Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
The name Pastor Kim comes up early in Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia. A gentle, aching man, Pastor Kim tells Gavin he has ensured the escape of over 1,000 people from North Korea in the last 10 years. He’s one of the leaders of this Underground Railroad in the area, leading defectors through rivers, mountains, and forests with rods in his neck, rolled ankles, and multiple surgeries plaguing his physical health over the years. Kim becomes the doc’s lynchpin, the character who provides light to the defectors and audience. In short: he’s a hero. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Bottoms (Emma Seligman)
It’s beginning to feel like South By Southwest is the Rachel Sennott Festival.
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
The name Pastor Kim comes up early in Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia. A gentle, aching man, Pastor Kim tells Gavin he has ensured the escape of over 1,000 people from North Korea in the last 10 years. He’s one of the leaders of this Underground Railroad in the area, leading defectors through rivers, mountains, and forests with rods in his neck, rolled ankles, and multiple surgeries plaguing his physical health over the years. Kim becomes the doc’s lynchpin, the character who provides light to the defectors and audience. In short: he’s a hero. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Bottoms (Emma Seligman)
It’s beginning to feel like South By Southwest is the Rachel Sennott Festival.
- 12/1/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
UK cinema distributor the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Ica) has launched a screening programme for independent films that have not managed to secure UK distribution.
The programme, named Off-Circuit, “intends to address a shared frustration from audiences and industry alike around the fact that so many significant works acclaimed internationally never reach UK screens,” according to Ica Cinema curator Nicolas Raffin.
“Off-Circuit’s main purpose is to contribute to filling that gap, by bringing a selection of these works to our screens, on a week-long run.”
The programme, which launches today (October 5), has selected four films for its inaugural run:...
The programme, named Off-Circuit, “intends to address a shared frustration from audiences and industry alike around the fact that so many significant works acclaimed internationally never reach UK screens,” according to Ica Cinema curator Nicolas Raffin.
“Off-Circuit’s main purpose is to contribute to filling that gap, by bringing a selection of these works to our screens, on a week-long run.”
The programme, which launches today (October 5), has selected four films for its inaugural run:...
- 10/5/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Special is the opportunity to speak with one of our great living filmmakers; doubly rare is a chance to do so as their latest project premieres on YouTube. Participating with the murderer’s row Film Fest Gent compiled for their 50th-anniversary series––Paul Schrader, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, Radu Jude, Helena Wittmann, Naomi Kawase, and João Pedro Rodrigues, to note a handful––Terence Davies has directed Passing Time, a three-minute view of Essex scored by Florencia Di Concilio’s stirring composition and anchored by his reading of a self-penned poem.
Speaking over email, Davies and I had an exchange on the project that, however brief, proves a skeleton-key-of-sorts to his modus operandi: how actors should work, what poetry conveys on-paper and read-aloud, why Essex of all places to capture this music. Therein is also an unfortunate detail about a long-developing project but embers of hope for something new.
Special thanks...
Speaking over email, Davies and I had an exchange on the project that, however brief, proves a skeleton-key-of-sorts to his modus operandi: how actors should work, what poetry conveys on-paper and read-aloud, why Essex of all places to capture this music. Therein is also an unfortunate detail about a long-developing project but embers of hope for something new.
Special thanks...
- 9/19/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Marking perhaps the greatest coup any festival’s managed these last ten years, the Film Fest Gent––recently in our sights for their addition of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s new(er) feature Gift––are celebrating their 50th anniversary with 25 new shorts by an absolute murderer’s row of filmmakers, among them: Paul Schrader, Terence Davies, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, Radu Jude, Helena Wittmann, Naomi Kawase, and João Pedro Rodrigues. Ff Gent’s unusual method was to first hire composers for a short, one- or two-minute piece, then asking this range of filmmakers––”who engage in more “traditional narrative cinema, as well as experimental work and documentary, to ensure diversity––letting sound inspire image. The majority of them (Schrader being a notable exception) are showing completely free.
Find the available films below:
The post Film Fest Gent Are Now Streaming New Shorts from Terence Davies, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, and More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Find the available films below:
The post Film Fest Gent Are Now Streaming New Shorts from Terence Davies, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, and More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 9/15/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Critical Zone.International Competition(Jury: Lambert Wilson, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Lesli Klainberg, Charlotte Wells, Matthijs Wouter Knol)Golden Leopard: Critical Zone (Ali Ahmadzadeh)Special Jury Prize: Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Radu Jude)Best Direction: Stepne (Maryna Vroda)Best Performance: Dimitra Vlagopoulou (Animal)Best Performance: Renée Soutendijk (Sweet Dreams)Special Mention: Nuit Obscure - Au Revoir Ici, N'importe Où (Sylvain George)Filmmakers Of The PresentGolden Leopard: Dreaming & Dying (Nelson Yeo)Best Emerging Director: Katharina Huber (A Good Place)Special Jury Prize: Camping Du Lac (Éléonore Saintagnan)Best Performance: Clara Schwinning (A Good Place)Best Performance: Isold Halldórudóttir and Stavros Zafeiris (Touched)Special Mentions: Excursions (Una Gunjak), Negu Hurbilak (Colective Negu)First Feature(Jury: Omar El Zohairy, Devika Girish, Isabel Sandoval)First Feature Award: Dreaming & Dying (Nelson Yeo)Pardi Di Domani(Jury: Ewa Puszczyńska, Matthew Rankin, Amos Sussigan)Best...
- 8/12/2023
- MUBI
Easy to overlook in the looming shadow of the Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals (and all of the awards season hoopla they portend), Switzerland’s historic Locarno Film Festival has remained so distinct and essential precisely because of its refusal to concede to industry pressures or chase attention over artistry.
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — last year saw the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example, while this year’s fest will host open-air screenings of everything from “Theater Camp” to Federico Fellini’s “City of Women” — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Hong Sang-soo,...
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — last year saw the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example, while this year’s fest will host open-air screenings of everything from “Theater Camp” to Federico Fellini’s “City of Women” — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Hong Sang-soo,...
- 8/1/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights for Portuguese director Pedro Costa’s short film The Daughters of Fire, following its buzzy world premiere in Cannes this year.
Set against the backdrop of Costa’s stomping ground of the Atlantic Ocean island of Cape Verde, the film follows three sisters who are separated by the eruption of the local Fogo Volcano.
They remain bound in spirit, singing the same words: one day, we will know why we live and why we suffer.
The Daughters of Fire received an enthusiastic reception in Cannes when it played as Special Screening Jean-Luc Godard’s Trailer of the Film that Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars” and Wang Bing’s 2023 Palme d’Or contender Man in Black.
For its North American theatrical release in late 2023 or early 2024, Cinema Guild is planning to play the short alongside Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s Berlinale 2023 Encounters title In water,...
Set against the backdrop of Costa’s stomping ground of the Atlantic Ocean island of Cape Verde, the film follows three sisters who are separated by the eruption of the local Fogo Volcano.
They remain bound in spirit, singing the same words: one day, we will know why we live and why we suffer.
The Daughters of Fire received an enthusiastic reception in Cannes when it played as Special Screening Jean-Luc Godard’s Trailer of the Film that Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars” and Wang Bing’s 2023 Palme d’Or contender Man in Black.
For its North American theatrical release in late 2023 or early 2024, Cinema Guild is planning to play the short alongside Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s Berlinale 2023 Encounters title In water,...
- 7/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The pair join jury president French actor Lambert Wilson in the international competition strand
Aftersun director Charlotte Wells and Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi are among the jurors for the 76th Locarno Film Festival (August 2-12).
The Scottish filmmaker and Iranian actor will sit on the international competition jury, led by French actor Lambert Wilson, alongside European Film Academy president Matthijs Wouter Knol and Lesli Klainberg, president of film at the Lincoln Centre.
Films competing at Locarno this year include Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, Lav Diaz’s Essential Truths...
Aftersun director Charlotte Wells and Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi are among the jurors for the 76th Locarno Film Festival (August 2-12).
The Scottish filmmaker and Iranian actor will sit on the international competition jury, led by French actor Lambert Wilson, alongside European Film Academy president Matthijs Wouter Knol and Lesli Klainberg, president of film at the Lincoln Centre.
Films competing at Locarno this year include Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, Lav Diaz’s Essential Truths...
- 7/12/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Aftersun director Charlotte Wells and Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi have joined the jury of the 76th Locarno International Film Festival and will judge the 2023 competitors for the festival’s Golden Leopard award. Ebrahimi also stars in Noora Niasari’s Sundance audience award winner Shayda, which will be the closing film in Locarno this year.
French actor Lambert Wilson, known for his performances in the Matrix films, will head up this year’s Locarno international jury as president. Also in the 2023 jury are European Film Academy director and CEO Matthijs Wouter Knol and Lesli Klainberg, President of Film at New York’s Lincoln Center.
The films of Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del presente sidebar, featuring works from first and second-time directors will be assessed by a three-person jury of Beatrice Fiorentino, general delegate of Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, the French-Tunisian director Erige Sehiri (Under the Fig Trees...
French actor Lambert Wilson, known for his performances in the Matrix films, will head up this year’s Locarno international jury as president. Also in the 2023 jury are European Film Academy director and CEO Matthijs Wouter Knol and Lesli Klainberg, President of Film at New York’s Lincoln Center.
The films of Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del presente sidebar, featuring works from first and second-time directors will be assessed by a three-person jury of Beatrice Fiorentino, general delegate of Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, the French-Tunisian director Erige Sehiri (Under the Fig Trees...
- 7/12/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As we approach 2023’s halfway point it’s time to take a temperature of the finest cinema thus far: we’ve rounded up our favorites from the first six months of this year, many of which have flown under the radar. Kindly note that this is based solely on U.S. theatrical and digital releases from 2023.
We should also note a number of stellar films that premiered on the festival circuit last year also had an awards-qualifying run, thus making them 2022 films by our standards––including One Fine Morning, Saint Omer, and Return to Seoul. Check out our picks below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Kelly Fremon Craig)
Like Judy Blume’s treasured young adult classic, Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret begins in 1970 with 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) getting the worst news any...
We should also note a number of stellar films that premiered on the festival circuit last year also had an awards-qualifying run, thus making them 2022 films by our standards––including One Fine Morning, Saint Omer, and Return to Seoul. Check out our picks below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Kelly Fremon Craig)
Like Judy Blume’s treasured young adult classic, Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret begins in 1970 with 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) getting the worst news any...
- 6/13/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
“In Our Day,” the new Hong Sang-soo film premiering later this week as the Cannes Film Festival’s closing night film, has been acquired by Cinema Guild. A theatrical release is planned following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The picture stars Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Gi Ju-bong and Ha Seong-guk. This character dramedy marks Hong’s 30th feature film, this time using long, elaborate takes to articulate simple pleasures like an interspecies encounter, the discovery of a new drink and a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Also Read:
Rebel Wilson to Make Directorial Debut With Musical Comedy ‘The Deb’
“Adding to the rich tableau of his work, Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Our Day’ not only makes us laugh, it makes us think about what it means to be alive,” Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly said in a statement. “It’s a gift that we hope continues and continues.
The picture stars Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Gi Ju-bong and Ha Seong-guk. This character dramedy marks Hong’s 30th feature film, this time using long, elaborate takes to articulate simple pleasures like an interspecies encounter, the discovery of a new drink and a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Also Read:
Rebel Wilson to Make Directorial Debut With Musical Comedy ‘The Deb’
“Adding to the rich tableau of his work, Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Our Day’ not only makes us laugh, it makes us think about what it means to be alive,” Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly said in a statement. “It’s a gift that we hope continues and continues.
- 5/24/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Hong Sang-soo’s latest film “In Our Day,” which will premiere on closing night of Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, has been acquired by Cinema Guild for North America.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year.
“In Our Day” stars Kim Minhee as Sangwon, an actress who has recently returned to South Korea and is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor,
Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts, but they also
have bigger questions.
Hong’s 30th feature outing, “In Our Day” demonstrates a new...
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year.
“In Our Day” stars Kim Minhee as Sangwon, an actress who has recently returned to South Korea and is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor,
Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts, but they also
have bigger questions.
Hong’s 30th feature outing, “In Our Day” demonstrates a new...
- 5/24/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Hong’s 30th feature premieres at Cannes on May 25.
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, the closing night film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, in a deal with South Korea’s Finecut.
Cinema Guild said it will release Hong’s 30th feature film in theatres following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The South Korean film follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The feature has already sold to key territories, including France (Capricci), Spain...
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, the closing night film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, in a deal with South Korea’s Finecut.
Cinema Guild said it will release Hong’s 30th feature film in theatres following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The South Korean film follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The feature has already sold to key territories, including France (Capricci), Spain...
- 5/24/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have taken part.
The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.
The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...
The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.
The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...
- 5/21/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have taken part.
The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.
The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...
The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.
The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...
- 5/21/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have taken part.
The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.
The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...
The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.
The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...
- 5/21/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSLast Summer.The first round of Cannes-centric announcements has arrived (full selections linked): on Thursday, the festival unveiled the Competition, Un Certain Regard, and Special Screenings lineups. The Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week slates followed on Monday and Tuesday.Applications are now open for this year’s edition of the Locarno Critics Academy. Participating critics will be able to cover the festival and attend workshops with critics, programmers, and filmmakers. Some Notebook samples by a few of last year's critics: Dini Adanurani covered Locarno's experimental 24-hour panel, and Laura Staab contributed interviews with Helena Wittmann and Kelly Reichardt (the latter cowritten with Christopher Small).Jim Jarmusch is planning to shoot his next film in the autumn—characteristically, it will be “quiet, funny,...
- 4/19/2023
- MUBI
With only two feature films, German director Helena Wittmann has established herself as one of the most distinctive voices in international cinema. Her 2017 debut Drift and her latest film, Human Flowers of Flesh invite audiences on transcendent, formally bold voyages, creating a space for reflection while feeling wholly transported to her locales. Starring Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia, with an appearance by Denis Lavant, her latest film follows a woman who sets sail on an aquatic adventure with five male members of the French Foreign Legion, none of whom speak the same language.
While in town for her New York Film Festival premiere last fall, I caught up with Wittmann to discuss her connection with the sea, casting, how she pulled off some of the film’s incredible shots, being inspired by Claire Denis, and more. Check out the conversation as the film enters a limited release this weekend, beginning at Metrograph and expanding.
While in town for her New York Film Festival premiere last fall, I caught up with Wittmann to discuss her connection with the sea, casting, how she pulled off some of the film’s incredible shots, being inspired by Claire Denis, and more. Check out the conversation as the film enters a limited release this weekend, beginning at Metrograph and expanding.
- 4/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai, Steven Spielberg, Claire Denis, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Kelly Reichardt, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Charles Burnett, Lynne Ramsay, Lee Chang-dong, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mia Hansen-Løve, Bi Gan, Michael Haneke, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Those are just a few of the directors who have been featured at New Directors/New Films throughout its 52-year history.
With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.
Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...
With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.
Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...
- 3/28/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSThe Act of Killing. Though he’s known for nonfiction, Joshua Oppenheimer just began production on a musical about the end of the world, fittingly called The End. Filming now in Dublin, it stars Tilda Swinton and George Mackay, via the production company’s website.After 23 years, A.O. Scott is stepping away from film criticism at the New York Times, transitioning to a new role as a critic at large for the Book Review. He conducts his own exit interview.In comedy news, Safdie muse and Razzie record-breaker Adam Sandler was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this week in Washington, D.C.Finally, we’re thinking of the character actor Lance Reddick this week, who died suddenly last Friday at...
- 3/22/2023
- MUBI
"A towering, teetering and exquisitely-wrought puzzle box." The Cinema Guild has released an official US trailer for a French-German indie film titled Human Flowers of the Flesh, which originally premiered at the 2022 Locarno Film Festival last year. Opening at the Metrograph in NYC in April, with hopefully more cinemas to follow. In her spellbinding followup to the critically acclaimed Drift, Helena Wittmann invites us to relinquish control and join her on a Mediterranean voyage unlike any other. Ida lives on a sailing yacht with a crew of five men. While on shore leave in Marseilles, she becomes fascinated with the French Foreign Legion and decides to sail to Sidi Bel Abbès (see Google Maps), the Legion's former headquarters in Algeria. This stars Angeliki Papoulia as Ida, along with Steffen Danek, Gustavo Jahn, Ingo Martens, and Denis Lavant. The film looks extremely experimental and intensely meditative, definitely not for everyone,...
- 3/17/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the most exciting directorial debuts of recent years is Helena Wittmann’s 2017 feature Drift, a formally audacious aquatic journey. The German filmmaker returned to the festival circuit last year, at Locarno and the New York Film Festival, with her follow-up Human Flowers of Flesh, which proved a natural extension of her transportive cinematic interests in the sea while greatly expanding her canvas. Ahead of a theatrical release from Cinema Guild release beginning at Metrograph on April 14––alongside a full retrospective of Wittmann’s work, including Drift, 4 short films, and a live performance piece––we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer and poster.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Human Flowers of Flesh follows, Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), who, after a stirring encounter with the French Foreign Legion sets sail with her own corps of five men, none of whom speak the same language, to trace the route of this fabled troop.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Human Flowers of Flesh follows, Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), who, after a stirring encounter with the French Foreign Legion sets sail with her own corps of five men, none of whom speak the same language, to trace the route of this fabled troop.
- 3/16/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired North American rights for Belgian director Bas Devos’s film Here which won best film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters section last month as well as the Fipresci prize.
The film revolves around a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is making preparations ahead of his return home to visit his mother for the holidays, not knowing if he will come back to the city.
While waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets a Belgian-Chinese woman bryologist, or expert in the study of moss and lichen, who is preparing her doctorate while working in her aunt’s restaurant. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
Like Devos’s previous 2019 film Ghost Tropic, Brussels is inherent to the storyline as the director explores ideas of longing in contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists...
The film revolves around a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is making preparations ahead of his return home to visit his mother for the holidays, not knowing if he will come back to the city.
While waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets a Belgian-Chinese woman bryologist, or expert in the study of moss and lichen, who is preparing her doctorate while working in her aunt’s restaurant. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
Like Devos’s previous 2019 film Ghost Tropic, Brussels is inherent to the storyline as the director explores ideas of longing in contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists...
- 3/14/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has nabbed North American rights to the feature doc Our Body directed by Venice prize winner Claire Simon (The Competition), which premiered to critical acclaim at last month’s Berlin Film Festival before touching down stateside at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight as well as True/False. Pic is slated for release in theaters later this year.
Related Story Tribeca Prize-Winning Abortion Dramedy ‘Cherry’ Acquired By Entertainment Squad Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Jacquelyn Mills' Berlin Prize-Winning Doc 'Geographies Of Solitude' Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Rodrigo Reyes Documentary 'Sansón And Me'
Simon looks, with Our Body, at the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. We see cancer screenings and fertility appointments,...
Related Story Tribeca Prize-Winning Abortion Dramedy ‘Cherry’ Acquired By Entertainment Squad Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Jacquelyn Mills' Berlin Prize-Winning Doc 'Geographies Of Solitude' Related Story Cinema Guild Acquires Rodrigo Reyes Documentary 'Sansón And Me'
Simon looks, with Our Body, at the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. We see cancer screenings and fertility appointments,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, “In Water,” has been bought by Cinema Guild for North American distribution on the heels of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically, despite a below-standard run time of just 61-minutes.
Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo...
The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically, despite a below-standard run time of just 61-minutes.
Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo...
- 2/22/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
To be blunt about it, we’re reaching the sad, maybe inevitable stage where Beau Travail and its famous closing sequence are becoming subject to the dreaded “Seinfeld Effect,” coined to note where the original value of something is diminished by successive imitations. It’s not that Denis’ film and Denis Levant’s death dance would ever lose their impact for those new or returning to it, but that a prospective viewer could see a weaker future rendering or a jaded, comic social-media reference to the scene first, and then afterward eventually seek out Beau Travail, greeting it with a bit of a “huh, that’s where that’s from” or underwhelmed reaction.
To Disco Boy’s credit, while its core themes and imagery are second-hand, it does attempt to build, expand on, perhaps modernize Beau Travail, not unlike Helena Wittmann’s recent Human Flowers of Flesh, which premiered last...
To Disco Boy’s credit, while its core themes and imagery are second-hand, it does attempt to build, expand on, perhaps modernize Beau Travail, not unlike Helena Wittmann’s recent Human Flowers of Flesh, which premiered last...
- 2/22/2023
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
“Music,” Angela Schanelec’s German drama, has been bought by Cinema Guild for North
American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon their
newborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.
“With Music, Angela Schanelec continues to...
American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon their
newborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.
“With Music, Angela Schanelec continues to...
- 2/21/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSNewly-minted Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie.The 95th Academy Awards unveiled their full list of nominees yesterday. Browse the categories and relevant coverage on Notebook to prepare for the ceremony, airing March 12. (Andrea Riseborough made the cut.)On Monday, the Berlinale announced their main competition lineup, including new films by Angela Schanelec, Christian Petzold, Margarethe Von Trotta, and Philippe Garrel. Meanwhile, their Encounters section features new films from Hong Sang-soo, Dustin Guy Defa, Tatiana Huezo, and more. Notebook has the full lineup here.Last Wednesday, January 18, filmmaker, critic, and producer Paul Vecchiali died at the age of 92. Patrick Preziosi summed up a bit of his impact in his Notebook Primer on Vecchiali’s film company, Diagonale, “a solar system of the utopian possibilities of cinematic community.
- 1/24/2023
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSSpencer Bell, Nobody Knows My Name.Sight & Sound have shared the eclectic results of their annual video essays poll. The top pieces from 2022 "range from exceptional TikTok content (which doesn’t even take the title for brevity—competing against a 30-second montage) to short or feature-length essay films, documentaries, as well as art museum/gallery installations and live performances in academic contexts."The Berlinale has announced their Forum lineup, including world premieres from Claire Simon, Burak Çevik, and more.Recommended VIEWINGA24 have shared a trailer for Ari Aster’s new film Beau is Afraid ahead of an April US release. Joaquin Phoenix will star as the neurotic lead of the surrealist horror comedy from the “ingeniously depraved” mind behind Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019).Third...
- 1/18/2023
- MUBI
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has picked up U.S. rights to the Jacquelyn Mills-directed Berlin prize winner Geographies of Solitude with plans to open the documentary in theaters next year, beginning with a run at New York City’s Anthology Film Archives from January 25- 31.
An immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island, a remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic, the film follows Zoe Lucas, a naturalist and environmentalist who has lived there for over 40 years, collecting, cleaning and documenting marine litter that persistently washes up on the island’s shores.
The feature shot on 16mm and created using eco-friendly filmmaking techniques claimed the Caligari Film Award, as well as the C.I.C.A.E. Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury upon its world premiere in the Forum section of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival. It then went on to win Best Canadian Documentary and...
An immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island, a remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic, the film follows Zoe Lucas, a naturalist and environmentalist who has lived there for over 40 years, collecting, cleaning and documenting marine litter that persistently washes up on the island’s shores.
The feature shot on 16mm and created using eco-friendly filmmaking techniques claimed the Caligari Film Award, as well as the C.I.C.A.E. Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury upon its world premiere in the Forum section of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival. It then went on to win Best Canadian Documentary and...
- 11/30/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has picked up U.S. rights to the documentary Sansón and Me, directed by Rodrigo Reyes (499), which won Best Film at Sheffield DocFest in June after world premiering in Tribeca. The film has been slated for release in theaters next year, beginning with a run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on March 3.
Reyes’ latest feature emerged from his day job as a Spanish criminal interpreter in a small town in California, through which he met a young man named Sansón, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who was sentenced to life in prison without parole. With no permission to interview him, Sansón and Reyes worked together over the course of a decade, using hundreds of letters as inspiration for recreations of Sansón’s childhood — featuring members of his own family. The result is a vibrant portrait of a friendship navigating immigration and the depths of the criminal justice...
Reyes’ latest feature emerged from his day job as a Spanish criminal interpreter in a small town in California, through which he met a young man named Sansón, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who was sentenced to life in prison without parole. With no permission to interview him, Sansón and Reyes worked together over the course of a decade, using hundreds of letters as inspiration for recreations of Sansón’s childhood — featuring members of his own family. The result is a vibrant portrait of a friendship navigating immigration and the depths of the criminal justice...
- 11/17/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The 60th New York Film Festival kicks off on September 30th! Below you'll find all of Notebook's coverage of the films in the selection, gathered in one convenient place. As we cover more titles, this page will be updated with new essays and interviews, so check back frequently for updates.Main SLATEFilmmaker Interviews:De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor)Pacifiction (Albert Serra)Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)Dispatch Coverage:All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)Armageddon Time (James Gray)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Enys Men (Mark Jenkin)Eo (Jerzy Skolimowski)The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)No Bears (Jafar Panahi)The Novelist's Film (Hong Sang-soo)One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Løve)R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu)Saint Omer (Alice Diop)Scarlet (Pietro Marcello)Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)Stars at Noon (Claire Denis)TÁR...
- 10/11/2022
- MUBI
The Cinema Guild folks have just netted the popular Locarno comp title by Helena Wittmann. Her sophomore feature Human Flowers Of Flesh will continue working the film festival circuit (fairly certain it’ll hit Rotterdam next year) and Screen Daily reports that the film will hit theatrically in 2023.
Ida lives on a ship with her crew of five men. In Marseille her attention is caught by the secretive male world of the French Foreign Legion and she decides to follow its traces across the Mediterranean. As Ida and her crew sail via Corsica to the historical headquarters of the Legion in Algeria, boundaries and certainties blur while life at sea produces a special kind of mutual understanding. …...
Ida lives on a ship with her crew of five men. In Marseille her attention is caught by the secretive male world of the French Foreign Legion and she decides to follow its traces across the Mediterranean. As Ida and her crew sail via Corsica to the historical headquarters of the Legion in Algeria, boundaries and certainties blur while life at sea produces a special kind of mutual understanding. …...
- 10/5/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Hamburg-based Fünferfilm co-produced, lining up third film with writer-director Helena Wittmann.
Cinema Guild has picked up North American rights to Helena Wittmann’s Locarno selection Human Flowers Of Flesh, which screens at Filmfest Hamburg this week.
Wittmann’s follow up to her 2017 debut feature Drift will receive its US premiere at New York Film Festival next week.
Cinema Guild plans a theatrical release in 2023 on the story starring Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia as a woman who enlists the help of five men who don’t speak each other’s languages and embark on a trip around the Mediterranean.
“A film...
Cinema Guild has picked up North American rights to Helena Wittmann’s Locarno selection Human Flowers Of Flesh, which screens at Filmfest Hamburg this week.
Wittmann’s follow up to her 2017 debut feature Drift will receive its US premiere at New York Film Festival next week.
Cinema Guild plans a theatrical release in 2023 on the story starring Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia as a woman who enlists the help of five men who don’t speak each other’s languages and embark on a trip around the Mediterranean.
“A film...
- 10/4/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights for Human Flowers of Flesh directed by Helena Wittmann (Drift).
The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and will make its U.S. bow at the New York Film Festival next week. A theatrical release is planned for 2023.
It follows Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), a woman sailing the Mediterranean Sea with a crew of men, none of whom speak the same language. In Marseille, where the French Foreign Legion is based, she become enamored with this fabled troop and sets off on a voyage to trace its route, leading to Corsica and finally to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, the historical headquarters of the Legion. Along the way, boundaries blur as life at sea produces a special kind of mutual understanding.
“Helena Wittmann has a unique gift for crafting singular, richly sensorial cinematic experiences,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We...
The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and will make its U.S. bow at the New York Film Festival next week. A theatrical release is planned for 2023.
It follows Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), a woman sailing the Mediterranean Sea with a crew of men, none of whom speak the same language. In Marseille, where the French Foreign Legion is based, she become enamored with this fabled troop and sets off on a voyage to trace its route, leading to Corsica and finally to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, the historical headquarters of the Legion. Along the way, boundaries blur as life at sea produces a special kind of mutual understanding.
“Helena Wittmann has a unique gift for crafting singular, richly sensorial cinematic experiences,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We...
- 10/4/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Hamburg-based indie has slate of projects in advanced development.
Hamburg-based producer Fünferfilm is planning a third collaboration with filmmaker Helena Wittmann whose feature Human Flowers Of Flesh is screening at this week’s Filmfest Hamburg.
Wittman’s first collaboration with Fünferfilm was her 2017 debut Drift, followed up by her second feature Human Flowers Of Flesh. The latter world premiered in main competition at Locarno in August.
“The project is at a very early stage as a treatment with the working title of Die Stadt,” revealed Julia Cöllen, who co-founded Fünferfilm with Frank Scheuffele and Karsten Krause in 2016.
Collen said the...
Hamburg-based producer Fünferfilm is planning a third collaboration with filmmaker Helena Wittmann whose feature Human Flowers Of Flesh is screening at this week’s Filmfest Hamburg.
Wittman’s first collaboration with Fünferfilm was her 2017 debut Drift, followed up by her second feature Human Flowers Of Flesh. The latter world premiered in main competition at Locarno in August.
“The project is at a very early stage as a treatment with the working title of Die Stadt,” revealed Julia Cöllen, who co-founded Fünferfilm with Frank Scheuffele and Karsten Krause in 2016.
Collen said the...
- 10/3/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Hamburg-based indie also has slate of projects in advanced development.
Hamburg-based producer Fünferfilm is planning a third collaboration with filmmaker Helena Wittmann whose feature Human Flowers Of Flesh is screening at this week’s Filmfest Hamburg.
Wittman’s first collaboration with Fünferfilm was her 2017 debut Drift, followed up by her second feature Human Flowers Of Flesh. The latter world premiered in main competition at Locarno in August.
“The project is at a very early stage as a treatment with the working title of Die Stadt,” revealed Julia Cöllen, who co-founded Fünferfilm with Frank Scheuffele and Karsten Krause in 2016.
Collen said...
Hamburg-based producer Fünferfilm is planning a third collaboration with filmmaker Helena Wittmann whose feature Human Flowers Of Flesh is screening at this week’s Filmfest Hamburg.
Wittman’s first collaboration with Fünferfilm was her 2017 debut Drift, followed up by her second feature Human Flowers Of Flesh. The latter world premiered in main competition at Locarno in August.
“The project is at a very early stage as a treatment with the working title of Die Stadt,” revealed Julia Cöllen, who co-founded Fünferfilm with Frank Scheuffele and Karsten Krause in 2016.
Collen said...
- 10/3/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Helena Wittmann on Ida (Angeliki Papoulia) in Human Flowers of Flesh: “She’s not looking for fulfilment of any sort, but only following her curiosity.”
Marguerite Duras’s The Sailor From Gibraltar, and, more obscurely, Swiss legionnaire and writer Friedrich Glauser’s Gourrama are washed ashore as literary flotsam, cultural remnants of boredom, dust, and heat and ultimately the longing for connection with another being in this world. And there will be Galoup, as played already a quarter of a century ago by Denis Lavant in Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, based on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd.
Helena Wittmann with Anne-Katrin Titze on Denis Lavant as Galoup: “I mean, you met him, so you know. He’s really a rich personality.”
Ida (Angeliki Papoulia) and her crew from different countries cross the Mediterranean on a sailboat to explore the original headquarters of the French Foreign Legion in Sidi-Bel-Abbès in...
Marguerite Duras’s The Sailor From Gibraltar, and, more obscurely, Swiss legionnaire and writer Friedrich Glauser’s Gourrama are washed ashore as literary flotsam, cultural remnants of boredom, dust, and heat and ultimately the longing for connection with another being in this world. And there will be Galoup, as played already a quarter of a century ago by Denis Lavant in Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, based on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd.
Helena Wittmann with Anne-Katrin Titze on Denis Lavant as Galoup: “I mean, you met him, so you know. He’s really a rich personality.”
Ida (Angeliki Papoulia) and her crew from different countries cross the Mediterranean on a sailboat to explore the original headquarters of the French Foreign Legion in Sidi-Bel-Abbès in...
- 9/28/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Ida (Angeliki Papoulia) and her crew, from different countries, cross the Mediterranean on a sailboat to explore the original headquarters of the French Foreign Legion in Sidi-Bel-Abbès in Helena Wittmann’s quietly disturbing Human Flowers Of Flesh (a highlight in the Currents programme of the 60th New York Film Festival).
Marguerite Duras’s The Sailor From Gibraltar, and, more obscurely, Swiss legionnaire and writer Friedrich Glauser’s Gourrama are washed ashore as literary flotsam, cultural remnants of boredom, dust, and heat and ultimately the longing for connection with another being in this world. And there will be Galoup, as played already a quarter of a century ago by Denis Lavant in Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, based on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd.
Lavant, wonderfully unpredictable and agile as ever sashays along the...
Marguerite Duras’s The Sailor From Gibraltar, and, more obscurely, Swiss legionnaire and writer Friedrich Glauser’s Gourrama are washed ashore as literary flotsam, cultural remnants of boredom, dust, and heat and ultimately the longing for connection with another being in this world. And there will be Galoup, as played already a quarter of a century ago by Denis Lavant in Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, based on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd.
Lavant, wonderfully unpredictable and agile as ever sashays along the...
- 9/26/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
New German titles, festival favourites and a Ukrainian competition,
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness heads the festival favourites that will screen at the 30th anniversary edition of Filmfest Hamburg later this month.
It will be joined by Cannes title Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., as well as local Hamburg filmmaker Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers Of Flesh , Kilian Riedhof’s You Will Not Have My Hate and Ann Oren’s Piaffe, which all premiered at Locarno, and Venice titles Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Houman Seyedi’s World War III,...
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness heads the festival favourites that will screen at the 30th anniversary edition of Filmfest Hamburg later this month.
It will be joined by Cannes title Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., as well as local Hamburg filmmaker Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers Of Flesh , Kilian Riedhof’s You Will Not Have My Hate and Ann Oren’s Piaffe, which all premiered at Locarno, and Venice titles Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Houman Seyedi’s World War III,...
- 9/14/2022
- ScreenDaily
Human Flowers of Flesh (2022).I’ve always known that the context of any screening affects our response to a film, but I think I came to understand this on a gut level only recently. It’s only when you travel to a different landscape that you can really comprehend—in your body as much as in your mind—how much your environment shapes your aesthetic experience. I was at the Locarno Film Festival in August, for instance, and I found myself drawn to movies that wouldn’t normally have moved me, the type of slow cinema that’s popular on the festival circuit but which sometimes leaves me cold. Maybe I was more open-minded about this kind of film because of my unusually relaxed surroundings. Maybe it was the psychic energy of the location itself—Locarno, nestled on the shore of Lake Maggiore, surrounded on all sides by steep, lush...
- 9/7/2022
- MUBI
Human Flowers of Flesh.For its second edition under director Giona A. Nazzaro and the first fully physical iteration since 2019, the Locarno Film Festival sought to reestablish itself in 2022 as one of the preeminent destinations for cinephiles looking to simultaneously discover fresh talent, take in new work by veteran directors, and dive deep into film history. While Nazzaro’s stated intention to make the festival more audience-friendly—if not outright commercial—was met with skepticism by critics accustomed to Locarno’s tradition of championing art cinema, it’s clear after two years that these comments didn’t portend a drastic realignment of programming values so much as anticipate a reevaluation of the festival’s perceived strengths. Due to the elimination of a couple of sidebars, the curatorial focus is now centered directly on the International Competition and Filmmakers of the Present sections, with even some clever cross-pollination between these strands...
- 8/29/2022
- MUBI
And Then, the Sea Comes Back: Helena Wittmann and Angeliki Papoulia Discuss “Human Flowers of Flesh”
Human Flowers of Flesh (2022).In Helena Wittmann’s first feature, Drift (2017), two women holiday in Sylt, the northernmost island in Germany. Theresa and Josefina return to the port city of Hamburg temporarily and then, across a cut, Theresa appears alone in Antigua. Soon afterward, she sails across the Atlantic, via the Azores, back to Hamburg—but before she sails, Theresa stops at a beach in Antigua, where she gathers shells and dried coral.Within the first ten minutes of Human Flowers of Flesh, Wittmann’s follow-up to Drift, a woman hands another woman a piece of dried coral—“from Antigua,” she says in French. She is not Theresa and the film does not return to Antigua. Ida, played by Angeliki Papoulia, nonetheless shares with Theresa the experience of a trip there, where she came across a shoreline “like the cemetery of a coral reef.”Human Flowers of Flesh shares a...
- 8/29/2022
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWill-o'-the-Wisp.The New York Film Festival has revealed the lineup for their Currents section, dedicated to films "testing and stretching the possibilities of the medium." The program includes new films from João Pedro Rodrígues, Ashley McKenzie, Bertrand Bonello, Helena Wittmann, and more. This year's crop of Revivals was also unveiled, featuring the highly anticipated restoration of Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore.61 films will be preserved through funding from The National Film Preservation Foundation. Grant recipients include the 1921 mystery-western Trailin’—starring Tom Mix, considered the first on-screen cowboy—and The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (1980), one of two feature films Kathleen Collins completed before her premature death.Cinema company Cineworld, owner of the Picturehouse chain in the UK and Regal Cinemas in the US, could be facing imminent bankruptcy, per recent reports.
- 8/23/2022
- MUBI
Following the Main Slate and Spotlight announcements, the 60th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Currents section. The slate of boundary-pushing work features Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’-the-Wisp, Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers of Flesh, Alessandro Comodin’s The Adventures of Gigi the Law, Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós’s Dry Ground Burning, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, and Ashley McKenzie’s Queens of the Qing Dynasty, plus new shorts by Bi Gan, Mark Jenkin, Simón Velez, Nicolás Pereda, Courtney Stephens, Ben Russell, and more.
“Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness in contemporary cinema, and this is, by design, the most expansive section of the festival,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “There are familiar names here—including multiple filmmakers who will be known to NYFF and Flc audiences—as well as some electrifying new talents,...
“Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness in contemporary cinema, and this is, by design, the most expansive section of the festival,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “There are familiar names here—including multiple filmmakers who will be known to NYFF and Flc audiences—as well as some electrifying new talents,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Hans-Christian Schmid’s ’We Are Next of Kin’ to open German festival.
Filmfest Hamburg has lined up world premieres of films by Fatih Akin, Hans-Christian Schmid and Alrun Goette for its 30th anniversary edition, which runs from September 29 to October 8.
Golden Bear-winner Akin’s biopic of the German rapper and label boss Xatar, Rheingold, starring this year’s European Shooting Star Emilio Sakraya, will have its first screening on the director’s home turf in Hamburg.
Schmid’s adaptation of Johann Scheerer’s autobiographical novel We Are Next Of Kin, which chronicles the kidnapping of Scheerer’s literary scholar and...
Filmfest Hamburg has lined up world premieres of films by Fatih Akin, Hans-Christian Schmid and Alrun Goette for its 30th anniversary edition, which runs from September 29 to October 8.
Golden Bear-winner Akin’s biopic of the German rapper and label boss Xatar, Rheingold, starring this year’s European Shooting Star Emilio Sakraya, will have its first screening on the director’s home turf in Hamburg.
Schmid’s adaptation of Johann Scheerer’s autobiographical novel We Are Next Of Kin, which chronicles the kidnapping of Scheerer’s literary scholar and...
- 8/11/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Early into Helena Wittmann’s 2017 feature debut, Drift, a character recounts a Papua New Guinean tale of the world’s creation. Back when the planet was all water, a giant crocodile kept paddling around preventing the sand to settle; only after a warrior slaughtered the beast did the land jut into being. A few minutes into Human Flowers of the Flesh a sailor shares another legend, this one from Ancient Greece. As he chopped Medusa’s head, Perseus dropped it on the shore; the seaweed absorbed the Gorgon’s petrifying powers, and that’s how coral was born. Wittmann has a knack for myths, and her cinema radiates a certain mythical grandeur, a pleasure as primeval and untimely as the stories her projects orbit around. Flowers, in that, feels both ancient and novel. It’s a film whose visual experiments invite one to see the world anew, even as the...
- 8/8/2022
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
. The ocean is a source of ongoing fascination to German director Helena Wittmann, whose debut feature, “Drift” was set in a largely dialogue-free realm aboard a boat as a woman charted a course across the North Sea. This time around, the woman in the largely dialogue-free realm aboard a boat is charting a course across the Mediterranean Sea, a visual distinction that may only be detectable to marine professionals and Atlantic Ocean enthusiasts. Irrespective of the conceptual similarities to her debut, “Human Flowers of Flesh ” is a meditative gem powered by images, shot by Wittmann herself, that, on their own terms, make the film worth your time.
Ida (Angeliki Papoulia of “Dogtooth”) is a Greek wanderer with the mien of a woman more at home on the road than in any fixed abode. She carries herself with the resolute, slightly detached energy of someone driven by highly personal motives, coming...
Ida (Angeliki Papoulia of “Dogtooth”) is a Greek wanderer with the mien of a woman more at home on the road than in any fixed abode. She carries herself with the resolute, slightly detached energy of someone driven by highly personal motives, coming...
- 8/7/2022
- by Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
On Aug. 23, 1946, just a few months after the inaugural Cannes Film Festival, the very first Locarno International Film Festival opened with a screening of Giacomo Gentilomo’s Italian neorealist classic O sole mio.
From the start, the festival aimed to represent the full spectrum of cinema, showcasing what current festival managing director Raphaël Brunschwig calls “a culture with a thousand facets.”
The 75th Locarno Festival, which runs Aug. 3-13, is sticking to those first principles. Perhaps more than any other major A-list fest, Locarno continues to straddle the gap between mainstream Hollywood and experimental avant-garde movie making.
Locarno 2022 will kick off with the world premiere of Brad Pitt action-thriller Bullet Train directed by the Deadpool 2 helmer David Leitch, who returns to Locarno after the 2017 screening of Atomic Blonde. This year’s event also includes gala screenings of Medusa Deluxe, a British murder...
On Aug. 23, 1946, just a few months after the inaugural Cannes Film Festival, the very first Locarno International Film Festival opened with a screening of Giacomo Gentilomo’s Italian neorealist classic O sole mio.
From the start, the festival aimed to represent the full spectrum of cinema, showcasing what current festival managing director Raphaël Brunschwig calls “a culture with a thousand facets.”
The 75th Locarno Festival, which runs Aug. 3-13, is sticking to those first principles. Perhaps more than any other major A-list fest, Locarno continues to straddle the gap between mainstream Hollywood and experimental avant-garde movie making.
Locarno 2022 will kick off with the world premiere of Brad Pitt action-thriller Bullet Train directed by the Deadpool 2 helmer David Leitch, who returns to Locarno after the 2017 screening of Atomic Blonde. This year’s event also includes gala screenings of Medusa Deluxe, a British murder...
- 7/19/2022
- by Stjepan Hundic
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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