Chilean director Sebastián Silva (The Maid, Old Cats, Life Kills Me) makes his English language debut with this psychological thriller featuring intimidation, hypnosis and maybe just a bit of overwrought villainy on the part of Michael Cera. Maria Full of Grace star Catalina Sandino and Emily "Babydoll" Browning also appear in supporting roles. The film played (quietly) at Sundance this year, and while it never secured a theatrical release, it is coming to DVD/VOD in August. Personally, I'm still waiting for Juno Temple to become a bonafide star, as the right part has eluded her even as she brings a significant freshness to whatever project she turns up in. None of these (Killer Joe, Cracks, The Brass Teapot, Dirty Girl, Mr. Nobody) got any mainstream notice. While I...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/11/2013
- Screen Anarchy
"A visually playful biopic on Mexico's Ed Wood." -Variety
The accolades continue to roll in as Global Lens 2013 puts a spotlight on The Fantastic Wrld of Juan Orol, which recently played at the San Diego Latino Film Festival.
The story: Move over Ed Wood! Mexico's half-forgotten B-movie master, "involuntary surrealist" Juan Orol, receives a pitch-perfect tribute in this irresistible love letter to a self-made man of showbiz, whose career spanned nearly sixty films. In a glorious black-and-white flashback mingling movie-tainted memories of his Galician childhood, forced exile to Cuba and arrival in Mexico. The intrepid "Juanito" pursues failed careers as baseball player, boxer, bullfighter and gangster before landing in the movies-where failure kind of works for him. As Orol, Roberto Sosa exudes droll underdog charm, anchoring a fast-moving comedy and a homage to a golden age of cinema.
"A clever camp homage to Orol, this film playfully explores the filmmaker's cult legacy, including visuals that deftly evoke the vintage stock of bygone eras, and the budget aesthetic of its subject." -AFI Silver
Through Global Lens, fans are invited to bring this film to local theaters or community centers. Preview this and the rest of the Global Lens 2013 lineup now on Festival Scope and email bookings [at] globalfilm.org.
Other Global Lens 2013 films now available for booking:
About 111 Girls (Darbare 111 Dokhtar), dir. Nahid Ghobadi and Bijan Bijan Zamanpira, Iraq, 2012, 79 minutes
An Iranian state official, his driver and a young guide race across a troubled but magnificent landscape to stop 111 young Kurdish women from committing suicide in protest against conditions that have left them spinsters. Official Selection, 2012 Busan Iff.
Beijing FlICKERS (You-zhong), dir. Zhang Yuan, China, 2012, 96 minutes
A young man left behind by Beijing's fabulous new wealth experiences moments of euphoria amid despair as he roams the city with other misfit dreamers in this darkly funny, gorgeously gritty portrait of disaffected youth. Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Busan.
Cairo 678, dir. Mohamed Diab, Egypt, 2010, 100 minutes
Three Cairene women from different backgrounds warily unite to combat the sexual harassment that has impacted each of their lives-and become a citywide plague-but their unconventional response provokes a dogged police hunt. Official Selection, 2011 New Directors/New Films; Official Selection, 2011 Seattle Iff; Muhr Arab Feature Best Actress and Best Actor, 2010 Dubai Iff.
The Fantastic World Of Juan Orol (El FANÁSTICO Mundo De Juan Orol) , dir. Sebastían del Amo, Mexico, 2012, 90 minutes
Move over Ed Wood! The story of Mexico's half-forgotten B-movie master, "involuntary surrealist" Juan Orol, receives a pitch-perfect tribute in this deft, irresistible love letter to life, the movies and a self-made man of showbiz. Best First Feature Film, 2012 Guadalajara Iff.
Life Kills Me (La Vida Me Mata), dir. Sebastían Silva, Chile, 2007, 92 minutes
Death come wrapped in a mutual embrace, absurd and poignant at once, in celebrated director Sebastián Silva's debut film about the unlikely friendship between a grieving, young cinematographer and a morbidly obsessed drifter. Best First Feature Film, 2008 International Latino Ff; Best Chilean Film of 2007, Chilean Art Critics Circle.
Modest Reception (Paziraie Sadeh), dir. Mani Haghighi, Iran, 2012, 100 minutes
Two sibling-sophisticates from Tehran travel the mountainous northern countryside, maniacally pushing bags of money on locals-a hilarious and alarming exercise that unfurls with unexpected force amid subtle themes of power and corruption. Netpac Prize, 2012 Berlin Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Chicago Iff.
The Parade (Parada), dir. Srdjan Dragojevic, Serbia, 2011, 115 minutes
In exchange for some wedding-planning expertise, a macho Serbian crime boss recruits a ragtag group of Balkan war-buddies to provide protection for a Pride march in this rollicking yet poignant comedy inspired by real events. Panorama Audience Award, 2012 Berlin Iff; Fipresci Serbia Award for Best Serbian Film 2011.
Shyamal Uncle Turns Off The Lights, dir. Suman Ghosh, India, 2012, 65 minutes
An 80-year-old Kolkata retiree is determined to get the streetlights turned off after sunrise, but finding someone to take him seriously proves a battle against an indifferent bureaucracy and a complacent status quo. Official Selection, 2012 Busan Iff.
Southwest (Sudoeste) dir. Eduardo Nunes, Brazil, 2011, 128 minutes
A young woman gives birth on her deathbed to a child who, spirited away to a remote lakeside village, lives her lifetime in a single day, in this hauntingly dreamlike tale of incommensurable life. Special Jury Prize, Fipresci Best Latin American Film and Best Photography, 2011 Rio Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Iff Rotterdam.
Student, dir. Darezhan Omirbayev, Kazakhstan, 2012, 90 minutes
A solitary philosophy student commits a calculated violent crime against the backdrop of Kazakhstan's growing inequality, institutional corruption and a ruthless ethic of eat-or-be-eaten in this broodingly contemporary adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Un Certain Regard, 2012 Cannes Ff; Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Venice If.
The Global Lens film series is an annual, curated program of narrative feature films from Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Films from the series are screened in more than fifty cities nationwide, are featured exclusively on Virgin America airlines, and include top festival picks and official submissions to the Oscars. All proceeds received from Global Lens are reinvested in the Global Film Initiative's Granting Program, and other philanthropic programs of the Initiative.
About The Global Film Initiative
The Global Film Initiative was founded in 2002 to create global understanding, empathy and connectivity through film. Since its establishment, the Initiative has supported hundreds of filmmakers with grants and networking opportunities, and has presented its signature film series, Global Lens, in the U.S. and select international locations via a diverse network of artistic, educational, cultural and diplomatic partners. For more information about the Global Lens film series and Global Film Initiative programs, readers are invited to http://globalfilm.org/programs.htm
Change the Way You See the World.
The Global Film Initiative is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All proceeds from the Global Lens film series support international filmmaker grants, educational programming and resources, touring film exhibitions and other philanthropic initiatives and programs sponsored by the Global Film Initiative.
The accolades continue to roll in as Global Lens 2013 puts a spotlight on The Fantastic Wrld of Juan Orol, which recently played at the San Diego Latino Film Festival.
The story: Move over Ed Wood! Mexico's half-forgotten B-movie master, "involuntary surrealist" Juan Orol, receives a pitch-perfect tribute in this irresistible love letter to a self-made man of showbiz, whose career spanned nearly sixty films. In a glorious black-and-white flashback mingling movie-tainted memories of his Galician childhood, forced exile to Cuba and arrival in Mexico. The intrepid "Juanito" pursues failed careers as baseball player, boxer, bullfighter and gangster before landing in the movies-where failure kind of works for him. As Orol, Roberto Sosa exudes droll underdog charm, anchoring a fast-moving comedy and a homage to a golden age of cinema.
"A clever camp homage to Orol, this film playfully explores the filmmaker's cult legacy, including visuals that deftly evoke the vintage stock of bygone eras, and the budget aesthetic of its subject." -AFI Silver
Through Global Lens, fans are invited to bring this film to local theaters or community centers. Preview this and the rest of the Global Lens 2013 lineup now on Festival Scope and email bookings [at] globalfilm.org.
Other Global Lens 2013 films now available for booking:
About 111 Girls (Darbare 111 Dokhtar), dir. Nahid Ghobadi and Bijan Bijan Zamanpira, Iraq, 2012, 79 minutes
An Iranian state official, his driver and a young guide race across a troubled but magnificent landscape to stop 111 young Kurdish women from committing suicide in protest against conditions that have left them spinsters. Official Selection, 2012 Busan Iff.
Beijing FlICKERS (You-zhong), dir. Zhang Yuan, China, 2012, 96 minutes
A young man left behind by Beijing's fabulous new wealth experiences moments of euphoria amid despair as he roams the city with other misfit dreamers in this darkly funny, gorgeously gritty portrait of disaffected youth. Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Busan.
Cairo 678, dir. Mohamed Diab, Egypt, 2010, 100 minutes
Three Cairene women from different backgrounds warily unite to combat the sexual harassment that has impacted each of their lives-and become a citywide plague-but their unconventional response provokes a dogged police hunt. Official Selection, 2011 New Directors/New Films; Official Selection, 2011 Seattle Iff; Muhr Arab Feature Best Actress and Best Actor, 2010 Dubai Iff.
The Fantastic World Of Juan Orol (El FANÁSTICO Mundo De Juan Orol) , dir. Sebastían del Amo, Mexico, 2012, 90 minutes
Move over Ed Wood! The story of Mexico's half-forgotten B-movie master, "involuntary surrealist" Juan Orol, receives a pitch-perfect tribute in this deft, irresistible love letter to life, the movies and a self-made man of showbiz. Best First Feature Film, 2012 Guadalajara Iff.
Life Kills Me (La Vida Me Mata), dir. Sebastían Silva, Chile, 2007, 92 minutes
Death come wrapped in a mutual embrace, absurd and poignant at once, in celebrated director Sebastián Silva's debut film about the unlikely friendship between a grieving, young cinematographer and a morbidly obsessed drifter. Best First Feature Film, 2008 International Latino Ff; Best Chilean Film of 2007, Chilean Art Critics Circle.
Modest Reception (Paziraie Sadeh), dir. Mani Haghighi, Iran, 2012, 100 minutes
Two sibling-sophisticates from Tehran travel the mountainous northern countryside, maniacally pushing bags of money on locals-a hilarious and alarming exercise that unfurls with unexpected force amid subtle themes of power and corruption. Netpac Prize, 2012 Berlin Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Chicago Iff.
The Parade (Parada), dir. Srdjan Dragojevic, Serbia, 2011, 115 minutes
In exchange for some wedding-planning expertise, a macho Serbian crime boss recruits a ragtag group of Balkan war-buddies to provide protection for a Pride march in this rollicking yet poignant comedy inspired by real events. Panorama Audience Award, 2012 Berlin Iff; Fipresci Serbia Award for Best Serbian Film 2011.
Shyamal Uncle Turns Off The Lights, dir. Suman Ghosh, India, 2012, 65 minutes
An 80-year-old Kolkata retiree is determined to get the streetlights turned off after sunrise, but finding someone to take him seriously proves a battle against an indifferent bureaucracy and a complacent status quo. Official Selection, 2012 Busan Iff.
Southwest (Sudoeste) dir. Eduardo Nunes, Brazil, 2011, 128 minutes
A young woman gives birth on her deathbed to a child who, spirited away to a remote lakeside village, lives her lifetime in a single day, in this hauntingly dreamlike tale of incommensurable life. Special Jury Prize, Fipresci Best Latin American Film and Best Photography, 2011 Rio Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Iff Rotterdam.
Student, dir. Darezhan Omirbayev, Kazakhstan, 2012, 90 minutes
A solitary philosophy student commits a calculated violent crime against the backdrop of Kazakhstan's growing inequality, institutional corruption and a ruthless ethic of eat-or-be-eaten in this broodingly contemporary adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Un Certain Regard, 2012 Cannes Ff; Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Iff; Official Selection, 2012 Venice If.
The Global Lens film series is an annual, curated program of narrative feature films from Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Films from the series are screened in more than fifty cities nationwide, are featured exclusively on Virgin America airlines, and include top festival picks and official submissions to the Oscars. All proceeds received from Global Lens are reinvested in the Global Film Initiative's Granting Program, and other philanthropic programs of the Initiative.
About The Global Film Initiative
The Global Film Initiative was founded in 2002 to create global understanding, empathy and connectivity through film. Since its establishment, the Initiative has supported hundreds of filmmakers with grants and networking opportunities, and has presented its signature film series, Global Lens, in the U.S. and select international locations via a diverse network of artistic, educational, cultural and diplomatic partners. For more information about the Global Lens film series and Global Film Initiative programs, readers are invited to http://globalfilm.org/programs.htm
Change the Way You See the World.
The Global Film Initiative is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All proceeds from the Global Lens film series support international filmmaker grants, educational programming and resources, touring film exhibitions and other philanthropic initiatives and programs sponsored by the Global Film Initiative.
- 3/22/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Chile's new enfant terrible seems to have grown up overnight. Sebastian Silva did come to prominence with The Maid and has other films under his hat, but with two films at Sundance (Magic Magic and Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus), and Magic Magic in Berlin this year, he is unusually visible to all. We had a wonderful intense hour of conversation about his films during Sundance and I am playing back to my readers here.
Sebastian uses his three brothers Juan Andres, Jose Miguel and Augustin as foils in his creations and they bring a real life feel to his films. The brothers are earnest, have a natural interest in life around them. They are not actors. One is a psychologist, one is a sociologist and the other just graduated high school and has just moved to New York (where Sebastian lives) and wants to get involved in the film business. Sebastian's previous breakout hit, The Maid (Isa: Shoreline), cast this younger brother, Agustín Silva, who is also in Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic. He even has offers for representation now.
All Sebastian’ films deal with cross-cultural incompetence, in a comic-tragic way.
The films, especially Crystal Fairy seem so casual but as I spoke with Sebastian at Sundance where his two films premiered, I discovered how carefully he thinks out every detail. The actors themselves are quite easy going about the preparation and working time; Crystal Fairy was more an improvisation based on a trip to find and take the cactus which produces mescaline. The enchantment of the film unfolds easily, as if without effort. Sebastian notes that the film is about experiencing compassion and the character played by Michael Cera, so self-centered and so maladroit, does finally experience compassion, but he does not grow miraculously after that. Similarly, Crystal who provides the revelation of the trip grows into her own person but not totally or immediately. She finally says her real name – but to a stranger; she goes off on her own in the end out of a sort of embarrassment. Michael’s character also feels compassion for the first time but in the end he still fails to appreciate her great sadness. Her attempts to resuscitate a dead rabbit are the most pathetic signs of her fantasy life and Jamie is correct in telling her to see beauty in things as they are.The foil to these two naïve lost gringos in Chile are the three brothers who take life as it comes and do not trouble themselves too much about the curves and bumps in their paths.
Sebastian was a pictorial artist of sorts and a musician, but he spent 6 months in a small film school in Chile and afterward he filmed everything. He began writing and discovered that storytelling is the most difficult of all the arts; he read Sy Fields to learn the structure of the narrative and wrote 3 screenplays which went into a drawer. The 4th was Life Kills Me which just showed January 16 at Moma and was funded in part by Global Film Initiative. He took Crystal Fairy to Fabula and Pablo Lorrain (No) said yes. Sebastian did have a reputation in Chile for his music and had an art show as well, so the Lorrain brothers knew he could get things done and they helped him produce. As he directed, he realized this was his métier. When he is with good people in good surroundings, with fun sets, he cares about the experience of making the film. It is exhausting to deal with one story so long, so the story must have many layers with strong details, private fetishes. He quoted Tennessee Williams who said that whenever he wrote something, he had to have a sexual desire for one of his characters. While Sebastian does not share that he does need many layers to work with. Therefore he can’t do others’ material. He spends at least two years with his own material and subject matter. He finds filmmaking is therapeutic for him and in the case of The Maid, for his entire family. In Old Cats, an Alzheimer story, it was important for him to deal with aging and deterioration. When he went to the Golden Globes for The Maid, he was on a panel with Michael Haneke and both were working on projects on aging.
Magic Magic is his 5th movie. Except for a cash prize he won in Poland for The Maid, no money has ever come back to him from his movies. But he does get directors fees and for that, if no backend ever comes, he can still get along. Never has he received government funding for his films. He has been living in Brooklyn for 12 years.
Sebastian considers himself a sort of false mystic and making the films brings him closer (hopefully) to a sort of enlightenment. Cultural dissonances seem to attract him as can be seen in The Maid, Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic in which the fragile Alicia played by Juno Temple so totally misconstrues the foreign world she is immersed in, and so little regard for her comfort is shown by people acting as if no foreign element has entered their world that she is perhaps totally obliterated…
You can read more about Sebastian’s views in the Sundance interview : http://www.sundance.org/festival/article/a-conversation-with-sebastian-silva/
Or watch and learn here on YouTube.
I am looking forward to seeing how these two films take on life in distribution, and to seeing what Sebastian comes up with next.
Magic Magic, produced by Silva’s Braven Films and Christine Vachon’s Killer Films along with Mike White and David Bernad’s L.A. company Rip Torn Films, will be in Berlin and is being sold by 6 Sales. UTA is repping U.S. rights to both films.
Sebastian uses his three brothers Juan Andres, Jose Miguel and Augustin as foils in his creations and they bring a real life feel to his films. The brothers are earnest, have a natural interest in life around them. They are not actors. One is a psychologist, one is a sociologist and the other just graduated high school and has just moved to New York (where Sebastian lives) and wants to get involved in the film business. Sebastian's previous breakout hit, The Maid (Isa: Shoreline), cast this younger brother, Agustín Silva, who is also in Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic. He even has offers for representation now.
All Sebastian’ films deal with cross-cultural incompetence, in a comic-tragic way.
The films, especially Crystal Fairy seem so casual but as I spoke with Sebastian at Sundance where his two films premiered, I discovered how carefully he thinks out every detail. The actors themselves are quite easy going about the preparation and working time; Crystal Fairy was more an improvisation based on a trip to find and take the cactus which produces mescaline. The enchantment of the film unfolds easily, as if without effort. Sebastian notes that the film is about experiencing compassion and the character played by Michael Cera, so self-centered and so maladroit, does finally experience compassion, but he does not grow miraculously after that. Similarly, Crystal who provides the revelation of the trip grows into her own person but not totally or immediately. She finally says her real name – but to a stranger; she goes off on her own in the end out of a sort of embarrassment. Michael’s character also feels compassion for the first time but in the end he still fails to appreciate her great sadness. Her attempts to resuscitate a dead rabbit are the most pathetic signs of her fantasy life and Jamie is correct in telling her to see beauty in things as they are.The foil to these two naïve lost gringos in Chile are the three brothers who take life as it comes and do not trouble themselves too much about the curves and bumps in their paths.
Sebastian was a pictorial artist of sorts and a musician, but he spent 6 months in a small film school in Chile and afterward he filmed everything. He began writing and discovered that storytelling is the most difficult of all the arts; he read Sy Fields to learn the structure of the narrative and wrote 3 screenplays which went into a drawer. The 4th was Life Kills Me which just showed January 16 at Moma and was funded in part by Global Film Initiative. He took Crystal Fairy to Fabula and Pablo Lorrain (No) said yes. Sebastian did have a reputation in Chile for his music and had an art show as well, so the Lorrain brothers knew he could get things done and they helped him produce. As he directed, he realized this was his métier. When he is with good people in good surroundings, with fun sets, he cares about the experience of making the film. It is exhausting to deal with one story so long, so the story must have many layers with strong details, private fetishes. He quoted Tennessee Williams who said that whenever he wrote something, he had to have a sexual desire for one of his characters. While Sebastian does not share that he does need many layers to work with. Therefore he can’t do others’ material. He spends at least two years with his own material and subject matter. He finds filmmaking is therapeutic for him and in the case of The Maid, for his entire family. In Old Cats, an Alzheimer story, it was important for him to deal with aging and deterioration. When he went to the Golden Globes for The Maid, he was on a panel with Michael Haneke and both were working on projects on aging.
Magic Magic is his 5th movie. Except for a cash prize he won in Poland for The Maid, no money has ever come back to him from his movies. But he does get directors fees and for that, if no backend ever comes, he can still get along. Never has he received government funding for his films. He has been living in Brooklyn for 12 years.
Sebastian considers himself a sort of false mystic and making the films brings him closer (hopefully) to a sort of enlightenment. Cultural dissonances seem to attract him as can be seen in The Maid, Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic in which the fragile Alicia played by Juno Temple so totally misconstrues the foreign world she is immersed in, and so little regard for her comfort is shown by people acting as if no foreign element has entered their world that she is perhaps totally obliterated…
You can read more about Sebastian’s views in the Sundance interview : http://www.sundance.org/festival/article/a-conversation-with-sebastian-silva/
Or watch and learn here on YouTube.
I am looking forward to seeing how these two films take on life in distribution, and to seeing what Sebastian comes up with next.
Magic Magic, produced by Silva’s Braven Films and Christine Vachon’s Killer Films along with Mike White and David Bernad’s L.A. company Rip Torn Films, will be in Berlin and is being sold by 6 Sales. UTA is repping U.S. rights to both films.
- 2/6/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Global Film Initiative (Gfi) and MoMA present Global Lens 2013: 10 films from developing film communities as diverse as Kazakhstan and Chile, in a traveling exhibition. From January 10th - 25th, the program holds up shop in NYC, where many of the titles are making their North American or New York premieres. To celebrate the 10th year, Global Lens starts with a week-long run of Zhang Yuan's Beijing Flickers and Eduardo Nunes's Southwest; an overlooked earlier film, Life Kills Me (2007), from Chilean director Sebastián Silva (whose 2009 film The Maid was much admired); Cairo 678, a big hit at MoMA's 2011 New Directors/New Films festival, and much more. I am just stupefied by the caliber of these films. I just wish I had more...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 1/9/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Suman Ghosh’s Shyamal Uncle Turns Off The Lights, which was picked up by Global Film Initiative (Gfi) at Busan Film Festival recently, will be part of Global Lens 2013 film series. A total of ten award winning films have been chosen in the line up for the tenth edition of the film series.
The Global Lens will run from 10th to 24th January, 2013 and will be followed by a year long tour to more than fifty cities in the United States and Canada.
Shyamal Uncle Turns Off The Lights, produced by Arindam Ghosh, is the story of an eighty year old pensioner who wants the street lights switched off during the day to save waste. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival 2012.
The Global Lens film series was launched in 2003 to support the distribution of unique and critically acclaimed cinematic works from around the world,...
The Global Lens will run from 10th to 24th January, 2013 and will be followed by a year long tour to more than fifty cities in the United States and Canada.
Shyamal Uncle Turns Off The Lights, produced by Arindam Ghosh, is the story of an eighty year old pensioner who wants the street lights switched off during the day to save waste. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival 2012.
The Global Lens film series was launched in 2003 to support the distribution of unique and critically acclaimed cinematic works from around the world,...
- 11/16/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
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