The World War Two drama War Sailor — which debuted at last year’s Toronto Film Festival — swept Norway’s Amanda Awards last night, taking four main awards.
The War Sailor haul included best actor for Pål Sverre Hagen. This is his third Amanda and second consecutive win. Ine Marie Wilmann won the best supporting actress award for portraying Cecilia in the pic.
The film, directed by Norwegian filmmaker Gunnar Vikene, centers on Alfred Garnes, a working-class sailor who has recently become the father of a third child. He and his childhood friend Sigbjørn Kvalen are working on a merchant ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when World War II breaks out. They are unarmed civilians on the front lines of a war they never asked to join. The two men struggle for survival in a spiral of violence and death, where German submarines may attack their valuable vessels at any moment.
The War Sailor haul included best actor for Pål Sverre Hagen. This is his third Amanda and second consecutive win. Ine Marie Wilmann won the best supporting actress award for portraying Cecilia in the pic.
The film, directed by Norwegian filmmaker Gunnar Vikene, centers on Alfred Garnes, a working-class sailor who has recently become the father of a third child. He and his childhood friend Sigbjørn Kvalen are working on a merchant ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when World War II breaks out. They are unarmed civilians on the front lines of a war they never asked to join. The two men struggle for survival in a spiral of violence and death, where German submarines may attack their valuable vessels at any moment.
- 8/20/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
“Elvis” director of photography Mandy Walker won Feature Film at the ASC Awards March 5, when the American Society of Cinematographers handed out its honors at the 37th annual awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Walker’s win in the feature film category could prove prescient; 17 out of the last 36 years found the ASC film winner winning the Academy Award. But it’s worth noting that Oscar nominees “Tár” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” were not among the ASC nominees.
In the TV categories, “The Old Man” took awards for Motion Picture, Limited Series, or Pilot Made for Television and Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Commercial, while “Barry” won Episode of a Half-Hour Television Series for its Season 3 finale and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Non-Commercial for its Season 4 finale.
In addition, several honorary awards were handed out. Egot winner Viola Davis...
Walker’s win in the feature film category could prove prescient; 17 out of the last 36 years found the ASC film winner winning the Academy Award. But it’s worth noting that Oscar nominees “Tár” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” were not among the ASC nominees.
In the TV categories, “The Old Man” took awards for Motion Picture, Limited Series, or Pilot Made for Television and Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Commercial, while “Barry” won Episode of a Half-Hour Television Series for its Season 3 finale and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Non-Commercial for its Season 4 finale.
In addition, several honorary awards were handed out. Egot winner Viola Davis...
- 3/6/2023
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
Elvis cinematographer Mandy Walker cracked a glass ceiling on Sunday, becoming the first woman to win the American Society of Cinematographers Award in the feature competition during the 37th ASC Awards.
The crowd at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom erupted with applause and gave Walker a lengthy standing ovation as her name was called.
“This is for all the women that win this award after me,” she said to enthusiastic applause, and she looked for to more women breaking more glass ceilings. “Thijs is an inclusive, representative community,” she said, adding, “I didn’t cry, I thought I was going to cry.”
She thanked Elvis director Baz Luhrmann for allowing her to “create magic with him;” Catherine Martin for her “support and inspiration; and her crew for “dancing with the camera and flying with the camera” during Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis.
Walker’s bold lensing of Elvis...
The crowd at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom erupted with applause and gave Walker a lengthy standing ovation as her name was called.
“This is for all the women that win this award after me,” she said to enthusiastic applause, and she looked for to more women breaking more glass ceilings. “Thijs is an inclusive, representative community,” she said, adding, “I didn’t cry, I thought I was going to cry.”
She thanked Elvis director Baz Luhrmann for allowing her to “create magic with him;” Catherine Martin for her “support and inspiration; and her crew for “dancing with the camera and flying with the camera” during Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis.
Walker’s bold lensing of Elvis...
- 3/6/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The American Society of Cinematographers handed out its best visual storytelling in feature film award to “Elvis” on Sunday night, and in doing so, Mandy Walker has become the first woman to win the top prize in the society’s history.
Walker triumphed over Greig Fraser (“The Batman”), Darius Khondji, Claudio Miranda (“Top Gun: Maverick” and Roger Deakins (“Empire of Light”) in a very competitive race.
During her speech, she dedicated her win to “all the women who will win the award after me,” and was met with rapturous applause. She hoped for more women to break glass ceilings and continued, “This is an inclusive representative community. Let us all strive for success and show our mission and create art.”
Walker‘s triumph comes as Oscar voting ends on March 7, where she is also nominated. She became only the third woman ever nominated for cinematography for her work on “Elvis.
Walker triumphed over Greig Fraser (“The Batman”), Darius Khondji, Claudio Miranda (“Top Gun: Maverick” and Roger Deakins (“Empire of Light”) in a very competitive race.
During her speech, she dedicated her win to “all the women who will win the award after me,” and was met with rapturous applause. She hoped for more women to break glass ceilings and continued, “This is an inclusive representative community. Let us all strive for success and show our mission and create art.”
Walker‘s triumph comes as Oscar voting ends on March 7, where she is also nominated. She became only the third woman ever nominated for cinematography for her work on “Elvis.
- 3/6/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Mandy Walker has won the American Society of Cinematographers feature-film award for “Elvis,” making her the first woman ever to win that award. She is only the third female nominee in the category, after Rachel Morrison for “Mudbound” in 2018 and Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog” last year.
Walker now has the chance to become the first woman to win the Oscar for cinematography, where she is also the third female nominee in the gender-neutral Oscars category that took the longest to nominate a woman. Her competitors at the Oscars include two who were also nominated by the ASC, Roger Deakins for “Empire of Light” and Darius Khondji for “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truth,” along with James Friend for “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Florian Hoffmeister for “Tar.”
“This is for all the women who will win the award after me, and for...
Walker now has the chance to become the first woman to win the Oscar for cinematography, where she is also the third female nominee in the gender-neutral Oscars category that took the longest to nominate a woman. Her competitors at the Oscars include two who were also nominated by the ASC, Roger Deakins for “Empire of Light” and Darius Khondji for “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truth,” along with James Friend for “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Florian Hoffmeister for “Tar.”
“This is for all the women who will win the award after me, and for...
- 3/6/2023
- by Steve Pond and Jason Clark
- The Wrap
The American Society of Cinematographers is handing out its 37th annual ASC Awards tonight at the Beverly Hilton, and Deadline is posting the winners as they’re announced. See the list below.
The night’s first prize went to Carl Herse for HBO’s Barry, which won for Episode of a Half-Hour Series.
The society’s nominees for its marquee Theatrical Feature Film prize are Roger Deakins for Empire of Light, Greig Fraser for The Batman, Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick and Mandy Walker for Elvis. Fraser won the ASC’s top prize last year for Dune, en route to winning the Cinematography Oscar.
The ASC film winner has won the Academy Award nearly half of the time — 17 times in its 36 years. Bardo, Elvis and Empire of Light will vie for the Best Cinematography Oscar on March 12 against All Quiet on the Western Front (James Friend...
The night’s first prize went to Carl Herse for HBO’s Barry, which won for Episode of a Half-Hour Series.
The society’s nominees for its marquee Theatrical Feature Film prize are Roger Deakins for Empire of Light, Greig Fraser for The Batman, Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick and Mandy Walker for Elvis. Fraser won the ASC’s top prize last year for Dune, en route to winning the Cinematography Oscar.
The ASC film winner has won the Academy Award nearly half of the time — 17 times in its 36 years. Bardo, Elvis and Empire of Light will vie for the Best Cinematography Oscar on March 12 against All Quiet on the Western Front (James Friend...
- 3/6/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Four young boys come of age in Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s textured yet maudlin kitchen-sink drama Beautiful Beings. Guðmundsson’s sophomore feature (and Iceland’s Oscar submission) oddly mashes together the bleak nihilism of a Larry Clark feature with flashes of magical realism, never really synthesizing the two competing styles. While compelling in individual scenes, especially as the boys navigate their increased anger at the world, Beautiful Beings ultimately whiplashes between too many ideas and subplots to create a coherent thematic through line.
We begin following Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason), a young boy who is brutally bullied at school. After a particularly violent incident in which he is beaten with a tree branch, he makes the local news and is forced to wear a face mask to cover up his injuries. At this point the narrative switches to Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason), the one who assaulted Balli. Addi takes an interest in the quiet boy,...
We begin following Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason), a young boy who is brutally bullied at school. After a particularly violent incident in which he is beaten with a tree branch, he makes the local news and is forced to wear a face mask to cover up his injuries. At this point the narrative switches to Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason), the one who assaulted Balli. Addi takes an interest in the quiet boy,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Film Stage
The American Society of Cinematographers has unveiled the nominations for its 37th annual ASC Awards, honoring the year’s best in feature film, documentary and television cinematography.
The society’s marquee Theatrical Feature Film nominees are Roger Deakins for Empire of Light, Greig Fraser for The Batman , Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick and Mandy Walker for Elvis.
Fraser won the ASC’s top prize last year for Dune, en route to winning the Cinematography Oscar. The ASC film winner has won the Academy Award nearly half of the time — 17 times in its 36 years.
On the small-screen front, the only program that made a return trip to the nominations was Hacks, which again is up for Episode of a Half-Hour Television Series.
Here are the nominees for the 2023 ASC Awards:
Theatrical Feature Film Nominees
Roger Deakins, Empire of Light (Searchlight Pictures)
Greig Fraser, The Batman (Warner Bros.)
Darius Khondji,...
The society’s marquee Theatrical Feature Film nominees are Roger Deakins for Empire of Light, Greig Fraser for The Batman , Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick and Mandy Walker for Elvis.
Fraser won the ASC’s top prize last year for Dune, en route to winning the Cinematography Oscar. The ASC film winner has won the Academy Award nearly half of the time — 17 times in its 36 years.
On the small-screen front, the only program that made a return trip to the nominations was Hacks, which again is up for Episode of a Half-Hour Television Series.
Here are the nominees for the 2023 ASC Awards:
Theatrical Feature Film Nominees
Roger Deakins, Empire of Light (Searchlight Pictures)
Greig Fraser, The Batman (Warner Bros.)
Darius Khondji,...
- 1/9/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
The cinematographers of “The Batman,” “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” “Elvis,” “Empire of Light” and “Top Gun: Maverick” have received nominations from the American Society of Cinematographers, the ASC announced on Monday.
Last year’s winner, “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser, was nominated again for “The Batman.” Darius Khondji received the nomination for “Bardo,” Claudio Miranda for “Top Gun,” Mandy Walker for “Elvis” and cinematography legend Roger Deakins received his record 17th ASC nomination for “Empire of Light.”
The nomination makes “Elvis” cinematographer Mandy Walker only the third woman to be nominated in the top feature-film category by the ASC, after Rachel Morrison for “Black Panther” and Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog.” No female cinematographer has ever won in the category.
Also Read:
Cinematographer Roger Deakins Fears That Moviegoing Has ‘Changed Beyond Repair’
The nominations bypassed “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tar” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,...
Last year’s winner, “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser, was nominated again for “The Batman.” Darius Khondji received the nomination for “Bardo,” Claudio Miranda for “Top Gun,” Mandy Walker for “Elvis” and cinematography legend Roger Deakins received his record 17th ASC nomination for “Empire of Light.”
The nomination makes “Elvis” cinematographer Mandy Walker only the third woman to be nominated in the top feature-film category by the ASC, after Rachel Morrison for “Black Panther” and Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog.” No female cinematographer has ever won in the category.
Also Read:
Cinematographer Roger Deakins Fears That Moviegoing Has ‘Changed Beyond Repair’
The nominations bypassed “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tar” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,...
- 1/9/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Roger Deakins (“Empire of Light”), Greig Fraser (“The Batman”), Darius Khondji, Claudio Miranda (“Top Gun: Maverick”), and Mandy Walker (“Elvis”) were nominated Monday for the 37th annual ASC Awards (to be held March 5 at the Beverly Hilton and live streamed).
For the legendary Deakins, who finds himself in the underdog position for exquisitely lensing Sam Mendes’ underappreciated ode to cinema, this marks his ASC-leading 17th nomination. The two-time Oscar winner (“1917” and “Blade Runner 2049”) has won five times, tied with Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, the three-time Oscar winner, who didn’t make the cut for “Amsterdam,” which never got any critical traction. Fraser, last year’s Oscar and ASC winner for “Dune,” has two wins and three noms. For Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” he provided a gritty noir look. Miranda, an Oscar winner for “Life of Pi,” has three nominations, and is considered the frontrunner for taking us into...
For the legendary Deakins, who finds himself in the underdog position for exquisitely lensing Sam Mendes’ underappreciated ode to cinema, this marks his ASC-leading 17th nomination. The two-time Oscar winner (“1917” and “Blade Runner 2049”) has won five times, tied with Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, the three-time Oscar winner, who didn’t make the cut for “Amsterdam,” which never got any critical traction. Fraser, last year’s Oscar and ASC winner for “Dune,” has two wins and three noms. For Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” he provided a gritty noir look. Miranda, an Oscar winner for “Life of Pi,” has three nominations, and is considered the frontrunner for taking us into...
- 1/9/2023
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Mandy Walker’s bold lensing of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis made her the third woman to ever be nominated in the feature category of the American Society of Cinematographers’ ASC Awards, which announced it nominations on Monday.
The feature nominees in the competitive 37th ASC Awards race are Walker; Roger Deakins for Empire of Light; Greig Fraser for The Batman; Darius Khondji for Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths; and Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick.
Walker is now in a select group of just three women who have been nominated in the ASC feature competition. Rachel Morrison was nominated in 2018 for Mudbound, followed by Ari Wegner, who was nominated in 2022 for The Power of the Dog. Morrison and Wegner both went on to earn historic Oscar nominations.
With his work on Sam Mendes’ drama Empire of Light, Deakins extends his record number of ASC feature nominations to a remarkable 17 noms.
The feature nominees in the competitive 37th ASC Awards race are Walker; Roger Deakins for Empire of Light; Greig Fraser for The Batman; Darius Khondji for Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths; and Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick.
Walker is now in a select group of just three women who have been nominated in the ASC feature competition. Rachel Morrison was nominated in 2018 for Mudbound, followed by Ari Wegner, who was nominated in 2022 for The Power of the Dog. Morrison and Wegner both went on to earn historic Oscar nominations.
With his work on Sam Mendes’ drama Empire of Light, Deakins extends his record number of ASC feature nominations to a remarkable 17 noms.
- 1/9/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From Bergen to Malta, Liverpool, New York and Halifax: Norwegian merchant seamen Alfred (Kristoffer Joner) and Sigbjorn (Pal Sverre Hagen) sometimes seem to be competing for screen time with datelines in Gunnar Vikene’s epic War Sailor, Norway’s Oscar submission. Sprawling, packed with anecdote and surging from one dramatic peak to the next, War Sailor sets out to tell the stories of the ordinary but unsung heroes who helped defeat Germany in 1945. It has the best of intentions.
Perhaps if it had focused on fewer of those horror stories and cut that plot in half, it might not have also felt quite so much like a whistle-stop tour. As it is, director Gunnar Vikene takes us speeding through death, injuries and emotional trauma, the difficulties of post-war peace and onward to the farthest reaches of post-war Ptsd, three decades later. As a conscientious guide, he is determined we won’t miss a thing.
Perhaps if it had focused on fewer of those horror stories and cut that plot in half, it might not have also felt quite so much like a whistle-stop tour. As it is, director Gunnar Vikene takes us speeding through death, injuries and emotional trauma, the difficulties of post-war peace and onward to the farthest reaches of post-war Ptsd, three decades later. As a conscientious guide, he is determined we won’t miss a thing.
- 12/18/2022
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s coming-of-age drama Beautiful Beings debuted in the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label award. The film has also been selected as Iceland’s entry for the 2023 Oscars.
The film follows Addi, a teenage boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who adopts a bullied kid into his group of violent misfits and begins to experience a series of dreamlike visions.
Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“It’s inspired by my youth growing up in the suburbs of Reykjavik,” Guðmundsson said of the film’s origins during Deadline’s Contenders Film: International panel. “I was part of this group of boys who used their violent behavior to deal with things. It’s still a fictional story, but the origins come from my neighborhood back in those days.”
Beautiful Beings, from Altered Innocence, is Guðmundsson’s second feature...
The film follows Addi, a teenage boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who adopts a bullied kid into his group of violent misfits and begins to experience a series of dreamlike visions.
Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“It’s inspired by my youth growing up in the suburbs of Reykjavik,” Guðmundsson said of the film’s origins during Deadline’s Contenders Film: International panel. “I was part of this group of boys who used their violent behavior to deal with things. It’s still a fictional story, but the origins come from my neighborhood back in those days.”
Beautiful Beings, from Altered Innocence, is Guðmundsson’s second feature...
- 12/4/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Winston Churchill acknowledged that the 30,000 Norwegian merchant sailors signed up by their government to aid England and the Allies during World War II were instrumental in the victory against Hitler. But the story of these men and women, who never enlisted in the armed forces, remains a footnote, generally overshadowed by accounts of more traditional military heroes. Writer-director Gunnar Vikene pays stirring tribute to them in War Sailor (Krigsseileren), an impressively crafted chronicle of male friendship, courage and trauma that folds together intense action and intimate psychological observation with a moving portrait of the enduring after-effects on one family.
Norway’s Oscar submission in the best international feature race doesn’t have the Netflix visibility or classic source material of Germany’s war-themed entry, All Quiet on the Western Front. But this is an experience both visceral and emotional, distinguished by well-drawn characters...
Winston Churchill acknowledged that the 30,000 Norwegian merchant sailors signed up by their government to aid England and the Allies during World War II were instrumental in the victory against Hitler. But the story of these men and women, who never enlisted in the armed forces, remains a footnote, generally overshadowed by accounts of more traditional military heroes. Writer-director Gunnar Vikene pays stirring tribute to them in War Sailor (Krigsseileren), an impressively crafted chronicle of male friendship, courage and trauma that folds together intense action and intimate psychological observation with a moving portrait of the enduring after-effects on one family.
Norway’s Oscar submission in the best international feature race doesn’t have the Netflix visibility or classic source material of Germany’s war-themed entry, All Quiet on the Western Front. But this is an experience both visceral and emotional, distinguished by well-drawn characters...
- 11/18/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Iceland’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar is a tense, tender portrait of teenage boyhood. The second feature from writer-director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Heartstone), Beautiful Beings world premiered in Berlin Panorama, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label.
Awards continue for this hard-hitting yet sensitive film featuring a compelling turn from newcomer Birgir Dagur as Addi, a boy who befriends the bullied Balli (Áskell Einar). Alongside nuanced performances from its young cast, it also features a strong adult supporting cast including Icelandic star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Trapped) as an abusive stepfather.
After inviting Balli into his little gang, Addi begins to experience predictive dreams, alerting him of his neighbors’ secrets and warning of danger. But Addi still struggles to prevent his hot-headed friend Konni (Viktor Benóný) from getting into trouble.
It’s an involving story that builds in time for quiet contemplation alongside its nerve-wracking moments. Addi frequently...
Awards continue for this hard-hitting yet sensitive film featuring a compelling turn from newcomer Birgir Dagur as Addi, a boy who befriends the bullied Balli (Áskell Einar). Alongside nuanced performances from its young cast, it also features a strong adult supporting cast including Icelandic star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Trapped) as an abusive stepfather.
After inviting Balli into his little gang, Addi begins to experience predictive dreams, alerting him of his neighbors’ secrets and warning of danger. But Addi still struggles to prevent his hot-headed friend Konni (Viktor Benóný) from getting into trouble.
It’s an involving story that builds in time for quiet contemplation alongside its nerve-wracking moments. Addi frequently...
- 11/7/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival has unveiled its main competition lineup, including Elvis, White Noise, Top Gun: Maverick and Empire of Light, which is set to open the 30th edition.
Camerimage, held annually in Poland, has also booked into its main competition the cinematographic work for All Quiet on the West Front, War Sailor, Tár, The Perfect Number and The Angel in the Wall. The international festival has become a bellwether for what’s to come in the cinematography Oscar race.
Camerimage earlier announced that Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, which was lensed by Roger Deakins, will open the 2022 edition set to be held Nov. 12-19 in Toruń, Poland. Mendes will also receive the Special Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Director during the festival.
Also previously announced, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Stephen Burum (Hoffa) will accept the Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award during this year’s festival.
The EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival has unveiled its main competition lineup, including Elvis, White Noise, Top Gun: Maverick and Empire of Light, which is set to open the 30th edition.
Camerimage, held annually in Poland, has also booked into its main competition the cinematographic work for All Quiet on the West Front, War Sailor, Tár, The Perfect Number and The Angel in the Wall. The international festival has become a bellwether for what’s to come in the cinematography Oscar race.
Camerimage earlier announced that Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, which was lensed by Roger Deakins, will open the 2022 edition set to be held Nov. 12-19 in Toruń, Poland. Mendes will also receive the Special Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Director during the festival.
Also previously announced, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Stephen Burum (Hoffa) will accept the Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award during this year’s festival.
- 10/21/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Joachim Trier now holds the personal record for the most Amanda wins.
The Worst Person In The World was the big winner of Norway’s Amanda Awards last night, winning five prizes at the ceremony held during the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.
Worst Person took home the best film title as well as best actress for Renate Reinsve, best supporting actor for Anders Danielsen Lie and the people’s choice award. Joachim Trier shared the best screenplay prize with his longtime co-writer Eskil Vogt, which means Trier now holds the personal record for the most Amanda wins.
The Innocents,...
The Worst Person In The World was the big winner of Norway’s Amanda Awards last night, winning five prizes at the ceremony held during the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.
Worst Person took home the best film title as well as best actress for Renate Reinsve, best supporting actor for Anders Danielsen Lie and the people’s choice award. Joachim Trier shared the best screenplay prize with his longtime co-writer Eskil Vogt, which means Trier now holds the personal record for the most Amanda wins.
The Innocents,...
- 8/22/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated smash “The Worst Person in the World,” about a young woman trying to figure out what – and who – she really wants in her life, won big at Norway’s Amanda Awards on Saturday night, scooping five statuettes, including one for best film.
Trier, who now holds the title for most Amanda Awards, also won for best screenplay with his long-time collaborator Eksil Vogt. The film’s breakout star Renate Reinsve, already awarded at Cannes, picked up her first Amanda for her portrayal of Julie, with Anders Danielsen Lie named best supporting actor.
Back in February, Reinsve – who will be next seen in “A Different Man” alongside Sebastian Stan – opened up about her work with Trier, which started in 2011 on “Oslo, August 31st,” her very first feature film.
“I was an extra with one line. I had nothing to compare it to – it was my first movie set.
Trier, who now holds the title for most Amanda Awards, also won for best screenplay with his long-time collaborator Eksil Vogt. The film’s breakout star Renate Reinsve, already awarded at Cannes, picked up her first Amanda for her portrayal of Julie, with Anders Danielsen Lie named best supporting actor.
Back in February, Reinsve – who will be next seen in “A Different Man” alongside Sebastian Stan – opened up about her work with Trier, which started in 2011 on “Oslo, August 31st,” her very first feature film.
“I was an extra with one line. I had nothing to compare it to – it was my first movie set.
- 8/21/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Academy Invites 397 New Members, Including Billie Eilish, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jamie Dornan, Dana Walden
Anya Taylor-Joy, Billie Eilish, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Disney exec Dana Walden are among the 397 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. If all of this year’s invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of Academy members to 10,665, with 9,665 eligible to vote for the 95th Oscars set to take place on March 12, 2023.
The 2022 class is 44 women, 37 belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50 are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, among the invitees. Some of the big names invited are recent winners Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“Coda”), and nominees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”). Also invited are a slew of global artists and artisans such as actors Robin de Jesús, Olga Merediz...
The 2022 class is 44 women, 37 belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50 are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, among the invitees. Some of the big names invited are recent winners Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“Coda”), and nominees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”). Also invited are a slew of global artists and artisans such as actors Robin de Jesús, Olga Merediz...
- 6/28/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
It’s a fraught moment when children make the connection that pain is something to avoid feeling, but might also be useful to inflict, especially when adults aren’t around. That’s one of the many shrewd observations underscoring “The Innocents,” Eskil Vogt’s unsettling tale of a cruel summer for a quartet of kids who become friends over their discovery of mysterious powers.
It’s certainly daring of the Norwegian writer-director, a recent Oscar nominee for co-scripting Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” to give his slow-burning, supernatural chiller the same title as Jack Clayton’s 1961 adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw,” one of the all-time great horror movies featuring creepy little ones.
But Vogt, with his second feature, has crafted a disturbing and original heart-pounder all his own, uncommonly attuned to the perspective of unsocialized prepubescents: how their feelings work, what their minds process...
It’s certainly daring of the Norwegian writer-director, a recent Oscar nominee for co-scripting Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” to give his slow-burning, supernatural chiller the same title as Jack Clayton’s 1961 adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw,” one of the all-time great horror movies featuring creepy little ones.
But Vogt, with his second feature, has crafted a disturbing and original heart-pounder all his own, uncommonly attuned to the perspective of unsocialized prepubescents: how their feelings work, what their minds process...
- 5/12/2022
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Who knows why a sight as pitiful as 14-year-old Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason), the unwashed, neglected child of an abusive stepfather and a largely absent mother, inspires a protective instinct in some kids, and a vicious one in others? Who knows why, at times, a protector can himself become a bully? Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s beautiful and cruel second feature boasts an outstanding juvenile ensemble cast. But almost more than it stars any of them, it stars the ebbs and swells of an inescapable legacy of heteronormative male violence, that fills childhoods with dark, shameful corners that no pale, bright splashes of Icelandic sun can ever warm. In the end, boys will beat boys.
Balli is fleeing another day of peer humiliation and adult inattention at school when three of his schoolmates catch up with him and administer a thrashing so bad it makes the local news and forces him...
Balli is fleeing another day of peer humiliation and adult inattention at school when three of his schoolmates catch up with him and administer a thrashing so bad it makes the local news and forces him...
- 2/24/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The trailer for Gu∂mundur Arnar Gu∂mundsson’s teen drama “Beautiful Beings” has debuted ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. The film, which plays in Panorama, is being sold by Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales.
“Beautiful Beings” was shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, the cinematographer on Oscar winner “Another Round,” and “Victoria,” for which he won a Silver Berlin Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Gu∂mundsson is a name to watch after the warm reception for his first film, “Heartstone,” which premiered in Venice Days in 2016, winning the Queer Lion prize, and also played at Toronto in the Discovery section. The film won prizes at festivals in Chicago, Dallas, Warsaw, Thessaloniki, Seville, Copenhagen, Göteborg and Tromso.
“Beautiful Beings” centers on Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
“Beautiful Beings” was shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, the cinematographer on Oscar winner “Another Round,” and “Victoria,” for which he won a Silver Berlin Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Gu∂mundsson is a name to watch after the warm reception for his first film, “Heartstone,” which premiered in Venice Days in 2016, winning the Queer Lion prize, and also played at Toronto in the Discovery section. The film won prizes at festivals in Chicago, Dallas, Warsaw, Thessaloniki, Seville, Copenhagen, Göteborg and Tromso.
“Beautiful Beings” centers on Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
- 2/11/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
For his sophomore feature, “Beautiful Beings,” playing in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama, Icelandic helmer-writer Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson returns to the subject of his prize-winning first feature “Heartstone” (2016): fraught adolescent friendships and difficult family lives. In “Beautiful Beings,” a horrendously bullied youth forms a tentative rapport with a trio of tough outsiders. Together, the boys experiment with aggression and violence, but also learn about loyalty and love.
The action is captured with a shooting style that blends naturalism and lyricism, using mostly first-time young actors. To find his characters, Gudmundsson put out an open casting call across the country. “We wanted to get every kid in Iceland that has a dream of being in a film to show up. A lot of kids auditioned and we managed to find our main cast,” he says.
But creating the performances he wanted required work, Gudmundsson admits. “The rehearsal period was long.
The action is captured with a shooting style that blends naturalism and lyricism, using mostly first-time young actors. To find his characters, Gudmundsson put out an open casting call across the country. “We wanted to get every kid in Iceland that has a dream of being in a film to show up. A lot of kids auditioned and we managed to find our main cast,” he says.
But creating the performances he wanted required work, Gudmundsson admits. “The rehearsal period was long.
- 2/10/2022
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
With a top prize of $44,000 it is one of the world’s most lucrative film awards.
Denmark won big with the two Dragon awards handed out in Goteborg on February 5, with Tea Lindeburg’s As In Heaven winning the prize for best Nordic film. With a prize of $44,000, it is one of the world’s most lucrative film awards.
The film, which previously won best director and best actress at San Sebastian, is about a girl in the 19thcentury who hopes to leave her family’s farm to be the first in her family to study. Her future prospects change...
Denmark won big with the two Dragon awards handed out in Goteborg on February 5, with Tea Lindeburg’s As In Heaven winning the prize for best Nordic film. With a prize of $44,000, it is one of the world’s most lucrative film awards.
The film, which previously won best director and best actress at San Sebastian, is about a girl in the 19thcentury who hopes to leave her family’s farm to be the first in her family to study. Her future prospects change...
- 2/7/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Danish debut feature helmer-writer Tea Lindeburg’s period drama “As In Heaven,” that portrays a fateful summer day and night in 19th century farming society, came away the biggest winner at the 44th Göteborg Film Festival, scoring on Saturday the best Nordic film kudo, this year worth approx. $44,000.
Meanwhile, Seidi Haarla of Finland’s Oscar-shortlisted drama, “Compartment No. 6” took the best acting prize. The film, helmed by Juho Kuosmanen, also nabbed the Fipresci critics nod.
Norway-born Dp Sturla Brandth Grøvlen claimed the Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award for his work on the Norwegian film “The Innocents,” directed by Eskil Vogt. The perfectly executed thriller about rival playmates with paranormal abilities also took the audience award for best Nordic film.
Danish helmer Simon Lereng Wilmont captured the best Nordic documentary title and a purse of approx. $27,000 for “A House Made Of Splinters,” a masterful portrayal of the children and daily life at an orphanage in Eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Seidi Haarla of Finland’s Oscar-shortlisted drama, “Compartment No. 6” took the best acting prize. The film, helmed by Juho Kuosmanen, also nabbed the Fipresci critics nod.
Norway-born Dp Sturla Brandth Grøvlen claimed the Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award for his work on the Norwegian film “The Innocents,” directed by Eskil Vogt. The perfectly executed thriller about rival playmates with paranormal abilities also took the audience award for best Nordic film.
Danish helmer Simon Lereng Wilmont captured the best Nordic documentary title and a purse of approx. $27,000 for “A House Made Of Splinters,” a masterful portrayal of the children and daily life at an orphanage in Eastern Ukraine.
- 2/5/2022
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
"We can help you... and we need your help." Metrograph has unveiled the official US trailer for Last and First Men, an experimental documentary made by the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. This initially premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival just before the pandemic took over, and has been waiting to be released ever since. It's the only feature film directed by iconic Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who made this before he died in 2018. Featuring narration by Tilda Swinton. This feature is a repackaged version of the video Jóhannsson made for his concerts, inspired by Dutch photographer Jan Kempenaers' 2010 art book "Spomenik" about these oddly shaped war monuments. It was shot on 16mm B&w film by the Norwegian cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen. The Tilda narration is based on text from Olaf Stapledon's book "Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future". I flipped for this...
- 12/1/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Not every child with nascent paranormal abilities gets scooped up into Professor Xavier’s school for incipient X-Men. Some, like those in Eskil Vogt’s superbly atmospheric, deftly crafted horror “The Innocents,” live in massive Norwegian tower blocks — concrete jungles set in deep forests bathed in cool, endless Nordic summer sun — and hone their powers on rocks and deeply unfortunate cats. ; its most striking aspect may just be the empathy Vogt displays for his 7- to 11-year-old stars, and the extraordinary juvenile performances that empathy brings out.
The first glimmer of the supernatural is a tiny one: Blink and you’ll miss it. A bottle cap, dropped from a little girl’s fist, falls crookedly, zagging from where she stands to land a few feet away. The girl is Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum), a new arrival to this apartment complex, along with her parents (Ellen Dorrit Pedersen and Morten Svartveit...
The first glimmer of the supernatural is a tiny one: Blink and you’ll miss it. A bottle cap, dropped from a little girl’s fist, falls crookedly, zagging from where she stands to land a few feet away. The girl is Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum), a new arrival to this apartment complex, along with her parents (Ellen Dorrit Pedersen and Morten Svartveit...
- 7/11/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
That esteemed contemporary sage Homer Simpson once observed that alcohol was “the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” The idea behind that joke permeates “Another Round” (“Druk”), the latest from director Thomas Vinterberg (“Far From the Madding Crowd”), a film that centers on drinking to excess but winds up being more about mid-life crises and less a jeremiad about the evils of demon rum.
Working from an incisive and insightful screenplay he wrote with Tobias Lindholm, Vinterberg crafts another drama that presents the best and worst of human nature as paths to be explored. His characters don’t necessarily choose the right one, and sometimes we’re left to wonder which selection they’ve made, but Vinterberg — in marked contrast to his fellow Dogme 95 filmmaker Lars von Trier — at least concedes that redemption might exist.
Mads Mikkelsen stars as Martin, a middle-aged schoolteacher in a middle-aged...
Working from an incisive and insightful screenplay he wrote with Tobias Lindholm, Vinterberg crafts another drama that presents the best and worst of human nature as paths to be explored. His characters don’t necessarily choose the right one, and sometimes we’re left to wonder which selection they’ve made, but Vinterberg — in marked contrast to his fellow Dogme 95 filmmaker Lars von Trier — at least concedes that redemption might exist.
Mads Mikkelsen stars as Martin, a middle-aged schoolteacher in a middle-aged...
- 9/20/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
“Another Round” wastes no time confronting the danger and allure of alcohol as a singular contradiction: It begins with the joyful beer-swigging exploits of energetic teens, followed by an abrupt cut to black, and a jarring silence pierced by the lonely slosh of a single beverage. From there, Thomas Vinterberg’s absorbing dark comedy turns into , with Mads Mikkelsen’s fierce and unsettling performance vibrating at its center. Teaming up for the first time since their similarly unnerving character study “The Hunt” in 2012, the Danish actor and director join forces for a wily character study that enhances the one-note premise through the sheer gusto of its execution.
The alcohol guzzled throughout “Another Round” begins as a form of salvation, takes a deadly turn, and ends on an open question. Mikkelsen embodies that uneasy journey as Martin, a jaded high school history teacher, utterly deflated as he enters middle age. Married...
The alcohol guzzled throughout “Another Round” begins as a form of salvation, takes a deadly turn, and ends on an open question. Mikkelsen embodies that uneasy journey as Martin, a jaded high school history teacher, utterly deflated as he enters middle age. Married...
- 9/13/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Narrated by Tilda Swinton, ‘Last And First Men’ debuted at the Berlinale earlier this year.
BFI Distribution has secured UK and Ireland rights to Last And First Men, directed by late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, in a deal with Films Boutique.
The fiction-documentary hybrid, narrated by Tilda Swinton, was completed posthumously following the death of the Arrival and Sicario composer in 2018.
As cinemas remain closed in the UK due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Last And First Men will launch on streaming platform BFI Player on July 30 and will be made available to other digital platforms as a transactional title.
The...
BFI Distribution has secured UK and Ireland rights to Last And First Men, directed by late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, in a deal with Films Boutique.
The fiction-documentary hybrid, narrated by Tilda Swinton, was completed posthumously following the death of the Arrival and Sicario composer in 2018.
As cinemas remain closed in the UK due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Last And First Men will launch on streaming platform BFI Player on July 30 and will be made available to other digital platforms as a transactional title.
The...
- 6/18/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The author Shirley Jackson led a fascinating life. A full on biopic of Jackson would certainly be worth exploring. However, filmmaker Josephine Decker has something far different and far more unsettling up her sleeve with Shirley, a psychological thriller more so than anything else. That being said, if this is how an auteur can tackle biopics going forward, that’s something to be excited about. Armed with a full throated performance in the title role from Elisabeth Moss, Decker lets her audience have it. This isn’t what you’re expecting and it might turn off some, but for others, it’s going to be a blast. Hitting tomorrow, it’s well worth a watch. This film is a psychological thriller, mixed with a bit of a character study (framed within the body of what might otherwise be a biopic). Renowned and reclusive horror writer Shirley Jackson (Moss) is about to write her masterpiece.
- 6/4/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Pushed over a metaphorical cliff, the two nonconformists in Josephine Decker’s “Shirley” — her follow-up to the mind-bending “Madeline’s Madeline” — bond over the maddening submissiveness expected of them, which they both come to furiously abhor. Their strange alliance makes for a psychologically layered portrait of unapologetic womanhood that’s dangerously sensual and sumptuously rebellious.
The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, comes from a screenplay by Sarah Gubbins, which was adapted from Susan Scarf Merrell’s biographical fiction novel. Decker revives American genre writer Shirley Jackson (embodied by Elisabeth Moss) with a concoction of fact and magical realism, which may frame the film as a radically more exciting cousin to Stephen Daldry’s Virginia Woolf-centered, triptych drama “The Hours.”
Sensorial waves are sent through our systems right from the drama’s opening frames via cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s hypnotic camerawork and ethereal lighting.
The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, comes from a screenplay by Sarah Gubbins, which was adapted from Susan Scarf Merrell’s biographical fiction novel. Decker revives American genre writer Shirley Jackson (embodied by Elisabeth Moss) with a concoction of fact and magical realism, which may frame the film as a radically more exciting cousin to Stephen Daldry’s Virginia Woolf-centered, triptych drama “The Hours.”
Sensorial waves are sent through our systems right from the drama’s opening frames via cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s hypnotic camerawork and ethereal lighting.
- 6/4/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
Elisabeth Moss has already delivered one of the year’s best performances thanks to her work in “The Invisible Man,” which debuted in theaters and hit Pvod in March. Now Moss is set to add another towering performance to the list with the upcoming summer release of Josephine Decker’s “Shirley.” The film is based on the novel of the same name by Susan Scarf Merrell and marks Decker’s return after earning raves for “Madeline’s Madeline.” Decker directs from a script by Sarah Gubbins.
The official synopsis reads: “Fred (Lerman) and Rose (Young) move to a small Vermont college town in pursuit of a job for Fred as an assistant professor of literature. The young couple receives an offer for free room and board from professor Stanley Hyman (Stuhlbarg), as long as Rose agrees to spend time cleaning up the home and looking after his wife, acclaimed horror author...
The official synopsis reads: “Fred (Lerman) and Rose (Young) move to a small Vermont college town in pursuit of a job for Fred as an assistant professor of literature. The young couple receives an offer for free room and board from professor Stanley Hyman (Stuhlbarg), as long as Rose agrees to spend time cleaning up the home and looking after his wife, acclaimed horror author...
- 5/8/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Wendy director Benh Zeitlin on Liza Minnelli’s scream (as Sally Bowles) the moment the train goes by in Bob Fosse’s Cabaret: "I’ve always loved that moment. That character is so wild, like such a great ferocious liberated woman character.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the final instalment of my in-depth conversation with Benh Zeitlin at the Bowery Hotel in New York, we discussed how he developed a relationship between Shay Walker (mother Angela Darling) and Tommie Lynn Milazzo, who plays her baby Wendy, casting the twins Gavin Naquin and Gage Naquin, and working with his sister Eliza Zeitlin on their “shared vision” for Wendy, shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen (Josephine Decker’s Shirley) and starring Devin France as the adolescent Wendy.
Devin France, Gavin Naquin, Gage Naquin, Romyri Ross, and Yashua Mack in Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy
Herbert Brenon’s 1924 silent Peter Pan, my favourite adaptation of Jm Barrie’s play,...
In the final instalment of my in-depth conversation with Benh Zeitlin at the Bowery Hotel in New York, we discussed how he developed a relationship between Shay Walker (mother Angela Darling) and Tommie Lynn Milazzo, who plays her baby Wendy, casting the twins Gavin Naquin and Gage Naquin, and working with his sister Eliza Zeitlin on their “shared vision” for Wendy, shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen (Josephine Decker’s Shirley) and starring Devin France as the adolescent Wendy.
Devin France, Gavin Naquin, Gage Naquin, Romyri Ross, and Yashua Mack in Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy
Herbert Brenon’s 1924 silent Peter Pan, my favourite adaptation of Jm Barrie’s play,...
- 3/10/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In “Last and First Men,” Tilda Swinton is the literal voice of the future: a disembodied narrator from the hyper-evolved “eighteenth species” of humanity, calmly but desolately reaching out to us from a world some way past 2,000,000,000 A.D. Given that we always suspected as much about Tilda Swinton, it’s a comforting choice: the one expected, knowably strange detail in an otherwise amorphous, disorienting sci-fi meditation. The last and first film directed by the late, revered Iceland composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, “Last and First Men” is loosely adapted from British author Olaf Stapledon’s influential 1930 novel of the same title, though its expansive, era-leaping narrative has been refashioned as a ravishing 70-minute audiovisual essay on human mortality, extinction and legacy — all the more poignant for being its maker’s final creative statement.
Ostensibly a narrative fiction but easier to pitch and program as an experimental multimedia piece or quasi-documentary, Jóhannsson...
Ostensibly a narrative fiction but easier to pitch and program as an experimental multimedia piece or quasi-documentary, Jóhannsson...
- 3/7/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
If any film composer of the last decade defined the period best, it might’ve been Jóhann Jóhannsson, whose synthy, epic tones captured the turbulent, globalized environment of the new century. His work with Denis Villeneuve turned him into a Hollywood name, but the Icelandic instrumentalist was also a musician in his own right who toured the world and released his own records. I’m writing in the past tense, of course, because Jóhannsson died in 2018, though not before he completed his final work, an installation with orchestra combining film and music–with narration by Tilda Swinton–from where this extraordinary cinematic odyssey emerges in its apparently intended final form. Its vision of an apocalyptic extinction inevitably garners interpretations as something of an epitaph to his life and career.
Just as Jóhannsson’s music seems to fit sweeping, epic cinema, so was the inspiration behind the 80-minute tone poem Last and First Men.
Just as Jóhannsson’s music seems to fit sweeping, epic cinema, so was the inspiration behind the 80-minute tone poem Last and First Men.
- 2/27/2020
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
It’s been eight years since Benh Zeitlin made his astonishing feature-directing debut with Beasts of the Southern Wild, a low-budget landmark set on the bayous of Louisiana that won Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (for its extraordinary nine-year-old star Quvenzhané Wallis), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay nods. Now, at 37, Zeitlin is back with Wendy, his folkloric spin on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan that top-lines Wendy Darling, the Victorian girl who flew off to Neverland to mother an island’s worth of lost boys. If you...
- 2/26/2020
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
The iconic Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson passed away with a few years ago, but he has left us with something timeless and extraordinary – an awe-inspiring work of cinematic brilliance, both aurally and visually. Last and First Men is a 70-minute documentary feature that Jóhannsson originally created as a visual piece to accompany his live concerts. The finished "documentary" film was put together by Icelandic producer Thor Sigurjonsson and Norwegian cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, and it has just premiered at the Berlin Film Festival – two years after his death. Maybe it helped that I was deliriously tired (film fest exhaustion) when I watched this but... This is one of the most entrancing cinematic experiences I have ever had. I feel like I stopped caring about time and was completely lost in the footage and the music and the words. My mind melded with the screen on this journey. I loved every last second of this experience.
- 2/26/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Back in 2012, a young filmmaker by the name of Benh Zeitlin burst on to the scene with Beasts of the Southern Wild. Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, the movie blew away audiences, going on to be a darling of the awards season, even scoring four Academy Award nominations. Zeitlin himself picked up a pair of Oscar nods (Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), firmly entrenching him as someone to watch out for. What would he do next? Well, it took until Sundance 2020 for his follow up to arrive, and now Wendy hits theaters this week. Unfortunately, while his unique aesthetic is still very much in evidence, there are diminishing returns this time around. Overly familiar, unfocused, and grindingly repetitive, this is very much a misfire from Zeitlin. The film is a retelling of Peter Pan, with the gritty and grounded, yet fantastical, approach that Beasts of the Southern Wild also employed.
- 2/25/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
In his latest interview/podcast, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks to cinematographer Sturla Brandth GRØVLEN about the making of and World Premiere of Last and First Men directed by acclaimed (and sadly gone) composer JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON (Rip) at Berlinale Special 2020
Two billion years ahead of us, a future race of humans finds itself on the verge of extinction. Almost all that is left in the world are lone and surreal monuments, beaming their message into the wilderness.
World Premiere is 25 February 15:00 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele Second screening is 26 February 15:00 at Cubix 6
Ticket and other details for Last and First Men here: www.berlinale.de/en/programme/pro…?film_id=2020070...
Two billion years ahead of us, a future race of humans finds itself on the verge of extinction. Almost all that is left in the world are lone and surreal monuments, beaming their message into the wilderness.
World Premiere is 25 February 15:00 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele Second screening is 26 February 15:00 at Cubix 6
Ticket and other details for Last and First Men here: www.berlinale.de/en/programme/pro…?film_id=2020070...
- 2/24/2020
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
"Listen patiently... We, who are the last men, earnestly desire to communicate with you." Films Boutique has released the first promo teaser for the experimental feature Last and First Men, which is premiering at the Berlin Film Festival this month. This is the only feature film directed by iconic Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who made this before he died in 2018. Featuring narration by Tilda Swinton. This feature is a repackaged version of the video Jóhannsson made for his touring concerts, inspired by Dutch photographer Jan Kempenaers' 2010 art book "Spomenik" about oddly shaped war monuments. It was shot on 16mm B&w film by acclaimed Norwegian cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen. Indiewire describes this as "Jóhannsson’s own artistic riff on the avant-garde style of Koyaanisqatsi," although it seems to be something else quite unique. There's not much to this teaser so far, but have a look anyway. I am certainly curious...
- 2/19/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Sundance Film Festival juries often hand out special prizes to recognize work that doesn’t win one of the two prescribed awards (Grand Jury Prize and Jury Prize for Directing) in each of the competition categories. This year, Sundance found some… well, let’s say, unusual ways to celebrate some tremendous films.
There was the head-scratcher of Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” winning the “U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Neorealism,” and Josephine Decker’s “Shirley,” competing in the same category, winning the “Award for Auteur Filmmaking.”
While we don’t want to take anything away from those achievements, IndieWire would like to recognize the practical elements that went into some of this year’s best competition titles. Here’s four examples of extraordinary craft that helped bring a handful of films to cinematic life this year… and might have made for better jury prizes.
IndieWire Jury...
There was the head-scratcher of Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” winning the “U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Neorealism,” and Josephine Decker’s “Shirley,” competing in the same category, winning the “Award for Auteur Filmmaking.”
While we don’t want to take anything away from those achievements, IndieWire would like to recognize the practical elements that went into some of this year’s best competition titles. Here’s four examples of extraordinary craft that helped bring a handful of films to cinematic life this year… and might have made for better jury prizes.
IndieWire Jury...
- 2/5/2020
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
After getting attention on the festival circuit with her back-to-back first features Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Butter on the Latch, director Josephine Decker deservedly expanded her audience with Madeline’s Madeline, a genuinely thrilling, endlessly imaginative look at the creative process as well as how mental illness influences artistic expression. With Shirley, she returns to similar themes in an entirely different era while continuing the same inventive, breathless style, even if this time around the narrative arc is a bit more straightforward.
Shirley Hardie Jackson was a deeply influential American writer who penned a handful of novels and hundreds of short stories. She was also intensely reclusive, had bouts of depression, and had to contend with her unfaithful professor husband. As Decker revealed in the introduction at the Sundance premiere, her early 1950s-set film is inspired by the author’s life but is purely fictional, based on Susan Scarf Merrell...
Shirley Hardie Jackson was a deeply influential American writer who penned a handful of novels and hundreds of short stories. She was also intensely reclusive, had bouts of depression, and had to contend with her unfaithful professor husband. As Decker revealed in the introduction at the Sundance premiere, her early 1950s-set film is inspired by the author’s life but is purely fictional, based on Susan Scarf Merrell...
- 1/27/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson is set to return posthumously at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival with the world premiere of a project he directed himself, “Last and First Men,” narrated by Tilda Swinton. The movie is one of several titles announced for Berlinale 2020 ahead of the full lineup reveal later this month. Additional titles heading to Berlin in February include Matteo Garrone’s “Pinocchio,” Nanette Burstein’s “Hillary,” Agnieszka Holland’s “Charlatan,” and Jia Zhang-ke’s “Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue.” Television projects from Jason Segal and Damien Chazelle will also be screened in the Berlinale Series program.
Jóhannsson scored back to back Oscar nominations for Best Original Score in 2015 and 2016 thanks to his music for “The Theory of Everything” and “Sicario.” The latter was one of several collaborations between Jóhannsson and Denis Villeneuve. Jóhannsson’s other score credits include Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” and “Arrival,” plus “Mandy” and “The Mercy.
Jóhannsson scored back to back Oscar nominations for Best Original Score in 2015 and 2016 thanks to his music for “The Theory of Everything” and “Sicario.” The latter was one of several collaborations between Jóhannsson and Denis Villeneuve. Jóhannsson’s other score credits include Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” and “Arrival,” plus “Mandy” and “The Mercy.
- 1/14/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
The script for Sebastian Schipper’s film was 12 pages long allowing most of the dialogue to be improvised in this 138 minute German film shot in one continuous take. Russian Ark followed a similar path but was essentially a dreamy documentary about St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace – Schipper’s film follows a more conventional narrative arc in and around the kinetic streets of Berlin. The cinematography is by the strong-backed Sturla Brandth Grøvlen.
The post Victoria appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Victoria appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 6/12/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Cornerstone Films has boarded director Josephine Decker’s (Madeline’s Madeline) psychological drama Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss as famed horror author Shirley Jackson with Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) as her Bennington College professor husband Stanley Hyman.
Logan Lerman (Indignation) and Odessa Young (Assassination Nation) play the young couple that move in with Shirley and Stanley in the hope of starting a new life but instead find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Shirley’s next novel. Above is a first look image.
Cornerstone will show first footage at the Efm next week. Paradigm and UTA are overseeing North American sales.
Shirley, which shot last year, is based on the screenplay by Sarah Gubbins (I Love Dick), adapted from the novel by Susan Scarf Merrell and was filmed in upstate New York, including at Vassar College. It is financed by Los Angeles Media Fund and produced by...
Logan Lerman (Indignation) and Odessa Young (Assassination Nation) play the young couple that move in with Shirley and Stanley in the hope of starting a new life but instead find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Shirley’s next novel. Above is a first look image.
Cornerstone will show first footage at the Efm next week. Paradigm and UTA are overseeing North American sales.
Shirley, which shot last year, is based on the screenplay by Sarah Gubbins (I Love Dick), adapted from the novel by Susan Scarf Merrell and was filmed in upstate New York, including at Vassar College. It is financed by Los Angeles Media Fund and produced by...
- 2/1/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
In the last few years, Riley Keough has carved out quite a burgeoning career, working with George Miller, Andrea Arnold, Steven Soderbergh, David Robert Mitchell, Trey Edward Shults, and, for her most recent premiere, Charlie McDowell. Starring alongside Rooney Mara, Jason Segel, Robert Redford, and Jesse Plemons, The Discovery finds her playing Lacey, a character attempting to rebuild her own life under the guidance of Redford’s character after the afterlife was discovered.
While at Sundance Film Festival, I sat down with the actress to discuss the emotional sci-fi film, how realistic it might be, the ethical questions behind it, as well her promising upcoming year, her favorite sci-fi films, her thoughts on television after The Girlfriend Experience, and much more. Check out the conversation below.
The Film Stage: There’s great world-building right from the beginning, and I was curious if it was all in the script, or did...
While at Sundance Film Festival, I sat down with the actress to discuss the emotional sci-fi film, how realistic it might be, the ethical questions behind it, as well her promising upcoming year, her favorite sci-fi films, her thoughts on television after The Girlfriend Experience, and much more. Check out the conversation below.
The Film Stage: There’s great world-building right from the beginning, and I was curious if it was all in the script, or did...
- 2/1/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Oscar frontrunner and BAFTA nominee charmed the UK’s leading critics to win top prize at the 37th Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night at The May Fair Hotel.
Another Academy Award favourite, Casey Affleck, was named best actor for Manchester By The Sea, while Isabelle Huppert, gaining strength as the season progresses, claimed best actress for Things To Come and took the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.
Laszlo Nemes was the surprise of the night as he won best director for Son Of Saul, while awards heavyweight Kenneth Lonergan earned the best screenwriter award for Manchester By The Sea.
Moonlight claimed both supporting acting categories for Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, who tied with Tom Bennett for Love & Friendship.
Kate Beckinsale won the British/Irish Actress prize for Love & Friendship and Andrew Garfield took corresponding actor honours for Hacksaw Ridge and Silence.
Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann won the foreign-language category, [link...
Another Academy Award favourite, Casey Affleck, was named best actor for Manchester By The Sea, while Isabelle Huppert, gaining strength as the season progresses, claimed best actress for Things To Come and took the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.
Laszlo Nemes was the surprise of the night as he won best director for Son Of Saul, while awards heavyweight Kenneth Lonergan earned the best screenwriter award for Manchester By The Sea.
Moonlight claimed both supporting acting categories for Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, who tied with Tom Bennett for Love & Friendship.
Kate Beckinsale won the British/Irish Actress prize for Love & Friendship and Andrew Garfield took corresponding actor honours for Hacksaw Ridge and Silence.
Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann won the foreign-language category, [link...
- 1/22/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Oscar frontrunner and BAFTA nominee charmed the UK’s leading critics to win top prize at the 37th Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night at The May Fair Hotel.
Another Academy Award favourite, Casey Affleck, was named best actor for Manchester By The Sea, while Isabelle Huppert, gaining strength as the season progresses, claimed best actress for Things To Come and took the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.
Laszlo Nemes was the surprise of the night as he won best director for Son Of Saul, while awards heavyweight Kenneth Lonergan earned the best screenwriter award for Manchester By The Sea.
Moonlight claimed both supporting acting categories for Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, who tied with Tom Bennett for Love & Friendship.
Kate Beckinsale won the British/Irish Actress prize for Love & Friendship and Andrew Garfield took corresponding actor honours for Hacksaw Ridge and Silence.
Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann won the foreign-language category, [link...
Another Academy Award favourite, Casey Affleck, was named best actor for Manchester By The Sea, while Isabelle Huppert, gaining strength as the season progresses, claimed best actress for Things To Come and took the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.
Laszlo Nemes was the surprise of the night as he won best director for Son Of Saul, while awards heavyweight Kenneth Lonergan earned the best screenwriter award for Manchester By The Sea.
Moonlight claimed both supporting acting categories for Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, who tied with Tom Bennett for Love & Friendship.
Kate Beckinsale won the British/Irish Actress prize for Love & Friendship and Andrew Garfield took corresponding actor honours for Hacksaw Ridge and Silence.
Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann won the foreign-language category, [link...
- 1/22/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
If you knew what was to come after death, would you live your life differently? Or would you want to live at all? These are but a few life-altering questions at the center of The Discovery, Charlie McDowell’s follow-up to The One I Love, another film which used the backdrop of a science-fiction premise as a playground for exploring universal emotional quandaries. While the director/co-writer’s skill at world-building has expanded, as has his cast, his second film retains a similar, welcome sense of relatability, favoring an emotional throughline over Primer-esque scientific explanation. There’s no greater human truth than death and McDowell uses this to fuel our imagination about what might await, doing so in a way that, like the best sci-fi, stimulates introspection on the part of the viewer.
It’s been two years since Doctor Thomas Harber (Robert Redford) revealed a scientific breakthrough that altered the world forever.
It’s been two years since Doctor Thomas Harber (Robert Redford) revealed a scientific breakthrough that altered the world forever.
- 1/21/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.