anozie World Premiere – Out of competition Ága Bulgaria / Germany / France By Milko Lazarov ( Otchuzhdenie ) With Mikhail Aprosimov, Feodosia Ivanova, Galina Tikhonova, Sergey Egorov, Afanasiy Kylaev World premiere – Out of competition Season of the Devil (Ang panahon ng halimaw) Philippines By Lav Diaz ( A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery ) with Piolo Pascual, Shaina Magdayao, Pinky Amador, Bituin Escalante, Hazel Orencio, Joel Saracho, Bart Guingona, Angel Aquino, Lilit Reyes, Don Melvin Boongaling World premiere Museum (Museo) Mexico By Alonso Ruizpalacios ( Güeros ) With Gael Garcia Bernal, Leonardo Ortizgris, Alfredo Castro, Simon Russell Beale, Bernardo Velasco, Leticia Breedy, Ilse Salas, Lisa Owen World premiere Unsane USA By Steven Soderbergh ( Traffic, The Good German ) With Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, Amy Irving World premiere – Out of competitionBerlinale Special
Berlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast The Happy Prince Germany / Belgium / Italy By Rupert Everett With Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Colin Morgan, Edwin Thomas, Rupert Everett’s European Premiere – First Feature Becoming Astrid (Unga Astrid) Sweden / Germany / Denmark By Pernille Fischer Christensen ( A Soap, A Family, Someones You Love ) With Alba August, Trine Dyrholm, Magnus Krepper, Maria Bonnevie, Henrik Rafaelsen World premiereBerlinale Special at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele
AMERICA Land of the Freeks – Documentary Form Germany By Ulli Lommel ( Tenderness of the Wolves, The Boogey Man, Absolute Evil ) With Ulli Lommel, Tanner King Barklow, Nola Roeper, Gil Kofman, Chris Kriesa, Lilith Stangenberg, Tatjana Lommel, Max Brauer World Premiere Tribute to Ulli Lommel RYŪICHI SAKAMOTO: async AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY – Documentary USA / Japan By Stephen Nomura Schible ( Ryūichi Sakamoto: Coda ) International premiereBerlinale Special at Kino International
The Interpreter Slovak Republic / Czech Republic / Austria By Martin Šulík ( The Garden , Landscape , Gypsy ) With Peter Simonischek, Jiří Menzel, Zuzana Mauréry, Attila Mokos and Anna Rakovská World premiere Usedom – The Sea View – Documentary Germany By Heinz Brinkmann ( The Carbide Factory, Come Into The Garden, The Boehme Case – The Wondrous Life Of A Left-Handed Man )Competition
3 Days in Quiberon ( 3 Tage in Quiberon ) by Emily Atef (Germany / Austria / France) 7 Days in Entebbe by José Padilha (USA / United Kingdom) – Out of competition AGA by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria / Germany / France) – Out of competition Season of the Devil (Ang panahon ng halimaw) by Lav Diaz (Philippines) Black 47 by Lance Daly (Ireland / Luxembourg) – Out of competition Damsel by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner (USA) Do not Worry, He Will not Get Far on Foot by Gus Van Sant (USA) Dovlatov by Alexey German Jr. (Russian Federation / Poland / Serbia) Eldorado by Markus Imhoof (Switzerland / Germany) – Documentary, out of competition Eva by Benoit Jacquot (France) Figlia mia ( Daughter of Mine ) by Laura Bispuri (Italy / Germany / Switzerland) The Heiresses (Las herederas) by Marcelo Nessi Marti (Paraguay / Germany / Uruguay / Norway / Brazil / France) – First Feature In the Aisles (In den Gängen) by Thomas Stuber (Germany) Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson ( United Kingdom / Germany) – Entertainment Pig (Khook) by Mani Haghighi (Iran) My brother’s name is Robert, and He is an Idiot (Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot ) by Philip Gröning (Germany / France / Switzerland) Museo ( Museum ) by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Mexico) La prière ( The Prayer ) by Cédric Kahn (France) The Real Estate (Toppen av ingenting) by Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén (Sweden / United Kingdom) Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie (Romania / Germany / Czech Republic / Bulgaria / France) – First Feature Transit by Christian Petzold (Germany / France) Mug (Twarz) by Małgorzata Szumowska (Poland) Unsane by Steven Soderbergh (USA) – Out of competitionBerlinale Special
AMERICA Land of the Freeks by Ulli Lommel (Germany) – The Bookshop by Isabel Coixet ( Spain / United Kingdom / Germany) The Happy Prince by Rupert Everett (Germany / Belgium / Italy) Gurrumul by Paul Williams (Australia) – Documentary, debut movie The Interpreter by Martin Šulík ( Slovak Republic / Czech Republic / Austria ) Monster Hunt 2 by Raman Hui (People’s Republic of China / Hong Kong, China) RYŪICHI SAKAMOTO: async AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY by Stephen Nomura Schible (USA / Japan) – Documentary The Silent Revolution (Das schweigende Klassenzimmer) by Lars Kraume (Germany) Becoming Astrid (Unga Astrid) by Pernille Fischer Christensen (Sweden / Germany / Denmark) Usedom – The clear sea view by Heinz Brinkmann (Germany) – Documentary A Journey to the Fumigated Towns (Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados) by Fernando Solanas (Argentina) – DocumentaryBerlinale Special – Berlinale Series
Bad Banks – Director: Christian Schwochow – Head writer: Oliver Kienle, based on a concept by Lisa Blumenberg (Germany / Luxembourg) Home Ground (Heimebane) – Creator: Johan Fasting – Director: Arild Andresen (Norway) Liberty – Creator: Asger Leth – Director: Mikael Marcimain (Denmark) The Looming Tower – Creators: Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright – Director: Alex Gibney – Written by Dan Futterman, based on the book by Lawrence Wright (USA) Picnic at Hanging Rock – Director: Larysa Kondracki (episodes 1-3) – Written by Beatrix Christian, Alice Addison (Australia) Sleeping Bears – Creator and director: Keren Margalit (Israel) The Terror – Showrunners: David Kajganich and Soo Hugh – Director: Edward Berger (episodes 1-3), (USA)
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“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is Big Winner of 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards
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Actor Frances McDormand (4th from L, at microphone) and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ castmates accept the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award onstage during the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards[/caption]
The Screen Actors Guild Awards presented its coveted Actor statuettes at the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by Kristen Bell. Honored with individual awards were Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell for performances in motion pictures, with the Actor for a motion picture cast performance going this year to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Rita Moreno presented Morgan Freeman with the 54th Life Achievement Award, following a filmed salute to the Academy Award winning actor, producer, voice actor and activist, which mirrored when Freeman presented Moreno with the 50th Life Achievement Award. Felicity Huffman introduced a filmed “In Memoriam” tribute to the SAG-AFTRA members lost during 2017. In keeping with the SAG Awards tradition of highlighting the work of SAG-AFTRA members, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris introduced a montage that illustrated the union’s diversity and the wide range of its members’ professional skills.
The complete list of recipients for the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® follows:
The 24th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS®RECIPIENTS
The Theatrical Motion Picture Recipients are:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role FRANCES McDORMAND / Mildred – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role GARY OLDMAN / Winston Churchill – “DARKEST HOUR” (Focus Features) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role ALLISON JANNEY / LaVona Golden – “I, TONYA” (Neon) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role SAM ROCKWELL / Dixon – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight) Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (Fox Searchlight) ABBIE CORNISH / Anne PETER DINKLAGE / James WOODY HARRELSON / Willoughby JOHN HAWKES / Charlie LUCAS HEDGES / Robbie ŽELJKO IVANEK / Desk Sgt. CALEB LANDRY JONES / Red Welby FRANCES McDORMAND / Mildred CLARKE PETERS / Abercrombie SAM ROCKWELL / Dixon SAMARA WEAVING / PenelopeThe Television Recipients are:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series NICOLE KIDMAN / Celeste Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD / Perry Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series CLAIRE FOY / Queen Elizabeth II – “THE CROWN” (Netflix) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series STERLING K. BROWN / Randall Pearson – “THIS IS US” (NBC) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / Selina Meyer – “VEEP” (HBO) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series WILLIAM H. MACY / Frank Gallagher – “SHAMELESS” (Showtime) Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series THIS IS US(NBC)ERIS BAKER / Tess Pearson ALEXANDRA BRECKENRIDGE / Sophie STERLING K. BROWN / Randall Pearson LONNIE CHAVIS / Young Randall JUSTIN HARTLEY / Kevin Pearson FAITHE HERMAN / Annie Pearson RON CEPHAS JONES / William Hill CHRISSY METZ / Kate Pearson MANDY MOORE / Rebecca Pearson CHRIS SULLIVAN / Toby Damon MILO VENTIMIGLIA / Jack Pearson SUSAN KELECHI WATSON / Beth Pearson HANNAH ZEILE / Teenage Kate Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series VEEP(HBO) DAN BAKKEDAHL / Roger Furlong ANNA CHLUMSKY / Amy Brookheimer GARY COLE / Kent Davison MARGARET COLIN / Jane McCabe KEVIN DUNN / Ben Cafferty CLEA DUVALL / Marjorie Palmiotti NELSON FRANKLIN / Will TONY HALE / Gary Walsh JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / Selina Meyer SAM RICHARDSON / Richard Splett PAUL SCHEER / Stevie REID SCOTT / Dan Egan TIMOTHY SIMONS / Jonah Ryan SARAH SUTHERLAND / Catherine Meyer MATT WALSH / Mike McLintock Image: Actor Frances McDormand (4th from L, at microphone) and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ castmates accept the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award onstage during the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. 27522_013 (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Frances McDormand;Sam Rockwell;Darrell Britt-Gibson;Woody Harrelson;Abbie Cornish;Lucas Hedges;Zeljko Ivanek;John Hawkes;Samara Weaving;Sandy Martin;Amanda Warren