Oscars 2023 Special Edition - Indie Entertainment Media

Indie Entertainment Media

indieentertainmentmedia.com

Publishers Gotham Chandna

Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Editor-in-Chief | Managing Editor Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Chief Digital Editor Gotham Chandna

Contributors

Editorial Assistant

Graphic Design

Lena Basse

Claude Brickell

Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Rachael Fisher

Arina Kipurova

Photos Courtesy of: Eric Minh Swenson/EMS Gallery, Brian Kaplin, HFPA, Movie Stills DB, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sheri Determan, Tshombe Sampson, WikiCommons.

Elvis Is Oscar

IEM celebrates The 95th Academy Awards with a special photo essay titled Elvis is Oscar, honoring the iconic celebrity and filmmaker Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-nominated film ELVIS

The setting was legendary Mulholland Drive and director/producer Jonathan Baker’s Beverly Hills estate Baker Manor, previously owned by Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.

“This year’s Elvis is Oscar -themed magazine and film campaign tells the story of what it would look like if Elvis won the Oscars, from the 1968 Cadillac convertible to the black leather costume he wore in his TV special.”

“The LEGO® Oscar represents the dream of winning. The driver is proud and a dreamer herself. Everyone just feels the magic of the film, the man, and the myth.”

“In 1968, Elvis made the biggest comeback of his career. At that moment in time we were entrenched in war, and Elvis saw that he needed to uplift us and the American spirit. He gave to the world a piece of himself. It was so authentic and it lasted a lifetime. Baz’s film hit a similar nerve.”

“I believe that the production value in Elvis was outstanding. The acting by Austin Butler was outstanding. Baz Luhrmann’s work speaks for itself. He’s a filmmaker, a storyteller, and his blend of music and film has touched audiences for years.”

Cover Photo/Photos: Eric Minh Swenson

Additional Photos: Tshombe Sampson

Creative Directors: Jonathan Baker, Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Models: Dustin Quick, Jonathan Baker

Quotes: Jonathan Baker

Vintage Car: Hollywood Classic Cars

Cate Blanchett: “Breaking Down the Myth”

By Lena Basse

Ahead of one of the most prestigious award ceremonies of the year, there are many different predictions about who will win the golden statuette. Cate Blanchett, once again, is a frontrunner in the Best Actress category at the Oscars®.

Cate Blanchett’s remarkable performance in Todd Field’s Tár was widely recognized since the day of its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. During her very emotional acceptance speech at the BAFTA ceremony as Best Lead Actress, Blanchett acknowledged the performances of her fellow colleagues, “Every year there’s idiosyncratic, remarkable performances just breaking down the myth that women’s experience is monolithic.”

In fact, the entire career of the 53-year old actress is striking proof that the female experience is everything but monolithic. In Manifesto by Julian Rosefeldt that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015,

Blanchett delivered 13 great performances by declaiming philosophical manifestos of some of the most influential creators of the twentieth century, from Malevich and Kandinsky to Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier, and of course, Karl Marx.

In addition to the enormous variety of more than 100 roles on stage and on screen, Blanchett is not too shy to use her enviable influence as a public figure for her humanitarian and environmental activity. Mother of four, she debunks the idea that being a feminist means to be “anti-family.”

In 2018, she performed in a completely new role for herself as the head of the jury at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. Thus, she became the twelfth female chairman in the entire history of the most prestigious world film festival, which added symbolism to the feminist movement. Blanchett did not miss the opportunity to show her solidarity with women working in

Cate Blanchett

Lena Basse, Cate Blanchett

the cinema, leading with Agnieska Holland on the red carpet of the festival’s 82 participants, demanding equal pay with male colleagues for equal work. In doing so, she marked another historic moment on the red carpet, focused not on the glitz and glam, but on an important political movement for women everywhere.

Blanchett’s tenure as the president of the Cannes jury went so well that in 2020, she was again invited to head the jury of another international film festival, this time in Venice. As a longtime, style icon, Blanchett has become an advocate for sustainable fashion. She was one of the first celebrities who decided to re-wear some of her cherished looks at the Venice Film Festival. And she has continued the practice at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. Being privileged enough to talk with Blanchett several times, whether it was in New York, Los Angeles, Venice or Cannes, I was always intrigued by her intelligence, strength, and her ability to articulate her own strong opinions without being apologetic. At the same time, she definitely values the importance of listening. She commented, “I think one of the strongest leadership skills you can have is deep time listening. If you try to canvas everyone’s opinion and make sure that everyone is heard.”

“Daniel Del Lewis in a woman’s guise”

Today, it is difficult to imagine that Blanchett, despite her unconditional talent and beauty, even after she received a professional acting education, she did not think about a film career at all. She enjoyed working in the theater, which involved a long and deep study of image. She had the chance to play on the stage along with the best Australian actors, among whom was Geoffrey Rush himself, appearing before the audience in the classic images of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Nina in Chekhov’s The

Seagull. Recognition of her talent came not long after, and she won prestigious theater awards one after another.

Of course, the cinema could not leave such a successful young actress unattended. “When I first started out, people were saying, make the most of it, because as an

actress, you probably got almost five years. But I am trying to be an optimist and the positive thing about that is I have treated every job like it’s going to be my last, so I have tried to relish it, no matter what the size of the role.”

The real breakthrough in her cinematic career was in 1998 as Queen Elizabeth of England in the historical film of the same name by Shekhar Kapoor, for which she became famous not only in her native Australia, but also abroad.

Since then, Blanchett has created many memorable images on the silver screen, both for women and men. She was first nominated for an Oscar for creating one of the seven portraits of singer Bob Dylan in the extraordinary film I’m Not There. About her ability to transform, Leonardo DiCaprio even described her as “Daniel Del Lewis in a woman’s guise.” Her partners on the set were such famous actors as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, and Russell Crowe.

In her numerous collections of awards, there is an Oscar for the leading role in Woody Allen’s Jasmine, and an Oscar for a supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s The

Blanchett

Todd Field, Cate Blanchett at Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Aviator. Interestingly, in Aviator, she played the role of Katharine Hepburn, who for almost 60 years remained the leading actress in Hollywood and was awarded four Oscars. Thus, Blanchett became the first actress to receive an Academy Award for creating a portrait of an Oscarwinning actress.

With her eighth Oscar nomination this year Blanchett is at the pinnacle of her profession. Her transformation into Lydia Tár, a self-made, world-renowned conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, who in her own words looked at the beginning as “very dangerous and career-ending,” turned into one of her finest performances.

Customized role

This role was meant for her. Todd Field is often referred to as “an actor’s director,” specifically wrote the role for Blanchett, after his fifteen year hiatus. At the film’s press conference in Venice, the first thing Field wanted to make clear to the journalists in attendance was that, “It wasn’t written with Cate Blanchett in mind. It was written for Cate Blanchett.” Blanchett herself confessed that she was very moved when Todd Field came to her with the idea of Tár. “I think it’s a hallmark of Todd’s films, and it’s a very spare and special moment when Todd decides to leave the house and make another movie”.

In order to match the character that was created specifically for her, Blanchett had to learn to conduct an orchestra, to play a piano (and an accordion), and to

speak German. Sounds almost like Lydia’s long list of accomplishments that is read out on stage during her live interview for The New Yorker at the beginning of the film. Lydia’s latest mountain to climb is to conduct a live recording of Mahler’s famous Fifth Symphony, which coincides with the release of her latest book. Her assistant, Francesca, played by Noemie Merlant, helps Lydia to navigate a very busy schedule, not without observing her in hopes to become one day conductor herself. Lydia lives in Berlin with her partner, Sharon (played by Nina Hoss), who plays the first violin in the orchestra, and their adopted daughter, Petra. Her whole life seems to turn upside down when she finds a love interest in the latest addition to the orchestra, a young cellist, Olga, played by Sophie Kauer.

Even though that the situation that Lydia placed in is rather atypical for female characters, Blanchett admits that the story is “a fairytale of sorts because there still is no female conductor leading the great old German orchestra around the world,” and confessed that “strangely, I didn’t think about the character’s gender, nor her sexuality at all.” The actress also hoped that “we have perhaps matured enough as a species that we can watch a film like this and not make that the headline issue.”

“It’s a very long journey in a very short period of time for Lydia,” Field said, to which Blanchett added, “She’s definitely haunted by someone, by something. By her past, by herself, by past deeds… She was someone estranged from herself. And I think in a way, probably all the characters are. We all are. It’s human. You don’t have to be a concert pianist or the conductor of the world’s greatest orchestra to experience that feeling.”

What she loves most about this film is that “It’s a very human portrait.”

Tár

Answering the question about a search of her own identity, Blanchett said, “I’ve never thought of my identity as being a static thing. I think I am still in the process of becoming who I am.”

Producer Eileen Tasca Finds Her Way With EO

By Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Eileen Tasca is managing director of Alien Films and Task Films, a production company whose co-shareholder is legendary Polish film director, Jerzy Skolimowski. In 2015, she was executive producer of Skolimowski’s  11 Minutes that premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. The film won top prize at the Lisbon Film Festival and was selected as Poland’s entry for foreign language film for the 2016 Academy Awards. In 2010, she co-financed  Essential Killing, also directed by Skolimowski, that garnered numerous awards at the Venice Film Festival.

Working again with Skolimowski, she is the Italian producer of Cannes Jury Prize Winner and 2023 Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominee  EO , a parable focused on the life of a simple donkey, set against the backdrop of today’s maddening reality.

IEM had the chance to catch up with Tasca.

NM: Did you always know you wanted to work in film?

ET: Yes, but I did not come from a family in the business, so it took me a while to find my way.

NM: Many people outside of film don’t know what a producer does. Can you explain your role as a producer?

ET: Ideally, I see myself as a creative producer which means that I come in early on when the film still is in development, helping directors to hone in on their vision and then accompany them throughout the production process to make sure that their film is properly distributed to reach its target audience. There are many different

types of producers. Big budget productions often have an army of producers whose individual roles may be limited to a specific task, such as securing the talent that will enable the film to be greenlit.

NM: Can you tell us about some of your previous films?

ET: I have mainly worked with auteur directors, such as Werner Schroeter and Jerzy Skolimowski, although I also worked with first time directors, such as Stefano Di Polito, whose film Mirafiori Lunapark was the story of three retired Fiat workers who

Lorenzo Zurzolo and Eileen Tasca at Italian Premiere of EO

Eileen Tasca, Nicole Muj, Cannes 2022

wanted to build an amusement park on the site of an abandoned Fiat factory in Turin. Working with first time directors can be very rewarding but it also is very demanding. I worked on Werner Schroeter’s last film Nuits Du Chiens. Schroeter was known for his stylistic excesses, as cited by Reiner Werner Fassbinder as an influence, as well as on German cinema.

NM: Do you have a film that you are most proud of?

ET: That’s an easy question. Obviously EO.

NM: You have a film called EO. What inspired you to tell this story?

ET: I love animals and the film by Robert Bresson Au Hazard Balthazar, which was about a donkey, was the film that inspired Jerzy Skolimowski. And of course, working with Skolimowski always is an adventure.

NM: What do you love about donkeys more than people?

ET: Donkeys are kind and gentle creatures, although at times they can also be very stubborn. Our film EO shows how rapacious human beings are. We rape and plunder the natural world and we forget that we share with animals a kinship in the biosphere. That destroying the nature will intimately lead to our own demise. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a limit to human greed.

NM: Can you give us an anecdote or a favorite moment you had while making the film?

ET: EO was a very difficult film to make. At times it felt like Skolimowski was more like a sorcerer rather than a film director, who unleashed a force of nature bigger than any of us. Several people, myself included, broke our bones through freak accidents off the set. Having a donkey as the protagonist was either an act of blind faith or total folly. Skolimowski is an artist in the purest sense of the word. His best work comes from extrapolating from the script. This can create a few headaches for the producer as we are accountable to the funding people whose roadmap is the script. That said, we’re thrilled about the success that the film is having and hope that audiences will become more sensitive to the plight of animals.

NM: You recently attended the American Film Market. Why is it important for producers to attend international markets?

ET: The answer is quite simple…because no one can depend on their home market.

NM: You recently spoke on the Production Without Borders panel during the AFM. How was that experience and what was most rewarding about this eclectic conversation?

ET: It was fun. The producer I am working on now received a call from a friend in Los Angeles who asked him if he knew who I was because he had attended the panel.

NM: What will you be working on next?

ET: At the moment we are preparing a feature film by a young Lebanese director Nadim Tabet titled Under Construction. My company Alien Films is the Italian coproducer. There are also several other projects in development on which I cannot comment on right now. Stay tuned!

Jerzy Skolimowski

Paul Sorvino | April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022 A True Renaissance Man Celebrated

By Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Legendary actor, artist and author, loving husband and father, loyal friend, military veteran, mentor to many with a larger than life personality, Paul Sorvino was celebrated at a special private event held recently in Hollywood. ‘A true Renaissance Man’ was a sentiment that was repeated over and over again during the Celebration of Life Tribute held last year at the Hollywood Museum, organized by the late actor’s wife and partner, Emmy Award-winning actress and TV personality Dee Dee Sorvino.

Joining Dee Dee in the tribute were Joe Mantegna, Sorvino’s daughter Amanda and granddaughter Claudia, Lainie Kazan, E! founder

Larry Namer, Vincent De Paul, representatives from the American Legion Post 43, and many others. Special video messages were sent by Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Chaz Palminteri, Chris Tucker, Chris Noth, Carol Alt, John Voight, Steve Schirripa, Ben Mankiewicz, Piers Morgan, and Renée Taylor. The Honor Guard performed military honors for the Vietnam-era Army veteran.

Dee Dee, who vowed to give her dear husband an extra special send-off, commented, “Paul wanted to go out like a star, and that’s what he’s gonna do. He just never wanted anybody to feel bad because of him. He wanted people to celebrate his life.”

Brooklyn born Paul Sorvino has appeared in nearly 200 films, a variety of television shows, and Broadway productions. Best known for his portrayal of tough guys, Sorvino portrayed Paul Cicero in  Goodfellas, police chief Captain Edelson in  Cruising, and Detective Phil Cerrato on Law and Order. He also played such memorable characters as Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s Nixon , Fulgencio Capulet in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Lips Manlis in Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy . Most recently, he starred in the critically acclaimed TV series Godfather of Harlem.  An operatic tenor and a man of many talents, he has performed at Lincoln Center and is an internationally known sculptor. He was the founder of the Paul Sorvino Asthma Foundation. Sorvino received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Mr. & Miss India America Pageant & Elite Awards. He was the father of three adult children Mira, Amanda, and Michael, along with five grandchildren.

Paul Sorvino has been named the French Riviera Film Festival’s 2023 ICON Award recipient, which will be presented to Dee Dee on Oscar night.

Joe Mantegna, Dee Dee Sorvino, Donelle Dadigan, Courtesy of NUNZIO

Photo of Paul Sorvino, Courtesy of Warren Saire

OSCARS 2023 PARTNERS

My Policeman: Linear vs. Non-Linear Film Storytelling

By Claude Brickell

Throughout British/American film history, the standard storytelling format has been linear: the hero has a goal and an obstacle standing in the way of achieving that goal. And the story progresses in a linear format from its beginning to its end. Screenwriters occasionally employ a flashback to further elucidate what is occurring in the present by returning briefly to an earlier moment in the character’s past. But the story remains linear. The exception is a reverse format where the past is at the beginning and the story is told in reverse. Each segment of that, however, remains linear. Examples are Memento and the shocking French film Irreversible.

But, there is also the non-linear format which employs the past equally with the present as its standard and with the present

and past jockeying back and forth between the two segments, which requires a highly skilled screenwriter like Ron Nyswaner who has adapted Bethan Roberts’ very popular My Policeman novel to the screen by the

David Dawson, Emma Corrin, Harry Styles

same title. Nyswaner first burst onto the screenwriting scene with his Oscar-winning screenplay Philadelphia, the film starring Tom Hanks in 1993. Nyswaner admits to being drawn to “tragic love stories.” In that sense, the regret-laced recollections in Robert’s novel My Policeman made for a perfect match of writer and subject. “To bring that to a big audience (with Amazon’s financing), and with Harry [Styles], Emma [Corrin], and all the rest of the beautiful cast, [was] a dream come true,” Nyswaner says.

My Policeman is a story set in 1950s Brighton, England about Tom Burgess, a rookie policeman, who encounters, by chance or maybe not, Patrick Hazelwood, a gay and introspective curator at the local art museum. After that, Tom’s life as a police officer drastically changes as it begins opening up his inner homosexual longings. This is, in no way, publically accepted and certainly not permissible for a police officer in that sexually repressive era. Driven to conform to public norms, however, Tom seeks a heterosexual marriage with friend Marion Taylor and eventually consummates

it. The problem is, Tom is not willing to give up his relationships with either Patrick or Marion. He needs both. Fast forward to the present where we encounter, again, the three still entwined (told from Marion’s perspective), and after Patrick has been arrested and sent off to prison for homosexual crime and Tom has been forced to resign his position as a Brighton police officer, all in the past. To complicate things further, and because Marion is dealing with an inner guilt for having driven a wedge between a deeply committed male/male relationship, and after Patrick has suffered a serious stroke virtually paralyzing him, she decides to bring Patrick to live with her and Tom in the present. Tom, however, is staunchly opposed to this as he continues to see his relationship with Patrick ill-fated from the start and the cause of his professional downfall.

Michael Grandage’s highly-sensitive handling of My Policeman, and the poignantly-memorable character portraits by Harry Styles ( Dunkirk ), Emma Corrin ( The Crown ) and David Dawson (All The Old Knives) in the past, and Rupert Everett (The Name of the Rose), Linus Roache (The Apology) and Gina McKee (Notting Hill) in the present, have brought Roberts original story to a masterful film offering with Nyswaner’s brilliant script.

Nyswaner describes My Policeman as “a beautiful book” that’s heavy on introspection. It [was] his job, then, to translate these interior feelings to the screen. “They can’t say ‘I love you;’ they can’t say ‘I need you’ for many reasons.” Staying true to the

Gina McKee, Linus Roache

Harry Styles

depth of Roberts’ characters, while ensuring that the nuances of Tom, Marion and Patrick’s dynamic are conveyed to an audience, is vital to the success of his film adaptation. He believes the older and younger counterparts of the central trio, coupled with Michael Grandage’s sensitive directing, have more than risen to the task.

When Grandage first presented Roberts’ book to Nyswaner, it was in linear format. The author had dealt with the characters individually in the past then carried her story to the present forty years later. Nyswaner says the one challenge in adapting this dual narrative that brims with desire, longing and jealousy, was that so much of it is an internal reflection of restrictive circumstances. And he read the novel multiple times before putting it aside. “I let it just be in me and then come out in a way that was, I hoped, truthful to the book.” And he right away saw the importance of the past within the present as an integral whole in that the past never leaves us; it is always there. He then began to see the necessity of a volley between both. The story simply had to be told in a non-linear format. His adaptation of events therefore vacillates between the past and the present, often back and forth and sometimes within the past as well as the present. What has resulted is a narrative

full of highly complex inner feelings presented for the viewer.

On Tom and Patrick: “What makes their love affair so beautiful and tragic is that it’s precious, and time is against them. Their love is fleeting, which makes them both want it so much more,” says Dawson who plays the younger Patrick.

On Marion: “One of the elements about getting… older is that it can be life-altering. Your perspectives are sharpened,” says Gina McKee who plays Marion, older.

My Policeman is a story of clandestine love that leads to stolen moments in public and private as the titular police officer embarks on a journey of intellectual and sexual self-discovery in 1950s Britain. It’s an artfully executed feature you won’t want to miss.

(*quotes from Amazon Studios)

Gina McKee, Rupert Everett

Cyrus Neshvad’s The Red Suitcase

by Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Cyrus Neshvad’s  The Red Suitcase is a heartbreaking story of a 16-year-old Iranian girl who is visibly terrified after picking up her  red suitcase at  the airport. She is seen to be lost in thought and taking her time to leave  the departure lounge. What awaits her on  the other side of  the automatic doors is even more daunting than we thought. The short is nominated for  the 95th Academy® Awards after qualifying by winning  the  Oscar®qualifying award at  the  Tirana International Film Festival.

Director

Luxembourg Airport. Late in  the  evening. A veiled 16-yearold Iranian girl is frightened to take her  red suitcase on  the automatic carpet. She keeps pushing back  the  moment to go through  the  arrival gate and seems more and more terrified.

Cyrus Neshvad is a Luxembourg director of Iranian origin. He has directed several short films including The Orchid, Antoine, Son and Portraitist, have all been produced by CYNEFILMS. Collectively, these films have officially been selected in over 300 festivals, over 30 of them Oscar-qualifying. Portraitist qualified for the Oscars in 2020 and won 55 awards, including the Letzebuerger Filmpraïs 2021 in Luxembourg. Currently, Neshvad is developing his first feature film Le Refuge (The Shelter), supported by  the Film Fund Luxembourg.

Neshvad comments, “Being nominated makes me proud to bring support to  the  Iranians fighting right now in  the  streets of Tehran for their freedom.”

The film’s writer Guillaume Levil has written and directed sev -

Cyrus Neshvad

Official Poster

eral films, including  The Trouser Issue, which was broadcasted on TV. He has also directed Arthur Rambo and wrote Portraitist, which was also  the winner of  The Lëtzebuerger Filmprais.

The beautiful composition which sets the sombre tone of the film was created by Kyan Bayani who was  the  composer of two-time, Oscarnominated Collective, directed by Alexander Nanau and Bad Banks, directed by Christian Schwochow and Christian Zübert on Netflix.

IEM had a chance to interview the talented director prior to the Oscars.

Can you tell us a little more about your background in the film industry?

As an Iranian filmmaker living in Luxembourg, The Red Suitcase is my 6th professional short film. My previous short film, Portraitist qualified for the Oscars in 2019 and won the Luxembourgish Oscars in 2019. I will be shooting my first feature film in May 2023.

What was your inspiration for making The Red Suitcase?

In 2019 in Luxembourg, my mother told me that lots of women in Iran were disappearing for saying their opinions or not wearing their headscarves correctly. That terrified me because it was happening, and nobody was talking about it. I wanted to do something. I decided to make a short film starring an Iranian girl who decides to stand up for her rights by taking her headscarf off: Her free will to choose. Today, after Mahsa Amini’s death, the whole world knows what’s going on in Iran and I am really relieved about that.

How did you select your lead actress Nawelle Ewad?

In the casting, she had to play the scene where Ariane removes her Hijab to escape. Nawelle did it in a way I was not expecting with tears and fear, by looking at me deeply in the eyes. This convinced me.

How did music (by Kyan Bayani) play a key role in the film?

In The Red Suitcase, the music is unique. And when it appears it’s very minimalistic, nearly like a sound design and underlines slightly emotions of this Iranian girl prisoned in these big spaces of the airport.

Of course, the film is very timely. Can you comment on what you would like world audiences to take away from the film?

Women and men should have equal rights because I think that they are the two wings of the same bird.

How has your work in short films prepared you for your first feature?

The work on a short film or a feature film is the same for me. It’s like constructing a building with three apartments or 30 apartments. For me, it’s just a continuation and trying to keep the passion to tell stories by associating pictures together in order to give emotions.

Can you tell us about your upcoming feature film “Le Refuge”?

It’s the story of a six-year-old Iranian boy escaping the revolution in Iran with his mother. They find shelter in a camp in Luxembourg. There the boy befriends himself with an old Russian woman. A friendship grows between these two people who are different in every way and don’t even speak the same language. It’s a very beautiful story.

Nawelle Ewad

Magnusson Focused On Keeping Short Film Genre Alive

Academy Award-nominated IVALU  is produced by Rebecca Pruzan and Kim Magnusson. Rebecca Pruzan is an independent producer who was previously commissioning editor of Children’s Programming at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. The short is the first film Pruzan has produced.

Pruzan comments, “IVALU is a strong and poetic film that sheds light on a very important and sensitive subject. Abuse is the children’s problem but the adults’ responsibility. Regardless of culture and nationality.   I hope  IVALU will open the eyes and hearts of all who see it”.

Kim Magnusson founded M&M Productions with his father, Tivi Magnusson in 1995. He was later headhunted to run Nordisk Film’s Film Division. He has produced and executive produced more than 150 films, and TV series. He has been Oscar® nominated in the category “Live Action Short Film” seven times and won the coveted award two times, in 1999 for Election Night and in 2014 for Helium. Magnusson has been the chairman of the Danish Producers Association for nine years, as well as chairman of the Danish Film Academy for 20 years. He recently co-founded a new pan-Nordic distribution company Scandinavian Film Distribution. IEM had the chance to interview Magnusson prior to awards night.

How did you select the lead young actors in Ivalu? - Mila Heilmann Kreutzmann (Pipaluk) and Nivi Larsen (Ivalu)

by Nicole Goesseringer Muj

Due to Covid we had to do the casting via Zoom. The production company Polarama helped with finding different girls that fit the description and also made sure that they came from good families that were able to support the girls as they were going to deal with such a sensitive subject matter. Rebecca, Anders and I felt very sure when we choose Mila and Nivi as the two sisters. And they more than lived up to our hopes when we started shooting. Both girls have lifted their roles in such an impressive and mature way even though they were novices.

Kim Magnusson

What do you want audiences to take away from the film? What is the main message?

First of all, it was important to us that we told the story from the perspective of Pipaluk (the younger sister). Also we knew that we had a responsibility to those who have been affected by incest and other domestic violence. These are difficult conversations, but we must have them to break the taboos that are associated with that kind of violence.

Often children who are in this situation are surrounded by shame and think that what they are victims off is their own fault. I think it is important to tell them that

it’s not their fault without making them feel guilty. To make them feel seen. They need to have trust in themselves and with the people around them. Hopefully enough so that they can share what they are going through with peers, family, or friends. They are not alone!

You have been nominated for an Oscar in the short film category seven times and have won two times, while your company has had four nominations and two wins. Why are the Oscars important to you?

The Oscars per say, is not important to me or us, but important to the films, since the Oscars are the highest honor you can receive in our industry, and the films will get a worldwide audience and in the shorts-format, it’s so important to get the film out wide. With IVALU, for example, more than being a tremendous acknowledgement for every person who has contributed to the film, it has also enabled us to start a conversation with people all over the world about the subject matter.

How do you decide to be involved with new projects? How did you come to work with Anders Walter and Pipaluk K. Jorgensen.?

I get involved, or try to, in projects that make me feel something when first introduced to them – I also say – if it makes me cry, then we’re on to something (I cry easily). Anders Walter and I have worked together since he started making films. Rebecca Pruzan, who is the lead

producer on the film - and is also my wife - joined our IVALU team and we produced it together.

IVALU is based on the graphic novel, with the same name, and takes place in Greenland. As we were going to shoot it there we knew from the beginning that we had to team up with a local production company in order to make it right. So we worked together with Pipaluk K. Jørgensen and her production company Polarama Greenland. Rebecca Pruzan worked closely together with Polarama who helped in finding the local crew and made sure all things was dealt with in an orderly manner. Also, Pipaluk assisted Anders Walter as a co-director as the film is shot in Greenlandic.

Why do you prefer the short film genre vs. feature films?

I don’t prefer short films to features. However, I do like the short format, since it doesn’t have the economically consequences of a feature film. It gives the short filmmakers a “free playing field”, without looking to please a certain audience, financing scheme, cinemas or streaming services needs. And for us, the short film format has always been a talent-building part of our business, and you will quickly learn, if there are talent, and if it’s someone you want to continue working with. I used to compare it with a relationship, where short film is the dating period, where you easily can stop if it doesn’t work out, but a feature is a baby, since even though you divorce, you will always have you child, that needs to be co-parented.

Can you tell us more about Scandinavian Film Distribution and why you founded it?

We (Christian Bévort, Michael Fleischer and I) felt there was a need in the marketplace (The Nordics) for a more producer-oriented distribution company that has more time to the individual film, since our company only distributes local titles in the Nordics.

Can you tell us about any new projects you are working on?

We’re distributing a slate of 8-10 films that will hit the big screen over the next 12-18 months.

Nivi Larsen

Introducing Sue Wong’s Palazzo Marrakesh

by Nicole Goesseringer Muj

When the iconic fashion designer Sue Wong bought a huge, bland but decidedly boring McMansion totally devoid of personality and character in Los Feliz, California last year, she took up the challenge of giving it glamour, character, style and grandeur. She was inspired by her previous decor of the Jimi Hendrix room at her Hollywood historical mansion The Cedars, which embodies nostalgic opulence in the exotic Moroccan manner of the 1920s.

Inspired and emboldened by the Moroccan fantasy that she had created at The Cedars, she embarked on designing an entire 10,300 square-foot Moroccan palazzo. Last summer, she trekked through four Moroccan cities - Casablanca, Marrakesh, Fez, Agadir - to comb for precious treasures in scorching temperatures. It was an unforgettable trek of a lifetime that yielded the most astonishing unique pieces of furniture art.

Upon her return, she sat side-by-side with her graphic artist friend Dave Pascal who translated all of her creative ideas into digital format. She proceeded to design every single piece of ceiling, doors, furniture, mosaic tiles, and architectural elements, such as carved

archways and columns that defined spaces, implementing the tradition of Moroccan handicraft of many centuries. The finished house is magnificent – an all-handcrafted custom house – every ceiling , every doorway, every piece of furniture all beautifully handmade!  Wong recently threw one of her exclusive soirées, unveiling Palazzo Marrakesh to her closest friends…

Photos by Brian Kaplan

Photo by Greg Doherty

A wonderful magical vortex was created by the presence of over 350 vibrant souls who gathered at my newly created work of art, Palazzo Marrakesh, to celebrate its completion on February 24th! It was high level energy which emanated from talented and accomplished artists who came from the worlds of entertainment, fashion, music, dance, journalism to form a fortissimo of creative frequency and a spark which ignited the entire pulsating atmosphere.

In attendance were celebrated Intel warriors, Sacha Stone and Scott McKay, actor Kelsey Grammer and his stunning daughter Greer, designer Donald J. Pliner and his glamorous wife, Lisa Faith BarbernellPliner, Abbot Yeanfan of the Shaolin Temple, international peace maker, the Reverend Patrick McCollum, BRITWEEK Chairman, Nigel Daly with his beautiful wife, Louise Salter, Caroline Lagerfelt, actor/ rock musician, Ronn Moss, producer Larry Kasanoff, E! founder Larry Namer, actor Vincent De Paul, musician Leon Hendrix, the brother of Rock immortal Jimi Hendrix, Scott Page (Pink Floyd), Chris Pitman (Guns ‘N Roses), violinist Scarlet Rivera, and many others.

The party was an elegant affair, with delicious passed hors d’oeuvres and desserts, while wine and spirits flowed, including Armagnac by Cardinal du Four. Everyone was blown away by the beauty of the house, which I created, as well as the amazing party itself.

The music was equally stellar, starting with a set by Ronn Moss, Steve Cooke, Scott Page, Scarlet Rivera, Derek Day, Chris Grainger, and Jenny Mosely. The set was followed by Bex Marshal singing rock/blues and channeling Janis Joplin. Djordje Stijepovic gave an awesome

Devin DeVasquez, Sue Wong, Ronn Moss

Greer Grammer, Kelsey Grammer, Sue Wong, Vincent De Paul

Photo: Sheri M. Determan

Eugenia Kuzmina, Scott McKay, Sue Wong, Sacha Stone, Dustin Quick, Angela Ploy

Sue Wong, Scott Page

stand up bass performance and last but not least, Leon Hendrix, brother of Jimi, gave nothing less than an electrifying performance with vocalist M’CHELL. There also was a surprise guest appearance by American psychedelic soul band, The Chamber Brothers. What an unforgettable, magical evening!

Sponsors included Spencer Daly’s SLYD wines, Christophe Namer’s Cardinal du Four Armagnac, food by Thach Namer of Elyse Restaurant, San Jose, and candles by Milena Popovic/Milena Los Angeles.

Cardinal du Four’s Christophe Namer and wife Thach

Yuliya Dudenko, Larry Namer, Dustin Quick, Sandra Cooke

Lisa Faith Barbernell-Pliner, Sue Wong, Donald J Pliner

- Sue Wong

Photos by Sheri Determan and Tshombe Sampson

Dana Sparks, Chris Mulkey

Nicole Muj, Caroline Lagerfelt, Larry Kasanoff

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