SCREEN INTERNATIONAL february 2014
Issue 1773 February 2014 www.ScreenDaily.com
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WINNER
BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA
“‘GRAVITY’ holds audiences with the power of
a
force
of
nature.
Reaching
skyward
with pioneering ambition, Alfonso Cuarón paints with a canvas so vast and visuals so
breathtaking,
rockets
into
achievements.
that
the
the
heavens A
film
of
instantly
unforgettable
theatrical
spectacle
humbling beyond words, it is at its core a human drama that floats between wonder and terror, with a beating heart provided by two of America’s brightest stars – Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Bullock’s lead role is so deeply felt and epic in emotion that we stand with her at film’s end, grateful to
have
experienced
one
helluva
ride.”
–AFI Top Ten Film Rationale
10
A C A D E M Y AWA R D N O M I N AT I O N S ®
IN CLU D IN G
B E S T
A C T R E S S ·
B E S T
WINNER GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD BEST DIRECTOR ®
P I C T U R E
· B E S T
D I R E C T O R
WINNER 7 CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS INCLUDING
BEST DIRECTOR
•
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
W W W . WA R N E R B R O S 2 0 1 3 . C O M
WINNER
BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA
“‘GRAVITY’ holds audiences with the power of
a
force
of
nature.
Reaching
skyward
with pioneering ambition, Alfonso Cuarón paints with a canvas so vast and visuals so
breathtaking,
rockets
into
achievements.
that
the
the
heavens A
film
of
instantly
unforgettable
theatrical
spectacle
humbling beyond words, it is at its core a human drama that floats between wonder and terror, with a beating heart provided by two of America’s brightest stars – Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Bullock’s lead role is so deeply felt and epic in emotion that we stand with her at film’s end, grateful to
have
experienced
one
helluva
ride.”
–AFI Top Ten Film Rationale
10
A C A D E M Y AWA R D N O M I N AT I O N S ®
IN CLU D IN G
B E S T
A C T R E S S ·
B E S T
WINNER GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD BEST DIRECTOR ®
P I C T U R E
· B E S T
D I R E C T O R
WINNER 7 CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS INCLUDING
BEST DIRECTOR
•
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
W W W . WA R N E R B R O S 2 0 1 3 . C O M
F O R Y O U R B A F TA C O N S I D E R AT I O N ®
“Film of the year.”
HHHHH
“A breathtaking survival story.”
HHHHH
THE SUNDAY TIMES / Camilla Long
EMPIRE / Ian Nathan
“Sandra Bullock is seriously good here, giving Stone an inner steeliness that only the deepest pangs of despair can unsheathe.”
“This is a glorious imaginary creation that engulfs you utterly.”
HHHHH
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH / Robbie Collin
THE GUARDIAN / Peter Bradshaw
“A cinematic masterpiece.” ESQUIRE / Tom Macklin
W W W . WA R N E R B R O S 2 0 1 3 . C O M
F O R Y O U R B A F TA C O N S I D E R AT I O N ®
“Film of the year.”
HHHHH
“A breathtaking survival story.”
HHHHH
THE SUNDAY TIMES / Camilla Long
EMPIRE / Ian Nathan
“Sandra Bullock is seriously good here, giving Stone an inner steeliness that only the deepest pangs of despair can unsheathe.”
“This is a glorious imaginary creation that engulfs you utterly.”
HHHHH
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH / Robbie Collin
THE GUARDIAN / Peter Bradshaw
“A cinematic masterpiece.” ESQUIRE / Tom Macklin
W W W . WA R N E R B R O S 2 0 1 3 . C O M
W I N N E RMarch 12—13,
11
BEST PICTURE
B E SBFI, T DLondon IRECTOR
PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA
BAFTA AWARD NOMINATIONS ®
INCLU DING
B E S T
F I L M
“‘GRAVITY’ holds audiences with the power
A L F O N S O C U A R Ó N | D AV I D H E Y M A N
B E S T
Top names from the world of 3D Film and TV will be speaking at this year’s 3D Creative Summit.
D I R E C T O R
of
ALFONSO CUARÓN
B E S T
a
force
of
nature.
Reaching
skyward
with pioneering ambition, Alfonso Cuarón
A C T R E S S
paints with a canvas so vast and visuals
SANDRA BULLOCK
so
breathtaking,
rockets
into
achievements.
that
the
the
heavens
A
film
of
instantly
unforgettable
theatrical
spectacle
humbling beyond words, it is at its core a human drama that floats between wonder
and terror, with a beating heart provided by two of America’s brightest stars – Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Bullock’s lead role is so deeply felt and epic in emotion The initial line up of speakers for the that we stand with her at film’s end, grateful two-day event includes: to
have
experienced
one
helluva
ird b y l r Ea ts on ticke now! sale
ride.”
• Amélie Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Hugo –AFI Top Ten Film Rationale Stereographer Demetri Portelli who will present a Q&A on The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet. • Stereo Supervisor Chris Parks will present a showcase of the Academy Award and BAFTAnominated film Gravity. BEST REVIEWED FILM OF THE YEAR
MOST NOMINATED FILM OF THE YEAR ON OVER 400 CRITICS’ LISTS
10
• Josh Hollander shares a showcase of Pixar’s
A C A Dlatest E M 3D Y work AWA R D N O M I N AT I O N S ®
IN C LUDIN G
B E S T
A C T R E S S ·
B E S T
WINNER GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD get your early BESTTo DIRECTOR ®
P I C T U R E
· B E S T
D I R E C T O R
WINNER 7 CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS
bird ticket, please visit www.3dcreativesummit.com INCLUDING
BEST DIRECTOR
•
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
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Issue 1773 February 2014
Chasing
Berlin’s beauties ■ Spain focus ■ Illumination Entertainment ■ The awards whisperers
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UK office MBI, 101 Finsbury Pavement, London, EC2A 1RS Tel: +44 (0) 20 3033 4267 US office Screen International, 8581 Santa Monica Blvd, #707, West Hollywood, CA 90069 E-mail: firstname.lastname@screendaily.com (unless stated) Editorial Editor Wendy Mitchell +44 (0) 20 3033 2816 US editor Jeremy Kay +1 310 922 5908 Jeremykay67@gmail.com News editor Michael Rosser +44 (0) 20 3033 2720 Chief critic and reviews editor Mark Adams +44 (0) 20 3033 4213 Group head of production and art Mark Mowbray +44 (0) 20 3638 5060 Group art director, MBI Peter Gingell +44 (0) 20 3033 4203 peter.gingell@mb-insight.com Chief reporter Andreas Wiseman +44 (0) 20 3033 2848 Asia editor Liz Shackleton, lizshackleton@gmail.com Contributing editors Sarah Cooper, Leon Forde, John Hazelton, Louise Tutt Contributing reporter Ian Sandwell +44 (0) 20 3033 4212 Advertising and publishing Commercial director Andrew Dixon +44 (0) 20 3033 2928 Sales manager Scott Benfold +44 (0) 20 3638 5050 Sales manager Nadia Romdhani (maternity leave) UK, South Africa, Middle East Andrew Dixon +44 (0) 20 3033 2928 France, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Scott Benfold +44 (0) 20 3638 5050 Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Eastern Europe Gunter Zerbich +44 (0) 20 3033 2930 Italy, Asia, India Ingrid Hammond +39 05 7829 8768 ingridhammond@libero.it VP business development, North America Nigel Daly +1 323 654 2301 / +1 213 447 5120 nigeldalymail@gmail.com Production manager Jonathon Cooke +44 (0) 20 3033 4296 jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford +44 (0) 20 3033 2949 alison.pitchford@mb-insight.com Subscription customer service +44 (0) 1604 828 706 help@subscribe.screendaily.com Festival and events manager Mai Le +44 (0) 20 3033 2950 mai.le@mb-insight.com Sales administrator Justyna Zieba +44 (0) 20 3033 2694 justyna.zieba@mb-insight.com Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam +44 (0) 20 3033 2717 conor.dignam@mb-insight.com Screen International is part of Media Business Insight Ltd (MBI), also publisher of Broadcast and shots
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JEREMY KAY US EDITOR
Whiplash
y all accounts this year’s Sundance sparked relatively modest activity from buyers, although acquisitions teams still found plenty to enjoy. Several movies stuck out from the crowd, led by Whiplash, arguably the buzziest selection of the lot that ended up taking home the grand jury and audience dramatic awards. Festival-goers and critics alike responded to Damien Chazelle’s tale of a talented jazz drummer at a music academy, pushed to the limit by a brutal instructor. It’s been dubbed ‘Full Metal Juilliard’ (although the revered New York conservatory is not the setting) and plenty of Park City regulars will attest to the intensity of the experience that Miles Teller’s protagonist goes through at the hands of JK Simmons. It offers a trip down memory lane for Chazelle too, although the writer-director points out his experience in a high school jazz ensemble was never like what we see on screen. Chazelle is a Sundance blue-blood: his feature directorial debut stems from his Sundance 2013 jury prize-winning short of the same name. This man has never left Park City without an award. What is so refreshing about Chazelle is his genuine modesty. When I spoke to the 29-year-old Harvard graduate before the festival, he seemed embarrassed by Screen’s interest in him, as if the movie were not really his and this was all some big mix-up. It’s rare that you see such humility and lack of affectedness in a gifted artist, much less from a man whose champions include Jason Blum and Jason Reitman (Blumhouse Productions
and Right Of Way Films are among Whiplash’s production companies). It has also been a pleasure to watch a reinvigorated Bold Films return to the limelight. This is a company with taste and guts — they backed Drive and Only God Forgives — and came on to finance Whiplash before it was cast. Chazelle is an artist to be cherished. Those who skipped Sundance can judge for themselves when Sony Pictures Classics releases the movie later this year in North America. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions will funnel the film through the studio’s international pipeline for the territories it acquired, which include the UK, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia and Latin America. Sales company Sierra/Affinity holds the balance of markets and will not be short of suitors at the EFM in Berlin. Whiplash is one of several Sundance movies set to cross the Atlantic to Germany next week. Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment arrives with Mad Men star John Slattery’s directorial debut God’s Pocket, while The Exchange has the much-fancied Obvious Child. On top of that there is eOne’s Australian hit The Babadook, Kinology’s Iranian vampire Western A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and XYZ Films’ Life After Beth. Most of the above have found US homes, which should provide added incentive for international distributors. Acclaimed independent cinema from Sundance, one of the great taste-makers, is a good fit for the EFM. The market is less aggressive than Cannes and the AFM. The lack of juggernauts means smaller movies with compelling stories are less likely to be lost in the crowd. Talents such as Chazelle, Gillian Robespierre (Obvious Child) and Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) deserve wide exposure. Sundance unearthed them. Now Berlin can continue the process of turning them into bankable film-makers with s global appeal. ■
Larson shows the indie spirit In a super-tight awards season, the best actress category is the easiest to call. Cate Blanchett — so good she must be an alien — will win the Oscar for her role in Blue Jasmine, although Amy Adams in American Hustle ought to push her all the way. But one actress who has flown beneath the radar is Brie Larson. The star of SXSW 2013 hit Short Term 12 is outstanding as a supervisor at a facility for troubled children. I was chuffed to see Larson earn a smattering of breakthrough actress wins in the US and as happily shocked as everyone else when she beat Blanchett at the Gothams. She’s up against Blanchett again at the Indie Spirit Awards on March 1. The show has lost its way over the years and panders too much to the A-list crowd. So come on, Spirit voters, be independent. Help a deserving young talent on her way up.
Brie Larson in Short Term 12
February 2014 Screen International 1 ■
February 2014 cover image Beauty And The Beast, starring Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel, Berlin festival focus, from page 15
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International correspondents Asia Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com Australia
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Sandy George +61 2 9557 7425 sandy.george@me.com Balkan region Vladan Petkovic +381 64 1948 948 vladan.petkovic@gmail.com Brazil Elaine Guerini +55 11 97659915 elaineguerini@terra.com.br France Melanie Goodfellow +33 6 21 45 80 27 melanie.goodfellow@btinternet.com Germany Martin Blaney +49 30 318 063 91 screen.berlin@googlemail.com
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Greece
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Alexis Grivas +30 210 64 25 261 alexisgrivas@yahoo.com Israel Edna Fainaru +972 3 5286 591 dfainaru@netvision.net.il Korea/deputy Asia editor Jean Noh +82 10 4205 0318
February 2014
hjnoh2007@gmail.com Nordic territories
Analysis
People
Spain territory focus
4 THE WINTER MARKET
8 READY FOR TAKE-OFF
26 BUST. OR BOOM?
The current film sales market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product. Screen examines the prospects for deals and new packages at Berlin’s EFM
Roads Entertainment has an intriguing backstory and is building a promising slate. Producer Alan Maher talks about the new Dublin-based film and TV company
Will Spain’s economic crisis actually prove a good thing for its film industry in the long term?
UK
6 LOCAL FILMS RACE AHEAD
10 GIRLS ON FIRE
Geoffrey Macnab +44 (0) 20 7226 0516
Hollywood hasn’t yet maximised the potential of the Indian market, where 2013 saw some record-breaking Bollywood hits despite a slowdown in box-office growth
Sadie Frost and Emma Comley’s Blonde To Black Pictures ramps up its slate with Buttercup Bill and Set The Thames On Fire.
NN4 7BF
15 BEAR NECESSITIES
Tel +44 1604 828 706
Screen previews the world premieres of Berlin’s 2014 Competition
Illumination Entertainment’s Chris Meledandri on how Despicable Me came to spawn a franchise, including a hugely profitable sequel that is in the running for an Academy Award
Jorn Rossing Jensen +45 202 333 04 jornrossing@aol.com Scotland Allan Hunter +44 (0) 7904 698 848 allan@alhunter.myzen.co.uk Spain Juan Sarda +34 646 440 357 jsardafr@hotmail.com
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12 BEYOND DESPICABLE
30 EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED The hottest Spanish productions of 2014 range from a $50m sci-fi epic to a Penelope Cruz tragicomedy to a live-action film with talking dogs
33 LIVING THE LOW LIFE An underground cinema is emerging in Spain and injecting the territory with a shot of vitality. Screen reports on the low-budget film-makers earning international plaudits
All currencies in this issue converted according to exchange rates that applied in January 2013
n 2 Screen International February 2014
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CONTENTS
10
44
41
Awards countdown
Regulars
36 THEY WANT YOUR CONSIDERATION
40 REVIEWS
Behind the films in the running for awards every season are the teams ensuring they are seen and talked about by the right people. The awards whisperers reveal how they help great work to stand out from the pack
Leading titles from the Sundance Film Festival reviewed, including Calvary, The Raid 2, Love Is Strange and Boyhood
44 ASK THE EXPERTS Industry insiders answer the question: ‘How do you stay warm in Berlin?’
12
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February 2014 Screen International 3 n
European Film Market at the Berlin Marriott Hotel
n 4 Screen International February 2014
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EuropEan Film markEt in focus
The winter harvest
The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product. Jeremy Kay examines the prospects for deals and new packages at Berlin’s European Film Market (Feb 6-14)
A
common refrain in the days leading up to Berlin’s European Film Market (Feb 6-14) is that the congested nature of the winter season makes it very difficult to assemble new packages for Berlin. The AFM and holiday season bite a chunk out of the last quarter of the year, leaving sales companies scrambling for product. Berlin is typically a time for the Europeans to flourish, yet if the timing is right on select packages then US companies prosper too. Offerings across the board tend to be more modest in scope as everyone scours for Cannes juggernauts. Recent acquisitions of international or world sales rights to a Sundance title are timely, particularly if the film also plays in selection at Berlin. Such titles this year include Nick Cave doc 20,000 Days On Earth, 52 Tuesdays, Boyhood, Calvary and Love Is Strange. Unusually, there is widespread optimism among companies from North America as people look to the BRIC markets, the gradual roll-out of digital and the recent declaration of European expansion by Netflix as potential new watering holes. The first major market of the year arrives too at a time when the independent landscape continues to be flush with capital. The problem is, the money comes with strings attached. Courting financiers remains a tricky business and these days investors are more demanding than ever about allocation and recoupment. “It’s a good time to be in the business, but that said it’s challenging,” says Aldamisa International COO Jere Hausfater, who notes that the actor sweet spot remains small. Hausfater and his colleagues will focus on the thriller Captive. It stars Bruce Willis, who is still a draw because he is a proven commodity with global cachet. A-list options The veteran executive says that stars and A-list directors are willing and able to work in the independent space, however assembling the package is as difficult as it has ever been. And once a project is set up, it has to demonstrate broad appeal. Buyers will not take out their wallets for a mediocre slatefiller unless it is part of a package deal, in which case the sweetener has to be special. The AFM in November is a case in point: business was solid if unspectacular. Buyers were prepared as always to respond to the right material, but nobody went crazy for the sake of it. Exclusive Media president of sales and distribution Alex Walton agrees there is “optimism around the business”, yet he notes
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everyone must work hard to get results. “You need to focus on your strengths and be much more careful about the movies and make sure you aren’t overstretching,” says Walton. “That’s true of volume as well as movies you want to get into.” Exclusive had one of the buzz titles of EFM 2013: Black Mass. Later in the year, Johnny Depp pulled out when he was asked to take a pay cut. However in recent weeks Depp is understood to have rejoined talks to star in the Whitey Bulger crime drama, with director Scott Cooper replacing Barry Levinson. Walton is keeping his own counsel as to how the situation might play out and knows as well as anyone the alchemy required to transform a script into a movie. A single sloppy clause, unrealistic expectation or over-indulged ego can ruin what was shaping up to be a killer package. Exclusive Media itself has gone through a time of consolidation after a formerly topheavy structure had raised costs. Budgetary constraints were felt all the more acutely in the wake of Rush’s below-par worldwide performance despite its critical acclaim. Some senior executives did not renew contracts and have moved on. Cynthia Kim departed for Blumhouse International on the eve of Toronto, while Matt Jackson jumped ship last December to head US production at IM Global. “We are going to have a more levelheaded approach this year, certainly in terms of sales,” says Walton. “Volume isn’t something we have ever looked to have, however the marketplace is so cautious that you have to be very careful what you present… but the market is still hungry for commercial films. Berlin is a good market; it’s
Black Sea
never a huge market for new movies. There’s never too much volume there. I’m anticipating we’ll have two interesting new projects.”
‘It’s a good time to be in the business, but it’s challenging’ Jere Hausfater, Aldamisa International
‘Berlin is a good market; it’s never a huge market for new movies’ Alex Walton, Exclusive Media
cast is king The exodus of producers, directors and actors to TV means it has become more difficult to achieve momentum on film slates and quality material is tricky to come by. Walton and his peers, however, remain unperturbed and believe the buyers will always be there as long as quality continues to flow into the market at the right price. Two other buzz-worthy projects from a year ago were the Jeremy Renner thriller Kill The Messenger and Kevin Macdonald’s submarine thriller Black Sea starring Jude Law. Both were introduced by the now-defunct Focus Features International (FFI). The projects remain on track and might end up under the auspices of Sierra/Affinity, which is believed to be negotiating for the outstanding FFI slate and would certainly be a good fit. CEO Nick Meyer and co-president and COO Marc Schaberg are quietly building the foundations of an empire at Sierra/Affinity. Inheriting the FFI slate is a finite proposition, but for Sierra/Affinity the longer-term play with exciting potential is the production focus. With Panorama co-founder Marc Butan, an old Meyer colleague from their Lionsgate days, as co-president, the company will look to build a slate, own the intellectual property and seek greater control of its destiny. At press time, little was known of major new titles headed for Germany, but they will come. Lionsgate International can always be relied on to bring something to the table and IM Global is involved in sales on the Mattel s property Max Steel. n
Kill The Messenger
February 2014 Screen International 5 n
A
lthough the Mumbai-based, Hindilanguage film industry produced some record-breaking hits in 2013, overall box-office growth appeared to slow again last year, following a bumper year in 2012. Bollywood hits included Yash Raj Films’ action adventure Dhoom: 3, which became the biggest Hindi film of all time on its December release, grossing $64m in India and $27m overseas. Other heavy hitters included Disney UTV’s Chennai Express and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, which grossed $44m and $38m respectively; superhero sequel Krrish 3 ($38m); Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela ($24m); and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag ($22m), backed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. But the success of these films was not enough to sustain the previous year’s growth in the overall market, about half of which goes to Tamil, Telugu and other regional-language productions and just under 10% to foreign films. Although figures were still being compiled at the time of writing, theatrical box office was thought to have increased by 15%18% in 2013, compared to growth of 24% to $1.35bn (RUP85bn) the previous year. Hollywood also had some successes in India in 2013: Marvel’s Iron Man 3, distributed by Disney UTV, grossed $12.3m, while Universal’s Fast & Furious 6 took $10.3m. Other big films included Warner Bros’ Gravity and Man Of Steel, which grossed $6.7m and $5.9m respectively; Fox Star Studios’ The Wolverine with $4.8m and Paramount’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation with $4.2m. However, the US studios did not have as strong a year as in 2012 when five films grossed more than $10m. Multiplex needs The US studios have made gains in India in recent years, due to multiplex expansion, better marketing and the practice of dubbing films into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. But they are not seeing anything like the growth they have experienced in China — and that is not just due to the popularity of local films. The roll-out of multiplexes has been much slower in India, due to red tape and sluggish development in the commercial real-estate sector, which in turn is slowing the expansion of DCI-compliant digital screens. In the last few years, Indian exhibitors have added only around 200-250 multiplex screens annually, compared to more than 5,000 new screens in China in 2013. “Overall the market has still not reached its potential for Hollywood product as there is still a big need for more multiplexes and digitisation, not to mention the local product which continues to account for 90% of the total market,” says Paramount Pictures International (PPI) president Anthony Marcoly. One area where
n 6 Screen International February 2014
Dhoom: 3
Local films race ahead Hollywood hasn’t yet maximised the potential of the Indian market, where 2013 saw some record-breaking Bollywood hits despite a slowdown in box-office growth. Liz Shackleton reports the US studios have seen growth is through their Indian acquisitions and joint ventures — Disney UTV, Fox Star Studios and Viacom18 Motion Pictures — all of which produce local-language films. While Hollywood tentpoles struggle to break the $10m benchmark in India, three of the top six Bollywood grossers last year were backed by Disney UTV and Viacom18. But development of exhibition infrastructure is crucial for both local and foreign studios. With a tiny video market and low broadband penetration, the film industry still relies heavily on theatrical — in 2012, box office accounted for 76% of film revenues, according to KPMG. Multiplexes also allow for a more diverse range of content and Indian audiences have already proved they have an appetite beyond the traditional diet of star-laden Bollywood films. Last year, Disney UTV distributed three
‘The Oscars have a big influence on Indian audiences and media’ Sanjeev K Bijli, PVR Pictures
(Left) Man Of Steel
independently produced Hindi titles — The Lunchbox, Shahid and Ship Of Theseus — all of which performed relatively well. “What made last year special was that audiences were appreciative of specialty genres, first-time film-makers and new talent,” says Amrita Pandey, vice-president and head, theatrical, television & digital distribution — studio, Disney UTV. “Content and storytelling took precedence more than ever before.” Non-studio foreign films also continue to make inroads. PVR Pictures, the distribution arm of leading exhibitor PVR Cinemas, scored last year with Now You See Me, which grossed $900,000, Riddick ($600,000) and Jobs ($370,000). The company is currently capitalising on awards buzz to roll out several of this year’s Oscar contenders, including The Wolf Of Wall Street, American Hustle, 12 Years A Slave, Dallas Buyers Club and Her. “The Oscars have a big influence on Indian audiences and media — even the Golden Globes had an impact this year,” says PVR joint managing director Sanjeev K Bijli. “There’s a lot of goodwill that comes when a film opens in the US and the rest of the world.
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IndIa box oFFIce in focus
The Lunchbox
Now You See Me
Gravity
Day-and-date is critical — a lot of independent films are opening here just one or two weeks after the US.” But niche product will not reach its full potential while the market remains underscreened. Local studio chiefs point out that even the Bollywood films are still reaching only a small portion of the total audience. One problem has been the weakened economy and political uncertainty that has dogged the end of the current government’s five-year term. The local industry is hoping that investor confidence will return following general elections in May. “One good thing is that all the multiplex companies are now listed entities with access to corporate finance, so they’re in a position to fund their growth more aggressively,” says Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare. PPI’s Marcoly adds: “After several years of very slow progress, there now appears to be some traction in the development of new multiplexes, which is critical to see this market really grow.” Indeed, India’s leading exhibitors — PVR Cinemas, Inox Movies and Big Cinemas — are all finally starting to expand their footprint into tier 2 and tier 3 cities. PVR, now the biggest chain with 408 screens following its acquisition of Cinemax, plans to open 70-80 screens this year, across markets of all sizes, including a five-screen complex in the southern city of Chennai. Cracking the south is crucial to growth, as this region has high levels of cinema-going,
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Chennai Express
but has proved the most resistant to the multiplex revolution and other forms of change. Two of the south Indian states — Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — still have governmentimposed curbs on raising ticket prices. Driving ancillary There are also big structural changes taking place in the cable TV market that could lead to more ancillary revenues for film. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is currently digitising the cable industry, a move that is expected to stem piracy and increase subscription revenues for broadcasters. This should eventually lead to the introduction of a pay-per-view window for movies. Cable digitisation is moving more slowly than anticipated, but should be more or less complete by the end of 2014.
‘There is still a big need for more multiplexes and digitisation’ Anthony Marcoly, Paramount Pictures International
Elsewhere, the industry may also be looking to overturn an unpopular ruling by India’s health ministry that made it mandatory for all films to flash up intrusive anti-smoking messages whenever a character lights up on the big screen. The legislation prompted Woody Allen to pull the Indian release of Blue Jasmine last year, and local director Anurag Kashyap has delayed the release of his latest film, Ugly, while he fights the ruling through the courts. But whichever way the political wind blows, India’s film market is unlikely to stop growing. It is just that, unlike some of the other BRIC markets, it will grow at its own uneven pace, thanks to its unique and at times eccentric characteristics. At the end of the day, this is still a market of 1.2 billion consumers whose favourite pastimes are cricket s and film. n
FICCI Frames ConventIon taCkles IndIa’s Issues Celebrating its 15th edition this year, the FICCI Frames convention (March 12-14) will be discussing many of the issues that affect the Indian film industry, including regulation, new business models for digital cinema, box-office tracking, intellectual property and shooting in 3D. Organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the conference also covers the wider Indian media and entertainment industry, with different tracks focusing
on film, broadcast, digital entertainment, animation, gaming and visual effects. This year, the organisers expect around 2,000 Indian and 600 foreign delegates. In a year when the world’s largest democracy heads to the polls, the major theme of Frames 2014 will be: Media and Entertainment: Transforming Lives — highlighting the role of media in social change. Discussions will cover policy reform and regulatory changes, as well as how to produce socially meaningful content.
Speakers confirmed so far include producers Andy Paterson (The Railway Man) and Lydia Dean Pilcher (The Darjeeling Limited ), author William Dalrymple, Rentrak Corporation CEO Bill Livek, Reliance MediaWorks chief creative officer George Murphy, Celestial Tiger Entertainment CEO Todd Miller, Asian Animation Summit chairman Kim Dalton, and Roger Fisk, the communications guru on both of Barack Obama’s presidential election campaigns.
February 2014 Screen International 7 n
IntervIew roads entertainment
Ready for take-off Roads Entertainment has an intriguing backstory and is building a promising slate. Andreas Wiseman talks to producer Alan Maher about the new Dublin-based film and TV company
F
ormer Irish Film Board executive Alan Maher is used to being asked about his ambitious business partner Danielle Ryan, founder of one-yearold Dublin-based production company Roads Entertainment. “When I was in LA recently, I briefly explained Danielle’s backstory to an agent at CAA,” explains Maher in London’s Groucho Club. “He said, ‘Oh, so she’s Ireland’s Megan Ellison.’ I get that all the time.” At first glance, it’s easy to see why. Ryanair founder Tony Ryan’s millionaire granddaughter Danielle Ryan is a 30-year-old entrepreneur, business woman, philanthropist and RADA-trained actress who is now launching a film production company as part of a luxury group, which also comprises publishing and fragrance houses. (New Hollywood powerhouse Ellison is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s daughter and has produced the likes of Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle.) The comparison is a fun one. But essentially a dead-end. “There’s a certain interest in Danielle and what she’s doing from the press,” admits Maher. “But I don’t want to disappoint people,” he laughs. “There may be some similarities in terms of taste but there are slightly different chequebooks. We are not about to fully finance films of the Megan Ellison scale.” Growing the slate Ryan and Maher — himself a trained actor — set up Roads Entertainment in early 2013 after meeting while Maher was at the Irish Film Board. Despite her diversity of interests, Ryan was already well known among the Irish industry, primarily as the director and founder of Dublin drama school The Lir. She was also an investor in Carol Morley’s acclaimed documentary Dreams Of A Life. The company recently began production on its first documentary and is now amassing a slate of intriguing projects. The duo have also been joined by Doireann de Buitléar, who formerly produced commercials for Passion Pictures. “The plan is to put together a company in a pretty conventional way. We want to develop high-quality projects in the commercial arthouse area, particularly based around true life stories,” says Maher, who was known as a documentary aficionado at the IFB, with credits including Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, Dreams Of A Life and Knuckle.
n 8 Screen International February 2014
After The Dance
‘We want to develop high-quality projects in the commercial arthouse area, particularly based around true life stories’ Alan Maher, Roads Entertainment
True to that philosophy, the outfit’s first project to go into production is family history story After The Dance, a BBC Storyville commission directed by Daisy Asquith. They are also planning documentary Being AP, about renowned jockey AP McCoy, a co-production with Moneyglass Films and Partizan, developed with BBC Films and the IFB. But the team is also working on an intriguing slate of fictional feature projects. “Docu-
mentaries will form part of what we do,” says Maher. “But we have a development fund to get projects started or for optioning projects, getting a treatment done or match financing other partners.” The most developed of these is “unconventional love story” Trade, a script from Mark O’Halloran, the writer of Garage and Adam & Paul, which will be directed by experienced special-effects technician David Roddham. With Harvest Films, Roads is developing Song Of Granite about the life of Irish traditional singer Joe Heaney to be directed by Pat Collins, while actress Antonia CampbellHughes is writing an under-wraps script to be directed by Alexandra McGuinness. Roads has also optioned a biography of Revolutionary Road writer Richard Yates, which is being written by Tim Rose Price; and Ten Cent Plague, about the US senate hearings around comic books in the 1940s and 1950s, which is being written by Bronson writer Brock Norman Brock. Also on the slate is Black Blocked, a “bromance set against the anarchist movement”, which is being developed with Break Em Films and actor/writers s Joel Fry and Nathaniel Martello-White. n
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BASED ON THE WORLD-BESTSELLER BY NOAH GORDON We are very proud of the outstanding success of THE PHYSICIAN which has achieved three million admissions in German theatres. We would like to express our congratulations and sincere thanks to the subsidy boards, all our partners, particularly director Philipp Stรถlzl and the producers at UFA Cinema, Wolf Bauer and Nico Hofmann.
INTERVIEW BLONDE TO BLACK PICTURES
Buttercup Bill
Girls on fire
Sadie Frost and Emma Comley’s Blonde To Black Pictures ramps up its slate with Buttercup Bill and Set The Thames On Fire. By Wendy Mitchell
S
adie Frost may be a household name in the UK, but her new production company Blonde To Black Pictures is the opposite of a vanity company with a fancy office and no work to show. As she points out, “We haven’t had an office or a phone,” while making their first three projects, short Dotty, feature Buttercup Bill (now in post) and forthcoming Set The Thames On Fire. They had raised finance (EIS, SEIS and equity from backer Andrew Green) for the initial slate and have now also raised some finance for the company’s small overheads. They might even get a phone soon. Frost’s partner in the company (and the blonde to her black), Emma Comley, thinks this approach has been the best way to start. “We needed a couple of films out there,” she says. “The next phase will be using financing for the company to develop a slate.” Foremost on the agenda is supporting new talent. “It’s important to us to nurture young talent and give people an opportunity,” Frost explains. “It’s giving them the chance and being confident in their vision.” Dotty and Set The Thames On Fire are directed by Ben Charles Edwards, who moved into film-making from a photography background. Dotty, starring Frost and her son Rudy Law, is about a lonely boy who meets an eccentric woman in a caravan in the Nevada desert. It has picked up awards at several small festivals after being made for just $3,300 (£2,000). Frost and Edwards first met seven years ago when he cast her in a short. Frost and Comley will produce Set The Thames On Fire, Edwards’ debut feature, which will shoot in March/April in east London. Michael Winder (of Channel 4’s Misfits)
■ 10 Screen International February 2014
Emma Comley and Sadie Frost
leads the cast, which is about “two lost poets in futuristic London”, Frost says. Comley describes it as, “Withnail & I as directed by Peter Greenaway or John Waters… A lot of low-budget British films recently have been grey estate films. But Ben comes with this crazy vision.” Other rising talents with whom they have collaborated are Buttercup Bill co-writer/ directors Emilie Richard-Froozan and Remy Bennett. Buttercup Bill, shot in New Orleans and taking advantage of the Louisiana tax credit, is a “disturbing love story”. It follows a young woman who learns shocking news about a girl she grew up with, and starts seeing visions of her imaginary friend, mischievous cowboy Buttercup Bill. They are especially proud the film’s production had about 80% female cast and crew.
‘We’ve kept the low budgets without using big names so we can make something challenging’ Sadie Frost, Blonde To Black Pictures
Comley praises Buttercup Bill for “breaking a lot of boundaries and rules”. The film is now out to sales companies before a festival premiere later this year. After Set The Thames On Fire, there are a further three to four features in development and another film is likely to shoot by the end of 2014. Frost is also writing several scripts herself and may one day direct (she previously directed short Mrs Olsen), but for now wants to concentrate on building the production company. They also plan to continue to work with Edwards, and are developing the short Dotty into a feature-length script. So far, the budgets have been $414,000 (£250,000) or less. Frost explains: “We’ve kept the low budgets without using big names so we can make something challenging.” Future projects will likely be in the range of $2.5m (£1.5m). “We will still do the small ones too. We like working with first-time directors,” Frost adds. Frost and Comley met 20 years ago and say their skillsets balance each other — Frost with the overview of the industry, while Comley is an experienced line producer and producer who has worked on top-level music videos and commercials. Frost, who was part of the Natural Nylon production outfit with her ex-husband Jude Law and other actors including Ewan McGregor, wanted to learn more about the film business — “I want to understand every single part” — and is doing a masters in film studies at Raindance. For her coursework, she has met several UK producers for advice, including Sarah Radclyffe, Pippa Cross and Rebecca O’Brien. “They gave me some good s advice… basically to just get on and do it.” ■
www.screendaily.com
Despicable Me 2
Beyond Despicable The founder of Illumination Entertainment tells Wendy Mitchell about the wild success of Gru and the minions, and what other original stories are in the pipeline
W
ith a worldwide take of $965m and counting, Despicable Me 2 is the most profitable film in Universal’s 100-year history; it has also secured an Academy Award nomination for best animated feature. It’s not just the minions who are responsible — as Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment says, “The success of these films and the reaction of audience members is a credit to the extraordinary talent that has been assembled to work on these films. I’m fortunate to be working with extraordinary people from Los Angeles and Paris and many places in between.” Meledandri, a producer on both the Despicable Me films, was a veteran of Disney and Fox when he set up Illumination in 2007 with Universal’s backing. The company soon had reach beyond its Santa Monica headquarters — it hired Mac Guff Ligne for animation on 2010’s Despicable Me; then, in 2011, Universal acquired Mac Guff to spearhead Illumination’s future animations. The French deal started as a practical
■ 12 Screen International February 2014
move, because of competition for artists in the US. But it has also become a creative choice. Meledandri explains: “The decision to go to France, to go to Europe, has really been yielding even more benefits than the calibre of artists. It has contributed to a very distinct style. There is unquestionably a very European sensitivity in the films, both visually and attitudinally.”
‘The decision to go to France has contributed to a very distinct style — there’s a very European sensitivity’ Chris Meledandri, Illumination Entertainment
Introducing Gru Gru and his minions first came to life six years ago during the production of Despicable Me,, which went on to make $543m worldwide. Even with such huge success, Meledandri insisted a sequel had to be inspired creatively. “The decision was driven by the audience’s response to the film, combined with our exploration of where the story of these characters would lead us. We found we had an embarrassment of riches in terms of possibilities. That was Hop
a very important realisation. I’ve been part of movies in the past where we’ve made successful sequels but haven’t had that organic story evolution from the first film to the second. “In this case it became clear to us that these characters’ stories were not complete. And we as the film-making team were very curious to see how Gru would fare as a father, whether or not he had the self-esteem to fall in love.”
ILLUMINATION TIMETABLE ■ 2007 Company founded, financed by
Universal ■ 2010 Releases Despicable Me,
making $543m ■ 2011 Releases Hop, making $184m ■ 2012 Releases The Lorax, making
$348m ■ 2013 Releases Despicable Me 2, which
makes $954m and counting ■ 2015 The Minions due for release
on July 10 ■ 2017 Despicable Me 3 due for release.
www.screendaily.com
CHRIS MELEDANDRI INTERVIEW
Meledandri knew Despicable Me 2 had a chance at success, but says that he saw remarkable growth of the property’s popularity since the release of the first film in 2010. “We clearly got a sense that the attachment to these characters was growing, on DVD or on broadcast television,” he remembers. “The universe of people who had seen the film was expanding. We saw evidence of this online when we released our first teaser trailer for the sequel.” Meledandri thinks the Despicable Me films have special appeal. “Gru is a damaged guy, that’s part of the reason why this movie is so interesting to me, it’s not only filled with joy and humour and sweetness, but the centre of the movie is a guy who is damaged. It gives the film dimension, it appeals in more than just a superficial way with adults.” The company’s success is all the more notable because its features can sometimes cost about half of what a rival animation studio would spend on its tentpoles (Despicable Me 2 cost a reported $75m). Meledandri knows the studio process intimately, after working at Dawn Steel/Disney on films such as Cool Runnings and at Fox on the Ice Age series, Alvin And The Chipmunks and Horton Hears A Who!. “There are many, many components that
‘Our budget strategy only works because of the calibre of the artists’
come from the years of the experiences that we’ve had… It would take a semester at a graduate school to walk through how we [make savings compared to our competitors],” he says. “Our strategy for containing budgets is comprehensive and it only works because we put artistry first. It allows us to move through different parts of the process faster because of the calibre of the artists that we’re working with. None of it could happen without our world-class artists.” Minions get their due Those world-class artists have a busy pipeline. Despicable Me 3 is being planned for a 2017 launch, but meanwhile there will be The Minions, a spinoff origins story of the famed yellow creatures (pictured left), set mostly in 1960s London and New York. Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm lead the voice cast. “That’s an entirely new expression. It doesn’t have any of our Despicable Me characters in it, other than the minions,” Meledandri says. The Minions, now about halfway through production, had been set for a December 2014 launch but has been moved back to summer 2015. Meledandri says: “We just realised how strong July has
been for us with the first movie and the second movie and we thought with The Minions movie it just made a lot of sense to go to July again… Even if audiences don’t consciously realise it, they enjoy seeing one of these films in the summer and it just made sense to go back to the summer.” Despicable Me 3 is in the story phase, now “heading into script phase”, he notes. Apart from the huge success of the Despicable films, Illumination is also planning more original stories. In 2016, there will be two original films released — details are under wraps but one of those will be directed by the UK’s Garth Jennings (Son Of Rambow). And in 2017, there will be a full “reimagination” of Dr Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!. Meledandri has a strong working relationship with Audrey Geisel, the widow of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr Seuss), ever since she approved of his adaptations of Horton Hears A Who! (at Fox) and The Lorax (at Illumination). “The designs [for The Grinch] are very much like Horton and The Lorax, and they will really come from Ted Geisel’s original drawings. The essence of the story will be very close to what I believe was his intent in writing the book.” No voice cast is attached yet, but Pete Candeland (who has worked on s Gorillaz videos in the past) will direct. ■
Congratulations to our 12 graduates who have been individually nominated for EE British Academy Film Awards in 2014 Recent graduate Paul Wright (pictured below right) won his first BAFTA in 2011 for his graduation film Until The River Runs Red. Since then he has won a Scottish BAFTA, a BIFA award, and received nominations from Cannes and Edinburgh for his debut For Those In Peril, which is now nominated for Outstanding Debut at the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2014.
This year, our graduates have been awarded with their 310th BAFTA nomination, and this year alone we have an outstanding 78 graduates on 17 nominated films. All Outstanding British Films have graduate involvement including The Selfish Giant which was Directed, Edited and Mixed by NFTS graduates. 3 out of the 5 British Short Films were directed by NFTS graduates 1 out of the 3 British Animated Short Films is an NFTS graduation film - Sleeping With The Fishes Outstanding Debut nominated film For Those in Peril was Directed, Written, Produced, Shot and Edited by NFTS graduates.
“World’s Best Film School” - The Observer Find out why at www.nfts.co.uk and screeningroom.nfts.co.uk nftsschooluk
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NFTSFilmTV
NFTSFilmTV
February 2014 Screen International 13 ■
A dry summer day in a small town. Two teenage sisters alone, only one day to discover the desire.
SCREENINGS: Mon 10th 15:30 Mon 10th 15:30 Tue 11th 16:30 Sat 15th 20:00
(Marriott 3) EFM! (Zoo Palast 1) World Premiere! (CinemaxX 3) (HKW 1)
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER A FILM BY MAXIMILIAN LEO
Gregor’s brother disappears without a trace. For Gregor, this could lead to a new identity.
a film by
SCREENINGS: Fri 7th 19:30 (CinemaxX 3) World Premiere! Sat 8th 13:00 (Colosseum) Sat 8th 20:30 (CinemaxX 1)
1972 The last man on the moon. A boy‘s first love…
Dick Tuinder SCREENING: Tue 11th 10:40 (CinemaxX 17)
A FILM BY MENNO MEYJES
A film by
Their kids did something terrible. But who knows what?
The law is no longer synonymous for justice.
SCREENING: Mon 10th 13:40 (CinemaxX 11)
SCREENING: Mon 10th 13:40 (CinemaxX 11)
The love story behind a song, which makes the whole world shake and whistle! (Romantic Drama)
A gay father, a straight son. Everything depands on how you look at it.
SCREENING: Mon 10th 15:10 (CinemaxX 17)
SCREENING: Wed 12th 11:00 (CinemaxX 17)
Sascha wants revenge and to write a novel … And then a love triangle anrols.
Hanna is German and ambitious. When she goes to Israel her life is changed. LOLA German Films Awards Nominated
SCREENING: Tue 11th 17:00 (CinemaxX 12)
SCREENING: Tue 11th 12:00 (Zoo Palast 2)
Jan Verheyen
A FILm by Stijn Coninx
A film by Julia von Heinz
A Film by Bettina Blümner
Visit us! www.medialuna.biz
media luna new films @ EFM-MGB #32 Aachener Str. 24 • D-50674 Cologne Germany • tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • info@medialuna.biz Ida Martins mobile +49 170 966 7900
media luna new films @ EFM-MGB #32
BERLIN FOCUS
■ WORLD PREMIERES IN COMPETITION, BERLINALE SPECIAL AND PANORAMA
AT YOUR SERVICE orget the Hyatt and the RitzCarlton, the establishment to check into this February in Berlin is the Grand Budapest Hotel. The Berlinale scores a starry, must-see opening film with Wes Anderson’s latest. And the star power doesn’t end there — Berlin also welcomes George Clooney’s Second World War film The Monuments Men, Diego Luna’s Cesar Chavez, Claudia Llosa’s Aloft starring Jennifer Connelly and Cillian Murphy, Beauty And The Beast starring Léa Seydoux and
F
Vincent Cassel, and Stellan Skarsgard and Bruno Ganz in Hans Petter Moland’s In Order Of Disappearance. Yet Berlin is more known for its arthouse selections than its red carpet, and this year’s crop has a wealth of auteurs. Lars von Trier will provoke a reaction with the longer director’s cut of the first part of his controversial opus, Nymphomaniac Vol I, China’s Lou Ye brings Blind Massage, and rising talent Feo Aladag offers the anticipated Inbetween Worlds. On the side of the veterans, the
renowned Alain Resnais brings his 21st film, the comedy Life Of Riley. There is also support for new talents — acclaimed UK TV director Yann Demange makes his feature directorial debut with ’71, and Benjamin Naishtat makes his with History Of Fear. Both titles are among the competitors for the Golden Bear. And, as we all know, it’s going to be cold outside, so you might as well plan all your time in the cinemas of Berlin. Wendy Mitchell, editor
Grand Budapest Hotel www.screendaily.com
» February 2014 Screen International 15 ■
BERLIN HOT TITLES
Competition ’71 (UK) Dir Yann Demange Touted UK TV director Demange makes his feature debut on ’71, an action thriller that has generated a lot of buzz. The story, by playwright Gregory Burke, centres on a young and disoriented British soldier who is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the dangerous streets of Belfast in 1971. Jack O’Connell, from popular UK TV series Skins, stars alongside Sean Harris, Richard Dormer, Paul Anderson, David Wilmot, Sam Reid and Charlie Murphy. Producers are Angus Lamont of Crab Apple Films and Robin Gutch of Warp Films. StudioCanal pre-bought UK rights.
Bear necessities Screen previews the world premieres of Berlin’s 2014 Competition. Profiles by Finn Halligan, Wendy Mitchell, Louise Tutt and Andreas Wiseman
Contact Protagonist Pictures info@protagonistpictures.com
Aloft (Sp-Can-Fr)
Aloft
’71
Dir Claudia Llosa Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy and Mélanie Laurent star in Golden Bear winner Llosa’s drama about a mother and son whose relationship is strained by an accident in the past. Peruvian writerdirector Llosa picked up the top prize at the festival in 2009 for Oscar-nominated The Milk Of Sorrow and her credits also include Sundance title Madeinusa. Contact Dreamcatchers marina@thedreamcatchers.eu
Die Geliebten Schwestern (Ger-Aust) Dir Dominik Graf The renowned German director Graf returns to feature films after many years of acclaimed work for television with an historical love story. Die Geliebten Schwestern (‘the beloved sisters’) is written by Graf and based on the real-life relationship between the influential 18th-century poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller (Florian Stetter) and Caroline Lengefeld (Hannah Herzsprung), as well as her sister Charlotte (Henriette Confurius). Bavaria Film’s Uschi Reich produces and Senator Film is releasing in G e r m a n y. D i e Geliebten Schwestern (right) is Graf ’s second film to be selected for Berlin following A Map Of The Heart (Der Felsen) in 2002. Contact Bavaria Film offer@ bavaria-film.de
■ 16 Screen International February 2014
Black Coal, Thin Ice
Black Coal, Thin Ice (Chi) Dir Diao Yinan Black Coal, Thin Ice is billed as a dark thriller and was presented at project stage at Shanghai International Film Festival in 2010. It tells the story of a retired policeman turned security guard whose investigation into a serial killer finds that the victims are all romantically linked to one woman. Diao, who acted in All Tomorrow’s Parties, first made his mark
Blind Massage
as a writer on projects including Shower and Spicy Love Soup, and his last feature, Night Train, premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2007. Fan Liao, Lun Mei Gwei and Xuebing Wang star.
Guo Xiaodong, Qin Hao and Zhang Lei.
Contact Fortissimo Films info@fortissimo.nl
Dir Wes Anderson
Blind Massage (Chi-Fr) Dir Lou Ye Blind Massage is based on an awardwinning popular novel by Bi Feiyu. Its Chinese title, Tui Na (‘the blind’), refers to a type of massage given by blind therapists in China, and the book is set in Nanjing, where 15 blind people run a practice. Lou, whose last film Mystery ran into censorship problems at home, has made highly influential films such as Suzhou River and Summer Palace, and Blind Massage has had all relevant script approvals at home. The film stars some of Lou’s regular collaborators, including
Contact Wild Bunch info@wildbunch.eu
The Grand Budapest Hotel (US-Ger) Opening film Anderson’s hotly anticipated festival opener features new collaborators including protagonist Ralph Fiennes, Léa Seydoux, Saoirse Ronan, Harvey Keitel and Jude Law alongside old favourites such as Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. The comedy follows Gustave H (Fiennes), a legendary concierge at a European hotel between the wars, and the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The film marks the maverick director’s third outing in competition at Berlin after previous selections The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou in 2005 and The Royal Tenenbaums in 2002. Contact Fox Searchlight sarah.peters@fox.com
www.screendaily.com
»
Life Of Riley
Inbetween Worlds
History Of Fear (Arg-Ur-Ger-Fr) Dir Benjamin Naishtat Produced by Rei Cinema, this is artistdirector Naishtat’s first feature after his two shorts Estamos Bien and El Juego (Cannes Cinéfondation). History Of Fear is set in a gated community on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where a young man (Jonathan Da Rosa) trims the extensive lawns and looks after the football pitch. Residents are secluded from the outside world, but he crosses back and forth and over the long, hot summer he notices a group of people looking in. Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual, Cesar Bordon and Tatiana Gimenez also star in this Films in Progress (San Sebastian) and Torino FilmLab project. Contact Visit Films info@visitfilms.com
Inbetween Worlds (Ger) Dir Feo Aladag The second feature from the Austrianborn actress turned writer-director was shot in secret in the mountainous regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inbetween Worlds (Zwischen Welten) portrays the friendship between a German solider (Ronald Zehrfeld) and a young interpreter (Afghan newcomer Mohamad Mohsen) who are trying to protect an Afghan village from the Taliban. Aladag’s award-winning first feature, When We Leave (Die Fremde) debuted in the Panorama section of the 2010 Berlinale and won the Europa Cinemas Label prize. It was Germany’s foreign-language Oscar entry that year and won the best narra-
n 18 Screen International February 2014
Jack
tive feature prize at Tribeca Film Festival. Inbetween Worlds is produced by Aladag’s Berlin-based Independent Artists Filmproduktion. Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
In Order Of Disappearance (Nor) Dir Hans Petter Moland A decade since his first film, The Beautiful Country, competed in Berlin, Moland returns to try for the Golden Bear for a third time. In Order Of Disappearance reunites him with A Somewhat Gentle Man’s Stellan Skarsgard, who plays Nils, driver of a snow-blower in Norway whose life takes an unexpected turn when a family tragedy places him in the middle of a drugs war between Norwegian and Serbian mafias. Bruno Ganz costars. TrustNordisk has notched up some brisk business already with this Paradoxproduced title, selling Germany, UK and South Korea, among other territories. Local release is set for February 21 through Nordisk. Contact TrustNordisk info@trustnordisk.com
Jack (Ger) Dir Edward Berger With his single mother Sanna unable to cope, 10-year-old Jack takes responsibility for running the household, including the care of his young brother, Manuel. But an accident results in them being taken into separate care homes and Jack runs away, determined to reunite his family in this
Life Of Riley (Fr) Dir Alain Resnais The 21st film directed by the nonagenarian Resnais is a French-language comedy drama based on Alan Ayckbourn’s play of the same name. It stars Sabine Azéma, Sandrine Kiberlain, Caroline Silhol, André Dussollier, Hippolyte Girardot and Michel Vuillermoz as three couples whose peaceful lives in the English countryside are ruffled by an enigmatic man called George Riley. Life Of Riley (Aimer, Boire Et Chante) marks the third time Resnais has been in competition in Berlin following Smoking/No Smoking in 1994 and Same Old Song in 1998, which both won the Silver Bear. The film is produced by Resnais’ regular collaborator, Jean-Louis Livi of F Comme Film. Contact Le Pacte c.neel@le-pacte.com
coming-of-age drama. Berger, who made his feature debut in 1998 with Gomez, works from his own screenplay (with Nele Mueller-Stöfen), and with a young cast led by Ivo Pietzcker as Jack and Luise Heyer as Sanna. Contact Beta Cinema beta@betacinema.com
Little Fish (Gr-Ger-Cyp) Dir Yannis Economides The fourth feature from Greek-Cypriot film-maker Economides is about Stratos,
Stations Of The Cross
an ex-con who works by day in a bakery and by night as an assassin. He becomes obsessed with a plan to break out of prison the man who previously saved his life. Vangelis Mourikis, Vicky Papadopoulou and Petros Zervos star. Little Fish (Stratos) is the first Greek film to screen in competition at the Berlinale since Theo Angelopoulos’s The Weeping Meadow in 2004. Economides’ films include Soul Kicking, which was showcased in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2006, and Knifer, which won the best film prize from the Greek Film Academy in 2010. Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
Macondo (Aust) Dir Sudabeh Mortezai The first fiction feature from Germanborn, Iran and Vienna-raised Mortezai, Macondo is a coming-of-age story that focuses on “identity, belonging and selfdetermination”, with a cast of amateur young actors. Macondo is the name of a refugee settlement outside Vienna, home to successive waves of migrants from Vietnamese boat people to those arriving today from Chechnya. Starring Ramasan Minkailov, Kheda Gazieva and Aslan Elbiev, the film focuses on Ramazan, a Chechen boy who has lost his father in the war and lives in Macondo with his mother and two sisters. This is a semidocumentary from Mortezai, who has previously made two documentary features, Children Of The Prophet and In The Bazaar Of The Sexes. Contact Films Boutique info@filmsboutique.com
www.screendaily.com
HOT TITLES BERLIN
Nymphomaniac Vol 1 (Den) Out of competition
Dir Lars von Trier Von Trier, usually a Cannes regular, will present the world premiere of his longer, uncut version of Nymphomaniac Vol I in Berlin. The cast includes Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf and Stacy Martin. The shorter two-part film has opened to a muted boxoffice response at home in Denmark. There is no word yet when the uncut version of Vol II will be launched. Contact TrustNordisk info@trustnordisk.com
Praia Do Futuro (Bra-Ger) Dir Karim Ainouz Ainouz tells a story split between Berlin and Brazil, where Donato (Wagner Moura of The Elite Squad) is a lifeguard who rescues a German tourist (Clemens Schick) from drowning. Slowly, they fall in love and Donato decides to leave his life in Brazil behind for the German capital, where he is both liberated and confused by life in the big city — feelings his 18-year-old brother Ayrton (Jesuita Bar-
bosa) also experiences when he visits later to find out what happened. Ainouz (a Cannes veteran with Madame Sata and The Silver Cliff) says: “My past few films have been about female protagonists, and this dives into that world of masculinity. [Praia Do Futuro] is about people who travel and take risks.” Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
Stations Of The Cross (Ger) Dir Dietrich Brüggemann Lea van Acken plays Maria, a 14-year-old girl from a family of fundamentalist Catholics. She wishes to devote her life to Jesus and plans to complete her own personal 14 stations of the cross. Brüggemann, who wrote Stations Of The Cross (Kreuzweg)) with his sister Anna, has made the radical decision to tell his story in 14 fixed-angle long shots across the 107-minute running Run time. The director (Run If You Can and Move) has also cast Florian Macondo Stetter and Franziska
Weisz in leading roles; van Acken is making her feature film debut. Contact Beta Cinema beta@betacinema.com
The Third Side Of The River (Arg-Ger-Neth) Dir Celina Murga This fourth film by Argentina’s Murga was shot in her home province of Entre Rios, between Argentina and Uruguay. Murga (Ana And The Others, and the documentary Normal School, which played in Forum in 2012) tells the story of a 17-year-old boy caught between obeying his father and following his own path. Newcomer Alian Devetac, Argentinian playwright Daniel Veronese and Gaby Ferrero star. Supported by Berlin’s World Cinema Fund among others, the film is executive produced by Martin Scorsese as a result of Murga being selected for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in 2008. Contact The Match Factory info@matchfactory.de
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February 2014 Screen International 19 n
»
Two Men In Town (Fr-Alg-US-Bel)
Dir Rachid Bouchareb Shot in New Mexico, Bouchareb’s Two Men In Town (previously titled Enemy Way) is the second in a reported trilogy that started with Just Like A Woman, examining the complicated relationship between the West and the Arab world. Forest Whitaker stars as a convict released into small-town America after an 18-year stretch, buoyed by his conversion to Islam. But he is tempted back into his old ways and dogged by the sheriff (Harvey Keitel). Bouchareb (Outside The Law) reunites with his London River collaborator Brenda Blethyn, and Luis Guzman rounds out the cast. The drama is based on José Giovanni’s 1973 French feature Deux Hommes Dans La Ville. Contact Pathé International muriel.sauzay@pathe.com
Berlinale Special World premieres
Cathedrals Of Culture (Ger-Den-Aust-Nor)
Dirs Wim Wenders, Michael Glawogger, Michael Madsen, Robert Redford, Margreth Olin, Karim Ainouz This 3D project about “the soul of buildings” has six film-makers explore six very different iconic buildings, from a Norwegian prison to a Russian library. Contact Cinepihil
info@cinephil.co.il
Cesar Chavez (US) Dir Diego Luna Actor Luna’s first English-language film as a director is a biopic of the influential labour leader, played by Michael Pena. Participant Media has already acquired US distribution rights. Contact Mundial cristina_garza@mundialsales.com
The Two Faces Of January
The Dark Valley (Aust-Ger) Dir Andreas Prochaska This Alpine western is based on the novel by Thomas Willmann and stars Sam Riley, Paula Beer and Tobias Moretti.
Deneuve and Gustave Kervern in the story of a musician who becomes a caretaker of a building, where he meets a resident who goes into a panic. Contact Wild Bunch
wildbunch.biz
long-hidden Holocaust documentary, partially directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It will screen as a work in progress. Contact Cinephil info@cinephil.co.il
Contact Films Distribution info@filmsdistribution.com
A Long Way Down (UK-Ger)
Someone You Love (Den)
Dir Pascal Chaumeil
Dir Pernille Fischer Christensen
Diplomacy (Fr-Ger)
This Nick Hornby adaptation has a strong ensemble cast including Pierce Brosnan, Aaron Paul, Toni Collette and Imogen Poots in a darkly comic tale about suicide and redemption. Contact HanWay info@hanwayfilms.com
Christensen, a Silver Bear winner for A Soap, directs Mikael Persbrandt as a singer-songwriter who returns to his native Denmark to record a new album, where he is reunited with his daughter and meets his 11-year-old grandson for the first time.
In the Courtyard (Fr)
Night Will Fall (UK)
Contact TrustNordisk info@trustnordisk.com
Dir Pierre Salvadori
Dir Andre Singer
Salvadori’s eighth feature stars Catherine
A new documentary to accompany a
Dir Volker Schlöndorff The veteran director returns with the true story of a German officer (Niels Arestrup) who saved Paris from destruction. Contact Gaumont
gaumont.fr
The Two Faces Of January (UK-US-Fr)
Dir Hossein Amini Drive screenwriter Amini makes his directorial debut with this Patricia Highsmith adaptation centred on a con artist. Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac lead the cast. Contact StudioCanal anna.marsh@studiocanal.com
Untitled New York Review Of Books documentary (US)
Dirs Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi The publication is explored in depth in this documentary. Presented as a work in progress. Two Men In Town
n 20 Screen International February 2014
A Long Way Down
Contact Film Foundation film-foundation.org
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HOT TITLES BERLIN
Panorama world premieres Brides (Georgia-Fr) Dir Tinatin Kajrishvili Contact Gemini
gemini@gemini.ge
Cracks In Concrete (Aust)
Journey To The West (Fr-Tai) Dir Tsai Ming-liang
Contact Urban contact@urbandistrib.com
The Lamb (Ger-Tur) Dir Kutlug Ataman
Dir Umut Dag
Contact Detailfilm info@detailfilm.de
Contact Films Boutique info@filmsboutique.com
Land Of Storms
Fever (Lux-Aust) Dir Elfi Mikesch Contact EastWest office@eastwest-distribution.com
Gueros (Mex)
(Hun) Dir Adam Csaszi
Contact M-Appeal berlinoffice@m-appeal.com
The Midnight After (HK-Chi)
Dir Alonso Ruiz Palacios
Dir Fruit Chan
Contact Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia internacional@imcine.gob.mx
Contact Fortissimo market@fortissimo.nl
Highway (Ind) Dir Imtiaz Ali Contact UTV
neha.kaul@disney.com
The Night (Chi)
Dir Nao Kubota
Dir Leesong Hee-il
Contact Bitters End info@bitters.co.jp
Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr
If You Don’t, I Will
2030 (Viet)
Contact Les Films du Losange info@filmsdulosange.fr
In Grazia Di Dio (It)
info@celluloid-dreams.com
Unfriend (Phil)
Contact Beta Cinema beta@betacinema.com
Dir Joselito Altarejos
Superegos (Ger-Swiss-Aust)
Contact Fortissimo market@fortissimo.nl
Dir Benjamin Heisenberg Contact Films Distribution info@filmsdistribution.com
The Way He Looks (Bra) Dir Daniel Ribeiro
That Demon Within
Contact Films Boutique info@ filmsboutique. com
(HK-Chi) Dir Dante Lam Contact EMP enquiry. emp@ emperorgroup. com
Things People Do (US) Dir Saar Klein Unfriend
Contact Celluloid Dreams
Contact Nextway Studios 1148837732@qq.com
Night Flight (S Kor)
Dir Sophie Fillieres
Dir Maximilian Erlenwein
Dir Hao Zhou
Homeland (Jap)
(Fr)
Stereo (Ger)
Dir Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo Contact Premium Films michelle.palant@premium-films.com
The Rice Bomber (Tai)
Dir Edoardo Winspeare
Dir Cho Li
Contact Saietta Film contessa.alessandro@gmail.com
Contact Ablaze Image info@ablazeimage.com
SCREENWRITING | DEVELOPMENT NETWORKING | TRAINING
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP Three-month process guided by experienced advisers for European screenwriters and teams of writers, producers or directors with a project in development. Seven-day session, coached development period, follow-up session.
APPLICATION DATE 1ST MARCH 2014 Workshop at FilmCamp | Norway | 12TH – 20TH June 2014 with the support of FilmCamp AS. Requested: Feature film projects and creative documentaries CONTACT SOURCES 2 Köthener Str. 44 | 10963 Berlin, Germany | + 49 30 886 02 11 info@sources2.de | www.sources2.de
The Midnight After
Journey To The West
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February 2014 Screen International 21 n
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TERRITORY FOCUS ■ SPAIN OVERVIEW ■ 2014’S HOT FILMS ■ LOW-BUDGET FILM-MAKERS
REIGNITING SPAIN’S PASSION t’s no secret Spain has been hurt by the economic crisis, and financing films there is much tougher than it was a decade ago. But there is a silver lining to the country’s financial woes in terms of filmmaking — every producer working in Spain today has to be smarter than they were a few years ago. Across the industry, there is now a greater emphasis on audience-focused films and a more
I
market-savvy approach. There may be fewer films being made, but they are better films. Quality rises to the top. There are vibrant creative talents from Spain operating on a global stage, some like Juan Cavestany (People In Places) and Fernando Franco (Wounded) work successfully with lowbudget models (see page 33). Local hits at the box office in 2013 included Zip & Zap And The Marble Gang, Witching
And Bitching, Family United and Justin And The Knights Of Valour. Screen’s Spain correspondent, Juan Sarda, also previews some of the hottest Spanish productions of 2014, from the exciting combination of Penelope Cruz and Julio Medem in ma ma, to 3D fable Capture The Flag, to Antonio Banderas’s $50m sci-fi project Automata. Indeed, Spanish quality is rising to the top. Wendy Mitchell, editor
Wounded
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February 2014 Screen International 25 ■
Spain overview
Three Many Weddings
Bust. Or boom? Will Spain’s economic crisis actually prove a good thing for its film industry in the long term? By Juan Sarda
S
panish cinema is facing one of the most challenging moments in history as the country battles to emerge from a five-year economic crisis. But while the numbers seem to depict an industry in decline (see box, page 28), the story behind them hints at a brighter future. Last year was undoubtedly tough. Production levels fell, budgets fell and, thanks partly to a 21% tax on cinema tickets, admissions fell. Companies closed, including Alta Films, Spain’s leading distributor of international auteur titles, and cinemas shut down. The government’s shake-up of public film financing, both direct production investment and funds aimed at attracting inward investment and increasing international co-productions, remains indefinitely delayed. Government finance minister Cristobal Montoro exacerbated the sense of catastrophe and infuriated the local industry when he was quoted as saying the problems of Spanish cinema “are related to the quality of their films”. He later apologised. But the general feeling throughout the industry is that 2014 promises to be a much better year. The Spanish economy is predicted
n 26 Screen International February 2014
‘We have learned to be more dynamic and clever than ever. Every film is a tentpole’ Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Apaches Entertainment
to grow as the country is poised to emerge from a devastating recession. There is a belief that the worst is behind Spain. Many also believe the film industry will rebound as a more professional, international and dynamic sector than it has ever been, with more audience-focused product and an increasingly market-savvy approach to marketing, distribution and promotion. “It has been a tough period and still is,” admits Morena Films’ Juan Gordon, who produced the romantic drama Scorpion In Love and the thriller Combustion in 2013. “But in the past there were too many films produced each year and some of them were not that good. Only the best film-makers have survived and there has been a necessary sifting. We’re producing less but better films.” In the same week in October that Montoro made his notorious comment, four Spanish films were in the top 10 at the local box office: Zip & Zap And The Marble Gang, a family film that has been sold around the world; Alex de la Iglesia’s frenzied comedy Witching And Bitching, Daniel Sanchez Arevalo’s romantic comedy Family United; and also Justin And The Knights Of Valour, an ani-
mated feature that was produced by Antonio Banderas. The Impossible producer Enrique Lopez Lavigne, co-founder with Belen Atienza of the leading local outfit Apaches Entertainment, is cautiously optimistic. Last year Apaches enjoyed box-office success with romantic comedy Three Many Weddings and the low-budget People In Places, which played well at Toronto. “We started our company during the crisis and I’ve always seen this moment as a transitional period,” he explains. “We have learned to be more dynamic and clever than ever. Every film is a tentpole and you have to work hard. We waited a year to release Three Many Weddings after finishing it because [distributor] Warner [Bros Spain] was convinced this was the best date. “I think that very often [Spanish film-makers] forgot who we were making the films for. We have to make blockbusters that hit big during the weekends, and some for an older audience that perform better during the week. The auteur cinema that crosses borders can only be made with a very small budget and the best window for it is VoD. Middle films are the ones that are likely to disappear.” »
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EFM 2014
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SPAIN OVERVIEW
Mama
The Body
Witching And Bitching
Lopez Lavigne suggests that while Spanish films have historically been made for the local audience, there is now a greater focus on the international market. “The only way to survive is to make global products,” he says. Co-production rules are steady, and producers are expecting the new cinema law to improve tax deductions. Gordon says: “Coproduction laws are at this point very advanced. There are no problems now to shoot in English, as you may have in France.” Spain has a reputation for genre films and last year the most successful titles included Andy Muschietti’s Mama (which grossed $10.5m at the Spanish box office), The Body ($8.5m) and The Last Days ($2.7m). Comedies including Family United ($4.3m), Three Many Weddings ($7.5m), Witching And Bitching ($6.8m) and Pedro Almodovar’s I’m So Excited ($6.5m) also did reasonably well. “Comedies have growing international appeal and the key point is they have a strong identity,” Lopez Lavigne points out. “Going global not only means making English-language films or big films like The Impossible. We cannot make this every year.” Diversity is key, agrees Ramon Colom, the new director of national producers association FAPAE. “We are succeeding with films that are very different from what has been commonly known as ‘Spanish cinema’,” says Colom. “We are gaining the young and the family audience that pre-
■ 28 Screen International February 2014
The Last Days
viously belonged almost exclusively to Hollywood. There is also an obvious change in the attitude of Spanish people towards our films. Audiences are beginning to value their quality. We have been deeply affected by the general economic crisis and as things are getting better, we’re ready to provide our audience with better films than we used to.” With the banks out of credit and the government slashing public film funds, Spain’s
‘The risk is we lose diversity. To have good films, some bad films need to be made’ Jose Antonio Felez, producer
Family United
SPAIN 2013: IN NUMBERS ■ Admissions fell for a fifth year in a row to 74 million in 2013, from 94 million in 2012 and from the record-breaking high of 144 million in 2004. ■ The number of films going into production fell by 18.1% year-on-year to 149 films. Just 13% of those were budgeted at more than $2.7m (€2m). ■ The market share for Spanish films at the box office was 13.9% in 2013 and there was no Spanish film in the top 10. In 2012, the record-breaking success of The Impossible raised the market share of local films to 19.5%. ■ The resources of the public film funds
on which Spanish producers depend are being depleted. The ICAA budget was $105m in 2011, down to $76m in 2013 and cut again to $70m for 2014.
broadcasters have stepped into the breach to become the biggest financiers of Spanish films. This brings its own problems, including a preference for primetime-friendly event titles, and a demand for window exclusivity that threatens the rising VoD sector. (The film industry is frustrated by the lack of progress against Spain’s rampant piracy problem.) Producer Jose Antonio Felez, who has enjoyed success with Family United and is finishing cop thriller Marshland, warns of the production sector’s reliance on the ratingsaware broadcasters. “The risk is that we lose diversity,” he says. “To have good films, some bad films also need to be made.” The closure of Alta Films, one of Spain’s best-known companies internationally, was a blow for international producers and sales companies. But former Alta chief Enrique Gonzalez Kuhn has now launched Caramel Films, which will have a similar focus to Alta. His first acquisitions include Pawel Pawlikowski’s Polish drama Ida and Maria Sole Tognazzi’s Italian feature A Five Star Life. Adolfo Blanco, the head of distributor A Contracorriente, which distributes European films for a mainstream audience, describes a general feeling: “[A Contracorriente] is financially alive thanks partly to the great success of Intouchables [which grossed more than $20m in Spain for the company in 2011],” he says. “The policy right now is to be conservative and to work as hard as we can on every title. We have gone through the worst of the scenarios and we are fighting to arrive alive at the end of this crisis. This year it looks like s things are likely to improve.” ■
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SPAIN HOT FILMS
Expect the unexpected The hottest Spanish productions of 2014 range from a $50m sci-fi epic to a Penelope Cruz tragicomedy to a live-action film with talking dogs. Profiles by Juan Sarda Automata (post-production)
and his friends to save it from being bought by a Texan millionaire. The $15m project is being shot in 3D and is produced by Telecinco Cinema, El Toro Pictures, Lightbox and Ikiru.
Dir Gabe Ibanez Antonio Banderas produces and stars in this $50m sci-fi epic set in an apocalyptic future in which artificial intelligence has surpassed human intelligence. Banderas plays an investigator who discovers a robot plot to take over the world. Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Melanie Griffith and Dylan McDermott co-star in the film, which is produced by Banderas’s Green Moon Productions with France’s Quinta Communications. Automata is Ibanez’s second feature following 2009’s Hierro.
Contact El Toro Pictures info@eltoropictures.es
The Unexpected Life (completed) Dir Jorge Torregrossa
Shot in New York with a script by Elvira Lindo, one of Spain’s leading screenwriters, The Unexpected Life looks at what happens when a young economist, played by Raul Arevalo, visits his cousin, an outof-work actor living in Manhattan. Javier Camara and Tammy Blanchard also star in the comedy drama, which is a co-production between Spain’s Ruleta Media and US production outfit Bullet Pictures.
Contact Nu Image/Millennium Films info@millenniumfilms.com
ma ma (pre-production) Dir Julio Medem Penelope Cruz will star in her first feature for Spanish auteur Medem — ma ma is set to start shooting in Spain this spring. The film, of which details are scarce, promises to be an uplifting tragi-comedy about a woman who prevails through tough times. Luis Tosar and Asier Etxeandia will co-star. Morena Films’ Alvaro Longoria is producing alongside Cruz. Contact Morena Films morenafilms@morenafilms.com
The King Of Havana
The Unexpected Life
Soviet Union and its support for Cuba. The King Of Havana is based on the novel of the same name by Pedro Juan Gutierrez, who has been dubbed Cuba’s answer to Henry Miller. The project is a co-production between Barcelona-based Tusitala and Mexico City’s Alebrije Cine y Video with backing from TVE and Canal Plus Spain. Filmax has Spanish and international rights. Contact Ivan Diaz, Filmax i.diaz@filmax.com
Marshland (post-production)
(pre-production) Dir Agusti Villaronga
Dir Alberto Rodriguez
Villaronga’s follow-up to his multi awardwinning Black Bread is an erotic love story set on the streets of 1990s Havana. It follows two teenagers who fall for each other at a time of great hardship for the country following the collapse of the
The much-anticipated new film from the director of the Spanish box-office hit Unit 7 is a character-driven police thriller set in 1980s southern Spain. It is a time and a place that bears the scars of Franco’s brutal reign. Two detectives, from disparate
A Night In Old Mexico (completed) Dir Emilio Aragon
Robert Duvall and Jeremy Irvine star in this long-gestating English-language road movie about an old cowboy, forced to sell his ranch, who goes on an adventurous journey with his estranged grandson to Mexico. Angie Cepeda and Luis Tosar co-star in the film, which shot in Texas last year. A Night In Old Mexico reunites Duvall with Lonesome
■ 30 Screen International February 2014
Contact Ruleta Media info@ruletamedia.com
Mirage (pre-production) Dir Oriol Paulo
Marshland
backgrounds and with very different beliefs, come together to hunt a serial killer. Raul Arevalo, Antonio de la Torre and Javier Gutierrez star in the production from Atresmedia Cine, Atipica Films and Sacromonte Films. Barcelona-based Film Factory Entertainment, which handled international sales on Unit 7, has international rights to the film. Warner Bros Spain is releasing locally. Contact Vicente Canales, Film Factory info@filmfactory.es
Dove writer Bill Wittliff. It is a co-production between Globomedia Cine, Telefonica Studios and Flywheel and Shyster and backed by TVE and ICAA. Contact Barbara Susterova, Imagina International Sales bsusterova@ imagina.tv
Capture The Flag (in production) Dir Enrique Gato
Following the enormous success of his animated feature Tad, The Lost Explorer, which grossed $24m in Spain in 2012, and was distributed in more than 20 territories, Enrique Gato is now at work on Capture The Flag. It is a fable about a boy who travels to the moon with his grandfather
The new film from horror specialist Paulo is an English-language thriller about a mother who is forced to choose between committing a crime and saving the life of her missing son. It is set in small town America and will shoot in the US and Spain later this year. The $20m feature is being produced by Rodar Y Rodar and Atresmedia Cine. Paulo, well known as the writer of Julia’s Eyes, made his directorial debut with 2012’s The Body, which was a hit at home and sold widely around the world. Contact Rodar y Rodar rodarbarcelona@rodaryrodar.com
Millionaire Dog (completed) Dir Tom Fernandez Combining talking animals with human actors, Millionaire Dog is the story of Pancho, a well-known character in Spain, a dog who has won the lottery and lives a vain and foolish life of luxury. He learns the value of true friendship when he is kidnapped. Millionaire Dog is produced by Atresmedia Cine and Four Luck Banana. Contact DeaPlaneta International s gbilbao@deaplaneta.com ■
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LOW-BUDGET FILM SPAIN
Living the low life An underground cinema is emerging in Spain and injecting the territory with a shot of vitality. Juan Sarda reports on the low-budget film-makers earning international plaudits
T
here is a saying that from great adversity can come great things. Many of the films coming out of Spain prove this to be true. Stripped of much of their public financing and struggling with low cinema attendances, innovative Spanish film-makers are working with ultra-low budgets to craft award-winning feature films. Albert Serra’s $1.8m (¤1.3m) budgeted costume drama Story Of My Death was the surprise but popular winner of the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival in August. A few months later, Juan Cavestany’s $30,000 genre-bending People In Places, impressed at Toronto International Film Festival, while Fernando Franco’s $1m Wounded was the toast of San Sebastian. “Working with very tight budgets is the only way to produce challenging titles,” suggests Enrique Lopez Lavigne of leading Spanish outfit Apaches Entertainment, which produced People In Places. “We should focus on VoD platforms as the best future for these films.”
Spain’s new wave The 47-year-old Cavestany is amused to be considered part of an emerging generation of Spanish film-makers — People In Places is his fourth feature — but he agrees that change is in the air: “It’s becoming obvious something really new and exciting is happening.” Spain’s film critics are raving. Carlos Reviriego, a film academic and reviewer for national daily newspaper El Mundo, has closely watched the rise of what he calls “the other” Spanish cinema. “There have never been as many reasons to be proud of our cinema as there are today,” he says. “This is the most interesting turning point since the years after Franco’s death. While the mainstream Spanish industry is becoming more and more conservative, those ‘other’ film-makers are showing an astonishing vitality and free spirit.” According to Reviriego, we can talk with confidence of a new generation: “They know each other and co-operate often,” he explains. “They have the same roots in masters of cinema such as Godard or Cassavetes and they share a fondness for Asian films of the 1990s and for auteurs like Kiarostami. They refuse to conform to conventions of genre and are (Right) Wounded
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Story Of My Death
People In Places
influenced by documentary film-making.” Some of the other film-makers beginning to make waves with few resources include Fernando Trueba’s son Jonas ((Los Ilusos), Pedro ( Influencia ), Lois Patino ((Costa Aguilera (La uencia), Da Morte), Luis Lopez Carrasco (El ( Futuro) and Virginia Garcia del Pino (The The Jury Jury). Serra, Franco and Cavestany have made their low-budget films with established production companies. But many of the others are putting together the funding themselves. Writer and director Carlos Vermut has become something of a figurehead for these filmmakers since his $30,000 feature Diamond Flash, a twist on the superhero
‘Working with very tight budgets is the only way to produce challenging titles’ Enrique Lopez Lavigne, Apaches Entertainment
movie, became a VoD hit in 2011. “To attract people into cinemas you need a spectacular element,” he says. “I say, half- laughingly, halfseriously, that I want The Iliad in 3D to be my next project!” Vermut’s next film, the $650,000 Magical Girl, is aimed firmly at a theatrical audience. He describes it as a “more conventional” film set during Spain’s economic crisis. “It has been a big change for me as I didn’t have to prepare the catering myself,” Vermut says of the new film, to which he is now putting the finishing touches. For some of these film-makers, notably Vermut and Franco, avant-garde low-budget films may be a calling card to the mainstream industry. For others such as Cavestany, this is not the case. “There is a sense of rebellion and also of frustration at not being able to work in a different scale,” Cavestany explains. “To be honest, I have been very surprised by the warm reception of People In Places, not only in Spain but also in Toronto. We have hit a moment in history in which people seem to have the same worries and references all over the world.” All eyes are now on the Goya Awards, which take place in Spain on February 9. Wounded is nominated in the best film category. “The Spanish mainstream industry has been too cautious with these new directors and they are forgotten year by year in the Goyas. The fact that Wounded might very well win will mark a turning point,” says s Reviriego. ■
February 2014 Screen International 33 ■
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They want your consideration Behind the films in the running for awards every season are the teams ensuring they are seen and talked about by the right people. Louise Tutt meets the awards whisperers who help great work to stand out from the pack
I
t begins on the Croisette in May, sometimes even earlier, as a special kind of buzz attaches itself to an Oscar-worthy film. Critics thrill to the discovery of a title that may go all the way. Buyers circle, the studios congratulate themselves on getting that particular film into that key festival and distributors sound out the awards consultants, those publicity and marketing experts paid to transform the gentle hum into a gold-plated roar. “People start jockeying for position around Cannes,” says Liz Miller of the UK’s Premier, one of the most experienced and well-liked names on the awards circuit. “They start to get an idea of how their film might play. They start asking me to bear them in mind. By the time Venice and Toronto roll around, I get calls from people asking me to take on their film.” Miller and the UK’s other awards consultants are either engaged by UK distributors to work on Bafta campaigns for their films or by US studios and distributors to help co-ordinate the UK strategy for their films’ Oscar campaigns aimed at UK and Europe-based AMPAS members. “The race is definitely starting earlier and it’s getting more competitive as people realise giving your film an opportunity to have an identity sooner rather than later can be beneficial,” says Bethan Dixon, head of international publicity at UK agency Organic. Dixon has serious awards form, previously working in-house at Miramax Films on films such as Chicago, The Aviator, Finding Neverland and City Of God, at Focus Features on Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener, at Paramount Vantage the year No Country For Old Men won the best picture Oscar and at The Weinstein Company on the campaigns for The King’s Speech, The Artist and Silver Linings Playbook. This year at Organic, Dixon is handling the Bafta and UK AMPAS campaigns of Saving Mr Banks for the Walt Disney Company. She is modest about how much credit she can take for a film’s success in the awards race: “If I take the credit when they win, I have to take the blame when they don’t win!” But where Dixon and Miller excel is in the relationships they have with the UK voting bodies. They know their preferences very well, sensing subtle shifts, and adjusting expectations and strategies accordingly.
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“It’s about knowing the machinations of the race and how it works,” says one Bafta voter and talent rep who works closely with UK and US awards consultants. “It is about relationships. They know the personalities of these voters, what works and what doesn’t work.”
‘It’s all about showing a quality film as often as you can to appropriate voters’ Murray Weissman, Weissman/Markovitz Communications
Getting films seen And what works above all else, say both Miller and Dixon, who have worked together extensively on past campaigns, is to screen their films as much as possible, creating as many opportunities as they can for a voter to see a film in a cinema. “I’ve been doing this a long time and I consider my only job is to get people to see a film and to see it in a cinema. Or, failing that, to ensure they put a film I’ve got on the top of their DVD pile,” says Miller. “That is ultimately all I feel I am able to do. I wouldn’t presume to tell anyone else what to do. I wouldn’t tell Chris Menges what a beautifully shot film is, or tell Paul Greengrass what a well-directed film is, or Ralph Fiennes what a good actor is. But I would presume to invite them all to come and have a look at what someone else did and to do it in as gracious a way as possible.” This year, like every year, Miller is working on a wide and varied slate of films including Inside Llewyn Davis (Bafta and AMPAS with StudioCanal and CBS Films respectively), Philomena and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (Bafta with Pathé), and The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty and The Croods (Bafta with 20th Century Fox), to name just a few. Showing a film as often as possible in a cinema, usually a couple of times a week, is the lynchpin of a US-based campaign too. In Los Angeles, as in London, screening theatres are booked up months in advance, with the 600-seater screen at the Directors’ Guild of America’s Theater Complex on Sunset Boulevard one of the most sought after. “Our strategy has always been centred around a pretty simple yet pivotal idea: get (Left) Bruce Dern in Nebraska
The Wolf Of Wall Street
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Angeles, in early October. After the screening, Weissman gave a small group of Academy voters and industry friends an opportunity to “visit with Bruce Dern”, taking them to lunch with the film’s star. A further screening aimed at actors was hosted by Mark Rydell who directed Dern in The Cowboys in 1972. Such intimate contact with the talent is not a tactic often used in the UK. If the consultants have access to a film’s actors, director, writer and producers — not always a given on a US film if it is not also opening at awards time in the UK — they prefer a Q&A setting in front of an audience of voters. If a film has already completed a UK publicity campaign for its UK release, it is rare an actor will return. However, Bradley Cooper did last year and was rewarded with a best actor Bafta nomination for Silver Linings Playbook. Most consultants believe those campaigns that see directors and actors engage directly with voters tend to have an edge and talent reps will steer their clients to a Bafta Q&A above all else. “I am sympathetic when somebody brings me a movie star with hollow eyes who hasn’t slept for 72 hours,” says Miller. “But you’ve got to be in it to win it. It’s what we do. “But some of them really, really don’t care for it and so I say, ‘Good on you,’ and let the film and performance speak for itself.” She points to smaller independent films such as Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts Of The Southern Wild which last year benefited from having a young and enthusiastic film-making team that turned out tirelessly to promote their film. “It’s such an unequal contest to begin with,” says Miller. “You’re pitting flyweights against heavyweights in terms of budget. Sometimes the only assets you have to exploit are your wonderful director and wonderful young movie star.” Q&A formats are popular among UK voters
as many members of AMPAS and all the other key guilds to see the films we are supporting. Preferably on a big screen, the way the motion picture was intended to be seen,” says Steve Elzer, the former head of publicity at Sony Pictures, whose films this year include Captain Phillips and American Hustle. Screen, screen, screen is the favoured mantra of Los Angeles-based Murray Weissman of Weissman/Markovitz Communications. Another Miramax veteran (it is hard to find a decent awards strategist who isn’t), for the past five years Weissman has worked with Paramount Pictures on its awards campaigns. This year the films include Nebraska, Labor Day and The Wolf Of Wall Street. “It’s all about showing a quality film as often as you can to appropriate voters,” says Weissman, who meets weekly with Paramount executives during the season to discuss ideas. “We try to find people to host screenings that might relate to the movie.” Talent involvement One of the first times he showed Nebraska was at the ArcLight Theatre in Sherman Oaks, Los
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‘Selling something is much more day-to-day in the US. When you’re selling a movie in the UK you have to be very authentic’ Bethan Dixon, Organic
Likeability vs art But the hard sell is to be avoided at all times in the UK. “Selling something is much more day-to-day in the US, in every aspect of life,” says Dixon. “When you’re selling a movie in the UK, you have to be very authentic. The Brits are a very cynical bunch, they are also a very independent bunch. They won’t be manipulated into what to think. You’ve got to listen to what they are responding to. “An awards campaign is a bit like surfing. You’ve just got to ride it and respond to something rather than try to drive forward a position. When something is good, it finds its voice.” ‘Momentum’ is the word used by everyone on the circuit as films and actors have their ups and downs in the months leading up to the Oscars. But Weissman believes there is more than mere momentum at play. Now aged 87, it is 40 years since The Sting won the best picture Oscar when Weissman was the head of publicity at Warner Bros in 1974. He has since “nailed” six further best picture campaigns: Kramer Vs Kramer, Dances With Wolves, The English Patient, Chicago, Shakespeare In Love and Crash. “There is a sentimental factor that takes »
February 2014 Screen International 37 n
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Michael Fassbender at the premiere of 12 Years A Slave in Toronto, where the film’s awards buzz built momentum
place in terms of acting,” he says. “A man like Bruce Dern is going to be in the running for best actor. He’s put in 40 years and he’s had a great body of work.” When it comes to the films themselves, Weissman believes likeability is more important than artistic achievement. “The last series that have won the best picture Oscar are all extremely likeable movies, even though there might have been movies they were competing against that were more excellent,” he suggests. “But these movies gained momentum, were likeable and were very entertaining. I’m talking about Argo, Slumdog Millionaire and The Artist, a blackand-white movie with no dialogue. People had a good time with them. There are some movies that are being touted now that are hard to like because the subject matter is tough. It may be important and a great piece of work but it might not be likeable.” Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave is this year’s troubling must-watch — it earned nine Oscar nominations. Miller is handling the UK AMPAS campaign of the film for Fox Searchlight. She believes any voter with a conscience will feel they will not be able to vote until they have seen the key films. “It’s a uniquely good year with a lot of really good films,” she says. “You cannot vote until you’ve seen those films. How you vote after you’ve seen the films is another matter entirely.” Keeping momentum going It is a challenge to ensure the campaign for a film that has premiered at Toronto or earlier remains fresh and dynamic over several months. It is a position Dixon has been in with Cannes debuts No Country For Old Men
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‘This is all matters of taste. You have to go in there and fight for people’ Liz Miller, Premier
The ‘likeability’ of Ben Affleck’s Argo did no harm to its awards chances in 2013
and The Artist. This year she is thankful Saving Mr Banks instead made its world premiere at BFI London Film Festival before opening in the US and UK to generally positive reviews at the end of November. “Most films that survive the longest and maintain their momentum have both the critical support and the audience support. That can be divided,” she points out. In this arena at least, print publications, both newspapers and magazines (including the trades), reign supreme. Although most consultants read blogs and websites such as Hitfix, GoldDerby, Hollywood Elsewhere and Awards Daily, and agree they add positively to the general noise around a film, they doubt many of the voting members know they exist. As Weissman points out: “The mean age of Academy voters is around 60. Some of them don’t have cellphones and don’t have computers. They certainly don’t have iPads. They are not going on the internet.” But the younger generation of voters certainly is and no-one
doubts online campaigning is becoming increasingly important, while smaller films are using online links to ensure voters can see their titles too. Manufacturing and mailing physical screeners to all voters is one of the most expensive — and effective — tools a distributor or studio has at its disposal. Weissman maintains the decision to send screeners of Crash to the entire voting membership of the Screen Actors Guild was a crucial and, at the time, unprecedented, one. He is sure it helped propel the film to its ensemble acting prize at the SAG awards and eventually on to the best picture Oscar. Weismann, whose company charges Paramount a monthly fee, says he and his fourstrong team receive a bonus for a win in certain categories. While that is a common fee structure in the US, the UK consultants do not receive similar payments. Miller points that out to clients. “I don’t get any more money if the film wins or any less money if the film doesn’t make it past the first hurdle,” she says. “The job is always the same and we do our best. If I know perfectly well that somebody’s dog won’t hunt, I tell them and I tell them not to hire me. “Some people say, ‘Why would I work with that woman? She’s indiscriminate and looks after everybody and she has too many films on her plate.’ My standard answer is, ‘I am a good parent. A good parent tells every single one of their children they are Albert Einstein and Ava Gardner. If they go to school and find out they’re dumb and funny looking, so be it.’ This is all matters of taste. You have to go in there and fight for s people.” ■
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sundance reviews in brief
Happy Valley
Dir: Amir Bar-Lev. US. 2013. 98mins The name of American football coach Jerry Sandusky, in prison for life, is now synonymous with the abuse of children. Happy Valley visits the culture that sustained Sandusky for years, and finds plenty of denial. This troubling documentary by Amir Bar-Lev (Fighter, My Kid Could Paint That, The Tillman Story) locates plenty of defenders of Pennsylvania State University, the institution whose leaders knew of Sandusky’s misdeeds and chose not to discipline the man. Ardent followers of Penn State might want to burn this film, but sports fans in the US could be the audience that takes BarLev’s persistent inquiry beyond the arthouse and into the American heartland. Happy Valley could also see strong play on cable sports channels. David D’Arcy CONTACT SUBMARINE ENTERTAINMENT josh@submarine.com
God’s Pocket
Dir: John Slattery. US. 2014. 89mins God’s Pocket is populated by a collection of strange individuals who — although there is not nearly enough of a story around them — have a pungency that is difficult to shake off. An unwieldy dark comedy that doubles as a slightly cockeyed portrait of economically downtrodden small-town America, the feature directing debut of Mad Men actor John Slattery is ultimately too shaggy and tonally inconsistent to hold together. God’s Pocket will be helped theatrically by a cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins and Slattery’s Mad Men co-star Christina Hendricks, and could attract admirers of Pete Dexter’s novel. Slattery should be commended for taking such risks with his debut, but those choices do not lead to enough rewards. Tim Grierson CONTACT THE GERSH AGENCY www.gershagency.com
Little Accidents
Dir/scr: Sara Colangelo. US. 2014. 105mins Little Accidents probes the wounds in a West Virginia mining town after the death of 10 workers underground and the disappearance of a mine manager’s son. Sara Colangelo’s sombre drama is a promising first feature. With a surprising turn from Elizabeth Banks as Diana, a grieving mother who mourns her lost son and her failing marriage, Little Accidents can expect more attention than most arthouse tales of woe. Yet the acting takes you right to the pain of its stories, which is anything but little. Banks finds a complex poignancy in Diana’s motel trysts with Amos (Boyd Holbrook), whose testimony risks putting her husband in prison. Holbrook plays his part on one monosyllabic note, but if the film is released outside the US, his Appalachian murmur will require subtitles. David D’Arcy CONTACT WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR mankner@wmeentertainment.com
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Calvary
Dir/scr: John Michael McDonagh. Ire-UK. 2013. 101mins
A loyal Irish Catholic priest spends what he believes is the last week of his life pondering whether he has made any difference at all to his community in Calvary, a rich character drama that is equally eloquent and despairing. Building on the promise of his feature debut, comedythriller The Guard, writer-director John Michael McDonagh travels into more philosophical terrain, ruminating on the limits of faith and basic human decency to bring meaning to our often empty and random existence. A fine lead performance from The Guard star Brendan Gleeson grounds Calvary in a weary resignation that feels lived-in and deeply considered. The film might prove a difficult sell for a couple of reasons: it is a serious look at religious faith, and one that does not reside in an easily marketable genre (Fox Searchlight acquired it for the US). Still, Calvary would seem a solid arthouse offering, especially with reviews highlighting Gleeson’s performance. And even the non-religious will appreciate the film’s existential uncertainty and bleak musings about living in a world without any sense of justice or reason. As the film opens, Father James (Gleeson) is hearing confessions when an unseen parishioner tells him that he was molested by a priest, who is now dead, when he was a young boy. As retribution, the parishioner says he will kill Father James in one week, an act he hopes will prove shocking to the community since Father James is respected for his good deeds and his patient, loving demeanour. In another kind of movie, Father James would then set about to determine the identity of the parishioner,
but McDonagh is not so much concerned with that mystery as he is in watching Father James use this startling announcement as a prompt to explore his legacy as a priest. Frankly, Calvary barely addresses the possibility of his murder after the opening, instead letting it hover over the proceedings as an open question. But for Father James, who tells almost no-one about what has happened, there seems to be an acceptance that his death is imminent, and so his every subsequent encounter with the community is informed by a sense that his time is short in helping these struggling souls. As in The Guard, McDonagh adds complexity to his central character as we spend more time with him. The arrival of a suicidal daughter, Fiona (Kelly Reilly), sheds light on the man James was before he decided late in life to join the church. Although chiefly a drama, Calvary shows the skill with pithy, funny dialogue that was so evident in The Guard. There are not so much comedic sequences in this film as there are comically flawed individuals, and one of the movie’s sad-funny running jokes is that these people do not really see themselves as lost souls. Most memorably, an abusive, neglectful husband (Chris O’Dowd) is not particularly bothered by the fact his wife is having an affair with a local man (Isaach De Bankolé) because, as he explains it, now he has more time for himself. Tim Grierson
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sundance reviews in brief
Ping Pong Summer
Dir/scr: Michael Tully. US. 2013. 92mins A warm and fuzzy coming-of-age comedy that makes wonderful use of its 1980s backdrop, Michael Tully’s Ping Pong Summer may feel rather familiar, but there is a lot of good-natured and very accessible fun to be had in its tale of one 13-yearold’s dream of glory on the table-tennis table. It hits the mainstream sweet spot with its loving links to 1980s rap, video games, soft rock and branded clothes, with strong cameo casting topping off this well-constructed and sweetly made film. Susan Sarandon is top of the list — though more could have been made of her — while John Hannah and Lea Thompson (herself a veteran of many a 1980s teen film) help give an extra sheen. Mark Adams CONTACT fILMS BOUTIQUE
www.filmsboutique.com
Concerning Violence
SUNDANCE fILM fESTIVAL
The Raid 2
Dir/scr: Gareth Evans. Indo. 2013. 148mins
One of those rare sequels that expands the scope of its predecessor to produce something grander, richer and far more rewarding, The Raid 2 elevates the franchise from a very enjoyable close-quarters action extravaganza into a full-blown crime epic. The martial-arts set pieces remain extraordinary, but writer-director Gareth Evans has dreamed up a story to go along with them which, while hardly ingenious, puts enough muscle on the bone so that this exhilarating follow-up film is gripping even when the fists are not flying. The Raid 2 is set to be released by Sony Pictures Classics in the US at the end of March. Fans of the first instalment, The Raid: Redemption (as it was titled in the US), may be slightly disappointed the sequel does not bring back the original’s cunning Die Hard-like structure. But strong reviews will be catnip to genre aficionados, and glowing word of mouth about the numerous exemplary action scenes will all but guarantee that The Raid 2 will be a cult hit like its predecessor. Taking place immediately after the story of the original film, The Raid 2 finds beleaguered rookie cop Rama (Iko Uwais) barely having time to recover from the events of the first film, in which he took down a whole apartment complex of bad guys, before he is given his next assignment. He must go undercover in a highsecurity prison and befriend Ucok (Arifin Putra), the hot-headed son of a feared crime boss named Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo). After two years in prison and earning the boss’s trust, Rama is set free thanks to Bangun’s connections and
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invited to join his criminal underworld. Rama proves a valuable ally to Bangun, but the older man’s empire is threatened by Ucok’s impatience to assume power, provoking him to join forces with an ambitious — and ruthless — up-and-coming rival, Bejo (Alex Abbad). The first film, also written and directed by Evans, went a long way on the strength of its hand-to-hand fight choreography, resulting in a giddily hyper-violent movie in which one man squared off against an army, breaking bones and slitting throats in incredibly colourful ways. The Raid 2 does not have as slick or meaty a hook as the original, but that hardly matters when Evans has — consciously or not — addressed the chief criticism levelled against the original movie, finding a way to produce some memorable characters and meaningful stakes so that the drama does not entirely depend on a videogame-like escalation of imposing foes that Rama must defeat (this is especially important since, at two-and-a-half hours, The Raid 2 is about 50 minutes longer than The Raid). Evans exhibits some of the same blend of high and low artistry that we see in the films of Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn — they take their work very seriously but there remains a fanboy gleefulness in the margins — and The Raid 2 is so thrilling in part because it so beautifully walks the line between ponderous grandeur and freewheeling, boyish mayhem. Tim Grierson
CONTACT XYZ fILMS
Dir: Goran Hugo Olsson. Swe-US-Den-Fin. 2014. 85mins A powerful, illuminating and visually arresting documentary that offers a fresh perspective on the African liberation struggles of the 1960s and ’70s, Goran Hugo Olsson’s striking Concerning Violence makes for compulsive and at times disturbing viewing as it tackles colonial rule head on, benefiting from singer Lauryn Hill’s striking narration — also repeated on the screen — taken from philosopher Frantz Fanon’s anticolonial text, The Wretched Of The Earth. This intelligent and provocative film cleverly weaves archival footage into an at-times searing treatise on the terrible impact of colonialism, with at the core Fanon’s theory that the violence of colonialism must be met with greater violence to be defeated. Beautifully assembled, the film also benefits from a striking jazzy score that helps the images move along with dark ease. Mark Adams CONTACT fILMS BOUTIQUE
www.filmsboutique.com
They Came Together
Dir: David Wain. US. 2014. 83mins In They Came Together, a charming chocolate shop in New York is almost swallowed up by a greedy candy conglomerate. Romance helps avert the disaster and other silly predicaments in this tiresome burlesque of spoofs that is too coyly absurd for its own good. David Wain’s comedy brings an Airplane zaniness to a love story between a shop owner (Amy Poehler) and a candy executive (Paul Rudd). Yet this stab at screwball vaudeville has all the punch of hammy community theatre. The public for They Came Together will not go beyond the most stalwart fans of its leads, and audiences outside the English-speaking world may be bemused. Even Michael Shannon’s appearance as a violent husband just released from jail cannot save this one. David D’Arcy CONTACT LIONSGATE INTERNATIONAL www.lionsgate.com
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sundance reviews in brief Life Itself
Dir: Steve James. US. 2014. 112mins
Life Itself is not just an overview of the life and times of film critic Roger Ebert; it is also — and more poignantly — an examination of death and how its victims and survivors grapple with it. Directed by veteran documentary film-maker Steve James (Hoop Dreams), one of many filmmakers who benefited directly from Ebert’s critical support, Life Itself is certainly a celebratory and moving tribute to the Chicago-based movie reviewer, his craft and his career, but it also shows the dark sides, debates and difficulties that defined his life. Ultimately, one leaves the documentary feeling that Ebert’s lifelong dedication to cinema was genuine and heartfelt, and it was this very commitment to his craft that kept him going long after he started to lose his battle with cancer. Anthony Kaufman CONTACT KARTEMQUIN fILMS www.kartemquin.com
White Bird In A Blizzard
Dir/scr: Gregg Araki. 2014. US. 91mins
A sexual coming-of-age story, family melodrama and murder mystery rolled into one, Gregg Araki’s latest is a strange hodgepodge. If it were not for the strong screen presence and grounded emotional performance by Shailene Woodley, White Bird In A Blizzard could have been a disaster. But thanks to the rising young actress, the film is an intermittently intriguing and haunting affair. Lacking the wacky, campy humour that has defined Araki’s more entertaining outings (Kaboom, Smiley Face), White Bird In A Blizzard finds the director on more serious ground. Adapted from the novel by Laura Kasischke (whose Suspicious River made for another racy female-centred film), the story begins in 1988 with the mysterious disappearance of mother and wife Eve Connor (Eva Green). While husband Brock (Christopher Meloni) is completely distraught and stuck in a perpetual state of shock, teenage daughter Kat (Woodley) is not particularly surprised by her mother’s absence. Anthony Kaufman CONTACT WILD BUNCH
www.wildbunch.biz
The Disobedient
Dir/scr: Mina Djukic. Serb. 2014. 112mins
Writer/director Mina Djukic’s feature debut The Disobedient (Neposlusni) is a lush and lyrical tale, rich in its presentation of tantalising pastoral romance set against a beautiful sunbaked landscape. The film aspires to be a magical tale of love and longing, and while it succeeds for large sections, its lead pair of young would-be lovers (Mladen Sovilj and Hana Selimovic) are never quite as charismatic as the film thinks they are. But there is much to enjoy in this beautifully shot film — much credit should go to Djordje Arambasic’s stunning cinematography — and director Djukic is clearly a talent to watch. Her thoughtfully constructed film is nicely performed, and also makes great use of cinematography, design and a playful score to help present a rich and vivid picture of bucolic romantic bliss set against the realisation that it is hard to recapture childhood relationships. Mark Adams CONTACT VISIT fILMS
www.visitfilms.com
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Love Is Strange Dir: Ira Sachs. US. 2014. 98mins
With Love Is Strange, US film-maker Ira Sachs (Forty Shades Of Blue, Married Life, Keep The Lights On) has crafted a beautifully observed portrait of love, family and the vagaries of New York real estate. It is a mature and subtle piece of storytelling, and as delicate and lovely as the classical compositions by Frédéric Chopin that play on the film’s soundtrack. After Sundance and Berlin slots, the film should find a warm embrace in arthouse theatres and on VoD platforms where sensitive movies are appreciated, thanks to stellar performances by recognisable actors John Lithgow, Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei and strong critical word-of-mouth. The film begins as longtime partners Ben (Lithgow) and George (Molina) are married in New York City. But their marital bliss is short-lived. George, who teaches music at a Catholic school, loses his job after word gets out that he is in a same-sex marriage. Forced to downsize, the couple sell their apartment, and while they wait to find a new place to live, they decide to live apart temporarily: Ben moves in with his busy professional nephew Eliot (Darren E Burrows), his novelist wife Kate (Tomei) and their teenage son Joey (Charlie Tahan), while George shacks up with two gay cops who live in their building. The set-up is as simple as a family sit-com (‘My Two Old Gay Roommates’ anyone?). But while Sachs milks the situation for some finely calibrated humour — George finds himself in the middle of a raging gay party when he just wants to sleep; Ben is out of place sleeping in Joey’s bunkbed — Love Is Strange goes much deeper, examining the nature of Ben and George’s very tender relationship, the pain of their separation and the disruptions they cause, mostly in the lives of Kate and Joey.
Lithgow, playing the sensitive older man, and Molina, another big-hearted soul, are superb, totally at ease and credible as the story’s central soul mates. The film establishes their characters’ profound love for each other through several genuinely intimate scenes, whether a rain-soaked sorrowful embrace or cuddling together on the bottom bunk. The rest of the cast also delivers top-notch performances: Tomei’s Kate is patient at first as her uncle-inlaw invades her private space, but then slowly frays to a powerful breaking point; while newcomer Tahan goes beyond the role of dark moody teen to quieter places of sadness and self-reflection. The movie is called Love Is Strange, which suggests it is not just about Ben and George’s longstanding connection, but also other types of love, from the strained middle-aged marriage between Eliot and Kate to the bonds formed between “Uncle Ben” and his family, to Joey’s fresh ventures out into the world of romantic relationships. Indeed, the film culminates in a gorgeous magichour final sequence, which evokes life’s inevitable cycles of love, death and rebirth, bringing the film to a subtly transcendent conclusion. Love Is Strange is also a love letter to New York City. Whether shooting atop a Lower Manhattan rooftop or outside a West Village corner at night, Sachs and cinematographer Christos Voudouris depict the urban landscapes with the same kind of care and adoration that they photograph the characters. This airy and luminous visual style contributes to the film’s overall mood — a stirring combination of uplift, melancholy and warmth. David D’Arcy CONTACT fORTISSIMO fILMS
info@fortissimo.nl
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ReVIeWS
sundance reviews in brief God Help The Girl
Dir/scr: Stuart Murdoch. UK. 2013. 111mins
God Help The Girl has a soft whimsy that connects to a time before video clips put editing rhythms into overdrive. As a warmhearted pop musical, its distant ancestor is no less than A Hard Day’s Night, and its natural audience is the fans of Belle and Sebastian, director Stuart Murdoch’s own band. Its eclectic vintage costuming and production design could also bring in the fashion audience in Europe, North America and Asia. Plus if Emily Browning’s career continues to rise, so will the fortunes of this romance. God Help The Girl will not overwhelm you — it is not intended to. Yet it is evidence that Murdoch has a feel for the craft of cinema and that more meaty subjects are within his reach, should he choose them. David D’Arcy CONTACT HANWAY fILMS
www.hanwayfilms.com
I Origins
Dir/scr: Mike Cahill. US. 2014. 117mins
SUNDANCE fILM fESTIVAL
Boyhood Dir/scr: Richard Linklater. US. 2014. 160mins
Not just a coming-of-age movie, but the definitive coming-of-age movie, Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-themaking Boyhood follows the travails of a Texas boy and his family. Filmed sequentially in pieces every year from 2002-13, the film observes its young actors Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater (the director’s daughter) mature through the years, from wide-eyed children to awkward adolescents, wayward teenagers to young adults. Falling somewhere between the 7 Up series and Linklater’s own tales of teen identity (Dazed And Confused), the result is an intriguing and substantial, but not always compelling, experience. Fans of the film-maker and those curious about the experiment will be sure to check it out, but the long running time will likely deter theatrical movie-goers. IFC Films, which also produced the movie, will handle US distribution, where it is likely to find the majority of its audience on VoD and among cineastes. Boyhood begins as Mason (Coltrane) and his older sister Samantha (Linklater) are in primary school, living with their single mom Olivia (Patricia Arquette). Their father, Mason Sr (Ethan Hawke), has returned from 18 months in Alaska with the hope of reconnecting with his kids. After establishing the main characters and their fraught dynamics — Dad’s a loser; Mom wants to make it on her own; Mason struggles in school; Sam is spunky and smart — Boyhood fluidly progresses through the years, charting the family’s shifts over time. Linklater avoids any obvious signposts to show their evolution. Rather, he smoothly cuts across the decade, using changes in hairstyle, popular songs, cultural touchstones (Harry Potter, the Iraq War) and technological developments — from PlayStation to Wii, iPods to iPhones — to mark the march of time. Olivia marries
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and divorces, the family moves around Texas, Mason discovers the opposite sex, gets his heart broken, but Boyhood is less interested in dramatic milestones than the long developmental haul. Undoubtedly, the best scenes in the film involve Hawke’s high-energy performance as their father, a slacker musician who rails against George W Bush, takes his kids to a Houston Astros baseball game, and — in one great bit — enthusiastically sings the praises of The Beatles’ bootleg Black Album. There are also some genuinely touching little moments between father and son, whether discussing the existence of elves or visiting a swimming hole. Every time he appears on screen, Hawke enlivens the proceedings, and watching his own character evolve from deadbeat Dad to a newly responsible family man is one of the fringe joys of the film. Like Linklater’s Before Sunrise and its sequels, Boyhood creates a fascinating temporal universe, which transcends the movie viewer’s normal relationship to a film. In the same way audiences watch Hawke and Julie Delpy age with their characters, and remember the previous movies like nostalgic reveries and glimpses of actually lived lives, Boyhood feels real and expansive, because it is. Though the film is long at points, particularly near the end where Mason has fully matured, it is difficult to imagine where Linklater could cut it down. In many ways, the film’s epic length is integral to how it functions; to condense 12 years into two-and-a-half hours is fairly compact, as it is. An utterly unique narrative experience, Boyhood may falter at points but the sum of its parts is something to behold.
A brain-tickler that at the same time asks deeper questions about spirituality and loss, the twisty I Origins represents for writer-director Mike Cahill a major step forward after his promising, uneven feature debut Another Earth. Telling the story of an ambitious molecular biologist whose faith in science will be challenged in unexpected ways, this sci-fi romantic drama is consistently engaging and unpredictable, growing in emotional impact as its mysteries start to assert themselves. Fox Searchlight acquired world rights in Park City and I Origins should be a solid indie performer, buoyed by the presence of Michael Pitt and Another Earth star (and co-writer) Brit Marling. Brandishing elements of a love story, detective piece and speculative fiction, the film could transcend easy genre pigeonholing — indeed, it works best as a character piece in which the central character Ian (Pitt) gradually comes to grips with the mysteries of life that science cannot explain. But strong reviews would go a long way towards coaxing on-thefence viewers to try this unconventional offering. Tim Grierson CONTACT fOX SEARCHLIGHT
Wish I Was Here
Dir: Zach Braff. US. 2014. 113mins
Hopelessly self-indulgent and increasingly sappy, director-star Zach Braff ’s Wish I Was Here parades its emotional sincerity with such conviction that, eventually, one succumbs to this comedy-drama’s tear-jerking assault, even if at the same time acknowledging the movie’s navel-gazing limitations. An examination of mortality and the struggles of parenthood, Braff ’s first directorial effort since 2004’s Garden State appears destined to divide audiences, moving some viewers while infuriating others. Experiencing both sensations during the film seems the most appropriate reaction. Generating headlines because a healthy portion of its reported $5m budget was raised through Kickstarter, Wish I Was Here should do well with the same audience that embraced Garden State a decade ago, and a cast that features Kate Hudson, Josh Gad and Mandy Patinkin will appeal to different generations of film-goers. Tim Grierson
Anthony Kaufman CONTACT CINETIC MEDIA
www.cineticmedia.com
sarah.peters@fox.com
CONTACT WILD BUNCH
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February 2014 Screen International 43 n
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Wings Of Desire
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