INTERMISSION: HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEEN IV

Halloween again? Well that came around quick didn’t it? But you won’t hear any complaints around these parts, not with all the monster movie marathons on the tube. Plus, it means we get to offer our annual Halloween costume suggestions based on some of the movies we’ve taken a look at over the past twelve months. (Yes, it’s a bit last minute, but so’s everything else on this blog this year.) Long time readers know that we present this service for those of our fellow Christians who, despite the possibility that Halloween may actually have jack squat to do with paganism, might still feel uncomfortable dressing up in some of the more grotesque fare one can find lining the store shelves.

Of course, I suppose some of our costume suggestions could be considered a bit on the grotesque side also. Take our fist one for example, the severed head from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. All you need is a TV-tray sized cardboard collar, a sheet hanging down from it for a table cloth, a swimming cap to top it all off and, voila, instant decapitated debutante. If you want to add a bit of a biblical touch to it, just throw on a fake beard and call yourself John The Baptist. It’s almost a 100% guarantee that you’ll be the only one at your church’s seasonal Hallowed Be His Name Festival dressed in this ensemble.

Speaking of costumes nobody ever seems to wear when they go go trunk or treating in their church parking lot, what about the devil, or Mr. Boogaloo, as he’s known in The Apple? Oh sure, it’s a questionable choice, but he is right there in the Bible, and who knows, it might be just the jolt someone needs to be reminded that the Church still teaches the reality of what the Catechism calls that “seductive voice, opposed to God… a fallen angel, called Satan or the devil.” Yep, we still believe such an entity exists. Now maybe he doesn’t actually prance around decked out in heavy mascara and a ton of glitter trying to beguile us with his blatantly non-musical singing voice like Mr. Boogaloo… but then again, maybe he does. I wouldn’t put anything past him.

If that’s a bit over the top, but you still want to be weird for the evening, then you can always assemble an ensemble from Voyage Of The Rock Aliens. This outfit modeled by the inimitable ABCD is just one of the many retro-nightmares to be found in the movie. And it should be easy to put together quickly as most Gen-X’ers probably have some old Chess King clothing tucked away in their attics somewhere. If you can get them to admit to it. At any rate, as cheesy as the outfits are in Voyage Of The Rock Aliens, I’d still choose them over any of the Lovecraftian visions of madness to be found at Bad Vestments. View them if you dare!

And, hey, bad liturgical outfits aren’t just for humans anymore. Just in case you want your cat to hate you for eternity, there’s also… the Anti-Pope Cat costume.

After the night’s festivities are over (and you’ve locked the cat out so it doesn’t kill you in your sleep), why not wind down All Hallows Eve with a tour of some of the creepy offerings Now Showing At A Blog Near You.

The Happy Catholic offers up her list of some of her favorite Halloween recommendations.

Helm’s Deep and Spiritual Popcorn both take a stab, so to speak, at the recent release of Predators.

Father Steve Grunow of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries muses on the status of Catholic culture and Halloween.

I haven’t tried it out yet, but for those with an Android phone, there’s a new game/app called Ghosts’n Zombies where you play a monk sent by the Vatican to eliminate demons from an ancient chapel.

Creative Minority Report wants to know what’s the scariest book you’ve ever read.

The Catholics Next Door went to DragonCon.

And finally, since I’ve taken every opportunity to poop on the movie Legion whenever possible, I suppose it’s only fair to let the director have his say. In an interview with Shock Till You Drop, Scott Stewart explains his mangling of Christian theology by revealing “I was raised Jewish so I was an Old Testament guy with no experience reading Revelations so I read a fundamentalist view, a teaching guide of Revelations. It was nuts.” Sigh. Without even going into what is and is not a fundamentalist, can we just say, Mr. Stewart, that you could have at least spent ten minutes on the freakin’ Internet discovering that the overwhelming majority of Christians don’t hold to scaaary fundamentalist interpretations of Revelation. Which book, by the way, doesn’t have an ‘S’ on the end of its name. Cripes! How many times can I poop on Legion? NOT ENOUGH!

Well, that’s it for this year’s Halloween shindig, see you again next time. Unless, of course, you were unwise enough to invest in that Anti-Pope Cat costume, in which case… good luck. I’ll be sure to light a candle for you in two days when All Souls Day rolls around.

Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats)

As some of you that understand French know, movie name is the imaginary love(s) and did translation because film literally is about that subject matter, the love that is more imaginary than real. Very good exploration of this not so-common explored kind of love which confirms that Xavier Dolan has a unique style to tell his stories and most of all a true unique style to visualize his films. After watching so many bad movies this film came like a fresh breeze that delighted my eyes and also my ears with a score totally integrated to the narrative.

Film tells about two friends that “fall in love” with the same guy and how Nico becomes first an object of their attention, later almost an obsession, to finish with both suffering as Nico does not returns their attention/obsession/love. As in his previous film Xavier Dolan does everything including the beautiful clothes that Marie (Nonia Chokri) wears and is one of the leads with an excellent performance. I liked actor’s performances and most pleasant is the little surprise at the end of the film when Louis Garrel does a cameo that starts all over the story.

As a film is very Xavier Dolan with the use of primary colors, beautiful sights of Quebec in autumn, great framing of many scenes, slow pace to allow watching and feeling absolutely everything, with a great music score/songs that will sound too familiar and inviting to sing along. As we know film premiered in 2010 Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section where won the Regard Jeune award.

The film is non-conventional thanks to peculiar and particular Dolan’s narrative and visual storytelling style, so know that is not suited for general audiences but for those that like art in their films. I liked the film more for the visuals than the story that was a little bit predictable for me, but film is not about destination, is about travelling the little details and nuisances of human behavior.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Iron Man 2

THE B-LIST: QUESTIONABLE MUSICAL MOMENTS #5 – CAMP BLOOD: THE MUSICAL

Yeah, I know. It’s another slasher movie parody. But wait, this one has musical numbers! Of a sort.

Camp Blood: The Musical is a 30 minute shot-on-video short film which, by the creators’ own admission, was filmed in only two days on a budget of less than $200… most of which was spent on official Camp Blood t-shirts and beer. Despite this (or maybe because of it), the film managed to win the Audience Award at the RI International Horror Film Festival and picked up the honors for best actor and best original song from the LYM Online Horrowshow.

Alas, the following number (which is decidedly a hard PG-13 in content) is not the tune that won. But hey, you know, since the whole setup of this song is to introduce the usual set of slasher stereotypes, why not see if you can guess which of our happy campers turns out to be the Final Girl?

Well, that should have been pretty easy, but just in case you’re still not sure,  I’ll give you a hint: non-girls, whiny goth chicks, and cocaine sniffing trollops don’t typically get to be the Final Girl. That’s because, as we discussed way back in our review of Student Bodies, slasher movies often take the form of Morality Plays, a form of secular theater in which allegorical characters representing vices and virtues face a number of perils, with only the ones who stick to the moral path left standing in the end.

So why do these kids continuously ignore all of the warning signs (not to mention the Crazy Ralphs) in their blind pursuit of premarital sex, illegal drugs, more premarital sex, slovenly drunkenness, and even more premarital sex, especially once they start to notice the body count of those engaged in such pursuits start to rise? Well, most likely it’s because it only took them about five minutes to figure out that all that stuff can be pretty pleasurable. And pleasure’s not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. Any teenager will tell you that.

But as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, “God wills some greater good that cannot be without the loss of some lesser good.” And that brings us to the big philosophical word of the day: concupiscence. (That’s kon-kyoo-pi-suhns for those of you like me who never heard that word come up even once during Sunday School.) “Etymologically, concupiscence can refer to any intense form of human desire.” the Catechism explains, however “Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the "flesh" against the "spirit." Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins.”

In a sense, especially in the context of something like Camp Blood, concupiscence can be seen as our human tendency to settle for lesser goods like immediate sexual gratification rather than exercise our reason and put off those pleasures until they can be directed towards a greater good like holy matrimony. And that’s the challenge for us parents and teachers out there, isn’t it? Not to convince kids that the pleasures they’re chasing after aren’t good, but to show them that they’re not good enough. But how do we do that?

Well, your guess is as good as mine. But it was interesting to note in a 2005 New York Times article that “Catholic teenagers were far less apt to affirm belief in a personal God, to report having ever undergone a very moving, powerful worship experience, or to say their faith was extremely important in shaping their daily lives or major life decisions.” Maybe we can start by letting our kids see those things in our own lives.

Or we can just show them something like Camp Blood and say, “See, bad kids die!” Me, I’ve tried both.

Cécile De France

Lovely, very-lovely, interview with Cécile De France that thanks to Clint Eastwood maybe American audiences will "discover" her as the excellent actress she is. Interview is almost 30 minutes but it's such a pleasure to watch her speaking "imperfect but very charming" English.

She speaks highly about Clint Eastwood and one thing I loved was when she mentions that he's one of the few (Hollywood) directors that dare to shoot silence. Yes dying to see Hereafter for Cécile De France segment, hope other segments are as good as what I know this segment has to be.

Hope you enjoy watching her as much as I did.

23rd European Film Awards – Prix ARTE Nominations

The European Academy announced the nominations in the documentary category and here are the three nominated films

Armadillo, Janus Metz, Denmark and Sweden
Miesten Vuoro (Stream of Life), Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen, Finland and Sweden
Nostalgia de la Luz (Nostalgia for the Light), Patricio Guzmán, France, Germany and Chile

For he first time, the nominated documentary films will now be made available to all 2,300 members of the European Film Academy who will vote for the winner. Winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on December 4th in Tallinn, Estonia.

The girl who played with fire

2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival Award Winners

Recently the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival held its Closing Night Ceremonies, and gave its Black Pearl Awards for the winners in the feature film categories.

The jury presidents who decided the awards for the feature films were Argentine director and producer Luis Puenzo, Syrian auteur Ossama Mohammed and acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman. The awards ceremony was followed by the screening of the Festival’s Closing Night film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, the new historical fantasy epic from renowned Hong Kong director Tsui Hark.

These are the award winners

Narrative Feature Competition

Best Narrative Film: Ovsyanki  (Silent Souls), directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia "For its poetic depiction of the echoes of a cultural heritage for the people of today, and for the excellence of its cinematic language."

Jury Special Mention: Carlos, directed by Olivier Assayas, France/Germany "For rendering the complex portrait of an era, a region and a controversial character."

Best Narrative Film from the Arab World: Shatti Ya Dini (Here Comes the Rain), directed by Bahij Hojeij, Lebanon
Best Actress: Lubna Azabal in Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve, Canada/France
Best Actor: Andrew Garfield in Never Let Me Go, directed by Mark Romanek, United Kingdom/USA

Documentary Feature Competition

Best Documentary (tie):
Pink Saris, directed by Kim Longinotto, United Kingdom, India
Nostalgia de la luz (Nostalgia For the Light), directed by Patricio Guzmán, Chile/Germany/France

Best Documentary by an Arab Director or Related to Arab Culture (tie):
Homeland, directed by George Sluizer, The Netherlands
Sheoeyin Kenna (We Were Communists), directed by Maher Abi Samra, Lebanon/France/United Arab Emirates

New Horizons Competition

Best Narrative Film by a New Director: Gesher, directed by Vahid Vakilifar, Iran
Best Narrative Film by a New Director from the Arab World: Tayeb, Khalas, Yalla (OK, Enough, Goodbye), directed by Raniah Attieh and Daniel Garcia, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates

Best Documentary by a New Director: Bill Cunningham New York, directed by Richard Press, USA
Best Documentary by a New Director: El ambulante, directed by Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano and Adriana Yurcovich, Argentina
Jury Special Mention: Jeld Hayy (Living Skin), directed by Fawzi Saleh, Egypt
Audience Choice Award: West Is West, directed by Andy De Emmony, United Kingdom

That’s it for this year and congratulations to winners of the most magnanimous awards in the festival circuit.

21st Stockholm International Film Festival

Fest will run from November 17 to 28 and here are the films in the main competition.

All Good Children, Alicia Duffy, Ireland, Belgium and France
Animal Kingdom, David Michôd, Australia
Bi, dung so! (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid), Phan Dang Di, Vietnam, France and Germany
Cold Weather, Aaron Katz, USA
Das letzte Schweige (The Silence), Baran Bo Odar, Germany
Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle I Whistle), Florin Serban, Romania and Sweden
Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats), Xavier Dolan, Canada
Monsters, Gareth Edwards, UK
My Joy, Sergei Loznitza, Germany, Ukraine and Netherlands
Neds, Peter Mullan, UK, France and Italy
Notre jour viendra (Our Day Will Come), Romain Gavras, France
Rubber, Quentin Dupieux, France
Smukke mennesker (Nothing’s All Bad), Mikkel Munch-Fal, Denmark
Somos lo que Hay (We Are What We Are), Jorge Michel Grau, Mexico
Sound of Noise, Olas Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson, Sweden and France
The Man Who Sold The World, Swel Noury and Imad Noury, Morocco
The Tree, Julie Bertuccelli, France and Australia
Winter’s Bone, Debra Granik, USA

To watch trailers and read info for each film go here.

As happens every year iFestival will have the short films competition where we all can watch and vote for the films directly in the fest site. On November 17 and 18 films will be online so we can watch them and vote. To check films go here and make sure to return on above dates to view and vote.

5th International Rome Festival

In two days the fest will start and will run until November 5; these are the films in the Official Selection.

Bie Mian (The Back), Liu Bingjian, France and Hong Kong
Las Buenas Hierbas (The Good Herbs), María Novaro, Mexico
Crime d'amour (Love Crime), Alain Corneau, France (must be seen)
Dog Sweat, Hossein Keshavaraz, Iran
Five Day Shelter, Ger Leonard, Ireland
Gangor (aka Behind the Bodice), Italo Spinelli, India and Italy
Golakani Kirkuk (The Flowers of Kirkuk), Fariborz Kamkari, (no county- ie stateless)
Hævnen (In a Better World), Susanne Bier, Denmark and Sweden
Io Sono con Te (I Am with You – aka Let It Be), Guido Chiesa, Italy
Kill Me Please, Olias Barco, France and Belgium
Last Night, Massy Tadjedin, France and USA (opening film)
Little Sparrows, Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen, Australia
Oranges and Sunshine, Jim Loach, UK and Australia (yes is Ken Loach son)
Poll (The Poll Diaries), Chris Kraus, Germany, Austria and Estonia
Rabbit Hole, John Cameron Mitchell, USA
La scuola è finita (School Is Over), Valerio Jalong, Italy
Una Vita Tranquilla (A Quiet Life), Claudio Cupellini, Italy, France and Germany

Out of Competition
Animal Kindom, David Michôd, Australia
Broadwalk Empire, Martin Scorsese, USA
L' Homme qui voulait vivre sa vie (The Big Picture), Eric Lartigau, France (Duris and Deneuve, must be seen)
Il Padre e lo Straniero (The Father and the Foreigner), Ricky Tognazzi, Italy
Inshite Miru - Nanokakan No Desu Gemu (The Incite Mill – 7 Day Death Game), Hideo Nakata, Japan
Kari-gurashi no Arietti (Arrietty), Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Japan
The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko, USA
Let Me In, Matt Reeves, USA
Les Petits Mouchoirs (Little White Lies), Guillaume Canet, France (must be seen)
Tron: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski, USA
We Want Sex (aka Made in Dagenham), Nigel Cole, UK
Winx Club 3D – Magical Adventure, Ignio Straffi, Italy

To read info about each film go here where you can also check the films in the other sections like Focus (spotlights Japan), Alice nella Citta, Extra, etc.

Most interesting is the screening of recently restored Federico Fellini opus magister La Dolce Vita that is having its 50th anniversary, time really flies fast! Also there will an exhibition of 24 titles themed on the nocturnal and “sweet” life in Rome with films that go from 1952 up to 1980 that you can check here.

7th Seville European Film Festival

From November 5 to 13 fest will take place in Seville, Spain and as we know the much awaited nominations for this year’s EFA’s will be announced on November 6th. Festival has many sections with some very interesting films but I’ll list films in competition in the two main categories.

Official Selection

Chicas, Yasmina Reza, France, 2010
De Gelukkige Huisvrouw (The Happy Housewife), Antoinette Beumer, Netherlands, 2010
De Vliegenierster van Kazbek (The Aviatrix of Kazbek), Ineke Smits, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Georgia and Germany, 2010
El Regreso (The Return), Nonio Parejo, Spain, 2009
Flamenco Flamenco, Carlos Saura, Spain, 2010
Hævnen (In a Better World), Susanne Bier, Denmark, 2010
Joy, Mijke de Jong, Netherlands, 2010
Mavro Livadi (Black Field), Vardis marinakis, Greece, 2010 (gay interest?)
Mr. Nice, Bernard Rose, UK and Spain, 2009
Naufragio (Wreckage), Pedro Aguilera, Spain, 2010
Ovsyanki (Silent Souls), Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia, 2010
Poll (The Poll Diaries), Chris Kraus, Germany, Austria, and Estonia, 2010
Son of Babylon, Mohamed Al-Daradji, Irak, UK, Netherlands, France, EUA, Egypt, Palestine, 2010
Szelíd Teremtés - A Frankenstein Terv (Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project), Kornél Mundruczó, Hungary, Germany, and Austria, 2010
Zena sa Slomjenin nosem (The woman with a broken nose), Srdjan Koljevic, Germany and Serbia, 2010

To check info about each film go here.

For the first time festival will honor a film with the Silver Girardillo given to the Best New Director of a feature film and here are the films in this section

First-Films-First

Adem (Oxygen), Hans van Nuffel, Belgium and Netherlands, 2010
Gigola, Laure Charpentier, France, 2010 (lesbian interest)
Harisma, Christina Ioakeimidi, Greece, 2010
Juan, Kasper Holten, Denmark, 2010
Majority, Seren Yüce , Turkey, 2010
Shahada, Burhan Qurbani, Germany 2009 (gay interest)
Sinestesia, Erik Bernasconi, Switzerland, 2010
Third Star, Hattie Salton, Hattie Dalton, UK, 2010
Win/Win, Jaap van Heusden, Netherlands, 2010
Zwart Water (Two Eyes Staring), Elbert van Strien, Netherlands, 2009

To check info about each film go here and to browse all the sections go here where you will also find the section with sixteen (16) shortlisted films for EFA’s top award.

There are many very interesting films in this year festival and if you enjoy European films I strongly suggest you browse the site to check them all.

山楂树之恋 Shan zha shu zhi lian (Under the Hawthorn Tree)

An unbelievable beautiful film by one of my favorite Chinese directors Zhang Yimou about a theme that I have never seen before in his films: Classic Pure Love. Not only the theme is new (for me) but also the film is very different to his previous ones as does not have his grandiose cinematic style or the outstanding cinematography. BUT this is a film about performances and you have no idea how extraordinary is first time acting Dongyu Zhou performing city girl Jing Qiu that slowly, very-slowly, falls for handsome young Lao San (Shawn Dou). It’s such a beautiful love story that I’m afraid will have to label the film –from a western point of view- as a girly film that I’m sure women will love while some men will not.

Seems that Zhang Yimou is exploring new territories as his previous film, San qiang pai an jing qi (A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop aka A Simple Noodle Story), also seems to have a different style; haven’t seen the film yet (yes, dying to see it) but at least from photos and trailer I can say that has some of his master filmmaker trademarks like amazing use of colors, epic scenes and extraordinary use of cinematography , which Under the Hawthorn Tree does not have at all. BUT because of story the storytelling technique Yimou’s used in this film absolutely succeeds to make an intense story out of what could have been a very common and often told story.

Still story allows us a brief vision of what some Chinese lived during China’s Cultural Revolution and how some policies affected their everyday lives. Set in 1975 in a small village in Yichang City, Hubei Province story tells about a pure, moving and teary (yes, I cried) love story between Jing Qiu and Lao San during their “zhiqing” days towards the end of the Cultural Revolution. Zhinqing refers to young urban dwellers that were sent to the countryside during the turbulent decade, from 1966 to 1976. Jing Qiu’s family has a difficult life after her father was labeled as right-winger and imprisoned; but when she meets Lao San, who has a promising future because of his high-ranking military officer father, her life becomes really complicated as she starts to risk what’s left of a possible future for a girl with her background. Lovely story adapted from a novel by Ai Mi.

If you’re expecting a ‘normal’ Zhang Yimou movie please be advised that this film is not; consequently could disappoint many or could positively highly surprise you like happened to me as is such a lovely and beautiful film that, honestly, is not easy to digest that was done by master filmmaker Zhang Yimou, but it is.

I do strongly recommend the movie but I think is the kind of film that you have to watch when you’re in a ‘special’ mood; a mood that allows you to enjoy the story that yes, has a very sad ending and surely you will shred more than a few tears.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

1st My French Online Film Festival

From January 14 to 29, 2011 the first French Online Film Festival will take place in the net! Here is their first announcement for the VOD fest that will be open to the world.

Unifrance in partnership with Allociné, with the support of the Centre National de la Cinématographie and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is organizing the first French online film festival open to Internet users around the world that will spotlight young French filmmakers.

The objective is to take fully into account the evolution of cultural consumption and to reach a new audience for French cinema abroad.

myfrenchfilmsfestival.com will take place from 14 to 29 January 2011.

The selection comprises ten feature films (first and second films recently released in France) and ten short films, as well as a classic film. Films will be available by Video On Demand (VOD), in original version and subtitled in several languages (German, English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, etc.).

Internet users will be able to vote for their favorite film.

Three prizes will be awarded at the end of the festival: a prize awarded by the public, another by foreign bloggers, the third by the international press.

The festival¹s website will be online in December and give free access to the trailers and to many exclusive online interviews.


FEATURE FILM SELECTION

Adieu Gary by Nassim Amaouche with Jean-Pierre Bacri In a working class city, abandoned by most of its population, some inhabitants stay in spite of everything because they were born and grew up there: Francis, Samir and Sarah (who believes that Gary Cooper is her father and is waiting for him). -----

Bus Palladium by Christopher Thompson with Marc-André Grondin. A rock¹n roll band, a group of friends who have met with success, and a girl who will disrupt it all **

Complices by Frédéric Mermoud with Gilbert Melki and Emmanuelle Devos. Two police detectives are investigating the disappearance of a teenage couple and find themselves confronted with the problems in their own lives. **

Espion(s) by Nicolas Saada with Guillaume Canet and Géraldine Pailhas. A young baggage handler is hired as spy by the French counter-intelligence agency after being involved in spite of himself in an affair involving the explosion of a diplomatic pouch in an airport.**

La Famille Wolberg by Axelle Ropert with François Damiens. Simon Wolberg is the mayor of a small provincial town, loving husband, overbearing father and provocative son. The film recounts the escapades of this man obsessed with his family.**

L¹Autre by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Tridivic with Dominique Blanc. Anne-Marie leaves Alex when she realizes they no longer have the same aspirations: he wants to settle down, she wants to keep her freedom. But when Alex finds a new mistress, Anne-Marie becomes crazy with jealousy. -----

Le Bal des actrices by Maïwenn with Karin Viard and Charlotte Rampling. A director is shooting a documentary film on actresses. She shows all their personalities: manipulative, fragile, lying, moving, etc. But she quickly gets involved in their little games, for better or worse. *

Qu¹un seul tienne et les autres suivront by Léa Fehner with Pauline Etienne and Reda Kateb. Three people are brought together by chance in a prison visiting room: Stéphane who was just offered the deal of his life, Zorah who is trying to deal with her son¹s death, and Laure, who has fallen in love for the first time with a convict. ***

Tête de Turc by Pascal Elbé with Roschdy Zem and Ronit Elkabetz. A teenager of 14, an emergency doctor, a cop looking for revenge, a mother fighting for her family, a man crushed by his wife¹s death see their destinies linked after an accident. **

Tout ce qui brille by Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran with Leïla Bekhti. Ely and Lila are childhood friends living in the Paris suburbs. They dream of entering a world they don¹t belong to, where everything seems to shine like gold. *

Classic film not in competition: French Cancan by Jean Renoir (1955) with Jean Gabin

SHORT FILM SELECTION
Babel by Hendrick Dusollier  ***
Cabossés by Louise Prémonville ***
Chienne d¹histoire by Serge Avédikian **
C¹est gratuit pour les filles by Claire Burger and Marie Amachoukeli *
¿Dónde está Kim Basinger? by Edouard Deluc ---
En attendant que la pluie cesse by Charlotte Joulia ***
L¹Homme à la Gordini by Jean-Christophe Lie ***
Mémoire d¹une jeune fille dérangée by Keren Marciano **
Petit dragon by Bruno Collet **
Une pute et un poussin by Clément Michel ***

Since 1949, the Unifrance organization has promoted French cinema around the world. It conducts studies to provide French film professionals with a wide range of information concerning the international film market. It also organizes events and festivals to facilitate the exposure of French cinema to new audiences. Lastly, it supports the distribution of French films abroad.

The project seems very interesting as will be for us worldwide internet audience our very first experience to participate in a festival that will screen full-length feature films, some that I'm really looking forward to be able to watch.

I hope some of us will participate to assure that this fest -as well as others that could follow the example- succeeds. Will keep you all posted with fest news as soon as they become available.

The City of Your Final Destination

This James Ivory film is a good film but definitively is not for general audiences as works like a classic piece of literature that could be too brainy for many or simply not-so-interesting to watch; still because of actors’ performances story becomes quite watchable if not impact full.

Film has an excellent cast with Anthony Hopkins, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Laura Linney and one less known actress that I particularly enjoy, Alexandra Maria Lara. My kudos go to Alexandra Maria Lara as she has a very annoying character that she was able to built so good that you really dislike her Diedre; also with a not so good character Laura Linney builts a distant, perhaps manipulative Caroline quite well, so good that I’m sure many will not like Linney’s performance. No need to mention that Hopkins and Gainsbourg performances are superb. Also here two actresses with smaller roles but that also called my attention great Norma Aleandro and Norma Argentina.

To me this film was more about actors’ performances that about a story, which is not surprising when film looks and feels more like reading a book than watching a film which is not bad, but know that style is not the cup-of-tea of many.

Film tells about about Kansas University doctoral student Omar Razaghi that wins a grant to write the biography of diseased Latin American writer Jules Gund; but Omar has to get the approval of three people who were close to Gund, his gay brother (Hopkins), his widow (Linney) and his younger mistress (Gainsbourg) all living at the writer’s estate in Uruguay. Omar writes for authorization and gets back a rotund denial; but Omar’s girlfriend (Lara) forces him to go in person to get the authorization. As Omar arrives to the faraway from civilization estate he’s not welcomed but slowly as he becomes part of this odd triangle he’ll discover more about himself than about Gund or any of the other estate dwellers. Basically it’s a story about finding your true self.

Can’t say that disliked the film but neither that I love it. As mentioned liked actors’ performances and inevitably have to mention that not often we are able to watch Anthony Hopkins playing (so deliciously) a gay man with a younger long term (25+years) Japanese lover, which definitively makes this film must be seen for those that enjoy the gay interest genre and for those that enjoy films that look and feel like classical literature.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Queer Frame

Most of us know that is not easy to watch LGBT films as in many countries film will never be in your neighborhood theater. Lately Internet has proven to be a good distribution outlet for films to be watched by VOD, but most sites have mainstream film catalogues and seldom will we find the occasional –but always old- LGBT film available for us to watch.

Since a few months ago I have been following the development of a VOD site dedicated to ONLY LGBT films. Site started with a small catalogue but slowly has been increasing its catalogue with more films. Today site announced the acquisition of seven new films, including some that I’m looking forward to watch, so I decided to share with you all the address of Queer Frame a site open to world audiences that slowly but surely is increasing its catalogue with good films.

I haven’t watched a film yet at the site but I imagine that films will be in their original language and surely will have Italian subtitles as Queer Frame is an Italian site, so if you understand Italian definitively is a plus to use the site as most available films are not originally in English. Anyway prices to stream films start at 0.99 Euros, to download at 3.99 Euros and you can also shop for DVD’s.

If you’re interested in browsing the site go here.

Hope that in the future more VOD sites with only LGBT films will become available so world audiences can find the site that has subtitles in a language they understand and/or that most of us understand, English.

Cheers!

Red

With a fantastic cast and according to trailer what promises to be a fun-to-watch film Red was a total disappointment for me as unfortunately found it not entertaining, full of uninteresting situations and a total underuse of excellent actors with non-interesting characters that had odd-looking performances, especially Helen Mirren that was the main reason why I wanted to watch this film.

I understand that film is funny and hilarious according to some, so perhaps that’s where the film goes wrong for me as I don’t appreciate American humor as does nothing much to me. As some of you know my kind of humor is dark -very-dark- and there is nothing dark in this film. Still I didn’t liked the general or the ‘romance’ between the two Americans and the Brit/Russian characters, not even the boring action sequences or the sarcastic plot twists; I liked nothing in this movie! (LOL!).

I wasn’t going to write about the movie but decided to do so I can keep a record here and to share with those that their kind of humor tends to go to the darkish side, that if you skip this film you’ll not be missing much. Honestly I wanted to have a good escape moment but when film was over all I wanted was my money back and to recuperate the time I spent watching this film.

Red means Retired Extremely Dangerous but for me meant Really Excruciatingly Disappointed! Gosh, been quite a while since I watch a movie that I strongly dislike, hope it takes a very-long time until I find another film like this one.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @MOC

La Doppia Ora (The Double Hour)

A good debut movie by Giuseppe Capotondi that will keep you in the edge of your seat at least in the first part as this film is like two movies in one. Movie one is very good while movie two is a little bit of a downer as is a 'different' replay of what you saw in movie one. Still just for what I call movie one the film is worth watching if you like scenes (one) that will make you jump from your seat, scenes (many) that border on scary alike situations, and scenes that make you wonder what’s going on but as pace is fast you have no time to guess as next plot twist comes quite soon. Movie one is a very good and unconventional mystery, drama, thriller and crime.

Movie one was a total surprise for me as I watched this film because Ksenia Rappoport was the lead actress, whom I really enjoy since excellent La Sconociuta, and wasn’t disappointed as this is her movie plus she has an outstanding performance that gave her the Copa Volpi at 2009 Biennale. Just for her performance -plus movie one- the film is worth watching.

Movie one tells about a couple that meet at speed dating, Sonia (Rappoport) a hotel cleaning lady and Guido (Filippo Timi) an ex-cop. Both look and behave like damaged goods but apparently both are willing to really fall for each other. One day Guido takes Sonia to his current workplace where he works as watchman at an always absent millionaire mansion, everything seems to go smoothly as romance seems to progress. That’s it until everything goes wrong when a group of professional burglars enter the mansion and steal all valuables. Before leaving the mansion we see one burglar starting to rape Sonia and Guido jumping to stop it. We hear a shot, cut to few days ahead to find Sonia alive and Guido dead (point one). What follows is the fantastic and twisted aftermath of the robbery with Sonia having all sort of mysterious inexplicable incidents.

Movie one ends when plot sort of goes back to “point one” and story is replay in a “different” way that’s not as good as the one played first. Idea is excellent but movie one is so good that makes movie two a lot less entertaining, thrilling and definitively not mysterious. Still is a good movie that I won’t be surprised if Hollywood does a remake as is the buzz around the net.

Film was in competition at the 2009 Biennale where got the Young Cinema Award for Best Italian Film, Filippo Timi got the Pasinetti Award for Best Male Actor and as mentioned Ksenia Rappoport was honored too. So it’s a movie that has good and well-deserved credentials and as we know film is also in the long list for the 2010 European Film Awards.

I liked the movie more than I imagined even when I’m not really a fan of scary movies, but this film was well balanced between the different genres director chose to play with so effectively. Maybe what I call ‘second movie’ was a downer but still the film is a good European film and as such I do recommend it to those that enjoy good European films.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @MOC

2010 Viennale

Yesterday the most famous Austrian festival opened in Vienna and will present 84 narrative features, 60 documentares, 54 shorts and a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Eric Rohmer screening 40 of his films, two documentaries about him and Godard’s Il Y Avait Quoi containing quotations from Rohmer. Also there will be three special programs dedicated to Denis Cote, Siegfried A. Fruhau and Silent Masters.

The Viennale will close on November 3 with a gala ceremony where the Vienna Film Prize for Austrian Cinema will be awarded; last year winner was none other than Jessica Hauser’s Lourdes. Also FIPRESCI and Standard Readers honor films with awards.

If you feel like checking the 84 full-length films in the fest go here. Most interesting is the short by Apichatpong Weerasethakul which serves as announcement to the festival and you can watch here.

Lourdes

There are movies that just mesmerize you like this Jessica Hausner film that will absolutely mesmerize you in so many levels that will blow your mind watching the layered story, the astonishing images and most of all the amazing storytelling. I was really dubious if I should watch or not this film, but finally decided to just watch and mentally ‘prepare’ myself to whatever was going to see.

As film has so many layers, let me start by sharing the one that spontaneously got me inside this mesmerizing film. I was born Catholic and was baptized in a rush because died when I was days-old and well, came back as I’m still here; but after my religious fifteen-years-old mass, religion left my life. Still had time to learn a lot about Catholicism so the first and second thirds of this film was a true experience of reliving rites and beliefs that I chose to leave behind and my honest reaction was to nervously laugh at the absurdity –yet puzzling- reactions, rites, belief, faith, etc that people have at was have been called the “Disneyland of Miracles”. The last third marveled me with people’s reactions to the miracle. This is a brief summary with my reactions to one layer of this amazing film but there is another layer that I feel like sharing.

From a cinematic point-of-view the layer that I enjoyed most even above the ‘emotional’ voyage was the one related to an almost perfect film about religion that is not religious. This is an extremely well designed voyage into the nature of miracles very similar to films by Cavalier, Rivette, Bresson, Reygadas and most of all Dreyer’s Ordet, which Hausner confirms was her source of inspiration. Aesthetically film belongs to this group, but Hausner does something different when approaches the idea of miracles with a detached, quizzical eye; this is what makes this film not only really mysterious but extremely interesting to watch if you are or are not familiar with the Catholic Church rites, as honestly maybe the film first third will enlighten you with objective facts that happen at Lourdes. Is the first third of the movie what looks and feels like a Lourdes pilgrimage documentary but also has other layer that works as an introduction to Christine, brilliantly played by Sylvie Testud, with her perspective of everything she’s seeing and living.

Second third starts to explore the small group perspective about what they’re living and doing in this pilgrimage. Most amazing is the joke told by one member from the Order of Malta about Virgin Mary approving God’s idea to go to Lourdes, as she never has been there; this serves as an example of the wry humor found in this segment and sets the mood to many other pilgrims behavior we will watch.

Final third is the most astonishing exploration about human and Catholic Church reactions to a (possible) miracle, which specifically tells about needs and dissatisfaction's of film other characters. Here is where Testud performance becomes the true miracle when her facial expressions and body language tell and reflect absolutely everything that words don’t tell; before this moment Testud performance was marvelously done only with her face as she was paralyzed from her neck down thanks to multiple sclerosis.

Definitively there are more layers to this story that some consider ‘blasphemous’, others call it Buñuel-esque, while others saw a profound yet controversial religious sentiment, etc. To me was obvious that the ample range of opinions prove the deliberate ambiguity of this cinema masterpiece by Jessica Hausner.

How can a filmmaker do this outstanding film? Not really a surprise but I was glad to find that Jessica Hausner was Michael Haneke’s pupil and ‘script girl’ which easily explains (to me) her amazing ability to so objectively tell a story about what many tend to do very subjectively. Chapeau to this outstanding director that shows superb mastery even when is only her third film.

Yes the film absolutely blew my mind and is one that I strongly recommend as excellent cinema that I believe could profoundly engage many even when movie has a slow pace, not much dialogue, many silences (but some extraordinary music score moments like when Bach’s Toccata and Fugue plays or when Herr Jesu Christ plays which not coincidentally is the theme from Tarkovsky’s Solaris –and there are more moments where music score is totally integrated to narrative), and many, but many, mind blowing takes with absolutely beautiful framed scenes. Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous.

Have to close with a line that have to share with you all as according to me brilliantly resumes what this film is all about: “The mysteries of life (which some call God) may remain unknowable, but in Hausner’s remarkable film, the needs and doubts of mankind are made all too clear.”

A must be seen film for many that honor me visiting this blog.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Knight and Day

If you do like me and have no expectations about this film probably you will enjoy it as a true American escapist film with all the necessary elements (action sequences, big names actors, exotic settings, romance, bad guys, etc.) to make the film safe to watch. But there is one (important) element missing: a good/credible story; but the odd thing is that even if the plot is pure absurd fantasy and was not really well-developed, story was entertaining and fun to watch probably because lead actors did well their job and characters became alive above the story.

Film tells about a woman that’s used as a mule to pass a top secret gadget by airport security and as she boards an almost empty plane -after having a hard time getting in as was told flight was oversold- she starts a conversation with the man that use her as the mule. That’s how Diaz and Cruise characters meet and from there on you have a ‘normal’ woman releasing and conquering her action skills and a secret agent trying to not get kill by his CIA’s colleagues. Plot gets so absurd that director has to use fade out techniques to allow characters to escape and remain alive, which was funny after all.

So if you haven’t seen the film yet I suggest you do when you get the ‘urge’ to escape reality for almost two hours, as probably you will enjoy the film if you don’t take it too seriously.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Winter’s Bone

An intense story and great performance by lead actress Jennifer Lawrence make this Debra Granik sophomore film absolutely must be seen for those that appreciate rare American indie films that transcend the indie standards and take you in a visual and narrative voyage that will delight your senses even when story is not necessarily a pleasant one. In a sense, this indie film made me recall the huge and positive surprise with Frozen River and if you enjoyed this film I’m sure you will enjoy Granik’s film too.

Film tells about a seventeen-years-old girl that is forced to look for her father after learning that if he does not appear in court she will lose her house and land that father posted as part of bail. Her search becomes an intense personal voyage into the darkish side of living in an American poor rural area as is set in the Ozarks where moonshine, pot, methamphetamine and OxyContin put inhabitants in the wrong side of the law. Kudos to Granik and Anne Rosellini for a great screenplay based on Daniel Woodrell novel as what could have been a told-many-times story becomes anew in this film.

But it’s Jennifer Lawrence performance what makes this film out-of-the-ordinary and makes this film her film; just to watch Lawrence’s performance the film is more than worth watching so the icing in the cake comes from the well developed story and quite nice visual narrative. Lawrence been getting Oscar buzz and if she gets a nomination will be more than well-deserved as she is really good here.

Film won Grand Jury Prize and Screening Award at 2010 Sundance fest plus the CICAE Award and Tagesspiegel Reader Award at the 2010 Berlinale and don’t doubt that will get more honors during the current award season, starting with the many nominations at the Gotham Independent Film awards, probably followed by the Spirit Awards and surely Oscar that now has 10 slots for Best Film. But this year has been so good for American indie films that races in different awards will be tight.

I liked the film a lot more than I imagined as watch it like in one very long sigh with my eyes glued to the screen all the time. Very intense. Absolutely must be seen for many that read this blog and enjoy strong women stories, but also to those that like very rare but excellent American indie cinema.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Kak ya provyol etim letom (How I Ended This Summer)

A visually breathtaking film by Alexei Popogrebsky that absolutely will blow your mind with many extraordinary sights of real Artic Circle landscapes as film was really shot on a real meteorological station in the Arctic which besides the visual poetry gives so much realism to the very-slow paced story that becomes sort of a thriller between the two technicians that work at the remote station.

Absolutely not a movie for everyone as for two hours you will watch awesome landscape after landscape, with very little dialogue, absence of sounds, only two characters not really getting along, and tension built more from not really knowing why the younger character is doing what he’s doing. You actually will not really know so will be up to you to deduce motivations when you reach the open ended story finale.

For one third of time film tells about the routine of the two meteorologists, one third about the younger one not telling the older the important news and the last third about what happens after the younger man tells the important news. That’s it very simple yet complex story.

Film was in competition at the 2010 Berlinale were won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement in the Category Camera and both actors, Grigory Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis shared the Best Actor Award.

I liked the film and was marveled by the beauty of the Artic circle, but at moments lost interest in the narrative as wasn’t sure what to think about the younger man motives and got not many clues to like or dislike what he was doing. Perhaps a little more info will have allowed me to ‘forget’ about the story and concentrate on watching so many outstanding sights. A must be seen film only to those that appreciate art cinema.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @MOC

THE B-LIST: QUESTIONABLE MUSICAL MOMENTS #4–MAD MONSTER PARTY

I can only think only think of a handful of reasons anyone reading this blog hasn’t seen Mad Monster Party already. Maybe you didn’t know it existed. That’s fine. Or possibly you didn’t know it was available on DVD. That’s okay, too. Or perhaps as part of your spiritual walk, you’ve given up all forms of secular entertainment, even those geared towards children. That’s perfectly acceptable. But without one of those excuses or something equally valid, if you haven’t watched this Halloween treat yet, I may just have to declare you anathema.

Oh sure, it’s hardly the best of the Rankin and Bass productions, but come on, Mad Monster Party has all of the classic Universal Monsters (not to mention Phyllis Diller and a zombiefied Peter Lorre), features a freaky jazz soundtrack by Maury Laws, and stars Boris Karloff, who even sings! It’s just too much fun for any self respecting monster kid to pass up. Here’s the title track.

Mad Monster Party - Title Song
Uploaded by EegahInc. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Okay, so maybe it’s a weird song for the Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer crowd, but I guess the little tykes have to learn about selling their souls to the devil some time, right?

Okay, maybe not.

But the song does make you think, however. With who knows how many stories having been told over the centuries of people who bartered their souls to Satan, have you ever wondered if that’s something you could actually do? You know, agree to some contract (written in blood or not) and hand over your soul to the devil? Well, the Catechism tells us that “the human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual… The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.” So, as Catholic Answers apologist Michelle Arnold explains, “While it is a mortal sin to attempt to sell your soul to the devil, it is impossible to do so. The soul, as the substantial form of the body, is an inalienable possession of the individual. It cannot be sold, stolen, folded, spindled, or mutilated. All one would have to do to return to a state of grace after attempting to sell one’s soul would be to go to confession.” Which is nice to know.

Of course, just because we can’t physically sell our souls doesn’t mean we can’t do so metaphorically. As Prof. Peter Kreeft explains in his book, Catholic Christianity, “He who sins is a slave to sin (see Rom 6:16). Sin is using our freedom to sell ourselves into slavery and addiction to sin. We forge the chains of our bondage with the power of our freedom.” So if your little ones happen to watch Mad Monster Party and ask you what it means to sell your soul, just give’em Kreeft’s explanation and save the heavy philosophy for later. But if they also ask you to explain how you could sell your soul at that party last night… well, you’re on your own there. Good luck.

Край Kray (The Edge)

An entertaining film by Aleksei Uchitel that to my surprise is a love story told using all the western stereotypes of Russia (taiga, bears, moonshine, etc) plus one element that I’m sure will excite more some viewers (male) than others (female) showing train races with early 20th century built locomotives.

Set shortly after the end of WWII in the Siberian hinterland among Russians and Germans with damaged personal stories and a strange transformation: the victors seem to be crawling into the skins of the defeated, and vice versa. Ignat arrives to the small village and stirs the population with his ways and driving a locomotive when he was clearly forbidden to do. Eventually he goes to an island to rescue an old abandon locomotive which he succeeds thanks to the help of a German woman that spent the war alone in the island and survived after four years. So, it’s the very unconventional –yet very commercial- love story between Ignat and Elsa.

As Uchitel said in an interview, this is the most commercial film he has done and consequently appeals to a wider audience and unfortunately it’s true as looks and feels like a very-entertaining but very-commercial film. Still there were a few (too few) outstanding and breathtaking scenes that recall how Uchitel can be poetic framing scenes.

I enjoyed the film that grabbed my attention for every minute and didn’t let go until the very end with an extraordinary aerial view of grayish Siberian forest in winter. So commercial does not mean bad, but I absolutely missed visual poetry and slower pace that allows feeling and live everything told in the story. Puzzles me that’s Russia’s Oscar submission, but seems whoever chose this film was thinking in a film that could please Academy voters to –of course- get the Oscar.

So if you’re in the mood of watching mainstream Russian cinema with a very-unconventionally told love story this is the film to watch and I’m sure you’ll enjoy beyond what you imagined. Then I’m positive that men will love also the film for all the locomotive action that the film portraits.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @MOC

4th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards Nominations

Today APSA announced the nominations for this year awards, with a total of 31 films from 15 countries and areas. Here are the nominations

Best Feature Film
Tangshan dadizhen (Aftershock), Xiaogang Feng, China and Hong Kong
Bal (Honey), Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey and Germany
Báng-kah (Monga), Doze Niu, Taiwan
Paju, Chan-ok Park, Korea
Shi (Poetry), Chang-dong Lee, Korea

Best Children’s Feature Film
Boy, Taika Waititi, New Zealand
Bran Nue Dae, Rachel Perkins, Australia
Shui Yuet Sun Tau (Echoes of the Rainbow), Alex LawHong Kong
Digari (The Other), Mehdi Rahmani, Iran
Udaan, Vikramaditya Motwane, India

Best Animated Feature Film
Ibara no Ou (King of Thorn), Kazuyoshi Katayama, Japan
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Zack Snyder, Australia and USA
Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho (Mai Mai Miracle), Sunao Katabuchi, Japan
Hottarake no Shima – Haruka to Maho no Kagami (Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror), Shinsuke Sato, Japan
Piercing 1, Liu Jian, China

Achievement in Directing
Feng Xiaogang for Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), China and Hong Kong
Semih Kaplanoglu for Bal (Honey), Turkey and Germany
Doze Niu for Báng-kah (Monga), Taiwan
Chang-dong Lee for Shi (Poetry), Korea
Quanan Wang for Fang Zhi Gu Niang (Weaving Girl), China

Best Performance by an Actress
Xu Fan in Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), Xiaogang Feng, China and Hong Kong
Tejaswini Pandit in Mee Sindhutai Sakpal (I am Sindutai Sakpal), India
Seo Woo in Paju, Chan-ok Park, Korea
Yun Jung-hee in Shi (Poetry), Chang-dong Lee, Korea
Yu Nan in Fang Zhi Gu Niang (Weaving Girl), Quanan Wang, China

Best Performance by an Actor
Chen Daoming in Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), Xiaogang Feng, China and Hong Kong
Tony Barry in Home by Christmas, Gaylene Preston, New Zealand
Sergei Puskepalis in Kak ya provel etim letom (How I Ended This Summer), Aleksei Popogrebsky, Russia
Mark Ivanir in The Human Resources Manager, Eran Riklis, Israel, Germany, France and Romania
Atul Kulkarni in Natarang, Ravi Jadhav, India

To check nominations in other categories go here or here. The film with most nominations (6) is China’s Oscar submission Aftershock that APSA Nominations Council unanimously praised for its ability to deftly balance a large scale epic story with the intimate drama of one family dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Tangshan earthquake and I humble absolutely agree with this well-deserved honor. Haven’t seen Bal that I know will blow my mind as much as Semih Kaplanoglu’s two previous films in this story that’s told backwards, but wonder if the third installment is more accessible to those voting for the awards.

The awards ceremony will be held on Australia’s Gold Coast on December 2, 2010 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and like last year there will be a Live webcast.

2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards Nominations

We officially start the awards season with the first nominations for indie films and here they are according to the live announcement and press release that can be found here.

Best Feature
Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky (lesbian Interest)
Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance
The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko (lesbian interest)
Let Me In, Matt Reeves
Winter’s Bone, Debra Granik

Breakthrough Director
John Wells for The Company Men
Kevin Asch for Holy Rollers
Glen Ficarra and John Requa for I Love You Phillip Morris
Tanya Hamilton for Night Catches Us
Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture

Breakthrough Actor
Price Adu in Prince of Broadway
Ronald Bronstein in Daddy Longlegs
Greta Gerwig in Greenberg
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone
John Ortiz in Jack Goes Boating

Best Ensemble Performance
The Kids Are All Right
Life During Wartime
Please Give
Tiny Furniture
Winter’s Bone

Best Documentary
12th & Delaware, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Inside Job, Charles Ferguson
The Oath, Laura Poitras
Public Speaking, Martin Scorsese
Sweetgrass, Lucien Castain-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Kati with an i, Robert Greene
Littlerock, Mike Ott
On Coal River, Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood
Summer Pasture, Lynn True and Nelson Walker
The Wolf Knife, Laurel Nakadate

There are a total of 26 films that were nominated across the six categories and haven’t seen one single film! There are two that are must be seen for me but I’m looking forward to watch all five nominated for best feature, which is going to be something as I promised myself that I was not going to watch the American remake of my favorite Swedish vampire movie. But I will and honestly hope to not get mad because the destruction of an excellent concept and film.

As always all the films in my favorite category, Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, will be screened to the public at MoMa from November 18 to 22. This year the IFP created a new award, The Festival Genius Audience Award; to be eligible a USA film must have won an audience award at USA or Canadian film fest from Nov 09 to October 2010. The Festival Genius community, 200,000 film fans worldwide, will vote online for the winner. The nominees will be announced in early November and the winner will be revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony.

The 20th Anniversary and awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 29th at Cipriani Wall Street. Actors Robert Duvall and Hilary Swank, director Darren Aronofsky and James Schamus will each be presented with a career tribute.

Cheers!

4th Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Two days ago the most magnanimous festival (award money prizes are the highest in the fest circuit) had its opening ceremony with none other than Secretariat opening the every year more famous festival.

Most films at the Narrative Competition are known to the blog, but I suggest you check the films at the New Horizons Competition here.

I’ll be posting award winners when announced. Been trying to add a video here but for whatever reasons does not work, if you feel like watching some videos from the October 14 opening ceremony go here.

15th Pusan International Film Festival Award Winners

The festival screened 306 films from 67 countries with 101 world premieres and 52 international premieres which are record numbers for the fest. Yesterday was the awards ceremony and here are the winners.

New Curents Award
The Journals of Musan, Park Jung-Bum, Korea
Bleak Night, Yoon Sung-Hyun, Korea

Flash Forward Award: Pure, Lisa Lngseth, Sweden
Special Mention: Erratum, Marek Lechki, Poland


FIPRESCI Award: The Journals of Musan, Park Jung-Bum, Korea
NETPAC Award: Dooman River, Zhang Lu, Korea
Audience Award: My Spectacular Theatre, Lu Yang, China

To check awards for documentaries and shorts go here and to browse films go here.

Playing with country submissions to the Foreign Language Film

Finally today the Academy released the official list with 65 films that can be considered as ONE of the best films produced in each country and since a few days ago I been thinking about using the list as a database to play a little for fun.

Here is me dissecting the long list for useful and useless data.

Women Filmmakers

With the absence of Afghanistan announced submission, there are ONLY eight (8) films directed by women, which means that ONLY 12.3% of honored directors are women. That’s TERRIBLE!!! Not much happened around the world after and because last year a woman won (for the first time ever) the Oscar for Best Director and her film won the top award.

Countries with films directed or co directed by women: Austria, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, India, Nicaragua, Norway, and Switzerland.

Festivals

Doing a very “scientific research” I used the huge blog database and did a search for each of the 65 films. To my surprise almost half, exactly 47.7%,of the movies come from festivals that are listed in this blog. In this year list there are 31 films that have been at festivals since 2007 when the film submitted by Egypt was a project at Locarno, continuing with 7 films that were in 2009 festivals and 23 that were in 2010 festivals. We can say that when films travel the festival circuit they have some good chance of becoming a country submission to the Oscars.

Cannes is the festival that showcases more films that countries select to submit to Oscars; this year there are four (4) that got its premiere at 2009 Cannes and eight (8) screened at 2010 Cannes for a grand total of 12 films coming from this prestigious festival, or 18.4% of the 65 films. These are the countries that submitted films from Cannes

2009 Certain Regard: Greece, Portugal
2009 Quinzaine: Austria, Bulgaria
2010 Cannes
Main Selection: Thailand, Algeria, France, Mexico
Certain Regard: South Africa, Argentina
Quinzaine: Kyrgyzstan, Belgium

But if Cannes has a good presence in this year Foreign Language Film submissions also the Berlin Film Festival or Berlinale has a significant presence with 6 films or 9.2% of 65 films. Just these two festivals represent almost a third of the submitted films or 27.6%

The other 13 films come from other festivals like La Biennale, Locarno, Rotterdam, San Sebastian, Moscow, Montreal, Guadalajara and Pula. I don’t doubt that from the other 34 films that are not listed in this blog, some were also screened in festivals but that’s something we will not know for sure this year as I know that I haven’t covered many festivals during my long hiatus from posting at the blog. The following is the list of festivals and countries that submitted films to be considered at the 83rd Academy Awards.

2010 Berlinale (6): Turkey, Romania, Germany, Colombia, Czech Republic, Iraq
2010 Biennale (3): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile
Locarno (2): 2007 Egypt, 2010 Switzerland
2010 Rotterdam (2): Estonia, Georgia
San Sebastian (2): 2009 Peru, 2010 Uruguay
2010 Moscow International Film Festival (1): Venezuela
2010 Montreal World Film Festival (1): Kazakhstan
2009 Guadalajara (1): Nicaragua
2009 Pula Film Festival (1): Croatia

Unfortunately have to stop here today, but maybe another day will continue dissecting the list to find that -for example- films produced and co produced by France production companies have the largest representation in the list (or maybe is another country like Germany).

If you have something that you wish to find from this list of films please let me know and gladly will try to find whatever is possible to find.

Enjoy!