The fifth edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival will hold retrospectives of Girish Kasaravalli and Jahnu Barua among others. Five of Kasaravalli’s films: Tabarana Kathe (1986), Kraurya (1996), Thaayi Saheba (1997), Dweepa (2003) and Hasina (2004)will be screened. While Barua’s Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai (1987), Banani (1990), Firingoti (1992) and Hkhagoroloi Bohu Door(1995) will be screened.
Besides, three other sections are dedicated to Indian cinema. Chitrabharathi – Indian Cinema Competition, Kannada Cinema (competition and screening of films in other dialects in Karnataka) and 100 years of Indian Cinema (screening of 14 films).
Complete line up:
Retrospective
Chan-Wook Park (South Korea)
1. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (Chan-Wook Park/110/2000/South Korea)
2. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (Chan-Wook Park/129/2002/South Korea)
3. Old boy (Chan-Wook Park/120/2003/South Korea)
4. Lady Vengeance (Chan-Wook Park/112/2005/South Korea)
5. Thirst (Chan-Wook Park/133/2009/South Korea)
Fatih Akin (Germany)
1. Short Sharp Shock (Fatih Akin/100/1998/Germany)
2. In July (Fatih Akin/99/2000/Germany)
3. Solino (Fatih Akin/124/2002/Germany)
4. Head On (Fatih Akin/121/2004/Germany/Turkey...
Besides, three other sections are dedicated to Indian cinema. Chitrabharathi – Indian Cinema Competition, Kannada Cinema (competition and screening of films in other dialects in Karnataka) and 100 years of Indian Cinema (screening of 14 films).
Complete line up:
Retrospective
Chan-Wook Park (South Korea)
1. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (Chan-Wook Park/110/2000/South Korea)
2. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (Chan-Wook Park/129/2002/South Korea)
3. Old boy (Chan-Wook Park/120/2003/South Korea)
4. Lady Vengeance (Chan-Wook Park/112/2005/South Korea)
5. Thirst (Chan-Wook Park/133/2009/South Korea)
Fatih Akin (Germany)
1. Short Sharp Shock (Fatih Akin/100/1998/Germany)
2. In July (Fatih Akin/99/2000/Germany)
3. Solino (Fatih Akin/124/2002/Germany)
4. Head On (Fatih Akin/121/2004/Germany/Turkey...
- 12/7/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Though many have claimed that 2012 has been one of the worst years for cinema in a long time, it’s not really a suggestion that holds up to close scrutiny. Not only has this been the best year for blockbuster movies in a long, long time (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall were all best-of-the-year candidates), but delving into more obscure, art-house fare produces as many pleasant surprises as ever, with some absolutely stunning documentaries especially taking the lead this year. Though there are many, many great little movies that slunk in and out of Central London cinemas with barely a whisper this year, here are the 10 that just might be the best, and the 10 you’re most likely to have missed.
10. Sister
Ursula Meier’s (Home) second film proves to be a probing, quietly moving examination of fractured family, as 12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) and his...
10. Sister
Ursula Meier’s (Home) second film proves to be a probing, quietly moving examination of fractured family, as 12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) and his...
- 11/29/2012
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
When I knew I was coming to Morelia for the second time this year, I entertained a fantasy of perhaps skipping a movie or two and spending some time exploring the beautiful colonial city. It is to laugh. Today I barely see the sky – not only am I inside the Cinepolis multiplex for seven programs in a row, for the last five, from about 3 p.m. to well after midnight, I’m seated in the same theater, #4 – which happily has the largest screen. I’m even more grateful to Daniela Michel for taking me and Olivier Assayas on an impromptu walking tour day before yesterday. The day starts with “Augustine,” by young French director Alice Winocour, part of the films selected for Morelia by Cannes’ Critic’s Week. (Two previous films co-written by Winocour, “Ordinary People,” directed by Vladimir Persed, and “Home,” by Ursula Meier, showed in Cannes at Critic’s Week.
- 11/13/2012
- by Meredith Brody
- Thompson on Hollywood
Set in France, made in Bulgaria, Ursula Meier's previous movie, Home, was a nightmarish metaphor for the horrors of the modern world in the form of a fable about a family of happy, rural eccentrics whose idyllic life is destroyed by the construction of a motorway. Sister is a realistic tale about the sweet-natured 12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein), living in a ski resort in the Swiss Alps and driven into a life of petty crime to support his feckless elder sister (Léa Seydoux) and retain her affections. His thin but steady income derives from stealing skiing equipment from the rich and selling it directly to the less well-off or through a crooked but likable Scottish cook (Martin Compston). It comes over like a subtle short story and is well acted. There is, however, not much snow around, even at the height of the season, which may be a...
- 10/27/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Written and directed by Ursula Meier, her follow-up to the acclaimed family drama Home, Sister is an intimate portrayal of the tumultuous relationship between two siblings set against the stunning, yet eerily isolated backdrop of the Swiss Alps. As the murky and increasingly strained relationship between Simon and Louise is scrutinised through the sharpened screenplay (tender moments prevail over action to dramatic effect, making the twist and breakdowns all the more effective).
Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein), an unprosperous, yet headstrong and determined young boy, lives in the shadows of a wealthy and sprawling ski resort with his older sister, Louise (Léa Seydoux). Using his skills as a sprightly child, Simon braces the cold each and every day to travel up to the soaring ski resort and steal food and provisions to ensure him and his sister don’t succumb to extreme poverty. However, as Simon starts to attract some unwanted attention,...
Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein), an unprosperous, yet headstrong and determined young boy, lives in the shadows of a wealthy and sprawling ski resort with his older sister, Louise (Léa Seydoux). Using his skills as a sprightly child, Simon braces the cold each and every day to travel up to the soaring ski resort and steal food and provisions to ensure him and his sister don’t succumb to extreme poverty. However, as Simon starts to attract some unwanted attention,...
- 10/26/2012
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
There's a hint of Ken Loach in this ski resort-set drama about an impoverished brother and sister
Sister (originally entitled L'Enfant D'En Haut, or The Child From Above) is the new film from Ursula Meier, who made Home (2008), starring Isabelle Huppert as a woman who finds herself living next door to a new motorway. Sister is perhaps a more conventional sentimental-realist picture about poverty. Kacey Mottet Klein plays Simon, a kid who lives near a Swiss ski resort; every day, he sneaks up on to the slopes and steals ski equipment from the tourists who live up in this high, rarefied atmosphere of wealth. Then he sells it to buy food for himself and the jobless Louise (Léa Seydoux), who tells various boyfriends that this kid brother of hers is only staying temporarily. Simon and Louise are bound together by ties of shame, guilt and fear, and Simon's thieving is...
Sister (originally entitled L'Enfant D'En Haut, or The Child From Above) is the new film from Ursula Meier, who made Home (2008), starring Isabelle Huppert as a woman who finds herself living next door to a new motorway. Sister is perhaps a more conventional sentimental-realist picture about poverty. Kacey Mottet Klein plays Simon, a kid who lives near a Swiss ski resort; every day, he sneaks up on to the slopes and steals ski equipment from the tourists who live up in this high, rarefied atmosphere of wealth. Then he sells it to buy food for himself and the jobless Louise (Léa Seydoux), who tells various boyfriends that this kid brother of hers is only staying temporarily. Simon and Louise are bound together by ties of shame, guilt and fear, and Simon's thieving is...
- 10/26/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Ursula Meier’s (Home) second feature, and the Swiss submission for the 85th Academy Awards, is a wonderfully low-key drama about a seemingly fractured family, denial, and the absence of childhood not unlike The Dardenne brothers’ immaculate The Kid with a Bike (which screened at the Lff last year).
12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) and his sister Louise (Léa Seydoux) live at the foot of a luxury Swiss ski resort. From the first time we meet him, there’s a gleeful roguishness to Simon; he hustles his wares – stolen from the resort’s wealthy patrons – to other kids at the resort, while it’s subtly suggested that that his sister is prostituting herself. As Louise leaves each day to apparently go to work, there’s a potent irony in Simon’s loneliness; a place of joy for holiday-making families is one of monotony for him. But...
Ursula Meier’s (Home) second feature, and the Swiss submission for the 85th Academy Awards, is a wonderfully low-key drama about a seemingly fractured family, denial, and the absence of childhood not unlike The Dardenne brothers’ immaculate The Kid with a Bike (which screened at the Lff last year).
12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) and his sister Louise (Léa Seydoux) live at the foot of a luxury Swiss ski resort. From the first time we meet him, there’s a gleeful roguishness to Simon; he hustles his wares – stolen from the resort’s wealthy patrons – to other kids at the resort, while it’s subtly suggested that that his sister is prostituting herself. As Louise leaves each day to apparently go to work, there’s a potent irony in Simon’s loneliness; a place of joy for holiday-making families is one of monotony for him. But...
- 10/11/2012
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
Switzerland’s submission for the best international picture is Ursula Meier’s Sister, starring the stunning and earthy Léa Seydoux as a Swiss hot mess and Kacey Mottet Klein as her weedy 12-year-old brother who supports them both through petty thefts. It’s a subtle, complex film that avoids obvious polarities of class, family, even landscape. As director Meier said to me recently of the mountain resort setting, and about finding her way into the script by focusing on the location of the ski lift cable cars, “It’s the place where he belongs, between two worlds. And it’s also the rhythm of the film, this coming and going.”
This is Meier’s second feature film and also her second film made in collaboration with the renowned cinematographer Agnès Godard. Meier describes her first meeting with Godard to discuss her previous film Home: “I met her in a...
This is Meier’s second feature film and also her second film made in collaboration with the renowned cinematographer Agnès Godard. Meier describes her first meeting with Godard to discuss her previous film Home: “I met her in a...
- 10/5/2012
- by Miriam Bale
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
L’enfant d’en haut
Directed by Ursula Meier
Written by Antoine Jaccoud & Ursula Meier
Starring Kacey Mottet Klien, Lea Seydoux, Gillian Anderson
Channeling the social anxieties of the Dardenne Brothers with a nod to the political posturing of ultra-realist Ken Loach, Ursula Meier’s second feature is a distanced, distracting fable on the modern family structure. Like her 2008 debut Home the simply titled Sister is another puzzling tale which is bruisingly ascetic in tone, an emotional neutered piece which slowly builds an arresting snapshot of lives in a codified and fragmented, unsecured and uncertain free-fall.
The impish twelve year old Simon (Klien) lives with his sister in a decrepit council block at the foot of a popular ski resort in the Swiss alps. With no adult parents in sight and bereft of cash Simon spends his days as a mirror of some modern day Dickensian figure of Alpine descent,...
Directed by Ursula Meier
Written by Antoine Jaccoud & Ursula Meier
Starring Kacey Mottet Klien, Lea Seydoux, Gillian Anderson
Channeling the social anxieties of the Dardenne Brothers with a nod to the political posturing of ultra-realist Ken Loach, Ursula Meier’s second feature is a distanced, distracting fable on the modern family structure. Like her 2008 debut Home the simply titled Sister is another puzzling tale which is bruisingly ascetic in tone, an emotional neutered piece which slowly builds an arresting snapshot of lives in a codified and fragmented, unsecured and uncertain free-fall.
The impish twelve year old Simon (Klien) lives with his sister in a decrepit council block at the foot of a popular ski resort in the Swiss alps. With no adult parents in sight and bereft of cash Simon spends his days as a mirror of some modern day Dickensian figure of Alpine descent,...
- 10/4/2012
- by John
- SoundOnSight
The Kid with the Skis: Ursula Meier’s Latest Hits Emotional Summit
Swiss director Ursula Meier returns after her solid 2008 debut, Home, with Sister (or L’enfant d’en haut), a powerful survival tale of a young child, navigating through his world as a hustler of stolen goods. With styles and themes akin to the works of the Dardenne brothers, Meier’s bleak second feature proves she is indeed a director of significant talent, her latest title a Swiss sister to the Belgian The Kid With a Bike.
Set entirely at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps, we meet a young boy named Simon (Kacey Moette Klein), and it’s immediately clear that Simon conducts a semi-lucrative hustle stealing skis, equipment, food, and clothing from the rich vacationers and selling it at low costs. Simon lives alone in a small hovel of an apartment with his older sister, Louise...
Swiss director Ursula Meier returns after her solid 2008 debut, Home, with Sister (or L’enfant d’en haut), a powerful survival tale of a young child, navigating through his world as a hustler of stolen goods. With styles and themes akin to the works of the Dardenne brothers, Meier’s bleak second feature proves she is indeed a director of significant talent, her latest title a Swiss sister to the Belgian The Kid With a Bike.
Set entirely at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps, we meet a young boy named Simon (Kacey Moette Klein), and it’s immediately clear that Simon conducts a semi-lucrative hustle stealing skis, equipment, food, and clothing from the rich vacationers and selling it at low costs. Simon lives alone in a small hovel of an apartment with his older sister, Louise...
- 10/1/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Bring on the dancing dogs! America’s Got X Factor finished its Season 2 auditions Thursday night, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how the Pekingese and the Poodle fare when they get to Boot Camp.
Okay, okay, I’m being a cranky beast from Hades, but Thursday night’s X Factor installment felt more like NBC’s summer variety special than a search for a legitimate musical superstar. There was the 13-year-old kid who passed out backstage from “dehydration” — a dark part of my brain imagined him whispering “Mom, did you slip my that Rohypnol like I asked you to?...
Okay, okay, I’m being a cranky beast from Hades, but Thursday night’s X Factor installment felt more like NBC’s summer variety special than a search for a legitimate musical superstar. There was the 13-year-old kid who passed out backstage from “dehydration” — a dark part of my brain imagined him whispering “Mom, did you slip my that Rohypnol like I asked you to?...
- 9/28/2012
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
Wednesday night’s X Factor ended with the image of a 13-year-old boy collapsed in a heap in his mother’s lap, a flurry of producers and medics trying to figure out if he’d live or if he’d eventually die of embarrassment at the hands of Simon Cowell.
I’m not sure if the incident was a clever indictment of the lengths today’s youth will go to for a chance at fame, or just a happy (medical) accident that the show’s producers cynically used to fill out yet another two-hour audition episode. Maybe it was both.
I’m not sure if the incident was a clever indictment of the lengths today’s youth will go to for a chance at fame, or just a happy (medical) accident that the show’s producers cynically used to fill out yet another two-hour audition episode. Maybe it was both.
- 9/27/2012
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
By Scott Feinberg
The Hollywood Reporter
***
As I predicted earlier this week, a five-member jury in Switzerland has chosen, from a shortlist of five options, Ursula Meier‘s Sister (L’enfant d’en haut) as its submission to the Academy for consideration in the best foreign language Oscar race. The French-language film, a gripping and beautifully-made drama with a third-act twist, revolves around a 12-year-old thief (Kacey Mottet Klein in only his second film), his mysterious guardian (Léa Seydoux from Midnight in Paris and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol), and his victims (including Gillian Anderson of The X-Files). It premiered at February’s Berlin Film Festival, where Meier won a prestigious Silver Bear Award. It subsequently played at many film festivals, including the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. And it will go into limited release — courtesy of Jeff Lipsky‘s new distribution operation Adopt Films limited — on October 5.
Meier’s last film Home,...
The Hollywood Reporter
***
As I predicted earlier this week, a five-member jury in Switzerland has chosen, from a shortlist of five options, Ursula Meier‘s Sister (L’enfant d’en haut) as its submission to the Academy for consideration in the best foreign language Oscar race. The French-language film, a gripping and beautifully-made drama with a third-act twist, revolves around a 12-year-old thief (Kacey Mottet Klein in only his second film), his mysterious guardian (Léa Seydoux from Midnight in Paris and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol), and his victims (including Gillian Anderson of The X-Files). It premiered at February’s Berlin Film Festival, where Meier won a prestigious Silver Bear Award. It subsequently played at many film festivals, including the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. And it will go into limited release — courtesy of Jeff Lipsky‘s new distribution operation Adopt Films limited — on October 5.
Meier’s last film Home,...
- 9/22/2012
- by Melissa Buckman
- Scott Feinberg
As just about any reality-show contestant will tell you, God maintains an encyclopedic knowledge of/a keen rooting interest in the outcome of everything from Big Brother to RuPaul’s Drag Race to The X Factor.
Thursday night’s installment of the last-named of those shows put an exclamation point on this fact, as lightning, heavy winds, and torrential downpours contributed to a power outage that put the kibosh on a brutal batch of auditions from Greensboro, Nc. (All together now: “Thaaaaank God!”)
Sometimes, though, you don’t need divine intervention — especially not when you’ve got a mom...
Thursday night’s installment of the last-named of those shows put an exclamation point on this fact, as lightning, heavy winds, and torrential downpours contributed to a power outage that put the kibosh on a brutal batch of auditions from Greensboro, Nc. (All together now: “Thaaaaank God!”)
Sometimes, though, you don’t need divine intervention — especially not when you’ve got a mom...
- 9/21/2012
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
I’m going to come right out and say it: This Wednesday’s X Factor was the show’s best episode ever — and partially because its stars included a pretty boy who spent what felt like 45 minutes debating whether or not to pop his collar, a trio of smokin’-hot sisters, a man who found a controversial (possibly deadly?) solution to male pattern baldness and a heavy-set black woman named Panda who got carried out on a stretcher. (Spoiler alert: All of ‘em advanced to Boot Camp!)
I know, I know, you’re reading this and saying “The X Factor is barely out of diapers.
I know, I know, you’re reading this and saying “The X Factor is barely out of diapers.
- 9/20/2012
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
The trailer for Ursula Meier's "Sister" had landed. The film is a knockout, both excitingly fresh and powerfully moving. It won the Silver Bear at Berlin and features Lea Seydoux's best-yet performance and a star-making turn from Kacey Mottet Klein as a professional 12-year old ski-resort thief. Fans of the Dardenne brothers' work, especially last year's "The Kid with the Bike," will likely fall for this one as well. "Sister" is Meier's second feature. Her first, "Home," was nominated for three Cesars and participated in Cannes' L'Atelier du Festival (works in progress program) in 2006. Check out the new trailer and our interview with Meier and star Kacey Mottet Klein from the Los Angeles Swiss Consulate's reception for the film during the La Film Fest below. Meier discusses her career and the no-women-directors-in-competition-at-Cannes controversy. You can also check out our exclusive clip from...
- 7/9/2012
- by Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
Augustine – Alice Winocour
Buzz: Selected as a Special Screening status for this year’s Critics’ Week, it was no secret to us that Alice Winocour was going to premiere her directorial debut at a festival that has strongly supported her as a screenwriter. Scribe for 2009′s Ordinary People, we dug her outline for 2008′s Home, which was a flawed directing outing for Ursula Meier. With a strong trio of players in Vincent Lindon, Soko and Chiara Mastroianni, we certainly think that this might announce the arrival of a new French helmer worth keeping tabs on.
Gist: Paris, winter 1885. At the Pitié -Salpêtriere Hospital, Professor Charcot is studying a mysterious illness : hysteria. Augustine, 19 years old, becomes his favorite guinea pig, the star of his demonstrations of hypnosis. The object of his studies will soon become the object of his desire…...
Buzz: Selected as a Special Screening status for this year’s Critics’ Week, it was no secret to us that Alice Winocour was going to premiere her directorial debut at a festival that has strongly supported her as a screenwriter. Scribe for 2009′s Ordinary People, we dug her outline for 2008′s Home, which was a flawed directing outing for Ursula Meier. With a strong trio of players in Vincent Lindon, Soko and Chiara Mastroianni, we certainly think that this might announce the arrival of a new French helmer worth keeping tabs on.
Gist: Paris, winter 1885. At the Pitié -Salpêtriere Hospital, Professor Charcot is studying a mysterious illness : hysteria. Augustine, 19 years old, becomes his favorite guinea pig, the star of his demonstrations of hypnosis. The object of his studies will soon become the object of his desire…...
- 5/15/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Ursula Meier's film of the highs and lows of valley life continues the trope of her critically acclaimed feature Home
In Home, which brought her to the attention of film lovers, and now Sister (L'Enfant d'En Haut), the Franco-Swiss director Ursula Meier explores borders, and, by extension, as any western enthusiast will know, their political and moral connotations. In Home the border is horizontal and fabled, separating a cramped family lodging and a stretch of motorway, suddenly put to a new use. In her second film the frontier is vertical and social, dividing the peaks of a smart ski resort from the hard-working valley it overlooks.
Both films seek ways through their respective borders, revealing their illusive, arbitrary nature. Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein, also seen in Home), 12, with his sly looks and quick fingers, is a border-crosser. The story is straightforward: the boy lives in the valley with his flighty,...
In Home, which brought her to the attention of film lovers, and now Sister (L'Enfant d'En Haut), the Franco-Swiss director Ursula Meier explores borders, and, by extension, as any western enthusiast will know, their political and moral connotations. In Home the border is horizontal and fabled, separating a cramped family lodging and a stretch of motorway, suddenly put to a new use. In her second film the frontier is vertical and social, dividing the peaks of a smart ski resort from the hard-working valley it overlooks.
Both films seek ways through their respective borders, revealing their illusive, arbitrary nature. Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein, also seen in Home), 12, with his sly looks and quick fingers, is a border-crosser. The story is straightforward: the boy lives in the valley with his flighty,...
- 5/1/2012
- by Jaques Mandelbaum
- The Guardian - Film News
Revision
There'll be more notes and roundups over the next few days, but before tonight's presentation of the Bears, I thought I'd rank the films I managed to see at this year's Berlinale. Note that these are not awards predictions but rather personal preferences, for what they're worth. In order (for the moment):
Outstanding
1. Barbara (Christian Petzold), Competition (see the notes and roundup).
2. Tabu (Miguel Gomes), Competition (notes and roundup).
3. Revision (Philip Scheffner), Forum.
Very Good
4. Bestiaire (Denis Côté), Forum (notes and roundup).
Good
5. Sister (Ursula Meier), Competition.
6. Death Row (Werner Herzog), Berlinale Special.
7. War Witch (Kim Nguyen), Competition.
8. Aujourd'hui (Alain Gomis), Competition.
9. Everybody in Our Family (Radu Jude), Forum.
10. Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present (Matthew Akers), Panorama Dokumente.
11. Golden Slumbers (Davy Chou), Forum.
Just Above The Middle Line
12. Mercy (Matthias Glasner), Competition.
13. Captive (Brillante Mendoza), Competition (notes and roundup).
14. Francine (Brian M Cassidy and Melani Shatzky), Forum.
There'll be more notes and roundups over the next few days, but before tonight's presentation of the Bears, I thought I'd rank the films I managed to see at this year's Berlinale. Note that these are not awards predictions but rather personal preferences, for what they're worth. In order (for the moment):
Outstanding
1. Barbara (Christian Petzold), Competition (see the notes and roundup).
2. Tabu (Miguel Gomes), Competition (notes and roundup).
3. Revision (Philip Scheffner), Forum.
Very Good
4. Bestiaire (Denis Côté), Forum (notes and roundup).
Good
5. Sister (Ursula Meier), Competition.
6. Death Row (Werner Herzog), Berlinale Special.
7. War Witch (Kim Nguyen), Competition.
8. Aujourd'hui (Alain Gomis), Competition.
9. Everybody in Our Family (Radu Jude), Forum.
10. Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present (Matthew Akers), Panorama Dokumente.
11. Golden Slumbers (Davy Chou), Forum.
Just Above The Middle Line
12. Mercy (Matthias Glasner), Competition.
13. Captive (Brillante Mendoza), Competition (notes and roundup).
14. Francine (Brian M Cassidy and Melani Shatzky), Forum.
- 2/19/2012
- MUBI
French-Swiss director Ursula Meier burst on the international film scene with her 2008 feature debut "Home," about a peculiar family living next to a highway. Her follow-up, "Sister," lacks the same conceptual ambition but consolidates her skill with a tightly assembled narrative that brings supreme clarity to the mindset of a disgruntled young boy. Evoking a lost childhood with bittersweet intent, "Sister" bears the mark of a filmmaker with supreme control over her material. That's not meant to overstate the movie's appeal; it navigates a basic scenario without breaking new ground. However, Meier never loses her grasp on the basic story elements; her patient formalism calls to mind Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop," which also involves a pair of impoverished siblings using unreliable means to make ends meet. In "Sister," scheming 12-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) wastes his days at a posh ski resort in the Alps,...
- 2/14/2012
- Indiewire
Nina Hoss in Christian Petzold's Barbara
"An additional ten world premieres will be screening in the Competition program of the Berlinale 2012," the festival's announced today:
Aujourd'hui
France/Senegal
By Alain Gomis (L'Afrance, Andalucia)
With Saül Williams, Aïssa Maïga, Djolof M'bengue
"What goes on inside the head of a man who knows he has only 24 hours to live?" begins a report from the Afp. "Franco-Senegalese director Alain Gomis takes viewers through this final day."
Barbara
Germany
By Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow, Dreileben)
With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld
The synopsis from The Match Factory: "East Germany. Barbara has requested a departure permit. It is the summer of 1978. She is a physician and is transferred, for disciplinary reasons, to a small hospital far away from everything in a provincial backwater. Her lover, a foreign trade employee at Mannesmann that she met on a spring night in East Berlin, is working on her escape.
"An additional ten world premieres will be screening in the Competition program of the Berlinale 2012," the festival's announced today:
Aujourd'hui
France/Senegal
By Alain Gomis (L'Afrance, Andalucia)
With Saül Williams, Aïssa Maïga, Djolof M'bengue
"What goes on inside the head of a man who knows he has only 24 hours to live?" begins a report from the Afp. "Franco-Senegalese director Alain Gomis takes viewers through this final day."
Barbara
Germany
By Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow, Dreileben)
With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld
The synopsis from The Match Factory: "East Germany. Barbara has requested a departure permit. It is the summer of 1978. She is a physician and is transferred, for disciplinary reasons, to a small hospital far away from everything in a provincial backwater. Her lover, a foreign trade employee at Mannesmann that she met on a spring night in East Berlin, is working on her escape.
- 1/9/2012
- MUBI
Hey, little piggies! Is everyone ready to pull back the shower curtain on the latest episode of American Horror Story? Careful - there's a big bad Persian Armenian wolf set to blow the house down and an undead housekeeper set to blow - well, I'm getting ahead of myself.
We start the episode, as usual, in a flashback. Constance (Jessica Lange) is crying in front of a crackling fire. Speaking of fire, a pre-burn Larry the Burn Man (Denis O'Hare) walks in and hangs up the phone behind her. She tells him that they're charging her with criminal child neglect or something like that - is she talking about Tate shooting up his school?
She makes an offhand reference to the child in question, noting, "Now you know how he is when he's not supervised" and mentions a name - Carl? Gal? Bowl? Damn you and your Old Dominion whispering,...
We start the episode, as usual, in a flashback. Constance (Jessica Lange) is crying in front of a crackling fire. Speaking of fire, a pre-burn Larry the Burn Man (Denis O'Hare) walks in and hangs up the phone behind her. She tells him that they're charging her with criminal child neglect or something like that - is she talking about Tate shooting up his school?
She makes an offhand reference to the child in question, noting, "Now you know how he is when he's not supervised" and mentions a name - Carl? Gal? Bowl? Damn you and your Old Dominion whispering,...
- 11/17/2011
- by Brian Juergens
- The Backlot
"35 Shots of Rum". Two couples live across the hall in the same Paris apartment building. Neither couple is "together." Gabrielle and Noe have the vibes of roommates, but the way Lionel and Josephine love one another, it's a small shock when she calls him "papa." Lionel (Alex Descas) is a train engineer. Jo (Mati Diop) works in a music store. Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) drives her own taxi. Noe (Gregoire Colin) claims only his much-loved cat is preventing him from moving to Brazil.
The four people are in and out of both apartments so readily, we sense they're a virtual family. One night they head out together in Gabrielle's taxi for a concert. The taxi breaks down, it rains, they shelter in a Jamaican cafe, there's good music on the juke box, they dance with one another. During the dancing and kidding around, it becomes clear to them, and to us,...
The four people are in and out of both apartments so readily, we sense they're a virtual family. One night they head out together in Gabrielle's taxi for a concert. The taxi breaks down, it rains, they shelter in a Jamaican cafe, there's good music on the juke box, they dance with one another. During the dancing and kidding around, it becomes clear to them, and to us,...
- 1/2/2011
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Michael Haneke's film on octogenarians put through the test is receiving some funding coin (from the Cnc - National Film and Moving Image Centre) and will now be going by the new title of Love. Formerly known as "These Two", production will begin next month. Also among the projects receiving advances on receipts you should keep an eye out for Ursula Meier (see pic). Her debut film Home - which saw Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet with family in tow duking it out versus a traffic-filled highway who received festival and art-house theater acclaim. I personally thought the film's concept looked great on paper but wasn't convinced of Meier's execution, but I'm already enticed by her next project: L’enfant D’en Haut (“The Child From Above”) which centres on 12-year-old Simon, a child from an industrial valley who lives with a mother so young that she insists on...
- 12/16/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Nobody makes movies about crazy families like the French, and Ursula Meier's Home (2008) is a fresh, mysterious entry in the Post-Modern Family Blues derby, hyperreal to the touch but keeping symbolic secrets. It's officially a Swiss movie, but I think only because Meier, who's French, could only find her remarkable location in Switzerland: a lonely, nondescript brick house sitting on the shoulder of a huge expanse of decommissioned highway. The layout, house and road both, are so stark and odd they're like found objects out of a Surrealist painting.
- 8/10/2010
- Movieline
French-Swiss director Ursula Meier has referred to her wickedly clever debut feature Home as a “reverse road movie,” because its characters never move while the rest of the world screams by, horns blaring. The family in Home—parents Isabelle Huppert and Oliver Gourmet, and three children of various ages—lives happily in an isolated two-story about 10 feet away from a highway. As the film opens, the highway sits in a seemingly permanent incomplete state, and they’ve converted the half-paved strip into a sprawling playground of soccer goals, bicycles, and a foosball table. Then, without warning, construction teams show ...
- 7/28/2010
- avclub.com
Repo Men (Blu-Ray)Universal Home Entertainment2010/Rated R & Unrated/120 minsList Price $39.98 – Available July 27, 2010Repo Men is one of those films you watch and think, “hey this isn't as bad as I thought it was” until something occurs out of left field that screws up the rest of the picture. I won't reveal what that something is, because even though it didn't work for me, it may not have the same effect on you. Then again, there are many faults within this picture, but another viewer could just as easily see them as some of the movie's strengths. If the film's title or premise of assassins sent to repossess past due body parts from recipients sounds familiar, then you may be thinking of director Darren Lynn Bousman's 2008 adaptation of the underground live show Repo !The Generic Opera. To be fair, the premise of both films may appear to be identical,...
- 7/27/2010
- LRMonline.com
Albert Michael/Startraks
It’s a girl for the Guncles!
Bill Horn and Scout Masterson, Tori Spelling’s dear friends and regulars on her reality show Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, have welcomed daughter Simone Lynn Masterson-Horn, who was born last week weighing 6 lbs., 2 oz. and measuring 18 inches long.
Simone is the first child for the couple, whom Spelling lovingly refers to as “Gay Uncles” to Liam, 3, and Stella, 2, her kids with husband Dean McDermott.
“Dean and I are beyond happy that Scout and Bill’s dreams of becoming parents have come true. Little Simone couldn’t have two better loving and deserving dads,...
It’s a girl for the Guncles!
Bill Horn and Scout Masterson, Tori Spelling’s dear friends and regulars on her reality show Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, have welcomed daughter Simone Lynn Masterson-Horn, who was born last week weighing 6 lbs., 2 oz. and measuring 18 inches long.
Simone is the first child for the couple, whom Spelling lovingly refers to as “Gay Uncles” to Liam, 3, and Stella, 2, her kids with husband Dean McDermott.
“Dean and I are beyond happy that Scout and Bill’s dreams of becoming parents have come true. Little Simone couldn’t have two better loving and deserving dads,...
- 6/17/2010
- by Sarah
- People - CelebrityBabies
Among those they have tapped for the fest they have a premium Midnight Screening for Gilles Marchand's Black Heaven and they are closing the festival with Julie Bertuccelli's The Tree. - The Sales/Distribution/Production company continually pluck from a batch of interesting U.S independent film auteurs (they are back on board with So Yong Kim for her to be released in the Fall title, For Ellen), grabbing select Euro titles Natalia Smirnoff's Puzzle (a Berlin) along with French films which we've been talking non-stop for the better half of year. Among those they have tapped for the fest they have a premium Midnight Screening for Gilles Marchand's Black Heaven and they are closing the festival with Julie Bertuccelli's The Tree. (see Charlotte Gainsbourg in pic above). On the sales side of things, they are working with Marchand's partner in crime Dominik Moll...
- 5/13/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The Sales/Distribution/Production company continually pluck from a batch of interesting U.S independent film auteurs (they are back on board with So Yong Kim for her to be released in the Fall title, For Ellen), grabbing select Euro titles Natalia Smirnoff's Puzzle (a Berlin) along with French films which we've been talking non-stop for the better half of year. Among those they have tapped for the fest they have a premium Midnight Screening for Gilles Marchand's Black Heaven and they are closing the festival with Julie Bertuccelli's The Tree. (see Charlotte Gainsbourg in pic above). On the sales side of things, they are working with Marchand's partner in crime Dominik Moll's filmed in Spain fantasy pic and are onboard Pawel Pawlikowski's new project – a helmer who's sabbatical has lasted a tad too long. Black Heaven (L'autre Monde) by Gilles Marchand - Completed The Monk...
- 5/12/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
I ultimately thought that helmer Ursula Meier didn't know how to work beyond a paper-thin narrative and relied way too much on metaphor and symbolism. - The premise of a family in exile in their own home awkwardly located next to a highway was enough to get me to the far end of the Croisette (Cannes' Semaine de la Critique screenings are held at the inconveniently located Miramar space), but once settled in, I ultimately thought that helmer Ursula Meier didn't know how to work beyond a paper-thin narrative and relied way too much on metaphor and symbolism. Starring Isabelle Huppert, Home has found a home in the U.S. with Lorber Films, a timely pick up since it is among the many films vying for the Foreign Oscar nomination. The pic receives a theatrical release late next month. Amid a peaceful, deserted countryside, extends as far as the eye can see,...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
Hidden Treasures, the holding company of Richard Lorber's Lorber Ht Digital, has acquired Donald Krim's Kino International and will merge to form Kino Lorber.
Principals Donald Krim and Richard Lorber will each serve as co-presidents of the combined operation and together will continue to release films under their established labels -- Kino International and Lorber Films -- as well as through Lorber's Alive Mind for docs and Knitting Factory for music titles. No financial details were available.
Each exec will remain primarily responsible for acquisitions for his ongoing lines, along with other differentiated roles: Krim will guide the traditional distribution operations, while Lorber will be charged with business development and corporate strategy. Staffs of both companies will remain with the merged business.
The union brings together two execs, each with 30 years of experience, and film libraries that total 600 titles. The combined company will continue to distribute classic and...
Principals Donald Krim and Richard Lorber will each serve as co-presidents of the combined operation and together will continue to release films under their established labels -- Kino International and Lorber Films -- as well as through Lorber's Alive Mind for docs and Knitting Factory for music titles. No financial details were available.
Each exec will remain primarily responsible for acquisitions for his ongoing lines, along with other differentiated roles: Krim will guide the traditional distribution operations, while Lorber will be charged with business development and corporate strategy. Staffs of both companies will remain with the merged business.
The union brings together two execs, each with 30 years of experience, and film libraries that total 600 titles. The combined company will continue to distribute classic and...
- 12/9/2009
- by By Elizabeth Guider
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What better title for Thanksgiving weekend? And what better film for the annual urban exodus than this superb debut feature by French-Swiss director Ursula Meier: a film which deals with both domesticity and travel (and monstrous traffic jams). Home, which opens today at Cinema Village in New York, is a brilliant piece of deadpan surrealism about a family who live right next to the deserted highway that they have incorporated into their existence as their own endless back yard. But when the highway reopens, thundering with trucks, their playground becomes more of a prison.
Starring Isabelle Huppert and Dardennes-favorite Olivier Gourmet, Home is pellucidly shot by the great Agnès Godard (who worked on it right before Claire Denis’ 35 rhums). Meier, a former assistant director to Alain Tanner, stages the film as a unique combination of Tatiesque distance and Pialatian engagement, but she has also mentioned as an influence the photographer Jeff Wall,...
Starring Isabelle Huppert and Dardennes-favorite Olivier Gourmet, Home is pellucidly shot by the great Agnès Godard (who worked on it right before Claire Denis’ 35 rhums). Meier, a former assistant director to Alain Tanner, stages the film as a unique combination of Tatiesque distance and Pialatian engagement, but she has also mentioned as an influence the photographer Jeff Wall,...
- 11/27/2009
- MUBI
In New York recently, actress Isabelle Huppert (right) had a quite a bit going on in the city. Not only was she starring in “Home,” directed by Ursula Meier (left), which debuted at Cannes ‘08, she was also appearing in “Quartett” at Bam in Brooklyn. The theatrical adaptation of “Dangerous Liaisons,” directed by Robert Wilson, was staged a few years ago in Paris. “Home,” Switzerland’s submission for Oscar foreign language consideration, …...
- 11/24/2009
- Indiewire
Families arriving at the multiplex for a little pre/post-turkey entertainment have two choices -- separate off into your respective age/gender demographics and indulge yourselves, or stick together in a tragic statement of family unity and purchase seven tickets for "Old Dogs." The choice, it is yours.
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"Home"
A selection at Cannes 2008 and this year's Swiss Oscar hopeful, the sophomore feature from Ursula Meier centers on a middle class couple (Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet) that enjoys bringing up their children away from urban life in the French countryside. However, the construction of a highway near their home leads to a divide between the two on what's best for their family as the pollution from the cars and the incessant noise begins to drive them a little mad.
Opens in New York; opens in Los Angeles on December 18th.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:52 minutes, 10 Mb)
Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Home"
A selection at Cannes 2008 and this year's Swiss Oscar hopeful, the sophomore feature from Ursula Meier centers on a middle class couple (Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet) that enjoys bringing up their children away from urban life in the French countryside. However, the construction of a highway near their home leads to a divide between the two on what's best for their family as the pollution from the cars and the incessant noise begins to drive them a little mad.
Opens in New York; opens in Los Angeles on December 18th.
- 11/23/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
From Albania to Vietnam, 65 countries are hoping that their film entries will get picked to fill one of the five slots for Best Foreign Language Film for the 82nd annual Academy Awards.
Five slots, 65 countries, the competition is fierce! Our friends from Variety gave us this list, is your country of choice one of the 65 hopefuls?
I'm happy that my home country, the Philippines, has a fighting chance with the dramedy "Ded na si Lolo" ("Grandpa is Dead"). Take a look at the complete list.
Albania
Alive!
(Artan Minarolli)
Synopsis: A carefree Albanian student gets drawn into an ancient blood feud when he returns home for a funeral, only to find himself a wanted man.
Awards: Belgrade Film Festival B2B development grant
Sales: Wildart Film
Argentina
El secreto de sus ojos
(Juan Jose Campanella)
Synopsis: An ambitious, complex work that combines two generation-spanning love stories, a noirish thriller, some...
Five slots, 65 countries, the competition is fierce! Our friends from Variety gave us this list, is your country of choice one of the 65 hopefuls?
I'm happy that my home country, the Philippines, has a fighting chance with the dramedy "Ded na si Lolo" ("Grandpa is Dead"). Take a look at the complete list.
Albania
Alive!
(Artan Minarolli)
Synopsis: A carefree Albanian student gets drawn into an ancient blood feud when he returns home for a funeral, only to find himself a wanted man.
Awards: Belgrade Film Festival B2B development grant
Sales: Wildart Film
Argentina
El secreto de sus ojos
(Juan Jose Campanella)
Synopsis: An ambitious, complex work that combines two generation-spanning love stories, a noirish thriller, some...
- 11/7/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The U.S. rights to Ursula Meier’s “Home” - Switzerland’s official entry for the 82nd Academy Awards - have been acquired by Lorber Films. Starring Isabelle Huppert, the film marks the second feature for Meier (after 2003’s “Strong Shoulders”). It premiered in the Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by a U.S. premiere at New Directors/New Films in 2009 at MoMA in New York. Lorber Films will open …...
- 10/28/2009
- Indiewire
London -- A slew of European Oscar wannabes will be hoping influential eyes from the Academy are among the attendees at next month's American Film Market in Santa Monica.
Trade promotions body, European Film Promotion, said it is supporting the screening of eight movies looking to secure a foreign language Oscar nomination slot.
Movies submitted by countries Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland and The Netherlands will unspool during the AFM from Nov. 4 through 11 at the Wilshire Screening Room in Beverly Hills, EFP said.
Screened for film professionals, selected press and Academy members, the octet of titles will be shown over five days in the afternoon and evening and supported with cash from the European Union's Media program.
The eight titles are Austria's entry "For A Moment Freedom," directed by Arash T. Riahi, the snappily titled "The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner," from Bulgaria and directed by Stephan Komandarev,...
Trade promotions body, European Film Promotion, said it is supporting the screening of eight movies looking to secure a foreign language Oscar nomination slot.
Movies submitted by countries Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland and The Netherlands will unspool during the AFM from Nov. 4 through 11 at the Wilshire Screening Room in Beverly Hills, EFP said.
Screened for film professionals, selected press and Academy members, the octet of titles will be shown over five days in the afternoon and evening and supported with cash from the European Union's Media program.
The eight titles are Austria's entry "For A Moment Freedom," directed by Arash T. Riahi, the snappily titled "The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner," from Bulgaria and directed by Stephan Komandarev,...
- 10/20/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences unveiled the long list of 65 countries vying for a Best Foreign Language nomination Oscar.
Variety says that a shortlist of nine semi-finalists will be unveiled in January, with the complete nominees to be announced Feb. 2 along with the contenders in the other categories.
The Academy Awards will be presented March 7 at the Kodak Theater.
And now, from Albania to Vietnam, see the complete list right now (I.m proud that my home country of the Philippines has an entry!!!):
Albania, "Alive!," Artan Minarolli, director
Argentina, "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Juan Jose Campanella, director
Armenia, "Autumn of the Magician," Rouben Kevorkov and Vaheh Kevorkov, directors
Australia, "Samson & Delilah," Warwick Thornton, director
Austria, "For a Moment Freedom," Arash T. Riahi, director
Bangladesh, "Beyond the Circle," Golam Rabbany Biplob, director
Belgium, "The Misfortunates," Felix van Groeningen, director
Bolivia, "Zona Sur," Juan Carlos Valdivia, director
Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
Variety says that a shortlist of nine semi-finalists will be unveiled in January, with the complete nominees to be announced Feb. 2 along with the contenders in the other categories.
The Academy Awards will be presented March 7 at the Kodak Theater.
And now, from Albania to Vietnam, see the complete list right now (I.m proud that my home country of the Philippines has an entry!!!):
Albania, "Alive!," Artan Minarolli, director
Argentina, "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Juan Jose Campanella, director
Armenia, "Autumn of the Magician," Rouben Kevorkov and Vaheh Kevorkov, directors
Australia, "Samson & Delilah," Warwick Thornton, director
Austria, "For a Moment Freedom," Arash T. Riahi, director
Bangladesh, "Beyond the Circle," Golam Rabbany Biplob, director
Belgium, "The Misfortunates," Felix van Groeningen, director
Bolivia, "Zona Sur," Juan Carlos Valdivia, director
Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
- 10/16/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Jacques Audiard's French film "A Prophet," Michael Haneke's German film "The White Ribbon" and Korea's "Mother" -- three films that have figured prominently on this year's festival circuit -- are among the 65 films being considered for the foreign-language film Oscar.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list Thursday of the 65 countries that have submitted films for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
Nominations will be announced on Feb. 2, and the awards ceremony will be held March 7.
The 2009 submissions follow (click the links on select countries for full stories):
Albania, "Alive!," Artan Minarolli, director;
Argentina, "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Juan Jose Campanella
Armenia, "Autumn of the Magician," Rouben Kevorkov and Vaheh Kevorkov
Australia, "Samson & Delilah," Warwick Thornton
Austria, "For a Moment Freedom," Arash T. Riahi
Bangladesh, "Beyond the Circle," Golam Rabbany Biplob
Belgium, "The Misfortunates," Felix van Groeningen
Bolivia, "Zona Sur," Juan Carlos Valdivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list Thursday of the 65 countries that have submitted films for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
Nominations will be announced on Feb. 2, and the awards ceremony will be held March 7.
The 2009 submissions follow (click the links on select countries for full stories):
Albania, "Alive!," Artan Minarolli, director;
Argentina, "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Juan Jose Campanella
Armenia, "Autumn of the Magician," Rouben Kevorkov and Vaheh Kevorkov
Australia, "Samson & Delilah," Warwick Thornton
Austria, "For a Moment Freedom," Arash T. Riahi
Bangladesh, "Beyond the Circle," Golam Rabbany Biplob
Belgium, "The Misfortunates," Felix van Groeningen
Bolivia, "Zona Sur," Juan Carlos Valdivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
- 10/15/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The October 1st deadline for all countries wanting into the Academy Award's foreign-language film category has come and gone. According to IndieWIRE [1], The United Kingdom, which has predominantly submitted Welsh films over the years (if submitting at all), has surprisingly chosen the documentary Afghan Star as its 2009 submission for the Academy Awards. The last time the country received a nomination in this category was in 1999, when Paul Morrison's Welsh and Yiddish Solomon and Gaenor lost out to Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother. Synopsis After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop Idol has come to Afghanistan. Millions are watching the TV series 'Afghan Star' and voting for their favorite singers by mobile phone. For many this is their first encounter with democracy. This timely film follows the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk all to become the nation's favorite singer. But will they...
- 10/8/2009
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
In the years I've been documenting Oscar's once largely undocumented foreign film category, we've seen the number of players creep up virtually every year, despite the concurrent dwindling of foreign film distribution in the United States. In 2001 for example when I first began tracking it and sharing the info online, there were 51 official submissions for Best Foreign Language Film. Last year there were 67. For the 2009 Oscar race (the submission deadline has now passed) we've now heard from 62 countries. But that doesn't mean the official list will only be 62 films. In the eight years I've been documenting this race, something always changes between the submission deadline and Oscar's official announcement of the list (coming soon): Films are disqualified, last minute switcheroos happen, countries that didn't make noise when they first submitted are revealed. There will be drama... albeit the mostly invisible kind.
You can see more about these 62 entries (cast,...
You can see more about these 62 entries (cast,...
- 10/4/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Berlin -- Ursula Meier's debut feature, "Home," starring Isabelle Huppert and Oliver Gourmet, has been picked by Switzerland to be the country's entry for the 2010 Oscar as best foreign-language film.
"Home" tells the story of a French family's attempt to hold on to their quiet rural way of life after the government builds a highway straight through their backyard. The film premiered in Cannes last year and in March picked up three Swiss Film Prizes, including best film.
"Home" is being sold worldwide by Memento Films International.
"Home" tells the story of a French family's attempt to hold on to their quiet rural way of life after the government builds a highway straight through their backyard. The film premiered in Cannes last year and in March picked up three Swiss Film Prizes, including best film.
"Home" is being sold worldwide by Memento Films International.
- 9/22/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Year: 2008
Directors: Ursula Meier
Writers: Ursula Meier & Antoine Jaccoud & Olivier Lorelle & Gilles Taurand & Raphaëlle Valbrune & Alice Winocour
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
What started out as a tale of a loving and happy family, so close they took naked baths together, turns into an ordeal, a struggle to hold onto a cherished way of life. Living on the side of an unused freeway, the family has ripped of the guardrails and enjoys free reign there, surrounded by the country. They play hockey in the middle of the road and traverse it to get to and from work and school. This has gone on for 10 years until, with little notice, the freeway is opened for use immediately destroying their way of life. One comment I saw compared this to a metaphor about Big Brother intervening in our lives, but I think it had more to do with our dislike of change.
Directors: Ursula Meier
Writers: Ursula Meier & Antoine Jaccoud & Olivier Lorelle & Gilles Taurand & Raphaëlle Valbrune & Alice Winocour
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
What started out as a tale of a loving and happy family, so close they took naked baths together, turns into an ordeal, a struggle to hold onto a cherished way of life. Living on the side of an unused freeway, the family has ripped of the guardrails and enjoys free reign there, surrounded by the country. They play hockey in the middle of the road and traverse it to get to and from work and school. This has gone on for 10 years until, with little notice, the freeway is opened for use immediately destroying their way of life. One comment I saw compared this to a metaphor about Big Brother intervening in our lives, but I think it had more to do with our dislike of change.
- 6/15/2009
- QuietEarth.us
My other two San Francisco International Film Festival dispatches focused mostly on mainstream business: popular documentaries, future commercial releases, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But it's a sin to spend a festival only watching - and talking about - commercial fare. So for my farewell Sfiff post, here's a look at two off-the-beaten-track entries I was able to catch.
Sadly, neither indie quite worked for me, which makes me feel like a philistine, I assure you. Ursula Meier's Home, for example, exposed one of my most enduring weaknesses as a cinephile, namely my intolerance for movies that operate entirely on an abstract level - as pure metaphor. Home, a French-Swiss co-production with good arthouse buzz and a wagonload of foreign Oscar equivalents under its belt, tells the "story" of a family that lives peacefully by the side of an abandoned highway, until the highway reopens and all hell breaks loose.
Sadly, neither indie quite worked for me, which makes me feel like a philistine, I assure you. Ursula Meier's Home, for example, exposed one of my most enduring weaknesses as a cinephile, namely my intolerance for movies that operate entirely on an abstract level - as pure metaphor. Home, a French-Swiss co-production with good arthouse buzz and a wagonload of foreign Oscar equivalents under its belt, tells the "story" of a family that lives peacefully by the side of an abandoned highway, until the highway reopens and all hell breaks loose.
- 5/9/2009
- by Eugene Novikov
- Cinematical
We're all for getting out in the summertime, but there might not be anything more refreshing than cooling off in a movie theater... or seeing a movie in the comfort of your air-conditioned home on demand, on DVD, or online... or better yet catching a classic on the big screen at a nearby repertory theater. With literally hundreds of films to choose from this summer, we humbly present this guide to the season's most exciting offerings.
May 1
"Eldorado"
The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy
Director: Bouli Lanners
Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,
The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.
May 1
"Eldorado"
The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy
Director: Bouli Lanners
Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,
The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.
- 5/6/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Will the next Steven Spielberg please stand up? Now in its 38th year, the New Directors/New Films festival is a leading showcase for "emerging directors."
Spielberg, Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar, John Sayles and Wong Kar-wai are among those who got their starts at the festival, a production of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.
Last year's big discovery was Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River," with Melissa Leo, which went on to garner two Oscar nominations.
Spielberg, Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar, John Sayles and Wong Kar-wai are among those who got their starts at the festival, a production of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.
Last year's big discovery was Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River," with Melissa Leo, which went on to garner two Oscar nominations.
- 3/25/2009
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
- Sticking to their usual habit of importing the Sundance film festival to the east coast side, the New Directors/New Films 2009 edition will be bookmarked by opening film selection Amreeka from first time filmmaker Cherien Dabis and ending it off with the impressive sophomore feature from Lee Daniels. Along with Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire (I'd be curious to see what distribution company "label" is shown before the film), the event will showcase many New York based filmmakers and some excellent quality affair in Sophie Barthes Cold Souls, So Yong Kim's 2nd film Treeless Mountain and a doc film that has surprisingly been unbought in Ondi Timone's We Live in Public. The 39th edition which runs March 25th to April 5th grabbed films dating back to Tiff and Venice of last year. Here is the list of selected titles. $9.99, dir. Tatia Rosenthal (Israel/Australia) Amreeka, dir.
- 2/13/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
A day following the announcement of the 81st Academy Awards' nominees, the French Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have uncovered their official selections for the 34th Cesar Awards. On Friday, January 23, gangster movie "Mesrine" has been given ten nominations for the France's top awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Jean-Francois Richet.
Apart from the two mentioned gongs, "Mesrine", which is the third highest grossing French film in 2008, also garnered a Best Actor nod for leading actor Vincent Cassel. It also collected two more counts in the category of Adapted Screenplay for Abdel Raouf Dafri and Jean-Francois Richet, and of Cinematography for Robert Gantz.
In the foreign film nominations, Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" were put in competition with Bouli Lanners' "Eldorado", Matteo Garrone's "Gomorra", Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Lorna's Silence", James Gray...
Apart from the two mentioned gongs, "Mesrine", which is the third highest grossing French film in 2008, also garnered a Best Actor nod for leading actor Vincent Cassel. It also collected two more counts in the category of Adapted Screenplay for Abdel Raouf Dafri and Jean-Francois Richet, and of Cinematography for Robert Gantz.
In the foreign film nominations, Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" were put in competition with Bouli Lanners' "Eldorado", Matteo Garrone's "Gomorra", Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Lorna's Silence", James Gray...
- 1/24/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
News from Mar Del Plata
Mar Del Plata International Film Festival's new market component, Inter-Cine, was organized by the same organizers of the market component of the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) for the first time this year. Invited guests included FilmFinders (US), Kinoaero (Czech Republic), Art Films (Brazil), Babilla Cine (Colombia), GP Film (Russia), Les filmes de la Arcadia (Chile) and Epicentre Films (France) for one-on-one discussions of future projects with Iberoamerican producers. Kathryn Bigelow, Tommy Lee Jones and Edward James Olmos were among the international guests to the festival itself. The festival itself favored the Japanese in its awards to Hirokazu Kore-eda for 'Still Walking' which won the Golden Astor prize and to Kiyoshi Kurosawa who won best director for 'Tokyo Sonata'. The jury headed by actress/director Sarah Polley (Canada), with director Peter Lilienthal (Germany), film-maker Pedro Olea (Spain), DoP Yu Lik Wai (Hong Kong), director Israel Adrian Caetano (Uruguay) and local film critic David Oubina awarded its Special Prize to 'Involuntary', by Ruben Ostlund (Sweden). The Danish film 'Fear Me Not' received two prizes: best screenplay (Kristian Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen) and best actor (Ulrich Thomsen). Isabelle Huppert was named best actress for Ursula Meier's 'Home'. Mexican Amat Escalante's 'Los Bastardos' won the Latin American competition, while 'Parador Retiro', by Jorge Leandro Colas, and 'Diletante', by Kris Niklison, shared the main prize in the Argentinian competition. Liliana Mazure, president of the national film institute (INCAA), announced at Mar del Plata that Argentina's government raised the maximum amount of film subsidies to $ 1.05m from $ 0.75m per production. 388 features and shorts showed over 11 days. New works by Takeshi Kitano, Olivier Assayas, Terence Davies, Agnes Varda, Abel Ferrara, Jia Zhang-ke, Manoel de Oliveira, Werner Schroeter, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jerzy Skolimowski were the most interesting.
- 11/18/2008
- Sydney's Buzz
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