• VICE’s Eddy Moretti and directors Alexey Fedorchenko and Jan Kwiecinski talk “The Fourth Dimension”

    The Fourth Dimension is a compilation of three short films, produced in association with VICE and Groslch Film Works. Francesca sat down with VICE’s Eddy Moretti, Russian director Alexey Fedorchenko (Silent Souls) Moretti and newbie Polish filmmaker Jan Kwiecinski. Moretti gave the directors a creative “brief,” the first tenant being the film must focus upon the concept of, you guessed it, the “Fourth Dimension.” Harmony Korine, the first director to get onboard, was sadly and understandably jet-lagged, having just finished logging eight weeks of editing hours for his upcoming film starring James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens (yep) called Spring Breakers. (He sends his regards though.)

    VIMOOZ: How did you come up with this ‘Creative Brief’?

    Eddy Moretti: It was just a series of emails that Harmony had been exchanging back and forth. I definitely wanted to be really playful with the project, and he started writing some freaky roles, and I kinda went with it. And I kinda encouraged the playfulness. And I wanted to work him. And I said, “You be the first filmmaker on board,” which I knew would already set a tone. And Jan especially Jan (Kwiecinski ) really played with visuals which were influenced by Harmony, I think.

    VIMOOZ: What did you first think when you given the ‘creative brief’ by Eddy Moretti?

    Jan Kwiecinski: That was super crazy! The brief is so extremely strange, and deranged, in a way. You simply have no idea what to start with. Me. Personally, I had to forget everything I knew. Which was actually one of the rules. And slowly getting the form. That’s what I did.

    Alexey Fedorchenko: Actually, I was reading it over many times, and the first thing that struck me, really, was that an insane person must have written this! But then, I was just trying to read them carefully. And you know, each of the guidelines could actually be made into a separate movie.

    VIMOOZ: Alexey, was your story based on the actual man (a mathematician- ) who refused a million dollars in awards money?

    Alexey Fedorchenko: Yes, I did. One of the requirements of the guidelines was that the person has to be sort of marginalized. The main character had to be on the margins of society. The fact was, I didn’t want to make him too marginalized- to a person that was just a bum, or down-in-the-dumps. So I went for the actual character-the Russian mathematician Gregori Perelman, (who turned down two prestigious international prizes).

    VIMOOZ: Did you know who the other filmmakers would be?

    Jan Kwiecinski: Yes, and I was quite honored to be, you know, to be asked to pitch, even. We won a contest in each of our countries. And I had seen Alexey’s Silent Souls, which I really adored. And Harmony is one of the masters of the cinema. I grew up on his movies Gummo and Kids. I was very honored. I am the least experienced director, as well. (He had has made one previous, short film.)

    Alexey Fedorchenko: I knew nothing. I hadn’t seen anyone’s work. But I was very surprised that they decided to go with Russia and Poland and America. I don’t know if they had chosen, say, a director from Africa and the Asian countries- would it had been better, not better? I just don’t know. When I was watching the film in the end, I was really watching it and enjoying it as a viewer, not as a director, picking apart its flaws.

    VIMOOZ: Did everyone have the same budget?

    Jan Kwiecinski: Yes. It was very low! Everyone had the same amount. I shot mine in four days. We were really running. The preparation and post is really the most time-consuming, of course.

    Alexey Fedorchenko: I shot mine in twelve days.

    Jan Kwiecinski: Harmony shot his in two!

    VIMOOZ: What’s next for you both?

    Jan Kwiecinski: I’m working on a feature, based on my short story called The Incydent.

    Alexey Fedorchenko: I’m also working on a bigger feature, and Darya (actress Darya Ekasamova- truly wonderful in his segment of the film “Chronoeye”) will also be in it.

    VIMOOZ: Thank you all, and good luck with The Fourth Dimension!

     

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  • Review of “The Fourth Dimension” at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival

    by Francesca McCaffery

    A production of VICE and Grolsch Film Works, The Fourth Dimension is a compilation of three different short films (thirty minutes each) directed by Harmony Korine, Alexey Fedorchenko and newcomer Jan Kwiecinski, respectively. VICE’s Eddy Moretti, who really wanted to work with Korine, developed a ‘creative brief’ and began emailing him back and fourth with ideas. Grolsch Film Works held an international contest, and Fedorchenko and Kwiecinski were chosen. No director knew what the other director was doing, which makes it quite interesting for everyone, including us, the audience.

    Korine’s short starts out with a pony-tailed Val Kilmer playing a hilarious, New Age-y self-motivational speaker in the segment “The Lotus Community Workshop.” Kilmer rides around town on his tiny white BMX, with his corn-rowed gal pal Rachel (Rachel Korine) pedaling right alongside him. Did I mention that his character is also named ‘Val Kilmer?’ He delivers his sermons of sorts at an arcade-slash-roller rink to a throng of locals who really need his help, and bad. These scenes, with Kilmer inciting the crowd to chant “Awe-some, Sec-rets!” and more, are some of the most entertaining moments, truly, of the entire film. As usual, Korine has the breathtaking ability to take the audience straight past their comfort zone, and into an America that is, really, never shown onscreen. (Or at least, never quite accurately.) His hard-luck cases are not Oscar winning actors hamming it up, or the owners of meth labs (well, at least I hope not!) or any of the other two hundred and three thousand stereotypes we have all seen before on film. His people are real. They are the ones who maybe can’t get with the program or maybe, never even knew there was one, never learning that they too are allowed a place at the table. There is a great humanity at work here, and Kilmer, with his strange sweetness and zany lovability, is the perfect complement to this humanity. It’s as if, in works like this one, and past films like Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy, Korine seems to have been put here to remind the ones lucky enough to have choices and privileges and aspirations that they (we?) even in this great country, are still, unfortunately, very much the minority.

    Alexey Fedorchenko, who wowed the Venice Film Festival in 2010 with Silent Souls, offers the most formal and literal take on the fourth dimension in “Chronoeye,” and it’s Russian and heart-breaking and lovely all at once. A scientist lives in a concrete slab of a building, toying with his invention that only allows to go back in time to the same moments, over and over again, and always from the same point of view. A witty, melancholic commentary on memory, love and loss, Darya Ekasmova is also wonderful here, playing the game upstairs neighbor to a grieving, obsessed ‘time-traveler.’

    Jan Kwiecinski’s segment, “Fawns,” is the weakest work of the three, although still quite beautiful to watch, although the visuals seem a bit derivative of current, punkish underground fashion editorials. Four kids in their early twenties wander empty neighborhood streets, recently evacuated, waiting for the end of the world to approach in the guise of an impending flood. The performances are all pretty decent, but there seems to be little at work in terms of genuine depth.

    All in all, even for Korine’s segment especially, The Fourth Dimension is one of the greatest surprises at this year’s 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Find listings and show times here.

     

     

     

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  • Val Kilmer Talks about His Amazing New Role in the film “The Fourth Dimension”

    by Francesca McCaffery

    Francesca McCaffery sat down with the legendary actor Val Kilmer to talk about his new project premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this year.

    The Fourth Dimension is a triptych of short films, and is the brainchild of VICE and Groslch Film Works, as well as VICE’s Renaissance Madman Eddy Moretti, who gave the directors a creative “brief,” the first tenant being the film must focus upon the concept of, you guessed it,the “Fourth Dimension.”

    Cinematic wunderkind Harmony Korine directed the first short of the three segments, “The Lotus Community Workshop,” which he wrote expressly for Val Kilmer, and it is features agenuine, hilarious and endearing performance by Kilmer.Here, Kilmer talks about his love for working with Harmony and his excitingnew one-man theatrical show about Mark Twain.

     

    Vimooz: Was it your idea to use your own name as the character in The Fourth Dimension?

     

    Val Kilmer: No, it was very much Harmony’s idea. It was his insistent idea- “Oh, if it doesn’t work, we’ll change it!” The few times we say my name, we say “Hector,” as well. By the time we got to the night of the first day, and Rachel (Rachel Korine, Harmony’s wife, performing in the film, sporting adorable corn rows) kept saying, “Aw, that’s so great, Val!” I kind of got the idea that they were gonna go with my name.

    Vimooz: Did Harmony write the script with you in mind? Did he write it for you?

    Val Kilmer: I think so. And I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not! I think he was thinking about me- what are the building blocks that incorporate this kind of terrain, what the ideas are, the challenge of it being a short. Although, I happen to know the rules of an Academy Award consideration- and a short may go up to 48 minutes! I think we could get in there!It’s a fun little world, the short film world.

    Vimooz: Was the film really shot in just two days? How was that?

     

    Val Kilmer: It was very intense! We shot way into the night.

    Vimooz: How was it working with Harmony Korine? I heard you rarely felt so much love on a set before.

    Val Kilmer: I really love him. And I don’t want to insult Francis Coppola- there’s alotta love there, too! But, you know, he’s just impish. I think it kinda surprises some people, because you kind of find out he’s just…a comedian! Because the darker part of his movies sort of stand out, I guess? But, he is so playful…He is just looking to smile, he is looking to be alive about what comedy is- it’s some recognition of reality. Not the normal reality, but, something so extreme, even violent. I mean, why do we think it’s funny when someone falls on their face? See. We’re all smiling now! It’s weird. And I’m proud, too, because, a s far as I know of his movies, and I think I’ve seen everything he’s done- it’s the first really sort ofstraight comedy he’s ever done.

    Vimooz: What’s next for you, Val?

    Well, me and Eddy, and Harmony, we’ve got big ideas. We want to take this self-help program on the road! I just finished on putting on my one-man show about Mark Twain in Hollywood. I really want to get at-risk kids and vets coming back from Afghanistan to come and see. Theatre can be pretty snobby- but there needs to be outreach- it needs to be for everyone. and I’m going to St. Louis, Missourri next week to receive my honorary doctorate from William Woods University. And I am going to do the Twain play there. I’m actually pretty nervous about it.The last artist they had there was Wayne Newton pre-Las Vegas! So they’re pretty excited,but I’m actually pretty nervous. Because I have this theory that Twain made up his dialect, so I don’t really do a Missourri dialect (in the piece.) I hope they don’t mind. That’s a tough community there!

    Vimooz: Thank you so much, Val. It was such a real pleasure.

    The Fourth Dimension plays this week at the Tribceca Film Festival in NY. Check out the listing and times.

     

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  • DARK HORSE Starring Selma Blair and Christopher Walken to Close 2012 Maryland Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_2786" align="alignnone" width="550"]DARK HORSE[/caption]

    DARK HORSE, described as the latest “sad comedy” by filmmaker Todd Solondz,has been selected as the Closing Night film of the 2012 Maryland Film Festival scheduled to run May 3-6 in downtown Baltimore. The film, starring Jordan Gelber and co-starring Selma Blair, Justin Bartha, Mia Farrow, and Christopher Walken,will be screened on the evening of Sunday, May 6th in the historic Charles Theater, with Solondz and members of his cast presenting.

    Abe (Jordan Gelber), is an overgrown and selfish man-child who, firmly on the far side of 30, still lives at home, working for his father and collecting toys. Deeply lonely yet full of blustery delusions of grandeur, Abe aggressively pursues troubled beauty Miranda (Selma Blair). In a moment of weakness, she goes along with his advances, built around his grandiose vision of a life together in his room full of collectibles. This stroke of good fortune surprises no one more than Abe’s long-suffering parents (a note-perfect pairing of Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken)—until, that is, things begin to unravel. [via MFF]

    The Opening Night program, which each year since 2004 the festival has dedicated to a program of short films, will take place the evening of Thursday, May 3rd in the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Brown Center, with each film presented by its director.


    The MFF 2012 Opening Night Shorts are:

    I Am John Wayne (Christina Choe)
    The Kook (Nat Livingston Johnson and Gregory Mitnick)
    Modern Man (Kerri Lendo and John Merriman)
    Cork’s Cattlebaron (Eric Steele)
    Fishing Without Nets (Cutter Hodierne)

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  • Tribeca Film Institute Announces 2012 Award Winners For TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund And First-Ever Heineken Voces Grants

    City of the Caesars (Chile), Cuando los Muertos Estan Mas Secos/When the Dead Are Drier (Bolivia), Elena (Brazil), The Shark’s Eye (Argentina), were announced as the award winners for the Tribeca Film Institute Latin America Media Arts Fund; and Las Marthas and Feriado (Holiday) the winners of the first-ever Heineken VOCES grant at a celebration over the weekend for Latin American filmmakers during the Tribeca Film Festival. The funds, totaling $60,000, support innovative Latin American film and video artists to help them explore stories reflecting diverse cultures and gain exposure in the film industry.

    The TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund awards $10,000 grants to animation, documentary, or hybrid feature-length films in advanced development, production or post-production from filmmakers living and working in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Grantees also receive exclusive guidance from TFI to ensure that each film reaches completion and enters the U.S. marketplace from the best possible vantage point.  The Fund is sponsored by Moviecity and CANACINE.

    The following four films are winners of this year’s TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund:

    City of the Caesars (Chile), Directed & Produced by Francisco Hervé, Edited by Andrea Chignoli — Two conspiracy theories. Two ordinary men. Wisdom, immortality and natural resources are at stake in a mythical place somewhere in Patagonia.

    Cuando los Muertos Estan Mas Secos/When the Dead Are Drier (Bolivia), Directed & Produced by Claudio Araya Silva and Produced by Yara Morales Rivera — In the eighties, more than 50 women committed suicide in a small peasant community. Hermenegildo and Pedro return to their community, attempting to retrace the paths of memory regarding the deaths of their wives. The trip aims to unravel the mystery surrounding the life and death of these women.

    Elena (Brazil), Directed & Produced by Ana Petra Costa – The film recounts the journey of Petra, a young Brazilian woman who dreams of becoming an actress but is warned not to do so by her mother. Against these admonitions, Petra moves to New York City where the reasons why she was advised against this path begin to unfold.

    The Shark’s Eye (Argentina), Directed by Alejo Hoijman and Produced by Gema Juarez Allen — Summer is coming to Nicaragua and Maycol and Bryan will start to learn their families’ trade, shark hunting. In a place where traditional trades disappear in favor of drug trafficking, these two boys choose their future. A coming of age film set in the forgotten Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.

    The winners of the first-ever Heineken VOCES grants include:

    Heineken VOCES Award for Documentary
    Las Marthas
    A documentary about an extraordinary rite of passage in Laredo, Texas where Mexican-American debutantes are presented at a grand Colonial ball dressed as American revolutionaries – a border tradition that’s 114 years old.

    Directed & Produced by Cristina Ibarra and Produced by Erin Ploss-Campoamor

    Heineken VOCES Award for Narrative
    Feriado (Holiday)

    The sheltered life of Juan Pablo is turned upside down when he must spend the carnival holiday with his wealthy family at their hacienda in the Ecuadorian Andes and meets Juano, a self-assured black metal fan from the nearby pueblo.
    Written & Directed by Diego Araujo

    Produced by Hanne-Lovise Skartveit, Juan Sebastián Jácome & Andrés Longares
    Executive Produced by Frida Torresblanco
    Cinematography by Bradford Young

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  • Elena and Big Boys Gone Bananas Among Wiinners of 2012 Sarasota Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_2639" align="alignnone"]Elena[/caption]

    Elena directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev took home this year’s Narrative Feature Jury prize, and Big Boys Gone Bananas!* by director Fredrik Gertten was the Documentary Jury Prize winner at the 2012 Sarasota Film Festival.  Two special jury prizes were awarded; in the Narrative category Alps directed by Giorgos Lanthimos took home a Special Jury Prize and for documentary Feature Competition special jury prize for Radio Unnameable directed by Paul Lovelace.

    The festival’s juried award for Independent Vision went to The Unspeakable Act, directed by Dan Sallitt.  Two special jury prizes were awarded, one to Richard’s Wedding director Onur Tukel for screenplay and a performance award to Shanon Harper and Welcome to Pine Hill.

    This year’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was Missed Connections by Director, Martin Snyder.

    The Audience Award for Best Documentary was presented to Ethel directed by Rory Kennedy.

    The Best In World Cinema Audience Award went to Polisse – Director, Maiwenn and Best Short Film went to Tick Tock Time Emporium – Director, Morgan Faust.

    The winners of the 2012 Sarasota Film Festival Awards:

    Narrative Feature Competition Winner

    Elena
    Director, Andrei Zvyagintsev

    Narrative Feature Competition

    Special Jury Prize for Creative Achievement

    Alps
    Director, Giorgos Lanthimos

    Documentary Feature Competition

    Big Boys Gone Bananas!*
    Director, Fredrik Gertten

    Documentary Feature Competition

    Special Jury Prize

    Radio Unnameable
    Director, Paul Lovelace

    Audience Awards

    Best Documentary Feature

    Ethel
    Directors, Rory Kennedy

    Audience Award

    Best Short Film

    Tick Tock Time Emporium
    Director, Morgan Faust

    Audience Award

    Best Narrative Feature

    Missed Connections
    Director, Martin Snyder

    Audience Award

    Best In World Cinema

    Polisse
    Director, Maiwenn

    Independent Vision Prize Winners

    Independent Vision Prize

    The Unspeakable Act
    Director, Dan Sallitt

    Special Jury Prize for Screenplay

    Richard’s Wedding
    Onur Tukel

    Special Jury Prize for Performance

    Welcome to Pine Hill – Shanon Harper

    youthFEST Junior Jury Award Best Family Short Film

    Private Eyes
    Director, Nicoles Lemay

    YouthFEST Best Family Short Film Audience Award

    Pizzangrillo
    Director, Marco Gianfreda

    youthFEST Young Filmmakers Digital Showcase

    CHIPS
    Director, Gabriela Capestany.

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  • FAITH, LOVE & WHISKEY and TCHOUPITOULAS Win Top Film Awards at 2012 Dallas Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_2779" align="alignnone" width="550"]FAITH, LOVE & WHISKEY[/caption]

    Kristina Nikolova’s Bulgarian film FAITH, LOVE & WHISKEY won the narrative category and Bill and Turner Ross’s TCHOUPITOULAS for documentary at the 2012 Dallas International Film Festival.

    [caption id="attachment_2780" align="alignnone" width="550"]TCHOUPITOULAS [/caption]

    The Narrative competition jury also gave a Special Mention for Breakout Performance to Michael Rainey Jr. for LUV and a Special Mention for Acting for Kim Kold in TEDDY BEAR.

     

    [caption id="attachment_2781" align="alignnone" width="550"]WOLF [/caption]

    Ya’ke Smith’s directorial debut WOLF was awarded the winner of the Texas Competition, with a Special Mention to David Zellner’s KID-THING.

    Two years to the day since Deepwater Horizon exploded and oil poured into the Gulf, Bryan D. Hopkins accepted the Environmental Visions Grand Jury Prize for his documentary DIRTY ENERGY, a personal look into the trials of the citizens directly affected by this disaster.  With only $200 in his bank account and on food stamps, Hopkins travelled to Louisiana to highlight these ongoing personal struggles that have since been forgotten in the mainstream news cycle.

    JURY AWARDS:

    Narrative Feature: FAITH, LOVE AND WHISKEY
    Dir:  Kristina Nikolova

    Special Mention, Breakout Performance: LUV, Michael Rainey Jr.

    Special Mention, Acting: TEDDY BEAR, Kim Kold

    Documentary Feature: TCHOUPITOULAS
    Dirs: Bill Ross, Turner Ross

    PANAVISION Texas Filmmaker Award: WOLF
    Dir: Ya’Ke Smith

    Special Mention: KID-THING
    Dir:  David Zellner

    Silver Heart Award: THE INVISIBLE WAR
    Dir:  Kirby Dick

    Environmental Visons Grand Jury Prize: DIRTY ENERGY
    Dir: Bryan D. Hopkins

    Grand Jury Prize Short: AARON BURR, PART 2
    Dir: Dana O’Keefe

    Special Mention Short: THE LOVE COMPETITION
    Dir:  Brent Hoff

    Grand Jury Prize for Student Short: NANI
    Dir: Justin Tipping

    Special Mention Student Short, Unique Storytelling: GRANDMOTHERS
    Dir:  Afarin Eghbal

    Grand Jury Prize, Animated Short: A MORNING STROLL
    Dir: Grant Orchard

    AUDIENCE AWARDS

    [caption id="attachment_2552" align="alignnone"]MY WAY[/caption]

    NARRATIVE: MY WAY
    DIR: Kang Je Kyu
    Cast:  Jang Dong-gun, Joe Odagiri, Fan Bing-bing, Kim In-kwon, Do Ji-han, Han Seung-hyun

    [caption id="attachment_2782" align="alignnone" width="550"]First Position[/caption]

    DOCUMENTARY: FIRST POSITION
    DIR: Bess Kargman

    SHORT: NANI
    DIR: Justin Tipping

    TXU ENERGY “Light Up the Red Carpet” VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS FOR HIGH SCHOOLS:
    $7,500 prize winner – NO BLACKOUT
    DIR: Abelardo Gonzalez
    $5,000 prize winner – A SPARK
    DIR: Christian Vasquez
    $2,500 prize winner – THE ENERGY POLICE
    DIR: Carolina Trevino

    TXU ENERGY “Light Up the Red Carpet” VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS FOR COLLEGES:
    $7,500 prize winner – ZAP!
    DIR: Dillon White
    $5,000 prize winner – DOMI CILE
    DIR: Edgar Cortes
    $2,500 prize winner – MAN POWER
    DIR: Wojciech Stypko

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  • San Francisco International Film Festival to honor Director Benh Zeitlin

    [caption id="attachment_2777" align="alignnone" width="550"]Filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, recipient of the inaugural Graham Leggat Award at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 19 – May 3, 2012. [/caption]

    Benh Zeitlin, director of “the highly imaginative and much acclaimed independent narrative feature” Beasts of the Southern Wild, will be the recipient of the inaugural Graham Leggat Award at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19 – May 3).

    Zeitlin is a director, animator, composer and a founding member of Court 13. He lives in New Orleans where dogs, cats, ducks, chickens and a 350-pound swine run wild in his home. Director of award-winning shorts Egg, Origins of Electricity, I Get Wet and Glory at Sea, he was named by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Zeitlin participated in Sundance Labs and won the NHK International Filmmakers Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival with his film Beasts of the Southern Wild, and in 2010 and 2011 he was awarded SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants for postproduction.


    [caption id="attachment_2324" align="alignnone"]Beasts of the Southern Wild[/caption]

    Beasts of the Southern Wild won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2012 and will be released June 27 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film centers upon a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee where a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions.

    Beasts of the Southern Wild will make its international debut next month at the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.

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  • Award Winning French director Claude Miller Passed Away at 70

    French director, Claude Miller, whose films won many awards, including the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the French version of the Oscar, the César, died on April 4 in Paris. He was 70.

    Miller wrote and directed, “The Little Thief” about a troubled family and its offspring, other films include “Class Trip,” “A Secret,” “I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive,” and “Alias Betty.”

    His last film, “Thérèse Desqueyroux,” which was just selected as the closing film for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is the story of a restless woman who tries to poison her husband, then is punished by him with solitary confinement in her own home.

    Source: NYTIMES

     

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  • Award Winning French Director Dies at 70

    French director, Claude Miller, whose films won many awards, including the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the French version of the Oscar, the César, died on April 4 in Paris. He was 70.

    Miller wrote and directed, “The Little Thief” about a troubled family and its offspring, other films include “Class Trip,” “A Secret,” “I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive,” and “Alias Betty.”

    His last film, “Thérèse Desqueyroux,” which was just selected as the closing film for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is the story of a restless woman who tries to poison her husband, then is punished by him with solitary confinement in her own home.

    Source: NYTIMES

     

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  • Oscilloscope to Release The Apple Pushers Documentary Narrated by Ed Norton

    Oscilloscope Laboratories has picked up Mary Mazzio’s documentary The Apple Pushers for distribution in the US. Narrated by Academy Award® nominee Edward Norton, The Apple Pushers follows immigrant street vendors who are rolling fresh fruits and vegetables into poor neighborhoods of New York City, where finding a fresh red ripe apple can be a serious challenge. These pushcart vendors, who have immigrated from all parts of the world and have sacrificed so much to come to the United States, are now part of an experiment in New York to help solve the food desert crisis and skyrocketing obesity rates in urban communities.

    The film premiered to critical acclaim at The Hamptons International Film Festival 2011 and has been screened at Lincoln Center in New York City, and other major festivals, universities, and government showings. It will next be seen as part of The Whole Foods DoSomethingReel Film Festival, which will host screenings of the film in 5 major cities around the country on April 22–Earth Day. Oscilloscope will make the film available on VOD nationwide following the festival, and will continue to book special screenings and engagements across the country. The Apple Pushers will also be broadcast on public television’s WORLD channel in May and June.

    The film is written and directed by Mary Mazzio, and produced by Mazzio, Tom Scott, and Christine Vachon.

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  • Mia Hansen-Love’s Gorgeous “Goodbye, First Love”

    by Francesca McCaffery

    Goodbye, First Love, the beautiful, new film by Mia Hansen-Love (Father of My Children) tells the tale of two young lovers, Camille (Lola Creton) and Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky), and their hard serious and young, first romance. Sullivan is a charismatic, sweet and sensual free spirit, darting in and out of Camille’s life, although he appears to completely adore her when they are together. Camille is very earnest and quite dramatic about her intense, romantic feelings towards him. The film then explores how Camille manages to get over this great young love, truly find herself, and create a definitive, singular life for herself. The film is so simple, so dazzling in this observation, that you feel almost anyone could relate to the blistering feeling of first love. It feels like one’s very own memory of relationships past writ large onscreen. The director captures this feeling of living memory with superb brilliance and care- the painstaking bittersweet feeling of knowing these moments will not last forever, but having the knowledge you will never, ever forget them. She manages to infuse the two young actor’s performances with both innocence and a passion that seems perfectly true and heart-breaking. When Sullivan goes off traveling to South America, feeling a bit smothered by the weight of Camille’s great love for him, Creton, with her sensually blank face filled with despair and longing both, makes us feel every second of this separation.

    And, as first loves often drag out, in consciousness or real life, Hansen-Love jumps to Camille in architecture school years later as a young student, still not connecting with a new love, still pretty sad and longing for Sullivan.

    The filmmaker somehow conveys Camille in the process of showing up for hew own life, without those cloying “blossoming” scenes of harried montage seen in so many lesser films, but through the character’s own effort, will and the passage of time. Camille does, in fact, begin to heal, and starts an affair with sexy, older professor Lorenz (cool guy Magne- Håvard Brekkeand) Camille also starts building a genuine, solid life for herself. Her new love interest helps ease this transition- but Camille is the one living through and getting past it. On her own.

    Especially as a woman, I simply have to say, I really loved this film. One’s interior life is filled with these moments all the time- longing and fulfillment, frustration and fascination. Hanson-Love weaves these often painful moments together, which quickly turn into years, (as in life) in a way that is truly cinematic, in the best sense. Threads of memory, an old hat a lover gave you, the light glancing off a river where you once swam with him…Yes, we can survive anything, Hansen-Love seems to be telling us. Even the end of love.

     

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