Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof is set to attend the Cannes premiere of his latest feature, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, after receiving an eight-year prison sentence from Iranian authorities and fleeing his home country.
Speculation had been rife that the dissident director would attend the festival when the film receives its world premiere in Competition on Friday (May 24), having found asylum in Germany, but Cannes’ general delegate Thierry Fremaux has now confirmed his attendance.
“We are particularly touched to welcome [Rasoulof] here as a filmmaker,” Fremaux said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (Afp).
Our joy will be that of...
Speculation had been rife that the dissident director would attend the festival when the film receives its world premiere in Competition on Friday (May 24), having found asylum in Germany, but Cannes’ general delegate Thierry Fremaux has now confirmed his attendance.
“We are particularly touched to welcome [Rasoulof] here as a filmmaker,” Fremaux said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (Afp).
Our joy will be that of...
- 5/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
International filmmakers are calling for solidarity with Mohammad Rasoulof and persecuted filmmakers in Iran in an open letter, shared with Variety.
Rasoulof – about to screen his latest film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Cannes’ main competition – was sentenced to imprisonment and torture by the Islamic Republic of Iran. He fled the country.
“We condemn the inhumane treatment of Rasoulof and numerous other independent artists in Iran, who are being severely punished, criminalized and silenced for exercising their artistic freedom,” it was stated in the letter, already signed by “Holy Spider” star Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Fatih Akin, Atom Egoyan, Ildiko Enyedi, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Laura Poitras, Sandra Hüller, Sean Baker, Payal Kapadia and Ariane Labed.
“We stand in full solidarity with Rasoulof’s demands and call upon the international film community to raise our voices against an Islamist dictatorship that systematically oppresses every aspect of their society’s lives.
Rasoulof – about to screen his latest film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Cannes’ main competition – was sentenced to imprisonment and torture by the Islamic Republic of Iran. He fled the country.
“We condemn the inhumane treatment of Rasoulof and numerous other independent artists in Iran, who are being severely punished, criminalized and silenced for exercising their artistic freedom,” it was stated in the letter, already signed by “Holy Spider” star Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Fatih Akin, Atom Egoyan, Ildiko Enyedi, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Laura Poitras, Sandra Hüller, Sean Baker, Payal Kapadia and Ariane Labed.
“We stand in full solidarity with Rasoulof’s demands and call upon the international film community to raise our voices against an Islamist dictatorship that systematically oppresses every aspect of their society’s lives.
- 5/22/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDahomey.Mati Diop’s Dahomey (2024), a documentary about the repatriation of artifacts plundered by French colonists to the present-day Republic of Benin, won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. It is only the second film from the African continent to take the festival’s top prize.The Berlinale has filed criminal charges against activists who hacked the festival’s Instagram account on Sunday to post calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which the festival deemed “anti-Semitic.”The festival has also released a statement disavowing the acceptance speeches of award winners who used their platform to speak out against the occupation and war. Such speeches included those by Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau, whose Direct Action won Best Film in the Encounters section, and by Yuval Abraham,...
- 2/29/2024
- MUBI
Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, about artefacts being returned from Paris to present-day Benin, was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 24).
The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.
In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...
The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.
In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...
- 2/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival announced the winners of the fest at the awards ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast on February 24.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
- 2/22/2024
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
The Berlin International Film Festival has confirmed its full juries for the 2024 edition (February 16-24), with Italian actress Jasmine Trinca and German filmmaker Christian Petzold among those joining president Lupita Nyong’o on the main international jury.
Also on the jury are filmmakers Ann Hui (Hong Kong) and Albert Serra (Spain) alongside Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
The international jury will select the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears from the 20 films playing in Competition.
The three-member jury for the Encounters strand comprises filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
The Encounters jury will choose the winners of best film,...
Also on the jury are filmmakers Ann Hui (Hong Kong) and Albert Serra (Spain) alongside Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
The international jury will select the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears from the 20 films playing in Competition.
The three-member jury for the Encounters strand comprises filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
The Encounters jury will choose the winners of best film,...
- 2/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Berlinale Film Festival has unveiled the jury members for its main International Competition, which will be presided over by Lupita Nyong’o.
The members of the International Jury are American actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet, Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, German director Christian Petzold, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, and Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
Nyong’o’s presidential appointment was announced in December.
The festival also unveiled the three-member jury for its Encounters strand. Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada), and Tizza Covi (Italy) will pick the competition sidebar’s Best Film, Best Director, and Special Jury award winners.
The 2024 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb 15 – Feb 25. The festival opens with the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s Magdalen laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.” It...
The members of the International Jury are American actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet, Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, German director Christian Petzold, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, and Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
Nyong’o’s presidential appointment was announced in December.
The festival also unveiled the three-member jury for its Encounters strand. Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada), and Tizza Covi (Italy) will pick the competition sidebar’s Best Film, Best Director, and Special Jury award winners.
The 2024 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb 15 – Feb 25. The festival opens with the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s Magdalen laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.” It...
- 2/1/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The international jury at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, led by Lupita Nyong’o, will include filmmakers Christian Petzold (Germany) and Ann Hui.
The international jury members also include actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.), filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain), actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy) and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine). They will decide who will win the festival’s Golden and the Silver Bears.
The three-member jury that chooses the winners for best film, director and the special jury award at the Berlinale’s Encounters strand is made up of filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
Director and screenwriter Ilker Çatak (Germany), sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia (Spain) and director, screenwriter, video artist and lecturer Jennifer Reeder (U.S.) are the international short film jury for the 2024 Berlinale Shorts competition. They will be choosing the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film, the winner of the...
The international jury members also include actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.), filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain), actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy) and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine). They will decide who will win the festival’s Golden and the Silver Bears.
The three-member jury that chooses the winners for best film, director and the special jury award at the Berlinale’s Encounters strand is made up of filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
Director and screenwriter Ilker Çatak (Germany), sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia (Spain) and director, screenwriter, video artist and lecturer Jennifer Reeder (U.S.) are the international short film jury for the 2024 Berlinale Shorts competition. They will be choosing the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film, the winner of the...
- 2/1/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
This writer is not necessarily fond of Quebecois director Denis Côté’s experiments, which oscillate between slow-cinema, documentary, and deeply unfunny deadpan comedies. Yet his newest film Mademoiselle Kenopsia, though highly self-conscious, is strangely effective, connecting for once his formal and thematic concerns––if simply because the experiment in “boredom” is put to a more pointed use than the easy festival requirements.
At only 77 minutes, Mademoiselle Kenopsia doesn’t wear out its welcome, other than maybe a few sequences that ring tedious or suggest the film is filling time. We find our recognizable figure of the times, and modern Jeanne Dielman figure-of-sorts (Larissa Corriveau), working a job somewhere between janitor and watchwoman (like if you wanted a whole movie of that time in The Simpsons where Milhouse was a night watchman at the cracker factory Bart bought). Her job takes place in a rotting figure of the past: an abandoned...
At only 77 minutes, Mademoiselle Kenopsia doesn’t wear out its welcome, other than maybe a few sequences that ring tedious or suggest the film is filling time. We find our recognizable figure of the times, and modern Jeanne Dielman figure-of-sorts (Larissa Corriveau), working a job somewhere between janitor and watchwoman (like if you wanted a whole movie of that time in The Simpsons where Milhouse was a night watchman at the cracker factory Bart bought). Her job takes place in a rotting figure of the past: an abandoned...
- 9/13/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Toronto: “Humanist Vampire,” “Solo” Heat Up Market for Toronto’s Quebec Feature Slate
By Jennie Punter
Toronto has long been a go-to place for Quebec filmmakers to launch new work, connect directly to the U.S. marketplace and, by extension, propel their careers to the next level — Denis Villeneuve, Phillippe Falardeau and Jean-Marc Vallée, for example, premiered most of their early films here.
Many of this year’s bumper crop of mostly world-premiering Quebec titles explore less familiar corners of society — First Peoples and newcomer stories, the drag scene — and there are also fresh takes on romantic dramedy (Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love”), true-story-inspired WWII drama (Louise Archambault’s “Irena’s Vow”) and horror comedy.
Five of the festival’s eight Quebec features are directed by women. Sophie Dupuis, whose third film, the drag-scene character study “Solo,” told Variety that support from government funding agencies Telefilm and Sodec (Quebec...
By Jennie Punter
Toronto has long been a go-to place for Quebec filmmakers to launch new work, connect directly to the U.S. marketplace and, by extension, propel their careers to the next level — Denis Villeneuve, Phillippe Falardeau and Jean-Marc Vallée, for example, premiered most of their early films here.
Many of this year’s bumper crop of mostly world-premiering Quebec titles explore less familiar corners of society — First Peoples and newcomer stories, the drag scene — and there are also fresh takes on romantic dramedy (Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love”), true-story-inspired WWII drama (Louise Archambault’s “Irena’s Vow”) and horror comedy.
Five of the festival’s eight Quebec features are directed by women. Sophie Dupuis, whose third film, the drag-scene character study “Solo,” told Variety that support from government funding agencies Telefilm and Sodec (Quebec...
- 9/10/2023
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
Pakistani Canadian filmmaker Anam Abbas has won the Canadian Media Producers Assn.’s 2023 Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award, it was announced Sept. 7 at the Indiescreen Awards, the opening event of the Toronto International Film Festival’s industry conference at Glenn Gould Studios.
Abbas’ latest feature is writer and director Zarrar Kahn’s feature debut “In Flames,” a Pakistani Canadian horror-drama about a Karachi woman and her mother who are beset by malevolent figures from their past after the family patriarch dies. The film, which screens next week in Toronto, premiered in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, where XYZ Films’ announced the title would launch its New Visions slate.
The award, which comes with a C$10,000 cash prize, recognizes the talents of emerging feature producers. Abbas was recognized by the jury for her ingenuity and her passion for creating films that feel real and essential.
Nancy Grant of Metafilms received the...
Abbas’ latest feature is writer and director Zarrar Kahn’s feature debut “In Flames,” a Pakistani Canadian horror-drama about a Karachi woman and her mother who are beset by malevolent figures from their past after the family patriarch dies. The film, which screens next week in Toronto, premiered in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, where XYZ Films’ announced the title would launch its New Visions slate.
The award, which comes with a C$10,000 cash prize, recognizes the talents of emerging feature producers. Abbas was recognized by the jury for her ingenuity and her passion for creating films that feel real and essential.
Nancy Grant of Metafilms received the...
- 9/7/2023
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi, 2023).The lineup is being unveiled for the 2023 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, starting with 60 selections from the Gala and Special Presentations programs. The festival takes place from September 7–17, 2023.Gala PRESENTATIONSConcrete Utopia (Um Tae-Hwa)Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)Fair Play (Chloe Domont)Flora and Son (John Carney)Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks)Lee (Ellen Kuras)Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)Nyad (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)Punjab ’95 (Honey Trehan)Solo (Sophie Dupuis)The End We Start From (Mahalia Belo)The Movie Emperor (Ning Hao)The New Boy (Warwick Thornton) The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)The Holdovers.Special Presentationsa Difficult Year (Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache)A Normal Family (Hur Jin-ho)American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)Close to You (Dominic Savage)Days of Happiness (Chloé Robichaud)The Rescue (Daniela Goggi)Ezra (Tony Goldwyn)Fingernails (Christos Nikou)Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania...
- 8/14/2023
- MUBI
TIFF 2023 Adds Films by Jean-Luc Godard, Radu Jude, Pedro Costa, Eduardo Williams, Phạm Thiên & More
In one of their festival announcements, Toronto International Film Festival have unveiled some of the most exciting international offerings of the year with Wavelenghts. Featuring Jean-Luc Godard’s posthumous short Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, Pedro Costa’s Daughters of Fire, Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Bas Devos’ Here, Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3, Phạm Thiên’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, Angela Schanelec’s Music, and much more, it’s quite an eclectic lineup.
“Wavelengths is a testament to the range of cinema celebrated at TIFF,” stated Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “It is also evidence that artist-driven experimental films are thriving and growing a new generation of cinephiles.”
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules, and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
“Wavelengths is a testament to the range of cinema celebrated at TIFF,” stated Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “It is also evidence that artist-driven experimental films are thriving and growing a new generation of cinephiles.”
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules, and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled its Wavelengths program for artist-driven experimental work that includes films by avant garde directors Denis Côté, Radu Jude, the late Chantal Akerman and Wang Bing.
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
And now we can officially state that the TIFF selections are now complete with the Wavelengths programme being unveiled. A mix of Berlin, Cannes and a good chunk of Locarno titles make up the almost dozen choices here with (almost exclusively North American Premieres) with award winners in Paul B. Preciado‘s Orlando, My Political Biography, Phạm Thiên An‘s Camera d’Or winner Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell with a quartet from Locarno in Radu Jude‘s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Bas Devos‘ Here, Eduardo Williams‘ The Human Surge 3 and Denis Côté‘s Mademoiselle Kenopsia.…...
- 8/11/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
A 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or winner “Farewell My Concubine” is a highlight of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Classics strand while Jean-Luc Godard’s last film will feature in Wavelengths.
The Classics strand also includes Canadian producer-director Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature documentary “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” (1985), portraying the life of the clarinettist and bandleader, and, after decades of oblivion Jacques Rivette’s New Wave classic “L’amour fou” (1969), whose original celluloid elements were damaged in a fire. A 50th anniversary screening of “Touki Bouki” (1973), from Sengal’s Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène’s “Xala” (1975), presented in 4K, complete the program. Classics is curated by Robyn Citizen, director of programming and platform lead, with contributions from Andréa Picard.
The Wavelengths strand has 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by...
The Classics strand also includes Canadian producer-director Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature documentary “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” (1985), portraying the life of the clarinettist and bandleader, and, after decades of oblivion Jacques Rivette’s New Wave classic “L’amour fou” (1969), whose original celluloid elements were damaged in a fire. A 50th anniversary screening of “Touki Bouki” (1973), from Sengal’s Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène’s “Xala” (1975), presented in 4K, complete the program. Classics is curated by Robyn Citizen, director of programming and platform lead, with contributions from Andréa Picard.
The Wavelengths strand has 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by...
- 8/11/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The trailer has debuted for “Mademoiselle Kenopsia,” the latest film from Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté, who won awards at Berlin Film Festival with “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” and Locarno with “Curling.” “Mademoiselle Kenopsia” had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival this month, and will premiere in North America at next month’s Toronto Film Festival in the Wavelengths section, which was unveiled Friday. H264 is handling international sales.
Côté says: “We imagined and intended the trailer as a sort of refuge that invites a sense of calm… while still provoking a slight anxiety. This essentially encapsulates ‘Kenopsia’: an anguished state of floating that hangs over the whole film to the point of overwhelming its main character.”
The press notes explain what the word “kenopsia” means: “The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.”
“Mademoiselle Kenopsia” focuses on a woman,...
Côté says: “We imagined and intended the trailer as a sort of refuge that invites a sense of calm… while still provoking a slight anxiety. This essentially encapsulates ‘Kenopsia’: an anguished state of floating that hangs over the whole film to the point of overwhelming its main character.”
The press notes explain what the word “kenopsia” means: “The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.”
“Mademoiselle Kenopsia” focuses on a woman,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced this year’s Wavelengths and Classics sidebars, the former section known for its politically charged, geographically diverse fare with a wide range of work drawn from the worlds of documentary, contemporary art, and international art-house cinema.
Wavelengths this year counts 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by the singular Chantal Akerman.
Of note in the Wavelengths short section, North American audiences will finally get to see Jean-Luc Godard’s swan song short, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, which played Cannes this past spring.
Another highlight in the Classics sidebar is the 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, the only movie from China to win the Palme d’Or. The original film had 20 minutes cut by then Miramax Boss Harvey Weinstein much to the chagrin of jury...
Wavelengths this year counts 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by the singular Chantal Akerman.
Of note in the Wavelengths short section, North American audiences will finally get to see Jean-Luc Godard’s swan song short, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, which played Cannes this past spring.
Another highlight in the Classics sidebar is the 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, the only movie from China to win the Palme d’Or. The original film had 20 minutes cut by then Miramax Boss Harvey Weinstein much to the chagrin of jury...
- 8/11/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Classics includes restored version of Jacques Rivette’s New Wave film L’amour Fou.
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced selections in the Wavelengths and Classics programmes ahead of the festival (September 7-17).
The expanded Wavelengths section offers 11 features and 19 shorts including the world premiere of Canadian artist and filmmaker Isiah Medina’s deconstructed heist tale He Thought He Died (pictured), Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, and Angela Schanelec’s retelling of the Oedipus myth, Music.
“Wavelengths is a testament to the range of cinema celebrated at TIFF,” said Anita Lee, TIFF’s chief programming officer. “It is also evidence...
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced selections in the Wavelengths and Classics programmes ahead of the festival (September 7-17).
The expanded Wavelengths section offers 11 features and 19 shorts including the world premiere of Canadian artist and filmmaker Isiah Medina’s deconstructed heist tale He Thought He Died (pictured), Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, and Angela Schanelec’s retelling of the Oedipus myth, Music.
“Wavelengths is a testament to the range of cinema celebrated at TIFF,” said Anita Lee, TIFF’s chief programming officer. “It is also evidence...
- 8/11/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival has added an additional 17 films to its 2023 lineup, with the new entries the work of a variety of bold international directors, from Radu Jude and Kleber Mendonca Filho to the late Jean-Luc Godard and Chantal Akerman.
The Wavelength section contains 12 features, two films paired in a single program and 19 shorts grouped in three separate programs. It is devoted to “artist-driven experimental films,” in the words of TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “Wavelengths continues to be a celebration of subversion, personal expression, and the vast, inexhaustible capabilities of cinema to enlighten, inspire, awe, resist, disrupt, and propose new ways of seeing and being in the world.”
Films in the section include “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” from the fiery Romanian satirist Radu Jude, “Here” from Belgian director Bas Devos,” the “Oedipus” retelling “Music” from Angela Schanelec, Brazilian Kleber Mendonca...
The Wavelength section contains 12 features, two films paired in a single program and 19 shorts grouped in three separate programs. It is devoted to “artist-driven experimental films,” in the words of TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “Wavelengths continues to be a celebration of subversion, personal expression, and the vast, inexhaustible capabilities of cinema to enlighten, inspire, awe, resist, disrupt, and propose new ways of seeing and being in the world.”
Films in the section include “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” from the fiery Romanian satirist Radu Jude, “Here” from Belgian director Bas Devos,” the “Oedipus” retelling “Music” from Angela Schanelec, Brazilian Kleber Mendonca...
- 8/11/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World (Radu Jude).The lineup for the 76th edition of the festival has been announced, including new films by Eduardo Williams, Leonor Teles, Lav Diaz, Radu Jude, and others.Concorso INTERNAZIONALEAnimal (Sofia Exarchou)Critical Zone (Ali Ahmadzadeh)Essential Truths of the Lake (Lav Diaz)Home (Leonor Teles)The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams)The Invisible Fight (Rainer Sarnet)Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World (Radu Jude)Lousy Carter (Bob Byington)Manga D’Terra (Basil Da Cunha)Nuit Obscure – Au Revoir Ici, N’Importe Où (Sylvain George)Patagonia (Simone Bozzelli)The Permanent Picture (Laura Ferrés)Rossosperanza (Annarita Zambrano)Stepne (Maryna Vroda)Sweet Dreams (Ena Sendijarević)The Vanishing Soldier (Dani Rosenberg)Yannick (Quentin Dupieux)Excursion (Una Gunjak).Concorso Cineasti Del PRESENTECamping du Lac (Eléonore Saintagnan)Ein Schöner Ort (Katharina Huber)Excursion (Una Gunjak)Family Portrait (Lucy Kerr)Dreaming...
- 7/6/2023
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSConann.The lineup for the 76th Locarno Film Festival is now online, and it includes new films from Radu Jude, Eduardo Williams, Bertrand Mandico (a feature and two shorts), Leonor Teles, Lav Diaz, and Denis Côté, plus many more. The festival runs from August 2 through 12.Following Barbie, which releases later this month, Greta Gerwig will next direct two Chronicles of Narnia adaptations for Netflix. This news comes as a side detail in a wide-reaching New Yorker piece on Mattel Films by Alex Barasch, which details the toy company’s plans to develop more than 45 films using its properties, including a Hot Wheels film by J.J. Abrams and a Daniel Kaluuya-led, "surrealistic" reboot of the children's show Barney.REMEMBERINGThe great comic actor Alan Arkin died last week at age 89. For the New York Times,...
- 7/5/2023
- MUBI
Canada-based movie distributor and aggregator H264 is launching a world sales arm with the acquisition of “Red Rooms,” which has its world premiere next week in the Crystal Globe Competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The company is focused on festival-driven, innovative films.
“Red Rooms,” directed by Quebec filmmaker Pascal Plante, is a cyber-thriller questioning the collective fascination with murderers. It will screen at Karlovy Vary on July 4, and will then open the Fantasia Film Festival on July 20 for its North American premiere.
Montréal-based H264 is also ramping up its international slate by adding “Mademoiselle Kenopsia,” from filmmaker Denis Côté, who won awards at Berlin with “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” and Locarno with “Curling.”
The company is also representing the dark comedy “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, starring Sara Montpetit (“Falcon Lake”) and Steve Laplante.
Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne, founder and president of H...
“Red Rooms,” directed by Quebec filmmaker Pascal Plante, is a cyber-thriller questioning the collective fascination with murderers. It will screen at Karlovy Vary on July 4, and will then open the Fantasia Film Festival on July 20 for its North American premiere.
Montréal-based H264 is also ramping up its international slate by adding “Mademoiselle Kenopsia,” from filmmaker Denis Côté, who won awards at Berlin with “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” and Locarno with “Curling.”
The company is also representing the dark comedy “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, starring Sara Montpetit (“Falcon Lake”) and Steve Laplante.
Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne, founder and president of H...
- 6/30/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The folks at Sodec (Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles) the Quebec government agency that promotes culture an hands out some major coin have given some funds to eight co-productions and seven productions in post with notable items in Xavier Legrand‘s sophomore feature Le successeur (with thesp Marc-André Grondin), Canuck filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz‘s Opus 28 and Denis Côté‘s (now fifteen feature) Mademoiselle Kenopsia with actress Larissa Corriveau toplining. Here is the complete list of projects below:
Fanon /...
Fanon /...
- 3/13/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
The Locarno Film Festival is launching a first-of-its-kind contest, offering a free complete restoration service to a selected vintage cinema classic.
The contest is part of The Swiss fest’s Heritage Online program that was launched in 2021 when its Locarno Pro industry side branched out into vintage cinema creating a platform that serves as a database of film titles that premiered prior to 2005.
The goal of the fest dedicated to indie cinema is to play an active role in restoring older films to their former glory and also to become a business facilitator between rights holders and classic film distributors, streaming platforms and other outlets.
Locarno’s new Heritage Online Contest is open to feature films from all over the world that premiered no later than 2009. Applicants must prove they are the rightful owners of the submitted works in need of either partial or complete restoration. Applications will be open...
The contest is part of The Swiss fest’s Heritage Online program that was launched in 2021 when its Locarno Pro industry side branched out into vintage cinema creating a platform that serves as a database of film titles that premiered prior to 2005.
The goal of the fest dedicated to indie cinema is to play an active role in restoring older films to their former glory and also to become a business facilitator between rights holders and classic film distributors, streaming platforms and other outlets.
Locarno’s new Heritage Online Contest is open to feature films from all over the world that premiered no later than 2009. Applicants must prove they are the rightful owners of the submitted works in need of either partial or complete restoration. Applications will be open...
- 3/8/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Denis Côté's That Kind of Summer is now showing exclusively on Mubi in most countries—including the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Mexico, and India—starting December 1, 2022, in the series Luminaries.A few sparks made me create this story. One of them is that I read a fascinating book about nymphomania by Carol Groneman, a New York-based historian. That's when the project really took off. I felt like writing a script that looked kindly on these complex characters, that didn't pass judgment or give easy answers. Something a bit twisted that wouldn't be an “issue film” with a message or a thesis. As a man, I was interested in a private world that didn't much belong to me. I had to slowly navigate it and appropriate it. Of course it was risky, but I figured that despite the mood of the era we currently live in, there's still nothing...
- 11/30/2022
- MUBI
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, alongside his 1999 short film Judgement, as well as Bi Gan’s new short A Shory Story and his second feature Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Peter Strickland’s new short.
Additional highlights include new episodes of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus, Denis Côté’s That Kind of Summer (which we caught at Berlinale earlier this year), Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher trilogy ahead of his imminent new project, and an Abel Ferrara double bill to close out 2022.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
December 1 – That Kind of Summer, directed by Denis Côté | Luminaries
December 2 – The Cat’s Meow, directed by Peter Bogdanovich
December 3 – La chinoise, directed by Jean-Luc Godard | For Ever Godard
December 4 – The Kingdom Exodus: The Congress Dances, directed by Lars von Trier | The Kingdom Exodus
December 5 – Judgement,...
Additional highlights include new episodes of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus, Denis Côté’s That Kind of Summer (which we caught at Berlinale earlier this year), Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher trilogy ahead of his imminent new project, and an Abel Ferrara double bill to close out 2022.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
December 1 – That Kind of Summer, directed by Denis Côté | Luminaries
December 2 – The Cat’s Meow, directed by Peter Bogdanovich
December 3 – La chinoise, directed by Jean-Luc Godard | For Ever Godard
December 4 – The Kingdom Exodus: The Congress Dances, directed by Lars von Trier | The Kingdom Exodus
December 5 – Judgement,...
- 11/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Probably as a consequence of reading Viennale 60. On Film Festivals during my long train ride back to Berlin, a few of the films I saw at this year’s Viennale became emblematic of my four days there and of the festival as a whole. Published on the occasion of the 60th anniversary, the book collects essays by and conversations between two dozen experts: current and former directors of Europe’s major fests (Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux is conspicuously absent), programmers, curators, critics and scholars, as well as one filmmaker, festival fixture Denis Côté. Spread over some 200 pages, these combine into a […]
The post Viennale 60: Curating Politically first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Viennale 60: Curating Politically first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 11/1/2022
- by Giovanni Marchini Camia
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Probably as a consequence of reading Viennale 60. On Film Festivals during my long train ride back to Berlin, a few of the films I saw at this year’s Viennale became emblematic of my four days there and of the festival as a whole. Published on the occasion of the 60th anniversary, the book collects essays by and conversations between two dozen experts: current and former directors of Europe’s major fests (Cannes’ Thierry Frémaux is conspicuously absent), programmers, curators, critics and scholars, as well as one filmmaker, festival fixture Denis Côté. Spread over some 200 pages, these combine into a […]
The post Viennale 60: Curating Politically first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Viennale 60: Curating Politically first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 11/1/2022
- by Giovanni Marchini Camia
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman).The lineup for the 75th-anniversary edition of the festival has been announced, including new films by Helena Wittmann, João Pedro Rodrígues, Aleksandr Sokurov and others, alongside retrospectives, tributes, and much more.Piazza GRANDEAlles über Martin Suter. Ausser die Wahrheit. (Everything About Martin Suter. Everything but the Truth.) (André Schäfer)Annie Colère (Blandine Lenoir)Bullet Train (David Leitch)Compartiment tueurs (The Sleeping Car Murder) (Costa-Gavras)Delta (Michele Vannucci)Home of the Brave (Laurie Anderson)Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)Last Dance (Delphine Lehericey)Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman)My Neighbor Adolf (Leon Prudovsky)Paradise Highway (Anna Gutto)Piano Piano (Nicola Prosatore)Printed Rainbow (Gitanjali Rao)Semret (Caterina Mona)Une femme de notre temps (Jean Paul Civeyrac)Vous n'aurez pas ma haine (You Will Not Have My Hate) (Kilian Riedhof)Where the Crawdads Sing (Olivia Newman)Human Flowers of Flesh (Helena Wittmann).Concorso INTERNAZIONALEAriyippu (Declaration) (Mahesh Narayanan)Balıqlara xütbə...
- 7/13/2022
- MUBI
Thirteen North American premieres also added, including Next Sohee for closing night.
Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its third and final wave of titles, including nine world premieres and a closing night slot for Cannes Critics’ Week entry Next Sohee.
The festival has also announced the presentation of its Prix Denis-Heroux, recognising an exceptional contribution to genre and independent cinema in Quebec, to producer Pierre David, known for his collaborations with David Cronenberg, Jean-Claude Lord and other directors.
The new additions complete the line-up of more than 130 features and 200 shorts for this year’s Fantasia festival, which...
Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its third and final wave of titles, including nine world premieres and a closing night slot for Cannes Critics’ Week entry Next Sohee.
The festival has also announced the presentation of its Prix Denis-Heroux, recognising an exceptional contribution to genre and independent cinema in Quebec, to producer Pierre David, known for his collaborations with David Cronenberg, Jean-Claude Lord and other directors.
The new additions complete the line-up of more than 130 features and 200 shorts for this year’s Fantasia festival, which...
- 7/1/2022
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival will close its 26th edition with a screening of July Jung’s “Next Sohee,” an interesting take on exploitation starring the Wachowski siblings’ regular collaborator, South Korean actress Bae Doona.
The film, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, won’t be the only title to discover on the closing night, however, with a special screening of A24’s horror comedy “Bodies Bodies Bodies” also planned. Directed by Halina Reijn and featuring Amandla Stenberg, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” breakout Maria Bakalova and Pete Davidson, the film shows a party game that leads to murder, all the while maintaining “a taut balance of uneasy tension and wicked humor,” teased the festival organizers.
The announcement came alongside Fantasia’s third wave of titles, finally rounding up this year’s varied selection. Among the world premieres, Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez will bring “The Elderly,” Shuichi Okita “The Fish Tale,...
The film, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, won’t be the only title to discover on the closing night, however, with a special screening of A24’s horror comedy “Bodies Bodies Bodies” also planned. Directed by Halina Reijn and featuring Amandla Stenberg, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” breakout Maria Bakalova and Pete Davidson, the film shows a party game that leads to murder, all the while maintaining “a taut balance of uneasy tension and wicked humor,” teased the festival organizers.
The announcement came alongside Fantasia’s third wave of titles, finally rounding up this year’s varied selection. Among the world premieres, Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez will bring “The Elderly,” Shuichi Okita “The Fish Tale,...
- 7/1/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The Fantasia Film Festival is set to close with July Jung’s thriller Next Sohee, organizers said on Thursday.
Korean filmmaker Jung’s drama, which debuted by closing the Cannes Critics’ Week and will get a North American bow in Montreal, follows a young woman driven to suicide by a relentless work environment and an outraged investigator trying to get to the bottom of what happened.
Fantasia on closing night will also host a special screening for Halina Reijn’s Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, which stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la Herrold, Rachel Sennott and Pete Davidson.
Unveiling its third wave of titles, the genre fest will also hold world premieres for Yuki Tanada’s My Broken Mariko and Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez’s The Elderly.
There’s also North American debuts for Quebec auteur Denis Côté’s That Kind of Summer...
The Fantasia Film Festival is set to close with July Jung’s thriller Next Sohee, organizers said on Thursday.
Korean filmmaker Jung’s drama, which debuted by closing the Cannes Critics’ Week and will get a North American bow in Montreal, follows a young woman driven to suicide by a relentless work environment and an outraged investigator trying to get to the bottom of what happened.
Fantasia on closing night will also host a special screening for Halina Reijn’s Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, which stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la Herrold, Rachel Sennott and Pete Davidson.
Unveiling its third wave of titles, the genre fest will also hold world premieres for Yuki Tanada’s My Broken Mariko and Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez’s The Elderly.
There’s also North American debuts for Quebec auteur Denis Côté’s That Kind of Summer...
- 6/30/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
FireFollowing a successful but necessarily impersonal virtual edition in 2021, the Berlin International Film Festival returned to in-person activities this year, drawing skepticism in some quarters but ultimately quieting the naysayers with a safe and efficient event that put the movies back where they belong: on the big screen. With mandatory daily Covid tests, 2G plus vaccination protocols, ticket reservations, assigned seating, and half-capacity venues, the Berlinale’s typically convivial vibe was sterilized and regimented in a way that’s already become familiar in an era of masks and social distancing. But no matter: the program, overseen by Carlo Chatrian in his third year as artistic director, while never quite reaching the skyscraping heights of recent editions (in which films like Days and What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? confirmed the new regime’s dedication to auteur-driven art cinema), provided a deep and rewarding wellspring of work...
- 2/25/2022
- MUBI
Denis Côté is a weird kind of humanist, arriving at that angle from an offbeat starting point. Maybe the key to his work thus far is his short, powerful 2012 documentary Bestiaire, surveying a bevy of exotic animals in a Quebec safari park, all pulled from their natural habitats. Beyond its prescient aspect, foreshadowing other recent animal-focused docs like Gunda and Cow, Côté enacts the role of a skewed portrait artist, showing the zebras, giraffes, and ostriches resplendent in their odd physicality, where you can feel them both attempting to evolve into, as well as neutralized by, their new environment of iron bars, railings, and peepholes.
A Skin So Soft, showing male bodybuilders in a similar state of haunted repose (and reviewed perceptively by Tfs’s Rory O’Connor on its 2017 premiere), is a byway from there towards his latest film, That Kind of Summer. This look at sex addiction could again...
A Skin So Soft, showing male bodybuilders in a similar state of haunted repose (and reviewed perceptively by Tfs’s Rory O’Connor on its 2017 premiere), is a byway from there towards his latest film, That Kind of Summer. This look at sex addiction could again...
- 2/21/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
“You are not here for a cure,” the founder of a 26-day sexual therapy retreat tells the small group of women enrolled in her program at the outset of “That Kind of Summer.” Laying out the ground rules for the sensitive self-awareness exercise that follows — a loosely structured hiatus from unhealthy temptations, designed for those whose out-of-control impulses have made their lives unmanageable — she reassures, “You are not forbidden any sexual thoughts or behavior here. You are not sick.”
Shot on grainy Super 16 with the kind of unsteady handheld aesthetic that suggests the cameraperson really ought to get their inner ear checked, Denis Côté’s radically nonjudgmental “let’s talk about sex” drama looks and feels like a documentary — at least, it could pass as one until a giant CG tarantula crawls up the wall while one of the women is masturbating late in the game. By then, it’s safe to say,...
Shot on grainy Super 16 with the kind of unsteady handheld aesthetic that suggests the cameraperson really ought to get their inner ear checked, Denis Côté’s radically nonjudgmental “let’s talk about sex” drama looks and feels like a documentary — at least, it could pass as one until a giant CG tarantula crawls up the wall while one of the women is masturbating late in the game. By then, it’s safe to say,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The women and their sexuality are arguably glamorised and male-gazed but strong acting means the film makes an impact
Berlin juries have an interest in the confrontational and the transgressive: my guess is that this film in competition from Canadian director Denis Côté may well win the big prize. I am still not entirely sure how to view its exploitative aesthetic. But it’s undoubtedly true that the characters and performances grow and develop, unexpectedly, into something poignant and even rather melancholy by the end.
The setting is a therapeutic summer residency in a country house near a lake for young women who have issues with hypersexuality and sex addiction. They must surrender their phones (except for certain permitted breaks) and live together as a group with their mentors, with one weekend pass for the entire time; there are also activities and discussion groups. Geisha (Aude Mathieu) is a sex...
Berlin juries have an interest in the confrontational and the transgressive: my guess is that this film in competition from Canadian director Denis Côté may well win the big prize. I am still not entirely sure how to view its exploitative aesthetic. But it’s undoubtedly true that the characters and performances grow and develop, unexpectedly, into something poignant and even rather melancholy by the end.
The setting is a therapeutic summer residency in a country house near a lake for young women who have issues with hypersexuality and sex addiction. They must surrender their phones (except for certain permitted breaks) and live together as a group with their mentors, with one weekend pass for the entire time; there are also activities and discussion groups. Geisha (Aude Mathieu) is a sex...
- 2/14/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Premiering in competition at Berlin, Denis Côté’s “That Kind of Summer” began life as a kind of thought experiment meant to address a rather large oversight in modern Quebecois cinema.
“I asked myself, why was it so difficult to name a Quebecois film from the past 25 years that treated sexuality as its central theme?” Côté told Variety. “Why could France foster directors who filmed the human body in direct and unselfconscious ways, and Quebec could not? Were Quebecois more prudish than others?”
And so the Montreal-based filmmaker started on his 14th feature, which follows three so-called “hypersexual” women, plagued with troubled histories and fragile mental states, as they participate in a month-long therapy retreat. But as he developed the script with a local sexologist, the filmmaker saw potential traps in two very different directions.
“The film could never be meant to judge,” Côté explained. “I didn’t want to...
“I asked myself, why was it so difficult to name a Quebecois film from the past 25 years that treated sexuality as its central theme?” Côté told Variety. “Why could France foster directors who filmed the human body in direct and unselfconscious ways, and Quebec could not? Were Quebecois more prudish than others?”
And so the Montreal-based filmmaker started on his 14th feature, which follows three so-called “hypersexual” women, plagued with troubled histories and fragile mental states, as they participate in a month-long therapy retreat. But as he developed the script with a local sexologist, the filmmaker saw potential traps in two very different directions.
“The film could never be meant to judge,” Côté explained. “I didn’t want to...
- 2/12/2022
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
The 72nd Berlin Film Festival got off to a promising if somewhat subdued start Feb. 10 amid strict restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, which put a major damper on this year’s festivities and kept crowds to a minimum.
While only some 800 guests attended the opening night ceremony at the Berlinale Palast — less than half of the normal capacity of the festival’s grand main venue — the event was nevertheless a hopeful sign for the local film industry and for cinema in general.
The festival was uncompromising in its mask policy for the red carpet, rendering most high-profile guests unrecognizable — although many whipped them off for the phalanx of photographers. But the Berlinale Palast’s famous disco ball spun nonetheless and aside from the Covid of it all, the scene felt very much like old times, both on the red carpet and inside, where a number of local guests...
While only some 800 guests attended the opening night ceremony at the Berlinale Palast — less than half of the normal capacity of the festival’s grand main venue — the event was nevertheless a hopeful sign for the local film industry and for cinema in general.
The festival was uncompromising in its mask policy for the red carpet, rendering most high-profile guests unrecognizable — although many whipped them off for the phalanx of photographers. But the Berlinale Palast’s famous disco ball spun nonetheless and aside from the Covid of it all, the scene felt very much like old times, both on the red carpet and inside, where a number of local guests...
- 2/10/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
A film festival is about more than just the films and the festival center. It is about the location, the journey, the experience. Here on Deadline we’ll be bringing you updates on what it’s like to be on the ground at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival.
What’s it like on the ground on the eve of the Berlin Film Festival? Quieter.
“Much quieter,” in the words of the receptionist at my hotel. A walk around the Berlinale Palast festival center this morning confirmed that assessment. The streets and hotels are sparse. As expected.
The in-person festival and online market officially get underway tomorrow two years after their last in-person edition. Ordinarily the main festival areas would be bustling by now but attendance will be significantly diminished as a result of the pandemic. Covid rates remain high in Germany and in Europe even if there is hope that...
What’s it like on the ground on the eve of the Berlin Film Festival? Quieter.
“Much quieter,” in the words of the receptionist at my hotel. A walk around the Berlinale Palast festival center this morning confirmed that assessment. The streets and hotels are sparse. As expected.
The in-person festival and online market officially get underway tomorrow two years after their last in-person edition. Ordinarily the main festival areas would be bustling by now but attendance will be significantly diminished as a result of the pandemic. Covid rates remain high in Germany and in Europe even if there is hope that...
- 2/9/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
French-Canadian returns to Competition after last year’s Encounters prize.
France’s Shellac has boarded worldwide sales on French-Canadian director Denis Côté’s Berlin-bound That Kind Of Summer in the run-up to next month’s festival and market.
Larissa Corriveau, who starred in Côté’s 2019 Golden Bear nominee Ghost Town Anthology, Laure Giappiconi and Aude Mathieu play the leads in Montreal-based Metafilms’ French-language Competition entry about three women invited to a rest home to explore their sexual issues.
As they co-exist under the detached supervision of a German therapist and a considerate social worker, the group attempts to maintain a...
France’s Shellac has boarded worldwide sales on French-Canadian director Denis Côté’s Berlin-bound That Kind Of Summer in the run-up to next month’s festival and market.
Larissa Corriveau, who starred in Côté’s 2019 Golden Bear nominee Ghost Town Anthology, Laure Giappiconi and Aude Mathieu play the leads in Montreal-based Metafilms’ French-language Competition entry about three women invited to a rest home to explore their sexual issues.
As they co-exist under the detached supervision of a German therapist and a considerate social worker, the group attempts to maintain a...
- 1/28/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
What defines bodybuilding, rather than a general fitness regime or the physical conditioning required for contact sports, is how it sees strength as an end to itself. In terms of how competitions are usually conducted, the measure of time for participants to pose for judges is over imminently: as shown in films such as Pumping Iron, and now the somber Hungarian drama Gentle, it can resemble fashion catwalk more than gladiatorial arena. Also relevant is the post-human aspect: what is bodybuilding if not a way to augment what we know as human features, kneading muscle and physical posture into a heightened form of themselves. David Cronenberg would’ve surely concocted an interesting film set in this milieu, at least in his Dead Ringers or Crash mode.
Anna Nemes (one half of the director team responsible for Gentle) and László Csuja made a straight documentary in tandem with this feature, using...
Anna Nemes (one half of the director team responsible for Gentle) and László Csuja made a straight documentary in tandem with this feature, using...
- 1/28/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian on Wednesday unveiled the full lineup for the fest’s 72nd edition which he is hellbent on holding as an in-person event despite the global spread of the omicron variant, even after other top fests such as Sundance and Rotterdam have thrown in the towel and gone online.
Chatrian spoke to Variety about the selection and what he expects his “exercise in resistance,” as he has called it, to be like on the ground in Berlin.
One thing that I think is clear is that the global film community is supporting your determination.
Yes. Despite everything that is happening, the willingness and desire to be part of the festival on the part of production companies, sellers, actors and directors is very strong. I was even moved a couple of weeks ago when they told me that Paolo Taviani, who is 91, really wants to come at any cost.
Chatrian spoke to Variety about the selection and what he expects his “exercise in resistance,” as he has called it, to be like on the ground in Berlin.
One thing that I think is clear is that the global film community is supporting your determination.
Yes. Despite everything that is happening, the willingness and desire to be part of the festival on the part of production companies, sellers, actors and directors is very strong. I was even moved a couple of weeks ago when they told me that Paolo Taviani, who is 91, really wants to come at any cost.
- 1/19/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Several of the names that figured in our most anticipated list and a new Hong Sangsoo project (The Novelist’s Film) are among the eighteen feature films competing for the Golden Bear in Berlin next moth. We find some “Denis” films in Clare Denis‘ Both Sides of the Blade and Denis Côté‘s Un été comme ça. We have two feature film debuts in Call Jane by Phyllis Nagy (the only non-world premiere in the comp) and film editor Natalia Lopez Gallardo‘s debut film (formerly known as “Supernova”) Robe of Gems . These films will compete alongside established vets such as Ulrich Seidl with Rimini (formerly titled “Wicked Games”), Paolo Taviani‘s Leonora Addio (#94 in our most anticipated list) and Rithy Panh‘s Everything Will Be Ok.…...
- 1/19/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
The complete lineup for the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, taking place February 10-20, 2022, has been unveiled and it’s a major collection of some of our most-anticipated films of the year. As teased yesterday, Claire Denis’ Fire (which now has the title Avec amour et acharnement (aka Both Sides of the Blade)) will premiere in competition, alongside Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 follow-up Alcarràs, Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini, Rithy Panh’s Everything Will Be Ok, and more.
Elsewhere in the festival is Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, Dario Argento’s Dark Glasses, Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave & Warren Ellis doc This Much I Know To Be True, Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet, Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package, Quentin Dupieux’s Incredible But True, plus new shorts by Lucrecia Martel, Hlynur Pálmason, and more. Also recently announced was the Panorama section, which will open...
Elsewhere in the festival is Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, Dario Argento’s Dark Glasses, Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave & Warren Ellis doc This Much I Know To Be True, Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet, Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package, Quentin Dupieux’s Incredible But True, plus new shorts by Lucrecia Martel, Hlynur Pálmason, and more. Also recently announced was the Panorama section, which will open...
- 1/19/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Films by auteurs Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo and Rithy Panh are part of the lineup in competition at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival.
Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.
The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.
The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.
Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two of the films are first features, both from women.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian discussed the thematic throughline of “human and emotional bonds” across the selection, with the family unit serving as a key focal point in a number of movies. More than half are set in the present time, and two are within the pandemic era.
The festival hosts 12 returning filmmakers, eight of whom are in competition and five of whom already hold a Bear from Berlin.
The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.
- 1/19/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Un été comme ça
Easily Canada’s most prolific filmmaker, without exaggeration, Denis Côté has been on a film per year pace for the past dozen years now and what’s even more remarkable is that he rarely visits the same mental or physical space twice. Shot around the month of July, Un été comme ça sends Ghost Town Anthology thesp Larissa Corriveau, Laure Giappiconi, Aude Mathieu, Samir Guesmi and Anne Ratte Polle to a different kind of day camp – one that Lars von Trier quasi investigated with the Nymphomaniac pair? Clocking over the two hour mark, this was shot in the North of Montreal and produced by Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre and Sylvain Corbeil (who had produced Côté’s Boris Without Béatrice).…...
Easily Canada’s most prolific filmmaker, without exaggeration, Denis Côté has been on a film per year pace for the past dozen years now and what’s even more remarkable is that he rarely visits the same mental or physical space twice. Shot around the month of July, Un été comme ça sends Ghost Town Anthology thesp Larissa Corriveau, Laure Giappiconi, Aude Mathieu, Samir Guesmi and Anne Ratte Polle to a different kind of day camp – one that Lars von Trier quasi investigated with the Nymphomaniac pair? Clocking over the two hour mark, this was shot in the North of Montreal and produced by Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre and Sylvain Corbeil (who had produced Côté’s Boris Without Béatrice).…...
- 1/9/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
As he took questions both onstage and later out on the street following a Sunday night screening at the Torino Film Festival – where his film, “The Noise of Engines,” played in competition – director Philippe Grégoire found himself on the opposite end of an interaction he knew all too well.
Like so many filmmakers, Grégoire himself was once an eager festivalgoer, often staying late after a screening to hear this or that director speak about their craft; in a move perhaps less common, Grégoire could pinpoint one of those moments – a Q&a with fellow Quebecois director Denis Côté, to be precise – as the exact point he decided to step behind the camera.
“I was in the same exact place,” he tells Variety. “I had to take a decision. I figured even if no one would watch my movie, even if it was risky, even if I wasn’t sure whether...
Like so many filmmakers, Grégoire himself was once an eager festivalgoer, often staying late after a screening to hear this or that director speak about their craft; in a move perhaps less common, Grégoire could pinpoint one of those moments – a Q&a with fellow Quebecois director Denis Côté, to be precise – as the exact point he decided to step behind the camera.
“I was in the same exact place,” he tells Variety. “I had to take a decision. I figured even if no one would watch my movie, even if it was risky, even if I wasn’t sure whether...
- 11/30/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Twenty-year-old Emma Ducharme knows she wants to be a soldier, perhaps more fervently than she knows why she wants to be a soldier. A slight, shy, reedy young woman, she enters the Canadian army with something undefined to prove to herself, and perhaps to her late father, himself a military man — but whether she proves it or not is one of many things her resting nervous face steadfastly refuses to give away.
“Wars” has its own ideas about how kindly the military treats vulnerable women like Ducharme, as she’s brusquely addressed throughout. Screenwriter Cynthia Tremblay’s ultra-sparse script has been in development since 2011, the film’s closing credits tell us, but this tightly wound character study feels aptly attuned to the #MeToo era and its reckoning with patriarchal abuse of power. There’s no obvious release or relief here, however: Ducharme’s is an untidy reckoning, as solemn and...
“Wars” has its own ideas about how kindly the military treats vulnerable women like Ducharme, as she’s brusquely addressed throughout. Screenwriter Cynthia Tremblay’s ultra-sparse script has been in development since 2011, the film’s closing credits tell us, but this tightly wound character study feels aptly attuned to the #MeToo era and its reckoning with patriarchal abuse of power. There’s no obvious release or relief here, however: Ducharme’s is an untidy reckoning, as solemn and...
- 8/30/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Film at Lincoln Center on Tuesday revealed the slate for the Currents section of the 2021 New York Film Festival, a slate of cutting-edge and experimental works that showcase fresh voices in contemporary cinema. The section’s opening night film is “The Tsugua Diaries,” a pandemic-era tale that premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight about three housemates in lockdown from Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes (“Arabian Nights”).
Currents includes 15 features, plus 36 shorts contained in eight programs, and represent 27 countries. In addition to the Portuguese “The Tsugua Diaries,” several films center around the pandemic. Shengze Zhu’s “A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces,” is a meditation on Wuhan’s urban spaces before and after the outbreak, while Denis Côté’s “Social Hygiene” is an absurdist comedy in which characters exchange frank barbs from a humorous distance.
“Currents is the section of the festival that attests to cinema’s continued capacity for reinvention,” said Dennis Lim,...
Currents includes 15 features, plus 36 shorts contained in eight programs, and represent 27 countries. In addition to the Portuguese “The Tsugua Diaries,” several films center around the pandemic. Shengze Zhu’s “A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces,” is a meditation on Wuhan’s urban spaces before and after the outbreak, while Denis Côté’s “Social Hygiene” is an absurdist comedy in which characters exchange frank barbs from a humorous distance.
“Currents is the section of the festival that attests to cinema’s continued capacity for reinvention,” said Dennis Lim,...
- 8/24/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
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