Bringing a welcome rush of adrenaline to the Berlinale, Georgian director Rezo Gigineishvili’s period hijacking drama Hostages combines arthouse sensitivities, historical gravitas and good ol’ action setpieces to highly satisfying results. While somewhat underdeveloped in narrative arc and emotional reach, it’s nonetheless a work of exceptional craft with that rare crossover appeal.
Based on actual events from 1983, when Soviet citizens were not allowed to travel abroad, the film recounts the life of seven young Georgians leading up to and after the deadly hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833. A first taste of the casual bleakness behind the Iron Curtain comes early: as aspiring actor Nika (Irakli Kvirikadze), his bride-to-be Anna (Tina Dalakishvili) and friends are doing what people their age are supposed to do – drinking, smoking, hitting the waves – they’re being closely watched by the police. “Are you worried we might swim to Turkey?” Someone from the clique gets...
Based on actual events from 1983, when Soviet citizens were not allowed to travel abroad, the film recounts the life of seven young Georgians leading up to and after the deadly hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833. A first taste of the casual bleakness behind the Iron Curtain comes early: as aspiring actor Nika (Irakli Kvirikadze), his bride-to-be Anna (Tina Dalakishvili) and friends are doing what people their age are supposed to do – drinking, smoking, hitting the waves – they’re being closely watched by the police. “Are you worried we might swim to Turkey?” Someone from the clique gets...
- 2/22/2017
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Oscar-winning Ida producer Ewa Puszczynska is a co-producer on the Georgian-Russian drama.
London-based sales agent WestEnd Films has acquired world rights to Rezo Gigineishvili’s drama Hostages ahead of the film’s premiere in the Panorama strand of the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19).
Screen can also reveal an exclusive first image from the film [pictured top], which is based on a true story about a young couple who enact a dangerous plot to escape the Soviet Union. Irakli Kvirikadze and Tina Dalakishvili star, they both previously appeared in Georgia-set anthology feature Tbilisi, I Love You.
The film, a Georgia-Russia co-production, was also produced by Gigineishvili through Nebo Film Company, alongside Mikhail Fenogenov from Russia, independent Georgian producer Tamara Tatishvili, and Vladimer Katcharava through Georgia’s 20 Steps Productions,
Oscar-winning Ida producer Ewa Puszczynska is a co-producer on the project through Polish outfit Extreme Emotions. Boris Frumin is also a co-producer.
The film was selected for the Sarajevo Film Festival...
London-based sales agent WestEnd Films has acquired world rights to Rezo Gigineishvili’s drama Hostages ahead of the film’s premiere in the Panorama strand of the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19).
Screen can also reveal an exclusive first image from the film [pictured top], which is based on a true story about a young couple who enact a dangerous plot to escape the Soviet Union. Irakli Kvirikadze and Tina Dalakishvili star, they both previously appeared in Georgia-set anthology feature Tbilisi, I Love You.
The film, a Georgia-Russia co-production, was also produced by Gigineishvili through Nebo Film Company, alongside Mikhail Fenogenov from Russia, independent Georgian producer Tamara Tatishvili, and Vladimer Katcharava through Georgia’s 20 Steps Productions,
Oscar-winning Ida producer Ewa Puszczynska is a co-producer on the project through Polish outfit Extreme Emotions. Boris Frumin is also a co-producer.
The film was selected for the Sarajevo Film Festival...
- 1/26/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
Berlin’s Panorama lineup also includes new films from Us, China and Brazil.
Berlin’s Panorama strand is now complete following the addition of 24 additional titles.
A total of 51 works from 43 countries have been chosen for screening in the section, including 21 in Panorama Dokumente and 29 feature films in the main programme and Panorama Special. 36 of these films will be getting their world premieres at the Berlinale.
The German production Tiger Girl by Jakob Lass will open this year’s edition of Panorama Special at Berlin’s Zoo Palast cinema, along with the previously announced Brazilian production Vazante.
Among newly confirmed films are UK Sundance title God’s Own Country, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Cate Shortland’s Berlin Syndrome, feminist fairy tale The Misandrists by Berlinale regular Bruce Labruce, Erik Poppe’s The King’s Choice and Belgian-French-Lebanese co-production Insyriated which stars Hiam Abbass as a woman trapped in an apartment during war.[p...
Berlin’s Panorama strand is now complete following the addition of 24 additional titles.
A total of 51 works from 43 countries have been chosen for screening in the section, including 21 in Panorama Dokumente and 29 feature films in the main programme and Panorama Special. 36 of these films will be getting their world premieres at the Berlinale.
The German production Tiger Girl by Jakob Lass will open this year’s edition of Panorama Special at Berlin’s Zoo Palast cinema, along with the previously announced Brazilian production Vazante.
Among newly confirmed films are UK Sundance title God’s Own Country, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Cate Shortland’s Berlin Syndrome, feminist fairy tale The Misandrists by Berlinale regular Bruce Labruce, Erik Poppe’s The King’s Choice and Belgian-French-Lebanese co-production Insyriated which stars Hiam Abbass as a woman trapped in an apartment during war.[p...
- 1/25/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Films by Todd Solondz, Ralph Fiennes and Andrei Konchalovsky as well as an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s White Nights, starring Daniel Brühl, are among 12 projects to be supported by Russia’s Ministry of Culture this year.
Solondz, Fiennes and Bekmambetov are set to join director colleagues Avdotya Smirnova, Bakur Bakuradze, Cedric Klapisch, Igor Voloshin, Ilmar Raag and Sam Rockwell in shooting episodes of the omnibus film Petersburg: A Category Of Feelings.
The project, which is to be produced by Lenfilm Studio in cooperation with Sergey Selyanov’s St Petersburg-based production powerhouse Ctb Company, will invite the filmmakers to present their views of the “Venice of the North” through emotions or qualities whose first letters make up the city’s name: Pleasure, Effort, Trust, Envy, Repose, Shrewdness, Bravery, Uncertainty, Refuge and Glee.
The idea for the project originates from Selyanov, and one of the episodes will be directed by actor-director-producer Fedor Bondarchuk who is also serving as the...
Solondz, Fiennes and Bekmambetov are set to join director colleagues Avdotya Smirnova, Bakur Bakuradze, Cedric Klapisch, Igor Voloshin, Ilmar Raag and Sam Rockwell in shooting episodes of the omnibus film Petersburg: A Category Of Feelings.
The project, which is to be produced by Lenfilm Studio in cooperation with Sergey Selyanov’s St Petersburg-based production powerhouse Ctb Company, will invite the filmmakers to present their views of the “Venice of the North” through emotions or qualities whose first letters make up the city’s name: Pleasure, Effort, Trust, Envy, Repose, Shrewdness, Bravery, Uncertainty, Refuge and Glee.
The idea for the project originates from Selyanov, and one of the episodes will be directed by actor-director-producer Fedor Bondarchuk who is also serving as the...
- 6/2/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Turkish director Erdem Tepegöz’s social drama The Particle (Zerre) has won the Golden George for Best Film at the 35th Moscow International Film Festival (Miff).
The film’s lead actress, Jale Arikan, also picked up the Best Actress Silver George for her performance as Zeynep, trying to make ends meet in the dusty and dim atmosphere of abandoned apartments evacuated for clearance.
The International Jury under the presidency of Iranian film-maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf awarded the Silver George for Best Director to South Korea’s Jung Young-Heon for Lebanon Emotion (Le-Ba-Non Kam-Jeong).
The Best Actor prize went to Russia’s Alexey Shevchenkov for his title role as Judas in Andrey Bogatyryov’s Judas (Iuda).
The Special Jury award went to The Ravine Of Goodbye (Sayonara Keikoku) by Japan’s Tatsushi Omori.
The Documentary Competition jury - which included Claas Danielsen, director of Dok Leipzig - gave its award to Poland’s Pawel Lozinski for Father And Son (Ojciec...
The film’s lead actress, Jale Arikan, also picked up the Best Actress Silver George for her performance as Zeynep, trying to make ends meet in the dusty and dim atmosphere of abandoned apartments evacuated for clearance.
The International Jury under the presidency of Iranian film-maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf awarded the Silver George for Best Director to South Korea’s Jung Young-Heon for Lebanon Emotion (Le-Ba-Non Kam-Jeong).
The Best Actor prize went to Russia’s Alexey Shevchenkov for his title role as Judas in Andrey Bogatyryov’s Judas (Iuda).
The Special Jury award went to The Ravine Of Goodbye (Sayonara Keikoku) by Japan’s Tatsushi Omori.
The Documentary Competition jury - which included Claas Danielsen, director of Dok Leipzig - gave its award to Poland’s Pawel Lozinski for Father And Son (Ojciec...
- 7/1/2013
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Russian distributor Luxor has picked up the upcoming film from actor/producer Alexander Nevsky, Black Rose, shooting in Moscow until July 7.
The production by Nevsky’s own La-based company Hollywood Storm has a cast including Kristanna Loken, Adrian Paul, Robert Davi, Matthias Hues, and world champion ballroom dancer and fitness model Oksana Sidorenko.
The screenplay by Brent Huff and George Saunders centres on a Moscow police major (played by Nevsky) who travels to Los Angeles to help the local police there investigate a series of murders in the Russian immigrant community.
After the Moscow shoot, the film will move to Los Angeles, and theatrical release is planned for December 2013.
Depardieu to play Caucasian hermit
Russian citizen Gérard Depardieu is to follow his title role in Irakli Kvirikadze’s Rasputin, which will close the Moscow International Film Festival on Saturday (June 29), with a part as a Caucasian hermit in Polish film-maker Jan Jakub Kolski’s next feature, My Mother...
The production by Nevsky’s own La-based company Hollywood Storm has a cast including Kristanna Loken, Adrian Paul, Robert Davi, Matthias Hues, and world champion ballroom dancer and fitness model Oksana Sidorenko.
The screenplay by Brent Huff and George Saunders centres on a Moscow police major (played by Nevsky) who travels to Los Angeles to help the local police there investigate a series of murders in the Russian immigrant community.
After the Moscow shoot, the film will move to Los Angeles, and theatrical release is planned for December 2013.
Depardieu to play Caucasian hermit
Russian citizen Gérard Depardieu is to follow his title role in Irakli Kvirikadze’s Rasputin, which will close the Moscow International Film Festival on Saturday (June 29), with a part as a Caucasian hermit in Polish film-maker Jan Jakub Kolski’s next feature, My Mother...
- 6/25/2013
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
As this year’s Moscow International Film Festival readies for launch, Germany’s Media Luna New Films has picked up international distribution rights to a title in competition at the 35th edition.
The Cologne-based sales agent has secured teenage drama The Kids From The Port, the second feature from Spanish director Alberto Morais.
It will see Morais return to Moscow’s main competition, having won the Golden George and the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize at the Russian festival two years ago for his feature debut Las Olas, which also received the Silver George for actor Carlos Álvarez-Nóvia.
Media Luna has also secured the rights to Slovenian director Nejc Gazvoda’s Dual, which will have its world premiere in Karlovy Vary’s East of the West Competition on July 3.
The love story between two young women is Gazvoda’s second feature after his internationally acclaimed debut A Trip.
Media Luna will also have the international premiere of [link...
The Cologne-based sales agent has secured teenage drama The Kids From The Port, the second feature from Spanish director Alberto Morais.
It will see Morais return to Moscow’s main competition, having won the Golden George and the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize at the Russian festival two years ago for his feature debut Las Olas, which also received the Silver George for actor Carlos Álvarez-Nóvia.
Media Luna has also secured the rights to Slovenian director Nejc Gazvoda’s Dual, which will have its world premiere in Karlovy Vary’s East of the West Competition on July 3.
The love story between two young women is Gazvoda’s second feature after his internationally acclaimed debut A Trip.
Media Luna will also have the international premiere of [link...
- 6/19/2013
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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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