Phantom Thread[/caption]
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day-Lewis has been voted Best Film of 2018 by the members of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. The vote was decided by 473 critics from all over the world, who chose this production from among all of the films premiered after 1 July 2017. The other three finalists were Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri by Martin McDonagh (City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award 2017), Zimna wojna / Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski, Best Director Award in Cannes, and Zama, by Lucrecia Martel.
This is the third time that Paul Thomas Anderson will have received the award in San Sebastian. In 2008 he received the accolade for his film There Will Be Blood and in 2000, for Magnolia. The North American filmmaker has received the Golden Bear in Berlin for Magnolia, the Best Director Award in Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and the Silver Bear for Best Director and two Academy Awards with There Will Be Blood.
Since its creation in 1999, the Fipresci Grand Prix has gone to highly-acclaimed filmmakers including Pedro Almodóvar, Michael Haneke, Cristian Mungiu, Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, George Miller, Maren Ade and Aki Kaurismäki.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNsiQMeSvMk
PHANTOM THREAD
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (USA)
Renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock is at the centre of British fashion. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, until he comes across the young Alma, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running.-
PHANTON THREAD Voted FIPRESCI 2018 Grand Prix for Best Film of the Year [Trailer]
[caption id="attachment_25911" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Phantom Thread[/caption]
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day-Lewis has been voted Best Film of 2018 by the members of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. The vote was decided by 473 critics from all over the world, who chose this production from among all of the films premiered after 1 July 2017. The other three finalists were Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri by Martin McDonagh (City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award 2017), Zimna wojna / Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski, Best Director Award in Cannes, and Zama, by Lucrecia Martel.
This is the third time that Paul Thomas Anderson will have received the award in San Sebastian. In 2008 he received the accolade for his film There Will Be Blood and in 2000, for Magnolia. The North American filmmaker has received the Golden Bear in Berlin for Magnolia, the Best Director Award in Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and the Silver Bear for Best Director and two Academy Awards with There Will Be Blood.
Since its creation in 1999, the Fipresci Grand Prix has gone to highly-acclaimed filmmakers including Pedro Almodóvar, Michael Haneke, Cristian Mungiu, Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, George Miller, Maren Ade and Aki Kaurismäki.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNsiQMeSvMk
PHANTOM THREAD
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (USA)
Renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock is at the centre of British fashion. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, until he comes across the young Alma, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running.
-
GREEN BOOK Starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali to Open Zurich Film Festival [Trailer]
[caption id="attachment_31408" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Green Book[/caption]
The European Premiere of director Peter Farrelly’s drama Green Book will open the 14th Zurich Film Festival on September 27, 2018. Farrelly and Academy Award® nominee Viggo Mortensen will attend as the Zurich Film Festival’s honored guests.
Inspired by the remarkable true friendship that transcended race, class and societal constraints of the early 1960s, Farrelly’s foray into powerfully dramatic work also stars Academy Award® winner Mahershala Ali.
When Tony Lip (Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on “The Green Book”, a guide book to the few establishments that were then safe and accessible for African-Americans. Confronted with racism and danger — as well as unexpected humanity and humor — they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.
Said ZFF Co-Directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri: “We are thrilled to be opening the ZFF with Green Book, one of the season’s most anticipated films. Whilst it is set in the 1960s, Green Book feels incredibly relevant today, in the face of racism, discrimination and division in the US and elsewhere in the world. The film is also a pure delight for cinemagoers.”
Green Book opens in cinemas in Switzerland in January 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZxoko_HC0
-
NY Film Festival Announces Special Events + Premiere of Barry Jenkins’s IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
[caption id="attachment_31277" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
If Beale Street Could Talk[/caption]
The Special Events section for the 56th New York Film will feature the U.S. premiere of If Beale Street Could Talk will at the world famous Apollo Theater, the first time that the festival will present a screening at the historic theater. The film was largely shot in New York City, including many Harlem locations. In celebration of the vibrant community and their support of the film, Annapurna, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the Apollo Theater will work together to present a host of outreach programs. Local students as well as Harlem residents will be among the first audiences invited to see the James Baldwin adaptation, in the neighborhood that is home to its characters. The film will also screen on the Lincoln Center campus during the festival.
Writer-director Barry Jenkins said, “It’s been an honor working with the estate to bring this piece of James Baldwin’s legacy to the screen. From the birthplace of Baldwin to the streets and homes within which we made this film, the honor is doubly felt in the NYFF’s generous offer to widen its borders for our U.S. premiere: up on 125th Street, in the community Jimmy forever knew as HOME.”
The Festival will screen Orson Welles’s long-awaited The Other Side of the Wind, finally completed by his collaborators this year, which follows the last night in the life of a legendary Hollywood filmmaker as he completes his final film. Wind will screen alongside Morgan Neville’s in-depth documentary They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, which uncovers the fascinating story behind Welles’s last completed film, 50 years in the making.
Rex Ingram’s World War I epic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), the breakout film for iconic silent actor Rudolph Valentino, will screen on a beautiful 35mm print from Martin Scorsese’s collection, accompanied by the North American premiere of a new live score written and performed by a five-piece orchestra led by Matthew Nolan.
The sixth annual Film Comment Presents selections are Ali Abbasi’s genre-friendly fantasy-drama Border, which won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard award, and The Wild Pear Tree, an intimate portrait of a promising but adrift young literary graduate from Turkish Palme d’Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, NYFF49). In previous years, Film Comment has championed films such as Sergei Loznitsa’s A Gentle Creature, Terence Davies’s A Quiet Passion, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, and László Nemes’s Son of Saul. The magazine will also host three live events: a roundtable discussion with a trio of NYFF filmmakers about their experiences as movie lovers and creators, a dialogue on representation in cinema, and a critical wrap report of the festival’s highs and lows. All three will also be recorded for the weekly Film Comment Podcast.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Dir. Rex Ingram, USA, 1921, 132m, 35mm
Rex Ingram’s adaptation of the famous novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez gave us one of cinema’s greatest antiwar films and catapulted actor Rudolph Valentino into history as one of the first screen idols. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a devastating epic centered around a divided Argentine family fighting on opposite sides during World War I. Famously remembered for the cool, sensual, and powerful tango sequence lead by Valentino, the film endures for Ingram’s meticulous attention to mise en scène—beautiful and macabre compositions alike—and the nuanced performances from a cast including Alice Terry and Josef Swickard. The Film Society is pleased to present the North American premiere of a live score written and performed by Matthew Nolan (electric guitar/electronics), Seán Mac Erlaine (reeds/electronics/vocal), Adrian Crowley (Mellotron/vocal), Kevin Murphy (cello/vocal), and Barry Adamson (bass guitar/percussion/synths/vocal). The score was commissioned by and premiered at the St. Patrick’s Festival Dublin in March 2018. Supported by Culture Ireland. Special 35mm print courtesy of Martin Scorsese from the M.S. Collection at the George Eastman Museum. The Other Side of the Wind Dir. Orson Welles, USA, 2018, 122m Cinema lovers around the world have been waiting to see this legendary movie for more than 40 years. Orson Welles started shooting in 1970 with a precarious funding scheme, an ever-mutating script, and the lead role of Jake Hannaford, an old-guard macho Hollywood director at the end of his tether, yet to be cast. When he died fifteen years later, the film was not only unfinished but in legal limbo. Almost 50 years after Welles started shooting, The Other Side of the Wind has finally been completed by Welles’s collaborators. The film features a collection of actors as eclectic as the cast of Touch of Evil, including John Huston as Hannaford, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Edmund O’Brien, Susan Strasberg, Lilli Palmer, Paul Stewart, Mercedes McCambridge, Cameron Mitchell, Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom, Claude Chabrol, and, in a movie-stealing performance as Hannaford’s right-hand man, Welles’s old collaborator Norman Foster. A Netflix release. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead Dir. Morgan Neville, USA, 2018, 98m The story of the making of The Other Side of the Wind is as engrossing and rich in character and incident, and perhaps even more epic in scale, than the film itself. Morgan Neville’s documentary complements and deepens the experience of Welles’s film by placing it within the context of his life and career, setting the scene and the particular mood of Hollywood in the early 1970s, and chronicling every last creative, legal, financial, and behavioral twist and turn on the circuitous road from the first set-up to the first official screening almost 50 years later. The title, of course, comes from none other than Welles himself. A Netflix release. FILM COMMENT AT NYFF
Film Comment Presents:
Border Dir. Ali Abbasi, Sweden/Denmark, 2018, 108m Scandinavian mythology makes for a visceral fantastical drama on the mystery of identity in this adaptation of a story by Let the Right One In writer John Ajvide Lindqvist. Ali Abbasi’s twisty Cannes award-winner (Un Certain Regard, 2018) centers on a customs inspector, Tina, who possesses the ability to sniff out contraband and moral corruption. Her findings lead her into a criminal investigation, but the heart of Border lies with Tina, who tires of her deadbeat roommate and experiences a full-bodied awakening like little else seen on screen. Grounding it all is Eva Melander’s outstanding, minutely sensitive performance, the true north for Abbasi’s genre-driven momentum. A NEON release. The Wild Pear Tree Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 2018, 188m The gorgeous backdrop of rolling country and idyllic farmland are cold comfort to the frustrated hero of The Wild Pear Tree. Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) captures the wrenching struggles of a bright literary graduate, Sinan (Aydın Doğu Demirko), who is trying to take flight in a world he can’t entirely accept. Ceylan revives a deeply humanist cinema of ideas in tracking Sinan’s path through the more urgent questions of youth, romance, religious orthodoxy, and shaking off the burdens of your family—without ennobling the all-too-human Sinan. Often shooting in unbroken takes, Ceylan compellingly “renders the frustrations of this young man as so much misplaced passion” (Kent Jones, Film Comment). A Cinema Guild release.Film Comment Live:
The Cinema of Experience At this year’s NYFF, filmmakers are rising to the challenge of representing diverse experiences at a pivotal time in our nation’s history. Our guests will discuss how cinematic technique is used to reflect such experiences and what is different about the latest generation of storytelling. Filmmakers Chat For the third year, Film Comment gives you the rare chance to see some of today’s most important filmmakers in dialogue with each other. A selection of directors whose films are screening at this edition of NYFF will talk together in a discussion moderated by Film Comment editor-in-chief Nicolas Rapold. Festival Wrap In what is becoming an annual tradition, Film Comment contributing critics and editors gather for the festival’s last weekend and talk about the films they’ve seen, discussing—or arguing about—the selections in the lineup, from Main Slate and beyond.
-
Ava DuVernay’s Short Film AUGUST 28 Starring Lupita Nyong’o to Debut on OWN [Trailer]
“August 28: A Day in the Life of a People” a short film by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay will make its national television debut on OWN on Tuesday, August 28 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Regina King, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, André Holland, Michael Ealy and Glynn Turman, DuVernay’s 22-minute scripted film uses a robust combination of both documentary and narrative techniques to transport viewers through six stunning historical moments that all actually occurred on the same day in various years.
Written, produced and directed by DuVernay, “August 28” traverses a century of black progress, protest, passion and perseverance of African-American people. The project gives historical perspective within the creative framework of one date that has had a profound effect on America including: the passing of The Slavery Abolition Act on August 28, 1833, the lynching of Emmett Till on August 28, 1955, the first radio airplay from Motown Records on August 28, 1961 with The Marvelettes “Please Mr Postman,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech during the massive March on Washington on August 28, 1963, Hurricane Katrina making its tragic landfall on August 28, 2005 and then-Senator Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the presidency on August 28, 2008.
The film was lensed by cinematographer Malik Sayeed and edited by Oscar nominee Spencer Averick. Ten-time Grammy nominee Meshell Ndegeocello composed the score. Paul Garnes produced, with co-producers Tilane Jones and Tammy Garnes.
Image: NEW YORK, NY – MAY 20: Lupita Nyong and Ava DuVernay from 13th pose with an award during The 76th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony at Cipriani, Wall Street on May 20, 2017 in New York City.
-
Busan International Film Festival to Honor Director Lee Jang-ho with Korean Cinema Retrospective
[caption id="attachment_31564" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
Lee Jang-ho[/caption]
The 23rd Busan International Film Festival will honor Lee Jang-ho with a Korean Cinema Retrospective and will screen 8 of his representative films.
Lee Jang-ho is a representative director of the 1970’s and the 1980’s Korean cinema. His debut film, Heavenly Homecoming to Stars (1974) opened to 460,000 audiences, which was extraordinary for that time. He immediately became one of the most prominent directors of that era. Lee came into the spotlight with his social realism, criticizing poverty and oppression in early 1980’s Korea with films such as Good Windy Days (1980), Children of Darkness (1981), Widow Dance (1983), and Declaration of Fools (1983). He became a renowned director again with his erotic films, Between the Knees (1984) and Eoh Wu-dong (1985), and Lee Jang-ho’s Baseball Team (1986), based on Lee Hyun-se’s comic book. Lee Jang-ho, one of the most significant Korean directors in the 1980’s, released The Man with Three Coffins (1987), a masterpiece of Lee’s films. Four of Lee’s films – Heavenly Homecoming to Stars (1974), Good Windy Days (1980), Declaration of Fools (1983), and The Man with Three Coffins (1987) are included in the 2013 edition of The 100 Korean Films listed by the Korean Film Archive. Lee’s achievement in film is undeniably outstanding. Lee was the executive chairman at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and is currently the chairman of the Seoul Film Commission. Lee’s 8 representative films selected for the Korean Cinema Retrospective will be screened at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival from October 4 to October 13. His old but fascinating films have important implications for both cineasts and new audiences.
Lee Jang-ho’s debut film, Heavenly Homecoming to Stars (1974) is based on a serialized novel of Choi In-ho’s that was first published in newspaper installments. The film opened to 460,000 audiences, crushing domestic box office records. After Kyeong-A (Ahn In-suk), the main character of the film, was dumped by her first love, she becomes the second wife of a man who suffers delusional jealousy. She divorces the man and later becomes a prostitute. Her life story touches all audiences. The film reflects the new wave of the 70’s youth culture with Lee Jang-hee’s songs. The film is also the start of ‘Hostess Melodrama’ films such as Yeong-Ja’s Heydays and Winter Woman.
Good Windy Days (1980) is the film that defines Lee Jang-ho as a critical social realism writer. Ahn Sung-ki returns to the big screen as an adult actor for the first time in this film. Numerous actors such as Kim Seong-chan, Lee Yeong-ho, Yu Ji-in, Kim Bo-yeon, Choi Bool-am, Kim Hee-ra, Park Won-suk, Kim In-moon, Kim Young-ae, and Im Ye-jin provide unforgettable performances. The film was considered a must-see film for other young cineasts at that time. The film describes 1970’s Seoul after the development of Gangnam in southern Seoul. The film is focused on three young impoverished rural men who migrate to an urban life. It also includes different stories from different generations that portray the identification of an era.
Children of Darkness (1981) is based on Lee Cheol-yong’s novel of the same title. The story of the film corresponds to Lee Jang-ho’s other film, Heavenly Homecoming to Stars, in regards to dealing with a woman who becomes a prostitute. The main character of the film, Young-Ae (Na Young-hee)’s dream is to be a singer. She runs away from home and goes to a singer audition despite her parents’ opposition. After the audition, she tries to learn how to sing; however, she is raped and sent to a club band who moves around the local area. She gives birth to a daughter after she begins to live with a man who plays lead saxophone in the club band. Unfortunately, the man is arrested for assault and the daughter dies from pneumonia. Young-Ae later becomes a prostitute who lives a life of hardships in the red-light district.
Widow Dance (1983) is based on Lee Cheol-yong’s novel along with Children of Darkness. The film criticizes society by describing the life of widows who have divorced for different reasons. The film consists of three episodes. The first episode is Mal-suk (Lee Bo-hee), who commits fraud on a suitor to deprive him of money by pretending to be divorced from a rich Korean-Japanese guy. Her fraud is revealed and then she is finally arrested. The second episode is about Mal-suk’s sister-in-law (Park Won-suk). Mal-suk’s sister-in-law becomes a widow after her husband dies in a car accident. The last episode follows the previous two episodes. The widows lead hopeless and on-going lives.
Declaration of Fools (1983), by typical realist film director Lee Jang-ho, adopts the use of innovative film techniques that influence next generation filmmakers. He recorded ironic narration with a children’s voice, shot in low-speed cinematography as seen in classic silent films, and uses the film to express sarcastic acts. The experimental sound of the film is remarkable in mixing electronic game sounds and Buddhist sounds. Lee stated in an interview, “I don’t think that Declaration of Fools was created by myself. The period of dictatorship that overshadowed Korea creates the film. I was forced to make up the story for Declaration of Fools at the beginning of making the film. I was not able to film the movie that I wanted to. I would have quit filming if I had to.” The film reflects a director’s raging spirit that is not afraid of limitations.
[caption id="attachment_31563" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Eoh Wu-dong (1985)[/caption]
Eoh Wu-dong (1985) is a representative erotic film of Lee Jang-ho, with the film Between the Knees (1984). During the Joseon Dynasty reign of King Seongjong, Eoh Wu-dong born of a noble family, falls in love with a lowly man. The true love is forbidden due to the hierarchical nature of society at that time. After a failed suicide attempt, she becomes a Korean geisha who uses her body to tease the nobility. Her family-in-laws attempt to kill her because they do not want the relationship with Eoh Wu-dong noticed. Eoh Wu-dong, the main independent female character, is impressive in regards to being against the male dominant society, unlike the film, Between the Knees (1984).
The Man with Three Coffins (1987) is Lee Jang-ho’s masterpiece work of his subsequent period, based on Lee Je-ha’s novel with the same title. The main character travels with his wife’s ashes who died 3 years earlier. He meets a sick old man and the nurse who cares for him at the motel by chance. The owner of the restaurant delivers a message of the old man’s special offer to take him to Wolsan, but the protagonist denies. After that, women who have had a sexual relationship with the protagonist continuously end up dead under strange circumstances. He meets the nurse again. Lee Bo-hee simultaneously plays three different roles, including a nurse, who meets the protagonist. The film maximizes a surreal mood.
Lee Jang-ho released the feature film, God’s Eye View (2013), 18 years after his feature film, Declaration of Genius (1995). A missionary group comprised of a church minister, a missionary, and a church elder is kidnapped by the Islamic rebel forces. The missionary group is afraid of the rebel forces, who demand the release of the rebel force leader from prison in return for releasing the missionary group. The missionary group begins to distrust each other. They are required to choose between life or a religious belief, revealing each one’s naked truth. They consider taking martyrdom is for granted because of the religious beliefs; however, the real martyrdom is not about committing suicide. They are questioned in regards to neglecting another’s death for a religious belief.
-
49 Feature Films Eligible for European Film Awards 2018
BORG/McENROE 49 films have been named by the European Film Academy for this year’s EFA Feature Film Selection,
-
So Young Shelly Yo and Erica Liu Win $35,000 2018 Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellows
Two filmmakers -So Young Shelly Yo and Erica Liu have been selected by SFFILM to receive 2018 Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships, which will support the development of their narrative feature screenplays. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships are part of the organization’s efforts to support programs that cultivate and champion films exploring scientific or technological themes and characters. SFFILM fellowships, awarded under the auspices of the organization’s artist development program, SFFILM Makers, are presented to film artists developing screenplays that tell stories related to science or technology.
SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships include a $35,000 cash grant and a two-month residency at FilmHouse, SFFILM’s suite of production offices for local and visiting independent filmmakers. Fellows will gain free office space alongside access to weekly consulting services and professional development opportunities. SFFILM will connect each fellow to a science advisor with expertise in the scientific or technological subjects at the center of their screenplays, as well as leaders in the Bay Area’s science and technology communities. In addition to the residency and grant, SFFILM’s artist development team will facilitate industry introductions to producers and casting, financing, and creative advisors—investing in fellows from early script development stages through to release with the goal to further professional development and career sustainability.
The jury noted in a statement: “We are delighted to support these two immensely talented women. Each filmmaker is taking a strikingly different approach to capturing the life of a female scientist, but they share a commitment to deepening the science in their screenplays in order to more fully realize those characters and the worlds they move in.”
The 11th Endeavor
So Young Shelly Yo, writer/director; Mark Castillo, producer
A fiery female biotechnologist, hoping to break ground outside the realms of her lab, competes to be Korea’s first astronaut on the nationwide televised Korean Astronaut Program. In her obsessive quest to become Korea’s first astronaut, So Yeon steps into a world of unmeasurable physical and mental stress and discovers shocking revelations about her country. Based on the true story of Yi So Yeon, South Korea’s first astronaut.
So Young Shelly Yo is a Korean-American filmmaker currently based in Los Angeles. She is a recent graduate of the MFA film program at Columba University, where her thesis film Moonwalk with Me was awarded faculty honors. Her short films have screened and received accolades at film festivals around the world including the Mecal Barcelona International Short Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival, and New Filmmakers LA, among others. Prior to schooling, Shelly worked as a video editor for a tech company known as ZEFR and as an assistant in the freelance commercial film industry.
The Mushroomers
Erica Liu, writer/director; David Yu-Hao Su, producer
Following her husband’s death, a young mycologist attempts to sublimate her grief by embarking on an offbeat project to heal a contaminated old-growth forest using only super fungi, but Mother Nature and the mechanics of her own mourning prove far fickler than she had anticipated.
Erica Liu is a Taiwanese-American writer/director based in Los Angeles. She participated in the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women in 2015. Her films have screened at Clermont-Ferrand, AFI Fest, and Palm Springs International Shortfest, among others. Springtime aired on public television nationwide via KQED and affiliate stations. The Disappointment Tour received a Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation grant. Erica earned her MFA from NYU Tisch Asia and previously spent five years working and shooting throughout Asia, collaborating with companies including BBC, Google, and China Film Group. Erica is currently incubating her first feature, The Mushroomers.
-
SingularDTV Sets Release Date for Alex Winter’s Documentary TRUST MACHINE: THE STORY OF BLOCKCHAIN [Trailer]
Blockchain entertainment studio SingularDTV is releasing its first feature-length documentary, Alex Winter’s Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain in New York on October 26, and Los Angeles on November 16.
Always one step ahead in signaling technology’s seismic shifts, Alex Winter has built up a body of work that documents how innovation changes the way people live their daily lives. DOWNLOADED (2013, SXSW) explored the downloading revolution and how Napster and file-sharing took on the music industry, leaving musicians wondering about royalty payments and copyrights. DEEP WEB (2015, San Francisco International Film Festival, Sheffield International Documentary Festival) revealed a new kind of internet: decentralized, encrypted and dangerous; with particular focus on the FBI capture of the Tor hidden service Silk Road, and the judicial aftermath.
In his newest documentary Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain, Alex Winter drills down on blockchain, the decentralized technology that supports cryptocurrencies. Why are banks terrified while UNICEF Ventures embraces it to help refugee children? Winter follows tech innovators striking a raw nerve as banks and network pundits rush to condemn volatile cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. British hacktivist Lauri Love fights extradition—his computer skills perceived a threat to the US government. Through the film, Winter reveals that the proponents of the blockchain—a verified digital ledger—are already using the technology to change the world; fighting income inequality, the refugee crisis and world hunger. Narrated by Rosario Dawson.
Alex Winter on his inspiration for Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain:“The idea of a verifiable ledger is a problem that’s been in search of a solution for a really long time. I got into this working on DOWNLOADED (2013). When I was making my film DEEP WEB (2015), funnily enough, I still had very little interest in bitcoin. Then the world got really confusing with blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and decentralization.
Bitcoin matters, but blockchain is really where the changes are going to come. There are huge changes happening in human culture right now. Never has something like this happened before, ever. And it is fascinating to me. That’s why I really wanted to make this documentary.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMlqIoUVnLo
-
Watch Trailer + Poster for Salsa Music/Dance Drama SHINE Set in New York’s Spanish Harlem
The new trailer and poster is here for the salsa music/dance drama Shine set in New York’s Spanish Harlem, directed by Anthony Nardolillo, and starring Jorge Burgos, Gilbert Saldivar, Kimberli Flores, Jadi Collado, Musetta Vander, with Alysia Reiner, and David Zayas. The film will be released in theaters on October 5, 2018.
Two Puerto Rican brothers, Ralphi Matas (Jorge Burgos) and Junior (Gilbert Saldivar), from New York’s Spanish Harlem and the street’s best Salsa dancers, are separated after a tragedy only to reunite years later on opposing sides of gentrification.
After 7 years of absence from New York City, Ralphi is back to develop commercial real estate in his old neighborhood. However, upon his return, Ralphi encounters his estranged brother, Junior, who followedin his father’s footsteps, Ramon Matas (David Zayas), and is now an elite salsa dancer and an unwavering activist AGAINST gentrification in the neighborhood.
While having to face his past in order to succeed in the present, Ralphi must confront his boss Linda (Alysia Reiner) who is aggressively pursuing the lucrative development deal that brought him back to the city he was born, and thus is driving the wedge even further between him and his brother.
On the other side, when Josie (Kimberli Flores), the new owner of their father’s dance studio, reveals she is behind on the mortgage payments. Junior rallies the local dance community to raise funds against all odds to save the dance studio, DESPITE the gentrification efforts of his brother.
While the brothers have chosen opposite paths thus far, they are brought back together when Tio Julio (Nelson Gonzales) reminds them of the power of family and the importance of their community.
-
2018 Toronto International Film Festival Unveils TIFF Kids and TIFF Next Wave Films for Young Audience
[caption id="attachment_31543" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
The Elephant Queen[/caption]
The Toronto International Film Festival did not forget the kids with the TIFF Kids and TIFF Next Wave selections, guaranteeing something for film lovers of all ages. This year’s selection includes The Elephant Queen, a fascinating documentary following the elephant Athena and her herd, narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor; Icebox, based on an award-winning short of the same name that follows a twelve-year-old Honduran, Oscar, who faces the harsh reality of navigating immigration after fleeing gang violence in his hometown; Minuscule – Mandibles From Far Away, a story of a young ladybug who works to save the rainforest after being swept away on a grand adventure; and the stunningly animated Tito and the Birds, which follows ten-year-old Tito on his quest to learn more about birds as his town faces a strange new affliction that makes people sick when they get scared.
This year’s TIFF Next Wave lineup features 11 titles selected by the TIFF Next Wave committee, a group of young film aficionados responsible for picking the films they believe their peers would most enjoy. From the Ethiopian civil war ( Fig Tree) to the Closing Night Film of Midnight Madness ( Diamantino), Next Wave champions new and diverse voices. This year’s lineup boasts five films helmed by women and eight feature filmmaking debuts, including the world premieres of Jonah Hill’s nostalgic coming of age film, Mid90s, and Jasmin Mozaffari’s skillfully tenacious Firecrackers, made by an almost entirely female key crew.
The 43rd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2018.
TIFF Kids
The Elephant Queen Victoria Stone, Mark Deeble | United Kingdom/Kenya World Premiere (TIFF Docs) Recommended for ages 7+ Icebox Daniel Sawka | USA World Premiere (Discovery) Recommended for ages 11+ Minuscule – Mandibles From Far Away ( Minuscule – Les Mandibules du Bout du Monde) Thomas Szabo, Hélène Giraud | France World Premiere (Contemporary World Cinema) Recommended for ages 6+ Tito and the Birds ( Tito e os Pássaros) Gustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar, André Catoto | Brazil North American Premiere (Discovery) Recommended for ages 8+TIFF Next Wave selection
Diamantino Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt | Portugal/France/Brazil North American Premiere (Midnight Madness) Fig Tree Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian | Israel/Germany/France/Ethiopia World Premiere (Discovery) Firecrackers Jasmin Mozaffari | Canada World Premiere (Discovery) Giant Little Ones Keith Behrman | Canada World Premiere (Special Presentations) Girl Lukas Dhont | Belgium Canadian Premiere (Discovery) The Grizzlies Miranda de Pencier | Canada World Premiere (Special Presentations) The Hate U Give George Tillman, Jr. | USA World Premiere (Gala Presentations) Mid90s Jonah Hill | USA World Premiere (Special Presentations) Phoenix ( Føniks) Camilla Strøm Henriksen | Norway/Sweden World Premiere (Discovery) Rafiki Wanuri Kahiu | Kenya/South Africa/France/Lebanon/Norway/Netherlands/Germany/USA North American Premiere (Discovery) Teen Spirit Max Minghella | United Kingdom World Premiere (Special Presentations)
-
Peter Jackson’s WWI Documentary THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD to World Premiere at London Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_31536" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
They Shall Not Grow Old[/caption]
Peter Jackson’s First World War film They Shall Not Grow Old, will be given its World Premiere as the Documentary Special Presentation at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival on October 16th. The film will be simultaneously screened, in 2D and 3D to cinemas and special venues across the UK by Trafalgar Releasing and BFI LFF.
Co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts program for the First World War centenary, and Imperial War Museums, They Shall Not Grow Old has been created exclusively with original footage from Imperial War Museums’ film archive and audio from BBC archives. Presenting his new work to mark the centenary of the First World War, the internationally renowned director Peter Jackson (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings) combined his personal fascination with the period and his Academy Award winning directorial skills to bring the First World War to life in a way never seen before. They Shall Not Grow Old uses the voices of the veterans combined with original archival footage to bring to life the reality of war on the front line for a whole new generation. Footage has been colorised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present never before seen detail.
Peter Jackson, Director of They Shall Not Grow Old comments: “I wanted to reach through the fog of time and pull these men into the modern world, so they can regain their humanity once more – rather than be seen only as Charlie Chaplin-type figures in the vintage archive film. By using our computing power to erase the technical limitations of 100 year cinema, we can see and hear the Great War as they experienced it.”
-
2018 Chicago International Film Festival Announces First Films – Boy Erased, Mr. Soul!, Shoplifters
[caption id="attachment_31533" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Boy Erased[/caption]
The Chicago International Film Festival announced the first 25 films that will be shown at the 54th edition running October 10 to 21, 2018. The Festival will feature more than 150 films from across the globe and bring legendary actors, master filmmakers, and exciting, emerging talents from around the world to Chicago.
Initial lineup includes highly anticipated titles including Joel Edgerton’s Boy Erased starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe; Elizabeth Chomko’s Chicago set feature debut What They Had starring Michael Shannon and Hilary Swank; Mike Leigh’s epic drama Peterloo and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters.
“We are very excited to be showcasing new films from some of the most impressive directors in the world, whether returning veterans, such as past Gold Hugo-winners Mike Leigh and Hirokazu Kore-eda, or up-and-coming filmmakers with distinctive visions,” said Plauché. “For the last several years, the Festival has been proud to present Best Picture winners The Shape of Water (2017), Moonlight (2016), and Spotlight (2015), and we look forward to sharing this year’s incredible slate of movies with our audiences.”
Birds of Passage
Pájaros de verano
Directors: Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
Colombia, Mexico, Denmark
A Colombian Mean Streets, this gripping drama chronicles the rise of the drug trade and its cataclysmic impact on the local indigenous community. The Wayuu people had long held tight onto their traditions, living in close-knit tribes. When two friends begin selling marijuana to visiting Americans, however, their actions set in motion a series of events that pit factions against each other, inciting a cycle of avarice-inspired vengeance. Wayuunaiki, Spanish, and English with subtitles.
Border
Gräns
Director: Ali Abbasi
Sweden
Fantastic in every sense of the word, this idiosyncratic thriller centers on a Swedish customs officer with a special talent for detecting contraband who must ultimately choose between good and evil. This exciting, intelligent mix of romance, Nordic noir, social realism, and supernatural horror defies and subverts genre conventions and is destined to be a cult classic. Winner, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival. Swedish with subtitles.
Boy Erased
Director: Joel Edgerton
U.S.
Boy Erased tells the story of Jared (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe) at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a conversion therapy program—or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith. Boy Erased is the true story of one young man’s struggle to find himself while being forced to question every aspect of his identity.
Cold War
Zimna wojna
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Poland
A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, the film depicts an impossible love story in impossible times. Polish with subtitles.
Dogman
Director: Matteo Garrone
Italy
In a run-down Italian coastal town, Marcello, a gentle dog groomer, sees his life turned upside down when Simone, a brutish former boxer and ex-con, bullies him into becoming his criminal accomplice. But for how long can the “dogman” be subservient to his master before he bites back? From the acclaimed director of Gomorrah comes another unflinching urban western treading the fine line between civility and savagery. Italian with subtitles.
Friedkin Uncut
Director: Francesco Zippel
Italy
Oscar®-winning, Chicago-born director William Friedkin achieved fame with his 1973 horror blockbuster The Exorcist. But this illuminating documentary shows the director’s unwavering commitment to rawness and realism across his entire career, from The French Connection (1972) to Killer Joe (2011). Featuring interviews with Ellen Burstyn, Willem Dafoe, and Quentin Tarantino, among others, Friedkin Uncut reveals a savvy craftsman who is unapologetic about his no-nonsense approach to moviemaking.
Jumpman
Podbrosy
Director: Ivan I. Tverdovskiy
Russia, Ireland, Lithuania, France
An abandoned infant grows into a likeable lad with a rare disorder—he can feel no physical pain. When he becomes a teen, his feckless mother returns to his life to exploit his condition by enlisting him in an insurance fraud scam. A taut thriller, Jumpman puts an outsider at the center of a harsh indictment of corruption and hypocrisy in contemporary Russia. Russian with subtitles.
Mr. Soul!
Director: Melissa Haizlip
U.S.
The brainchild of pioneering producer Ellis Haizlip, SOUL! was the first ever national TV series made by and for African-Americans. The groundbreaking program aired from 1968 to 1973 and featured a dazzling array of guests from Stevie Wonder to Maya Angelou. Mr. Soul! takes viewers behind the scenes of the show, chronicling its inception and its struggles to stay on the air. It turns out the revolution really was televised.
Olympia
Director: Gregory Dixon
U.S.
Chicago writer-actor McKenzie Chinn stars as a struggling artist, navigating work and romance in the Windy City. When her boyfriend asks her to drop everything and move cross-country, she soon discovers that she might be the biggest obstacle to her own happiness. Featuring quirky animation and a revelatory central performance, Olympia is a sensitive and humorous look at the challenges of embracing adulthood.
The Other Story
Director: Avi Nesher
Israel
Family disputes and conspiracies take center stage in this lively drama, which even-handedly explores the divide between Israel’s secular Jews and the ultra-Orthodox from director Avi Nesher (The Matchmaker). Sasson Gabai (The Band’s Visit) plays a renowned psychologist and rationalist who falls out with his strong-willed granddaughter when she enters a Haredi community and plans to marry a musician previously known for his wild ways. Hebrew with subtitles.
Peterloo
Director: Mike Leigh
U.K.
An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, which saw British forces charge into a crowd of over 60,000 that had gathered to protest rising levels of poverty and demand reform. Many were killed and hundreds more injured, sparking a nationwide outcry but also further government suppression. A defining moment in British democracy, the massacre also played a significant role in the founding of The Guardian newspaper.
Piercing
Director: Nicolas Pesce
U.S.
Pesce’s gleefully wicked S&M black comedy centers on Reed (Christopher Abbot), a new fatherlooking to channel his homicidal impulses away from his infant daughter. He heads to a hotel, hires an escort (Mia Wasikowska), then begins to rehearse her murder. But once she arrives, the balance of power shifts. Based on the novel by Ryu Murukami, Piercing’s incredibly dark premise constantly surprises—it might just be taken for a wildly subversive love story.
A Private War
Director: Matthew Heineman
U.S.
In a world where journalism is under attack, Marie Colvin (Academy Award®-nominee Rosamund Pike) is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. Her mission to show the true cost of conflict leads her—along with renowned photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan)—to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.
Rafiki
Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Kenya
A tender tale of forbidden first love told in an electric, colorful Afropop style, Rafiki tells the story of the tender but illegal and taboo romance between Kena, a skateboarding tomboy blessed with great grades and soccer skills, and Ziki, the charismatic daughter of a conservative local politician. When rumors begin to swirl about the nature of their relationship, the young lovers find themselves in great jeopardy. Swahili, English with subtitles.
Ruben Brandt, Collector
Ruben Brandt, a gyüjtö
Director: Milorad Krstic
Hungary
“Possess your problems to conquer them,” is the credo that psychotherapist Ruben Brandt preaches to his criminally-inclined clients in this stylish, animated thriller for adults. But when Brandt’s patients help him to apply his own advice, he becomes “Ruben Brandt, Collector,” ringleader of a gang responsible for the theft of 13 of the world’s most famous paintings. This entertaining romp literally puts the “art” into “arthouse.”
Shoplifters
Manbiki kazoku
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan
The winner of Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or, centers on an eccentric troupe of miscreants who take in a neglected five-year-old. Despite their strained circumstances, the tight-knit unit of petty thieves and social outcasts comes together to raise the girl. But how long can this unconventional family survive against the normalizing forces around them? From the Japanese master of humanism comes another affecting and astute film about people living on the margins. Japanese with subtitles.
Sorry Angel
Plaire, aimer et courir vite
Director: Christophe Honoré
France
It’s 1993. Jacques is a successful, novelist from Paris living with what was still a terminal diagnosis of HIV positive. Arthur is an open-minded student ready to embrace life. They meet in Rennes and fall in love, but navigating an intergenerational romance has its challenges. Honoré (Love Songs) chronicles their lives, together and apart, with nuance and subtlety, allowing their love story to unfold in patient, novelistic fashion. French with subtitles.
Transit
Director: Christian Petzold
Germany
In this Kafkaesque cinematic puzzle, a man is trapped in limbo as he tries to flee fascistoccupied France. Hoping to escape to Mexico, Georg poses as a dead author but becomes stuck in Marseilles. There, he encounters a woman searching for her missing husband—the
man whose identity he has assumed. Petzold’s surreal film merges past, present and future in its trenchant exploration of the plight of refugees. German with subtitles.
United Skates
Directors: Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown
U.S.
A rousing chronicle of roller-skating’s pivotal role in African-American communities, United Skates careens around the country, offering an intimate look at a lively subculture that’s under threat. Facing discriminatory policies and building closures, committed skaters from around the country—including Chicago’s own Buddy Love—fight to preserve a space for people to come together and express themselves in sliding, bouncing, snapping glory.
What They Had
Director: Elizabeth Chomko
U.S.
From first-time writer/director Elizabeth Chomko, What They Had centers on a family in crisis. Bridget (Hilary Swank) returns home to Chicago at her brother’s (Michael Shannon) urging to deal with her ailing mother (Blythe Danner) and her father’s (Robert Forster) reluctance to let go of their life together.
SHORTS
Accidence Directors: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson Canada A grisly murder on an apartment balcony becomes a small piece in a frenzied puzzle of strange occurrences. Accident, MD Director: Dan Rybicky U.S. A survey of attitudes about America’s healthcare crisis filmed in the small town of Accident, Maryland. Optimism Director: Deborah Stratman U.S. A portrait of Dawson City Canada’s far North that reveals a rich history of a town looking for gold while enveloped in shadow. Solar Walk Director: Réka Bucsi Denmark A sumptuously animated cosmic journey through space, time, and creation. Tourneur Director: Yalda Afsah Germany A foam-filled ring in the south of France becomes the site of an absurd spectacle as young men face off against a bull.