SCREEN INTERNATIONAL AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017
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IssueIssue 1824 1791 August-September 2017 June-July 2015
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Issue 1824 August-September 2017
Exclusive interview
Jolie’s odyssey Her 17-year journey to chronicle Cambodia’s dark past
■ Venice & Toronto: 26-page preview ■ Summer box office ■ Borg/McEnroe
LEADER
Thinking outside the festival
C
UK office MBI, Zetland House 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ Tel: +44 (0) 20 8102 0900 US office 8581 Santa Monica Blvd, #707, West Hollywood, CA 90069 E-mail: firstname.lastname@screendaily.com (unless stated) Editorial Editor Matt Mueller +44 (0) 20 8102 0868 Americas editor Jeremy Kay +1 310 922 5908 jeremykay67@gmail.com Deputy editor Andreas Wiseman +44 (0) 20 8102 0914 Reviews editor and chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan +44 7798 571 270 finn.halligan@screendaily.com Senior editor, online Orlando Parfitt +44 (0) 20 8102 0932 Features editor Charles Gant +44 7956 661 766 Supplement editor Nikki Baughan +44 7826 853 105 Asia editor Liz Shackleton, lizshackleton@gmail.com Group head of production and art Mark Mowbray +44 (0) 20 8102 0867 Group art director, MBI Peter Gingell +44 (0) 20 8102 0842 peter.gingell@mb-insight.com Deputy online editor and reporter Tom Grater +44 (0) 20 8102 0841 US reporter Elbert Wyche +1 909 766 5478 Contributing editors Sarah Cooper, John Hazelton, Wendy Mitchell, Louise Tutt Contributing reporter Ian Sandwell Sub editors David Powning, Richard Young Advertising and publishing Commercial director Scott Benfold +44 (0) 20 8102 0813 UK, France, South Africa Pierre-Louis Manes +44 (0) 20 8102 0862 UK, Spain, Middle East, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand Scott Benfold +44 (0) 20 8102 0813 Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Eastern Europe Gunter Zerbich +44 (0) 20 8102 0917 Italy, Asia, India Ingrid Hammond +39 05 7829 8768 ingridhammond@mac.com VP business development, North America Nigel Daly +1 323 654 2301 / 213 447 5120 nigeldalymail@gmail.com Sales and business development executive, North America Nikki Tilmouth +1 323 868 7633 nikki.screeninternational@gmail.com Sales co-ordinator Rebecca Moran +44 (0) 20 8102 0829 Production manager Jonathon Cooke +44 (0) 20 8102 0825 jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com Head of marketing Samantha Nasser +44 (0) 20 8102 0872 samantha.nasser@mbi.london Marketing executive Charlotte Peers +44 (0) 20 8102 0853 charlotte.peers@mbi.london Head of events, MBI Dee Adeosun +44 (0) 20 8102 0805 dee.adeosun@mb-insight.com Publishing director (maternity leave) Nadia Romdhani Managing director, publishing and events (maternity leave) Alison Pitchford Chief executive officer, MBI Conor Dignam +44 (0) 20 8102 0910 conor.dignam@mb-insight.com Subscription customer services +44 (0) 330 333 9414 help@subscribe.screendaily.com Screen International is part of Media Business Insight Ltd (MBI), also publisher of Broadcast and shots
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MATT MUELLER EDITOR
(Below) Some of the participants in the first edition of JFF’s Think Fest
inema and film festivals always feel like they’re in a very good place when Venice and Toronto roll around. Apart from their joint (and joined-at-thehip) significance on the festival calendar, overlapping each other and sharing a raft of titles (even if it hasn’t always been with a smile on their faces), their packed programmes serve up a bounty of awards-season contenders and a fresh wave of independent arthouse titles, as well as — in Toronto’s case, with its Masters line-up — another opportunity to revel in the best auteur titles from the year’s previous major festivals. With so many anticipated films to choose from (Toronto, even with a 20% drop in the programme, still has more than 250 titles), who would argue that the global industry isn’t robust and dynamic? And yet, it’s equally hard not to argue that, while festivals’ importance as sanctuaries for diverse and challenging filmmaking voices and often esoteric subject matter is only growing, the landscape outside of these sanctuaries is becoming ever more difficult, not just in reaching the widest audience, but any audience beyond the festival circuit. That’s not to blame the streaming giants and their bearing on the global film ecosystem, but simply a reality check that the proliferation of options for consumers is making it harder than ever for many of these films or filmmakers to have an impact. It’s a key reason why the inaugural edition of Think Fest, held at Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF) in July and attended by a gathering of high-profile festival directors, programmers and other industry, felt like such a smart, vital and timely idea. Kudos to JFF director Noa Regev
and artistic director Elad Samorzik for conceiving and spearheading the twoday summit, with input from Tribeca’s Frederic Boyer and Karlovy Vary’s Karel Och. A platform for festivals to debate nothing less than their own future feels crucial right now; it’s surprising no-one ever tried it before. The festival directors I spoke to in Jerusalem were all in agreement. Sure, they’re a tight-knit bunch who encounter one another regularly at each other’s events, but they all found Think Fest useful and inspiring for the rare opportunity to share experiences, anxieties and visions in a structured way. A director from one of the smaller European festivals — it’s the smaller events that undoubtedly face the greatest challenges going forward — noted how festivals have grown into complex organisations, often entirely responsible in their cities or regions for building audiences and promoting and protecting the arthouse experience. Other industry professionals have think tanks, workshops, unions and associations, she noted; it’s about time festival directors and programmers did too. Showing solidarity A director at one of the larger festivals told me that, in light of the political winds blowing around the world right now, festivals should become more vocal bastions for artistic freedom no matter where they take place. While the major North American and European festivals can withstand such pressures, having a strong, formalised organisation of international festivals might help events like Busan, Istanbul and Jerusalem, where pressure from pro-censorship local politicians have resulted in films being pulled from line-ups in recent years. Netflix was, of course, a huge topic at Think Fest, although most accepted that complaining about disruption was a road to nowhere. Festival directors simply need to accept the times they are living in, and learn how to work with the streaming platforms while adapting their particular events with innovations — including, potentially, growing their own local distribution initiatives. And events like Think Fest could take on more importance going forward. As Samorzik noted: “In unstable times, festivals should support each other more to ensure the brightest future for s arthouse cinema.” ■
August-September 2017 Screen International 1
CONTENTS
30
August-September 2017 Director Angelina Jolie on the Cambodia set of Netflix’s First They Killed My Father International correspondents Asia
18
34
Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com Australia Fiona Williams +61 417 226 910 fiona.r.williams@gmail.com Balkan region Vladan Petkovic +381 64 1948 948 vladan.petkovic@gmail.com Brazil Elaine Guerini +55 11 97659915 elaineguerini@terra.com.br France/Middle East Melanie Goodfellow +33 6 21 45 80 27 melanie.goodfellow@btinternet.com Germany/Eastern Europe Martin Blaney +49 30 318 063 91
20
10
screen.berlin@gmail.com Greece Alexis Grivas +30 210 64 25 261 alexisgrivas@yahoo.com Ireland Esther McCarthy +353 87 26 18 264 helloesthermccarthy@gmail.com Israel
August-September 2017 Box office
Edna Fainaru +972 3 5286 591 dfainaru@netvision.net.il Italy Gabriele Niola +39 333 201 0317 gabriele.niola@gmail.com Korea/deputy Asia editor Jean Noh +82 10 4205 0318 hjnoh2007@gmail.com Nordic territories Wendy Mitchell +44 (0)7889 414856 wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com Spain Elisabet Cabeza +34 66 66 70 394 elicabeza@hotmail.com UK/Benelux Geoffrey Macnab +44 (0) 20 7226 0516 geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk Subscriptions MBI Ltd, Screen International Subscriptions, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3DH Tel +44 (0) 330 333 9414 E-mail help@subscribe.screendaily.com Screen International ISSN 0307 4617 All currencies in this issue converted according to exchange rates that applied in August 2017
2 Screen International August-September 2017
4 BOMB SCARE According to the current narrative, summer box office is slumping and audiences are sick of franchises — but the reality is more nuanced
10 WARRIOR NATION Blockbuster action sequel Wolf Warrior 2 has sparked a revival at the China box office
12 CINEMA WITHOUT BORDERS
18 LIFE FORCE
36 VITAL SIGNS
Breathe producer Jonathan Cavendish and director Andy Serkis explain why the film’s story is close to their hearts
San Sebastian Film Festival embraces the small screen as well as Latin American and European cinema
20 ORCHARD’S RICH PICKINGS
42 VIEW FROM THE TOP
How Sony-owned distributor The Orchard has become a savvy theatrical and digital player
Screen International runs through the world premieres of the 74th Venice Film Festival and speaks with festival head Alberto Barbera
22 SUPPORT ACT
58 LEGEND OF THE FALL
The UK industry is responding to calls for greater employment regulation
As awards season hoves into view, Toronto International Film Festival gives a glimpse of potential runners and riders
US niche distributors are finding increasingly strong returns with diaspora-targeted titles
24 THE OUTSIDER
In Focus
Screen International meets departing NFTS director Nik Powell
14 HOMAGE TO CAMBODIA
30 TRUE ROMANCE
Angelina Jolie discusses her TIFF international premiere First They Killed My Father
On the set of Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool
16 MATCH MAKERS The creative team behind tennis feature Borg/McEnroe tells Screen International about the psyches of two sporting icons
Regulars 76 REVIEWS
Festivals
Kathryn Bigelow’s intense drama Detroit tracks the city’s race riots of 1967 while Justin Chadwick’s Tulip Fever looks to get a jump on awards season
34 DARK STARS RISING
80 THE BIG QUESTION
Meet the five contenders for Screen International’s Genre Rising Star Award
Screen International’s film critics on their highlights of the autumn festivals
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LA CORDILLERA
SANTIAGO MITRE
AT TORONTO I N T E R N AT I O N A L F I L M F E S T I VA L 2017
ALANIS
ANAHI BERNERI
DIEGO LERMAN
TIGRE
ZAMA
EL FUTURO QUE VIENE
SILVINA E. SCHNICER / ULISES PORRA GUARDIOLA
LUCRECIA MARTEL
UNA ESPECIE DE FAMILIA
CONSTANZA NOVICK
IN FOCUS SUMMER BOX OFFICE
Bomb
scare
Summer box office is slumping, audiences are sick of franchises, Hollywood is creatively bankrupt and the sky is falling in — so says the current narrative. Charles Gant reports a more nuanced picture
The Mummy
T
he summer blockbuster season is traditionally the time when critics and commentators bemoan Hollywood’s reliance on franchises, sequels and reboots, while studio bosses point to the box-office numbers that prove audiences are being served very nicely, thank you, by a series of adroitly marketed tentpoles that blend the fresh with the familiar. You can carp all you like, they say, but the numbers don’t lie. In 2017, however, the studios have lost control of the narrative. With a serious box-office downturn in the world’s top market, and one major exhibitor blaming its poor commercial performance on weak product, the chorus bemoaning franchise fatigue has seized the moment. “Box office massacre: How Hollywood flopped this summer” was one consumer-media take on the story, nicely capturing the current mood of schadenfreude over the humbling of those conceited, creatively impoverished Tinseltown titans. The US market While the summer season started promisingly in the US with Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data gatherer comScore, the market quickly wobbled, and May ended with a 9% deficit on 2016.
4 Screen International August-September 2017
“Wonder Woman thankfully came along and saved the day for a while, but it was a temporary fix,” he says. “Subsequently, we went back to a deficit and it’s been the true definition of a rollercoaster ride in terms of the box office. July was way down. Every month of this summer has been down versus 2016, which at the time, if you remember, was considered the summer of ‘sequelitis’. We are now pining away for the days of the summer of 2016 in terms of box-office numbers.” Overall, as Screen International went to press, box office for the summer period was trailing 2016 by 12% in the US. That is a worrying outcome for studios, since while success can breed success, failure can breed failure: if audiences are not in cinemas, they are not being exposed to trailers and in-theatre marketing, and they are not enjoying big-screen experiences that inspire anticipation for the
US BOX OFFICE SUMMER 2017 (APRIL 28 – AUGUST 10) Title (country of origin)
Distributor
Release date
Gross
1
Wonder Woman (US)
Warner Bros
June 2
$401m
2
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (US)
Disney
May 5
$389m
3
Spider-Man: Homecoming (US)
Sony
July 7
$300m
4
Despicable Me 3 (US)
Universal
June 30
$245m
5
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (US)
Disney
May 26
$171m
6
Cars 3 (US)
Disney
June 16
$148m
7
Dunkirk (US)
Warner Bros
July 21
$142m
8
War For The Planet Of The Apes (US)
Fox
July 14
$134m
9
Transformers: The Last Knight (US)
Paramount
June 21
$130m
10
Baby Driver (US)
Sony
June 28
$99m
11
Girls Trip (US)
Universal
July 21
$91m
12
The Mummy (US)
Universal
June 9
$80m
13
Alien: Covenant (Aus-UK-US)
Fox
May 19
$74m
14
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (US)
Fox
June 2
$73m
15
Baywatch (US)
Paramount
May 25
$58m
16
The Emoji Movie (US)
Sony
July 28
$57m
17
The Fate Of The Furious (US)
Universal
April 14
$52m*
18
Snatched (US)
Fox
May 12
$46m
19
All Eyez On Me (US)
Lionsgate
June 16
$45m
20
47 Meters Down (US-UK-Dom Rep)
ESMP
June 16
$43m
Source comScore. *Gross for eligible date period only
(Right) Wonder Woman
next visit. Suddenly, moviegoing feels like a contaminated brand. “There is a lot of momentum that has been sucked out of this marketplace, and that is a real problem,” says Dergarabedian. The com-
Score analyst acknowledges that “we live in a world where there are more options for entertainment, on more platforms and devices than at any time in our history. So there’s competition out there and it’s fierce.” However, we have been here before. “How many times have we heard that »
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UK FOCUS BUCKING THE DOWNWARD TREND
While the US box office for 2017 is down, in the UK it’s up by a significant margin, thanks to locally relevant titles including Second World War epic Dunkirk “
T
he US market dominates the press on this story, but we aren’t the same as the US market,” says Tom Linay, head of film at Digital Cinema Media. “Cinemagoing in the UK is very different from the US, the audiences are different, and we’re not seeing any drop-off on box office or admissions.” The numbers back up his claim. Yes, UK box office is down 3% on summer 2016 (for the 15 weeks from the last weekend in April), but cinema grosses are 9% up for the year as a whole, and admissions are also up on a year ago.
‘Admissions for the first four months of the year were the highest they’ve been this century’ Tom Linay, Digital Cinema Media
“January to April was terrific,” says Linay. “If you look at the admissions for the first four months of the year, they were the highest they’ve been this century. Four-and-a-half months into the year, we were genuinely looking at 2002, which is the highwater mark for admissions in modern times, thinking, ‘OK, we could top that 176 million.’” Sadly, the market thereafter headed in a different direction, and it is a curious fact that for eight consecutive weekends beginning on May 5 — which saw the release of titles including Alien: Covenant, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge, Transformers: The Last Knight and Wonder Woman — none of the movies managed debuts as strong as the 10 biggest openings of January, February, March and April (those big UK & IRELAND TOTAL SUMMER BOX OFFICE Year
Gross
2017
$478.7m (£372m)
2016
$492.1m (£382.4m)
2015
$488m (£379.2m)
2014
$399.7m (£310.6m)
2013
$463.5m (£360.3m)
Grosses for 15 weeks from the last weekend in April Source comScore
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Kenneth Branagh in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk
debuts included films such as Beauty And The Beast, Fast & Furious 8, Logan and T2 Trainspotting). In other words, after a strong start with Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, the so-called blockbuster season went on simmer for two months until the arrival of Despicable Me 3 and Dunkirk. Franchise fatigue? Addressing the topic du jour, Linay offers: “This conversation comes up every summer. Are people bored of franchises? You can pick out a handful of films that support this argument, and a handful that don’t.” He points to positive results for sequels including Despicable Me 3, Fast & Furious 8 (released in the US as The Fate Of The Furious) and Spider-Man: Homecoming, adding: “If you were going to have superhero or franchise fatigue, surely it was in the Spider-Man series, because we’ve had five movies this century, and this one still found a decent audience.” In the UK, Homecoming is ahead of both of the Marc Webb-directed The Amazing Spider-Man titles and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. Looking to the last four months of 2017, Linay remains optimistic the year can end with a flourish to match its strong start. “September last year was the biggest it’s been in a while, mainly thanks to Bridget Jones’s Baby,
but if you look at what’s in September this time, there’s a strong variety of films — It, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Victoria & Abdul have all got the potential to be blockbusters,” he says. As for the final quarter, slamdunks include Blade Runner 2049,
Thor: Ragnarok, Paddington 2, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Jumanji reboot and Pitch Perfect 3. “Q4 looks huge, and there’s nothing there that looks a bit of a banana skin. For 2017, I think we’ll see admissions up year on year in s the UK, and box office too.” ■
UK & IRELAND BOX OFFICE SUMMER 2017 (APRIL 28 – AUGUST 13) Title (country of origin)
Distributor
Release date
Gross
1
Dunkirk (US)
Warner Bros
July 21
$57.6m (£44.8m)
2
Despicable Me 3 (US)
Universal
June 30
$53.5m (£41.6m)
3
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (US)
Disney
April 28
$52.7m (£41m)
4
Spider-Man: Homecoming (US)
Sony
July 7
$36.2m (£28.2m)
5
Wonder Woman (US)
Warner Bros
June 2
$28.4m (£22.1m)
6
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (US)
Disney
May 26
$25m (£19.5m)
7
War For The Planet Of The Apes (US)
Fox
July 14
$24.9m (£19.4m)
8
Alien: Covenant (Aus-UK-US)
Fox
May 12
$16.6m (£12.9m)
9
Baby Driver (US)
Sony
June 30
$15.8m (£12.3m)
10
Cars 3 (US)
Disney
July 14
$12.4m (£9.7m)
11
Baywatch (US)
Paramount
June 2
$12.3m (£9.6m)
12
Transformers: The Last Knight (US)
Paramount
June 23
$12.2m (£9.5m)
13
The Mummy (US)
Universal
June 9
$11.2m (£8.7m)
14
The Boss Baby (US)
Fox
April 7
$8.2m (£6.4m)*
15
The Emoji Movie (US)
Sony
August 4
$7.8m (£6.1m)
16
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (US)
Fox
May 26
$7.3m (£5.7m)
17
Captain Underpants (US)
Fox
July 28
$7.2m (£5.6m)
18
Girls Trip (US)
Universal
July 28
$7m (£5.5m)
19
Fast & Furious 8 (US)
Universal
April 14
$6.7m (£5.2m)*
20
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (US)
Warner Bros
May 19
$6.3m (£4.9m)
Source comScore. *Gross for eligible date period only
August-September 2017 Screen International 5
IN FOCUS SUMMER BOX OFFICE
INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 2017 (APRIL 28 – AUGUST 10)
Despicable Me 3
Title (country of origin)
Distributor
Gross
1
Despicable Me 3 (US)
Universal
$642m
2
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (US)
Disney
$589m
3
Wolf Warrior 2 (China)
UEP
$570m
4
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (US)
Disney
$444m
5
Transformers: The Last Knight (US)
Paramount
$426m
6
Wonder Woman (US)
Warner Bros
$371m
7
Spider-Man: Homecoming (US)
Sony
$369m
8
The Mummy (US)
Universal
$312m
9
The Fate Of The Furious (US)
Universal
$201m*
10
Dangal (India)
UTV/Disney
$180m*
11
Dunkirk (US)
Warner Bros
$177m
12
Alien: Covenant (Aus-UK-US)
Fox
$151m
13
Cars 3 (US)
Disney
$148m
14
War For The Planet Of The Apes (US)
Fox
$145m
15
Beauty And The Beast (US)
Disney
$115m*
16
Baywatch (US)
Paramount
$113m
17
Wukong (China)
New Classics
$95m
18
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (US)
Warner Bros
$94m
19
The Boss Baby (US)
Fox
$86m*
20
Once Upon A Time (China)
Alibaba
$73m*
Source comScore. *Gross for eligible date period only
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
story, that the small screen is taking over,” he asks, “whether it be television in the ’50s, home theatre in the ’90s, or streaming in the 2010s? We’re just living in a different world, but the movie theatre marches on.” Strong start While disappointing outcomes in the US for titles such as The Mummy, Alien: Covenant and Baywatch — none of which cracked $100m there — helped send the summer off course, Dergarabedian points to the bigger picture, which is that the year started strongly, and overall US box office is down only 4% for the year to date, not the 12% deficit presented by the summer period. Moreover, for the non-US international market, box office for 2017 is so far 3% up on 2016. The global box office is 1% up on last year. “It’s now a 365-day, 12-months-a-year business,” says Dergarabedian, who points to the success of first-quarter hits such as Beauty And The Beast, Get Out,
6 Screen International August-September 2017
Spider-Man: Homecoming
‘It’s always very difficult to look at any meaningful trends over months or quarters’ Tim Richards, Vue International
Split and Logan. Studios are now looking at every week of the calendar as opportunities for major films, and are less reliant on the summer season. “We are in the middle of the horse race,” he adds, “and we’ve still got a long way to go. By the end of that race with Justice League, Thor: Ragnarok, Blade Runner 2049 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, who knows? We could be looking at close to a record. “With the international [box office] being up right now, we’ve been close to $40bn worldwide for two years now, and we could be close to that again this year,
despite all the naysayers and the pessimism that has pervaded the narrative.” For Tim Richards, CEO of Vue International, the picture is notably less bleak, and that is because his chain operates in 10 markets in Europe and Asia, and not at all in North America. “The box office year to date is up,” he says. “This year, there have been a few more peaks and troughs than usual. Broad strokes, it was a very strong start to the year, and certainly there have been some disappointing films this summer. “It’s been a different kind of year, but every year is always different. It’s always very difficult to look at any meaningful trends over (Right) Beauty And The Beast
months or quarters. When a big movie comes out, we’re suddenly flavour of the month with the corporate world, and then a bunch of movies underperform and suddenly the world’s coming to an end. Every time there’s a downward spiral, it’s Netflix or something else that’s to blame instead of just movies haven’t performed.” Few would disagree AMC Entertainment’s disastrous second-quarter results, which the exhibitor blamed on poor product in the period, has not been a goodnews story for the industry (the Dalian Wanda-owned exhibitor reported a loss of $178.5m for the period, and implemented a $30m cost-cutting plan for the rest of the year). However, reckons Richards, “There are very specific reasons for AMC’s downgrading that are not all related to box-office performance.” »
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19/08/2017 18:14
IN FOCUS SUMMER BOX OFFICE
‘It’s much more stable in the international arena than the US, particularly in new markets’ Duncan Clark, Universal Pictures International
Duncan Clark, president of distribution for Universal Pictures International, says: “Yes, there’s been a bit of a flattening in the US over the year, but it’s a much more stable position in the international arena, particularly in these new markets that are still growing.” While Richards points to Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Transformers: The Last Knight and King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword as disappointments, in fact the first of those titles, also known as Salazar’s Revenge, has been strong in many markets, notably China, Japan and Russia, and is the number-two film of the summer internationally with $615m at press time. It is behind only Despicable Me 3, which had reached $673m at press time. Richards takes heart from the success of Warner Bros’ Wonder Woman, not just for its global box office ($798m at press time) but for the value of its afterglow. “You now have an audience that’s excited and waiting for Justice League, and everyone is hoping that it’s going to be another Avengers franchise,” he says. “Certainly now they’ve got a much better shot at it with the strength of Wonder Woman.” The millennials are coming As for Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Homecoming ($704m worldwide at press time), Richards says: “When they announced the third reboot of Spider-Man, you could hear the collective groan going around the industry, but it’s a great movie, and it just shows that when you have a great film with a great story, young new director, young cast… That’s a film where word got out and started bringing the millennials into it. And that’s not the kind of film you would normally expect millennials to go into.” Vue also takes heart from the release calendar, with major tentpoles dated all the way through to April 2021, and is continuing with an expensive upgrade of its estate, which recently saw a notably upscale overhaul of its London West End flagship. “I don’t worry at all about Netflix,” declares Richards. “But as a business, we need to constantly make sure we’re ahead of the game, and not be complacent. That does mean investing money, and it does mean you need to reinvent yourself every s once in a while.” ■
8 Screen International August-September 2017
The numbers game The industry relies on box-office data as a barometer of success, but how transparent are the stats these days?
W
hen The Handmaiden overtook Julieta to become the biggest non-Bollywood foreign-language film at UK cinemas since 2012’s Untouchable (Intouchables), congratulations rained down on distributor Curzon Artificial Eye. Not to take anything away from that extraordinary result, it is worth bearing in mind $204,000 (£159,000) of the film’s $1.74m (£1.35m) box office resulted from the Secret Cinema X six-night run at London’s Troxy venue. Commercial terms with Secret Cinema are not divulged, but with ticket prices for this event ranging up to $51 (£40) to cover the organiser’s significant costs, logic dictates the revenue split will favour the exhibitor even more than is usually the case in the UK. Secret Cinema is just one example. Film festival box office is regularly included with preview takings on arthouse titles, even though typically the festival does not return any revenue to distributors. For titles benefiting from an event-cinema launch, there may be significant box office reported for the host venue, even though the costs of venue hire may mean little flows back to the distributor. And when live music is added to the mix, are customers really paying to see the film or the live event component? All of these factors are combining to make the data less than 100% transparent across a range of titles, and there is a reason for that. Whereas traditionally we might have seen studios releasing smaller titles on, say, 100 screens in order to trigger pay-TV deals, we are now witnessing a broader mix of distributors instead chasing specific box-office revenue targets to trigger tiers in their output deals with streaming giants. That is what BFI head of audiences Ben Luxford is alluding to when he says: “If festival previews, Secret Cinema and so on are added to inflate a box office, it’s for a greater economic gain rather than just theatrical returns.”
Target-related deals with streaming giants are also behind the recently observed phenomenon of certain films returning to the box-office charts weeks into release, reporting suspiciously consistent daily returns all earned with a single exhibitor. The tickets may technically have been purchased, but whether there are in fact warm bodies in the room is open to question. It may be asked: does any of this actually matter? A point to consider is that box-office data is a matter of historical record, and is routinely referenced within the industry from producers (in pitch documents) and financiers to distributors when comping their new releases. “I go back far enough to remember when box office in the UK wasn’t very transparent, and I was one of the people pushing for the setting up of the original statistical research unit at the UK Film Council,” comments
‘We rely more than ever on the data we can see. It’s critical that it remains transparent’ Chris Auty, NFTS
Chris Auty, who runs several business-related courses at the UK’s National Film and Television School. “Currently, reporting of VoD numbers is not very transparent, we’re not seeing the whole value chain, and we rely more than ever on the data we can see, which primarily is box office. It’s critical that it remains as transparent as possible. To go in any sense backwards to the fogginess of the past, or to see anything taken away from completely granular accuracy of box office would s be a retrograde step.” ■
The Handmaiden
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IN FOCUS CHINA BOX OFFICE
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ow that Wolf Warrior 2 has become the biggest film ever in China within a recordbreaking 12 days, it should provide some cheer to the Chinese film market, which has been weighed down by last year’s abrupt box-office slowdown. Directed by and starring martialarts expert Wu Jing, the action-packed nationalistic film centres on a Chinese special-forces soldier who saves the lives of Chinese citizens from western mercenaries in war-torn Africa. Wolf Warrior 2 opened with a bang, posting a massive $142m (RMB951m) opening weekend. With more than $679m (RMB4.5bn) after 17 days, it has edged out Stephen Chow’s fantasy comedy The Mermaid, which held the record since the 2016 Chinese New Year. Admissions for Wolf Warrior 2 have now exceeded 100 million. Market dip Last year, the Chinese box office plateaued with an increase of only 3.7% after years of breakneck growth. The first six months of 2017 saw a rise of 9.6% compared with the same period in 2016, or a 3% rise without online ticket fees. The strong local hits in Q1 receded in Q2, so the mega success of Wolf Warrior 2 has come at exactly the right time: it reduces pressure on the Chinese authorities to restrict the market potential of foreign releases in order to keep the market share of local films at more than 50% by year’s end. This year’s unofficial summer blackout period — when local films are protected by keeping Hollywood releases out of the market — ended with the release of Cars 3, Baby Driver and Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets on August 25, almost two months after the last Hollywood opening, Despicable Me 3, on July 5. Looking at the first seven months of 2017, Hollywood domination was obvious, with six of the top 10 films all sequels of historically well-performing franchises. The Fate Of The Furious easily outraced all to become the top earner with a staggering $393m (RMB2.6bn), as well as becoming the highest-grossing Hollywood film ever in China. The territory has emerged as a key, if not the most important, market for Hollywood. All six Hollywood titles in the top 10 debuted bigger and subsequently collected more box-office revenue in China than in North America, making China their biggest market worldwide. The Fate Of The Furious raked in $167m (RMB1.1bn) more in China than in North America, and it was at least $100m (RMB669m) more for Transformers 5, xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. “Without China,
Wolf Warrior 2
Warrior
nation
Wolf Warrior 2 has sparked a revival at the China box office, while many Hollywood tentpoles wouldn’t return their costs without the country’s input, reports Silvia Wong CHINA BOX OFFICE 2017 JANUARY 1 – AUGUST 13
‘Without China, many films would have a tough time recouping their costs’
5
Transformers: The Last Knight (US)
June 23
$229m
Paul Dergarabedian, ComScore
6
Dangal (India)
May 5
$193m
films like Transformers 5, Pirates 5 and many others would have a tough time recouping their production and marketing costs,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. Given its vast size, with more than 45,000 screens, the Chinese market is no doubt a pot of gold, but its multi-faceted restrictions continue to be a source of discontent for Hollywood studios. Negotiations are ongoing between the US trade representative and Chinese authorities to expand the current annual import quota of 34 revenue-sharing titles. The US studios are also hoping to increase their share of revenue on China releases from the current 25%, and to be given more notice on the release dates of their films, which would enable them to start their marketing campaigns much earlier. The US studios are also concerned about transparency in box(Right) The Fate Of The Furious
10 Screen International August-September 2017
1
Title (country of origin)
Release date
Gross
Wolf Warrior 2 (China)
July 27
$679m*
2
The Fate Of The Furious (US)
April 14
$393m
3
Kung Fu Yoga (China-India)
January 28
$255m
4
Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back (China)
January 28
$240m
7
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (US)
May 26
$172m
8
Kong: Skull Island (US-China-Aus-Can)
March 24
$168m
9
xXx: Return Of Xander Cage (US-China-Can)
February 10
$164m
10
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (UK-Fr-Aus)
February 24
$161m
All box office based on current exchange rate; *still on release
office reporting and have hired an accounting firm to audit ticket sales of select releases. Chinese authorities agreed to the audit as part of a raft of market-access concessions negotiated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) two years ago. China is itself attempting to crack down on box-office fraud through the new Film Industry Promotion Law, which came into effect in March. Hopes are also high that the non-revenue-sharing (ie flat-fee) film quota will be expanded, enabling more US indies, European and other for-
eign-language films to be distributed in China. Some local distribution and exhibition executives are saying the market is ready for greater diversity. “The Chinese audiences are no longer so excited about Hollywood sequels, especially the superhero titles,” says one distribution executive who asked not to be named. It is certainly true that none of the superhero comic adaptations made it into the top 10 for the year to date. Franchise fatigue is also emerging: Transformers: The Last Knight failed to break new records for the series, trailing $60m ( RMB 402m) behind its predecessor Transformers: Age Of Extinction, released in 2014. But it will take several months before import quota negotiations are finalised. In the meantime, it remains to be seen whether the resurgence of local titles can be sustained throughout the s second half of 2017. ■
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IN FOCUS DIASPORA AUDIENCES
Cinema without borders
How To Be A Latin Lover took more than $32m at the North American box office
While the 2017 North America box office has been marked by fits and starts, niche distributors are finding increasingly strong returns with diaspora-targeted titles. John Hazelton reports
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arlier this summer, when How To Be A Latin Lover and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion burst into the US/Canada top 10, the numbers caught many industry insiders off guard. Starting theatrical runs that would eventually lead to grosses of $32.1m and $20.2m respectively, the Latino-targeted comedy and the Indian action sequel seemed to come out of nowhere to challenge that weekend’s chart-topping Hollywood juggernaut The Fate Of The Furious. But the box-office experts should not have been surprised, because the business of serving diaspora audiences — especially moviegoers of Hispanic and Indian and other Asian descent — is currently one of the healthiest sectors of the North American market. Demographics go some way to explaining the sector’s vitality. Though its growth has slowed, the US Hispanic population has reached 58.6 million (according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center). Asian citizens number 18.3 million and now make up the racial or ethnic group with the fastest annual growth rate, at nearly 3%. And both groups are film fans. According to a Motion Picture Association of America study, Hispanics bought 21% of cinema tickets sold in the US and Canada last year while making up 18% of the population. Those in the study’s ‘Asian/ other’ category accounted for 8% of the population but bought 14% of the tickets. The US and Canadian market for Indian films is long-established. Recent hits include Hindi-language Bollywood dramas Dangal, with a $12.4m gross, and Sultan, with $6.2m — and the market has lately been expanding thanks to an influx of high-tech workers from South Asia. “These are people connected to India
12 Screen International August-September 2017
who are high earners with good disposable incomes,” says Vaibhav Rajput, head of operations in the Americas for Sultan distributor Yash Raj Films. “They find home away from home through cinema.” The market has also grown because of recognition from US exhibitors. Over the past few years, says Gitesh Pandya, editor of the Box Office Guru website and a US marketing consultant for South Asian film, national circuits such as AMC, Regal and Cinemark “have learned how large the Indian moviegoing audience is and they’ve become major partners in playing these films, not just in first-tier markets but in the second- and third-tier markets as well”. Indian box-office hit Baahubali 2, which took $267m in its home market, is the latest arrival in an increasingly successful wave of Tollywood (Telugu-language) US releases. Opening in the US on April 28, day-and-date with its release in India, it benefited from a 500-plus location launch — in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions — and promotion on diaspora-focused media outlets such as Willow TV. The film also had a boost from upcharging for early screenings. Among American Telugu speakers, says Soma Kancherla, a partner in Baahubali 2 distributor Great India Films, “there are a lot of movie fanatics who want to watch a film on the first day and don’t mind paying higher prices.” Films from other parts of Asia have not recently achieved the same kind of breakout success Stateside. Last year’s Chinese blockbuster The Mermaid (which took $527m at home), for one, managed a relatively
modest $3.2m in the US and Canada, despite being distributed by ‘big’ Sony (as opposed to frequent Chinese arthouse distributor Sony Pictures Classics). Perfect timing Distributors hope to learn from the Indian-American market by, for example, getting films into US cinemas closer to their openings in China or Korea. “The Indian guys figured this out first,” concedes Dylan Marchetti, SVP of theatrical distribution and acquisition at distributor Well Go USA. “When there’s a giant marketing campaign for a film in its home country, those marketing dollars don’t just feed people living in India or China — any diaspora group is getting this information in real time.” Last July, Well Go opened South Korean horror hit Train To Busan (with $80.5m from its home territory) almost day-anddate in the US and in a dual release pattern that produced a solid $2.1m gross. “It’s like doing (Left) Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
‘Hispanic audiences want to see their own lives. They want to be part of the American fabric’ Paul Presburger, Pantelion
two releases at the same time,” says Marchetti of the strategy. “A 40-screen dayand-date release and a platform arthouse theatrical release.” Given its size, the US Hispanic audience seems to offer the biggest potential of all the diaspora markets, though that potential has not yet been tapped on a regular basis. How To Be A Latin Lover producer-distributor Pantelion Films, a joint venture between US mini-major Lionsgate (through which it distributes) and Mexican media group Televisa, has had other successes — some Spanish-language, some English-language and some, like Latin Lover, a mix. But it was the release of Instructions Not Included — with $44.5m the highest-grossing Spanishlanguage film ever in the US — in 2013 that shaped the company’s current strategy, according to CEO Paul Presburger.
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Double vision Production and distribution consortium Globalgate Entertainment is shifting the landscape for local-language remakes
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That comedy (starring and directed by Latin Lover lead Eugenio Derbez) showed the US Latino audience is “becoming more and more acculturated”, says Presburger. Rather than stories dealing with immigration or politics, “they’re really looking for universal stories. They want to see their own lives. They want to be part of the American fabric.” And, he adds, “they need to see that these movies are high-quality and are marketed like Hollywood movies.” To better cater to this millennial Latino audience, Pantelion is getting involved in new content platforms — its films will feature on the Pantaya Spanish-language streaming service just announced by Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media Group — and doing more in-house production, some of it through the Globalgate local-language production consortium (see sidebar). The company is also looking at a bigger production that might become what all diaspora market distributors hope for: a crossover hit that works for general audiences as well as a diaspora crowd. Pantelion and MGM are producing a remake of 1987 Goldie Hawn romcom Overboard, in which Derbez will star as a spoiled Mexican playboy who falls in with a single mother played by Anna Faris. It is set for a wide US release next s April, in the same slot as Latin Lover. n
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lobalgate Entertainment owes its existence to what the three US executives who set it up nearly 18 months ago — in partnership with US mini-major Lionsgate — see as a perfect storm in international production and distribution. First, there was the decline in the outputs of the Hollywood studios, and their move away from the splitrights deals that once helped fill the release schedules of local independents. Then, there was the growing market share, in many territories, of local-language films. Finally, there was the realisation by many local players that good material for locallanguage films can be hard to find. “Globalgate is predicated on the idea there is good intellectual property around the world that can be brought to individual markets and be interesting and relevant to audiences in those markets,” says CEO Clifford Werber. The 11 international producers and distributors that make up the Globalgate consortium, adds Werber (who previously led the local-language film operations of Warner Bros and Fox, mainly in Europe and Latin America), “certainly know what they’re doing. But they’re not set up to go around the world and find good IP the way Globalgate does.” The consortium currently consists of Lionsgate, Mexico’s Televisa, France’s mini-major Gaumont, Scandinavia’s Nordisk, Germany’s Tobis, Japan’s Kadokawa, South Korea’s Lotte, Benelux’s Belga, Brazil’s Paris Filmes, Turkey’s TME and Colombia’s Cine Colombia (and through it Dynamo Productions). In “curating” — to use Werber’s word — the IP, Globalgate gets a first look at any film one of the consortium partners wants to remake for another market and then offers the project to the partners in other territories (though it also looks for possibilities among unproduced Hollywood screenplays, books and local films from non-partners). Projects will be co-financed by the local partner and the Globalgate Fund, an equity pool with an originally stated target of around $100m for which additional finance is currently being raised. “We want to make sure the local distributor has significant skin in the game to motivate them to make great movies, get great release dates and promote and distribute the films well,” says Globalgate executive chairman William Pfeiffer (whose track record, with Sony and others, is in Asian local-language
production and who also serves as a senior adviser to Lionsgate). No Manches Frida, the Spanish-language remake of German comedy Fack Ju Göhte, which was a success in the US last year for Pantelion Films (a Lionsgate-Televisa joint venture), “was an impetus to our notion of what Globalgate could be”, recalls Paul Presburger, the third Globalgate founder who is also CEO of Pantelion. The Globalgate team shepherded the deal (which preceded the company’s official launch) for Demain Tout Commence, last year’s successful French remake (with $23.3m in its home market) of Pantelion’s 2013 Spanish-English US hit Instructions Not Included. Instructions has also been remade in Turkey — as TME’s Sen Benim HerSeyimsin — and Globalgate now retains the right to co-finance other remakes which, according to Presburger, have been set up in China, South Korea and India. In the works are remakes in three markets of Argentinian romantic comedy No Kids (Sin Hijos), and Globalgate has
‘There is intellectual property around the world that can be brought to individual markets’ Clifford Werber, Globalgate Entertainment
around 30 other projects, originating from its consortium partners as well as other sources, in the pipeline, according to Werber. Additional partners could also be on the horizon as that perfect storm prompts more producers and distributors to increase their local-language outputs. China and India offer plenty of potential partners, say the Globalgate chiefs, who are currently working from the Lionsgate office in Beijing and the base the US company is setting up in Mumbai. Talks are underway in Russia and Poland, while Italy and Spain “are obviously territories we also want to be in”, says Werber, “although they’re a little more complicated than other territories in how they structure their financing.”
No Manches Frida
August-September 2017 Screen International 13
SPOTLIGHT ANGELINA JOLIE
Homage to
Cambodia Angelina Jolie, actress, filmmaker and human-rights activist, makes her most personal work yet with a 1970s-set drama about the Cambodian genocide. She talks to Jeremy Kay about her Toronto international premiere First They Killed My Father
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ngelina Jolie chanced upon Loung Ung’s bestselling memoir First They Killed My Father in a Cambodian market some 17 years ago while shooting Tomb Raider — “a two-dollar paperback you find when travelling” that was as far removed as one can get from Lara Croft leaping across temples in the steaming jungle. For Jolie, the book and the stirring but unsentimental film adaptation it would inspire seemed to crystallise so much of the dignity and despair she had witnessed in the stricken Southeast Asian country she would return to again and again as a humanitarian activist and, later, a citizen and resident. Ung and Jolie met through their activism work when Jolie went back shortly after Tomb Raider. One night they found themselves swaying in hammocks in the middle of a monsoon, talking through the night. “We bonded and she’s been in my life ever since,” Jolie says. Ung was five when the Khmer Rouge emerged from the jungle in 1975 to overthrow Lon Nol’s military rule and turn a once-prosperous former French colonial outpost into an isolated death chamber. She and her middle-class family were marched out of the capital Phnom Penh and into the fields, like millions of citydwellers across the country. When invading Vietnamese troops overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the young girl had lost both parents and two of her six siblings. Around two million people — nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population — had been wiped out. The two women adapted the screenplay years ago. After several more drafts, Netflix agreed in 2015 to fully finance and produce the project. In June of that year, Jolie enlisted the support of Rithy Panh, the Cambodian director of Khmer Rouge documentary The Missing Picture.. Panh became a producer on the Khmer-language project and took the lead in months
of meetings with the authorities and NGOs to establish permission to shoot the film on Cambodian soil. The filmmakers had to tread carefully. This was not Thailand, Jolie reminded herself, where The Killing Fields had shot many years before. “You are bringing a film to a country and asking the people who lived through it to recreate a history with you. I really didn’t know if [the authorities] were going to say yes.” Reliving the past Jolie was prepared to scale back the production and work within whatever framework the authorities would provide. However, she got what she wanted and the 50-day shoot in Siem Reap and Battambang finally got underway in November 2015. “Then, of course, you get to the set and you’re standing there with your friend and you have to recreate scenes of her father being taken and killed, and you have to try to walk through the steps of somebody’s life.” Jolie pauses and her voice fades a little. “You bring back. You bring back the people who passed. You bring back her sisters. And, of course, it was always the happy scenes that seemed to make her the most upset.” Jolie and her international heads of department and crew trained local counterparts, corralled large numbers of extras, braved tarantulas and snakes in the jungle, and avoided landmines and other unexploded ordnance. “Luckily, we were able to complete the film without a single incident on set,” she says. Navigating through complicated emotional terrain was harder. The local crew helped to communicate with the largely inexperienced cast, which included
14 Screen International August-September 2017
‘You’re on the set with your friend and you have to recreate scenes of her father being taken and killed’ Angelina Jolie, director
Sareum Srey Moch, the nine-year-old newcomer who played Ung without acting classes and impressed her director. Moch took part in a casting process that came under scrutiny in a recent cover story in Vanity Fair, which suggested that Fair the filmmakers had used emotional manipulation during child auditions, triggering angry comments online about Jolie. The UN goodwill ambassador and mother (Left) Sareum Srey Moch
of six issued a firm rebuttal with Panh. When the subject is mentioned, Jolie says she regards the matter as closed, but stresses that guardians and parents were present at all times during child auditions, and all parties knew the process involved make-believe. Throughout filming, her goal was to foster a therapeutic and cathartic environment for her cast, employing NGO staff, educators, de-miners and a therapist. “The country really doesn’t talk about this time and everybody in their mid-40s remembers,” Jolie says. “So when you have a scene where suddenly everyone comes dressed in Khmer Rouge outfits with guns, people were having experiences, they were remembering. Some people were talking for the first time.” First They Killed My Father has enabled Jolie to feel even closer to a country she has lived and worked in for 14 years. “When you direct a film it is very different from when you act in a film, when you try to give your all and it’s a few months of your life and you have your part to play,” she states. “When you direct a film, it’s
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Enabling Angelina Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh describes his key role as producer on First They Killed My Father ithy Panh, the acclaimed Cambodian documentarian whose 2013 Oscar-nominated film The Missing Picture used clay models to recreate Khmer Rouge atrocities, produced First They Killed My Father with Jolie. As a Cambodian native who has been closely involved for many years in building the country’s film infrastructure, Panh played an integral role in navigating the governmental apparatus to ensure the shoot went ahead without incident.
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How did you become producer on First They Killed My Father? Angelina came to Phnom Penh and asked me to participate. She already had a specific vision — artistic and aesthetic. Part of my role was to give her advice about how to represent life under the Khmer Rouge. Even though the film is fiction, she wanted it to be historically accurate — from the clothes we wore to the food we ate, and the lyrics of Khmer Rouge propaganda songs. What was it like for you, someone who experienced Khmer Rouge brutality, to watch the filming of distressing scenes? I’ve been making films about this subject for three decades, but the violence of the Khmer Rouge was so vast, so extensive, that it still needs to be explored and shown. Some scenes are distressing but they reflect reality. Representing brutality is also necessary to show how people displayed compassion, solidarity and resilience — dignity, in other words — in the face of a dehumanising regime.
(From left) Angelina Jolie, with Maddox Jolie-Pitt and Loung Ung on the set of First They Killed My Father
years of your life and it has to really matter to you because it’s all-consuming. “All the more so with this film because although Maddox [Jolie’s adopted eldest son, a native Cambodian] goes back often with me and we have a foundation there, this was the first time he was able to spend months there and study the history of his country, really understanding, going deep into what his birth parents most likely went through, and coming to terms with that and knowing who he is.” Giving back Sixteen-year-old Maddox served as an executive producer on the film and was there from the start, working long hours on drafts and physical production, and acting as a sounding board. “I wanted him to work hard and give back himself to his country,” says Jolie, who is in no doubt about who she made the film for. “I made it for Cambodia. I made it as a kind of thank you, a love letter. There hadn’t been a story on this scale that would reach people in their language, with them being the hero.”
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The drama received its world premiere in February, outdoors at the Angkor Wat complex. Jolie and Ung could not sleep the night before, but they need not have worried — the screening and those that followed across Cambodia in the following weeks “sparked a bigger discussion in the country among families who have not discussed [the genocide]”. Netflix will launch First They Killed My Father worldwide on September 15, following a brief theatrical run in Cambodia. Jolie likes the idea it will be on a streaming platform, there for viewers to watch when they feel ready. “On my first film [as director on 2011’s In The Land Of Blood And Honey], a lot of people who were Bosnian said they needed to stop, take a break and come back, so I was very aware of that.” She is not exactly sure what’s next. Family, probably acting. She signed on to Disney’s Maleficent sequel, and laughs when Bill Condon’s Bride Of Frankenstein reboot is mentioned. “There has been a discussion, but we’re not quite there. How s many monsters can one play, really?” ■
What is the film industry infrastructure like in Cambodia? The Khmer Rouge years nearly wiped out the industry — many actors and directors and artists died then. But the industry has built itself back up, little by little. Although Cambodia has no film studio, the country itself is like a huge studio, with remarkable historical temples and great landscapes. Were you worried about unexploded landmines? No, I wasn’t worried about mines — but sometimes I was worried about snakes. Cambodia has made great progress when it comes to mines. We also made sure to shoot in secure zones, and a team from the de-mining organisation CMAC assisted us throughout the shooting of the film. You have made several powerful films about the Khmer Rouge. Do you plan to make any more? Yes. This topic, this moment in history, is a part of my life, and I still have fundamental questions about it. But I’m not a filmmaker obsessed with genocide, or trapped in that subject. I’m an artist, and that’s precisely my way of demonstrating that the Khmer Rouge’s totalitarianism could not destroy me. Rithy Panh
August-September 2017 Screen International 15
PRODUCTION FOCUS BORG/McENROE
Match makers
Ahead of Borg/McEnroe’s world premiere as the first Swedish film to open Toronto International Film Festival, Wendy Mitchell talks to its creative team about diving into the psyches of two sporting icons
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anus Metz has not made a typical sports movie in Borg/McEnroe, “It’s really an existential drama,” the Danish director explains. “It’s not a heavily plot-driven film in the vein of Rush or something, it’s more of a character piece.” And what characters they are: two of tennis’s greatest figures, the tempestuous American John McEnroe and the cool, controlled Swede Björn Borg. The film follows their individual lives and ‘fire and ice’ rivalry, culminating in the 1980 Wimbledon men’s singles final, still regarded as one of the game’s greatest matches. Metz was not a huge tennis fan growing up, but connected with Ronnie Sandahl’s script immediately. “It’s a story about two people who drive themselves to the edge and beyond to achieve a sense of belonging and fulfilment,” observes the filmmaker, who also saw similarities to his acclaimed 2010 Afghanistan war documentary Armadillo — themes of “young men on the edge and their journey of transition”. For Sandahl, the story he wanted to tell “has always been about rage. Two boys from two different cultures, both driven by rage, who learn to channel it in two thoroughly contrasting ways. Björn locks his feelings away and becomes ‘Ice Borg’; John acts on every single emotion and becomes ‘Superbrat’. This makes them not only each other’s opposites, but also each other’s mirror reflections.” The film’s journey started with the two producers, Fredrik Wikström Nicastro and Jon Nohrstedt of Stockholm-headquartered SF Studios. Wikström Nicastro, who is also SVP of international production at SF, realised in 2013 that Borg was “one of our biggest icons in Sweden, and there hadn’t been a film about him”.
The pair hired Sandahl to research Borg’s life. At the time, he was more of a journalist and author (although he later became a director himself with 2015’s Underdog). Focusing on the idea of how the two rivals fuelled each other, Sandahl started writing in 2014 and, by mid-2015, had a script in shape to show directors. The producers were impressed immediately when they met Metz, the Danish director who burst onto the international scene in 2010 with Cannes Critics’ Week winner Armadillo and had also moved into bigger-budget fiction on the second season of US TV series True Detective. “Because of his documentary background, he has a closeness to the characters,” Nohrstedt says. “We are right in the faces of these characters, we are inside of them instead of beside them.” With Metz coming on board, Wikström Nicastro explains the film was put together in “traditionally Scandinavian fashion” with the local film institutes (Sweden, Denmark and Finland) providing finance, as well as the regional Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Borg/McEnroe was originally envisioned as a $4m-$5m project but San-
16 Screen International August-September 2017
‘The Wimbledon final is almost a film within a film. We worked for six months choreographing the tennis sequences like dance moves’ Janus Metz, director
dahl’s script received such a strong response from agents, actors and the marketplace that it grew into an $8m film, Wikström Nicastro explains. Presales covered that extra budget, and SF International’s Anita Simovic and team have sold the feature to more than 150 countries ahead of its Toronto launch (see box, opposite). The film shot for a total of 40 days, with seven of those spent recreating the Wimbledon final scenes at a stadium (Left) John McEnroe and Björn Borg ahead of the 1980 Wimbledon final
in Prague. The Czech capital — where half of the production was shot — was chosen for the country’s 20% tax rebate and solid filming infrastructure, as well its many sites that could serve as 1980s locations. The production also visited Sweden and Monaco, and the second unit shot for a day in London. First serve And what of Messrs Fire and Ice themselves? Wikström Nicastro explains that their representatives were approached at script stage, but ultimately the sporting icons decided not to be officially part of the project. Still, they were kept in the loop and each read the script (as of press time they have not yet seen the film). While Borg/McEnroe is based on their real stories, Sandahl also knew he had to take some artistic licence to get under the skin of the two men. “If you don’t have the guts to do that as a writer, then you don’t have a drama, you have a cinematised Wikipedia page,” he says. Sverrir Gudnason and Shia LaBeouf were the two actors stepping into these super-sized tennis shoes. Gudnason is a Swedish actor (of Icelandic heritage) with a rising profile in Nordic films
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(From left) Shia LaBeouf as John McEnroe, director Janus Metz and Sverrir Gudnason as Björn Borg
FACTFILE BORG/McENROE ■ Budget $8m ■ Producers Jon Nohrstedt and Fredrik Wikström Nicastro
for SF Studios sales SF International international@sfstudios.se ■ Partners Film i Väst, SVT, Nordisk Film, Sirena Film, Yellow Film & TV ■ Financiers Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, DR and YLE, Creative Europe Media ■ Key distributors Nordisk in Scandinavia (opens in Sweden on September 8), Neon (North America), Curzon Artificial Eye (UK, September 22), Hualu (China), Lucky Red (Italy), A Contracorriente (Spain), Phoenicia (Middle East), Cineplex (Latin America), Pretty Pictures (France), Vendetta (Australia and New Zealand) ■ International
including Monica Z, Gentlemen and A Serious Game, while US star LaBeouf has made a name for himself both on screen (American Honey, Transformers) and off. Despite his colourful reputation, the producers are proud to say LaBeouf “wasn’t troublesome at all. He was very collaborative.” They add that Gudnason, who looks eerily like Borg in some shots, “gave 110%” and was brave enough to take on Sweden’s top living legend. Each actor has a distinct way of working, as Metz discovered. “Sverrir likes to talk, to try to understand every scene and feel it in his belly,” says the director. “He slowly builds his way. Whereas Shia tries to be in character and build up a lot of energy that gets unloaded on the first couple of takes.” Gudnason and LaBeouf did their own character work and preparation, including months of very physical tennis training, before the shoot. “They kept a little away from each other to serve the purpose of the film,” Metz explains. Part of LaBeouf ’s method was to “insist that Sverrir had the better hotel room and he got picked up first for transport,” Metz reveals. “For Shia, it was also important to treat Sverrir like
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‘We are right in the faces of these characters, we are inside them’ Jon Nohrstedt, SF Studios
this character he was chasing. He wanted to be the prince trying to overthrow the king.” The king himself became involved in the film as a stage parent, when Borg’s son Leo, now 14, was cast to play the younger version of his father. “Leo is one of the greatest gifts we came across in the process of making this movie,” Metz says. “He brings such authenticity — Björn’s story is in his blood, and in his eyes. Shooting with Leo almost felt like shooting scenes in a documentary — it’s the living history of his dad.” Remarkably, Leo was cast after responding to an open call for sporty youngsters (he did not know he was auditioning to be in a film about his
father). “We trawled the country for an alternative because I was scared it was going to be perceived as a gimmick, but he was the best,” says Metz, who was keen to show Borg some of the scenes they had shot with his son. “We’re showing in the film that Björn as a kid had a lot more anger and things in common with John. He was very emotional and expressive — he got thrown out of his tennis club. “I wanted to show Björn some of those scenes of Leo losing it, and I asked him, ‘Was it that bad?’ He laughed and said, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly how it was.’” Metz recalls. “He was proud of Leo and he was also moved by the experience of seeing the set that was a perfect reconstruction of his childhood bedroom.” Sporting challenge As much as the film is about the mentality of Borg and McEnroe, the tennis also had to look absolutely authentic. “We put a lot of effort into making the tennis look amazing,” says Nohrstedt. “Recreating Wimbledon and the tennis was one of the big challenges of the production.” Metz adds: “We’ve chosen to treat that 1980 Wimbledon final almost as a
film within a film” during the third act. “We had to work for six months choreographing the tennis sequences like dance moves.” The tennis scenes also required lengthy post-production: the feature spent months in post from October 2016 until the final days before Toronto, with two editors — Per Sandholt and Per K Kirkegaard — working in parallel. Metz was open to the opportunities of the story shifting during the edit. “What became clear in the editing was that it was more of a two-hander,” he says. “Borg’s coach [played by Stellan Skarsgard] and fiancée, and McEnroe’s dad, feature as characters in the movie, and at one point I thought it could turn out as more of an ensemble piece. But it is really a story about Björn and John.” As a Dane, Metz does see a “Scandinavian quality” in the finished film. “In Hollywood, they could have written a different plot-driven type of film, more heroic, more externalised,” he says. “Whereas this is in the Scandinavian film tradition. It is diving into deeper character drama and existential drama. That’s where the script came from and that’s s what we were all interested in doing.” n
August-September 2017 Screen International 17
ON SET BREATHE
H
atfield House in Hertfordshire has stood in for Wayne Manor (Batman) and Lara Croft’s ancestral pile (Tomb Raider), as well as being the childhood home of Elizabeth I. Today, however, the grand Jacobean manor has been transformed into both a 1970s Oxford hospital car park and the interior of a German hotel for Breathe, the remarkable true story of Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) and his wife Diana (Claire Foy) who together battled Robin’s polio, raised their son Jonathan and helped bring about a pioneering change in the treatment and care of people with polio. “It’s a love story, a story of triumph over adversity, and a story of somebody who loses control of their life and then gets it back,” says producer Jonathan Cavendish, who previously filmed part of Elizabeth: The Golden Age at Hatfield. But what makes Breathe unique is that it also happens to be the story of Cavendish’s parents, and he, himself, is a character in it, played by a variety of actors from baby to 20 year old (DeanCharles Chapman). Written by William Nicholson (Shadowlands) and directed by Andy Serkis, Breathe is one of two new films emerging from Serkis and Cavendish’s
‘It’s packs an emotional punch. The buzzword will be it’s a disability movie, but it’s celebrating life’ Andy Serkis, director
production company The Imaginarium, alongside horror-thriller The Ritual. It also marks Serkis’s feature directorial debut. The actor, renowned for his motion-capture performances as Gollum, King Kong and Caesar in the Planet Of The Apes franchise, has directed several shorts and shot second unit on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films; he also directed The Imaginarium’s delayed adaptation of The Jungle Book, entitled Jungle Book, prior to Breathe but the VFX-heavy film is still in post and not scheduled for release by Warner Bros until October 2018. Cavendish had been developing the project with Nicholson for more than a decade when he and Serkis decided in spring 2016 to make Breathe after finding that Garfield and Foy had a window of availability that coincided with their own. Just before Cannes last year, they decided to roll the dice. “We rushed off to Cannes and it was all very bracing,” recalls Cavendish. “It was a bit scary. And we’re a company with resources. It would be very difficult for a small, independent company to have done that.” Seven weeks after the decision to move ahead, and having raised the $15m budget from BBC Films, BFI, Embankment Films and Silver Reel, they were in production. Bleecker Street and Participant Media picked up North American rights to Breathe, while STX International will release in the UK. It has its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival before opening the BFI London Film Festival on October 4.
18 Screen International August-September 2017
force Life
Breathe producer Jonathan Cavendish and director Andy Serkis tell Mark Salisbury about why the film’s triumph-over-adversity story is close to their hearts
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Andy Serkis (left) on set with Andrew Garfield and Hugh Bonneville
‘My mother is realising it’s a bit odd to have a film made about you. She trusts us to do it right’ Jonathan Cavendish, producer
The shooting schedule comprised five weeks in the UK and two in South Africa, which doubled for Kenya’s Great Rift Valley as well as Spain. Tom Hollander, Hugh Bonneville, Ed Speleers and Diana Rigg round out the cast. Serkis played rock star Ian Dury, who was partially paralysed by childhood polio, in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and has a sister who is a wheelchair user, and Breathe represented the opportunity to make a film that is “full of pathos and packs an emotional punch. The buzzword will be it’s a disability movie, but it’s celebrating life, and celebrating as much life as you can have, being only two minutes away from death.” Learning to breathe On set today, Garfield is found either in a wheelchair or bedbound, his performance requiring a total lack of physicality as well as a change in his voice and breathing that is striking to behold. “He learnt to breathe like my father, who had to relearn to talk after he got polio,” explains Cavendish. “He moves his face in the same way. A lot of it came from me describing how he did it. But it’s often uncanny for me to watch.” So how much is fact and how much fiction? “There’s nothing that happens that didn’t happen. To the extent there are lots of conversations that took place because I can remember them, or my mother mentioned them, or they’ve passed into family mythology.” While writing the script, Nicholson spent time with many of the people involved. “He met my mother at great length. And my godfather, Colin Campbell, who is a big part of the story,” says Cavendish, whose father Robin passed away in 1994. “He met my surviving uncle — I have identical twin uncles, both of whom are being played by Tom Hollander. He became very immersed.” As did Garfield, Foy and Serkis. The latter, coincidentally, bought a country home in the same village as Cavendish’s mother shortly after they founded The Imaginarium in 2011. “Andy lives 200 yards from my mother, and my mother lives at the bottom of the garden of the house where she lived all their married life,” reveals Cavendish, whose own son is working on the production. “She is very matter-of-fact,” he says of his mother, who visited the set several times. “One of her great gifts is that she lives in the moment, she doesn’t look back, she doesn’t look forward. She’s realising it’s a bit odd to have a film made about you, but she’s very unquestioning. She trusts us to do it right. She trusts Claire, she trusts Andrew, she trusts Andy. I presume she trusts me. She’s been very helpful. She’s quietly proud, I think, of the life she and my father had, s and the achievements they managed.” n
August-September 2017 Screen International 19
SPOTLIGHT THE ORCHARD
Orchard’s rich pickings Five years after the creation of The Orchard’s film arm, the Sony-owned company is maturing into a savvy theatrical/digital player with four films at Toronto. Jeremy Kay reports
T
he carcasses of studio tentpoles lie strewn across the landscape, yet savvy distributors are finding success with curated content capable of reaching a multi-platform audience. Enter The Orchard, the 20-year-old bicoastal music distributor that branched out into film five years ago under the auspices of owner Sony Music Entertainment, and heads to Toronto (TIFF) with four titles in selection. The Orchard’s founders, who include Sire Records co-founder Richard Gottehrer, saw the need to offer filmmakers the same all-inclusive service they gave the music industry and brought in former Xbox Video executive and New Line Cinema executive Paul Davidson as executive vice-president of film and TV. “You speak to filmmakers and there’s a constant theme — they want to deal with one distributor who can manage everything,” Davidson says from the bright confines of the company’s Hollywood hub. “It’s very piecemeal in the industry, where you may sign with one distributor and they have to hand off other parts of your release to seven other companies. A lot of indie distributors will put their digital through a studio. We try to keep as much of that in-house as possible.” Only DVD is not done in-house and goes through Lionsgate. When Davidson arrived at The Orchard in 2014, he set up a theatrical distribution apparatus to accommodate a range of filmmakers in a gradual move away from what he calls an “aggregation mentality”. The first notable acquisition was Taika Waititi’s What We Do In The Shadows at Toronto in 2014. However, the real splash came in January 2015, when the company acquired five Sundance films including The Overnight and Oscarnominated documentary Cartel Land. “That was the moment for us to show the industry we were serious,” Davidson says. Since then, The Orchard has snapped up the likes of Waititi’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople, which managed to be profitable on $5.2m domestic box office; current release The Hero starring Sam Elliott, which is at $4m and counting; and Kings, Denis Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang follow-up about the LA riots. Kings, which stars Halle Berry and Daniel Craig, is one of four films the company
Kings
has in Toronto. The others are Lynn Shelton’s Outside In, Joachim Trier’s Thelma and Robin Campillo’s stirring Cannes Grand Jury prize winner, BPM (Beats Per Minute). The plan is to do 10-12 theatrical releases a year, of which two to four are typically documentaries, and several are foreign-language such as Pablo Larrain’s Chilean Oscar submission Neruda, or hail from feature debutants like Kevin Phillips and his upcoming Super Dark Times. The remainder are talent-based releases such as Oren Moverman’s ensemble drama The Dinner, with Steve Coogan and Richard Gere, or Kings. In these cases, The Orchard may book more than 500 screens nationwide. Dynamic digital The company also releases films for brand partners like Red Bull or Scholastic Media, and has developed a robust direct-todigital business. TIFF 2016 selections Blue Jay and Carrie Pilby performed beyond expectations, distributed across all digital, cable and satellite platforms in North America. (Right) The Hero
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‘There is an endless digital shelf for content’ Paul Davidson, The Orchard
While he declines to discuss revenue, Davidson says Carrie Pilby stayed in the top 100 of all digital releases in its first couple of months. The documentary Unacknowledged generated seven-figure, digital-only revenue in its first two months. “When your success and failure depends on a handful of movies with big investment, that’s when companies go away,” Davidson says. “We like that balance and are trying to direct profitability across each category.” Marketing spend is frugal but effective, where others have tripped up. For direct-to-digital titles, Davidson and the team ‘eventise’ the release, activating a social and grassroots base. “There’s an endless digital shelf for content,” David-
son says. “You have to invest in the assets creatively. Don’t buy a movie you don’t love.” For Sundance documentary pickup Trophy, The Orchard is reaching out to big-game hunters and conservationists and working with event platform Tugg — screenings will proceed in 130 US cities if sales targets are reached. Pre-buys have become a significant play among smaller distributors and account for roughly one-third of The Orchard’s films. Davidson moved swiftly this year in Cannes on Kings, snapping up North American rights by the first weekend after the team saw the promo. They did a similar thing with Moverman’s The Dinner the year before, and have pre-bought upcoming US election documentary 11/8/16, and Under The Eiffel Tower, a comedy shooting now in France. The company’s sales team will be in Toronto talking to international buyers about the latter two titles. Davidson estimates that on a narrative release, theatrical can account for 25% of overall revenues, while digital can generate 50%. At a forward-looking, data-focused company like The Orchard, he recognises the enduring value of the oldest form of film distribution. “There is still a shortage of data,” he notes, “so theatrical becomes the beginning of that lifecycle to which people look, to help s define value in later windows.” ■
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ANALYSIS FILM-SET GUIDELINES
I
n January, one of the UK’s most experienced and respected location managers took his own life. Michael Harm, who worked on franchises including Harry Potter, Pirates Of The Caribbean and The Fast And The Furious, had been battling depression due to personal issues. However, according to those who knew him, he had also experienced bullying behaviour from a handful of colleagues. Harm, who was passionate about his work, did not feel able to share his burden with co-workers, even if he had wanted to. In a letter sent shortly before he died to friend and fellow location manager Sue Quinn, Harm wrote: “Just an afterthought: being a location manager is very lonely. It is one of the loneliest jobs on a film. There is no HR department and there is no structure such as in an art department.” In recent years, the industry’s culture of long hours and lack of pastoral care had prompted Harm — an active member of the Guild of Location Managers and the Production Guild — to lobby for better working conditions within his department. He was not alone in pushing for meaningful employment reform. At a time when the UK as a whole is considering the issue (the government’s report on the gig economy was published in July), the film sector is being asked by its constituents to look harder than ever at its own employ-
SUPPORT ACT Calls are growing for greater employment regulation and accountability in the UK production sector. Andreas Wiseman investigates how the industry is responding
‘A strong union has always been a good thing in maintaining good practice’ Rebecca O’Brien, producer
ment practices. According to Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the UK’s largest entertainment union Bectu, the organisation’s membership has grown in three consecutive years. In that period, a record number of film departments have created branches within the group. With a challenged record on diversity already, and the BFI’s estimation that 10,000 new entrants are needed to maintain the UK’s position at the vanguard of global film production in the next five years, self-examination is becoming urgent. Freelance deal According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, UK film is worth $5.6bn (£4.3bn) to the economy and is the UK’s fastest-growing sector. The industry currently employs 66,000 people, more than 70% of whom work in film and video production. Among them, freelancers, who often relish flexibility, continue to fuel the business. However, UK crew have been hampered in recent years by not having a fit-for-purpose minimumterms production agreement between producers association Pact and Bectu. After years of frustrated — and at times suspended — negotiation, that stumbling block is seemingly now being moved to one side. With the help of the BFI and the British Council, officials from the two organisations recently agreed a new freelancer production agreement, which will better regulate pay (largely concerned with overtime and rates) and conditions (largely concerned with scheduling, travel and turnaround time) on UK productions with a budget of more than $39m (£30m). The agreement, due to kick in from early 2018, is out to ballot among Bectu members but is expected to be ratified.
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Alamy
Ken Loach’s producer Rebecca O’Brien, who sat on the Pact negotiating committee during the discussions, believes the lack of an agreement has had a negative impact on production standards. “One of the problems of not having had an agreement in recent years has been that things have become more lax,” she says. “A strong union has always been a good thing in terms of maintaining good practice. Both sides have been crying out for proper agreements. But it’s important to note that we’re only halfway through.” The next step, which is due to get underway in the coming months, will be to come up with a similar agreement for productions made for less than $39m (£30m), which account for the vast majority of films made in the UK. Enforcing regulation on all lower-budget features will be tricky, but Pact chief executive John McVay highlights the role funding agencies can play in promoting good standards on smaller productions they support. “This agreement — almost 10 years in the making — has been very hard to get over the line,” says McVay. “But we’ve got a good agreement and I’m confident we’ll get a good agreement for indigenous, independent film as well.” Meanwhile, Bectu is also pushing for better conditions for talent chaperones and tutors, and is separately engaged in a long-running dispute with cinema chain Cineworld over the pay of staff at Picturehouse Cinemas. Discriminatory environment This summer also saw the publication of a stark report claiming “unlawful, invisible and unfair” employment practices that discriminate against people in the UK film and TV industry who are parents and carers. The BFIbacked investigation, titled ‘Raising Our Game: Next Steps for the UK Film and Television Industry’, was published by Raising Films, a pressure group that supports members of the industry who are parents and carers. The result of six months’ research, the damning survey found the UK screen sector suffers from a “precarious and exploitative culture” because of “casualised labour practices, deregulation, deunionisation and persistent ignorance of the wider legislative employment framework within the UK”. According to the group, this has resulted in parents and carers not being granted employment rights available to them and “offered no system for speaking out”. The report cites legislation that is not “understood, adopted or practised” across the industry, including the Equality Act of 2010 (which rules that it is unlawful to discriminate against anyone based on ‘protected characteristics’ including gender or pregnancy and maternity) and the Employment Rights Act 1996 (which grants employees the statutory right to ask for a change to their contractual terms to work flexibly). The report also suggests that “bullying; sexual discrimination; sexual harassment; unlawful dismissal due to pregnancy; and failure to gain work due to parenthood or caring responsibilities” are prevalent in the industry, along with a “dependence on a culture of networking and an informal recruitment policy”, which is seen as a major barrier for people who are parents and carers. O’Brien admits that discrimination and bullying have existed over the years in the industry. She also admits some producers need to better understand the laws governing their productions. However, expanded HR departments are not likely to sprout up on productions soon, explains the I, Daniel Blake producer: “On lowerbudget films, the budgets are so tight you can’t employ an HR person to look after everybody. Production ends
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up being HR and they’re not necessarily qualified to take on that role.” Employment law is complex and the industry’s freelance culture can make it even more so for producers, according to David Andrews, head of employment at law firm Lee & Thompson. “People are very confused about the different classes of worker,” he says. “As a matter of employment law, you have employees and the self-employed but you also have an intermediate category — worker. A lot of people aren’t even aware of this hybrid classification and sometimes it’s very hard to identify who falls into what category.” That is not to excuse malpractice and Andrews confirms some of the report’s key findings, including the prevalence of discrimination and harassment: “I would say it still happens a lot more than is reported because people are scared of being blacklisted and not rehired to work on the productions they want to work on. “The Raising Films report also raised the issue that jobs often go to contacts of the people who are in charge of filling those posts and that will always mean you tend to fish from the same pool.” Andrews sees hope in a new generation of workers, however: “To an extent, it also has to do with certain age demographics and what people had been used to. Younger generations are a lot more alive to these things
‘The industry as a whole needs to do more to be inclusive and supportive’ John McVay, Pact
and won’t put up with it. I think the reality is that malpractice is becoming a thing of the past, particularly in larger companies.” Weeding out such behaviour is an economic imperative for the business, as well as a moral and legal one. UK secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport Karen Bradley said last month: “The UK film industry is one of our biggest success stories and the films made here are loved by audiences around the world. For this to continue we need to nurture and foster the next generation of talent, both in front of and behind the camera.” “We need every bit of talent we can get in order to remain competitive,” agrees McVay. “The UK creative industries are a global industry now and we are in a very competitive market. The audiovisual industry as a whole needs to do more to be more inclusive and supportive.” Sue Quinn is doing her bit. The Harry Potter regular is in discussion with the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund about a phone support network for troubled crew, called Michael’s Line, which would be run in collaboration with charities such as Mind and the Samaritans. “The studios already provide phone numbers you can call if you’re experiencing welfare issues, but some people we spoke to would like to see those better promoted and for that same approach to be adopted on independent productions,” says Quinn, who is also seeking to increase the amount of legal information about harassment laws afforded to heads of department by their employers. If the film sector is to truly shrug off its perception as a wild west and a less accountable industry than TV, it will need to do more to improve its employment pracs tices. That improvement is at least underway. n
August-September 2017 Screen International 23
Paul Grover
SPOTLIGHT NIK POWELL
The
outsider Fourteen years ago, the UK’s National Film and Television School took a gamble when it appointed a maverick producer as its director. Charles Gant asks the departing Nik Powell: how did it all go so right?
Nik Powell at the 2017 NFTS Great British Film, Television and Games Gala
W
hen in the summer of 2003 it was announced that film producer Nik Powell would join the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) as its new director, opinion was divided. There were those who wondered how the voluble fixture of industry parties and former husband of singer Sandie Shaw would cope with life in bureaucratic, politically correct academia, to say nothing of exile in sleepy Buckinghamshire, and those who saw it as an inspired hire that would give the establishment a necessary creative jolt. Fourteen years later, with the school hugely expanded, its reputation enhanced and student numbers surging, few would contest that the avowed maverick has been anything other than good news. Powell, who handed over the reins to his former deputy Jon Wardle at the end of July, leaves the NFTS just as its Beaconsfield campus has completed a $26m (£20m) makeover, with the addition of new 20,000 sq ft buildings containing state-of-the-art facilities and new courses that will take full-time student numbers to 550 by 2019 — compared to
‘To be fair, I didn’t know if I could do it. But I didn’t know how to run a record company before I started Virgin’
The Oswald Morris building at Beaconsfield, which opened in 2008
Nik Powell
just 200 five years ago. Speaking to Screen International on the day the new buildings opened, Powell reflected on his tenure, which began when Michael Kuhn, then chair of the NFTS board of governors, called him to suggest applying for the post. “To be fair, I didn’t know if I could do it,” says Powell. “I’d never run an institution, although I had chaired the European Film Academy. I was very upfront with Michael and Peter [Bazalgette, deputy chairman], ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ But I didn’t know how to run a record company before I started Virgin [with Richard Branson]. I had no idea about film when I came into the film business. I had no idea about European film academies when I went into that. So
24 Screen International August-September 2017
I thought, it’s just another thing that I’m going to have to learn. “The good thing about coming into things you don’t know about is you can see the wood for the trees,” he adds. “You can see more clearly where the core thing is.” Powell arrived at a time when the school was desperately in need of new buildings and facilities, but the existing
plan for a new home was nowhere close to realisation. Recalls Kuhn: “The first thing Peter and I had to do was reverse plans to build a £40m glass marble palace for the school on the South Bank. Michael Grade, before me, had eventually said, ‘This is madness, why do we need to operate out of a marble palace, and what’s wrong with [staying in] Beaconsfield?’ But I remember Alan Parker
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‘Our priority was to attract the brightest of students. You have to make yourself look sexy vis-a-vis the competition’
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…
Nik Powell
saying the film school was like a derelict building site, which it pretty much was.” Powell agreed that an upgrade of facilities at Beaconsfield was an urgent priority, and reckoned $10m (£8m) would be a more achievable target. “Then they showed me the plans, and they were going to move all the administration into the nice new buildings, and the students into the old shit buildings,” he says. “I said, ‘Number one, nobody’s going to pay for that, and number two, this is getting your priorities wrong.’” Instead, the eventual new building, the Oswald Morris building which opened in 2008 (pictured left), contained seminar rooms, cinema, library, what the school calls ‘student bases’ and a facility close to Powell’s heart: a café-bar at the exit of the school, through which everybody must pass on their way home, creating a space for interaction. Rules of attraction Powell’s vision extended beyond the physical fabric. “For me, the film school is like a film,” he states. “The first thing is to put together a great project, a great product, that attracts money. Our priority was to attract the brightest of students. People assume they will just arrive. No, you have to make yourself look sexy visa-vis the competition.” Powell felt that, apart from loyal supporter Stephen Frears, the school rather lacked ambition in the masterclasses it hosted. He immediately set about persuading Spike Lee to come and talk. “After Spike, a lot of people who had been saying, ‘Not sure I have time,’ started falling into line,” he says. Danny Boyle, Steve McQueen, Park Chan-wook, Lone Scherfig, Werner Herzog, Ben Wheatley, Sally Wainwright and David Yates have all visited the school. Powell spotted another chance to enhance the school’s prestige when he watched student Sharon Colman’s 2005 animated short Badgered, seeing the potential for an Oscar nomination, which was achieved. “Suddenly I’ve got something to sell,” he notes. “We had to get in there and make sure we were winning awards at festivals, the Baftas, Oscars, because that then attracts great students. It also gives politicians and other funders something to sing about. And to be honest, that still has to be the priority.” »
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Powell with Ed Vaizey at the opening of the NFTS’s Channel 4 Rose Building in July
Nik Powell, according to the people who know him and have worked with him Ed Vaizey was minister for culture, communications and creative industries, 2010-16 “I love him to death. He’s just brilliant. He comes across as utterly chaotic, he’s got appalling dress sense, he chain smokes, and is obviously not worried about his hairstyle or anything like that. All of that is hilarious, and then underneath it you’ve got this guy who is utterly dedicated and clearly passionate about the job that he does and just immensely impressive. He’s very happy to talk and engage with anyone. “Nik puts you on a mailing list, so I know every time any NFTS graduate or student has done something in the least bit noticeable. As minister, I remember once being asked how many emails I received every day, and I replied around 1,000. What I failed to mention is that 999 of them were from Nik Powell.”
Daniel Battsek worked with Powell at Palace Pictures, and is now director of Film4 “I’ll never forget my first interview with Nik in what was described as his office, but was in fact a couch. I just thought, ‘Yeah, that’s the sort of place I want to work.’ It was shake, rattle and roll. It was the era of punk music, and I always saw Palace as being the punk band of the film industry — never obeying any rules, but also doing great stuff with great filmmakers. “He always manages to get what he wants. Even if meetings sometimes started a little bit rockily, we would end up sealing the deal. That’s a great characteristic to have in anything, and especially when you’re trying to put together a school and make it financially viable and also make it a place where students want to come. “Nik has opened pretty much any door that he’s tried to open — and whether he opens that with the correct combination, the right key or just knocks it down, he’ll get through it, one way or another.”
Former Polygram Filmed Entertainment head Michael Kuhn recruited Powell to the NFTS when he was chair of the board of governors “When I first knew him? He was a crazy man. Obviously he was full of enthusiasm, full of go, out of control in many ways. But that was his attraction. But, also, people forget that just about when I started, when Film4 started, the film business was finished. [David] Puttnam had given up; everyone had given up. Nik and Palace was one of the few bits of it that seemed to be alive. There was no UK Film Council, there was no BFI. You had to be an incredible survivor to exist in those days, compared to now.”
Film producer Chris Auty now runs the producer course and MA in creative entrepreneurship at the NFTS “I first met Nik in the basement of what turned into the Channel 4 building in Scala Street. It was 1983, and Stephen Woolley said to me, ‘Meet my financier.’ I remember thinking, ‘This does not look like any financier I have ever met before.’ “I thought [his NFTS appointment] was brilliant news for the school. I wondered if they knew what they were getting. I thought it would be a major 240 volts up the cerebellum.”
Jon Wardle Powell’s successor as director of the NFTS “The word ‘maverick’ gets used a lot, and it can be overused. But Nik really is a maverick, and he thinks in a very counter-intuitive way. I’ll have meetings with Nik and he’ll give you the opposite perspective. And sometimes you’ll think, ‘That’s bonkers, why are we wasting our time thinking about that?’ Other times, you go, ‘Oh wow, that’s completely right. “He’s inspirational and infuriating within the same conversation, in a good way. I’ve never had a boss who has worked harder. And he genuinely has a passion for the students and their work that isn’t fake and false. I think you can overstate this, but the school was in the doldrums when Nik came, and he’s made it massively relevant again to the film, television and now games communities. The school has got a huge amount to be thankful for.”
August-September 2017 Screen International 25
SPOTLIGHT NIK POWELL
‘I’ve been raising money all my life, and I’m one of the few people in the world who loves doing it’
NIK POWELL FILMOGRAPHY With more than 50 feature producing and executive producing credits to his name, here are a few of the highlights...
Nik Powell
Money talks All these achievements, notably the new buildings, have cost money, and Powell has proved proficient at hitting up media companies (including Channel 4 and Sky), individuals, institutions and government — for example by introducing the NFTS Gala dinner in 2008, which this year alone raised $460,000 (£350,000). Industry support has been vital in funding the bursaries that subsidise fees, to varying degrees, for 87% of NFTS students, which are 43% female and 18% BAME in the case of the MA cohort. “I’ve been raising money all my life, and I’m one of the few people in the world who loves doing it,” he says. As for wooing politicians, Powell’s years at the European Film Academy proved helpful (“I had dealt with more ministers of culture than most people have had hot dinners”), as did the notably long tenure of Ed Vaizey as UK minister for culture, communications and creative industries, who became a valuable supporter. “What I always found is that government people like to deal with rock ’n’ roll
26 Screen International August-September 2017
The Crying Game (1992)
Backbeat (1994)
Little Voice (1998)
Mona Lisa (1986) as co-producer
Shutterstock
NFTS students have won the short animation Bafta for the past four years. Powell also saw scope for expansion in the range of courses offered. “One of the big problems I found on arrival was that the film business thought it was a TV school, and the TV business thought it was a film school,” he says. “They both used that as excuses for not supporting it with money.” Under his watch, the school has added a range of TV courses (entertainment, sports production, comedy, natural history) as well as visual effects for film and, of course, a games division. The latest batch of new courses are training production accountants, assistant directors and floor managers — an expansion that looks oddly prescient, since production is booming in the UK, and the British Film Institute in June announced its report into a large skills gap across the sector. Business-focused courses include a new MA in marketing, distribution, sales and exhibition, as well as the multi-disciplinary MA in creative business for entrepreneurs and executives. The MA in film studies programming and curation, delivered in partnership with the BFI, prepares students for roles in independent exhibition, film festival programming and archival work.
Powell and family with Richard and Joan Branson at the UK premiere of 1994’s Beatles film Backbeat
‘Government people like to deal with rock ’n’ roll people. It’s important people go, “Oh, Nik’s coming to a meeting, at least it’s going to be fun”’ Nik Powell
NIK POWELL CV ■ Born November 4, 1950 ■ Educated at Ampleforth College,
North Yorkshire, then one year at Sussex University ■ Co-founded Virgin Records with Richard Branson in 1972 ■ Co-founded Palace Pictures with Stephen Woolley in 1982, moving from distribution into production, including Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa and The Crying Game ■ Co-founded Scala Productions with Stephen Woolley in 1991, producing titles including Backbeat, Fever Pitch and Little Voice ■ Joined the NFTS as director in 2003, stepping down in July this year
people. It’s important people go, ‘Oh, Nik’s coming to a meeting, at least it’s going to be fun.’ Even if it’s going to be difficult. I learnt that from Sandie. She said, ‘Politicians love us entertainment people, and we love politicians.’ We’re kind of in the same business, which is of communicating to people.” Leaving the NFTS will clearly be a wrench for Powell, but it is one for which he has long been preparing, having reached retirement age in 2015. “I’ve known for two-and-a-half years that I’d be stepping down,” he says. “My contract ended two years ago. I couldn’t tell anybody that.” To prepare for succession,
two years ago Powell handed over responsibility of the internal running of the school to his deputy Wardle, allowing him to focus on external and marketing. “I’ve done it for 14 years,” he declares. “That’s the longest I’ve done anything in my life. That’s longer than any of my marriages. I also think public institutions should be refreshed. It’s funny how easy it is to lose that philosophy once you’re in charge.” As for the next step, if Powell knows where he is headed, he is not saying. “I’m saying to everybody, my plan is to have no plan,” he says. “Funnily enough, the Beatles song ‘Get Back’ came on the radio as I was walking up today. The lyric is something like, ‘Get back to where you really belong.’” (The lyric is ‘once belonged’ — a mishearing that could be revelatory of something.) “Of course, I’m not sure I do really belong back, because the world has changed. We’ll see. I will say this — this s is one of the great jobs in the industry.” ■
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WE CONGRATULATE THE CREATIVE TEAMS BEHIND
WRITER-DIRECTOR: FRANCIS LEE PRODUCERS: MANON ARDISSON AND JACK TARLING
WRITER-DIRECTOR: JORGE THIELEN ARMAND PRODUCERS: MANON ARDISSON, ADRIANA HERRERA, AND RODRIGO MICHELANGELI
SUNDANCE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WORLD DRAMATIC CINEMA SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR DIRECTING
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM
BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL MANNERS MAGAZINE JURY AWARD AT THE TEDDY AWARDS
DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BEST SCREENPLAY & BEST EDITING AWARDS
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL MICHAEL POWELL AWARD FOR BEST BRITISH FILM
RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FIRST PRIZE FOR BEST FEATURE
G ALWAY FILM FLEADH BEST INTERNATIONAL FIRST FEATURE AWARD
A TLANTA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL NARRATIVE FEATURE SPECIAL JURY AWARD
INSIDE OUT TORONTO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL BILL SHERWOOD AWARD FOR BEST FIRST FEATURE
NASHVILLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL HONORABLE MENTION IN THE NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION
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FESTIVAL OF VENEZUELAN CINEMA B EST DEBUT FILM & BEST SOUND AWARDS
IN UK CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 1ST
ON MUBI SEPTEMBER 1ST
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
The heat is on Gabriel Padilla, Panama Film Commission’s international project manager, reveals how local projects, diverse locations and a cash rebate are keeping the country’s production scene lively and robust
Panama City
P
anama Film Commission has in recent years developed a keen eye for promotional activity as it strives to entice business into a country that boasts diverse natural beauty, vibrant urban life and a wealth of hospitality towards content creators. Having recently joined Screen International in hosting a second consecutive round table at Cannes Film Festival, the commission remains confident it can hold its own as an alluring Latin American location. Now it turns its attention to Spain, where international project manager Gabriel Padilla will attend San Sebastian Film Festival (September 22-30) with four local filmmakers seeking co-production partners for their development projects. The San Sebastian delegation comprises Jairo Ramos with They Call Me El Panzer (Me Llamen El Panzer), Alberto Serra with Piedra Roja, Felix Guardia with Buscando a Bejuco, and A Fernandez with Azuquita. Padilla is excited about the opportunity to present this latest class of homegrown talent to their international counterparts. He notes, for
El Cheque
28 Screen International August-September 2017
example, that Ramos’s sports biopic is inspired by an enduring source of pride for Panamanians. The project focuses on footballer Rommel Fernandez, the national team striker who played mostly for Spanish clubs until his career was cut short in a fatal car crash in 1993 while a player for Albacete. “The story of Fernandez is a great one and he is a legendary soccer player in our country,” Padilla says. “We can’t wait for potential partners to hear what Jairo plans to do with the story. We’re excited to bring all four of these talented filmmakers to San Sebastian.” Going local Back home, Panamanian directors are mobilising with a solid slate of projects that catch the eye. Arturo Montenegro, who earned acclaim at IFF Panama in 2016 with his
‘We’re excited to bring four of our talented filmmakers to San Sebastian’ Gabriel Padilla, Panama Film Commission
comedy The Check (El Cheque), is in post with carnival-set romcom Grace & Splendor (Donaire y Esplendor, see sidebar). The project cost less than $1m and will open in Panama on September 6 through ProLatsa Centroamerica. It is funded privately and in part by Panama Film Commission, which will be selling international rights at AFM in Santa Monica in November. Grace & Splendor shot scenes in a town setting, on pristine beaches and in rainforests — some of the country’s most obvious visual selling points besides Panama City’s dramatic mélange of contemporary and Spanish colonial architecture, and the Panama Canal itself. “It came out really well and shows off the scenery in Panama,” Padilla says of Montenegro’s film. “This is an example of how a good movie can be made in Panama for not a lot [of money].” Another project on the AFM sales slate will be Human Persons, a $1.4m human-trafficking thriller directed by Frank Spano that recently wrapped and is seeking distribution partners. Garra Productions and Jaguar Films of Panama are producing alongside coproduction partners Panda Filmes and FM Producoes from Brazil. Again, Panama Film Commission has provided support and Padilla points out the film shot partly in Estadio Maracana, the football stadium that opened in the capital city in 2014. It is a public building and was free to use, like many others in the capital and across this country of 4 million people. Padilla notes most permits will be granted,
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SHOOTING IN PANAMA
Grace notes
Human Persons shooting in the Estadio Maracana, which as a public building is free to use
although they can take up to 48 hours to process. After Human Persons, which like Grace & Splendor shot in Panama earlier this year, Spano is lining up psychological drama Gauguin And The Canal. Jean Reno is being courted to play ailing French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin in later life as he faces trial in Tahiti and reflects on his past. The project is scheduled to shoot in 2018, and also hails from Garra Productions and Jaguar Films. It took part in Panama Film Commission’s delegation to Cannes earlier in the year, and in the days immediately after Screen International’s round table, France’s YN Productions and Owen Films from the US signed on as co-production partners. “Before, it was almost like a dream to think about investors putting money into Panamanian projects, but it’s happening now,” Padilla notes of the project’s newest collaborators. International appeal Panama Film Commission acts as a one-stop shop for visiting film crews, and has earned favourable testimonials from international producers who have taken advantage of the commission’s online resources and nationwide connections. A savvy and helpful approach only enhances the appeal of a location where the US dollar is the currency and there are direct flights from Los Angeles, Miami and a number of European cities. Local fixers with knowledge of Panama and its film production apparatus can be good to know. “It’s not that it’s difficult without help,” Panama Films CEO Anel Moreno, who worked as a local production manager on Quantum Of Solace and Contraband, told Screen International recently. “It’s that the fixer knows how and with whom to get things done.” Major shoots to have opted for Panama in recent years include the aforementioned James Bond tentpole, in which Panama City doubled as Bolivia’s La Paz, and Colon City to the north stood in for Haiti. Hands Of Stone, a
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‘It’s not difficult to work in Panama without help, but the local fixers know how and with whom to get things done’ Anel Moreno, Panama Films
very local story starring Edgar Ramirez as celebrated boxer Roberto Duran, shot in 2014 and the producers used Panama City for New York and New Orleans. Because of the rainy season, most filming activity takes place from January to June. One leading Hollywood studio has recently expressed interest in scouting for a major production and Padilla and his commission colleagues are determined to land the job. The country enacted a 15% rebate programme in 2012. While the rebate can be escrowed prior to production with a bond company to cashflow production, the $3m minimum spend requirement can be prohibitive for less deep-pocketed productions that cannot trade on the cachet of 007. Padilla, well aware of the success of Colombia’s 40% incentive under Cash Rebate Law 1556, would like to see that $3m threshold brought down to around $250,000 to make it more readily available to productions and further boost inward investment. In this regard, the commission has an ally in the Inter-American Development Bank, a leading source of multilateral financing in Latin America that has been encouraging local governments to put more into the film and TV industries. “We have identified that we need to convince the president to change the law,” Padilla says. “I need the acknowledgement of the ministry of economy. It sounds complicated but it can be done.” For further information * gpadilla@mici.gob.pa 8 www.panamafilmcommission.com
Arturo Montenegro on using the country’s locations to shoot his Grace & Splendor rturo Montenegro made a name for himself as a director when his first feature The Check (El Cheque) screened at IFF Panama in 2016. For his follow-up, Montenegro opted to go with the romantic comedy Grace & Splendor (Donaire y Esplendor), which shot in Panama earlier in the year and is now in post-production. The story follows a man who returns from his studies abroad with the goal of working on his family’s pig farm. During the carnival, he meets someone who changes his life. “The toughest challenge was recreating the carnival of Las Tablas in the real location, with its laughter, attractions, music, characters and art,” says Montenegro. “We had worked directly with designers from Las Tablas on a water-tank truck, parade Arturo Montenegro, filmmaker floats and dresses for queens and princesses. To afford the night scenes, cars, fantasy disguises and enough fireworks to reach 100 feet into the air, we staged a bingo game as part of a fundraiser in the beautiful small piazza Parque Porras. “Playa Cambutal with its waves, ideal for surfing, hosts the romance between Donaire and Esplendor,” he continues. “There is a colourful beach bar and an amazingly beautiful waterfall in Cerro Quema. “The cinematography has two sides to it,” Montenegro adds. “The first aspect is based on the reality of life in a small town, with its brightness, warmth and simplicity. The second is the concept of the fiery, colourful, vibrant, seductive spectacle that is displayed during the carnival. We used an Alexa camera with anamorphic lenses to capture the magic and beauty of these images. There was lots of natural light for the day scenes, and shadows and artificial lighting to accentuate expressions in the night scenes.”
A
‘There was a lot of natural light for the day scenes’
On the set of Grace & Splendor
August-September 2017 Screen International 29
ON SET FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL
Annette Bening and Jamie Bell
True romance
Barbara Broccoli’s latest production, starring Annette Bening and Jamie Bell, tells the real-life love story of a Hollywood legend and a young Liverpudlian theatre actor. Wendy Mitchell reports
P
eter Turner has a small part in Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, playing a theatre stage manager. Yet the unassuming Liverpudlian actor and author has a bigger role in the overall production: the film is based on Turner’s memoir about his romance with Hollywood actress Gloria Grahame and their intense bond when she fell ill with cancer. During the film’s shoot in summer 2016, he had the simultaneously “poignant” and “odd” experience of looking on as Jamie Bell, playing Turner’s younger self, brought Gloria (Annette Bening) on to the stage for a moving scene. “It makes me a bit shivery to realise it was all about me,” Turner tells Screen International during a set visit in Liverpool. A-list producer Barbara Broccoli shares Turner’s enthusiasm. “It’s a dream come true to make this movie. I just loved the romance of the story, and I love Gloria’s fascination with Liverpool,” says the veteran James Bond producer, who has wanted to make the film for more that two decades — she knew Turner socially in the early 1980s and had even met Grahame with him. In 2010, Colin Vaines (Coriolanus, Gangs Of New York) returned to freelance producing and remembered the project when it had been set up at Columbia in the 1980s. He heard Broccoli had the rights again, and contacted her. They hired Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin) to direct based on a script adapted by Matt Greenhalgh (Control). Vaines pays tribute to McGuigan’s vision for the film, which is set from 1978
‘Annette is an extraordinary actress. We’ve been talking to her about this role for 20 years’
Director Paul McGuigan (right) with Stephen Graham and Julie Walters
Barbara Broccoli, producer
to 1981. “He had a completely brilliant concept of memory and a sense of playing with it — mirrors, reflections, old Hollywood. It’s a very accurate version of the book but made even more cinematic.” The director has crafted some inspired transitions between scenes and across the film’s timespan, as he explains: “We have a disciplined way of telling the story. For example, one shot moves from Liverpool to LAX [airport]. That’s how memory works. We also play with techniques used in film noir.” Vaines pitched the feature to his former Miramax colleague, Liverpool-born Stuart Ford, then CEO at IM Global, which handles international sales and co-financed the project (also backed by private equity). Before the film’s Toronto launch, Sony Pictures Classics snapped up rights for North America, Eastern Europe, Germany and Asia pay television, and Lionsgate UK will release it on November 17 — good timing as Bening’s
30 Screen International August-September 2017
performance is already spurring awardsseason buzz. The cast also includes Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Walters, Kenneth Cranham and Stephen Graham. Crew includes up-and-coming cinematographer Ula Pontikos (Lilting), production designer Eve Stewart (Les Miserables) and editor Nick Emerson (Lady Macbeth). Broccoli was also able to draw on some of her Bond collaborators: costume designer Jany Temime, makeup and hair designer Naomi Donne and casting director Debbie McWilliams. The real deal For Turner, Bening’s casting was crucial and he believes Grahame herself would have approved. “Annette is not just a film star, she’s the real deal, and so was Gloria Grahame,” he says. Broccoli agrees: “Annette is one of the most extraordinary actresses ever. We have been talking to her about this role for 20 years.” Bell was especially keen to work with
Bening. “It seemed like an opportunity to do a two-hander with such a great actress,” he says. “It’s not been an easy role to tackle. A lot of the scenes are very intense. You’re dealing with themes of goodbyes and illness. And if everything is grounded in reality, it’s not sentimental. There is a lot of humour in the darkness.” “It’s not a film about an old lady dying,” emphasises McGuigan. “It’s about a woman with vitality and energy.” Having Turner on set from time to time was invaluable, according to Broccoli. “Peter is the heart of the whole story,” she says. “He still carries Gloria with him.” Bell agrees: “To see him around the set is a reminder that this happened to someone real.” Broccoli has been impressed by her first shoot in Liverpool. “It’s really important to me, being involved in the British film industry, that we support the film community outside of London,” says the producer, who was on set every day of the six-week shoot (in Liverpool, London and at Pinewood Studios), mucking in with unglamorous jobs such as making tea for the extras. “We are operating on a smaller scale than Bond but everys one is working so hard.” ■
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aunched in 2016 at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Estonia, Storytek — the accelerator programme designed to support the mixing of deep knowledge of the global film and creative industry with world-class technology competence — has continued to evolve. Its most recent addition is Storytek Creative Accelerator, which has backing from the Estonian government’s Enterprise Estonia and the European Regional Development Fund for three years (2017-19), and will bring together cutting-edge creative and media technology startups and content creatives to develop new business opportunities through mentorship, networking and co-creation. The pilot scheme, which kicks off on September 25, will comprise up to 12 teams of entrepreneurs and creatives from any country in eligible disciplines. These include future growth technologies such as VR, AR, compression, visualisation and content workflows with licensing, as well as related hardware and intellectual property rights (IPR); film, television, digital or multi-format producers; and industry-related software and services. Qualifying teams will take part in an English-language, 10-week, intensive bootcamp in Tallinn, where participating companies will graduate with in-depth assessment of their project, custom tools and a strategic road map to scale their businesses. Selected producers and audiovisual creatives with business-driven IP projects are also invited to come in and actively work with the Storytek companies to give feedback from the content community — maybe to generate some new companies of their own. “Soft money is running out everywhere and entrepreneurs and producers are looking for new business models,” says Storytek Creative Accelerator founder and CEO Sten-Kristian Saluveer, former industry director of Industry@ Tallinn and Baltic Event. “While we always talk about Netflix and Amazon, it is an exciting time in Europe, especially in the telecoms and technology sectors. They have transformed from broadcasters to content producers and acquirers, which has opened up a lot of investment, development and scaling opportunities in the intersection of technology and creative business.” Know the audience Many of these changes are down to evolving audience habits, with users spending more time engaging with audiovisual content on mobile digital platforms. While the majority of hours are spent with Apple, Amazon, Google and
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Black Nights Film Festival will host Storytek’s pitching event
Ahto Sooaru
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
The next chapter Bringing together content creatives and technology developers, Storytek Creative Hub aims to help independent producers embrace new business models and build sustainable careers ‘There is so much creative and technologydriven potential in Europe but creatives and producers don’t yet have the skills to make content for this new audience’ Sten-Kristian Saluveer, Storytek
Netflix, Saluveer believes independent creatives and entrepreneurs can benefit. “There is so much creative potential and exciting technologies in Europe, but producers don’t yet come together with the tech sector to cater for this new audience,” he says. “If we train them both to look at business models more adventurously, to understand the new markets, technologies, formats and availabilities, we can help them to scale and appeal to new audiences and financiers.” Alongside the educational modules, the teams will also receive one-to-one mentoring from experienced tech and content professionals who will be carefully matched to each project. Storytek Creative Accelerator mentors include Michael Favelle, sales and IP executive, Odin’s Eye Entertainment; John Heinsen, multi-
platform producer, Bunnygraph Entertainment; Laura Anne Edwards, business development executive, NASA; Soyoung Jung, digital comic-book publisher, Netcomics; Guido Van Nispen, investment and venture capital strategist, Vannispen Management; and Julius Talvik, chief design officer, Alphaform. Additionally, Storytek’s legal partner, PwC Baltics, will be providing legal and IP training for the participating teams. “Focusing on the production of feature films is increasingly risky from the market saturation point,” says Saluveer. “Creatives need to look at more of a long-term plan, thinking, ‘What is my brand, what are the available formats, technologies and business models, where’s the audience, how can I monetise it, how can I build it up legally and creatively?’ In this way, they will be proactively building their slate to address the tech-driven changes in the marketplace. Developing the whole IP package in sync with emerging technologies can give them much more leverage, and can also decrease the risk for investors; even if the feature tanks, perhaps there will be assets that can be monetised in other ways. “When new technologies, such as VR and AR and mobile, come in, it’s a smorgasbord of options,” continues Saluveer about the need to help producers and creatives tailor their content to access emerging technological, investment and distribution options. “We want partici-
pating tech companies to leave with practical tools for growing and running their business globally and with real deliverables, and we want the creative and production community to fully embrace the opportunities technology offers them to scale their audiences.” The 10-week scheme will culminate in the teams pitching their projects and companies to regional investors on November 29, during the Black Nights Industry@ Tallinn and Baltic Event audiovisual summit. Five teams will then be invited to join Storytek’s residency programme, to help take their project global with a tailored programme including sales and investor events and international promotion. The hope is that Storytek alumni will not only have a polished proof of concept or prototype under their belt, but the knowledge and contacts to build a sustainable business venture. “I think the film industry in general has run out of radically innovating ideas,” says Saluveer. “People tend to think the next big thing should come from inside [the industry], but maybe we should engage people who are executives in other fields, and who can help us to approach this from a different angle. We’re trying to elevate creatives, producers and entrepreneurs one step closer to the new reality.” Applications for Storytek Creative Accelerator are now open at 8 storytek.eu with a deadline of September 1, 2017
August-September 2017 Screen International 33
SPOTLIGHT UK GENRE FILMMAKERS
Dark stars rising For the second year, Screen International has teamed with Horror Channel FrightFest for the Genre Rising Star Award. Nikki Baughan and Ian Sandwell profile the five contenders
H
orror has long been a genre that attracts grassroots filmmakers. With its lower budgets, fleetfooted ability to respond to the zeitgeist and a built-in audience eager to embrace new visions and ideas, it has proven a fertile training ground for talent. Filmmakers including Peter Jackson, who directed Bad Taste and Braindead before moving to Middle Earth, and, more recently, Gareth Edwards, who started out with creature feature Monsters before graduating to Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, have cut their teeth in the genre sphere. And many have had their work screened at Horror Channel Fright-
Fest, London’s long-running genre festival. Enjoying its 18th edition in late August, FrightFest continues its support of upcoming genre filmmakers with New Blood, a mentoring platform that will give emerging horror screenwriters the chance to work with leading industry figures including producer Travis Stevens and actressproducer Barbara Crampton. For the second year, the festival also teamed up with Screen International for the Genre Rising Star Award, to celebrate the work of up-and-coming talents. The winner was announced on August 28 (see ScreenDaily.com) but all five of the shortlisted filmmakers are names to follow.
Dominic Bridges
Possum
Co-writer/director, Freehold Commercials director Dominic Bridges’ feature debut Freehold (previously Two Pigeons) is a personal film, born out of his wife experiencing a miscarriage while the couple were trying to buy a home. “I took out my anger on the estate agent, a bad, typicalmale reaction but it formed the idea, ‘How do you seek revenge on an estate agent?’,” he recalls. The result, written with Rae Brunton, is a creepy but blackly funny reverse-home-invasion tale where a cocky estate agent (Mim Shaikh) does not realise someone else is living in his home. The invader is played by Javier Botet, a name familiar to horror fans for his work on [Rec] and The Conjuring 2, but this is the first time he delivers his characteristically physical performance without make-up. Freehold takes place within the confines of the house, inventively captured by cinematographer Ben Moulden, with whom Bridges had previously worked, alongside producer Matt Hichens. “The film makes the team, not me,” Bridges comments. “I despise the word ‘director’. I prefer thinking that we formulate the best gang, which operates like a force to be reckoned with.” Bridges is thrilled his finished work was programmed by FrightFest, which he describes as a “festival for enthusiasts. Freehold is an odd creature, and the festival is already opening many new avenues for it to reach a more diverse audience.” Contact Marcy Hamilton, TriCoast Worldwide
marcy@tricoast.com
Freehold
34 Screen International August-September 2017
Matthew Holness Writer/director, Possum “I was about eight when my parents were summoned into my school to discuss my unhealthy interest in horror films,” says Matthew Holness, whose early love of the genre has informed his career. After creating horror comedy series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (2004), and making short Smutch for Sky’s Halloween Comedy Shorts Strand in 2016, he decided to pursue his ambition of making a genre feature. “Possum began life as a short story I wrote for an anthology by Comma Press entitled The New Uncanny,” he says of the film, which stars Sean Harris as a disgraced children’s puppeteer forced to confront his dark past. It is produced and funded by the Fyzz Facility with support from the BFI. Holness describes it as “a very bleak and understated character piece”, although he admits he had to embrace some changes along the way. “The real challenges were to accept that the film would inevitably change from the version I had in my head, and to maintain the emotional tone and integrity of the script,” he says. “I was blessed with fantastic actors who were not remotely afraid of handling the difficult subject matter, and the finished film is better in ways that I couldn’t possibly have anticipated.” Holness, who is currently writing his second feature and developing a comedy-horror series for Guilty Party Pictures, clearly feels at home in the genre. “Those who watch, promote and create horror are usually fans, first and foremost,” he observes. “This means there is an abundance of support at festivals like FrightFest. And it’s the ideal genre to hone your skills as a director, because scaring an audience is hard and you really know when you’ve screwed up.”
Matthew Holness
Contact Bankside Films films@bankside-films.com
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Danny Morgan Actor/writer, Double Date
Attack Of The Adult Babies
Joanne Mitchell Writer/producer/actress, Attack Of The Adult Babies Although writer-producer-actress Joanne Mitchell has carved out a name in horror with projects such as Before Dawn, Bait and now Attack Of The Adult Babies, she admits her involvement in the genre came slightly by accident. “I’ve always loved a good horror but my interests lay with European and British independent cinema,” she says. “That’s how Before Dawn came about. I amalgamated my interests and created a character drama about a relationship breakdown, set against the secondary backdrop of a zombie apocalypse.” Following the success of Before Dawn, which premiered at FrightFest in 2013 and was distributed in multiple territories, Mitchell and director husband Dominic Brunt went on to make Bait, about two women facing off against a violent loan-shark, and now return with Attack Of The Adult Babies, which is produced by the pair’s own Mitchell-Brunt Films. “I wanted to find a different kind of monster,” Mitchell says of the film, which sees two teenagers break into a stately home where high-powered men indulge their love of dressing up as babies. “We went to a different human extreme, and used the fantastically juxtaposed images of the adult baby mixed with the beauty of a grand stately home and the horror that goes on within it. “The horror genre is specifically built to support risk-taking and boundary pushing,” Mitchell continues. “You can use your imagination to its full capacity and take things to their worst-case scenario.” Contact AMP International
After building a career as an actor in TV shows such as Ideal and films including On The Road, Danny Morgan felt it was time for a change. “I wanted to try and write a film, and the idea stemmed from a general fear I had, for a long time, about talking to women,” he says. “So the main guy is cripplingly shy, and the one night his friend manages to get him over that fear is the one night he really should have stayed home.” The idea became Double Date, in which Morgan stars as 29-year-old virgin Jim who is persuaded by best mate Alex (Michael Socha) to go on a double date with alluring sisters Kitty (Kelly Wenham) and Lulu (Georgia Groome), who turn out to have a deadly secret. The film is a co-production between the UK’s Merrymeet Films and Stigma Films and US outfit Dignity Film Finance. The friendship between Jim and Alex is at the heart of the film, and Morgan attributes much of the film’s energy to the casting of This Is England’s Socha. “Michael can improvise in a way that doesn’t feel self-indulgent and stays true to the scene, the character and the story,” he explains. Double Date is, despite moments of blood and gore, laugh-outloud funny — something that Morgan did not expect at the outset. “At the beginning I wanted to make it more of a horror film that just happened to be funny,” he says. “But the closer we got to shooting, it became obvious the script is clearly a comedy that has horror elements in it. And I embraced it.” Contact Film Constellation
office@filmconstellation.com
Double Date
info@amp-film.com
Tom Paton Writer/director, Redwood
Redwood
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Tom Paton’s second feature, Redwood, did not have the most typical development process. Soon after the release of his debut feature, scifi Pandorica, he was approached by Brussels-based producer/financier Stern Pictures, which had a location secured in Poland but no film in place. “They liked the idea of something with vampires, but the rest was up to me,” Paton recalls. “The catch was that I’d have only six weeks to create something and mount the movie before the opportunity would lapse.” Paton got to work and the script he wrote
in two days ended up “pretty much” the final product. Redwood follows a couple (Mike Beckingham and Tatjana Nardone) who head to a secluded national park after one of them receives some bad news. Needless to say, venturing off the trail has some very bad consequences. “The film is very charactercentric and the main players are more than self-aware of horror-film tropes, so that allowed me to play with well-worn ground in a fresh way,” he says. Paton views Redwood as a “massive step up” for himself as a director, especially given the challenges of outdoor locations, and is determined to continue to increase the scale of his movies. “I don’t trust directors that say they make movies for themselves, that’s just rubbish,” he says. “I make movies for an audience to see and my goal is to keep growing that audience as wide and far as I can.” s Contact Stern Pictures info@sternpictures.com ■
August-September 2017 Screen International 35
FESTIVAL FOCUS SAN SEBASTIAN
ong a rendezvous for film lovers, be they local audiences or industry professionals and stars, San Sebastian Film Festival (September 22-30) is faithful to the formula that has kept its numbers growing: a programme designed to balance mainstream and arthouse cinema, the discovery of new talents and a touch of glamour. September is a competitive month for international film festivals but San Sebastian’s director, Jose Luis Rebordinos, is happy to have found the key to programming his own. “One cannot always go for world premieres if this stops you from getting good films that can, instead, have their European premiere in San Sebastian,” he says. “There’s room for everybody. The same way that some films shown in Sundance find their way to Berlin, or attend both Telluride and Venice, we complement each other well with Toronto.” This year, San Sebastian will open with Wim Wenders’ Submergence, starring Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy, and close with The Wife, directed by Björn Runge (Happy End). The official selection will feature James Franco’s The Disaster Artist in competition, alongside up-andcoming filmmakers such as Ivana Mladenovic with the Romania-Serbia-Belgium co-production Soldiers: A Story From Ferentari and Spain’s Antonio Mendez Esparza with Life And Nothing More (his debut feature, Aqui y Alla, won the Critics’ Week grand prize at Cannes in 2012). In a first for the Basque city’s festival, the line-up includes a TV series, The Plague, a Spanish production directed by Alberto Rodriguez (Smoke & Mirrors) and set in 16th-century Seville as the city reels under the epidemic. In the footsteps of festivals such as Cannes, which also opened its doors to TV productions and VoD powerhouses, San Sebastian is changing with the times. Telefonica’s pay-TV channel Movistar Plus is behind both The Plague and Verguenza, a romantic comedy-drama that will have its 10 episodes shown in the festival’s ZabaltegiTabakalera section. Netflix’s Bomb Scared, a feature comedy by Borja Cobeaga (writer of local box-office hit Spanish Affair) dealing with the topic of Basque terrorism, will also be screened. “VoD is part of our present and future and you cannot ignore it,” says Rebordinos. “Both the industry and the different national legal frameworks will work it out, like they have embraced other changes in the past. It’s not a black-andwhite debate. As a film festival director, I’m only s concerned about offering the best films I can.” ■
San Sebastian
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) DON’T MISS The 65th edition of San Sebastian will increase the number of masterclasses given by top industry names. This year’s guests include Todd Haynes, who will talk with his longtime producer Christine Vachon about their film Wonderstruck, which is playing in the Pearls sidebar. Haynes was president of the San Sebastian official jury in 2013.
36 Screen International August-September 2017
VITAL
signs For its 65th edition, San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 22-30) is embracing small-screen content while consolidating its bond with Latin American and European cinema, reports Elisabet Cabeza
) HOT PICKS The Disaster Artist, directed by, produced by and starring James Franco, is one of the highlights of the competition. The comedy about the production of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult classic The Room, which is considered one of the ‘best worst films’ ever made, puts the cinephile experience firmly in the spotlight. In a different genre, a reflection on film through film will also appear in the competition in the shape of Nobuhiro Suwa’s The Lion Sleeps Tonight, featuring veteran French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud. The strong competitive section also includes A Sort Of Family by Argentinian director Diego Lerman (Refugiado) and C’est La Vie!, a comedy by Intouchables directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Out of competition, Sergio G Sanchez, screenwriter of JA Bayona’s The Orphanage and The Impossible, makes his directorial debut with Marrowbone, a supernatural thriller starring Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) and Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things). Mademoiselle Paradis, a drama about a blind pianist by Barbara Albert (The Dead And ), is one of the titles directed The Living), by women in competition in San Sebastian. The female presence also includes Agnes Varda (with Faces/ Places)) and Lynne Ramsay, whose You Were Never Really Here screens in Pearls. A discussion about women in the industry will take place during the festival. (Right) Loving Pablo
The Disaster Artist
C’est La Vie!
Spanish titles in official selection include El Autor by Manuel Martin Cuenca, and Dying by Fernando Franco. Loving Pablo, Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s take on Pablo Escobar starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, will have a special screening at San Sebastian’s 3,000-capacity Velodrome. This will be the venue, too, for Shell a comedy set in the Operation Golden Shell, context of — yes — San Sebastian Film Festival.
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Ethan Hawke attending San Sebastian’s 64th edition
) THE LATIN CONNECTION San Sebastian has an established relationship with the Latin American industry. “It’s a well-oiled chain that can start with the International Film Students Meeting, carry on to films in the postproduction stage and end up in competitive sections of the festival,” says Rebordinos. Films In Progress, the biannual initiative run jointly with Cinélatino Rencontres de Toulouse, will showcase six projects this year: Immersed Family (Argentina-Brazil-Germany) by Maria Alche; Wanderers (Brazil-US) by Leandro Lara; Wandering Girl (Colombia-France) by Ruben Mendoza; Ferrugem (Brazil) by Aly Muritiba; Kairos (France-Colombia) by Nicolas Buenaventura; and Agosto (Costa Rica-CubaFrance) by Armando Capo Ramos. In recent editions, festival hits such as Lorenzo Vigas’ From Afar and Pepa San Martin’s Rara have been fostered at Films In Progress. Another participant, Princess by Chile’s Marialy Rivas, will be in the New Directors section. For films in earlier stages of development, the Europe-Latin America CoProduction Forum has selected 16 (Right) Horizontes Latinos title The Desert Bride
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Ricardo Darin
projects. New this year is the Eurimages award for co-production development, which bestows $23,500 (¤20,000) on the majority European producer of the chosen project. In addition to titles in the main programmes, San Sebastian has a Latin American section, Horizontes Latinos. Sebastian Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman Woman, winner of Berlin’s Silver Bear for best screenplay, will open the section, which will also show Cannes titles April’s Daughter by Michel Franco and The Desert Bride by Cecilia Atan. San Sebastian’s Latin American flavour will receive a red-carpet boost this year with the presence of Argentinian star Ricardo Darin, recipient of the Donostia lifetime achievement award.
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August-September 2017 Screen International 37
“
ou can sum up the kind of films we like to show by the line about ‘taking the road less travelled’ in Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’,” says Torsten Neumann, who founded Oldenburg International Film Festival in 1994, and is now presenting the 24th edition (September 13-17). The festival director and his team like to look for independent films that are, so to speak, off the beaten track. A case in point for this year’s edition is Japanese stop-motion film Junk Head by Takahide Hori, which will have its world premiere in the Midnight Xpress sidebar. “It’s a stunning film that the director made all on his own over the course of seven years, doing the camerawork, voices, music, editing, everything…” Neumann explains. In addition, he is proud to host the premiere of 100% German independent production Familiye, a Berlin-set crime drama written by Kubilay Sarikaya and Sedat Kirtan and directed by Erhan Emre, which Neumann describes as the country’s answer to Mean Streets.
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World premieres It is testament to Oldenburg’s place in the international festival landscape that Neumann can present a number of world premieres in the north German city. “There’s been a trend in recent years among the film submissions that many of them would be world premieres,” he says. “Naturally, a number of these are thanks to the direct contact we have developed with filmmakers such as Simon Rumley, who has been here before with Red White & Blue.” The UK writer-director will be back this year for the world premiere of Crowhurst, based on the tragic real-life story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst who fatefully embarked on singlehanded, non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in 1968. Rumley will also present the German premiere of his experimental psycho-horror thriller Fashionista in the Midnight Xpress line-up. “Dan Mirvish is also an old friend of the festival and will have the world premiere of his comedy Bernard And Huey based on the cartoon strip by Jules Feiffer, with a cast including David Koechner, Jim Rash, Sasha Alexander and Mae Whitman,” Neumann adds. In addition, Oldenburg’s showcase of independents will include world premieres of Matthew Berkowitz’s action thriller A Violent Man, Karl Hearne’s psycho-mystery Touched and Santiago Rizzo’s non-romantic true love story Quest. But world premieres are not the be-all and end-all for Neumann when putting
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Oldenburg International Film Festival’s awards ceremony
Uncharted territory Oldenburg International Film Festival (Sept 13-17) once again looks to unearth some cinematic gems and bring fresh and original talent to the north German city
Junk Head
t o g e t h e r h i s p ro gramme. This year sees him reprising films already shown e l s e w h e re i n Germany, such as Tarik Saleh’s crime thriller The Nile Hilton Incident, Tom Lass’s Ugly & Blind (Blind & Hässlich) — which won the Fipresci award at
‘A number of the world premieres are thanks to the direct contact we have developed with filmmakers’ Torsten Neumann (left), festival director
Munich Film Festival at the end of June — and RP Kahl’s edgy erotic noir
A Thought Of Ecstasy, also shown in Munich’s New German Films sidebar. After dedicating its retrospective since the launch edition in 1994 to filmmakers as diverse as Ted Kotcheff, Philippe Mora, James Toback, Abel Ferrara and, in 2016, Christophe Honoré, this year Oldenburg has decided to turn the spotlight on the achievements of a producer, Edward R Pressman. The film industry veteran has more than 30 years’ experience and 80 films to his credit, with a particular knack for discovering distinctive new talent and fostering the careers of aspiring directors, from Brian De Palma and Terrence Malick to Alex Proyas. “It has not been an easy task to select the seven or eight titles from such an impressive output,” Neumann admits. “We have had some of Pressman’s films here in the past by people like James Toback and Abel Ferrara, but Badlands and Phantom Of The Paradise are sure to be shown, and his son Sam recommended we screen Sam Raimi’s 1985 film Crimewave, co-written by the Coen brothers and featuring his father in an acting part.” For further information 8 www.filmfest-oldenburg. de
August-September 2017 Screen International 39
Lawrence Diedrich
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
FESTIVAL FOCUS ■ VENICE PREVIEW ■ ALBERTO BARBERA INTERVIEW ■ TORONTO PREVIEW ■ CAMERON BAILEY INTERVIEW
Adele Exarchopoulos and Matthias Schoenaerts in Michael R Roskam’s Racer And The Jailbird, which plays Out of Competition at Venice and as a Special Presentation at Toronto
Season of plenty rom the Lido to the Bell Lightbox, the overlapping Venice and Toronto film festivals offer a feast of cinema that annually sets the awards season agenda. The last five best picture Oscar winners — Moonlight, Spotlight, Birdman, 12 Years A Slave and Argo — played either or both of these showcases, as did many other contenders, including last year’s Venice premiere La La Land. These 19 days — August 30 to September 17
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— are where dreams are made and broken, reputations enhanced and campaigns launched. But it’s not just the US-backed big hitters, with awards strategies already in place, that command our attention. From the international titles competing for the prestigious Golden Lion to the highly curated Platform programme — “the soul” of Toronto, says artistic director Cameron Bailey in our interview on page 60 — these are gems that
will provoke critical conversation, renew auteur credentials and launch careers. Over the next 26 pages, Screen shines its spotlight on around 200 world and international premieres launching at Venice and Toronto: vital reading for everyone who wants to get a jump start on the raft of titles that will dominate our lives for the next six months and beyond. Charles Gant, features editor
August-September 2017 Screen International 41
FESTIVAL FOCUS VENICE
Foxtrot
VENICE PREVIEW
View
from the top The 74th Venice Film Festival (Aug 30-Sept 9) brings some Hollywood muscle to the Lido in the shape of George Clooney, Darren Aronofsky and Alexander Payne, who take their place alongside arthouse heavyweights Abdellatif Kechiche, Hirokazu Koreeda and Ai Weiwei
COMPETITION Ammore E Malavita (It) Dirs Marco Manetti, Antonio Manetti Praised by Venice festival head Alberto Barbera as “great fun, challenging, multi-layered, full of references”, this musical about the Italian Camorra by the Manetti brothers shares Rome production company Madeleine with another melodic Neapolitan movie, John Turturro’s 2010 documentary Passione. It is a Venice Competition first for the low-budget genre brothers — their sci-fi thriller The Arrival Of Wang was in the short-lived Controcampo Italiano section in 2011. Contact Mattia Oddone, Rai Com mattia.oddone@rai.it
Angels Wear White (China-Fr) Dir Vivian Qu Following her directorial debut Trap Street, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week in 2013, Qu becomes China’s first female director to gain a Venice Compe-
tition berth since Liu Miaomiao with An Innocent Babbler in 1993. Angels Wear White focuses on a teenage girl who is the only witness to a crime but says nothing for fear of losing her job. The film received support from France’s Centre National du Cinema and Région Ile-deFrance and Switzerland’s Vision Sud Est. Qu is a key figure in Chinese independent cinema, having previously produced Night Train and Black Coal, Thin Ice. The latter won Berlin’s Golden Bear and best actor awards in 2014. Contact Wild Bunch
sales@wildbunch.eu
Custody (Fr)
Ammore E Malavita
Dir Xavier Legrand French actor-filmmaker Legrand makes his feature directing debut after being Oscar-nominated in 2014 for his short Just Before Losing Everything. He wrote the original story for Custody, about a broken marriage that leads to a bitter custody dispute; the film stars Denis Ménochet, Léa Drucker and newcomer Thomas Gioria. After its Venice premiere, Custody heads to Toronto’s Platform section. Haut et Court will release in France. Contact Frédérique Rouault, Celluloid Dreams frederique@celluloid-dreams.com
42 Screen International August-September 2017
OPENING FILM
Downsizing (US) Dir Alexander Payne Remarkably, this will be Payne’s first premiere on the Lido after an illustrious Oscar-nominated career that has featured Toronto and Cannes berths. This social satire stars Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig as a couple who agree to be shrunk in order to save costs. Downsizing shot in Nebraska and partly in Norway, where the production received a $520,000 grant
from the Norwegian Film Institute. Annapurna founder Megan Ellison and Damon packaged Downsizing, while Paramount funded the $70m film and distributes worldwide. Contact Paramount Pictures
Ex Libris — The New York Public Library (US) Dir Frederick Wiseman Documentary stalwart Wiseman was last on the Lido with In Jackson Heights in 2015, a year after he collected the career
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Angels Wear White
First Reformed
Golden Lion. Here, he takes a tour behind the scenes at the New York Public Library as it evolves to meet the challenges of the digital age. Paris-based Doc & Film has closed a raft of deals led by La Aventura Audiovisual in Spain and Lemon Tree in China. Météore holds French rights. Contact Hannah Horner, Doc & Film h.horner@docandfilm.com
Una Famiglia
Una Famiglia (It-Fr) Dir Sebastiano Riso Produced by Italy’s prolific Indiana Productions, Una Famiglia fields French actor, singer and professional poker player Patrick Bruel and Italian actress Micaela Ramazzotti (Like Crazy) as a seemingly happy couple trapped in a strange, abusive relationship. This is Riso’s follow-up to LGBT drama Darker
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Than Midnight, which scored a handful of distribution deals after its Critics’ Week bow at Cannes in 2014.
Foxtrot (Isr-Ger-Fr-Swi) Dir Samuel Maoz
Contact Bac Films
Israel’s Maoz returns to Venice with his long-awaited follow-up to 2009 Golden Lion-winning war drama Lebanon. Foxtrot, inspired by the director’s experiences as a soldier, is the story of a troubled family who must face facts when something goes terribly wrong at their son’s desolate military post. The film’s raft of well-respected arthouse producers includes Cédomir Kolar and Marc Baschet (No Man’s Land, The Lunchbox), Viola Fügen (Only Lovers Left Alive), Eitan Mansuri (The Congress) and Michel Merkt (Elle).
sales@bacfilms.fr
First Reformed (US) Dir Paul Schrader Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried star in a deeply spiritual story that Schrader says he has been building up to for nearly 50 years. Hawke plays a grief-stricken former military chaplain who dramatically rediscovers his sense of purpose. Schrader contributed a segment to the portmanteau documentary Venice 70: Future Reloaded, which screened on the Lido in 2015, and attended with erotic thriller The Canyons in 2013. Christine Vachon and David Hinojosa of Killer Films produce with Arclight Films’ Gary Hamilton, Frank Murray and Jack Binder. Contact Arclight Films info@arclightfilms.com (Right) Hannah
Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
Hannah (It-Bel-Fr) Dir Andrea Pallaoro After emerging in the Horizons section at Venice in 2013, Los Angeles-based Pallaoro’s slow-burn Californiaset first feature, Medeas, embarked on a festival tour. Starring Charlotte Rampling, his second, Hannah, traces the gradual
breakdown of an insecure woman after her husband’s arrest. A three-territory European co-production with a raft of backers, Hannah is the first of a planned trilogy centring on female characters. Contact TF1 International
sales@tf1.fr
The House By The Sea (Fr) Dir Robert Guédiguian Veteran French filmmaker Guédiguian returns with this drama depicting a family reunion at a picturesque villa in Marseille. Co-written with Serge Valletti, it is inspired by Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. Marc Bordure produces for Agat Films & Cie/Ex Nihilo, and Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan, Anaïs Demoustier and Robinson Stevenin star. Guédiguian’s recent films include Don’t Tell Me The Boy Was Mad (2015) and The Snows Of Kilimanjaro (2011), which both premiered at Cannes. Contact mk2 Films
intlsales@mk2.com
Human Flow (Ger-US) Dir Ai Weiwei Participant Media financed this documentary about the global refugee crisis directed by Chinese activist-artist Ai »
August-September 2017 Screen International 43
FESTIVAL FOCUS VENICE
) Competition continued… and launched international sales in Cannes through partner Lionsgate International. Ai used 25 film crews to shoot in nearly two dozen countries including Syria, Bangladesh and Italy, and produced the film with Chin-chin Yap and Heino Deckert. Andy Cohen of AC Films and Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann of Participant Media serve as executive producers. Contact Lionsgate International info@lionsgate.com
Sweet Country
Suburbicon
The Leisure Seeker (It)
ers an aquatic creature in the secret laboratory where she works. Other key cast include del Toro regular Doug Jones, Octavia Spencer and Michael Shannon as the scientist with the itchy scalpel finger. Searchlight will release in North America on December 8 and Fox International distributes everywhere else.
Dir Paolo Virzi The Insult
The Insult (Fr-Leb) Dir Ziad Doueiri Several years in the making, Doueiri’s Arabic-language drama follows a clash over a minor plumbing issue that leads to a long legal dispute between Palestinians and Lebanese Christians. It is the fourth film from Lebanon-born director Doueiri, who was once an assistant cameraman to Quentin Tarantino. His last feature, The Attack, played at Telluride and Toronto in 2012. The Insult is produced by Julie Gayet and Nadia Turincev of Rouge International with Jean Bréhat and Rachid Bouchareb of 3B Productions. Contact Indie Sales
info@indiesales.eu
Lean On Pete (UK) Dir Andrew Haigh Haigh premieres in Venice for the first time following SXSW and Berlin bows respectively for Weekend and 45 Years. Charlie Plummer (TV’s Boardwalk Empire) stars as a 15 year old who takes a summer job with a washed-up Oregon horse trainer, forming a bond with the titular failing racehorse. Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, Travis Fimmel and Steve Zahn co-star, while Haigh once again teams with The Bureau producer Tristan Goligher on the Film4/BFI-backed project. A24 has taken US rights. Contact Emmanuelle Le Courtois, The Bureau Sales elc@lebureaufilms.com Contact Hengameh Panahi, Celluloid Dreams hengameh@celluloid-dreams. com
Buoyed by the pairing of Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland in the leading roles, The Leisure Seeker (Italian title: Ella & John) will take its bow at Venice having already pre-sold in around 30 territories. Based on Michael Zadoorian’s book about a couple who take a golden-years road trip in their vintage camper van, this is Livorno-based director Virzi’s ninth feature — but the first to be offered a berth at Italy’s leading festival. Sony Pictures Classics acquired US rights to the film. Contact Bac Films
sales@bacfilms.fr
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno (Fr-It) Dir Abdellatif Kechiche Kechiche’s follow-up to Blue Is The Warmest Colour is based on Francois Bégaudeau’s novel La Blessure, La Vraie and stars Lou Luttiau, Shain Boumediene and Ophelie Bau. The production was delayed by a contractual dispute after Kechiche delivered two films instead of one. Distributor Pathé Film voided the contracts and a key financier departed, forcing Kechiche to sell personal items (including his Palme d’Or) to help finish the project. Kechiche’s The Secret Of The Grain won the Special Jury Prize at Venice in 2007 (tied with I’m Not There). Venice fest director Alberto Barbera suggests Mektoub could be the first part of a trilogy.
Lean On Pete
44 Screen International August-September 2017
Contact Pathé International sales@ patheinternational.com
Contact Fox International mother!
mother! (US) Dir Darren Aronofsky
Suburbicon (US) Dir George Clooney
The dark prince of Venice has brought most of his recent films to the Lido and won the Golden Lion in 2008 for The Wrestler. He returns to his horror roots with mother!, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson and Kristen Wiig. Aficionados have been poring over the trailer for clues about the film, which portrays a couple whose seemingly tranquil existence is shattered by the arrival of unexpected guests. Paramount holds worldwide rights.
Clooney’s crime comedy about a home invasion in a small town hails from a screenplay by his old friends Joel and Ethan Coen. The parties are no strangers to Venice and last attended together in 2008 with Burn After Reading. Clooney won four prizes on the Lido in 2005 with Good Night, And Good Luck, among them best screenplay with Grant Heslov. Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures fully financed Suburbicon and Paramount will distribute in the US after swooping in a $10m deal at Berlin’s European Film Market in 2016.
Contact Paramount Pictures
Contact Bloom
info@bloom-media.com
Sweet Country (Aus) Dir Warwick Thornton
The Shape Of Water
The Shape Of Water (US) Dir Guillermo del Toro Fox Searchlight fancies its awards season chances with Mexican filmmaker del Toro’s return to Venice 20 years after he unleashed Mimic on the Lido. Sally Hawkins stars in the Cold War-era romantic fantasy as a janitor who discov-
Period western Sweet Country is the first Australian indigenous feature to be selected for Competition in Venice. Thornton, winner of the Caméra d’Or at Cannes for Samson & Delilah in 2009, received production investment for the project from Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, Adelaide Film Festival, Screen NSW and South Australian Film Corporation. Starring Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, Hamilton Morris and Gibson John, the story focuses on an Aboriginal cattle herder who is tried for murder. Contact Memento Films International sales@memento-films.com
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Golden days With awards season starting in earnest on the Lido, festival director Alberto Barbera talks to Gabriele Niola about wooing US studios, the diversity challenge, Netflix and the Oscars s the world’s oldest film festival gears up for its 74th edition, Venice director Alberto Barbera is excited about kicking off this year’s awards season in earnest. After all, the last four years have seen the festival launch major Oscar runs for four US movies: Gravity, Birdman, Spotlight and La La Land. This year, Venice’s world premieres include Alexander Payne’s social satire Downsizing, Guillermo del Toro’s otherworldly fairytale The Shape Of Water, Darren Aronofsky’s drama-horror mother! and Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In 2016, Venice’s festival chief knew he had a diamond in the shape of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, and while he may not have such an obvious slam-dunk this year, he is sanguine about the crop’s awards potential. “Downsizing has good chances, of course,” says Barbera, who also has high praise for The Shape Of Water. “It is the best film Guillermo del Toro has made [since Pan’s Labyrinth]. It may not look like [an obvious Oscar contender], but it’s so good that it can make it. Fox Searchlight believes in its potential.” However, the dance with studios to secure top US films has been more challenging this year than ever. Warner Bros’ Blade Runner 2049, due for release on October 4, was one with autumn festival potential that was not announced for the Lido. Barbera says the film’s omission is partly a result of a “growing problem” for festival directors: studio fears over spoilers. “More than ever studios are afraid about that moment when their movies encounter audiences and press for the first time, as this may negatively impact their box office,” he says.
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Dir Hirokazu Koreeda Koreeda, who picked up a directing prize for 1995’s Maborosi, returns to Venice after two decades. While he is best known for his family dramas, The Third Murder is a legal thriller about a lawyer (played by Masaharu Fukuyama from Koreeda’s 2013 Cannes Jury Prize winner Like Father, Like Son) who questions his own belief in the law. Japan’s Gaga and France’s Wild Bunch reteam again to sell the new film following their collaborations on the director’s last few titles. Contact Haruko Watanabe, Gaga watanabh@gaga.co.jp; Olivier Barbier, Wild Bunch obarbier@wildbunch.eu
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (US-UK) Dir Martin McDonagh McDonagh reteams with his In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths producers, Blueprint’s Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin, with a self-penned dark comedy backed jointly by Film4 and Fox Searchlight. Frances McDormand stars as a divorced giftshop manager who tires of police inactivity six months after the unsolved murder of her daughter and uses the titular ad hoardings to challenge the town’s police chief (Woody Harrelson). Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones, Peter Dinklage and Lucas Hedges co-star. Contact Fox Searchlight
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Under pressure According to Barbera, the growing heft of international financiers on studio movies is also complicating the opportunity for festival debuts. “Big movies aren’t made with studio money alone,” he says. “They’re made with investment funds and the help of Chinese companies. Opening weekend box-office predictions are made with algorithms similar to those used in the finance world. If something goes wrong, a studio may lose that economic support.” In that vein, securing Paramount’s Downsizing took some effort. “We know that right now Paramount has a close relationship with Chinese investors,” he expands. “You can understand that those investors want to have their say in how movies are made and produced, and where they premiere. Pressure is higher than it has ever been.” In Barbera’s ninth year at the helm (across two stints), the festival continues
Errol Morris’s miniseries Wormwood visits the Lido
‘We can’t pretend cinema is what we have known in the last 100 years. That would be like trying to stop a tsunami with your bare hands’ Alberto Barbera, festival director
to embrace change. This year it will host its first VR competition strand, the jury of which is headed by filmmaker John Landis. After screening The Young Pope last year, Venice is also showcasing TV and the digital players. Netflix will show the first two episodes of its Italian crime drama Suburra, as well as Errol Morris’s Wormwood. “Cinema is radically changing,” says Barbera. “We can’t pretend cinema is what we have known in the last 100 years. That would be a conservative and losing attitude, like trying to stop a tsunami with your bare hands.” One area in which the festival could improve, however, is in the diversity of its line-up. While Annette Bening is the festival’s first woman jury head in 11 years, only one of the 21 films in competition is by a female director (Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White). “We saw nearly 2,000 movies for the selection and the percentage of those that were directed by women was very low,” explains the festival head. “I think that the best way to watch a movie is the same as tasting a wine — covering the label and not Alberto Barbera knowing who made it.”
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August-September 2017 Screen International 45
Courtesy of ASAC – La Biennale di Venezia
The Third Murder (Jap)
FESTIVAL FOCUS VENICE
OUT OF COMPETITION Brawl In Cell Block 99 (US) Dir S Craig Zahler Zahler does not shy away from gruesome material. His 2015 western Bone Tomahawk tackled cannibals, while buyers in Cannes described the screenplay for his upcoming police drama Dragged Across Concrete as relentlessly bleak. Brawl In Cell Block 99 stars Vince Vaughn as a former boxer-turned-drug dealer who finds himself in the middle of a prison war when a drug deal goes sour. Assemble Media produced with Cinestate, IMG Films and genre specialist XYZ Films, which handles international sales. WME Global represents North America.
Brawl In Cell Block 99 Foto Luigi Ciminaghi/Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa
Contact XYZ Films info@xyzfilms.com; WME Global info@wmeentertainment.com
Cuba And The Cameraman (US) Dir Jon Alpert A two-time Oscar documentary shortfilm nominee and Emmy-winning director of Baghdad ER, Alpert has teamed up with Netflix on his latest slice of nonfiction. Cuba And The Cameraman follows three Cuban families against the backdrop of Fidel Castro’s rule over 45 years. The film captures decades of dreams and reality, and offers an intimate look at the Cuban Revolution. Contact Netflix
Diva!
Diva! (It) Dir Francesco Patierno
The Devil And Father Amorth
The Devil And Father Amorth (US) Dir William Friedkin More than 40 years after the release of his 1973 classic The Exorcist, Friedkin’s documentary follows the late Father Gabriel Amorth as he conducts an exorcism on an Italian woman plagued by fits. Friedkin received Venice’s Golden Lion for lifetime achievement four years ago, and his 2011 film Killer Joe won the Golden Mouse, awarded by online critics. LD Entertainment holds worldwide rights to the documentary. Contact LD Entertainment info@ldentertainment.com
The first fruit of communications multinational Casta Diva Group’s recent move into feature film production, Diva! takes its cue from Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There, deploying nine actresses to restage the life of flamboyant Italian theatre and film star Valentina Cortese. Neapolitan director Patierno was last in Venice in 2011 with racism parable Things From Another World, which screened in the short-lived Controcampo Italiano sidebar. Contact Casta Diva Pictures info@castadiva.com
affair with a blind osteopath. With a clutch of sales already in place, Emma could be Soldini’s most internationally successful feature since Bread And Tulips in 2000. Contact Celluloid Dreams info@celluloid-dreams.com
Contact Deckert Distribution info@deckert-distribution.com
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. The Story Of Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman And Tony Clifton (US) Dir Chris Smith Documentarian Smith makes his Venice debut with a behind-the-scenes look at how actor Jim Carrey adopted the persona of idiosyncratic comedian Andy Kaufman on the set of Milos Forman’s 1999 film Man On The Moon. Vice Films produced and financed the latest project from the director of Collapse and American Movie, which won the 1999 Sundance documentary grand jury prize. Her director Spike Jonze is counted among the producers alongside Smith. WME Global and Cinetic Media represent rights. Contact Cinetic Media info@cineticmedia.com; WME Global info@wmeentertainment.com
Loving Pablo (Sp-Bul) Dir Fernando Leon De Aranoa Happy Winter
Emma (It-Swi) Dir Silvio Soldini
Dir Giovanni Totaro
Remarkably, veteran Italian director Soldini’s last Lido foray was in 1993 with A Soul Split In Two, which won Fabrizio Bentivoglio the Coppa Volpi for best actor. Starring Adriano Giannini and Valeria Golino, his latest is a romantic drama about a womanising ad agency worker who embarks on an
Like 2016 Cannes selection The Last Resort, this documentary by Sicilian director Totaro focuses on the human fauna of an Italian beach. In this case it is the resort of Mondello, near Palermo, where more than 1,000 beach cabins are built each spring and dismantled in autumn. Totaro’s first full-length film,
46 Screen International August-September 2017
Happy Winter was produced by Turinbased Indyca and Zenit Arti Audiovisive with the backing of Rai Cinema.
Happy Winter (It)
Javier Bardem plays Pablo Escobar in this adaptation of political journalist Virginia Vallejo’s memoir, which tells the story of her unlikely romance with the notorious Colombian drug lord. Leon de Aranoa directs and writes — his previous credits include Goya awardwinning A Perfect Day and Invisibles. Bardem also produced the film alongside Ed Cathell III and Miguel Menendez de Zubillaga. Penelope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard co-star. Contact Nu Image/Millennium Films info@millenniumfilms.com
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INVISIBLE by Pablo Giorgelli KRIEG by Rick Ostermann UNDER THE TREE by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson OBLIVION VERSES by Alireza Khatami (AR/FR/DE)
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THE PRINCE AND THE DYBBUK
by Elwira Niewiera & Piotr Rosołowski (PL/DE)
THIS IS THE WAR ROOM! by Boris Hars-Tschachotin Settimana della Critica
DRIFT by Helena Wittmann HUNTING SEASON by Natalia Garagiola SARAH PLAYS A WEREWOLF by Katharina Wyss THE GULF by Emre Yeksan (AR/US/ DE/FR/QA)
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CANDELARIA by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza LOOKING FOR OUM KULTHUM by Shirin Neshat SAMUI SONG by Pen-ek Ratanaruang (CO/DE/NO/AR)
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) Out of Competition continued…
Racer And The Jailbird
Manhunt (HK-China)
(Bel-Fr-Neth) Dir Michael R Roskam
Dir John Woo
Manhunt marks Woo’s return to the crime-thriller genre. Filmed in the Japanese city of Osaka, it is based on a novel by Juko Nishimura about a lawyer who sets out to clear his name after being wrongly accused of murder. Chinese actor Zhang Hanyu and Japan’s Masaharu Fukuyama (who is also in Hirokazu Koreeda’s Competition title The Third Murder) headline the cast. In 2010, Woo was honoured with Venice’s Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
Roskam, whose previous feature was The Drop with Tom Hardy, returns to Belgian cinema six years after his debut Bullhead, which was nominated for best foreign-language film at the 2012 Oscars. Originally titled Faithful, the film stars Adele Exarchopoulos and Matthias Schoenaerts and is a love story set in the Brussels criminal underworld of the late 1980s. Nascent distribution company Neon pre-bought US rights out of Berlin International Film Festival. The title is produced by Stone Angels and Savage Film, with Pathé and Wild Bunch co-producing.
Our Souls At Night
Contact Frederick Tsui, Media Asia frederick_tsui@mediaasia.com
Contact Wild Bunch
La Mélodie (Fr)
sales@wildbunch.eu
Dir Rachid Hami Welcome To The Sticks star Kad Merad leads the cast in Hami’s feature about a distinguished but disillusioned violinist who begrudgingly finds himself teaching a Parisian orchestra class but then uncovers a rare talent. The screenplay is by Guy Laurent, Valérie Zenatti and Hami. Nicolas Mauvernay produces for Mizar Films; co-producers are France 2 Cinema, UGC and La Cité de la Musique — Philharmonie de Paris. UGC handles French distribution.
Piazza Vittorio
to the Lido to receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the film’s premiere on September 1. Contact Netflix
Contact Ariane Buhl, Gaumont ariane.buhl@gaumont.com
My Generation (UK) Dir David Batty Michael Caine narrates this personal journey through 1960s London, mixing his personal accounts, filmed segments and archive footage featuring figures such as The Beatles, Twiggy, David Bailey, The Rolling Stones, David Hockney and Mary Quant. The film is financed by Ingenious Media and Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment, and produced by Fuller, Caine, Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Lady Macbeth). Director Batty is best known for the Emmy-nominated Cult Of The Suicide Bomber. Contact IM Global
info@imglobal.com
Our Souls At Night (US) Dir Ritesh Batra Jane Fonda and Robert Redford reunite on screen for the first time since 1979’s The Electric Horseman. In the film, a Netflix Original, they play a widow and widower who have lived next door to each other for years — barely knowing each other until Fonda’s character, Addie, tries to make a connection. The duo will travel
Outrage Coda
Outrage Coda (Jap) Dir Takeshi Kitano A previous winner of the Golden Lion for 1997’s Hana-bi and the Silver Lion for 2003’s Zatoichi, Kitano’s latest is the closing film of the festival. The directoractor reprises his role as a veteran yakuza in this third part of a gangster trilogy that began with Outrage (2010) and Beyond Outrage (2012). France’s Celluloid Dreams continues its long-running collaboration with his company Office Kitano. Contact Hengameh Panahi, Celluloid Dreams hengameh@celluloiddreams.com (Right) The Private Life Of A Modern Woman
48 Screen International August-September 2017
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
Piazza Vittorio (It-Neth)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
Dir Abel Ferrara
(US-Jap) Dir Stephen Nomura Schible
US maverick Ferrara’s latest documentary centres on the eponymous 19thcentury Roman square that today hosts a diverse multi-ethnic community. Produced by Emanuele Moretti and Andrea De Liberato of Alberini Film, the film consists of interviews with residents of the surrounding area, old and new — the latter including actor Willem Dafoe. Contact Andrea De Liberato, Enjoy Film andreadeliberato@gmail.com
The Private Life Of A Modern Woman (US) Dir James Toback Toback flies into Venice with his latest drama starring Sienna Miller, Alec Baldwin, Charles Grodin and investor Carl Icahn (as himself). The film, which was shot in secret, is set in present-day New York, where an acclaimed actress turns down a role because she feels she cannot realistically kill someone on screen. When her cocaine-addled boyfriend comes over, the actress does the unthinkable. Michael Mailer produced with Washington Square Films. Contact Jonathan Schwartz, Washington Square Films jschwartz@ wsfilms.com
The first major documentary about Oscar-winning composer-artist-activist Ryuichi Sakamoto explores the evolution of his creative process and social philosophy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown in 2011. Cineric Creative and Borderland Media produced the film, which shows Sakamoto returning to the fray after battling cancer to unveil his latest album. Kadokawa, Avex Digital and Dentsu Music And Entertainment financed with production support from NHK. Contact Daniela Elstner, Doc & Film d.elstner@docandfilm.com
This Is Congo (US-Congo) Dir Daniel McCabe McCabe’s hard-hitting documentary explores the deadly conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been raging for more than two decades, through the eyes of four people: a military commander, a whistleblower, a mineral dealer and a tailor. McCabe produced alongside Geoff McLean and editor Alyse Ardell Spiegel, and the project had backing from the Sundance Institute’s documentary film programme. The BBC has secured UK TV rights. Contact Dogwoof
info@dogwoof.com
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COMPETITION
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FOXTROT
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) Out of Competition continued…
The Cousin (Isr)
HORIZONS
Dir Tzahi Grad
The Ark Of Disperata (It) Dir Edoardo Winspeare
Victoria & Abdul
Victoria & Abdul (UK) Dir Stephen Frears Frears’ third feature since his 2013 Venice entry Philomena sees the prolific UK director tell the true story of how Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) formed a fond friendship with an Indian servant (Ali Fazal) near the end of her reign. Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall adapts from the book by Shrabani Basu, with Beeban Kidron and Tracey Seaward producing alongside Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, and Focus/Universal distributing. Support cast includes Olivia Williams, Eddie Izzard, Michael Gambon and Adeel Akhtar.
In Winspeare’s seventh feature, this veteran of Italy’s vibrant low-budget regional filmmaking sector — the region being, in this case, his native Puglia — celebrates the redemptive power of the creative arts. The Ark Of Disperata (La Vita In Comune) is a gentle fable about a Mafia boss who is ‘converted’ by the prison lessons of a poet. It was produced by the director’s own Saietta Film with the backing of Rai Cinema. Winspeare is on a mid-career roll after his wellreceived drama Quiet Bliss played in Berlin’s Panorama section in 2014. Contact Intramovies
mail@intramovies.com
Contact Focus Features
Wormwood (US) Dir Errol Morris Wormwood is a six-part series that centres on one man’s 60-year quest to identify the circumstances of his father’s death. The series is a documentary-narrative hybrid that combines a performance by Peter Sarsgaard with Morris’s interviews. It is a Netflix Original series in association with Fourth Floor Productions and Moxie Pictures. Morris, winner of the best documentary Oscar for The Fog Of War in 2004, attended the Lido in 2013 with The Unknown Known.
Les Bienheureux
Les Bienheureux (Fr-Bel) Dir Sofia Djama Algerian filmmaker Djama’s directorial debut follows the life of a family after the Algerian Civil War, with cast including Sami Bouajila and Nadia Kaci. Producers are Liaison Cinématographique and Belgium’s Artémis Productions, which co-produced The Danish Girl and Certified Copy. Djama has picked up shortfilm awards at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Contact Bac Films
sales@bacfilms.fr
Contact Netflix
Cinderella The Cat (It)
Zama (Arg)
Dirs Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone
Dir Lucrecia Martel The widely admired Argentinian director returns with her first narrative feature since 2008’s The Headless Woman. Zama is based on Antonio Di Benedetto’s novel and stars Daniel Gimenez Cacho as a Spanish military officer in the late 18th century who becomes embroiled in the hunt for a bandit in a South American backwater. Rei Cine and Brazil’s Bananeira Filmes produced with Spain’s El Deseo. Patagonik co-produced and Disney will distribute in Argentina. Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
50 Screen International August-September 2017
Animator Rak made a splash with his kooky debut The Art Of Happiness, with its Miyazaki-in-Naples vibe, which debuted in Venice Critics’ Week in 2013 and went on to win the best animated feature award at the 2014 European Film Awards. This follow-up, co-directed with Cappiello, Guarnieri and Sansone, recasts the Cinderella story in a dystopian Naples where an obsolete technology, the hologram, brings alive the dreams of an abused girl. Contact Cristina Cavaliere, Rai Com cristina.cavaliere@rai.it
Israeli actor Grad marks his third feature as a director — and first since comedy Foul Gesture in 2006 — with this comedy-drama about a Palestinian man hired to help renovate the home of an Israeli and winding up as a suspect in a crime. In his home country, Grad is primarily known for his roles in hit horror Big Bad Wolves and Someone To Run With, which won him an Israeli Academy Award. Grad also produces alongside Ehud Bleiberg, whose credits include The Band’s Visit. Contact Bleiberg Entertainment info@bleibergent.com
Disappearance (Iran-Qat) Dir Ali Asgari This is the debut feature from Iran’s Asgari, whose shorts have competed at Cannes (More Than Two Hours in 2013 and The Silence in 2016) and Venice (The Baby in 2014). The story of two young lovers in search of help in Tehran, Disappearance was penned by Asgari and writing partner Farnoosh Samadi, developed at the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence and received a grant from Doha Film Institute. Tehran-based Three Gardens Film produced. Contact Jan Naszewski, New Europe Film Sales
jan@neweuropefilmsales.com
Endangered Species (Fr-Bel) Dir Gilles Bourdos This is Bourdos’ first film since Renoir, which closed Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2012, and his fifth overall. Based on the collection of short stories Rare And Endangered Species by Richard Bausch, the film follows the fates of three families and stars Alice Isaaz, Vincent Rottiers and Grégory Gadebois. Produced by Kristina Larsen for Les Films du Lendemain and co-produced by Belgian outfit Les Films du Fleuve, Endangered Species also received funding from Sofica Cofinova. The score comes courtesy of Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat. Contact Wild Bunch sales@wildbunch.eu
Invisible (Arg-Fr) Dir Pablo Giorgelli Argentinian director Giorgelli’s first feature Las Acacias screened in Cannes Critics’ Week and Toronto in 2011. His latest work centres on Ely, a 17-year-old
Nico, 1998
high-school student who learns she is pregnant and resolves to continue her life as though nothing has changed. Juan Pablo Miller for Argentina’s Tarea Fina and Ariel Rotter for AireCine produce with Urban Factory of France. Contact Juan Pablo Miller, Tarea Fina jpmiller@tareafina.com
Krieg (Ger) Dir Rick Ostermann Ostermann’s drama tells the story of Arnold Stein, who has withdrawn to a lonely mountain hut to find peace after his son was killed during a foreign assignment in the army. But this peace is destroyed when a stranger embroils him in a nerve-wracking struggle. Ulrich Matthes, Barbara Auer, Jördis Triebel and Thomas Loibl star. Berlinbased Schiwago Film produces. Ostermann’s 2013 film Wolfskinder also played in Horizons. Contact Schiwago Film info@schiwagofilm.de
Nico, 1988 (It-Bel) Dir Susanna Nicchiarelli Opening this year’s Horizons, Nicchiarelli’s road-movie biopic focuses on the final two years in the life of Velvet Underground chanteuse and muse Nico. Venice boss Alberto Barbera singled the film out to Screen International as proof that some Italian filmmakers are setting out to make “something different and international”. Starring Danish actress Trine Dyrholm (who began her career as a teen singer) and
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gang-raped in Alabama by seven white men in 1944. Director Buirski is best known for her 2012 Peabody Awardwinning HBO documentary The Loving Story, which was adapted last year by Jeff Nichols into Loving (she served as a producer). Buirski, who is also the founder and former director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, produces through her company Augusta Films. Contact Wide House
infos@widehouse.org
Reinventing Marvin (Fr) Dir Anne Fontaine
produced by Vivo Films, Nico, 1988 is likely to be one of this year’s few major Italian movie exports. Contact Celluloid Dreams info@celluloid-dreams.com
the Fipresci prize in 2015. His latest is about a forensic pathologist (Amir Agha’ee) who has a car accident that injures a young boy. When the boy later dies, the pathologist must investigate whether the accident was the true cause of death. The film won three prizes at Iran’s Fajr Film Festival.
Inspired by Édouard Louis’ novel En Finir Avec Eddy Bellegueule, this drama tells the story of a young man who is shunned by peers and family when he comes out as gay in his small town. Nocturama actor Finnegan Oldfield, a rising European talent, stars alongside Catherine Mouchet and Charles Berling, while there is also a supporting role for Isabelle Huppert. Coco Before Chanel and The Innocents director Fontaine wrote the script with Pierre Trividic. Contact TF1 Studio
sales@tf1.fr
Oblivion Verses The Night I Swam
The Night I Swam (Fr-Jap) Dirs Damien Manivel, Kohei Igarashi When Japan’s Igarashi premiered his graduation film Hold Your Breath Like A Lover at Locarno in 2014, he met France’s Manivel, whose feature debut A Young Poet won a special mention there. The duo decided to make a film together, resulting in this collaboration filmed in Aomori, Japan’s snowiest region. Presented entirely without dialogue, it depicts the loving yet distant relationship between a six-year-old boy and his fishmonger father whom he barely gets to see. Contact Shellac
sales@shellac-altern.org
No Date, No Signature (Iran) Dir Vahid Jalilvand Iran’s Jalilvand returns to Horizons after his debut feature Wednesday, May 9 won
Iran-born Khatami’s Spanish-language feature debut stars Juan Margallo and Tomas del Estal in the tale of an elderly caretaker at a remote morgue. When the authorities use the site to hide civilian casualties following a protest, the worker discovers the body of a young woman and embarks on a magical odyssey to give her a proper burial, accompanied by a bizarre trio of people. House On Fire produces with Endorphine Production, Lemming Film and Quijote Rampante. Contact Urban Distribution International sales@urbangroup.biz
The Rape Of Recy Taylor (US) Dir Nancy Buirski This sole US film in Horizons centres on the true story of a 24-year-old wife and mother who was
Dir Cosimo Gomez A high-profile Italian cast (Claudio Santamaria, Sara Serraiocco, Marco D’Amore) come together in this comedy-tinged heist movie about a group of anatomically challenged bank robbers. Directed by former set designer Gomez, it promises a moment of light relief in Venice’s sometimes over-solemn Horizons section. Produced by actor Luca Barbareschi’s Casanova Multimedia with a trio of French partners, the caper will be released in Italy by backer Rai Cinema’s 01 Distribution stablemate. Contact Rai Com
intlsales@rai-com.com
Under The Tree
Under The Tree (Ice-Den-Pol-Ger) Dir Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson
Contact Noori Pictures info@nooripictures.com
(Fr-Ger-Neth-Chile) Dir Alireza Khatami
Ugly Nasty People (It-Fr)
The Testament
The Testament (Isr-Aust) Dir Amichai Greenberg Greenberg’s debut feature is a drama about a meticulous historian and international expert in Holocaust research who, after spending 15 years debating Holocaust deniers, finds himself wrapped in a mystery after he inadvertently discovers his mother has a false identity. Jerusalem Film Fund, Israel Film Fund and Austrian Film Institute are all partners on the project with Tel Aviv-based production outfit Gum Films. Israeli actor Ori Pfeffer, who appeared in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, stars. Contact Intramovies mail@intramovies.com (Left) The Rape Of Recy Taylor
Sigurdsson says his new film is “more brutal, more dramatic, more violent” than his past titles Paris Of The North and Either Way (David Gordon Green remade the latter as Prince Avalanche). The story — which blends dramatic thriller and dark comedy — explores a suburban feud that erupts when one neighbour’s tree casts a shadow over another’s terrace. Grimar Jonsson (Rams) produces for Iceland’s Netop Films, with Poland’s Madants, Denmark’s Profile and Germany’s One Two Films also on board. This marks Sigurdsson’s debut in Venice. Contact Jan Naszewski, New Europe Film Sales jan@neweuropefilmsales.com
West Of Sunshine (Aus) Dir Jason Raftopoulos The debut feature from writer-director Raftopoulos, whose most recent short Kin screened at Cannes, was shot in Melbourne and tells the story of a father who has less than a day to pay back a debt to a loan-shark, while at the same time trying to look after his young son. Alexandros Ouzas ((Plague) produces for Exile Entertainment. Backers include Screen Australia. Contact Alexandros Ouzas, Exile Entertainment a.ouzas@exileentertainment.com.au »
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August-September 2017 Screen International 51
FESTIVAL FOCUS VENICE
CRITICS’ WEEK Crater (It) Dirs Luca Bellino, Silvia Luzi This feature debut has been described by Italian political documentary duo Bellino and Luzi as “a kind of back-to-front Disney fairytale”. Set in the world of Neapolitan ‘neomelodico’ pop music, it tells the story of an ambitious father-manager who is determined to milk his daughter’s singing talent. The pair are played by real-life singing star Sharon Caroccia and her father Rosario. Contact Alpha Violet
info@alphaviolet.com
Drift (Ger) Dir Helena Wittmann Combining elements of art and documentary, this debut feature from Germany ’s Wittmann is a sensory experience for the viewer, depicting two women setting off on different journeys across the North Sea. Co-written by Theresa George, who also co-stars alongside Josefina Gill, Drift is produced by Karsten Krause, whose 2014 documentary Szenario premiered at the Berlinale. Wittmann’s previous short films include Wildnis (2013) and 21,3°c (2014). Contact Helena Wittmann wittmann.helena@gmail.com
Crater
Hunting Season
Poison: The Land Of Fire
(Arg-US-Ger-Fr-Qat) Dir Natalia Garagiola
(It) Dir Diego Olivares
Garagiola’s first feature-length film centres on a violent teenager who reunites with his hunter father in Patagonia, where he is taught to respect nature and people. Argentina’s Rei Cine teamed with New York-based Gamechanger Films, Germany’s Augenschein Filmproduktion and France’s Les Films de l’Etranger to finance and produce. Garagiola developed the film at TorinoFilmLab’s FrameWork 2014 and received a $62,000 production grant. The project was selected for Toulouse’s Films In Progress programme earlier this year.
Screening out of competition in Critics’ Week’s closing slot, this issue drama is based on the true story of a buffalo mozzarella producer whose sudden illness is connected to the Mafia’s illegal dumping of toxic waste in the Neapolitan hinterland known as Terra dei Fuochi (‘Land of Fire’). Produced by Bronx Film and Minerva Pictures, the film’s cast includes Salvatore Esposito, known for his role in TV series Gomorrah.
Contact Alpha Violet
Contact Minerva Pictures info@minervapictures.com
info@alphaviolet.com
Pin Cushion (UK) Dir Deborah Haywood The Gulf
The Gulf (Tur-Gr-Ger) Dir Emre Yeksan This is the feature directing debut of Istanbul-based producer Yeksan (2014 Berlin premiere Come To My Voice, 2011’s Do Not Forget Me Istanbul). The Gulf follows a man who, recovering from a ruined career and bitter divorce, wanders around his Turkish hometown of Izmir revisiting his past. The project has participated in numerous development initiatives including Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink co-production market in 2014, Les Arcs’ worksin-progress strand in 2016 and Istanbul Film Festival’s works-inprogress session in 2017.
A 2007 Screen International Star of Tomorrow, shorts director Haywood makes her feature debut with a Derbyshire-based teen drama about schoolgirl friendships and rivalries that spiral out of control. Initially developed through Creative England’s iFeatures scheme, the film — playing out of competition as the opening night title of Critics’ Week — is produced by Gavin Humphries for Quark Films with Maggie Monteith for Dignity Film Finance, the latter financing alongside the BFI.
Contact Annamaria Aslanoglu, Istos Film annamaria@ istosfilm.com
52 Screen International August-September 2017
Contact Quark Films info@quarkfilms.com
Pin Cushion
Sarah Plays A Werewolf
Team Hurricane
Team Hurricane (Den) Dir Annika Berg Berg, a graduate of the prestigious National Film School of Denmark who made the 2015 award-winning short Sia, describes her debut feature as a “punk jam session” about rebellious teenage girls. She cast the eight non-professional actresses through social media. Previously titled Forever 13, the film blends stylised fictional elements with documentary material. Producer Katja Adomeit has a strong track record including 2016 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Wolf And Sheep; she is also a co-producer on 2017 Palme d’Or winner The Square.
Sarah Plays A Werewolf
Contact Derek Lui, LevelK derek@levelk.dk
(Swi-Ger) Dir Katharina Wyss
The Wild Boys (Fr)
Wyss’s debut feature stars Loane Balthasar as a 17-year-old girl who begins to transform into a werewolf after playing the beast on stage. With a $1.2m budget, Werewolf was filmed with mostly nonprofessional actors. It is produced by Intermezzo Films co-producing with DFFB film school and Swiss-based Mnemosyn, and received funding from Swiss national film fund OFC/BAK and Swiss-French film fund Cinéforom. Contact Intermezzo Films info@intermezzofilms.ch
Dir Bertrand Mandico Produced by Emmanuel Chaumet for Ecce Films, Mandico’s feature debut charts the story of six teenagers from a good family who commit a vicious crime on Réunion Island. Mandico’s shorts are well known on the circuit, having secured berths in Venice and ClermontFerrand among others. CNC is one of the backers of the film, whose cast includes Elina Löwensohn, Vimala Pons, Nathalie Richard, Sam Louwyck and Diane Rouxel. Contact Ecce Films contact@eccefilms.fr
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production set in Marrakech, screened at Karlovy Vary, where it won the $60,000 (¤50,000) Eurimages Lab Project Award. It is a meta-cinematic reflection on The Swimmer, the 1968 cult classic starring Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard and Janice Rule.
CINEMA IN THE GARDEN
Contact Manuela Buono, Slingshot Films manuela@slingshotfilms.it
Above The Law
Above The Law (Bel-Fr) Dirs Francois Troukens, JeanFrancois Hensgens
Nato A Casal Di Principe
Reformed gangster Troukens and veteran cinematographer Hensgens codirect this crime thriller. Dardenne brothers regular Olivier Gourmet stars as an ex-convict on his last heist who is caught in a conspiracy related to a series of old murders. Producers are Versus (After Love) with co-producers Capture The Flag and Savage Film.
a ‘gentle giant’ who is released into the real world on his 18th birthday.
Contact TF1 Studio
Produced by Cinemusa with the backing of Rai Cinema, Oliviero’s second feature is based on a true-life book cowritten by actor-turned-producer Amedeo Letizia, whose brother Paolo disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1989 after becoming involved with a Camorra cell in their rundown hometown near Naples. Oliviero’s The Human Factor played Locarno in 2013.
sales@tf1.fr
Manuel (It) Dir Dario Albertini Produced by long-time Nanni Moretti production partner Angelo Barbagallo’s BiBi Film, Albertini’s first feature is a spin-off from his 2015 documentary about a pioneering foster home north of Rome. Manuel is the fictionalised account of an inmate of the home,
VENICE DAYS Candelaria (Col-Ger-Nor-Arg-
(It) Dir Bruno Oliviero
Contact Cinemusa cinemusasrl@gmail.com
ciones de la 5ta Avenida (Cuba) and Fidelio Films (Colombia). Contact Beta Cinema
beta@betacinema.com
Equilibrium (It)
Colombian filmmaker Hendrix earned international attention when Choco screened in Berlin’s Panorama section in 2012. He returns to Europe with his third film, Candelaria, which went through Guadalajara’s Co-Production Meeting last year. It centres on a childless Cuban couple in the 1990s, when the country’s economy took a dive after Russia withdrew support. Antorcha Films (Colombia) produces with Razor Films Produktion (Germany), Dag Hoel (Norway), Pucara Cinema (Argentina), Produc-
A prolific Italian filmmaker with four features and six documentaries to his name, Marra is an old Venice hand; all of his previous features were unveiled here, one (L’Ora Di Punta, 2007) in Competition. His latest, which follows First Light (2015) into Venice Days, tracks a 40-year-old priest’s attempt to right wrongs in Terra dei Fuochi, the Neapoli-
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Woodshock (US) Dirs Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy
Nato A Casal Di Principe
Cuba) Dir Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
(Right) Equilibrium
Woodshock
Contact Camille Neel, Le Pacte c.neel@le-pacte.com
The Stand-In
The Stand-In (It-Mor-Fr) Dir Rä di Martino One of Italy’s hottest contemporary artists, di Martino has spent the last few years chicaning between the art gallery and arthouse. Her 30-minute department-store docufiction The Show Mas Go On debuted in Venice Days in 2013. A rough cut of this first feature, an Italy-France-Morocco co-
tan hinterland plagued by social and environmental degradation. Produced by Cinemaundici (Black Souls), it will be distributed in Italy by Warner Bros. Contact Intramovies
mail@intramovies.com
Woodshock is the directorial debut of fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Kirsten Dunst stars as Theresa, a haunted woman unravelling from a profound loss, who has succumbed to the reality-altering effects of a cannabinoid drug. Ken Kao’s Waypoint Entertainment financed and produced with Michael Costigan and Ben LeClair’s COTA Films. A24 is handling distribution in the US, with a release scheduled for September 15. Contact Bloom
info@bloom-media.com
(UK actor Joe Cole) and a Middle Eastern woman (Lina El Arabi). The film is in English and Arabic. eOne will distribute in English-speaking Canada and Seville Films handles in Quebec. Contact Films Distribution info@filmsdistribution.com
Dir Vincenzo Marra
Life Guidance (Aust) Dir Ruth Mader
Eye On Juliet
Eye On Juliet (Can) Dir Kim Nguyen Canadian filmmaker Nguyen is back in the festival mix a year after Two Lovers And A Bear screened in Toronto. Eye On Juliet reunites the director with his War Witch producer Pierre Even of Montreal’s Item 7 and tells the story of an encounter between a drone operator
Set in the near future, in a world of perfect capitalism, society is supported by a ‘high-performer’ class, made up of contented and motivated people. The socalled ‘minimum earners’ are kept subdued in ‘slumbertowers’. For the unhappy minority among the high performer class, an outsourcing agency, Life Guidance, has been put in place to help. Producer Gabriele Kranzelbinder (Taxidermia) also produced Mader’s two previous films including 2003’s Struggle, which debuted at Cannes. Contact Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production welcome@kgp.co.at
August-September 2017 Screen International 53
»
FESTIVAL FOCUS VENICE
) Venice Days continued…
Longing (Isr) Dir Savi Gabizon This is writer-director-producer Gabizon’s first feature since Nina’s Tragedies in 2003, which won 11 Israeli Film Academy awards including best film. Longing stars Shai Avivi in the story of a man who discovers that a son he never knew he had was recently killed in a road accident. It was produced by Israeli outfit United King Films, whose credits include Cannes 2017 premiere Scaffolding and 2013 horror Big Bad Wolves. Contact Films Boutique info@filmsboutique.com
Samui Song Looking For Oum Kulthum
Looking For Oum Kulthum (Ger-It-Aust) Dir Shirin Neshat New York-based Iranian artist and filmmaker Neshat uses the story of famed Egyptian singer-actress Oum Kulthum to draw parallels with life as an artist in exile. Producers are Berlin’s Razor Film with Austria’s Coop 99; Italy’s Vivo Films and In Between Arts; Morocco’s Agora Films; and Lebanon’s Shortcut Films, with the support of Doha Film Institute. Neshat, who won the Venice Silver Lion in 2009 for her previous film Women Without Men, teams again with writer-director-producer Shoja Azari. Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
M (Fr) Dir Sara Forestier
Léaud. Chi-Fou-Mi Productions and Archipel 35 produce. Contact mk2 Films intlsales@mk2.com
Samui Song (Thai-Ger-Nor) Dir Pen-ek Ratanaruang Thailand-based Pen-ek calls his new film “a modern satire of the Thai upper class”, as it centres on a Thai actress (played by Chermarn ‘Ploy’ Boonyasak) who resorts to murder while trying to escape from her foreign husband and a religious sect leader. Produced by Raymond Phathanavirangoon, the three-way co-production is backed by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, Germany’s World Cinema Fund and Norwegian fund Sorfond. Pen-ek was last in Venice 14 years ago with Last Life In The Universe. Contact Urban Distribution International sales@urbangroup.biz
French actress Forestier (Standing Tall, Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer) makes her directorial debut on this drama about a girl with a stutter who seeks refuge in silence. Her life is turned upside-down when she falls in love with a driver who risks his life by racing in illegal car rallies. Forestier also wrote and stars alongside Redouanne Harjane and Jeanne-Pierre
54 Screen International August-September 2017
Tainted Souls (It) Dirs Matteo Botrugno, Daniele Coluccini The second feature by the Italian directing duo revisits the contemporary noir settings and choral structure of their 2010 debut, Et In Terra Pax, which also screened in Venice Days, followed by Tokyo (Left) M
and a raft of international festivals. Set in a shabby outer suburb of Rome, Tainted Souls delves into the rotten underbelly of the Eternal City, recently exposed in the ‘Mafia Capitale’ affair, through the lives of six characters. It is produced by Kimerafilm, which scored a surprise hit in 2015 with Claudio Caligari’s posthumous Don’t Be Bad. Contact Catia Rossi, True Colours catia@truecolours.it
lent and humiliating incident that will turn the couple upside-down. Bensaïdi’s last film as director, 2011 drama Death For Sale, played at Toronto and Berlin, while 2003’s A Thousand Months debuted at Cannes. Paris-based Barney Production produces with Mont Fleuri Production and Shadi Films. Contact Doc & Film International sales@docandfilm.com
The Taste Of Rice Flower (China) Dir Pengfei Following his debut feature Underground Fragrance, which won best film in Venice Days 2015, Pengfei is back with actress Ying Ze in a Yunnanset drama about a mother who returns to her village from the city to rebuild the relationship with the daughter she left behind. Key crew includes cinematographer Liao Pen-jung, costume designer Wang Chia-hui and sound engineer Tu Duu-chih, all of them Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming Liang’s regular collaborators. Pengfei is a co-writer of Tsai’s Venice grand jury prizewinner Stray Dogs. Contact Go Global clement_magar@goglobalfilm.com
Volubilis (Mor-Fr) Dir Faouzi Bensaïdi Abdelkader is a security guard and Malika is a domestic employee. Recently married, they are madly in love. One day, however, Abdelkader experiences a vio-
Where Shadows Fall
Where Shadows Fall (It) Dir Valentina Pedicini The production heft of Fandango and Rai Cinema should offer a solid launchpad for the debut feature of young Puglian director Pedicini. This intense chamber drama set in a Swiss old-people’s home uncovers buried secrets through the story of Anna, a nurse from the Yenish traveller community, and Gertrud, an elderly inmate of the home who took part in the ‘re-education’ of Yenish children years earlier. Gertrud is played by Elena Cotta, who lifted the Coppa Volpi for best actress at Venice in 2013 for her performance in A Street In Palermo. Contact Fandango Sales fandango@fandango.it
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FILMS FROM ISRAEL
At the Venice International Film Festival 2017 VENEZIA 74 - COMPETITION
BIENNALE COLLEGE
FOXTROT Beautiful Things (It) Dir Giorgio Ferrero This documentary is about four remote places where ‘borderline men’ work to transform petroleum into the objects that modern citizens are obsessed with consuming. Director Ferrero and producer Federico Biasin are involved in Turin-based creative studio Mybosswas. Their previous experimental short Riverbero screened at festivals including Rome, Glasgow and Brooklyn. Contact Venice Biennale College
college-cinema@labiennale.org
Director: Samuel Maoz Producers: Michael Weber, Viola Fuegen, Eitan Mansuri, Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet, Michel Merkt Co-producers: Jonathan Doweck, Jamal ZEINAL ZADE Associate Producers: Meinolf Zurhorst, Olivier Pere, Remi Burah, Dan Wechsler, Jim Stark Production: Spiro Films , Pola Pandora FILM PRODUKTIONS, A.S.A.P. FILMS, KNM PRODUCTION CO-PRODUCTION: Bord Cadre Films, ARTE FRANCE CINEMA IN ASSOCIATION WITH: ARTE ZDf World Sales: The Match Factory E-mail: info@matchfactory.de Web: www.the-match-factory.com Fri Fri Sat Sat Sun
Sep 1 Sep 1 Sep 2 Sep 2 Sep 3
19:45 21:30 16:45 22:00 08:30
Sala Darsena (press & Industry) Sala Perla (Press & Industry) Sala Grande (Official Screening) Palabiennale Palabiennale
HORIZONS - COMPETITION
THE TESTAMENT
Martyr (Leb) Dir Mazen Khaled This debut feature from Lebanon’s Khaled tells the story about friends grappling with a young man’s tragic death. The director’s short films have shown at festivals including Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Dubai. Producer Diala Kachmar was associate producer on Rana Salem’s The Road and made her directorial debut with documentary Guardians Of Time Lost. Martyr’s cast includes Carole Abboud, who previously starred in Djinn and Terra Incognita. Contact Venice Biennale College
college-cinema@labiennale.org
Strange Colours (Aus) Michael Latham
Dir Alena Lodkina The Biennale College’s first Australian feature is directed by Russia-born, Melbourne-based Lodkina, who makes her feature directing debut after fiction and documentary shorts, and also working as an editor. The story, which she co-wrote with producer Isaac Wall, follows a woman who travels to a remote opalmining community to visit her estranged, ill father. Kate Cheel, Daniel P Jones and Justin Courtin lead the cast. Melbourne-based Kate Laurie of 3:57 Films also produces. Contact Venice Biennale College
Director: Amichai Greenberg Producers: Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir Co-producers: Sabine Moser, Oliver Neumann Production Company: Gum Films World Sales: INTRAMOVIES E-mail: Fabio.tucci@intramovies.com Wed Wed Thu Fri
Sep 6 Sep 6 Sep 7 Sep 8
19:45 22:30 14:15 14:00
Sala Casino Sala Volpi Sala Darsena Palabiennale
(Press & Industry) (Press & Industry)
THE COUSIN
Director: Tzahi Grad Producers: Ehud Bleiberg, Tzahi Grad Production Companies: Bleiberg Entertainment, MH1 World Sales: Bleiberg Entertainment E-mail: sales@bleibergent.com Web: www.bleibergent.com Sun Sun Mon TUE
Sep 3 Sep 3 Sep 4 Sep 5
20:00 22:15 17:00 15:30
Sala Volpi (Press & Industry) Sala Casino (Press & Industry) Sala Darsena Palabeinnale
VENICE DAYS
LONGING
Director: Savi Gabizon Producers: Chilik Michaeli, Avraham Pirchi, Tami Leon, Savi Gabizon, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery Production Companies: UCM –United Channels Movies, United King Films World Sales: Films Boutique E-mail: contact@filmsboutique.com Web: filmsboutique.com Wed. Wed
Aug 30 16:45 Sep 6 11:45
Sala Perla Sala Perla
(Official)
college-cinema@labiennale.org
The Biennale College is a training laboratory for young filmmakers from all over the world that assists with the production of low-budget films.
PROFILES BY Charles Gant, Tom Grater, Jeremy Kay,
Lee Marshall, Wendy Mitchell, Orlando Parfitt, Andreas Wiseman, Silvia Wong and Elbert Wyche
www.screendaily.com
ISRAEL FILM FUND / TEL: 972 3 562 8180, FAX: 972 3 562 5992 / INFO@FILMFUND.org.IL / WWW.FILMFUND.ORG.IL THE YEHOSHUA RABINOVICH FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS / CINEMA PROJECT / INFO@CINEMAPROJECT.ORG.IL TEL: +972-3-5255020 / FAX: +972-3-5255130 / WWW.CINEMAPROJECT.ORG.IL Ministry of Culture and Sport
August-September 2017 Screen International 55
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
PROUDLY PRESENTS AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FIL M F
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THURSDAY FRIDAY SUNDAY
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19.08.17 11:11
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
TORONTO PREVIEW
Legend of
the fall
Awards season swings into high gear at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the vital North American launch for prestige contenders and pretenders
Borg/McEnroe
GALAS 55 Steps (Ger-Bel) Dir Bille August Helena Bonham Carter stars as a psychiatric patient who hires a lawyer (Hilary Swank) to fight for her rights against the medical establishment. Set in San Francisco in the late 1980s and based on reallife events, 55 Steps focuses on the friendship that blossoms between the two women. It is the second festival film of the year for veteran Danish director and two-time Palme d’Or winner August, after The Chinese Widow opened Shanghai Film Festival to a muted critical response. Contact Sony Pictures OPENING FILM
Borg/McEnroe (Swe-Den-Fin) Dir Janus Metz Danish filmmaker Metz follows his acclaimed documentary Armadillo (2010) with his narrative feature debut celebrating the rivalry between tennis stars John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf) and Björn Borg
(Sverrir Gudnason), culminating in the epic 1980 Wimbledon men’s singles final. Producers Fredrik Wikström Nicastro and Jon Nohrstedt of Sweden’s SF Studios developed the screenplay with Ronnie Sandahl, pulling in financing from the Swedish, Danish and Finnish film institutes, and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Company credits also include Film i Väst, SVT and Yellow Film & TV.
out of hospital and lead a fulfilled life after contracting polio. Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy star, with backing from BBC Films, BFI, Embankment and Silver Reel. Contact Embankment Films info@embankmentfilms.com Chappaquiddick
CLOSING FILM
Contact SF International international@sf.se
C’est La Vie! (Fr)
Chappaquiddick (US)
Dirs Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Dir John Curran
Breathe (UK) Dir Andy Serkis
The sixth feature from French duo Nakache and Toledano ((Intouchables) takes place at a wedding reception. JeanPierre Bacri, Suzanne Clément and Gilles Lellouche star in the comedy-drama, which is produced by Quad Productions and coproduced by TFI and Gaumont. It is the pair’s second film to premiere at Toronto following Samba in 2014.
Ted Kennedy’s life and career began to unravel following a 1969 car accident that killed a young campaign strategist. Jason Clarke stars as Kennedy. Curran won TIFF’s Critics’ Prize in 1998 for his drama Praise. Apex Entertainment produced and financed Chappaquiddick, while WME handles North American sales.
While Serkis’s Jungle Book will not reach screens until 2018, this more modestly scaled true tale, shot after the Rudyard Kipling adaptation, has leapfrogged it to become the actor’s feature directing debut. Jonathan Cavendish, partner with Serkis in production company The Imaginarium, is a key mover in this story of how his own father, Robin, overcame the British medical establishment to break
58 Screen International August-September 2017
Contact Alexis Cassanet, Gaumont alexis. cassanet@ gaumont.com (Left) C’est La Vie!
International contact Sierra/Affinity info@sierra-affinity.com North America contact WME Entertainment info@wmeentertainment.com
Darkest Hour (UK) Dir Joe Wright Wright is back at TIFF with the world premiere of this historical drama, which stars Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, Kris-
www.screendaily.com
CG Cinema (which also produced Mustang), with Maven Pictures and Bliss Media. The Orchard has US rights, with Ad Vitam set to release in France. Contact CAA info@caa.com; IMR (Insiders) samanthad@madriverpics.com
Long Time Running (Can)
My Days Of Mercy (US) Dir Tali Shalom-Ezer
Contact Elevation Pictures admin@elevationpictures.com
Mary Shelley (Ire-UK-Lux-US) Dir Haifaa al-Mansour
Stronger
tin Scott Thomas as his wife Clemmie and Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI. The Theory Of Everything’s Lisa Bruce (producer) and Anthony McCarten (producerscreenwriter) reprise those roles, joining producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner for Working Title and Douglas Urbanski. Focus releases in the US on November 22; Universal handles internationally. Contact Universal Pictures International
Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (UK) Dir Paul McGuigan The unlikely romance between Hollywood screen siren Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) and young Liverpudlian actor Peter Turner (Jamie Bell) propels this rare foray outside the Bond franchise for Eon’s Barbara Broccoli, producing alongside Colin Vaines (Coriolanus). McGuigan (Gangster No. 1) directs a screenplay adapted by Matt Greenhalgh (Control) from Turner’s memoir, with a support cast including Julie Walters, Stephen Graham and Vanessa Redgrave. Sony Pictures Classics handles for the US; Lionsgate will distribute in the UK. Contact IM Global info@imglobal.com
www.screendaily.com
Hochelaga, Land Of Souls (Can) Dir Francois Girard Directing from his own screenplay, The Red Violin helmer Girard’s film (French title Hochelaga, Terre Des Ames) spans 750 years and five stories set on a site that links five events in history. In 1993, Girard’s Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould won the best Canadian feature film prize in Toronto. Girard returns to TIFF following 2014 drama Boychoir, which also screened in official selection. Contact Seville International sevilleinternational@filmsseville.com
Kings (Fr-Bel-US) Dir Deniz Gamze Ergüven Ergüven’s second film following the Oscar-nominated Mustang is also her English-language debut. It is a drama set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles race riots of 1992 and stars Halle Berry and Daniel Craig as a foster couple who arrive in South Central just a few weeks before the Rodney King verdict. Kings is produced and co-financed by Charles Gillibert of Paris-based
Contact Fox
Dirs Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier In what is certain to be an emotional screening, Long Time Running chronicles Canadian pop band The Tragically Hip as they embark on their swansong ‘Man Machine Poem’ Canadian tour in 2016 after frontman Gord Downie was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. Elevation Pictures will distribute the documentary in Canada. Baichwal directed TIFF 2013 premiere Watermark, on which de Pencier served as cinematographer, and attended with Manufactured Landscapes in 2006. De Pencier was at the festival with Black Code last year.
Darkest Hour
Toronto after The Idol premiered there to considerable acclaim in 2015, a decade after the festival hosted his breakout Paradise Now. Fox holds worldwide rights and will distribute in the US on October 6.
Following documentary Women Without Shadows and Saudi-set fiction feature Wadjda, Saudi filmmaker al-Mansour makes a significant detour with this historical biography depicting the love affair between Douglas Booth’s poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Elle Fanning’s 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (aka Frankenstein author Mary Shelley). The cast also includes Maisie Williams, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt, Tom Sturridge and Ben Hardy. Producers are Alan Moloney, Amy Baer and Ruth Coady, with company credits comprising Gidden Media, Juliette Films, Parallel Films and Sobini Films. Contact HanWay
Tel Aviv-based Shalom-Ezer comes to Toronto with the follow-up to her 2014 debut feature Princess. Ellen Page and Kate Mara star in the romantic drama, which centres on the daughter of a man on death row who falls in love with a woman on the opposing side of her family’s political cause. Great Point Media financed, while Killer Films and Lexis Media produced. Contact Great Point Media info@greatpointmedia.com
Stronger (US) Dir David Gordon Green Jake Gyllenhaal plays a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing who helps police track down the killers while struggling to recover from the trauma. The film marks the debut production for Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories label, which produces alongside Summit Entertainment, Mandeville Films and Bold Films. Green’s debut George Washington won TIFF’s Discovery Award in 2000. Roadside Attractions holds US rights to Stronger and will release on September 22. Contact Lionsgate International internationalsales@lionsgate. com
info@hanwayfilms.com
The Mountain Between Us (US)
Three Christs
Dir Hany Abu-Assad
Three Christs (US)
Idris Elba and Kate Winslet star in this awards-bait drama as strangers on a plane who fall in love after they survive a crash in the icy wastes of Utah. Abu-Assad directed from the novel by Charles Martin, and Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping produced through Chernin Entertainment. The director returns to (Left) Long Time Running
Dir Jon Avnet Avnet reunites with his Red Corner star Richard Gere following a long run directing television. Three Christs centres on a psychologist who senses he may be on to the case of his life when he treats a trio of paranoid schizophrenics who each believe they are Jesus Christ. Peter Dinklage also stars. Highland Film Group financed the film. International contact Highland Film Group info@highlandfilmgroup.com North America contact CAA info@caa.com »
August-September 2017 Screen International 59
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
) Galas continued…
The kingmaker On the eve of the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival, artistic director Cameron Bailey talks to Jeremy Kay about downsizing, programming TV and launching awards season
The Upside
Dir Neil Burger Burger directs the English-language remake of French smash Intouchables. Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart and Nicole Kidman star in the story of the relationship between a wealthy man confined to a wheelchair and the unemployed person with a criminal record who is hired as his caregiver. The Weinstein Company acquired English-language remake rights in 2011 and produced The Upside, which it plans to release in the US on March 9, 2018. Contact The Weinstein Company international@weinsteinco.com
The Wife (UK-Swe) Dir Björn Runge Glenn Close stars as a frustrated woman who considers leaving her husband (Jonathan Pryce) just as he is being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Max Irons and Christian Slater co-star. Sweden’s Runge directs from Jane Anderson’s script, adapted from the Meg Wolitzer novel. Producers are Meta Louise Foldager of Meta Film, Rosalie Swedlin for Anonymous Content and Piers Tempest for Tempo Productions. Runge’s Blue Angel won Berlin’s Silver Bear in 2004; Happy End won the best cinematography prize at San Sebastian in 2011.
Tempting titles
Contact Calum Gray, Embankment Films cg@embankmentfilms.com
Woman Walks Ahead (US) Dir Susanna White Jessica Chastain stars as Catherine Weldon, a painter in 1890s Brooklyn who travels to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull and becomes embroiled in the Lakota people’s struggle over the rights to their land. Steven Knight wrote the period drama. Chastain has had a busy year, starring in projects for Aaron Sorkin, Niki Caro and Xavier Dolan. She will next be seen in November in awards season hopeful Molly’s Game, also screening at TIFF. Black Bicycle Entertainment financed and produced with Bedford Falls in association with Potboiler. CAA represents US rights. International contact IM Global info@imglobalfilm.com North America contact CAA info@caa.com
ack in February, Toronto International Film Festival’s top brass announced they were slashing this year’s line-up by 20% to accommodate the perennial gripes (of press and buyers, mostly) it had become impossible to see all the world premieres at TIFF that people needed to see. Putting an enhanced emphasis on quality, there will still be plenty to choose from with an expected line-up of around 255 features at time of press. “We knew it was going to be hard as hell,” Bailey admits of the process, adding that the festival is now about the size of the Berlinale. Pats on the back turned to hard conversations once the business of “saying no, when in past years we would have said yes” had begun. “We still think it was the right thing to do. We feel we have a terrific lineup. We’re proud of it, but it was not easy and has made for some very tough conversations this year.” In trimming back the festival, the TIFF team jettisoned two programme strands: Vanguard and City to City. But one section the festival very much decided to keep is Platform, the director-focused strand now entering its third year. “If anybody asks me how you get a handle on the vast selection that is the Toronto Film Festival,” Bailey says, “I would say start with Platform, see all 12 films in that section, and you will have a sense of what is the core, the soul of Toronto.” Last year’s Platform selection included Barry Jenkins’ eventual best picture Oscar winner Moonlight, as well as Jackie by 2016 Platform prize-winner Pablo Larrain and UK breakout Lady Macbeth. This year’s roster opens with Armando Iannucci’s The Death Of Stalin and includes Michael Pearce’s Beast, Clio Barnard’s Dark River and Nabil Ayouch’s Razzia.
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Bailey is an attentive parent who loves his children equally, but the artistic director cannot resist a cheek-pinch here and there. These include Darren Aronofsky’s return to psychological horror with mother!, and Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy adventure The Shape Of Water. Then there are the acquisition titles still available for distribution in multiple territories including North America: Aaron Sorkin’s feature directorial debut Molly’s Game with Jessica Chastain; Louis CK’s black-andwhite edgy comedy I Love You, Daddy, which
was a secret until the comic called up and offered it to Toronto (“It’s like a unicorn,” Bailey says. “You never see something like this”); Sebastian Lelio’s English-language debut Disobedience, starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams; and Sophie Fiennes’ documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami. Among Bailey’s picks for the third year of TV section Primetime is the season-two premiere of The Girlfriend Experience starring Anna Friel. “It’s not just a matter of launching shows that have a lot of audience interest, sometimes there’s a cultural debate happening around the show and The Girlfriend Experience will definitely do that,” he says. The Wire producer David Simon brings The Deuce,
‘We have a terrific line-up. We’re proud of it, but it was not easy and has made for some very tough conversations this year’ Cameron Bailey, artistic director, TIFF
about the New York porn industry in the 1970s, while another Margaret Atwood novel gets a look-in with Canadian show Alias Grace. “Primetime is small still,” Bailey says, “but influential.” With Toronto lining up alongside Venice and Telluride as the official awards-season launchpads, there will be plenty of runners and riders strutting around the TIFF paddocks, such as Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, Aronofsky’s mother!, Hany Abu-Assad’s The Mountain Between Us and Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, but which will be the thoroughbreds? If Bailey has a hunch then he is choosing to play coy, beyond venturing that del Toro’s The Shape Of Water might just fit the bill. “The great thing about awards season now is its unpredictability,” Bailey notes, citing last year’s surprise run to the Oscar podium for TIFF selection Moonlight. “The films that used to be developed and made and lined up for awards- season glory are not necessarily the ones that the awards bodies are finding the most compelling any more. What I am certain of is we have films in our line-up that we’ll be hearing a lot more of in December and January.”
Cameron Bailey
Matt Barnes
B
The Upside (US)
www.reelsuspects.com
85min l 2017 l ITALY, BELGIUM DIRECTED BY ANDREA DE SICA
ATTENDING TIFF
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
Leslie Semichon Head of Sales M: +33 6 60 44 52 66
UNIFRANCE BOOTH
90min l 2017 l LATVIA DIRECTED BY AIK KARAPETIAN
FIRSTBORN
101min l 2017 l PORTUGAL DIRECTED BY JUSTIN AMORIM
LEVIANO
95min l 2017 l TAIWAN DIRECTED BY YU-LIN WANG
ALIFU, THE PRINCE/SS
105min l 2017 l SPAIN DIRECTED BY SADRAC GONZALEZ-PERELLON
BLACK HOLLOW CAGE
96min l 2017 l THAILAND DIRECTED BY ANUCHA BOONYAWATANA 42, Rue René Boulanger l 75 010 Paris l FRANCE
MALILA
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FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Battle Of The Sexes (US) Dirs Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris Little Miss Sunshine duo Dayton and Faris make their Toronto debut with their third feature, working from a screenplay by Slumdog Millionaire scribe Simon Beaufoy. Emma Stone, fresh from her La La Land Oscar win, stars as tennis legend Billie Jean King, who in 1973 was challenged to a match by former male champ Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). Danny Boyle and Christian Colson produce for Cloud Eight Films and Decibel Films, alongside Robert Graf. Fox Searchlight releases in the US on September 22, and Fox will roll out internationally. Contact Fox Searchlight Battle Of The Sexes
The Brawler (India) Dir Anurag Kashyap Kashyap (Gangs Of Wasseypur) returns to Toronto with a sports drama about a lower-caste boxer striving to make his mark. Starring Vineet Kumar and Jimmy Shergill, The Brawler is co-produced by Aanand L Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions and will be distributed by Eros Now in India. Paris-based Stray Dogs previously handled international sales of Kashyap’s Psycho Raman, which premiered in Cannes last year. Contact Stray Dogs
sales@stray-dogs.com
The Brawler
The Captain (Ger-Fr-Pol) Dir Robert Schwentke After a slew of English-language films, including Flightplan, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Insurgent and Allegiant, Schwentke returns to his native German for this real-life tale of a young Second World War private (Swiss up-and-comer Max Hubacher) who impersonates an officer to plunder his way through Nazi Germany. The film is produced by Filmgalerie’s Frieder Schlaich, Alfama Films’ Paulo Branco and Opus Films’ Ewa Puszczynska, who produced 2013 Oscarwinner Ida. Contact Alfama Films
Dir Gaël Morel
The Breadwinner (Can-Ire-Lux) Dir Nora Twomey Angelina Jolie serves as executive producer on this animation from the codirector of 2010 Oscar nominee The Secret Of Kells. The Breadwinner is based on Deborah Ellis’s young adult novel about a girl living under the Taliban in Afghanistan. Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer (The Square) serve as executive producers alongside Jolie and Gerry Shirren of Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon. GKIDS distributes in the US in November and for the first time acted as financier and producer. Contact WestEnd Films info@westendfilms.com
Contact FilmNation Entertainment nyoffice@filmnation.com
alfamafilms@orange.fr
Catch The Wind (Fr)
The Breadwinner
decide the fate of a teenage boy (Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead) whose religious beliefs prevent a life-saving blood transfusion. Stanley Tucci, Ben Chaplin and Jason Watkins co-star. Duncan Kenworthy produces for his own Toledo Productions, with BBC Films and FilmNation Entertainment. eOne has UK rights.
Sandrine Bonnaire stars in Morel’s sixth film, as a factory worker who sadly realises she has no real ties to France and follows her job to Morocco rather than face unemployment. Lubna Azabal, Mouna Fettou and Ilian Bergala co-star in the drama, which is produced by France’s TS Production. Les Films du Losange releases in France in November. Morel’s Les Chemins De L’Oued won the Fipresci prize at Toronto in 2002.
The Cured
The Cured (Ire-UK-Fr) Dir David Freyne
Contact Doc & Film International sales@docandfilm.com
Freyne makes his feature debut with this genre title set in a society where a zombie virus has been cured, but the formerly infected are discriminated against. Ellen Page joins Irish actors Tom VaughanLawlor and Sam Keeley, while Freyne reteams with producer duo Rachael O’Kane and Rory Dungan, with whom he worked on his shorts The Man In 301, The Mill, Passing and The First Wave.
The Children Act (UK)
Contact Simon Briot-Romer, Bac Films s.briot-romer@bacfilms.fr
Dir Richard Eyre Iris and Notes On A Scandal director Eyre returns to Toronto for the first time since 2008’s The Other Man with The Children Act, adapted by Ian McEwan from his novel of the same name. Emma Thompson stars as a high-court judge who must
62 Screen International August-September 2017
The Current War (US) Dir Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon star as electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, who competed to create a sustainable energy
Catch The Wind
system and market it to the American people. Timur Bekmambetov originally acquired Michael Mitnick’s Black List script to direct, but instead produces under his Bazelevs label. The film is set to open in the US on December 22 through The Weinstein Company. Contact The Weinstein Company www.weinsteinco.com
Disobedience (UK) Dir Sebastian Lelio Best known for his 2013 film Gloria, for which Paulina Garcia scooped Berlin’s best actress Silver Bear, Chile’s Lelio makes his English-language debut with Disobedience. It is adapted from Naomi Alderman’s novel about a woman who returns to her Orthodox Jewish home, stirring up controversy when she shows
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her family fighting to survive during the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal regime. Jolie produced the Khmer-language drama alongside Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, who directed The Missing Picture. Jolie’s 16-year-old son Maddox Jolie-Pitt and Ung are among the executive producers. Netflix will premiere the film on September 15. Contact Netflix
The Guardians (Fr) Dir Xavier Beauvois Beauvois’ highly anticipated new film is based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Pérochon. Set during the First World War, The Guardians explores how a group of women strive to break free of their prescribed roles when they are forced to take on work as the men leave for the action. Nathalie Baye stars as a woman looking after the farm of her pregnant daughter’s family. Beauvois’ Cesar-winning Of Gods And Men won the Grand Prix at Cannes and went on to be a sensation on the festival circuit in 2010.
The Hungry
tale of a single mother’s revenge for the brutal murder of her son. Naseeruddin Shah and Tisca Chopra head the cast. Contact Marina Fuentes, C International Sales marina.fuentes@cintsales.com
I Love You, Daddy (US) Dir Louis CK Comedian and actor CK blindsided Toronto when he contacted them about this secret, edgy comedy focusing on a TV producer (played by himself ) and his daughter in New York. “He set it up, we watched it, loved it and invited him right away,” TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey says of the 35mm black-and-white film. Chloe Grace Moretz, John Malkovich and Rose Byrne also star in the Circus King Films project. Contact Dave Becky, 3 Arts Entertainment dbecky@3arts.com
Contact Pathé International sales@patheinternational.com I, Tonya
Hostiles (US) Dir Scott Cooper Cooper reunites with his Out Of The Furnace star Christian Bale on this late-19th-century adventure story about an army captain who agrees to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory. Joining Bale in the cast are Rosamund Pike, Peter Mullan, Ben Foster and Call Me By Your Name breakout Timothée Chalamet. Cooper directed Black Mass, which played in Toronto in 2015. John Lesher, Ken Kao and Cooper produced, and Kao’s Waypoint Entertainment financed. interest in an old childhood friend. Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz (also producing, with Ed Guiney and Frida Torresblanco) and Alessandro Nivola lead the cast in this Film4 and FilmNation Entertainment presentation of an Element Pictures, Braven Films and HGS Productions feature. Lelio’s 2017 Berlinale premiere A Fantastic Woman also plays in TIFF Special Presentations. Contact FilmNation Entertainment nyoffice@filmnation.com
The Escape (UK) Dir Dominic Savage Savage made his name with TV dramas such as Out Of Control, switched to the big screen with 2005’s Love + Hate, then following up with more TV work. Now his second feature for the cinema stars
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Gemma Arterton as a housewife and mother who makes the extraordinary decision to abandon her family in order to ‘find herself ’. Shoebox Films’ Guy Heeley (Locke) produces the Lorton Entertainment-financed production, while Dominic Cooper co-stars.
Contact Bloom info@bloom-media.com; Alexis Garcia, WME Global agarcia@ wmeentertainment.com
Contact Independent mail@independentfilmcompany.com
Chatterjee’s latest project was developed by Film London’s Microwave scheme, before becoming a UK-India co-production between Cinestaan Film Company and Film London. Set in the elite social circles of north India, the film is a contemporary reworking of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and explores violence, power and love through the
First They Killed My Father (Cam) Dir Angelina Jolie Jolie’s fifth outing as director is a deeply personal endeavour given her humanitarian work and well-documented passion for Cambodia. This Netflix Original is based on the book by Loung Ung, a human-rights activist who wrote about the experiences of
The Hungry (India) Dir Bornila Chatterjee
I, Tonya (US) Dir Craig Gillespie Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney star in this drama about disgraced competitive ice skater Tonya Harding, whose life went into a tailspin when she was implicated in an attack on fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan. Gillespie directs from a screenplay by Steven Rogers, 10 years after his debut feature Lars And The Real Girl premiered in Toronto. AI Film fully financed I, Tonya and Miramax will distribute the Clubhouse Pictures and LuckyChap Entertainment production in the US. Contact Sierra/Affinity info@sierra-affinity.com
Journey’s End (UK) Dir Saul Dibb RC Sherriff ’s original 1928 stage play — set in a British army officers’ dugout in the trenches near the end of the First World War — starred Laurence Olivier, before becoming a 1930 film. The Duchess director Dibb helms this Fluidity Films production from a screenplay by Simon Reade (also producing, with Guy de Beaujeu). The cast is led by Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield and Paul Bettany. Lionsgate has UK rights. Contact Metro International sales@metro-films.com »
(Right) Journey’s End
August-September 2017 Screen International 63
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
) Special Presentations continued…
Kodachrome (Can-US) Dir Mark Raso Ed Harris, riding high on the success of HBO’s hit TV series Westworld, plays an ailing photographer who takes a road trip with his estranged son in a bid to reach a photo development lab before it shuts down. Jason Sudeikis and Elizabeth Olsen also star in Raso’s followup to his 2014 feature debut Copenhagen. Shawn Levy is among the producers, and Motion Picture Capital fully financed. Contact Lisa Wilson, The Solution Entertainment Group lisa@thesolutionent.com Plonger
Lady Bird (US) Dir Greta Gerwig
cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy, George MacKay, Charlie Heaton and Mia Goth.
Gerwig makes her solo directorial debut with Lady Bird (she co-directed 2008’s Nights And Weekends with Joe Swanberg). The film stars Saoirse Ronan as a Sacramento teenager seeking to escape her small town to attend college in New York. Gerwig, who appeared in Pablo Larrain’s 2016 Toronto selection Jackie, also wrote the screenplay. IAC Films financed and produced Lady Bird alongside Scott Rudin and Entertainment 360. A24 further bolsters the film’s indie credentials and holds worldwide rights.
Contact Lionsgate internationalsales@lionsgate.com
Contact A24 Films
Dir Aaron Sorkin
info@a24films.com
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House (US) Dir Peter Landesman Liam Neeson headlines this thriller — from Scott Free, MadRiver Pictures, Endurance Media, Torridon Films and Riverstone Pictures — as the Watergate whistleblower known as Deep Throat, who finally revealed his identity in 2005. Sony Pictures Classics holds North American rights. Diane Lane, Michael C Hall, Tom Sizemore and Maika Monroe are among the key cast.
Dir Tonie Marshall
Molly’s Game
Molly’s Game (US) Jessica Chastain stars as Molly Bloom, the Olympic-class skier busted by the FBI for running a high-stakes poker game for Hollywood’s rich and famous. A-list writer Sorkin makes his feature directorial debut and Idris Elba also stars in the eOne and Mark Gordon Company drama. eOne will distribute directly in the UK, Canada, Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain. STX will release in the US and China, and Sierra/Affinity handles sales in the rest of the world.
Emmanuelle Devos (a double César winner, including for Jacques Audiard’s Read My Lips) stars in this Tabo Tabo Films production as a high-flying female executive who is forced to consider her options when the glass ceiling looms into view. Marshall’s screen credits as an actress date back to the early 1970s, and she has written and directed features since 1989. Her 1999 film Venus Beauty won Césars for film, director, screenplay and most promising actress (Audrey Tautou).
UK-born terrorist mastermind Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was accused of kidnapping and murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Contact Pyramide International sales@pyramidefilms.com
Contact Karma Pictures hansal@karmapic.com
Marrowbone (Sp)
A multiple Goya nominee for his 2013 TIFF premiere Cannibal, Cuenca returns to TIFF with a dark comedy-thriller about an aspiring writer who provokes conflicts with his neighbours to provide material for his novel. The Motive is produced by Iconica, LaZona and (Right) The Motive
64 Screen International August-September 2017
On Chesil Beach
On Chesil Beach (UK) Dir Dominic Cooke
Contact Sierra/Affinity sales@sierra-affinity.com
The Motive (Sp) Dir Manuel Martin Cuenca
Award-winning Spanish screenwriter Sanchez (The Orphanage, The Impossible) makes his directorial debut with this horror film about five siblings plagued by an evil entity in a sprawling manor house. Sanchez also wrote the screenplay for the co-production between Lionsgate (which handles international sales) and Spain’s Telecinco Cinema. The young
Contact Filmax International filmaxint@filmax.com
Number One (Fr)
Contact Sierra/Affinity sales@sierra-affinity.com
Dir Sergio G Sanchez
La Loma Blanca. Cast includes Javier Gutierrez (Assassin’s Creed), Maria Leon and Antonio de la Torre.
Omerta
Omerta (India) Dir Hansal Mehta Rajkummar Rao is a regular actor for Mehta, having appeared in Aligarh, CityLights and Shahid. Produced by Anurag Kashyap, the latter premiered at TIFF 2012 and earned best actor and best director prizes at India’s National Film Awards. The duo team up again in this political thriller about
Author Ian McEwan has two films at TIFF, both self-adapted from his own novels — the other is The Children Act. Theatre director and former Royal Court artistic director Cooke makes his bigscreen debut with this drama about a honeymooning couple (Saoirse Ronan and The Sense Of An Ending’s Billy Howle). Number 9 Films’ Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley produce, with backing from BBC Films; Lionsgate has UK rights. Contact Rocket Science info@rocket-science.net
Outside In (US) Dir Lynn Shelton Indie darling Shelton brought Your Sister’s Sister and Laggies (aka Say When) to Toronto in 2011 and 2014 respectively, but
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award winning French actress-filmmaker Laurent stars Maria Valverde as a Spanish war photographer who suffers a crisis and leaves her French war correspondent partner and baby in France to travel to Oman. A few months later, her boyfriend (Gilles Lellouche) is informed that a body has been found on a beach and it could be her. Plonger is produced by Bruno Levy’s Move Movie; Mars Distribution has French rights. Contact WTFilms
sales@wtfilms.fr
The Price Of Success (Fr) Dir Teddy Lussi-Modeste
The Price Of Success
A stellar French cast including Tahar Rahim, Roschdy Zem and Maïwenn headlines this second feature from LussiModeste, a graduate of top French film school La Fémis. Rahim plays a stand-up comedian whose success threatens to destroy his relationship with his working-class family, particularly his older brother and girlfriend. Lussi-Modeste co-wrote the screenplay with Rebecca Zlotowski, with whom he also collaborated on his debut feature Jimmy Riviere. Ad Vitam has French rights. Contact Indie Sales
info@indiesales.eu
Professor Marston & The Wonder Women (US) Dir Angela Robinson
has dedicated herself to TV recently, directing episodes of Master Of None, GLOW, New Girl and Shameless. Outside In stars Jay Duplass as an ex-con who bonds with an old high-school teacher. The Orchard holds worldwide rights. Contact The Orchard communications@theorchard.com
Papillon (Serb-Mont-Malta) Dir Michael Noer Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek star in this remake of the 1973 film based on the bestselling memoir of French felon Henri Charriere, who attempted to escape from a brutal penal colony on French Guyana. Papillon is the Englishlanguage feature debut of award-winning Danish director Noer, whose fiction credits include R, Northwest and Key House Mirror, as well as documentaries Son Of God and The Wild Hearts. Contact Christian Mercuri, Capstone Group christian.mercuri@gmail.com
Plonger (Fr)
Having directed and produced TV hits True Blood and The L Word, Robinson returns to film for the first time since 2005’s Herbie: Fully Loaded with the story of how Harvard psychologist William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman in the 1940s, a superhero character inspired by his two muses: wife Elizabeth Marston and lover Olive Byrne. Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote star. Sony produced and financed, and Annapurna Pictures acquired US rights. Contact Sony Pictures
A Season In France (Fr) Dir Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Eriq Ebouaney (Bastille Day) stars as a widower and teacher who flees his wartorn Central African country for France, where he falls in love with a Frenchwoman (Sandrine Bonnaire) who offers him a home. They face a tough decision when his asylum application is rejected. Chad’s Haroun shoots his first film in France, after his Cannes-selected dramas A Screaming Man and Grigris. Ad Vitam has French rights.
Dir Mélanie Laurent
Contact MK2 Films intlsales@mk2.com
The fourth feature directed by Cesar-
(Right) Thelma
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Sheikh Jackson (Egy) Dir Amr Salama This comedy-drama is about a young Islamic fundamentalist cleric who was obsessed with Michael Jackson as a teenager and has an identity crisis in 2009 when the King of Pop dies. Ahmed El-Fishawy plays the lead, while rising talent Ahmed Malek plays the cleric as a teenager. The film is produced by Mohamed Hefzy of Egypt’s Film Clinic and Hani Osama of The Producers. Salama previously directed Asmaa and Excuse My French. Contact Ida Martins, Media Luna idamartins@medialuna.biz
Submergence (Fr-US-Ger-Sp-Bel) Dir Wim Wenders Veteran filmmaker Wenders shot his globetrotting romantic thriller in France, Germany, Spain and Djibouti. James McAvoy stars as a water engineer who falls in love with a deep-sea researcher (Alicia Vikander) and is then taken hostage in Somalia as a suspected spy. Erin Dignam adapted the script from the bestselling JM Ledgard novel, while Cameron Lamb (Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter) produced. After Toronto, Submergence will open San Sebastian Film Festival. Wenders is a TIFF regular, most recently with last year’s The Beautiful Days Of Aranjuez. International contact Embankment Films info@embankmentfilms.com; North America contact Rena Ronson, UTA ronsonr@unitedtalent.com
Thelma (Nor-Swe-Fr-Den) Dir Joachim Trier Trier moves into genre territory for the first time with this Norwegian-language supernatural thriller about a young woman (The Wave’s Eili Harboe) who discovers she has inexplicable powers. Toronto hosts the international premiere after the film opened Norway’s Haugesund Film Festival on August 20. TIFF has shown all three of Trier’s previous features: Reprise (a Discovery Award winner in 2006), Oslo, August 31st and English-language debut Louder Than Bombs. SF Studios releases in Norway on September 15 and Memento has already sold the film widely. Contact Memento Films International sales@memento-films.com
Unicorn Store (US) Dir Brie Larson Oscar-winning actress Larson was in Toronto last year with
Free Fire and returns with her feature directorial debut, which is about a young woman who refuses to abandon her dreams and is offered a magical gift. Larson stars with Joan Cusack, Bradley Whitford and Samuel L Jackson. Ruben Fleischer, Lynette Howell Taylor and Terry Dougas produce. Contact CAA
sales@caa.com
Who We Are Now (US) Dir Matthew Newton Newton’s follow-up to last year’s SXSW audience award winner From Nowhere stars Julianne Nicholson as an ex-con who teams up with a lawyer (Emma Roberts) to regain custody of her son. Existent Films, Oriah Films and Living The Dream Films produced; Zachary Quinto, Jimmy Smits and Jason Biggs also star. Contact Yale Chasin, UTA Independent Film Group chasiny@unitedtalent.com
You Disappear
You Disappear (Den-Swe) Dir Peter Schonau Fog Trine Dyrholm, who was in Toronto last year with Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune, stars alongside Nikolaj Lie Kaas and the late Michael Nyqvist in this family drama. When a headmaster embezzles money from his own school, did he do it of his own free will or because of a brain tumour? Danish director Schonau Fog’s last film, The Art Of Crying, had its world premiere at TIFF 2006. Zentropa’s Louise Vesth produces. Contact TrustNordisk
info@trustnordisk.com
Youth (China) Dir Feng Xiaogang A year after his social satire I Am Not Madame Bovary lit up the autumn festival circuit, winning the Fipresci prize at TIFF and the Golden Shell at San Sebastian, Feng returns to Toronto with a coming-of-age story about a group of teenagers in a Chinese army cultural troupe in the 1970s. Written by Yan Geling, who won the Asian Film Award for co-writing The Flowers Of War in 2011, the cast of Youth is headed by Huang Xuan, Miao Miao and Zhong Chuxi. IM Global has sales rights through its output deal with Huayi Brothers. Contact IM Global
info@imglobalfilm.com »
August-September 2017 Screen International 65
TORONTO FESTIVAL FOCUS
Razzia (Fr-Mor-Bel) Dir Nabil Ayouch
PLATFORM
Morroco’s internationally renowned Ayouch (Whatever Lola Wants, Horses Of God) tackles the theme of social injustice in his sixth feature. Razzia weaves together five narrative threads, all connected to one tumultuous event on the streets of Casablanca (it also references the 1942 classic). The film stars Maryam Touzani, Belgium’s Ariel Worthalter, Abdelilah Rachid, Dounia Binebine and Amine Ennaji. Ayouch’s last feature, Much Loved, premiered at Cannes in 2015. Ad Vitam will release Razzia in France.
Beast (UK) Dir Michael Pearce National Film & Television School graduate and 2011 Screen International Star of Tomorrow Pearce, who was Bafta-nominated in 2014 for his short Keeping Up With The Joneses, makes his feature debut with a drama set in a small island community. Jessie Buckley (TV’s Taboo and War & Peace) stars as a woman who falls in love with a free-spirited stranger (Johnny Flynn) who she learns is a suspect in a string of brutal murders. The film was produced by Kristian Brodie of Agile Films, and Ivana MacKinnon and Lauren Dark of Stray Bear Productions, with backing from the BFI and Film4. Contact Protagonist Pictures info@protagonistpictures.com
Brad’s Status (US) Dir Mike White Ben Stiller stars as a highly competitive father who is forced to re-evaluate his life choices when he takes his teenage son (Austin Abrams) on a tour of prestigious east coast universities. This comedydrama is the second feature directed by prolific screenwriter White, whose Richard Linklater-helmed School Of Rock debuted in Toronto 14 years ago. Cofinanced by Amazon Studios, Brad’s Status will be released through Annapurna Pictures in the US on September 15. Contact Sierra/Affinity info@sierra-affinity.com
Contact Films Distribution info@filmsdistribution.com Beast
BFI backed the film with the Wellcome Trust, along with producers Moonspun Films and Left Bank Pictures. Contact Protagonist Pictures info@protagonistpictures.com
The Death Of Stalin (UK) Dir Armando Iannucci Following a 2009 Sundance premiere for In The Loop, Iannucci makes a TIFF bow for his sophomore feature, with a multiwriter team adapting the Fabien Nury graphic novel. A rich ensemble — including Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Palin and Simon Russell Beale — play Soviet politicians scrambling for power in a post-Stalin world, with other key roles taken by Rupert Friend, Andrea Riseborough, Jason Isaacs and Paddy Considine. Producers are Laurent Zeitoun, Yann Zenou and Nicolas Duval Adassovsky (for Main Journey and Quad Productions) and Kevin Loader.
If You Saw His Heart (Fr) Dir Joan Chemla Billed as a film noir, If You Saw His Heart follows the plight of a young man (Gael Garcia Bernal) who is expelled from his gypsy community after his best friend’s death and tempted by a life of crime before falling for a mysterious stranger (Marine Vacth). This adaptation of the Guillermo Rosales novel The Halfway House marks Chemla’s feature directorial debut and is produced by Pierre Guyard (Love At First Fight), whom Screen named as a Future Leader in 2015. Contact mk2 Films intlsales@mk2.com
Contact Cécile Gaget, Gaumont cecile.gaget@gaumont.com Mademoiselle Paradis
Euphoria (Swe-UK-Ger)
Dark River
Dark River (UK) Dir Clio Barnard Following Tribeca and Cannes bows respectively for her first two features The Arbor and The Selfish Giant, former video artist Barnard makes her Toronto debut with a drama about a woman (Ruth Wilson) returning to her hometown for the first time in 15 years following the death of her farmer father. There, she is confronted by her brother (Mark Stanley) who contests her claim to the family farm tenancy. Tracy O’Riordan produces. Film4, Screen Yorkshire and the
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The Seen And Unseen
The Seen And Unseen (Indo) Dir Kamila Andini Andini’s second feature follows a 10-yearold girl’s dream-like journey to come to terms with the imminent death of her twin brother. The project was selected for Cannes’ Cinéfondation Residence, Hong Kong’s HAF, Ties That Bind, Filmex Talents Tokyo and Venice Production Bridge. It also received funding from Hubert Bals, APSA Children’s Film Fund and Doha Film Institute. Andini’s 2011 debut feature The Mirror Never Lies travelled to more than 30 festivals including Busan and Berlin, and won more than 15 awards including best children’s feature film at Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Dir Lisa Langseth
Mademoiselle Paradis
Swedish director Langseth, who has collaborated with Alicia Vikander on her previous two features Pure and Hotell (the latter shown at TIFF in 2013), reteams with her muse for her Englishlanguage debut. Vikander stars with Eva Green as estranged sisters who meet after many years apart and embark on a journey together. The cast also includes Charlotte Rampling, Charles Dance and Adrian Lester. This is the debut feature from Vikander’s Vikarious Productions, launched with London-based agent Charles Collier of Tavistock Wood. Partners are Sweden’s B-Reel and Germany’s Dancing Camel.
Set in 18th-century Vienna, Mademoiselle Paradis is based on the true story of blind pianist Maria Theresia von Paradis, a contemporary of Mozart, and the physician who worked to restore her sight. Kathrin Resetarits wrote the script, partly inspired by the novel Mesmerized by Alissa Walser. The cast is led by Maria-Victoria Dragus (The White Ribbon, Graduation). Austrian filmmaker Albert’s past credits include Free Radicals, Fallen and The Dead And The Living. After Toronto, the film will compete in San Sebastian.
(Nor-Ger-Swe) Dir Iram Haq
Contact Films Distribution info@filmsdistribution.com
Contact Beta Cinema beta@betacinema.com
Contact Great Point Media info@greatpointmedia.com
Contact Sebastien Chesneau, Cercamon sebastien@cercamon.biz
(Aust-Ger) Dir Barbara Albert
What Will People Say
After premiering her debut I Am Yours at TIFF in 2013, Norway’s Haq returns to Toronto. What Will People Say follows a 16-year-old Norwegian girl whose father sends her away to relatives in Pakistan. Maria Mozhdah makes her big-screen debut in the lead role, while Adil Hussain (Life Of Pi) plays her father. The film was shot in Norway and India, where The Lunchbox producer Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment co-produced. »
August-September 2017 Screen International 67
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
MIDNIGHT MADNESS Bodied (US) Dir Joseph Kahn The third feature from music-video director Kahn, whose 2011 high-school horror Detention played at SXSW, sees a grad student become dangerously obsessed with the world of rap battles. Written by Kahn along with professional battle rapper Alex ‘Kid Twist’ Larsen, and produced by megastar Eminem along with Adi Shankar (Dredd, The Voices), this year’s Midnight Madness opener is the first film to play in the strand under the stewardship of incoming programmer Peter Kuplowsky. Contact Andrew Ruf, Paradigm aruf@paradigmagency.com
The Crescent (Can) Dir Seth A Smith
The Crescent
Reuniting Canadian director Smith with his Lowlife (2012) writer Darcy Spidle and producer Nancy Urich — the trio collectively make up Nova Scotia-based production house Cut/Off/Tail Pictures — this sophomore feature concerns a woman and her young son who encounter dark forces as they attempt to work through a recent bereavement at their beachfront retreat. Genre veteran Rob Cotterill (Hobo With A Shotgun, Grindhouse) serves as executive producer.
The Ritual (UK) Dir David Bruckner
Contact Nancy Urich, Cut/Off/Tail Pictures nancyurich@gmail.com
The Disaster Artist (US)
Vampire Clay
Dir James Franco After first screening as a work-in-progress at SXSW earlier this year, Franco’s adaptation of Greg Sestero’s book about the troubled production of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 drama The Room — widely regarded as one of the ‘best’ worst films ever made — receives its official world premiere in Midnight Madness. Starring Franco alongside Alison Brie, Bryan Cranston and Seth Rogen, The Disaster Artist is produced by A24 and New Line; the latter will release it in the US on December 8. New Line parent Warner Bros will oversee international distribution.
of a sniper after a burst tyre leaves them stranded by the side of the road. The film is produced by Kitamura and Eleven Arts’ Ko Mori (Man From Reno). Contact Eleven Arts
office@elevenarts.net
own screenplay. Tim Zajaros and Christopher Lemole of genre-focused Armory Films (Zombeavers, Mudbound) are producing; UK outfit The Fyzz Facility partfunded the project. Contact XYZ Films
info@xyzfilms.com
Revenge (Fr)
Mom And Dad
Downrange (US)
Mom And Dad (US)
Dir Ryuhei Kitamura
Dir Brian Taylor
Japanese director Kitamura is no stranger to Midnight Madness, having screened Versus (2001), Alive (2002) and No-One Lives (2012) in the strand. Downrange sees a group of friends become the target
Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair play parents who turn on their children as a result of global mass hysteria in this horrorcomedy directed by Brian Taylor (Crank, Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance) from his
68 Screen International August-September 2017
After being nominated for the best narrative short prize at Tribeca 2016 for scifi short Reality+, France’s Fargeat makes her feature debut with this dark tale of a woman out for revenge on the men who have left her for dead. Produced by MES Productions and Monkey Pack Films (Café De Flore), Revenge will be distributed in France by Rezo Films. International sales are handled by Charades, the new outfit headed by Wild Bunch veteran Carole Baraton, which also co-produces. Contact Charades
International contact Sierra/Affinity info@sierra-affinity.com North America contact WME Entertainment info@wmeentertainment.com
Vampire Clay (Jap) Dir Soichi Umezawa
Dir Coralie Fargeat
Contact Warner Bros
Having collaborated with other directors on three genre titles — The Signal, V/H/S and Southbound — US helmer Bruckner strikes out on his own with this comedy-tinged horror about four British former college buddies reuniting for a Scandinavian hiking trip, then taking an ill-advised shortcut through deep forests after one of them twists his ankle. Rafe Spall stars, while Joe Barton adapts the 2011 Adam Nevill novel for producers Jonathan Cavendish and Andy Serkis of The Imaginarium and Richard Holmes. eOne, which also produces, releases in the UK on October 13.
sales@charades.eu
After contributing to horror anthology ABCs Of Death 2 through his segment ‘Y Is For Youth’, special make-up effects artist Umezawa steps up for his solo debut feature. Set in a rural art school, the horror-thriller follows a student who unknowingly uses cursed clay and sculpts a monster that subsequently devours the students. It is partly financed by record label King Record, which has moved into film production and distribution. The Japanese director’s wife, Asuka Kurosawa (Cold Fish), co-stars. Contact Akiko Uchida, King Records akiko-uchida@kingrecords.co.jp
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Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami (UK-Ire)
TIFF DOCS
Dir Sophie Fiennes
Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of JeanMichel Basquiat (US)
In Jamaican patois, ‘bloodlight’ is the red light that illuminates when an artist is recording in the studio, and ‘bami’ is bread, the substance of life. Fiennes, who documented Anselm Kiefer in 2010 Cannes premiere Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, now spotlights the statuesque Jamaica-born singer. BBC Films, the BFI, Irish Film Board and Roads Entertainment finance the Blinder Films, Sligoville and Amoeba Film production, from producers Fiennes, Shani Hinton, Katie Holly and Beverly Jones. Trafalgar Releasing has UK rights.
Dir Sara Driver The feature documentary debut of film and theatre director Driver, this focuses on the hand-to-mouth early life of celebrated artist Jean-Michel Basquiat who, shortly before his meteoric success, slept rough and sold T-shirts to survive. The partner and collaborator of Jim Jarmusch, Driver is a long-term fixture on the New York arts and indie film scene. This is her first outing as a director since 1994, although the TIFF Cinematheque hosted a retrospective of her work in 2014.
Jane
Contact WestEnd Films info@westendfilms.com
Jane (US) Dir Brett Morgen
Contact Jessica Lacy and Bart Walker, ICM Partners jlacy@icmpartners.com awalker@icmpartners.com
The China Hustle (US) Dir Jed Rothstein Rothstein (Oscar-nominated in 2010 for his short Killing In The Name) lifts the lid on a financial crisis in the making. Alex Gibney (Taxi To The Dark Side) and Frank Marshall executive produce the film, which explores the ramifications of a lack of financial and banking regulation. The focus — on the unscrupulous activities of Chinese companies regarding the US stock market — should make this a newsworthy title. Contact UTA
info@unitedtalent.com
Cocaine Prison (Aus-Bol-Fr-US) Dir Violeta Ayala Filmed over a five-year period and supported by TFI Latin Media Fund, MacArthur Foundation, Bertha Britdoc and Sundance, this tells the human story of Bolivia, cocaine and the war on drugs. The narcotic and its influence on society is viewed through the eyes of the small fish: a cocaine worker, a drug mule and his younger sister. The film includes an eye-opening glimpse inside Bolivia’s notorious San Sebastian prison. Contact United Notions info@unitednotionsfilm.com
Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars (US-UK) Dir Lili Fini Zanuck Prolific producer Zanuck makes a rare directorial outing with this doc examining the life and work of Yardbirds and Cream member Eric Clapton. The man himself
www.screendaily.com
The China Hustle
provides voiceover narration, adding to archive and newly filmed interviews with collaborators, friends and family. The film also addresses addiction and personal tragedy. Key creative credits include editors Chris King (Amy) and Paul Monaghan, and composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain). Producers of the Zanuck Company/Passion Pictures production are Zanuck, John Battsek, Scooter Weintraub and Larry Yelen. Contact Altitude Film Sales info@altitudefilment.com
istration, including secretary of state John Kerry and national security advisor Susan Rice. Financed by HBO, The Final Year follows Obama’s team throughout 2016 — and even covers the fallout from Donald Trump’s shock election victory. Barker’s 2009 documentary Sergio, spotlighting UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, was shortlisted for an Oscar. Contact Prettybird
sales@prettybird.co
The Gospel According To André (US) Dir Kate Novack
The Final Year
The Final Year (US) Dir Greg Barker Political junkies ought to be fascinated by the latest from Legion Of Brothers documentarian Barker, who was granted unprecedented access to US president Barack Obama and his foreign-policy advisors during the last year of his admin-
Already a highly recognisable figure from his memorable cameos in fashion industry docs Unzipped, The September Issue and The First Monday In May, together with a recurring role in America’s Next Top Model, Vogue contributing editor André Leon Talley takes centre stage in this profile. Interviewees include Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Valentino and Manolo Blahnik. Contact Submarine info@submarine.com
Oscar-nominated documentarian Morgen has made impressionistic portraits of Robert Evans (The Kid Stays In The Picture) and Kurt Cobain (Cobain: Montage Of Heck), and his latest celebrates revered primatologist Jane Goodall. Focusing on never-before-seen footage of Goodall’s 1960s expeditions in Tanzania, Jane features a score by Philip Glass and promises to be an immersive look at the scientist’s life and work. The film will receive a theatrical release before airing on National Geographic in 171 countries and 44 languages. Contact National Geographic Studios
The Judge (Pal-US) Dir Erika Cohn This verité documentary provides rare insight into Shari’ah law, an often-misunderstood legal framework for Muslims, told through the eyes of the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s religious courts. Through the story of judge Kholoud Al-Faqih, Cohn illuminates some of the universal conflicts in the domestic life of the Palestinian territories: custody of children, divorce and spousal abuse. Her last documentary feature (co-directed with Tony Vainuku), In Football We Trust Trust, premiered at Sundance in 2015. Contact Ro*co Films annie@rocofilms. com (Left) The Judge
August-September 2017 Screen International 69
»
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
) TIFF Docs continued…
The Legend Of The Ugly King (Ger-Aust) Dir Hüseyin Tabak Yilmaz Güney was a Kurdish director who won the Palme d’Or in 1982 with his film Yol. He was also a dissident, revolutionary and murderer, who started making movies while in prison serving a sentence of more than 100 years. Tabak’s film explores the story of the man dubbed ‘the ugly king’. The director’s fourth film and second documentary (his first was the 2010 Venice prizewinner Kick Off), this was supported by the Austrian Film Institute, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig Holstein and ORF Film/Television Agreement. Contact Mitosfilm
Sammy Davis, Jr: I’ve Gotta Be Me
info@mitosflm.com
Lana Turner, Bette Davis, Danny Kaye and Gore Vidal, to name a few. Tyrnauer, also a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, previously directed Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF 2008) and Citizen Jane: Battle For The City (TIFF 2016).
Love Means Zero (US) Dir Jason Kohn Kohn delves into the life of controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri. At his Florida academy, he has worked with players such as Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles and Boris Becker — but greatness has come at a personal price, including broken marriages, financial ruin and a fractured relationship with Agassi. One of the film’s producers is Anne White, a former tennis pro who was coached by Bollettieri as a teenager. Showtime backs the film and will air it in 2018. Kohn won the 2007 Sundance Grand Jury prize with Manda Bala. Contact Showtime content.acquisition@showtime.net
Contact Josh Braun, Submarine josh@submarine.com
Silas (Can-SA-Ken)
One Of Us (US) Dirs Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady The Oscar-nominated team of Ewing and Grady, whose credits include Jesus Camp and Detropia, go inside New York’s Hasidic Jewish community, focusing on three people who decide to leave the ultraorthodox world despite the strain it causes on their relationships. Netflix is planning an awards-season push. The pair’s last film, Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You, screened at Sundance 2016. Contact Erik Barmack, Netflix ebarmack@netflix.com
Of Sheep And Men
Of Sheep And Men (Swi-Qat) Dir Karim Sayad
Dirs Anjali Nayar, Hawa Essuman
Scotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood
The Other Side Of Everything (Ser-Fr-Qat) Dir Mila Turajlic
Sixteen-year-old Habib dreams of training his sheep to be a fighting champion; 42-year-old Samir just hopes he can sell enough livestock before Eid in order to survive. This portrait of contemporary Algerian society was made with the support of Doha Film Institute. It is the feature documentary debut of Sayad, whose short Babor Casanova won prizes at Clermont-Ferrand and Doclisboa.
Serbian director-producer Turajlic explores her country’s history through the idea of divided spaces, taking as a jumping-off point a door in her mother’s Belgrade apartment that has remained locked for the past 65 years. Turajlic follows her Chicago Film Festival prize-winning debut Cinema Komunisto with a film that was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Culture, CNC-Cinéma du Monde, Eurimages and Doha Film Institute.
Contact Joelle Bertossa, Close Up Films joelle@closeupfilms.ch
Contact Mila Turajlic mila@dribblingpictures.com
70 Screen International August-September 2017
Sammy Davis, Jr: I’ve Gotta Be Me (US) Dir Sam Pollard New interviews with stars such as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Whoopi Goldberg, Kim Novak and the late Jerry Lewis are included in this first cinematic documentary about Sammy Davis Jr, examining his journey through the shifting tides of the civil-rights movement. The PBS series American Masters produces. Director Pollard is a PBS regular collaborator, directing two episodes of Eyes On The Prize as well as four previous films shown in American Masters, including Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On. Contact Tom Koch, PBS Distribution jtkoch@pbs.org
Scotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood (US) Dir Matt Tyrnauer Telling the story of Scotty Bowers, an ex-marine who became the confidant and lover to many of Hollywood’s greatest stars, this Altimeter Films production promises a “deliciously scandalous portrait of an unsung Hollywood legend”. It is inspired by Bowers’ memoir Full Service, which includes anecdotes about the sexual exploits of
Liberian activist Silas Siakor, a crusader against illegal logging and the winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, is the subject of this profile. It focuses on Siakor’s campaign against warlord Charles Taylor, whose military might was partially funded by logging. Originally titled Logs Of War, it was supported by Tribeca Film Institute. Essuman previously co-directed Kenyaset drama Soul Boy (2010) with Tom Tykwer; Nayar’s feature documentary debut was Gun Runners (2015). Contact Philippa Kowarsky, Cinephil philippa@cinephil.com
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! (US) Dir Morgan Spurlock Spurlock, the documentarian who became a household name with his hit 2004 McDonald’s exposé Super Size Me, returns to examine the food industry with this sequel. This time, he opens his own fast-food restaurant, Holy Chicken!, as an ethically sourced pop-up fried chicken shop in Columbus, Ohio. Spurlock was at TIFF last year with a different kind of animal, Rats. Super Size Me, which launched at Sundance, went on to garner an Oscar nomination. Contact Cinetic Media office@cineticmedia.com
»
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NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION
OFFICIAL COMPETITION IN
SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
POROROCA A film by Constantin Popescu
DCP/HD • 2017 • BELGIUM/NETHERLANDS/FRANCE • 91’
DCP/HD • 2017 • ROMANIA/FRANCE • 152’
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
DISCOVERY D RL RE O IE W EM PR
D RL RE O IE W EM PR
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
D RL RE O IE W EM PR
L NA IO E AT IER RN M TE RE P
CARGO A film by Gilles Coulier
EUTHANIZER
MIRACLE
A film by Teemu Nikki
A film by Egle Vertelyte
DCP/HD • 2017 • FINLAND • 83’
DCP/HD • 2017 • LITHUANIA / BULGARIA • 90’
07.09 6.45PM Scotiabank 10 (Press & Industry)
07.09 9.45PM Scotiabank 8 (Press & Industry)
08.09 9.45PM Scotiabank 4
08.09 6.15PM TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 4
09.09 9.45AM TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3
10.09 6.45PM Scotiabank 8
11.09 9.30PM Scotiabank 7 (Press & Industry)
14.09 9.15PM Scotiabank 8 (Press & Industry)
17.09 9.30PM Scotiabank 14
16.09 12.15PM Scotiabank 8 WORLD COMPETITION IN L NA IO E AT IER RN M TE RE P
D RL RE O IE W EM PR
MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
MY SEE-TROUGH HEART
FALLING IN/OUT OF LOVE
A film by David and Raphaël Vital-Durand
A film by Dominic Bachy
DCP/HD • 2017 • FRANCE • 90’
DCP/HD • 2017 • FRANCE • 95’
ATTENDING TIFF (Unifrance – Hyatt Regency Ballroom) DIANE FERRANDEZ +33 7 61 57 96 86 df@widemanagement.com
LOÏC MAGNERON
PRESIDENT +33 6 60 43 96 86 lm@widemanagement.com
ATTENDING SAN SEBASTIAN ISABEL IVARS
+33 7 60 67 83 85 mi@widemanagement.com
wide Toronto2017_MonthlyWide_245x335_CMJN.indd 1
18/08/2017 16:00
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
Disappearance (Neth-Nor)
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
Dir Boudewijn Koole Five years after his debut fiction feature Kauwboy took multiple awards across the festival circuit, including the Generation Kplus First Movie Award at Berlin in 2012, Dutch filmmaker Koole brings his latest work to Toronto. A motherdaughter drama set in the remote wintry landscape of Norway, Disappearance is produced by Ineke Kanters and Jan van der Zanden of The Film Kitchen, with support from Netherlands Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute and Eurimages.
A Sort Of Family (Arg-Br-Fr-Pol) Dir Diego Lerman Lerman’s domestic violence feature Refugiado premiered at Cannes in 2014, and won four awards including best film and director from the Argentinian Academy. His follow-up switches the social commentary to the bureaucracy surrounding child adoption in Argentina’s rural northern region. Campo Cine, Bossa Nova, Bellota Films, Staron Film, 27 Films, Act 3, Snowglobe, MG and Telefé are the producers.
Don’t Talk To Irene
Contact Pluto Film Distribution Network info@plutofilm.de
Don’t Talk To Irene (Can)
Contact Film Factory Entertainment info@filmfactory.es
Dir Pat Mills An overweight teenage girl follows her passion for cheerleading and signs up for a talent-search reality TV show in order to prove that ‘physical perfection’ isn’t everything. This Alyson Richards/ Lithium Studios production is Mills’ second feature, following his debut Guidance, which premiered at TIFF 2014. Telefilm Canada, Shaw Rocket Fund, Ontario Media Development Corp and Search Engine Films, among others, partnered to finance.
Alanis (Arg) Dir Anahi Berneri This drama centres on a young Buenos Aires mother and sex worker who endures the hypocrisy of the laws that are meant to protect her. Berneri’s A Year Without Love won the Berlinale Teddy award in 2005. Varsovia Films produced Alanis along with Laura Cine. Contact Fandango
fandango@fandango.it
Beyond Words (Neth-Pol) Dir Urszula Antoniak Shot in black and white, the fourth feature from writer-director Antoniak, best known for her dazzling 2009 debut Nothing Personal, is about a young Polish lawyer living in Berlin and working on refugee cases. His world shifts when his father comes to visit. Jakub Gierszal and Andrzej Chyra star in the co-production between the Netherlands’ Family Affair Films and Poland’s Opus Film. Backing came from the Netherlands Film Fund, the Polish Film Institute and Eurimages. Contact Global Screen
Birds Without Names
Black Kite (Can-Afg) Dir Tarique Qayumi Afghanistan-born Qayumi moved to Vancouver as a refugee when he was eight. Black Kite, his second feature, centres on Arian, who adores kites but whose talent is curtailed when the Taliban bars their use. The film mixes animation, documentary and live action, and received finishing funds from the Canada Arts Council. Contact Aquatinter Films aquatinterfilms@gmail.com
info@globalscreen.de
Birds Without Names (Jap) Dir Kazuya Shiraishi It is the first time at TIFF for Japan’s Shiraishi, whose seventh feature tells the story of Towako (Japanese superstar Yu Aoi), a young woman who lives with — and regularly cheats on — a seemingly kind and charming man 15 years her senior. But when she discovers an ex-boyfriend has gone missing, she fears her present partner may have played a part in his disappearance. Sadawo Abe and Tori Matsuzaka co-star. Contact Nikkatsu Corporation international@nikkatsu.co.jp
Breath
Breath (Aus) Dir Simon Baker The directorial debut of Tasmania-born actor Baker (The Mentalist), this drama is produced by Mark Johnson of Gran Via Pro-
72 Screen International August-September 2017
ductions alongside See Pictures and Screen Australia. Baker also co-wrote the screenplay, an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Tim Winton, and takes the central role of Sando, an adventurer who encourages two teenage boys to push their limits in 1970s Australia. Contact Embankment Films info@embankmentfilms.com
Dark Is The Night (Phil) Dir Adolfo Alix Jr The new film from prolific, award-winning Filipino director Alix Jr follows a couple who become entangled in Manila’s terrifying criminal underworld when their son goes missing. One of the Philippines’ leading independent filmmakers and TV directors, Alix Jr’s films play widely on the international festival circuit. Death March was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2013 and Fable Of The Fish screened at TIFF in 2011. Contact Adolfo Alix Jr aalixjr@gmail.com
Contact The Film Sales Company contact@filmsalescorp.com
Euthanizer (Fin) Dir Teemu Nikki “Violent summer noir” Euthanizer follows a 50-year-old mechanic who euthanises sick pets. But he also loves animals, and runs into trouble when he decides to save the wrong person’s dog. Nikki has directed commercials, music videos and several seasons of the Lovemilla TV series, as well as the 2015 film adapted from the show. Contact Wide Management infos@widemanagement.com
Good Favour
Good Favour (Ire-Bel-Den-Neth) Black Kite
Dir Rebecca Daly Daly’s feature debut The Other Side Of Sleep played Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2011 and her 2016 follow-up
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Mammal bowed at Sundance. Her third feature is set in a devout Christian community in the remote wilds of central Europe, and was co-written by Daly and Glenn Montgomery. It is produced by John Keville and Conor Barry of Savage Productions with Benoit Roland of Wrong Men, along with the Netherlands’ Viking Film. Contact Savage Productions info@savageproduction.ie
The Journey (Iraq-UK-Fr-Qat-Neth) Dir Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji The fourth narrative feature by Iraqborn Al-Daradji stars Zahraa Ghandour as a young woman who enters Baghdad’s train station intent on blowing herself up but hesitates when she meets a flirtatious salesman. Al-Daradji also produces with the UK’s Isabelle Stead, following their collaborations on In My Mother’s Arms and Son Of Babylon. The Journey is produced by Human Film, the Iraqi Independent Film Centre and France’s Lionceau Films, with backing from Doha Film Institute. Contact Picture Tree International pti@picturetree-international.com
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Life And Nothing More
DOING THE DOUBLE
(Sp-US) Dir Antonio Mendez Esparza
World premieres at Venice that will also play at Toronto
The second feature from Spain-born Aqui y Alla director Esparza is an English-language drama about an AfricanAmerican family in Florida living on the fringes of society. Life And Nothing More was developed with the support of sales agent Film Constellation’s partner company Films Distribution. Contact Film Constellation info@filmconstellation.com
The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond Of Matches (Can) Dir Simon Lavoie The latest from Québecois filmmaker Lavoie follows the lives of two children who, in the wake of their father’s death, come to realise the perverse nature of their upbringing. Last year Lavoie codirected TIFF selection Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves, which won the best Canadian feature film prize. Contact Seville International sevilleinternational@filmsseville.com
»
Venice strand
Toronto strand
Angels Wear White (p42)
Competition
CWC*
Brawl In Cell Block 99 (p46)
Out of Competition
Midnight Madness
Custody (p42)
Competition
Platform
Downsizing (p42)
Competition
Special Presentation
Eye On Juliet (p53)
Venice Days
Special Presentation
Ex Libris — The New York Public Library (p42)
Competition
TIFF Docs
Foxtrot (p43)
Competition
Special Presentation
Hannah (p43)
Competition
CWC
The Insult (p44)
Competition
CWC
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. The Story Of Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman And Tony Clifton (p46)
Out of Competition
TIFF Docs
Lean On Pete (p44)
Competition
Special Presentation
The Leisure Seeker (p44)
Competition
Gala
Looking For Oum Kulthum (p54)
Venice Days
CWC
Loving Pablo (p46)
Out of Competition
Special Presentation
Manhunt (p48)
Out of Competition
Special Presentation
mother! (p44)
Competition
Special Presentation
Racer And The Jailbird (p48)
Out of Competition
Special Presentation
Samui Song (p54)
Venice Days
CWC
The Shape Of Water (p44)
Competition
Special Presentation
Suburbicon (p44)
Competition
Special Presentation
Sweet Country (p44)
Competition
Platform
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (p45)
Competition
Special Presentation
Under The Tree (p51)
Horizons
CWC
Victoria & Abdul (p50)
Out of Competition
Special Presentation
*CWC = Contemporary World Cinema
August-September 2017 Screen International 73
FESTIVAL FOCUS TORONTO
) Contemporary World Cinema continued…
The Lodgers (Ire) Dir Brian O’Malley Set in 1920s rural Ireland, this thriller focuses on a brother and sister who live alone in a crumbling manor and must follow strict rules set by the supernatural force that lives in the basement. Irish filmmaker O’Malley’s 2014 debut, Let Us Prey, premiered at Edinburgh. This follow-up is produced by Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde of Tailored Films with a cast including Bill Milner (Broken) and Eugene Simon (Game Of Thrones). Contact Epic Pictures Group sales@epic-pictures.com
Meditation Park (Can) Dir Mina Shum Shum directs Cheng Pei Pei and Sandra Oh in Meditation Park, which centres on a devoted wife and mother who is forced to reassess her reverence for her husband when she finds another woman’s thong in his laundry. CBC Breaking Barriers Film Fund provided funding, along with Telefilm Canada and the Harold Greenberg Fund. CBC will air the drama following its theatrical run.
allegorical slice of mayhem about dirtbikers in an isolated region of Brazil who find themselves the target of a machetewielding band of motorcyclists intent on killing them all.
with the support and financial participation of The Movie Network, Telefilm Canada and CFC Features. Rideout’s acting credits include Deadpool and his own Eadweard. XYZ handles US sales.
Contact Magali Assenco, Filmland Internacional magali@filmland.com.br
Contact Kaleidoscope Film Distribution sales@kaleidoscopefilmdistribution.com; XYZ Films info@xyzfilms.com
The Number (S Afr) Dir Khalo Matabane South African filmmaker Matabane returns to Toronto 12 years after his debut feature Conversations On A Sunday Afternoon screened at the festival to much acclaim. The Number (previously known as 28) is a prison drama based on the true story of the gang culture inside South Africa’s penitentiary system. Mothusi Magano, whose credits include Tsotsi and Hotel Rwanda, stars as an inmate who joins the notorious 28s gang but then has a dangerous change of heart. Contact Born Free Media carolyn@bornfreemedia.co.za
Porcupine Lake
Porcupine Lake (Can) Dir Ingrid Veninger Slovak-Canadian director Veninger explores the secret life of two girls in Northern Ontario who are on the brink of adulthood and enjoying a summer of childhood adventures. Telefilm Canada and the Harold Greenberg Fund provided funding on the pUNK FILMS production.
Miami
Miami (Fin)
Contact Philippe Tasca, Outplay Films philippe@outplayfilms.com
Dir Zaida Bergroth Miami stars Finnish household name Krista Kosonen as an exotic dancer who is in trouble with a big debt. Bergroth previously directed Last Cowboy Standing and The Good Son (TIFF 2011). Producer Helsinki Filmi’s previous credits include Tom Of Finland, Heart Of A Lion and Lapland Odyssey. Contact Derek Lui, LevelK
derek@levelk.dk
Public Schooled (Can) Dir Kyle Rideout Judy Greer, Grace Park and Russell Peters star in this comedy about a socially awkward home-schooled kid who enrols in public school to chase the girl of his dreams. Public Schooled was produced
Pyewacket centres on a frustrated girl who attempts an occult ritual in order to kill her mother, but awakens something sinister in the woods instead. Lee Malia, the guitarist in band Bring Me The Horizon, composed an original score for the film. Pyewacket marks a return to TIFF for MacDonald following his 2014 feature debut Backcountry. Contact Seville International sevilleinternational@filmsseville.com
Ravenous (Fr-Can) Aubert’s horror film centres on a remote village in Quebec where locals’ bodies are breaking down and they have developed a hunger for flesh. The filmmaker returns to TIFF following his 2005 selection Saint Martyrs Of The Damned and 2010’s Crying Out. Telefilm Canada, Sodec and the Harold Greenberg Fund financed Ravenous, which is international sales agent Alma Cinema’s first genre film.
Tulipani, Love, Honour And A Bicycle (Neth-It-Can) Dir Mike van Diem Van Diem’s comedy, which is on this year’s shortlist to be the Dutch submission for the 2018 Academy Awards, sees a tulip farmer uproot to Puglia, Italy, in 1953. A co-production between the Netherlands’ FATT Productions, Canada’s Don Carmody Television and Italy’s Stemo Production and Drako Production, the film stars Giancarlo Giannini and Ksenia Solo. Contact Atlas International Film mail@atlasfilm.com
The Royal Hibiscus Hotel (Nig) Dir Ishaya Bako Nigeria’s Bako, who studied at London Film School, had a local hit with Road To Yesterday in 2015. His new feature is about a disillusioned London chef who returns to Nigeria to save her family’s rundown hotel, only to learn the man she loves wants to buy it. Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife Films produces; the company previously produced Biyi Bandele’s The Wedding Party, which was part of TIFF’s Lagos City to City programme last year. Contact EbonyLife Films enquiries@ebonylifetv.com
Sergio & Sergei (Sp-Cuba)
Dir Vicente Amorim
Dir Ernesto Daranas Serrano
Brazilian director Amorim last attended Toronto with Viggo Mortensen wartime drama Good in 2008. His new film is styled as an
Cuban director Daranas Serrano, who was last in Toronto in 2014 with his drama Conducta, returns with Sergio & Sergei. The comedy takes place in Cuba, New York and on board the Mir space station against the backdrop of the
74 Screen International August-September 2017
Tulipani, Love, Honour And A Bicycle
Contact Alma Cinema sales@almacinema.com
Motorrad (Br)
(Right) The Number
Contact WestEnd Films info@westendfilms.com
Pyewacket (Can) Dir Adam MacDonald
Dir Robin Aubert
Contact Mongrel International international@mongrelmedia.com
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, as an amateur radio operator makes unexpected contact with stranded cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. Mediaproduccion SLU, RTV Comercial and ICAIC produced.
Veronica
Veronica (Sp) Dir Paco Plaza Plaza, the director of Spain’s hit [Rec] zombie franchise and writer of US remake Quarantine, stays in the horror realm for this dramatic retelling of a reallife unsolved police case involving a teenager besieged by an evil spirit in 1990s Madrid. Enrique Lopez Lavigne of Apaches Entertainment, whose credits include The Impossible and A Monster Calls, produces. Sony releases in Spain on August 25. Contact Film Factory Entertainment info@filmfactory.es
PROFILES BY Nikki Baughan, Charles Gant, Tim Grierson, Wendy Ide, Jeremy Kay, Wendy Mitchell, Louise Tutt, Silvia Wong and Elbert Wyche
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REVIEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH’S NEW FILMS IN REVIEW. FOR FULL REVIEWS COVERAGE, SEE SCREENDAILY.COM
REVIEWS IN BRIEF Logan Lucky Dir Steven Soderbergh. US. 2017. 119mins
The titular Logans of Steven Soderbergh’s first bigscreen feature in four years are hapless West Virginia brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde (Adam Driver) who team up with incarcerated bomb expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) to hit a popular local Nascar race and steal the speedway’s massive cash haul. Despite the humour derived from these blue-collar characters, the film’s heroes are far from backwoods caricatures, instead displaying plenty of smarts and soulfulness. Soderbergh demonstrates a tight, confident control over the material. Tim Grierson CONTACT FILMNATION
The Dark Tower Dir Nikolaj Arcel. US. 2017. 94mins
Based on the Stephen King novels, this ungainly mixture of western, fantasy, sci-fi, action, horror and fish-out-of-water comedy never finds its rhythm, delivering perfunctory blockbuster spectacle with dull competency. Idris Elba makes for a dashing gunslinger assigned to protect the titular Dark Tower and safeguard the universe but, whether it is Matthew McConaughey’s hammy turn as an all-powerful villain or the generic effects work, this is a movie filled with faint ambitions. Directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair), The Dark Tower is a lean 94 minutes, but at the expense of character development or emotional engagement; indeed, it plays out like an extended pilot for a forthcoming dramatic series. Tim Grierson CONTACT SONY PICTURES
Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets Dir Luc Besson. Fr. 2017. 137mins
Reportedly the most expensive European production ever mounted, this visual extravaganza throws every euro of its budget up on the screen but there is little buoyancy to its spirit and not enough thrill in its action. Set in the 28th century, the movie follows the exploits of Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne), intergalactic federal officers charged with tracking down Commander Filitt (Clive Owen) after he is kidnapped by an alien race. The two leads stir up some sexual tension, but Luc Besson’s juvenile dialogue becomes tiresome. Similarly, Besson and his team of technical wizards have constructed myriad environments that are meant to be jaw-dropping but, soon enough, the abundance starts to feel unwieldy. Tim Grierson CONTACT EUROPACORP
76 Screen International August-September 2017
Detroit Kathryn Bigelow returns with an intense and traumatising take on the Detroit riots of 1967, starring UK actors John Boyega and Will Poulter Dir Kathryn Bigelow. US. 2017. 142mins
A cauldron of anger, fear and chaos, Detroit is guided by the unbridled emotions of its imperilled characters, resulting in a drama that is at times inelegant in its rage but produces a grim wallop. Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker, has crafted a film set in an entirely different war zone, that of the Detroit riots of 1967, laying bare the racism and police brutality that exacerbated a desperate situation. Having grossed $14.5m domestically in the two weeks since its July 28 US release, and set to open in the UK on August 25, Detroit may struggle to reach the same commercial heights as Bigelow’s 2012 hit Zero Dark Thirty ($133m worldwide). With Star Wars star John Boyega part of the ensemble cast, however, this Annapurna production ought to enjoy decent visibility. Centred around a deadly assault that occurred at the Algiers Motel on July 25, 1967, the film initially has the feel of a sweeping, episodic narrative in which we meet different characters who are each tangentially connected to that summer’s riots in the city’s poorer African-American communities. Melvin (Boyega) is a security guard hired to protect a convenience store during the looting, while elsewhere Larry (Algee Smith) is a member of an R&B group whose big-break concert is cancelled because of the riots. These and other individuals, including a racist cop (Will Poulter), will find their paths intersecting at the Algiers once the police come to believe there is a lethal sniper inside the motel.
Working again with screenwriter Mark Boal (who wrote her two previous features), Bigelow immerses viewers in the action almost immediately, as Barry Ackroyd’s jittery camerawork captures the bedlam and danger of a full-scale riot from an intimate, street-level perspective. The Algiers, however, is the film’s harrowing centrepiece. For those unfamiliar with the actual events, it is best not to reveal too much in order for the shock to have extra impact. Suffice to say Poulter’s hair-trigger cop will lead his men in a brutal investigation of the black patrons that ends up being as psychologically traumatising as any horror movie. Mixing archival footage with her own recreations, Bigelow sometimes forces gravitas onto the proceedings that her film does not need. Likewise, an extended finale — in which the Algiers incident is investigated and brought to trial — leaves Detroit with a somewhat conventional court-case denouement that lacks the crackle of what came before. At nearly two-and-a-half hours, the film strives to be a definitive portrait of a tragedy; the passion of Bigelow’s undertaking informs every vivid scene and occasionally leads to an unfocused, sprawling epic. Yet, those quibbles can feel minor in the face of a roaring film that has no patience for such niceties. Tim Grierson CONTACT ANNAPURNA PICTURES
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FESTIVAL FAVOURITES
THE BIG QUESTION
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Key titles from Sarajevo, Melbourne and Locarno, including Lucky and Golden Leopard winner Mrs Fang See page 78
As autumn’s festival season cranks up a gear, Screen’s critics name their most anticipated titles See page 80
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REVIEWS IN BRIEF American Made Dir Doug Liman. US. 2017. 114mins
The last time Doug Liman directed Tom Cruise, repetition was built into the concept. For their first collaboration post-Edge Of Tomorrow (and planned sequel), the duo does not try to rehash their past glory but do cater to Cruise’s star power. His role of Barry Seal, the real-life airline pilot turned CIA recruit turned Medellin cartel drug smuggler, makes ample use of his usual charisma, urgency and gift of the gab, though the 1970s/80s-set film does not completely hit the mark. Knowing just how light and comedic to play this larger-than-life crime scenario is not director Liman nor screenwriter Gary Spinelli’s strength. Still, the film’s loose period vibe proves mostly engaging, as well as driving its sunny-hued visual style. Sarah Ward CONTACT UNIVERSAL
The Hitman’s Bodyguard Dir Patrick Hughes. US. 2017. 111mins
Tulip Fever Looking to bloom ahead of awards season, Alicia Vikander and Dane DeHaan headline an elegant, if limp, period piece from The Weinstein Company Dir Justin Chadwick. US. 2017. 105mins
A ripe, bittersweet romantic tragedy lies at the heart of Tulip Fever, but director Justin Chadwick’s aggressive tastefulness smothers the life from this potentially lusty melodrama. Based on Deborah Moggach’s novel about an illicit 17th-century love affair between a powerless wife (Alicia Vikander) and a penniless artist (Dane DeHaan), this handsomely mounted and dully executed film boasts no shortage of Oscar favourites in the cast, including Vikander, Christoph Waltz and Judi Dench. Long delayed by The Weinstein Company, the film now hopes to get a jump on awards season before the real heavy-hitters arrive. The starry ensemble will help attract adult audiences, but reviews could significantly diminish enthusiasm. Set in Amsterdam in the 1630s, Tulip Fever stars Vikander as Sophia, an orphan who is forced into marriage with much older merchant Cornelis Sandvoort (Waltz). Their relationship is cordial, and she dutifully allows him to have sex with her each night in the hope of siring an heir. But her monotonous life receives a spark when she meets Jan Van Loos (DeHaan), a brooding portrait painter hired by Cornelis. Soon, Sophia and Jan are drawn to one another, their affair kept secret from her husband. With Tulip Fever, the director of The Other Boleyn Girl and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom combines unsuccessfully the libidinousness of the former with
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the solemnity of the latter. Chadwick has made a movie that adheres slavishly to the strictures of typical Weinstein prestige dramas: it is a period piece with impeccable production values and a generally genteel temperament. But despite a few moments of intense lovemaking between Sophia and Jan, and a mid-film twist that threatens to bring a more impish spirit to the proceedings, Tulip Fever is drab rather that scintillating. Particularly as Vikander’s scenes with DeHaan possess only a superficial carnal heat, this supposedly titanic romance boasts little by way of stakes or chemistry. Tulip Fever has as its backdrop the so-called Dutch Golden Age — specifically, the phenomenon of the tulip-bulb market bubble that, as the film depicts, had all the electricity and drama of today’s stock market trading floor. Hardwick and writers Moggach and Tom Stoppard try to illustrate why destitute people like Sophia and Jan would, in desperation, turn to the bulb market to earn enough for a new life. But Tulip Fever fails to enliven this intriguing world, a limitation that proves disastrous since so much of the film’s second half depends on the ins and outs of bulb investing — including a crucial role for Dench’s abbess character, a tulip expert.
Aimed at the late summer box office, this bigbudget action comedy starring Samuel L Jackson and Ryan Reynolds as, respectively, a testifying hitman and the bodyguard responsible for delivering him safely to trial, should have hit the bullseye. But by betting everything on the chemistry between its leads, a tired formula and by-the-numbers action, it misses the mark. The screenplay is built around the odd-couple pairing of Reynolds’ sarcastic charm and Jackson’s street smarts — a scenario that soon runs out of steam. And female characters are given short-shrift; while the wife (Salma Hayek) of Jackson’s character is shown to be a tough-fighting woman, the way in which she is ogled by the camera leaves us in no doubt as to her trophy role. Nikki Baughan CONTACT LIONSGATE
Dunkirk Dir/scr Christopher Nolan. US-UK. 2017. 108mins
Christopher Nolan flings the viewer into the air, the sea and that beach for Dunkirk, his tense navigation of the war film. From script level, which pilots three timeframes and strafes his own fiction onto the reality of the Allied evacuation of June 1940, to its technical prowess, this is heart-stopping entertainment. Nolan masterfully choreographs his precision piece, shot in a mixture of 65mm and Imax. Hoyte van Hoytema’s lucid camera swivels from tight interiors to the empty sky and sea vistas, sharp editing by Lee Smith lends a razor’s edge to the script, and Hans Zimmer’s score picks up on the noise and terror to amplify and enhance.
Tim Grierson CONTACT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
Fionnuala Halligan CONTACT WARNER BROS
August-September 2017 Screen International 77
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REVIEWS
SARAJEVO REVIEWS IN BRIEF The Work Dirs Jairus McLeary, Gethin Aldous. US. 2017. 87mins
Strong characters, deft editing and a remarkable degree of trust between subjects and filmmakers make for an intimate and powerful documentary about a four-day group therapy session inside maximum security Folsom State Prison attended by prisoners and members of the public. The fact the filmmakers were able to bring cameras into this highly charged environment without upsetting the precarious dynamic is a huge achievement, as is the empathetic editing. Amy Foote juggles the numerous central voices, teasing out personal journeys and narrative throughlines while making sure even peripheral presences register as characters. The result is the kind of crowdpleasing title that could make the jump from festival exposure to broader release, and will be a likely fixture on documentary-of-the-year lists. Wendy Ide CONTACT DOGWOOF
Godspeed Dir/scr Chung Mong-Hong. Tai. 2016. 111mins
Chung Mong-Hong’s offbeat Taiwanese road movie wafts along, as aimless and intoxicating as the smoke from the cigarette that plays a role in a pivotal scene. Sudden flares of extreme violence and an undercurrent of surreal humour add to an idiosyncratic tonal mix. The main focus is taciturn drugs mule Nadow (television presenter Na Dow) and Old Xu (Michael Hui), the taxi driver who blusters his way into the job of driving Nadow as he delivers his stash. A strand of low-key humour does not completely obscure the sense of mounting tension, but it is only when Nadow makes his delivery that all hell breaks loose. Languid pacing heightens the shock value of the grisly violence, while Nadow and Xu, locked in the boot of a car, defuse the tension with some gentle comic moments that soften the story’s harder edges. Wendy Ide CONTACT MANDARIN VISION
Scary Mother Dir/scr Ana Urushadze. Geor-Est. 2017. 103mins
The tension between realising her writing ambitions and the expectations placed on her as a mother in a patriarchal society threaten to tear apart 50-year-old Manana (Nata Murvanidze) in this bold first feature from Ana Urushadze, daughter of Georgian director Zaza Urushadze. In her book, and in the dreams that bleed into her writing, Manana imagines herself as a character from Philippine mythology. Manananggal is a woman by day, but by night tears herself in half and becomes a bat-winged creature that feasts on the blood of pregnant women. The image is potent, evoking Manana’s wrench between her family and her writing, and Urushadze echoes it in the photography, frequently bisecting the frame into two halves. Wendy Ide CONTACT ALIEF LLC
78 Screen International August-September 2017
Mrs Fang Wang Bing’s Golden Leopard-winning documentary presents an intimate study of the final days of an elderly Chinese woman as she battles Alzheimer’s disease Locarno Film Festival
Dir/scr Wang Bing. China-Fr-Ger. 2017. 86mins
The agonising last days of a woman in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease are captured in a stark, unflinching manner by Wang Bing’s gruelling documentary. The Locarno Golden Leopard honour will guarantee further festival attention for Mrs Fang, but it could prove too challenging and oppressive for all but the most dedicated cineastes. We initially see brief glimpses of farmer Fang Xiuying in October 2015, in Maihui village near Huzhou. Mobile but emotionally fragile, she has a slightly bemused manner. The focus then shifts to June 2016: she is now bedridden, unable to speak, unable to swallow and unresponsive to a devoted, extended family who maintain a bedside vigil. Liquid is administered by a syringe, hands are grasped in sympathy. As she stares into space, locked in a private world, family members wonder if Xiuying is aware of anything that is going on around her. Mrs Fang is unreservedly voyeuristic, the camera maintaining its own vigil over Xiuying, who is seen in lengthy, merciless close-ups staring straight ahead. Her mouth is held in a rigid grimace. It feels unbearably intrusive, and yet the film has clearly been made with the blessing of the family in full awareness of the process. At one point, a family member even politely enquires if the cameraman has enough light. Over a number of days, the family search for the slightest change in Xiuying’s condition. Is her breathing
more laboured? Are her eyes more glazed? Are her joints more brittle? She is judged to be “sinking slowly, like a boat in the river”. Strained conversations revolve around the banalities of death, arrangements for her funeral and the necessity for other relatives to be contacted when it appears that the end is approaching. Everyone has an opinion and everyone seems to consider themself a doctor, judging whether she is too hot or too cold, fading fast or likely to linger. Whether they are being practical or argumentative, we come to realise each family member has their own way of showing love and affection. The only respite in this rigorously unsentimental film comes as three of the men take to the river to fish at night. There are glimpses of a local community, battered by heavy rains and marked by poverty, where a drab grey seems to be the predominant colour. We learn very little about Xiuying however, and see nothing of her life before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. We are eventually told that she battled the illness through the last eight years of her life, and hear memories of the time she considered divorcing her husband. These few precious details make it all the more poignant when we realise she was only 68 years old when she died. Allan Hunter CONTACT ASIAN SHADOWS
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MELBOURNE REVIEWS IN BRIEF Jungle Dir Greg McLean. Aus. 2017. 115mins
Stranding Daniel Radcliffe in Bolivia’s unforgiving splendour, Jungle by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) adapts Israeli adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg’s memoir into a survivalist thriller, though the director remains most comfortable and capable with visceral jolts rather than adding flesh and blood to his familiar scenario. Helming a script by Justin Monjo, McLean is in his element when the going truly gets tough. Indeed, Jungle becomes a film of two distinct parts: the first conveys the stockstandard, into-the-wild build-up with neat, staid competence; the second is lively and gleeful as Ghinsberg struggles, suffers and hallucinates. Compellingly tussling with his surroundings, Radcliffe helps give weight to a protagonist broadly written like an archetype, even given the material’s true-tale origins, while cinematographer Stefan Duscio (The Mule, Backtrack) finds both beauty and darkness in the film’s picturesque yet ominous tropical setting. Sarah Ward CONTACT ARCLIGHT FILMS
Rabbit Dir Luke Shanahan. Aus. 2017. 103mins
Lucky Actor John Carroll Lynch, in his directorial debut, elicits a shining performance from nonagenarian Harry Dean Stanton in a film that both frustrates and illuminates Locarno Film Festival
Dir John Carroll Lynch. US. 2016. 88mins
Playing a solitary 90-year-old both blessed and cursed to be in superb health, celebrated character actor Harry Dean Stanton takes to Lucky with aplomb. A meditation on mortality and a love letter to its 91-year-old star, Lucky has a pleasingly laidback atmosphere and sublime moments but, on the whole, this quirky, craggy piece frustrates as much as it illuminates. Never fully able to shave off a mannerist tendency that undercuts the material’s muted, plainspoken potency, Lucky will follow up its festival launches with a US release on September 29, where it should attract arthouse crowds thanks to Stanton’s performance. This feature directorial debut of fellow character actor John Carroll Lynch stars the veteran as Lucky, who lives in an unnamed small town in the middle of the desert in the American southwest. Spending his days going to his favourite diner and local watering hole, Lucky suffers a fainting spell, but his doctor (Ed Begley Jr) cannot find anything seriously wrong with him, even though he smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja’s screenplay depicts Lucky’s life through casual incidents and gentle repetitions, suggesting an aged man in a state of perpetual limbo — the film’s pleasure derives from the small hints into this taciturn character’s inner life. Due to the script’s episodic nature, it is perhaps unavoidable some incidents resonate more deeply than others. Ron Livingston plays a kindly life insurance
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salesman working with Lucky’s buddy Howard (David Lynch), and, after a testy initial exchange, they have a touching interaction in which the salesman explains the frightening circumstances that inspired him to pursue his line of work. Elsewhere, Lucky meets a retired marine (Tom Skerritt), the two men swapping stories of service in the Second World War that are so intimate and vulnerable it is as if these strangers have found the only person in the world who understands them. In these quiet scenes, Lucky examines the small anecdotes and meaningful personal connections that bring people together. Lynch displays an ability to let tiny moments breathe, placing faith in his veteran actors to bring the nuances of everyday experience to life. Unfortunately, Lucky’s best moments do not entirely cancel out its more awkward and forced ones. In a film that prizes an effortless depiction of the nagging fears and resignation that come with ageing, it often strains for the clever twist or humorous moment in scenes that are too skeletal to support the added weight. Still, the film goes a long way on the strength of the unadorned presence of Stanton, who brings his shaggy, off-kilter persona to the character. Declaring himself alone but not lonely, Lucky comes across as a no-nonsense realist convinced this is the only existence we have.
Starting with a blood-red screen, a loud blast of pulsating eeriness and the pre-title account of a woman (The Great Gatsby’s Adelaide Clemens) fleeing through the woods, Rabbit makes an instant impression. Clemens plays Maude, a woman who is haunted by dreams about her missing twin’s whereabouts and follows her visions to a remote compound. Employing a washed-out colour palette and savvy editing that suggests more than it shows, the film convincingly shares her unease. While Rabbit may be more effective at the outset than when it delves deeper into its mystery, and at relaying a specific mood than narrative details, this atmospheric puzzler commands attention. Sarah Ward CONTACT LEVELK
The Butterfly Tree Dir Priscilla Cameron. Aus. 2017. 97mins
Fluttering away inside The Butterfly Tree is a tale of grief and second chances, albeit one struggling to transform a cocoon of clichés into an emotionally resonant effort. Although debut Australian filmmaker Priscilla Cameron takes inspiration from the real-life illness of a friend for her story of an unconventional love triangle between grieving 13-year-old Fin (Ed Oxenbould), his father Al (Ewen Leslie) and burlesque performer turned florist Evelyn (Melissa George), the film is hampered by contrived plot developments, clunky dialogue and overt expressions of sentiment. Still, the main trio exceed the limitations of the material, offering up commanding turns that bring depth to thinly written characters.
Tim Grierson CONTACT MAGNOLIA PICTURES
Sarah Ward CONTACT VENDETTA FILMS
August-September 2017 Screen International 79
THE BIG QUESTION
“Which films are Screen’s critics most looking forward to during the fall festival season?” “Judging from their previous films and the subject matter at play, I’m most looking forward to Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot and Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White. Meanwhile, on court 2, both tennis films look like a lot of fun, although I’m thinking advantage Borg/McEnroe over Battle Of The Sexes.”
“I don’t subscribe to the pervasive view that Ai Weiwei’s activism diminishes his art, so I’m intrigued to see how the two entwine in Human Flow, his documentary about the refugee crisis. It premieres in Venice — a city with a history founded on migration.” Lee Marshall Mary Shelley
“Mary Shelley. Unlike Frankenstein itself, the story behind the great gothic tale makes it to the big screen infrequently. Mary Shelley endeavours to change that via Wadjda’s Haifaa Al-Mansour, who jumps from finding an affecting and subversive story of hope in a restrictive regime to unearthing existential horror in a tumultuous relationship.” Sarah Ward
Fionnuala Halligan reviews editor and chief film critic
Angels Wear White
“Alexander Payne’s Downsizing. Judging by what has leaked out, this seems like the perfect metaphor of the world we live in — everybody delighted to bend down and let the world go to hell, as long as their private comfort is safe. Since Payne is one of the few filmmakers nowadays capable of combining humour, irony, social comment and poignancy without making a mess of it all, I’m looking forward to seeing whether it will work for him once again.” Dan Fainaru
Kings
“Kings. With her debut Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven demonstrated a knack for using the prism of family to look at broader issues. Her timely sophomore picture — and English-language debut — explores racial tension in America in the run-up to the verdict of the Rodney King trial.” Wendy Ide “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the new film from Martin McDonagh. Frances McDormand on the war path over the unsolved murder of her daughter, and a trailer that slaps you in the face and leaves you begging for more. Seems irresistible to me.” Allan Hunter
80 Screen International August-September 2017
“I love it when established directors push themselves in new directions. So I’m curious about Downsizing, Alexander Payne’s ambitious, big-budget sci-fi satire about an unhappy couple (played by Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig) who shrink themselves to make a fresh start. It sounds bizarre — and nothing like the Oscar winner has attempted before.” Tim Grierson “Lucrecia Martel’s Zama. The enigmatic Argentinian director of The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman steps away from female-based drama and into entirely new territory with this long-awaited — and, judging by the trailer, action-laced — period piece, set in colonial 18th-century Paraguay and based on a celebrated novel. Daniel Gimenez Cacho plays the officer hero.” Jonathan Romney
“Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel. The auteur theory has its limits but when I hear that Woody has crafted a new film, that’s all I need to know. Don’t tell me what it’s about! Any addition to his filmography, studded with masterworks and trifles alike, is cause for curiosity and possibly celebration.” Lisa Nesselson
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