Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang and Eva Neymann’s Song Of Songs among winners; industry awards.
Women filmmakers were the big winners at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff) which closed at the weekend with a gala screening of Naomi Kawase’s film Sweet Red Bean Paste (An), which premiered in Cannes in May.
The festival-goers voted to give the “Golden Duke” Grand Prix to Deniz Gamze Ergüven for her feature debut Mustang.
The Turkish director was also named Best Director by the International Competition jury headed by French writer-director-actress Jeanne Labrune.
The Turkish-French-German co-production had its world premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May and is handled internationally by Kinology.
Ukrainian-born Eva Neymann’s third feature Song Of Songs – which had premiered in Karlovy Vary - was named Best Film by the juries for the International and National Competitions.
Israeli actress Tamar Alkan received the Best Acting Award for her performance as a woman...
Women filmmakers were the big winners at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff) which closed at the weekend with a gala screening of Naomi Kawase’s film Sweet Red Bean Paste (An), which premiered in Cannes in May.
The festival-goers voted to give the “Golden Duke” Grand Prix to Deniz Gamze Ergüven for her feature debut Mustang.
The Turkish director was also named Best Director by the International Competition jury headed by French writer-director-actress Jeanne Labrune.
The Turkish-French-German co-production had its world premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May and is handled internationally by Kinology.
Ukrainian-born Eva Neymann’s third feature Song Of Songs – which had premiered in Karlovy Vary - was named Best Film by the juries for the International and National Competitions.
Israeli actress Tamar Alkan received the Best Acting Award for her performance as a woman...
- 7/20/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Judi Dench Yossi Madmoni's Israeli family drama Restoration, in which two brothers fight for the affection of both their father and the wife of one of the brothers, won the Crystal Award (worth $30,000) at the 2011 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. [Full list of Karlovy Vary winners.] Earlier this year, Restoration took home the Screenwriting – World Cinema Dramatic Award at Sundance. Written by Erez Kav-El, Restoration features Henry David, Sasson Gabai, Nevo Kimchi, and Sarah Adler. Martin Szulik's Czech-Slovak coming-of-age drama Gypsy won the Special Jury Prize, worth $20,000. Additionally, Gypsy received the European Cinemas Label Award, the International Federation of Film Societies Don Quixote Prize and a special mention for actor Ján Mizigár. The Best Actor and Best Actress awards went to, respectively, David Morse for his performance as an ex-con who takes his neighbor (Martin Donovan) hostage in Donovan's Collaborator, and Stine Fischer Christensen for her young actress cast in a production of Camille in...
- 7/12/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Henry David, Sasson Gabai, Sarah Adler in Yossi Madmoni's Restoration Judi Dench, John Turturro, Goran Bregovic: Karlovy Vary 2011 Honorees Grand Prix – Crystal Globe Restoration / Boker Tov, Adon Fidelman Directed by: Yossi Madmoni Israel, 2010 Special Jury Prize Gypsy / Cigán Director: Martin Šulík Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2011 Best Director Award Pascal Rabaté for the film Holidays by the Sea France, 2011 Best Actress Award Stine Fischer Christensen for her role in the film Cracks in the Shell / Die Unsichtbare Directed by: Christian Schwochow Germany, 2011 Best Actor Award David Morse for his role in the film Collaborator Directed by: Martin Donovan Canada, USA, 2010 Special Mention Ján Mizigár for his role in the film Gypsy / Cigán Directed by: Martin Šulík Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2011 Jocelyn Pook for the music of the film Room 304 / Værelse 304 Directed by: Birgitte Stærmose Denmark, Croatia, 2011 East Of The West – Films In Competition East of the West Award...
- 7/12/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
————–
The Serbian spotlight at last year’s Fantasia Film Fest was not for the squeamish, and with Fantasia about to kick off again in a week, we decided to republish one of our podcast specials from last year’s event. Actually, in the case of two of its films, it might not be fit for viewing by conscious beings – making it perfect fare for the deranged cousin of Sound on Sight we like to call Sordid Cinema. The two films in question: Life and Death of a Porno Gang, a mock-doc chronicling just what the title implies, and particularly the film actually titled A Serbian Film, a similarly inclined but considerably more gruesome take on sex, pornography, death, and moral degradation. On a somewhat lighter note, though reflecting some of the same themes, is the hormonally charged fairy tale Tears for Sale. Fair warning: this hour may describe a number of base and cruel acts.
The Serbian spotlight at last year’s Fantasia Film Fest was not for the squeamish, and with Fantasia about to kick off again in a week, we decided to republish one of our podcast specials from last year’s event. Actually, in the case of two of its films, it might not be fit for viewing by conscious beings – making it perfect fare for the deranged cousin of Sound on Sight we like to call Sordid Cinema. The two films in question: Life and Death of a Porno Gang, a mock-doc chronicling just what the title implies, and particularly the film actually titled A Serbian Film, a similarly inclined but considerably more gruesome take on sex, pornography, death, and moral degradation. On a somewhat lighter note, though reflecting some of the same themes, is the hormonally charged fairy tale Tears for Sale. Fair warning: this hour may describe a number of base and cruel acts.
- 7/11/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Just today I was recommending the incomparably wonderful animated film A Town Called Panic to a friend, which it occurred to me to wonder: what progress has been made on the project the makers of that film (Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar) are cooking up now? They're making a new film, Ernest and Celestine (co-directed by Benjamin Renner), and as it turns out there is actually a current article about it in Variety, based on the fact that yesterday saw the debut of footage at the Annecy festival [1] in France. So that crop above is probably your first look at Ernest and Celestine, which adapts the book series by Gabrielle Vincent. The full image is below, along with some more news on the film. It looks like quite a change of pace from A Town Called Panic... Variety [2] announces that Lambert Wilson (The Matrix Reloaded, Of Gods and Men) will voice Ernest,...
- 6/9/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
What you are listening to:
A little medley from some of the films playing for free in our festival of Cannes selected favorites. Go here to see what films are viewable for free in your area.
"Titoli: Atmosfera Tensiva" by Giovanni Fusco. From Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960).
"Cucurrucucu Paloma (Live)" by Caetano Veloso. From Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997).
"Ti ricordi di siboney" by Nino Rota. From Federico Fellini's Amacord (1974).
"Mesecina (Moonight)" by Goran Bregovic. From Emir Kusturica's Underground (1995).
"My Favorite Things (Rehearsal)" by Björk. From Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000).
"Eternal Smile" by Chow Hsuan. From Johnnie To's Election (2005).
"Notturno II" by Giovanni Fusco. From Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960).
"Not Human" by Javier Navarette. From Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006).
"Siegfried's Funeral March" by Richard Wagner. From Aleksandr Sokurov's Moloch (1999).
"Harakiri" by Toru Takemitsu. From Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (1962).
"Chunga's Revenge" by Frank Zappa.
A little medley from some of the films playing for free in our festival of Cannes selected favorites. Go here to see what films are viewable for free in your area.
"Titoli: Atmosfera Tensiva" by Giovanni Fusco. From Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960).
"Cucurrucucu Paloma (Live)" by Caetano Veloso. From Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997).
"Ti ricordi di siboney" by Nino Rota. From Federico Fellini's Amacord (1974).
"Mesecina (Moonight)" by Goran Bregovic. From Emir Kusturica's Underground (1995).
"My Favorite Things (Rehearsal)" by Björk. From Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000).
"Eternal Smile" by Chow Hsuan. From Johnnie To's Election (2005).
"Notturno II" by Giovanni Fusco. From Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960).
"Not Human" by Javier Navarette. From Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006).
"Siegfried's Funeral March" by Richard Wagner. From Aleksandr Sokurov's Moloch (1999).
"Harakiri" by Toru Takemitsu. From Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (1962).
"Chunga's Revenge" by Frank Zappa.
- 6/2/2010
- MUBI
VENICE -- Sprinkled with surrealist touches and involving some pleasant music, writer and director Roberto Faenza's "The Days of Abandonment" offers reassurance to abandoned wives that while there may be some pain, they will come to appreciate life better for the experience of being unceremoniously dumped.
The attractively made film, screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, is based on a novel with the same title by Elena Ferrante. It allows Margherita Buy to display her considerable dramatic skills as a wife whose husband leaves her for a younger woman but the predictable story is an unexceptional addition to the many on the topic that have gone before. It is unlikely to make a box office splash.
Buy plays Olga, a contentedly married 40-something with two great kids and an engineer husband named Mario (Luca Zingaretti) who provides a beautiful home in Turin, is loving and attentive, and walks Otto the dog dutifully. Until one day he doesn't.
Explaining that he has found "a lack of meaning" in life, Mario says he needs to be alone to reflect upon it. Olga's best friend Lea (Gea Lionello) urges her to ask her errant husband what the lack of meaning's name is.
It turns out to be Carla Gaia Bermani Amaral), a beautiful young student Mario has been tutoring. This information is slow to emerge, however, and in the mean time, Olga goes to pieces and at one point physically assaults Mario and Carla in the street.
Into her life, however, come a bushy-haired musician named Damian (composer Goran Bregovic, who also scored the film), who has previously just been the annoying neighbor downstairs, and a vaguely threatening young bag lady (Alessia Goria) camped across the street.
The story winds to its mundane conclusion with Olga's children, the tramp, the musician and Otto the dog each playing a part in the woman's discovery that life goes on. As indeed it does.
The attractively made film, screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, is based on a novel with the same title by Elena Ferrante. It allows Margherita Buy to display her considerable dramatic skills as a wife whose husband leaves her for a younger woman but the predictable story is an unexceptional addition to the many on the topic that have gone before. It is unlikely to make a box office splash.
Buy plays Olga, a contentedly married 40-something with two great kids and an engineer husband named Mario (Luca Zingaretti) who provides a beautiful home in Turin, is loving and attentive, and walks Otto the dog dutifully. Until one day he doesn't.
Explaining that he has found "a lack of meaning" in life, Mario says he needs to be alone to reflect upon it. Olga's best friend Lea (Gea Lionello) urges her to ask her errant husband what the lack of meaning's name is.
It turns out to be Carla Gaia Bermani Amaral), a beautiful young student Mario has been tutoring. This information is slow to emerge, however, and in the mean time, Olga goes to pieces and at one point physically assaults Mario and Carla in the street.
Into her life, however, come a bushy-haired musician named Damian (composer Goran Bregovic, who also scored the film), who has previously just been the annoying neighbor downstairs, and a vaguely threatening young bag lady (Alessia Goria) camped across the street.
The story winds to its mundane conclusion with Olga's children, the tramp, the musician and Otto the dog each playing a part in the woman's discovery that life goes on. As indeed it does.
French-Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu's film is the second Holocaust-themed comedy to hit U.S. screens this year and, improbably, the second that works. Like its predecessor "Life Is Beautiful", "Train of Life" will turn off some audience members because of its whimsical take on one of the 20th century's greatest horrors. But there's no denying the film's skillfulness in employing Jewish humor, both gentle and broad, to make its points.
Winner of the Audience Award at Sundance, the film recently delighted audiences during its East Coast premiere at the Nantucket Film Festival. It will be released theatrically this year by Paramount Classics.
Resembling a fable told by Sholem Aleichem, the film centers on the inhabitants of an Eastern European village in 1941, who devise a novel way to escape deportation or murder at the hands of oncoming hordes of German soldiers. Their solution, proposed ironically by village fool Shlomo (Lionel Abelanski), is to fake their deportation by using a counterfeit train and having villagers enact the roles of Nazis and victims. The train will wind its way through the countryside until the villagers reach the "promised land."
Their comic preparations include gussying up a dilapidated train, learning to speak German without Yiddish accents, forging documents and having village tailors make authentic-looking German uniforms. Eventually, they leave the village and endure a series of adventures with German soldiers, Communists and traveling Gypsies. Complications, of course, ensue: The villager playing the role of chief Nazi begins to take his role too seriously; resistance fighters pursue the train, unaware of its riders' true identities, etc. There is even romance among younger villagers, though one girl's father won't consider allowing his daughter to become involved with the "son of a Nazi."
Although the film's whimsy quotient is sometimes a bit too high for comfort, director-screenwriter Mihaileanu does a remarkable job making it all work, somehow managing to put forth the comedy without trivializing his subject. The fact that it does not take place in a concentration camp makes it somewhat easier to take than Roberto Benigni's film, which made some uncomfortable. Here, the blending of humor (which sometimes verges on slapstick) and tragedy is handled more skillfully, and the film's ending, which will not be revealed here, goes a long way toward making more palatable all that precedes it.
The performances are excellent, with particularly sterling work from Abelanski as Shlomo, Rufus as the butcher who takes to his Nazi role all too well and Clement Harari as the ever-flustered chief rabbi. The production design and visual look manage to evoke a lost chapter of Jewish history in wonderfully authentic style, and Goran Bregovic's klezmer-flavored music adds further to the period atmosphere.
TRAIN OF LIFE
Paramount Classics
Noe Prods. and Raphael Films
Director-screenwriter: Radu Mihaileanu
Producers: Frederique Dumas, Marc Baschet, Cedomir Kolar, Ludi Boeken, Eric Dussart
Directors of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Laurent Daillarnd
Editor: Monique Rysselinck
Original music: Goran Bregovic
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shlomo: Lionel Abelanski
Mordechai: Rufus
Le Rabbi: Clement Harari
Yossi: Michael Muller
Yankele: Bruno Abraham-Kremer
Esther: Agathe De La Fontaine
Schmecht: Johan Leysen
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Winner of the Audience Award at Sundance, the film recently delighted audiences during its East Coast premiere at the Nantucket Film Festival. It will be released theatrically this year by Paramount Classics.
Resembling a fable told by Sholem Aleichem, the film centers on the inhabitants of an Eastern European village in 1941, who devise a novel way to escape deportation or murder at the hands of oncoming hordes of German soldiers. Their solution, proposed ironically by village fool Shlomo (Lionel Abelanski), is to fake their deportation by using a counterfeit train and having villagers enact the roles of Nazis and victims. The train will wind its way through the countryside until the villagers reach the "promised land."
Their comic preparations include gussying up a dilapidated train, learning to speak German without Yiddish accents, forging documents and having village tailors make authentic-looking German uniforms. Eventually, they leave the village and endure a series of adventures with German soldiers, Communists and traveling Gypsies. Complications, of course, ensue: The villager playing the role of chief Nazi begins to take his role too seriously; resistance fighters pursue the train, unaware of its riders' true identities, etc. There is even romance among younger villagers, though one girl's father won't consider allowing his daughter to become involved with the "son of a Nazi."
Although the film's whimsy quotient is sometimes a bit too high for comfort, director-screenwriter Mihaileanu does a remarkable job making it all work, somehow managing to put forth the comedy without trivializing his subject. The fact that it does not take place in a concentration camp makes it somewhat easier to take than Roberto Benigni's film, which made some uncomfortable. Here, the blending of humor (which sometimes verges on slapstick) and tragedy is handled more skillfully, and the film's ending, which will not be revealed here, goes a long way toward making more palatable all that precedes it.
The performances are excellent, with particularly sterling work from Abelanski as Shlomo, Rufus as the butcher who takes to his Nazi role all too well and Clement Harari as the ever-flustered chief rabbi. The production design and visual look manage to evoke a lost chapter of Jewish history in wonderfully authentic style, and Goran Bregovic's klezmer-flavored music adds further to the period atmosphere.
TRAIN OF LIFE
Paramount Classics
Noe Prods. and Raphael Films
Director-screenwriter: Radu Mihaileanu
Producers: Frederique Dumas, Marc Baschet, Cedomir Kolar, Ludi Boeken, Eric Dussart
Directors of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Laurent Daillarnd
Editor: Monique Rysselinck
Original music: Goran Bregovic
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shlomo: Lionel Abelanski
Mordechai: Rufus
Le Rabbi: Clement Harari
Yossi: Michael Muller
Yankele: Bruno Abraham-Kremer
Esther: Agathe De La Fontaine
Schmecht: Johan Leysen
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Following the example set by the likes of "Babette's Feast" and "Big Night", Nana Djordjadze's "A Chef in Love" deftly mixes food and storytelling with tasty results.
While not as entirely effective as its models, this Oscar-nominated, France-Georgia co-production is nevertheless an interesting and intricate hybrid -- part history lesson, part culinary showcase, part love story, part mystery, part satire.
The art house set should find it pleasing to the appetite, although not particularly filling.
Jean-Yves Gautier stars as Anton Gogoladze, a Republic of Georgia-born, Paris art curator who meets up with a cigar-smoking, older woman (Micheline Presle) who happens to hold the key, in the form of a yellowed manuscript, that unlocks his family's colorful past.
It turns out the woman is the niece of the late globe-trotting chef and bon vivant Pascal Ichac, a former gigolo and tenor whose life and book, "1001 Recipes of a Chef in Love", were highly regarded by Anton's mother.
As he begins to translate his way through the brittle pages, the setting pingpongs between modern-day Paris and 1920s Georgia, where his young mother, Princess Cecilia Abachidze (Nino Kirtadze) meets up with the gregarious Ichac (Pierre Richard) and discovers his passion for extravagance extends beyond the kitchen and into the boudoir.
But their idyllic existence is soon trampled upon by the advancing Red Army, and in particular a young, headstrong officer (Teimour Kahmhadze) who has had his eyes on the princess for a while.
Djordjadze's lively cast delivers, especially a full-of-verve Richard and the intriguing Kirtadze, a Georgian journalist with minimal screen experience. But the film's constant "two-timing" ultimately serves to distance the viewer from the rich, almost surreal back story.
On the plus side, the filmmaker, along with director of photography Guiorgui Beridze, certainly get the most out of the exotic Georgian backdrop, not to mention the culinary aspect. They present a world where even an innocent bunch of grapes can be transformed into a portrait of lusty abandon.
A CHEF IN LOVE
Sony Pictures Classics
Director Nana Djordjadze
Screenwriter Irakli Kvirikadze
Adaptation Andre Grall
Producer Marc Ruscart
Director of photography Guiorgui Beridze
Production designers
Vakhtang Rouroua, Teimour Chmaladze
Editors Vessela Martschewski,
Guili Grigoriani
Music Goran Bregovic
Color
Cast:
Pascal Ichac Pierre Richard
Marcelle Ichach Micheline Presle
Cecilia Abachidze Nino Kirtadze
Zigmund Gogoladze Teimour Kahmhadze
Anton Gogoladze Jean-Yves Gautier
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
While not as entirely effective as its models, this Oscar-nominated, France-Georgia co-production is nevertheless an interesting and intricate hybrid -- part history lesson, part culinary showcase, part love story, part mystery, part satire.
The art house set should find it pleasing to the appetite, although not particularly filling.
Jean-Yves Gautier stars as Anton Gogoladze, a Republic of Georgia-born, Paris art curator who meets up with a cigar-smoking, older woman (Micheline Presle) who happens to hold the key, in the form of a yellowed manuscript, that unlocks his family's colorful past.
It turns out the woman is the niece of the late globe-trotting chef and bon vivant Pascal Ichac, a former gigolo and tenor whose life and book, "1001 Recipes of a Chef in Love", were highly regarded by Anton's mother.
As he begins to translate his way through the brittle pages, the setting pingpongs between modern-day Paris and 1920s Georgia, where his young mother, Princess Cecilia Abachidze (Nino Kirtadze) meets up with the gregarious Ichac (Pierre Richard) and discovers his passion for extravagance extends beyond the kitchen and into the boudoir.
But their idyllic existence is soon trampled upon by the advancing Red Army, and in particular a young, headstrong officer (Teimour Kahmhadze) who has had his eyes on the princess for a while.
Djordjadze's lively cast delivers, especially a full-of-verve Richard and the intriguing Kirtadze, a Georgian journalist with minimal screen experience. But the film's constant "two-timing" ultimately serves to distance the viewer from the rich, almost surreal back story.
On the plus side, the filmmaker, along with director of photography Guiorgui Beridze, certainly get the most out of the exotic Georgian backdrop, not to mention the culinary aspect. They present a world where even an innocent bunch of grapes can be transformed into a portrait of lusty abandon.
A CHEF IN LOVE
Sony Pictures Classics
Director Nana Djordjadze
Screenwriter Irakli Kvirikadze
Adaptation Andre Grall
Producer Marc Ruscart
Director of photography Guiorgui Beridze
Production designers
Vakhtang Rouroua, Teimour Chmaladze
Editors Vessela Martschewski,
Guili Grigoriani
Music Goran Bregovic
Color
Cast:
Pascal Ichac Pierre Richard
Marcelle Ichach Micheline Presle
Cecilia Abachidze Nino Kirtadze
Zigmund Gogoladze Teimour Kahmhadze
Anton Gogoladze Jean-Yves Gautier
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 4/23/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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