New York, NY – The New York Society for Ethical Culture (Nysec) and Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance (Tld) are set to present an enchanting evening of dance and music titled Sound~Earth~Motion on Saturday, June 1, 2024. This remarkable event, beginning at 7 pm, will feature the innovative choreography of Nysec Eco-Artist-in-Residence Jody Sperling along with her esteemed Time Lapse Dance ensemble. Following the performance, a gala event at 8 pm promises an intimate gathering of art, conversation, and culinary delights. Highlighting the event are live musical performances by the acclaimed composer Matthew Burtner, distinguished musicians from The Met Orchestra, and the talented pianist Jeffrey Middleton.
The performance is a celebration of the decade-long collaborative effort between choreographer Jody Sperling and environmental composer Matthew Burtner, focusing on humanity’s intricate connection with nature. Attendees are invited to immerse themselves in a showcase that explores the dynamic relationship between human movement and environmental influences.
The performance is a celebration of the decade-long collaborative effort between choreographer Jody Sperling and environmental composer Matthew Burtner, focusing on humanity’s intricate connection with nature. Attendees are invited to immerse themselves in a showcase that explores the dynamic relationship between human movement and environmental influences.
- 5/8/2024
- by Alice Lange
- Martin Cid Music
Exclusive: Film Movement has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the acclaimed documentary Obsessed with Light, which explores the influence of one of the most remarkable figures in American arts – dancer-choreographer Loïe Fuller.
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum directed the film, which premiered at the 2023 Rome Film Festival and has screened at Doc NYC, Hamptons Doc Fest, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival. Tony Award winner Cherry Jones provides the voice of Fuller, while actress Erin Anderson provides the voice of Isadora Duncan, another pioneer of American dance.
Loïe Fuller
Fuller became a cultural sensation through her innovative use of lighting techniques in her stage performances.
“Obsessed with Light is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create,” notes a description of the documentary. “The film...
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum directed the film, which premiered at the 2023 Rome Film Festival and has screened at Doc NYC, Hamptons Doc Fest, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival. Tony Award winner Cherry Jones provides the voice of Fuller, while actress Erin Anderson provides the voice of Isadora Duncan, another pioneer of American dance.
Loïe Fuller
Fuller became a cultural sensation through her innovative use of lighting techniques in her stage performances.
“Obsessed with Light is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create,” notes a description of the documentary. “The film...
- 4/18/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Swan Song, the ballet-themed documentary that will open Lincoln Center’s 52nd Dance on Camera Festival Friday evening.
The film – a Dogwoof, Visitor Media, Mercury Films, and Quiet Ghost production, directed and co-written by Chelsea McMullan – premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Greenwich plans to release Swan Song in theaters in the fall.
“Swan Song immerses viewers inside one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a legacy-defining new production of Swan Lake, directed by ballet icon Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement,” notes a description of the film. “The verité-driven feature documentary closely follows Kain and a group of young dancers drawn from the National Ballet of Canada’s ranks, weaving Swan Lake’s dramatic creation process with intimate scenes from the subjects’ personal lives as they push toward one of...
The film – a Dogwoof, Visitor Media, Mercury Films, and Quiet Ghost production, directed and co-written by Chelsea McMullan – premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Greenwich plans to release Swan Song in theaters in the fall.
“Swan Song immerses viewers inside one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a legacy-defining new production of Swan Lake, directed by ballet icon Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement,” notes a description of the film. “The verité-driven feature documentary closely follows Kain and a group of young dancers drawn from the National Ballet of Canada’s ranks, weaving Swan Lake’s dramatic creation process with intimate scenes from the subjects’ personal lives as they push toward one of...
- 2/8/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Marcel Dzama on Loïe Fuller in Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Obsessed With Light: ”She really was the beginning of the past looking to the future.”
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s visually illuminating Obsessed With Light (a Doc NYC highlight) has an impressive list of on-camera interviews, which include Robert Wilson on what came first for Einstein on the Beach; Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri; designer Iris van Herpen (Architectonics); theatrical lighting designer Jennifer Tipton; choreographers Moses Pendleton (Momix), Ola Maciejewska, Bill T Jones, Trajal Harrell and Maite Marcos (Shakira); artists William Kentridge, Elín Hansdóttir, and Marcel Dzama; Drift collective founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta; puppeteer Basil Twist on Titan et L’Aurore, and theatre producer Jordan Roth all sharing their insights on the significant impact Loïe Fuller’s creativity and innovation has had on them and their work.
Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl with Anne-Katrin...
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s visually illuminating Obsessed With Light (a Doc NYC highlight) has an impressive list of on-camera interviews, which include Robert Wilson on what came first for Einstein on the Beach; Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri; designer Iris van Herpen (Architectonics); theatrical lighting designer Jennifer Tipton; choreographers Moses Pendleton (Momix), Ola Maciejewska, Bill T Jones, Trajal Harrell and Maite Marcos (Shakira); artists William Kentridge, Elín Hansdóttir, and Marcel Dzama; Drift collective founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta; puppeteer Basil Twist on Titan et L’Aurore, and theatre producer Jordan Roth all sharing their insights on the significant impact Loïe Fuller’s creativity and innovation has had on them and their work.
Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl with Anne-Katrin...
- 11/8/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman and late filmmaker Nancy Buirski will be honored at the Hamptons Doc Fest in New York next month.
Heineman, whose latest film, American Symphony, premiered to acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival, will receive the prestigious Pennebaker Career Achievement Award, named for the legendary filmmaker and pioneer of “direct cinema” D.A. Pennebaker. Heineman is expected to be on hand to receive the honor, which has previously gone to Richard Leacock, Susan Lacy, Barbara Kopple, Stanley Nelson Jr., Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Sheila Nevins, Frederick Wiseman, Dawn Porter, Sam Pollard, and to Pennebaker and and his wife and filmmaking partner Chris Hegedus.
Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
Hamptons Doc Fest will screen American Symphony, which has been acquired by the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground through the former first couple’s deal with Netflix. The documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste and his wife, the musician Suleika Jaouad,...
Heineman, whose latest film, American Symphony, premiered to acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival, will receive the prestigious Pennebaker Career Achievement Award, named for the legendary filmmaker and pioneer of “direct cinema” D.A. Pennebaker. Heineman is expected to be on hand to receive the honor, which has previously gone to Richard Leacock, Susan Lacy, Barbara Kopple, Stanley Nelson Jr., Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Sheila Nevins, Frederick Wiseman, Dawn Porter, Sam Pollard, and to Pennebaker and and his wife and filmmaking partner Chris Hegedus.
Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
Hamptons Doc Fest will screen American Symphony, which has been acquired by the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground through the former first couple’s deal with Netflix. The documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste and his wife, the musician Suleika Jaouad,...
- 10/21/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Building on the foundation of her debut, The Dancer, a decorative biopic of Folies Bergere alumnus and fin de siècle bohemian Loie Fuller, French director Stephanie di Giusto returns to the 19th century with Rosalie, another feminism-informed story about a sensuous, unusual woman ahead of her time.
However, the subject here is not a specific historical personage, but a composite of various people from the time who all have the same condition as the eponymous heroine: a tendency to grow hair all over her body, or hirsutism, the condition that creates so-called “bearded ladies.” Both a matter-of-fact speculation on how a husband and a small town would react to someone like this in their midst (spoiler alert: not great, at least at first), and a barely disguised parable about intolerance, Rosalie offers a very watchable, offbeat slice of period drama. The writing gets a bit melodramatic and clunky in the last act,...
However, the subject here is not a specific historical personage, but a composite of various people from the time who all have the same condition as the eponymous heroine: a tendency to grow hair all over her body, or hirsutism, the condition that creates so-called “bearded ladies.” Both a matter-of-fact speculation on how a husband and a small town would react to someone like this in their midst (spoiler alert: not great, at least at first), and a barely disguised parable about intolerance, Rosalie offers a very watchable, offbeat slice of period drama. The writing gets a bit melodramatic and clunky in the last act,...
- 5/31/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Named one of Unifrance’s 10 Talents to Watch for 2023, rising star Nadia Tereszkiewicz is set to breakout.
After stepping onto the international stage thanks to her work in Monia Chokri and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s 2022 Sundance and Cannes titles “Babysitter” and “Forever Young,” the Franco-Finnish actor will next step into the spotlight, hitting the French award circuit for “Forever Young” while promoting Francois Ozon’s “The Crime Is Mine” – a starry showbiz caper that places Tereszkiewicz front and center.
And given the performer’s upcoming lead roles in Stephanie Di Giusto’s “La Rosalie” and Robin Campillo’s “Vazaha, The Strangers,” a number of repeat festival visits seem more than likely. Variety spoke with the actress as part the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris.
How did you get into filmmaking?
I trained as a dancer, and for a long time I wanted to make that my profession. Later, I studied literature, and...
After stepping onto the international stage thanks to her work in Monia Chokri and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s 2022 Sundance and Cannes titles “Babysitter” and “Forever Young,” the Franco-Finnish actor will next step into the spotlight, hitting the French award circuit for “Forever Young” while promoting Francois Ozon’s “The Crime Is Mine” – a starry showbiz caper that places Tereszkiewicz front and center.
And given the performer’s upcoming lead roles in Stephanie Di Giusto’s “La Rosalie” and Robin Campillo’s “Vazaha, The Strangers,” a number of repeat festival visits seem more than likely. Variety spoke with the actress as part the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris.
How did you get into filmmaking?
I trained as a dancer, and for a long time I wanted to make that my profession. Later, I studied literature, and...
- 1/16/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
When first approaching Marlon Riggs’ small yet impactful filmography, it is impossible to ignore the breadth of documentary modes utilized to tell his stories and shed light on the experiences of gay Black men, fluidly gliding between multiple approaches to explore various facets of storytelling. With his entire oeuvre now on the Criterion Channel, Riggs’ extensive prowess for wielding the documentary as a force for compassion is available for all to see.
I was first introduced to Riggs’ work through his made-for-tv documentary Color Adjustment (1992), an exhaustively well-researched non-fiction film exposing how TV’s many attempts to assimilate Black characters on screen, and therefore into white homes, has time and again missed the mark. From the calcified stereotypes of Amos ‘n’ Andy and Beulah to the lack of culture seen in shows such as Julia, TV executives continually misjudge appropriate portrayals. Upon revisiting, though, I was struck by Riggs’ ability...
I was first introduced to Riggs’ work through his made-for-tv documentary Color Adjustment (1992), an exhaustively well-researched non-fiction film exposing how TV’s many attempts to assimilate Black characters on screen, and therefore into white homes, has time and again missed the mark. From the calcified stereotypes of Amos ‘n’ Andy and Beulah to the lack of culture seen in shows such as Julia, TV executives continually misjudge appropriate portrayals. Upon revisiting, though, I was struck by Riggs’ ability...
- 10/22/2020
- by Benjamin Goff
- The Film Stage
Taylor Swift is releasing Lover, her seventh album and first with Republic Records, on August 23rd. In contrast with her dark, secretive Reputation era, Swift is offering up more and more hints about what the LP will entail.
The build-up to the release of Lover has been chock-full of “easter eggs,” as Swift and her fans have referred to them: The video for lead single “Me!” alone features several references to Swift’s next release, “You Need to Calm Down.” And in the “You Need to Calm Down” video itself,...
The build-up to the release of Lover has been chock-full of “easter eggs,” as Swift and her fans have referred to them: The video for lead single “Me!” alone features several references to Swift’s next release, “You Need to Calm Down.” And in the “You Need to Calm Down” video itself,...
- 8/8/2019
- by Claire Shaffer and Brittany Spanos
- Rollingstone.com
Wash Westmoreland on the dynamic between Keira Knightley and Dominic West: "I had seen in [Joe Wright's] Pride & Prejudice how strongly she takes apart Mr. Darcy [Matthew Macfadyen]. I wanted to even take it further to get into the psycho-sexual hold that Willy had over Colette." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Wash Westmoreland's incisive Colette, co-written with Richard Glatzer and Rebecca Lenkiewicz (co-writer of Sebastián Lelio's Disobedience and Pawel Pawlikowski's Oscar-winner Ida) knows that its heroine, portrayed by Keira Knightley, will always be larger than what is on screen. Her husband Willy (Dominic West) forced her to write, she obeyed, masterful literature was born. The narrative is more entangled than that. Colette's parents in the countryside, Robert Pugh as her father Jules and Fiona Shaw as her mother Sido, are personalities in their own right, not just caricatures that help the plot along.
Wash Westmoreland on La Belle Époque...
Wash Westmoreland's incisive Colette, co-written with Richard Glatzer and Rebecca Lenkiewicz (co-writer of Sebastián Lelio's Disobedience and Pawel Pawlikowski's Oscar-winner Ida) knows that its heroine, portrayed by Keira Knightley, will always be larger than what is on screen. Her husband Willy (Dominic West) forced her to write, she obeyed, masterful literature was born. The narrative is more entangled than that. Colette's parents in the countryside, Robert Pugh as her father Jules and Fiona Shaw as her mother Sido, are personalities in their own right, not just caricatures that help the plot along.
Wash Westmoreland on La Belle Époque...
- 12/8/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Stéphanie Di Giusto on The Dancer: "The movie is always in movement." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Stéphanie Di Giusto's The Dancer (La Danseuse), screenplay in collaboration with Les Cowboys director Thomas Bidegain, based on the book Loïe Fuller: Danseuse De La Belle Époque by Giovanni Lista, stars Soko as Fuller with Lily-Rose Depp as Isadora Duncan. The supporting cast includes Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry, François Damiens, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Amanda Plummer, and Denis Ménochet.
I met up with the director at the restaurant inside the Marlton Hotel the day before her debut film opened in New York. We discussed how Nick Cave and Warren Ellis got involved through Andrew Dominik's The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, her costume designer Anaïs Romand who won a César, working with cinematographer Benoît Debie, seeing Soko in Alice Winocour's Augustine, and Harvey Weinstein's reaction after seeing The Dancer at Cannes.
Stéphanie Di Giusto's The Dancer (La Danseuse), screenplay in collaboration with Les Cowboys director Thomas Bidegain, based on the book Loïe Fuller: Danseuse De La Belle Époque by Giovanni Lista, stars Soko as Fuller with Lily-Rose Depp as Isadora Duncan. The supporting cast includes Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry, François Damiens, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Amanda Plummer, and Denis Ménochet.
I met up with the director at the restaurant inside the Marlton Hotel the day before her debut film opened in New York. We discussed how Nick Cave and Warren Ellis got involved through Andrew Dominik's The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, her costume designer Anaïs Romand who won a César, working with cinematographer Benoît Debie, seeing Soko in Alice Winocour's Augustine, and Harvey Weinstein's reaction after seeing The Dancer at Cannes.
- 12/4/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
From RedBand.Ca, Sneak Peek restricted 'red band' footage from the award-winning drama "The Dancer" (aka "La Danseuse") written and directed by Stéphanie Di Giusto, based on the novel by author Giovanni Lista, starring Soko, Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry, Lily-Rose Depp, François Damiens, Louis Garrel and William Houston:
"...in 1887, after the death of her father, 25-year-old 'Marie-Louise' leaves her life in the American West to join her mother in New York and pursue her dream of becoming an actress.
"On stage one night, she avoids falling by spinning the fabric of her long dress in a graceful gesture,and the 'Serpentine Dance' is born. The dazzled audience calls out for more.
"Marie-Louise becomes 'Loïe Fuller' and leaves New York for Paris, where imitators try to steal her radical innovations in modern dance, including Isadora Duncan' ..."
Cast also includes Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Denis Ménochet, Amanda Plummer and Shimehiro Nishikawa.
"...in 1887, after the death of her father, 25-year-old 'Marie-Louise' leaves her life in the American West to join her mother in New York and pursue her dream of becoming an actress.
"On stage one night, she avoids falling by spinning the fabric of her long dress in a graceful gesture,and the 'Serpentine Dance' is born. The dazzled audience calls out for more.
"Marie-Louise becomes 'Loïe Fuller' and leaves New York for Paris, where imitators try to steal her radical innovations in modern dance, including Isadora Duncan' ..."
Cast also includes Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Denis Ménochet, Amanda Plummer and Shimehiro Nishikawa.
- 11/23/2017
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
"We'll drag this place into the new century." Palace Films has unveiled a new trailer from Australia for the release of the indie drama The Dancer, also known as La danseuse in French, a period set drama about a rivalry between two dancers. This originally premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and is just getting a release in Us theaters this December. Lily-Rose Depp stars as Isadora Duncan, the protégé and rival of dancer Loïe Fuller, played by French actress/musician Soko, the "toast of the Folies Bergères at the turn of the 20th century and an inspiration for Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumière Brothers." The full cast includes Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry, François Damiens, Denis Ménochet, Amanda Plummer, and Louis-Do de Lencquesaing. This seems like a very passionate, intense, dance film to watch. Check it out. Here's the official Australian trailer (+ old poster) for Stéphanie Di Giusto's The Dancer,...
- 11/21/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off this week, and with it, the rest of a very busy fall festival season. In preparation for the Canadian festival, we’ll be rolling out a series of previews to point you in the direction of all the movies you have to see (or at least, all the movies you have to start anticipating right now). First up, we’re looking at all the up-and-coming talents who just might break through at this year’s festival. Keep your eyes peeled, this batch just might end up being the brightest one yet.
Alex Lehmann, director, “Blue Jay”
Director Alex Lehmann cut his teeth as a cinematographer on short films and horror movies before landing his feature film directorial debut, “Blue Jay.” A comedic drama starring Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, “Blue Jay” centers on a pair...
Alex Lehmann, director, “Blue Jay”
Director Alex Lehmann cut his teeth as a cinematographer on short films and horror movies before landing his feature film directorial debut, “Blue Jay.” A comedic drama starring Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, “Blue Jay” centers on a pair...
- 9/6/2016
- by Kate Erbland, Steve Greene, Graham Winfrey, Chris O'Falt and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Following a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the first trailer has been released for Stéphanie Di Giusto‘s The Dancer (La Danseuse), half in English, half in French. However, it features some striking imagery to combat any loss of comprehension in its latter half for U.S. viewers not fluent in French. The film follows dancer Loïe Fuller (Soko) and her complex relationship with her protègè and rival (Gaspard Ulliel). Fuller was an inspiration for the Lumière Brothers, among others, and was the toast of the Folies Bergères at the turn of the 20th century.
We said in our review: “The cast is solid all-around. In the lead role, Soko has both the willful masculinity and a feminine vulnerability down. Playing Louis, Ulliel is his usual charismatic self, exuding an effortless, pansexual allure that enriches a rather underwritten character infinitely. And though she only appears later in the film,...
We said in our review: “The cast is solid all-around. In the lead role, Soko has both the willful masculinity and a feminine vulnerability down. Playing Louis, Ulliel is his usual charismatic self, exuding an effortless, pansexual allure that enriches a rather underwritten character infinitely. And though she only appears later in the film,...
- 7/25/2016
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
Halfway through the Cannes Film Festival, buzz is hearing about “Jackie”, now in post-production, an account of the days of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, directed by Pablo Larraín whose Directors’ Fortnight contender “Neruda” is receiving raves here. Another hot Directors’ Fortnight film “Mean Dreams” with Bill Paxton is praised by one important film buyer as “Mud” meets “Cold in July” in a tense coming-of-age drama about a 15-year-old boy. And Sony Pictures Classics has snatched U.S. rights to the German Competition comedy, “Toni Erdmann”.
This year in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Competition Section, there are no first time film directors, only established masters, some praised and some panned. However, Cannes Official Un Certain Regard specifically shows emerging filmmakers who are considered to be the next generation of master auteurs of cinema. Out of its 17 films, seven were first features from Romania, France, Israel, USA, Argentina, Finland and the Netherlands. Three of the seven are by women: Stéphanie Di Giusto’s “La Danseuse” (“The Dancer”) is about Loïe Fuller, the toast of the Folies Bergères at the turn of the 20th century and an inspiration for Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumière Brothers.
Maha Haj From Israel debuted on the first day with “Personal Affairs”, about an old couple in Nazareth and their son and daughter who live on the other side of the border. Other first films are the much-anticipated “The Red Turtle”, a dialogue-free animated feature from Studio Ghibli but made in France and directed by Dutch-born, London-based animator Michael Dudok de Wit, the Finnish-German-Swedish “The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki” and Bogdan Mirica’s “Dogs”. The debut So. Korean film, “Train to Busan”, showed in the Official Midnight Screening section and featured a zombie-virus breaking out in South Korea, and a couple of passengers struggling to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan – enough to make me want to stop traveling.
“Fool Moon” by France’s Gregoire Leprinr-Foret had a Special Screening within the Official selection and received mixed reviews. In Critics Week, three of ten films selected and judged bycritics as the best films of the year thus far are first features: K. Rajapal’s drama “A Yellow Bird” from Singapore and France about a Singaporean Indian man trying to reconnect with his estranged family after he is released from prison, Mehmet Can Mertoglu’s “Albüm” from Turkey, France and Romania (See the trailer here) and Alessandro Comidin’s “Happy Times Will Come Soon” from Italy. The Acid sidebar of eight very independent features has two first films.
Also noticeable this year is the high number of films co-financed by the Doha Film Institute. Asgaard Farhadi's " The Salesman" will have its world premiere in the Festival’s Official Competition where it competes for the coveted Palme d’Or. “The Salesman” is about a couple who is forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building. It is one of two Iranian films this year. The other, “Inversion” will play in Un Certain Regard.” Newly established Doha Film Institute lent financial support to two films showing in Un Certain Regard section – “Apprentice” (Singapore, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Qatar) written and directed by Boo Junfeng; and debut feature “Dogs” (Romania, France, Bulgaria, Qatar). Directors’ Fortnight is screens “Divines” (Morocco, France, Qatar) and three Dfi grantee films compete for top honors in the Critics Week: “Mimosas” (Spain, Morocco, France, Qatar) by Oliver Laxe; “Tramontane” (Lebanon, France, UAE, Qatar) by Vatche Boulghourjian; and “Diamond Island” (Cambodia, France, Germany, Qatar) by Davy Chou touted as poetic and beautiful, a part of what might be a Cambodian New Wave. This New Wave from Cambodia is being helped along by the Doha Film Institute whose CEO, Fatma Al Remaihi says:
“At the very core of Dfi’s film funding mandate is to contribute to World Cinema and ensure that great stories continue to be told. These projects will also inspire the young Qatari film professionals to create compelling content that will gain international acclaim.”
Shahrbanoo Sadat’s debut feature “Wolf and Sheep”, in Directors’ Fortnight, is about Sadat herself, who lives in Kabul and Denmark. It takes place in the isolated village in Central Afghanistan where she grew up and where young boys and girls are shepherds. International coproductions are the engine driving the film business today and this one, a Denmark-France-Sweden-Afghanistan coproduction is a prime example. Sadat was spotted previously when her 2011 short “Vice Versa One” screened at Directors’ Fortnight and was invited to develop “Wolf And Sheep” at Cannes Cinefondation Residency in 2010, which mentors emerging talent. Virginie Devesa of the international sales company Alpha Violet picked up the film here in Cannes. Alpha Violet is also selling ”A Yellow Bird” in Critics’ Week and is representing “Luxembourg”, the newest film by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, whose first film “The Tribe” played in Sundance and other top fests.
This year in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Competition Section, there are no first time film directors, only established masters, some praised and some panned. However, Cannes Official Un Certain Regard specifically shows emerging filmmakers who are considered to be the next generation of master auteurs of cinema. Out of its 17 films, seven were first features from Romania, France, Israel, USA, Argentina, Finland and the Netherlands. Three of the seven are by women: Stéphanie Di Giusto’s “La Danseuse” (“The Dancer”) is about Loïe Fuller, the toast of the Folies Bergères at the turn of the 20th century and an inspiration for Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumière Brothers.
Maha Haj From Israel debuted on the first day with “Personal Affairs”, about an old couple in Nazareth and their son and daughter who live on the other side of the border. Other first films are the much-anticipated “The Red Turtle”, a dialogue-free animated feature from Studio Ghibli but made in France and directed by Dutch-born, London-based animator Michael Dudok de Wit, the Finnish-German-Swedish “The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki” and Bogdan Mirica’s “Dogs”. The debut So. Korean film, “Train to Busan”, showed in the Official Midnight Screening section and featured a zombie-virus breaking out in South Korea, and a couple of passengers struggling to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan – enough to make me want to stop traveling.
“Fool Moon” by France’s Gregoire Leprinr-Foret had a Special Screening within the Official selection and received mixed reviews. In Critics Week, three of ten films selected and judged bycritics as the best films of the year thus far are first features: K. Rajapal’s drama “A Yellow Bird” from Singapore and France about a Singaporean Indian man trying to reconnect with his estranged family after he is released from prison, Mehmet Can Mertoglu’s “Albüm” from Turkey, France and Romania (See the trailer here) and Alessandro Comidin’s “Happy Times Will Come Soon” from Italy. The Acid sidebar of eight very independent features has two first films.
Also noticeable this year is the high number of films co-financed by the Doha Film Institute. Asgaard Farhadi's " The Salesman" will have its world premiere in the Festival’s Official Competition where it competes for the coveted Palme d’Or. “The Salesman” is about a couple who is forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building. It is one of two Iranian films this year. The other, “Inversion” will play in Un Certain Regard.” Newly established Doha Film Institute lent financial support to two films showing in Un Certain Regard section – “Apprentice” (Singapore, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Qatar) written and directed by Boo Junfeng; and debut feature “Dogs” (Romania, France, Bulgaria, Qatar). Directors’ Fortnight is screens “Divines” (Morocco, France, Qatar) and three Dfi grantee films compete for top honors in the Critics Week: “Mimosas” (Spain, Morocco, France, Qatar) by Oliver Laxe; “Tramontane” (Lebanon, France, UAE, Qatar) by Vatche Boulghourjian; and “Diamond Island” (Cambodia, France, Germany, Qatar) by Davy Chou touted as poetic and beautiful, a part of what might be a Cambodian New Wave. This New Wave from Cambodia is being helped along by the Doha Film Institute whose CEO, Fatma Al Remaihi says:
“At the very core of Dfi’s film funding mandate is to contribute to World Cinema and ensure that great stories continue to be told. These projects will also inspire the young Qatari film professionals to create compelling content that will gain international acclaim.”
Shahrbanoo Sadat’s debut feature “Wolf and Sheep”, in Directors’ Fortnight, is about Sadat herself, who lives in Kabul and Denmark. It takes place in the isolated village in Central Afghanistan where she grew up and where young boys and girls are shepherds. International coproductions are the engine driving the film business today and this one, a Denmark-France-Sweden-Afghanistan coproduction is a prime example. Sadat was spotted previously when her 2011 short “Vice Versa One” screened at Directors’ Fortnight and was invited to develop “Wolf And Sheep” at Cannes Cinefondation Residency in 2010, which mentors emerging talent. Virginie Devesa of the international sales company Alpha Violet picked up the film here in Cannes. Alpha Violet is also selling ”A Yellow Bird” in Critics’ Week and is representing “Luxembourg”, the newest film by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, whose first film “The Tribe” played in Sundance and other top fests.
- 5/27/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Ken Loach’s Cannes Competition title has sold to multiple territories.
French sales powerhouse Wild Bunch has closed a slew of deals on Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or contender I, Daniel Blake, capturing life on the breadline in contemporary Britain, following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Loach’s 13th film in Competition, I, Daniel Blake centres on a carpenter, who finds himself unemployed after a heart attack and single mother battling bureaucracy nightmare in the UK welfare system.
The film has sold to Germany (Prokino), Spain (Caramel), Greece (Feelgood), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Hungary (Vertigo), the Czech Republic (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Romania (Independenta) and the Middle East (Teleview), Turkey (Filmarti Film) and Balkans (Iriku)
Uruguay’s Sun Distribution Group has taken all Latin America rights apart from for Brazil, which has been acquired by Imovision.
“They were all closed here during the early days of the festival, which is what...
French sales powerhouse Wild Bunch has closed a slew of deals on Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or contender I, Daniel Blake, capturing life on the breadline in contemporary Britain, following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Loach’s 13th film in Competition, I, Daniel Blake centres on a carpenter, who finds himself unemployed after a heart attack and single mother battling bureaucracy nightmare in the UK welfare system.
The film has sold to Germany (Prokino), Spain (Caramel), Greece (Feelgood), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Hungary (Vertigo), the Czech Republic (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Romania (Independenta) and the Middle East (Teleview), Turkey (Filmarti Film) and Balkans (Iriku)
Uruguay’s Sun Distribution Group has taken all Latin America rights apart from for Brazil, which has been acquired by Imovision.
“They were all closed here during the early days of the festival, which is what...
- 5/15/2016
- ScreenDaily
Premiering in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, The Dancer is an impassioned if formally conservative portrait of Loïe Fuller (née Marie Louise Fuller), a pioneering figure in modern dance from the late 19th century. It resembles La Vie en Rose, another prestige period biopic about an esteemed French artist, for never breaking cinematic ground but proving well-crafted from top to bottom, ably weaving personal turmoil from an artist’s life into their stage legacy.
In the first half-hour of the film, we get a quick rundown of Fuller’s life before she stepped onto Parisian soil to find where she belonged. Born to a French immigrant father near Chicago, Marie Louise (Soko) is a sturdily built girl who has no trouble helping out on a rodeo or traveling cross-country by herself — which she did in the wake of a tragedy and landed in...
In the first half-hour of the film, we get a quick rundown of Fuller’s life before she stepped onto Parisian soil to find where she belonged. Born to a French immigrant father near Chicago, Marie Louise (Soko) is a sturdily built girl who has no trouble helping out on a rodeo or traveling cross-country by herself — which she did in the wake of a tragedy and landed in...
- 5/13/2016
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
The once world-renowned but now relatively obscure Belle Epoque dancer Loie Fuller (1862-1928), formerly the toast of the Folies Bergère, gets the full biopic treatment in The Dancer (La Danseuse), an airy, prettily accoutered but essentially vapid feature debut for writer-director Stephanie De Giusto. Tabloid interest is pretty much guaranteed in this otherwise fairly inconsequential costume drama by its casting: Fuller herself is played by indie-musician-turned-actor Soko (star of Alice Winocour’s Augustine), who until recently was dating Kristen Stewart (they allegedly split up just before the Cannes Film Festival). Meanwhile, Lily-Rose Depp, the
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- 5/13/2016
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Stéphanie Di Giusto’s The Dancer premieres in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard tomorrow with stars Soko, Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie Thierry and Lily-Rose Depp in town. Above is a clip from the film which is Di Giusto’s feature debut. It’s inspired by the story of Loie Fuller, an American dancer who was one of the pioneers of the modern dance movement. Played by breakout Soko, she invented the Serpentine Dance. Born in the midwest, nothing in Fuller’s background destined…...
- 5/12/2016
- Deadline
The Conversation is a feature at PopOptiq bringing together Drew Morton and Landon Palmer in a passionate debate about cinema new and old. For their tenth piece, they discuss Guy Maddin’s fusion of silent-era horror and dance, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (2002).
Drew’S Take
Every autumn, I treat Halloween the way some Midwestern moms obsess over Thanksgiving or Christmas. Horror novels (last year, I finally read Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box and loved it), true crime documentaries, and an abundance of films make up the majority of my media diet for about six weeks. Over the past week, I’ve been re-reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula and re-watching the glut of adaptations out there. I think I’ve finally dialed in my three favorite translations…in no particular ranking! Obviously, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) has a certain advantage from being the “first,” but it has...
Drew’S Take
Every autumn, I treat Halloween the way some Midwestern moms obsess over Thanksgiving or Christmas. Horror novels (last year, I finally read Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box and loved it), true crime documentaries, and an abundance of films make up the majority of my media diet for about six weeks. Over the past week, I’ve been re-reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula and re-watching the glut of adaptations out there. I think I’ve finally dialed in my three favorite translations…in no particular ranking! Obviously, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) has a certain advantage from being the “first,” but it has...
- 10/21/2015
- by Landon Palmer
- SoundOnSight
Exclusive: Company to launch Radu Mihaileanu’s The History of Love and Studio Ghibli co-production The Red Turtle.
Paris-based sales powerhouse Wild Bunch will kick off sales on Radu Mihaileanu’s saga The History of Love, starring John Hurt, Gemma Arterton and Sophie Nélisse at the Cannes Marché next month.
The mainly New York-set saga, spanning three continents and a period running from just before the Second World War to the present day, is based on Us writer Nicole Krauss’s international bestseller.
Hurt will play Leo, an elderly Polish Jewish immigrant still mourning the loss of his childhood sweetheart in the chaos of war, who is strangely linked to a teenage girl through a long, lost book on love… subtitled ‘the most loved woman in the world’.
“It’s a love story spanning 65 years… revolving around three friends in Poland whose destinies change forever when war breaks out,” Wild Bunch chief Vincent Maraval told ScreenDaily.
It marks...
Paris-based sales powerhouse Wild Bunch will kick off sales on Radu Mihaileanu’s saga The History of Love, starring John Hurt, Gemma Arterton and Sophie Nélisse at the Cannes Marché next month.
The mainly New York-set saga, spanning three continents and a period running from just before the Second World War to the present day, is based on Us writer Nicole Krauss’s international bestseller.
Hurt will play Leo, an elderly Polish Jewish immigrant still mourning the loss of his childhood sweetheart in the chaos of war, who is strangely linked to a teenage girl through a long, lost book on love… subtitled ‘the most loved woman in the world’.
“It’s a love story spanning 65 years… revolving around three friends in Poland whose destinies change forever when war breaks out,” Wild Bunch chief Vincent Maraval told ScreenDaily.
It marks...
- 4/24/2015
- ScreenDaily
While much of the indie film community’s attention remains on Park City, there’s more than enough going on elsewhere to keep filmmakers and art lovers busy. Foremost among such events is the Dance on Camera film series, co-presented by Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association and held from January 31 – February 4. Dance films date back at least to Edison’s very first Vitascope exhibition in April 1896 and have been a mainstay of popular and arthouse cinema ever since, from Loie Fuller through Gene Kelly, Maya Deren, and the work of hundreds of choreographers, film directors, and documentarians today. Dfa […]...
- 1/24/2014
- by Randy Astle
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
While much of the indie film community’s attention remains on Park City, there’s more than enough going on elsewhere to keep filmmakers and art lovers busy. Foremost among such events is the Dance on Camera film series, co-presented by Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association and held from January 31 – February 4. Dance films date back at least to Edison’s very first Vitascope exhibition in April 1896 and have been a mainstay of popular and arthouse cinema ever since, from Loie Fuller through Gene Kelly, Maya Deren, and the work of hundreds of choreographers, film directors, and documentarians today. Dfa […]...
- 1/24/2014
- by Randy Astle
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The second half of this year's Toronto International Film Festival continued at pretty much the same compulsive pace for me as the first, cramming in anywhere from three to six movies a day. The lighter days reflected the more humanistic approach to festivaling that I've tried to achieve over the years (when I realized that movies came in boxes and could perforce be seen later) whereas experiences were unique. So I enjoyed several quite pleasant sit-down lunches and dinners in Toronto restaurants. Over Italian food at Paesa, right across the street from the Bell Lightbox, Bertrand Tavernier told me about the series of Western pulp novels translated into French that he's launching this fall under his imprint, and his wife Sara and I discussed the screenplay she's writing with another director/screenwriter based on the fascinating expatriate dancer Loie Fuller. After I told Thom Powers, programer of Tiff Docs, that I'd adored "Ain't Misbehavin,...
- 10/2/2013
- by Meredith Brody
- Thompson on Hollywood
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