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Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia, a 13-year portrait of Paris-born painter Apolonia Sokol, has won best film at the 2022 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s largest documentary film fest.
The honor, announced at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Thursday night, comes with a €15,000 (15,000) cash prize.
The Danish director stitched her doc together from multiple meetings over the years with Sokol, as she traced the artist’s development and reflects on her personal and professional obsessions, including art, love, motherhood, sexuality, queerness, capitalism and the patriarchy.
The best film prize in the IDFA’s Envision Competition section, and its 15,000 cash prize, went to Angie Vinchito’s Manifesto, a found-footage doc compiled from videos Russian teenagers posted on social media.
IDFA’s best director honor in the international category, and a €5,000 (5,200) cash prize, went to Simon Chambers for Much Ado About Dying,...
Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia, a 13-year portrait of Paris-born painter Apolonia Sokol, has won best film at the 2022 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s largest documentary film fest.
The honor, announced at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Thursday night, comes with a €15,000 (15,000) cash prize.
The Danish director stitched her doc together from multiple meetings over the years with Sokol, as she traced the artist’s development and reflects on her personal and professional obsessions, including art, love, motherhood, sexuality, queerness, capitalism and the patriarchy.
The best film prize in the IDFA’s Envision Competition section, and its 15,000 cash prize, went to Angie Vinchito’s Manifesto, a found-footage doc compiled from videos Russian teenagers posted on social media.
IDFA’s best director honor in the international category, and a €5,000 (5,200) cash prize, went to Simon Chambers for Much Ado About Dying,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Festival continues through Sunday.
Danish director Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia has won best film in the international competition at the 35th edition of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), running 9-20 November.
The award,which comes with a €15,000 euro cash prize, was confirmed on Thursday evening in a ceremony at Ita (International Theatre Amsterdam) that was streamed live.
Apolonia, Apolonia, backed by HBO Max and Arte and sold by Cat&Docs, follows brilliant young artist Apolonia Sokol over a period of 13 years. It was produced by Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production.
“This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
Danish director Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia has won best film in the international competition at the 35th edition of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), running 9-20 November.
The award,which comes with a €15,000 euro cash prize, was confirmed on Thursday evening in a ceremony at Ita (International Theatre Amsterdam) that was streamed live.
Apolonia, Apolonia, backed by HBO Max and Arte and sold by Cat&Docs, follows brilliant young artist Apolonia Sokol over a period of 13 years. It was produced by Sidsel Siersted for Danish Documentary Production.
“This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia, about the Paris-born painter Apolonia Sokol, earned Best Film in international competition as the IDFA awards ceremony unfolded in Amsterdam tonight.
The prestigious honor comes with a €15,000 cash prize. Announcing the award, the five-member jury noted, “This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey, opening us up to the worlds of culture and art, of business and politics, of the mechanics of a success story. It is infused with love.”
Glob has been following Soko’s career for well over a decade. According to the Villa Medici website, the figurative painter is “known for her political stance on the art of portraiture, claiming the need to use it as a tool of empowerment and deconstruction of marginalization or domination. That is why she addresses multiple issues such as feminisms, queerness, women’s representation throughout art history and body politics in general.
The prestigious honor comes with a €15,000 cash prize. Announcing the award, the five-member jury noted, “This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey, opening us up to the worlds of culture and art, of business and politics, of the mechanics of a success story. It is infused with love.”
Glob has been following Soko’s career for well over a decade. According to the Villa Medici website, the figurative painter is “known for her political stance on the art of portraiture, claiming the need to use it as a tool of empowerment and deconstruction of marginalization or domination. That is why she addresses multiple issues such as feminisms, queerness, women’s representation throughout art history and body politics in general.
- 11/17/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
In "There Will Be Blood," Paul Dano plays the dual role of Eli and Paul Sunday, twin brothers, the latter of whom only appears in a single scene. The larger role is Eli, the weaselly church leader, but Dano was not writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's first choice to play the part. Anderson had already cast a different actor, Kel O'Neill, as Eli, and in fact, they were already halfway through the 60-day shoot, according to The New York Times Magazine, when Anderson decided that it wasn't working and that he needed to recast the role.
In came Dano, whose role suddenly increased from one...
The post Paul Dano Only Had Four Days to Prepare For There Will Be Blood appeared first on /Film.
In came Dano, whose role suddenly increased from one...
The post Paul Dano Only Had Four Days to Prepare For There Will Be Blood appeared first on /Film.
- 3/25/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Read More: FilmBuff Nabs Innovative Somali Pirate Doc 'Last Hijack' Out of SXSW The Los Angeles chapter of StoryCode, the open-source, global community for cross-platform and immersive storytellers, will host a special evening with Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting, directors of "Last Hijack," on June 24 at a shared workspace in the Downtown area. Founded just last year, the Los Angeles chapter of the organization has been host to free, monthly talks given by innovative creators from across the community, including immersive opera director Yuval Sharon, virtual reality pioneer Nonny de la Pena and Yacht frontwoman and futurist Claire Evans. Each program is curated by Kel O'Neill, founder of StoryCode Los Angeles, who said the inspiration to screen "Last Hijack" stemmed from the way the project simultaneously straddles both familiar and groundbreaking territory. "Most people who know about indie film know Tommy's work on 'Waking Life' and 'Scanner.
- 6/18/2015
- by Shipra Harbola Gupta
- Indiewire
We talk a lot these days about interactivity and transmedia storytelling, but, for the most part, those terms have become overused buzzwords. It's rare to find a project that truly warrants their usage. But "Empire," the new project from the transatlantic filmmaking team of Eline Jongsma and Kel O'Neill, is a perfect example of true interactivity and transmedia storytelling. The beautiful interactive documentary, which explores the legacy of Dutch colonialism around the world, will literally take the audience on a trip -- throughout the New York Film Festival at several venues to visit installations and watch a series of short interactive videos. "Empire" makes it world premiere at the Nyff Convergence on Saturday. The idea is for viewers to chart their own course through the installation. Videos will be looped "so you can watch them and then walk away and then come back. You have a path that you make yourself.
- 9/27/2013
- by Paula Bernstein
- Indiewire
There's a pretty great little article over at Yahoo looking into the folklore and legends of the lengths Daniel Day-Lewis goes to for his craft. The fact Daniel Day-Lewis is a method actor is no secret, just as much as we all know he remained in character for Lincoln, sent Sally Field a text message as Honest Abe and asked English cast members not to speak with him in their British accent so as not to throw him off. Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Along with throwing actual bowling balls at Paul Dano while filming There Will be Blood, learning to build a canoe for The Last of the Mohicans and becoming a butcher for Gangs of New York, here are ten facts taken from Yahoo's article about Day-Lewis' preparation. After you read them you tell me... Would you go to the same lengths as him if...
- 2/4/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Empire project is a documentary series from Dutch-American filmmakers Eline Jongsma, Kel O'Neill which centers on what they call the unintended consequences of Dutch colonialism, asking the question: Has colonization brought only misery? Obviously that suggests that the filmmakers see some upside to colonialism and will explore that in their documentary. Specifically, the Dutch-American filmmakers traveled to 7 former Dutch colonies, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, including: Brazil, Suriname, Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and South Africa, and while in each of those countries, interviewed select residents, asking for their Pov on the fact that...
- 11/13/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Craig from Dark Eye Socket here with Take Three. Today: Paul Dano
Take One: The King (2006)
Disgruntled discharged Navy man Gael García Bernal rules the roost in James Marsh’s dark religion-themed indie The King. But Dano, as the dutiful square peg brother/son in the family Bernal infiltrates, does attempt a one-man, god-fuelled backyard coup, much to his own expense. The film is partly a hothouse take on Cain & Able and partly a nod to bad-couple movies like Badlands (brooding Bernal and Sissy Spacek-a-like Pell James doing bad things in cars). Dano’s Paul Sandlow, a pastor's son, sings and plays guitar in a Jesus-heavy, quality-light church rock band. That’s when he’s not pressuring the school heads into accepting his curriculum on Intelligent Design over Evolution. Paul’s doe-eyed sappiness appears to hide a certain cleverness yet, oddly, he’s one of the most sympathetic personalities in the film.
Take One: The King (2006)
Disgruntled discharged Navy man Gael García Bernal rules the roost in James Marsh’s dark religion-themed indie The King. But Dano, as the dutiful square peg brother/son in the family Bernal infiltrates, does attempt a one-man, god-fuelled backyard coup, much to his own expense. The film is partly a hothouse take on Cain & Able and partly a nod to bad-couple movies like Badlands (brooding Bernal and Sissy Spacek-a-like Pell James doing bad things in cars). Dano’s Paul Sandlow, a pastor's son, sings and plays guitar in a Jesus-heavy, quality-light church rock band. That’s when he’s not pressuring the school heads into accepting his curriculum on Intelligent Design over Evolution. Paul’s doe-eyed sappiness appears to hide a certain cleverness yet, oddly, he’s one of the most sympathetic personalities in the film.
- 8/28/2011
- by Craig Bloomfield
- FilmExperience
"What are you wearing?" A late-night call to his motel room brings writer Davy Mitchell an unexpected introduction to the mysterious Nicole, a woman who likes to seduce guys over the phone. Before long, Davy's dull book tour of New Mexico has been transformed into an onanistic odyssey that shocks even his own brother, Sean.
I shudder to think about the prurient comedy that could have resulted from this set-up if Judd Apatow or the American Pie team had got their sticky fingers on it. Fortunately, Davy Rothbart's GQ article "What Are You Wearing?", has been successfully adapted by writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez into Easier with Practice (2009), a low-key but surprisingly affecting drama about loneliness and the yawning gap between romantic expectations and real life.
The film begins in a bookshop with the earnest, bespectacled Davy (Brian Geraghty) giving a reading from his collection of short stories, "Things...
I shudder to think about the prurient comedy that could have resulted from this set-up if Judd Apatow or the American Pie team had got their sticky fingers on it. Fortunately, Davy Rothbart's GQ article "What Are You Wearing?", has been successfully adapted by writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez into Easier with Practice (2009), a low-key but surprisingly affecting drama about loneliness and the yawning gap between romantic expectations and real life.
The film begins in a bookshop with the earnest, bespectacled Davy (Brian Geraghty) giving a reading from his collection of short stories, "Things...
- 2/14/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
First time writer and director Kyle Patrick Alvarez looks set for a promising career after his debut feature Easier With Practice. Winner of Best New International Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Easier With Practice is inspired by Davy Rothbart's GQ magazine autobiographical essay.
On the road with his brother Sean (Kel O'Neill) for several months, stopping at book stores to publicise his yet-unpublished book of short stories, Davy grows weary of the loneliness of life on the move. One night he receives a mysterious and sexually-charged phone call from the seductive Nicole. At first believing it to be a wrong number, Davy's reluctant to play along, but as Nicole turns up the heat, Davy finds himself talking just as "dirty". Interrupted by the reappearance of Sean, they are forced to stop, but when Nicole rings back later, there's no turning back for Davy.
As the weeks pass, their phone-sex sessions become more regular,...
On the road with his brother Sean (Kel O'Neill) for several months, stopping at book stores to publicise his yet-unpublished book of short stories, Davy grows weary of the loneliness of life on the move. One night he receives a mysterious and sexually-charged phone call from the seductive Nicole. At first believing it to be a wrong number, Davy's reluctant to play along, but as Nicole turns up the heat, Davy finds himself talking just as "dirty". Interrupted by the reappearance of Sean, they are forced to stop, but when Nicole rings back later, there's no turning back for Davy.
As the weeks pass, their phone-sex sessions become more regular,...
- 2/14/2011
- Shadowlocked
This is the Pure Movies review for Easier with Practice, directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez and starring Brian Geraghty, Kel O'Neill, Marguerite Moreau, Jeanette Brox, Jenna Gavigan and Katie Aselton. It’s great to come away from a film and feel genuinely challenged by what you’ve seen. It’s even more rewarding when that film is a debut offering that isn’t just trying to jump on the pretentious, holier-than-thou indie bandwagon and actually has a point to make in a non-confrontational manner. Low-budget dark horse Easier With Practice from exciting new writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez is such a gem that questions our emotions and makes you feel like you’ve been thrown an unexpected curve ball.
- 12/4/2010
- by Lesa Keddie
- Pure Movies
Of Gods And Men (15)
(Xavier Beauvois, 2010, Fra) Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale. 122 mins.
The spiritualism is far from abstract in this powerful, resonant drama, based on a story of French Cistercian monks in 1990s north Africa. When their harmonious village life is threatened by violent Islamic fundamentalists, they're given a real test of faith. Should they stay or go? Do they belong there anyway? Are they ready for martydom?
Megamind (PG)
(Tom McGrath, 2010, Us) Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey. 96 mins.
Smart, polished animation with Ferrell's blue meanie vanquishing his nemesis, but then wanting to be good.
Monsters (12A)
(Gareth Edwards, 2010, UK/Us) Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able. 94 mins.
Low-budget sci-fi plus indie date movie equals alternative credentials, as a couple trek through a futuristic Mexico infested with aliens and metaphors.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (15)
(Jalmari Helander, 2010, Fin) Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Rauno Juvonen. 83 mins.
This deadpan Finnish treat reimagines Santa as an evil child-snatcher.
(Xavier Beauvois, 2010, Fra) Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale. 122 mins.
The spiritualism is far from abstract in this powerful, resonant drama, based on a story of French Cistercian monks in 1990s north Africa. When their harmonious village life is threatened by violent Islamic fundamentalists, they're given a real test of faith. Should they stay or go? Do they belong there anyway? Are they ready for martydom?
Megamind (PG)
(Tom McGrath, 2010, Us) Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey. 96 mins.
Smart, polished animation with Ferrell's blue meanie vanquishing his nemesis, but then wanting to be good.
Monsters (12A)
(Gareth Edwards, 2010, UK/Us) Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able. 94 mins.
Low-budget sci-fi plus indie date movie equals alternative credentials, as a couple trek through a futuristic Mexico infested with aliens and metaphors.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (15)
(Jalmari Helander, 2010, Fin) Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Rauno Juvonen. 83 mins.
This deadpan Finnish treat reimagines Santa as an evil child-snatcher.
- 12/4/2010
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
An aspiring writer goes on a road trip, and forms the basis for Easier With Practice. But is it worth seeing, muses Michael...?
Readers, I present to you this season's most archetypal indie drama-comedy character, in the form of Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty). He's a twenty-something aspiring writer, clad in a casual suit with loosened tie, squinting through glasses and hiding behind patchy stubble.
He's an underachiever, lugging around his collection of short stories (titled, with oh-so-profound laziness, Things People Do To Each Other) on a road trip reading tour, progressing through the southern States from university cafe to cosy book nook in a beat up old car. His companion on this adventure is his brother, Sean (Kel O'Neill), who, fittingly, is his exact opposite. He's brash, crude, wildly charismatic and, integrally, a hit with the ladies.
For that seems to be Davy's problem, he's beset with that common affliction for characters of his type.
Readers, I present to you this season's most archetypal indie drama-comedy character, in the form of Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty). He's a twenty-something aspiring writer, clad in a casual suit with loosened tie, squinting through glasses and hiding behind patchy stubble.
He's an underachiever, lugging around his collection of short stories (titled, with oh-so-profound laziness, Things People Do To Each Other) on a road trip reading tour, progressing through the southern States from university cafe to cosy book nook in a beat up old car. His companion on this adventure is his brother, Sean (Kel O'Neill), who, fittingly, is his exact opposite. He's brash, crude, wildly charismatic and, integrally, a hit with the ladies.
For that seems to be Davy's problem, he's beset with that common affliction for characters of his type.
- 12/3/2010
- Den of Geek
Technology has brought people closer by allowing them to lie. Some of my best relationships, and some of my best friends, are people I've never met in real life. Even having to make reference to "in real life" says volumes about where we've gotten to as a society. There exists an entire cottage industry based around phone sex and cyber sex. For dollars a minute, you can have a dream-lover whisper sweet Mariahs into your ear while you pleasure yourself. Even if that lover is obviously a lie. Easier with Practice takes that lie and spins it into a fascinating and complex love story about a lonely aspiring writer and his infatuation with a girl who exists only as a voice on a telephone. The layers infused in the telling and the excellent characters imply a practiced hand, but this is writer-director Kyle Patrick Alvarez's first feature. Alvarez explores...
- 3/4/2010
- by Brian Prisco
By Eric D. Snider, reprinted from CineVegas Film Festival 6/14/2009
It's a rarity for a director's first film to be as confident and effective as Easier with Practice is. And for any film, let alone a debut, to address difficult subjects with this much insight, humor, and humanity is almost miraculous. There are filmmakers who couldn't produce something this good on their tenth try, and here Kyle Patrick Alvarez has done it right out of the gate.
Alvarez's screenplay is based on a GQ article by Davy Rothbart, and it concerns an introverted 28-year-old writer named Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty) who is driving around the southwest United States with his brother, Sean (Kel O'Neill), to promote his book of short stories. This book hasn't actually been published, mind you, but self-produced copies are available after the readings.
While at a hotel in Albuquerque one night, Davy gets a random phone call...
It's a rarity for a director's first film to be as confident and effective as Easier with Practice is. And for any film, let alone a debut, to address difficult subjects with this much insight, humor, and humanity is almost miraculous. There are filmmakers who couldn't produce something this good on their tenth try, and here Kyle Patrick Alvarez has done it right out of the gate.
Alvarez's screenplay is based on a GQ article by Davy Rothbart, and it concerns an introverted 28-year-old writer named Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty) who is driving around the southwest United States with his brother, Sean (Kel O'Neill), to promote his book of short stories. This book hasn't actually been published, mind you, but self-produced copies are available after the readings.
While at a hotel in Albuquerque one night, Davy gets a random phone call...
- 2/27/2010
- by Cinematical staff
- Cinematical
It's a rarity for a director's first film to be as confident and effective as Easier with Practice is. And for any film, let alone a debut, to address difficult subjects with this much insight, humor, and humanity is almost miraculous. There are filmmakers who couldn't produce something this good on their tenth try, and here Kyle Patrick Alvarez has done it right out of the gate.
Alvarez's screenplay is based on a GQ article by Davy Rothbart, and it concerns an introverted 28-year-old writer named Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty) who is driving around the southwest United States with his brother, Sean (Kel O'Neill), to promote his book of short stories. This book hasn't actually been published, mind you, but self-produced copies are available after the readings.
While at a hotel in Albuquerque one night, Davy gets a random phone call from a woman named Nicole (Kathryn Aselton) who seductively asks what he's wearing.
Alvarez's screenplay is based on a GQ article by Davy Rothbart, and it concerns an introverted 28-year-old writer named Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty) who is driving around the southwest United States with his brother, Sean (Kel O'Neill), to promote his book of short stories. This book hasn't actually been published, mind you, but self-produced copies are available after the readings.
While at a hotel in Albuquerque one night, Davy gets a random phone call from a woman named Nicole (Kathryn Aselton) who seductively asks what he's wearing.
- 6/14/2009
- by Eric D. Snider
- Cinematical
As you know, we here at Fsr try to make it around to as many of the major film festivals as possible. We've brought you excellent coverage from Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca and of course, the best coverage of SXSW, our hometown fest. But even though we catch a lot of great fests, we don't make it to them all -- not yet, at least. One festival that we're sad to be missing this year is CineVegas in Las Vegas. While many of the fest's higher profile films are re-runs from Sundance and SXSW, there are a few hidden gems among their official selection. One such film is Easier With Practice, from writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez. It stars Brian Geraghty, who was sensational in this year's best film so far The Hurt Locker, as a man whose heart is opened and captured by a mystery and sexually aggressive woman who calls him late at night in his...
- 6/2/2009
- by Neil Miller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
One of the titles at the upcoming CineVegas Film Festival that has piqued my interest is Easier with Practice, about a man who falls in love with a woman he knows only over the phone. The limitations of telephone communication notwithstanding, their relationship is sexual in nature, as suggested by the film's slightly Nsfw trailer.
We also have a brief clip from the film, showing the inevitable conversation that the main character, Davy, must have with his brother, Sean. The two (played by Brian Geraghty and Kel O'Neill) are driving around the country to promote Davy's novel. Sean, needless to say, is skeptical about Davy's new "girlfriend." (There's a little PG-13-rated language.)
The CineVegas Film Festival runs June 10-15 in classy Las Vegas, Nevada, and Cinematical will be there to cover Easier with Practice and many other titles, so stay tuned. Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, New Releases, Trailers and Clips,...
We also have a brief clip from the film, showing the inevitable conversation that the main character, Davy, must have with his brother, Sean. The two (played by Brian Geraghty and Kel O'Neill) are driving around the country to promote Davy's novel. Sean, needless to say, is skeptical about Davy's new "girlfriend." (There's a little PG-13-rated language.)
The CineVegas Film Festival runs June 10-15 in classy Las Vegas, Nevada, and Cinematical will be there to cover Easier with Practice and many other titles, so stay tuned. Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, New Releases, Trailers and Clips,...
- 5/25/2009
- by Eric D. Snider
- Cinematical
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