This anecdotal look at Swedes’ love of independence, and some of its less attractive consequences, never really coheres as a documentary
Film-maker Erik Gandini’s (Gitmo, Videocracy) latest docu-essay looks at Swedes’ obsession with independence and self-sufficiency and how this ideal, coupled with a welfare state that provides for every physical need, produces loneliness and alienation. Using an infographic plotted by social historian Lars Trägårdh that posits Sweden as the most secular and individualistic of societies, Gandini segues from theory to practice with a disjointed series of anecdotes. We meet sperm-bank donors and clients, state investigators trying to find the next of kin of old people who died alone and a suicide who wasn’t found for years because all his standing orders were paid automatically. By way of contrast, here are some nice Syrian refugees learning that, to make friends with Swedes, they must be on time, and there...
Film-maker Erik Gandini’s (Gitmo, Videocracy) latest docu-essay looks at Swedes’ obsession with independence and self-sufficiency and how this ideal, coupled with a welfare state that provides for every physical need, produces loneliness and alienation. Using an infographic plotted by social historian Lars Trägårdh that posits Sweden as the most secular and individualistic of societies, Gandini segues from theory to practice with a disjointed series of anecdotes. We meet sperm-bank donors and clients, state investigators trying to find the next of kin of old people who died alone and a suicide who wasn’t found for years because all his standing orders were paid automatically. By way of contrast, here are some nice Syrian refugees learning that, to make friends with Swedes, they must be on time, and there...
- 6/23/2016
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Goteborg: Anticipated Nordic titles presented to industry.
A host of anticipated Nordic features were pitched to industry this week at the Works In Progress strand of the Gothenburg Film Festival.
Potential buyers and sellers heard about upcoming projects from directors including Antti Jokinen, Lisa Aschan and Mads Matthiesen.
Swedish outfit GarageFilm International is producing Aschan’s horror White People, currently in post-production.
Vera Vitali, Pernilla August and Issaka Sawadogo star in the feature about a woman’s clash with a corrupt head of security.
Aschan’s debut She Monkey’s received a special mention at the Berlinale and won Gothenburg’s Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film.
Solar Films’ period war-romance Wildeye, currently in post-production, comes from acclaimed Finnish features and music video director Antti Jokinen, best known for drama Purge and Hilary Swank starrer The Resident.
Set against the historical backdrop of The Lapland War in 1944-1945, Wildeye charts the story of a midwife who falls...
A host of anticipated Nordic features were pitched to industry this week at the Works In Progress strand of the Gothenburg Film Festival.
Potential buyers and sellers heard about upcoming projects from directors including Antti Jokinen, Lisa Aschan and Mads Matthiesen.
Swedish outfit GarageFilm International is producing Aschan’s horror White People, currently in post-production.
Vera Vitali, Pernilla August and Issaka Sawadogo star in the feature about a woman’s clash with a corrupt head of security.
Aschan’s debut She Monkey’s received a special mention at the Berlinale and won Gothenburg’s Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film.
Solar Films’ period war-romance Wildeye, currently in post-production, comes from acclaimed Finnish features and music video director Antti Jokinen, best known for drama Purge and Hilary Swank starrer The Resident.
Set against the historical backdrop of The Lapland War in 1944-1945, Wildeye charts the story of a midwife who falls...
- 1/31/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Today, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi turns 75, a milestone birthday but one that may be quietly observed. News outlets marking the occasion note that both Italy's and Berlusconi's troubles--economic, political, legal, et al.--are making this a "bitter" occasion with "very little to celebrate." Well phooey to that. There is some fun to be had, though it's not necessarily out of respect to Berlusconi or to pay him any tribute. His birthday is a just a very good excuse to watch Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," an astonishing Swedish-produced documentary about the Italian television industry and celebrity culture. Think the U.S. is…...
- 9/29/2011
- Spout
Our film critic makes the nominations for his own personal Oscars in a widely underrated year for film
December is the season of list-making and Top 10 compiling, but when I mention this to other critics, it's been getting winces and shrugs and mutterings that 2010 hasn't been a vintage year. I'm not so sure about that. It's true that the huge arthouse hits like The White Ribbon and A Prophet are now a very distant memory — A Prophet in fact was released at the very beginning of this year, but has been so extensively discussed, that I don't mention it below. Some huge crowd-pleasers, like Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, haven't yet had a full release and neither has Kelly Reichardt's western, Meek's Cutoff. These things may combine to produce the impression that 2010 is in itself a thin year.
December is the season of list-making and Top 10 compiling, but when I mention this to other critics, it's been getting winces and shrugs and mutterings that 2010 hasn't been a vintage year. I'm not so sure about that. It's true that the huge arthouse hits like The White Ribbon and A Prophet are now a very distant memory — A Prophet in fact was released at the very beginning of this year, but has been so extensively discussed, that I don't mention it below. Some huge crowd-pleasers, like Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, haven't yet had a full release and neither has Kelly Reichardt's western, Meek's Cutoff. These things may combine to produce the impression that 2010 is in itself a thin year.
- 12/1/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Plagued by teenage sex scandals, charges of corruption and making Pompeii fall down, asked to step down by a former ally, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi seems to be nearing the end of his storied turn as one of the most tabloid-friendly world leaders. Which makes it a great time to revisit "Videocracy," Erik Gandini's scathing documentary about Italy under Berlusconi that received a very limited theatrical release earlier this year but is absolutely worth looking up now that it's on DVD (as is currently streamable on Netflix Instant).
Gandini's film is unapologetically biased, a cultural overview as horror film -- Gandini has name-checked "Salò" when describing the imagery he presents, and his voiceover is laden with doom, Michael Moore with a sense of poetry. "Videocracy" gives very little larger context or background Berlusconi, but instead presents his influence as pervading the country and leaving it a soul-sick mess anesthetized...
Gandini's film is unapologetically biased, a cultural overview as horror film -- Gandini has name-checked "Salò" when describing the imagery he presents, and his voiceover is laden with doom, Michael Moore with a sense of poetry. "Videocracy" gives very little larger context or background Berlusconi, but instead presents his influence as pervading the country and leaving it a soul-sick mess anesthetized...
- 11/9/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call – New Orleans
DVD & Blu-ray, Lionsgate
Nicolas Cage used to be a lot of fun. He was an actor who managed to dodge calls of nepotism (he's Francis Ford Coppola's nephew), and aspersions cast on his ability, by just throwing himself into any role offered. He would attempt to act with every part of his body – even his hair. His early CV is full of stunning roles in Wild At Heart, Raising Arizona and Birdy; he then parlayed his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas into an unexpected career as an action hero (The Rock, Con Air). And then the rot really set in (Ghost Rider, The Wicker Man). It's taken Werner Herzog to help him get back in touch with his inner Nicolas Cage. In Bad Lieutenant, Cage has both a blast and a ball as a cop who has self-medicated himself into oblivion...
DVD & Blu-ray, Lionsgate
Nicolas Cage used to be a lot of fun. He was an actor who managed to dodge calls of nepotism (he's Francis Ford Coppola's nephew), and aspersions cast on his ability, by just throwing himself into any role offered. He would attempt to act with every part of his body – even his hair. His early CV is full of stunning roles in Wild At Heart, Raising Arizona and Birdy; he then parlayed his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas into an unexpected career as an action hero (The Rock, Con Air). And then the rot really set in (Ghost Rider, The Wicker Man). It's taken Werner Herzog to help him get back in touch with his inner Nicolas Cage. In Bad Lieutenant, Cage has both a blast and a ball as a cop who has self-medicated himself into oblivion...
- 9/24/2010
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Reviewer: Erin Donovan
Rating (out of 5): ***½
At the center of Videocracy, Erik Gandini's snapshot of Italy's celebrity-obsessed popular culture, is Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi, a millionaire turned television mogul turned billionaire turned Prime Minister, is an untouchable figure who has become the revered and reviled focal point for Italy's perception of itself. (See Michael Moore's Roger & Me for a different version on a similar theme.) Berlusconi made his fortune by buying up 90% of Italy's television networks and churning out cheap programming that was high on nudity, silliness and spectacle.
- 9/14/2010
- by underdog
- GreenCine
Lorber Films has snapped up U.S. rights to Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino's "Le quattro volte" (Four Times), a meditative film set in rural Calabria.
Screening this month as an official selection at the Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, it will have its U.S. theatrical premiere March 30 at New York's Film Forum, followed by engagements in select cities nationwide.
The deal, for which no price was available, was negotiated by Kino Lorber co-president and CEO Richard Lorber and Fionnuala Jamison of Coproduction Office.
Lorber, who recently nabbed several European art titles including Stephane Brize's "Mademoiselle Chambon" and Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," described the latest from Frammartino ("The Gift") as "a brilliant integration of the rich traditions of neorealist Italian cinema and transcendental visionary filmmaking."
Frammartino's four-part ode to man and nature traces the cycle of life through the daily rituals of rural folk, connecting the dots among animal,...
Screening this month as an official selection at the Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, it will have its U.S. theatrical premiere March 30 at New York's Film Forum, followed by engagements in select cities nationwide.
The deal, for which no price was available, was negotiated by Kino Lorber co-president and CEO Richard Lorber and Fionnuala Jamison of Coproduction Office.
Lorber, who recently nabbed several European art titles including Stephane Brize's "Mademoiselle Chambon" and Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," described the latest from Frammartino ("The Gift") as "a brilliant integration of the rich traditions of neorealist Italian cinema and transcendental visionary filmmaking."
Frammartino's four-part ode to man and nature traces the cycle of life through the daily rituals of rural folk, connecting the dots among animal,...
- 9/7/2010
- by By Elizabeth Guider
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If you didn't manage to catch it in theaters earlier this year via Lorber Films, Erik Gandini's Videocracy, a 2009 Venice and Tiff selection is now available for free via SnagFilms. Part of their annual Summer Screening Series, for a limited time only, you can see how the Berlusconi (the media mogul and then politician) went T&A with its television programming. The doc looks at "the high-glitz, low-politics, skin-baring media culture promulgated by Berlusconi’s ownership of the majority of the country’s television stations — a powerful tool in shaping public opinion to his financial and political benefit." Sorry the offer appears to be available only in the U.S.
- 8/9/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
SnagFilms' 2nd annual SummerFest, a free online festival showcasing exclusive, limited-duration runs of popular new documentaries, continues with Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," the fourth film in the series, premiering Friday. The film exposes a mass cult of celebrity worship that has virtually hypnotized Italian society, threatening its democracy. Gandini's film argues that this collective fixation, or what he calls "banality," is not entirely accidental. At its heart is the country's long-serving Prime ...
- 8/6/2010
- indieWIRE - People
SnagFilms' 2nd annual SummerFest, a free online festival showcasing exclusive, limited-duration runs of popular new documentaries, continues with Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," the fourth film in the series, premiering Friday. The film exposes a mass cult of celebrity worship that has virtually hypnotized Italian society, threatening its democracy. Gandini's film argues that this collective fixation, or what he calls "banality," is not entirely accidental. At its heart is the country's long-serving Prime ...
- 8/6/2010
- Indiewire
Venice Critic's Week have released their seven film (plus two) slate and have managed to lasso Swedish actress Pernilla August's highly anticipated directorial debut Svinalängorna, or what I'll now be calling by the simpler title of Beyond. A mostly European group of seven, the section is modeled much in the same way as Cannes Critic's Week: promising works from first-time filmmakers. The opening film, Carlo Mazzacurati's Notte Italiana is actually a 1987 flick that must be a silver year anniversary kind of presentation and the closing film comes from the Philippines in Gutierrez Mangansakan II's Limbunan. Last year the most "noteworthy" title from the sidebar was an out of competition showing of Erik Gandini's Videocracy which would receive a preem in Toronto, but this year I'd say more than one title has a chance at crossing over to Tiff. Here is a quick listing of the titles,...
- 7/22/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
This is an exclusive interview between Pure Movies Editor Dan Higgins and Italian filmmaker Erik Gandini. Listen to it in full by downloading the Pure Movies podcast here. Videocracy stars Silvio Berlusconi, Flavio Briatore, Fabio Calvi, ick Canelli, Fabrizio Corona, Samantha Crippa, Marella Giovannelli, Nina Heric and Lele Mora. With the release of Videocracy, an in-depth look at the Italian television culture that Silvio Berlusconi has presided over, Erik Gandini caused quite a stir. The state broadcaster in Italy banned the trailer and lawsuits were threatened. Gandini talks to Pure Movies about the reaction to Videocracy, Silvio Berlusconi and the problems that are dominating Italian culture.
- 7/7/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
A disturbing look at the TV empire of Italy's leader, Silvio Berlusconi and the cult of celebrity. By Peter Bradshaw
Erik Gandini's Videocracy is an intriguing, mordant look at the world of the Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi: an acrid Dolce Vita for the modern day. But it's a very different kind of film-making from that of Berlusconi's most famous critic, the satirist Sabina Guzzanti, whose docu-polemics are influenced by Michael Moore. Gandini's film is more like a dreamy, mesmeric and highly disturbing psychogeography of 21st-century Italy, or perhaps a meandering, anthropological study of a dysfunctional cult, ruled by a thin-skinned, self-pitying leader.
It is ostensibly about Berlusconi's TV empire and its crassly sexified world of stripping housewives and endless reality shows, which has engendered in Italy an infatuation with celebrity that perhaps even outstrips Britain or the Us. (Berlusconi publishes many gossip magazines.) Everyone wants to be a...
Erik Gandini's Videocracy is an intriguing, mordant look at the world of the Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi: an acrid Dolce Vita for the modern day. But it's a very different kind of film-making from that of Berlusconi's most famous critic, the satirist Sabina Guzzanti, whose docu-polemics are influenced by Michael Moore. Gandini's film is more like a dreamy, mesmeric and highly disturbing psychogeography of 21st-century Italy, or perhaps a meandering, anthropological study of a dysfunctional cult, ruled by a thin-skinned, self-pitying leader.
It is ostensibly about Berlusconi's TV empire and its crassly sexified world of stripping housewives and endless reality shows, which has engendered in Italy an infatuation with celebrity that perhaps even outstrips Britain or the Us. (Berlusconi publishes many gossip magazines.) Everyone wants to be a...
- 6/23/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Michelangelo Frammartino, the helmer of one of the best films coming out of Cannes this year in Le quattro volte, will be making his animation feature film debut (perhaps in the watercolored CGI 3D form) taking his own biographical story of what it was like to live during the Riflusso years... - Michelangelo Frammartino, the helmer of one of the best films coming out of Cannes this year in Le quattro volte, will be making his animation feature film debut (perhaps in the watercolored CGI 3D form) taking his own biographical story of what it was like to live during the Riflusso years - which Variety describes as a period dating from the late '70s, where Italians retreated inside their homes, encouraged by a wave of terrorism and the advent of private TV: Silvio Berlusconi launched his first private channel in Italy in 1978. Reported at the...
- 6/13/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Michelangelo Frammartino, the helmer of one of the best films coming out of Cannes this year in Le quattro volte, will be making his animation feature film debut (perhaps in the watercolored CGI 3D form) taking his own biographical story of what it was like to live during the Riflusso years - which Variety describes as a period dating from the late '70s, where Italians retreated inside their homes, encouraged by a wave of terrorism and the advent of private TV: Silvio Berlusconi launched his first private channel in Italy in 1978. Reported at the 50th Annecy Animation Festival (a logical place to find further assistance in developing an animated, social commentary type of project) this might share some affinities with Erik Gandini's Videocracy - reflecting on the Berlusconi years as a media mogul and not the politician. Written by Frammartino and Barbara Grespi, Viale Aretusa 19 is told from...
- 6/13/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The Killer Inside Me (18)
(Michael Winterbottom, 2010, Us/UK) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty. 109 mins
After Bad Lieutenant, meet Worse Lieutenant. Whereas Nic Cage's corrupt cop was operatically depraved, Affleck's 1950s Texan lawman hides his psychosis beneath a veneer of southern gentility, which is much creepier. He takes out his anger on various women in a few horribly violent scenes that have raised accusations of misogyny (blame Jim Thompson's source material), but the real challenge is whether Affleck and the stylish visuals are enough to hold the attention between these moments.
4.3.2.1 (15)
(Noel Clarke, 2010, UK) Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond. 117 mins
With its zippy, attention-deficit plotting, quartet of men's-mag-friendly female leads, and servings of sex and violence, Clarke's frothy transatlantic heist movie aims for the unthinking end of the "male interest" market – what a waste.
Brothers Bloom (12A)
(Rian Johnson, 2008, Us) Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo.
(Michael Winterbottom, 2010, Us/UK) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty. 109 mins
After Bad Lieutenant, meet Worse Lieutenant. Whereas Nic Cage's corrupt cop was operatically depraved, Affleck's 1950s Texan lawman hides his psychosis beneath a veneer of southern gentility, which is much creepier. He takes out his anger on various women in a few horribly violent scenes that have raised accusations of misogyny (blame Jim Thompson's source material), but the real challenge is whether Affleck and the stylish visuals are enough to hold the attention between these moments.
4.3.2.1 (15)
(Noel Clarke, 2010, UK) Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond. 117 mins
With its zippy, attention-deficit plotting, quartet of men's-mag-friendly female leads, and servings of sex and violence, Clarke's frothy transatlantic heist movie aims for the unthinking end of the "male interest" market – what a waste.
Brothers Bloom (12A)
(Rian Johnson, 2008, Us) Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo.
- 6/4/2010
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
Alberta - Spring is here and truth shall be in the air around Durham, North Carolina as the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival blossoms from April 8 - 11. This is a four day feast of prime cinema featuring real people with real lives and real issues that weren’t shaped by the beancounters in marketing. Last year’s festival featured Oscar winner The Cove and nominees Burma VJ and Food Inc. Looking through this year’s line up, there’s plenty reasons to make the trip to the Bull City if you need to escape from the unmitigated hype of Tiger Woods at the Masters.
And Everything is Going Fine is Steven Soderbergh’s biography of Spalding Gray. The monologist was the one man story machine in Swimming in Cambodia and Monster in a Box. Soderbergh directed Gray’s Gray’s Anatomy. He killed himself after seeing Tim Burton’s Big Fish.
And Everything is Going Fine is Steven Soderbergh’s biography of Spalding Gray. The monologist was the one man story machine in Swimming in Cambodia and Monster in a Box. Soderbergh directed Gray’s Gray’s Anatomy. He killed himself after seeing Tim Burton’s Big Fish.
- 4/2/2010
- by UncaScroogeMcD
If a team of clever screenwriters tried to script a cautionary tale about the politics of fame (and the fame of politics), they likely couldn’t come up with anything odder or more apt than Erik Gandini’s documentary Videocracy. Gandini’s submersion into the weird relationship between Italian television and government was prompted by difficulties he had explaining his homeland to his new friends in Sweden. So Gandini returned home, cameras in tow, to illustrate how in Italy, political power can be just one reality-tv show away. Ostensibly a critique of inordinately popular prime minister Silvio Berlusconi—who owns ...
- 2/11/2010
- avclub.com
Television has been blamed for the dumbing down of the American public since the ascendance of the boob tube in the 1950s. But in Italy, where scandal-plagued prime minister Silvio Berlusconi controls the flow of information through his monopolistic holdings in that nation’s biggest media conglomerates, there is a more insidious aspect to the chronic press muzzling at Rai and trashy tits-and-ass programming that predominate on his Mediaset channels. If you want to get a sense of how the billionaire entrepreneur’s televisual imagination has transformed the political and mass-media landscape in Italy, Erik Gandini’s cunningly choreographed documentary Videocracy provides plenty of food for thought, taking a gimlet-eyed view of the Berlusconi...
- 2/10/2010
- by Damon Smith
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Television has been blamed for the dumbing down of the American public since the ascendance of the boob tube in the 1950s. But in Italy, where scandal-plagued prime minister Silvio Berlusconi controls the flow of information through his monopolistic holdings in that nation’s biggest media conglomerates, there is a more insidious aspect to the chronic press muzzling at Rai and trashy tits-and-ass programming that predominate on his Mediaset channels. If you want to get a sense of how the billionaire entrepreneur’s televisual imagination has transformed the political and mass-media landscape in Italy, Erik Gandini’s cunningly choreographed documentary Videocracy provides plenty of food for thought, taking a gimlet-eyed view of the Berlusconi...
- 2/10/2010
- by Damon Smith
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
By Harvey Karten - Early this year, the United State Supreme Court-which has become more of a political body than a neutral, judicial one-ruled that corporations can spend all the money they desire to promote their candidates during our usual protracted campaigns. The black-robed body overturned a bevy of precedents that limited their contributions, which had been a wise policy to prevent Big Money from swamping independent voices and presumably third-party candidates. In Italy, the system takes this reasoning a couple of steps further. The prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, doesn't have to spend money to get his face on TV and in the print media. He owns most of them! Yes, at least seventy percent of TV stations and something like ninety percent of the magazines are actually controlled by the prime minister, who spent the last thirty years building up an empire that even Rupert Murdoch could envy. In...
- 2/3/2010
- Arizona Reporter
Indie Roundup is your weekly guide to what's new and upcoming in the independent film world. (Clockwise from upper left: Videocracy, The Greatest, Crazy Heart, Prodigal Sons,)
Deals. The past seven days have been busy, according to our friends at indieWIRE. Erik Gandini's documentary Videocracy will open in New York City on February 12, via its deal with Lorber Films, and will then roll out across the country. The film examines the media culture in Italy; Todd Brown at Twitch calls it "riveting viewing, at times bizarre, at other times horrifying, but always impossible to turn away from." Nsfw trailer after the jump.
Theatrical rights to Shana Feste's The Greatest were picked up by Paladin, which plans a late March release followed by an early April expansion. Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon star as parents dealing with the tragic death of their teenage son; Carey Mulligan (An Education) gives a "sharp,...
Deals. The past seven days have been busy, according to our friends at indieWIRE. Erik Gandini's documentary Videocracy will open in New York City on February 12, via its deal with Lorber Films, and will then roll out across the country. The film examines the media culture in Italy; Todd Brown at Twitch calls it "riveting viewing, at times bizarre, at other times horrifying, but always impossible to turn away from." Nsfw trailer after the jump.
Theatrical rights to Shana Feste's The Greatest were picked up by Paladin, which plans a late March release followed by an early April expansion. Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon star as parents dealing with the tragic death of their teenage son; Carey Mulligan (An Education) gives a "sharp,...
- 12/26/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
Many would say that "what comes around goes around" certainly applies if you happen to be Silvio Berlusconi. As of late, the power hungry, media mogul and prime minister (he has returned to the same seat in three separate occasions) is having his private life go public, received a bloody nose, and chipped teeth last week and hasn't been fortunate on the film fest circuit either. In February we'll get a full exposé on how Berlusconi has "added" to Italian culture with Lorber Films picking up the rights to Erik Gandini’s doc Videocracy - a film that was among the favorites from film critics who attended Tiff and Venice. - Many would say that "what comes around goes around" certainly applies if you happen to be Silvio Berlusconi. As of late, the power hungry, media mogul and prime minister (he has returned to the same seat in three separate...
- 12/22/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Lorber Films, the theatrical releasing arm of the newly formed Kino Lorber, has picked up U.S. rights to "Videocracy," an expose of the high-glitz, low-politics media culture epitomized by Italian Prime Minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.
The deal was negotiated by Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk Films, with Richard Lorber, co-president of Kino Lorber. No financial details were made available.
Swedish-Italian director Erik Gandini, whose credits include "Gitmo: The New Rules of War," helmed the doc feature.
Lorber called the pic "more fantastical than any fiction film I've seen in a long while. As a saga of greed, decadence and privilege that's transforming a democracy into a media circus, it's both a cautionary tale and outrageous cinema entertainment."
The film was released theatrically in Italy on 90 prints by Fandango and grossed about $1.2 million. The DVD is now out, with distribution in bookstores and on newsstands.
The deal was negotiated by Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk Films, with Richard Lorber, co-president of Kino Lorber. No financial details were made available.
Swedish-Italian director Erik Gandini, whose credits include "Gitmo: The New Rules of War," helmed the doc feature.
Lorber called the pic "more fantastical than any fiction film I've seen in a long while. As a saga of greed, decadence and privilege that's transforming a democracy into a media circus, it's both a cautionary tale and outrageous cinema entertainment."
The film was released theatrically in Italy on 90 prints by Fandango and grossed about $1.2 million. The DVD is now out, with distribution in bookstores and on newsstands.
- 12/21/2009
- by By Elizabeth Guider
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lorber Films has acquired U.S. rights to Erik Gandini’s doc “Videocracy” the company said Monday. Richard Lorber negotiated the deal with Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk Films will open at the IFC Center in New York on February 12th, followed by a theatrical release across the U.S. The U.S. theatrical release of the film will be supported by High Five, the new funding program of Nordisk Film & TV …...
- 12/21/2009
- Indiewire
Have Joel and Ethan Coen followed up No Country for Old Men with another Oscar winner? A clear favorite (I've got my hand up) among the film critics and bloggers polled by IndieWIRE, A Serious Man might have a big and bright future ahead of it and as Eugene points out, "the Coens latest took top honors as Toronto’s best narrative film, finding a place on nearly every single ballot. - Have Joel and Ethan Coen followed up No Country for Old Men with another Oscar winner? A clear favorite (I've got my hand up) among the film critics and bloggers polled by IndieWIRE, A Serious Man might have a big and bright future ahead of it and as Eugene points out, "the Coens latest took top honors as Toronto’s best narrative film, finding a place on nearly every single ballot. Other category winners include: Erik Gandini...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
On our last day in Denmark, a few of us in the Cph:dox American contingent stopped by Christiania, Copenhagen's hippie paradise and self-proclaimed autonomous zone. In stark contrast to the cobblestones and slick Scandinavian design of the main city, Christiania is dirt paths and Diy housing, a neighborhood based around abandoned military barracks that were taken over by squatters in the early '70s.
It was too early for much to be going on, but on the main drag the cannabis market that's made the area a favorite for backpackers and a constant source of controversy was already open, with stalls displaying giant blocks of hash for sale, while a few nearby stands offered rasta wear. A dog trotted by, and a few dreadlocked Danes warmed their hands over a trashcan fire.
"Maybe it's just me, but this all seems incredibly 'Children of Men,'" I said.
Or maybe...
It was too early for much to be going on, but on the main drag the cannabis market that's made the area a favorite for backpackers and a constant source of controversy was already open, with stalls displaying giant blocks of hash for sale, while a few nearby stands offered rasta wear. A dog trotted by, and a few dreadlocked Danes warmed their hands over a trashcan fire.
"Maybe it's just me, but this all seems incredibly 'Children of Men,'" I said.
Or maybe...
- 11/19/2009
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
A sterling year has wrapped with a raft of new trophies – the finest of the winners amply demonstrate what documentaries can do better than anything else
This year, Sheffield Doc/Fest beefed up its awards schedule with a raft of well thought out new trophies. The choices made suggest that this decision is definitely paying off.
Perhaps the most useful of the new categories is the Green award. Environmental film-making is a field in which some fine work needs to be separated from a lot of routine special pleading. Thankfully, this year's award went to a far from preachy film. The Blood of the Rose, produced and directed by Henry Singer (who gave us 9/11: The Falling Man), examines the mysterious murder in Kenya of the conservationist Jane Root, herself a one-time film-maker. The jury said the film offered "a well-balanced perspective on a compelling crime story", and no one could argue with that.
This year, Sheffield Doc/Fest beefed up its awards schedule with a raft of well thought out new trophies. The choices made suggest that this decision is definitely paying off.
Perhaps the most useful of the new categories is the Green award. Environmental film-making is a field in which some fine work needs to be separated from a lot of routine special pleading. Thankfully, this year's award went to a far from preachy film. The Blood of the Rose, produced and directed by Henry Singer (who gave us 9/11: The Falling Man), examines the mysterious murder in Kenya of the conservationist Jane Root, herself a one-time film-maker. The jury said the film offered "a well-balanced perspective on a compelling crime story", and no one could argue with that.
- 11/10/2009
- by David Cox
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – As the 45th Chicago International Film Festival comes to a close, this year’s award-winning and most popular films are being screened one more time. All of the screenings will be held at the AMC River East 21 theater at 322 E. Illinois St.
Mississippi Damned (USA), Director: Tina Mabry
Winner Gold Hugo: Best Film, Best Screenplay - Tina Mabry, Best Supporting Actress - Jossie Harris Thacker
7:30Pm
They weren’t the first to dream of escaping their small Mississippi town, but—raised among their family’s vicious cycle of abuse, addiction, and lies—three young black children learn the hard way that their dreams will never be enough. Based on a true story, Mississippi Damned is the brutally honest tale of what happens when a family’s haven is also its prison.
‘Mississippi Damned,’ Winner of the Gold Hugo for Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Photo...
Mississippi Damned (USA), Director: Tina Mabry
Winner Gold Hugo: Best Film, Best Screenplay - Tina Mabry, Best Supporting Actress - Jossie Harris Thacker
7:30Pm
They weren’t the first to dream of escaping their small Mississippi town, but—raised among their family’s vicious cycle of abuse, addiction, and lies—three young black children learn the hard way that their dreams will never be enough. Based on a true story, Mississippi Damned is the brutally honest tale of what happens when a family’s haven is also its prison.
‘Mississippi Damned,’ Winner of the Gold Hugo for Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Photo...
- 10/20/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
“Italy is probably the only country in the world where celebrity/TV and political power is merged together in the person of Silvio Berlusconi,” said Italian director Erik Gandini last week in Toronto. His film, “Videocracy,” spotlights a cult of celebrity worship and TV junkies that, the director believes, has literally hypnotized Italian society to the detriment of public wellbeing, societal problems, and even democracy itself. The film was picked by a …...
- 9/23/2009
- indieWIRE - People
“Italy is probably the only country in the world where celebrity/TV and political power is merged together in the person of Silvio Berlusconi,” said Italian director Erik Gandini last week in Toronto. His film, “Videocracy,” spotlights a cult of celebrity worship and TV junkies that, the director believes, has literally hypnotized Italian society to the detriment of public wellbeing, societal problems, and even democracy itself. The film was picked by a …...
- 9/23/2009
- indieWIRE - People
Imagine if Rupert Murdoch could not only run for president of the United States, and not only win, but also govern his lowbrow media fiefdoms via an army of stooge-proxies while occupying the Oval Office. Transplant that cultural drama to Italy, and you've got the staggering Videocracy, director Erik Gandini's documentary about Silvio Berlusconi's three-decade climb from ribald quiz-show producer to Italian Prime Minister. Videocracy doesn't address that history so much as it maps Berlusconi's TV empire, a wasteland teeming with half-naked showgirls, would-be reality stars, and supported by a population in which the image is more than just king -- it is God.
- 9/18/2009
- Movieline
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