DAILY TIGER
NEDERLANDSE EDITIE Z.O.Z
38TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM #6 TUESDAY 27 JANUARY 2009
photo: Ruud Jonkers
Party spirits: Producer Claire Agnès-Lajoumard, director Kasumi Hiraoka and IFFR press officer Vincent Ulmer were among the guests at the industry reception hosted by Variety, the City of Rotterdam, Holland Film, RFC, the French Embassy and IFFR in Rotterdam’s hotel Engels on Sunday night.
Trading in for a New Model
Filmmaker and marketing expert Brian Chirls wants directors to forget about conventional distribution and film festivals. He outlines his plans for the future to Nick Cunningham Arin Crumley, makers of Four Eyed Monsters (2005), they were having problems finding a distributor. Many distribution companies loved the film, but refused to commit to a deal because they didn’t know how to market it. “So I came on board and together we learned how to market it ourselves,” he says. They started out by creating a video podcast which began to build a small audience for the film. Then they sent out a daily video blog to the South by Southwest Film Festival homepage, detailing their failed efforts to get the film seen. Such was the quick turnaround of this blog, it served to illuminate attendees not only about the film, but what was happening at the festival in general. “It was quite artistic and had never been done before, and it helped to further increase the audience size,” Chirls claims.
“Traditional distribution models don’t exist to serve the story or the filmmaker, they exist to serve the industry,” states Brian Chirls, whose innovative, self-developed DIY distribution models – and their subsequent application – are one of the focuses of this year’s 2009 Rotterdam Lab. “Old models exist because of technological limitations, and because of previous generations who are frightened of change. The industry is currently using models that worked two generations ago.” Up-front After graduating in business and computer engineering, Chirls soon decided to pursue a different career path, that of filmmaker. But he soon encountered a business modus operandi when it came to release strategies that he felt was not only ridiculously outmoded but weighed against the best interests of the filmmaker. “Filmmakers lack the power to make their own decisions and to decide the fate of their film,” he stresses. “You write a film, you get it funded, and then it is brought to a festival and then some magical distribution company throws piles of money at it and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Idyllic as this may sound to some, Chirls argues that filmmakers are bulldozered into deals that are a mere sop, as opposed to something that offers a valuable back-end return relative to the film’s market value.
Brian Chirls
“My alternative is asking for investment money upfront anyway when budgeting your film. It makes more sense to ask for more money, not just to get the picture locked, but to distribute it too. This makes distribution part of the product. It increases the value of the film, puts more control into your hands and allows you to say whether or not you then need a distributor. And are they then prepared to offer real value?”
photo: Ramon Mangold
Reel it in So, he asks rhetorically, what distribution models best suit the product and audience, create value and turn a buck or two? The first step is to identify and locate the film’s audience, before asking them to fork out hard-earned cash. Reel them in, get them to return to the product and then to spread the word. He offers an example of how he has successfully applied these principles. When Chirls met Susan Buice and
Ipod generation All of this coincided with the launch of the video iPod and, as there was little initial content, the Four Eyed Monsters podcast updates proved popular. “So the filmmakers kind of worked on that story, did multiple episodes and every episode was very engaging in the sense that it ended with a cliffhanger,” Chirls continues. “People were investing in these real characters. Eventually the distribution was integrated with the story. If you’re interested in the characters you want to see the film, but you also want this film to be seen.”
GUEST COLUMN
Confessions of a film director Jean-Claude Brisseau tells Geoffrey Macnab why sex to him is what fear was to Hitchcock
First things first Time Out London film critic David Jenkins loses his IFFR virginity to some hardcore pleasures
Two days ago, I was a Rotterdam Film Festival virgin – but not any more. All I knew of the place was a few architectural notables a friend had outlined on a tourist fun map; that mayo is the condiment of choice to accompany fries (thank you, Tarantino!), and that the festival, according to the assurances of a colleague back in London, is “really hardcore.” I arrived to find that all three pre-arrival info nuggets are indeed true, although to my mind, it’s the films that are “hardcore”, not the festival itself. The walk to my hotel from the De Doelen centre is pretty hardcore, especially traversing the ghostly shopping arcade on Hoogstraat at night, where even the kebab shops drop their shutters before 10pm. I took a detour the other evening and stood alone on a street corner looking up at a modern office block as a quasi-orgasmic Isabella Rosselini was strapped into an old-style electric chair c/o Guy Maddin. Which was nice. The walk is OK, though. It gives you time to think about the movies – ones you’ve seen, and ones you’ve yet to see. I’m sad I arrived too late to see Hou Hsiou-hsien’s 1980 debut, Cute Girl, which played in the First Things First strand, and it looks like catching Kiarostami’s Shirin in the Spectrum strand is going to be a no-go as well. I’m looking forward to seeing Hirokzu Kore-Eda’s Still Walking, Alexei Balabanov’s Morphia and the premiere of the Carlos Reygadasproduced El árbor (around which there has been some positive buzz). I’ve promised myself that I will rise early (well, earlyish) to see the morning press screening of the Tiger competitors, regardless of the unholy state I may have reached during the previous evening. I’ve promised my friend that I’ll go and see Rem Koolhaas’s Kunsthal (“a must see building!”). I’ve promised my boss that I’ll write a big festival report for the Time Out website which, if the quality of the films I’ve seen thus far is maintained, should be a breeze. In fact, if things carry on as they are, I may have to promise myself another trip to Rotterdam around the same time next year.
Controversial French director Jean-Claude Brisseau is to turn his back on the series of intense, sexually explicit dramas that have earned him such notoriety in recent years. Brisseau, a Filmmaker in Focus at IFFR in 2003, was in town this weekend presenting his latest feature, A L’aventure, about a young woman’s sexual odyssey (screening in the festival’s Spectrum section). He acknowledged that he had been “badly hurt” by the fall-out from his recent films, Secret Things (2002) and The Exterminating Angels (2006). A sexual harassment case was launched against him in the wake of Secret Things. Although his films have continued to sell in the international marketplace, they have received mixed critical responses. As the IFFR catalogue notes “in France, his films are alternately denounced and applauded.” “This film [A L’aventure] ends a series of films,” Brisseau states. “I like very much to search: to try things that other directors never dared. But now it is closed. It is over.” The veteran director says that he “had suffered too much” as a consequence of his recent films. “As a person, I have been accused of many things. Because I was famous, my face was on the TV screen and everybody believed things that I never did.” Whatever their impact on his reputation and private life, Brisseau has mounted a spirited defence of the films. Exploring zones “For approximately 50 years, I have been listening to women’s confidences, especially about sex. I discovered a lot of things that I wasn’t imagining before,” Brisseau explains. He acknowledges that his style of filmmaking was “dangerous,” but insists that his films were not pornographic. “Most of the people who make porno films don’t know how to shoot. They are not very good directors,” he says. “Sex is an important thing in our lives. Without sex, there would not be life.” Brisseau argues that very few films are made that deal seriously with the subject. “I have been trying to do what almost no one has done before; that is
“Because of the trauma of exile I see ghosts everywhere.” So said Jun Saturay, an environmental activist forced to flee his native Philippines in 2003. Saturay was speaking with Philippine filmmaker Lav Diaz to mark the international premiere of Diaz’s Melancholia at the IFFR. The film is partly a reflection on the impact of the human-rights violations carried out under the present government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Saturay’s remark had added resonance given the venue: IFFR’s ‘Haunted House’ installation space. An exhibition of work by Asian filmmakers around various supernatural themes, the House’s focus on horror was rooted in harrowing reality by Saturay’s testimony. Passing an exhibition of photographs of environmental and social activists killed in a series of extrajudicial killings that a 2008 UN report
Warsaw-based Jan Topolski, film critic for Kino magazine and a programmer for Era New Horizons festival, recommends Kornél Mundruczó’s Delta. “Delta is poetic yet cruel story of community and outsiders, of culture and nature. There is everything I love in cinema: attention to detail and sound (hearing the soundscapes of the Danube’s delta). And at the same time, it is symbolic and metaphysical – just observe the role of animals, for example. After this film, I’m sure Mundruczó has grown into a leading author of new Hungarian cinema, and he is one of the best artists in today’s auteur cinema.” Delta Kornél Mundruczó
photo: Bram Belloni
not only to make sex, but to include it in films with fantastic surrealistic scenes, with comical and dramatic (elements) and to mix all of it together... for a few years, I spent my time exploring zones in which others have not dared to go… I wanted to try to use sexual emotions as Hitchcock used fear for his films.” The French director is now planning a completely different style of film. His next feature is likely to be La Bande a Bonnot, about the Bonnot Gang, the notorious Bonnie and Clyde-style robbers active in France during the early 1900s. Part of a French criminal anarchist group during the Belle
photo: Ruud Jonkers
Epoque, the Bonnot gang members were famous for using cars and modern guns during their heists. A film was made in 1968 about the gang that starred musician Jacques Brel and Bruno Cremer (later to appear in several Brisseau movies). International sales on A L’Aventure are being handled by Films Distribution. A L’Aventure Jean-Claude Brisseau Cinerama 6 Fri 30 Jan 19:45
Real horror exposed in Haunted House
I’ll be watching…
David Jenkins
Jean-Claude Brisseau
Pathé 1 Wed 28 Jan 18:30 Pathé 3 Fri 30 Jan 13:30 Cinerama 6 Sat 31 Jan 22:30
linked to the military, Saturay recognized a few of his friends. “It’s heart-breaking to be reminded what happened to them,” he said. Since 2001, over a thousand ordinary people have been the victims of such extrajudicial killing, including social workers, teachers and journalists. At the sombre press conference, Saturay ranged widely over the human-rights abuses and economic problems currently faced by the Philippines, which they say are far worse than under Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law. Having had his previous work banned by the Board of Censors, Lav Diaz explained that free speech is limited in the Philippines. Referring to the progressive journalists claimed by the death squads, which have helped make the Philippines one the deadliest nations for the press, Diaz agreed that making his
films critical of the ruling establishment was risky: “Everybody’s a target”, he said. Paying tribute to Lav Diaz’s Melancholia, Saturay described the film as a “useful tool” with which to stimulate debate in the West about the injustices of Arroyo’s rule. For further information, see also www.stopthekillings.be. EL The Haunted House, at Witte de Withstraat 63, is open every day during the festival from 17.00 to 24.00 hours. Melancholia Lav Diaz Zaal De Unie Sat 31 Jan 14:00
Shorts roar with Tiger Awards By Wendy Mitchell
Last night, the festival’s first Tigers were handed out to a trio of short films: A Necessary Music by Beatrice Gibson from the UK; Despair by Galina Myznikova and Sergey Provorov from Russia; and Bernadette by Duncan Campbell from the UK. Each of the three Tiger Awards for Short Film comes with a prize of €3,000. The jury for the awards was comprised of filmmaker Tan Chui Mui, programmer/buyer Maria Pallier from Spanish broadcaster TVE and UK journalist, curator and artist George Clark. There were 27 films in the competition, of a length up to 60 minutes. Of the winners, the jury noted that A Necessary
38TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
Music was “a unique exploration of community memory and social history.” Despair “achieves a dreamlike quality from minimal means”, while Bernadette’s “remarkable rigour brilliantly accommodates its questioning of documentary form.” On Sunday evening, the NPS New Arrivals Award was presented to the short film Seeking You by Jean-Julien Pous from France, with a Special Mention for Jansoree – the Unbearable Heaviness of Mama’s Nagging by Jung Yol Choi from South Korea. New Arrivals is a new online initiative from IFFR and Dutch broadcaster NPS. International filmmakers submitted their shorts, and seven monthly winners competed for the top prize of €1,000. They jury called Seeking You an “impressive cinematic love letter to Hong Kong.”
3
Netherlands
Illuminations announce new slate
threatens to quit Eurimages The Netherlands is threatening to quit Eurimages, it has emerged during IFFR. Dutch representatives are understood to have told Eurimages (the 33-member Council of Europe co-production fund) that they will leave the fold unless their concerns about the level of their contribution fee is addressed quickly. Holland is not alone in taking a stand against what it perceives to be an unfair system. The Italians are also reportedly considering their position within the fund. Contributions to Eurimages are calculated through a complex system involving GDP, population and coproductions supported. The Dutch complained in November 2007 about the lack of support from Eurimages for film production in the Netherlands. Eurimages responded by setting up a working group to assess how contributions are levied. Other members of Eurimages have expressed alarm that their contributions may be raised if the Dutch and the Italians withdraw from the Fund. However, Roberto Olla, Executive Director of Eurimages, has sought to reassure members that their concerns are being addressed. The working group has already met twice before Christmas and once earlier this month. There will be a meeting in March of the Board of Management, at which the Dutch and Italian complaints are bound to be discussed again. The majority (almost 90%) of the Fund’s resources – which originate from Member States’ contributions – goes to supporting co-production. Since it was set up in 1989, Eurimages has supported the co-production of more than 1,200 full-length feature films and documentaries. GM (continued from page 1) Chirls then built a database on the fans, and began to use it to reach out to them directly. “If we had a screening in a little cinema in America somewhere, we’d say, ‘OK, we got a hundred seats to fill – we know we have only ten people coming, so we need to reach out to more.’ We’d check out the database and find somebody who has signed up early, has sent us multiple emails and has used our image on his MySpace profile. We know this is a good fan. So the director would email him directly and say ‘Hey, I’m this pseudo-famous person,’ and they would say ‘Oh my God, an email from the director of this film that I love’, and he would agree to help spread the word about the screening.” Greasing the wheel Eventually the filmmakers brokered a deal with YouTube and the online movie community Spout, whereby YouTube offered the movie for free and Spout served as a sponsor, paying the filmmakers a dollar for each new member joining after watching it. Chirls is now developing software to “grease the wheel” for filmmakers who are looking to wrestle control of their films from players within the traditional distribution system. “All bets are off – forget theatrical, forget film festivals,” he warns. “I am a filmmaker. Here is my story. Here are the themes I want to get across. And here is the audience. Now, let’s work out the best way to get to them and make them happily pay for the content.”
Stop Press At 8pm tonight in Cinerama 2, Prasa i Film and CineMart present the press and industry screening of a work-in-progress, All That I Love by Jacek Borcuch (Poland). The film tells the story of Janek, who forms a punk-rock band during the Carnival of Solidarity. Admission is by invitation only.
Simon Field and Keith Griffiths
photo: Daniëlle van Ark
Keith Griffiths and former IFFR director Simon Field of Illuminations Films enlighten Geoffrey Macnab about their latest projects
Illuminations Films, the adventurous Londonbased production company, is hatching a new film with Thai master and Rotterdam favourite Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Uncle Boonmee: A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives is the title for the new feature by Weerasethakul (who has won multiple prizes for previous films such as Syndromes and a Century, Blissfully Yours and Tropical Malady). The film will form the culmination of Primitive, a multi-platform project by Weerasethakul that opens in the Haus der Kunst, Munich, on 20th February. Primitive has been commissioned by Haus der Kunst, Munich with FACT Liverpool and Animate Projects. The installation will travel to Liverpool in September. There will also be a book. Meanwhile, Uncle Boonmee will be pre-sold to buyers at next month’s Berlinale by sales outfit The Match Factory. The origins of the project lie in a research trip the filmmaker took to Nabua, a village in north-east Thailand. While there, Weerasethakul met farmers who had lived through periods of intense op-
pression and violence when the Thai government tried to suppress the spread of communism. The installation focuses on the teenagers of Nabua and their relationship with their past. The feature film, meanwhile, is about a man who is dying and whose long-lost son re-appears as a “monkey ghost”, along with the man’s dead wife. Uncle Boonmee then begins to tell the stories about his past lives: as a cow, as a princess and other incarnations. The plan is to shoot at the end of the rainy season in Thailand in October, with a view to completing the film in 2010, maybe even in time for Cannes. Primitive and the accompanying Uncle Boonmee feature mark the latest occasion on which Illuminations have supported a project that straddles the art and film world. The company also produced the films by Nanouk Leopold, Guy Maddin and Carlos Reygadas for the outdoor screens of IFFR’s Size Matters programme. As Illuminations’ Keith Griffiths and Simon Field reveal, the company also has a host of other new film projects. Among these is The Quay brothers’ Sanatorium Under the Hour Glass, a feature-length drama combining animation and live action. Like the Quay’s celebrated short The Street of Crocodiles, it is based on stories by Polish writer Bruno Schulz. It will be shot in Poland. Illuminations will be
putting together the project with Polish partners. Also new is Crossing Borders, a new feature from Chris Petit that has backing from More4 and ZDF/ ARTE. Fans of cult films London (1994) and Robinson in Space (1997) will be heartened to discover that Illuminations is back at work on a new feature from their director, Patrick Keiller. The new project is partly shot and will be ready by the summer of 2010. The film was originally planned to follow on from its two predecessors, but following the death of actor Paul Scofield (who narrated London and Robinson), the filmmakers are re-thinking it as a stand-alone project. Illuminations will also be executive producing Simon Pummell’s Shockhead Soul. This is likewise a multi-platform work. Illuminations’ partners will include Amsterdam-based Submarine. The Wellcome Trust is also backing the project. Meanwhile, after a lengthy delay, another Illuminations project, Dave McKean’s new feature Luna is back on track with post-production likely to resume shortly. Illuminations is also working with IFFR regular Raúl Ruiz on a GK Chesterton adaptation, The Man Who Was Thursday. A Dutch project on Illuminations’ books is The Beast in the Jungle, a Henry James adaptation to be directed by Clara Van Gool.
Baby Boomer Producer Paul Zimic, responsible for Alison Mary Reid’s The Baby Formula, which screens in the festival’s Bright Future section, announced yesterday the film’s pick-up for world sales by Canadian outfit Filmoption International. Nick Cunningham reports
The Baby Formula
“We found it quite interesting that our invitation to Rotterdam brought immediate interest from international distributors,” commented Zimic yesterday. “We are also pleased to say that there has been interest from three US distributors and, just today, we got an encouraging call from a Dutch distributor who was at yesterday afternoon’s sold-out screening in the Pathé. Needless to say, we feel like we have momentum rolling from here into EFM, Berlin.”
38TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
5
02-01-2006
15:21
Pagina 1
Recht op de rol
www.houthoff.com
Het Stimuleringsfonds Nederlandse Culturele Mediaproducties ondersteunt de talkshow
HEADQUARTERS o.l.v. Mieke van der Linden en Gabrielle Provaas om 18.00 uur in de foyer van de Rotterdamse Schouwburg. Het Mediafonds ondersteunt in het kader van Size Matters de stadswandeling annex visuele ontdekkingstocht Walk ‘n’ Talk o.l.v. de Belgische filosoof Ann Meskens. Morgen om 17:00 uur, startpunt foyer Schouwburg. Het Mediafonds ondersteunt in het kader van Size Matters de door het Nederlands Architectuurinstituut georganiseerde lezing waarin drie gerenommeerde sprekers (Michael Naimark, Alison Griffiths en William Boddy) hun licht over het fenomeen Size Matters laten schijnen. 29 januari om 20:00 in het NAi. www.mediafonds.nl
Voor cultuur die u raakt
Geef, word donateur!
Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds zet zich in voor cultuur en natuurbehoud. Jaarlijks steunen we bijna 4.000 projecten op grote en kleine schaal. Denk aan muziek, toneel, beeldende kunst, letterkunde, natuur en monumentenzorg. Naar welke vorm van cultuur gaat uw interesse uit? Als u donateur wordt, steunt u daarmee de cultuur die u raakt. Donateur bent u al vanaf € 3,- per maand of € 25,- per jaar. Word nu donateur: ga naar www.cultuurfonds.nl
Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds geeft cultuur de kans
Foto uiltjes - Rob Reijnen - Foto Natura
063901 Houthoff-adv. 272x193
VPRO Tiger Awards Competition
VPRO Tiger Awards Competition
Love thy neighbour Town and Country Tiger competitor Wrong Rosary is a plea for tolerance in multi-ethnic Istanbul. By Wendy Mitchell
Some directors subscribe to the auteur theory of a single vision; Mahmut Fazil Coskun however is a true collaborator in his debut feature, Wrong Rosary. Coskun came up with the original idea when discussing ideas about “impossible loves” with a screenwriter friend. And then he gathered a group of collaborators together to work on the script. “The group is very important for a couple of things; I was careful to choose people who understood me,” Coskun explains. “I needed a different way of thinking about the script. So I recruited a poet, an actor, a novelist and a screenwriter. I think of it as a brainstorming group.” The script they came up with is about a Muslim muezzin who moves to Istanbul and is drawn to his neighbour, a Catholic nurse. He also takes a job with a bookseller, who turns out to be connected to the woman. “Religious people don’t have to fight. We didn’t set out to show tolerance, but we just wanted to show them being human,” he says of the film, an elegantly paced look at life in multi-ethnic Istanbul. Coskun studied film at UCLA and made shorts in the US; he then returned to Istanbul for graduate school and started working in TV documentaries and commercials. His recent documentary work influenced how he shot Wrong Rosary. “I really tried to catch the reality in this film too,” he says. “I wanted it to look like regular life, so we shot it without tracks, just shooting with the camera on our shoulders. We wanted the audience to feel inside of the film.” He also expressed admiration for the other Turkish filmmakers showing works in IFFR’s Young Turkish Cinema programme. When asked if he counts himself among this group of filmmakers making a new stamp on the country’s cinematic traditions,
Peng Tao’s Tiger competitor Floating in Memory focuses on the plight of China’s young rural migrants. By Edward Lawrenson
Mahmut Fazil Coskun
photo: Felix Kalkman
he smartly replies that it’s not yet apparent whether there is a trend, or who this would include. “I hope so – maybe it will be clear to us all 10 years from now,” he says. As for now, Coskun can be proud to have the first Turkish feature in IFFR’s Tiger competition. “It’s my first time in competition with a fictional film,” he says. “I’m very happy to be here in Rotterdam; even if I don’t win, people here just look like they love cinema.” Wrong Rosary Mahmut Fazil Coskun Pathé 5 Tue 27 Jan 19:15 Pathé 5 Wed 28 Jan 10:30 Cinerama 3 Thu 29 Jan 16:15 * Pathé 5 Fri 30 Jan 13:15 Pathé 5 Sat 31 Jan 16:00 * Press and Industry screening
Chinese director Peng Tao took his inspiration for his second feature, Tiger competitor Floating in Memory, straight from a newspaper story. “I read about a gang using women who’d moved from the country to the city as prostitutes. It made a very deep impression on me.” A tale of 17-year-old Xiu’s relationship with young pimp Qiang, the film includes grisly details that Peng read about in that original news report, like Xiu’s use of pigeon blood to pretend she’s still a virgin to a rich client; Peng also interviewed groups of young people who faced similar situations to Xiu. The true-life origins may suggest a work of sober social realism, but the film’s style is elliptic and impressionistic. Shooting in long takes, Tao films many of his scenes with a subtly but constantly shaky camera. “These unsteady shots evoke my approach to the characters,” Tao says. “I am trying to enter their personal sphere, but at the same time I question whether I’m ever able to completely get inside their minds: the toand-fro camera movement suits this attitude. It also creates a sense of distance and estrangement for the audience, so they think about the issues rather than getting too intimately involved with the characters.” Both Xiu and Qiang are originally from the country, and their plight echoes the difficult time many rural migrants to the cities face in China today: “Young people who behaved well in the country become corrupted by the city.” The movie’s location was in the foot of Huangshan mountains in China’s Anhui province. Tao chose the town because it was neither fully urban nor completely rural, and stands for the in-between status of his lead characters. “Many Chinese films take place in big cities, but they don’t represent the full story
of China today.” The film received Hubert Bals Fund assistance, a contribution that Tao says was “crucial” to the project – “without it the film wouldn’t have happened.” As well as competing in the Tiger strand, Tao is also attending CineMart with Straw Man, a feature project about a middle-aged man who works in a crematorium in a remote part of northern China. “I have good hopes of finding a partner,” Tao says of the project. Floating in Memory Peng Tao Pathé 4 Tue 27 Jan 22:00 Pathé 4 Wed 28 Jan 13:00 Cinerama 2 Thu 29 Jan 14:15 * Pathé 4 Fri 30 Jan 10:15 Pathé 4 Sat 31 Jan 21:30 * Press and Industry screening
Peng Tao
photo: Felix Kalkman
The Music Man
Fruits of Her Labours
Nick Moran tells Edward Lawrenson about his portrait of legendary pop producer Joe Meek
Palestine filmmaker Najwa Najjar tells Wendy Mitchell of the challenges of shooting in her homeland
For his directorial debut Telstar, the British actor turned to the troubled life of pioneering 1960s pop producer Joe Meek. A volatile showman and supreme technician, Meek developed a groundbreaking futuristic style in his cramped flat on the Holloway Road in North London. Beset by financial, personal and mental-health problems, he shot dead his long-suffering landlady in 1967, before turning the gun on himself. The rich, polished sound of Meek singles – like the eponymous Telstar – belied their ramshackle origins: Meek’s small rented flat, crammed full of bulky recording equipment. Moran saw some of Meek’s DIY obsessive drive reflected in the way he made the film. “I edited the film in my London flat” says Moran, “just like Meek turned his living room into a recording studio, I made my kitchen an edit suit.” An actor best known for his performance in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Moran adapted the 2005 play he co-wrote about Meek for his directorial debut, with the original stage lead
With the Israel-Gaza conflict unfortunately making headlines across the world, Najwa Najjar hopes her feature debut Pomegranates and Myrrh can put a human face on the Palestinian situation. “Everybody knows the checkpoints and now about the invasion from the TV news, but not many people know about the human story in Palestine,” the writer/director says. “With my film, I hope the audience can have a sense of the people and the lives that are being taken.” The story is about Kamar, a young dancer in occupied Ramallah, whose husband is sent to prison after a land dispute with the Israeli army. Meanwhile, Kamar’s life changes when she meets a charismatic choreographer. Najjar has made several shorts and documentary films since moving to Ramallah in 1994 (after living in the US and Saudi Arabia), and she makes her feature debut with Pomegranates and Myrrh. Shooting at 42 locations in Ramallah was of course a logistical challenge. “When you are shooting a film, the last thing you want is an arbitrary situation, and that’s what it’s like shooting in Ramallah,” she says. “If a soldier at a checkpoint feels like delaying a 45-member film crew, he can.” One incarnation of Pomegranates and Myrrh that was going to be shot several years ago fell apart financially. But now the co-production between Palestine, France, Germany and the UK is a darling of the festival circuit – having won awards in San Sebastian, had a gala screening in Dubai, and screenings in Sundance and Gothenburg, the director is now excited to be showing it to audiences in Rotterdam. “I know how impressive this festival is and I am just excited for the screenings,” she says. “Every screening is a new experience. I just don’t want my good luck to end.” She says IFFR was key in launching her feature film
Con O’Neill providing a compelling central turn. Determined to film near the real-life locations, Moran shot much of the film close to the actual flat where Meek lived. “I wanted to make a high-end film: to make things work in UK film you have to try twice as hard for half the money, but I was determined we’d do what the film needed. When we were planning things, I tried to avoid mentioning the B word,” he says of the budget, which he admits was tight. The financing came from an unlikely source: Simon Jordan, the chairman of Crystal Palace football club. “He was involved during the whole shoot,” Moran says of Jordan’s first feature experience, “He was a proper Harvey Weinstein – for better or for worse!” As well as featuring roles for rising stars of British television comedy like James Corden, the film also includes a part for Kevin Spacey as Meek’s business associate. The two men have been friends for years. “Kevin was an early fan of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He showed the film to the costume and make-up artists of American Beauty and used me as the inspiration for the look of the character he was playing.” Does Telstar mean Moran has given up acting? Far from it, say Moran. He can’t confirm rumours he’s to play the new villain in the final two installments of the Harry Potter cycle, but the grin on his face speaks volumes. Telstar Nick Moran Doelen Willem Burgerzaal Tue 27 Jan 09:45 * Cinerama 1 Wed 28 Jan 09:30 Luxor Fri 30 Jan 19:30 Cinerama 5 Sat 31 Jan 22:30
Nick Moran
photo: Bram Belloni
* Press and Industry screening
38TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
career. “The project in many ways started when I came to CineMart five or six years ago; it wasn’t an official CineMart selection, but I was here and the festival was so helpful introducing me to all kinds of producers,” Najjar explains. Sunny Land has taken rights to the Arab world, and US sales are now being handled by Shoreline Entertainment. There is distributor interest from Sweden after the Gothenburg film festival, and Najjar and her producer Hani Kort hope to do more European deals here in Rotterdam. For her second feature, she hopes to show a lighter side to Palestine. “I might do a comedy or a musical next,” she says with a smile. Pomegranates and Myrrh Najwa Najjar Cinerama 4 Tue 27 Jan 12:45 Doelen Willem Burgerzaal Wed 28 Jan 14:15 * Pathé 4 Thu 29 Jan 13:00 *Press & Industry Screening
Pomegranates and Myrrh
7
Joke Liberge and Antoine Khalife
Lisandro Alonso and Sandra den Hamer
Park Jin Weon and Ko Eun-ki
Amat Escalante, Thomas Pibarot, Eva Morsch Kihn and Pedro Aguilera
Animated discussions took place at Sunday night’s industry party in hotel Engels, as delegates let down their hair. Our photographer Ruud Jonkers snapped up the buzz.
Partho Sengupta, Jeremy Nathan and Michelle Wheatly
Alexander Ris and Uta Gildhuisw
The Daily Filmmaker‘s Quiz
Prove your filmmaking knowlegde and win a trip and free VIP-tickets to eDIT 12. Filmmaker‘s Festival in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, October 4th - 6th 2009.
1
What were Fassbinder‘s first and middle name?
2
Which Stanley Kubrick film starred Jack Nicholson (as Jack Torrance)?
3
IMAGO is The European Federation of ....?
Answer of The Day:
Complete Daily Filmmaker‘s Quiz answer-sentence:
tag6.indd 1
8
Enter the answers at:
www.filmmakersfestival.com :
05.01.2009 13:51:21 Uhr
38 TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
CineMart profile
Shake your money-maker Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation BOEDDHISTISCHE OMROEP STICHTING
Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation the difference between looking and seeing Buddhist Broadcasting BO E D D H I S T I S CFoundation HE OMROEP STICHTING
B O E D D H I–S fiction T I S C –Hweb E documentaries
O M R O E PPublic S T I Broadcasting CHTING Netherlands the difference between looking and seeing CHANNEL 2 the difference between looking and seeing www.buddhistmedia.com
documentaries – fiction – web P.O.Box 61 / 1200 AB Hilversum Netherlands Broadcasting ThePublic Netherlands
documentaries fiction – web tel 035–6771611 CHANNEL 2 bos@boeddhistischeomroep.nl Netherlands Public Broadcasting www.buddhistmedia.com CHANNEL 2
Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation P.O.Box 61 / 1200 AB Hilversum The Netherlands www.buddhistmedia.com
BO EDD I S6771611 T I Hilversum SCHE telH P.O.Box 61 /035 1200 AB
O Mbos@boeddhistischeomroep.nl R O EThe P Netherlands STICHTING tel 035 6771611 bos@boeddhistischeomroep.nl
the difference between looking and seeing documentaries – fiction – web Netherlands Public Broadcasting CHANNEL 2
www.buddhistmedia.com P.O.Box 61 / 1200 AB Hilversum The Netherlands tel 035 6771611 bos@boeddhistischeomroep.nl
Director and award-winning choreographer Wim Vandekeybus tells Geoffrey Macnab about his CineMart project
Step gingerly. Wim Vandekeybus is almost certainly the only filmmaker in this year’s CineMart who is an award-winning dancer and choreographer, as well as a filmmaker. His project at CineMart, Galloping Minds, also has another claim to distinction – it is the first Flemish-Brazilian co-production in recent memory. Billed as a film about “greed, passion, unattainable love and loss,” the €2.5m English-language film will shoot in Brazil. Vandekeybus is in Rotterdam (along with producer Bart Van Langendonck) to pitch his first feature. The celebrated Flemish dance guru is more used to directing and choreographing than to talking numbers with investors. When he announces a new stage venture with his company, Ultima Vez, the financing generally falls into place automatically. His reputation is such that his next show – due to premiere in Barcelona in May – is already sold out until February 2010; even though he doesn’t yet know precisely what form it will take. “People buy me without knowing what they buy.” The film world, he accepts, will be less liberal in loosening its purse strings. Even so, he is relishing the chance to explain the project to potential backers. “I would not like you to have the feeling that this is a dance movie,” Vandekeybus declares. “I am going to use a lot of dancers and people who work with me, but a good dancer can hide the fact that he is a dancer very well. It is going to be a feature film that people can identify with. It’s going to be a drama.” Galloping Minds already has €125,000 in place through the Flanders Audiovisual Fund and the Media Development Programme. Vandekeybus also has Brazilian partners on board in the shape of Sao Paulo-based Ginga Eleven Filmes, the outfit owned by Hank Levine (co-producer of City of God) and Ivan Texeira (the line producer of Blindness). “Wim’s first idea was to shoot in Chile, but it was
Wim Vandekeybus
photo: Felix Kalkman
impossible to raise money in Chile. By chance, we stumbled on Brazil, where they have a tax shelter system,” Van Langendonck explains. Part of the crew will come from Belgium, but most of the technicians will be Brazilian. The main characters are part of a gang of ponyriding kids. One of the kids has a twin, from whom he has long been protected, and there will be some animation elements. The director describes himself as “a storyteller and a strong image-maker.” No, the new film is not a new City of God. Nonetheless, Vandekeybus is promising energy, spectacle and romanticism. An admirer of the work of John Cassavetes and Andrei Tarkovsky, the choreographer sees himself as a free spirit. “Maybe I am a bit of a dreamer. I don’t start from the rules, but from what I need,” Vandekeybus reflects. “If I want to make a feature film, I don’t have to be in a bar speaking about it. I have to move my ass and come here [to CineMart] and say what it is about.”
CineMart profile
Humour vs Drama New Zealander Taika Waititi tells Wendy Mitchell why he’s looking forward to attending CineMart
Binger Filmlab Presents Script Development Programme September 2009 A fully – tailored script development process for Writers & Writer / Directors. A unique 5-month process of intense, full time work, based in Amsterdam, investigating and shaping an original feature screenplay or adaptation. A diverse array of international advisors & mentors as well as a small community of fellow writers, support the creative journey with lab’s workshops and individual story sessions designed to deeply explore not only the story and narrative, but the
New Zealand director Taika Waititi has great memories of his trip to IFFR in 2007 with his debut feature Eagle vs Shark – and that’s one reason his next film, Tama, is being presented at CineMart. “The festival was good for us because people really responded positively; it was here that I realised there was an international audience for my movie,” he says. “And I was blown away by that giant screen.” Tama is one of 36 projects in Rotterdam for the CineMart this year. “[My producer Ainsley Gardiner] said it’s a beautiful environment and that the sensibility of the European market really suits ours,” explains the director, who was nominated for an Oscar for his short Two Cars, One Night. “With the support of the festival organisers behind us, we can
intention and meaning of the work to the writer and the intended audience for the film. Binger is fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Culture, Education and Science. All programmes are delivered in English. International applicants from all countries are welcomed.
Deadline for application: March 15, 2009
For details go to:
www.binger.nl BFL_IFFR_2009_adv_27+28jan_134x193.indd 1
Two Cars, One Night
be guided and supported through the process, and there’s a better opportunity to meet with some of the contacts than at the slightly bigger, madder festivals, where you don’t quite get the quality time.” Tama, budgeted at €2.2m, is fully financed, but Waititi says meetings will still be useful: “We want to build relationships for distribution for this and subsequent films, and you never know; even though we’re fully financed, someone might make us a financing offer we can’t refuse!” Eagle vs Shark was praised for its quirky humour, but Tama will be less overtly funny. Set in a rural Maori community, the coming-of-age story looks at an imaginative 11-year-old boy’s relationship with his absent father. “I think the audience will have to allow themselves to laugh, because the humour is fighting against a mostly dramatic story. I laugh a lot at the script for this film, but I know people will be very hung up on the social aspects – kids growing up alone – and may not feel they are permitted to see the humour... but there is a lot! My comedy comes from a place of pain and clumsiness; I like to laugh at the tragic side of humanity.” Gardiner and Cliff Curtis’ Whenua Films will produce Tama with Defender Films and Unison Films; Curtis and Unison’s Emanuel Michael are attending CineMart. Partners also include New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air, Te Mangai Paho and Maori Television. Waititi expects to start shooting Tama in New Zealand in March.
08-01-2009 14:02:13
38TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
9
CHANGED
PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS TUESDAY 27 JANUARY
0
0
09.00 DOELEN JURRIAANSE ZAAL DOELEN WILLEM BURGERZAAL CINERAMA 2 CINERAMA 3 VENSTER 3 VENSTER 4
10.00
11.00 TG
9:30 Schottentor
Caspar Pfaundler
BF
Nick Moran
TG
Michael Imperioli
BF
9:30 I Am from Titov Veles
Teona Mitevska Ivo M. Ferreira
9:45 Acácio
Marília Rocha
102’ BF
HG
BF
Kim Kyung-Mook
11:45 Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
Edwin
Roxlee
81’ TG
Armagan Ballantyne
85’
14:15 Kantata Takwa RG
Gotot Prakosa / Eros Djarot
72’
Black Dogs Barking YT Mehmet Bahadir Er / Maryna Gorbach CHANGED
14:15 Goodbye [ep]
BF
Changes: 14:00 Venster 3 Black Dogs Barking will be 15:30 Venster 4 16:30 Venster 4 Lazarus Episode 1-2-0 will be 17:15 Venster 4 20:15 Venster 4 The Ferrari Dino Girl will be 20:45 Venster 4
Kimi lives with her boyfriend in a cold northern Japanese village near the nuclear power station where he works. Just like his father. One day he becomes radioactively contaminated and leaves. The girl stays. Realistic drama of the future is carried by the leading lady Nishiyama and the ice-cold landscape.
9:30 Schottentor [wp]
TG
Caspar Pfaundler, Austria, 2009, 35mm, 123 min, German, e.s.
A free thinking portrayal of the desire to be oneself and not to be swallowed up in anonymous mediocrity that sketches the daydreams of several characters who link their desires in the Viennese underground station Schottenpassage to partly random passers-by. 12:00 The Dark Harbour [ip] Naito Takatsugu, Japan, 2008, 09.00 35mm, 101 min, Japanese, e.s.
TG
16:45 Green Rocking Chair [ep]
Diederik van Rooijen, Netherlands, 2009, 35mm, 85 min, Dutch / English / Hindi, e.s. regisseur aanwezig
A young actor (Egbert-Jan Weeber) goes to Mumbai for a role as a colonial in a Bollywood costume film. While he records video messages for his senile father in Holland, he also tries to right several social wrongs in Mumbai that cross his path. 16:00 Rain of the Children
SP
22.00
23.00
24.00
SP
Roxlee is a real artist. He paints. Strange comic strip like paintings and that’s why he also makes comic strips. Even stranger surrealist comic strip stories. And animation films. Of course even more absurd animation films. And now he is the protagonist in his own documentary and goes looking for a long-lost old language. BF
Zhao Ye
SP
20:00 Morphia
Alexei Balabanov
86’ SP
Dino Girl 201’ Jan Nemec
16:15 The Strength of Water
When a mysterious stranger arrives in their isolated coastal town, 10-year-old twins, Kimi and Melody are forced apart. Now, Kimi must find the strength to let go of what he loves the most. Début feauture by acclaimed short film maker Ballantyne. SP
Artistic masterpiece of one of the greatest contemporary Russian film makers based on the short stories of Mikhail Bulgakov, as adapted by the tragically killed Sergei Bodrov Jr. Stylistically as polished as his Of Freaks and Men and as raw as his most recent film Cargo 200. 22:15 The Blessing [wp]
BF
Heidi Maria Faisst, Denmark, 2009, 35mm, 75 min, Danish, e.s.
68’
SP
Girish Kasaravalli, India, 2008, 35mm, 122 min, Kannada, e.s.
regisseur aanwezig
20:00 Morphia [ip]
SP
CHANGED
19:45 Gulabi Talkies
A powerful, intimate story of the Indian Muslim midwife Gulabi, whose poor and predominantly Hindu village is turned upside down when for one crucial delivery she’s rewarded with a TV set. A profound story on the connection between issues of consumerism, social discrimination and communal violence. 22:15 Autumn Özcan Alper, Turkey / Germany, 2008, 35mm, 106 min, Georgian / Turkish, e.s.
92’ BF
22:15 Autumn
122’
HG 20:45 The Ferrari
CHANGED
Heidi Maria Faisst
102’
Girish Kasaravalli
Lazarus Episode 1-2-0 Izuchi Kishu
22:15 The Blessing
SP
19:45 Gulabi Talkies
130’
BF
22:30 Jalainur
CANCELLED
61’
Alexei Balabanov, Russia, 2008, 35mm, 102 min, Russian, e.s.
Roxlee, Philippines, 2008, Video, 61 min, Tagalog, e.s.
22:30 Jalainur [ep]
123’
Armagan Ballantyne, New Zealand / Germany, 2009, 35mm, 86 min, English
regisseur aanwezig
BF
21.00
18:15 The City ... TS
Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Kimura Bunyo, Japan, 2008, Video, 81 min, Japanese, e.s.
14:15 Bollywood Hero [wp]
20.00
BF
TG
16:15 The Strength of Water
Canceled: 18:15 Cinerama 2 The City of Production
Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal
19.00
Na Hong-Jin
16:15 Room and a Half
99’
Tuesday 27 January 2009
101’
16:45 Green SP Rocking Chair
BF
Leon Dai
BF
Aida Begic
18.00
SP 18:00 The Chaser
Vincent Ward
115’
12:00 Snow
88’
85’
HG
Joko Anwar
BF
14:00 No puedo vivir sin ti
77’
17.00
BF 16:00 Rain of the Children
Diederik van Rooijen
Bunyo Kimura
TG
16.00
75’
14:15 Goodbye
62’
11:30 Forbidden Door
90’
15.00 SP
14:15 Bollywood Hero
93’
Cheonggyecheon Dog
105’
Eric Khoo
101’
Kelvin Tong
12:00 A
14.00
TG 14:00 My Magic
12:15 Rule #1
114’
9:45 The Hungry Ghosts
13.00
Naito Takatsugu
123’
9:45 Telstar
9:30 April Showers
12.00 12:00 The Dark Harbour
YT
Özcan Alper
75’ YT
106’
22:30 9808 An Anthology of SP 10th Year Indonesian Reform
various directors
115’
15:30 Black Dogs Barking [wp]
YT
Mehmet Bahadir Er / Maryna Gorbach, Turkey, 2009, 35mm, 88 min, Turkish, e.s.
A dynamic shooting-style, pitch-perfect written street lingo and a transfixing dogeat-dog story form the essence of this exciting first feature about two friends who get into deep trouble in Istanbul’s chaotic underground scene. At times funny, at times tragic, but foremostly, jolting in its authenticity. 17:15 Lazarus Episode 1-2-0 [ip] HG Izuchi Kishu, Japan, 2007, Video, 201 min, Japanese, e.s.
Straight our of prison, the once Three parts (the parts go from political active Yusuf returns 1 to 2 to 0) of an anti-capitalist to his Black- Sea hometown. It parable. Three women form a isn’t just redemption he seeks political band of robbers. Inbut a peaceful asylum for his cluding Mayumi, who drowned numbered days. His quiet life in a previous life but returns as will take a passionate turn when a vengeful Angel: she rose from he meets the beautiful Eka. the dead like Lazarus. The stunning début of Turkish 20:45 Özcan Alper, this film speaks to The Ferrari Dino Girl [wp] SP your heart with its genuineness Jan Nemec, Czech Republic, and exalting images. 2009, Video, 68 min, Czech, e.s.
Impressively shot and beautiPRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENINGS WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY A personal flashback to the Venster 4
Vincent Ward, New Zealand, 2008, Zhao Ye, China, 2008, min, English / Maori, e.s. 13.00Video, 9214.00 min, Mandarin,15.00 e.s. 10.00 35mm, 101 11.00 12.00
fully acted17.00 Danish début about 19.00 Prague Spring of 1968 by24.00 one 16.00 18.00 20.00 21.00 22.00 23.00 a woman who misses out on of the Czechoslovak New Wave Both andTuristas farewell to the TG regisseur aanwezig BF ode11:45 9:45 DOELEN for a nice, You’re looking Duane sensiHopkins Alicia Scherson the festive joy of her daughfilm directors; a reconstruction Maori woman Puhi, who was Spectacular shots of snow, JURRIAANSE ZAAL Acácio [ip] BF 93’ 104’ tive yet not common film with of that night of August 21st also filmed by the director 30 smoke and steam trains used for ter’s birth. For her it is unreal. 9:45 Machan 14:15 Pomegranates 16:30 Troubled Water SP 12:00 Two Lines YT BF SP Marília Rocha, Brazil / Angola / a DOELEN specialWILLEM style? Something to Through using the real footage that the when the coal mines and Myrrhof icy Jalainur, Uberto Pasolini years previously,Selim Evci he was Erik Poppe the situation, her Portugal, 2008, Video, 88 min, BURGERZAAL be surprised that and to talk Najjar 109’ 97’ Inner Najwa 95’ 90’ with her difficult relationship director made at the time, later still very young. The result is an in Mongolia, accompany Portuguese, e.s. about? Here it is. A fi9:45 sherman 12:00 Sunrise/ 14:15 16:15 Hashi 20:30 River People 22:30 TG SP BF SH SP BF Be Calm and Survival Song Tokyoas OnlyPic dominant motherBFcomes to19:00 the Sparkle known Oratorio For Prague. attractively designed documena refi ned drama about a retired CINERAMA 2 According to many she is the Count to Seven Sunset Yu Guangyi Sherman Ong Benedek Fliegauf He Jianjun Mashima Riichiro looking for a wife. A small harfore. refl ections 72’ engine driver and his trusty90’ Ramtin Lavafipour tary with Vitaly Mansky 89’ personal 111’ 59’ 88’ 117’ best young Brazilian documen- 22:30 bour so ugly it makes you cheerbut also fi11:45 ctional elements withTG young colleague whoJSfollows 16:15 Tulpan 9:30 Perpetuum mobile BF 14:00 Four 20:00 22:15 Guidance SP BF BF Dogging: A Love Story Nights Jermal tary maker and she has made CINERAMA 3 9808 An Anthology of 10th ful. And humour as refi ned as with Anna Valdas Navasaitis Simon Ellis Sergey Dvortsevoy Ravi L. Bharwani / Johan Jonason which he unravels the mystery. 103’him around. Rayya Makarim a film about the artist Acácio Jerzy Skolimowski 86’ 87’ 100’ 3 90’ Year Indonesian78’ Reform [ep] SP Venster sushi. The woman finally finds Videira and his wife, who spent 9:30 Last 11:45 Beautiful Crazy 14:00 35 Rhums 16:15 Nulle part 20:00 Summer Book 22:15 Anggun BF SP SP SP YT SP / Ucu Agustin / FilmPhobia 18:00 the fisherman. Priambodo VENSTER 3 9:30 Conversation terre promise Lee Chi-Yuarn Claire Denis Seyfi Teoman 1918 and Kiko Goifman their lives between The Ifa Isfansyah / Otty Widasari / Ariani BF 98’ Cinerama 3 100’ Noud Heerkens Emmanuel Finkiel 80’ Chaser 94’ 92’ 80’ April Showers [wp] BF 14:00 2008 on three continents in Darmawan / Hafiz / SP Lucky Kuswandi / 9:45 The Shaman 12:00 The 14:15 A Country Teacher 16:45 24 City 20:15 Maman est 22:30 The Rat Herb HG SP SP SP SP Firm Land Na Hong-Jin, South Korea, 2008, 9:30 VENSTER 4 My Magic Portugal, Angola and Brazil. UsIvo M. Ferreira, Portugal, 2009, chez le coiffeur Edwin Wisnu Suryapratama / Steve RadityaSP Sidharta Chapour C. Haghighat Bohdan Sláma Jia Zhang-ke Júlio/ Bressane 35mm, 123 Léa Poolfilm, she avoids97’ 91’ min, Korean, e.s. 95’ 107’ 80’ 2008, I Am from Titov Veles BF 120’ 35mm, 90 min, Portuguese, e.s. Pillar Setiabudi, Indonesia, ing unique cine Eric Khoo, Singapore, 2008, Characteristic Korean thriller Video, 115 min, Indonesian, e.s. regisseur aanwezig romanticising the colonial era Teona Mitevska, Macedonia / 35mm, 75 min, Tamil, e.s. about an ex-cop who, as a pimp, Behind a beautiful initiative one Ghosts from the time of the Denmark, 2007, 35mm, 102 min, in this beautiful portrait. During the final applause in finds himself on the trail of occasionally finds important Macedonian, e.s. Portuguese Carnation RevoluCannes, the protagonist and a disturbed serial killer. With 12:00 people who remain invisible. The village Titov Veles, named tion come back to life when magician Bosco Francis pulled masterful pleasure in film makSnow BF In this case that is Prima Rusdi, after the dictator Tito, is the the theatre maker Pedro, out his wallet and a big flame ing, this début realised by Na an experienced scriptwriter, location of a polluting steel facafter making a discovery in his Aida Begic, Bosnia and Herzegovina came out of it. It’s that kind Hong-Jin continues to surprise / France / Germany, 2008, who encouraged ten young film tory, but the villagers may well grandmother’s old things, goes of film, with real tricks and and was the box office hit of the 35mm, 99 min, Bosnian makers to stand still and look have been more damaged by the looking for the facts. What was gripping emotions. Magic and year back home. In post-war Bosnian Slavno, the back on the important month past. Three sisters know that his revolutionary father doing melodrama. An overwhelming women who survived the war of May in 1998, when Indonesia change is disastrous, but living in Spain? mixture. There are no profesfight for their rights when the acquired a new and open face. together is unbearable. Delightsional actors. Because everyCinerama 2 11:30 government tries to buy their ful and worrying pictures from thing had to be real. Forbidden Door [ip] HG 9:45 land for commercial purposes. the Balkans. The Hungry Ghosts [wp] TG A realistic coup de force larded Joko Anwar, Indonesia, 2008, 11:45 Willem Burger Zaal 35mm, 115 min, Indonesian, e.s. with powerful magic realism. Michael Imperioli, USA, 2009, Blind Pig Who Elegant horror thriller by Video, 105 min, English 9:45 14:15 Wants to Fly [ep] TG the film maker who gave the The directing début by ImpeTelstar [ip] BF Kantata Takwa [ep] RG Edwin, Indonesia, 2008, Indonesian Cinemark an rioli, who acted in The Sopranos, 35mm, 77 min, Indonesian, e.s. Nick Moran, United Kingdom, Gotot Prakosa / Eros Djarot, audience and self-confidence. is filled with hungry ghosts. 2008, 35mm, 114 min, English Indonesia, 2008, Video, 72 min, regisseur aanwezig A successful sculptor goes off According to Buddhists, these Indonesian, e.s. This feature début by actor/ Original feature by a young track when he thinks he sees are the dead who cannot bid A kind of Indonesian Woodwriter/producer Nick Moran Indonesian film maker who mysterious messages. Whether farewell to the living, but it’s stock, but then more political. is an infectious biopic made wonders how come he hardly they come from another world also a metaphor for people who More than 18 years ago, these with flair of Joe Meek (1929feels Chinese, while he is of is the question. strive so fanatically for illusions legendary recordings of a 1967), the London music Chinese blood. Of course it’s that it only hurts more. A 16:15 group of rock musicians and producer who scored a whole with a pig, but also with Stevie handful of narrative lines come Room and a Half [wp] SP poets known as Kantata Takwa series of hits but later lost his Wonder and stunning badmintogether painfully. were shelved. A new political way - obsessed and paranoid. ton. A film like a puzzle. And Andrey Khrzhanovsky, Russia, 2009, situation and digital technology Con O’Neill is convincing as the 12:00 not all the pieces seem to fit. 35mm, 130 min, Russian, e.s. makes a screening possible after A Cheonggyecheon Dog [ip] BF protagonist. A unique journey to the earlier 14:00 all. Still filled with fire. life of Nobel Prize winning RusKim Kyung-Mook, South Korea, 12:15 No puedo vivir sin ti TG sian poet Joseph Brodsky and 2008, Video, 62 min, Korean, e.s. Rule #1 [ep] HG Leon Dai, Taiwan, 2008, the USSR, the country of his The historic Cheonggyecheon 35mm, 85 min, Mandarin, e.s. Kelvin Tong, Hong Kong / Singapore, youth. The film, a perfect blend River in Seoul, for long a kind 2008, 35mm, 93 min, Mandarin, e.s. regisseur aanwezig of different styles - fiction, of open sewer, has been cleaned When a police officer claimed Father lives as a tramp by the animation and historical footup at the cost of billions. The to have seen a ghost, he gets waterside. He does dangerous age - creates an unforgettable maker of the controversial transferred to a vague and forjobs. It’s no life for a child, you atmosphere of St. Petersburg in Faceless Things presents a fresh, gotten department. Rule one of the 1950s and 1960s. kitsch second film with a talking would say, but he lives together the department is: there are no with his young daughter. That dog, pursuits and sex changes. ghosts. At least, that’s the rule all works out well, until the to the outside world, because in authorities find out and he fact they hunt them doggedly has to fight for his fatherhood. and in a virtuoso way. Sensitive. Black-and-white. 9:30 Better Things
38 TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM WWW.FILMFESTIVALROTTERDAM.COM
10