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.
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)
A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: VOD...
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)
A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: VOD...
- 1/5/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” director Raven Jackson is taking her time.
“I’m interested in patience,” she says ahead of her feature debut’s San Sebastian screening, following the Sundance premiere earlier this year.
“I am interested in slow cinema, even though in the U.S. it’s not as prominent. When I was in the edit [with Lee Chatametikool], I knew that many audience members are not used to such a pace. But that challenge excited me.”
“My short ‘Nettles’ took its time too, but I wonder to what degree it will continue with my next feature. There’s no world where it makes sense for a hug to last 15 seconds [like in ‘All Dirt Roads’] and I’m not sure if every one of my films will ask for such patience. If they do, I’m going to give it to them.”
In the A24 release “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” – produced by Maria Altamirano,...
“I’m interested in patience,” she says ahead of her feature debut’s San Sebastian screening, following the Sundance premiere earlier this year.
“I am interested in slow cinema, even though in the U.S. it’s not as prominent. When I was in the edit [with Lee Chatametikool], I knew that many audience members are not used to such a pace. But that challenge excited me.”
“My short ‘Nettles’ took its time too, but I wonder to what degree it will continue with my next feature. There’s no world where it makes sense for a hug to last 15 seconds [like in ‘All Dirt Roads’] and I’m not sure if every one of my films will ask for such patience. If they do, I’m going to give it to them.”
In the A24 release “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” – produced by Maria Altamirano,...
- 9/23/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Far and away the best film to premiere at Sundance Film Festival this year was Raven Jackson’s directorial debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. Produced by Barry Jenkins and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, the film takes a beautifully poetic decades-spanning look at a woman’s life in Mississippi. Nine months after its Sundance premiere, the film will finally resurface as part of New York Film Festival’s just-announced Main Slate followed by an A24 release later this fall. Ahead of the release, the first trailer and poster have arrived.
I said in my review, “Raven Jackson’s directorial debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Daring in its formal gambits but universal for how it explores humanity’s connection with nature, loss, and love, it’s among few...
I said in my review, “Raven Jackson’s directorial debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Daring in its formal gambits but universal for how it explores humanity’s connection with nature, loss, and love, it’s among few...
- 8/9/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Filmmakers had called for a boycott over the rule change.
The organisers behind Thailand’s Suphannahong National Film Awards have dropped a rule that would effectively disqualify independent features from nomination following a major backlash.
A recent rule change by the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations (Mpc) stated that theatrical releases in five regions of Thailand and a minimum of 50,000 cinema admissions were required for a film to be considered for nomination. These regions include Bangkok, Chiangmai (the north), Chonburi (the east), Nakhon Ratchasima (the northeast) and Nakhon Si Thammarat (the south).
It meant that, earlier this week,...
The organisers behind Thailand’s Suphannahong National Film Awards have dropped a rule that would effectively disqualify independent features from nomination following a major backlash.
A recent rule change by the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations (Mpc) stated that theatrical releases in five regions of Thailand and a minimum of 50,000 cinema admissions were required for a film to be considered for nomination. These regions include Bangkok, Chiangmai (the north), Chonburi (the east), Nakhon Ratchasima (the northeast) and Nakhon Si Thammarat (the south).
It meant that, earlier this week,...
- 3/31/2023
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
Winner of the Netpac award at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, among a number of other awards, both Asian and international, and backed up by production companies from all over the world, “Apprentice” is one of the most renowned Singaporean films of all time and an, overall, great movie.
“Apprentice” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
The story revolves around Sergeant Aiman, a 28-year-old former soldier and current correctional officer, who has just been transferred from “Commonwealth” (referring to the former Queenstown Remand Prison) to the fictional Larangan Prison, the state’s maximum-security correctional institute. Aiman’s social life is practically non-existent, since he still lives with his sister and has no girlfriend, and seemingly, no ambition for his life whatsoever. As soon as he meets the prison’s chief executioner, Rahim, however, and is considered to be his assistant, and when he retires,...
“Apprentice” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
The story revolves around Sergeant Aiman, a 28-year-old former soldier and current correctional officer, who has just been transferred from “Commonwealth” (referring to the former Queenstown Remand Prison) to the fictional Larangan Prison, the state’s maximum-security correctional institute. Aiman’s social life is practically non-existent, since he still lives with his sister and has no girlfriend, and seemingly, no ambition for his life whatsoever. As soon as he meets the prison’s chief executioner, Rahim, however, and is considered to be his assistant, and when he retires,...
- 3/1/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In the American South, they’ve been known to say, “A child’s gotta eat their share of dirt.” And Raven Jackson’s thoughtful, fragmentary portrait of a Black woman over four decades of rural Mississippian life certainly encompasses the kind of hard life lessons that could be thus summed up. But the strange poetry of the film’s title also gently turns that harsh homily on its head, instead relating it to the tradition, inherited from African ancestors and still relatively common in parts of the country, for Black women to gather across generations and harvest little scoops of pale dirt from the roadside — actually the chalky mineral kaolinite which is plentiful across the southeastern U.S. — to eat, as a kind of communal ritual.
“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” is deeply invested in the investigation of tradition, family and memory, and the sensory, evocative language of the...
“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” is deeply invested in the investigation of tradition, family and memory, and the sensory, evocative language of the...
- 1/22/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria is showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries starting August 5, 2022, in the series Luminaries.“It’s all about feeling,” Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom told me several times whenever I tried to frame the nuances of his methodology with conceptual notions. His words, however filled with ambiguity and elusiveness, might in fact seem to be the key to describe the general premise of the films he has worked on as a cameraman—it is, indeed, all about the feelings, participation, and intuition. After all, the work of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Luca Guadagnino, Miguel Gomes, whose films Sayombhu has shot, revolve around a certain reciprocity—the images link with the tactile, offering a space for the audience to immerse themselves in the images: just as real as imagined. A meditative gaze floats with Sayombhu’s camera in carefully designed master shots, following the characters in a tender rhythm, accompanying them from a safe distance,...
- 8/3/2022
- MUBI
Ever since his Palme d’Or victory with “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” in 2010, Thai filmmaker Apichatapong Weerasethakul is somewhat of a star player in Cannes Film Festival line-up. With his foreign-language debut “Memoria”, he has achieved success, Jury Prize, at this year’s edition of the festival.
on Sovereign
It is a bit corny to start a film review with William Faukner’s quote about the nature of the past, how it is not dead and maybe not even past, but here it can serve as nice introduction. The same kind of thinking, but with some of the theoretical scientific proof could be told for the nature of the sound. It does not die out, it just infinitely tones down to fall out of the limits of our perception. If we use some deductive thinking on this subject, we can realize that every...
on Sovereign
It is a bit corny to start a film review with William Faukner’s quote about the nature of the past, how it is not dead and maybe not even past, but here it can serve as nice introduction. The same kind of thinking, but with some of the theoretical scientific proof could be told for the nature of the sound. It does not die out, it just infinitely tones down to fall out of the limits of our perception. If we use some deductive thinking on this subject, we can realize that every...
- 6/29/2022
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
On the occasion of Concrete Clouds screening at the Hong Kong Arts Centre as part of the New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival program, we speak with editor/director Lee Chatametikool about the movies he was involved in this year, cooperating with directors, music video aesthetics in movies, love, money, the Thai movie industry and many other topics.
- 12/14/2021
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
If one traces back a country’s history, to that point when suddenly its economic and social landscape changed quite dramatically, in the case of Thailand this moment has to be the year 1997. Many Asian cultures were hit by the economic crash which caused millions to go bankrupt, businesses to fail and laid the groundwork for the disintegration of many families, which is one of the reasons Thai director Lee Chatametikool picked this year as the setting for his 2013 directorial debut “Concrete Clouds”. In an interview with easternkicks he explains how that point in the 1990s marked a transitional period for his home country, as it transitioned “into a more consumer and capitalist culture”. His effort was met with quite a lot of international praise from critics and audiences alike, culminating in three National Film Association Awards in his home country for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress.
- 11/23/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Ever since his Palme d’Or victory with “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” in 2010, Thai filmmaker Apichatapong Weerasethakul is somewhat of a star player in Cannes Film Festival line-up. With his foreign-language debut “Memoria”, he has achieved success, Jury Prize, at this year’s edition of the festival. We were lucky to catch it at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it played in the Horizons programme segment.
It is a bit corny to start a film review with William Faukner’s quote about the nature of the past, how it is not dead and maybe not even past, but here it can serve as nice introduction. The same kind of thinking, but with some of the theoretical scientific proof could be told for the nature of the sound. It does not die out, it just infinitely tones down to fall out of the limits of our perception.
It is a bit corny to start a film review with William Faukner’s quote about the nature of the past, how it is not dead and maybe not even past, but here it can serve as nice introduction. The same kind of thinking, but with some of the theoretical scientific proof could be told for the nature of the sound. It does not die out, it just infinitely tones down to fall out of the limits of our perception.
- 9/1/2021
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Above: Edwin. Photo ©Erieknjuragan.Opening on two motorcyclists playing a reckless game of chicken for petty cash in an unfashionable outskirt of Bandung in 1989, Indonesian writer-director Edwin’s sixth feature, the Golden Leopard-winning Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, is intent on challenging any and all expectations its punchy title might evoke from the very start. As the winner of the contest, rat-tailed protagonist Ajo Kawir (Marthino Lio), sets off on a victory lap, he passes a painted advertising board, which promptly comes alive and offers the audience a glimpse beneath the veneer of Ajo’s masculine swagger: “Only a man who can’t get it up can face death without fear.” Our hero, for all his readiness to take on multiple people in any kind of fight, is impotent. But this perceived sexual inadequacy is not the fatal flaw that will come to haunt Ajo on his hero’s journey.
- 8/22/2021
- MUBI
Indonesian film director Edwin, a festival darling whose films have been the trump card for Berlinale and Rotterdam, returns to the circuit with a new gem. “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash,” which just had its world premiere in Locarno’s International Competition, is a genre-bending portrayal of an angry impotent young man stuck in the middle of the macho Indonesian Eighties.
As happened with many productions last year, the pandemic affected the film, which had to stop the shooting due to the lockdown. Lee Chatametikool, the film’s editor and an Apichatpong Weerasethakul regular, did all the editing online. “We had fun, even if the situation wasn’t generous in any way,” Edwin says.
Ajo Kawir (Marthino Lio) and Iteung (Ladya Cheryl), the lovebirds, are doing all sorts of odd jobs to survive their precarious existence. And on the way, a lot of combat happens. When fighting is not business,...
As happened with many productions last year, the pandemic affected the film, which had to stop the shooting due to the lockdown. Lee Chatametikool, the film’s editor and an Apichatpong Weerasethakul regular, did all the editing online. “We had fun, even if the situation wasn’t generous in any way,” Edwin says.
Ajo Kawir (Marthino Lio) and Iteung (Ladya Cheryl), the lovebirds, are doing all sorts of odd jobs to survive their precarious existence. And on the way, a lot of combat happens. When fighting is not business,...
- 8/11/2021
- by Diego Cepeda and Calin Boto
- Variety Film + TV
The Vietnamese filmmaker Le Bao has already shown a considerable talent with his shorts, but after his feature debut “Taste” he seems destined to be regarded as one of the most promising auteurs of today and tomorrow. “Taste” premiered at Berlinale’s more daring and avant-garde competition programme Encounters where it was awarded with the Special Jury Prize. For a reason, since it is one of a kind gripping viewing experience.
Taste screened in Berlinale
The filmmaker demonstrates his sure hand right from the opening long take from a fixed position. An ageing local football coach puts the figurines resembling the over-sized chess pawns on a model of the pitch. The dressing room looks spartan, its walls are bare and the benches holding the complete team are simple. One face and one figure stands out from the rest of the crew: the African man credited as Bassley only in the...
Taste screened in Berlinale
The filmmaker demonstrates his sure hand right from the opening long take from a fixed position. An ageing local football coach puts the figurines resembling the over-sized chess pawns on a model of the pitch. The dressing room looks spartan, its walls are bare and the benches holding the complete team are simple. One face and one figure stands out from the rest of the crew: the African man credited as Bassley only in the...
- 3/12/2021
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Scriptwriter of “Last Life in the Universe”, Prabda Yoon’s feature debut is a film equally unorthodox, through a genre mash-up that seems to focus more on style than context.
Motel Mist is available from Raintrail Pictures
A love motel on the outskirts of Bangkok called Motel Mistress becomes the central location for five people whose lives eventually intertwine in the most unexpected fashion, along with Nid, the mother of a now disappeared celebrity, who describes her son’s, Tul, obsession with aliens on TV. Sopol, a middle-aged father-like figure picks up a young girl, Laila, from school, only to indulge in his intense S&m fetishes in room number 7, his custom-made erotic chamber. The aforementioned Tul eventually also arrives in the same hotel, insisting for room 5, even paying a large amount of money to get, only to paint it black in order to communicate with aliens. Tot, the motel attendant,...
Motel Mist is available from Raintrail Pictures
A love motel on the outskirts of Bangkok called Motel Mistress becomes the central location for five people whose lives eventually intertwine in the most unexpected fashion, along with Nid, the mother of a now disappeared celebrity, who describes her son’s, Tul, obsession with aliens on TV. Sopol, a middle-aged father-like figure picks up a young girl, Laila, from school, only to indulge in his intense S&m fetishes in room number 7, his custom-made erotic chamber. The aforementioned Tul eventually also arrives in the same hotel, insisting for room 5, even paying a large amount of money to get, only to paint it black in order to communicate with aliens. Tot, the motel attendant,...
- 1/17/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Seafic Award went to Malaysian filmmaker Chia Chee Sum, while Singapore’s Siyou Tan took the Open Sea Fund Award.
Malaysian filmmaker Chia Chee Sum’s Oasis Of Now won the Seafic Award at the fourth edition of the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) Open House (January 8-11), while Amoeba, from Singapore’s Siyou Tan, took the Open Sea Fund Award.
The prizes follow nine months of intense script and project development for the five selected projects, through the guidance of international experts. The winners were selected after live pitching sessions in front of international juries.
Seafic organisers described...
Malaysian filmmaker Chia Chee Sum’s Oasis Of Now won the Seafic Award at the fourth edition of the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) Open House (January 8-11), while Amoeba, from Singapore’s Siyou Tan, took the Open Sea Fund Award.
The prizes follow nine months of intense script and project development for the five selected projects, through the guidance of international experts. The winners were selected after live pitching sessions in front of international juries.
Seafic organisers described...
- 1/12/2021
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
The story of how “Rom” managed to screen in Busan is quite interesting. During the last September, after “Rom” was submitted and picked to screen in Biff, the Vietnam Cinema Department had said that the Hoan Khue company, which produced “Rom”, had sent the movie to the festival before it was approved by Vietnam’s censors. It also asked the company to explain why the film had been produced by foreigners without getting the script approved as required by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The company then wrote to the Busan festival organizers and asked that the film be withdrawn. (source: e.vnexpress.net) However, the movie was eventually screened, since, according to Park Sungho, a Biff 2019 representative, “we did not want to cancel the screening because a lot of fans had bought the tickets and cared for the movie. A film festival has to keep its connections...
- 12/4/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Asian Film Awards Academy has decided to announce the winners online on October 14.
Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite leads the nominations for this year’s Asian Film Awards (Afa) – hosted by Busan International Film Festival and the first to be held outside of Hong Kong and Macau – with ten nominations including best film and best director.
The Asian Film Awards Academy (Afaa), comprising the Hong Kong, Tokyo and Busan international film festivals, announced during last year’s Busan that the 14th Afa ceremony would be held in the South Korean city this year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisers...
Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite leads the nominations for this year’s Asian Film Awards (Afa) – hosted by Busan International Film Festival and the first to be held outside of Hong Kong and Macau – with ten nominations including best film and best director.
The Asian Film Awards Academy (Afaa), comprising the Hong Kong, Tokyo and Busan international film festivals, announced during last year’s Busan that the 14th Afa ceremony would be held in the South Korean city this year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisers...
- 9/9/2020
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
The 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue was one of the most shocking and captivating stories the world experienced during the last years, as it captivated global interest for the 17 days the operation to rescue the twelve members of the football team (aged 11 to 16) and their 25-year-old assistant from the cave they were trapped in, lasted. The rescue efforts involved over 10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, scores of rescue workers, representatives from about 100 governmental agencies, 900 police officers, and 2,000 soldiers; and it required ten police helicopters, seven ambulances, more than 700 diving cylinders, and the pumping of more than a billion liters of water from the caves. Tom Waller focuses on the people and the events of the rescue while he dedicates the movie to Beirut Pakbara, a rescue diver who died during the operation.
The film deals with the events that led to the trapping of the team very briefly,...
The film deals with the events that led to the trapping of the team very briefly,...
- 8/5/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Creating a film where irony is the main ingredient and mocking the main purpose sounds like a very dangerous business in these ridiculously politically correct times. Carlo Francisco Manatad, who is mostly known for his editing work with directors like Khavn and Chito S. Rono, but has also been directing movies for more than a decade, manages to pull off this “dangerous” endeavour, which actually starts with the title.
Most of the short takes place in a gas station, where Jodilerks, a middle aged woman, and a young man are working the night shift. Jodilerks tries to sell bottles with gas on the side while smoking, but when that does not work, she and her colleague decide to get drunk. As expected in the particular hours, their customers are also drunk, and furthermore, weird, not willing to pay and even dangerous. When her colleague is knocked out due to their drinking,...
Most of the short takes place in a gas station, where Jodilerks, a middle aged woman, and a young man are working the night shift. Jodilerks tries to sell bottles with gas on the side while smoking, but when that does not work, she and her colleague decide to get drunk. As expected in the particular hours, their customers are also drunk, and furthermore, weird, not willing to pay and even dangerous. When her colleague is knocked out due to their drinking,...
- 6/17/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Starting 23 October pre-sales for this year’s edition of the Singapore International Film Festival will start, a festival which will celebrate its 30th edition. In case you are a SGIFFFriend, you will be able to buy tickets one day earlier.
On 22 October the festival will also reveal its full programme consisting of films, masterclasses and other events. You can find the all the information regarding tickets and the full program on the festival’s official website.
Along with the programme, the Southeast Asian Film Lab will also open its doors providing a “nurturing and collaborative space for Southeast Asian filmmakers who are embarking on their first feature-length film project.” This year’s mentors are Michel
Reilhac as well as mentors Lee Chatametikool and Teresa Kwong.
For more information on the Southeast Asian Film Lab, please click here.
Secondly, there is the Youth Jury & Critics Programme. “Led by Kong Rithdee, Deputy...
On 22 October the festival will also reveal its full programme consisting of films, masterclasses and other events. You can find the all the information regarding tickets and the full program on the festival’s official website.
Along with the programme, the Southeast Asian Film Lab will also open its doors providing a “nurturing and collaborative space for Southeast Asian filmmakers who are embarking on their first feature-length film project.” This year’s mentors are Michel
Reilhac as well as mentors Lee Chatametikool and Teresa Kwong.
For more information on the Southeast Asian Film Lab, please click here.
Secondly, there is the Youth Jury & Critics Programme. “Led by Kong Rithdee, Deputy...
- 10/19/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The story of how “Rom” managed to screen in Busan is quite interesting. During the last September, after “Rom” was submitted and picked to screen in Biff, the Vietnam Cinema Department had said that the Hoan Khue company, which produced “Rom”, had sent the movie to the festival before it was approved by Vietnam’s censors. It also asked the company to explain why the film had been produced by foreigners without getting the script approved as required by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The company then wrote to the Busan festival organizers and asked that the film be withdrawn. (source: e.vnexpress.net)
However, the movie was eventually screened, since, according to Park Sungho, a Biff 2019 representative, “we did not want to cancel the screening because a lot of fans had bought the tickets and cared for the movie. A film festival has to keep its connections...
However, the movie was eventually screened, since, according to Park Sungho, a Biff 2019 representative, “we did not want to cancel the screening because a lot of fans had bought the tickets and cared for the movie. A film festival has to keep its connections...
- 10/11/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
SeaShorts Film Festival is pleased to announce the full Official Selection for its third edition held in Malacca this 25th to 29th September. Handpicked from more than 350 entries, this year’s line- up of contenders showcase the enormous depth and diversity of storytelling in Southeast Asian cinema.
Comprising two categories, the annual competition counts a veritable who’s who of industry players among thejury panel. Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Lav Diaz (Philippines) leads judging duties for the regional SeaShorts Award alongside actor-director Bront Palarae (Malaysia) and Asian Film Award-winning editor Lee Chatametikool (Thailand). Respected helmer Garin Nugroho (Indonesia), artist Sherman Ong (Malaysia), and rising filmmaker Shireen Seno (Philippines) meanwhile decide the Next New Wave Award, which goes to the best Malaysian effort.
Nominees stand the chance to walk away with the lion’s share of prizes including Panasonic Lumix GH5 4Kcameras, Aputure lighting equipment, Zoom field recorders, and Deity Microphones.
Comprising two categories, the annual competition counts a veritable who’s who of industry players among thejury panel. Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Lav Diaz (Philippines) leads judging duties for the regional SeaShorts Award alongside actor-director Bront Palarae (Malaysia) and Asian Film Award-winning editor Lee Chatametikool (Thailand). Respected helmer Garin Nugroho (Indonesia), artist Sherman Ong (Malaysia), and rising filmmaker Shireen Seno (Philippines) meanwhile decide the Next New Wave Award, which goes to the best Malaysian effort.
Nominees stand the chance to walk away with the lion’s share of prizes including Panasonic Lumix GH5 4Kcameras, Aputure lighting equipment, Zoom field recorders, and Deity Microphones.
- 8/3/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
The Singapore International Film Festival has appointed Taiwanese film curator, Kuo Ming-Jung, as its new program director alongside executive director, Yuni Hadi.
A previous Consultant of Sgiff, Kuo takes over from Thai filmmaker and critic, Pimpaka Towira, to lead the festival’s film curation and programs. An experienced film industry professional, Kuo was the program director at the Taipei Film Festival from 2014 to 2018. She has also served on several juries and selection panels including at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Locarno Film Festival.
The 30th Sgiff will run from 21 Nov. to 1 Dec. 2019
Festival organizers also announced details of the first edition of the Sgiff Film Academy (Sfa), which it describes as “the region’s first holistic training initiative to support Southeast Asian film talents and nurture film appreciation among the audience.”
Four documentary projects received funding under the new Sgiff Se Asian documentary grant scheme: “Some Women,...
A previous Consultant of Sgiff, Kuo takes over from Thai filmmaker and critic, Pimpaka Towira, to lead the festival’s film curation and programs. An experienced film industry professional, Kuo was the program director at the Taipei Film Festival from 2014 to 2018. She has also served on several juries and selection panels including at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Locarno Film Festival.
The 30th Sgiff will run from 21 Nov. to 1 Dec. 2019
Festival organizers also announced details of the first edition of the Sgiff Film Academy (Sfa), which it describes as “the region’s first holistic training initiative to support Southeast Asian film talents and nurture film appreciation among the audience.”
Four documentary projects received funding under the new Sgiff Se Asian documentary grant scheme: “Some Women,...
- 5/17/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The directorial debut of Phuttiphong Aroonpheng called “Manta Ray” premiered in the Orizzonti section at this year’s edition of Venice, scooping the main award and getting on an extended festival tour that included Toronto, Vancouver, Busan, Thessaloniki and, among others, Zagreb, scoring Special Mention in the main competition. Austere in dialogue, but rich in atmosphere, this film realized in Thai-French-Chinese co-production puts its writer-director in the spotlight as someone worth attention in the future.
“Manta Ray” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019
“Manta Ray” starts with a dedication to Rohingya, a stateless people which faces horrific persecution by the government forces in their homeland in north-western Myanmar. Many Rohingya are driven out of their homes and they live as refugees in the other states of South and South-East Asia, in Arab countries (the majority of Rohingya are Muslims) and in the Western World. Some of them are being smuggled into Thailand which is,...
“Manta Ray” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019
“Manta Ray” starts with a dedication to Rohingya, a stateless people which faces horrific persecution by the government forces in their homeland in north-western Myanmar. Many Rohingya are driven out of their homes and they live as refugees in the other states of South and South-East Asia, in Arab countries (the majority of Rohingya are Muslims) and in the Western World. Some of them are being smuggled into Thailand which is,...
- 3/14/2019
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Kirsten Tan has hit it from the beginning, with her debut feature being the first Singaporean movie selected to screen at the Sundance Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 edition.
Pop Aye screened at Helsinki Cine Aasia Film Festival 2018
Architect Thana has run into his childhood friend, an elephant called Pop Aye, just at the right moment. The world seems to be passing him by as a landmark shopping mall he designed in the 90’s is being torn down, the young people currently in charge of the company he works for seem not to value him very much and his wife, Bo, seems to be distant, and less and less understanding. Thana decides to take the elephant back to the rural village where they both grew up and into his uncle Peak’s (Narong Pongpab) care. His journey away...
Pop Aye screened at Helsinki Cine Aasia Film Festival 2018
Architect Thana has run into his childhood friend, an elephant called Pop Aye, just at the right moment. The world seems to be passing him by as a landmark shopping mall he designed in the 90’s is being torn down, the young people currently in charge of the company he works for seem not to value him very much and his wife, Bo, seems to be distant, and less and less understanding. Thana decides to take the elephant back to the rural village where they both grew up and into his uncle Peak’s (Narong Pongpab) care. His journey away...
- 3/5/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Winner of the Netpac award at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, among a number of other awards, both Asian and international, and backed up by production companies from all over the world, “Apprentice” is one of the most renowned Singaporean films of all time and an, overall, great movie.
The story revolves around Sergeant Aiman, a 28-year-old former soldier and current correctional officer, who has just been transferred from “Commonwealth” (referring to the former Queenstown Remand Prison) to the fictional Larangan Prison, the state’s maximum-security correctional institute. Aiman’s social life is practically non-existent, since he still lives with his sister and has no girlfriend, and seemingly, no ambition for his life whatsoever. As soon as he meets the prison’s chief executioner, Rahim, however, and is considered to be his assistant, and when he retires, his substitute, his true goals are revealed along...
The story revolves around Sergeant Aiman, a 28-year-old former soldier and current correctional officer, who has just been transferred from “Commonwealth” (referring to the former Queenstown Remand Prison) to the fictional Larangan Prison, the state’s maximum-security correctional institute. Aiman’s social life is practically non-existent, since he still lives with his sister and has no girlfriend, and seemingly, no ambition for his life whatsoever. As soon as he meets the prison’s chief executioner, Rahim, however, and is considered to be his assistant, and when he retires, his substitute, his true goals are revealed along...
- 2/21/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The directorial debut of Phuttiphong Aroonpheng called “Manta Ray” premiered in the Orizzonti section at this year’s edition of Venice, scooping the main award and getting on an extended festival tour that included Toronto, Vancouver, Busan, Thessaloniki and, among others, Zagreb, scoring Special Mention in the main competition. Austere in dialogue, but rich in atmosphere, this film realized in Thai-French-Chinese co-production puts its writer-director in the spotlight as someone worth attention in the future.
“Manta Ray” starts with a dedication to Rohingya, a stateless people which faces horrific persecution by the government forces in their homeland in north-western Myanmar. Many Rohingya are driven out of their homes and they live as refugees in the other states of South and South-East Asia, in Arab countries (the majority of Rohingya are Muslims) and in the Western World. Some of them are being smuggled into Thailand which is, as the region’s...
“Manta Ray” starts with a dedication to Rohingya, a stateless people which faces horrific persecution by the government forces in their homeland in north-western Myanmar. Many Rohingya are driven out of their homes and they live as refugees in the other states of South and South-East Asia, in Arab countries (the majority of Rohingya are Muslims) and in the Western World. Some of them are being smuggled into Thailand which is, as the region’s...
- 11/26/2018
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Xyz Films, the U.S.-based sales agency specializing in genre films, has picked up international rights to Bradley Liew’s elevated horror movie “Motel Acacia.” Xyz will open it up to foreign distributors at this week’s American Film Marketin Santa Monica.
The film is set to start principal photography at the end of November in Philippines and Slovenia. It is targeting a 2019 release.
Malaysian-born, Philippines-based Liew saw his debut feature “Singing in Graveyards” premier at the Venice Film Festival’s Critics Week in 2016. It went on to 30 festivals and won awards in Malaysia and Kolkata.
Set in a fictional snowy U.S., the film is about a young Filipino man who is groomed by his tyrannical Caucasian father to take over a voyeuristic sex motel with a bed that eats men and impregnates women. The screenplay was co-written by Liew and producer Bianca Balbuena, who was last year...
The film is set to start principal photography at the end of November in Philippines and Slovenia. It is targeting a 2019 release.
Malaysian-born, Philippines-based Liew saw his debut feature “Singing in Graveyards” premier at the Venice Film Festival’s Critics Week in 2016. It went on to 30 festivals and won awards in Malaysia and Kolkata.
Set in a fictional snowy U.S., the film is about a young Filipino man who is groomed by his tyrannical Caucasian father to take over a voyeuristic sex motel with a bed that eats men and impregnates women. The screenplay was co-written by Liew and producer Bianca Balbuena, who was last year...
- 11/2/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
A humanist heart beats loudly in “Manta Ray,” the promising feature debut of Thai writer-director Phuttiphong Aroonpheng. Centered on a mute Rohingya man rescued by a Thai fisherman after having washed ashore near the Thai-Myanmar border, this superficially simple tale of identity, displacement and friendship is wrapped in layers of symbolism that will likely be pleasurably hypnotic for many viewers. While a tough commercial road lies ahead for the film, it seems assured of a lengthy festival life following September playdates at Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian. It will be interesting to monitor Aroonpheng’s progress from here.
Though locations aren’t given and it’s never stated exactly where the silent and unnamed central character hails from, an introductory statement that reads “For the Rohingyas” leaves no doubt that “Manta Ray” is dedicated to the stateless ethnic minority commonly referred to as the most persecuted people on Earth. By...
Though locations aren’t given and it’s never stated exactly where the silent and unnamed central character hails from, an introductory statement that reads “For the Rohingyas” leaves no doubt that “Manta Ray” is dedicated to the stateless ethnic minority commonly referred to as the most persecuted people on Earth. By...
- 9/7/2018
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: In another hot package unveiled for buyers here in Toronto, Tom Waller is set to direct his script The Cave, a drama about the harrowing rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team, after 12 boys aged 11-16 and their coach got trapped earlier this summer in the Tham Luang Cave in Thailand. The rescue of the boys before the caves became flooded played out in real time on TV screens across the world and was accomplished by experts from numerous countries.
Set up as a Thai production, the drama will begin shooting in November, with Thailand-based De Warrenne Pictures producing.
The British filmmaker was born in Bangkok and has directed Monk Dawson, Mindfulness and Murder, and The Last Executioner. The latter two were set in Thailand and won numerous awards. The production team includes editor Lee Chatametikool and production designer Pongnarin Jonghawklang.
Wild Bunch is handling international sales and introducing...
Set up as a Thai production, the drama will begin shooting in November, with Thailand-based De Warrenne Pictures producing.
The British filmmaker was born in Bangkok and has directed Monk Dawson, Mindfulness and Murder, and The Last Executioner. The latter two were set in Thailand and won numerous awards. The production team includes editor Lee Chatametikool and production designer Pongnarin Jonghawklang.
Wild Bunch is handling international sales and introducing...
- 9/7/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Feng Xiaogang’s comedy won best film, actress and cinematography, while The Handmaiden picked up four awards.Scroll down for full list of winners
Feng Xiaogang’s I Am Not Madame Bovary won best film, best actress for Fan Bingbing [pictured accepting her award] and best cinematography at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on Tuesday night (March 21).
Fan plays a rural woman battling the authorities to restore her honour in the comedy-drama, produced by Feng’s Dongyang Mayla, Sparkle Roll Media and Huayi Brothers. Luo Pan was awarded best cinematography for the film, which was mostly shot in a circular frame.
Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden picked up the most awards of the evening – four in all, including best supporting actress for Moon So-ri and best newcomer for Kim Tae-ri. The erotic period drama was also awarded best production design (Ryu Seong-hie) and best costume design (Cho Sang-kyung).
Best director went to Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jing for supernatural horror...
Feng Xiaogang’s I Am Not Madame Bovary won best film, best actress for Fan Bingbing [pictured accepting her award] and best cinematography at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on Tuesday night (March 21).
Fan plays a rural woman battling the authorities to restore her honour in the comedy-drama, produced by Feng’s Dongyang Mayla, Sparkle Roll Media and Huayi Brothers. Luo Pan was awarded best cinematography for the film, which was mostly shot in a circular frame.
Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden picked up the most awards of the evening – four in all, including best supporting actress for Moon So-ri and best newcomer for Kim Tae-ri. The erotic period drama was also awarded best production design (Ryu Seong-hie) and best costume design (Cho Sang-kyung).
Best director went to Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jing for supernatural horror...
- 3/21/2017
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
The OrnithologistIt’s one thing to watch a film festival unfold and take the films as they come when they come, on their own individual merits. It’s another to look back at them as part of a bigger picture, tracing connections made in invisible ink that may not be apparent at the time. That’s one way to look at the competitive selection of Locarno in 2016. As usual, yes, Locarno did take risks very few other A-list festivals would, and it still gets away with stuff other events can’t. (Let’s pause here to remember that Filipino auteur du jour Lav Diaz only went on to the main Berlin line-up after winning the Golden Leopard two years ago.) If getting away with it means tripping over itself occasionally (and in my short time of attending Locarno there have been stumbles, believe me), I’m absolutely fine with it.
- 8/22/2016
- MUBI
Prabda Yoon’s feature debut will play in Rotterdamn’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition.
Thai sales outfit Mosquito Films Distribution has picked up worldwide rights to Thai writer-director Prabda Yoon’s Motel Mist, the only Asian entry at the upcoming International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (Jan 27 - Feb 7) revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition.
The new film marks the feature debut of Yoon, an award-winning author and screenwriter most notably for Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Last Life In The Universe and Invisible Waves.
His new thriller is set entirely in a ‘love motel’ where five lives connect in unexpected ways and mysterious powers are at play. The characters include two school girls, a motel staff member, a man obsessed with sexual fetish and a former child actor who believes aliens are chasing him.
“In a country where justice and basic human rights are fragile and can be easily violated by ‘higher powers’ with absurd and often comical logic, it seems...
Thai sales outfit Mosquito Films Distribution has picked up worldwide rights to Thai writer-director Prabda Yoon’s Motel Mist, the only Asian entry at the upcoming International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (Jan 27 - Feb 7) revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition.
The new film marks the feature debut of Yoon, an award-winning author and screenwriter most notably for Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Last Life In The Universe and Invisible Waves.
His new thriller is set entirely in a ‘love motel’ where five lives connect in unexpected ways and mysterious powers are at play. The characters include two school girls, a motel staff member, a man obsessed with sexual fetish and a former child actor who believes aliens are chasing him.
“In a country where justice and basic human rights are fragile and can be easily violated by ‘higher powers’ with absurd and often comical logic, it seems...
- 1/18/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Thai sales company Mosquito Films Distribution has picked up Singaporean filmmaker Liao Jiekai’s sophomore feature As You Were.
The film premiered in Tokyo International Film Festival’s Asian Future competition in October and screened to a full house at the Singapore International Film Festival this week.
This follows the Thai outfit’s picking up two Malaysian films – previous Cannes director Woo Ming Jin’s The Second Life Of Thieves, which premiered in Busan, and his oft-times producer Edmund Yeo’s feature directorial debut River Of Exploding Durians, which was in Tokyo’s main competition.
As You Were was also in international competition in Torino and Nantes.
Set on an idyllic island south of Singapore, the film follows a couple spending their last moments together as their relationship falls apart, exploring their memories and the oppressive past of St. John’s Island, which was, at various points in history, a quarantine...
The film premiered in Tokyo International Film Festival’s Asian Future competition in October and screened to a full house at the Singapore International Film Festival this week.
This follows the Thai outfit’s picking up two Malaysian films – previous Cannes director Woo Ming Jin’s The Second Life Of Thieves, which premiered in Busan, and his oft-times producer Edmund Yeo’s feature directorial debut River Of Exploding Durians, which was in Tokyo’s main competition.
As You Were was also in international competition in Torino and Nantes.
Set on an idyllic island south of Singapore, the film follows a couple spending their last moments together as their relationship falls apart, exploring their memories and the oppressive past of St. John’s Island, which was, at various points in history, a quarantine...
- 12/11/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
Thai production service and equipment company Vs Service and post-production house White Light are launching Open Sea Fund, Southeast Asia’s first regional film fund.
The new fund for Southeast Asian filmmakers will start out by supporting two feature film projects a year – one in production and one in post-production, with an estimated value of $50,000 for both projects combined.
Vs Service will provide a full camera, lighting and grip package for a feature film shooting in Thailand or the region. White Light will offer a color grading and Dcp package for a feature film.
“Thailand has profited immensely from being the post-production centre of Southeast Asia,” said White Light’s managing partner Lee Chatametikool. “With the Open Sea Fund, we want to give back to the region by opening up funding opportunities for both unknown and established Southeast Asian filmmakers.”
The award-winning editor, director, producer and post-production supervisor has worked with filmmakers such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, [link...
The new fund for Southeast Asian filmmakers will start out by supporting two feature film projects a year – one in production and one in post-production, with an estimated value of $50,000 for both projects combined.
Vs Service will provide a full camera, lighting and grip package for a feature film shooting in Thailand or the region. White Light will offer a color grading and Dcp package for a feature film.
“Thailand has profited immensely from being the post-production centre of Southeast Asia,” said White Light’s managing partner Lee Chatametikool. “With the Open Sea Fund, we want to give back to the region by opening up funding opportunities for both unknown and established Southeast Asian filmmakers.”
The award-winning editor, director, producer and post-production supervisor has worked with filmmakers such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, [link...
- 10/7/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
World premieres from Goupil, Li, De La Cruz, Yeo, Yoshida and more.Scroll down for Competition line-up
The 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) (Oct 23-31) has announced the rest of its line-up with a Competition selection that includes world premieres such as Romain Goupil’s French film The Days Come and Li Ruijun’s Chinese film River Road.
The other world premieres in Competition will be: Filipino maverick Khavn De La Cruz‘s Ruined Heart - Another Love Story Between A Criminal & A Whore; Malaysian producer of Cannes title Tiger Factory, Edmund Yeo’s feature directorial debut River Of Exploding Durians, and the previously announced single Japanese film in Competition, Pale Moon, directed by Daihachi Yoshida.
Claudio Noce’s Italian film Ice Forest will make an international premiere in Competition.
Tiff Programming director Yoshi Yatabe explained the selection was made on three criteria: “an unswerving focus on depicting humanity”, “diversity” and “auteurism”.
He said, “To sum up...
The 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) (Oct 23-31) has announced the rest of its line-up with a Competition selection that includes world premieres such as Romain Goupil’s French film The Days Come and Li Ruijun’s Chinese film River Road.
The other world premieres in Competition will be: Filipino maverick Khavn De La Cruz‘s Ruined Heart - Another Love Story Between A Criminal & A Whore; Malaysian producer of Cannes title Tiger Factory, Edmund Yeo’s feature directorial debut River Of Exploding Durians, and the previously announced single Japanese film in Competition, Pale Moon, directed by Daihachi Yoshida.
Claudio Noce’s Italian film Ice Forest will make an international premiere in Competition.
Tiff Programming director Yoshi Yatabe explained the selection was made on three criteria: “an unswerving focus on depicting humanity”, “diversity” and “auteurism”.
He said, “To sum up...
- 9/30/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
A still from Phoring
Bengali-language film Phoring, directed by Indranil Roychowdhury, has been nominated for the Asian New Talent award at the Shanghai International Film Festival (June 14-22).
The Asian New Talent award is the second competition program of the festival, aiming at discovering and promoting young directors. From the 10 competition films, the winners of Best Film and Best Director are awarded approximately Usd 48,000.
Phoring, the story of an adolescent boy growing up in a back-of-beyond township in North Bengal, released in India in September last year.
The other nominations in the Asian New Talent award category are 10 Minutes by Yong-seung Lee (Korea), Angels Come Together by Hamid Mohammad (Iran), The Blue Bone by Cui Jian (China), Concrete Clouds by Lee Chatametikool (Thailand), Homeland by Nao Kubota (Japan), I’m Not Angry! by Reza Dormishian (Iran), No Smoking by Dong Xinwen and Wu Gang (China) and The Tale Of Iya...
Bengali-language film Phoring, directed by Indranil Roychowdhury, has been nominated for the Asian New Talent award at the Shanghai International Film Festival (June 14-22).
The Asian New Talent award is the second competition program of the festival, aiming at discovering and promoting young directors. From the 10 competition films, the winners of Best Film and Best Director are awarded approximately Usd 48,000.
Phoring, the story of an adolescent boy growing up in a back-of-beyond township in North Bengal, released in India in September last year.
The other nominations in the Asian New Talent award category are 10 Minutes by Yong-seung Lee (Korea), Angels Come Together by Hamid Mohammad (Iran), The Blue Bone by Cui Jian (China), Concrete Clouds by Lee Chatametikool (Thailand), Homeland by Nao Kubota (Japan), I’m Not Angry! by Reza Dormishian (Iran), No Smoking by Dong Xinwen and Wu Gang (China) and The Tale Of Iya...
- 6/2/2014
- by Nandita Dutta
- DearCinema.com
Mostofa S. Farooki’s Ant Story and John Carney’s Begin Again are among the films that will compete for the Golden Goblet Award at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff).
Begin Again was recently acquired for Chinese distribution by Ivanhoe Pictures and Beijing Galloping Horse, while Ant Story premiered at last year’s Dubai International Film Festival.
Organisers said the full Golden Goblet line-up has yet to be announced but will also include Volker Schlöndorff’s Diplomatie; Thai filmmaker Tom Waller’s The Last Executioner; Greek filmmaker Pantelis Voulgaris’ Mikra Anglia; Maiko wa Lady, from Japan’s Masayuki Suo; Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig’s Predestination (Australia); Jeanne Herry’s She Adores Him (France); Mehdi Rahmani’s Snow (Iran); Zhang Meng’s The Uncle Victory (China); and Marko Nabersnik’s The Woods Are Still Green (Germany).
As previously announced, Gong Li will serve as president of the Golden Goblet jury, which also includes...
Begin Again was recently acquired for Chinese distribution by Ivanhoe Pictures and Beijing Galloping Horse, while Ant Story premiered at last year’s Dubai International Film Festival.
Organisers said the full Golden Goblet line-up has yet to be announced but will also include Volker Schlöndorff’s Diplomatie; Thai filmmaker Tom Waller’s The Last Executioner; Greek filmmaker Pantelis Voulgaris’ Mikra Anglia; Maiko wa Lady, from Japan’s Masayuki Suo; Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig’s Predestination (Australia); Jeanne Herry’s She Adores Him (France); Mehdi Rahmani’s Snow (Iran); Zhang Meng’s The Uncle Victory (China); and Marko Nabersnik’s The Woods Are Still Green (Germany).
As previously announced, Gong Li will serve as president of the Golden Goblet jury, which also includes...
- 5/29/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Highlights include Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Abel Ferrara’s controversial Dsk feature Welcome To New York.
The full line-up of the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been revealed this morning by artistic director Chris Fujiwara at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse.
This year’s festival, which runs from June 18-29, will comprise 156 features from 47 countries, including 11 world premieres, eight international premieres, seven European premieres and 95 UK premieres.
New titles announced today include Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final performances that was first shown at Sundance in January.
Straight from its lively premiere in Cannes is Abel Ferrara’s controversial title Welcome To New York, inspired by the case of former Imf managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, starring Gérard Depardieu, which will receive its UK premiere at Eiff.
Other new titles added to the line-up include [link=nm...
The full line-up of the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been revealed this morning by artistic director Chris Fujiwara at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse.
This year’s festival, which runs from June 18-29, will comprise 156 features from 47 countries, including 11 world premieres, eight international premieres, seven European premieres and 95 UK premieres.
New titles announced today include Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final performances that was first shown at Sundance in January.
Straight from its lively premiere in Cannes is Abel Ferrara’s controversial title Welcome To New York, inspired by the case of former Imf managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, starring Gérard Depardieu, which will receive its UK premiere at Eiff.
Other new titles added to the line-up include [link=nm...
- 5/28/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Taipei Film Festival has unveiled the 12 films that have been selected for its International New Talent Competition, including the world premiere of local production Partners In Crime.
Directed by Chang Jung-chi (Touch Of The Light), Partners In Crime tells the story of three high school boys investigating the death of a classmate.
The competition line-up also include Taiwanese drama Exit, directed by Chienn Hsiang, along with first and second films from elsewhere in Asia, such as Lee Chatametikool’s Concrete Clouds, and titles from Europe and Latin America.
Over the past nine years, the New Talent competition has helped launch the careers of several notable local directors, including Doze Niu (Monga), Yang Ya-che (Bf*Gf) and Wei Te-sheng (Warriors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale).
Entrants compete for the Grand Prize, with a cash award of $20,000, and Special Jury Prize ($10,000), both selected by an international jury, along with an audience award.
The Taipei...
Directed by Chang Jung-chi (Touch Of The Light), Partners In Crime tells the story of three high school boys investigating the death of a classmate.
The competition line-up also include Taiwanese drama Exit, directed by Chienn Hsiang, along with first and second films from elsewhere in Asia, such as Lee Chatametikool’s Concrete Clouds, and titles from Europe and Latin America.
Over the past nine years, the New Talent competition has helped launch the careers of several notable local directors, including Doze Niu (Monga), Yang Ya-che (Bf*Gf) and Wei Te-sheng (Warriors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale).
Entrants compete for the Grand Prize, with a cash award of $20,000, and Special Jury Prize ($10,000), both selected by an international jury, along with an audience award.
The Taipei...
- 5/2/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Thai drama was nominated for awards at film festivals in Rotterdam and Busan.
Day for Night has acquired Lee Chatametikool’s Concrete Clouds distribution in the UK and Ireland, where it is set for release in early 2015.
Set against the backdrop of Thailand’s financial crisis of 1997, it follows four central characters who are brought together after more than a decade apart as a result of a suicide.
Chatametikool’s debut featurepremiered at Busan International Film Festival 2013. The film is a Vertical Films production and was co-produced by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong and Sylvia Chang.
Concrete Clouds also featured in the Tiger Award competition in Rotterdam earlier this year.
Speaking about the UK/Ireland acquisition, director Chatametikool said: “One of the most pressing issues for independent filmmakers is how to build and maintain an audience, especially in today’s dwindling market. Day for Night, as a passionate champion of independent cinema, takes a fresh...
Day for Night has acquired Lee Chatametikool’s Concrete Clouds distribution in the UK and Ireland, where it is set for release in early 2015.
Set against the backdrop of Thailand’s financial crisis of 1997, it follows four central characters who are brought together after more than a decade apart as a result of a suicide.
Chatametikool’s debut featurepremiered at Busan International Film Festival 2013. The film is a Vertical Films production and was co-produced by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong and Sylvia Chang.
Concrete Clouds also featured in the Tiger Award competition in Rotterdam earlier this year.
Speaking about the UK/Ireland acquisition, director Chatametikool said: “One of the most pressing issues for independent filmmakers is how to build and maintain an audience, especially in today’s dwindling market. Day for Night, as a passionate champion of independent cinema, takes a fresh...
- 4/25/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Though the market seemed slow on the surface, the usual sales got made: the larger companies selling almost out, the smaller ones busily speaking with others, selling here and there, worrying if this would get better, worse, or stay the same.
Meanwhile fascinating and energizing conversations were carried on with friends, newcomers, keepers of funds, representatives of countries and their needs to internationalize, to join forces with one another to create new models, internationalize, form cross cultural competent and cooperative ways of working together. We know the past model is failing to keep up with the technology and its fast spawning product. Some would say the old model is old and frail, sucking its old teeth as it pretends to carry on, but in reality, it is carrying its own corpse upon its shoulders. I would never go so far as to say this; the model will be changed, refined and redesigned, but it will survive because some people enjoy theatrical settings and that helps further other sales
FBI Casting Director Beatrice Kruger (now working on Fatih Akin¹s The Cut) spoke to us over dinner at Einsteins about her experience on Woody Allen¹s To Rome With Love, how he got involved in the real life politics of Italy as he attempted to cast real newscasters in the roles they play in real life. He didn't want the right wingers. He didn't like them, but he was told he had to hire them if he wanted to access the government monies, ...besides, how could he cast a left wing newscaster into the role off a right wing commentator? The experience of Italian politics did not make him happy.
Frank Cox, the founder of the Australian arthouse distributor Hopscotch which has been sold to eOne Entertainment, was in the Scandinavian Pavilion and told me he is still carrying on though on a smaller scale with his original company, New Vision Distribution. He recently acquired We¹re The Best by Lucas Moodyson, a darling film that showed in Cannes and Toronto and totally endeared me to its 13 year old girls as they searched for ways to get into trouble. (Magnolia has U.S.)
Robbie Little and Elie Mechoulam, Director of Sales and Marketing of The Little Film Company tallying up that $30,000,000 at the box office at $11 per ticket is only 3 million admissions, or 300,000 tickets sold...TV would be failure if it had such numbers. TV makes $46 million in ad sales on one episode of a great series...
Andrea Kaul, the EFM¹s new Co-Director who comes from Rtl TV and ad sales was not at that conversation, but when we spoke after the market was finished, such a topic as episodic content and online ad sales was also on her mind. The Berlinale screening of Netflix¹s second installment of Houses of Cards was a great success in the last days of the Berlinale, which was in itself food for thought. Even Dieter Kosslick, in his interview with Indiewire¹s Eric Kohn (Read Here) said, "We showed, for the first time in history, House of Cards. We have never done such a thing before. Heads were turning last night. Last year, we had [Jane Campion¹s TV series] Top of the Lake (in its entirety),so we are starting this new whole world."
Ted Hope of Fandor pointed out, "Research company Markets and Markets predicts global video-on-demand (VOD) revenue will grow from $21 billion last year to $45 billion in 2018. They define this as the combined revenues of all VOD outlets, worldwide ‹ essentially digital (online) VOD plus cable & satellite VOD. Huge numbers, but actually not a particularly high compound annual growth rate (16%) to get to the $45b number in years. Figure roughly half of this revenue flows to content owners and half to the VOD outlets."
To see the excitement of young people just beginning...everything to gain and little to lose, learning to like what they are doing to further their aims at telling stories their way. When I spoke with Wafa Tajdin, a founding partner and lead producer at Seven Thirty Films, an Africa based indie production company she runs with her sister, artist and film maker Amirah Tajdin. This Arab Indian pair of sisters is working to tell their stories of growing up in Kenya and living in Dubai...I asked which parent was what and was told that each parent was also half Arab, half Indian, the same sexes too...I should have told them about Peter, whose Italian Jewish parents also lived in such a ghetto of mixed marriages in east Harlem in the 1910s and 1920s. These are the stories which are forming in world cinema today. You can see her work Here
True cross-culture creation is taking place in the Talents section of the Efm. Eleven films of former Talent Campus participants are showing in the festival this year
One talent, Sompot Chidgasornpongse has formed a new international sales agency (and distribution company) called Mosquito. Thailand¹s leading independent filmmakers Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), Soros Sukhum (Wonderful Town), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History), and Lee Chatametikool have joined hands to open Mosquito Films Distribution. The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the partners¹ films as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of Southeast Asian filmmakers. - See more Here
Ben Gibson of London Film School,Ira Deutchman of Colombia Film School, German film school dffb, Frances La Femis, Fescac the Romanian Film and Theater University are continuing their initiative Making Waves, bringing in students to work collaboratively to develop creative campaigns, edit trailers, design posters and plan roll-out packages for actual independent movies in the Efm.
Also exciting was the search for new models, not only in the film world of funding by government organizations, but of society as discussed in such films as Göran Hugo Olsson¹s (Black Mix Tapes) Concerning Violence and Hubert Sauper¹s We Come as Friends , and of women in society. 50% of public funds should be made available for women who not only constitute 50% of the public as moviegoers and should represent 50% of the cinephiles (those working in the film business) but 50% of all societies and therefore should have 50% of the voice of public policy.
In its second year, the Dortmund Women's Film Festival drew even more women to hear and discuss the status of women in the film business and gender parity. Speakers such as Heike Meyer-Döring of the Creative Europe Desk of Film and Medienstiftung Nrw, Bosnian filmmaker and Golden Bear Winner in 2006 Jasmila Zbanic, So-in Hong of the Seoul International Womens Film Festival speaking on aims and projects of the Asian Women Film Network, Melissa Silverstein of the Athena Film Festival and blogger on Women and Hollywood updating on the status of women filmmakers in the U.S., Mariel Macia of Mica/ Cima, Spain speaking of the proposal for the EU Commission regarding gender equality on state aid for film - all these and more, like Claudia Landsberger head of Eye International, Film Institute Netherlands hosting a panel of Susana de la Sierra, General Director of Icaa, Spanish Film Institute noting that 7% of the leading roles were women and the 2007 Law for Gender Equality, Cornelia Hammelmann, Project Director of the German Federal Fund, Sanja Ravlic, President of the Gender Equality Study Group of Eurimages, Croatia -- all spoke of what seems as obvious as the noses on our faces, but which has made little impact on the reality of policies yet... We had so many more conversations, I wish I could put them all here.
With all the ideas circulating, one could hardly say that the Berlinale and the European Film Market were not busy.
Meanwhile fascinating and energizing conversations were carried on with friends, newcomers, keepers of funds, representatives of countries and their needs to internationalize, to join forces with one another to create new models, internationalize, form cross cultural competent and cooperative ways of working together. We know the past model is failing to keep up with the technology and its fast spawning product. Some would say the old model is old and frail, sucking its old teeth as it pretends to carry on, but in reality, it is carrying its own corpse upon its shoulders. I would never go so far as to say this; the model will be changed, refined and redesigned, but it will survive because some people enjoy theatrical settings and that helps further other sales
FBI Casting Director Beatrice Kruger (now working on Fatih Akin¹s The Cut) spoke to us over dinner at Einsteins about her experience on Woody Allen¹s To Rome With Love, how he got involved in the real life politics of Italy as he attempted to cast real newscasters in the roles they play in real life. He didn't want the right wingers. He didn't like them, but he was told he had to hire them if he wanted to access the government monies, ...besides, how could he cast a left wing newscaster into the role off a right wing commentator? The experience of Italian politics did not make him happy.
Frank Cox, the founder of the Australian arthouse distributor Hopscotch which has been sold to eOne Entertainment, was in the Scandinavian Pavilion and told me he is still carrying on though on a smaller scale with his original company, New Vision Distribution. He recently acquired We¹re The Best by Lucas Moodyson, a darling film that showed in Cannes and Toronto and totally endeared me to its 13 year old girls as they searched for ways to get into trouble. (Magnolia has U.S.)
Robbie Little and Elie Mechoulam, Director of Sales and Marketing of The Little Film Company tallying up that $30,000,000 at the box office at $11 per ticket is only 3 million admissions, or 300,000 tickets sold...TV would be failure if it had such numbers. TV makes $46 million in ad sales on one episode of a great series...
Andrea Kaul, the EFM¹s new Co-Director who comes from Rtl TV and ad sales was not at that conversation, but when we spoke after the market was finished, such a topic as episodic content and online ad sales was also on her mind. The Berlinale screening of Netflix¹s second installment of Houses of Cards was a great success in the last days of the Berlinale, which was in itself food for thought. Even Dieter Kosslick, in his interview with Indiewire¹s Eric Kohn (Read Here) said, "We showed, for the first time in history, House of Cards. We have never done such a thing before. Heads were turning last night. Last year, we had [Jane Campion¹s TV series] Top of the Lake (in its entirety),so we are starting this new whole world."
Ted Hope of Fandor pointed out, "Research company Markets and Markets predicts global video-on-demand (VOD) revenue will grow from $21 billion last year to $45 billion in 2018. They define this as the combined revenues of all VOD outlets, worldwide ‹ essentially digital (online) VOD plus cable & satellite VOD. Huge numbers, but actually not a particularly high compound annual growth rate (16%) to get to the $45b number in years. Figure roughly half of this revenue flows to content owners and half to the VOD outlets."
To see the excitement of young people just beginning...everything to gain and little to lose, learning to like what they are doing to further their aims at telling stories their way. When I spoke with Wafa Tajdin, a founding partner and lead producer at Seven Thirty Films, an Africa based indie production company she runs with her sister, artist and film maker Amirah Tajdin. This Arab Indian pair of sisters is working to tell their stories of growing up in Kenya and living in Dubai...I asked which parent was what and was told that each parent was also half Arab, half Indian, the same sexes too...I should have told them about Peter, whose Italian Jewish parents also lived in such a ghetto of mixed marriages in east Harlem in the 1910s and 1920s. These are the stories which are forming in world cinema today. You can see her work Here
True cross-culture creation is taking place in the Talents section of the Efm. Eleven films of former Talent Campus participants are showing in the festival this year
One talent, Sompot Chidgasornpongse has formed a new international sales agency (and distribution company) called Mosquito. Thailand¹s leading independent filmmakers Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), Soros Sukhum (Wonderful Town), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History), and Lee Chatametikool have joined hands to open Mosquito Films Distribution. The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the partners¹ films as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of Southeast Asian filmmakers. - See more Here
Ben Gibson of London Film School,Ira Deutchman of Colombia Film School, German film school dffb, Frances La Femis, Fescac the Romanian Film and Theater University are continuing their initiative Making Waves, bringing in students to work collaboratively to develop creative campaigns, edit trailers, design posters and plan roll-out packages for actual independent movies in the Efm.
Also exciting was the search for new models, not only in the film world of funding by government organizations, but of society as discussed in such films as Göran Hugo Olsson¹s (Black Mix Tapes) Concerning Violence and Hubert Sauper¹s We Come as Friends , and of women in society. 50% of public funds should be made available for women who not only constitute 50% of the public as moviegoers and should represent 50% of the cinephiles (those working in the film business) but 50% of all societies and therefore should have 50% of the voice of public policy.
In its second year, the Dortmund Women's Film Festival drew even more women to hear and discuss the status of women in the film business and gender parity. Speakers such as Heike Meyer-Döring of the Creative Europe Desk of Film and Medienstiftung Nrw, Bosnian filmmaker and Golden Bear Winner in 2006 Jasmila Zbanic, So-in Hong of the Seoul International Womens Film Festival speaking on aims and projects of the Asian Women Film Network, Melissa Silverstein of the Athena Film Festival and blogger on Women and Hollywood updating on the status of women filmmakers in the U.S., Mariel Macia of Mica/ Cima, Spain speaking of the proposal for the EU Commission regarding gender equality on state aid for film - all these and more, like Claudia Landsberger head of Eye International, Film Institute Netherlands hosting a panel of Susana de la Sierra, General Director of Icaa, Spanish Film Institute noting that 7% of the leading roles were women and the 2007 Law for Gender Equality, Cornelia Hammelmann, Project Director of the German Federal Fund, Sanja Ravlic, President of the Gender Equality Study Group of Eurimages, Croatia -- all spoke of what seems as obvious as the noses on our faces, but which has made little impact on the reality of policies yet... We had so many more conversations, I wish I could put them all here.
With all the ideas circulating, one could hardly say that the Berlinale and the European Film Market were not busy.
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
New Thai sales agent Mosquito Films, launched at Iffr, has revealed further details of its plans.
Bangkok-based Mosquito, founded by six leading Thai filmmakers, has made it clear that the creation of the company will not stop its members from working with European partners.
For example, Palme D’Or winning Apichatpong Weerasethakul is continuing to collaborate closely with German sales outfit The Match Factory. He is preparing new project Cemetery Of Kings with their support.
“For certain films, we think we can group them together and get them to audiences in a better way,” stated Lee Chatametikool, director of Iffr Tiger contender Concrete Clouds and one of the founding members of the new sales collective.
“Also, we have this back catalogue of films that are available to sale and still have a shelf life, especially Apichatpong’s shorts.”
The current Mosquito slate includes omnibus film Letters From The South, which features short films from Tsai Ming Liang and Royston Tan...
Bangkok-based Mosquito, founded by six leading Thai filmmakers, has made it clear that the creation of the company will not stop its members from working with European partners.
For example, Palme D’Or winning Apichatpong Weerasethakul is continuing to collaborate closely with German sales outfit The Match Factory. He is preparing new project Cemetery Of Kings with their support.
“For certain films, we think we can group them together and get them to audiences in a better way,” stated Lee Chatametikool, director of Iffr Tiger contender Concrete Clouds and one of the founding members of the new sales collective.
“Also, we have this back catalogue of films that are available to sale and still have a shelf life, especially Apichatpong’s shorts.”
The current Mosquito slate includes omnibus film Letters From The South, which features short films from Tsai Ming Liang and Royston Tan...
- 1/29/2014
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Every year, at the end of Januari, avid cinema lovers in The Netherlands get excited. Why? Cause it means the International Film Festival Rotterdam, aka the Iffr, is about to start again! Coming Wednesday, 22nd of January until the 2nd of February, it is that time of the year again.
With its first edition dating back to 1972, the Iffr has been around for about 4 decades, being not only the biggest film festival in The Netherlands, but also one of the biggest in the world. With films from all over the globe the festival is a pure treat for film lovers and every edition has many visitors from different countries coming to see as many films as possible in the period of 12 days. Filmmakers themselves visit the festival to screen their films, with many of them having their world premiere at the festival.
With over 100 films being screened, the Asian cinema...
With its first edition dating back to 1972, the Iffr has been around for about 4 decades, being not only the biggest film festival in The Netherlands, but also one of the biggest in the world. With films from all over the globe the festival is a pure treat for film lovers and every edition has many visitors from different countries coming to see as many films as possible in the period of 12 days. Filmmakers themselves visit the festival to screen their films, with many of them having their world premiere at the festival.
With over 100 films being screened, the Asian cinema...
- 1/21/2014
- by Thor
- AsianMoviePulse
Six of Thailand’s leading independent filmmakers have joined forces to launch an international sales and festival distribution company, Mosquito Films Distribution.
The six filmmakers include Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, along with Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), producer Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History) and Lee Chatametikool (Concrete Clouds).
The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the six partners’ films, as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of South-East Asian filmmakers. In addition to working on individual films, the new outfit aims to aggregate the content into curated programmes for film festivals and educational institutions.
Mosquito Films Distribution will make its debut at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which starts tomorrow (Jan 22-Feb 2) and also attend the Berlin Film Festival.
The company’s initial slate includes Concrete Clouds, directed by Chatametikool...
The six filmmakers include Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, along with Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), producer Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History) and Lee Chatametikool (Concrete Clouds).
The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the six partners’ films, as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of South-East Asian filmmakers. In addition to working on individual films, the new outfit aims to aggregate the content into curated programmes for film festivals and educational institutions.
Mosquito Films Distribution will make its debut at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which starts tomorrow (Jan 22-Feb 2) and also attend the Berlin Film Festival.
The company’s initial slate includes Concrete Clouds, directed by Chatametikool...
- 1/21/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Above: Something Must Break
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014
Tiger Awards Competition
Afscheid van de Maan/Farewell to the Moon by Dick Tuinder (Netherlands, 2014, world premiere)
Visual artist Dick Tuinder’s second feature revolves around 12-year-old Dutch and his family in the hot summer of 1972, when the Americans launch their last mission to the moon. Tuinder contrasts the tragicomic adventures of his protagonists with the lost illusions of that transitional year, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and approaching oil crisis. Iffr showed many of Tuinder’s short films, as well as his first feature Winterland (2009).
Anatomy of a Paper Clip by Akira Ikeda (Japan, 2013, European premiere)
Akira Ikeda's crazy and funny second feature is a dark fairytale revolving around Kogure, a paperclip bender in a paperclip factory, a man without characteristics and a stoical loser. One day he finds a butterfly in his flat. She becomes his wife,...
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014
Tiger Awards Competition
Afscheid van de Maan/Farewell to the Moon by Dick Tuinder (Netherlands, 2014, world premiere)
Visual artist Dick Tuinder’s second feature revolves around 12-year-old Dutch and his family in the hot summer of 1972, when the Americans launch their last mission to the moon. Tuinder contrasts the tragicomic adventures of his protagonists with the lost illusions of that transitional year, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and approaching oil crisis. Iffr showed many of Tuinder’s short films, as well as his first feature Winterland (2009).
Anatomy of a Paper Clip by Akira Ikeda (Japan, 2013, European premiere)
Akira Ikeda's crazy and funny second feature is a dark fairytale revolving around Kogure, a paperclip bender in a paperclip factory, a man without characteristics and a stoical loser. One day he finds a butterfly in his flat. She becomes his wife,...
- 1/10/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has completed the lineup for its Hivos Tiger Awards Competition.
These 10 titles join the five previously announced. All 15 first or second features will compete for three equal Tiger awards worth €15,000 each.
Elia Suleiman will lead the jury, also comprised of of Nanouk Leopold, Edwin, Violeta Bava and Kiki Sugino.
The selections (listed in full below) including Dutch artist Dick Tuinder’s second feature after Winterland, a 1972-set Dutch family story entitled Farewell To The Moon; Syria-set debut feature Arwad by Samer Najari and Dominique Chila; Busan audience award winner Han Gong-ju by Lee Su-jin; producer Luis Minarro’s first fiction feature Falling Star, about the lonely king of Spain in 1870; and Mark Jackson’s Us production War Story starring Catherine Keener.
The titles confirmed today are:
Farewell To The Moon (Afscheid van de Maan)
Dick Tuinder (Netherlands, world premiere)
Arwad
Samer Najari and Dominique Chila (Canada)
Casa grande
Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil, world...
These 10 titles join the five previously announced. All 15 first or second features will compete for three equal Tiger awards worth €15,000 each.
Elia Suleiman will lead the jury, also comprised of of Nanouk Leopold, Edwin, Violeta Bava and Kiki Sugino.
The selections (listed in full below) including Dutch artist Dick Tuinder’s second feature after Winterland, a 1972-set Dutch family story entitled Farewell To The Moon; Syria-set debut feature Arwad by Samer Najari and Dominique Chila; Busan audience award winner Han Gong-ju by Lee Su-jin; producer Luis Minarro’s first fiction feature Falling Star, about the lonely king of Spain in 1870; and Mark Jackson’s Us production War Story starring Catherine Keener.
The titles confirmed today are:
Farewell To The Moon (Afscheid van de Maan)
Dick Tuinder (Netherlands, world premiere)
Arwad
Samer Najari and Dominique Chila (Canada)
Casa grande
Fellipe Barbosa (Brazil, world...
- 1/10/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) is to open with the European premiere of Indian drama Qissa, celebrating 25 years of the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf).
Qissa, directed by Anup Singh, is one of more than a thousand film projects supported by the Hbf since its inception in 1989.
The fund contributed to the script development of the film ten years ago and will come full circle when it officially opens the festival on Jan 22. Iffr runs to Feb 2.
The film stars Irrfan Khan, best known outside of India for his roles in Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire and The Lunchbox, alongside young Bengali talent Tillotama Shome.
Set amidst the ethnic cleansing and general chaos that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, the drama stars Khan as a Sikh attempting to forge a new life for his family while keeping their true identities a secret from their community.
The Punjabi-language film, which debuted at Toronto in September, is co-produced...
Qissa, directed by Anup Singh, is one of more than a thousand film projects supported by the Hbf since its inception in 1989.
The fund contributed to the script development of the film ten years ago and will come full circle when it officially opens the festival on Jan 22. Iffr runs to Feb 2.
The film stars Irrfan Khan, best known outside of India for his roles in Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire and The Lunchbox, alongside young Bengali talent Tillotama Shome.
Set amidst the ethnic cleansing and general chaos that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, the drama stars Khan as a Sikh attempting to forge a new life for his family while keeping their true identities a secret from their community.
The Punjabi-language film, which debuted at Toronto in September, is co-produced...
- 1/3/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
First five films selected for the Hivos Tiger Awards announced.
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has revealed the first five titles selected for the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition, which aims to give up-and-coming talent “the opportunity to shine on a global stage. They are:
Concrete Clouds, Lee Chatametikool
(Thailand/Hongkong/China, 2013, European premiere)
New York based-currency trader Mutt returns home to Bangkok after the death of his father amidst the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s. He faces past family and relationship issues in this first feature by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s editor. This project received Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund support for script and project development.
Happily Ever After, Tatjana Bozic
(Croatia, 2013, world premiere)
Filmmaker Tatjana Bozic grew up in Croatia before the Balkan War and ended up settling in The Netherlands. Her first feature-length documentary is a tragicomic portrait of her own love life. She revisits her past love affairs in a desperate effort to save...
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has revealed the first five titles selected for the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition, which aims to give up-and-coming talent “the opportunity to shine on a global stage. They are:
Concrete Clouds, Lee Chatametikool
(Thailand/Hongkong/China, 2013, European premiere)
New York based-currency trader Mutt returns home to Bangkok after the death of his father amidst the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s. He faces past family and relationship issues in this first feature by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s editor. This project received Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund support for script and project development.
Happily Ever After, Tatjana Bozic
(Croatia, 2013, world premiere)
Filmmaker Tatjana Bozic grew up in Croatia before the Balkan War and ended up settling in The Netherlands. Her first feature-length documentary is a tragicomic portrait of her own love life. She revisits her past love affairs in a desperate effort to save...
- 12/10/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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