• Horror Film Cabin in the Woods to open 2012 SXSW

    [caption id="attachment_2202" align="alignnone"]The Cabin in the Woods[/caption]

    The world premiere of the horror film, The Cabin in the Woods, will open SXSW 2012. Described as ‘ Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen” … the film takes the horror genre, shakes it down, and smacks it upside the head.

    The Cabin in the Woods also marks Emmy®-nominated writer Drew Goddard’s (Cloverfield, Lost, Alias) first foray into directing, and stars Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford.

    SXSW also revealed 6 additional screening at the 2001 festival including Lena Dunham’s (Tiny Furniture) return with her HBO series GIRLS, which will premiere the initial three episodes publicly for the first time.

    Dunham, Executive Producer Judd Apatow and other key members of the GIRLS production team will also appear at the SXSW Film Conference to discuss GIRLS before it kicks off its ten-episode season in April, exclusively on HBO

    The additional titles at SXSW Film are:

    MARLEY (North American Premiere)
    Director: Kevin Macdonald

    The definitive life story of Bob Marley – musician, revolutionary, legend – from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Directed by Academy Award Winner Kevin Macdonald.

    Beauty Is Embarrassing (World Premiere)
    Director: Neil Berkeley

    A funny, irreverent and insightful look into the life and times of one of America’s most important artists, Wayne White.

    Small Apartments (World Premiere)
    Director: Jonas Åkerlund

    When Franklin Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.
    Cast: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan

    CITADEL (World Premiere)
    Director: Ciarán Foy

    An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children.
    Cast: Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wumni Mosaku

    GIRLS (World Premiere)
    Director: Lena Dunham

    Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the show is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s.
    Cast: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke

    The Oyster Princess with live score by Bee vs. Moth (World Premiere)
    Director: Ernst Lubitsch

    The Oyster Princess is Ernst Lubitsch’s tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs. Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time.
    Cast: Ossi Oswalda, Victor Janson, Julius Falkenstein

    The SXSW runs March 9–17, 2012.

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  • Academy Rules Change Official for Documentary and Short Films Category

    Its official. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has changed the rules for the documentary and short films category for the 85th Academy Awards.

    The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved documentary and short films rules for the 85th Academy Awards at its most recent meeting (December 6). The most significant changes expand members’ opportunities to view contending films, enabling more members to participate in the Academy’s voting processes in the Documentary Feature, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories.

    In the Documentary Feature category, the entire Documentary Branch will now receive all eligible titles beginning in the first round of voting. To facilitate this change, filmmakers must submit 200 DVDs, an increase from the 30 that had been required in previous years. In the final round of voting in this category, members must still see all the nominated films, but the viewing of films on digital or DVD screeners will now be an option for satisfying this requirement.

    A documentary feature film’s eligibility will continue to depend on completing seven-day qualifying runs in both New York and Los Angeles that are advertised in at least one major newspaper, as specified by Academy rules, in each city. For the 85th Academy Awards, however, a review by a movie critic in The New York Times and/or the Los Angeles Times will also be required.

    In the Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories, members will still have to see all the nominated films before casting their final ballots, but viewing the films on screeners will now be an option for satisfying this requirement. Films that are shown during their theatrical run in a non-standard format, such as IMAX, will have to be submitted to the Academy in a standard theatrical aspect ratio and in a format currently accepted for Academy exhibition to remain eligible. Producers may provide additional screenings of their films in non-standard formats, but members’ attendance at such screenings will not be required for voting purposes.

    Other rules changes for the documentary and short films categories include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.

    Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Board of Governors for approval.

    The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

    Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

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  • Interview with Cyril Tuschi, Director of the fascinating new documentary “Khordorkovsky”

    [caption id="attachment_2198" align="alignnone"]Cyril Tuschi, director of Khodorkovsky[/caption]

    Written by Francesca McCaffery

    Cyril Tuschi’s new documentary film, Khordorkovsky, tells the story of oligarch Mikhail Khordorkovsky, then the wealthiest man in Russia before his arrest by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2003.

    Tuschi has directed short films and music videos, and his feature was Slight Changes in Temperature and Mind in 2004. A former night club owner, theater worker, and philosophy student, Tuschi has  the open mind, gentle humor and rigorous intellect needed to become a truly outstanding documentary director. The film is fascinating, and we had the pleasure of speaking with Cyril about his his process, his interest in his subject and the role of politics in movies.

    VIMOOOZ: The film, Cyril, really blew us away. I think it’s so interesting for Americans especially, to see both sides: You could see Putin-is he really trying to hang on to Mother Russia, and moments later you realize, whoa, no, he’s really not- he’s absolutely terrified! The way you displayed that for us was so riveting. Can you tell us how you received access to  court proceedings? Was that very difficult?

    We had tried for years to get access. I think it was a mistake of the judge, actually. I saw the Minister talking to Khordorkovsky through the “cage” in the courtroom (the cell he was held in during the court proceedings) , and after that day in court we asked the judge if we could do the same. I told him we were filmmakers. He told us to fill out a special overnight application, and come back tomorrow. I did so, without even the cameraman, because I didn’t think it was going to work. But then a lawyer came and said, “Okay, you have ten minutes!” I really had to turn on the camera myself. I think the judge was just not briefed correctly.

    How many times did you actually go back and forth to Russia?

    Countless. We had 180 hours of interviews. I stayed three months in Moscow.

    Amazing. Do you see the film as a portrait of the two men in a way? Their egos, a sort of battle of wills? Or a portrait of Old Russia v. New Russia, or both?

    Definitely both. It’s definitely a portrait of Khordorkovsky, but he is also a symbol for the changing Russia. He was a real believer of Soviet Russia in the beginning- he had posters of Lenin in his bedroom. Then he became very strong, new Liberal populist defender, and now he is something like a mystified-hero, social democrat tiger – and this kind of a change in direction, and in ambivalent character, for me as a director, was very fascinating. And of course, we have this open fight of these two men, which was very interesting to me. I also imagine that if Khordorkovsky was a woman, and Putin was a woman, this conflict never would have happened.

    That’s probably very true! Do you think that Khordorkovsky played the game of his rise as a brilliant chess move- in order to eventually secure the Presidency by becoming this political and social martyr? Does he have that kind of will, do you think?

    It’s a daring theory- one that the Swiss former advisor from Geneva expressed in the film. It could be. It could be that he is such a mastermind as to be calculating his prison time- he goes in an oligarch, and comes out to just take over. This could be Putin’s fear too- the Count of Monte Cristo. Of course, this question is unanswerable until he gets out.


    What do you think will happen when he gets out?

    Well, maybe that, but I don’t think so. Maybe he will do a Monte Cristo-type of revenge. But I think that he has so much neglected his family, maybe he will go into therapy, I don’t know- that sounds too modern! But, maybe he will…He will take care of his children. He has to, and he will, get all of his (other associates) out of prison. I think he also wants to start a university. That’s part of his utopian side. He wanted to focus on the Open Russia educational area. But then he got arrested, so he couldn’t achieve any of that.

    I loved the crisp and vibrant black and white animation. Can you tell us how you decided to incorporate it?

    Well, the animation was all we had in the beginning- because I never thought we would meet Khordorkovsky We had to have an image the audience could go on from with. We had a very good German artist. The animation was the largest part of the budget- 20,000 euros.

    Do you have any hopes that releasing the film in the United States will reignite a human rights campaign for Khordorkovsky? What were your hopes on that end?

    I’m not a propagandist, and I don’t start projects like Michael Moore does. I’m not a lawyer, or a proper journalist. He always has the idea of what he wants to convey- and then he executes it. He uses propaganda for the poor, instead of the mighty. That kind of propaganda- I really do like. But I didn’t start like that. For me, it was something new- it developed as we went.

    Your personal belief is that Khordorkovsky is innocent?

    I mean, what is innocent? What does it mean? He is guilty of leaving his family, of acting like a capitalist who buys a company and kicks out thousands of employees to save the company.

    Putin was also terrified that American oil was going to come into Russia.

    Exactly. And you want top say that Putin was right, he wanted to protect Russia from Imperialist America!

    It’s a very valid point! You can a little bit see both sides of that, for sure.

    One thing I’ve learned through making this film, is that it is possible for people to change. It doesn’t matter how little, or how late. Change is possible. I really believe that.

    What’s next?

    I’m trying to get a fiction project going about Julian Assange (of WikiLeaks.) If I could bring it to Hollywood, I would ask Ryan Gosling to do it! That would be really cool. I would also like to go to a great cable network, and make a great dramatic series out of “Khordorkovsky.”

    That all sounds awesome. Good luck, Cyril. You should have absolutely no problem! Thank you for speaking with us.

     

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  • IFFR Bright Future announces full selection

    CORTA by Felipe Guerrero

    The Bright Future 2012 program section in which the International Film Festival Rotterdam presents debut or second feature films, will include thirteen world premières as well as fourteen international premières from all corners of the world. Four films were supported by the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund and six films were presented as projects at CineMart. The number of films in Bright Future has been brought back from eighty-four in IFFR 2011 to sixty-eight during IFFR 2012. The festival is expecting nearly all directors in this section to attend the festival.

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  • The Interrupters Win Two Top Awards at 5th Cinema Eye Honors

    [caption id="attachment_1595" align="alignnone"]The Interrupters[/caption]

    Steve James’  The Interrupters, about violence mediators in Chicago, took two top awards at the 5th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking at the Museum. James took the prize for Outstanding Achievement in Direction, and the film was named as this year’s winner for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.  It is the first time that a film has received both the Feature Film and the Directing award in the history of Cinema Eye.  “Tonight, I don’t care about the Oscars!” James said.

    Cinema Eye presented an award for Nonfiction Short Filmmaking, going to the late Tim Hetherington’s Diary (accepted by his parents),  as well as the Heterodox Award for Narrative Filmmaking, going to Mike Mills’ Beginners.

    This year’s Legacy Award was presented to the landmark 1967 documentary, Titicut Follies, a stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

    Cinema Eye also awarded its first-ever Hell Yeah Prize, given to filmmakers who have created works of incredible craft and artistry that also have significant, real-world impact, to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky for their HBO Documentary Films trilogy Paradise Lost, which played a critical role in securing the release from prison of the wrongly prosecuted and convicted West Memphis Three. Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky and Jason Baldwin, one of the West Memphis Three, accepted the award.

    “The Hell Yeah Award, right! It’s always been no, no, no,” said Baldwin. “Since August, my life has begun.”

    “It’s been a dream come true for us,” said Berlinger. “You can make a difference when you make these films. We’ve had this amazing journey the past 20 years. We’re really appreciative of HBO.”

    The following is a complete list of Cinema Eye Honors winners for 2012:


    Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
    The Interrupters
    Directed by Steve James
    Produced by Alex Kotlowitz and Steve James
    Presented by Michael Moore

    Outstanding Achievement in Direction
    Steve James
    The Interrupters
    Presented by Alex Gibney

    Audience Choice Prize
    Buck
    Directed by Cindy Meehl
    Presented by Robert Krulwich

    Outstanding Achievement in Production
    Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders
    Pina
    Presented by Peter Davis and Andrea Meditch

    Outstanding Achievement in Editing
    Gregers Sall and Chris King
    Senna
    Presented by Peter Davis and Andrea Meditch

    Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
    Danfung Dennis
    Hell and Back Again
    Presented by Kirsten Johnson and Darius Marder

    Spotlight Award
    The Tiniest Place
    Directed by Tatiana Huezo Sánchez
    Presented by Kirsten Johnson and Darius Marder

    Heterodox Award
    Beginners
    Directed by Mike Mills
    Presented by Kimberly Reed and Alrick Brown

    Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
    Diary
    Directed by Tim Hetherington
    Presented by Nanette Burstein and Josh Fox

    Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score
    John Kusiak
    Tabloid
    Presented by Nanette Burstein and Josh Fox

    Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation
    Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman
    Tabloid
    Presented by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen

    Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
    Clio Barnard
    The Arbor
    Presented by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen

    Hell Yeah Prize
    Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
    The Paradise Lost Trilogy
    Presented by Jason Baldwin

    Legacy Award
    Titicut Follies
    Directed by Frederick Wiseman
    Presented by Steve James

     

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  • Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Announces Official Selections for 2012 Festival

    Marina Abramovic The Artist is Present

     Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has announced the official selections for their ninth annual event to be held in Missoula, Montana February 17-26, 2012, at the Historic Wilma Theatre.  The 144 film program, culled from nearly 1000 entries from all over the world will feature a free opening night screening of Matthew Akers’s new film Marina Abramovi  The Artist is Present .

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  • Pink Ribbons Exposes Breast Cancer Fundraising Marketing Gimmicks

    Pink Ribbons, Inc., which had its world premiere in September 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival and its European premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, opens theatrically on over 30 screens in cities across Canada, beginning February 3, 2012.

    In the documentary film Pink Ribbons, Inc.  director Léa Pool talks to women with breast cancer, experts, authors, activists and medical researchers, as well as the leading players in breast cancer fundraising and cause-related marketing, to paint a shocking portrait of how the pink ribbon campaign benefits businesses more than women with breast cancer.

    Inspired by the book Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy by Samantha King, Pink Ribbons, Inc. shows how some companies use breast cancer cause-marketing to boost sales, while often contributing only a tiny fraction of proceeds to the cause. It also explores how companies that pollute or sell products containing dangerous chemicals are in on the action, too, using “pink washing” to polish their images, and even shaping the direction of cancer research. The end result is that the environmental causes of breast cancer have been largely ignored, with only a minuscule fraction of the funds going to prevention research.

    Pink Ribbons, Inc. also takes us back to the questionable origins of the ubiquitous ribbon. Charlotte Haley was a 68-year-old American woman using peach-coloured ribbons to specifically call attention to the lack of funding for breast cancer prevention. When a cosmetics giant wanted in, Haley refused, because she believed that the company was out to boost profits rather than help women. But she couldn’t stop them when they changed the colour of the ribbon to pink.

    Most heartbreaking are the sick and dying women who’ve been pushed to the margins because they don’t suit the triumphal upbeat image of the pink ribbon narrative, what author Samantha King calls “the tyranny of cheerfulness.”

    Pink Ribbons, Inc. makes a powerful case that the pink ribbon campaign is failing to achieve the most crucial goal of all: it isn’t helping women live longer, healthier lives. Breast cancer rates are rising. We’ve only seen incremental improvements in chemotherapy and surgery treatments, over decades. Prevention is being vastly underfunded. Something has to change.

    But as Pink Ribbons, Inc. argues, until we force a change in the business model for cancer research, that’s not going to happen.

    Most of us have had our lives affected by breast cancer, in one way or another. If you have, you owe it to yourself to see this film.

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  • Inaugural Montclair Film Festival Hires Festival Director

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    [caption id="attachment_2191" align="alignnone" width="550"]Evelyn McGee-Colbert, Stephen Colbert, Chairman of the Board Bob Feinberg, Raphaela Neilhausen, Thom Powers, and journalist Jonathan Alter.[/caption]

    The inaugural Montclair Film Festival has hired the festival director duo of Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen to organize and program the 2012 Festival.

    Thom and Raphaela started New York’s documentary film festival DOC NYC as well as the IFC Center’s documentary series Stranger than Fiction.  Thom is also a programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    The board of directors includes Colbert and his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert.

    The Montclair Film Festival will take place May 2 -6, 2012 in Montclair, New Jersey.

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  • Call For Entries for the inaugural edition of the Montclair Film Festival

    Submissions are now open for the inaugural edition of the Montclair Film Festival.  MFF will be accepting feature films (55 min. or longer) for the following program strands:

    COMEDY COMPETITION – These films showcase a wide range of comedic expression including independent, international, documentary, and animation. They are eligible for a jury prize.

    FICTION SHOWCASE – Films surveying outstanding achievements in American and International fiction.

    DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE – Films surveying outstanding achievements in contemporary documentary making.

    NEW JERSEY SPOTLIGHT – Films about NJ or with NJ connected talent.

    FAMILY FILMS – Films for all ages.

    SHORT FILMS (55 min or less in length) are eligible for MFF’s “New Jersey Spotlight” section, dedicated to films about NJ or with NJ connected talent.


    Here are some key deadlines:

    Earlybird deadline: Jan. 27
    Regular deadline: Feb. 10
    Late deadline: Feb. 24
    WAB special deadline: March 2 

    The Festival will take place May 2 -6, 2012.

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  • New York International Film Festival Accepting Entries for 2012 LA

     

    The New York International Film Festival (NYIFF) in Los Angeles 2012 is now open and accepting entries (features, shorts, documentaries, music videos, animations, webisodes, TV pilots, screenplays, etc.) for the 2012 LA Festival. Festival dates: April 12th-19th, 2012.

    Festival screenings will take place exclusively at Raleigh Studios located at 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA 90038.

    The Deadline for entering is January 21st, 2012. If you are mailing your submission, it must be POSTMARKED by January 21st, 2012 OR you can submit INSTANTLY online.

    NYIFF SUBMISSION FORM:

    New York International Film Festival Submission Form

    Direct Link on Site (to access submission form)

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  • 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam announces full line-up Tiger Awards Competitions

    [caption id="attachment_2407" align="alignnone"]TOKYO PLAYBOY CLUB, Okuda Yosuke[/caption]

    Fifteen films have been selected for IFFR’s Tiger Awards Competition 2012. The complete lineup, comprising first or second feature films concurring for three equal Hivos Tiger Awards of each 15,000 euro, includes eight world premieres. Five competing films have received support from Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund.

    The Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2012 comprises twenty-one films, ranging in length from five to fifty-six minutes. Nine short films in competition will see their world premieres in Rotterdam.


    Jury Tiger Awards Competition 2012
    The Jury of the seventeenth Tiger Awards Competition comprises actress and film maker Helena Ignez from Brazil, star of Rogerio Sganzerla’s THE RED LIGHT BANDIT, and co-founder of legendary production company Belair; Ludmila Cvikova, Head of International Programming of the Doha Film Institute, Qatar and former programmer of the International Film Festival Rotterdam; Tine Fischer, director of CPH:DOX, the international documentary film festival in Copenhagen, Denmark; film maker Eric Khoo from Singapore, who’s animated feature film TATSUMI screens in the festival; film maker Samuel Maoz from Israel, who’s first feature film LEBANON was launched as a project at CineMart and went on to win the Golden Lion in Venice. The winners of the Hivos Tiger Awards will be announced on Friday 3 February.

    Jury Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2012
    For the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films’ Jury the IFFR welcomes film maker and film producer Rania Stephan from Lebanon who’s first feature-length documentary film THE THREE DISAPPEARANCES OF SOAD HOSNI screens in the festival; film curator and writer Andréa Picard from Canada, who worked for the Cinematheque Ontario and curated the Wavelengths section of the Toronto International Film Festival; and film critic and screenwriter Dana Linssen from The Netherlands, editor-in-chief of de Filmkrant and contributor to NRC Handelsblad. The jury will hand out the three equal Tiger Awards for Short Film (3,000 Euros) to the winning filmmakers on Monday January 30.


    Tiger Awards Competition for first and second feature films 2012

    DE JUEVES A DOMINGO/THURSDAY TILL SUNDAY, Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Netherlands, 2012, 96’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
    Sotomayor’s feature film début, expertly shot by Barbara Alvarez, is a Chilean road movie set in and around the car belonging to a middle-class family. Seen through eyes of the kids in the back, they embark on a four day holiday trip to the north, while the marriage is falling apart. Dominga Sotomayor’s short film VIDEOJUEGO was screened in Rotterdam in 2010. DE JUEVES A DOMINGO was selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation Résidence 2010.

    BABAMIN SESI/VOICE OF MY FATHER, Orhan Eskiköy & Zeynel Dogan, Turkey, Germany, 2011, 87’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
    VOICE OF MY FATHER is a powerful meditation on identity and family ties, and a profound portrait of a country in transition. Co-director Zeynel Dogan plays a character called Zeynel who lives with his pregnant wife in Diyarbakir, while his mother lives alone in the old family house in a nearly deserted village. Eskiköy and Dogan co-directed documentary short films and the feature length documentary ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL. VOICE OF MY FATHER is a fiction, based on Zeynel Dogan’s family history.

    O SOM AO REDOR/NEIGHBOURING SOUNDS, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil, 2012, 100’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
    For his gripping. slow burning feature film début Kleber Mendonça Filho expanded on a theme from one of his short films, ELETRODOMÉSTICA. In the middle class street where a rich family owns much of the real estate, life takes an unexpected turn when a private security outfit offers its services to the inhabitants. The presence of the guards brings a feeling of security but also adds good deal of anxiety to a culture that runs on fear. In 2007, IFFR presented five short films by Kleber Mendonça Filho as a ‘Profile’ in the short films section.

    ZHIT/LIVING, Vasily Sigarev, Russia, 2012, 119’, World premiere
    Vasily Sigarev’s second feature, after his acclaimed WOLFY, is a grim portrait of existence in a wintry Russian town, showing some characters living through their own ordeal. A mother wants to reunite with her twin daughters; after a wedding ceremony, a young couples’ love is tested in the most brutal way; a boy wants to see his estranged father, despite his mother’s protests. Celebrated young playwright and director offers an unsentimental, sincere and personal film on the complexity of life – and death.

    JIDAN HE SHITOU/EGG AND STONE, Huang Ji, China, 2012, 97’, World premiere
    In the Hunan province village where she was born, Huang Ji shot her first elegant feature, a quietly disturbing drama about 14-year-old Honggui, who lives with her aunt and uncle in the countryside. It seems she is not very wanted. Her parents intended to farm her out to family for only two years so they could work in the big city, but in the meantime, seven years have passed. In 2009, she presented her mid-length fiction THE WARMTH OF ORANGE PEEL at the Berlinale.

    KLIP/CLIP, Maja Milos, Serbia, 2012, 100’, World premiere
    Maja Miloš’s first feature film is a dynamic, disturbing portrait of contemporary youth. Jasna, played fearlessly by Isidora Simijonovic, is a pretty girl in her mid-teens. With a terminally ill father and dispirited mother at home, she is disillusioned by her unglamorous life in a remote Serbian town. Opposing everyone, including herself, she goes experimenting with sex, drugs and partying.

    SIN MAYSAR FON TOK MA PROI PROI /IN APRIL THE FOLLOWING YEAR, THERE WAS A FIRE, Wichanon Somumjarn, Thailand, 2012, 76’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
    At first sight, an atmospheric, suitably languid portrait of a young man returning to his home town in North Eastern Thailand from his job in Bangkok to attend a friends’ wedding in the hottest month of the year, Wichanon Somumjarn’s first feature turns into a semi-autobiography, and a journey into the labyrinth of the real and the imagined, the past and the present, the personal and the political.

    SVARTUR Á LEIK/BLACK’S GAME, Óskar Thor Axelsson, Iceland, 2012, 100’, World premiere
    Reykjavik, April 1999: Iceland’s crime scene is in violent flux and young Stebbi suddenly finds himself in a world of tough guys, drugs dealers, stunning blondes, drugs, robberies and slaughter. The feature début by Óskar Thor Axelsson is based on the bestselling Icelandic gangster story Black Curse by Stefán Máni and was executive produced by Nicolas Winding Refn (PUSHER, DRIVE).

    Z DALEKA WIDOK JEST PIEKNY/IT LOOKS PRETTY FROM A DISTANCE, Anka Sasnal & Wilhelm Sasnal, Poland, USA, 2011, 77’, International premiere
    The feature film début by visual artists Anka & Wilhelm Sasnal focuses on a small Polish community during a hot summer. Everyone is either about to explode or come to a complete halt. Hidden aggression, hatred, discrimination, as well as fears, longings and emotional crises are on the edge of breaking through the surface. Using a precise and austere style, the Sasnals create a physical portrait of a micro society that turns into a viscous swamp, unresistingly absorbing any kind of violence.

    RO-MEN-SEU JO/ROMANCE JOE, Lee Kwang-Kuk, South Korea, 2011, 115’, International premiere
    Lee Kwang-Kuk, former assistant director to Hong Sang-Soo, plays the storytelling game with unmistakable pleasure in this elegantly shot first feature. In a web of intertwined stories, a film maker seeks inspiration and finds it with an energetic waitress who in return for some payment is willing to tell him about, for instance, the time she met a suicidal guy called Romance Joe.

    MULGOGI/A FISH, Park Hong-Min, South Korea, 2011, 105’, International premiere
    Park Hong-Min’s feature debut A FISH is the first 3-D film in the Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition. Little by little, the filmmaker reveals where this unfortunate road movie is taking its characters. In a roadside restaurant, the protagonist, Professor Lee, picks up the detective who says he has found Lee’s missing wife on an island off the coast. The men head for the sea, but that night, the professor has a curious dream.

    GUI LAI DE REN/RETURN TO BURMA, Midi Z, Taiwan, Myanmar, 2011, 84’, European premiere
    RETURN TO BURMA, first feature by Midi Z, offers a unique, authentic story from Burma (Myanmar). Xing-hong, a Burmese guest-worker in Taiwan, has the duty of returning the ashes of a friend to their native country. At home, there’s the joy of seeing friends and family. Young people still sing romantic songs and dream of working aborad, like his younger brother. Xing-hong starts to look around for local business opportunities.

    SUDOESTE/SOUTHWEST, Eduardo Nunes, Brazil, 2011, 128’, European premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
    SUDOESTE, a tale of fantasy and mystery shot in stunning black-and-white, is Eduardo Nunes’ fiction feature début, after several successful short films, three of which were screened at IFFR. Situated in a sleepy Brazilian coastal village, a baby, a girl and a woman named Clarice seem to live their (or is it her?) life in one single day.

    L, Babis Makridis, Greece, 2012, 86’, European premiere
    The protagonist in L, a man aged 40, is a more than dedicated driver. His work is his life, and his car is more than a means of transport. He lives in his car, receiving his family at fixed times. His employer is a rich narcoleptic who can’t drive himself. But The Man loses his job and decides to go looking for another means of transport. A unique combination of abstract comedy and existential drama, Makridis debut feature is filled with singular dialogue, a stuttering Mondscheinsonate and a great song about bears.

    TOKYO PLAYBOY CLUB, Okuda Yosuke, Japan, 2011, 97’, European premiere
    In 2010, young film maker Okuda Yosuke made a name for himself with his low-budget gangster comedy HOT AS HELL: THE DEADBEAT MARCH. This year, he returns with his first commercially made film, a dry-humorous crime story set in the fringes of Japanese society. A gangster drama that focuses on people who primarily live by instinct, which results in reckless behaviour, bad decisions, and violence.



    Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2012

    THE MEANING OF STYLE, Phil Collins, Malaysia, 2012, 5’, World premiere
    A deceptively complex Malaysian reverie featuring a cast of skinheads, butterflies and the sounds of Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl in perfect harmony.

    AS ONDAS/THE WAVES, Miguel Fonseca, Portugal, 2012, 22’, World premiere
    An expertly played, effortlessly cosmic topography of surf, sea and sand from one of Portugal’s rising cinematographic stars.

    SCENE SHIFTS, IN SIX MOVEMENTS, Jani Ruscica, Finland, Germany, Denmark, 2012, 15’, World premiere
    Latest work by Finnish artist Jani Ruscica (retrospective at IFFR 2008) alternately describes locations in words, images and music.

    BIG IN VIETNAM, Mati Diop, France, 2012, 29’, World premiere
    Diop, who won a Tiger Award in 2010 with his short ATLANTIQUES, has two new films including this mysterious tale of a director who gets distracted during a shoot.

    AL BAHTH AN MADINA – FI AWRAAQ SEIN/IN SEARCH OF A CITY (IN THE PAPERS OF SEIN), Hala Elkoussy, Egypt, United Kingdom, 2012, 34’, World premiere
    Idler Sein’s perambulations become a layered declaration of love to the city of Cairo. Shot before, but edited after the Egyptian revolution.

    POSTCARD FROM SOMOVA, ROMANIA, Andreas Horvath, Austria, 2012, 20’, World premiere
    Life in the Danube Delta almost stands still. The postcard is a suitable anachronism for a message from this inconspicuous place.

    AGATHA, Beatrice Gibson, United Kingdom, 2012, 14’, World premiere
    A psychosexual sci-fi about a planet without speech. Based on a dream had by the radical British composer Cornelius Cardew.

    FIELD NOTES FROM A MINE, Martijn van Boven, Tom Tlalim, Netherlands, 2012, 20’, World premiere
    Abstract documentary about a data environment. Based on a list of cities, villages and unnamed places in North Africa that were part of old pilgrim routes.

    SPRINGTIME, Jeroen Eisinga, Netherlands, 2012, 19’, World premiere
    Maker Eisinga described this performance – which people can now watch – as ‘A liberating experience’ during which his body was taken over by insects.

    GENERATOR, Makino Takashi, Japan, 2011, 20’, International premiere
    Generator is a response to the disaster in Fukushima and visualises Tokyo as an eroding metropolis accompanied by Jim O’Rourke’s dark soundscapes.

    IM FREIEN/IN THE OPEN, Albert Sackl, Austria, 2011, 23’, International premiere
    A three-month sojourn on Iceland linearly condensed into 23 minutes by the camera. An existentialist portrait of an awe-inspiring setting.

    LIGHT ESCAPES THROUGH THE INTERVALS, Tasaka Naoko, USA, 2011, 15’, International premiere
    An attempt at thinking without language. Point-of-view, observation, flexibility… and surf!

    LA MALADIE BLANCHE/THE WHITE DISEASE, Christelle Lheureux, France, 2011, 42’, International premiere
    A night-time party in a mountain village in France; a reflection on the essence of our existence and a monster that preys on girls.

    SHADOW LIFE, Cao Fei, China, 2011, 10’, European premiere
    How something as old-fashioned as hand shadow play can be elevated into a higher art form. A witty, intelligent animation.

    I’M LISA, Charlotte Lim Lay Kuen, Malaysia, 2010, 8’, European premiere
    Almost sensual observation of a young cleaning lady. The heat of the Malaysian evening is almost tangible.

    MANQUE DE PREUVES/LACK OF EVIDENCE, Hayoun Kwon, France, 2011, 9’
    Experimental, animated documentary tells the tragic tale of a Nigerian refugee who becomes entangled in European bureaucracy.

    EL ARCA/THE ARC, Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, Netherlands, Chile, 2011, 17’
    After an idyllic start, things go drastically wrong with this Noah’s Ark. The paper-mache actors elicit realistic emotions.

    5000 FEET IS THE BEST, Omer Fast, USA, France, Ireland, 2011, 27’
    Film based on meetings with anonymous Predator drone pilots from the US military, operating the un-manned flights over Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    OVOS DE DINOSSAURO NA SALA DE ESTAR/DINOSAUR EGGS IN THE LIVING ROOM, Rafael Urban, Brazil, 2011, 12’
    Extremely idiosyncratic portrait of an eccentric widow who looks after the impressive collection of fossils and documents left behind by her late husband Guido.

    DRAUDŽIAMI JAUSMAI/RESTRICTED SENSATION, Deimantas Narkevicius, Lithuania, Spain, 2011, 46’
    Disturbing fiction recounts the systematic homophobia of the Soviet regime through the experience of an aspiring theatre director in Vilnius.

    BOBBY YEAH, Robert Morgan, United Kingdom, 2011, 23’
    A breathtakingly bizarre, hilariously horrifying, button-pushing stop-motion saga featuring a subhuman troublemaker who falls perilously out of his depth.

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  • International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012 will pay tribute to Peter von Bagh by presenting a selection of his films

    [caption id="attachment_2409" align="alignnone"]LASTUJA – TAITEILIJASUVUN VUOSISATA (SPLINTERS – A CENTURY OF AN ARTISTIC FAMILY)[/caption]

    The International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012 will pay tribute to Peter von Bagh by presenting a selection of his films, as well as showing three rare classics from Finnish cinema history that have been essential in his oeuvre. The tribute program, with Peter von Bagh in attendance, will be part of IFFR’s main Signals section.

    With over fifty film titles under his belt, Peter von Bagh may still be the better known in his other persona: as writer of more than twenty books, as television presenter, as artistic director of the Midnight Sun Festival in Sodankyla, which he co-founded in 1986 with the Kaurismäki brothers and as well Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna, since 2001. He also is editor-in-chief, since 1971, of the ‘Filmihullu’ magazine, and a professor of film history in the Helsinki University of Arts.

    Never simple history lessons, his films usually draw on Finnish history. IFFR will present eleven feature length films and four short films by Peter von Bagh, including KREIVI (THE COUNT, 1971), his first feature film – and his only fictional work to date – and his latest work, LASTUJA – TAITEILIJASUVUN VUOSISATA (SPLINTERS – A CENTURY OF AN ARTISTIC FAMILY, 2011) that shows a family like a nation. Finland’s painful path to independence, its development from a poor rural backwater to a prime example of progress and liberalism as seen through three generations of the Ahos family consisting of pioneering artist in cinema, literature, painting and more.

    The selection also includes the other production that Von Bagh finshed this year, being MIKKO NISKANEN – OHJAAJA MATKALLA IHMISEKSI (THE STORY OF MIKKO NISKANEN, 2010), his portrait of the legendary Finnish filmmaker, a too-little-known master of world cinema and a sketch of a typical 20th century person’s struggles and doubts.

    IFFR is also very glad to present in this context, the international premiere of the original version of Mikko Niskanen’s masterpiece KAHDEKSAN SURMANLUOTIA (EIGHT DEADLY SHOTS, 1972), originally produced as a TV series, based on a certain Tauno Veikko Pasanen who shot four police officers, in which Niskanen himself plays the main role.

    The program Signals: Peter von Bagh has been curated by Olaf Möller.

    The IFFR’s festival program consists of three main sections: Bright Future – idiosyncratic and adventurous new work by novice makers, including the Tiger Awards Competitions -, Spectrum – new and recent work by experienced film makers and artists who provide, in the opinion of the IFFR, an essential contribution to international film culture -, and Signals, a series of thematic programs and retrospectives offering insight in topical as well as timeless ideas within cinema.


    Signals: Peter von Bagh, line-up of films:


    Feature films

    LASTUJA – TAITEILIJASUVUN VUOSISATA (SPLINTERS – A CENTURY OF AN ARTISTIC FAMILY)
    Finland, 2011, 74’
    A century of development, starting in the era of Finland’s nascent nationalism, when the country still belonged to Tsarist Russia, ending in the heydays of post-WWII liberalism, when it was hip to be Scandinavian among the moderate Euro-left. A meditation on memory and heritage.

    MIKKO NISKANEN – OHJAAJA MATKALLA IHMISEKSI (THE STORY OF MIKKO NISKANEN)
    Finland, 2010, 178’
    Portrait of a genius as a troubled human being trying his best to find a way through life. A documentary about a too- little- known master of world cinema; an epic sketch of the typical 20th century person’s struggles and doubts. Within Signals:Peter von Bagh, IFFR screens Niskanen’s EIGHT DEADLY SHOTS.

    SODANKYLÄ IKUISESTI. ELOKUVAN VUOSISATA (SODANKYLÄ FOREVER: THE CENTURY OF CINEMA)
    Finland, 2010, 90’
    Since 1969, masters of cinema have shown their films at the legendary Midnight Sun Film Festival and talked about their art. With choice moments from several hundred hours of these talks, Von Bagh created a heavenly symposium on cinema as the most decent way to walk the earth.

    HELSINKI, IKUISESTI (HELSINKI FOREVER)
    Finland, 2008, 74’
    Helsinki vu par Peter von Bagh: a vision of Finland’s capital through the ages, created with pictures and sounds from myriads of films, newsreels and songs. A stunning achievement – an epic of time regained and lost again.

    MIES VARJOSSA (MAN IN THE SHADOWS)
    Co-Directors: Elina Katainen & Iikka Vehkalahti)
    Finland, 1994, 165’
    Otto Wille Kuusinen – communist, traitor, political survivor, is one of the most disputed characters of Finnish history. Von Bagh’s most journalistic work: a study of common corruption, the smashing of one human being’s soul.

    VUOSI 1939 (THE YEAR 1939)
    Finland, 1993, 107’
    In 1939, Finland was preparing for a 1940 Helsinki Olympics that wouldn’t happen, as well as for a war that indeed would. A collage of a moment in time filled with nothing but extremes. A profound meditation on doubt, sorrow and hope against all odds.

    VIIMEINEN KESÄ 1944 (LAST SUMMER 1944)
    Finland, 1992, 105’
    A plunge into the last months of Finland’s WWII in all its tired gruesomeness. A fugue of dour, sad, doubt-ridden, sorrow-filled faces, confessions and oratorical detours, an in memoriam of a time and people gone by. A masterpiece of AV oral history.

    VUOSI 1952 (THE YEAR 1952)
    Finland, 1980, 120’
    In 1952, Helsinki finally hosted the Summer Olympics, which marked the beginning of the nation’s postwar regeneration. It was a good year for many things. A masterpiece of cinematic collage, with a surprising flow and cheerfulness.

    SINITAIVAS – MATKA MUISTOJEN MAISEMAAN (BLUE SKY – JOURNEY INTO THE LAND OF MEMORIES)
    Finland, 1978, 71’
    The dance pavilion considered as the centre of social life, with the Finnish tango as the key to the collective unconscious – the dream life of the nation. One of the few honest monuments to popular culture. Simply lovely, and genuinely moving.

    PAAVO NURMI – MIES JA AIKA (PAAVO NURMI – THE MAN AND HIS TIMES)
    Co-Director: Markku Koski
    Finland, 1978, 61’
    Paavo Nurmi is a sports legend, a name people know to this day. For Finland, Nurmi was an ideal, an axiom of the nation’s spirit – which includes his failings as well. A rigorously composed high mass for an icon maudit.

    KREIVI (THE COUNT)
    Finland, 1971, 92’
    Portrait of a real-life swindler – played by himself! Von Bagh’s feature debut: a weird ‘n wild mix of fact and fiction, documentary scenes and exuberant reconstructions of purportedly true-life events, full of lewd humour and driven by a good-natured humanism. A true discovery!


    Short films

    AJAN DRAMA (DRAMA OF TIME)
    Finland, 1986, 15’
    A brief essay on time triggered by a hostage crisis drowned in blood. A fine cinematic exercise in philosophy. Screened before A Time of Roses.

    FAARAOIDEN MAA (LAND OF THE PHARAOHS)
    Finland, 1988, 29’
    Sights and tunes from postwar Finland interspersed with quotes from Mika Waltari’s classic Sinuhe egyptiläinen (1945). An astonishing exercise in reading history – in more than one sense.

    PÄIVÄ KARL MARXIN HAUDALLA (A DAY AT KARL MARX’S GRAVE)
    Finland, 1983, 16’
    A hundred years after the great 19th-century German philosopher’s demise, ordinary people from some 20 nations talk about his legacy. To the people, Marx is still alive.

    OLAVI VIRTA
    Finland, 1972, 30’
    Olavi Virta, Finnish tango’s greatest voice, as an old, lost and lonely man. Time as the great leveller in all its morose unforgivingness.

    POCKPICKET ELI KATKELMIA HELSINKILAISEN PORVARISNUOREN ELÄMÄSTÄ (POCKPICKET – RECOLLECTIONS OF A HELSINKI BOURGEOIS YOUTH)
    Co-Director: Pertti Maisala
    Finland, 1968, 18’
    Bresson topsy-turvy: the desolate rich put money into the pockets of the needy. Hilarious, and politically perversely poignant.


    Films by other filmmakers:

    KAHDEKSAN SURMANLUOTIA (EIGHT DEADLY SHOTS) by Mikko Niskanen
    Finland, 1972, 316’
    A poor farmer tries to get by, but fails. Blood is shed, not out of malice, but simple desperation. A raw exposé on human degradation and deprivation. A work of Zola-esque violence and grandeur, shown here in its ultra-rare, 5h+ original version. The greatest Finnish film ever.

    SF- PARAATI by Yrjö Norta
    Finland, 1939, 86’
    A musical comedy about a singing cabby and a singing tourist guide in Helsinki which, if viewed with discernment, presents all of Finland’s contradictions and problems in its most troubled moment. An X-ray of an era – and a true Von Bagh favourite.

    RUUSUJEN AIKA (A TIME OF ROSES) by Risto Jarva
    Finland, 1969, 108’
    In 2012, a historian/artist tries to recreate the life of a loose woman from the 1970s – and gets lost in a hall of mirrors of his own creation. Quite frightening to see this film now: back in 1969, it was a dystopia – now, it’s daily life as we know it. An under-appreciated gem!

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