There are few things in life with as much unifying power as dance. When Spanish filmmaker Martí Arbaizar found himself freshly minted with London life, facing the drop out of a project but impelled by an overwhelming need to shoot, he dove deeper into his love, knowledge and passion for dance, found the ideal locations and created his experimental documentary short I Shut My Eyes in Order to See. Featuring an eclectic array of Londoners, all cast through Instagram with completely different lives and jobs, Arbaizar’s film weaves together their stories and worlds to find a shared unity. I Shut My Eyes in Order to See proffers a vintage aesthetic through the grain and grit of 16mm but juxtaposes the tone with modern and progressive conversations edited together with a graceful fluidity. Arbaizar spoke to us here at Dn about drawing inspiration from hoofing – a style of tap, what...
- 6/3/2024
- by Sarah Smith
- Directors Notes
In a busy weekend at the box office, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the Sydney Sweeney horror vehicle “Immaculate,” IFC’s “Late Night with the Devil,” and two animated rereleases (“Luca” and recent Oscar winner “The Boy and the Heron“) will compete for the top spots. Meanwhile, a recent box-office smash is hitting digital platforms.
The contender to watch this week: “Bob Marley: One Love“
Reinaldo Marcus Green‘s biopic about the pioneering reggae singer is still riding its theatrical wave ($170 million worldwide and counting), but “Bob Marley: One Love” is also available to purchase or rent on VOD. Kingsley Ben-Adir shed his Kenergy to play Marley, icon of dorm-room posters and pacifistic chill-out vibes, opposite a supporting cast that includes Lashana Lynch, Tosin Cole, “Happy Valley” breakout James Norton, and Michael Gandolfini. “One Love” is a fairly rote retelling enhanced by its subject’s music, but even the weakest biopic tendencies have a groovy appeal.
The contender to watch this week: “Bob Marley: One Love“
Reinaldo Marcus Green‘s biopic about the pioneering reggae singer is still riding its theatrical wave ($170 million worldwide and counting), but “Bob Marley: One Love” is also available to purchase or rent on VOD. Kingsley Ben-Adir shed his Kenergy to play Marley, icon of dorm-room posters and pacifistic chill-out vibes, opposite a supporting cast that includes Lashana Lynch, Tosin Cole, “Happy Valley” breakout James Norton, and Michael Gandolfini. “One Love” is a fairly rote retelling enhanced by its subject’s music, but even the weakest biopic tendencies have a groovy appeal.
- 3/23/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Veteran German director Wim Wenders broke new ground during the Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning when he was nominated for his Japanese-language drama Perfect Days in the best international feature category.
This isn’t Wenders’ first Oscars rodeo. The 78-year-old German director has three Academy Award nominations to his name but all have come in the best documentary category. He was nominated in 2000 for the music doc Buena Vista Social Club about aging Cuban street musicians; in 2012 for Pina, a groundbreaking 3D documentary tribute to the work of legendary dance choreographer Pina Bausch; and in 2015 for The Salt of the Earth, a portrait of famed Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, co-directed with Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Perfect Days does, however, mark Wenders’ first-ever Oscar nomination for a drama.
“It’s a bit ironic to be nominated for a Japanese-language film but at the same time a great honor for...
This isn’t Wenders’ first Oscars rodeo. The 78-year-old German director has three Academy Award nominations to his name but all have come in the best documentary category. He was nominated in 2000 for the music doc Buena Vista Social Club about aging Cuban street musicians; in 2012 for Pina, a groundbreaking 3D documentary tribute to the work of legendary dance choreographer Pina Bausch; and in 2015 for The Salt of the Earth, a portrait of famed Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, co-directed with Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Perfect Days does, however, mark Wenders’ first-ever Oscar nomination for a drama.
“It’s a bit ironic to be nominated for a Japanese-language film but at the same time a great honor for...
- 1/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On Sandra Hüller’s wall is the first piece of art she ever owned: a photograph she bought from a shop in Munich. “I won’t say its name,” she says archly, “because that would be advertising.” It’s a dynamic, joyous image showing the ensemble cast of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring as staged by Pina Bausch, the German choreographer famous for saying, “Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost.” “I just love it,” Hüller says admiringly, turning her head for another look. “These people are all making the same movement, as you can see. But everybody is doing it completely differently. They have the same task, but you can see each personality in the way they’re doing it. I love it so much. It’s like they’re almost flying.” It explains a lot about Hüller and her craft.
The East German-born actress has been a...
The East German-born actress has been a...
- 12/25/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
The best documentaries about artists exploit the visual powers of the storytelling medium to give us a tactile appreciation of what their work looks and feels, while also mining the depths of their souls and their relationships to history. Last year’s “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’ film about the life and work of activist/artist Nan Goldin, and 2011’s “Pina,” Wim Wenders’ portrait of choreographer Pina Bausch, come to mind, both straying far from the parameters of a talking-heads-driven nonfiction film to put us straight inside the work itself. These movies, too, stand as powerful cinematic and artistic exercises on their own terms.
Wenders now returns to the realm of 3D documentary he inhabited so gorgeously with “Pina” to explore the works of 78-year-old painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer. Explicitly non-biographical, “Anselm” is instead a philosophical rendering of an artist in working mode, where he actively...
Wenders now returns to the realm of 3D documentary he inhabited so gorgeously with “Pina” to explore the works of 78-year-old painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer. Explicitly non-biographical, “Anselm” is instead a philosophical rendering of an artist in working mode, where he actively...
- 12/8/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
For over half a century, Wim Wenders has captivated audiences with both his fiction and documentary work. Twenty twenty-three marks a rare year in which he’s released films in both formats, and the ways in which they overlap highlight the director’s versatile skillset and unified humanistic spirit. The nonfictional Anselm and narrative Perfect Days make for a cinematic yin and yang, utilizing different techniques as part of a larger exploration into the elusive nature of finding expression and ecstasy through one’s work.
But the main topic of my conversation with Wenders was Anselm, his latest in a series of portraits of great artists. Subject Anselm Kiefer—not unlike Wenders himself—provides a captivating lens through which to view the changes undergone by their native Germany since World War II. The film’s survey of his life and art, from early controversial photography involving Nazi salutes to contemporary installations of sweeping scale,...
But the main topic of my conversation with Wenders was Anselm, his latest in a series of portraits of great artists. Subject Anselm Kiefer—not unlike Wenders himself—provides a captivating lens through which to view the changes undergone by their native Germany since World War II. The film’s survey of his life and art, from early controversial photography involving Nazi salutes to contemporary installations of sweeping scale,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
Aka Mr. Chow
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Tyler Coates and Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Janyl Jusupjan’s documentary focuses on a young woman getting involved in the male-dominated horseback sport Buzkashi.
Cologne-based sales outfit New Docs has taken world rights to Atirkül In The Land of Real Men, a film receiving its international premiere in IDFA’s Luminous section later this week.
Directed by Janyl Jusupjan, the Czech-produced documentary looks at Buzkashi, a highly popular horseback sport in Kyrgyzstan. The goal is to steal a dead goat from the rival team of riders without being knocked out of the saddle. The film’s main protagonist is a young woman Atirkül, bored with her husband...
Cologne-based sales outfit New Docs has taken world rights to Atirkül In The Land of Real Men, a film receiving its international premiere in IDFA’s Luminous section later this week.
Directed by Janyl Jusupjan, the Czech-produced documentary looks at Buzkashi, a highly popular horseback sport in Kyrgyzstan. The goal is to steal a dead goat from the rival team of riders without being knocked out of the saddle. The film’s main protagonist is a young woman Atirkül, bored with her husband...
- 11/8/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The first sculpture seen in Wim Wenders’s documentary Anselm is a wedding dress, its long train strewn over a massive bed of fallen leaves, perched in a lush forest on a cliff’s edge. All the while, the film cuts between intimate close-ups and long shots that take in the totality of the piece. More sculptures emerge across an expansive outdoor atelier in Croissy, on the outskirts of Paris, each subsequent wedding dress overflowing with harsh textures due to the various hard materials used within them. As if mimicking the experience of an in-person encounter with Anselm Kiefer’s confrontational work, the 3D camera glides past them all.
First glimpsed in the film cycling in his vast warehouse in Barjac, France, the seventysomething Kiefer appears as if he’s sprung from one of his enormous paintings. As Wenders’s mesmerizing portrait of the Austrian-German multimedia artist progresses, the experience...
First glimpsed in the film cycling in his vast warehouse in Barjac, France, the seventysomething Kiefer appears as if he’s sprung from one of his enormous paintings. As Wenders’s mesmerizing portrait of the Austrian-German multimedia artist progresses, the experience...
- 10/25/2023
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
Updated: German film master Wim Wenders was greeted like a rock star in Lyon, France, where he received an honorary tribute on Friday evening (Oct. 21) at the Lumiere Festival, a week-long celebration of classic cinema headed by Cannes festival boss Thierry Fremaux.
“I’ve received prizes in my life but this time it’s different, it’s the the prize of cinema!” said Wenders after stepping on stage to the beat of Texas’ “I Don’t Want a Lover.” Glancing at Fremaux who was standing nearby, Wenders added, with a cheeky smile, “I don’t want to say that a Palme d’Or is nothing. But the Lumiere Prize is unique and I’m proud of it!” Wenders, who won the Palme d’Or with “Paris, Texas,” is considered a Cannes regular. He’s presented his most iconic films there, including “Wings of Desire” which won best director. This year,...
“I’ve received prizes in my life but this time it’s different, it’s the the prize of cinema!” said Wenders after stepping on stage to the beat of Texas’ “I Don’t Want a Lover.” Glancing at Fremaux who was standing nearby, Wenders added, with a cheeky smile, “I don’t want to say that a Palme d’Or is nothing. But the Lumiere Prize is unique and I’m proud of it!” Wenders, who won the Palme d’Or with “Paris, Texas,” is considered a Cannes regular. He’s presented his most iconic films there, including “Wings of Desire” which won best director. This year,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Lise Pedersen and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Opening the 11th edition of the International Classic Film Market which runs alongside the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, the floor was given to Hella Wenders and Claire Brunel, the managing directors of the Foundation set up by Wim Wenders, the recipient of this year’s lifetime achievement Lumière Award.
Thanks to public and private funding, the non-profit foundation was able to buy back the rights to the German filmmaker’s entire body of work in 2012, which includes 52 films both long and short, with a very clear objective: To preserve, maintain and disseminate Wenders’ works, and make it permanently accessible to the public worldwide.
In a conversation earlier this year with Gianluca Farinelli, who heads the Bologna Film Archives and its film restoration lab, a world leader in film preservation, Wenders explained it simply.
“Movies are only living because there’s an audience that sees them. […] If anyone wants to...
Thanks to public and private funding, the non-profit foundation was able to buy back the rights to the German filmmaker’s entire body of work in 2012, which includes 52 films both long and short, with a very clear objective: To preserve, maintain and disseminate Wenders’ works, and make it permanently accessible to the public worldwide.
In a conversation earlier this year with Gianluca Farinelli, who heads the Bologna Film Archives and its film restoration lab, a world leader in film preservation, Wenders explained it simply.
“Movies are only living because there’s an audience that sees them. […] If anyone wants to...
- 10/18/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The Golden Shell winner at the San Sebastián––the Basque film festival’s top prize––went to home-grown filmmaker Jaione Camborda for this absorbing and sensual Galician-language abortion drama The Rye Horn, an urgent film about women in a totalitarian environment that has potent echoes today.
It’s 1971 and the late stages of the Franco regime on an island off the northwest coast of Spain, the same Galicia region that provided the untamed landscapes of The Beasts and Olivier Laxe’s Fire Will Come. Maria, perhaps in her late 30s or early 40s, makes a living in this rustic part of the world picking shellfish, in touch with nature and the tactile world of her surroundings. But in this tight-knit community, she’s also an unofficial midwife, perhaps a symbol of how the centralized, male-led Spain of the regime has neglected this far-flung end of the country––only women protect women here.
It’s 1971 and the late stages of the Franco regime on an island off the northwest coast of Spain, the same Galicia region that provided the untamed landscapes of The Beasts and Olivier Laxe’s Fire Will Come. Maria, perhaps in her late 30s or early 40s, makes a living in this rustic part of the world picking shellfish, in touch with nature and the tactile world of her surroundings. But in this tight-knit community, she’s also an unofficial midwife, perhaps a symbol of how the centralized, male-led Spain of the regime has neglected this far-flung end of the country––only women protect women here.
- 10/4/2023
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
One of the pleasures of Telluride is watching a master auteur accept the Silver Medallion. Telluride Executive Director Julie Huntsinger was shocked to discover that in the 50 years of the festival, no Silver Medallion was ever awarded to German filmmaker Wim Wenders. So this year, he brought his two Cannes selections, 3D documentary “Anselm” (Sideshow and Janus) and Competition title “Perfect Days” (Neon), whose star Koji Yakusho (“Shall We Dance?”) won Best Actor at Cannes. Despite its German director, Japan has chosen to submit the film for the Oscar.
At Thursday night’s first tribute, Werner Herzog dug into his pocket to fish out the Silver Medallion, and placed it around his old friend’s neck. “The same time several years ago Tom Luddy put this on my neck,” said Herzog. “I kept thinking, ‘this is an injustice if you hadn’t received this medallion in 1978, and 1981, and 1995, and 2015.’ Because...
At Thursday night’s first tribute, Werner Herzog dug into his pocket to fish out the Silver Medallion, and placed it around his old friend’s neck. “The same time several years ago Tom Luddy put this on my neck,” said Herzog. “I kept thinking, ‘this is an injustice if you hadn’t received this medallion in 1978, and 1981, and 1995, and 2015.’ Because...
- 9/3/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Anatomy of a Fall
Competition
Starring a sensational Sandra Hüller as a German novelist on trial for the murder of her husband, French director Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner is gripping and gratifyingly rich: part legal procedural, part portrait of a complicated woman, part snapshot of a marriage on the brink and part coming-of-age narrative. Above all, Anatomy of a Fall is about the essential unknowability of a person, of a relationship, and the perilous impossibility of trying to understand — whether it’s a child puzzling over his parents or a courtroom straining to make sense of an inscrutable suspect. — Jon Frosch
Anselm
Special Screenings
Wim Wenders’ latest 3D documentary offers a mesmerizing cinematic catalog of German painter-sculptor Anselm Kiefer’s deeply tactile, maximalist oeuvre. As in Pina, Wenders’ luminous 2011 tribute to the late dancer-choreographer Pina Bausch, the director makes the best possible case for art house theaters...
Competition
Starring a sensational Sandra Hüller as a German novelist on trial for the murder of her husband, French director Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner is gripping and gratifyingly rich: part legal procedural, part portrait of a complicated woman, part snapshot of a marriage on the brink and part coming-of-age narrative. Above all, Anatomy of a Fall is about the essential unknowability of a person, of a relationship, and the perilous impossibility of trying to understand — whether it’s a child puzzling over his parents or a courtroom straining to make sense of an inscrutable suspect. — Jon Frosch
Anselm
Special Screenings
Wim Wenders’ latest 3D documentary offers a mesmerizing cinematic catalog of German painter-sculptor Anselm Kiefer’s deeply tactile, maximalist oeuvre. As in Pina, Wenders’ luminous 2011 tribute to the late dancer-choreographer Pina Bausch, the director makes the best possible case for art house theaters...
- 5/28/2023
- by David Rooney, Jon Frosch, Sheri Linden, Lovia Gyarkye, Leslie Felperin and Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Berlin-based distributor Dcm has landed the Wim Wenders’ Cannes double pack, securing rights in Germany for both of the Wenders films screening in Cannes: the competition title Perfect Days and the 3D documentary Anselm, which is a festival special screening.
The 77-year-old German filmmaking legend, director of Wings of Desire and 1984 Palme d’Or winner Paris, Texas, is pulling double duty at this year’s festival. His Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days follows a Tokyo toilet cleaner — played by Koji Yakusho — as he goes about his job in some of the city’s most spectacularly designed public facilities. The documentary Anselm, a 3D profile of the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, is billed as a companion piece to his arthouse hit Pina, a 3D look at legendary German dance theater pioneer Pina Bausch, from 2011.
“We are delighted to enter into a long-term collaboration with Wim Wenders and his team from Road Movies,...
The 77-year-old German filmmaking legend, director of Wings of Desire and 1984 Palme d’Or winner Paris, Texas, is pulling double duty at this year’s festival. His Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days follows a Tokyo toilet cleaner — played by Koji Yakusho — as he goes about his job in some of the city’s most spectacularly designed public facilities. The documentary Anselm, a 3D profile of the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, is billed as a companion piece to his arthouse hit Pina, a 3D look at legendary German dance theater pioneer Pina Bausch, from 2011.
“We are delighted to enter into a long-term collaboration with Wim Wenders and his team from Road Movies,...
- 5/23/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Shot stereographically on ultra-high resolution rigs, Wim Wenders’ latest documentary Anselm offers a mesmerizing, cinematic catalogue of German painter-sculptor Anselm Kiefer’s deeply tactile, maximalist oeuvre.
As with Pina, Wenders’ luminous 2011 tribute to the late dancer-choreographer Pina Bausch, Wenders makes here the best case yet for arthouse theaters to keep their 3D projection kit up to date. For this is one of those rare movies that’s actually enriched by the use of the format, and not an excuse for a gimmicky thrill ride for the easily amused or very young.
As a career survey of its subject, Anselm overlaps with Sophie Fiennes’ exquisitely austere doc Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, which also debuted at Cannes, albeit back in 2011. Wenders’ film, however, broadens its focus to take in Kiefer’s earliest and more recent work, and not just the monumental installation that is his former studio-cum-city-state in Barjac, France,...
As with Pina, Wenders’ luminous 2011 tribute to the late dancer-choreographer Pina Bausch, Wenders makes here the best case yet for arthouse theaters to keep their 3D projection kit up to date. For this is one of those rare movies that’s actually enriched by the use of the format, and not an excuse for a gimmicky thrill ride for the easily amused or very young.
As a career survey of its subject, Anselm overlaps with Sophie Fiennes’ exquisitely austere doc Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, which also debuted at Cannes, albeit back in 2011. Wenders’ film, however, broadens its focus to take in Kiefer’s earliest and more recent work, and not just the monumental installation that is his former studio-cum-city-state in Barjac, France,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When audiences consider 3D as a medium, the abiding image seems to be of items popping out from the screen — a limb here in “Jaws 3D,” a dildo there in “Jackass 3D” — and perhaps that is indeed how most filmmakers have used the medium. Not enough directors have capitalized on the ability of 3D to convey a sense of physical depth; fewer still have seized on the possibility of adding philosophical depth. Thank goodness, then, for Wim Wenders. The first of two new films by the German veteran in this year’s Cannes official selection, “Anselm” is a tour-de-force 3D 6K portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer, both rich in ideas and breathtaking in technical execution.
Though undoubtedly a powerful confrontation with some of the biggest themes art can tackle — mortality, permanence, being, nothingness, all the hits — “Anselm” remains an accessible experience, partly because of its manageable 93-minute runtime and...
Though undoubtedly a powerful confrontation with some of the biggest themes art can tackle — mortality, permanence, being, nothingness, all the hits — “Anselm” remains an accessible experience, partly because of its manageable 93-minute runtime and...
- 5/17/2023
- by Catherine Bray
- Variety Film + TV
The director’s serious examination of the German artist’s life and work has an architectural quality as it moves around some monumental art – and studios
Wim Wenders brings a certain awe, or even shock, or even a kind of reverently docu-dramatised Ptsd to his film about the German artist Anselm Kiefer. The creator of paintings, photographs, colossal installations and illustrated book artefacts is celebrated but in some quarters criticised for his engagement with German fascism and the Holocaust, mediated through his lifelong love for the poetry of Paul Celan. The film shows us his work in all its giganticism, with minimal archival interview material, though there are some fancifully conceived but successfully executed fantasy scenes of the artist in boyhood and young adulthood. The title perhaps intends the use of his first name not in any relaxed way, but in a style comparable to Leonardo or Michelangelo.
This is...
Wim Wenders brings a certain awe, or even shock, or even a kind of reverently docu-dramatised Ptsd to his film about the German artist Anselm Kiefer. The creator of paintings, photographs, colossal installations and illustrated book artefacts is celebrated but in some quarters criticised for his engagement with German fascism and the Holocaust, mediated through his lifelong love for the poetry of Paul Celan. The film shows us his work in all its giganticism, with minimal archival interview material, though there are some fancifully conceived but successfully executed fantasy scenes of the artist in boyhood and young adulthood. The title perhaps intends the use of his first name not in any relaxed way, but in a style comparable to Leonardo or Michelangelo.
This is...
- 5/17/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Wim Wenders could be the Bob Dylan of European cinema: always around, always the same, always different. Sometimes he’ll arrive in Cannes with a documentary, like 2018’s Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, and sometimes he’ll come with a work of fiction, like his timeless 1984 Palme d’Or winner Paris, Texas. This year, he’s coming with one of each: Anselm, a 3D portrait of artist Anselm Kiefer, and Perfect Days, the story of a Tokyo toilet cleaner. Ironically, Wenders thought he’d have more time on his hands after the pandemic and moving on from his role at the European Film Academy. How wrong he was…
Deadline: You have two films in Cannes. Which would you prefer to start with?
Wim Wenders: Let’s start with the one that was in the works longer. That would be Anselm, which was shot all through the...
Deadline: You have two films in Cannes. Which would you prefer to start with?
Wim Wenders: Let’s start with the one that was in the works longer. That would be Anselm, which was shot all through the...
- 5/15/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Iron Butterflies.. Roman Liubyi: 'There's the quote from Pina Bausch that when you have no words, the gesture could help, so that’s the case' Iron Butterflies - a name that refers to the shape made by shrapnel from Buk surface-to-air missiles on metal - takes a sensorial approach to considering the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which resulted in the death so 298 people.
Although there are traditional documentary elements that consider the timeline and the aftermath of the crash - after the plane was shot down by a Russian missile, which the country strenously denied - there are also experimental segments of performance art that evoke a more emotional response.
When I catch up with the director Roman Liubyi to talk about the film shortly before its premiere in the World Cinema Documentary competition at Sundance Film Festival, he says he “aiming to be weird”.
He adds: “It’s just,...
Although there are traditional documentary elements that consider the timeline and the aftermath of the crash - after the plane was shot down by a Russian missile, which the country strenously denied - there are also experimental segments of performance art that evoke a more emotional response.
When I catch up with the director Roman Liubyi to talk about the film shortly before its premiere in the World Cinema Documentary competition at Sundance Film Festival, he says he “aiming to be weird”.
He adds: “It’s just,...
- 1/25/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Acquisition
Factual content specialist Zinc Media Group has fundraised £5 million (6.1 million) and is using £2.1 million of it towards acquiring award-winning production company The Edge Picture Company, which operates from its bases in London, Doha, Vancouver and Paris. The rest of the cash will be invested in talent, potential IP, and in future acquisitions and collaborations. The Edge’s clients include Amazon, BT Group and FIFA.
The Edge joins Zinc Media Group at the end of August, subject to approval by Zinc shareholders. The Edge will continue to operate in line with other companies wholly owned by Zinc Media Group and it will continue to be run by the same management team, but benefit from the opportunities presented by being part of an enlarged organisation.
Zinc’s TV business includes the labels current affairs, contemporary history and investigations focused Brook Lapping, which was recently commissioned for “Tom Daley: Illegal To Be Me,...
Factual content specialist Zinc Media Group has fundraised £5 million (6.1 million) and is using £2.1 million of it towards acquiring award-winning production company The Edge Picture Company, which operates from its bases in London, Doha, Vancouver and Paris. The rest of the cash will be invested in talent, potential IP, and in future acquisitions and collaborations. The Edge’s clients include Amazon, BT Group and FIFA.
The Edge joins Zinc Media Group at the end of August, subject to approval by Zinc shareholders. The Edge will continue to operate in line with other companies wholly owned by Zinc Media Group and it will continue to be run by the same management team, but benefit from the opportunities presented by being part of an enlarged organisation.
Zinc’s TV business includes the labels current affairs, contemporary history and investigations focused Brook Lapping, which was recently commissioned for “Tom Daley: Illegal To Be Me,...
- 8/3/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The revered director talks about his friend Rainer Fassbinder, dealing with success and failure, and how he is like the angels in Wings of Desire – as a retrospective of his work comes to cinemas
Is it bad manners to wear a Fassbinder T-shirt to an interview with Wim Wenders? Apparently not. “Ah, Rainer!” says Wenders, full of jubilation as he claps eyes on my wardrobe choice. Then he grits his teeth and snarls: “I’m still so fucking mad at him for dying.”
We are in the London offices of the distributor Curzon, which is releasing restored versions of eight of Wenders’ films in cinemas. Included is the Palme d’Or-winning 1984 masterpiece Paris, Texas and the 1987 fantasy Wings of Desire, in which angels watch over a divided Berlin. The 76-year-old director sports a silver quiff, his inquisitive eyes sparkling behind blue-framed spectacles. His own T-shirt, worn under a white shirt and braces,...
Is it bad manners to wear a Fassbinder T-shirt to an interview with Wim Wenders? Apparently not. “Ah, Rainer!” says Wenders, full of jubilation as he claps eyes on my wardrobe choice. Then he grits his teeth and snarls: “I’m still so fucking mad at him for dying.”
We are in the London offices of the distributor Curzon, which is releasing restored versions of eight of Wenders’ films in cinemas. Included is the Palme d’Or-winning 1984 masterpiece Paris, Texas and the 1987 fantasy Wings of Desire, in which angels watch over a divided Berlin. The 76-year-old director sports a silver quiff, his inquisitive eyes sparkling behind blue-framed spectacles. His own T-shirt, worn under a white shirt and braces,...
- 7/1/2022
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Glittering in flowing black sequins, two-time Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, the second-youngest recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s coveted 47th Chaplin Award, was ushered to her seat at Alice Tully Hall to resounding applause.
As Film at Lincoln Center president Daniel H. Stern intoned the usual litany of praise and tribute to “one of the most versatile and talented actresses working today,” he eventually had to inform the crowd that the two starry presenters of the night, “Carol” filmmaker Todd Haynes and “Nightmare Alley” star Bradley Cooper, couldn’t make the event due to a direct Covid hit, in Haynes’ case. Cooper was under the weather, he said. (A Searchlight source said Cooper’s daughter had Covid.)
But a voice pierced the darkness. “I’m here!,” cried Blanchett. The audience cheered.
Over the course of the night, between videos of former winners and Blanchett stans like fellow-Aussie Hugh Jackman, Martin Scorsese...
As Film at Lincoln Center president Daniel H. Stern intoned the usual litany of praise and tribute to “one of the most versatile and talented actresses working today,” he eventually had to inform the crowd that the two starry presenters of the night, “Carol” filmmaker Todd Haynes and “Nightmare Alley” star Bradley Cooper, couldn’t make the event due to a direct Covid hit, in Haynes’ case. Cooper was under the weather, he said. (A Searchlight source said Cooper’s daughter had Covid.)
But a voice pierced the darkness. “I’m here!,” cried Blanchett. The audience cheered.
Over the course of the night, between videos of former winners and Blanchett stans like fellow-Aussie Hugh Jackman, Martin Scorsese...
- 4/26/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Editor’s note: The following essay was written by filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar shortly after he attended the 94th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday. It was provided for IndieWire in an exclusive English translation. Almodóvar’s 2021 film “Parallel Mothers” was nominated for two awards: Best Actress (Penélope Cruz) and Best Original Score (Alberto Iglesias).
Yesterday was an exhausting day, especially in the evening. One of the secret reasons I have for being in Los Angeles (as well as going hand in hand with Penélope to the Dolby Theatre and experiencing in situ if her nomination still has a road to travel or if the prize was the nomination) is to meet with some actors as I think about the cast for my next film, which is starring Cate Blanchett and based on five stories by Lucia Berlin from her book “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” It’s an open secret, but I can’t discuss it,...
Yesterday was an exhausting day, especially in the evening. One of the secret reasons I have for being in Los Angeles (as well as going hand in hand with Penélope to the Dolby Theatre and experiencing in situ if her nomination still has a road to travel or if the prize was the nomination) is to meet with some actors as I think about the cast for my next film, which is starring Cate Blanchett and based on five stories by Lucia Berlin from her book “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” It’s an open secret, but I can’t discuss it,...
- 3/30/2022
- by Pedro Almodóvar
- Indiewire
Full Bloom is a series, written by Patrick Holzapfel and illustrated by Ivana Miloš, that reconsiders plants in cinema. Directors have given certain flowers, trees or herbs special attention for many different reasons. It’s time to give them the credit they deserve and highlight their contributions to cinema, in full bloom.Ivana Miloš, Flower is a Dancer (2021), monotype and gouache on paper, 33 x 24 cmThink of the manifold ways wherein Nature hath lent to our feelings—Johann Wolfgang von GoetheAnyone who has looked at a field of flowers long enough knows that if you are not loved, it is difficult to grow. In Pina Bausch’s and Chantal Akerman’s work, the fear of not growing is palpable in every second. We should consider ourselves very fortunate to have a television work that documents the meeting of those two extraordinary artists: In Un jour Pina a demandé, Akerman tries to...
- 6/21/2021
- MUBI
The 27th Sarajevo Film Festival will pay tribute to German filmmaker Wim Wenders.
The event, scheduled to run August 13-20 in the Bosnian capital, will see Wenders presented with an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award – the fest’s top honor – and a retrospective of his works will be programmed to screen for audiences. The program will include a newly-restored version of his 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel, which won a Silver Bear in Berlin that year.
Wenders will also travel to Sarajevo, pandemic allowing, to host a masterclass.
The filmmaker will be returning to Sarajevo 10 years after visiting in 2011 where he presented his 3D film Pina, a feature length documentary homage to the choreographer Pina Bausch.
“We are delighted to honour one of the central figures of modern cinema. With his work in the field of visual arts as an exceptional filmmaker and photographer, Wim Wenders continues to give the...
The event, scheduled to run August 13-20 in the Bosnian capital, will see Wenders presented with an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award – the fest’s top honor – and a retrospective of his works will be programmed to screen for audiences. The program will include a newly-restored version of his 2000 film The Million Dollar Hotel, which won a Silver Bear in Berlin that year.
Wenders will also travel to Sarajevo, pandemic allowing, to host a masterclass.
The filmmaker will be returning to Sarajevo 10 years after visiting in 2011 where he presented his 3D film Pina, a feature length documentary homage to the choreographer Pina Bausch.
“We are delighted to honour one of the central figures of modern cinema. With his work in the field of visual arts as an exceptional filmmaker and photographer, Wim Wenders continues to give the...
- 3/8/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
During a globally stressful moment like this one, it is tempting to read prophecy into even the most anodyne relics of the Before Times. But you don’t have to see an image of a giant coronavirus in a billboard behind Captain America, or freak out that a long-haired, quarantined Rapunzel lives in a kingdom called Corona in “Tangled,” to know that some filmmakers are more prescient than others.
Judged only on his features, especially “Birth” and “Under the Skin,” British director Jonathan Glazer might already be a candidate for consideration. But factor in his short-form work, his visionary music videos and commercials and his stunning new 10-minute art film “Strasbourg 1518,” which premieres in the UK on July 20 on BBC2 and on July 21 in the US through A24, and it’s quickly apparent that Glazer’s sensibilities are perfectly attuned to our era of isolation, paranoia and plague. The “unprecedented...
Judged only on his features, especially “Birth” and “Under the Skin,” British director Jonathan Glazer might already be a candidate for consideration. But factor in his short-form work, his visionary music videos and commercials and his stunning new 10-minute art film “Strasbourg 1518,” which premieres in the UK on July 20 on BBC2 and on July 21 in the US through A24, and it’s quickly apparent that Glazer’s sensibilities are perfectly attuned to our era of isolation, paranoia and plague. The “unprecedented...
- 7/20/2020
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
“He’s one of the most influential choreographers the world has known,” declares Alla Kovgan about dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, the subject of Kovgan’s new documentary “Cunningham.” The film features recreations of many of Cunningham’s most famous dances filmed in 3-D in specially chosen locations in New York and Europe. In our exclusive video interview (watch the video above), Kovgan discusses the more than seven year journey to bring this story to the big screen, as well as her passion for combining dance with cinema.
SEEAlmost 100 Interviews with 2020 Oscar Contenders
Kovgan was inspired to incorporate 3-D with dance after seeing Wim Wenders‘ Oscar-nominated documentary “Pina” about the life of choreographer of Pina Bausch. “When I watched it,” Kovgan remembers, “I really felt that there was some other possibility here with 3D and dance that hasn’t been realized.” The director wanted to do more than create a retrospective of Cunningham’s work.
SEEAlmost 100 Interviews with 2020 Oscar Contenders
Kovgan was inspired to incorporate 3-D with dance after seeing Wim Wenders‘ Oscar-nominated documentary “Pina” about the life of choreographer of Pina Bausch. “When I watched it,” Kovgan remembers, “I really felt that there was some other possibility here with 3D and dance that hasn’t been realized.” The director wanted to do more than create a retrospective of Cunningham’s work.
- 12/16/2019
- by Tony Ruiz
- Gold Derby
Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener (costumes by George Venson/Voutsa) at their Arranged for Today Cunningham: Moving From Then To Now Judson Memorial Church tech rehearsal Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Cunningham: Moving From Then To Now tech rehearsal at the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South, Associate Minister Micah Bucey arranged an introduction for Ed Bahlman and myself with Movement Research Artistic Director Barbara Bryan, who was co-presenting the free event with Judson Arts. Barbara in turn brought over the choreography team of Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, who were presenting their latest dance, titled Arranged for Today, created and performed by Stanley Gambucci, Eleanor Hullihan, Mitchell, and Riener.
Cunningham: Moving From Then To Now tech rehearsal Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Mitchell and Riener are featured in Alla Kovgan’s enticing Cunningham. Wim Wenders, who loved Kovgan’s film and worked in 3D himself with Joséphine Derobe on his Pina Bausch documentary,...
At the Cunningham: Moving From Then To Now tech rehearsal at the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South, Associate Minister Micah Bucey arranged an introduction for Ed Bahlman and myself with Movement Research Artistic Director Barbara Bryan, who was co-presenting the free event with Judson Arts. Barbara in turn brought over the choreography team of Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, who were presenting their latest dance, titled Arranged for Today, created and performed by Stanley Gambucci, Eleanor Hullihan, Mitchell, and Riener.
Cunningham: Moving From Then To Now tech rehearsal Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Mitchell and Riener are featured in Alla Kovgan’s enticing Cunningham. Wim Wenders, who loved Kovgan’s film and worked in 3D himself with Joséphine Derobe on his Pina Bausch documentary,...
- 12/15/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In Pain and Glory, Pedro Almodóvar’s 21st feature and his eighth with Antonio Banderas, the star plays Salvador, an aging filmmaker struggling to continue working due to an oppressive cocktail of pain and his new habit for heroin. A repertory screening of his breakthrough film, Taste, gives way for Salvador to face various, unreconciled fragments of his past: his late mother’s chilly regard for him, his budding sexuality, and his first relationship, as well as a tumultuous friendship with an estranged collaborator.
Almodóvar’s cinema is an amass of messy folks in flux, like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’s Pepa or Volver’s Raimunda, suddenly trying, the best way they know how, to pacify inharmonious, frayed strands of their lives. In an interview at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, Banderas said this film, more than an addiction narrative, is about closing the circles and...
Almodóvar’s cinema is an amass of messy folks in flux, like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’s Pepa or Volver’s Raimunda, suddenly trying, the best way they know how, to pacify inharmonious, frayed strands of their lives. In an interview at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, Banderas said this film, more than an addiction narrative, is about closing the circles and...
- 10/15/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Legendary modern dance choreographer Pina Bausch presaged her American contemporary Merce Cunningham in a few non-dance-related areas: the lauded German artist passed away mere weeks before Cunningham did in 2009, and her work inspired a jaw-dropping 3D film eight years before Cunningham’s received the same sort of cinematic treatment. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting double feature than Wim Wenders’ “Pina” and Alla Kovgan’s upcoming “Cunningham,” a pair of 3D documentary features that bring to vivid life the work and artistry of two icons of modern dance through contemporary means.
Much like “Pina,” Kovgan’s film attempts to translate the magic of Cunningham’s live work to the big screen through 3D technology and an array of key archival material. Also like Bausch and the many devoted students she left behind, “Cunningham” grapples with the question of a choreographer’s legacy and what can actually remain of...
Much like “Pina,” Kovgan’s film attempts to translate the magic of Cunningham’s live work to the big screen through 3D technology and an array of key archival material. Also like Bausch and the many devoted students she left behind, “Cunningham” grapples with the question of a choreographer’s legacy and what can actually remain of...
- 9/19/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Neil Armstrong, a man better remembered for being first than he is for being funny, once said that his greatest regret was that “my work required an enormous amount of my time, and a lot of travel.” It’s a bittersweet line from a taciturn giant who always tended to find the right words; an admission of deep sadness coated inside the candied shell of a solid quip. But while no one expects an Armstrong quote to make them laugh, some people — especially filmmakers — only seem to hear the pain underneath the astronaut’s punchline.
And they can’t quite wrap their heads around the questions that it raises. What could possibly inspire someone to climb aboard a volatile rocket and blast themselves towards another world in a screaming plume of fire? What kind of siren’s call sings to them from the infinite darkness of space? What are they...
And they can’t quite wrap their heads around the questions that it raises. What could possibly inspire someone to climb aboard a volatile rocket and blast themselves towards another world in a screaming plume of fire? What kind of siren’s call sings to them from the infinite darkness of space? What are they...
- 8/29/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“Anima,” the rapturous and spellbinding Paul Thomas Anderson “one-reeler” that Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke (and Netflix) have commissioned to help promote his new album of the same name, feels as essential as anything the “Phantom Thread” director has ever done. At least on first blush. It’s also, in its own beguiling way, the next logical step in what has become one of recent history’s most rewarding partnerships between a filmmaker and a group of musicians. This 15-minute short is nothing less than a dream come true.
Yorke — now four LPs deep into a twitchy and feral solo career that includes the score for Luca Guadagnino’s recent “Suspiria” remake — has long alternated between raging against the madness of the modern world, and surrendering to it in some kind of narcotic stupor. One song offers a snarling “fuck you” to the drone-like middle managers who turn their corporate offices...
Yorke — now four LPs deep into a twitchy and feral solo career that includes the score for Luca Guadagnino’s recent “Suspiria” remake — has long alternated between raging against the madness of the modern world, and surrendering to it in some kind of narcotic stupor. One song offers a snarling “fuck you” to the drone-like middle managers who turn their corporate offices...
- 6/26/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present, and future.
Dakota Johnson hadn’t even seen Dario Argento’s 1977 giallo classic “Suspiria” when she agreed to star in its bloody, bruising remake about a Berlin ballet school overrun by witches and plenty of female aggression. Director Luca Guadagnino first mentioned the project to Johnson when the pair was filming “A Bigger Splash” in Italy during the summer of 2014, the first film in what’s shaping up to be quite the ongoing collaboration.
Johnson had not yet seen the original, but the filmmaker was intent on her playing the lead role of seemingly wide-eyed dancer Susie Bannion. As the actress recalls, the answer was easy enough, and Johnson issued some variant on “okay, great, let’s do it.” Eventually, she watched Argento’s film, though she promises that viewing didn’t distort her experience when it came...
Dakota Johnson hadn’t even seen Dario Argento’s 1977 giallo classic “Suspiria” when she agreed to star in its bloody, bruising remake about a Berlin ballet school overrun by witches and plenty of female aggression. Director Luca Guadagnino first mentioned the project to Johnson when the pair was filming “A Bigger Splash” in Italy during the summer of 2014, the first film in what’s shaping up to be quite the ongoing collaboration.
Johnson had not yet seen the original, but the filmmaker was intent on her playing the lead role of seemingly wide-eyed dancer Susie Bannion. As the actress recalls, the answer was easy enough, and Johnson issued some variant on “okay, great, let’s do it.” Eventually, she watched Argento’s film, though she promises that viewing didn’t distort her experience when it came...
- 10/26/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Polarizing is too tame a word to describe reactions to Luca Guadagnino’s radical rethinking of Suspiria. Either you’ll dig in or bolt for the exit — no in between. For starters, Dario Argento’s 1977 landmark of horror didn’t need a remake. The original, about an exclusively female dance academy run by witches, is still there in all its bracing, bloody, neon glory for you to stream and get drunk on. It’s clear that the movie had its way with Guadagnino, so much so that the director of Call Me By Your Name,...
- 10/24/2018
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Dogwoof has acquired world sales rights to 3D documentary “Cunningham,” the U.K.-based documentary specialist has revealed to Variety. Dogwoof, which is also set to distribute the feature in the U.K. and Ireland, will present a first-look teaser from the film to international buyers at the upcoming American Film Market.
“Cunningham,” which is currently in production, tells the story of legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham. It is set to see its U.K. release through Dogwoof, as well as releases in pre-sold markets France and Germany via Sophie Dulac and Camino Films respectively, in Spring 2019 to coincide with the centenary of the choreographer’s birth.
Filming in 3D, the documentary, which is described as a “breath-taking explosion of dance and music,” is directed by Alla Kovgan and edited by Andrew Bird. It traces Cunningham’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery from his early years...
“Cunningham,” which is currently in production, tells the story of legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham. It is set to see its U.K. release through Dogwoof, as well as releases in pre-sold markets France and Germany via Sophie Dulac and Camino Films respectively, in Spring 2019 to coincide with the centenary of the choreographer’s birth.
Filming in 3D, the documentary, which is described as a “breath-taking explosion of dance and music,” is directed by Alla Kovgan and edited by Andrew Bird. It traces Cunningham’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery from his early years...
- 10/15/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
Wim Wenders is a sophisticated man of cinema, a nine-time Cannes Palme d’Or contender who led the 1989 jury that gave Steven Soderbergh the Palme d’Or over Spike Lee. (He says he was not the architect of that collective decision.) The graduate of the ’70s German New Wave who has close ties to America has shown deep spirituality in such films as Cannes Best Director-winner “Wings of Desire,” “Faraway, So Close,” and “The Salt of the Earth.”
Still, choosing Wenders to direct a documentary about the Holy Father did not look obvious at first. It turns out that Wenders was raised in a Catholic family where “faith was important,” he told me at Cannes. He admired his father, a doctor who “lived life and his profession as a believer, he loved people and was always there for anybody who was sick.”
More recently, Wenders was struck by the joyful way his father embraced death,...
Still, choosing Wenders to direct a documentary about the Holy Father did not look obvious at first. It turns out that Wenders was raised in a Catholic family where “faith was important,” he told me at Cannes. He admired his father, a doctor who “lived life and his profession as a believer, he loved people and was always there for anybody who was sick.”
More recently, Wenders was struck by the joyful way his father embraced death,...
- 5/18/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Wim Wenders is a sophisticated man of cinema, a nine-time Cannes Palme d’Or contender who led the 1989 jury that gave Steven Soderbergh the Palme d’Or over Spike Lee. (He says he was not the architect of that collective decision.) The graduate of the ’70s German New Wave who has close ties to America has shown deep spirituality in such films as Cannes Best Director-winner “Wings of Desire,” “Faraway, So Close,” and “The Salt of the Earth.”
Still, choosing Wenders to direct a documentary about the Holy Father did not look obvious at first. It turns out that Wenders was raised in a Catholic family where “faith was important,” he told me at Cannes. He admired his father, a doctor who “lived life and his profession as a believer, he loved people and was always there for anybody who was sick.”
More recently, Wenders was struck by the joyful way his father embraced death,...
Still, choosing Wenders to direct a documentary about the Holy Father did not look obvious at first. It turns out that Wenders was raised in a Catholic family where “faith was important,” he told me at Cannes. He admired his father, a doctor who “lived life and his profession as a believer, he loved people and was always there for anybody who was sick.”
More recently, Wenders was struck by the joyful way his father embraced death,...
- 5/18/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
There are very few directors who have made both top-notch narrative films and documentaries, among them Michael Apted, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee and a recent addition to the list, Cannes juror Ava DuVernay. But the German director Wim Wenders, who won the Palme d’Or for the masterful “Paris, Texas” in 1984 and recently was nominated for Oscars for the remarkable documentaries “Pina” and “The Salt of the Earth,” has to be near the top of the list.
And now he’s come to the Cannes Film Festival with “Pope Francis – A Man of His Word,” a modest and prosaically titled film about the Roman Catholic pontiff who has made it his mission to work on behalf of the poorest and most troubled, even if it means veering closer to controversial liberation theology than to the usual priorities of the Church.
The first thing to say about Wenders appearing at Cannes is that it’s probably a good thing that he’s doing so with a documentary. The 72-year-old director’s last few narrative films have been real duds: “Every Thing Will Be Fine,” “The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez” and “Submergence” were clunky and awkward.
Also Read: Cannes Film Festival 2018 Preview: No Selfies, No Netflix, No Problem
Meanwhile, his two prior documentaries were deserving Oscar nominees. 2011’s “Pina” was a bold and magical performance film about the pioneering choreographer Pina Bausch, with a brilliant use of 3D to create the spaces in which Bausch’s art could take place, while 2014’s “The Salt of the Earth” was a lyrical and incisive look at Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, the father of Wenders’ co-director, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado.
“Pope Francis,” in many ways, is far closer to “Pina,” which is focused on performances of Bausch’s work, than to “The Salt of the Earth.” In fact, it’s also of a piece with other Wenders films like “Buena Vista Social Club,” because it is, in essence, a performance film.
That’s not to say that the pontiff sings or dances in the movie; his performance lies in conversation. The heart of the movie is Pope Francis sitting in a chair — sometimes a red brocade chair in a room with burnt orange walls, sometimes a pale chair in a garden surrounded by trees, with a church steeple in the distance — and delivering a message.
One of his first comments is, “The world today is mostly deaf,” and from there he spends the early stretches of the film upbraiding the Church for its emphasis on wealth. “I wanted a poor Church for the poor,” he says, and a moment later, “We either serve God or we serve money … As long as the Church is placing its hope on wealth, Jesus is not there.”
Also Read: Is Something Wrong With This Picture? Pope Francis Meets Trump
From there, we get a veritable Pope Francis’ Greatest Hits: washing the feet of poor South Americans (he himself is Argentinian), saying that it’s the duty of church officials to report pedophilia to the authorities, visiting refugees in Greece, decrying Donald Trump’s border wall and commenting, “If a person is gay and is searching for the Lord, who am I to judge him?”
The whole point of the film, driven home by black-and-white reenactments, is that the pope is a revolutionary in the mold of his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, who sought to moderate a truce between Christians and Muslims during the Crusades. But in tone and approach, this is an understated, affectionate film, more reverential than revolutionary; it’s less a portrait of the pope than a recital by him, with the boldness of his ideas undercut by the modesty of their telling.
In one way, that’s a strength of “Pope Francis” because it simply presents the man as he is, with a simplicity befitting the pope’s own demeanor. It’s not going to make converts out of anybody — I was raised Catholic, I’m definitely not one anymore and all the movie did was convince me that the pope is a good man.
Then again, Pope Francis is a healer, not a proselytizer. And Wenders knows enough to stand back and let him say his piece and make his peace.
Read original story Cannes Review: Pope Francis Documentary Is a Modest Film About a Bold Man At TheWrap...
And now he’s come to the Cannes Film Festival with “Pope Francis – A Man of His Word,” a modest and prosaically titled film about the Roman Catholic pontiff who has made it his mission to work on behalf of the poorest and most troubled, even if it means veering closer to controversial liberation theology than to the usual priorities of the Church.
The first thing to say about Wenders appearing at Cannes is that it’s probably a good thing that he’s doing so with a documentary. The 72-year-old director’s last few narrative films have been real duds: “Every Thing Will Be Fine,” “The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez” and “Submergence” were clunky and awkward.
Also Read: Cannes Film Festival 2018 Preview: No Selfies, No Netflix, No Problem
Meanwhile, his two prior documentaries were deserving Oscar nominees. 2011’s “Pina” was a bold and magical performance film about the pioneering choreographer Pina Bausch, with a brilliant use of 3D to create the spaces in which Bausch’s art could take place, while 2014’s “The Salt of the Earth” was a lyrical and incisive look at Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, the father of Wenders’ co-director, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado.
“Pope Francis,” in many ways, is far closer to “Pina,” which is focused on performances of Bausch’s work, than to “The Salt of the Earth.” In fact, it’s also of a piece with other Wenders films like “Buena Vista Social Club,” because it is, in essence, a performance film.
That’s not to say that the pontiff sings or dances in the movie; his performance lies in conversation. The heart of the movie is Pope Francis sitting in a chair — sometimes a red brocade chair in a room with burnt orange walls, sometimes a pale chair in a garden surrounded by trees, with a church steeple in the distance — and delivering a message.
One of his first comments is, “The world today is mostly deaf,” and from there he spends the early stretches of the film upbraiding the Church for its emphasis on wealth. “I wanted a poor Church for the poor,” he says, and a moment later, “We either serve God or we serve money … As long as the Church is placing its hope on wealth, Jesus is not there.”
Also Read: Is Something Wrong With This Picture? Pope Francis Meets Trump
From there, we get a veritable Pope Francis’ Greatest Hits: washing the feet of poor South Americans (he himself is Argentinian), saying that it’s the duty of church officials to report pedophilia to the authorities, visiting refugees in Greece, decrying Donald Trump’s border wall and commenting, “If a person is gay and is searching for the Lord, who am I to judge him?”
The whole point of the film, driven home by black-and-white reenactments, is that the pope is a revolutionary in the mold of his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, who sought to moderate a truce between Christians and Muslims during the Crusades. But in tone and approach, this is an understated, affectionate film, more reverential than revolutionary; it’s less a portrait of the pope than a recital by him, with the boldness of his ideas undercut by the modesty of their telling.
In one way, that’s a strength of “Pope Francis” because it simply presents the man as he is, with a simplicity befitting the pope’s own demeanor. It’s not going to make converts out of anybody — I was raised Catholic, I’m definitely not one anymore and all the movie did was convince me that the pope is a good man.
Then again, Pope Francis is a healer, not a proselytizer. And Wenders knows enough to stand back and let him say his piece and make his peace.
Read original story Cannes Review: Pope Francis Documentary Is a Modest Film About a Bold Man At TheWrap...
- 5/13/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Winners of the 42nd annual edition of the Olivier Awards were revealed in ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 8 hosted by Catherine Tate. Unlike the Tony Awards, which are showcased live on CBS, the Olivier Awards gets only a clips package on ITV later that evening and a live feed on BBC Radio 2.
“Hamilton” won a record seven Olivier Awards, including Best Musical and for both leading man Giles Terera and supporting player Michael Jibson. “The Ferryman” took home Best Play as well as the combined award for directing (Sam Mendes) and Best Actress (Laura Donnelly).
See Dish the Tony and Olivier Awards with theater insiders in our notorious forum
Musicals
Best Musical
An American In Paris
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Girl From The North Country
X – Hamilton
Young Frankenstein
Best Musical Revival
42nd Street
X – Follies
On The Town
Best Actor (Musical)
Ciarán Hinds...
“Hamilton” won a record seven Olivier Awards, including Best Musical and for both leading man Giles Terera and supporting player Michael Jibson. “The Ferryman” took home Best Play as well as the combined award for directing (Sam Mendes) and Best Actress (Laura Donnelly).
See Dish the Tony and Olivier Awards with theater insiders in our notorious forum
Musicals
Best Musical
An American In Paris
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Girl From The North Country
X – Hamilton
Young Frankenstein
Best Musical Revival
42nd Street
X – Follies
On The Town
Best Actor (Musical)
Ciarán Hinds...
- 4/9/2018
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Hamilton‘s revolutionary run is recording more milestones in the UK, with the Lin-Manuel Miranda show collecting seven Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.
On the drama side, Jez Butterworth’s Northern Irish drama The Ferryman was named Best New Play. It also snagged a Best Director Olivier for Sam Mendes and took Best Actress honors for Laura Donnelly.
Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire received the Outstanding Achievement in Music prize. Other Hamilton wins included Giles Terera (who plays Aaron Burr) for Best Actor in a Musical, Michael Jibson (King George III) as Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, and honors for lighting, sound design and choreography.
While Hamilton has had capacity crowds on Broadway for years, some newer titles recognized tonight included Tony Awards contender Angels in America, which won for Best Revival. Angels star Denise Gough won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Best...
On the drama side, Jez Butterworth’s Northern Irish drama The Ferryman was named Best New Play. It also snagged a Best Director Olivier for Sam Mendes and took Best Actress honors for Laura Donnelly.
Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire received the Outstanding Achievement in Music prize. Other Hamilton wins included Giles Terera (who plays Aaron Burr) for Best Actor in a Musical, Michael Jibson (King George III) as Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, and honors for lighting, sound design and choreography.
While Hamilton has had capacity crowds on Broadway for years, some newer titles recognized tonight included Tony Awards contender Angels in America, which won for Best Revival. Angels star Denise Gough won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Best...
- 4/8/2018
- by Dade Hayes and Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” took home seven awards at the U.K.’s Laurence Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London Sunday, winning for best new musical, outstanding achievement in music, best actor in a musical, and best actor in a supporting role in a musical.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire took home the trophy for outstanding achievement in music, with Giles Terera winning best actor for his work as Aaron Burr and Michael Jibson winning best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of King George III.
“Hamilton’s” other awards include the Delta Live award for best sound design, the White Light award for best lighting design, and best theatre choreographer for Andy Blankenbuehler.
Coming in with three awards was “The Ferryman,” including best new play, best director for Sam Mendes, and best actress for Laura Donnelly.
Bryan Cranston won for best actor for his role in “Network,...
Lin-Manuel Miranda and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire took home the trophy for outstanding achievement in music, with Giles Terera winning best actor for his work as Aaron Burr and Michael Jibson winning best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of King George III.
“Hamilton’s” other awards include the Delta Live award for best sound design, the White Light award for best lighting design, and best theatre choreographer for Andy Blankenbuehler.
Coming in with three awards was “The Ferryman,” including best new play, best director for Sam Mendes, and best actress for Laura Donnelly.
Bryan Cranston won for best actor for his role in “Network,...
- 4/8/2018
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
2018 Olivier Awards nominations: ‘Hamilton’ lands record 13, ‘The Ferryman’ leads among plays with 8
Two years after sweeping the Tony Awards, Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s musical “Hamilton” is poised to do the same at the British equivalent, the Olivier Awards. On March 6, it reaped a record 13 bids for these top theater prizes, shattering the record set by the musical “Hairspray” in 2008 and equalled by the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” last year. On the play side, the leading contender is Jez Butterworth‘s “The Ferryman,” a dark drama about the Irish troubles which is set to come to Broadway in the fall.
Winners will be announced in a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 8 hosted by Catherine Tate. Unlike the Tony Awards, which are showcased live on CBS, the Olivier Awards get only a clips package on ITV later that evening and a live feed on BBC Radio 2.
“Hamilton” is clearly the frontrunner for Best Musical. Conor McPherson’s “Girl From The North Country,...
Winners will be announced in a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 8 hosted by Catherine Tate. Unlike the Tony Awards, which are showcased live on CBS, the Olivier Awards get only a clips package on ITV later that evening and a live feed on BBC Radio 2.
“Hamilton” is clearly the frontrunner for Best Musical. Conor McPherson’s “Girl From The North Country,...
- 3/6/2018
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
For the past 17 years, painter and graphic artist Jorgo Schaefer from Wuppertal, Germany has been an artist-in-residence at the New York Vision Festival, one of the world’s premier festival’s of avant-garde jazz, dance, poetry, film and visual art.
Steve Dalachinsky Can you explain a bit about your process and becoming an artist?
Jorgo Schaefer: My career as a professional artist started in 1970 at the Werkkunstschule (Wks, School of Applied Arts) in Wuppertal. At this time, the Wks was a highly regarded institution with a long tradition. It was not an art academy but arts were a key element. Artistic skills were taught as well as philosophy. Our freshman class consisted of 15 students and we were hanging out together day and night, influenced and inspired by the political and artistic movements of about 4 good years. Plus: Amsterdam was just around the corner...
Sd: When did you get interested in jazz and improvisation?...
Steve Dalachinsky Can you explain a bit about your process and becoming an artist?
Jorgo Schaefer: My career as a professional artist started in 1970 at the Werkkunstschule (Wks, School of Applied Arts) in Wuppertal. At this time, the Wks was a highly regarded institution with a long tradition. It was not an art academy but arts were a key element. Artistic skills were taught as well as philosophy. Our freshman class consisted of 15 students and we were hanging out together day and night, influenced and inspired by the political and artistic movements of about 4 good years. Plus: Amsterdam was just around the corner...
Sd: When did you get interested in jazz and improvisation?...
- 5/3/2017
- by steve dalachinsky
- www.culturecatch.com
“If someone can hypnotize you with only a row, then that person is a genius,” says Israeli dancer Yossi Yungman, recalling wistfully the first time he saw an Ohad Naharin piece. By the end of “Mr. Gaga,” a new documentary about Naharin from Tomer Heymann, even the most dance-illiterate viewer would enthusiastically agree.
Naharin is best known as the inventor of “Gaga,” a movement language that emphasizes seeing and imagining over performing. Put your arms in front of you, and slowly roll your shoulders, giving no thought to how it looks. Now let your head drop from your neck any which way you want. Try to connect to your inner animal. Now you’re on your way to understanding “Gaga.”
Ohad Naharin grew up on a kibbutz in Israel. Through home video footage, we see that he was a gifted dancer from the outset. “The idea of physical pleasure from...
Naharin is best known as the inventor of “Gaga,” a movement language that emphasizes seeing and imagining over performing. Put your arms in front of you, and slowly roll your shoulders, giving no thought to how it looks. Now let your head drop from your neck any which way you want. Try to connect to your inner animal. Now you’re on your way to understanding “Gaga.”
Ohad Naharin grew up on a kibbutz in Israel. Through home video footage, we see that he was a gifted dancer from the outset. “The idea of physical pleasure from...
- 2/5/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Pregnancy and childbirth are intensely physical events. Despite their bodily primacy, these experiences are freighted with various significations, running the gamut from the woman-centered skill sets of midwifery to the all-too-frequent scaremongering and misinformation of anti-choice politics. This is not surprising since bodies have their semiotic dimension. Everything has meaning. However, the fact that these human events are unavoidably located on and in the female body—a body whose very generative capacity has historically made it an object of fear—seems to produce an excess of verbiage, a lot of it denigrating or punitive. And often this discussion leaves little room for other knowledges—the haptic, the gestural, the somatic.So what if, for a brief moment, we observed silence? To be clear, silence is no solution to political aggression against women. The more persistent the braying of misogynist forces who claim to know best, the louder the protests must be,...
- 1/18/2017
- MUBI
Meryl Tankard.
The Adelaide Film Festival has named adventurer and environmental scientist Tim Jarvis and dancer and choreographer Meryl Tankard dual-recipients of the 2016 Jim Bettison and Helen James Award. Both recipients intend to use the $50,000 award — designed to recognise lifelong high achievement in an area of expertise and enable further work of benefit to the community — to develop films. .Now in its second year, the calibre of applications was so strong that the panel decided to award two prizes,. said Doreen Mellor, spokesperson for the Jim Bettison and Helen James Foundation. Tankard is a former artistic director of Adelaide based Australian Dance Theatre, soloist with Pina Bausch.s world renowned Wuppertal Tanztheater and a creator of ballet, opera and music and dance theatre. More recently, Tankard has focused on film as a means of artistic expression. An Aftrs graduate, Tankard was the subject of the documentary The Black Swan, starred...
The Adelaide Film Festival has named adventurer and environmental scientist Tim Jarvis and dancer and choreographer Meryl Tankard dual-recipients of the 2016 Jim Bettison and Helen James Award. Both recipients intend to use the $50,000 award — designed to recognise lifelong high achievement in an area of expertise and enable further work of benefit to the community — to develop films. .Now in its second year, the calibre of applications was so strong that the panel decided to award two prizes,. said Doreen Mellor, spokesperson for the Jim Bettison and Helen James Foundation. Tankard is a former artistic director of Adelaide based Australian Dance Theatre, soloist with Pina Bausch.s world renowned Wuppertal Tanztheater and a creator of ballet, opera and music and dance theatre. More recently, Tankard has focused on film as a means of artistic expression. An Aftrs graduate, Tankard was the subject of the documentary The Black Swan, starred...
- 9/22/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Wim Wenders with Anne-Katrin Titze Photo: Claire Brunel
The director of recent documentaries Pina on the late great choreographer poet Pina Bausch and the Oscar nominated The Salt Of The Earth with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado on master photographer Sebastião Salgado, is in New York for Wim Wenders: Portraits Along The Road, the first stop for a major retrospective of his films. Wenders has many long-term collaborations along the way including Peter Handke and Nick Cave who will appear with Reda Kateb (great in David Oelhoffen's Albert Camus adaptation, Far From Men, opposite Viggo Mortensen) and Sophie Semin in his latest film, The Beautiful Days Of Aranjuez (Les Beaux Jours D’Aranjuez).
We also talked about how in Nanni Moretti's Mia Madre the poster of Wings Of Desire made it into a dream sequence and Wim's Film4Climate involvement.
In the elevator on my way to meet Wim,...
The director of recent documentaries Pina on the late great choreographer poet Pina Bausch and the Oscar nominated The Salt Of The Earth with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado on master photographer Sebastião Salgado, is in New York for Wim Wenders: Portraits Along The Road, the first stop for a major retrospective of his films. Wenders has many long-term collaborations along the way including Peter Handke and Nick Cave who will appear with Reda Kateb (great in David Oelhoffen's Albert Camus adaptation, Far From Men, opposite Viggo Mortensen) and Sophie Semin in his latest film, The Beautiful Days Of Aranjuez (Les Beaux Jours D’Aranjuez).
We also talked about how in Nanni Moretti's Mia Madre the poster of Wings Of Desire made it into a dream sequence and Wim's Film4Climate involvement.
In the elevator on my way to meet Wim,...
- 9/6/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The inner turmoil of Chantal Akerman's new documentary, which premiered in the International Competition of the Locarno Film Festival, is clear from its paradoxical title. Brazenly called No Home Movie, it consisting almost entirely of footage of the great Belgian director's elderly mother in her home in Brussels. In this strict confinement, No Home Movie is shot digitally in a far more loose and imprecise technique than Akerman's film-films, but is still composed around the director's characteristic structural motifs of closed and open doors, windows, and other constricting frames within frames. With few external excursions (mysterious intercessions of footage of the Israeli desert, as well as Chantal, while traveling in anonymous hotel rooms, Skyping her mother), No Home Movie is a taut but patient observation of the emptying stillness of a home inhabited by someone getting older and sicker."Your camera, every time," her mother cluckingly, affectionately nags, when...
- 8/27/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
After half a century of making films, the director is back on form with The Salt of the Earth and shows no signs slowing down
Wim Wenders is responsible for some of the most profound films made about America – quite a feat considering he doesn’t have a drop of starred-and-striped blood in his body. Paris, Texas is the obvious example: a western in mood and iconography, no matter that it is set in 1980s Los Angeles. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984 and remains the director’s masterpiece. In that film, and many others, he showed the world what America looked like, and helped America to see itself through foreign eyes. Even those pictures not set in the Us – such as the great 1970s road movies Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road, which made Wenders an arthouse darling – explore the influence, the voodoo romanticism,...
Wim Wenders is responsible for some of the most profound films made about America – quite a feat considering he doesn’t have a drop of starred-and-striped blood in his body. Paris, Texas is the obvious example: a western in mood and iconography, no matter that it is set in 1980s Los Angeles. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984 and remains the director’s masterpiece. In that film, and many others, he showed the world what America looked like, and helped America to see itself through foreign eyes. Even those pictures not set in the Us – such as the great 1970s road movies Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road, which made Wenders an arthouse darling – explore the influence, the voodoo romanticism,...
- 6/27/2015
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
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