IndieWire exclusively announces the lineup for the Museum of Modern Art’s 2022 Doc Fortnight, its annual series of documentary screenings at the New York museum. The festival runs from February 23 to March 10, and the lineup focuses heavily on environmental issues. This year’s edition of Doc Fortnight will be a hybrid festival, with 19 features and 10 short documentaries screening in the museum’s Titus Theater, with a selection of films available online via MoMA’s Virtual Cinema streaming platform.
The festival is set to open with “Bunker,” Jenny Perlin’s documentary about men living in military bunkers awaiting the end of the world. The official synopsis describes the film as “a timely reflection on ideas of survival and shelter among those preparing for the disintegration of society from a hundred feet underground.” The closing night selection is “The United States of America,” directed by James Benning. The documentary finds the filmmaking...
The festival is set to open with “Bunker,” Jenny Perlin’s documentary about men living in military bunkers awaiting the end of the world. The official synopsis describes the film as “a timely reflection on ideas of survival and shelter among those preparing for the disintegration of society from a hundred feet underground.” The closing night selection is “The United States of America,” directed by James Benning. The documentary finds the filmmaking...
- 2/10/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Films Boutique (“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”) has acquired international sales rights to Vincent Kelner’s cinematic documentary feature “A Taste of Whale” ahead of the European Film Market.
“A Taste of Whale” is produced by Rémi Grellety, the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning producer of Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro” and HBO’s “Exterminate All The Brutes.”
The film looks at the centuries-old tradition of whale hunting in the Faroe Islands. Every year, nearly 1,000 pilot whales are hunted, beached and killed by knife in the fjords. This local whaling tradition, which is known locally as “grind,” dates back to the eighth century and has been denounced by international activists. On the other end, Faroese people are calling out the hypocrisy of those who eat meat without looking at what is happening in slaughterhouses.
Kelner, an experienced journalist and cinematographer who has worked on several TV productions in France and abroad,...
“A Taste of Whale” is produced by Rémi Grellety, the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning producer of Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro” and HBO’s “Exterminate All The Brutes.”
The film looks at the centuries-old tradition of whale hunting in the Faroe Islands. Every year, nearly 1,000 pilot whales are hunted, beached and killed by knife in the fjords. This local whaling tradition, which is known locally as “grind,” dates back to the eighth century and has been denounced by international activists. On the other end, Faroese people are calling out the hypocrisy of those who eat meat without looking at what is happening in slaughterhouses.
Kelner, an experienced journalist and cinematographer who has worked on several TV productions in France and abroad,...
- 2/4/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
In the bleak omnibus film “Bad Roads,” four tension-filled tales set along the dangerous byways of Ukraine’s Donbass region during wartime illustrate survival strategies practiced by civilians. Although the various episodes don’t quite add up to a strong narrative whole, they do gain extra resonance from current events in this troubled region. Naturalistic in visual style and performance, they also introduce a new talent to watch in debuting writer-director Natalya Vorozhbit, better known as a playwright. The film, adapted from her earlier play, premiered in Critics’ Week of the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The Ukrainian Film Academy named the helmer “Discovery of the Year,” along with other kudos.
The four segments vary in length, with the first two each slightly over the 20-minute mark, the third — and most difficult to watch — clocking in at approximately 43 minutes, and the last, a tight 15 minutes. Each revolves around a fraught encounter that...
The four segments vary in length, with the first two each slightly over the 20-minute mark, the third — and most difficult to watch — clocking in at approximately 43 minutes, and the last, a tight 15 minutes. Each revolves around a fraught encounter that...
- 12/21/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Peter Kerekes’s “107 Mothers,” a Slovak drama about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, won the Crystal Arrow Award at the 13th edition of Les Arcs European Film Festival.
The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.
Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.
The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...
The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.
Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.
The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...
- 12/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
New parents are always advised to treasure every moment of their child’s infancy, even through the sleepless nights and bawling meltdowns for it all passes in the blink of an eye. Most parents, of course, have other stages of child-rearing to look forward to. For the incarcerated young mothers at Ukraine’s Odessa women’s correctional facility, however, those early years of bonding might be all they get: Their newborns may remain in their care until their third birthday, upon which they must be transferred to another guardian or, in many cases, an orphanage. It is on this wrenching deadline that Slovakian docmaker Péter Kerekes balances the drama of “107 Mothers,” an unusual and rewarding docufiction feature woven from the firsthand stories of multiple Odessa prisoners, executed with a blend of close-to-the-bone realism and heightened formal refinement.
A worthy and distinctive pick as Slovakia’s international Oscar submission, “107 Mothers...
A worthy and distinctive pick as Slovakia’s international Oscar submission, “107 Mothers...
- 12/13/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Mexican director Joaquin del Paso’s coming-of-age drama “The Hole in the Fence,” set in an all-male religious camp in rural Mexico, scored the Cairo Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Pyramid, on Sunday capping a vibrant 43rd edition of the preeminent Arab event, which was held in person despite the impending threat of the coronavirus Omicron variant.
Though there were some last minute cancellations, most international attendees made the trek to Cairo undeterred, including jury president Emir Kusturica, U.S. producer Lawrence Bender and Cannes topper Thierry Fremaux – dubbed the “King of the Croisette” by the master of ceremonies. The latter two were honored with lifetime achievement awards during the glitzy closing ceremony in Cairo’s opera house.
“Hole in the Fence,” which world premiered in Venice, is Del Paso’s second work after “Panamerican Machinery,” which had made a splash after launching from Berlin in 2016. “Hole” explores...
Though there were some last minute cancellations, most international attendees made the trek to Cairo undeterred, including jury president Emir Kusturica, U.S. producer Lawrence Bender and Cannes topper Thierry Fremaux – dubbed the “King of the Croisette” by the master of ceremonies. The latter two were honored with lifetime achievement awards during the glitzy closing ceremony in Cairo’s opera house.
“Hole in the Fence,” which world premiered in Venice, is Del Paso’s second work after “Panamerican Machinery,” which had made a splash after launching from Berlin in 2016. “Hole” explores...
- 12/6/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Previous winners have included God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya and Undine.
Slovakian director Peter Kerekes’ docu-drama 107 Mothers has won best film in the third edition of the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films, a joint venture between European Film Promotion (Efp) and the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).
A jury of 71 critics from 15 Arab countries judged 24 features for this edition. The award was announced in a ceremony at the Cairo International Film Festival on Wednesday evening (Dec 1).
107 Mothers revolves around a new mother who is sent to a women’s prison to serve a seven-year sentence after committing a crime of passion.
Slovakian director Peter Kerekes’ docu-drama 107 Mothers has won best film in the third edition of the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films, a joint venture between European Film Promotion (Efp) and the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).
A jury of 71 critics from 15 Arab countries judged 24 features for this edition. The award was announced in a ceremony at the Cairo International Film Festival on Wednesday evening (Dec 1).
107 Mothers revolves around a new mother who is sent to a women’s prison to serve a seven-year sentence after committing a crime of passion.
- 12/2/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Slovak filmmaker Peter Kerekes’ “107 Mothers,” which premiered in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section and was selected as the Slovak entry for the Best International Feature Film category of the 94th Academy Awards, has won the Arab Critics’ Award for European Films. The award was presented on Wednesday at the Cairo Film Festival, which runs as a physical event until Sunday.
Seventy one film critics from 15 Arab countries selected the best European film from 26 films nominated by the member organizations of European Film Promotion, which organizes the award alongside the Arab Cinema Center.
Kerekes, who accepted the award virtually, said he was happy that his film had even been nominated. “My grandmother always told me: ‘Peter, you have to be in good company.’ When I saw our film’s title in the selection among such beautiful and powerful films, I knew that I had fulfilled the dream of my grandmother.
Seventy one film critics from 15 Arab countries selected the best European film from 26 films nominated by the member organizations of European Film Promotion, which organizes the award alongside the Arab Cinema Center.
Kerekes, who accepted the award virtually, said he was happy that his film had even been nominated. “My grandmother always told me: ‘Peter, you have to be in good company.’ When I saw our film’s title in the selection among such beautiful and powerful films, I knew that I had fulfilled the dream of my grandmother.
- 12/1/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Slovakia’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 94th Academy Awards is Péter Kerekes‘s 107 Mothers, which premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti, picking up a Best Screenplay award . In anticipation of For Your Consideration screenings, I had the opportunity to converse with Kerekes, a documentarian making his feature narrative debut. Shot over several summers in an actual women’s prison in Odessa, Ukraine, Kerekes discusses his approach to the material and the origins of the narrative. While most of the cast consists of non-professional actors playing themselves, Kerekes shares his casting process for his lead protagonist, and the considerable editing process while also sharing details about upcoming projects.…...
- 11/30/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Film festivals have been the primary hatching-ground for Oscar contenders ever since the Academy’s tastes shifted predominantly from studio to independent cinema earlier this century — though in the international feature category, this has been the case for far longer. Rare is the non-English-language nominee that captures voters’ imaginations without a profile boost from one of the major fests — you have to go back to 2008’s Japanese sleeper “Departures” to find a film that won without an assist from Cannes, Venice, Berlin or Toronto.
This year, with the festival circuit largely back to business as usual after the disruptions of the pandemic, a vast number of submissions in the category are hot with festival buzz, with Cannes — making up for lost time after last year’s canceled edition — leading the way.
The French festival has long been a kingmaker in this category, with such recent Oscar winners as “Parasite,” “Son of Saul,...
This year, with the festival circuit largely back to business as usual after the disruptions of the pandemic, a vast number of submissions in the category are hot with festival buzz, with Cannes — making up for lost time after last year’s canceled edition — leading the way.
The French festival has long been a kingmaker in this category, with such recent Oscar winners as “Parasite,” “Son of Saul,...
- 11/11/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Event running in French ski resort of Les Arcs will showcase more than 120 films.
France’s Les Arcs Film Festival (December 11-18) has announced the programme for its first physical edition in two years, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020, while its industry events took place online.
Unfolding in the French Alps, the convivial, European cinema-focused festival was unable to take place after the government ordered ski resorts to remain closed due to a fresh wave of the virus.
It returns this year with a packed programme that will showcase more than 120 European works.
“We’re all eager...
France’s Les Arcs Film Festival (December 11-18) has announced the programme for its first physical edition in two years, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020, while its industry events took place online.
Unfolding in the French Alps, the convivial, European cinema-focused festival was unable to take place after the government ordered ski resorts to remain closed due to a fresh wave of the virus.
It returns this year with a packed programme that will showcase more than 120 European works.
“We’re all eager...
- 11/10/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – The Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) is competitive, and the 57th edition presented its awards on October 22nd, 2021, as a live virtual and online event.. The winner of the Gold Hugo as Best International Film was “Memoria” (Columbia), directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
The 57th Chicago International Film Festival continues on Day 11, featuring screenings in theater, at the drive-in and virtual/online. Click here for a complete how-to guide on navigating the 57th Ciff. And click Day 11 for the complete line up of films.
The awards were presented by the various jury members in each film category, and were hosted by Artistic Director Mimi Plauché and Managing Director Vivian Teng. The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.
International Feature Film Competition
‘Memoria’
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival
The Gold Hugo for Best Film: “Memoria” (Columbia) Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
In...
The 57th Chicago International Film Festival continues on Day 11, featuring screenings in theater, at the drive-in and virtual/online. Click here for a complete how-to guide on navigating the 57th Ciff. And click Day 11 for the complete line up of films.
The awards were presented by the various jury members in each film category, and were hosted by Artistic Director Mimi Plauché and Managing Director Vivian Teng. The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.
International Feature Film Competition
‘Memoria’
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival
The Gold Hugo for Best Film: “Memoria” (Columbia) Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
In...
- 10/23/2021
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
“Commitment Hasan,” a Turkish drama by Semih Kaplanoğlu that world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, has been sold by Films Boutique to several key markets.
The movie is part of a trilogy that began with “Commitment Asli,” Turkey’s official entry for the Oscar international feature film race in 2020. Kaplanoglu, one of Turkey’s most celebrated filmmaker, previously directed the trilogy “Grain,” “Honey” and “Milk.” “Grain” won Berlin’s Golden Bear award in 2010.
“Commitment Hasan” is now being buzzed about as Turkey’s potential Oscar submission. Films Boutique has closed a raft of deals on the movie to Spain (Paco Poch Cinema), Ex Yugoslavia (Five Stars Distribution), Israel (Lev Cinemas) and Portugal (Leopardo). Arp Selection will release the film in France and Cgv Mars will distribute it in Turkey.
“Commitment Hasan” follows a man who makes his living from gardening and farming in the land he inherited from his father.
The movie is part of a trilogy that began with “Commitment Asli,” Turkey’s official entry for the Oscar international feature film race in 2020. Kaplanoglu, one of Turkey’s most celebrated filmmaker, previously directed the trilogy “Grain,” “Honey” and “Milk.” “Grain” won Berlin’s Golden Bear award in 2010.
“Commitment Hasan” is now being buzzed about as Turkey’s potential Oscar submission. Films Boutique has closed a raft of deals on the movie to Spain (Paco Poch Cinema), Ex Yugoslavia (Five Stars Distribution), Israel (Lev Cinemas) and Portugal (Leopardo). Arp Selection will release the film in France and Cgv Mars will distribute it in Turkey.
“Commitment Hasan” follows a man who makes his living from gardening and farming in the land he inherited from his father.
- 10/20/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Films Boutique has closed several key European territories on “Mi Iubita, Mon Amour,” the feature debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Noémie Merlant which is playing at San Sebastian in the Zabaltegi Tabakalera section.
“Mi Iubita, Mon Amour” world premiered at Cannes in Special Screenings. It stars Merlant as Jeanne, a young woman who is traveling to Romania to celebrate her bachelorette party with her friends when she meets Nino. She is 27, he is 17, and they are worlds away from one another, yet for the two of them it is the beginning of a passionate and timeless summer. Merlant stars opposite Gimi Covaci and Clara Lama-Schmit.
The movie has been acquired by Triart in Sweden at San Sebastian. The deal was negotiated by Films Boutique’s head of sales Julien Razafindranaly and Matthias Nohrborg at Triart. “Mi Iubita, Mon Amour” has also been picked up by Barton Films in Spain and Agora Films in Switzerland.
“Mi Iubita, Mon Amour” world premiered at Cannes in Special Screenings. It stars Merlant as Jeanne, a young woman who is traveling to Romania to celebrate her bachelorette party with her friends when she meets Nino. She is 27, he is 17, and they are worlds away from one another, yet for the two of them it is the beginning of a passionate and timeless summer. Merlant stars opposite Gimi Covaci and Clara Lama-Schmit.
The movie has been acquired by Triart in Sweden at San Sebastian. The deal was negotiated by Films Boutique’s head of sales Julien Razafindranaly and Matthias Nohrborg at Triart. “Mi Iubita, Mon Amour” has also been picked up by Barton Films in Spain and Agora Films in Switzerland.
- 9/20/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Documentary Exposure from The Babushkas Of Chernobyl director Morris gets its world premiere.
The 57th Chicago International Film Festival has unveiled its international competitions line-up, a roster that includes Venice Silver Lion winner The Power Of The Dog, Tatiana Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen, and the world premiere of Holly Morris’s documentary Exposure.
The programme includes the international premiere of Franziska Stünkel’s The Last Execution. The festival runs October 13-24 and is the longest running competitive festival in North America.
The International Feature Competition line-up comprises: Péter Kerekes’s 107 Mothers (Slo-Czech-Ukr); Mohammed Diab’s Amira (Egy-Jor-uae-Saud...
The 57th Chicago International Film Festival has unveiled its international competitions line-up, a roster that includes Venice Silver Lion winner The Power Of The Dog, Tatiana Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen, and the world premiere of Holly Morris’s documentary Exposure.
The programme includes the international premiere of Franziska Stünkel’s The Last Execution. The festival runs October 13-24 and is the longest running competitive festival in North America.
The International Feature Competition line-up comprises: Péter Kerekes’s 107 Mothers (Slo-Czech-Ukr); Mohammed Diab’s Amira (Egy-Jor-uae-Saud...
- 9/16/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
HappeningIn Competition(Jury: Bong Joon-ho, Saverio Costanzo, Virginie Efira, Cynthia Erivo, Sarah Gadon, Alexander Nanau, Chloé Zhao)Golden Lion – Happening (Audrey Diwan) | Read our reviewSilver Lion (Grand Jury Prize) – The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino) | Read our reviewSilver Lion (Best Director) – Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) | Read our reviewCoppa Volpi for Best Actress – Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) | Read our reviewCoppa Volpi for Best Actor – John Arcilla (On The Job: The Missing 8)Best Screenplay – Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)Special Jury Prize – The Hole (Michelangelo Frammartino) | Read our reviewMarcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress – Filippo Scotti (The Hand of God)Orizzonti(Jury: Jasmila Žbanić, Mona Fastvold, Shahram Mokri, Josh Siegel, Nadia Terranova)Orizzonti Award for Best Film – Pilgrims (Laurynas Bareisa)Orizzonti Award for Best Director – Éric Gravel (A Plein Temps)Special Orizzonti Jury Prize – El Gran Movimiento (Kiro Russo) | Read our reviewOrizzonti Award for Best Actress...
- 9/13/2021
- MUBI
107 MothersVenice Airport, departure hall, some ungodly hour in the early morning. The Lido feels a whole world away from where I’m sitting, so distant it’s turned into a mirage already; knackered and shaky, I’m guzzling coffee while trying to process the other night’s unexpected, delightful Golden Lion winner: Audrey Diwan’s Happening. It was a historic award for another historic edition. For the first time ever, the festival circuit’s two most coveted statuettes of the year were handed out to women directors: on the heels of Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning Titane, Diwan’s triumph marks the second time in a row the Venice Film Festival’s top prize has been given to a woman. Markedly different in scope and style, both Titane and Happening follow women fighting for control of their bodies; though it’d be premature to call this a watershed moment,...
- 9/13/2021
- MUBI
The Venice Film Festival unveiled its award winners on Saturday night, and Jane Campion, Penélope Cruz and Maggie Gyllenhaal are among the award winners for the top prizes.
“Happening,” a French abortion drama from director Audrey Diwan, won the Golden Lion, and Paolo Sorrentino’s film “The Hand of God” won the second place prize, or the Silver Lion.
In the acting categories, Penélope Cruz won Best Actress for Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers,” and John Arcilla won Best Actor for “On the Job: The Missing 8.” Jane Campion won the Silver Lion for Best Director for her film “The Power of the Dog.”
Among some of the other winners, Maggie Gyllenhaal won Best Screenplay for her adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel “The Lost Daughter.” Gyllenhaal praised Campion and spoke about how watching “The Piano” inspired her as a storyteller. “The Hand of God” star Filippo Scotti also won the...
“Happening,” a French abortion drama from director Audrey Diwan, won the Golden Lion, and Paolo Sorrentino’s film “The Hand of God” won the second place prize, or the Silver Lion.
In the acting categories, Penélope Cruz won Best Actress for Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers,” and John Arcilla won Best Actor for “On the Job: The Missing 8.” Jane Campion won the Silver Lion for Best Director for her film “The Power of the Dog.”
Among some of the other winners, Maggie Gyllenhaal won Best Screenplay for her adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel “The Lost Daughter.” Gyllenhaal praised Campion and spoke about how watching “The Piano” inspired her as a storyteller. “The Hand of God” star Filippo Scotti also won the...
- 9/11/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
On a strong night for female filmmakers and Netflix releases, the Venice Film Festival has come to a close with a curveball, as breakout French director Audrey Diwan’s powerful abortion drama “Happening” beat big-name competition to the Golden Lion for best film. Diwan received the award from a jury presided over by Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho.
Also on the jury, significantly, was last year’s Golden Lion champ, “Nomadland” director Chloé Zhao. Diwan is only the sixth woman ever to take the festival’s top award; never before has the prize gone to female directors two years in a row. Coming on the heels of her compatriot Julia Ducournau’s groundbreaking Palme d’Or win at Cannes for “Titane,” Diwan’s triumph further points to an exciting new generation of female auteurs seizing the spotlight.
Among the films Diwan’s film beat to the punch were Netflix’s three big hopefuls from the competition,...
Also on the jury, significantly, was last year’s Golden Lion champ, “Nomadland” director Chloé Zhao. Diwan is only the sixth woman ever to take the festival’s top award; never before has the prize gone to female directors two years in a row. Coming on the heels of her compatriot Julia Ducournau’s groundbreaking Palme d’Or win at Cannes for “Titane,” Diwan’s triumph further points to an exciting new generation of female auteurs seizing the spotlight.
Among the films Diwan’s film beat to the punch were Netflix’s three big hopefuls from the competition,...
- 9/11/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Nathaniel reporting from Venice, a smorgasbord of days 3 through ??? ... I've lost track of days. What is time?
107 Mothers (Péter Kerekes)
A ‘tough' movie doesn’t have to be hard to watch. 107 Mothers isn’t ‘easy’ in its characters or themes, but it’s a surprisingly gripping watch, even entertaining. For a few scenes in the beginning of 107 Mothers, a new film from a Slovakian director Peter Kerekes, it feels like you’ve stumbled into an unfeeling doc about a women’s prison for violent offenders. And, indeed, this narrative feature is based on real stories about a specific prison in Odessa, Ukraine and Kerekes usually does documentaries. The establishing scenes interview several of the inmates, all pregnant, about their crimes which usually involve murdering their boyfriend/husband or his lover. It’s a curiously incongruous feeling that settles in: how could such hard-eyed numb women muster enough...
107 Mothers (Péter Kerekes)
A ‘tough' movie doesn’t have to be hard to watch. 107 Mothers isn’t ‘easy’ in its characters or themes, but it’s a surprisingly gripping watch, even entertaining. For a few scenes in the beginning of 107 Mothers, a new film from a Slovakian director Peter Kerekes, it feels like you’ve stumbled into an unfeeling doc about a women’s prison for violent offenders. And, indeed, this narrative feature is based on real stories about a specific prison in Odessa, Ukraine and Kerekes usually does documentaries. The establishing scenes interview several of the inmates, all pregnant, about their crimes which usually involve murdering their boyfriend/husband or his lover. It’s a curiously incongruous feeling that settles in: how could such hard-eyed numb women muster enough...
- 9/7/2021
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Peter Kerekes documentary-fiction hybrid is set in an Odessa prison.
German sales outfit Films Boutique has snapped up world rights to Peter Kerekes’ Venice Horizons contender 107 Mothers.
The project participated in the 2020 First Cut Lab run by the When East Meets West forum; and at works-in-progress events at Karlovy Vary in 2017 and Odessa in 2018.
The documentary-fiction hybrid was co-written by Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovsky. It was inspired by the real-life stories of 107 mothers in the Odessa prison in Ukraine and Kerekes spent many years in the prison getting to know the inmates and their stories. The main protagonist Lesya, played by Maryna Klimova,...
German sales outfit Films Boutique has snapped up world rights to Peter Kerekes’ Venice Horizons contender 107 Mothers.
The project participated in the 2020 First Cut Lab run by the When East Meets West forum; and at works-in-progress events at Karlovy Vary in 2017 and Odessa in 2018.
The documentary-fiction hybrid was co-written by Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovsky. It was inspired by the real-life stories of 107 mothers in the Odessa prison in Ukraine and Kerekes spent many years in the prison getting to know the inmates and their stories. The main protagonist Lesya, played by Maryna Klimova,...
- 7/27/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
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