“Beautiful Youth’s” Ingrid García-Jonsson and “Instinto’s” Silvia Alonso head the ensemble cast of “Veneciafrenia,” the first feature from The Fear Collection, a horror film anthology backed by Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. (Spip) and Alex de la Iglesia’s Pokeepsie Films, in association with Amazon Prime Video.
Announced in May, The Fear Collection saw De la Iglesia, one of Spain’s most bankable directors whose remake “Perfectos Desconocidos” earned $25.8 million in Spain in 2018, commit to direct or produce The Fear Collection’s titles via his Madrid-based Abel Pokeepsie.
“Veneciafrenia” went into production on Oct. 5, shooting in Venice and Madrid, with De la Iglesia both directing and producing. Its ensemble cast also features Goize Blanco (“El Futuro”), Nicolás Lloro, Alberto Bang (“Spanish Shame”), Cosimo Fusco (“Angels & Demons”), Enrico Lo Verso (“The Falcon and the Dove”), Armando di Razza (Cavan in De La Iglesia’s breakout “The Day of the Beast...
Announced in May, The Fear Collection saw De la Iglesia, one of Spain’s most bankable directors whose remake “Perfectos Desconocidos” earned $25.8 million in Spain in 2018, commit to direct or produce The Fear Collection’s titles via his Madrid-based Abel Pokeepsie.
“Veneciafrenia” went into production on Oct. 5, shooting in Venice and Madrid, with De la Iglesia both directing and producing. Its ensemble cast also features Goize Blanco (“El Futuro”), Nicolás Lloro, Alberto Bang (“Spanish Shame”), Cosimo Fusco (“Angels & Demons”), Enrico Lo Verso (“The Falcon and the Dove”), Armando di Razza (Cavan in De La Iglesia’s breakout “The Day of the Beast...
- 10/22/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Festival to honour David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Ettore Scola through special screenings; security to be tightened.
Actors Clive Owen, Alba Rohrwacher and Lars Eidinger are to join Meryl Streep in the International Jury of this year’s Berlinale (Feb 11-21) which kicks off next week with the international premiere of the Coen brothers’ Hail Caesar.
The seven-person jury deciding on the Bears, revealed this morning at a press conference in Berlin, also includes the UK film critic Nick James, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe and the Polish film director Malgorzata Szumowska whose last film Body won a Silver Bear for Best Direction at last year’s Berlinale.
Owen is no stranger to Berlin as he was in town and at Studio Babelsberg in 2008 for the shoot of Tom Tykwer’s The International which opened the Berlinale in 2009, while Eidinger is well known to Berlin theatre-goers as part of the Schaubühne ensemble as well as his film and...
Actors Clive Owen, Alba Rohrwacher and Lars Eidinger are to join Meryl Streep in the International Jury of this year’s Berlinale (Feb 11-21) which kicks off next week with the international premiere of the Coen brothers’ Hail Caesar.
The seven-person jury deciding on the Bears, revealed this morning at a press conference in Berlin, also includes the UK film critic Nick James, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe and the Polish film director Malgorzata Szumowska whose last film Body won a Silver Bear for Best Direction at last year’s Berlinale.
Owen is no stranger to Berlin as he was in town and at Studio Babelsberg in 2008 for the shoot of Tom Tykwer’s The International which opened the Berlinale in 2009, while Eidinger is well known to Berlin theatre-goers as part of the Schaubühne ensemble as well as his film and...
- 2/2/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Festival to honour David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Ettore Scola through special screenings; security to be tightened.
Actors Clive Owen, Alba Rohrwacher and Lars Eidinger are to join Meryl Streep in the International Jury of this year’s Berlinale (Feb 11-21) which kicks off next week with the international premiere of the Coen brothers’ Hail Caesar.
The seven-person jury deciding on the Bears, revealed this morning at a press conference in Berlin, also includes the UK film critic Nick James, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe and the Polish film director Malgorzata Szumowska whose last film Body won a Silver Bear for Best Direction at last year’s Berlinale.
Owen is no stranger to Berlin as he was in town and at Studio Babelsberg in 2008 for the shoot of Tom Tykwer’s The International which opened the Berlinale in 2009, while Eidinger is well known to Berlin theatre-goers as part of the Schaubühne ensemble as well as his film and...
Actors Clive Owen, Alba Rohrwacher and Lars Eidinger are to join Meryl Streep in the International Jury of this year’s Berlinale (Feb 11-21) which kicks off next week with the international premiere of the Coen brothers’ Hail Caesar.
The seven-person jury deciding on the Bears, revealed this morning at a press conference in Berlin, also includes the UK film critic Nick James, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe and the Polish film director Malgorzata Szumowska whose last film Body won a Silver Bear for Best Direction at last year’s Berlinale.
Owen is no stranger to Berlin as he was in town and at Studio Babelsberg in 2008 for the shoot of Tom Tykwer’s The International which opened the Berlinale in 2009, while Eidinger is well known to Berlin theatre-goers as part of the Schaubühne ensemble as well as his film and...
- 2/2/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
'Father of the Bride': Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Top Five Father's Day Movies? From giant Gregory Peck to tyrant John Gielgud What would be the Top Five Father's Day movies ever made? Well, there have been countless films about fathers and/or featuring fathers of various sizes, shapes, and inclinations. In terms of quality, these range from the amusing – e.g., the 1950 version of Cheaper by the Dozen; the Oscar-nominated The Grandfather – to the nauseating – e.g., the 1950 version of Father of the Bride; its atrocious sequel, Father's Little Dividend. Although I'm unable to come up with the absolute Top Five Father's Day Movies – or rather, just plain Father Movies – ever made, below are the first five (actually six, including a remake) "quality" patriarch-centered films that come to mind. Now, the fathers portrayed in these films aren't all heroic, loving, and/or saintly paternal figures. Several are...
- 6/22/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Exclusive: Parallel Venice section also planning out-of-festival activities to build new audiences for independent cinema.
Venice Days will launch a new €20,000 ($27,000) prize at its 11th edition which is due to unfold on the Venetian Lido Aug 27-Sept 6.
“Venice Days celebrated its 10th birthday in 2013. We’ve always held that our selection is our best calling card but as we enter a second decade we want to renew and refresh what we do,” Venice Days artistic director Giorgio Gosetti told Screen.
Up until now Venice Days, which runs parallel to the Venice Film Festival, has been non-competitive.
Prizes for films in the selection have been meted out independently by the Europa Cinemas Label and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean (Fedora).
Last year, Israeli espionage drama Bethlehem won the Fedora best film prize and French Jean Denizot’s child custody battle drama La Belle Vie clinched the Europa Cinemas award.
Gosetti said Venice...
Venice Days will launch a new €20,000 ($27,000) prize at its 11th edition which is due to unfold on the Venetian Lido Aug 27-Sept 6.
“Venice Days celebrated its 10th birthday in 2013. We’ve always held that our selection is our best calling card but as we enter a second decade we want to renew and refresh what we do,” Venice Days artistic director Giorgio Gosetti told Screen.
Up until now Venice Days, which runs parallel to the Venice Film Festival, has been non-competitive.
Prizes for films in the selection have been meted out independently by the Europa Cinemas Label and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean (Fedora).
Last year, Israeli espionage drama Bethlehem won the Fedora best film prize and French Jean Denizot’s child custody battle drama La Belle Vie clinched the Europa Cinemas award.
Gosetti said Venice...
- 2/10/2014
- ScreenDaily
VI Issue II
Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
The Invisible War written and directed by Kirby Dick
The Invisible War is a documentary about one of America’s most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem— the film claims that today a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The filmmakers’ state that the Department of Defense estimates there were 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011, that 20% of all active‐duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted and that female soldiers aged 18 to 21 account for more than half of the victims.
Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape victims, The Invisible War suggests a systemic cover-up of military sex crimes by the military. The film chronicles women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice within and outside the military and features interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long history, and suggests what can be done to bring about much-needed change.
Oscar and Emmy nominated director Kirby Dick (Outrage, This Film Is Not Yet Rated), found the inspiration for The Invisible War from a 2007 Salon.com article about women serving in Iraq entitled “The Private War of Women Soldiers,” by Columbia University journalism professor Helen Benedict. When Dick and Emmy-nominated producing partner Amy Ziering (Outrage) read Benedict's piece, they were astounded by the prevalence of sexual assault in the military.
This film is beautifully made, shot, directed and produced. It is one of the strongest films of the year. It shows that rape and other sexually based harassment seems to be wide spread in our military and that the military is unwilling to adjust its culture to effect the necessary change to provide a safe work environment for all of its members. The filmmakers make excellent choices in terms of who they interview, whose stories they tell. This is a strong advocacy film that can make a difference and start pushing the civilians who control our military to demand to make the necessary changes to protect the men and women who serve from each other. Frankly, it has to have a zero tolerance for any kind of harassment. With the striking of “don’t ask, don’t tell” the armed services are on their way to addressing this. The film was short listed for the documentary feature Academy Award.
Credits:
Director/Writer: Kirby Dick
Producers: Amy Ziering, Tanner King Barklow
Cinematography: Thaddeus Wadleigh, Kirsten Johnson
Music Supervisor: Dondi Bastone, Gary Calamar/Go
Editor, Associate Producer: Doug Blush
Executive Producer for Itvs: Sally Jo Fifer Cinedigm and Docurama Films
Revolution Reykjavík a short film by Isold Uggadottir
Gudfinna, a successful 58-year old mid-level employee of the Icelandic bank Landsbankinn, finds herself a victim of the economic failure, not only losing her job, but her lifesavings as well. Proud and independent, she struggles to shield her dire circumstances from her family members and friends. But as tensions in Icelandic society grow, so does her inner turmoil. She finds that she cannot deal with her increasingly desperate financial concerns and her ideas of self-worth. Slowly, Gudfinna, much like the Icelandic economy, finds herself metamorphosed into the utterly helpless being she never could have foreseen becoming.
Revolution Reykjavík is one of the outstanding short films of the 2011/12 year. One of the few works to screen at both New Directors and Telluride and dozens of other festivals, it is evident that Isold Uggadottir, while not yet a known name as a director, is tremendously talented. Watching Gudfinna fall apart is deeply moving. Her inner struggles are evident by the nuanced direction of a subtle performance. The film is nicely shot, edited and at 19 minutes it becomes a metaphor for the 2008 Icelandic banking disaster that wiped out tens of thousands of Icelanders and three of the major banks. It caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and created a political crisis for the country. Few portfolio works try for nuanced and subtle performances but are in-your-face testosterone fueled action works. This film is a keeper.
Director/ Writer’s Bio:
Isold Uggadottir is an Icelandic writer/director. Her four short films have been invited to over 120 international film festivals, including Telluride, Sundance and New Directors/New Films hosted by Lincoln Center & MoMA. Two of her films (Clean and Committed) have been honored with Icelandic Academy Awards for Best Short Film in 2010 and 2011, while Revolution Reykjavík and Family Reunion received nominations in 2012 and 2006. Additionally, Isold has received multiple international awards, most recently in Spain and Greece.
Isold holds an Mfa in writing and directing from Columbia University in New York, where she was honored with the Adrienne Shelly Award for Best Female Director. Screen International named her “one of the rising stars of Icelandic film.”
Credits:
Written and Directed: Isold Uggadottir
Producers: Snorri Thórisson, Isold Uggadottir
Director of Photography: Óskar Thór Axelsson
Editor: Isold Uggadottir
Academy announces 11 short films shortlisted for the Short Film Nomination
Because of a voting tie the Academy short listed 11 dramatic/fiction short films instead of 10. Culled from 125 submitted films, it is perhaps the best group of films entered in the last 30 years. These films range from a thesis work from Columbia’s University’s graduate film program to When You Find Me, directed by Bryce Howard, filmmaker Ron Howard’s 31 year old daughter, to the Danish 61 year old director Anders Walther with short film Oscar winner (and nominee) producer Tivi Magnusson for 9 Meter.
Following screenings in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December, Branch members will select three to five nominees from among the 11 semi-finalists. It will be challenging for the committees to find the five best in this really impressive group of films. It is an embarrassment of solid filmmaking from a global group of filmmakers. Please note: I have not seen two of the short listed films and I am relying on others for their synopses to be accurate.
Below is an alphabetical listing of the short listed films, the key filmmakers, the country of production and a link to a clip. Take a look and make up your own mind:
A Fábrica (The Factory), Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual)
“An inmate convinces his mother to take a risk smuggling a cell phone for him into the penitentiary.
Length: 15 min.
Language: Portuguese
Country: Brazil
“Asad,” Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man)
A Somali boy must choose either the life of a pirate or that of a fisherman
Length: 17 min.
Language: Somali with English subtitles.
Country: USA
“Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project)
Two young boys dream of a better life. One is without parents and the other the father wants him to follow into his blacksmithing.
Length: 30 min.
Language: Pashto
Country: Afghanistan, USA Production
“Curfew,” Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures)
A suicidal New Yorker, Richie’s attempt to end his life is interrupted by a call from his estranged sister asking him to babysit his niece for the evening.
Length: 20 min
Language: English
Country: USA
“Death of a Shadow” (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer(Serendipity Films)
This highly produced sci-fi fantasy work is about a dead Wwi soldier stuck in the limbo between life and death who has to collect shadows to regain a second chance at life.
Length: 20 min.
Language: German
Country: Belgium
“Henry,” Yan England, director (Yan England) Henry, a concert pianist, has his life thrown into turmoil the day the love of his life mysteriously disappears. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)
Length: 21 min.
Language: English
Country: Canadian
“Kiruna-Kigali,” Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film Ab)
This tour‐de‐force Swedish short begins in a mist of frost and snow. A woman is driving to the hospital in Kiruna, the northernmost city of Sweden. Under the scorching sunlight of Kigali, Rwanda,another woman is being carried to the hospital on a stretcher. The two single mothers‐to‐be are on the verge of giving birth to a baby are thousands of miles apart, but share the same fear of entering the unknown world of motherhood. I think this is the film to beat.
Length: 15 min.
Language: Swedish/ Kinyarwanda
Country: Swedish/Rwanda
“The Night Shift Belongs to the Stars,” Silvia Bizio and Paola Porrini Bisson, producers (Oh! Pen LLC)
The story of Matteo (Enrico Lo Verso), a passionate mountain climber, and Sonia (Nastassja Kinski), a married woman, also in love with mountain, as they set out to climb a peak on the Dolomites, in Trentino, Italy. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)
Length: 24 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
“9 meter,” Anders Walther, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions A/S)
A boy tries to set a new record in the long jump as his mother fights her illness. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)
Length: 18 min.
Language: Danish
Country: Danish
“Salar,” Nicholas Greene, director, and Julie Buck, producer (Nicholas Greene)
In an isolated Bolivian village, on the edge of the vast Uyuni salt flats, two lives collide. This powerful film is my favorite of the 11 short listed films.
Length: 18 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
“When you find me,” Ron Howard, executive producer, and Bryce Dallas Howard, director (Freestyle Production Company)
This Cannon sponsored film looks at the story of two sisters whose childhood bond is tested by a tragedy that they were too young to understand at the time.
Length: 29 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
"Poster Girl," produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the "Best" Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Carrier,” a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
_______________________________________________________
©2012Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited. All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
The Invisible War written and directed by Kirby Dick
The Invisible War is a documentary about one of America’s most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem— the film claims that today a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The filmmakers’ state that the Department of Defense estimates there were 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011, that 20% of all active‐duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted and that female soldiers aged 18 to 21 account for more than half of the victims.
Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape victims, The Invisible War suggests a systemic cover-up of military sex crimes by the military. The film chronicles women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice within and outside the military and features interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long history, and suggests what can be done to bring about much-needed change.
Oscar and Emmy nominated director Kirby Dick (Outrage, This Film Is Not Yet Rated), found the inspiration for The Invisible War from a 2007 Salon.com article about women serving in Iraq entitled “The Private War of Women Soldiers,” by Columbia University journalism professor Helen Benedict. When Dick and Emmy-nominated producing partner Amy Ziering (Outrage) read Benedict's piece, they were astounded by the prevalence of sexual assault in the military.
This film is beautifully made, shot, directed and produced. It is one of the strongest films of the year. It shows that rape and other sexually based harassment seems to be wide spread in our military and that the military is unwilling to adjust its culture to effect the necessary change to provide a safe work environment for all of its members. The filmmakers make excellent choices in terms of who they interview, whose stories they tell. This is a strong advocacy film that can make a difference and start pushing the civilians who control our military to demand to make the necessary changes to protect the men and women who serve from each other. Frankly, it has to have a zero tolerance for any kind of harassment. With the striking of “don’t ask, don’t tell” the armed services are on their way to addressing this. The film was short listed for the documentary feature Academy Award.
Credits:
Director/Writer: Kirby Dick
Producers: Amy Ziering, Tanner King Barklow
Cinematography: Thaddeus Wadleigh, Kirsten Johnson
Music Supervisor: Dondi Bastone, Gary Calamar/Go
Editor, Associate Producer: Doug Blush
Executive Producer for Itvs: Sally Jo Fifer Cinedigm and Docurama Films
Revolution Reykjavík a short film by Isold Uggadottir
Gudfinna, a successful 58-year old mid-level employee of the Icelandic bank Landsbankinn, finds herself a victim of the economic failure, not only losing her job, but her lifesavings as well. Proud and independent, she struggles to shield her dire circumstances from her family members and friends. But as tensions in Icelandic society grow, so does her inner turmoil. She finds that she cannot deal with her increasingly desperate financial concerns and her ideas of self-worth. Slowly, Gudfinna, much like the Icelandic economy, finds herself metamorphosed into the utterly helpless being she never could have foreseen becoming.
Revolution Reykjavík is one of the outstanding short films of the 2011/12 year. One of the few works to screen at both New Directors and Telluride and dozens of other festivals, it is evident that Isold Uggadottir, while not yet a known name as a director, is tremendously talented. Watching Gudfinna fall apart is deeply moving. Her inner struggles are evident by the nuanced direction of a subtle performance. The film is nicely shot, edited and at 19 minutes it becomes a metaphor for the 2008 Icelandic banking disaster that wiped out tens of thousands of Icelanders and three of the major banks. It caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and created a political crisis for the country. Few portfolio works try for nuanced and subtle performances but are in-your-face testosterone fueled action works. This film is a keeper.
Director/ Writer’s Bio:
Isold Uggadottir is an Icelandic writer/director. Her four short films have been invited to over 120 international film festivals, including Telluride, Sundance and New Directors/New Films hosted by Lincoln Center & MoMA. Two of her films (Clean and Committed) have been honored with Icelandic Academy Awards for Best Short Film in 2010 and 2011, while Revolution Reykjavík and Family Reunion received nominations in 2012 and 2006. Additionally, Isold has received multiple international awards, most recently in Spain and Greece.
Isold holds an Mfa in writing and directing from Columbia University in New York, where she was honored with the Adrienne Shelly Award for Best Female Director. Screen International named her “one of the rising stars of Icelandic film.”
Credits:
Written and Directed: Isold Uggadottir
Producers: Snorri Thórisson, Isold Uggadottir
Director of Photography: Óskar Thór Axelsson
Editor: Isold Uggadottir
Academy announces 11 short films shortlisted for the Short Film Nomination
Because of a voting tie the Academy short listed 11 dramatic/fiction short films instead of 10. Culled from 125 submitted films, it is perhaps the best group of films entered in the last 30 years. These films range from a thesis work from Columbia’s University’s graduate film program to When You Find Me, directed by Bryce Howard, filmmaker Ron Howard’s 31 year old daughter, to the Danish 61 year old director Anders Walther with short film Oscar winner (and nominee) producer Tivi Magnusson for 9 Meter.
Following screenings in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December, Branch members will select three to five nominees from among the 11 semi-finalists. It will be challenging for the committees to find the five best in this really impressive group of films. It is an embarrassment of solid filmmaking from a global group of filmmakers. Please note: I have not seen two of the short listed films and I am relying on others for their synopses to be accurate.
Below is an alphabetical listing of the short listed films, the key filmmakers, the country of production and a link to a clip. Take a look and make up your own mind:
A Fábrica (The Factory), Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual)
“An inmate convinces his mother to take a risk smuggling a cell phone for him into the penitentiary.
Length: 15 min.
Language: Portuguese
Country: Brazil
“Asad,” Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man)
A Somali boy must choose either the life of a pirate or that of a fisherman
Length: 17 min.
Language: Somali with English subtitles.
Country: USA
“Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project)
Two young boys dream of a better life. One is without parents and the other the father wants him to follow into his blacksmithing.
Length: 30 min.
Language: Pashto
Country: Afghanistan, USA Production
“Curfew,” Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures)
A suicidal New Yorker, Richie’s attempt to end his life is interrupted by a call from his estranged sister asking him to babysit his niece for the evening.
Length: 20 min
Language: English
Country: USA
“Death of a Shadow” (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer(Serendipity Films)
This highly produced sci-fi fantasy work is about a dead Wwi soldier stuck in the limbo between life and death who has to collect shadows to regain a second chance at life.
Length: 20 min.
Language: German
Country: Belgium
“Henry,” Yan England, director (Yan England) Henry, a concert pianist, has his life thrown into turmoil the day the love of his life mysteriously disappears. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)
Length: 21 min.
Language: English
Country: Canadian
“Kiruna-Kigali,” Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film Ab)
This tour‐de‐force Swedish short begins in a mist of frost and snow. A woman is driving to the hospital in Kiruna, the northernmost city of Sweden. Under the scorching sunlight of Kigali, Rwanda,another woman is being carried to the hospital on a stretcher. The two single mothers‐to‐be are on the verge of giving birth to a baby are thousands of miles apart, but share the same fear of entering the unknown world of motherhood. I think this is the film to beat.
Length: 15 min.
Language: Swedish/ Kinyarwanda
Country: Swedish/Rwanda
“The Night Shift Belongs to the Stars,” Silvia Bizio and Paola Porrini Bisson, producers (Oh! Pen LLC)
The story of Matteo (Enrico Lo Verso), a passionate mountain climber, and Sonia (Nastassja Kinski), a married woman, also in love with mountain, as they set out to climb a peak on the Dolomites, in Trentino, Italy. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)
Length: 24 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
“9 meter,” Anders Walther, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions A/S)
A boy tries to set a new record in the long jump as his mother fights her illness. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)
Length: 18 min.
Language: Danish
Country: Danish
“Salar,” Nicholas Greene, director, and Julie Buck, producer (Nicholas Greene)
In an isolated Bolivian village, on the edge of the vast Uyuni salt flats, two lives collide. This powerful film is my favorite of the 11 short listed films.
Length: 18 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
“When you find me,” Ron Howard, executive producer, and Bryce Dallas Howard, director (Freestyle Production Company)
This Cannon sponsored film looks at the story of two sisters whose childhood bond is tested by a tragedy that they were too young to understand at the time.
Length: 29 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
"Poster Girl," produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the "Best" Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Carrier,” a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
_______________________________________________________
©2012Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited. All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
- 12/20/2012
- by Mitchell Block
- Sydney's Buzz
Edoardo Ponti, Bryce Dallas Howard live action shorts among 11 movies still in contention for Oscar 2013 A Brazilian inmate trying to convince his mother to get him a cell phone, two young Afghans’ rite of passage to manhood, and the relationship between a couple of European mountaineers and heart-surgery survivors are among the topics featured in the 11 movies still in contention for the 2013 Academy Award in the Best Live Action Short category. Why 11 instead of 10 semi-finalists? As per the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ press release, that odd number was the result of a tie in the nominations balloting. The release adds that 125 live-action shorts had originally qualified. (Photo: Edoardo Ponti, Nastassja Kinski, Enrico Lo Verso The Nightshift Belongs to the Stars.) The 11 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title: The Factory / A Fábrica, Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual) Asad, Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man) Buzkashi Boys,...
- 11/30/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Russian director's latest epic has bombed at the domestic box office, a victim of his close links to Vladimir Putin. Yet, it is possible to be state-sanctioned and not sell out
To be truly effective, James Joyce observed, the artist requires three things: silence, exile and cunning. But James Joyce never made movies. And while cunning is almost a genetic necessity in the world of film-making, the pursuit of exile will see you consigned, like Ovid, to the farthest reaches of empire.
But there's also a danger in being too clubby. Case in point: Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov, who has long enjoyed a seat at the big table, thanks in no small part to his reportedly close friendship with Vladimir Putin. Unsurprising, then, that much of his recent work has been prone to grandiloquent celebrations of Russian nationalism; most notoriously, there was the queasy moment in 1998's The Barber...
To be truly effective, James Joyce observed, the artist requires three things: silence, exile and cunning. But James Joyce never made movies. And while cunning is almost a genetic necessity in the world of film-making, the pursuit of exile will see you consigned, like Ovid, to the farthest reaches of empire.
But there's also a danger in being too clubby. Case in point: Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov, who has long enjoyed a seat at the big table, thanks in no small part to his reportedly close friendship with Vladimir Putin. Unsurprising, then, that much of his recent work has been prone to grandiloquent celebrations of Russian nationalism; most notoriously, there was the queasy moment in 1998's The Barber...
- 4/30/2010
- by Shane Danielsen
- The Guardian - Film News
Still working on the same themes of sexual awareness and self-discovery, hopefully this is closer in quality to Sex and Lucia than Chaotic Ana. - #42. Room in Rome Director/Writer: Julio MedemProducers: Medem and Alvaro Longoria (La zona)Distributor: IFC Films. The Gist: This is a remake of Chilean Matias Bize’s “En la cama” with a Spanish girl who indulges in a night of casual sex in Rome. This sees two strangers (Elena Anaya and Natasha Yarovenka) who meet and spend a passionate physical encounter in a hotel room.....(more) Cast: Elena Anaya, Natasha Yarovenko and Enrico Lo Verso. Why is it on the list?: Still working on the same themes of sexual awareness and self-discovery, hopefully this is closer in quality to Sex and Lucia than Chaotic Ana. Release Date/Status?: IFC Films made the rare move to get this while in production.
- 2/3/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Today we have a poster, trailer and photos from Giuseppe Tornatore’s latest movie “Baaria,” an epic tale spanning three generations from the 1930s to modern times, has the rise of fascism, World War II and Italy’s postwar political jockeying as its backdrop.
“Baaria” synopsis:
Baaria is Giuseppe Tornatore’s lush and romantic reimagining of the path of one person, a Sicilian who grows, marries, has children, matures and ages, compiling a rich breadth of experiences along the way. It is also the tale of a typical village and the entertaining dynamics of small-town life where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Tornatore is a master at recreating memories and the sensations that accompany them. His eye for detail and the magic moment is on full display in a film that will remind many of his magnificent Cinema Paradiso.
Peppino, the nickname of the boy at the story’s heart,...
“Baaria” synopsis:
Baaria is Giuseppe Tornatore’s lush and romantic reimagining of the path of one person, a Sicilian who grows, marries, has children, matures and ages, compiling a rich breadth of experiences along the way. It is also the tale of a typical village and the entertaining dynamics of small-town life where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Tornatore is a master at recreating memories and the sensations that accompany them. His eye for detail and the magic moment is on full display in a film that will remind many of his magnificent Cinema Paradiso.
Peppino, the nickname of the boy at the story’s heart,...
- 1/13/2010
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
Helen Mirren attending the premiere of The Last Station at the 4th Annual Rome International Film Festival. Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. Helen Mirren attending the premiere of The Last Station at the 4th Annual Rome International Film Festival. Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. Helen Mirren attending the premiere of The Last Station at the 4th Annual Rome International Film Festival. Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. 10/18/2009 - Michael Hoffman - 4th Annual Rome International Film Festival - "The Last Station" Premiere - Arrivals - Auditorium Parco della Musica - Rome, Italy © Insidefoto / PR Photos 10/18/2009 - Enrico Lo Verso and his wife - 4th Annual Rome International...
- 10/21/2009
- by James Wray
- Monsters and Critics
- Italo maestro Giuseppe Tornatore returns to the Croisette in Cannes with the multi-generational epic Baaria. The currently unfinished $30 million Quinta / Medusa co-production will be shopped around to foreign distributors at the market for a 2009 release. Details about the picture are scarce with both the filmmaker and producers keeping things under wraps. Presently shooting in Tunis for the director’s native Bagheria, the film reportedly follows the denizens of the small Sicillian village, particularly one couple, from 1930 to 1970. Interestingly, Variety reports that a massive 200 characters appear in the film. Whether that number entails significant roles or mostly extras to fill out the community is yet to be seen. If that number is indeed accurate, producer Giampaolo Letta’s claim that the film echoes Tornatore’s much-loved classic Cinema Paradiso “albeit on a grander scale” may just have some merit. The film features an all-star cast of Italian stars including the
- 5/13/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
Providing further evidence of the increasing difficulty of foreign films to receive U.S. distribution is the fact that this latest effort from the acclaimed Italian director Gianni Amelio ("Stolen Children", "La-merica") took three years to be released here despite the fact that it won the top prize at the Venice International Film Festival. A slow, stately and intimate epic spanning six years in the lives of two brothers in northern Italy, "The Way We Laughed" is a throwback to the halcyon days of foreign cinema, not to mention a clear opposite of such user-friendly successes as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Life Is Beautiful". It is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
Granted, the film is not easy-going. It uses an oblique storytelling style, dividing the tale into six chapters, each taking place in a successive year from 1958-64. The two central characters are or-phaned brothers from Sicily -- Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso) and the younger Pietro (Francesco Guiffrida). The film begins with Giovanni arriving in the northern city of Turin, where Pietro is at school. An illiterate laborer, Giovanni loves his brother deeply and is devoting himself to making sure Pietro receives an education in order to become a teacher. As the succeeding chapters demonstrate, however, Pietro is not the studious young man he appears to be, and the seemingly moral Giovanni is more than willing to use unethical means to fuel his rise to financial success. The brothers' complex relationship also serves as a not-unsubtle metaphor for the transition of Italy from postwar poverty to a thriving industrial economy.
Ultimately, the film is more frustrating than gripping thanks to the fractured, often confusing narrative and the director's pro-pensity for extremely long takes. On the other hand, Luca Bigazzi's lush, widescreen photography is consistently beautiful, and the two lead actors deliver highly sensitive and deeply moving performances. This is particularly true of Lo Verso, who also has starred in Amelio's previous successes. The highly charismatic actor, often filmed here in lengthy close-ups without a single line of dialogue, has the kind of expressive face and haunting eyes that would have made him a paragon of the silent cinema.
THE WAY WE LAUGHED
New Yorker Films
Pacific Pictures
Director-screenwriter Gianni Amelio
Executive producer Mario Conte Producers Vittorio and Rita Cecchi Gori
Director of photography Luca Bigazzi
Editor Simona Paggi
Music Franco Piersanti
Production designer Giancarlo Basili
Color/stereo
Cast:
Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso
Pietro Francesco Guiffrida
Rosario Claudio Contartese
Giovanni's assistant Vittorio Rondella
Running time -- 124 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Granted, the film is not easy-going. It uses an oblique storytelling style, dividing the tale into six chapters, each taking place in a successive year from 1958-64. The two central characters are or-phaned brothers from Sicily -- Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso) and the younger Pietro (Francesco Guiffrida). The film begins with Giovanni arriving in the northern city of Turin, where Pietro is at school. An illiterate laborer, Giovanni loves his brother deeply and is devoting himself to making sure Pietro receives an education in order to become a teacher. As the succeeding chapters demonstrate, however, Pietro is not the studious young man he appears to be, and the seemingly moral Giovanni is more than willing to use unethical means to fuel his rise to financial success. The brothers' complex relationship also serves as a not-unsubtle metaphor for the transition of Italy from postwar poverty to a thriving industrial economy.
Ultimately, the film is more frustrating than gripping thanks to the fractured, often confusing narrative and the director's pro-pensity for extremely long takes. On the other hand, Luca Bigazzi's lush, widescreen photography is consistently beautiful, and the two lead actors deliver highly sensitive and deeply moving performances. This is particularly true of Lo Verso, who also has starred in Amelio's previous successes. The highly charismatic actor, often filmed here in lengthy close-ups without a single line of dialogue, has the kind of expressive face and haunting eyes that would have made him a paragon of the silent cinema.
THE WAY WE LAUGHED
New Yorker Films
Pacific Pictures
Director-screenwriter Gianni Amelio
Executive producer Mario Conte Producers Vittorio and Rita Cecchi Gori
Director of photography Luca Bigazzi
Editor Simona Paggi
Music Franco Piersanti
Production designer Giancarlo Basili
Color/stereo
Cast:
Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso
Pietro Francesco Guiffrida
Rosario Claudio Contartese
Giovanni's assistant Vittorio Rondella
Running time -- 124 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Providing further evidence of the increasing difficulty of foreign films to receive U.S. distribution is the fact that this latest effort from the acclaimed Italian director Gianni Amelio ("Stolen Children", "La-merica") took three years to be released here despite the fact that it won the top prize at the Venice International Film Festival. A slow, stately and intimate epic spanning six years in the lives of two brothers in northern Italy, "The Way We Laughed" is a throwback to the halcyon days of foreign cinema, not to mention a clear opposite of such user-friendly successes as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Life Is Beautiful". It is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
Granted, the film is not easy-going. It uses an oblique storytelling style, dividing the tale into six chapters, each taking place in a successive year from 1958-64. The two central characters are or-phaned brothers from Sicily -- Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso) and the younger Pietro (Francesco Guiffrida). The film begins with Giovanni arriving in the northern city of Turin, where Pietro is at school. An illiterate laborer, Giovanni loves his brother deeply and is devoting himself to making sure Pietro receives an education in order to become a teacher. As the succeeding chapters demonstrate, however, Pietro is not the studious young man he appears to be, and the seemingly moral Giovanni is more than willing to use unethical means to fuel his rise to financial success. The brothers' complex relationship also serves as a not-unsubtle metaphor for the transition of Italy from postwar poverty to a thriving industrial economy.
Ultimately, the film is more frustrating than gripping thanks to the fractured, often confusing narrative and the director's pro-pensity for extremely long takes. On the other hand, Luca Bigazzi's lush, widescreen photography is consistently beautiful, and the two lead actors deliver highly sensitive and deeply moving performances. This is particularly true of Lo Verso, who also has starred in Amelio's previous successes. The highly charismatic actor, often filmed here in lengthy close-ups without a single line of dialogue, has the kind of expressive face and haunting eyes that would have made him a paragon of the silent cinema.
THE WAY WE LAUGHED
New Yorker Films
Pacific Pictures
Director-screenwriter Gianni Amelio
Executive producer Mario Conte Producers Vittorio and Rita Cecchi Gori
Director of photography Luca Bigazzi
Editor Simona Paggi
Music Franco Piersanti
Production designer Giancarlo Basili
Color/stereo
Cast:
Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso
Pietro Francesco Guiffrida
Rosario Claudio Contartese
Giovanni's assistant Vittorio Rondella
Running time -- 124 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Granted, the film is not easy-going. It uses an oblique storytelling style, dividing the tale into six chapters, each taking place in a successive year from 1958-64. The two central characters are or-phaned brothers from Sicily -- Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso) and the younger Pietro (Francesco Guiffrida). The film begins with Giovanni arriving in the northern city of Turin, where Pietro is at school. An illiterate laborer, Giovanni loves his brother deeply and is devoting himself to making sure Pietro receives an education in order to become a teacher. As the succeeding chapters demonstrate, however, Pietro is not the studious young man he appears to be, and the seemingly moral Giovanni is more than willing to use unethical means to fuel his rise to financial success. The brothers' complex relationship also serves as a not-unsubtle metaphor for the transition of Italy from postwar poverty to a thriving industrial economy.
Ultimately, the film is more frustrating than gripping thanks to the fractured, often confusing narrative and the director's pro-pensity for extremely long takes. On the other hand, Luca Bigazzi's lush, widescreen photography is consistently beautiful, and the two lead actors deliver highly sensitive and deeply moving performances. This is particularly true of Lo Verso, who also has starred in Amelio's previous successes. The highly charismatic actor, often filmed here in lengthy close-ups without a single line of dialogue, has the kind of expressive face and haunting eyes that would have made him a paragon of the silent cinema.
THE WAY WE LAUGHED
New Yorker Films
Pacific Pictures
Director-screenwriter Gianni Amelio
Executive producer Mario Conte Producers Vittorio and Rita Cecchi Gori
Director of photography Luca Bigazzi
Editor Simona Paggi
Music Franco Piersanti
Production designer Giancarlo Basili
Color/stereo
Cast:
Giovanni Enrico Lo Verso
Pietro Francesco Guiffrida
Rosario Claudio Contartese
Giovanni's assistant Vittorio Rondella
Running time -- 124 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 11/29/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Acclaimed director Gianni Amelio ("Open Door", "Stolen Children") weighs in with this new effort, a strongly neo-realist influenced film about a pair of Italian con artists who attempt to exploit the situation in strife-torn Albania only to find themselves the victims.
This artfully made film is purposeful and ultimately moving, but political allegory combined with decidedly slow pacing could result in minimal returns at the arthouse boxoffice. The film, being screened at the New York Film Festival, opens commercially via New Yorker films this December.
"Lamerica" (the title refers to the way illiterate immigrants would spell "L'America") is the story of two Italians, the young Gino Enrico Lo Verso, from "Farinelli"), and the older Fiore (Michele Placido), who come to Albania to set up a dummy corporation and reap the rewards of the country's chaotic economy.
To make their plan work, they need a local citizen to act as a figurehead of the company. They pick Spiro, a mentally impaired elderly man who has been a political prisoner for many years. They put him in an orphanage for safekeeping, but he runs away and Gino is assigned the task of chasing him. The job proves more difficult than could be imagined. Gino gets overwhelmed y the country, both its landscape and its inhabitants, and is systematically stripped of his possessions and ultimately his identity.
He also discovers that Spiro is, in fact, an Italian farmer who came to Albania as a soldier over 50 years ago. Spiro thinks that he is still 20 years old, and is desperate to get to his home in Italy in time for the fall harvest. Eventually, Gino comes to regard The Old Man with affection, and seeks to put him in a safe place.
But when he attempts to return to the capital city, Gino discovers that the swindle has been discovered and that Fiore has fled. The young man's passport is confiscated, and suddenly he and Spiro are on equal terms, leaving the country on a ship filled with thousands of desperate emigrants.
This ambitious film has many strong points to make about nationalism and the fractured nature of modern Europe. Beautifully photographed in wide screen, it is an elegantly filmed story that reveals a sense of purpose that is all too rare in modern cinema.
But it is also a bit schematic in its structure and characterization, with the result that it feels somewhat studied and ponderous. It isn't hard to guess early on which way the film is going, and it takes an awfully long time to get there. Still, there are many individual scenes along the way that resonate movingly, and Amelio's too heavy reliance on symbolism is offset by his penchant for offbeat diversionary episodes.
The film also has a strong sense of realism, abetted by the location filming and extensive use of local residents. In fact, Lo Verso and Placido are the only professional actors in the film; the pivotal role of Spiro is played by a retired fisherman from Sicily, happened upon the directori...
This artfully made film is purposeful and ultimately moving, but political allegory combined with decidedly slow pacing could result in minimal returns at the arthouse boxoffice. The film, being screened at the New York Film Festival, opens commercially via New Yorker films this December.
"Lamerica" (the title refers to the way illiterate immigrants would spell "L'America") is the story of two Italians, the young Gino Enrico Lo Verso, from "Farinelli"), and the older Fiore (Michele Placido), who come to Albania to set up a dummy corporation and reap the rewards of the country's chaotic economy.
To make their plan work, they need a local citizen to act as a figurehead of the company. They pick Spiro, a mentally impaired elderly man who has been a political prisoner for many years. They put him in an orphanage for safekeeping, but he runs away and Gino is assigned the task of chasing him. The job proves more difficult than could be imagined. Gino gets overwhelmed y the country, both its landscape and its inhabitants, and is systematically stripped of his possessions and ultimately his identity.
He also discovers that Spiro is, in fact, an Italian farmer who came to Albania as a soldier over 50 years ago. Spiro thinks that he is still 20 years old, and is desperate to get to his home in Italy in time for the fall harvest. Eventually, Gino comes to regard The Old Man with affection, and seeks to put him in a safe place.
But when he attempts to return to the capital city, Gino discovers that the swindle has been discovered and that Fiore has fled. The young man's passport is confiscated, and suddenly he and Spiro are on equal terms, leaving the country on a ship filled with thousands of desperate emigrants.
This ambitious film has many strong points to make about nationalism and the fractured nature of modern Europe. Beautifully photographed in wide screen, it is an elegantly filmed story that reveals a sense of purpose that is all too rare in modern cinema.
But it is also a bit schematic in its structure and characterization, with the result that it feels somewhat studied and ponderous. It isn't hard to guess early on which way the film is going, and it takes an awfully long time to get there. Still, there are many individual scenes along the way that resonate movingly, and Amelio's too heavy reliance on symbolism is offset by his penchant for offbeat diversionary episodes.
The film also has a strong sense of realism, abetted by the location filming and extensive use of local residents. In fact, Lo Verso and Placido are the only professional actors in the film; the pivotal role of Spiro is played by a retired fisherman from Sicily, happened upon the directori...
- 10/4/1995
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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