64th Berlin International Film Festival Award Winners

With a normal awards ceremony 2014 Berlinale closes their sixty-four edition with "unexpected" top awards (which is fantastic) and some emotions expressed mainly by filmmakers and actors from Asian countries, which is highly unusual.

There are some films that won no awards and are must be seen for me because the excellent directors and yes, I'm very curious about the winners from Japan and China. So let's hope they become available near me before the Berlinale next edition. Sigh.

Prize list from festival organizers is at bottom of post. Enjoy!

Sehen im nächsten Jahr!!!

Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film: 白日焰火 Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yinan Diao, China

Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, UK and Germany

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize: Aimer, boire et chanter (Life of Riley), Alain Resnais, France

Silver Bear for Best Director: Richard Linklater for Boyhood, USA

Silver Bear for Best Actress: Haru Kuroki in  小さいおうち Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House), Yôji Yamada, Japan
Silver Bear for Best Actor: Fan Liao in 白日焰火 Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yinan Diao, China

Silver Bear for Best Script: Dietrich Brüggemann and Anna Brüggemann for Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross), Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution in the categories Camera, Editing, Score, Costume Design or Set Design: Zeng Jian for 推拿 Tui Na (Blind Massage), Ye Lou, China and France

Best First Feature Award: Güeros, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Mexico

Generation

Generation Kplus

Children's Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: Killa, Avinash Arun, India
Special Mention: Hitono Nozomino Yorokobiyo (Joy of Man's Desiring), Masakazu Sugita, Japan
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Sprout, Ga-eun Yoon, South Korea
Special Mention: Sepatu Baru (On Stopping the Rain), Aditya Ahmad, Indonesia

International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film: Ciencias Naturales (Natural Sciences), Matías Lucchesi, Argentina and France
Special Mention: Killa, Avinash Arun, India
Special Prize for Best Short Film: Moy lichniy los' (My Own Personal Moose), Leonid Shmelkov, Russia
Special Mention: el (Away), Roland Ferge, Hungary

Generation 14Plus

Youth Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: 52 Tuesdays, Sophie Hyde, Australia
Special Mention: ärtico (artic), Gabri Velàzquez, Spain

Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Mike, Petros Silvestros, UK
Special Mention: Emo (the musical), Neil Triffett, Australia

International Jury
Grand Prix: Violet, Bas Devos, Belgium and Netherlands
Special Mention: Einstein and Einstein, CAO Baoping, China

Special Prize for the Best Short Film: Vetrarmorgun (Winter Morning), Sarakis Stórá, Faeroes
Special Mention: Søn (Son), Kristoffer Kiørboe, Denmark

Short Films

Golden Bear: Tant qu'il nous reste des fusils à pompe (As long as shotguns remain), Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France
Silver Bear Jury Prize: Laborat, Guillaume Cailleau, Germany
DAAD Short Film: Person to Person, Dustin Guy Defa, USA
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards: Taprobana, Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal, Sri Lanka and Denmark, 24'

Collateral Awards - Prizes Independent Juries

FIPRESCI
Competition: Aimer, boire et chanter (Life of Riley), Alain Resnais, France
Panorama: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Forum: Forma, Ayumi Sakamoto, Japan

Ecumenical Jury Awards
Competition: Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross), Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany and France
Special Mention: '71, Yann Demage, UK
Panorama: Calvary, John Michael McDonagh, Ireland and UK
Special Mention: Triptyque (Triptych), Robert Lepage and Pedro Pires, Canada
Forum: Sto Spiti (At Home), Athanasios Karanikolas, Greece and Germany

Label Europa Cinemas: Blind, Eskil Vogt, Norway and Netherlands (Panorama)

NETPAC Prize (tie)
Cheol-ae-kum (A Dream of Iron), Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, USA and South Korea
Non-fiction Diary, Jung Yoon-suk, South Korea

Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas: Boyhood, Richard Linklater, USA

Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (C.I.C.A.E.)
Panorama: Kuzu (The Lamb), Kutlug Ataman, Turkey and Germany
Forum: She's Lost Control, Anja Marquardt, USA

FGYO-Dialogue en Perspective: Anderswo (Anywhere Else), Ester Amrami, Germany
Special Mention: nebel (fog), Nicole Vögele, Germany

Caligari Film Prize: Das große Museum (The Great Museum), Johannes Holzhausen, Austria

Teddy Awards
Best Film: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Special Jury Prize: Pierrot Lunaire, Bruce LaBruce, Germany and Canada
Best Documentary: Der Kreis (The Circle), Stefan Haupt, Switzerland
Best Short Film: Mondial 2010, Roy Dib, Lebanon, 19'

Peace Film Prize: We Come as Friends, Hubert Sauper, France and Austria
Amnesty International Film Prize: Al Midan (The Square), Jehane Noujaim, Egypt and USA
Cinema Fairbindet Prize: Concerning Violence, Göran Hugo Olsson, Sweden, USA and Denmark

Made In Germany - Perspektive Fellowship (tie)
Sandra Kaudelka for Intershop
Sebastian Mez for 274

Heiner Carow Prize: Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich (My Mother, a War and Me), Tamara Trampe and Johann Feindt, Germany

Think:Film Award: Provenance, Amie Siegel, USA

Arte International Prize: Emir Baigazin for The Wounded Angel, Kazakhstan
VFF Talent Highlight Pitch Award: Bavo Defurne for Souvenir, Belgium
Dolby Atmos Policy Trailer: Yulia Glukhova, Russia

Honorary Golden Bear: Ken Loach
Berlinale Camera: Karl "Baumi" Baumgartner, producer and distributor

Readers' Juries and Audience Awards

Panorama Audience Awards
Feature Film
First Place: Difret, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, Ethiopia
Second Place: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Third Place: Patardzlebi (Brides), Tinatin Kajrishvili, Georgia and France
Documentary
First Place: Der Kreis (The Circle), Stephan Haupt, Switzerland
Second Place: Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, USA
Third Place: Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich (My Mother, a War and Me), Tamara Trampe and Johann Feindt, Germany

The Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Award: Boyhood, Richard Linklater, USA
The Tagesspiegel Readers' Jury Award: Zamatoví teroristi (Velvet Terrorists), von Pavol Pekarčík, Ivan Ostrochovský and Peter Kerekes, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Croatia
ELSE -The Siegessäule Readers' Jury Award: 52 Tuesdays, Sophie Hyde, Australia

The following is the official Prize List from festival organizers.

28th Teddy Awards Winners

As of this moment the awards are being announced and I'm updating post with winners as soon as organizers tweet the winner.

A Special Teddy Award for lifetime achievement goes to Elfie Mikesch, photographer and director of photography of films by Werner Schoeter, Rosa v. Praunheim and others.

No one is suprised when a gay interest film wins the top award this year as almost all films in competition were NOT lesbian interest, sigh.  Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho by Daniel Ribeiro is the big winner of this edition.

Winners are in *BLUE.  Winners will be at official site probably by tomorrow.

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1/28/14
To my surprise today organizers announced the films that will compete to the most famous LGBT award and as every year there are more gay than lesbian interest films; but this year is truly pathetic as all except two films are with gay interest. Sigh.

Still there is one film that absolutely called my attention, Ye by Zhou Hao, as film description includes the following: "In his visually impressive, sensual debut film in which he also plays the leading role this 21-year-old director demonstrates all the poetic intensity of a Jean Genet in describing these three misfits’ mute search for intimacy." Awesome description that hope is accurate when finally I'm able to see film. Of course I'm looking forward to see Jalil Lepsert's Yves Saint Laurent that already was released in France with moderate box office success.

As we know, the Teddy Award is a "societal engaged political award, which is given to films and people, that communicate queer themes and content on a large scale and contribute with this to more tolerance, acceptance, solidarity and equality in society". The slogan of this year’s is Celebrate Queer Icons! an acclamation of the lives and works of gay men, lesbians, bisexual men and women, transgender, closet queens and raging queers. One Teddy goes to a feature film, another to a documentary and another one to a short film.

Award ceremony will be on February 14 at Komische Oper Berlin and on Saturday, February 15 at 11:25 pm Arte Television will broadcast the award ceremony in German; the French version will be on Sunday, February 16, at 00:05.

To check information about each film in English you have to search for each movie name in here or read the magazine below.

Feature Films
Competition
Praia do Futuro, Karim Aïnouz, Brazil and Germany (G)

Panorama
Fieber (Fever), Elfi Mikesch, Luxembourg and Austria (L)
*Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil (G) Best Film Winner
Love is Strange, Ira Sachs, USA (G)
Papilio Buddha, Jayan Cherian, India
Quick Change, Eduardo Roy Jr., Philippines (T)
Test, Chris Mason Johnson, USA (G)
Unfriend, Joselito Altarejos, Phillipines, (G)
Viharsarok (Land of Storms), Ádám Császi, Hungary and Germany (G)
Ya Gan Bi Haeng (Night Flight), LeeSong Hee-il, South Korea (G)
Ye (The Night), Zhou Hao (G) - Must Be Seen!!
Yves Saint Laurent, Jalil Lepsert, France (G)

Generation
52 Tuesdays, Sophie Hyde, Australia (T)
Feriado (Holiday), Diego Araujo, Ecuador and Argentina (G)

Forum
Castanha, David Pretto, Brazil (T)
*Pierrot Lunaire, Bruce LaBruce, Germany and Canada (G) Special Jury Prize Winner

Perspektive Deutches Kino
Der Samurai, Till Kleinert, Germany (G)

Berlinale Classics
Caravagio, Derek Jarman, UK, 1986 (G)
Sebastiane, Derek Jarman, UK, 1976 (G)

Documentaries
Panorama
The Dog, Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren, USA (T)
Felice chi è diverso (Happy to Be Different), Gianni Amelio, Italy (G)
Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, USA (?) (Of Course is Must Be Seen)
Fucking Different XXY, several directors, Germany, (T)
*Der Kreis (The Circle), Stefan Haupt, Switzerland (G) Best Documentary Winner
Though a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and The Emergence Of A People, Thomas Allen Harris, USA (?)
Vulva 3.0, Claudia Richarz and Ulrike Zimmermann, Germany (?)

Short Films

Short Film Competition
As Rosas Brancas (The White Roses), Diogo Costa Amarante, 20' (?)

Generation
Ibhokhwe (The Goat), John Trengove, South Africa, 12' (G)
Tits, Alex Winckler, UK, 16' (G)
Vetrarmorgun (Winter Morning), Sakaris Stórá, Faroe Islands, 19' (L)

Panorama
Mario Wirz, Rosa von Praunheim, Germany, 15' (G)

Forum
Bim, Bam, Boom, Las Luchas Morenas, Marie Losier, USA, Denmark and Mexico, 12' (L?)
*Mondial 2010, Roy Dib, Lebanon, 19' (G) Best Short Film Winner

Perspektive Deutsches Kino
El Carro Azul (The Blue Car), Valerie Heine, Germany, 20' (G?)

Check some trailers @MOC.

Teddy Award Jury
Martaen Rabarts, New Zealand
Ana David, Portugal
Andrew Murphy, Canada
Dave Kim, South Korea
Ellen Becht, Germany
Julian David Correa, Colombia
Lucia Kajankova, Czech Republic
Masha Godovannaya, Russia
Oscar Erikkson, Sweden

To read the complete press release go here but the below magazine is much better, available in German and English.

64th Berlin International Film Festival Competition Selection - Final

This morning in Berlin fest organizers had the press conference to announce the complete festival selection and there are some changes to my best guess a few days ago. First the opening film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is In Competition and second, La belle et la bête is Out of Competition. Worth mentioning that out of the 23 films, eighteen (18) are World premieres.

Hope that soon we will learn the movies that will be competing for 2014 Teddy as right now the program section only lists a few short films and no feature films; still to easy access will leave the link to Teddy official site here.  Oops program is out, great will do post immediately.

Also announced today is that Berlinale Camera 2014 will honor Karl Baumgartner, one of Germany's leading producers and independent distributors.

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1/15/14
Today Berlinale organizers announced via press release the titles that complete the main competition selection and even if the films in competition and out of competition are not clearly identifiable, will do my best to deduce them. Seems is not that easy but know that 20 of the 23 films will be in Competition so what follows is my best guess. Festival will run from February 6 up to February 16.

The following countries are participating: Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, People’s Republic of China, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Uruguay and the USA.

The Competition program includes 18 world premieres and three feature debut.

Post will be updated if necessary when films are listed in the official site.

In Competition

Opening Film: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, UK and Germany

*'71, Yann Demange, UK
Aimer, boire et chanter (Life of Riley), Alain Resnais, France
Aloft, Claudia Llosa, Spain, Canada and France
白日焰火 Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yinan Diao, China
Boyhood, Richard Linklater, USA
小さいおうち Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House), Yôji Yamada, Japan
Die geliebten Schwestern, Dominik Graf, Germany
*Historia del Miedo (History of Fear), Benjamín Naishtat, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany and France
Jack, Edward Berger, Germany
Kraftidioten (In Order of Disappearance), Hans Petter Moland, Norway
Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross), Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany
La Tercera Orilla (The Third Side of the River), Celina Murga, Argentina, Germany and Netherlands
La voie de l'ennemi (Two Men in Town), Rachid Bouchareb, France, Algeria, USA and Belgium
*Macondo, Sudabeh Mortezai, Austria
Praia do Futuro, Karim Aïnouz, Brazil and Germany
Το Μικρό Ψάρι To Mikro Psari (Stratos), Yannis Economides, Greece, Germany and Cyprus
推拿 Tui Na (Blind Massage), Ye Lou, China and France
無人區 Wu Ren Qu (No Man's Land), Hao Ning, China
Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds), Feo Aladag, Germany

(*)Qualify for Best First Feature Award along 4 films from Panorama, 4 films from Forum, 4 films from Generation and 2 from Perspektive Deutches Kino, for a total of 18 films competing for the award. If you wish to learn the 18 films names go here.

Out of Competition
La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast), Christophe Gans, France and Germany
The Monuments Men, George Clooney, USA and Germany
Nymphomaniac Volume I, Lars Von Trier, Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium and UK

International Jury
President: James Schamus, screenwriter and producer, USA
Barbara Broccoli, producer, USA and UK
Trine Dyrholm, actress, Denmark
Mitra Farahani, director, Iran
Greta Gerwig, actress, USA
Michel Gondry, director, screenwriter and producer, France
Tony Leung, actor, China
Christoph Waltz, actor,Austria

There are many films that could be VERY interesting, like Claudia Llosa first English-language film, the remake -with different perspective- of very famous La belle et la bête with none other than Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel, the English-language film by Rachid Bouchareb with Forest Whitaker, Ellen Burstyn and more, the new film by Yannis Economides, the new film by Ye Lou when haven't seen Mystery yet..., newest film by Hao Ning also known as Western Sunshine -remember Mongolian Ping Pong?-, and the second film by Feo Adalag after her incredible outstanding debut Die Fremde.

Watch some available trailers @MOC

70th Venice International Film Festival Award Winners

The post has become final and if you wish to read the top awards at the official site please go here while most of the other awards can be found here.

Was not able to watch live the closing ceremony which is annoying as did see the opening ceremony but perhaps what called my attention are the many twitter comments about the low press coverage of the awards which indeed suggests that this year fest was less "interesting" than let's say, last year. If you consider what I just commented then is NO Big surprise that top award went to a documentary, an Italian documentary. Still there are a couple of films that definitively are great must be seen for me: Philomena and Via Castellana Bandiera. Great.

VENEZIA70

Golden Lion for Best Film: Sacro Gra, Gianfranco Rosi, Italy and France (documentary)

Grand Jury Prize: Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs), Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan and France

Silver Lion for Best Director: Alexandros Avranas for Miss Violence, Greece

Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Elena Cotta in Via Castellana Bandiera, Emma Dante, Italy and Switzerland
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Themis Panou in Miss Violence, Alexandros Avranas, Greece
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress: Tye Sheridan in Joe, David Gordon Green, USA

Osella for Best Screenplay: Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France

Special Jury Prize: Die Frau des Polizisten, Philip Gröning, Germany

Lion of the Future – Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film: White Shadow, Noaz Deshe, Tanzania, Italy and Germany (from Settimana Internazionale della Critica)

Orrizzonti Awards
Best Film: Eastern Boys, Robin Campillo, France
Best Director: Uberto Pasolini for Still Life, UK and Italy
Special Jury Prize: Ruin, Michael Cody and Amiel Courtin-Wilson, Australia
Special Jury Prize for Innovation: Mahi Va Gorbeh, Shahram Mokri, Iran
Best Short Film: Kush, Shubhashish Bhutiani, India

Venezia Classici Awards
Best Documentary: Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater, Gabe Klinger, France, Portugal and USA
Best Restored Film: La proprietà non è più un furto, Elio Petri, 1973

European Short Film Award: Houses With Small Windows, Bülent Öztürk, Belgium

Autonomous Sections

10th Giornate degli Autori - Venice Days
Europa Cinemas Label: La Belle Vie (The Good Life), Jean Denizot, France
Special Mention: Alienation, Milko Lazarov, Bulgaria
Premio al Film evento delle Giornate degli Autori 2013 (International Award): Kill Your Darlings, John Krokidas, USA

28th Settimana Internazionale Della Critica - Venice International Film Critics Week
Raro Video Audience Award: Zoran, il mio nipote scemo (Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot), Matteo Oleotto, Italy and Slovenia

Collateral Awards

FIPRESCI
Best Film from Venezia70: Tom à la ferme (Tom at the Farm), Xavier Dolan, Canada and France
Best Film from Orizzonti and International Critics' Week: Anna Odell for Återträffen (The Reunion), Sweden

CICAE Award: Still Life, Uberto Pasolini, UK and Italy

SIGNIS Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
Special Mention: Ana Arabia, Amos Gitai, Israel and France

FEDEORA Awards (Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean)
Venezia70
Best Euro-Mediterranean Film: Miss Violence, Alexandros Avranas, Greece
Giornate Degli Autori
Best Film: Bethlehem, Yuval Adler, Israel, Belgium and Germany
Best Young Director: Milko Lazarov for Alienation, Bulgaria
Special Mention: La Belle Vie (The Good Life), Jean Denizot, France
Settimana Internazionale della Critica
Best Film: Razredni sovražnik (Class Enemy), Rok Biček, Slovenia
Best Cinematography: Inti Briones for Las Niñas Quispe (The Quispe Girls), Sebastián Sepúlveda, Chile, France and Argentina
Special Mention: Anna Odell for Återträffen (The Reunion), Sweden

Online Critics Award
Mouse d'Oro for Best Film in Competition: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
Special Mention: Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs), Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
Mouse d'Argento for Best Film out of competition: At Berkeley, Frederick Wiseman, USA (documentary)
Special Mention: Die andere heimat – Cronik einer sehnsucht, Edgar Reitz, Germany and France

Francesco Pasinetti Award
Best film: Still life, Uberto Pasolini, UK and Italy
Best Actors: Elena Cotta, Alba Rohrwacher e Antonio Albanese
Special Mention: Maria Rosaria Omaggio in Walesa. Man of Hope, Andrzej Wajda, Poland
Special Mention: Il terzo tempo, Enrico Maria Artale, Italy

Leoncino d'Oro Agiscuola Award: Sacro Gra, Gianfranco Rosi, Italy (documentary)
Cinema for Unicef Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
La Navicella - Venezia Cinema Award:
Queer Lion: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France

ArcaCinemaGiovani Award
Best Film Venezia70: Miss Violence, Alexandros Avranas, Greece
Best Italian Film Venezia70: L'Arte della Felicità, Alessandro Rak, Italy

FEDIC Award: Zoran, il mio nipote scemo (Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot), Matteo Oleotto, Italy and Slovenia
Special Mention: The Zero Theorem, Terry Gilliam, USA and Romania

Lina Mangiacapre Award: Via Castellana Bandiera, Emma Dante, Italy and Switzerland
Special Mention: Traitors, Sean Gullette, USA and Morocco
Special Mention: All female cast in Ukrania Ne Bordel (Ukraine is Not a Brothel), Kitty Green, Australia and Ukraine

Future Digital Award: Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón, USA and UK
Special Mention: The Zero Theorem, Terry Gilliam, USA and Romania

UK-Italy Creative Industries Award - Best Innovative Budget
Il Terzo Tempo, Enrico Maria Artale, Italy
Medeas, Andrea Pallaoro, Italy, Mexico and USA
Kush, Shubhashish Bhutiani, India (short)

Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Youth Jury Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
Special Mention: Via Castellana Bandiera, Emma Dante, Italy and Switzerland

Soundtrack Stars Award
Best Sound: Via Castellana Bandiera, Emma Dante, Italy and Switzerland
Special award Best Contemporary Actor: Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ambiente WWF Award: Amazonia, Thierry Ragobert, Brazil and France (documentary)
Brian Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award: Joe, David Gordon Green, USA
Cinema for Unicef Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Award: Joe, David Gordon Green, USA
Civitas Vitae Award: Still Life, Uberto Pasolini, UK and Italy
Fondazione Rotella Award: Gianni Amelio for L'Intrepido, Italy
Gillo Pontecorvo Arcobaleno Latino Award: Con Il Fiato Sospeso, Costanza Quatriglio, Italy (short)
Green Drop Award: Ana Arabia, Amos Gitai, Israel and France
INTERFILM Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
Lanterna Magica Award (GCS): L'Intrepido, Gianni Amelio, Italy
Open Award: Venezia Salva, Serena Nono, Italy
Padre Nazareno Taddei Award: Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France
Schermi di qualità Award: Zoran, il mio nipote scemo (Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot), Matteo Oleotto, Italy and Slovenia

Career Golden Lion: William Friedkin
Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo Robert Bresson Award: Amos Gitai
Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2013 prize: Ettore Scola
L'Oreal Paris per il Cinema Award: Eugenia Costantini
Persol Award: Andrzej Wajda
Premio Bianchi: Enzo d’Alò
Premio Gillo Pontecorvo Arte e Industria: Walter Veltroni

7th Queer Lion Lineup and Winner

A few minutes ago the winner was announced and to my surprise this year Queer Lion winner is a film that I'm really looking forward to watch, which is highly unusual!

... and the winner is:

Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France (G)

The jury, headed by Angelo Acerbi and composed by Queer Lion founder Daniel N. Casagrande and Marco Busato, general delegate of cultural association CinemArte, unanimously awarded the prize "For the ability of giving proper relevance to issues such as homosexuality, AIDS and homophobia in a movie focused on the painful topic of a 50 years long search for a son, and for emphasizing, with the light touch of a comedy, how an humble woman with a deep Catholic faith can show outright and loving acceptance for the essential, important aspects of the sexual identity and same-sex family of a 'just re-discovered' son."

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8/21
Today finally was published the list of the nine (9) films that will compete for the 2013 Queer Lion and here they are with a small summary for each film.

Venezia 70 (Main Competition)
Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, USA and France (G)
Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman.” When her baby was only a toddler, he was taken away by the nuns for adoption in America. Philomena spent the next fifty years searching for him but with no success. Then she met Martin Sixsmith, a world-weary political journalist who happened to be intrigued by her story. Together they set off to America on a journey that would not only reveal the extraordinary story of Philomena’s son (who had become a great lawyer, front-man for the Republican Party under Reagan’s and Bush Sr.’s administrations; but who was also gay, forced by his party’s homophobic views to lead a double life, until his tragic departure, at 43, due to AIDS), but also create an unexpectedly close bond between Philomena and Martin. The film is a compelling narrative of human love and loss that ultimately celebrates life.

Tom à la ferme (Tom at the Farm), Xavier Dolan, Canada and France (G)
Tom, a young advertising copywriter, travels to the country for a funeral. There, he’s shocked to find out no one knows who he is, nor who he was to the deceased, whose brother soon sets the rules of a twisted game. In order to protect the family’s name and grieving mother, Tom now has to play the peacekeeper in a household whose obscure past bodes even greater darkness for his “trip” to the farm. Stockholm syndrome, deception, grief and secretive savageries pervade this brief and brutal pilgrimage through the warped and ugly truth.

Via Castellana Bandiera (A Street in Palermo),Emma Dante, Italy, Switzerland and France (L)
It’s a Sunday afternoon. The sirocco is blowing pitilessly in Palermo when Rosa and Clara, a lesbian couple, lose their way in the streets of the city and end up in a sort of alley: Via Castellana Bandiera. At the same moment, another car driven by Samira, crammed with members of the Calafiore family, arrives from the opposite direction and enters the same street. Neither Rosa at the wheel of her Multipla, nor Samira, the old and stubborn woman driving a Punto, is willing to give way to the other. A wholly female duel punctuated by the refusal to drink, eat and sleep; more obstinate than the sun of Palermo and more stubborn than the ferocity of the men who surround them. For, as in every duel, it is a question of life or death.

Orizzonti
Eastern Boys, Robin Campillo, France (G)
They come from all over Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova... The oldest ones appear no more than 25; as for the youngest, there is no way of telling their age. They spend all their time hanging around the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. They might be male prostitutes. Daniel, a discreet man in his early fifties, has his eye on one of them, Marek. Gathering his courage, he speaks to him. The young man agrees to come and visit Daniel the following day at his place, with wholly unpredictable consequences. Daniel will have to learn to fight to defend himself and the youth from the violent reaction of the group, led by a brutal man who is determined not to loosen his grip.

Piccola Patria, Alessandro Rossetto, Italy (L)
Two young women, a hot and stifling summer, the desire to get away from a small provincial town. Luisa is full of life, uninhibited, unconventional; Renata is dark, angry, in need of love. The lives of the two women tell a story of blackmail, of betrayed love, of violence: Luisa uses Bilal, her Albanian boyfriend, Renata uses Luisa’s body to pull the strings of her vendetta. Both want to leave the small community that raised them, among local festivals and nationalist rallies, exhausted families and new generations of migrants targeted by those still feeling threatened. Luisa, Renata and Bilal will run the risk of losing themselves, of losing a precious part of themselves, of losing the people they love, of losing their life.

Giornate degli Autori
3 Bodas de Más (Three Many Weddings), Javier Ruiz Caldera, Spain (G)
Is there anything worse than being invited to your ex-boyfriend´s wedding? Sure! When it happens three times in one month, when you don´t know how to say no, when you are an awkward 30-something who loses it after a couple drinks, when the only person you can convince to be your date is the new intern, and when at one of the weddings you are up for a huge surprise, when it comes to the sentence “you may now kiss the bride”.

Gerontophilia, Bruce LaBruce, Canada (G)
18-year-old Lake has a sweet activist girlfriend, but one day discovers he has an unusual attraction for the elderly. Fate conspires to land him a summer job at a nursing home where he develops a tender relationship with Mr. Peabody. Discovering that the patients are being over-medicated to make them easier to manage, Lake decides to wean him off his medication and help him escape, resulting in a humorous and heartfelt road trip that strengthens their bond.

Julia, J. Jackie Baier, Germany and Lithuania (documentary) (T)
A story of faith and disbelief. Of uprootedness and affiliation. What makes a boy from art school decide to leave home and live as a girl on the streets of Berlin selling her body for money? For more than ten years, photographer and filmmaker J. Jackie Baier followed transsexual Julia K. from her birthplace, Klaipeda in Lithuania, to her tough life on the streets as a hooker, outlaw and nonconformist who never signed any social contract.

Kill Your Darlings, John Krokidas, USA (G)
Kerouac. Burroughs. Ginsberg. Who were they, though, before they became virtual icons of the counterculture movement? In 1944, Jack Kerouac was a washed-up college running back who had lasted all of eight days in the U.S. Navy. William S. Burroughs was a medical school dropout, former door-to-door insect exterminator and budding drug addict, hanging on the fringes of the New York bohemian scene after following a pair of friends from his native St. Louis, Lucien Carr and David Kammerer, to Manhattan. Allen Ginsberg was a nervous, straitlaced freshman at Columbia University, easy prey of Carr’s seduction games and his obsession with the charismatic Kammerer. This is the story of three future beats who fell in with each other, and a brutal murder that capped off their youthful partnership.

Settimana della Critica
L’Armée du salut (Salvation Army), Abdellah Taïa, France (G)
In Casablanca, the young Abdellah spends his days at home, living a relationship of conflicts and complicity with his father. In the city streets, he has occasional sexual intercourses with men. During a holiday, his older and venerated brother Slimane abandons him. Ten years later. Abdellah lives with his Swiss lover, Jean. He leaves Morocco and goes to Geneva, where he decides to break up and to start a new life alone. He takes shelter in a house of the Salvation Army, where a Moroccan man sings a song of his idol Abdel Halim Hafez for him.

Furthermore, NOT competing, but worthy of being mentioned for their secondary LGBT contents, are Stephen Frears’s Philomena (Venezia 70), Paul Schrader’s The Canyons (Out of Competition), Cherien Dabis’s May in the Summer (Venice Days), Moisés Sepúlveda’s Las Analfabetas (International Critics’ Week). And we cannot  forget mentioning the restored version of Nagisa Ôshima’s masterpiece Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.

As usual, during the Festival the jury might decide to include in the competition movies not mentioned in this list.

On Saturday, September 7th, at Cinema Astra in Lido, Special Event with the screening of Il rosa nudo by Giovanni Coda, the Queer Lion 2013 award ceremony, and the debate Lotta all’omofobia: quali strumenti? (Fighting Homophobia: How?) at the presence of Sen. Josefa Idem, M.P. Alessandro Zan, and president of Gaynet Franco Grillini.

Up to this moment the jury has three members Angelo Acerbi (president), Daniel N. Casagrande and Marco Busato.

Here is a recently published document that has a bit of the award history plus several award winners in past editions. Available only in Italian.

40th Telluride Film Festival

Yesterday organizers unveiled the "secret" lineup and as always lineup is a nice collection of world films with most films coming from Cannes, but also from Berlinale and La Mostra. Enjoy!

66th Locarno Film Festival Lineup and Award Winners

Festival will run from August 7 to 17. There are some interesting movies that you can check info below.

Here are all the Award Winners

66th Festival de Cannes Official Selection Lineup - Update 1

Today organizers announced five (5) more films in the Official Selection, with Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive (with Tilda Swinton) going into the Competition, Claude Lanzmann's Le Dernier des Injustes out of competition and three (3) films in Un Certain Regard: Lucia Puenzo's Wakolda, Hiner Saleem's My Sweet Pepperland and Katrin Gebbe's Tore Tanzt.

4/18/13
A few minutes ago the Official Selection lineup was unveiled and yes, there are some very positive surprises for me even when most films in the main competition are the ones everyone was buzzing and speculating will make the selection. The surprises: the latest film by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, one of my favorite Sixth Generation Chinese directors, and none other than Amat Escalante that even when his films are quite violent, truly mesmerizes me with his particular and peculiar style. Fantastic!

My biggest non-positive surprise is to find Steven Soderbergh latest film in the Official Selection (?!) not only is a TV movie (is HBO) but the film stills and promotion material seems truly awful representation of Liberace. Obviously now I know will expect more from this movie that will premier Sunday, May 26 at 9pm on HBO.

As have been doing in previous years in one post will list ALL films that made this year selection and will update as soon as they announce new films in any section.

Competition

Behind the Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh, USA
Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands
Grisgris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France and Chad
Heli, Amat Esclante, Mexico
Inside Llewyn Davis, Ethan and Joel Coen, USA
Jeune et Jolie, François Ozon, France
Jimmy P. (aka Jimmy Picard) (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), Aranud Desplechin, USA
La Vie d'A Adèle (aka Le Bleu est une coleur chaude), Abdellatif Kechiche, France
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Paolo Sorrentino, Italy and France
La Vénus à la fourrure (Venus in Fur), Roman Polansky, France
Le passé (The Past), Asghar Farhadi, France
Michael Kohlhaas, Arnaud des Pallières, France and Germany
The Immigrant (aka Lowlife), James Gray, USA
Nebraska, Alexander Payne, USA
Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch, USA
Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn, France and Denmark
そして父になる Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son), Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
天注定 Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin), Jia Zhangke, China
Un château en Italie, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, France
藁の楯 わらのたて Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw), Takashi Miike, Japan

Out of Competition
Opening Film: The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann, Australia and USA
Closing Film: Zulu, Jérôme Salle, France
All is Lost, J.C. Chandor, USA
Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet, France and USA
Le dernier des injustes, Claude Lanzmann, France and Austria

The Jury
President: Steven Spielberg, director, USA
Naomi Kawase, director, Japan
Cristian Mungiu, director, scriptwriter and producer, Romania
Lynne Ramsay, director, scriptwriter and producer, UK
Ang Lee, director, scriptwriter and producer, Taiwan
Daniel Auteuil, actor and director, France
Christoph Waltz, actor, Austria
Nicole Kidman, actress and  producer, Australia
Vidya Balan, actress, India

Un Certain Regard

Opening Film: The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola, USA
Anonymous, Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
As I Lay Dying, James Franco, USA
(*) Bends, Flora Lau, Hong Kong and China
Death March, Adolfo Alix Jr., Philippines
(*) Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler, USA
Grand Central, Rebecca Zlotowski, France
(*) La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez, Mexico
Les Salauds, Claire Denis, France
L'Image Manquante, Rithy Panh, Cambodia
L'Inconnu du lac, Alain Guiraudie, France
(*) Miele, Valeria Golino, France and Italy
My Sweet Pepperland, Hiner Saleem, Turkey, Iran, Irak
Norte, Hanggan ng kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Omar, Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine and USA
(*) Sarah préfère la course, Chloé Robichaud, Canada
(*) Tore Tanzt, Katrin Gebbe, Germany
Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany and Norway

Un Certain Regard Jury
President: Thomas Vinterberg, director, scriptwriter and producer, Denmark

Special Screenings
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, Stephen Frears, USA (TV movie)
Seduced and Abandoned, James Toback, USA (Documentary)
Stop the Pounding Heart, Roberto Minervini, Italy, Belgium and USA
Week End of A Champion, Roman Polanski, UK, 1972 (Documentary)

Midnight Screenings
盲探 Man Tam (Blind Detective) , Johnnie To, Hong Kong
(*) Moonsoon Shootout, Amit Kumar, India and UK

Cannes Classics
Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958

Jerry Lewis' Tribute
Max Rose, Daniel Noah, USA

Gala Screening, Tribute to India
Bombay Talkies, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee, India

Short Films Competition
37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'

Cinéfondation Selection
Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)

Special Screening
(*) Otdat Konci (Bite The Dust), Taisia Igumentseva, Russia

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Jane Campion, director, New Zealand
Majida Abdi, actress, director and producer, Ethiopia
Nicoletta Braschi, actress and producer, Italy
Nandita Das, actress, India
Semih Kaplanoğlu, director, writer and producer, Turkey

(*) First film competes for the Camera d'Or

Main Competition, Out of Competition, Special Screenings and Tributes info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Un Certain Regard info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.

Read basic info for all films but will continue finding more information, film stills and/or trailers and will upload them at MOC. So will update links to each section asap.

21st L'ACID Selection

Reliable news have already the ACID selection even when it is not posted at the official site of L'Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion, so I'm doing post and will confirm as soon as they publish at official site plus will add the special screenings and any other event they program for this year.

Update
The announcement is up at official site thus films are confirmed.

These are the nine (9) feature films in the 2013 selection

Au Bord du Monde, Claus Drexel, France
Braddock America, Jean-Loic Porton and Gabriella Kessler, France (documentary)
C’est eux les chiens, Hicham Lasri, Morocco
Deux automnes, trois hivers, (Two Autumns, Three Winters), Sébastien Betbeder, France

La Bataille de Solferino, Justine Triet, France
Ô Heureux Jours!, Dominique Cabrera, France (documentary)
Swandown, Andrew Kötting, UK
The Strange Little Cat, Ramon Zürcher, Germany
Wajma, Barmak Akram, France and Afghanistan

For me it is a big surprise to find in L'ACID selection Barmak Akram's film Wajma, which won an award at 2013 Sundance as its presence in this section means that has no distribution.

Around minute 2 the list of movies begin with images in the below video, but if you wish to see the photos pleas go here.

45th Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Lineup

Today Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director, announced the Directors' Fortnight selection that includes comedies, thrillers, 2 horror films, and 3 documentaries. A total of 21 features will screen with 17 world premieres selected after checking 3,311 titles.

There are some surprises as Yolande Moreau's first solo film, Sebastian Silva's film, the only Romanian film in all Cannes (a short) plus the most surprising duo of Jodorowsky films (!) one by him and another about him.  But most impressive is the fact that I have seen one of the films in the selection, fabulous short film Swimmer by Lynne Shelton!

Feature Films
Opening Film: The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, France and Belgium
Closing Film: Henri, Yolande Moreau, France and Belgium

A Strange Course of Events, Raphaël Nadjari, Israel and France
(*) Les Apaches, Thierry de Peretti, France
(*) Ate ver a luz (After The Night), Basil Da Cunha, Switzerland
Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier, USA
La Danza de la Realidad, Alejandro Jodorowsky, France, Chile and Mexico
(*) L'Escale, Kveh Bakhtiari, France and Switzerland (documentary)
(*) La Fille du 14 Juillet, Antonin Peretjatko, France
(*) Ilo Ilo, Anthony Chen, Singapore
(*) Jodorowsky's Dune, Frank Pavich, USA (Documentary)
(*) Last Days on Mars, Ruairi Robinson, UK and Ireland
(*) Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!, Guillaume Gallienne, France
Magic Magic, Sebastián Silva, USA and Chile
On The Job, Erik Matti, Philippines
The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard, UK
Tip Top, Serge Bozon, France
Ugly, Anurag Kashyap, India
Un Voyageur, Marcel Ophuls, France
El Verano de los Peces Voladores, Marcela Said, France and Chile
We Are What We Are, Jim Mickle, USA

(*) Competing for the Camera d'Or

Short Films
Gambozinos, João Nicolau, France and Portugal
Lágy Eső, Dénes Nagy, Belgium and Hungary
Le quepa sur la vilni, Yann Le Quellec, France
Man kann nicht alles auf einmal tun, aber man kann alles auf einmal lassen, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, Switzerland
O umbra de nor, Radu Jude, Romania
Pouco mais de um mês, André Novais Oliveira, Brazil
Que je tombe tout le temps?, Eduardo Williams, France
Solecito, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia, Denmark and France
Swimmer, Lynne Ramsay, UK

Beyond the selection, Directors’ Fortnight will host a range of peripheral events this year. These include the Taipei Factory, a joint initiative between Directors Fortnight and the Taiwan Film Commission to team four Taiwanese directors with four other filmmakers from around the world. The resulting shorts will be screened at Directors’ Fortnight.

Taipei Factory

The Pig, Singing Chen (Taiwan) and Jero Yun (Korea)
Silent Asylum, Midi Z (Taiwan) and Joana Preiss (France)
A Nice Factory, Shen Ko-Shang (Taiwan) and Luis Cifuentes (Chile)
Mr. Chang’s New Address, Chang Jung-Chi (Taiwan) and Alireza Khatami (Iran)

Other events includes a Tribute to Jane Campion, who this year will receive the Carrosse d'Or and the Directors' Assembly consisting of two panels to discuss key issues impacting the film industry today.

Directors' Assembly Program

Session 1 - Saturday May the 18th
Independent directors’ experiences worldwide

From their experiences, directors will talk about film production conditions and financial support schemes for cinema worldwide. It can be about the independent cinema in the United States, financing schemes in India, China, Brazil, and about everything directors wish to point out as well… They will talk about new creative and economic momentum that they conjure up to make their films. Daring productions sometimes turn away from cinema support schemes, as their heaviness and slowness weigh on creative energy. It will be about putting those systems and those different context to the test of the filmmaking reality and the work methods of each.

A new global and multipolar cinema leads to rapid mutations of our professional practices…

Session 2 - Tuesday May 21st
The European crisis and its consequences on its Member States’ cultural policies

Often in Europe, institutional stakeholders, producers and distributors script debates about cinema economics in which directors have a hard time finding their rightful place. Re-assessment of national cinema support schemes, coproductions difficulties, European funds shrinking… what role can they play in discussions about cultural policies ?

Cinema is not just an industry, neither is it an industry like any other : between cultural ambition and economic power, how to solve the visible contradiction between regulation, competition and cultural exception ?

Will check all films for info, original names, etc. and will update post accordingly ASAP.

52nd Semaine de la Critique Lineup

A few minutes organizers released a video with Charles Tesson, Semaine Artistic Director, announcing this year selection with films that seem will be the usual "strange" films, which is absolutely Great!

As always there are seven (7) films in the Selection of 1st or 2nd films.

For Those in Peril, Paul Wright, UK
Dabba (The Lunchbox), Ritesh Batra, India, France and Germany
Le Démantèlement (The Dismantlement), Sébastien Pilote, Canada
Los Dueños, Agustin Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, Argentina
Nos héros sont morts ce soir, David Perrault, France
Salvo, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Italy and France
МАЙОР The Major, Yury Bykov, Russia

Special Screenings
Opening Night: Suzanne, Katell Quillévéré, France
Closing Night: TBA
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, USA
Les Rencontres d’après minuit, Yann Gonzalez, France

Short Films
Agit Pop, Nicolas Pariser, France
Breathe Me, Han Eun-young, South Korea
Komm und Spiel (Come and Play), Daria Belova, Germany
La lampe au beurre de Yak, Hu Wei, France and China
Océan, Emmanuel Laborie, France
Pátio, Ali Muritiba, Brazil
Pleasure, Ninja Thyberg, Sweden
Tau Seru, Rodd Rathjen, India and Australia
The Opportunist, David Lassiter, USA
Vikingar, Magali Magistry, France and Iceland

Check info, stills and/or trailer @MOC

Film info is not yet at site, but will check the net to find what is available for each film. In the meantime see the video with the announcement (has English subtitles) to check photos from some of the films.

2013 Cannes Film Festival News

In last Thursday press conference besides announcing the lineup a few more things happened that are worth sharing. First was the release of "A Word From The President" were Gilles Jacob tells us about his vision for current edition and second, a hosting fund raising auction with Plantu & Friends in an event called Cartooning For Peace.

A Word From The President

Everyone knows the Cannes event that changes every year: poster, films, juries, prizes; behind its walls, there’s also an attitude which, decade in decade out, guarantees the continuing existence of this institution. The idea is one I particularly like, and it sees the festival as a shelter for endangered artists. Our influence has a long history: in the 1970s, already, Robert Favre le Bret and Maurice Bessy fou ght over Andrei Tarkovski; next, with Pierre Viot, we invited film makers harassed in their own countries, but who would be protected by the aura of the festival. Such watchfulness set precedents. I’m not going to list the names of those who benefitted, from Eastern Europe, Asia or the Middle East, but when we come across them, even years later, the warmth of their friendship is proof of their gratitude. And our doors remain open, both to them and to others... To all the others ...

Cannes, land of welcome. The 2013 edition illustrates – quite literally – this trait of ours. Indeed, we’ve invited press cartoonists to attend, they who have their own unique way to fight for liberty. On the press floor, under the eye of Plantu, there’ll be an exhibition of satirical, sharp and talented drawings on the theme of cinema. You’ll find a note about it in your press books.

And, so it is, that cartoonists from countries where freedom of expression is not a given will be rubbing up against each other. It’s like a signal: in the freest of countries, isn’t the ultimate dream of those in power for critics of their actions to be completely ignored? We must do all we can to ensure that the light of cartoonists, their art which consists in withholding nothing while summarizing fully in a single image, that that light never goes out: it’s the very last bastion against the despotism and dictatorship of the strong over the weak. By programming an event within which lies inherent a call to insurrection, the festival should perhaps fear that one day it might fall victim itself!

There is another philosophy that leaders should never forget, and that’s the hard work over many years that has enabled the identifying, help with developing, the encouraging, confidence-building and the time-saving given to successive generations of young film makers. We’ve been at this task of sifting and educating, or monitoring, rather, for a long time via a consistent process which became the Caméra d’or, the Cinéfondation and it’s Résidence, and the Atelier... I never miss a chance to say: sow and you shall reap the Fellinis of tomorrow. And the Bergmans and Buñuels. And the Jane Campions.

We thank the great artists who give of their time, expertise and enthusiasm to our young green shoots by heading up the Cinéfondation and short film jury. Helping burgeoning film makers dodge difficulties, get their projects known , and find the money to make them: that’s vocational for a few generous artists who find helping the newcomers to be vocational.

Thus, our good fairy this year is Jane Campion, who loved the idea of presiding over this jury, in the wake of Scorsese, Kusturica, the Dardenne brothers, Hou Hsiao Hsien, and all the others... Lady Jane, as I’ve been calling her since we met, is power, unity, harsh poetry and violence. She knows what she’s talking about. The three shorts of hers that we screened as a group when she first came in ’86 encapsulated everything about her world. They were great for all of the qualities mentioned, but they were also great because they were not copies of things that already existed. And then, 7 years after
Peel, The Piano won the Palme d’Or. What a beautiful example, what an inspiration for our filmmakers of tomorrow... At her side will be Maji-daAbdi, the Ethiopian director and producer, Nicoletta Braschi, the Italian actress, Nandita Das, the Indian actress and Semih Kaplanoglu, the Turkish director.

And now, it’s time to switch on the projectors, the official selection is about to be revealed...

Gilles Jacob

So, besides giving us his vision about this years' festival, praising Jane Campion and presenting us the complete Short Films and Cinéfondation jury, he announced an event that hopefully we will be able to see the works online, as yes I am curious to see the cartoons, especially those of many of my favorite directors.

The Event: Les dessins de la Liberté

The Festival de Cannes is hosting a fund raising auction sale on Monday, 20th of May at the Festival Agora to support Cartooning for Peace. This event, co-organized by Piasa, will present cartoonists Willis from Tunis (Tunisia), Dilem (Algeria), Kichka (Israel) and Plantu (Le Monde and L’Express) and will be conducted by the auctioneer James Fattori. For this unprecedented meeting between editorial cartoons and films, original collector artwork will be put on sale. The funds raised will benefit Cartooning for Peace to support their action.

Created in 2008 by Kofi Annan and Plantu, Cartooning for Peace aims to promote a better understanding and mutual respect between people of different cultures and beliefs using editorial cartoons as a universal language, by subtly shaking politically correct mindsets.

The exhibition linked to the benefit event, will be presented at the Palais des Festivals, during the whole festival.

A selection of eighty cartoons portrays legendary films, the film industry and famous film directors such as Fellini, Bergman, Spielberg or Haneke, in a light and satirical tone. Some cartoons also remind us that cinema creativity is still threatened in countries such as Iran or Algeria. If a film director has a problem with authorities, cartoonists from all over the world will take his defense and report freedom of expression violations.

Freedom of expression is under the spotlight to defend artistic freedom!

Nice work Cannes.

Cheers!!!

66th Festival de Cannes Short Films and Cinéfondation Lineup

While the Official Selection of feature films for the 66th Festival de Cannes will be revealed on Thursday 18th April, the list of Short Films is unveiled today.

As we already know the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Jane Campion, will announce the award winners for the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection.

Short Films Competition

This year, the Selection Committee received 3,500 short films, representing productions from no fewer than 132 countries.

Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Jane Campion, President of the Jury, at the Closing Ceremony of the 66th Festival de Cannes on 26th May. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.

37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'

Cinéfondation Selection

The Cinéfondation Selection selected 18 films (14 fiction films and 4 animated films) among the 1,550 submitted this year from 277 schools from all around the world

By focusing on the quality of work submitted by lesser-known institutions, the Selection is a true reflection of the diversity of film schools. This year sees a particularly significant broadening of scope, with a third of the schools being selected for the first time and one country – Chile – which has never previously been selected.

The following are the short films in competition; the schools are in parenthesis.

Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)

The three Cinéfondation Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony prior to the screening of the winning films on Friday 24th May in the Buñuel Theatre.

Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.

After reading, see film stills and/or trailer for all short films, can say that some seem very interesting; unfortunatelly not all have trailers and/or film stills but will be frequently checking to post at MOC trailers when they are released.

Cheers!!! Cannes has started.

2013 Cannes Wish List

As next Thursday April 18 we will learn the Cannes Official Selection let me share with you all my wish list with films that hopefully will make any section of the festival but IF they don't still believe that most films will be must be seen.

The Masters

Le Passe (The Past) by Asghar Farhadi.
Know director became famous for his Oscar winner film but I follow him closely since his 2006 Fireworks Wednesday and this is must be seen for me for him and because Tahar Rahim is the lead. Let's hope Bérénice Bejo acts better here than in her other films, sigh.

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) by Paolo Sorrentino.
Absolutely must be seen for me as teaser has such beautiful images of Rome on top the star is none other than Toni Sevillo. (Photo)

Nymphomaniac by Lars Von Trier.
Soon we will know if director deeply tarnished his relationship with the festival or not. If film is not in Cannes then surely will be in Venice. Who can resist Charlotte Gainsbourg performing a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac? Not me.

Malavita by Luc Besson.

Female Master Directors

Abus de faiblesse (Abuse of Weakness) by Catherine Breillat.
The star is none other than Isabelle Huppert so we know that the story has to be intense and perhaps much more as Breillat adapted her novel -with the same name- about her true personal experience with professional conman Christophe Rocancourt.

Les Salauds (The Bastards) by Claire Denis.
With Chiara Mastroianni and Vincent Lindon. Not crazy about director but this revenge drama seems could be interesting. (Photo)

Serena by Susanne Bier.
The great Danish director took a break from her amazing dramas to direct light Love is All You Need; now she plays again with the English language to tell a very American story. The catch is that the leads are none other than Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper; but has great British actors too.

Bird People by Pascale Ferran.
Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak.
Wakolda by Lucia Puenzo.

Great Filmmakers ("walking" to become Masters)

Le Bleu est une couleur chaude (Blue is the Earmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
Really enjoy his movies and more if the star is none other than Léa Seydoux and has a story that seems will have lesbian interest (!!!). (Photo)

A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn.
Images suggest that Corbijn kept his peculiar fabulous style in this adaptation of John le Carre's espionage thriller starring none other than Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Trailer impressed me but I was more impressed by Kristin Scott Thomas as hardly recognized her. Director regular Ryan Goslin (recall Drive?) is also here in a film that I suspect will be even more violent than Drive.

Twelve Years a Slave by Steve McQueen.
McQueen's regular, great Michael Fassbender stars in this very American slavery story that know will have director impressive style (has to). My only concern is that Brad Pitt also stars in film. Still, European buzz wonder if film will be ready for Cannes.

Tom à la ferme (Tom at the Farm) by Xavier Dolan.
Cannes "enfant not-so-terrible" maybe will make his dream come true this year IF his latest film finally makes the Official Selection; but no matter where it lands, film has to be his most drama intensive when he tells about a grieven man meeting his lover's family, who were not aware of this son's sexual orientation. The best, Dolan also acts (I enjoy his performances). If film makes Cannes be sure that film will compete for a Teddy. Just read that "maybe" film will NOT be in Cannes, shame.

Jeune et jolie by François Ozon.
Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Kore-Eda.
Nine Minutes Interval by Corneliu Porumboiu.

In English

Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet.
Yes he is directing his first English language film and is a remake of Les Liens du Sang where he was the main actor. Perhaps the only good thing film has is his wife acting in film.

The Buttler by Lee Daniels.
After being highly impressed with the Paperboy this tale about a butler who served eight different American Presidents at the White House could be better than what I imagined before seeing the Paperboy; so the great cast (John Cusack, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, etc) could make this movie (hopefully) good.

The Congress by Ari Folman.
Highly impressed with his Waltz with Bashir but as some do Folman went to America to do an English movie with American stars and Sci-Fi genre. Still story (an aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job...) could be interesting specially when Robin Wright plays a version of herself who travels to the future.  The Great news, film is a blend of live action (70 mins) and animation (50 mins) that looks/feels like his previous film.

The list could grow exponentially but let's stop here as we only have to wait 5 days to learn which film made the Official Selection plus the selection in the parallel sections and beyond. Can't wait for Cannes and know you can tell.

Cheers!!!!