CONTENTS Page 3 4-7
Editorial Mary Shelley The love affair between poet Percy Shelley and 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin which resulted in Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein.
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In The Fade Katja’s life collapses after the death of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.
12-15 Apostasy A faithful Jehovah’s Witness is forced to shun her own sister because of a religious transgression. As the separation draws out, she starts to question the meaning of God’s love.
16-19 Cold War A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched, set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris.
20-23 The Bookshop Set in a small town in 1959 England, it is the story of a woman who decides, against polite but ruthless opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.
24-29 FilmFest Follower Karlovy Vary 30-31 Extras DVDS OF THE MONTH 32
Poster: Mary Shelley PHOTO CREDITS: Curzon Artificial Eye: 1,6,7,10,11,14,15,18,19,32 Vertigo Releasing: 22,23 ACKNOWLEDMENTS: We would like to thank the following for their help in providing images for this magazine: Jake Garriock @ Curzon Artificial Eye. Monique Reid @ premiercomms.com
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EDITORIAL Welcome devoted film lovers! Here we are again to entice you to read the latest issue of Movies by Mills. Let us finger-walk through the tempting highlights:
Cover feature review MARY SHELLEY Starring: Elle Fanning Plus, reviews of IN THE FADE Starring: Diane Kruger APOSTASY Starring: Siobhan Finneran COLD WAR Starring: Joanna Kulig THE BOOKSHOP Starring: Emily Mortimer
Two of these films, Mary Shelley and The Bookshop, have protagonists who are determined to follow their dreams. We also offer our regular features, FilmFest Follower which details the programme of Karlovy Vary, and of course DVDs of the Month. As always, we thank you for your support. Enjoy the read.
Brian Mills Magazine Editor
Paul Ridler Magazine Designer
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MARY SHELLEY Directed by Haifa Al-Mansour Starring: Elle Fanning, Maisie Williams, Tom Sturridge, Douglas Booth. I feel a frustration, a constant whisper that I’m no closer to fulfilling my dreams. - Mary The story of the love affair between poet Percy Shelley and 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, which resulted in Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein. But the real-life story of Mary Shelley and the creation of Frankenstein is almost as fantastical as her writing. Mary was raised by her philosopher father William Godwin in 18th-century London as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. When she was in her adolescence, she dreamt making her mark in the world and then met a dashing and quite brilliant poet Percy Shelley. So, began a torrid, bohemian love affair marked by both passion and personal tragedy that transformed her in writing her Gothic masterwork. Imbued with the imaginative spirit of its heroine, Mary Shelley brings to life the world of a trailblazing woman who defied convention and channelled her innermost demons into a legend for the ages. Her father believed in her education. He trusted Mary and noticed her love for writing which resulted in him sending her to Scotland where he hopes she can find her refuge and learn to describe the images that are in her mind. It was in Scotland, at a party, drunk but with a charismatic look, Percy appears at the entrance of the mansion. In such a moment, Mary sees him and falls in love with him. But a letter arrives from England telling her that she must return immediately as her sister Claire is pretending to be ill so that she must see her again. To Mary’s utter surprise, Shelley follows her back, shortly after Mary declares her love for him, despite learning that he has just recently estranged from his wife and his daughter. The film is adroitly written as is the acting and direction. Mary’s creative ability is challenged by Lord Byron. Women are intelligent enough to follow what I say, but not intelligent enough to form an idea. Now, Miss Godwin you have a chance to prove me wrong. Despite his criticism, he was right. It was then that Mary gathered herself together and began her fascinating journey, when she knew an opportunity had arrived to create a masterpiece out of chaos. And she, like no one else took advantage of it to write “Frankenstein”. 4
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AMY BAER – PRODUCER: I read the script in 2012. I had just started my production company. I had been an executive for many years and a friend of mine sent it to me and I was mesmerised by the story primarily because it was a story I never knew existed. I was an English major in college and was embarrassed that even though I had read “Frankenstein” and studied it, I never knew the backstory. I knew it was written by a woman, but never knew the backstory. I was really taken by the personal aspect of it. I was struck that it was very relatable in a very modern way about a young woman, first love. So, I got very focused on finding a woman director. I felt a woman would have a life experience that would tap into what Mary went through in her life. I had seen “Wadjda” and loved it and the theme of that movie of what that girl went through was very similar to the struggle that Mary had, and there was a difference of 200 years, but this still was happening. So, I sent it to Haifa’s agent and very happily she responded.
HAIFAA AL-MANSOUR – DIRECTOR: It was amazing when I read the script. There is this little girl who is trying to find her voice and assert herself and was conservative.
AMY BAER – PRODUCER: It was a thirty-three week shoot and we shot in Ireland and Luxembourg because it was too expensive to shoot in England.
Why did you choose Elle Fanning? HAIFAA AL-MANSOUR – DIRECTOR: I loved Elle’s performance in “Super 8”. She is very effortless and subtle in her performances. Elle can elevate the scenes. She was a natural choice for me. I saw her in “Ginger & Rosa” when she was playing a British kid and she did an amazing accent and even carrying herself very proper like British. She has what it takes to bring Mary Shelley to the world. I really enjoyed working with her.
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Claire Clairmont (Bel Powney), Mary (Elle Fanning), Percy Shelley (Douglas Booth), Lord Byron (Tom Sturridge) in Mary Shelley
Percy Shelley (Douglas Booth) in Mary Shelley
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Percy Shelley (Douglas Booth) and Mary (Elle Fanning) in Mary Shelley
Isabel Baxter (Maisie Williams) in Mary Shelley
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IN THE FADE Directed by Fatah Akin Starring: Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Numar Acar, Johannes Krisch. His office is in a Turkish neighbourhood. A woman left her bike out front. She was German. As German as me. - Katja In The Fade is divided into three chapters: The Family, Justice and The Sea. THE FAMILY Happily married couple Nuri (Numan Acar), a Turkish immigrant and small-business owner, and Katya (Diane Kruger) a native German and their six-year-old son Rocco, when the blast of a powerful homemade bomb kills them. Prior to the explosion, Katya had seen the unusual sight of a young woman abandoning a new, unlocked bicycle against the front of the building. Despite the implication that the explosion was set off in the crowded business district of immigrant neighbourhood is a hate crime, police maintain a line of questioning focused on Nuri who had years before served a sentence for drug-dealing. The chief investigator speculates a range of false scenarios by which Nuri was the cause his own death as a result of political activism, money laundering or drug dealing. She, Katya, believes woman who parked her office committed the acting as a Nazi but believe her.
that the young German bike outside Nuri’s heinous act and was the authorities don’t
Katya’s life collapses after the death of her husband Nuri and son Rocco in the bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katya seeks revenge.
The film is based on the bomb attacks carried out by the National Socialist Underground, particularly the attack in Porz, Cologne, where people were injured. As part of his research for the film, Akin attended NSU trials and studied numerous reports. Added to the unbearable suffering that Katya is going through is the accusation from her in-laws that she was to blame, her mother too, who automatically assumes that Nuri had returned to drug-dealing and has no qualms in telling the police of her suspicions. Katya is astounded and hurt that her in-laws want to leave Germany and take their son’s and grandson’s remains with them. JUSTICE Diane Kruger: This is a part that made me feel rather frightened. What touched me most in this film, the reason I wanted to do it, was because it was a film about terrorism. Unfortunately, we are living at a time when such horrors keep occurring, almost daily you hear figures, twenty-two dead, 8
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one hundred dead, but you never hear about the actual people who remain behind and Katya’s experience is so full of emotion. So how can one continue to live after such a horrible occurrence? How can you come to grips with such unfairness and injustice; and I became Katya. I know her, I have the impression I grew up with her. The fact that Fatah wanted to make a film about this topic moved me deeply. I was very scared indeed. She is a character not similar to me. I had to change completely to become her. Fatah asked me to leap into the unknown and I decided to go ahead. He is a film director who has always inspired me. He marked my youth in Germany with his films. I felt he was the only person who could make such a film. I love working with him. I think this film is unfortunately very topical. Fatah Akin: I met Diane Kruger in Cannes in 2002 with a tiny documentary “Polluting Paradise” and I had this party at the beach. It was a small party and later that night, Diane appeared, and we chat together in German, no accent nothing, and she said that she would like to work with me and I never forget that and when I was changing the sex from a man to a woman and it’s very important that it has to be a German woman, has to be an Aryan woman, like blonde, blue-eyes and stuff. Who can act this, and I didn’t want to cast the usual suspects in Germany, so she came into my mind, Diane Kruger, yeah, that could be something, and here we are.
THE SEA
About the climax of the film. Fatah Akin: It is the character’s decision in doing what she is doing. When you write something, you put a lot of instinct in it, fantasy in it, your own discussion in it: what is right, what is wrong. You have the state justice; the justice of society and you have the feeling of the individual. Sometimes they clash and this film is also about that clash. Where there is a clash, there is drama. It’s worth telling about. I don’t know what I would do in such a situation. I hope that I will never get into such a situation. What would they do if they did experience it. When you start to think as a father, as a parent, like losing your child, nightmares come into your mind. I’m an author and filmmaking gives me the possibility to have a dialogue with my nightmares. Diane Kruger: The film is a proposition. My character is not a murderer. I’s a regular everyday kind of woman who was put into a very unfortunate and compromising situation and the movie is a proposition of - what would you do? In this case, this is what my character does. And the question hanging over the closing sequence of the film is exactly that - what would you do?
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Katya (Diane Kruger) and Nuri (Numan Acar) in In The Fade
Rocco (Rafael Santana) and Katya (Diane Kruger) in In The Fade
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Katya (Diane Kruger) in In The Fade
Katya (Diane Kruger) in In The Fade
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APOSTASY Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo Starring: Siobhan Finneran, Robert Emms, Sacha Parkinson, Molly Wright. Who’s the father? - Ivanna A guy from college. - Luisa I need you to bring him to meetings. - Ivanna It’s not going to happen. - Luisa A faithful Jehovah’s Witness is forced to shun her own sister because of a religious transgression. As the separation draws out, she starts to question the meaning of God’s love. Writer and director Daniel Kokotajlo has sourced his own former life as a Jehovah’s Witness to tell this story of a mother and two daughters entangled in a crisis of faith of the religious cult, notably through the teaching of Urdu to sisters Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) and Alex (Molly Wright) so that they can preach ‘The Truth’ to Pakistanis that they meet door-to-door calling in Oldham. The influence that the Elders have on their congregation and the group commanded by them. The religious conviction of the sisters’ mother, Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran), is tested when one of her daughters Luisa falls pregnant out of wedlock and as he is a non-believer, she wants him to join the Jehovah’s. But the resulting choice is that he doesn’t and consequently Luisa is disfellowshipped by the congregation which makes her an apostate, forcing Ivanna to choose between her faith and her daughter. The well-being of Alex is threatened by anaemia, a condition in which accepting treatment, blood transfusions, would be against church’s doctrine. Her mother believes that salvation doesn’t come from medicine, but from faith. When a doctor offers Alex medical advice, Ivanna shouts at the doctor: “That’s just your opinion!” A tragedy is waiting to happen but when it comes it is a double-whammy shock and is undoubtedly the most powerful scene in the film. The film received its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last September and marked the feature directional debut of Daniel Kokotajlo. The film is based on the director’s world as he grew up in a Jehovah’s Witness family. 12
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So how did the transition to filmmaking happen? Daniel Kokotajlo: I was making hip-hop records when I was about 21, I was a Biblebashing B-boy. Around this time, I discovered people like Mike Leigh and Karel Reisz existed. I then studied film in my mid-20s, at the MA screenwriting programme at the University of Westminster. I couldn’t afford to pay for it all at once, so I studied part time and was selling paintings and juggling two jobs to pay for school. I was harbouring doubts since I went to college. I realized that people at college were interested in your opinion. That was a new concept to me because being a Witness it was always about reaffirming the text, group-think, it wasn’t about encouraging independent thought. I still went to Kingdom Hall (a place of worship used by Jehovah’s Witnesses) all through uni, but I kept it quiet. I wanted to leave but that religious guilt was there, and I couldn’t find a way to get out of it comfortably. It wasn’t until I moved away from my hometown that I stopped going.
And how will Witnesses react to the film? I suspect they will ignore the film. Even the idea of making this film is controversial. The word ‘apostasy’ will raise an eyebrow within the Witnesses. But I’m hoping that if people in the faith watch this film and give it time, they will see its not critical of the Witnesses – it’s a film about people who stand up for that they believe in. Some ex-Witnesses I’ve spoken to are very angry about that part of their lives but I see it a bit more objectively. Casting the film? I made a conscious choice to focus on working actors in the northwest, to show a film audience what these actors can do. We saw hundreds of people. It was about the right look and right feel and I didn’t want them to be odd looking, they needed to be relatable, honest people. With Siobhan (Finneran), I was a huge fan of hers from Rita, Sue And Bob Too and Happy Valley (The mother) was a complex, tricky character and Siobhan understood straight away the humanity that the role needed. Even though she’s just turned 18, (the younger daughter) Alex couldn’t be too childlike, she had to be determined and strong willed; Molly had that. For the older sister Luisa, we needed to find someone who was naturally playful and impulsive, and Sasha seemed to have that quality. I had a few weeks with the actors. We had a private space where we sat together and chatted about it all, just so I could get across the logic of the Witnesses. It’s hard for secular people to understand that stuff, that you have to act in a way that goes against your natural instincts. Part of rehearsals was also focused on making these people human beings. APOSTASY is released in the UK on July 27th.
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Ivanna (Siobhan Finnerman), Luisa(Sacha Parkinson),Alex(Molly Wright) in Apostasy
Alex (Molly Wright) in Apostasy
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Ivanna (Siobhan Finnerman) in Apostasy
Ivanna (Siobhan Finnerman) and Steven (Robert Emms) in Apostasy.
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COLD WAR Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski Starring: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza. I think it was a long process; sitting, reading, all the time. The script was changing day-by-day, but for me, the most important thing was creating something sensitive and for me, it was something very important that this is black and white and for me, sometimes you have to repeat it, ten times, twenty times, thirty times. I remember when I was on the set at night, it was like three o’clock at night. I thought this is like meditation. - Joanna Kulig A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatally mismatched, set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris. The on-off relationship between Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) epitomises the on-off reaction that I felt for the film. Mainly it is a cynical story of unlikeable people trapped by their own selfishness, yet the darkness of their story is lightened by music, ranging from folk songs to jazz, to rock ‘n roll. It is Zula who is the soul of the relationship; an effervescence that permeates her very being and it is perfectly captured when she sings and dances with unabandoned joy. While Wicktor, though a brilliant composer and pianist, attacks the keys with untamed vengeance. Even their attitude to music is contrasted.
The relationship is doomed from the beginning, yet they are brought together again in a dénouement of suffering. Working with cinematographer Lukasz Zal again? PAWEL PAWAWLIKOWSKI: We already have a shorthand. We knew we didn’t want to repeat “Ida” because it’s a different kind of story. We originally thought to do it in colour because why not, but we couldn’t find the right palette and then we thought of trying to use an effect to make it look like Soviet film stock, but that would look too mannered. We realized it would look more honest in black and white since the world is clearly metaphorically such. But it’s much more ‘contrasty’ than “Ida”: deeper shots, more layers and, of course the music! The whole thing was much more dynamic, more alive. 16
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LUKASZ ZAL: We spent a lot of time just sitting reading the script, watching movies, listening to music – really building the picture. That was amazing. It wouldn’t have worked in colour because there’s no colour in Poland! PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: We spent a lot of time thinking about the shots. There aren’t a lot of them, so we really wanted to improve the ones we had over and over again. Like we talked about with the sound it was a constant calibration, much to the frustration of actors sometimes. But that’s what really excites me in cinema – is that everything is part of the same process. It’s painful, especially for producers who wonder if the film is ever going to be finished, but it’s worth it. LUKAS ZAL: Yes, it’s the only way to do it. You have to follow the film. This film was always changing: it wasn’t as clear initially as “Ida”. We had to just watch it and follow what it gave us. PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: At some point the film starts directing itself. Bad dialogue or acting or lighting jumps out and you know it’s wrong. JOANNA KULIG: Yes, the crew was always ready for changes. I remember we were sitting once joking about what Pawel would change by the morning! One thing that really works in the film is the chemistry between the main actors, Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig. What was it like working together as your relationship was the theme of the whole film? JOANNA KULIG: It was difficult to find this chemistry, but we worked hard on it. Zula is so up and down and Wiktor is so calm, they want to be together but they can’t be and it’s a difficult relationship to portray. TOMASZ KOT: We spent a lot of time in a lot places and in some moments, we were like brother and sister. It was something wonderful. We were a couple in another movie but it was completely different. JOANNA KULIG: I always had to wear high heels because of course Tomasz Kot is so tall! PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: Tomasz has the great technique of making himself smaller. Ultimately Cold War was a challenging film to make and a challenging film to see. It was under-scripted and needed to be longer, but its highlights were the musical sequences and Joanna Kulig warmed our hearts.
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Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) in Cold War.
Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), Zula (Joanna Kulig) in Cold War.
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Zula (Joanna Kulig), Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) in Cold War.
Zula (Joanna Kulig), Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) in Cold War.
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THE BOOKSHOP Directed by Isabel Coixet Starring: Emily Mortimer. Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, Hunter Tremayne, Honor Kneafsey. *Julie Christie She is a very powerful woman. Does that not concern you? - Edmund Brundish No. - Florence Green. Based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel of the same name; “The Bookshop” is set in 1959, Florence Green (Emily Mortimer), a freespirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open a bookshop – the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardbourough, England. Fighting damp, cold and considerable local apathy she str4uggles to establish herself but soon her fortunes change for the better. By exposing the narrow minded local townsfolk to the best literature of the day including Nabokov’s scandalizing “Lolita” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, she opens their eyes thereby causing awakening in a town which has not changed for centuries. Her activities being her a kindred and ally in the figure of Mr Brundish (Bill Nighy) who is himself sick of the town’s stale atmosphere. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town’s less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs Gamart (Patricia Clarkson). As the credits rolled at the end of this delightful film, I ran the names of bookshops which I fondly remember visiting like Foyles in Charing Cross Road, Watkins in Cecil Court, and Scribners Bookstore, on Fifth Avenue, New York, though this store is sadly closing. I still have a copy of Ben Gazzara’s memoir “In the Moment - My Life As An Actor,” which I bought at Scribners. The theme of the film is an inspiring one as Emily Mortimer’s character, Florence Green, is passionate about what she wants and you know that her journey through life until she reaches the ultimate last paragraph, will have been worth following. Filmgoers invariably get asked “Have you seen any good films lately?” Yes, is one of them. “Have you read any good books lately?” No, but it is my intention. If this film does nothing else but persuade you to follow your dream, whatever it may be, and never give up, then it will have done more for you that most other films you might have seen this year. 20 www.moviesbymills.com
When we read a story, we inhabit it. She more than anything else in the world, loved the moment as the story keeps playing like the most vivid dream in your head. She wants to get rid of you and she won’t stop. - Edward Brundish. She can’t do that. It’s my shop. - Florence. There is a possible buyer for your shop. - Mr Raven. The shop is not for sale. - Florence. What were the stars and director’s memory of bookshops when they were young? Patricia Clarkson: My oldest memory was a great library in New Orleans. It is still there. As a child I would run up the many lanes. I read many books in that library. It was our favourite place to go, I had four sisters. It was the highlight of our week. Emily Mortimer: What is amazing about bookshops is the serendipity of the books that you find that you are not looking for. I went to a bookshop recently to buy a book for my best friend’s husband who is a photographer. It was a second-hand bookshop and I found a book of lots of portraits by Tony Snowden who was married to Princess Margaret. I remember my dad, who was a writer himself with whom I went to a lot of bookshops in my childhood and he was friends with this photographer and I thought I wonder if there is a picture of my father and I looked through and there lo and behold was a picture of my father and I flipped through further and lo and behold there was a picture of my best friend’s father who was also a writer and I flipped a little bit back and the introduction had been written by my father. In this book was all these treats and it was the perfect present which I would not have found were it not for the fact that I had been wandering through an old bookshop wondering what to buy my friend. Isabel Coixet: My first memory of a bookshop, which is no longer there. I remember the owner went to see me and watch me and talk to me and thought I was going to steal a book and I stole one book, but when I got to the door I regretted what I did and returned it. It was a book by Dashiell Hammett, called Red Harvest and I was going to pay for it and he gave it to me. About directors. EMILY MORTIMER: I think one of the most courageous things a director can do is let their actors go and the great directors I have worked with have all done that, Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen and Isobel. The ones that really understand the world that they’ve created and who they have cast in that world and don’t ever say anything. *Narrator as adult Christine.
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Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy) in The Bookshop.
Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) in The Bookshop.
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Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy), Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson) in The Bookshop.
Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy), Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) in The Bookshop.
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FILMFEST FOLLOWER KARLOVY VARYth th
June 29 – July 7 OFFICIAL SELECTION COMPETITION BROTHERS Directed by Omur Atay Seventeen-year-old Yusuf comes home after spending four years at a detention centre His return to the family freshly recalls the act that his loved ones, bound by rigid tradition forced Yusuf to commit. Directed with an assured hand, this intimate debut concerns guilt and punishment and how difficult it is to choose between blood ties and tradition on the one hand, and what is morally right on the other.
DOMESTIQUE Directed by Adam Sedlak Top cyclist Roman has had enough of serving as a domestique, a bicycle racer who sacrifices for the team. And since strenuous training and a strict regimen don’t lead to the type of performance he longs for, he sets up an oxygen tent at home. His obsession with having a sports career, however, renders him oblivious to his wife Sarkota’s desire to have a baby. A claustrophobic drama on the utter breakdown of a marriage almost suffocated by a machine that oxygenates the blood.
THE FIREFLIES ARE GONE Directed by Sebastian Pilote The sleepy town where Leo lives doesn’t offer much chance of self-fulfilment. Extricating herself from her mother’s influence and her constricting environment isn’t easy for the frustrated young woman, yet happiness might be close at hand. A stylistically precise, pop-impressionistic film about a girl’s quest to find out who she really is, featuring the captivating Karelle Tremblay in the lead role.
HISTORY OF LOVE Directed by Sonja Prosenc Seventeen-year-old Iva is in the process of coming to terms with the death of her mother. Influenced by this deep personal loss and by the discovery that she didn’t know everything about her mom, the girl slowly immerses herself into a strange, almost dreamlike world. Sonja Prosenc’s movie is dominated by a distinctive poetic that attacks the viewer’s senses, as well as by a narratively loose style and an ability to construct a story with the aid of the subtlest of suggestions.
I DO NOT CARE IF WE GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS BARBARIANS Directed by Radu Jude A young artist is planning to reconstruct a historical event from 1941, during which the Romanian army carried out ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front. One of contemporary Europe’s most distinctive creators has come out with an ingeniously conceived film that – although the topic unfolds slowly and in detail – hits the viewer with a singular emotional punch.
JUMPMAN Directed by Ivan. I. Tverdovskiy Young Oksana put Denis in a baby box when he was an infant. Sixteen years later she steals him away from a children’s home, intent on making amends for her neglect. Denis, however, has no idea of the heavy price to be paid for his mother’s favour: the fragile boy has one unusual quality which Oksana has no qualms about exploiting
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PANIC ATTACK Directed by Pawel Maslona In his humorous debut, talented director Pawel Maslona has submitted a consummate answer to the question whether a panic attack can be translated into film language. Dramatic moments in the lives of several unfortunates living in contemporary Warsaw are here presented with refreshing playfulness and in a singular knack for mixing the tragic and the comic.
REDEMPTION Directed by Joseph Madmony, Boaz Yehonatan
Being able to care for a gravely ill daughter is of the utmost importance to a loving father. The treatment which is to give the child a new chance at life is something the poorly paid widower simply can’t afford. The idea to start performing again with a rock band from his earl days, however, sees the devout man confronting not only those around him but – above all – himself as well.
SUENO FLORIANOPOLIS Directed by Ana Katz Lucretia, Pedro, and their teenage kids Julian and Florencia set out from Buenos Aires one sweltering day in a rattletrap Renault to a vacation in the Brazilian summer resort of Florianopolis. Renowned Argentinian director Ana Katz draws upon gentle humour and light melancholy to relate a tale of first love, past lovers, fateful encounters, and fleeting joys.
TO THE NIGHT Directed by Peter Brunner
As a child Norman survived a fire that took the rest of his family. As an adult he is struggling with the resulting trauma, and he finds it difficult to start a new life with his girlfriend and little boy. An oppressive atmosphere, subtle hunts, and spectacular images playing upon the subconscious – these are the primary attributes of this brutally intimate study of a wounded individual. Captivating Caleb Landry Jones excels in the main role.
WINTER FLIES Directed by Olmo Omerzu Mischievously self-assured Mara and somewhat eccentric Hedus set out into the frozen wastes in search of adventure – by car, naturally. After all, Mara’s turning fifteen soon. Abroad movie about the flies that occasionally buzz around even in winter, and a story – before it ends at a police station – that tells of the elusive bond of boyhood friendship and the irrepressible desire to experience something even if you don’t exactly know what.
OFFICIAL SELECTION OF COMPETITION MY FRIEND “A” Directed by Takahisa Zeze Masuda, a new worker at a factory, suspects a co-worker of being a convicted killer. And a properly written expose might allow him to return to the world of journalism. But it might also reopen the scars of his own past. This carefully constructed picture explores the limits of responsibility while treating the notion of coming to terms with guilt.
SUPPORT THE GIRLS Directed by Andrew Bujalski Lisa is a dedicated restaurant manager who is trying to keep the place afloat, get on with the owner and the customers, and support his employees. But a deluge of accumulated problems gradually saps his patience. In a film about the search for dignity in a business that objectifies its employees, the natural performances of the entire female ensemble lent solid support.
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TRASH ON MARS Directed by Benjamin Tucek The budget for the programme to colonize Mars was so drastically cut back that settlements never appeared on the faraway planet. Now the only reminder of the ambitious plan is an abandoned base inhabited by a very lonely robot. The silence and tranquillity of the red planet is eventually disturbed, however, by a privately-funded Czech crew, whose members have taken on the mission for very different reasons…
HORIZONS BIRDS OF PASSAGE
Directed by Christina Callego Starring: Natalia Reyes, Jhon Narvaez During the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia. Rapayet and his indigenous get involved in a war to control the business that ends up destroying their lives and their culture.
BLACKKLANSMAN Directed by Spike Lee Starring: Adam Driver,
A detective comedy based on real events. Set in the 1970s the film tells the story of an African-American police officer from Colorado who successfully infiltrates the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and rises to lead it.
BURNING Directed by Lee Chang-dong
Inspired by a Haruki Murakami short story, telling the story of young Jong-su, a courier who’s in love with a girf he’s known since childhood. When she returns home from a trip abroad with a strange friend, they form an unlikely threesome. The friend, however, has an unusual hobby.
COLD WAR Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
One of the most lauded competition entries at this year’s Cannes, with award for Best Director confirming that claim. This enchanting story of fated love set in grey-tinged Poland , Berlin Yugoslavia and Paris, between 1949 and 1964, both stirring and melancholy, as are the infectious tones of folk music and contemplative jazz that assume a special place film.
DAMSEL Directed by David & Nathan Zellner The Wild West circa 1870. Samuel Alabaster, an affluent pioneer ventures across the American frontier to meet the love of his life, Penelope, but as his group traverses the West, the once simple journey grows treacherous.
DAUGHTER OF MINE Directed by Laura Bispuri A daughter torn between two mothers, one who raised her with love and her biological mother, who instinctively claims her back.
DEAR SON Directed by Mohammed Ben Attia A Tunisian middle-class couple with high hopes for the future of their only son, discover he’s left to join the ISS in Syria.
DOVLATOV Directed by Aleksey German Charting six days in the life of brilliant, ironic writer who saw beyond the rigid limits of 70s Soviet Russia. Sergei Dovatov fought to preserve his own talent and decency.
EUFORIA Directed by Valeria Golino No Plot given.
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EVERYBODY KNOWS Directed by Asghar Farhadi Starring: Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem Another of Fahadi’s films to illustrate the complexities of human relationships and their ultimate transformation. Laura, a Spanish woman living in Buenos Aires with her husband and children, hardly ever goes back to her homeland. The events that unfold on her final visit change everyone’s lives.
GOOD MANNERS Directed by Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas Starring: Isabel Zuaa, Marjorie Estano. Clara, a lonely nurse from the outskirts of Sao Paulo, is hired by mysterious and wealthy Ana as the nanny for her unborn child. The two women develop a strong bond but a fateful night changes their plans.
HAPPY as LAZZARO Directed by Alice Rohrwacher Starring: Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani
This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant and Tancredi, a young noble cursed by his imagination.
HOSTILES Directed by Scott Cooper Starring: Christian Bale, Scott Shepherd, Rosamund Pike
In 1892, a legendary Army captain agrees to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory.
HUNTING SEASON Directed by Jon Marcus Starring: Ben Baur, Marc Sinoway
A New York City writer and his friends traverse the gay world, exploring their ever-evolving sexuality, relationships and what it means to be a true friend.
LEAVE NO TRACE Directed by Debra Granik Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Foster
A father and his daughter are living in an idyllic existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon, when a small mistake derails their lives forever.
LOVELING Directed by Gustavo Pizzi Starring: Katrine Teles, Octavio Muller
Irene has only a few days to surpass the anxiety and discover the strength to send her son away into the world.
THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST Directed by Desiree Akhavon Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Quinn Shepard
1993, a teenage girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy centre by her conservative guardians.
MUSEUM Directed by Alonso Ruizpalaciose Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Simon Russell Beale
In 1985, a group of criminals mock the security of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City to extract 140 pre-Hispanic pieces from their showcases.
NICO 1988 Directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli Starring: Trine Dyrholm, John Gordon Sinclair
The last year of singer Nico’s life as she tours and grapples with addiction and personal demons.
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RAINBOW – A PRIVATE AFFAIR Directed by Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani Starring: Luca Marinelli, Lorenzo Richelmy, Valentina Belle. An Italian partisan torn between the Resistance Movement and his obsession with a young woman during World War 2.
RIVER’S EDGE Directed by Isao Yukisada Starring: Fumi Nikaldo, Ryo Yoshizawa Haruna is a high school student w hose, school life is topsy turvy and often tragic. One of her classmates is the homosexual Ichiro, a boy often bullied and derided.
SEASON OF THE DEVIL Directed by Lav Diaz Starring: Piolo Pscual, Shaina Macdayao An anti-musical, a rock opera that delves into mythology.
SUMMER Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov Starring: Teo Yoo, Irina Starshenbaum, Roman Bilyk A love triangle emerges around a rock musian, his protégé, and his wife in 1980s Russia.
SWEET COUNTRY Directed by Steven McGregor & David Tranter Starring: Bryan Brown, Matt Day An Australian Western set in the Northern Territory Frontier in the 1920s, where justice is put on trial when an aborigine farmhand shoots a white man in selfdefence and goes on the run.
TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD Directed by Guillaume Nicloux Young French soldier sets out on a franctic mission whose goal is to find and punish Vietnamese General Vo Binh, instigator of the massacre that saw Robert’s bother brutally slain.
TOUCH ME NOT Directed by Adina Pintile A Romanian Filmmaker’s bold attempt to explore human intimacy.
U-JULY 22 Directed by Erik Poppe On July 22, 2011, a right-wing extremist attacked several hundred people who were attending a summer camp sponsored by the Workers’ Youth League. Sixty-nine of them did not survive the rampage. Norwegian director Erk Poppe returns to the tragedy in order to see it through the eyes of the unsuspecting campers, who had to fight for their lives for a chaotic and interminable seventy minutes.
WAIB Directed by Annemarie Jacir After many years in Italy, architect Shadi returns home to Nazareth for his sister’s wedding.
WILDLIFE Directed by Paul Dano Acting icon of American independent film, Paul Dano debuts as director with an adaptation of a novel focusing on a thoughtful boy named Joe, whose adolescence in 1960s Montana is marked by his parents’ catastrophic marriage crisis. This solidly built psychological drama features engaging performances from Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Ed Oxenbould.
THE WILD PEAR TREE Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan Sinan has always wanted to be a writer. Convinced of his exceptionalism, he returns to his hometown, where he would like to earn enough money to publidh his own book. Instead, he finds himself caught up in the same debts as his father.
THE WORLD IS YOURS Directed by Roman Gavras Francois deals drugs but he’ll only continue to do so until he saves up enough money to fulfil his dream – mto become official distributor of Mr Freeze popsicles. However, things suddenly get out of hand and Francois is forced to take on one last job that will hopefully set things straight.
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IMAGINA * Directed by Johann Lurf A film solely from images of the universe drawn from a total of 550 films across motion picture history. The result is a compelling poetic essay that is as much about the way we represent outer space as it is about the cosmos itself.
ART and THEFT Directed by Sara Magenheimer This rich collage of shots, drawn from security camera images, pop culture, political newscasts, and even medieval art, is a playful exploration of the boundaries and character of everyday narratives.
BLACK MOTHER Directed by Khalik Allah The seminal cinematic portrait of Jamaica and its inhabitants compellingly merges the country’s spiritual, material, historical, and cultural contexts into a visual poem with a unique and an engaging narrative.
CANIBA Directed by Verena Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor While studying in France in the v1980s, Issel Sagawa shot his roommate, raped her corpse, and then began to eat it. The close-ups elicit feelings of revulsion.
ELEGY Directed by Louis Rizzo-Maudi For 20 years the Cassini planetary probe supplied humanity with new findings on the monns and rings od Saturn. Using archive footage and staged scenes, an original lament emerged for this particular space mission that organically links unknown desolate spaces, technology and humans’ very existence.
ENDLESS TAIL Directed by Zejika Sukova A boy and girl wandering alone through lush terrain undergo a journey to real and imagined landscapes. This cinematic diptych is a playful allegory with an original approach to sound.
FLAME Directed by Sami van Ingen Three years ago a negative was found of a lost Finnish film made in 1937. After years of natural chemical processes and gradual degradation, the nitrate frames transformed the images of the filmed melodrama. Portions of the canned negative, with all their defects.
FOREST PATHS Directed by Michiel van Baken By mutually overlapping each other, mildly distorted images that have been photographed by a device sensitive to infared radiation produce an almost hypnotic collage. This enchanting short film - created through optical illusion, perspective, the objects under observation, and even the camera itself – can cause one’s head to spin.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE Directed by Herwig Weiser An abandoned upscale constructivist building in the middle of Moscow recalls the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. Exploring the darkened rooms, stairways, and corridors at once becomes an investigation of an architecture inseparable from its history.
THE GREEN FOG Directed by Guy Madden, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson Hundreds of film and television clips to create a fascinating tribute to San Francisco and to what is perhaps the best known movie ever shot there. Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. And like that work, their film provides an obsessively erotic topographic, and cinephilic experience.
REFLECTIONS IN THE DUST Directed by Luke Sullivan The Film captures two characters, an aging clown and his daughter in their oppressive microcosm full of aggression, loathing, fear, anger. The visually spellbinding approach relies on a daring concept that aims to continually agitate and thereby create a uniquely rich viewing experience.
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EXTRAS DVDS OF THE MONTH LOVELESS DIRECTED BY ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV STARRING: MARYAINA SPIVAK, ALEXEY ROZIN, MARVEY NOIKOV.
Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page-even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-yesr-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM EXTRA FEATURES: MAKING OF LOVELESS
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THE SHAPE OF WATER DIRECTED BY GUILLERMO DEL TORO STARRING: SALLY HAWKINS, MICHAEL SHANNON, RICHARD JENKINS, DOUG JONES, MICHAEL STUHLBERG, OCTAVIA SPENCER.
From master storyteller, Guillermo del Toro, comes The Shape of Water, an otherworldly fairy tale set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America circa 1962. In the hidden, high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer)discover a secret classified experiment.
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BEST PICTURE EXTRA FEATURES A FAIRY TALE FOR TROUBLED TIMES
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