You can’t keep a Greek mythical hero down. A scant year after Henry Cavill played the character and took down the Minotaur, along with some troublemaking Titans and an amusing Mickey Rourke, Bulgarian director Javor Gardev will take his turn telling the Theseus legend. And like Tarsem Singh’s “Immortals”, Gardev’s tale of Theseus (to be called, simply enough, “Theseus”) will also be a big-budget extravaganza. There is no word if the film will also be in 3D, though given the worldwide trend of epics in 3D, I’m guessing that tidbit will be forthcoming. Written by Kira Madallo Sesay, whose Kalliope Films is producing the picture, “Theseus” would track the titular Greek hero as he heads on a collision course with the evil Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull creature of myths and legends and children’s nightmares. If, you know, your kids are inclined to dream about creatures of Greek myth,...
- 6/26/2012
- by Nix
- Beyond Hollywood
Following hot on the heels of 2011's Immortals comes another Greek mythology epic starring the legendary Theseus, though I expect that this one will be a bit more on the traditional side of things when it comes to his mythology and journey. Theseus will be the Hollywood debut of Bulgarian director Javor Gardev, who won Best Director for his movie Zift at the Moscow International Film Festival. It will be "a special effects-heavy take on the Greek myth of the minotaur monster...
- 6/26/2012
- by Alejandro Stepenberg
- JoBlo.com
In Bulgarian, the term 'Zift' can refer to any one of several things; it's a tough, chewy, gum like substance; an asphalt; or a blanket piece of slang simply meaning 'shit.' Sandwiched in between Romania, Greece, and Turkey at the ass end of Europe, Bulgaria is one of the forgotten, less fashionable Eastern Bloc nations that suffered under Communist rule for the better part of a half century. Eager to impart the odd sensation of numbing that set in as his country and it's culture slowly suffocated, veteran theater helmer Javor Gardev's hyper-stylized noir opens with a monologue from our hero, Moth (Baharov), recounting one unfortunate fellow's run-in with the vengeful husband of his mistress emptying the contents of an entire sewage truck into his apartment. Ironically, the sight of four tons of feces sloshing around in his pad didn't even make the man queasy. "When there is that much shit,...
- 7/22/2010
- by Neil Pedley
- JustPressPlay.net
The Cannes International Film Festival has announced the participants for the 6th edition of the Atelier of Cinefondation. This workshop was created in 2005 to assist directors with financing and completing their projects. The workshop this year will include 15 projects from 15 different countries.
List of Participants:
The Ardor, Pablo Fendrik (Argentina)
Zincograph, Javor Gardev (Bulgaria)
Gibier D’Elevage, Rithy Panh (Cambodia / France)
Dream And Silence, Jaime Rosales (Spain)
Shanghai – Belleville, Show-Chun Lee (France)
Liza, The Fox-Fairy, Károly Ujj Mészáros, (Hungary)
Postcards From The Zoo, Edwin (Indonesia)
Khorramshahr, Massoud Bakhshi (Iran)
Decadent Sisters, Shinji Aoyama (Japan)
Les Etoiles De Sidi Moumen, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
La Jaula De Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez (Mexico)
Code Blue, Urszula Antoniak (Netherlands)
Circles, Sdran Golubovic (Serbia)
Come To My Voice, Hüseyin Karabey (Turkey)
Lucia, Ruben Sierra Salles (Venezuela)...
List of Participants:
The Ardor, Pablo Fendrik (Argentina)
Zincograph, Javor Gardev (Bulgaria)
Gibier D’Elevage, Rithy Panh (Cambodia / France)
Dream And Silence, Jaime Rosales (Spain)
Shanghai – Belleville, Show-Chun Lee (France)
Liza, The Fox-Fairy, Károly Ujj Mészáros, (Hungary)
Postcards From The Zoo, Edwin (Indonesia)
Khorramshahr, Massoud Bakhshi (Iran)
Decadent Sisters, Shinji Aoyama (Japan)
Les Etoiles De Sidi Moumen, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
La Jaula De Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez (Mexico)
Code Blue, Urszula Antoniak (Netherlands)
Circles, Sdran Golubovic (Serbia)
Come To My Voice, Hüseyin Karabey (Turkey)
Lucia, Ruben Sierra Salles (Venezuela)...
- 3/23/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Proving that the most difficult cinema to find financing for is national cinema (usually comprised with long takes, non-actors, low-budgets, cultural uniqueness, 35mm, and sublime cinematography), Cannes' 2010 L'Atelier Edition, now in its 6th year, contains some surprising names in vets Shinji Aoyama (middle), Nabil Ayouch, Jaime Rosales and Rithy Panh (left). - Proving that the most difficult cinema to find financing for is national cinema (usually comprised with long takes, non-actors, low-budgets, cultural uniqueness, 35mm, and sublime cinematography), Cannes' 2010 L'Atelier Edition, now in its 6th year, contains some surprising names in vets Shinji Aoyama (middle), Nabil Ayouch, Jaime Rosales and Rithy Panh (left). They'll be joining the likes of the next generation of bold filmmakers - in total the Cinefondation selected 15 projects from 15 countries. Among the names we know well, we have Pablo Fendrik (right) - a Cannes regular who presented his last picture Blood Appears, at the fest Bulgaria's...
- 3/23/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
- A slow news day for the indie circuit and foreign film scene, but plenty of film festival items, some father and daughter Coppola news and Day 1 for Anne Thompson at IndieWIRE and the new reboot of David Hudson at The Auteurs.com. Here is a look at eight and 1/2 news items that we didn't have enough time to cover but are worth mentioning here for August the 3rd. 1. No Moore DocsThe documentary filmmaker will go back to Canadian Bacon territory. (Via Firstshowing.net) 2. Moore News Moore's own Traverse City Film Festival comes to a close. Food, Inc. and The Cove among the winners. (See Complete Winner's List). 3. Focus Features' 2010 slate. See you in 2010: Sofia Coppola's Somewhere and Noah Baumbach's Greenburg. 4. Nowhere Near HereSam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy will close London Film Festival. Doesn't look like we'll be seeing it this year over here. (Via Screen Daily
- 8/4/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
European Film Promotion (Efp) announces its 10th lineup of Producers On The Move at the Cannes International Film Festival (13-24 May, 2009)
Efp's goal is to support producer networking on a European level and attract the attention of the international film industry and press. Funded by the Media Programme of the European Union, the Efp member organizations have established a label and a platform to make new contacts.
Efp producers in the festival itself include Official Selection/ Special Screening of Jaffa coproduced by Emmanuel Agneray (Bizibi) for France, Critics Week short film Party (Tulum) coproduced by Ankija Juric Tilic, and the Directors Fortnight short film History of Aviation produced by Emmanuel Agneray.
This year, the Efp members have selected 23 up-and-coming, independent producers who have already made a mark with their outstanding productions in their home countries and at film festivals, but are still at the beginning of their international careers. A...
Efp's goal is to support producer networking on a European level and attract the attention of the international film industry and press. Funded by the Media Programme of the European Union, the Efp member organizations have established a label and a platform to make new contacts.
Efp producers in the festival itself include Official Selection/ Special Screening of Jaffa coproduced by Emmanuel Agneray (Bizibi) for France, Critics Week short film Party (Tulum) coproduced by Ankija Juric Tilic, and the Directors Fortnight short film History of Aviation produced by Emmanuel Agneray.
This year, the Efp members have selected 23 up-and-coming, independent producers who have already made a mark with their outstanding productions in their home countries and at film festivals, but are still at the beginning of their international careers. A...
- 5/3/2009
- by [email protected] (Sydney)
- Sydney's Buzz
Zift
Bulgaria, 2008, 91 minutes
Director: Javor Gardev
Take a classic genre, one traditionally linked to American pulp novels, like film noir. It's a genre that's often closely associated to its 30's-to-50's period, given the hard-edged characters that permeate through them, but what if you transplant it into another country, in the same period? While it needs the familiar symptoms to be diagnosed as noir, and Zift indeed keeps those symptoms, the side effects clearly differ. Most importantly, perhaps, the political landscape.
I'll admit that my knowledge of Bulgaria isn't up to snuff, but indeed the film piqued my interest, which led me to do some light reading on Bulgarian history—I love that about film.
Our hero Moth (Zachari Baharov) was imprisoned on false murder charges during an attempted robbery right before the big Bulgarian coup d'etat in 1944. After being a model Communist in prison, he is released early to...
Bulgaria, 2008, 91 minutes
Director: Javor Gardev
Take a classic genre, one traditionally linked to American pulp novels, like film noir. It's a genre that's often closely associated to its 30's-to-50's period, given the hard-edged characters that permeate through them, but what if you transplant it into another country, in the same period? While it needs the familiar symptoms to be diagnosed as noir, and Zift indeed keeps those symptoms, the side effects clearly differ. Most importantly, perhaps, the political landscape.
I'll admit that my knowledge of Bulgaria isn't up to snuff, but indeed the film piqued my interest, which led me to do some light reading on Bulgarian history—I love that about film.
Our hero Moth (Zachari Baharov) was imprisoned on false murder charges during an attempted robbery right before the big Bulgarian coup d'etat in 1944. After being a model Communist in prison, he is released early to...
- 4/25/2009
- by Arya Ponto
- JustPressPlay.net
If you haven't been listening to the Fangoria Podcast on iTunes, you've been missing out. Each week, subscribers to the Podcast are treated to new clips from Fangoria Radio, along with other exclusive audio from the world of Fangoria Entertainment. Best of all, it's 100% Free!
This week, we're giving you a fresh supply (perfect for loading up those iPods), with 11 new interviews from the past few installments of our Radio show.
Here's some of what's in store...
SLiTHER writer/director James Gunn tells us about “Helpful Bus,” the new episode of his web series PG Porn—and delivers some info about his starring role opposite Sasha Grey in the previous segment, “Roadside Ass-istance” The legendary Lloyd Kaufman drops by to satisfy our Tromatic needs and get the word out about The Toxic Avenger Musical, now playing at New York City’s New World Stages The creators of the sexy mind-twister Nightmare,...
This week, we're giving you a fresh supply (perfect for loading up those iPods), with 11 new interviews from the past few installments of our Radio show.
Here's some of what's in store...
SLiTHER writer/director James Gunn tells us about “Helpful Bus,” the new episode of his web series PG Porn—and delivers some info about his starring role opposite Sasha Grey in the previous segment, “Roadside Ass-istance” The legendary Lloyd Kaufman drops by to satisfy our Tromatic needs and get the word out about The Toxic Avenger Musical, now playing at New York City’s New World Stages The creators of the sexy mind-twister Nightmare,...
- 4/6/2009
- Fangoria
Chicago – Most film fans don’t have the time, money, or connections to get to film festivals in their own city, much less ones that take place out of town. The festival circuit has created many an independent film hit but most of them don’t make their way to even Chicago much less the small towns of America. Now you can bring the film festival experience home with IFC Direct.
IFC Films’ On Demand channel has a particularly notable series this month called “IFC Festival Direct & SXSW”. The series of films available on IFC Direct On Demand creates the first-ever nationwide on-demand film festival experience, bringing the South by Southwest Film Festival home to people who would never get a chance to go there. A select group of five films that screened at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival will be simultaneously available in 30 million homes and virtually all major U.
IFC Films’ On Demand channel has a particularly notable series this month called “IFC Festival Direct & SXSW”. The series of films available on IFC Direct On Demand creates the first-ever nationwide on-demand film festival experience, bringing the South by Southwest Film Festival home to people who would never get a chance to go there. A select group of five films that screened at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival will be simultaneously available in 30 million homes and virtually all major U.
- 4/1/2009
- by [email protected] (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It’s officially spring, but there’s one place the sun doesn’t shine, and that’s Fangoria Radio. Tonight’s show (airing on Sirius Xm Stars satellite radio, Sirius channel 102/Xm channel 155, from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Est, with a repeat immediately after), hosted by Debbie Rochon and Fango editor Tony Timpone (sitting in for Vegas-bound Dee Snider), looks at some terrifying independent flicks while welcoming the king of indie insanity:
• SLiTHER writer/director James Gunn (pictured) will tell us about “Helpful Bus,” the new episode of his web series PG Porn—and hopefully deliver some info about his starring role opposite Sasha Grey in the previous segment, “Roadside Ass-istance”
• The legendary Lloyd Kaufman will drop by to satisfy our Tromatic needs and get the word out about The Toxic Avenger Musical, now playing at New York City’s New World Stages
• The creators of the sexy mind-twister Nightmare,...
• SLiTHER writer/director James Gunn (pictured) will tell us about “Helpful Bus,” the new episode of his web series PG Porn—and hopefully deliver some info about his starring role opposite Sasha Grey in the previous segment, “Roadside Ass-istance”
• The legendary Lloyd Kaufman will drop by to satisfy our Tromatic needs and get the word out about The Toxic Avenger Musical, now playing at New York City’s New World Stages
• The creators of the sexy mind-twister Nightmare,...
- 3/20/2009
- Fangoria
When producer Thomas Woodrow began debating the ideal launchpad for his movie "True Adolescents," he ran through the usual festival suspects: Sundance, Cannes, Toronto and Telluride.
But Woodrow decided to premiere his $1 million comedy featuring Oscar nominee Melissa Leo at South by Southwest, a fest that until recently was known as an afterthought to the powerhouse music event that runs alongside it.
Sure, "Adolescents" is music-oriented, aimed at the same young, hip audience that flocks to Austin each March, and its star, Mark Duplass, is well-known locally.
But more importantly, "the fact a golden handful of distributors who are potential partners are certainly going to be there made it the obvious choice," Woodrow says.
His decision to go with South by Southwest (SXSW or "South By," as it is known) reflects the increasing relevance of the fest heading into its 16th go-round, which begins today and runs through March 21.
Although hardly a busy acquisitions market,...
But Woodrow decided to premiere his $1 million comedy featuring Oscar nominee Melissa Leo at South by Southwest, a fest that until recently was known as an afterthought to the powerhouse music event that runs alongside it.
Sure, "Adolescents" is music-oriented, aimed at the same young, hip audience that flocks to Austin each March, and its star, Mark Duplass, is well-known locally.
But more importantly, "the fact a golden handful of distributors who are potential partners are certainly going to be there made it the obvious choice," Woodrow says.
His decision to go with South by Southwest (SXSW or "South By," as it is known) reflects the increasing relevance of the fest heading into its 16th go-round, which begins today and runs through March 21.
Although hardly a busy acquisitions market,...
- 3/12/2009
- by By Alex Ben Block
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Zift is one of five films to screen at SXSW this year which is being promoted as a simultaneous premiere at the festival and on Video on Demand via IFC (like all of its fellows in the series except for Joe Swanberg's Alexander the Last, it comes to Austin and your living room after an extensive festival run; two of the films in the series, Paper Covers Rock and Medicine for Melancholy, screened at SXSW last year). We talked to Zift director Javor Gardev talked about meeting Americans in Argentina, offered the only fast and loose plot synopsis I've ever seen to invoke both Casablanca and Georges Bataille, and declared himself "the king of the blur ...
- 3/9/2009
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
12th Annual EU Film Festival Highlights, Week One: ‘I’m All Good,’ ‘Zift,’ ‘Kisses,’ ‘Shall We Kiss’
Chicago – The Annual European Union Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center has become a calendar-clearing event for foreign film and arthouse movie lovers in the city of Chicago, but working your way through what to see of the five dozen films can be overwhelming. Let us guide the way.
This year’s edition, running from March 6th to April 2nd, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Peter Greenaway, Francois Ozon, Agnes Varda, Nicholas Roeg, Shane Meadows, Olga Malea, and Olivier Assayas, along with some movies that probably won’t be seen outside of the EU in the Windy City.
The 12th Annual European Union Film Festival includes 59 feature films, all of which are making their Chicago premiere. If you’re interested in seeing something off the beaten path, the EU is the fest for you. Week by week, every Wednesday, come back to HollywoodChicago.com for...
This year’s edition, running from March 6th to April 2nd, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Peter Greenaway, Francois Ozon, Agnes Varda, Nicholas Roeg, Shane Meadows, Olga Malea, and Olivier Assayas, along with some movies that probably won’t be seen outside of the EU in the Windy City.
The 12th Annual European Union Film Festival includes 59 feature films, all of which are making their Chicago premiere. If you’re interested in seeing something off the beaten path, the EU is the fest for you. Week by week, every Wednesday, come back to HollywoodChicago.com for...
- 3/4/2009
- by [email protected] (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
SXSW is one of my favorite festivals of the year as it showcases some of the best and most innovative real independent films, and with this host of world premiers, it's also playing alot of Sundance material as well as genre fare from all over the world, many of which we've covered heavily in these pages.
From the Sundance lineup, we have films like Moon, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, You Won't Miss Me, Grace, and Humpday, among others.
For the world genre material we've covered, there's Lake Mungo, The Square, Zift, and Awaydays.
I think you get the point that lots of great looking film will be playing. I'll leave a bit of the exploration to you..
Lineup after the break.
Narrative Features Competition
Artois the Goat
Director: Kyle Bogart. Writer: Cliff and Kyle Bogart
Lab technician Virgil Gurdies embarks on an epic quest to craft the greatest...
From the Sundance lineup, we have films like Moon, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, You Won't Miss Me, Grace, and Humpday, among others.
For the world genre material we've covered, there's Lake Mungo, The Square, Zift, and Awaydays.
I think you get the point that lots of great looking film will be playing. I'll leave a bit of the exploration to you..
Lineup after the break.
Narrative Features Competition
Artois the Goat
Director: Kyle Bogart. Writer: Cliff and Kyle Bogart
Lab technician Virgil Gurdies embarks on an epic quest to craft the greatest...
- 2/2/2009
- QuietEarth.us
More Sundance coverage
Expanding its VOD offerings, IFC Films is partnering with the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival to present five movies on IFC Festival Direct simultaneous with their appearance at the March film festival.
Joe Swanberg's "Alexander the Last," which is having its world premiere at SXSW, will be the first film to have a fest premiere the same time it becomes available on-demand.
In addition to "Alexander," produced by Swanberg, Noah Baumbach and Anish Savjani, the other SXSW titles bound for Festival Direct are Javor Gardev's "Zift" and Matthew Newton's "Three Blind Mice" as well as two films that played SXSW last year and are set for encore screenings this year: Barry Jenkins' "Medicine for Melancholy" and Joe Maggio's "Paper Covers Rock."
IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring unveiled several other initiatives Monday at the Sundance Film Festival.
They included several new...
Expanding its VOD offerings, IFC Films is partnering with the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival to present five movies on IFC Festival Direct simultaneous with their appearance at the March film festival.
Joe Swanberg's "Alexander the Last," which is having its world premiere at SXSW, will be the first film to have a fest premiere the same time it becomes available on-demand.
In addition to "Alexander," produced by Swanberg, Noah Baumbach and Anish Savjani, the other SXSW titles bound for Festival Direct are Javor Gardev's "Zift" and Matthew Newton's "Three Blind Mice" as well as two films that played SXSW last year and are set for encore screenings this year: Barry Jenkins' "Medicine for Melancholy" and Joe Maggio's "Paper Covers Rock."
IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring unveiled several other initiatives Monday at the Sundance Film Festival.
They included several new...
- 1/19/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 24th edition of the Santa Barbara Film Festival will kick off Jan. 22 at the Arlington Theatre with Rod Lurie's political thriller "Nothing but the Truth," starring Kate Beckinsale.
The Feb. 1 closing-night film is the world premiere of Jeff Balsmeyer's "Lightbulb," starring Dallas Roberts and Jeremy Renner.
The fest's lineup, announced Wednesday, encompasses more than 200 films from 41 countries, including 21 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.
David Fincher has been named guest director. On Jan. 30, the festival will present "A Celebration of David Fincher," at which the director of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" will be joined by a number of his friends.
Santa Barbara also will feature an array of tributes to many of this season's awards hopefuls, including Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, Kristin Scott Thomas, Clint Eastwood and Mickey Rourke. Its Virtuosos 2009 Award will shine a spotlight on Viola Davis, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins,...
The Feb. 1 closing-night film is the world premiere of Jeff Balsmeyer's "Lightbulb," starring Dallas Roberts and Jeremy Renner.
The fest's lineup, announced Wednesday, encompasses more than 200 films from 41 countries, including 21 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.
David Fincher has been named guest director. On Jan. 30, the festival will present "A Celebration of David Fincher," at which the director of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" will be joined by a number of his friends.
Santa Barbara also will feature an array of tributes to many of this season's awards hopefuls, including Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, Kristin Scott Thomas, Clint Eastwood and Mickey Rourke. Its Virtuosos 2009 Award will shine a spotlight on Viola Davis, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins,...
- 1/7/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What is the international watch list you ask? In their own words it's "an unofficial list of the American film industry's favorite foreign feature and short films from the past year." which is compiled from over fifty Us film executives and their assistants who vote for five foreign features and shorts. Why are we sharing this with you? Well first off to show that there are some people in Hollywood who actually have some good taste in film (shocking, I know) and the other is that we've actually covered many of the films and shorts on this list, and in fact were the first news site (at least among the larger English film community) to bring you news of the top short film with 10 votes, Afterville, and two of the features on the list, Before the Fall and The Square. Not surprisingly, Let the right one in is the top...
- 12/22/2008
- QuietEarth.us
A record 67 countries have submitted films for consideration for best foreign-language film for the 81st Academy Awards, Academy president Sid Ganis said Friday. Nominations will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22, and the awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 22.
The complete list of foreign-language submissions follows. For more details on some of the films, visit THR.com/foreignoscars.
Afghanistan, "Opium War," Siddiq Barmak
Albania, "The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider," Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani
Algeria, "Masquerades," Lyes Salem
Argentina, "Lion's Den," Pablo Trapero
Austria, "Revanche," Gotz Spielmann
Azerbaijan, "Fortress," Shamil Nacafzada
Bangladesh, "Aha!," Enamul Karim Nirjhar
Belgium, "Eldorado," Bouli Lanners
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Snow," Aida Begic
Brazil, "Last Stop 174," Bruno Barreto
Bulgaria, "Zift," Javor Gardev
Canada, "The Necessities of Life," Benoit Pilon
Chile, "Tony Manero," Pablo Larrain
China, "Dream Weavers," Jun Gu
Colombia, "Dog Eat Dog," Carlos Moreno
Croatia, "No One's Son," Arsen Anton Ostojic
Czech Republic, "The Karamazovs," Petr Zelenka
Denmark,...
The complete list of foreign-language submissions follows. For more details on some of the films, visit THR.com/foreignoscars.
Afghanistan, "Opium War," Siddiq Barmak
Albania, "The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider," Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani
Algeria, "Masquerades," Lyes Salem
Argentina, "Lion's Den," Pablo Trapero
Austria, "Revanche," Gotz Spielmann
Azerbaijan, "Fortress," Shamil Nacafzada
Bangladesh, "Aha!," Enamul Karim Nirjhar
Belgium, "Eldorado," Bouli Lanners
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Snow," Aida Begic
Brazil, "Last Stop 174," Bruno Barreto
Bulgaria, "Zift," Javor Gardev
Canada, "The Necessities of Life," Benoit Pilon
Chile, "Tony Manero," Pablo Larrain
China, "Dream Weavers," Jun Gu
Colombia, "Dog Eat Dog," Carlos Moreno
Croatia, "No One's Son," Arsen Anton Ostojic
Czech Republic, "The Karamazovs," Petr Zelenka
Denmark,...
- 10/17/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I haven't been moved at all to do an Oscar Update because nothing has happened that warrants any kind of real attention. Either predictions are being made on films that haven't been seen or much ado is being made about nothing. However, I can't make it seem like I have abandoned "The Contenders" section so I was able to pull a Ton of little tidbits together and bring you what I believe to be a rather impressive update if I may say so myself. We can start with a few of the Oscar contenders I saw recently. I reviewed Blindness (D), Appaloosa (B), The Duchess (C-) and Miracle at St. Anna (D+). Obviously I wasn't all that impressed with three of them and those three are going to struggle for an Oscar nom outside of costume and art noms for The Duchess. As far as any topline awards go, all four are out of contention.
- 10/4/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Recently screened at TIFF, and a winner at the Moscow International Film Fest, Javor Gardev's neo-noir flick Zift looks fantastic, not that I've had a chance to see it yet, but our boy John Allison has. In doing a little research on a film called Zincograph, I discovered Gardev is behind this as well as one other film in development which sound like great genre fare. Javor calls Zincograph a "political psycho-thriller." In his own words: "The premise is simple -- what would happen if a maniacal former agent of the communist secret police takes a proactive approach, starts to "recruit" unsuspecting people to spy on each other and thus develops his own network of informants, strictly private and invisible for the institutions? This is a farcically sinister story driven by the workings of the mind of a former agent turned psychopathic schemer, who pulls a roguish act on...
- 9/18/2008
- QuietEarth.us
I had no idea what I was heading into when I sat down for my first movie during Tiff 08, With only a few exceptions all of the movies I had selected to see were starting to blend together. Prior to Zift starting the director, Javor Gardev talked about how the film is a film noir and after the movie during the Q&A he mentioned how rare genre film is in Bulgaria. He talked about how he hopes that Bulgaria will see a growth in genre cinema and I hope that he is right. While Zift suffers from a few of the problems that most small budget films have, it fully succeeds at being an intriguing modern noir.
The title Zift refers to a black gummy substance that poor in Bulgaria chew. The closest substance in North America would be chewing tobacco, Moth of the movie is a convict who...
The title Zift refers to a black gummy substance that poor in Bulgaria chew. The closest substance in North America would be chewing tobacco, Moth of the movie is a convict who...
- 9/7/2008
- QuietEarth.us
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced a whole load of films, including many world premiers, to be added as part of their lineups. Some of the more interesting looking ones are Lance Daly's Kisses about two Irish kids who run away from home and deal with the dark underside of Dublin. Another film I'm definitely interested in is Scott McGehee and David Siegel's Uncertainty which stars one of my personal favorites, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's about a couple in love who find out she's pregnant and they flip a coin from where it apparently follows both possible storylines, but with the same disastrous consequences. Also screening will be Fabrice du Welz's Vinyan (trailer here) which is about a couple who lost their son in a Tsunami and won't give up looking for him. In the Discovery program, the stop-motion animation $9.99 which is about a man seeking the meaning to life.
- 8/14/2008
- QuietEarth.us
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