An auteur of many mediums — film, theater, and opera — Luchino Visconti was born into an aristocratic family and boasted a rather infamous roster of friends (Coco Chanel, Giacomo Puccini, and Jean Renoir to name a few) before he found his own spotlight in neorealist Italian cinema. And though his film repertoire is small, his style exudes knowledge and talent without question. Read More: The Essentials: The 8 Best Luchino Visconti Films In “Death in Venice,” his eleventh film based on the novella by Thomas Mann, Visconti explores not only the themes of underlying sexuality found in the original text, but the significance of ambiguity in art. His protagonists debate the importance of this, declaring that the artist cannot be ambiguous, but that art cannot help to be. In his new video essay, Pasquale Iannone uses footage from Visconti’s “White Nights,” another novella adaptation (this time from the archetypal novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky...
- 3/21/2016
- by Samantha Vacca
- The Playlist
Each week, the fine folks at Fandor add a number of films to their Criterion Picks area, which will then be available to subscribers for the following twelve days. This week, the Criterion Picks focus on seven films featuring the music of Nino Rota.
Celebrate iconic Italian films in a new way: ears first, through the scores composed by this long-time collaborator of Fellini (and many others).
Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.
8 1/2
Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini turns one man’s artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema.
Amarcord
This carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the fascist period, the most personal film from Federico Fellini, satirizes the director’s youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals,...
Celebrate iconic Italian films in a new way: ears first, through the scores composed by this long-time collaborator of Fellini (and many others).
Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.
8 1/2
Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini turns one man’s artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema.
Amarcord
This carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the fascist period, the most personal film from Federico Fellini, satirizes the director’s youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals,...
- 1/5/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
I met Alexander Albrecht at the new recently held Mexican Residency Program "Pueblo Magico." Typical of the diversity at this workshop for eight to ten first and second time filmmakers from all over the globe, he was born and raised in Switzerland and resides in Mexico, Berlin and Zurich. He graduated from the European Film Actors School Zurich, trained at the Susan Batson Studio in New York and trained with Larry Moss. He is fluent in German, French, English and Italian. He has worked in several theater, TV and cinema productions. Albrecht wrote his first film in 2013, in which he starred, namely the short "La Boda De Baba" directed by Lucia Carreras and produced by Machete Producciones and the Mexican Film Institute.
He is currently writing and rehearsing an adaptation of the famous Novel White Nights written by the young Dostoyevsky, directed by Lioudmila Babkina Meier, which will be performed on several Zurich stages. For the past two years, alongside Alexandra Edmondson from Australia, he has been writing his first feature film "Brooklyn Treehouse".
"Brooklyn Treehouse" is about four young creative types who come from various places to New York and end up sharing an apartment with an eccentic French artist. Once there, they are pushed to make decisions about their own lives.
"Brooklyn Treehouse" is being produced by Machete Productions in Mexico, one of the new interesting young production companies there now, that produced "La Jaula de oro" and "Leap Year" ("Ano besieto").
He is currently writing and rehearsing an adaptation of the famous Novel White Nights written by the young Dostoyevsky, directed by Lioudmila Babkina Meier, which will be performed on several Zurich stages. For the past two years, alongside Alexandra Edmondson from Australia, he has been writing his first feature film "Brooklyn Treehouse".
"Brooklyn Treehouse" is about four young creative types who come from various places to New York and end up sharing an apartment with an eccentic French artist. Once there, they are pushed to make decisions about their own lives.
"Brooklyn Treehouse" is being produced by Machete Productions in Mexico, one of the new interesting young production companies there now, that produced "La Jaula de oro" and "Leap Year" ("Ano besieto").
- 11/15/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A roundup of news from the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum includes a busy French delegation and a local controversy brewing over Leviathan.
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
- 10/6/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
A roundup of news from the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum includes a busy French delegation and a local controversy brewing over Leviathan.
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
- 10/6/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Russian actor Sergey Puskepalis is to make his directorial debut and has cast Alexey Serebryakov, star of Cannes winner Leviathan.
Clinch is billed as a drama with tragicomic elements starring Serebryakov, who headlined Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, winner of best screenplay at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Clinch, which is being produced by Ruben Dishdishyan’s Mars Media Entertainment, also features the actress Asya Domskaya in her first screen role.
Speaking to Ria-Novosti, Puskepalis explained that the film’s story, which he had developed for the past five years, focuses on “the clinch of relations between the ‘next’ generations and people of my age”.
“We are not very good at understanding the kids who are around 20-22 years-old. And there’s an essential difference between us – they are citizens of Russia and we are all still from the Ussr,” he added.
Puskepalis and his co-star Grigory Dobrygin shared a Silver Bear at the 2010 Berlinale for their...
Clinch is billed as a drama with tragicomic elements starring Serebryakov, who headlined Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, winner of best screenplay at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Clinch, which is being produced by Ruben Dishdishyan’s Mars Media Entertainment, also features the actress Asya Domskaya in her first screen role.
Speaking to Ria-Novosti, Puskepalis explained that the film’s story, which he had developed for the past five years, focuses on “the clinch of relations between the ‘next’ generations and people of my age”.
“We are not very good at understanding the kids who are around 20-22 years-old. And there’s an essential difference between us – they are citizens of Russia and we are all still from the Ussr,” he added.
Puskepalis and his co-star Grigory Dobrygin shared a Silver Bear at the 2010 Berlinale for their...
- 7/11/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Seven world premieres and five international premieres include an animated movie for the first time in competition; Us drama Low Down starring John Hawkes and Elle Fanning; and Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson’s follow-up to Either Way.
The 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 4-12) has revealed the line-ups for its Official Selection Competition, East of the West Competition, Documentary Films Competition and Forum of Independents Competition.
Kv artistic director Karel Och said: “This year’s selection of competing films offers an exciting mixture of outstanding films whose completion has been eagerly anticipated.
“Many of the filmmakers, who explore less frequently trodden paths of cinematic expression, come from the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, which the Kviff has long focused on.”
In the main festival section, renowned Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili (The Other Bank) will introduce his long-anticipated film Corn Island, a psychological drama that uses captivating imagery and visuals to present a highly topical subject...
The 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 4-12) has revealed the line-ups for its Official Selection Competition, East of the West Competition, Documentary Films Competition and Forum of Independents Competition.
Kv artistic director Karel Och said: “This year’s selection of competing films offers an exciting mixture of outstanding films whose completion has been eagerly anticipated.
“Many of the filmmakers, who explore less frequently trodden paths of cinematic expression, come from the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, which the Kviff has long focused on.”
In the main festival section, renowned Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili (The Other Bank) will introduce his long-anticipated film Corn Island, a psychological drama that uses captivating imagery and visuals to present a highly topical subject...
- 6/3/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Daniel Bruhl is among the cast that will be putting on a modernized adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s “White Nights,” according to Screen Daily. Russian director Tatyana Voronetskaya will be behind the camera, while German-Dutch actress Henriette Confurius is also part of the cast. The lead role, known as the Dreamer, will be filled by an as yet uncast Russian actor. The tale follows our narrator as he meets a young woman, quickly falls in love with her, and then despairs as she reveals she’s still in love with her boyfriend, who has been gone for a year but promised to come [...]
The post Daniel Bruhl to Star in Dostoyevsky Adaptation ‘White Nights’ appeared first on Up and Comers.
The post Daniel Bruhl to Star in Dostoyevsky Adaptation ‘White Nights’ appeared first on Up and Comers.
- 6/2/2014
- by Linda Ge
- UpandComers
Films by Todd Solondz, Ralph Fiennes and Andrei Konchalovsky as well as an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s White Nights, starring Daniel Brühl, are among 12 projects to be supported by Russia’s Ministry of Culture this year.
Solondz, Fiennes and Bekmambetov are set to join director colleagues Avdotya Smirnova, Bakur Bakuradze, Cedric Klapisch, Igor Voloshin, Ilmar Raag and Sam Rockwell in shooting episodes of the omnibus film Petersburg: A Category Of Feelings.
The project, which is to be produced by Lenfilm Studio in cooperation with Sergey Selyanov’s St Petersburg-based production powerhouse Ctb Company, will invite the filmmakers to present their views of the “Venice of the North” through emotions or qualities whose first letters make up the city’s name: Pleasure, Effort, Trust, Envy, Repose, Shrewdness, Bravery, Uncertainty, Refuge and Glee.
The idea for the project originates from Selyanov, and one of the episodes will be directed by actor-director-producer Fedor Bondarchuk who is also serving as the...
Solondz, Fiennes and Bekmambetov are set to join director colleagues Avdotya Smirnova, Bakur Bakuradze, Cedric Klapisch, Igor Voloshin, Ilmar Raag and Sam Rockwell in shooting episodes of the omnibus film Petersburg: A Category Of Feelings.
The project, which is to be produced by Lenfilm Studio in cooperation with Sergey Selyanov’s St Petersburg-based production powerhouse Ctb Company, will invite the filmmakers to present their views of the “Venice of the North” through emotions or qualities whose first letters make up the city’s name: Pleasure, Effort, Trust, Envy, Repose, Shrewdness, Bravery, Uncertainty, Refuge and Glee.
The idea for the project originates from Selyanov, and one of the episodes will be directed by actor-director-producer Fedor Bondarchuk who is also serving as the...
- 6/2/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Mumbai, April 4: Sonam Kapoor debuted in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie “Saawariya” which was loosely inspired by ‘White Nights’ a short story written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Now the pretty actress has purchased the film rights of a novel by Anuja Chauhan as the former is in sheer love with the female characters in the novel.
She went on to say that the novel has such characters which can be seen in reality and so she was so impressed to buy the rights of the book. It is to be seen whether in near future this novel gets made into a film, and then that would be the third flick in Sonam’s filmography to have been based on novel as.
She went on to say that the novel has such characters which can be seen in reality and so she was so impressed to buy the rights of the book. It is to be seen whether in near future this novel gets made into a film, and then that would be the third flick in Sonam’s filmography to have been based on novel as.
- 4/4/2013
- by Machan Kumar
- RealBollywood.com
Things We Learned From the Commentary is a column devoted to directors and their craft. Its singular goal is to put into perspective how and why auteurs shape and mold their films.
The decision to kick off the series with James Gray was a rather easy one. Not only is Gray one of the most wrongfully unheralded American storytellers working in all of contemporary cinema, but his films are often lost in the shuffle or neglected in part to their refusal to conform to cinema’s demographic driven standards.
Two Lovers is the director’s fourth feature, per IMDb, the film is a Brooklyn-set romantic drama about a bachelor (Joaquin Phoenix) torn between the family friend (Vinessa Shaw) his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor (Gwyneth Paltrow). Yes, it’s ostensibly a film about a man juggling two very different love interests; most films...
The decision to kick off the series with James Gray was a rather easy one. Not only is Gray one of the most wrongfully unheralded American storytellers working in all of contemporary cinema, but his films are often lost in the shuffle or neglected in part to their refusal to conform to cinema’s demographic driven standards.
Two Lovers is the director’s fourth feature, per IMDb, the film is a Brooklyn-set romantic drama about a bachelor (Joaquin Phoenix) torn between the family friend (Vinessa Shaw) his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor (Gwyneth Paltrow). Yes, it’s ostensibly a film about a man juggling two very different love interests; most films...
- 1/17/2013
- by Ty Landis
- SoundOnSight
“We are still coming to terms with Robert Bresson, and the peculiar power and beauty of his films,” Martin Scorsese said in the 2010 book “A Passion For Film,” describing the often overlooked French filmmaker as “one of the cinema’s greatest artists.”
But while he may be revered by some as the finest French filmmaker bar Jean Renoir, outside hardcore cinephile circles he and his films are virtually unknown (perhaps regarded as too opaque or nebulous). Just consider the fact that almost every definitive book on the elusive director was published during the aughts to feel the full truth of Scorsese's statement about how we're still in the process of appreciating and understanding his life and work. Even Bresson’s actual birthdate is contested, adding further the ambiguities surrounding the director.
“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen,” the meticulous Bresson once famously said, hinting at...
But while he may be revered by some as the finest French filmmaker bar Jean Renoir, outside hardcore cinephile circles he and his films are virtually unknown (perhaps regarded as too opaque or nebulous). Just consider the fact that almost every definitive book on the elusive director was published during the aughts to feel the full truth of Scorsese's statement about how we're still in the process of appreciating and understanding his life and work. Even Bresson’s actual birthdate is contested, adding further the ambiguities surrounding the director.
“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen,” the meticulous Bresson once famously said, hinting at...
- 4/18/2012
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
One of the pleasures of digging around for movie posters is coming across great designs for films that have otherwise been forgotten, that have not become part of the pantheon—or even any of its foothills—but which nevertheless are fascinating reminders of areas of cinema history that are usually ignored. The other day I posted a lovely Russian poster on Movie Poster of the Day for an adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s White Nights that I wasn’t familiar with but which, I then discovered, was directed by a man described as “the high priest of Stalinist Cinema.” You can read more about that here.
When this terrific poster for Le passe-muraille caught my eye I knew absolutely nothing about the film, and, with the exception of English actress Joan Greenwood (Kind Hearts and Coronets), nearly every name on the poster, from star Bourvil to director Jean Boyer to author Marcel Aymé,...
When this terrific poster for Le passe-muraille caught my eye I knew absolutely nothing about the film, and, with the exception of English actress Joan Greenwood (Kind Hearts and Coronets), nearly every name on the poster, from star Bourvil to director Jean Boyer to author Marcel Aymé,...
- 3/17/2012
- MUBI
"The Romanian director Lucian Pintilie made his first film in 1965, the year Nicolae Ceausescu became general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party," writes Ao Scott in the New York Times. "Of the films he was able to complete in Romania, Reenactment [1968] stands among the exemplary works of its region and time. Subtle, difficult and brave, it represents a powerful statement of artistic honesty in a culture of official lies and evasions. Reenactment is included in a two-week retrospective that begins [today] at the Museum of Modern Art. This comprehensive program also offers American audiences a chance to sample Mr Pintilie's more recent films, among them Niki and Flo, a mordant almost-comedy from 2003 that represents a bridge — and also a battle — between the old Romania and the new. It will run for a week at MoMA, receiving a belated and welcome North American premiere." The series runs through March 12.
Los Angeles. "If...
Los Angeles. "If...
- 3/1/2012
- MUBI
Actress Sonam Kapoor, who is playing the female lead in dad Anil Kapoor's home production 'Aisha', says she and co-star Abhay Deol have similar acting styles, making it easier for her to give her best.'It was great working with Abhay. I feel we have very similar acting styles that made working with him so easy. It's always nice to work with someone who has done the kind of work you would want to do,' Sonam told Ians over phone from Mumbai.Based on Jane Austen's novel 'Emma', 'Aisha' is being directed by Rajshree Ojha and produced by Anil Kapoor and his younger daughter Rhea Kapoor. It is expected to release in April next year.Asked if she too would like to don the producer's hat like her father and sister, Sonam said: 'I don't want to get into production or anything. I...
- 12/2/2009
- Filmicafe
'Saawariya' (2007): Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor—children of famous Indian actors (Ranbir is the son of Rishi Kapoor and Sonam is the daughter of Anil Kapoor)—made their film debuts in the lead roles, alongside veteran actors Rani Mukerji and Salman Khan in supporting roles, and all four give admirable performances in this gorgeously shot picture. Despite this, the movie—based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story 'White Nights'—is as cold and lifeless as a Russian winter. The scenes are bathed in an icy blue light and the voices echo off the sound stage walls—which would be all well and good if the actors weren’t struggling to inject some verve into this listless story of boy loves girl who loves another boy. Somehow, the brilliance of Dostoevsky doesn’t translate here, and the attempt at visual East/West fusion—with prostitutes in...
- 9/29/2009
- The Bollywood Ticket
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