Somebody Clap For Me from Brazilian director Luciana Farah, will have its world premiere at the 20th edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival taking place July 8 to 16, 2017.
A rollercoaster ride from grassroots poetry to the political heart of Uganda, this captivating labour of love provides a fascinating window into life in a country in which three-quarters of the population is under 25. Linking Uganda’s oral tradition to its 21st Century culture of hip-hop and slam poetry, the film brings its protagonists to the fore, providing a constantly shifting portrait of a Kampala-based youth movement that uses spoken word to challenge the oppressive restraints of Ugandan society and the increasing constraints on freedom of speech under current president Yoweri Museveni.
As Farah chronicles the resurfacing of village bonfire storytelling traditions in the form of open-mic poetry events, we meet some of the scene’s key actors, including Roshan, a mixed race Ugandan who has grown up in the UK, Ugly Emcee, a freedom-of-speech activist who reveals himself to be the grandson of Idi Amin, and Medals the Born Again Politician, who challenges the status quo with both his conviction and command of political pastiche.
The film, which was shot over the course of three years with a crew of East African film students, follows these and other poets as they go about their daily lives in Kampala, the eclectic individual portraits building to form a cross-sectional vision of a country trying to shed its past and create a more inclusive and democratic reality, despite the conservative forces that are attempting to hold on to power.
What begins as a documentary about a grassroots poetry collective, twists and turns unpredictably as it takes viewers into the political and cultural heart of contemporary Uganda. Fuelled by the universal themes of love and identity and made using unconventional filmmaking techniques, Somebody Clap for Me was produced with the support of Maisha Film Lab and the Doha Film Institute.
“I am extremely happy for Somebody Clap for Me to be premiering at ZIFF,” said Farah. “The festival has a long history of supporting independent African cinema and it is fitting that the film will receive its first public screening at one of Africa’s leading film festivals.”
Foreign Language Films
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Luciana Farah’s SOMEBODY CLAP FOR ME to World Premiere at Zanzibar International Film Festival | Trailer
Somebody Clap For Me from Brazilian director Luciana Farah, will have its world premiere at the 20th edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival taking place July 8 to 16, 2017.
A rollercoaster ride from grassroots poetry to the political heart of Uganda, this captivating labour of love provides a fascinating window into life in a country in which three-quarters of the population is under 25. Linking Uganda’s oral tradition to its 21st Century culture of hip-hop and slam poetry, the film brings its protagonists to the fore, providing a constantly shifting portrait of a Kampala-based youth movement that uses spoken word to challenge the oppressive restraints of Ugandan society and the increasing constraints on freedom of speech under current president Yoweri Museveni.
As Farah chronicles the resurfacing of village bonfire storytelling traditions in the form of open-mic poetry events, we meet some of the scene’s key actors, including Roshan, a mixed race Ugandan who has grown up in the UK, Ugly Emcee, a freedom-of-speech activist who reveals himself to be the grandson of Idi Amin, and Medals the Born Again Politician, who challenges the status quo with both his conviction and command of political pastiche.
The film, which was shot over the course of three years with a crew of East African film students, follows these and other poets as they go about their daily lives in Kampala, the eclectic individual portraits building to form a cross-sectional vision of a country trying to shed its past and create a more inclusive and democratic reality, despite the conservative forces that are attempting to hold on to power.
What begins as a documentary about a grassroots poetry collective, twists and turns unpredictably as it takes viewers into the political and cultural heart of contemporary Uganda. Fuelled by the universal themes of love and identity and made using unconventional filmmaking techniques, Somebody Clap for Me was produced with the support of Maisha Film Lab and the Doha Film Institute.
“I am extremely happy for Somebody Clap for Me to be premiering at ZIFF,” said Farah. “The festival has a long history of supporting independent African cinema and it is fitting that the film will receive its first public screening at one of Africa’s leading film festivals.”
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Poster + Watch Trailer for South African Film THE WOUND (Inxeba)
The South African film The Wound (Inxeba) has won the Best Film Award in the International New Talent Competition, at the 2017 Taipei Film Festival ahead of its African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival on July 14.
The film, the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.
The Wound which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama went on to win a string of awards.
At Cinema Jove, the Valencia International Film Festival, The Wound was awarded the Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film, as well as the Best Actor Award for Nakhane Touré.
At one of the world’s longest-running film festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, The Wound won the Audience Award for Best Feature.
At the 41st Frameline, San Francisco’s international film festival, held from 15 to 25 June and where 147 films were screened, The Wound won the First Feature Award.
Shortly before that, it was awarded the prize for Best Feature Film at the 32nd Lovers Film Festival, an LGBTQI festival held in Turin, Italy.
In April, the film received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative at the 19th annual Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I
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10 Films Selected for 2017 European Parliament LUX Film Prize | Trailers
[caption id="attachment_22969" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
SUMMER 1993[/caption]
The ten films selected for the 11th European Parliament’s LUX Film Prize were revealed on Sunday at the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
From the 10 films in the Official Selection, 3 entries will be selected and announced at the Venice Days press conference in Rome at the end of July 2017 as those taking part in the LUX Film Prize Competition. These films will compete to be the winner of the 2017 LUX Film Prize, and will become the core of the 2017 LUX Film Days.
The 2017 LUX Film Prize winner will be awarded on November 15 in Strasbourg.
The LUX FILM PRIZE Official Selection (in alphabetical order)
A CIAMBRA by Jonas Carpignano (Italy/Brazil/United States/France/Germany/Sweden)
BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) by Robin Campillo (France)
GLORY by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece)
HEARTSTONE by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Iceland/Denmark)
KING OF THE BELGIANS by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (Belgium/Netherlands/Bulgaria)
SÁMI BLOOD by Amanda Kernell (Sweden/Denmark/Norway)
SUMMER 1993 by Carla Simón (Spain)
THE LAST FAMILY by Jan P Matuszyński (Poland)
THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland/Germany)
WESTERN by Valeska Grisebach (Germany/Bulgaria/Austria)
More about the 10 films…
SUMMER 1993 is an intimate, autobiographical study of how hard it can be to fit in; it portrays a child’s experience of learning to live with grief and harsh reality after she finds herself orphaned at just six years old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnezFuhUBs
HEARTSTONE tells the story of two teenagers from rural Iceland getting to grips with their own identity and sexuality, as well as with the delicate and cruel transition to adulthood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Tcw-_SrcA
A CIAMBRA traces the rite of passage to adulthood of a 14-year-old Roma boy living in the neighborhood of the same name in Calabria, a marginalized community described by journalists as a real ghetto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cizugv2Y1AY
SÁMI BLOOD tells the vibrant tale of a young Lapp girl who dreams of a different life and distances herself from her community with great anguish because of the racist attitudes they have to face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zpt2yf0nCM
BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) follows a group of Act Up activists who fight to lend the AIDS problem more visibility in 1992 France and encourage faster progress to be made in terms of research and prevention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fhO2A4SL24
WESTERN injects a story about German workers on a construction site for a hydroelectric power station in Bulgaria with ingredients from the cowboys-and-Indians classics, addressing the issues of economic immigration and integration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8f8zHDwv_c
THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE weaves together the stories of two men who have both struck out in search of a new life: an old Finnish man who buys a restaurant and a young Syrian immigrant who struggles to find a safe haven in Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5Tnaf28kk
GLORY follows a poor, middle-aged linesman for Bulgaria’s national railway company, who decides to hand piles of banknotes he finds on the rails one day in to the police, triggering a fight against corruption, as well as one for justice and dignity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeEs2_6-AXU
THE LAST FAMILY shows the lives of the family of Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński, in what could be described as a compact version of a 28-year reality show, as he recorded most of his day-to-day life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfFt9RfO9Bc
KING OF THE BELGIANS follows a fictitious King of Belgium forced to come back from an official trip when Wallonia suddenly declares its independence, while a solar storm causes communications to collapse and airspace to shut down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG9vmzUIOSk
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New Trailer + Poster + Images for French Musical Comedy FOOTNOTES
Footnotes, the French whimsical musical comedy has released a new trailer and poster. The film directed by Paul Calori and Kostia Testut, and starring Pauline Etienne, Olivier Chantreau, François Morel, Loïc Corbery and Julie Victor, opens in New York on Friday, July 14th at the Village East Cinema with a national release to follow.
Inspired by the films of Jacques Demy and Stanley Donen, Footnotes is a whimsical and original musical comedy about Julie, a young woman struggling to make ends meet in France’s radically changing economy. Living out of a backpack, Julie spends her days jumping from job to job until she’s finally offered a temporary stockroom position at a women’s luxury shoe factory. After making friends with the boss’s spunky receptionist Sophie and the ever-charming factory truck driver Samy, Julie thinks the hard times are behind her. But Julie’s dreams of stability collapse when management threatens to close down the factory. As her intrepid group of female colleagues get together to go on strike, Samy and the other truck drivers decide to side with the company’s scheming CEO. Julie must choose whether to keep a low profile (and a shot at permanent employment) or to resist and fight back on the picket line.
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THE FENCER, Finland’s Entry for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Sets Release Date | Trailer
The Fencer directed by Klaus Härö – 2016 Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Finland’s official selection and shortlist finalist at the 2016 Academy Awards (Best Foreign Language Film) will be released in the US in Summer 2017. The film will open at City Cinemas in New York on July 21 and at the Royal and Playhouse 7 in Los Angeles on August 11. A national release will follow.
A young man, Endel Nelis (Märt Avandi), arrives in Haapsalu, Estonia in the early 1950s. Having left Leningrad to escape the secret police, he finds work as a teacher and organizes a sports club for his students. Endel learns to love the children and begins to looks after them; most are orphans as a result of the Russian occupation. He starts teaching them his great passion – fencing. Fencing becomes a form of self-expression for the children and Endel is quickly seen as their role model and a father figure.
Endel’s popularity with his students causes a conflict with the school’s principal. Envious and suspicious, the principal starts investigating Endel’s background and discovers a secret from his past. When an opportunity arises for the children to participate in a national fencing tournament in Leningrad, Endel must make a choice: risk everything to take the children to Leningrad, or disappoint them by putting his safety first.
The Fencer was inspired by the true story of Endel Nelis, Estonia’s legendary fencing maestro.
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French Musical Comedy FOOTNOTES to Open in New York on July 14
[caption id="attachment_22647" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Footnotes[/caption]
The French musical comedy Footnotes directed by Paul Calori and Kostia Testut will open in New York on Friday, July 14th at the Village East Cinema with a national release to follow.
Inspired by the films of Jacques Demy and Stanley Donen,Footnotes is a whimsical and original musical comedy about Julie, a young woman struggling to make ends meet in France’s radically changing economy. Living out of a backpack, Julie spends her days jumping from job to job until she’s finally offered a temporary stockroom position at a women’s luxury shoe factory. After making friends with the boss’s spunky receptionist Sophie and the ever-charming factory truck driver Samy, Julie thinks the hard times are behind her. But Julie’s dreams of stability collapse when management threatens to close down the factory. As her intrepid group of female colleagues get together to go on strike, Samy and the other truck drivers decide to side with the company’s scheming CEO. Julie must choose whether to keep a low profile (and a shot at permanent employment) or to resist and fight back on the picket line.
Footnotes stars Pauline Etienne, Olivier Chantreau, François Morel, Loïc Corbery and Julie Victor; and was an Official Selection of Palm Springs International Film Festival, Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Filmfest DC and many more.
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French Film AFTER LOVE Starring Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) Opens in NYC on August 9 | Trailer
[caption id="attachment_22630" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
After Love[/caption]
The French film, After Love, (L’économie du couple) directed by Joachim Lafosse and starring Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), and Cédric Kahn will open theatrically at The Quad in NYC on Wednesday, August 9, with a national release to follow.
From the director of Our Children, Joachim Fosse, comes the story of Boris (Cédric Kahn) and Marie (Bérénice Bejo), a couple who have decided to separate after 15 years together. They have two girls that they adore, but tensions rise as cash-strapped Boris continues to live in the family home. Neither of the two is willing to compromise, making their apartment a war zone.
After Love captures with great magnitude, the painfully intimate, harrowingly drama, emotional and financial complexities of a separation, at the end of a long love story.
The film was an official selection at Directors Fortnight – Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, London Film Festival, AFI Fest and many more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDpmIYR6kmY
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French Film FALSE CONFESSIONS Starring Isabelle Huppert Sets US Release Date | Trailer
[caption id="attachment_22569" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
False Confession[/caption]
False Confessions, a film directed by Luc Bondy, starring Academy Award nominee Isabelle Huppert (Elle), and Louis Garrel (Mon Roi) will open in New York on July 14 at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and at Angelika Film Centerand; at the Laemmle Royal in LA on July 21. A national release will follow.
Luc Bondy’s final feature film as director draws talent from both stage and screen to bring Marivaux’s play into 21st century Paris. Bondy staged the play and directed the movie at the same time, using the same actors for both productions.
Isabelle Huppert commands the screen as Araminte, the wealthy widow who unwittingly hires the smitten Dorante (Garrel) as her accountant. Secrets and lies accumulate as Dorante and his accomplice, Araminte’s manservant Dubois (Yves Jacques), manipulate not only the good-hearted Araminte, but also her friend and confidante, Marton (Manon Combes). Dorante, by turns pitiable and proficient, but always deferential to his social better, walks a fine line in his quest to arouse an equal desire in the object of his affections. Bulle Ogier delivers a memorable turn as Araminte’s mother, who suspects the young man’s intentions, but wants to push her daughter into the arms of an aged, hard-up Count (Jean-Pierre Malo). Filmed in part on-site at the Théâtre de l’Odéon, the film blurs the distinction between stage and screen, offering a new turn on this classic take on the psychology of love.
After Luc Bondy’s death in 2015, his wife Marie-Louise Bischofberger contributed to the completion ofFalse Confessions to achieve her late husband’s vision for the film.
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Award-Winning Argentinian Film PAULINA Will Open in NY on June 23 | Trailer
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Paulina[/caption]
Santiago Mitre’s award winning film Paulina will open Friday, June 23, 2017, at New York’s Spectacle Theater (located on 124 S 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY), before a national expansion during summer 2017.
Santiago Mitre’s (El Estudiante) Paulina is the winner of the Nespresso Grand Prix Award and the Fipresci Award at Cannes (Critics’ Week) – as well as eight Best Actress awards given to Dolores Fonzi (Truman, The Aura, Plata Quemada).
Both a remake and a “potent update” (Eye for Film) of Daniel Tinayre’s La Patota (1960), Paulina is a complex exploration of the ethics of political action and a provocative character study of a social justice activist – and her unsettling choices in the face of violence and social discrimination. Set in a racially and politically marginalized community in Argentina’s Northeast, the film tackles the moral ambiguities of those who seek to aid and ally themselves with the disadvantaged from their positions of privilege.
When the film begins, Paulina (Dolores Fonzi, in a searing performance) leaves a promising legal career in the shadow of her politically-powerful father to work as a school-teacher in a rural village, on the border with Paraguay and Brazil. Paulina speaks no Guaraní and her teenage students artfully parry her attempts to lift them into political consciousness.
These uneasy encounters, and subtly observed civics lessons, echo disturbingly in the aftermath of a violent sexual assault by a group of young men. Paulina’s decisions in its wake, portrayed without judgment by Fonzi, mercilessly test her relationships and core beliefs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws2bP9IWB1E
Awards
Grand Prize, Cannes Film Festival (Critics’ Week – 2015)
FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes Film Festival (Critics’ Week – 2015)
Horizons Award, San Sebastián Int’l Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize, Miami International Film Festival
Torino FIlm Festival – Special Jury Award
Best Actress Winner
– Dolores Fonzi –
Premio Fenix (Mexico’s Academy Awards)
Beijing International Film Festival
Premio ACE 2017
Biarritz International Festival of Latin American Cinema
Platino Ibero-American Film Award
Argentinean Film Critics Association
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina
Torino Film Festival
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Amanda Kernell’s Award Winning Drama SAMI BLOOD (SAMEBLOD) Sets June 2 Release Date
[caption id="attachment_15116" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Sameblod – Sami Blood by Amanda Kernell[/caption]
Following premieres at TIFF, Venice, Sundance, Berlin and many others, Amanda Kernell’s striking drama SAMI BLOOD will open at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York on June 2, 2017 via Synergetic Distribution. Additional cities nationwide will open in the weeks following.
Set in 1930s Sweden during the pre-Nazi Eugenics movement, SAMI BLOOD (SAMEBLOD) follows Elle, a young indigenous Lapland girl made to feel like an inferior species when she’s subjected to indoctrination and race biology in a Swedish boarding school. Elle escapes, and in doing so is estranged from her sister, her family and her culture. The film is a unique and intimate perspective on the history of the Sami people, and tells a story of oppression that resonates across borders and generations.
SAMI BLOOD features a breakthrough performance from its young lead actress Lene Cecilia Sparrok, who has never acted before and is Sami herself. She stars in the film alongside her sister Mia Sparrok. The film is the debut feature from writer/director Amanda Kernell, who based the narrative off of her own grandmother’s life.
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Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Russian Film LOVELESS
[caption id="attachment_22301" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Loveless[/caption]
The Russian language film Loveless directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev which is set to premiere In Competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.
InLoveless, Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page – even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.
“I am very pleased to be working with the excellent team at Sony Pictures Classics again; they were sensitive and inspired in their tremendous efforts on Leviathan, and I look forward to our new collaboration,” stated Andrey Zvyagintsev.
Said Alexander Rodnyansky “Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and the outstanding team at SPC, are the gold standard of American distribution for our films. We are thrilled to be working with them once again.”
Sony Pictures Classics and Zvyagintsev previously worked together on Leviathan, winner of Best Screenplay at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Golden Globes and was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Loveless also marks the third partnership between Zvyagintsev and producer Alexander Rodnyansky.
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Yoshinari Nishikori’s Award-Winning Period Action-Drama TATARA SAMURAI Sets June 2nd Release Date
[caption id="attachment_22296" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Tatara Samurai[/caption]
Following a successful film festival circuit, Eleven Arts will release Yoshinari Nishikori’s award-winning period action-drama Tatara Samurai in the U.S. The film is set to be released in theaters on June 2nd.
Tatara Samurai is the latest feature from visionary director Yoshinari Nishikori, whose films, Konshin and Railways were box office smashes in their native Japan. His latest historic epic stars Sho Aoyagi (Yakuza Apocalypse), pop star Naoki Kobayashi, Akira (Legend Of The Fist), Tomoko Tabata, and Anna Ishii.
Gosuke (Aoyagi), a young villager in Sengoku Period Japan, is trained to be a blacksmith, but forced to become a warrior. After joining the Oda Army to protect his hometown of Tatara, he begins to question whether swords are a viable defense against the new technology of firearms – but soon discovers that his skill as a blacksmith might very well be the most powerful weapon he has to protect his home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxnmlU5FAMM