Sometimes summer nights call out for a deep dive into nostalgic cinematographic homages. “Manila”, a 2009 movie directed by Adolf Alix Jr. and Raya Martin, might be just the perfect choice, accompanying us with an ode to Filipino cinema. The film was screened as part of unique, out-of-competition screenings at the 31st Moscow International Film Festival and the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.
By independent directors Raya Martin and Adolfo Alix Jr., the movie pays their homage to masterpieces of Filipino neorealism “City After Dark“, also known as “Manila by Night” (1980) by Ishmael Bernal and “Jaguar” (1979) by Lino Brocka. The project perfectly succeeds in its goal to open the door for a new audience to learn about the wonderful works of the old masters.
The social environment that Manila provided for those topics hasn't changed all that much in the last three decades, after all. A disconnected, dialogue-free montage separates the two short films,...
By independent directors Raya Martin and Adolfo Alix Jr., the movie pays their homage to masterpieces of Filipino neorealism “City After Dark“, also known as “Manila by Night” (1980) by Ishmael Bernal and “Jaguar” (1979) by Lino Brocka. The project perfectly succeeds in its goal to open the door for a new audience to learn about the wonderful works of the old masters.
The social environment that Manila provided for those topics hasn't changed all that much in the last three decades, after all. A disconnected, dialogue-free montage separates the two short films,...
- 7/15/2023
- by Federica Giampaolo
- AsianMoviePulse
The trailer has debuted for feature documentary “Dancing on the Edge of the Volcano,” which will have its world premiere in the Main Competition at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Cyril Aris’ film centers on the aftermath of the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, which leaves a large part of the Lebanese capital in ruins. In the midst of the chaos, a film crew face an overwhelming decision: to continue the production of their movie or abandon it? They are torn between their firm belief in the transformative power of cinema and a deep sense of cynicism about its ability to effect change in a nation plagued by economic turmoil and societal collapse.
In a statement, Aris said: “For a region mired in political strife and economic difficulties, art has always been deemed as luxury not only by most Arab governments, but by the general population. Thus,...
Cyril Aris’ film centers on the aftermath of the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, which leaves a large part of the Lebanese capital in ruins. In the midst of the chaos, a film crew face an overwhelming decision: to continue the production of their movie or abandon it? They are torn between their firm belief in the transformative power of cinema and a deep sense of cynicism about its ability to effect change in a nation plagued by economic turmoil and societal collapse.
In a statement, Aris said: “For a region mired in political strife and economic difficulties, art has always been deemed as luxury not only by most Arab governments, but by the general population. Thus,...
- 6/29/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
“Ars Colonia” is an experimental, 1:12 minute short that was commissioned by IFFR in 2011 and was screened before all films supported by Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund.
“Ars Colonia” is streaming on Metrograph, as part of the Kalampag Tracking Agency Shorts Program
The short is split into two parts. The first part focuses on a conquistador who is fixing his gaze on the island that he is about to conquer. Actually, the camera alternates between a series of islands and the sky, which changes a number of colors, including brown and a rather intense reddish pink. The second part consists of a kind of animation one could say, as color explosions fill the screen, resulting in a series of abstract images, including ones with polka dots, while the screen changes colors almost constantly.
Implementing the style of early silent movies, which were frequently hand-colored, Raya Martin presents a surrealistic story essentially,...
“Ars Colonia” is streaming on Metrograph, as part of the Kalampag Tracking Agency Shorts Program
The short is split into two parts. The first part focuses on a conquistador who is fixing his gaze on the island that he is about to conquer. Actually, the camera alternates between a series of islands and the sky, which changes a number of colors, including brown and a rather intense reddish pink. The second part consists of a kind of animation one could say, as color explosions fill the screen, resulting in a series of abstract images, including ones with polka dots, while the screen changes colors almost constantly.
Implementing the style of early silent movies, which were frequently hand-colored, Raya Martin presents a surrealistic story essentially,...
- 8/24/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Ambulance (Michael Bay)
The Marvel machine may be the most fortuitous development for Michael Bay. Though the director hasn’t dabbled in the world of superheroes—despite a fondness for a cinematic universe of the robot variety—the homogenized, green-screen wasteland of today’s box-office behemoths has indirectly led to a reappreciation of the director’s schoolboy giddiness for practical effects and continually upping the ante for where he can place a camera. As bombastic and occasionally mind-numbing as his approach may be, there’s distinct poetry to the momentum of a maximalist vision where previs filmmaking vis-a-vis a committee is not only missing from his vocabulary, but a kinetic approach makes such a proposition nigh impossible. With Ambulance, a streamlined spectacle that borrows liberally from Heat,...
Ambulance (Michael Bay)
The Marvel machine may be the most fortuitous development for Michael Bay. Though the director hasn’t dabbled in the world of superheroes—despite a fondness for a cinematic universe of the robot variety—the homogenized, green-screen wasteland of today’s box-office behemoths has indirectly led to a reappreciation of the director’s schoolboy giddiness for practical effects and continually upping the ante for where he can place a camera. As bombastic and occasionally mind-numbing as his approach may be, there’s distinct poetry to the momentum of a maximalist vision where previs filmmaking vis-a-vis a committee is not only missing from his vocabulary, but a kinetic approach makes such a proposition nigh impossible. With Ambulance, a streamlined spectacle that borrows liberally from Heat,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Mubi has unveiled its streaming offerings this April in the U.S. and leading the pack is a special spotlight on Franz Rogowski, star of their recent theatrical release Great Freedom. Selections include Christian Petzold’s Transit as well as a pair of underseen offerings, Luzifer and Aisles.
Also in the lineup are a number of recent releases, including Dominik Graf’s Fabian: Going to the Dogs, Alice Rohrwacher, Francesco Munzi, and Pietro Marcello’s Futura, Mario Furloni and Kate McLean’s Freeland, and Sion Sono’s Red Post On Escher Street. Timed with her new documentary Cow, a trio of shorts by Andrea Arnold will also arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
April 1 | Battle Royale | Kinji Fukasaku
April 2 | Mood Indigo | Michel Gondry
April 3 | Army of Shadows | Jean-Pierre Melville
April 4 | Wasp | Andrea Arnold | Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold
April 5 | Tracks | Henry Jaglom | Method in the...
Also in the lineup are a number of recent releases, including Dominik Graf’s Fabian: Going to the Dogs, Alice Rohrwacher, Francesco Munzi, and Pietro Marcello’s Futura, Mario Furloni and Kate McLean’s Freeland, and Sion Sono’s Red Post On Escher Street. Timed with her new documentary Cow, a trio of shorts by Andrea Arnold will also arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
April 1 | Battle Royale | Kinji Fukasaku
April 2 | Mood Indigo | Michel Gondry
April 3 | Army of Shadows | Jean-Pierre Melville
April 4 | Wasp | Andrea Arnold | Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold
April 5 | Tracks | Henry Jaglom | Method in the...
- 3/31/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Award-winning Taiwan actors Ding Ning and Tsao Yu-Ning have joined the cast of “Pierce” a sports drama film hailing from Jeremy Chua’s Singapore production firm Potocol.
Ding, who won a Golden Horse Award for her supporting role in “Cities of Last Things,” and Tsao, who won at the Taipei Film Festival for his supporting role in another sports drama, 2014 baseball tale “Kano,” respectively play the mother and elder brother of a promising young fencer. The high school fencer is portrayed by rising star Liu Hsiu-Fu.
The story sees the youngster choose to trust and help his dangerous older brother who is released from jail. This means defying their mother’s attempts to bury the brother’s existence and hide the family’s traumatic past.
The film is written and directed by first-time feature director Nelicia Low, who previously represented Singapore on the country’s national fencing team, before retiring to focus on filmmaking.
Ding, who won a Golden Horse Award for her supporting role in “Cities of Last Things,” and Tsao, who won at the Taipei Film Festival for his supporting role in another sports drama, 2014 baseball tale “Kano,” respectively play the mother and elder brother of a promising young fencer. The high school fencer is portrayed by rising star Liu Hsiu-Fu.
The story sees the youngster choose to trust and help his dangerous older brother who is released from jail. This means defying their mother’s attempts to bury the brother’s existence and hide the family’s traumatic past.
The film is written and directed by first-time feature director Nelicia Low, who previously represented Singapore on the country’s national fencing team, before retiring to focus on filmmaking.
- 9/14/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The FilmPhilippines Office of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp) has trebled its annual filming incentives budget from $1 million to $3 million, effective from 2022.
The Philippines offers a range of incentives, including rebate schemes for local and international projects.
“Electric Child” by Swiss Simon Jaquemet, produced by Switzerland’s 8horses GmbH with local production company Epicmedia Productions, was recently approved to receive a 20% cash rebate on its eligible expenses in the Philippines under the Location Incentive Program. The fund requires a minimum qualified production spending of Php 8 million in the Philippines in order to receive a 20% cash rebate that is capped at Php 10 million.
The Fdcp also recently launched CreatePHFilms, a production fund worth $600,000 that supports local films from script through distribution. Production costs are low in the Philippines, compared to the West. “It’s still substantial knowing that the median production cost average production is around Php 8 million in the Philippines,...
The Philippines offers a range of incentives, including rebate schemes for local and international projects.
“Electric Child” by Swiss Simon Jaquemet, produced by Switzerland’s 8horses GmbH with local production company Epicmedia Productions, was recently approved to receive a 20% cash rebate on its eligible expenses in the Philippines under the Location Incentive Program. The fund requires a minimum qualified production spending of Php 8 million in the Philippines in order to receive a 20% cash rebate that is capped at Php 10 million.
The Fdcp also recently launched CreatePHFilms, a production fund worth $600,000 that supports local films from script through distribution. Production costs are low in the Philippines, compared to the West. “It’s still substantial knowing that the median production cost average production is around Php 8 million in the Philippines,...
- 7/11/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua has amassed an impressive body of work in a relatively short period of time. Adullaah Mohammad Saad’s “Rehana,” a Singapore/Bangladesh co-production led by Chua’s Potocol, will pay at Un Certain Regard. “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery” (2016) by Philippines auteur Lav Diaz had considerable festival play, including at Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian and Busan; Ying Liang’s “A Family Tour” (2018) was at Locarno, New York and London; Bradley Liew’s “Motel Acacia” played Tokyo, Taipei and Bucheon; John Clang’s “A Love Unknown” (2020) bowed at Rotterdam; while Raya Martin’s “Death of Nintendo” (2020) debuted at Berlin.
His other Cannes trips accompanied “A Yellow Bird” by K. Rajagopal, which was at the Cinéfondation L’Atelier in 2014 followed by a premiere at the 2016 Critics’ Week. In 2019, he produced “The Women” by The Maw Naing, which was also at Cinéfondation.
What attracted you to “Rehana?” How did you meet Saad?...
His other Cannes trips accompanied “A Yellow Bird” by K. Rajagopal, which was at the Cinéfondation L’Atelier in 2014 followed by a premiere at the 2016 Critics’ Week. In 2019, he produced “The Women” by The Maw Naing, which was also at Cinéfondation.
What attracted you to “Rehana?” How did you meet Saad?...
- 7/6/2021
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
Now you can begin to look forward to the upcoming Year of the Ox, already Terracotta has been adding a host of new Third Window titles available to purchase on their store, such as punk adventure Fish Story and Sion Sono’s epic, Love Exposure. You can see the list of new additions here.
Recently they have released the culinary yakuza story, Tokyo Dragon Chef, on DVD and VOD. And you can pre-order one of 2,000 limited edition copies of Meatball Machine with slipcase of illustrated artwork and specially commissioned extra features.
Continuing with the celebrations, they are also offering our readers a 15% discount on our DVD and blu-ray store if you use code LNY21 – valid until 11.59pm on the 12th February UK time.
Finally, sister label Sharp Teeth Films is releasing Butchers, a Wrong Turn / Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque horror on VOD 22nd Feb and on DVD on 8th March.
VOD...
Recently they have released the culinary yakuza story, Tokyo Dragon Chef, on DVD and VOD. And you can pre-order one of 2,000 limited edition copies of Meatball Machine with slipcase of illustrated artwork and specially commissioned extra features.
Continuing with the celebrations, they are also offering our readers a 15% discount on our DVD and blu-ray store if you use code LNY21 – valid until 11.59pm on the 12th February UK time.
Finally, sister label Sharp Teeth Films is releasing Butchers, a Wrong Turn / Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque horror on VOD 22nd Feb and on DVD on 8th March.
VOD...
- 2/8/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Above: French petite poster for Mirror. Designer unknown.I first saw Tarkovsky’s Mirror—a film I consistently name as my favorite film of all time—in December 1987, at the Cosmos Theater on the Rue de Rennes in Paris. The Cosmos was a large Art Deco theater that had opened in 1934 as the Lux Rennes and in 1962 had been purchased by Jacques Tati and renamed L’Arlequin. In 1978 it was bought by a company that specialized in imports from the Ussr; they changed its name to Le Cosmos and for the next 14 years focused on screening Soviet films. It was during that period that I saw Mirror though I knew none of that history at the time. (In 1992 it was renamed L’Arlequin and still operates under that name today.) The poster above, which I assume dates from the film’s first release in France in 1978, was probably the poster...
- 1/29/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe prolific, captivating Sean Connery has died. As critic Glenn Kenny writes in his obituary for Decider, Connery will always be "tied to the role of James Bond, [but] so many of Connery’s non-Bond roles were [...] fascinating, challenging, and cinematically important." Recommended VIEWINGGrasshopper Films' official trailer for the new 4k digital restoration of Manoel de Oliveira's 1981 Francisca, an adaptation of Agustina Bessa-Luís’ acclaimed novel. Oscilloscope has released the first trailer for The Twentieth Century, Matthew Rankine's dark comedy-drama that reimagines the life of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. The film won the Fipresci prize in the Forum section of the 2019 Berlinale. The Asian Film Archive has announced Monographs 2020, a series of video essays commissioned and conceived during lockdown. Featuring a wide range of filmmakers, the series aims to offer "an...
- 11/4/2020
- MUBI
Coming-of-age narratives live or die based on the authenticity of their vision, especially those that take place in the not-so-distant past. Since the genre’s basic construct is ubiquitous, the devil always lies in the details. Time period, language, cultural and social artifacts; each of these factors help recreate a certain moment that may (or may not) inspire bouts of nostalgia in those viewers who lived through the era being depicted.
With its good-hearted nature, American pop music cues, and candy-colored vision of early 1990s Philippines, Death of Nintendo will undoubtedly appeal to anyone who grew up playing Super Mario Brothers and wearing Reebok Pumps. Written and produced by Valerie Castillo Martinez, Death of Nintendo merges both western and Filipino influences in its depiction of young love, jealousy, and rivalry. The overlap even produces tensions directly related to class and gender.
Directed with a light hand by indie stalwart Raya Martin,...
With its good-hearted nature, American pop music cues, and candy-colored vision of early 1990s Philippines, Death of Nintendo will undoubtedly appeal to anyone who grew up playing Super Mario Brothers and wearing Reebok Pumps. Written and produced by Valerie Castillo Martinez, Death of Nintendo merges both western and Filipino influences in its depiction of young love, jealousy, and rivalry. The overlap even produces tensions directly related to class and gender.
Directed with a light hand by indie stalwart Raya Martin,...
- 10/22/2020
- by Glenn Heath Jr.
- The Film Stage
A double San Sebastian Golden Shell winner with “The Double Steps” (2011) and “Between Two Waters” (2018), Isaki Lacuesta is teaming with Tamara Iglesias’ Atekaleun and Víctor Iriarte’s Cajaconcosasdentro to co-produce “Reescritura” (“Rewriting”), Iriarte’s fiction feature debut. Lacuesta will co-produce out of his label La Termita Films.
Catalan auteur Lacuesta has produced to date only one feature that he didn’t direct: Jordi Morató’s documentary “The Creator of the Jungle,” made in 2013.
San Sebastian’s Vitrine Films, formerly based in Brazil, is attached to the project for Spanish distribution.
According to Iriarte, “Reescritura” is “a noir portraying three main characters searching for their place in the world. A feature with three murders, two robberies and a getaway.”
“Víctor is a very singular filmmaker. One of the few with a voice of his own,” Lacuesta told Variety “It’s very difficult to share this assertion, because all his short pieces...
Catalan auteur Lacuesta has produced to date only one feature that he didn’t direct: Jordi Morató’s documentary “The Creator of the Jungle,” made in 2013.
San Sebastian’s Vitrine Films, formerly based in Brazil, is attached to the project for Spanish distribution.
According to Iriarte, “Reescritura” is “a noir portraying three main characters searching for their place in the world. A feature with three murders, two robberies and a getaway.”
“Víctor is a very singular filmmaker. One of the few with a voice of his own,” Lacuesta told Variety “It’s very difficult to share this assertion, because all his short pieces...
- 9/21/2020
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Kristine Kintana is a production manager, at least when she is not acting, designing costumes, subtitling or doing anything in fact, for the films of Lav Diaz and Khavn for the most part. Occasionally she also programs for festivals like Cinemanila and QCinema.
On the occasion of our #TheKhavnProject, we speak with her about her life, career, programming, working in movies, the way the industry works in the Philippines, the festival reality after the pandemic, and of course, Khavn.
Can you give us some info on your background on cinema?
My first course was computer science in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, and then I was kicked out. I had to move back to Manila, and start again from scratch. I ended up studying Mass Communications in Far Eastern University. It took me eight years in total to finish college.
My first ‘job’ in the film industry...
On the occasion of our #TheKhavnProject, we speak with her about her life, career, programming, working in movies, the way the industry works in the Philippines, the festival reality after the pandemic, and of course, Khavn.
Can you give us some info on your background on cinema?
My first course was computer science in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, and then I was kicked out. I had to move back to Manila, and start again from scratch. I ended up studying Mass Communications in Far Eastern University. It took me eight years in total to finish college.
My first ‘job’ in the film industry...
- 5/18/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In 2012, Khavn wrote an editorial for a retrospective of Filipino films titled “Philippine New Wave” that took place at the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival. In this text, he mentions, “Now we come to this third peaking, the third coming of age of a cinema that defies easy categorization. After more than a decade of near silence, Philippine cinema is once again vibrant, plucky and so wildly diverse, that each filmmaker could be his or her own “new wave.”
On the one hand, there are the lengthy, minimalist, poetic films of Lav Diaz, and on the other, the ostensibly avant-garde and distinctly regional storytelling of young turks like Christopher Gozum. (…)
The icing on the cake is, of course, Brillante Mendoza’s best director win at Cannes for “Kinatay.”
This period is unprecedented. There has never before been recognition of this magnitude and relentless consistency for Filipino filmmakers, and there has...
On the one hand, there are the lengthy, minimalist, poetic films of Lav Diaz, and on the other, the ostensibly avant-garde and distinctly regional storytelling of young turks like Christopher Gozum. (…)
The icing on the cake is, of course, Brillante Mendoza’s best director win at Cannes for “Kinatay.”
This period is unprecedented. There has never before been recognition of this magnitude and relentless consistency for Filipino filmmakers, and there has...
- 5/6/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The “Stranger Things” wave has been sending ripples all over the world since 2016, when it was first screened, particularly regarding the 90’s nostalgia that has become kind of a trend. Raya Martin presents the Filipino take on the wave.
The story takes place in Manila in the 1990s, and revolves around four junior high school friends. Paolo is living with his mother and a housemaid, in a rather rich house that includes all the latest Nintendo video games, thus providing the “entertainment center” for the gang. Gilligan’s family is relatively well-off, but it is his sister, Mimaw who plays a crucial role for the company, being the constant voice of logic and calm. Mimaw also seems to like Paolo, but he has set his eyes on a rich, popular girl, despite their difference in “school status”. Kachi is quite poor, with his family barely having enough to get by,...
The story takes place in Manila in the 1990s, and revolves around four junior high school friends. Paolo is living with his mother and a housemaid, in a rather rich house that includes all the latest Nintendo video games, thus providing the “entertainment center” for the gang. Gilligan’s family is relatively well-off, but it is his sister, Mimaw who plays a crucial role for the company, being the constant voice of logic and calm. Mimaw also seems to like Paolo, but he has set his eyes on a rich, popular girl, despite their difference in “school status”. Kachi is quite poor, with his family barely having enough to get by,...
- 3/20/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
A little bit of the Berlinale is here at Hollywood News today, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, I’ve got a Berlin International Film Festival review to file. It’s for Death of Nintendo, a coming of age period piece, even if the period being discussed is the recent past, specifically the 90’s. Folks over in Berlin really enjoyed this one, and if the movie is handled properly, it could very well become a crossover success on the independent film scene later on this year. It has got the goods, that’s for sure. Foreign titles breaking through are always a crapshoot, but after Parasite making Oscar history, anything is possible, so hope springs eternal here for this effort from the Philippines. The movie is a coming of age tale, taking place in the 1990’s, and specifically in suburban Manila. Plot wise, it’s very reminiscent of any number of coming of age stories,...
- 2/23/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Filipino director Raya Martin was caught out, for a moment, when first pitching the project that would eventually become his latest feature, Death of Nintendo. Then he decided to simply tell it like it is.
"This film is Stand by Me … with circumcision," Martin remembers saying, referencing Rob Reiner’s 1986 classic.
"I was unsure at first how best to describe what we were trying to do," he explains. "Then I realized the truth always works best."
Making its world premiere as part of Berlin's Generation Kplus program, the Philippines-u.S. co-production is a ...
"This film is Stand by Me … with circumcision," Martin remembers saying, referencing Rob Reiner’s 1986 classic.
"I was unsure at first how best to describe what we were trying to do," he explains. "Then I realized the truth always works best."
Making its world premiere as part of Berlin's Generation Kplus program, the Philippines-u.S. co-production is a ...
- 2/20/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Filipino director Raya Martin was caught out, for a moment, when first pitching the project that would eventually become his latest feature, Death of Nintendo. Then he decided to simply tell it like it is.
"This film is Stand by Me … with circumcision," Martin remembers saying, referencing Rob Reiner’s 1986 classic.
"I was unsure at first how best to describe what we were trying to do," he explains. "Then I realized the truth always works best."
Making its world premiere as part of Berlin's Generation Kplus program, the Philippines-u.S. co-production is a ...
"This film is Stand by Me … with circumcision," Martin remembers saying, referencing Rob Reiner’s 1986 classic.
"I was unsure at first how best to describe what we were trying to do," he explains. "Then I realized the truth always works best."
Making its world premiere as part of Berlin's Generation Kplus program, the Philippines-u.S. co-production is a ...
- 2/20/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
This is the 12th film by Raya Martin, who broke through with his 2009 Un Certain Regard title Independencia.
Italian sales company Tvco has boarded Death Of Nintendo, premiering in the Generation Kplus strand at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Set in Manila in the 1990s, the Filipino-American production is a coming of age dramedy in which four teenage friends go on a journey of self-discovery together as they try to one-up each other’s high scores and face life’s obstacles.
This is the 12th film by Raya Martin, who broke through with his 2009 Un Certain Regard title Independencia.
Italian sales company Tvco has boarded Death Of Nintendo, premiering in the Generation Kplus strand at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Set in Manila in the 1990s, the Filipino-American production is a coming of age dramedy in which four teenage friends go on a journey of self-discovery together as they try to one-up each other’s high scores and face life’s obstacles.
This is the 12th film by Raya Martin, who broke through with his 2009 Un Certain Regard title Independencia.
- 2/19/2020
- by 1100976¦Gabriele Niola¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Matteo Garrone to present ‘Pinocchio’ as the first Berlinale Special Gala.
The Berlinale has revealed the first films set to be screened at the 70th edition of the festival.
They include the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, from Italian director Matteo Garrone, which is the first Berlinale Special Gala to be announced – a category that replaces ‘out of competition’. It will mark the international premiere of the film, starring Roberto Benigni, which is released in Italy this weekend.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The first 18 films selected for the Panorama strand have also been named, including 11 world premieres.
Among...
The Berlinale has revealed the first films set to be screened at the 70th edition of the festival.
They include the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, from Italian director Matteo Garrone, which is the first Berlinale Special Gala to be announced – a category that replaces ‘out of competition’. It will mark the international premiere of the film, starring Roberto Benigni, which is released in Italy this weekend.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The first 18 films selected for the Panorama strand have also been named, including 11 world premieres.
Among...
- 12/17/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Matteo Garrone to present ‘Pinocchio’ as the first Berlinale Special Gala.
The Berlinale has revealed the first films set to be screened at the 70th edition of the festival.
They include the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, from Italian director Matteo Garrone, which is the first Berlinale Special Gala to be announced – a category that replaces ‘out of competition’. It will mark the international premiere of the film, starring Roberto Benigni, which is released in Italy this weekend.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The first 18 films selected for the Panorama strand have also been named, including 11 world premieres.
Among...
The Berlinale has revealed the first films set to be screened at the 70th edition of the festival.
They include the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, from Italian director Matteo Garrone, which is the first Berlinale Special Gala to be announced – a category that replaces ‘out of competition’. It will mark the international premiere of the film, starring Roberto Benigni, which is released in Italy this weekend.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The first 18 films selected for the Panorama strand have also been named, including 11 world premieres.
Among...
- 12/17/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The 2020 Berlin Film Festival, the first edition under new artistic director Carlo Chatrian, has unveiled its first wave of titles.
Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio, starring Roberto Benigni, will have its international premiere at the festival as a Berlinale Special Gala. The team have removed the ‘out of competition’ classification this year and those films will now play as Special Galas. Pinocchio is released theatrically in Italy this weekend and Berlin will mark its festival premiere.
“Garrone succeeds in re-telling the well-known story with his very own world of images. Although he is faithful to Carlo Collodi’s ideas, he has nevertheless created a very personal Pinocchio that is much more cheerful than we’ve experienced before,” commented Carlo Chatrian on the selection.
Also announced today were four films in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino program, which presents debut features. The section will open with Kids Run from Barbara Ott, whose graduation...
Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio, starring Roberto Benigni, will have its international premiere at the festival as a Berlinale Special Gala. The team have removed the ‘out of competition’ classification this year and those films will now play as Special Galas. Pinocchio is released theatrically in Italy this weekend and Berlin will mark its festival premiere.
“Garrone succeeds in re-telling the well-known story with his very own world of images. Although he is faithful to Carlo Collodi’s ideas, he has nevertheless created a very personal Pinocchio that is much more cheerful than we’ve experienced before,” commented Carlo Chatrian on the selection.
Also announced today were four films in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino program, which presents debut features. The section will open with Kids Run from Barbara Ott, whose graduation...
- 12/17/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Across Asia Film Festival (Aaff) in Cagliari, in the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia, is back on the 14th of December with a Programme focused mainly on the Philippines and Taiwan, including collateral events, guests and some interesting gems, like a restored edition of the classic Lino Brocka’s “Manila in the Claws of Light”, a Masterclass with directors Shireen Seno and John Torres and the Italian Premiere of “The Kalampag Tracking Agency” an ongoing curatorial initiative between Shireen Seno of Los Otros and Merv Espina of Generation Loss.
Across Asia Film Festival is focused on most interesting languages of recent cinematographic production from Asia, with the goal of promoting and developing cultural exchanges between Italian and foreigners communities. Stefano Galanti and Maria Paola Zedda are the creators and the artistic directors of the event.
“Nina Wu” by Midi Z
The Festival will kick off with “The Night of the...
Across Asia Film Festival is focused on most interesting languages of recent cinematographic production from Asia, with the goal of promoting and developing cultural exchanges between Italian and foreigners communities. Stefano Galanti and Maria Paola Zedda are the creators and the artistic directors of the event.
“Nina Wu” by Midi Z
The Festival will kick off with “The Night of the...
- 12/6/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
A champion of Southeast Asian independent cinema, the Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) announced three commissioned short films anchored on the theme of celebration, by Southeast Asian directors Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore), Mouly Surya (Indonesia) and Anucha Boonyawatana (Thailand) today. This is the first commission series for Southeast Asian filmmakers in the history of Sgiff, which furthers its support to growing the regional film scene.
Exploring the complexity of human connections, Yeo Siew Hua’s short film Incantation (2019) returned to his experimental roots where he explored the age-old rituals of ancient spells, spirits and the idea of resurrection during Hungry Ghost Festival. Mouly Surya’s Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue (2019) uses wry humour to present a forward-looking take of gender roles in today’s society through the intimate interactions between a mother and a bride-to-be at a traditional wedding procession; while Anucha Boonyawatana’s Not A Time to Celebrate...
Exploring the complexity of human connections, Yeo Siew Hua’s short film Incantation (2019) returned to his experimental roots where he explored the age-old rituals of ancient spells, spirits and the idea of resurrection during Hungry Ghost Festival. Mouly Surya’s Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue (2019) uses wry humour to present a forward-looking take of gender roles in today’s society through the intimate interactions between a mother and a bride-to-be at a traditional wedding procession; while Anucha Boonyawatana’s Not A Time to Celebrate...
- 10/8/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
South East Asian filmmakers, Mouly Surya, Yeo Siew Hua and Anucha Boonyawatana have received commissions to direct short movies for the Singapore International Film Festival.
Although other film festivals in Asia including Tokyo and Jeonju have previously ventured into production, it is a first for the Sgiff. It gave the trio the topic ‘celebration’ to work with.
Yeo, director of 2018 Locarno Winner “A Land Imagined,” delivered “Incantation,” an exploration of the age-old rituals of ancient spells, spirits and the idea of resurrection during Hungry Ghost Festival. Indonesian musician turned filmmaker Surya (“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”), shot “Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue,” a look at gender roles in today’s society told through the intimate interactions between a mother and a bride-to-be at a traditional wedding procession. Thailand’s Boonyawatana (“Malila: The Farewell Flower”) hatched “Not A Time to Celebrate,” a light-hearted and cheeky take on the rewards and harsh reality of filmmaking.
Although other film festivals in Asia including Tokyo and Jeonju have previously ventured into production, it is a first for the Sgiff. It gave the trio the topic ‘celebration’ to work with.
Yeo, director of 2018 Locarno Winner “A Land Imagined,” delivered “Incantation,” an exploration of the age-old rituals of ancient spells, spirits and the idea of resurrection during Hungry Ghost Festival. Indonesian musician turned filmmaker Surya (“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”), shot “Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue,” a look at gender roles in today’s society told through the intimate interactions between a mother and a bride-to-be at a traditional wedding procession. Thailand’s Boonyawatana (“Malila: The Farewell Flower”) hatched “Not A Time to Celebrate,” a light-hearted and cheeky take on the rewards and harsh reality of filmmaking.
- 10/7/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The prodigious and prolific Raya Martin is an artist whose works seem to infinitely expand into new levels of breadth and depth. Writer Adrian Mendizabal has provided an immense overview of Martin's "baffling oeuvre and innovative style" as displayed in his feature-length films, particularly his deconstructivist approach to postcolonial realities in the Philippines. But his short films, a number of which I've compiled here, are not to be overlooked. The trio included here can be seen as loosely strung together as a trilogy of impressionist journeys pushed by tides of change. The 2007 short film Track Projections is constructed upon a central movement in which the camera-holder opens and closes the aperture, letting sunlight flow in and out of the lens like an eye that blinks. When the eye is opened once more, we are on a moving train that runs through daytime until it becomes sunset, freeway to forest, then back to the city.
- 5/31/2019
- MUBI
The first-ever Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival recently announced a call for film and script submissions, as well as screenings for Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, and a tribute to the late Fox series Sleepy Hollow. Also: release details for Smaller and Smaller Circles and a Devil May Cry 5 Q&A with composer Cody Matthew Johnson!
Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival Call for Submissions: "Announcing the first annual Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival (Shiff) to take place in Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, New York, on October 10-13, 2019. The fest’s official site www.sleepyhollowfilmfest.com is now accepting film and script submissions!
Exciting premiere feature films and groundbreaking new films in competition will screen alongside thrilling retrospectives, live events, and panels. Venues include the historic Tarrytown Music Hall, the Warner Library and others to be announced.
“Certain it is, the place still continues...
Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival Call for Submissions: "Announcing the first annual Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival (Shiff) to take place in Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, New York, on October 10-13, 2019. The fest’s official site www.sleepyhollowfilmfest.com is now accepting film and script submissions!
Exciting premiere feature films and groundbreaking new films in competition will screen alongside thrilling retrospectives, live events, and panels. Venues include the historic Tarrytown Music Hall, the Warner Library and others to be announced.
“Certain it is, the place still continues...
- 3/5/2019
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Six inaugural grantees unveiled.
The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) and Pond5 are launching a filmmaking fund to support sustainable careers for filmmakers and have announced the first six grantees.
The programme is funded by tax-deductable donations and artists will be able to apply for micro-grants three times a year. Pond5, which describes itself as the world’s largest stock video marketplace, will match donations.
The grants will address the needs of artists who lack resources during what the partners called “in-between” phases, including research, creative collaboration, festival travel, content, community screenings, outside-the-box mentorship, and extra release support.
Tfi executive director Amy Hobby,...
The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) and Pond5 are launching a filmmaking fund to support sustainable careers for filmmakers and have announced the first six grantees.
The programme is funded by tax-deductable donations and artists will be able to apply for micro-grants three times a year. Pond5, which describes itself as the world’s largest stock video marketplace, will match donations.
The grants will address the needs of artists who lack resources during what the partners called “in-between” phases, including research, creative collaboration, festival travel, content, community screenings, outside-the-box mentorship, and extra release support.
Tfi executive director Amy Hobby,...
- 12/12/2018
- by Mark A. Silba
- ScreenDaily
“Time and forgetfulness are the enemies of abusers.”
When novelist Filipino writer and journalist Felisa Batacan wrote “Smaller and Smaller Circles”, the crime story revolving around a series of murders of children was meant as a mirror of her home country. Even though it follows the conventions of a crime novel, the themes it touches are deeply embedded within Filipino politics and society, its “unwillingness to embrace change” as well as many other frustrations she and others felt at the time. Most significantly, the gap between the rich and poor had become extreme with an upper class completely oblivious to the world in their ivory towers and the rest trying to make ends meet scavenging food and surviving one day to the next.
Smaller and Smaller Circles screened at Fractured Visions Film Festival
Of course, the image sounds exaggerated, but the attitude Batacan witnessed and described is not. The differences...
When novelist Filipino writer and journalist Felisa Batacan wrote “Smaller and Smaller Circles”, the crime story revolving around a series of murders of children was meant as a mirror of her home country. Even though it follows the conventions of a crime novel, the themes it touches are deeply embedded within Filipino politics and society, its “unwillingness to embrace change” as well as many other frustrations she and others felt at the time. Most significantly, the gap between the rich and poor had become extreme with an upper class completely oblivious to the world in their ivory towers and the rest trying to make ends meet scavenging food and surviving one day to the next.
Smaller and Smaller Circles screened at Fractured Visions Film Festival
Of course, the image sounds exaggerated, but the attitude Batacan witnessed and described is not. The differences...
- 9/30/2018
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The organisers of the Fractured Visions Film Festival have announced the line-up for their inaugural event. Says the organisers:
Over the past 10 months the festival has been privileged to witness some of the finest examples of modern horror from across the world. But after a tough selection process with dozens of stunning submissions, the official selection for the 2018 Fractured Visions Film Festival has been made.
Children Of The Fall (Israel) – UK Premiere
Rachel Strode, a young immigrant with a dark past, arrives in Israel during the Fall of 1973 to volunteer in a Kibbutz and to convert to Judaism. Soon, she realises that the local Kibbutz members don’t take kindly to foreigners, and the evening of Yom Kippur (the most important holiday in the Jewish faith), brings a brutal threat to her and her fellow volunteers. What began as a fun celebration of youth quickly turns into a menacing and bloody night of terror,...
Over the past 10 months the festival has been privileged to witness some of the finest examples of modern horror from across the world. But after a tough selection process with dozens of stunning submissions, the official selection for the 2018 Fractured Visions Film Festival has been made.
Children Of The Fall (Israel) – UK Premiere
Rachel Strode, a young immigrant with a dark past, arrives in Israel during the Fall of 1973 to volunteer in a Kibbutz and to convert to Judaism. Soon, she realises that the local Kibbutz members don’t take kindly to foreigners, and the evening of Yom Kippur (the most important holiday in the Jewish faith), brings a brutal threat to her and her fellow volunteers. What began as a fun celebration of youth quickly turns into a menacing and bloody night of terror,...
- 8/24/2018
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Event will take place on September 29 and 30.
Fractured Visions Film Festival, a two-day event showcasing horror cinema from across the world, has revealed the official selection for its inaugural event.
Taking place on September 29 and 30 at Tramshed in Cardiff, the official selection includes three UK premieres and five Welsh premieres.
Titles chosen include the UK premiere of Eitan Gafny’s Children Of The Fall, which premiered at Tallinn Black Nights. The film is about a young immigrant arriving in Israel who looks to convert to Judaism, but soon realises the local Kibbutz members don’t take kindly to foreigners.
Also...
Fractured Visions Film Festival, a two-day event showcasing horror cinema from across the world, has revealed the official selection for its inaugural event.
Taking place on September 29 and 30 at Tramshed in Cardiff, the official selection includes three UK premieres and five Welsh premieres.
Titles chosen include the UK premiere of Eitan Gafny’s Children Of The Fall, which premiered at Tallinn Black Nights. The film is about a young immigrant arriving in Israel who looks to convert to Judaism, but soon realises the local Kibbutz members don’t take kindly to foreigners.
Also...
- 8/20/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Surrounded by an ominous presence and the death within her village. A young teenage girl finds herself becoming detached from the world around her. Feelings of isolation and detachment grow stronger as her relationship with her father is strained due to excessive drinking that causes a lot of untoward interaction. Her mother, a religious woman, seems more intent to put her faith into her beliefs than to save the broken family. A dependency on the father to support the family and an unnamed illness makes her complicit in her daughter’s detachment from the world around her.
“How to Disappear Completely” delivers a “tale of disengagement” through short vignettes accompanied by a hypnotic electronic score. The film uses these elements to convey a highly stylized and mesmerizing tale that transcends your average tale of teenage angst.
The highlight of “How to Disappear Completely” lies within its visual storytelling,...
“How to Disappear Completely” delivers a “tale of disengagement” through short vignettes accompanied by a hypnotic electronic score. The film uses these elements to convey a highly stylized and mesmerizing tale that transcends your average tale of teenage angst.
The highlight of “How to Disappear Completely” lies within its visual storytelling,...
- 6/7/2018
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
An entirely black-and-white affair which runs well over two hours, The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931 is the biopic of a revolutionary who led a small, short-lived peasant uprising against U.S. colonial rule in a provincial town in the Philippines. As the title suggests, however, the film goes well beyond this one-day insurrection on January 11, 1931, as director Christopher Gozum uses this little-known historical episode to reflect on the social turmoil that has gripped his home country ever since then.
Continuing where Raya Martin (Independencia) and Lav Diaz (From What Is Before) have left off in...
Continuing where Raya Martin (Independencia) and Lav Diaz (From What Is Before) have left off in...
- 1/22/2018
- by Clarence Tsui
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended VIDEOSPerhaps you haven't caught it by now, or simply need reason to watch it again: the first trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and set in the 1950s London fashion scene.Independent filmmaker Zia Anger, whose provocative short work we're big fans of, offers a stunning video for Zola Jesus' new single.Kinet, the online avant-garde publishing platform co-programmed by Mubi's Kurt Walker, has released their seventh program in the form of an ambitious Halloween-themed omnibus film entitled Aos Sí. It includes new films by Gina Telaroli, Raya Martin, Sophy Romvari, Neil Bahadur, Walker, and many more.At the Toronto International Film Festival, we loved Louis Ck's I Love You Daddy, a dark comedy of artistry and perversion. The film, Ck's first since Pootie Tang, shot...
- 11/1/2017
- MUBI
A Jesuit priest may not seem like the most obvious leader of a criminal investigation but that is exactly where Raya Martin turns with his Filipino thriller Smaller And Smaller Circles. About to have its world premiere in Busan, Screen Anarchy is proud to present the first trailer for what promises to be a taut, unusual crime story. A boy’s body is found in a waste disposal site in Manila. The case intrigues Father Gus, a Jesuit specializing in forensic medicine. Collaborating with Father Jerome and helped by his disciple and journalist Joanna, Father Gus goes through Manila’s narrow streets to investigate the case. They find more bodies of boys whose faces and internal organs are entirely damaged and this grotesque case comes under the...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/9/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Exclusive: How To Disappear Completely and Now Showing included in deal.
UK-based streaming platform FilmDoo has acquired global VoD rights to the back catalogue of Filipino filmmaker Raya Martin.
The non-exclusive deal was negotiated with producer Arleen Cuevas of Manila-based Cinematografica Films. FilmDoo is also in talks with Cuevas about acquiring the back catalogue of Adolfo Alix Jr., another leading indie filmmaker from the Philippines.
Martin titles acquired by FilmDoo include How To Disappear Completely (2013), Next Attraction (2008), Now Showing [pictured] (2008), Autohystoria (2007), A Short Film About The Indio Nacional (2005) and documentary The Island At The End Of The World (2005).
Now Showing premiered in Cannes Director’s Fortnight in 2008 and How To Disappear Completely premiered at Locarno.
FilmDoo has also acquired VoD rights to Martin’s Buenas Noches Espana (2011) for Southeast Asia and for the Philippines only to Independencia (2009), which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2013.
Martin said: “I’m excited to partner with FilmDoo to showcase Filipino...
UK-based streaming platform FilmDoo has acquired global VoD rights to the back catalogue of Filipino filmmaker Raya Martin.
The non-exclusive deal was negotiated with producer Arleen Cuevas of Manila-based Cinematografica Films. FilmDoo is also in talks with Cuevas about acquiring the back catalogue of Adolfo Alix Jr., another leading indie filmmaker from the Philippines.
Martin titles acquired by FilmDoo include How To Disappear Completely (2013), Next Attraction (2008), Now Showing [pictured] (2008), Autohystoria (2007), A Short Film About The Indio Nacional (2005) and documentary The Island At The End Of The World (2005).
Now Showing premiered in Cannes Director’s Fortnight in 2008 and How To Disappear Completely premiered at Locarno.
FilmDoo has also acquired VoD rights to Martin’s Buenas Noches Espana (2011) for Southeast Asia and for the Philippines only to Independencia (2009), which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2013.
Martin said: “I’m excited to partner with FilmDoo to showcase Filipino...
- 5/24/2017
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Mubi is proud to present the first-ever online retrospective of renowned Filipino auteur Lav Diaz. To give audiences the proper time to spend immersed in Diaz’s cinema, Mubi will debut one film each month during the retrospective.Illustration by Leah BravoFilmmaker Lavrente Indico Diaz, named after Soviet statesman Lavrentiy Beria (1899-1953), was born on December 30th 1958 in the municipality of Datu Paglas, province of Maguindanao, Mindanao Island, Southern Philippines. The son of a fervently Catholic woman from the Visayas (Central Philippines) and a Socialist intellectual from Ilocos (Northern Philippines) who, firmly believing that education is the key to improve Man's condition, devoted their lives to schooling peasants in the poorest, remotest Maguindanao villages, Diaz has always had an utilitarian conception of culture and, by extension, of all forms of artistic expression. To Diaz, art should not be an end to itself, a purely formalist exercise, but—to paraphrase a...
- 10/8/2016
- MUBI
Projects previously presented at the market include Laszlo Nemes’s Oscar-winning Son Of Saul.
The 14th CineLink Co-Production Market (Aug 18-20), the backbone of Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section, will this year present 15 projects from South-East Europe, and three guest projects from Qatar and Mexico.
CineLink boasts an impressive track record. An average of 60% of the projects that have taken part at the market in the last 13 years went all the way from development to production.
The most recent success is Laszlo Nemes’ Son Of Saul which won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2015 and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Films.
Other titles developed at the market include two winners of Venice’s Lion of the Future: White Shadow by Noaz Deshe, and Mold by Ali Aydin; two Berlinale Silver Bear winners: Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin and If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle by Florin Serban; and Semih Kaplanoglu’s 2010 Golden Bear winner Honey.
The...
The 14th CineLink Co-Production Market (Aug 18-20), the backbone of Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section, will this year present 15 projects from South-East Europe, and three guest projects from Qatar and Mexico.
CineLink boasts an impressive track record. An average of 60% of the projects that have taken part at the market in the last 13 years went all the way from development to production.
The most recent success is Laszlo Nemes’ Son Of Saul which won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2015 and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Films.
Other titles developed at the market include two winners of Venice’s Lion of the Future: White Shadow by Noaz Deshe, and Mold by Ali Aydin; two Berlinale Silver Bear winners: Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin and If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle by Florin Serban; and Semih Kaplanoglu’s 2010 Golden Bear winner Honey.
The...
- 8/17/2016
- ScreenDaily
Despite passing away six years ago, Dennis Hopper will soon be seen on the big screen one more time. Monterey Media has acquired distribution rights to Linda Yellen’s “The Last Film Festival,” which stars Hopper alongside Jacqueline Bisset, CHris Kattan, JoBeth Williams and Leelee Sobieski.
Read More: Want to See Dennis Hopper’s Final Movie? Here’s How (Exclusive Video!)
“The idea for ‘The Last Film Festival’ started with a laugh Dennis and I shared at the Sundance Film Festival,” Yellen says in a statement. “And that spirit of fun and spontaneity that is uniquely Dennis carried through the filming and onto the screen. He would be so pleased that what started as one laugh will now result in so many.” A comedy, the film tells of a failing producer who brings his calamitous movie to an obscure film festival in a last-ditch effort to make it work. The...
Read More: Want to See Dennis Hopper’s Final Movie? Here’s How (Exclusive Video!)
“The idea for ‘The Last Film Festival’ started with a laugh Dennis and I shared at the Sundance Film Festival,” Yellen says in a statement. “And that spirit of fun and spontaneity that is uniquely Dennis carried through the filming and onto the screen. He would be so pleased that what started as one laugh will now result in so many.” A comedy, the film tells of a failing producer who brings his calamitous movie to an obscure film festival in a last-ditch effort to make it work. The...
- 6/21/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Last year, the three-part, six-hours-and-twenty-two minutes long epic Arabian Nights by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes rejected a slot in the Cannes Film Festival’s second-rung Un Certain Regard section, opting instead to be premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs ), taking place in the same French Riviera city at the same time. Why wasn’t Arabian Nights in Cannes’ official competition? Gomes’ previous film, Tabu, won two prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival, finished 2nd Sight & Sound’s and Cinema Scope’s polls of the best films of 2012, 10th in the Village Voice’s, and 11th in both Film Comment’s and Indiewire’s; he was exactly the kind of rising art-house star who should have been competing in the most prominent part of the official festival. But organizers balked at the idea of offering such a lengthy film a slot in competition where two or three others could be chosen,...
- 5/12/2016
- MUBI
Mubi is presenting the exclusive online premiere of Isiah Medina's 88:88 on March 18, 2016. The great Filipino director Raya Martin (La última película, Independencia) has generously offered an introduction to the film. Click here for more information in 88:88, including interviews and a director's statement.There was a time when a virtual flight simulator was rare enough that a minor forgotten program on the early Windows platform became a treasured obsession. It was nothing like your best-selling games today, nor was it some viral experience. The simulator went around through everyone’s mails in Eudora, in an era when executable programs weren’t promptly perceived as destructive. The flight simulator was simple: you are looking out directly from a generic cockpit, navigating through a three-dimensional barren landscape that was neither Mars nor Morocco. In my fragile memory bank, the light-colored hues alternated between aquamarine and pink. There was nothing else...
- 3/18/2016
- by Raya Martin
- MUBI
Mubi is proud to present the exclusive online premiere of Isiah Medina's debut feature film, 88:88. A densely layered montage that is both formally rigorous and emotionally raw, Medina's film explores with ideas about time, love, knowledge, poverty, and poetry. "Where does one start on Isiah Medina’s multiversal debut feature 88:88?," asks Filipino director Raya Martin (La última película, Independencia) in an introduction to the film for the Notebook. "Possibly with darkness, or the birth of an image, or the initial perception of it, or even with the history of cinema quickly rupturing into parts of music, literature, philosophy."Upon its debut at the Locarno Film Festival, where we discovered it ("a kaleidoscopic combination of self-portrait, documentary of Medina's local subculture and friends, and a radical attempt to create an actively thinking film, a film forming thought through the evolution of its imagery and cutting"), festival programming director Mark Peranson wrote:"Preternaturally talented,...
- 3/18/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Starting with the Spanish conquest of the Philippines in the mid-16th century, the country was under the colonial rule of four different foreign powers for nearly 400 years. Independence gave way to two decades of vicious dictatorship and a democracy severely compromised by corruption and extensive external influence. As a nation that encompasses a staggering number of ethnicities and languages, the Philippines’ centuries-long experience of oppression has engendered an enduring identity crisis. It’s this crisis that has brought forth the films of Lav Diaz. They are dedicated to an excavation of his country’s turbulent past in search of its identity; the simultaneously chimeric and vital nature of this endeavor constitutes the emancipatory dialectic that drives his cinema. Having addressed Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship from a variety of angles in several earlier features, Diaz turns his attention to the Philippine Revolution of 1896-97 with A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery,...
- 2/22/2016
- by Giovanni Marchini Camia
- The Film Stage
We begin today's roundup of goings on around the world in New York with notes on revivals of Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse, Claire Denis's Trouble Every Day, Donald Cammell's White of the Eye, Freddie Francis's Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, John Ford's How Green was My Valley and Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore. Plus: Raya Martin and Mark Peranson's La última película and works by Sharon Lockhart, Manoel de Oliveira and Lewis Klahr in Los Angeles, Michael Haneke in London, fresh filmmakers in Switzerland and Hong Kong—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 1/13/2016
- Keyframe
We begin today's roundup of goings on around the world in New York with notes on revivals of Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse, Claire Denis's Trouble Every Day, Donald Cammell's White of the Eye, Freddie Francis's Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, John Ford's How Green was My Valley and Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore. Plus: Raya Martin and Mark Peranson's La última película and works by Sharon Lockhart, Manoel de Oliveira and Lewis Klahr in Los Angeles, Michael Haneke in London, fresh filmmakers in Switzerland and Hong Kong—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 1/13/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Setsuko Hara, 1920 - 2015The great Japanese actress of Yasujiro Ozu's Late Spring and Mikio Naruse's Repast passed away in September but the news has only recently been released. An indelible screen presence whose absence from movies has been felt every year since 1966.My MotherTop 10s: Cahiers du Cinéma + Sight & SoundFor us it's still too early to make judgement—we've hardly caught up with all of 2015's great cinema!—but the esteemed magazines of Cahiers du Cinéma and Sight & Sound have made their selections for the best of the year:Cahiers du Cinéma1. My Mother (Nanni Moretti)2. Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)3. In the Shadow of Women (Philippe Garrel)4. The Smell of Us (Larry Clark)5. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)6. Jauja (Lisandor Alonso)7. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)8. Arabian Nights...
- 12/2/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Kurt Walker in the background of Hit 2 Pass / Gina Telaroli making her way to the foreground in Here's to the Future!As has been previously reported, Here's to the Future! and Hit 2 Pass, new feature films from Notebook contributors Gina Telaroli and Kurt Walker, is starting its roll out this month. Following an open call for screenings the films will be playing at New York's Spectacle Theater (starting this Thursday November 5th), Toronto's Mdff (November 4th), Philadelphia's public access channel (starting November 13th), and more. The open call for screenings is in conjunction with an online release being done independently by the filmmakers themselves on their own website starting November 9th: http://h2phttf.tumblr.com The release, online and in real life, is a follow-up to Telaroli's grassroots release of her 2011 feature film Traveling Light (done in conjunction with the Spanish film journal Lumière). The following is...
- 11/7/2015
- by gina telaroli
- MUBI
Going UNDERGROUNDEverybody and their dog, it seems, feels this off imperative to try to identify common themes in the handful of festival films they (we) (I) see in a given year. It's the Ghost of Hegel, I suppose, demanding that we make sense of our times by referring to some Zeitgeist. (Zeitgeist? Isn't this just as likely to Strand the FilmsWeLike in some oh-so-precious Music Box, to be unearthed years later by members of some as-yet-unassembled Cinema Guild? But I digress.) There may or may not be tendencies running through this year's feature selections, and if there are, that could have as much to do with the people who selected them than with any global mood. But there does seem to be a generalized turning-inward, with filmmakers making works about themselves and their immediate lives, the cinematic process, and the very complexities of communicating with other human beings. There are...
- 9/17/2015
- by Michael Sicinski
- MUBI
Berlinale director discusses ticket sales, VOD platforms and the spirit of ‘Baumi’.
The 65th Berlinale (Feb 5-15) will be remembered in many respects as a Berlinale in the spirit of ‘Baumi’“, according to festival director Dieter Kosslick with reference to the late producer-distributor Karl ‘Baumi’ Baumgartner.
Speaking to Screen as the festival enters its final days, Kosslick recalled that “many of the films shown this year reflect his philosophy: ‘Baumi’ was the pioneer of those so-called ‘little’ films which make a really big impression, and he was a great inspiration for so many film-makers through his co-productions.“
Indeed, as just one example, Malgorzata Szumowska, whose latest feature Body is showing in the Berlinale’s competition this year, said during the goEast Film Festival that Baumgartner – who died at the age of 65 in March 2014 - had been the guiding inspiration for her career as a film-maker.
It is therefore fitting that this year’s Berlinale edition provided the setting...
The 65th Berlinale (Feb 5-15) will be remembered in many respects as a Berlinale in the spirit of ‘Baumi’“, according to festival director Dieter Kosslick with reference to the late producer-distributor Karl ‘Baumi’ Baumgartner.
Speaking to Screen as the festival enters its final days, Kosslick recalled that “many of the films shown this year reflect his philosophy: ‘Baumi’ was the pioneer of those so-called ‘little’ films which make a really big impression, and he was a great inspiration for so many film-makers through his co-productions.“
Indeed, as just one example, Malgorzata Szumowska, whose latest feature Body is showing in the Berlinale’s competition this year, said during the goEast Film Festival that Baumgartner – who died at the age of 65 in March 2014 - had been the guiding inspiration for her career as a film-maker.
It is therefore fitting that this year’s Berlinale edition provided the setting...
- 2/12/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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