Based on a True Story (D’après une histoire vraie)(2017)

  • 28th Stockholm International Film Festival Awards – JEUNE FEMME Wins Best Film

    [caption id="attachment_25578" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Jeune Femme Jeune Femme[/caption] French director Léonor Seraille received the Bronze Horse award for Best Film for his film Jeune Femme at the 28th Stockholm International Film Festival. For Ahkeem by Jeremy S. Levine och Landon Van Soest was awarded the prize for Best Documentary.

    Winners 0f 2017 Stockholm International Film Festival Award

    STOCKHOLM XXVIII COMPETITION

    Best Film: Jeune Femme by Léonor Seraille. For its dynamic and astute study of a young woman perennially on the edge in modern society, featuring the most memorably vivacious character. A small-scale story that finds profundity in sharp specificity, along with comedy in tragedy (and vice versa.) Best Debut: I Am Not A Witch by Rungano Nyoni. For its bracingly unique style and story, a film that exposes its viewers to heretofore unforeseen settings and characters with a stunning clarity of vision. An unforgettable debut, which tackles issues of female repression and exploitation with both off-kilter humour and devastating pathos. Best Director: God’s Own Country by Francis Lee. For its beautifully naturalistic and understated approach grappling with themes of maturity, sexuality and acceptance, as well its pragmatic and sympathetic portrayal of farmers’ daily struggles. Best Screenplay: No Date, No Signature by Vahid Jalilvand and Ali Zarnegar. For its methodical exploration of the unspeakable ethical quandaries triggered by shocking tragedy, and its complex and systematic examination of issues of privilege (and lack thereof), guilt and culpability. Best Cinematography: Paul Guilhaum for Ava. For its wonderfully playful and idiosyncratic visual style that hearkens back to a wide swath of cinema history while still forging its own distinct aesthetic. A movie-lover’s movie filled with fantastic iconography. Best Actress: Antonia Zegers for Los Perros. For her subtle and multi-faceted portrayal of a wealthy woman grappling with shifting attractions and desires while wading into increasingly murky moral territory. A performer whose emotions brilliantly shimmer just under the surface. Best Actor: Josh O’Connor for God’s Own Country. For his brave and delicate portrayal of a character seething with rage yet capable of extraordinary empathy. A lived-in performance that captures the full arc of an unsettled young man coming to terms with his lot in life while learning to care for the people around him.

    STOCKHOLM XXVIII DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

    Best Documentary: For Ahkeem by Jeremy S. Levine och Landon Van Soest. This film is a nonjudgmental, intimate and warm portrayal of love and hardship set against the backdrop of police brutality. It depicts, in a very organic way, what it takes to survive as young people today, with the odds stacked against them. Capturing the unpredictability of real life without forcing its morals on the audience.

    STOCKHOLM XXVIII SHORT FILM COMPETITION

    Best Short Film: Retouch by Kaveh Mazaheri. This is a film defying genre definition – and still it’s a social realist, gender political thriller. With a delicate touch and a sense of humor, it questions traditional ideas on women’s place in society, in Iran and across the world.

    STOCKHOLM LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

    Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award: Vanessa Redgrave This year’s winner of the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award has been one of the most prominent actors in the world for over five decades and has been named ”the greatest living actress of our time” by Tennesse Williams. She is as brilliant in costume dramas and political documentaries as she is in works of some of the greatest auteurs in cinematic history. With astonishing force and great social commitment, Vanessa Redgrave has made acting her life’s work.

    STOCKHOLM VISIONARY AWARD

    Stockholm Visionary Award: Pablo Larraín This year’s Stockholm Visionary Award winner is a versatile director with great artistic precision. With a sharp eye directed towards the history of Chile, Pablo Larraín has – via individual life destinies with universal reach – revealed corruption and political deceit on all levels of society. He has redefined the biopic and is constantly broadening our cinematic horizons. With seven brilliant films behind him, Pablo Larraín is a truly visionary filmmaker.

    STOCKHOLM IMPACT AWARD

    Stockholm Impact Award: Wild Roses by Anna Jadowska For the sensitive depiction of a mother who refuses to abandon her true self, for the portrait of a revolting child that questions an utterly conservative society, for the visually exquisite style that contrasts with a world plunged in prejudice and moral coercion, the Stockholm Impact Award goes to Anna Jadowska for Wild Roses, a metaphor for human resilience.

    STOCKHOLM RISING STAR

    Stockholm Rising Star: Gustav Lindh The 2017 Rising Star is awarded by the Stockholm Film Festival to a young actor who has already made a powerful impression in several films. With sincerity and a great sense of presence in combination with dramatic precision – he succeeds in touching our deepest emotions. We anticipate a marvelous future within the world of cinema – Gustav Lindh

    1 KM FILM

    1 Km Film: Nyforelsket by Ville Sörman. This year’s 1 km film scholarship goes to a director with an original voice who accomplishes to put a face on the most complex contemporary emotions. With a visual energy and a sensible touch he cares about the characters on screen, and makes the audience care too. The winner of the 1 km film scholarship goes to Ville Sörman 1 Km Film Special Mention: Min Homosyster by Lia Hietala. A Special Mention goes to a director who has an astute ear for authentic dialogue and manages to establish absolute tonal control between characters and settings. A special mention goes to Lia Hietala.

    THE FIPRESCI PRIZE

    The FIPRESCI prize: Based On A True Story by Roman Polanski. The FIPRESCI award on the 28th Stockholm International Film Festival goes to the film that is marked with an exceptional quality of cinema language. The genre of ‘paranoic thriller’ is treated by the author as perfectly as it could be and allows him to research some extremely complicated issues without any loss of the enchanted energy of narration. The film considers the very process of an artistic creation as a sophisticated game between an artist and reality based on perpetual mutual manipulations and disguises. The formal brilliance is combined here with a crafty elaboration of every detail. So, the FIPRESCI jury is proudly and reverently announced that its award is going to Roman Polanski for the film D’après une histoire vraie (Based on a True Story).

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  • 28th Stockholm International Film Festival Announces Lineup, THE SHAPE OF WATER, DOWNSIZING and More

    [caption id="attachment_25167" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Shape Of Water Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in the film THE SHAPE OF WATER.[/caption] 150 films from 60 different countries have been selected to be screened at the 28th Stockholm International Film Festival that takes place from the November 8th to the 19th. A third of the films in this year’s festival program are directed by first-time filmmakers, the festival is also joined by legends such as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave. After a long and successful Hollywood-career 80 year old Vanessa Redgrave makes her debut as a director with the documentary Sea Sorrow. The film focuses on the global refugee crisis and is a part of this years Spotlight – Change. This years Visionary Award recipient is the director Pablo Larraín. Larraín is the director behind the Academy Award-nominated Jackie (2016); he is now attending the Stockholm Film festival with his latest film Neruda. The premiere movie of this year’s film festival is the critically acclaimed film The Shape Of Water by the director behind the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro also won the Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year. A selection of other films that will be screened are: Thelma by Joachim Trier, Call Me By Your Name by Luca Guadagnino, The Party by Sally Porter, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh and last but not least Downsizing by Alexander Payne.

    Stockholm International Film Festival – Program 2017

    Stockholm XXVIII Competition

    A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano (Italy, France, USA, Germany, 120 min) Ava by Léa Mysius (France, 106 min) Beach Rats by Eliza Hittman Co (USA, 95 min) Beast by Michael Pearce (Great Britain, 107 min) Falling by Marina Stepanska (Ukraine, 105 min) Gabriel And The Mountain by Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa (Brazil, France, 127min) God’s Own Country by Francis Lee (Great Britain, 104 min) I Am Not A Witch by Rungano Nyoni (Great Britain, France, 92 min) Insyriated by Philippe Van Leeuw (Belgium, France, Liban, 85 min) Jeune Femme by Léonor Serraille (France, 97 min) King Of Peking by Sam Voutas (USA, Australia, China, 88 min) La familia by Gustavo Rondón Córdova (Venezuela, Chili, Norway, 82 min) Los Perros by Marcela Said (Chile, France, 94 min) No Date, No Signature by Vahid Jalilvand (Iran, 100 min) One Thousand Ropes by Tusi Tamasese (New Zealand, 98 min) The Rider by Chloé Zhao (USA, 105 min) Son of Sofia by Elina Psikou (Bulgaria, France, Greece, 105 min) Where The Shadows Fall by Valentina Pedicini (Italy, 95 min)

    Stockholm XXVIII Documentary Competition

    A Gray State by Erik Nelson (USA, 93 min) Copwatch by Camilla Hall (USA, 99 min) For Ahkeem by Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest (USA, 89 min) The Force by Peter Nicks (USA, 93 min) Lots of Kids, A Monkey, And A Castle by Gustavo Salmerón (Spain, 90 min) The New Radical by Adam Bhala Lough (USA, 120 min) Step by Amanda Lipitz (USA, 83 min) Tarzan’s Testicles by Alexandru Solomon (Romania, France, 107 min) This is Congo by Daniel McCabe (Democratic Republic of Congo, USA, Canada, 91 min) This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous by Barbara Kopple (USA, 91 min) True Conviction by Jamie Meltzer (USA, 84 min) The Venerable W by Barbet Schroeder (France, Switzerland, 100 min)

    Stockholm Impact

    Cardinals by Grayson Moore and Aidan Shipley (Canada, 84 min) The Last Verse by Ying`Ting Tseng (Taiwan, 100 min) My Pure Land by Sarmad Masud (Great Britain, 92 min) Searing Summer by Ebrahim Irajzad (Iran, 83 min) Wild Roses by Anna Jadowska (Poland, 89 min)

    Open Zone

    A Fantastic Woman by Sebastián Lelio (Chile, USA, Germany, Spain, 104 min) A Man Of Integrity by Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, 117 min) Amant Double by François Ozon (France, 110 min) April’s Daughter by Michel Franco (Mexico, 102 min) Based On A True Story by Roman Polanski (France, 110 min) Call Me By Your Name by Luca Guadagnino (Italy, France, 130 min) Free And Easy by Jun Geng (Honk Kong, 97 minutes) Gisslan by Rezo Gigineishvili (Russian Federation, Georgia, Poland, 103 min) Have A Nice Day by Liu Jian (China, 75 min) Ice Mother by Bohdan Sláma (Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, 105 min) Mr. Long by Sabu (Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Germany, 129 min) On The Beach At Night Alone by Hong Sang`Soo (South Korea, 101 min) Our Time Will Come by Ann Hui (Honk Kong, 130 min) Radiance by Naomi Kawase (Japan, France, 101 min) Thelma by Joachin Trier (Norway, France, 109 min) The Shape Of Water by Guillermo del Toro (USA, 119 min) The Wandering Soap Opera by Raúl Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento (Chile, 80 min) The Workshop by Laurent Cantet (France, 113 min)

    American Independents

    Band Aid by Zoe Lister`Jones (USA, 94 min) The Boy Downstairs by Sophie Brooks (USA, 91 min) Brigsby Bear by Dave McCary (USA, 100 min) Crown Heights by Matt Ruskin (USA, 99 min) The Endless by Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson ( USA, 111 min) The Florida Project by Sean Baker (USA, 115 min) Gemini by Aaron Katz (USA, 93 min) Ingrid Goes West by Matt Spicer (USA, 97 min) Kings by Deniz Gamze Ergüven (France, Belgium, 86 min Life And Nothing More by Antonio Méndez Esparza (USA, 113 min) The Lovers by Azazel Jacobs (USA, 98 min) Keep The Change by Rachel Israel (USA, 94 min) Most Beautiful Island by Ana Asensio (USA, Spain, 80 min) Permanent by Colette Burson (USA, 97 min) Sollers Point by Matthew Porterfield (USA, France, 101 min) Who We Are Now by Matthew Newton (USA, 99 min)

    Icons

    Battle Of The Sexes by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Great Britain, USA, 121 min) Breathe by Andy Serkis (Great Britain, 117 min) Downsizing by Alexander Payne (USA, 135 min) The Final Journey by Nick Baker`Monteys (Germany, 100 min) Final Portrait by Stanley Tucci (USA, 90 min) Hannah by Andrea Pallaoro (France, 80 min) The Hero by Brett Haley (USA, 96 min) Let The Sunshine In by Claire Denis (France, 94 min) The Party by Sally Potter (Great Britain, 71 min) Reinventing Marvin by Anne Fontaine (France, 115 min) Rodin by Jacques Doillon (France, 119 min) Suburbicon by George Clooney (USA, 105 min) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh (USA, UK, 115 min) You disappear by Peter Schønau Fog (Denmark, 118 min) Wonder Wheel by Woody Allen (USA, 101 min)

    Discovery

    Axolotl Overkill by Helene Hegemann (Germany, 94 min) Daybreak by Gentian Koçi (Albania, Greece, 85 min) Disappearance by Ali Asgari (Iran, Qatar, 88 min) Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl! by Felipe Bragança (Brazil, Netherlands, France, Paraguay, 108 min) If You Saw His Heart by Joan Chemla (France, 86 min) Killing Jesus by Laura Mora (Colombia, Argentina, 100 min) Menashe by Joshua Z Weinstein (USA, 82 min) Oh Lucy! by Atsuko Hirayanagi (Japan, USA, 97 min) The Testament by Amichai Greenberg (Israel, 88 min) Vazante by Daniela Thomas (Brazil, Portugal, 116 min)

    Documania

    Chavela by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi (USA, 90 min) Dina by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini (USA, 101 min) Hondros directed by Greg Campbell (USA, 93 min) The Paris Opera by Jean`Stéphane Bron (France, 110 min) Return Of A President – After The Coup In Madagascar by Lotte Mik`Meyer (Denmark, South Africa, France, Madagascar, 78 min) Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World by Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana (Canada, 103 min) Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda by Stephen Nomura Schible (USA, 102 min) Served Like A Girl by Lysa Heslov (USA, 93 min) Shadowman by Oren Jacoby (USA, 83 min) Take Every Wave: The Life Of Laird Hamilton by Rory Kennedy (USA, 118 min) Walk with me by Max Pugh and Marc J. Francis (Great Britain, 94 min)

    Twilight Zone

    A Day by Sun`Ho Cho (South Korea, 90 min) Blade Of The Immortal by Takashi Miike (Japan, 140 min) The Cured by David Freyne (Ireland, Great Britain, France, 95 min) Double Date by Benjamin Barfoot (Great Britain, 90 min) Les Affamés by Robin Aubert (Canada, 100 min) Jailbreak by Jimmy Henderson (Cambodia, 92 min) Lowlife by Ryan Prows (USA, 98 min) The Merciless by Sung`Hyun Byun (South Korea, 120 min) Ugly Nasty People by Cosimo Gomez (Italy, France, 87 min) The Villainess by Byung`Gil Jung (South Korea, 129 min)

    Spotlight

    An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk (USA, 99 min) Human Flow by Ai Wei Wei (Germany, 140 min) More by Onur Saylak (Turkey, 115 min) This Is Our Land by Lucas Belvaux (France, Belgium, 118 min) Wasted! The Story Of Food Waste by Anna Chai and Nari Kye (USA, 85 min) Zagros by Sahim Omar Kalifa (Belgium, 100 min)

    Stockholm XXVIII Short Film Competition

    A Gentle Night by Qui Yang (China, 15 min) Aria by Myrsini Aristidou (Cyprus, France, 14 min) Atelier by Elsa María Jakobsdóttir (Denmark, 30 min) Bonboné by Rakan Mayasi (Lebanon, Palestine, 15 min) Hombre by Juan Pablo Arias Muñoz (Chile, 21 min) Into the Blue by Antoneta Kusijanovic (Croatia, Slovenia, 22 min) Kudzu by Connor Simpson (USA, 15 min) Lost Property Office by Daniel Agdag (Australia, 10 min) Marlon by Jessica Palud (France, Belgium, 19 min) The Ogre by Laurène Braibant (France, 10 min) Retouch by Kaveh Mazaheri (Iran, 20 min) Signature by Kei Chikaura (Japan, 13 min) Superpower Girl by Soo`Young Kim (South Korea, 24 min) Time To Go by Grzegorz Mołda (Poland, 15 min) You Will Be Fine by Céline Devaux (France, 15 min)

    Special Event

    Neruda by Pablo Larraín (Chile, Argentina, France, Spain, USA, 107 min) Varg by Frida Kempff and Erik Andersson (Sverige, 11 min) Sea Sorrow by Vanessa Redgrave (Great Britain, 74 min) Surprise film

    1 Km Film

    Förebilder by Elin Övergaard (Sweden,13 min) In Love by Ville Gideon Sörman (Denmark, 29 min) Intercourse by Jonatan Etzler (Sweden, 10 min) Mephobia by Mika Gustafsson (Sweden, 24 min) Min Homosyster by Lia Hietala (Sweden,15 min) Push It by Julia Thelin (Sweden, 8 min) Skuggdjur by Jerry Carlsson (Sweden, 21 min) Stay Ups by Joanna Rytel (Sweden, 11 min) Stranded by Viktor Johansson (Sweden, 11 min) Turkkiosken by Bahar Pars (Sweden, 7 min) Image: Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in the film THE SHAPE OF WATER. Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

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  • Roman Polanski’s BASED ON A TRUE STORY to Screen as Gala Premiere at Zurich Film Festival

    Based On A True Story (D'après une Histoire Vraie)  Roman Polanski’s latest film Based On A True Story (D’après une Histoire Vraie) will screen as a Gala Premiere at the Zurich Film Festival.  Lead actress Emmanuelle Seigner will attend the festival together with her husband Roman Polanski.  The thriller also stars Eva Green and Vincent Perez. The screenplay was penned by last year’s recipient of the ZFF’s A Tribute to… award Olivier Assayas. Emmanuelle Seigner had her first big role in Roman Polanski’s Frantic (1988) alongside Harrison Ford. Further successes include Bitter Moon (1992) with Kristin Scott Thomas and The Ninth Gate (1999) with Johnny Depp.

    Based On A True Story

    The often-empty phrase “Based On A True Story” has turned many a mediocre novel into a bestseller. Writer Delphine Dayriex’s recently published book about her own family is also a resounding hit. Nevertheless, she now feels completely drained and suffers from an increasingly serious case of writer’s block. One day she meets a mysterious and strangely obtrusive woman who calls herself ‘L’, claims to be a fan, and turns out to be a ghostwriter. The two women soon develop a special friendship, and it’s not long before ‘L’ becomes an apparently selfless live-in assistant… Based on Delphine de Vigan’s eponymous novel, master director Roman Polanski has created a pleasantly unsettling thriller about reality, fiction and the power of the imagination. Director Roman Polanski first attracted attention with his psycho thriller Knife In The Water (1962). He garnered worldwide acclaim for his comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), in which he also played the lead role. Further successes include the thriller Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Chinatown (1974), Frantic (1988), and the multi award-winning Holocaust drama The Pianist (2002).

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  • Roman Polanski’s BASED ON A TRUE STORY Among New Films Added to 2017 Cannes Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_22112" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Roman Polanski Roman Polanski[/caption] Roman Polanski’s latest film Based on a True Story (D’après une histoire vraie) along with six other films have been added to the lineup of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.  Based on a True Story will screen Out of Competition. The complete list of films added to the 2017 Cannes Film Festival Competition The Square by Ruben Ostlund Out of Competition Based on a True Story (D’après une histoire vraie) by Roman Polanski Un Certain Regard La Cordillera by Santiago Mitre Walking past the Future by Li Ruijun Special Screenings Le Vénérable W. by Barbet Schroeder Carré 35 by Eric Caravaca Children’s Screening Zombillénium by Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord The Festival de Cannes will also offer a screening tribute to André Téchiné presenting his newest film Nos années folles; and an event with a concert and a film by Tony Gatlif whose movie Djam will be screened at the Cinéma de la plage (“Movies on the Beach).

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