Dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov has backed the ongoing demonstrations in Georgia at a press conference for his Cannes competition entry, Limonov: The Ballad, saying of the situation, “It’s absolutely awful.”
The streets of Georgia are lined with young protestors urging their country to join the European Union (EU), and against a law that is expected to demonise many civil society groups as ‘foreign agents’. The law is similar to one introduced in Russia, and is seen as a marker of Russia’s influence in the country.
On Tuesday (May 14), politicians passed a controversial law which requires non-governmental organisations...
The streets of Georgia are lined with young protestors urging their country to join the European Union (EU), and against a law that is expected to demonise many civil society groups as ‘foreign agents’. The law is similar to one introduced in Russia, and is seen as a marker of Russia’s influence in the country.
On Tuesday (May 14), politicians passed a controversial law which requires non-governmental organisations...
- 5/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
In the Moscow Times’ obituary for Eduard Limonov, who died four years ago aged 77, writer Mark Galeotti summed up the poet-turned-politician in two simple sentences: “Was Limonov a visionary or a poser, an artist or a politician, a leftist or a rightist? The answer to all of them is, of course, yes.” This is key to understanding Kirill Serebrennikov’s latest movie, a boundary-blasting biopic that simply drips with punk-rock energy, revealing everything and nothing about a slippery character whose modus operandi was reinvention from the get-go and for whom consistency really was the hobgoblin of small minds.
Limonov, the poet, fits into a long line of miscreant artists, such as writer Vladimir Mayakovsky, who co-wrote the manifesto of the Russian Futurist group (“A Slap in the Face of Public Taste”) in 1912, and Dziga Vertov, the avant-garde director whose Man with a Movie Camera (1929) changed the face of documentary altogether.
Limonov, the poet, fits into a long line of miscreant artists, such as writer Vladimir Mayakovsky, who co-wrote the manifesto of the Russian Futurist group (“A Slap in the Face of Public Taste”) in 1912, and Dziga Vertov, the avant-garde director whose Man with a Movie Camera (1929) changed the face of documentary altogether.
- 5/19/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
That the name Limonov is pronounced “Lee-mwah-nov” is one of two main things that Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov: The Ballad” teaches us about Eduard Limonov, the Russian radical, poet, dissident, emigré, returnee, detainee, bête noire and cause célèbre who in 1993 co-founded the ultra-nationalist National Bolshevik Party. The second is that, as imagined in this adaptation of Emmanuel Carrère’s 2015 fictionalized biography, for all the shifting identities and attitudes he assumed over the course of his controversial life, his persona as an aggravatingly self-aggrandizing solipsist never wavered.
A sharper film could have excavated his contradictions to illuminating effect — the rise of populist, crypto-fascist political movements and their self-ordained maverick leaders being a not-irrelevant phenomenon these days. But Serebrennikov, in love with the posture of the rebel that Limonov adopted without being terribly interested in what, at any given moment, he claimed to be rebelling against, mistakes the trappings for the substance...
A sharper film could have excavated his contradictions to illuminating effect — the rise of populist, crypto-fascist political movements and their self-ordained maverick leaders being a not-irrelevant phenomenon these days. But Serebrennikov, in love with the posture of the rebel that Limonov adopted without being terribly interested in what, at any given moment, he claimed to be rebelling against, mistakes the trappings for the substance...
- 5/19/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Sex is politics and politics is sex in Kirill Serebrennikov’s recklessly beautiful, wildly entertaining English-language debut “Limonov: The Ballad.” This punk rock epic moves at the pace of a train coming off its tracks across Moscow, New York, Paris, and back to Russia again, starring Ben Whishaw in a career-crowning lead performance as the self-styled alternative poet and political dissident Eduard Limonov (who died in 2020). Based on French writer and journalist Emmanuel Carrère’s biographical novel, “Limonov” spans the 1960s to near present-day Siberia to tell with orgiastic excess the life story of the eventual founder of the National Bolshevik Party, which married a far-left youth movement to far-right fascist ideology. But while Limonov’s politics are inextricable from the libertine hedonist he was, Serebrennikov’s film is more a purely pleasurable romantic odyssey than political deep dive, radiating a countercultural energy that smacks of freewheeling ‘70s cinema more...
- 5/19/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Reflecting the peculiarities and contradictions of the man who gives the film its title, Limonov: The Ballad is a strange, stilted, inventive, kaleidoscopic, challenging, imaginative and — above all, and perhaps entirely intentionally — irritating biopic of the Russian poet-punk-prisoner-gadfly-neo-Fascist Eduard Limonov (né Eduard Veniaminovich Savenko in 1948). To paraphrase the novelist Julian Barnes’ review of Emmanuel Carrere’s sort-of novel, sort-of biography on which this film is loosely based, Limonov: The Ballad is a work viewers may enjoy having seen more than they would enjoy seeing it.
It’s anybody’s guess how many will make the actual effort to watch this 138-minute ramshackle romp about a man who, before he died in 2020, applauded Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fought on the side of the invaders in Ukraine’s Donbas and Donetsk regions. Limonov’s unsavory sympathies would likely turn off most Western viewers, apart from the fearless fans of dramas about political monsters.
It’s anybody’s guess how many will make the actual effort to watch this 138-minute ramshackle romp about a man who, before he died in 2020, applauded Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fought on the side of the invaders in Ukraine’s Donbas and Donetsk regions. Limonov’s unsavory sympathies would likely turn off most Western viewers, apart from the fearless fans of dramas about political monsters.
- 5/19/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie
The critic elite in Cannes might not have been big (we were) on his Tchaikovsky’s Wife, but Kirill Serebrennikov is in beast mode despite having to had to pack up bags mid shoot due to the complications of the war. Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie is in the can and has the great Ben Whishaw toplining. Viktoria Miroshnichenko from Beanpole fame his playing his wife Elena. Co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski (who was originally set to make this his film), production was split into two last year. Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie producers include Ilya Stewart, Wildside’s Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa, Chapter 2’s Dimitri Rassam.…...
The critic elite in Cannes might not have been big (we were) on his Tchaikovsky’s Wife, but Kirill Serebrennikov is in beast mode despite having to had to pack up bags mid shoot due to the complications of the war. Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie is in the can and has the great Ben Whishaw toplining. Viktoria Miroshnichenko from Beanpole fame his playing his wife Elena. Co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski (who was originally set to make this his film), production was split into two last year. Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie producers include Ilya Stewart, Wildside’s Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa, Chapter 2’s Dimitri Rassam.…...
- 1/18/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Iconoclastic Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov will be unveiling footage in Cannes from his new work-in-progress film “Limonov, the Ballad of Eddie,” starring Ben Whishaw as radical Russian poet and dissident Eduard Limonov and Viktoria Miroshnichenko (“Beanpole”) as his wife Elena.
Serebrennikov, who will coming to Cannes with his latest completed work “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” premiering in competition, was shooting “Limonov” in Russia when the war broke out. The director has since been able to leave the country and will complete the rest of the shoot in Europe.
A “Limonov” promo reel will be unspooled for buyers in Cannes on May 17.
Based on the best-selling book by Emmanuelle Carrere, “Limonov” depicts the adventures of non-conformist poet and provocateur Eduard Limonov, who grew up in what today is the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. He escaped from what was then the Soviet Union for the U.S., where he became a switchblade-waving punk poet,...
Serebrennikov, who will coming to Cannes with his latest completed work “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” premiering in competition, was shooting “Limonov” in Russia when the war broke out. The director has since been able to leave the country and will complete the rest of the shoot in Europe.
A “Limonov” promo reel will be unspooled for buyers in Cannes on May 17.
Based on the best-selling book by Emmanuelle Carrere, “Limonov” depicts the adventures of non-conformist poet and provocateur Eduard Limonov, who grew up in what today is the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. He escaped from what was then the Soviet Union for the U.S., where he became a switchblade-waving punk poet,...
- 5/11/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Beanpole (Dylda) Kino Lorber Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Kantemir Balagov Writer: Kantemir Balagov, Aleksadr Terekhov, inspired by Svetlana Alexievich’s book “The Unwomanly Face of War” Cast: Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina, Andrey Bykov, Igor Shirokov, Konstantin Balakirev Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 11/27/20 Opens: January 29, 2020 […]
The post Beanpole Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Beanpole Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 3/6/2021
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Exquisitely grueling yet fiercely humane, Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole, an astounding Russian period drama, cements the artistically mature director as a prodigy of international cinema moving towards an auspicious career. At age 28, Balagov has had his first two features premiered at Cannes with both earning prizes in the Un Certain Regard section. Situated in 1945 Leningrad among the ashes of World War II, Beanpole, which was also shortlisted for the Best International Film Academy Award, explores the harsh aftermath of the conflict through the tortured friendship between Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) and Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina), two women who served in the […]...
- 2/19/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Exquisitely grueling yet fiercely humane, Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole, an astounding Russian period drama, cements the artistically mature director as a prodigy of international cinema moving towards an auspicious career. At age 28, Balagov has had his first two features premiered at Cannes with both earning prizes in the Un Certain Regard section. Situated in 1945 Leningrad among the ashes of World War II, Beanpole, which was also shortlisted for the Best International Film Academy Award, explores the harsh aftermath of the conflict through the tortured friendship between Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) and Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina), two women who served in the […]...
- 2/19/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Jacqueline Lyanga, currently the Artistic Director of Film Independent in La, and Jasmine Jaisinghani, a film and culture professional based in La, have teamed up to present the inaugural Global Cinematheque World Cinema Awards. Seeking to give a more complete picture of the world films on offer throughout not just this past awards season, but the entire movie year, the prizes celebrate the best international cinema of year across 10 categories. Lyanga and Jaisinghani previously collaborated while working at AFI Fest.
Lyanga describes the initiative best in her statement: “Global Cinematheque and the World Cinema Awards were born of the passion for international cinema that … Jaisinghani and I share. The awards are a new platform for films made outside of the United States, through which we hope to expand the global reach of international cinema. There are extraordinary films being made all over the world and we want to bring the...
Lyanga describes the initiative best in her statement: “Global Cinematheque and the World Cinema Awards were born of the passion for international cinema that … Jaisinghani and I share. The awards are a new platform for films made outside of the United States, through which we hope to expand the global reach of international cinema. There are extraordinary films being made all over the world and we want to bring the...
- 2/6/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Pain And Glory figure prominently in roster.
Citing a need for the awards season “to more authentically reflect the culture of the world in which we live”, Los Angeles-based film curator and promoter Global Cinematheque has announced the winners of its inaugural World Cinema Awards.
Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, and Pain And Glory figure prominently in the roster. In addition, UniFrance will receive Global Cinematheque’s first World Cinema Cultural Spotlight Award in honour of 70 years of “extraordinary work” promoting French cinema throughout the world.
Three additional Global Cinematheque Spotlight...
Citing a need for the awards season “to more authentically reflect the culture of the world in which we live”, Los Angeles-based film curator and promoter Global Cinematheque has announced the winners of its inaugural World Cinema Awards.
Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, and Pain And Glory figure prominently in the roster. In addition, UniFrance will receive Global Cinematheque’s first World Cinema Cultural Spotlight Award in honour of 70 years of “extraordinary work” promoting French cinema throughout the world.
Three additional Global Cinematheque Spotlight...
- 2/6/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Her name is Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko), but most folks call her “Beanpole.” It’s not hard to see why — tall, willowy, and blessed with hair the color of fine straw, this lanky Russian does indeed resemble a long, sprouting plant. But it’s a term people use affectionately when they talk of her, and in Leningrad circa “the first autumn after the war,” affection is scarce. Working as a nurse, Iya tends to soldiers who’ve survived sieges and shellings, who’ve lost limbs and sometimes the will to live.
- 2/4/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
In the era of #MeToo, Time’s Up and a time when women are being treated unfairly in the workplace, The Assistant couldn’t be released at a more relevant time — and the fact that it takes place in Hollywood makes the story too on the nose.
Written and directed by Kitty Green and starring the indelible Julie Garner, the drama follows one day in the life of Jane (Garner), a recent college graduate who has hopes of becoming a film producer. She recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul (is this beginning to sound familiar?) Most of her day is spent doing what many expect from an assistant job: she makes coffee, orders lunch, takes phone messages, takes messages, loads paper in the copy machine — it’s your basic gofer work. But as we see her go through her day, she begins...
Written and directed by Kitty Green and starring the indelible Julie Garner, the drama follows one day in the life of Jane (Garner), a recent college graduate who has hopes of becoming a film producer. She recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul (is this beginning to sound familiar?) Most of her day is spent doing what many expect from an assistant job: she makes coffee, orders lunch, takes phone messages, takes messages, loads paper in the copy machine — it’s your basic gofer work. But as we see her go through her day, she begins...
- 1/31/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
An immaculately color-coded, visually resplendent serving of European art-house severity, “Beanpole” brings its sharp performances and even sharper production design to a landscape wholly untouched by humor. Which is, in itself, a kind of irony, as the Cannes prizewinner sketches out a central premise that plays as a vicious cosmic joke.
Set in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the aftermath of that city’s years-long siege during the Second World War, the film focuses on characters who survived the worst hardships imaginable and made it out the gates of hell — only to find that on the other side lay purgatory, and the experience there wasn’t much better.
With his second film, 27-year-old Kantemir Balagov, who won the directing prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar last May, spotlights the toxic friendship of two army nurses of ages that roughly correspond to his own, but with life experiences that couldn’t be more different.
Set in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the aftermath of that city’s years-long siege during the Second World War, the film focuses on characters who survived the worst hardships imaginable and made it out the gates of hell — only to find that on the other side lay purgatory, and the experience there wasn’t much better.
With his second film, 27-year-old Kantemir Balagov, who won the directing prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar last May, spotlights the toxic friendship of two army nurses of ages that roughly correspond to his own, but with life experiences that couldn’t be more different.
- 1/30/2020
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
28-year-old Kantemir Balagov’s second film “Beanpole” has sickness in its marrow. Russia’s shortlisted entry for the 2019 Best International Feature Film Academy Award centers on a sometimes-toxic symbiosis shared by two women in post-wwii Leningrad, damaged by their experiences on the battle lines and eking out what remains of an existence working in a veterans hospital — a rust-colored hovel in the ruins of the city.
This slow-motion twist of the gut features impressive first-time performances from two actors Balagov plucked from obscurity in a country-wide casting call. Viktoria Miroshnichenko plays the long-limbed, ghostlike, sickly Iya, aka Beanpole, who’s rattled by a Ptsd condition that causes sudden spells of shortness of breath. Vasilisa Perelygina plays Masha, prone to her own flights of mania, and the two women are locked in a folie a deux that careens from tenderness to freaky, vampiric obsession.
In taking a look at the breakdown...
This slow-motion twist of the gut features impressive first-time performances from two actors Balagov plucked from obscurity in a country-wide casting call. Viktoria Miroshnichenko plays the long-limbed, ghostlike, sickly Iya, aka Beanpole, who’s rattled by a Ptsd condition that causes sudden spells of shortness of breath. Vasilisa Perelygina plays Masha, prone to her own flights of mania, and the two women are locked in a folie a deux that careens from tenderness to freaky, vampiric obsession.
In taking a look at the breakdown...
- 1/7/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Russia’s official selection for the 92nd Academy Awards, Beanpole is the achingly beautiful sophomore feature by the burgeoning auteur Kantemir Balagov. An official selection at Cannes, Tiff, and Nyff, Kino Lorber has now unveiled the U.S. trailer for the film that contributor Zhuo-Ning Su in our review praised as “blisteringly insightful.”
Winner of the prestigious Un Certain Regard for Best Director at Cannes, Beanpole follows the trajectory of two women, Iya and Masha (newcomers Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), in post-World War II Russia as they readjust to the newly haunted landscape. They find common ground as former anti-aircraft gunners, and struggle to rebuild their lives as a shocking accident brings them closer together and seals their fate.
Kantemir Balagov recently sat down with us for an interview and shared his thought process in crafting a narrative that dealt with how women were affected by the war. “Tthe...
Winner of the prestigious Un Certain Regard for Best Director at Cannes, Beanpole follows the trajectory of two women, Iya and Masha (newcomers Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), in post-World War II Russia as they readjust to the newly haunted landscape. They find common ground as former anti-aircraft gunners, and struggle to rebuild their lives as a shocking accident brings them closer together and seals their fate.
Kantemir Balagov recently sat down with us for an interview and shared his thought process in crafting a narrative that dealt with how women were affected by the war. “Tthe...
- 12/9/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
"It will heal me." "It will heal us." Kino Lorber has debuted a full-length official Us trailer for the acclaimed Russian drama Beanpole, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. After initially winning the Best Director in Un Certain Regard award in Cannes, the film has since gone on to play at the Telluride, Toronto, Hamburg, London, Busan, and New York Film Festivals this fall. Beanpole is made by a 28-year-old Russian filmmaker named Kantemir Balagov. Set in the city of Leningrad (now known as Saint Petersburg), in 1945 at the end of WWII, two women search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins. It's described as a "richly burnished, occasionally harrowing rendering of the persistent scars of war." Starring Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina as the two main women. If you're watching for an acclaimed international film to discover...
- 12/6/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
28-year-old Kantemir Balagov’s second film “Beanpole” has sickness in its marrow. Russia’s entry for the 2019 Best International Feature Film Academy Award centers on the sometimes toxic symbiosis shared by two women in post-wwii Leningrad, damaged by their experiences on the battle-lines and eking out what remains of an existence working in a veterans hospital — a rust-colored hovel amid the ruins of the city. IndieWire has the exclusive first trailer below, courtesy of distributor Kino Lorber.
This slow-motion twist of the gut features impressive first-time performances from two actors Balagov plucked out of obscurity in Russia from a country-wide casting call. Viktoria Miroshnichenko plays the long-limbed, ghostlike, sickly Iya, a.k.a. Beanpole, who’s rattled by a Ptsd condition that causes sudden spells of shortness of breath, played with an undercurrent of creepiness by Evgueni Galperine’s shivery string score. Vasilisa Perelygina plays Masha, prone to her own flights of mania,...
This slow-motion twist of the gut features impressive first-time performances from two actors Balagov plucked out of obscurity in Russia from a country-wide casting call. Viktoria Miroshnichenko plays the long-limbed, ghostlike, sickly Iya, a.k.a. Beanpole, who’s rattled by a Ptsd condition that causes sudden spells of shortness of breath, played with an undercurrent of creepiness by Evgueni Galperine’s shivery string score. Vasilisa Perelygina plays Masha, prone to her own flights of mania,...
- 12/5/2019
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Second prize went to Noura’s Dream, while Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi were crowned Best Actors, 143 Sahara Street Best International Doc and Fuori tutto Best Italian Doc. A White, White Day, the second work by the Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, has been named Best Film of the 37th Turin Film Festival, which drew to a close on Saturday 30 November. The award was handed over by a jury presided over by Cristina Comencini (Italy) and composed of Fabienne Babe (France), Bruce McDonald (Canada), Eran Riklis (Israel) and Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia). The next most important accolade, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation Award, went to Noura’s Dream by Hinde Boujemaa, while Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina were named Best Actresses (for Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole), and Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi Best Actors (for Antonio Padovan’s Il grande passo). Within the international documentary section, a jury comprising Sara...
1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens equally demolished, physically and mentally. Although the siege which lasted 900 days, one of the worst in history, is finally over, life and death continue their battle in the wreckage that remains. Two young women, Iya and Masha, work at the hospital among the dead and dying while they search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.
For people in extremis, the quest for normalcy is a quest in vain. All that has happened marks them forever. The two young women served as soldiers on the front and are seeking a path to peace, but no such path is open to them.
Some wanted to exit on watching this slow, glum
view of post-war Leningrad. But the protagonist, the eponymous Beanpole, named for her extreme height and almost as blond as an albino,...
For people in extremis, the quest for normalcy is a quest in vain. All that has happened marks them forever. The two young women served as soldiers on the front and are seeking a path to peace, but no such path is open to them.
Some wanted to exit on watching this slow, glum
view of post-war Leningrad. But the protagonist, the eponymous Beanpole, named for her extreme height and almost as blond as an albino,...
- 11/20/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite and Céline Sciamma’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire are just behind with three nominations.
The Nominations for the 2019 European Film Academy Awards were revealed this afternoon at the Seville European Film Festival, with Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory, Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy and Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor leading the way with four nominations each.
The trio are all up for best European film alongside Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, just behind with three nominations including best actress for Olivia Colman, and Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, with two nominations.
The Nominations for the 2019 European Film Academy Awards were revealed this afternoon at the Seville European Film Festival, with Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory, Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy and Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor leading the way with four nominations each.
The trio are all up for best European film alongside Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, just behind with three nominations including best actress for Olivia Colman, and Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, with two nominations.
- 11/9/2019
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
The European Film Academy has unveiled its nominations for the 32nd European Film Awards with the ceremony to be held December 7 in Berlin. Among the titles to figure in the races, three are tied with four mentions each including Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy, Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory and Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor. The latter two are also the Oscar representatives from their respective Spain and Italy and give Sony Pictures Classics a combined eight nods at the EFAs.
While Polanski remains a controversial figure, there has been a divide between U.S. and Euro perspectives in the #MeToo era. His Dreyfus Affair drama, An Officer And A Spy, which also has Efa nominations for Director, Actor and Screenwriter, was one of the most contested titles at the Venice Film Festival where it debuted earlier this year. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize there.
While Polanski remains a controversial figure, there has been a divide between U.S. and Euro perspectives in the #MeToo era. His Dreyfus Affair drama, An Officer And A Spy, which also has Efa nominations for Director, Actor and Screenwriter, was one of the most contested titles at the Venice Film Festival where it debuted earlier this year. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize there.
- 11/9/2019
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The AFI Fest has been rolling out its 2019 slate for months — since announcing Melina Matsoukas’ Queen & Slim as its opening-night film in August — and now we have the full lineup. Check it out below.
The festival, which runs November 14-21 in Los Angeles, will close with with Apple’s The Banker, starring Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long, and will feature the world premiere of Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell.
Here is the full lineup for the 2019 AFI Fest:
New Auteurs
Adam
Samia, heavily pregnant and alone, wanders through Casablanca, seeking shelter until Abla, a single mother, reluctantly takes her in. As the women discover each other’s inner struggles, their lives are transformed. A film festival darling, Maryam Touzani’s debut feature crafts a delicate tale of love through a confident female gaze. Dir Maryan Touzani. Scr Maryan Touzani. Cast Lubna Azabal, Nisrin Erradi, Douae Belkhaouda.
The festival, which runs November 14-21 in Los Angeles, will close with with Apple’s The Banker, starring Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long, and will feature the world premiere of Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell.
Here is the full lineup for the 2019 AFI Fest:
New Auteurs
Adam
Samia, heavily pregnant and alone, wanders through Casablanca, seeking shelter until Abla, a single mother, reluctantly takes her in. As the women discover each other’s inner struggles, their lives are transformed. A film festival darling, Maryam Touzani’s debut feature crafts a delicate tale of love through a confident female gaze. Dir Maryan Touzani. Scr Maryan Touzani. Cast Lubna Azabal, Nisrin Erradi, Douae Belkhaouda.
- 10/29/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Beanpole’ Director Kantemir Balagov on Female Loss, Russian History, and the Title’s Deeper Meaning
Photo by Richard Jopson
Having hailed from Alexander Sokurov’s directing school, Russian auteur Kantemir Balagov made a name for himself on the international film stage with his 2017 debut feature Closeness, which screened as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, and took home the Fipresci prize. Beanpole, his second feature film and one that also premiered at this year’s Un Certain Regard, is set in 1945 Leningrad in the immediate aftermath of WWII. The film tells the story of Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) and Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina), two former combat pilots who attempt to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives amidst the devastating wreckage of war. As Iya and Masha grapple with the personal and national trauma left in its wake, Beanpole examines the ebb and flow of their knotty and at times toxic friendship—testing the strength of their bond, the weight of loneliness,...
Having hailed from Alexander Sokurov’s directing school, Russian auteur Kantemir Balagov made a name for himself on the international film stage with his 2017 debut feature Closeness, which screened as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, and took home the Fipresci prize. Beanpole, his second feature film and one that also premiered at this year’s Un Certain Regard, is set in 1945 Leningrad in the immediate aftermath of WWII. The film tells the story of Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) and Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina), two former combat pilots who attempt to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives amidst the devastating wreckage of war. As Iya and Masha grapple with the personal and national trauma left in its wake, Beanpole examines the ebb and flow of their knotty and at times toxic friendship—testing the strength of their bond, the weight of loneliness,...
- 10/17/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Wang Xiaoshuai‘s ‘So Long, My Son‘ secures a record six nominations.
Chinese films dominate the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) which will be held in Brisbane, Australia, on Novemer 21.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
Films from 22 countries will be represented at the awards but while the likes of India, Japan and Russia have picked up a handful of nods, Chinese films have more than double that of any other country with 13 nominations across seven features.
Wang Xiaoshuai‘s family drama So Long, My Son has secured a record six nominations, including best feature where...
Chinese films dominate the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) which will be held in Brisbane, Australia, on Novemer 21.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
Films from 22 countries will be represented at the awards but while the likes of India, Japan and Russia have picked up a handful of nods, Chinese films have more than double that of any other country with 13 nominations across seven features.
Wang Xiaoshuai‘s family drama So Long, My Son has secured a record six nominations, including best feature where...
- 10/16/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
"Pashka, a dog, be a dog." Kino Lorber has unveiled the official Us trailer for an acclaimed Russian drama titled Beanpole, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this summer. After winning the Best Director in Un Certain Regard award in Cannes, the film has gone on to play at the Telluride, Toronto, Hamburg, London, Busan, and New York Film Festivals this fall. Beanpole is made by a 28-year-old Russian filmmaker named Kantemir Balagov. Set in the city of Leningrad (now known as Saint Petersburg), in 1945 at the end of WWII, two women search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins. Described as a "richly burnished, occasionally harrowing rendering of the persistent scars of war." Starring Viktoria Miroshnichenko & Vasilisa Perelygina. This definitely won't be for everyone; some critics are flipping for it, others not so much. Worth a look anyway, at...
- 10/15/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The horrors of war are often told through male-centric narratives. Heroes who go through hell on the battlefield, brothers who sacrifice everything for each other, soldiers who return home scarred for life etc., all of which we’ve seen put on the big screen time and again. But wars are of course collective nightmares, tears in the fabric of history that leave no one–men, women, children–unscathed.
This is the premise of Russian writer–director Kantemir Balagov’s second feature Beanpole, a radical relationship drama that examines the trauma of war from a distinctly female perspective. It doesn’t feature any battle scene, but shakes you to your core with its depiction of the cold, shell-shocked vacuum that the human mind turns into in the wake of unspeakable atrocities.
Set in post-wwii Leningrad, the film opens with a persistent ringing noise, as if a bomb went off somewhere nearby.
This is the premise of Russian writer–director Kantemir Balagov’s second feature Beanpole, a radical relationship drama that examines the trauma of war from a distinctly female perspective. It doesn’t feature any battle scene, but shakes you to your core with its depiction of the cold, shell-shocked vacuum that the human mind turns into in the wake of unspeakable atrocities.
Set in post-wwii Leningrad, the film opens with a persistent ringing noise, as if a bomb went off somewhere nearby.
- 10/13/2019
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Kantemir Balagov brilliantly deploys shock tactics to weigh the horrors of peace against the trauma of war in 1945 Leningrad
Individuals in shock, a nation in shock, a movie in shock – and, by the end, in fact, its audience in shock. These are the states of mind to be experienced in this brutal and brilliant film by 27-year-old Russian director and co-writer Kantemir Balagov. He finds a spiritual world of Ptsd with his movie set in Leningrad just after the end of the second world war, inspired by The Unwomanly Face of War, the 1985 oral history of Soviet women’s wartime experiences by Svetlana Alexievich. His movie has absorbed the influence of Alexander Sokurov (with whom Balagov in fact studied) and Aleksei German; but Balagov is a fiercely individual and quite staggeringly accomplished talent.
In the shabby, dreary, numbed city of Leningrad in the autumn of 1945 two young women have found...
Individuals in shock, a nation in shock, a movie in shock – and, by the end, in fact, its audience in shock. These are the states of mind to be experienced in this brutal and brilliant film by 27-year-old Russian director and co-writer Kantemir Balagov. He finds a spiritual world of Ptsd with his movie set in Leningrad just after the end of the second world war, inspired by The Unwomanly Face of War, the 1985 oral history of Soviet women’s wartime experiences by Svetlana Alexievich. His movie has absorbed the influence of Alexander Sokurov (with whom Balagov in fact studied) and Aleksei German; but Balagov is a fiercely individual and quite staggeringly accomplished talent.
In the shabby, dreary, numbed city of Leningrad in the autumn of 1945 two young women have found...
- 10/11/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Kino Lorber has jumped on Beanpole, acquiring U.S. rights to the Russian period drama from Kantemir Balagov.
Set in the aftermath of the 1945 siege of Leningrad, Beanpole focuses on two young women, Iya and Masha (actresses Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), who struggle to rebuild their lives among the ruins.
Balagov wrote and directed the film, inspired by the The Unwomanly Face of War, an oral history of the experiences of Russian women during WWII, written by Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich. Alexievich's book was heavily censored when it was first published and only recently appeared in its uncensored form....
Set in the aftermath of the 1945 siege of Leningrad, Beanpole focuses on two young women, Iya and Masha (actresses Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), who struggle to rebuild their lives among the ruins.
Balagov wrote and directed the film, inspired by the The Unwomanly Face of War, an oral history of the experiences of Russian women during WWII, written by Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich. Alexievich's book was heavily censored when it was first published and only recently appeared in its uncensored form....
Kino Lorber has jumped on Beanpole, acquiring U.S. rights to the Russian period drama from Kantemir Balagov.
Set in the aftermath of the 1945 siege of Leningrad, Beanpole focuses on two young women, Iya and Masha (actresses Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), who struggle to rebuild their lives among the ruins.
Balagov wrote and directed the film, inspired by the The Unwomanly Face of War, an oral history of the experiences of Russian women during WWII, written by Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich. Alexievich's book was heavily censored when it was first published and only recently appeared in its uncensored form....
Set in the aftermath of the 1945 siege of Leningrad, Beanpole focuses on two young women, Iya and Masha (actresses Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), who struggle to rebuild their lives among the ruins.
Balagov wrote and directed the film, inspired by the The Unwomanly Face of War, an oral history of the experiences of Russian women during WWII, written by Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich. Alexievich's book was heavily censored when it was first published and only recently appeared in its uncensored form....
In today’s film news roundup, Lily James circles a British drama role, “Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story” has started production, Laika makes a veteran hire and “Beanpole” and “Just Noise” get distribution.
Castings
Lily James is in negotiations to join Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes in the British historical drama “Dig,” set up at Netflix.
Based on a true story, James will portray an archaeology student. Mulligan will play a widow who believes her land contains buried riches and then turns her property into an archaeological site. Fiennes will portray a local archaeologist.
Simon Stone is directing with Gabrielle Tana producing. The project was previously set up for BBC Films with Nicole Kidman attached.
James starred in “Baby Driver” and “Yesterday” and has been shooting a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” alongside Armie Hammer. James is repped by UTA and U.K.’s Tavistock Wood.
Production Starts
Production has...
Castings
Lily James is in negotiations to join Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes in the British historical drama “Dig,” set up at Netflix.
Based on a true story, James will portray an archaeology student. Mulligan will play a widow who believes her land contains buried riches and then turns her property into an archaeological site. Fiennes will portray a local archaeologist.
Simon Stone is directing with Gabrielle Tana producing. The project was previously set up for BBC Films with Nicole Kidman attached.
James starred in “Baby Driver” and “Yesterday” and has been shooting a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” alongside Armie Hammer. James is repped by UTA and U.K.’s Tavistock Wood.
Production Starts
Production has...
- 9/6/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky of Ar Content produced postwar drama.
In the run-up to the Canadian premiere in Tiff, Kino Lorber has acquired Us rights to Kantemir Balagov’s Cannes Un Certain Regard best director prize-winner and festival favourite Beanpole.
The postwar Leningrad-set drama just received its North American premiere in Telluride and screens in Tiff Contemporary World Cinema on Monday (9). After that it plays New York Film Festival and San Sebastian prior to a January 29, 2020, launch at New York’s Film Forum followed by nationwide rollout, and VOD and home video in spring.
Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky of Ar...
In the run-up to the Canadian premiere in Tiff, Kino Lorber has acquired Us rights to Kantemir Balagov’s Cannes Un Certain Regard best director prize-winner and festival favourite Beanpole.
The postwar Leningrad-set drama just received its North American premiere in Telluride and screens in Tiff Contemporary World Cinema on Monday (9). After that it plays New York Film Festival and San Sebastian prior to a January 29, 2020, launch at New York’s Film Forum followed by nationwide rollout, and VOD and home video in spring.
Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky of Ar...
- 9/5/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Film at Lincoln Center has set its main slate of 29 films for the 57th New York Film Festival, running September 27-October 13. The festival already announced it will get underway with the Martin Scorsese-directed The Irishman, with the Noah Baumbach-directed Marriage Story its centerpiece, and the Edward Norton-directed Motherless Brooklyn its closing-night film. Several of the films have played other festivals, including Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winner Parasite and Pain and Glory by Pedro Almodovar, who designed the Nyff poster this year.
Here is how the whole slate looks, with films from 17 countries:
Opening Night
The Irishman
Director: Martin Scorsese
Centerpiece
Marriage Story
Director: Noah Baumbach
Closing Night
Motherless Brooklyn
Director: Edward Norton
Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story
Director: Mati Diop, Us Premiere
Building on the promise—and then some—of her acclaimed shorts, the Diop-directed drama that skirts the line between realism and fantasy, romance and horror,...
Here is how the whole slate looks, with films from 17 countries:
Opening Night
The Irishman
Director: Martin Scorsese
Centerpiece
Marriage Story
Director: Noah Baumbach
Closing Night
Motherless Brooklyn
Director: Edward Norton
Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story
Director: Mati Diop, Us Premiere
Building on the promise—and then some—of her acclaimed shorts, the Diop-directed drama that skirts the line between realism and fantasy, romance and horror,...
- 8/6/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival may be one of the great celebrations for cinema on Earth, but even the best lineup doesn’t guarantee a strong market. Yes, movies sold at the 2019 edition: Highlights such as “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Neon/Hulu), “Les Miserables” (Amazon), “The Climb” (Sony Pictures Classics), and “Atlantics” (Netflix) found homes at the festival and will likely continue to generate buzz throughout the year. But the international context of the festival makes it hard to gauge how films that play in the cinephile-friendly gathering can find success in release. Needless to say, there were several Cannes highlights that ended the festival without North American distribution in place. Here are a few of them. If distributors are reading this, take note: We know you can do this.
“Bacurau”
Nothing in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Sonia Braga drama “Aquarius” could have prepared audiences for this unclassifiable dystopian Western fever dream,...
“Bacurau”
Nothing in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Sonia Braga drama “Aquarius” could have prepared audiences for this unclassifiable dystopian Western fever dream,...
- 5/26/2019
- by Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Going into the Cannes Film Festival, several movies were already generating a lot of buzz, and they certainly delivered for many audiences. Elton John biopic “Rocketman” pleased diehard fans of the singer, who walked the red carpet to much fanfare. Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” brought Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt to Cannes to present some of their best performances yet, as an actor-stuntman duo in 1969 contending with the changing times. As a platform for studio movies generating buzz ahead of their stateside releases, Cannes did not disappoint.
However, the festival offers a whole lot of cinema beyond the most obvious headline-grabbing ingredients. With 69 films in the Official Selection and dozens more in Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, Cannes had plenty of opportunities to celebrate new work from auteur mainstays and major discoveries from new talents. Here are the major highlights.
“A Hidden Life”
Terrence Malick is back.
However, the festival offers a whole lot of cinema beyond the most obvious headline-grabbing ingredients. With 69 films in the Official Selection and dozens more in Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, Cannes had plenty of opportunities to celebrate new work from auteur mainstays and major discoveries from new talents. Here are the major highlights.
“A Hidden Life”
Terrence Malick is back.
- 5/25/2019
- by Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich and Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) suffers from post-concussion syndrome after fighting on the frontlines during the Siege. Now a nurse in a musty Leningrad hospital that heaves with the dead and dying, she’s prone to sudden fits of paralysis; her muscles freeze, her voice is swallowed by a feeble croak, and her long alabaster body is no longer under her control. In these vulnerable moments, Iya truly earns the nickname that gives “Beanpole” its title: The crane-like twenty-something — whose white eyebrows make it seem as though the cold she experienced in the army may have altered her on a genetic level — goes stiff as a stick, and would tip right over at the slightest touch.
Iya’s condition may be unique, but she’s far from the only character in Kantemir Balagov’s stolid yet achingly sympathetic post-war drama who’s struggling to regain a hold on themselves. Many of the...
Iya’s condition may be unique, but she’s far from the only character in Kantemir Balagov’s stolid yet achingly sympathetic post-war drama who’s struggling to regain a hold on themselves. Many of the...
- 5/16/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
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