Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has wrapped principal photography on his next feature “Rajagunj” (“The Sky is Mine”).
The film is also one of nine projects to receive funding from the Norwegian Film Institute’s Sorfond. It received NOK625,000.
Rauniyar’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals. He is also a Berlinale Talents alumnus saw and short film “Four Nights” play at Berlinale Shorts in 2022.
Written by Rauniyar, David Barker and Asha Magrati, “The Sky is Mine” examines the caste system endemic to South Asia, where there is great emphasis on skin color. The film follows Pooja, a light-skinned Nepali police officer, who has broken centuries-old misogyny by becoming the first female detective in the country. She comes across her first case in a violent border town. While tens...
The film is also one of nine projects to receive funding from the Norwegian Film Institute’s Sorfond. It received NOK625,000.
Rauniyar’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals. He is also a Berlinale Talents alumnus saw and short film “Four Nights” play at Berlinale Shorts in 2022.
Written by Rauniyar, David Barker and Asha Magrati, “The Sky is Mine” examines the caste system endemic to South Asia, where there is great emphasis on skin color. The film follows Pooja, a light-skinned Nepali police officer, who has broken centuries-old misogyny by becoming the first female detective in the country. She comes across her first case in a violent border town. While tens...
- 10/12/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has cast Indian actor Tannishtha Chatterjee as one of the leads in his upcoming feature “The Sky Is Mine.”
Chatterjee’s credits include “Brick Lane” (2007), for which she scored a best actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards, “Parched” (2015) and “Lion” (2016). She won the Asia Star Award for best Asian filmmaker at Busan for her directorial debut, “Roam Rome Mein” (2019).
Rauniyar’s latest work, short film “Four Nights,” is playing at Berlinale Shorts. The filmmaker’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals. He is also a Berlinale Talents alumnus.
Written by Rauniyar, David Barker and Asha Magrati, “The Sky Is Mine” examines the caste system endemic to South Asia, where there is great emphasis on skin color. The film will follow Pooja, a light-skinned Nepali police officer,...
Chatterjee’s credits include “Brick Lane” (2007), for which she scored a best actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards, “Parched” (2015) and “Lion” (2016). She won the Asia Star Award for best Asian filmmaker at Busan for her directorial debut, “Roam Rome Mein” (2019).
Rauniyar’s latest work, short film “Four Nights,” is playing at Berlinale Shorts. The filmmaker’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals. He is also a Berlinale Talents alumnus.
Written by Rauniyar, David Barker and Asha Magrati, “The Sky Is Mine” examines the caste system endemic to South Asia, where there is great emphasis on skin color. The film will follow Pooja, a light-skinned Nepali police officer,...
- 2/14/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Producers on the Move, a networking forum for up-and-coming producers from Europe, takes place as a virtual event this week. The organizer, European Film Promotion, has given Variety exclusive access to the projects the producers are pitching to sales companies.
Here are their projects, including the latest films from the directors of SXSW standout “Lake Bodom” and Cannes breakout “Fire Will Come.” (Biographies of the producers can be found at this link.)
“After”
Producer: Andrea Queralt, 4 A 4 Productions (France)
Director: Oliver Laxe
Genre: Existential Road-Movie
The next film from Oliver Laxe, the director of Cannes breakout hit “Fire Will Come,” winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. “After” follows a disparate group of ravers who go in quest of the ultimate party in a remote corner of Africa. They embark on an odyssey into the depths of the Saharan desert, a mirror of sand for the characters.
“La Bella Estate”
Producer: Giovanni Pompili,...
Here are their projects, including the latest films from the directors of SXSW standout “Lake Bodom” and Cannes breakout “Fire Will Come.” (Biographies of the producers can be found at this link.)
“After”
Producer: Andrea Queralt, 4 A 4 Productions (France)
Director: Oliver Laxe
Genre: Existential Road-Movie
The next film from Oliver Laxe, the director of Cannes breakout hit “Fire Will Come,” winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. “After” follows a disparate group of ravers who go in quest of the ultimate party in a remote corner of Africa. They embark on an odyssey into the depths of the Saharan desert, a mirror of sand for the characters.
“La Bella Estate”
Producer: Giovanni Pompili,...
- 5/14/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s iteration will take place on its original dates - May 11-15, 2020 - independently of Cannes.
20 up-and-coming producers have been selected for the European Film Promotion’s (Efp) networking platform Producers on the Move, which this year will take place online after the Cannes Film Festival was postponed.
This year’s iteration will go ahead independent of Cannes on its original dates – May 11-15, 2020 - and will include online speed meetings, roundtable sessions, case studies, and talks with experts.
Among this year’s line-up are Monica Hellström, who produced Simon Lereng Wilmont’s documentary The Distant Barking Of Dogs,...
20 up-and-coming producers have been selected for the European Film Promotion’s (Efp) networking platform Producers on the Move, which this year will take place online after the Cannes Film Festival was postponed.
This year’s iteration will go ahead independent of Cannes on its original dates – May 11-15, 2020 - and will include online speed meetings, roundtable sessions, case studies, and talks with experts.
Among this year’s line-up are Monica Hellström, who produced Simon Lereng Wilmont’s documentary The Distant Barking Of Dogs,...
- 5/5/2020
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
European Film Promotion’s networking program Producers on the Move will take place as a digital edition on its original dates – from May 11 to 15 – and independently of the Cannes Film Festival, which has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Twenty up-and-coming European producers will meet online and present their projects in speed meetings and roundtable sessions. A case study as well as talks with experts will round out the program.
Efp, a network of 37 European film promotion institutions, has selected the following producers from 20 different European countries: Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria), Danijel Pek (Croatia), Mikuláš Novotny (Czech Republic), Monica Hellström (Denmark), Elina Litvinova (Estonia), Aleksi Hyvärinen (Finland), Andrea Queralt (France), Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Germany), John Wallace (Ireland), Giovanni Pompili (Italy), Yll Uka (Kosovo), Marija Razgutė (Lithuania), Alan R. Milligan (Norway), Marta Habior (Poland), Mário Patrocínio (Portugal), Marina Gumzi (Slovenia), Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo (Spain), Marie Kjellson (Sweden), Flavia Zanon (Switzerland) and Rupert Lloyd (U.
Twenty up-and-coming European producers will meet online and present their projects in speed meetings and roundtable sessions. A case study as well as talks with experts will round out the program.
Efp, a network of 37 European film promotion institutions, has selected the following producers from 20 different European countries: Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria), Danijel Pek (Croatia), Mikuláš Novotny (Czech Republic), Monica Hellström (Denmark), Elina Litvinova (Estonia), Aleksi Hyvärinen (Finland), Andrea Queralt (France), Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Germany), John Wallace (Ireland), Giovanni Pompili (Italy), Yll Uka (Kosovo), Marija Razgutė (Lithuania), Alan R. Milligan (Norway), Marta Habior (Poland), Mário Patrocínio (Portugal), Marina Gumzi (Slovenia), Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo (Spain), Marie Kjellson (Sweden), Flavia Zanon (Switzerland) and Rupert Lloyd (U.
- 5/5/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The American Film Institute (AFI) just announced the films that will play in the New Auteurs, Cinema’s Legacy, Midnight, Shorts and AFI Conservatory Showcase sections at AFI Fest 2019 presented by Audi, completing the festival’s program.
The complete AFI Fest program includes 142 titles of which 51% are directed by women. This year’s program represents 52 countries and includes eight official International Feature Film Oscar®submissions as well as four World Premieres.
See online film guide at http://fest.afi.com/.
This year, they have transitioned back to a paid ticket system. For more information about ticket prices, Film Passes and Priority Passes, visit http://fest.afi.com. As an Official Supporter of the festival, I have five (5) complementary tickets to each screening of this film. They are available to the first to ask me! Please note that a ticket does not guarantee seating; be seated at 15 minutes prior to start time to ensure a seat.
The complete AFI Fest program includes 142 titles of which 51% are directed by women. This year’s program represents 52 countries and includes eight official International Feature Film Oscar®submissions as well as four World Premieres.
See online film guide at http://fest.afi.com/.
This year, they have transitioned back to a paid ticket system. For more information about ticket prices, Film Passes and Priority Passes, visit http://fest.afi.com. As an Official Supporter of the festival, I have five (5) complementary tickets to each screening of this film. They are available to the first to ask me! Please note that a ticket does not guarantee seating; be seated at 15 minutes prior to start time to ensure a seat.
- 10/31/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
European movie technology company Motion will be in Shanghai from this week seeking investors and content partners for its online distribution tool.
The company positions itself as enabling paid-for peer-to-peer streaming, by connecting movie producers and sales agents directly with their audience.
Backed by a trio of companies — Cinemarket, White Rabbit and LeapDAO – it launched in Cannes last month.
The company is currently attempting to raise EUR1 million in a funding round that will close at the end of June. It says it has over EUR500,000 of financial commitments.
French production companies Haut et Court, Elzevir and Le Bureau “have invested their library and have committed to investing cash,” Motion told Variety. “It’s important for us that the film industry owns the technology and is represented on the board of Motion.”
Motion says it is significantly different from the rights trading platforms and streaming services, such as Trx, BidSlate...
The company positions itself as enabling paid-for peer-to-peer streaming, by connecting movie producers and sales agents directly with their audience.
Backed by a trio of companies — Cinemarket, White Rabbit and LeapDAO – it launched in Cannes last month.
The company is currently attempting to raise EUR1 million in a funding round that will close at the end of June. It says it has over EUR500,000 of financial commitments.
French production companies Haut et Court, Elzevir and Le Bureau “have invested their library and have committed to investing cash,” Motion told Variety. “It’s important for us that the film industry owns the technology and is represented on the board of Motion.”
Motion says it is significantly different from the rights trading platforms and streaming services, such as Trx, BidSlate...
- 6/13/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Movie technology company Motion is launching Thursday in Cannes that seeks to connect movie producers and sales agents directly with their audience through a cutting-edge digital distribution model.
Motion, which brings together executives from Cinemarket, White Rabbit and LeapDAO, is in Cannes to demonstrate to industry players how it can combine an Ethereum blockchain-enabled method for micro-payments with peer-to-peer movie streaming services to maximize revenue.
Motion says its blockchain technology completes transactions from paying viewer straight to rights holders within three seconds. The service will collect otherwise lost revenue and data for rights holders, and offer fans a one-click means to pay for and access content through p2p streaming, thereby delivering an easy-to-use legal alternative to piracy.
The service enables any content creator to get to know their audience by sharing data about the viewer’s consumption of content, Motion says.
The company is looking to persuade film industry...
Motion, which brings together executives from Cinemarket, White Rabbit and LeapDAO, is in Cannes to demonstrate to industry players how it can combine an Ethereum blockchain-enabled method for micro-payments with peer-to-peer movie streaming services to maximize revenue.
Motion says its blockchain technology completes transactions from paying viewer straight to rights holders within three seconds. The service will collect otherwise lost revenue and data for rights holders, and offer fans a one-click means to pay for and access content through p2p streaming, thereby delivering an easy-to-use legal alternative to piracy.
The service enables any content creator to get to know their audience by sharing data about the viewer’s consumption of content, Motion says.
The company is looking to persuade film industry...
- 5/16/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
K5 Intl., part of film financing and production company K5 Media Group, which has produced movies starring Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irons, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Paul Walker and Ethan Hawke, has inked a strategic partnership with and will receive financial backing from White Rabbit, a company that employs P2P streaming and blockchain technology to distribute films and TV shows.
K5 will provide access to its library of 50-plus films to White Rabbit, and K5 co-founder Daniel Baur will join the White Rabbit advisory board. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“I have been actively searching the blockchain space for over a year, looking for companies that can have a massive impact on the film industry,” Baur said in a statement. “With White Rabbit, I saw a product that properly integrates blockchain and embraces the existing entertainment industry and fans in a unique way. We believe White Rabbit...
K5 will provide access to its library of 50-plus films to White Rabbit, and K5 co-founder Daniel Baur will join the White Rabbit advisory board. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“I have been actively searching the blockchain space for over a year, looking for companies that can have a massive impact on the film industry,” Baur said in a statement. “With White Rabbit, I saw a product that properly integrates blockchain and embraces the existing entertainment industry and fans in a unique way. We believe White Rabbit...
- 4/17/2018
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Celluloid sets down at Efm with biggest slate in years, adding two new Italian productions.
Paris-based sales agent Celluloid Dreams, at the European Film Market (Efm) this week with one of its biggest slates in recent years, has boarded sales on two high-profile Italian titles, Silvio Soldini’s [pictured] Emma and Marco Tullio Giordana’s Nome Di Donna.
Soldini’s Emma stars Adriano Giannini as a womanising creative director at a trendy ad agency who falls under the spell of a beautiful, married and blind osteopath. It is now in post-production. Videa has acquired Italian rights.
Tullio Giordana’s Nome Di Donne stars Cristiana Capotondi as a single mother who works at an old people’s home, where she discovers that the manager is sexually abusing the staff and she sets out to bring him to justice.
Celluloid Dreams president and head of acquisitions Hengameh Panahi acquired the films through her long-time contact, Lionello Cerri at Lumière...
Paris-based sales agent Celluloid Dreams, at the European Film Market (Efm) this week with one of its biggest slates in recent years, has boarded sales on two high-profile Italian titles, Silvio Soldini’s [pictured] Emma and Marco Tullio Giordana’s Nome Di Donna.
Soldini’s Emma stars Adriano Giannini as a womanising creative director at a trendy ad agency who falls under the spell of a beautiful, married and blind osteopath. It is now in post-production. Videa has acquired Italian rights.
Tullio Giordana’s Nome Di Donne stars Cristiana Capotondi as a single mother who works at an old people’s home, where she discovers that the manager is sexually abusing the staff and she sets out to bring him to justice.
Celluloid Dreams president and head of acquisitions Hengameh Panahi acquired the films through her long-time contact, Lionello Cerri at Lumière...
- 2/10/2017
- ScreenDaily
“Lamb”, directed by Yared Zeleke and presented by Ama Ampadu and Laurent Lavolé showed in Competition at Doha's Ajyal Youth Film Festival this month to an audience of youth and children under the age of 18. “Lamb” premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard 2015, marking the first time an Ethiopian film has ever screened as an Official Selection at Cannes. ). It was this year’s Ethiopian submission for Academy Award© nomination for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar©.
This is no Little Bo Peep lamb. This lamb has rough brown wool and is led on a rope, dragged on a rope by a young boy, Ephraim, eight years old, who lives in the devout Coptic Christian land of Northern Ethiopia
“Lamb” is a classic tale of a child and pet, the type of story which has been loved by children in every generation. Think “Old Yeller”, “Black Beauty”, “Charlotte’s Web”, “Babe”, “Lassie Come Home”. Ephraim’s pet lamb Chuni belonged to his mother who has died from the drought-caused famine hitting their land. His father must leave the boy with distant relatives while he seeks work in the city. His lamb is the only link he has to a life of happy innocence once shared with his loving mother and father.
The small nuclear family where he must stay lives together in a one-room hut: a grandmother who presides over the family, her son an authoritarian father who reacts against change of any sort, his wife and their sick child. They have also taken in the sixteen year old Tsion who is always reading and seeking ways to educate herself and eventually leaves for the city.
Ephraim does not conform to the norms of males as farmers; instead he prefers cooking.
The authoritarian patriarch of the family refuses to listen to advice of his niece about modern ways of growing crops during the drought and he forbids the child Ephraim, whose love of cooking (“girl’s work! The uncle says) leads him to make money by selling samosas at the market.
Moreover, the authoritarian father of the family wants to serve Ephraim’s lamb as a meal for the upcoming holiday feast and to save his family from starvation.
This moves Ephraim to act to save his lamb. In order to make money he sells his extraordinary samosas in the market place to raise enough to finance his trip to the city to find his father and save his sheep from being sacrificed and served for the upcoming holiday feast.
The children who saw this film at Ajyal Film Festival were entranced by how foreign and strange the landscape, and indeed, the people themselves were. The questions they asked Yared Zeleke, the director, and the two young stars, sixteen-year-old Kidist Siyum and eight year old Rediat Amare were startling. Not the usual Q&A of adults that you hear after they have seen a movie.
Was the boy really being hit?
Yared: Well yes and no. He had lots of padding, lots of practice, and the whip was very small."
Why did you have so much landscape?
Yared: Because the land was a character in the movie. The land shapes who we are. This special land in Ethiopia shapes the characters in the movie. It is as ancient as the people who practice the earliest form of Christianity and Judaism. There is so much history in the mountains. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never colonized by Europeans. The mountains protected them and the people are very spiritual.
Yared: It was shot in Gondar, the most Jewish section of Ethiopia where Felashas (Jews) and Christians live. The Felashas are a minority and so you see the little boy is an outsider because his mother, who died of the famine and draught, was a Jew and he is given a special blessing by the priest.
When the action was going on, focus was on the boy. Why did you make the film like that?
Yared: The movie is about the boy, so everything is shown around him. Staying with the boy it’s is more “true” to stick with the character.
What was your favorite scene?
Yared: My favorite scene is the magic forest. The hardest scenes were with Chuni the lamb. I’ll never work with an animal again.
Why does your film say “dedicated to my grandmother”?
Yared: I’m from the city; I never had a pet and I don’t cook. But I went to visit my family in the country when I was little and I met my grandmother. When I was 10, I lost all my family in Ethiopia and I moved to New York.
Where do you live?
Yared: I live in Addis Adaba.
I liked seeing Muslim, Jewish and Christians together. I liked the landscapes. They were works of art. How did you choose the actors?
Yared: We auditioned and videotaped 7,000 people over six months. Half of them were kids. The two stars chosen just stood out. Without Rediat Amare playing Ephraim and Kidist Siyum playing Tsion, the movie would be completely different.
How did the 16 year old actress like her role?
Kidist Siyum: I’m a city girl, it was hard to learn to be a country girl.
Yared: Both Kidist and were very smart good students and had not acted before.
Rediat Amare : Ephraim is quiet and introverted. I am not. I’m very outgoing. We are both mischievous and misfits.
How do you feel about audiences their age seeing the movie?
Yared: As the writer, I never thought of who it was for. I only wrote about my loss. The country is like a fairy-tale, so beautiful. I have only had adults watching it in the past so showing it to kids is great! What do you think?
Kidist Siyum : I am happy to see people my age. I hope people will take away lessons from the movie.
Why did the boy leave the lamb?
Yared: He had to let go in order to grow. Sometimes that is a part of growing up, to let go of childish things.
“Lamb” is a carefully nuanced film of silences and understatements, stunning landscapes and beautiful people dressing in exotic styles. Three female figures, the grandmother, the mother and the teenaged Tsion, the strong-willed nose-in-a-book girl bring a measured warmth and depth which increases our feel that we are participating in their lives, lived in such close quarters, beautifully shot and a contrast to the vast and beautiful mountainous countryside of Ethiopia where Ephraim spends much of his waking and dreaming hours.
Christians, Jews, Muslims and others lead a peaceful coexistence in what looks like a hard life but still a life in a sort of paradise which is disappearing. To see it in a family setting will instill a special feeling of participating in the audiences.
The music is outstanding as is the final celebratory dance, with shimmy shoulder shaking I have never seen before.
“Lamb” (not to be confused with Ross Partridge’s “Lamb” soon to be released stateside by The Orchard) is the first film of director Yared Zeleke, who received an Mfa in Writing and Directing from Nyu.
It was workshopped in Addis Ababa. The producer, Slum Kid Films, an Ethiopia-based film production company co-founded by Ama Ampadu aims to discover and nurture emerging talent in Ethiopia, as well as to support the development of Ethiopian filmmaking.
Ama knows the European system of filmmaking and was able to secure support from Acp from Norway and Cnc from France. The fact that "Lamb" was selected for the Cannes L'Atelier film financing summit two years ago, almost assured that, upon completion, it would premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, as it now has.
France, Ethiopia, Germany and Norway are represented by coproducers Gloria Films, Slum Kid Films, Heimatfilm, Dublin Films, Film Farms, Zdf/Das kleine Fernsehspiel.
Producers are Ama Ampadu, Laurent Lavolé, Johannes Rexin. Co-producers are Alan R. Milligan. Executive producers David Hurst, Bettina Brokemper.
Medienboard Berlin funded this international co-production and Naomi Kawase’s “An”, both of which played in Cannes’ official selection this year.
It was supported by the Doha Film Institute, which has funded more than 220 projects since its inception. Five of their grantees made their world premieres in the Festival de Cannes this year in various sections among which ‘"Lamb" was in the main world cinema showcase, Un Certain Regard. The others were "Waves ’98" by Elie Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar) in the Official Short Film Competition; "Dégradé" by Tarzan and Arab Abunasser (Palestine, France, Qatar) and " Mediterranea" by Jonas Carpignano (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar) in the Critics’ Week and "Mustang" by Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar) selected for the Directors’ Fortnight.
International sales agent is Films Distribution. The film has been has licensed to
Kimstim Films for U.S.
Haut et Court for France
Neue Visionen for Germany
Trigon film for Switzerland
Filmarti for Turkey
Moving Turtle for Middle East
Ost for Paradis for Denmark
Mantarraya for Mexico
Betta Pictures for Spain
Maison Motion for Taiwan
Suraya for South Asia
Bio Paradis for Iceland
DDDream for China
7ème Ciné Art for Tunisia and Morocco...
This is no Little Bo Peep lamb. This lamb has rough brown wool and is led on a rope, dragged on a rope by a young boy, Ephraim, eight years old, who lives in the devout Coptic Christian land of Northern Ethiopia
“Lamb” is a classic tale of a child and pet, the type of story which has been loved by children in every generation. Think “Old Yeller”, “Black Beauty”, “Charlotte’s Web”, “Babe”, “Lassie Come Home”. Ephraim’s pet lamb Chuni belonged to his mother who has died from the drought-caused famine hitting their land. His father must leave the boy with distant relatives while he seeks work in the city. His lamb is the only link he has to a life of happy innocence once shared with his loving mother and father.
The small nuclear family where he must stay lives together in a one-room hut: a grandmother who presides over the family, her son an authoritarian father who reacts against change of any sort, his wife and their sick child. They have also taken in the sixteen year old Tsion who is always reading and seeking ways to educate herself and eventually leaves for the city.
Ephraim does not conform to the norms of males as farmers; instead he prefers cooking.
The authoritarian patriarch of the family refuses to listen to advice of his niece about modern ways of growing crops during the drought and he forbids the child Ephraim, whose love of cooking (“girl’s work! The uncle says) leads him to make money by selling samosas at the market.
Moreover, the authoritarian father of the family wants to serve Ephraim’s lamb as a meal for the upcoming holiday feast and to save his family from starvation.
This moves Ephraim to act to save his lamb. In order to make money he sells his extraordinary samosas in the market place to raise enough to finance his trip to the city to find his father and save his sheep from being sacrificed and served for the upcoming holiday feast.
The children who saw this film at Ajyal Film Festival were entranced by how foreign and strange the landscape, and indeed, the people themselves were. The questions they asked Yared Zeleke, the director, and the two young stars, sixteen-year-old Kidist Siyum and eight year old Rediat Amare were startling. Not the usual Q&A of adults that you hear after they have seen a movie.
Was the boy really being hit?
Yared: Well yes and no. He had lots of padding, lots of practice, and the whip was very small."
Why did you have so much landscape?
Yared: Because the land was a character in the movie. The land shapes who we are. This special land in Ethiopia shapes the characters in the movie. It is as ancient as the people who practice the earliest form of Christianity and Judaism. There is so much history in the mountains. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never colonized by Europeans. The mountains protected them and the people are very spiritual.
Yared: It was shot in Gondar, the most Jewish section of Ethiopia where Felashas (Jews) and Christians live. The Felashas are a minority and so you see the little boy is an outsider because his mother, who died of the famine and draught, was a Jew and he is given a special blessing by the priest.
When the action was going on, focus was on the boy. Why did you make the film like that?
Yared: The movie is about the boy, so everything is shown around him. Staying with the boy it’s is more “true” to stick with the character.
What was your favorite scene?
Yared: My favorite scene is the magic forest. The hardest scenes were with Chuni the lamb. I’ll never work with an animal again.
Why does your film say “dedicated to my grandmother”?
Yared: I’m from the city; I never had a pet and I don’t cook. But I went to visit my family in the country when I was little and I met my grandmother. When I was 10, I lost all my family in Ethiopia and I moved to New York.
Where do you live?
Yared: I live in Addis Adaba.
I liked seeing Muslim, Jewish and Christians together. I liked the landscapes. They were works of art. How did you choose the actors?
Yared: We auditioned and videotaped 7,000 people over six months. Half of them were kids. The two stars chosen just stood out. Without Rediat Amare playing Ephraim and Kidist Siyum playing Tsion, the movie would be completely different.
How did the 16 year old actress like her role?
Kidist Siyum: I’m a city girl, it was hard to learn to be a country girl.
Yared: Both Kidist and were very smart good students and had not acted before.
Rediat Amare : Ephraim is quiet and introverted. I am not. I’m very outgoing. We are both mischievous and misfits.
How do you feel about audiences their age seeing the movie?
Yared: As the writer, I never thought of who it was for. I only wrote about my loss. The country is like a fairy-tale, so beautiful. I have only had adults watching it in the past so showing it to kids is great! What do you think?
Kidist Siyum : I am happy to see people my age. I hope people will take away lessons from the movie.
Why did the boy leave the lamb?
Yared: He had to let go in order to grow. Sometimes that is a part of growing up, to let go of childish things.
“Lamb” is a carefully nuanced film of silences and understatements, stunning landscapes and beautiful people dressing in exotic styles. Three female figures, the grandmother, the mother and the teenaged Tsion, the strong-willed nose-in-a-book girl bring a measured warmth and depth which increases our feel that we are participating in their lives, lived in such close quarters, beautifully shot and a contrast to the vast and beautiful mountainous countryside of Ethiopia where Ephraim spends much of his waking and dreaming hours.
Christians, Jews, Muslims and others lead a peaceful coexistence in what looks like a hard life but still a life in a sort of paradise which is disappearing. To see it in a family setting will instill a special feeling of participating in the audiences.
The music is outstanding as is the final celebratory dance, with shimmy shoulder shaking I have never seen before.
“Lamb” (not to be confused with Ross Partridge’s “Lamb” soon to be released stateside by The Orchard) is the first film of director Yared Zeleke, who received an Mfa in Writing and Directing from Nyu.
It was workshopped in Addis Ababa. The producer, Slum Kid Films, an Ethiopia-based film production company co-founded by Ama Ampadu aims to discover and nurture emerging talent in Ethiopia, as well as to support the development of Ethiopian filmmaking.
Ama knows the European system of filmmaking and was able to secure support from Acp from Norway and Cnc from France. The fact that "Lamb" was selected for the Cannes L'Atelier film financing summit two years ago, almost assured that, upon completion, it would premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, as it now has.
France, Ethiopia, Germany and Norway are represented by coproducers Gloria Films, Slum Kid Films, Heimatfilm, Dublin Films, Film Farms, Zdf/Das kleine Fernsehspiel.
Producers are Ama Ampadu, Laurent Lavolé, Johannes Rexin. Co-producers are Alan R. Milligan. Executive producers David Hurst, Bettina Brokemper.
Medienboard Berlin funded this international co-production and Naomi Kawase’s “An”, both of which played in Cannes’ official selection this year.
It was supported by the Doha Film Institute, which has funded more than 220 projects since its inception. Five of their grantees made their world premieres in the Festival de Cannes this year in various sections among which ‘"Lamb" was in the main world cinema showcase, Un Certain Regard. The others were "Waves ’98" by Elie Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar) in the Official Short Film Competition; "Dégradé" by Tarzan and Arab Abunasser (Palestine, France, Qatar) and " Mediterranea" by Jonas Carpignano (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar) in the Critics’ Week and "Mustang" by Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar) selected for the Directors’ Fortnight.
International sales agent is Films Distribution. The film has been has licensed to
Kimstim Films for U.S.
Haut et Court for France
Neue Visionen for Germany
Trigon film for Switzerland
Filmarti for Turkey
Moving Turtle for Middle East
Ost for Paradis for Denmark
Mantarraya for Mexico
Betta Pictures for Spain
Maison Motion for Taiwan
Suraya for South Asia
Bio Paradis for Iceland
DDDream for China
7ème Ciné Art for Tunisia and Morocco...
- 1/30/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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