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Scorsese, Pattinson and Hogg team on Souvenir Guillaume Gouix as Alain Prost
TF1 on track with F1 project BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Formula One legend Alain Prost flies into Cannes this weekend for a presentation of Julien Leclercq’s upcoming biopic Prost, which tells the driver’s life story through his close relationships with late brother Daniel and, later, his ontrack rival Ayrton Senna. “It’s a story of brothers in two parts,” said Paris-based Julien Madon, who is producing under his Labyrinthe Films banner, which he runs with Leclercq. Mars Films is also on board as co-producer and French distributor. TF1 Studio, which is handling international sales, will present the $19m (¤17m) project to buyers on Monday in the presence of Prost, Leclercq and Madon. French actor Guillaume Gouix (The Returned) has signed to play Prost.
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Robert Pattinson, Tom Burke, Ariane Labed and Richard Ayoade are due to star in UK filmmaker Joanna Hogg’s next film, The Souvenir. Martin Scorsese will serve as executive producer on the romantic mystery alongside his Sikelia Productions partner Emma Tillinger Koskoff. The Souvenir, developed with the BFI and backed by BBC Films, will be made in two parts, the first feature set to shoot this summer and the second in summer 2018. Spanning the 1980s, the film will chart the story of a young film student, involved in her first serious love affair, who tries to disentangle fact from fiction in a relationship with a complicated and untrustworthy man (played by Burke). Pattinson will be the male lead in the second
Martin Scorsese
film. The role of the female protagonist is expected to go to a newcomer. Protagonist Pictures handles world sales on The Souvenir, which is understood to be arthouse filmmaker Hogg’s most commercial project to date. Producer will be Luke Schiller. Hogg is the second UK filmmaker Scorsese has backed recently after Ben Wheatley, with whom he worked on Free Fire. Speaking exclusively to Screen,
Scorsese said: “A singular voice is important. Much of that is coming out of England. I find that so many interesting filmmakers are working at a low production scale there. That gives you freedom. But you still need money and support to help develop the artist. The important thing is to continue to support the individual voice.” Hogg added: “This story has been in my head for a few years.” Scorsese and Hogg spoke to Screen during the festival, a place Scorsese called “the centrepiece of world cinema”. The Oscar winner had intended to be here to celebrate its 70th edition but is currently gearing up to shoot big-budget crime drama The Irishman, which Screen sources have confirmed is due to go ahead with Netflix backing later this year.
Hubert Boesl
Bureau Sales sells out Pete BY TOM GRATER
Andrew Haigh’s Lean On Pete, his highly anticipated follow-up to Berlin Silver Bear winner 45 Years, has sold out worldwide for joint sales agents The Bureau Sales and Celluloid Dreams. The drama, about a 15-year-old boy who befriends a failing racehorse, stars Charlie Plummer and Steve Buscemi. The most high-profile new deal is with Focus Features, which has picked up German-speaking territories, Scandinavia and most of Asia and Eastern Europe. Further deals have been done with Japan (Gaga), Australia (Transmission), Latin America (Sun), Spain (Diamond), Poland (Monolith), former Yugoslavia (Blitz), Portugal (Alambique) and airlines (Skeye).
Paul Dano, Tilda Swinton, director Bong Joon Ho and newcomer An Seo Hyun on the Okja red carpet last night
MK2 grabs sole Chinese film in official selection France’s MK2 Films has acquired French rights to Un Certain Regard title Walking Past The Future, which is the only Chinese film in official selection. Hong Kong-based Edko Films is handling international sales
on the picture, directed by Li Ruijun, whose previous titles Flying With The Crane and River Road premiered at Venice and Berlin respectively. Walking Past The Future receives its world premiere this morning.
Edko Films was also one of the producers along with QiTai Ocean Cultures & Media, Irresistible Alpha, PULIN Production and Hucheng No. 7 Films. Liz Shackleton
TODAY
The Square, page 42
NEWS Latido flair Latido boards pair of hot Colombian projects » Page 2
FEATURES The Square Ruben Ostlund’s art-world satire » Page 42
BREAKING NEWS Annapurna has swooped on US rights to Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers. The company will co-produce and co-finance the western with Why Not Productions. Also, Focus Features has acquired world rights to Wim Wenders’ doc Pope Francis — A Man Of His Word.
Friland unlocks Holst’s Congo BY WENDY MITCHELL
Headhunters producer Friland Produksjon is planning a feature based on the true story of two Norwegian citizens, Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland, who were sentenced to be executed in Eastern Congo after the death of their hired driver in 2009. TrustNordisk will handle sales on the film, titled Congo. Nordisk will release in Scandinavia. Marius Holst will direct and Norwegian reports said Aksel Hennie will play French. Nikolaj Frobenius (Insomnia) is writing the script. The film has been in development for years but can only now be announced publicly because French was released and returned to Norway this week (Moland died in jail). “We have chosen to let all known facts and comprehensive research make the basis of the dramatic tale. This is a fictional story based on incredible true events,” Holst said. Congo is produced by Christian Fredrik Martin and Asle Vatn for Friland in co-production with Nordisk Film, Pandora Film Produktion, Nimbus Film, Garagefilm International and Film Väst in collaboration with DO Productions, with support from Norwegian Film Institute, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fund, Danish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute and MEDIA.
NEWS
Night for UK-China Jules Dassin’s London-set noir classic Night And The City (1950) is to be remade under the UK-China co-production treaty. Nick Love is to write and direct, with Kris Thykier of Archery Pictures producing on the UK side, Jeffrey Chan (Bona Film Group) handling China and 20th Century Fox also on board. Details were revealed by Michael Andreen, senior VP of 20th Century Fox International, at the Winston Baker Film Finance Forum in Cannes yesterday. He said the production would be set in London and Macau with Chinese, UK and possibly US actors. Geoffrey Macnab
Tributes pour in for Busan’s Kim Ji-seok BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Tributes have been paid to Kim Ji-seok, deputy director and executive programmer of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), who died of a heart attack in Cannes on Thursday night. Among filmmakers and industry figures offering condolences were Cannes head Thierry Frémaux, who described Kim as “a true professional and a great programmer”. “He was curious about everything and watched everything. We are heartbroken over his passing and would like to offer our condolences to his family. Our community has lost one of its most precious members,” Frémaux said.
Kim Ji-seok
One of BIFF’s founding members, Kim focused on programming Asian cinema and helped discover many of today’s leading Asian filmmakers. Roger Garcia, executive director of the Asian Film Awards Academy, said: “He lit up the careers of many filmmakers, and illuminated many areas of cinema and films for audiences and the film community around the world.” Many Asian filmmakers
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expressed their shock on social media on Friday morning when the festival woke to news of his death. “I can’t believe it. He was my benefactor, my brother. I had a lot of help from Mr Kim. My tears won’t stop,” said Japan’s Isao Yukisada. The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has set up a memorial in its booth in the International Village and will hold a tribute for Kim at its reception in Cannes on Monday. In a statement, KOFIC said: “We sincerely mourn the loss of Busan deputy director Kim Jiseok, who played an enormous role in the promotion of Korean and Asian films across the world.”
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Latido Films has made two key Latin American deals at the start of the Marché, boarding international sales for Siete Cabezas by El Paramo director Jaime Osorio Marquez, and Killing Jesus, the debut feature from Laura Mora. They are two of the most anticipated Colombian productions of the year. With Ciro Guerra’s Embrace Of The Serpent winning the Directors’ Fortnight prize in 2015 and Cesar Augusto Acevedo’s Land And Shade winning the Camera d’Or that same year, Cannes has been proving a strong launchpad for the country’s films. Diana Bustamante, who produced Land And Shade and is on the Critics’ Week
jury this year, is a driving force in the new wave of Latin American cinema. She has teamed up with Dynamo, the producer of Netflixbacked TV series Narcos, to produce Siete Cabezas. The film is a psychological thriller about two biologists sent to a natural park to investigate the mysterious death of the creatures in it. Bustamante described the film as “an intense and intimate story about the darkness of the soul”. Killing Jesus is a co-production between 64A Films and AZ Films. The dramatic thriller revolves around a Colombian student who accidentally crosses paths with her father’s assassin. Elisabet Cabeza
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Acclaimed South Korean producer Kim Dong-joo (Oldboy) has turned towards Hollywood with the launch of film and TV company Starzione. Based in Beijing and Los Angeles, the company aims to act as a bridge between global collaborators and kicks off
with a co-production and co-financing deal with Los Angeles-based Unified Pictures to complete production on animation The Ark And The Aardvark. Miles Teller is attached and John Stevenson directs. Starzione is also developing superhero project Tattoo Man with Andrew
Cosby, founder of BOOM! Studios. “I couldn’t be more pleased than to have partners such as Unified Pictures,” said Kim. “Our mutual work on our flagship animation underscores the global aim of our collaboration,” Unified’s Kurt Rauer added.
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Films Distribution is reporting brisk business on market title Some Like It Veiled, a French-language cross- dressing burqa comedy with a contemporary spin. The debut feature of Iranian-French filmmaker Sou Abadi, it stars Félix Moati and French singer-turnedactress Camélia Jordana. Films Distribution has sealed deals to Spain (Caramel Films), Greece (Feel Good), Austria (Filmladen),
Some Like It Veiled
Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Germany (NSP), Switzerland (Frenetic) and Israel (New Cinema). “It’s a classic comedy scheme in which cross-dressing is the
comic trick but in a very contemporary context,” said Films Distribution cochief Nicolas Brigaud-Robert. Mars Films will release on June 28.
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Wolff hails Semper Fi Rising star Nat Wolff has boarded Rumble Films and Sparkhouse Media crime thriller Semper Fi, which Cornerstone Films is shopping to buyers in Cannes. Wolff, a YA darling who starred in The Fault In Our Stars and is in Adam Wingard’s upcoming Death Note, will play younger brother to Sam Claflin’s Hopper. Henry-Alex Rubin will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sean Mullin. Rumble Films’ David Lancaster, a best picture Oscar nominee for Whiplash, and Karina Miller of Sparkhouse Media are producing. CAA co-represents US rights with Cornerstone. Jeremy Kay
Westwood struts for Dogwoof
riente) and France (Films UK documentary specialist Distribution). The film preDogwoof has inked a series miered at Sundance. of deals on its sales slate. Bombshell: The Hedy Westwood, Lorna Tuck- Lamarr Story, Alexandra er’s film about fashion icon Dean’s film about the HolVivienne Westwood, has lywood actress, has sold to sold to Japan (Kadokawa), Australia and New Zealand Germany, Austria and Swit- (Madman). It was produced zerland (NFP), Australia by Susan Sarandon and is and New Zealand (Mad- narrated by Diane Kruger. man), China (Tencent) and Previously sold territories Hong Kong (Edko). In post- were Scandinavia and Balproduction, it is being pro- tics (Non Stop) and Gerduced by John Battsek of many and Austria (NFP). It Passion Pictures. premiered at Tribeca. 78/52, Alexandre O Also in Cannes, Dogwoof Philippe’s feature that will have market screenings explores the iconic shower of Dan Sickles and Antonio scene from Alfred Hitch- Santini’s Dina (Sundance cock’s Psycho, has gone to Documentary jury prize Australia and New Zealand winner) and Jairus McLeary (Monster), Italy (Koch and Gethin Aldous’ The Media), China (Huanxi Work (SXSW grand jury Media), Spain (A Contracor- award winner). ScreenDaily - Half Page 218x150 Cannes 2016.qxp_Layout 1 13/04/17 15:15 Pagina 2
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NEWS
BY TOM GRATER
Southcombe’s Scarborough affair I, Anna director Barnaby Southcombe has started principal photography on Scarborough, starring Jodhi May, Jordan Bolger and Jessica Barden. Great Point Media, Southcombe’s Embargo Films and Poisson Rouge Pictures are producing. The four-week shoot kicked off on May 15 on location in Scarborough, a seaside resort town in northeast England. Southcombe adapted Fiona Evans’ award-winning play about two
dangerously charged teacher-pupil relationships with the story unfolding over two weekends. Christopher Granier-Deferre, who also worked on the iFeatures slate including Lady Macbeth, produces. Granier-Deferre said: “It is a thought-provoking piece that asks us to look beyond the moral implications of these relationships and instead at the individuals caught up in their destructive wake.” Wendy Mitchell
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Irish Films at Marché du Film Cannes
— The Delinquent Season Sales Agent Protaganist Pictures
— The Killing of a Sacred Deer Sales Agent HanWay Films
— The Breadwinner Sales Agent Westend Films
— The Third Wave Sales Agent Bac Films Distribution
— Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami Sales Agent Westend Films
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— The Lodgers Sales Agent Epic Pictures Group
— Black ‘47 Sales Agent Altitude Film Sales
— Song of Granite US Distribution Oscilloscope
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NEWS
Carnaby steps into Shrine
Heretic spins off again
BY TOM GRATER
Growing Greek production and sales outfit Heretic is to launch a consulting company for international producers. Heretic Asterisk will focus on marketing and festival launch strategies. The initiative is being run with Dogtooth assistant producer Vicky Miha. Heretic Asterisk will also provide guidance in funding applications for international institutions, development and financing strate-
UK sales outfit Carnaby International has acquired worldwide sales rights to sci-fi thriller The Shrine and is introducing the project to buyers at Cannes. The film is set against the backdrop of war in the Middle East. When a US drone strikes a rebel convoy, a blackout engulfs the Syrian-Turkish border. A US and Turkish military team investigate and stumble upon a shrine at a mosque in a deserted town. What they find buried beneath will test their faith. Sebastian Pearson is producing for his banner Pearson Films. His previous credits include Snatch and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels as an associate producer. Anthony Hickox (Waxwork, Hellraiser III) will direct and has penned the screenplay. Production is slated for early 2018, with cast to be announced at a later date.
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
gies for projects, strategic planning for distribution and marketing, as well as co-ordinating all promotional material for completed films. Miha said: “Our goal is to make the producer’s life simpler by coordinating parts of the work that cannot be easily handled by individual producers or small teams.” The Athens-based production house was founded in 2013 by Giorgos Karnavas and Konstanti-
nos Kontovrakis. Latest credits include Tribeca 2017 winner Son Of Sofia. In 2015, Heretic introduced its sales arm Heretic Outreach, which handles regional fare. The division is headed by Ioanna Stais, one of Screen’s 2017 sales and acquisitions Future Leaders. The catalogue includes 2016 Locarno winner Godless, Serbian drama Depth Two and Turkish debut Daha.
Lupercal offers China Industry veteran Kevin Williams’ company Lupercal is taking the leap into selling Chinese films in the international marketplace. The first of these titles on the slate is Helena Xu’s arthouse drama My Awesome Grandpa, which will have a theatrical release in China later this year through CCTV 6. Geoffrey Macnab
Rocket Science chalks up head of marketing BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Jonathan Lynch-Staunton
8 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
UK sales outfit Rocket Science has confirmed the appointment of former HanWay executive Jonathan Lynch-Staunton as head of marketing. Lynch-Staunton had been working with the company on a freelance basis but his move became permanent last month. Based in the London office,
Lynch-Staunton will oversee all marketing efforts for Rocket Science, including the co-ordination of release plans with distributors. Thorsten Schumacher, CEO of Rocket Science, said: “This appointment underpins the steady expansion of Rocket Science as we continue to ensure the business is well-positioned to grow amid the
rapidly diversifying international market. Jonathan brings unique strategic insight and invaluable experience to our team.” Rocket Science’s debut Cannes slate includes Matthew McConaughey-starrer The Beach Bum, by Harmony Korine, and Taika Waititi’s Bubbles, which is a hot property at the market
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NEWS
Buyers loving CMG’s Vincent
BY WENDY MITCHELL
Anna Serner, CEO of the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) and the preeminent global lobbyist on gender equality in film, has confirmed that in 2016, 64% of the SFI’s production funding went to female directors. That means for the period 2013-16, the SFI funding was exactly 50% female and 50% male. Serner expects the percentage of SFI funding to female directors this year to be 40%. But she added: “It can change, and it is totally accurate that we should be going up and down year by year. I’m happy with that.” The SFI is for the second year in a row hosting a Cannes seminar about gender equality. ‘50/50 by 2020 — Global Reach’ will be held today at 2pm in Palais K by the SFI, WIFT Nordic and the Marché.
10 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Per Myrehed
Cinema Management Group (CMG) has closed deals on hot seller Loving Vincent. The painted animation about Vincent van Gogh has its world premiere at Annecy next month. LA-based Good Deed acquired the US and English-speaking Canada after CMG brokered the deal with vice president of acquisitions and distribution Kristin Harris. Weltkino head of acquisitions Bianca Obermaier and CEO Dietmar Güntsche took Germany and Austria. Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman co-directed and Welchman produced with Ivan MacTaggart and Sean Bobbitt. Loving Vincent has now sold in 30-plus territories. It took five years to make and comprises in excess of 62,000 individual frames painted in oils. Jeremy Kay
SFI achieves female filmmaker milestone Anna Serner
The talk will include filmmakers Agnieszka Holland and Jessica Hausner, followed by presentations from Irish Film Board CEO James Hickey, Norwegian Film Institute CEO Sindre Guldvog, producer and Producers Guild of America representative Lydia Dean Pilcher, and Toronto International Film Festival executive director/COO Michele Maheux. Serner told Screen: “Last year’s 50/50 seminar lead to momentum. So many other countries are now
working with new strategies. Gatekeepers are actively saying, ‘We’re not happy with the situation and we’re changing our strategies.’” She encourages other funders to look at the SFI’s action plan for reaching gender equality without quotas. “Everyone is free to copyand-paste our action plan. Some of them can do some cherry-picking of it. And there are other toolkits like Women in Hollywood.” The SFI plans to launch an annual report on gender equality in film in November 2017. It will concentrate on Sweden but offer comparisons globally. Serner hopes today’s session will spur action from the audience: “Anyone who comes to the seminar can pick any one strategy or idea. I want people to come out of the seminar and say, ‘It’s possible.’”
Mongrel adds Mathematician Mongrel International has come on board to handle world sales on Thor Klein’s Adventures Of A Mathematician. Lead producer Lena Vurma of Dragonfly Films confirmed Mongrel’s involvement in the film, which recently became the first with a German director to receive support from the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund. The project received an initial $75,000 towards production and pre-production. “We loved the script immediately. It’s so smart and compassionate, filled with great joy and stunning gravitas,” Charlotte Mickie, head of Mongrel International, told Screen. The film is a Germany-PolandCanada co-production. It tells the story of Polish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, who will be played by Jakub Gierszal. Geoffrey Macnab
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NEWS
Radius flies for Epic Epic Pictures has closed key territories on thriller Radius starring Diego Klattenhoff and Charlotte Sullivan. Deals have concluded in Italy (Minerva), Japan (At Entertainment), Indonesia (CGV), Taiwan (MovieCloud) and Vietnam (Skyline Media). Shaked Berenson, Patrick Ewald and their team also licensed rights in Middle East (Eagle Film), Mexico (Sky Distribution) and Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile (BF Distribution). CineSky acquired airline rights. Radius is about a man who wakes after an accident and discovers that everything that comes within 15 metres of him dies. The film marks the Los Angeles-based company’s second collaboration with Turbo Kid producers AnneMarie Gélinas and RKSS. Jeremy Kay
Denmark’s Snowglobe to shake up Sticks & Stones
Splendid goes Dutch on biopic BY GEOFFREY MACNAB
BY WENDY MITCHELL
Danish production company Snowglobe, whose co-production credits include festival hits Godless by Ralitza Petrova and The Untamed by Amat Escalante, has greenlit its first Danish production. Martin Skovbjerg’s Sticks & Stones (Brakland) will shoot in July and August on the southern Danish islands of Langeland and Funen. Theatrical distributors already on board are Denmark’s Reel Pictures, Iceland’s Bio Paradis and Norway’s Mer Film. The story is about a teenage boy from Copenhagen who moves to a provincial area, where he befriends the local 15-year-old alpha male. When one boy’s family is blamed for a scandal, their friendship is put in peril. Jonas Bjerril and Vilmer Trier Brogger will star. The project is backed by the
A still from a test shoot for Sticks & Stones
Danish Film Institute and regional fund FilmFyn. It was pitched at Rotterdam’s CineMart 2017. Skovbjerg makes his feature debut after working as a music producer and music video director. Snowglobe has used its international connections to line up a team that includes DoP David Gallego (Embrace Of The Serpent), sound designer Gunnar Oskars-
son (Sparrows) and co-producers Colombia’s Ciudad Lunar and Iceland’s Pegasus Pictures. Producer Eva Jakobsen said: “We are putting together a strong international creative team, which has been an aspiration of ours from the beginning. Co-producing with the world opens up and defines our projects on a wider scale, which is truly inspiring.”
The Benelux arm of German outfit Splendid is taking the plunge into production. The company has boarded feature The Conductor (De Dirigent) from Dutch director Maria Peters and producer Dave Schram. The film is based on the true story of Netherlands-born, US-raised Antonia Brico, who was the world’s first female conductor. The film has a $5.1m (¤4.6m) budget and will shoot this autumn throughout Europe. A second Splendid Dutch production starts shooting this month. Directed by Erwin van den Eshof, teen drama Misfits stars some of the Netherlands’ most popular YouTube stars. Eyeing a quick turnaround, Splendid plans to release the film in early autumn. “As an independent distributor, the move into production is the logical next step,” said Splendid chief Erik Engelen.
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Today
Edited by Tom Grater & Orlando Parfitt
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@ScreenDaily
Meet amazing Grace Candid doc strips back the musician/model/actress/superstar’s life Pop-culture icon Grace Jones is set to bare all in a cinéma véritéstyle documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami, which is being launched in Cannes by WestEnd Films. “This is the first time people will see me in this way,” Jones told Screen this week from her home in Jamaica. “They will see a very candid portrayal. It is raw. It will be like seeing me almost naked. “I’m very happy with the film,” she continues. “I didn’t feel like it was an invasion. It was a very smooth and comfortable process.” The intimate portrait by Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema), more than five years in the making, explores the performance, private and public life of the Vogue cover model and singer, also known for movie roles in Conan The Destroyer and A View To A Kill. The film includes unique performances of Jones’ hits such as ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ and ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’, as well as the more recent autobiographical tracks ‘Williams’ Blood’ and ‘Hurricane’.
Tomorrow
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In conversation with… BRUNO DUMONT ( Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan Of Arc, Directors’ Fortnight)
Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami
In the movie, the songs will link to Jones’ family life — including a traumatic early period — via a holiday road trip across her homeland Jamaica. In local patois, ‘Bloodlight’ is the red light that illuminates when an artist is recording and ‘Bami’ means bread, the substance of daily life. Jones’ own creativity shows no signs of abating and she is in the process of finishing her next album, which she is aiming to release later this year.
#CannesChatter Elle Fanning snapped How To Talk To Girls At Parties director John Cameron Mitchell having his outfit adjusted by Ismael’s Ghosts star Marion Cotillard.
@ellefanning @marioncotillard putting the finishing touches on @johncameronmitchell outfit day 2
“That’s why I’m working in Jamaica,” she says. “You need to take more control. I’m my own boss. I feel more creative than ever, in the business side of things too.” A feature biopic could also be on the horizon. “I’m working on a feature film based on my autobiography [I’ll Never Write My Memoirs],” Jones reveals. “There are a number of established movie companies interested in the rights.” Andreas Wiseman
Toni Erdmann star on the up The sensational debut of Maren Ade’s German comedy Toni Erdmann in Cannes last year propelled star Peter Simonischek into the international limelight. Few could forget his red carpet appearance, when he produced a pair of false teeth from his pocket, echoing one of the movie’s best puns. Screen caught up with the Austrian actor on the set of his new film The Interpreter, which is currently shooting in Slovakia. Celluloid Dreams is shopping the project here. “There are people who want more from me now,” he comments, but says that the quality of offers he is receiving “is better”. Next up for him is Thomas Vinterberg’s Kursk, which will shoot in France and Norway. Tom Grater
» Full story on ScreenDaily.com 16 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Bruno Dumont hits Directors’ Fortnight with Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan Of Arc. Adapted from the epic poem The Mystery Of The Charity Of Jeanne d’Arc by Charles Péguy, it features an amateur cast, an eclectic score by experimental composer Igorrr and dance sections choreographed by Philippe Decouflé.
How did you combine the amateur cast with the work of Igorrr? I wanted the score to be melodious and popular and Igorrr’s work is not very melodious so I asked the girls to compose melodies around Péguy’s texts. The score is a combination of both.
Why make a Joan of Arc film in this moment in France’s history? I started developing the film when the French were asking a lot of questions about what it means to be French. The story of Joan of Arc is a way to tackle this in a simple way.
There’s quite a lot of headbanging in the film. Where did that come from? That came from Igorrr. He’s into heavy metal. I found the act of head-banging a good way to represent Joan of Arc’s trances and moments of ecstasy. It’s also quite violent and there’s a violence in Joan alongside her grace, beauty and sensuality. Melanie Goodfellow
Hasn’t her image been tarnished recently by its association with the National Front? She’s a patriotic figure but appeals as much to the left as to the right. She represents France in her universality and her sensibility towards others. She is a paradox, she is at once nationalist and for all of humanity, for God but against the Church.
Lise Leplat Prudhomme in the title role
TODAY’S VR SCREENINGS (Marché du Film) Today’s VR screenings at the NEXT VR Theatre include a presentation of Canadian VR from Telefilm Canada and the Phi Centre (10am-11am); a selection of experiences from Orange (11am-12pm); three projects from digital outfit Cross Video Days (12pm-1pm); a look at Australia 360 VR projects from Byron Bay Film Festival (3pm-4pm); an overview of innovative VR experiences in the Chinese market (4pm-5pm); and a presentation from Arte (5pm-6pm).
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Venezia 30.08 / 9.09 2017 www.labiennale.org
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SPOTLIGHT CANNES AT 70
Cannes Decades 1976-1985 As Cannes celebrates its 70th edition, Nikki Baughan turns the clock back to the decade from 1976, when US cinema finally began to challenge the dominance of the European greats at the festival
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n the late 1970s, the impact of the American New Wave was being felt heavily on the Croisette as US filmmakers began to challenge the dominance of established European directors — a trend that would continue into the 1980s and 1990s. Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver won the Palme d’Or in 1976, despite the fact audiences (and jury) were divided about its level of violence (not helped, perhaps, by the fact a bomb had exploded outside the Palais the previous year). Three years later, Francis Ford Coppola picked up his second Palme for Apocalypse Now, sharing the honour with Volker Schlöndorff ’s markedly different The Tin Drum. Throughout the 1980s, the changes brought about in the previous decade saw the festival become ever more committed to freedom of expression and increasingly broad in terms of films and attendees. Cannon Films, for example, purveyor of distinctive low- to mediumbudget films such as Death Wish and Delta Force, became a regular on the Croisette, with its lurid billboards and knowledge of how to work the market to ensure it did a brisk trade. As Cannes continued to expand, with an increasing number of films and audiences, a new home was needed for the growing number of attendees, and so a new, bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congres was unveiled in 1983. Nicknamed ‘The Bunker’, it received a mixed s reaction that endures to this day. ■
WINNERS PALME D’OR 1976 Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, US) 1977 Padre Padrone (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy) 1978 The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (Ermanno Olmi, Italy) 1979 Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, US); The Tin Drum (Volker Schlöndorff, West Germany) 1980 All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, US); Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa, Japan) 1981 Man Of Iron (Andrzej Wajda, Poland) 1982 Missing (Costa-Gavras, Greece); The Way (Yilmaz Guney and Serif Gören, Turkey) 1983 The Ballad Of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, Japan) 1984 Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, West Germany) 1985 When Father Was Away On Business (Emir Kusturica, Yugoslavia)
Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver supporting Peter Weir’s Competition title The Year of Living Dangerously in 1983
18 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Information et Stratégie © Bertrand Bataille - Ian Patrick
Akira Kurosawa - Bruno Ducourant
Michel Landi © ADAGP
Siudmak © ADAGP
CANNES POSTERS ACROSS THE DECADE
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REVIEWS Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com
» Okja p22 » Let The Sunshine In p26 » Jupiter’s Moon p24 » Lover For A Day p26 » A Prayer Before Dawn p24 » Filmworker p28
» Barbara p28
Okja Reviewed by Jonathan Romney No one can fault South Korean maestro Bong Joon Ho on either versatility or ambition — his work ranging from bleak crime stories like Mother to the FX-laden, internationally cast sci-fi train epic Snowpiercer. He is in FX mode again in the similarly big-thinking Okja, a broad, sometimes strident satire on corporate cruelty and the horrors of the meat-based economy. In a very different mode to his earlier strictlyfor-scares feature The Host, it is also the story of a girl and her very unusual pet. To say that the two registers — political cartooning and intimate cuteness — do not mix would be an understatement, and Okja is a classic case of a film that you emerge from not knowing quite who it is intended for. This will be a problem when the film has a limited theatrical release in the US and UK on June 23, perhaps less so when this Netflix production — controversially, the first to be screened in Cannes’ Competition — goes online the following week. Okja opens with a brassy fanfare of a prelude set in New York, where Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton), new CEO of the agrochemical Mirando Corporation, gives a press conference announcing that the hitherto nasty company has a new eco-friendly ethical face. The company’s new project is the creation of a breed of super-
22 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
COMPETITION S Korea-US. 2017. 118mins Director Bong Joon Ho Production companies Plan B Entertainment, Lewis Pictures, Kate Street Picture Company, Netflix Worldwide distribution Netflix Producers Ted Sarandos, Dooho Choi, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Woo Sik Seo, Lewis Taewan Kim Screenplay Bong Joon Ho, Jon Ronson Cinematography Darius Khondji Production designer Arnaud de Moleron Editor Yang Jinmo Music Jaeil Jung Main cast Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, An Seo Hyun, Byun Heebong, Jake Gyllenhaal
pig that will have a minimal environmental footprint, feed the world and, above all, taste good. Twenty-six of these beasts have been sent around the world to be raised, and 10 years later we meet one — female specimen Okja, living in an idyllic mountain area in Korea, with a girl named Mija (13-year-old An Seo Hyun) as her companion. A lumbering, floppy-eared pachyderm-skinned creature — a pigapotamus, roughly speaking — Okja is a tender, devoted creature, whose audacity and intelligence are shown in a jungle cliffhanger episode. But Okja is soon reclaimed by the corporation, so Mija embarks on an intrepid journey, first to Seoul then to New York, where she discovers the unpalatable facts about the food industry. The adventure that ensues involves a gang of well-intentioned but ethically confused Animal Liberation Front activists, headed by the drolly neurotic Jay (Paul Dano). The film cannot be faulted on its slapstick action sequences nor on its VFX, under the aegis of Erik-Jan de Boer. Okja’s physical heaviness and emotional softness emerge vividly, and the creature has a real corporeal presence, partly because of the delicate control of its movements. You absolutely believe the emotional and physical interplay between Okja and young Mija — not least because young An Seo Hyun, a natural, gives such a candid and touchingly downplayed performance.
It should be said that hers is one of the few controlled turns in a film that overindulges madcap performances. The worst offenders are a wildly mugging Shirley Henderson and Jake Gyllenhaal — “squeaking and whining,” as one character complains — in a manic comedynebbish role that Sacha Baron Cohen might have pulled off, but here is leadenly hysterical in a way that is hardly characteristic of this fine thesp. Even Swinton, who has a strong record of playing corporate neurotics (cf. Michael Clayton), pushes Lucy into braying overdrive right from the start. Okja is fun, if sometimes over-egged, as an adventure romp, but flounders in overstatement when it comes to satirical intent. It could be called either audacious or misjudged when the final act takes us to a factory farm for giant pigs, where the film turns into something between My Neighbor Totoro and Le Sang Des Betes. This is the sort of moment that could be too harrowing for younger viewers — and the same could be said for an episode of, no kidding, pig rape. As one character says of the new super-duper meat: “It’s all edible except for the squeal.” Viewers may feel there’s rather more squeal here than they can easily swallow.
SCREEN SCORE
★★ www.screendaily.com
REVIEWS
A Prayer Before Dawn Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan
Jupiter’s Moon Reviewed by Tim Grierson
COMPETITION
An unwanted Syrian refugee becomes an angel — maybe — in Jupiter’s Moon, an ambitious, thematically overstuffed drama that is both a crackling action thriller and a ponderous political commentary. In his follow-up to White God, Hungarian filmmaker Kornel Mundruczo digs passionately into the zeitgeist, riffing on Europe’s immigration crisis and life in a seemingly godless universe. But the director’s higher aspirations end up being less inspired than his bravura setpieces, which feature plenty of genre gusto that is blessedly free of weighty ideas. Jupiter’s Moon is an odd mongrel — a sort of combination of Children Of Men and an X-Men movie that won’t stop lecturing the audience about the points it wants to make. Zsombor Jeger plays Aryan, a young Syrian man who sneaks into Hungary after a perilous journey, only to be gunned down by Laszlo (Gyorgy Cserhalmi), the callous director of a refugee camp. But Aryan inexplicably stays alive — and now has the power to levitate. Seeking help from a crooked doctor, Stern (Merab Ninidze), Aryan wants to track down his father, who was separated from him during their entry into Hungary. But Stern has other ideas, convincing him to team up on a series of scams where they will trick wealthy, ailing patients into believing the kid is a miracle worker. As with White God, Jupiter’s Moon wields a clever sci-fi premise in service to topical observations about man’s inhumanity to man. Much of the fun derives from the film’s refusal to explain why Aryan has developed this power. Some characters think he might be an angel, but even Aryan cannot figure out what has happened. Unfortunately, Jupiter’s Moon loses altitude once Mundruczo and screenwriter Kata Weber start portentously laying out their themes. The movie’s title is a belaboured metaphor for feeling alienated, and likewise the filmmakers draw tortured parallels between their pulpy scenario and larger questions about faith, redemption, charity and cultural conflict. On that last point, Jupiter’s Moon can be awfully condescending, treating Aryan as some sort of Christ-like figure endowed with noble attributes the rest of us heathens could learn from.
SCREEN SCORE
Hun-Ger. 2017. 126mins Director Kornel Mundruczo Production companies The Match Factory, Proton Cinema, KNM, ZDF/Arte, Chimney, Hungarian National Film Fund, Eurimages, Film und Medien Stiftung NRW, Mitteldeutsche Medienforderung, Medienboard BerlinBrandenburg International sales The Match Factory, info@ matchfactory.de Producers Viktoria Petranyi, Viola Fügen, Michael Weber, Michel Merkt Executive producers Eszter Gyarfas, Julia Berkes, Judit Sos Screenplay Kata Weber Cinematography Marcell Rev Production design Marton Agh Editor David Jancso Music Jed Kurzel Main cast Merab Ninidze, Zsombor Jeger, Gyorgy Cserhalmi, Moni Balsai
Fists punching, face-pulping, defiantly, flailingly unknowable and never willingly sympathetic, young UK actor Joe Cole pounds his way through Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s hard-edged Thai prison drama A Prayer Before Dawn. An adaptation of former Liverpool boxer and drug addict Billy Moore’s memoirs, this film makes no concessions, like its main character. With a visceral feel stretched and pumped by enhanced sound design and a tensile, trance-like score, Sauvaire’s follow-up to Johnny Mad Dog is destined for cult appreciation and a breakthrough in the remarkable Cole’s career. If A Prayer Before Dawn straddles the genres — violent prison drama, boxing (of the Muay Thai variety) memoir and drug biography — it does not sit easily in any. All the plot clicks are there, from the prison rape to the compassionate “ladyboy” to going cold turkey, relapsing and working up to a life-altering bout, but Sauvaire presents them in a resolutely non-standard way. Key to the film’s success is the authenticity of its Thailand settings and, outside Cole, virtually all the cast are non-professionals. David Ungaro’s camera makes a virtue of dark spaces, shot through with suspicion and sweat. Prison bodies pile over each other, and Ungaro lights them naturally or makes a virtue of the contrast with the neon of officialdom. Jonathan Hirschbein and Nick Saltrese’s screenplay never lets us know why Billy is in Thailand, boxing and selling drugs, or where he came from. He is a self-sabotaging, violent addict though, and the camera swivels alongside his rage. He also has dangerous external opponents to contend with in prison: the guards give him heroin, and so do the tattooed roommates in the shack he is eventually confined to, a place where fear rules. His coping mechanisms are functional to the point of securing a drugs pipeline. Billy will batter people half to death for a foil. He uses the gentle Fame (Pornachanok Mabklang), a ladyboy in jail for murdering her father, but also falls in love with her a little. Cole is Irish in complexion, and Sauvaire repeatedly contrasts his milky, bruised skin against the extravagantly whole-body-tattooed Thai inmates. The effective score works with sound design to amplify ambient noise into breathing, throbbing, occasionally punching, strained motifs, making A Prayer Before Dawn wholly unsettling from even just a sensory perspective.
MIDNIGHT SCREENING UK-Fr. 2017. 117mins Director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire Production company Senorita Films International sales HanWay Films, info@ hanwayfilms.com Producers Rita Dagher, Nicholas Simon, Roy Boulter, Sol Papadopoulos Executive producers James Schamus, Jennifer Dong, Woody Mu, Peter Watson Screenplay Jonathan Hirschbein, Nick Saltrese Cinematography David Ungaro Production design Chaiyan Chunsuttiwat Editor Marc Boucrot Music Nicolas Becker Main cast Joe Cole, Billy Moore, Vithaya Pansringarm, Pornchanok Mabklang, Somluck Kamsing, Chaloemporn Sawatsuk, Komsan Polsan, Sakda Niamhom
★★★
24 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
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REVIEWS
Lover For A Day Reviewed by Lisa Nesselson
Let The Sunshine In Reviewed by Jonathan Romney French writer-director Claire Denis is an expert at surprising her arthouse following, switching between genres while always imposing her own unmistakable identity. Even so, that identity is not easy to pin down, and is perhaps best described as a sensibility, of a very searching and lucid kind. Sensibility is, in a sense, what Let The Sunshine In (Un Beau Soleil Intérieur) is about — a particular female sensibility belonging to an artist heroine (Juliette Binoche) and responding to questions of desire and identity. Essentially a comedy, Denis’ film may strike some viewers as too quintessentially French for belief, while a fragmented structure will confound anyone hoping to follow the protagonist through the romcom that Denis at times seems to promise. But rather than a chic bagatelle, this proves an acutely intelligent, finely acted and — despite its cerebral edge — emotionally rich piece. It is a highly engaging departure for one of France’s most adventurous cineastes, and with Binoche on radiant and witty form, it could prove to be one of Denis’ more commercial propositions to date. Originally conceived as an adaptation of critic-theorist Roland Barthes’ bestselling work A Lover’s Discourse, the film retains traces of Barthes’ ideas, notably — says Denis — the concept of ‘agony’. But it is something other than agony that disturbs the sleep of Isabelle (Binoche), a recently divorced painter. Sharing care of her (barely glimpsed) young daughter with ex-husband Francois (Laurent Grévill), Isabelle explores her newly liberated sexuality with a series of men. The first, an arrogant banker (Xavier Beauvois), turns out to excite her in direct relation to her thinking of him as a bastard; an actor (Denis regular Nicolas Duvauchelle) gives her sexual satisfaction, but proves too self-absorbed. Other men hover, notably snobbish art-world friend Fabrice (a very amusing Bruno Podalydes), and there is later a hint that elegant newcomer Marc (Alex Descas, another Denis fixture) might have something to offer. In the interim, Isabelle is thunderstruck by desire for a stranger (Paul Blain) that she meets on a dancefloor. Throughout, the acting and the astute characterisation ensure cohesion. Binoche is at her most relaxed as Isabelle moves through various emotional registers including sexual intensity, nerviness, hesitation and an emotional alertness that, in the film’s final image of her, chimes perfectly with its title.
26 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT, OPENING FILM Fr. 2017. 94mins Director Claire Denis Production companies Curiosa Films, FD Production, Ad Vitam, Versus Production International sales Films Distribution, info@ filmsdistribution.com Producer Olivier Delbosc Screenplay Christine Angot, Claire Denis Cinematography Agnes Godard Production designer Arnaud de Moleron Editor Guy Lecorne Music Stuart Staples Main cast Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Alex Descas, Gérard Depardieu, Laurent Grévill, Bruno Podalydes, Paul Blain
A delectable wisp of a film about love versus desire and young love versus mature love, Lover For A Day (L’Amant d’un Jour) proves that, for half a century, Philippe Garrel has remained true to his roots with youthful panache. While not quite as lilting and affecting as 2015’s In The Shadow Of Women, this Directors’ Fortnight premiere knows what it’s doing and does it well. The basic premise could lend itself to comedy or tragedy. A young woman who breaks up with her fiancé shows up as an emotional basketcase at her father’s door, only to discover she is the same age as dad’s live-in girlfriend: 23. Distraught Jeanne (the director’s real-life daughter, Esther Garrel) crashes on the couch while her philosophy professor father Gilles (Eric Caravaca) and student Ariane (Louise Chevillotte) share a nearby bedroom. A voiceover fills us in on useful details. For example: “At the university, nobody knew Ariane was Gilles’ mistress.” Ariane is always up for a quickie, as we learn early on when she and Gilles, whom she met in a class, have torrid sex up against a wall in the staff toilets. For those in search of possible trends in French cinema, there are no fewer than three bouts of carnal ravishment in the upright position in less-than-optimally hygienic settings. Garrel and veteran DoP Renato Berta, shooting in splendid black and white, offer up a workaday Paris made of stairwells, near-empty streets, public toilets, spartan bedrooms, cafés and kitchens. There is not a speck of glamour. That leaves raw emotion, particularly doubt, dismay and jealousy. A working definition of what it means to be ‘faithful’ is central to the narrative and gives the film’s title its punch. “Some people are faithful to things that have no meaning for others,” says Gilles. But he is terrified of losing Ariane. Ariane also believes there is nothing wrong with casually sleeping around. But she counsels that women who share her view should make sure their primary male partner is none the wiser when they stray. Some viewers may find it difficult to believe the homely, uncharismatic Gilles could ever attract such a vivacious woman, let alone hang on to her. If he is supposed to be a philosophy professor, he does not seem to have seen enough Eric Rohmer films. And yet, Ariane’s sexual appetite and forthright approach to coupledom render him almost sexy against the odds.
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT Fr. 2017. 75mins Director Philippe Garrel Production companies SBS, Arte International sales SBS International, contact@ sbs-distribution.fr Producers Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt Screenplay Philippe Garrel, Jean-Claude Carriere, Caroline Deruas, Arlette Langmann Cinematography Renato Berta Editor Francois Gédigier Production design Emmanuel de Chauvigny Music Jean-Louis Aubert Main cast Eric Caravaca, Esther Garrel, Louise Chevillotte
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REVIEWS
Barbara Reviewed by Dan Fainaru
Filmworker Reviewed by Tim Grierson For Stanley Kubrick aficionados, Leon Vitali has long been an object of curiosity: a promising young actor who, in the mid-1970s, decided to become the full-time personal assistant of the famously demanding director. The documentary Filmworker promises to shed light on Vitali’s unusual career change, parading a wealth of behind-thescenes tidbits about the master’s films. And yet, an inability to crack the movie’s central mystery — why abandon your dreams to facilitate someone else’s? — leaves the project feeling a bit like a missed opportunity. Director Tony Zierra has shaped the movie as a kind of oral history, sitting down on multiple occasions with Vitali, who turns 69 in July. We learn about his early years as an actor in London, where he seemed to be a rising star in television, theatre and film. But once Vitali saw 2001 and A Clockwork Orange, he became enamoured with the work of Kubrick — so much so that, after being cast in Barry Lyndon, he convinced the filmmaker to let him be his righthand man, a role he fulfilled until Kubrick’s death in 1999. Vitali’s story is mildly interesting before his encounter with Kubrick, but Filmworker really starts revving up during his time with the director. Vitali, who remains deeply devoted to preserving Kubrick’s legacy, happily regales us with stories. But Zierra allows his documentary to get lost amid the anecdotes. Hearing about the minutiae involved in the making of Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut can be entertaining, but what becomes apparent is that Vitali, although knowing Kubrick intimately for decades, does not necessarily have fresh insights into the man. That Kubrick could be exacting and ill-tempered — and at other times kind and supportive — is not a revelation. No matter one’s appreciation of Kubrick, Filmworker states plainly that working for him as closely as Vitali did would have proved maddening. Vitali did not just sacrifice his acting career — his children paint him as a distant figure in their lives. Vitali professes that he has no regrets, but Zierra does not dig deep enough to craft a nuanced portrait. Filmworker suggests there are hundreds of unsung people like Vitali throughout the film industry, selflessly giving of themselves so that another artist’s vision can thrive. That’s a poignant point, but for a film that tries to bring attention to one such hidden figure, Zierra’s movie feels ultimately like it is more about Kubrick than Vitali.
28 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
CANNES CLASSICS US. 2017. 89mins Director/editor/ cinematography Tony Zierra Production company True Studio Media International sales Cinetic Media, sales@ cineticmedia.com Producers Elizabeth Yoffe, Tony Zierra
This is a loving tribute not only to the late Barbara (1930-97), the inimitable singing icon of the French chanson, but also to the star of this film, Jeanne Balibar, whose brilliant performance is boosted by her uncanny physical resemblance to the late “Dame en noir”, as Barbara was called by her admirers. The actor Mathieu Amalric, who won best director at Cannes in 2010 for On Tour, directs again, and co-stars with Balibar, his ex-wife. Anything but a classic biopic, this attempt to capture various stages of rehearsals, research and the actual shooting of a forthcoming film about Barbara is not easy to follow. But once the viewer realises the picture is not about Barbara’s life but her magic and genius, it is easier to get comfortable and enjoy the show. Targeting mainly the Francophone market, the picture may fall on deaf ears elsewhere. This artist’s peculiar lightness, breezy sadness, intricate poetry and unique delivery have not really travelled much beyond the borders of her own homeland. Amalric directs himself playing a filmmaker, the feverishly agitated Yves Zand. He is seen digging into documents, listening to recordings and interviewing former Barbara associates while his lead actress Brigitte (Balibar), goes through much the same process. Shot in the same sympathetic but chaotic manner that defined Amalric’s last feature, The Blue Room, the picture’s backbone remains the distinctive, very particular talent of the late singer, the unusual flavour of her lyrics and music, and the peculiar nature of her stage performances, always dressed in black and hiding behind dark glasses. If there is a development line in the picture, it is mostly that of watching Balibar (who happens to also be a professional singer) shed layers of her personality to blend into the part she plays. The extent of the effort she invested to make this transition stands out on the soundtrack, whenever her own voice rubs elbows with Barbara’s original recordings. As for Amalric, he either puts himself too much in evidence with reaction shots admiring Balibar’s performance, or too little, if the main story is indeed supposed to be the making of a film. Still, when everything is said and done, Barbara fans will love it, even if the rest may well wonder what it is all about.
UN CERTAIN REGARD, OPENING FILM Fr. 2017. 98mins Director Mathieu Amalric Production companies Waiting for Cinema, Alicéleo International sales Gaumont, alexis. cassanet@gaumont.com Producer Patrick Godeau Screenplay Mathieu Amalric, Philippe di Folco Cinematography Christophe Beaucarne Editor Francois Gédigier Production design Laurent Baude Main cast Jeanne Balibar, Mathieu Amalric, Aurore Clément, Vincent Peirani, Grégoire Colin, Fanny Imber
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KOREA FOCUS HOT PROJECTS
A strong hand With five titles in official selection, South Korea is back with a bang at this year’s festival, and the market titles promise more excitement to come. Jean Noh reports
S
outh Korean films are out in force this year at Cannes, with five features in the official selection. Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and Hong Sangsoo’s The Day After are premiering in Competition, while the latter director’s Claire’s Camera, which was shot in Cannes last year, will debut in Special Screenings.
On the heels of the worldwide success of Korean zombie thriller Train To Busan, which premiered in Midnight Screenings last year, two highly anticipated thrillers are debuting in the same category this year — Jung Byung-gil’s The Villainess and Byun Sung-hyun’s The Merciless. CJ Entertainment has already presold the latter to 85 countries before the festival,
including to France (ARP) and Australia and New Zealand (JBG Pictures). In the first quarter of 2017, local films took 49% of a total of $378.5m in boxoffice returns in South Korea, down slightly from last year’s 50% in the same period. Interestingly, US films’ market share dropped from 44% to 39%, while Japanese films rose from 1% to 8%. The
jump was fuelled by Makoto Shinkai’s animation Your Name, which clocked up $25.5m. Korean titles Confidential Assignment and The King led the overall rankings for the first quarter, taking $56m and $38.3m respectively, while Disney’s Beauty And The Beast ranked fourth with $25.7m.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Claire’s Camera Dir Hong Sangsoo The first of two official selection titles by Cannes favourite Hong Sangsoo (Woman Is The Future Of Man, A Tale Of Cinema), Claire’s Camera is being presented in Special Screenings. It stars Kim Minhee, who picked up the best actress Silver Bear in Berlin this year for her performance in Hong’s On The Beach At Night Alone, and Isabelle Huppert, who was in Hong’s previous Competition title In Another Country. Shot in Cannes last year, Claire’s Camera brings together a young sales agent who is unfairly fired during the festival and a mysterious teacher with a Polaroid camera. Hong’s company, Jeonwonsa Film, co-produced.
is also produced by Hong’s company Jeonwonsa.
Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr
Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr
The Mercilless
The Merciless Dir Byun Sung-hyun
The Day After
The Day After Dir Hong Sangsoo Kim Minhee again stars for Hong, in Competition entry The Day After. She plays Areum, a new employee at a small publishing company with a boss (Kwon Haehyo) who had been having an affair with her predecessor (Kim Saebyuk). Shot in Seoul, the black-and-white film
32 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Showing in Midnight Screenings, The Merciless stars Seol Gyeong-gu (a.k.a. Sul Kyung-gu) and boy group ZE:A member Yim Si-wan in a thriller about a gangster who takes a newbie under his wing in prison. Directed by Byun Sung-hyun (Whatcha Wearin’), the film has been preWearin’ sold to 85 countries including France (ARP) and Taiwan (Movie Cloud). Financed and developed by CJ Entertainment, the film was coproduced by CJ and Pollux-Barunson Co. Contact CJ Entertainment filmsales@cj.net
Okja Dir Bong Joon Ho Bong Joon Ho follows up his previous Cannes entries The Host, Mother and short segment in omnibus film Tokyo! with Okja in Competition. Netflix’s first Korean feature production, the film stars Ahn Seo-hyun as a young girl who sets out to save her best friend, a huge animal named Okja, from a powerful multinational company. Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano also feature. The film is a Plan B Entertainment, Lewis Pictures and Kate Street Picture Company production in association with Netflix. The online platform will premiere Okja in 190 countries on June 28. Next Entert a i n m e n t Wo r l d (NEW) will release it (Left) The Villainess
theatrically in South Korea day-and-date on June 29. The film shot in New York City, Vancouver and around Korea. Contact Netflix Kiki Yu kyu@netflix.com Milady Flores miladyf@netflix.com
The Villainess Dir Jung Byung-gil Midnight Screenings selection The Villainess stars Kim Ok-vin and Shin Hakyun, both of whom were in Park Chan-wook’s 2009 Cannes title Thirst, with Bang Sung-jun. Directed by Jung Byung-gil (Confession Of Murder), Murder The Villainess follows a mysterious woman who has been raised as a killer and is recruited to be a secret agent. Backed by Next Entertainment World (NEW), which also had international breakout hit Train To Busan in Midnight Screenings last year, the film is produced by Apeitda. Contact Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr
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KOREA FOCUS HOT PROJECTS
SELECTED PROJECTS IN THE MARKET
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum Dir Jung Bum-shik Jung Bum-shik’s film takes place in a psychiatric hospital selected as one of CNN Travel’s ‘7 Freakiest Places on the Planet’. According to local legend, it was shut down after a series of mysterious patient deaths in the 1990s, but things spin out of control when an internet broadcaster recruits people for a livestreaming ‘experience the horror’ show at Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. Produced by Hive Mediacorp, the $1.5m horror is set for local release in the third quarter of 2017.
Warriors Of The Dawn
Contact Showbox sales@showbox.co.kr
Man Of Will Dir Lee Won-tae Based on a true story, Lee Won-tae’s feature directorial debut stars Cho Jinwoong (The Handmaiden). In 1895, the nation is left in terror and outrage when Japanese assassins infiltrate Joseon’s royal palace and murder the queen. In an act of vengeance, Kim Chang-soo beats a ronin to death, landing himself on death row. In prison, he goes from fighting to teaching his fellow prisoners until they all get assigned to a large Japanese construction site, where they are subjected to an ordeal worse than death. The film is in post-production. Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr
The Preparation (working title) Dir Cho Young Jun Cho Young Jun’s feature directorial debut stars Ko Good MornDoo-shim (Good ing President)) and Kim Sung-kyun (The ). Ko Sheriff In Town). plays a mother with terminal cancer pre-
34 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
The Preparation
Man Of Will
paring to leave her family behind while Kim plays her mentally disabled son who is preparing to stand on his own two feet. Currently in production, the drama is set for local release in the fourth quarter of 2017. Contact Opus Pictures hana@opuspictures.com
Psychokinesis Dir Yeon Sang-ho Train To Busan director Yeon Sang-ho started shooting this liveaction black comedy last month. Starring Ryu Seung-ryong and Shim Eunkyung, who voiced the leads (Left) The Swindlers
in Yeon’s animation Seoul Station, Psychokinesis is about an ordinary man who suddenly finds he has superpowers. He uses them to help his daughter and the people around him, but runs into trouble in the process. Train To Busan production company Redpeter Film and investor/ distributor Next Entertainment World (NEW) have reunited for the project.
(Hyun). They decide to team up, but each with their own hidden motives.
Contact Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr
Chung Yoon-chul’s period action adventure stars Lee Jung-jae (Assassination) and Yeo Jin-gu (Hwayi: A Monster Boy) and is set during the 1592 Japanese invasion of Joseon when rich families would hire poor men to take the place of their sons in the draft. Lee plays a veteran proxy soldier who helps 18-year-old crown prince Gwanghae (Yeo) to lead the defence of the nation while his father, the king, flees to China. Warriors Of The Dawn is set for local release on May 31.
The Swindlers Dir Jang Chang-won The feature-directing debut for Jang Chang-won, this crime drama stars Hyun Bin (Confidential Assignment) and Yoo Ji-tae (Old Boy). When a con man pulls a swindle worth billions and escapes overseas, a prosecutor (Yoo) who colluded with him attempts to track him down, as does a man out for revenge
Contact Showbox sales@showbox.co.kr
Warriors Of The Dawn (aka The Proxy Soldiers) Dir Chung Yoon-chul
Contact M-Line Distribution s sales@mline-distribution.com ■
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KOREA FOCUS HONG SANGSOO
Double
exposure Korean film-maker Hong Sangsoo is back with two films this year. He tells Jean Noh how and to what extent life influences work
T
o date, Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo has had a total of eight films at Cannes, including his debut feature The Power Of Kangwon Province in the 1998 Un Certain Regard sidebar; Hahaha, which won the 2010 Un Certain Regard Prize; and 2012’s In Another Country, starring Isabelle Huppert, which was in Competition. This year, he returns with two features, his ninth and tenth at the festival — The Day After in Competition, starring Kim Minhee who won the best actress prize at the Berlinale with her role in Hong’s On The Beach At Night Alone, and Claire’s Camera, also starring Kim and featuring Huppert, in Special Screenings. You finance and produce all your films with your own company, Jeonwonsa Film Co. How do you manage that? It’s difficult but it’s something I have to do to lower the production costs. And my films usually do not do lots of international presales. What kind of budget do you usually work to and how long are your shoots? Each film budget is around $100,000 and usually takes three weeks, although for Claire’s Camera it was two weeks. Your films are often noted for their settings and locations. How do you go about choosing them? For The Day After, I decided to work with Kwon Haehyo [the male protagonist]
38 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
‘Actors are very important. They are models and landscapes and the weather of the day’ Hong Sangsoo
Claire’s Camera
and then I recalled a publishing company I had visited, so I talked with the head of the company. He said he leaves his house every morning at around 4:30am to go to the office. Without really knowing why, I wanted to follow him on his route from his house to the office. That’s how everything started — the actor and the route. And for Claire’s Camera? For Claire’s Camera, I decided to work with Isabelle and Kim Minhee, and some weeks later we arrived at Cannes. One or two days before shooting, I toured the beach and some alleys. I found The Day After the beach tun-
nels, and cafés and alleys. So it was the actors and the tunnels.
On The Beach At Night Alone deals with a well-known actress who is getting over a scandalous affair with a director. Since its production, you and Kim Minhee have been quite public about your love for each other. Maybe I use personal details more than others, and my films must reflect something about myself, but I don’t intend them to be a representation of ‘my life’ or ‘part of my life’. In The Day After, we see the character played by Kim slapped by her boss’s wife, who mistakes her for her
husband’s lover. What were you thinking of when you created this story? First, there is a ‘piece-material’ that comes along without knowing why. I then put it in a place where I think it fits well with a reason or two, but even those reasons seem like a pretext. I cannot explain how a detail comes to exist, logically or psychologically, in earnest. You often work more than once with the same actors. To what degree are you inspired by your actors and how much do you improvise on set with them? Actors are very important. They are models and landscapes and the weather of the day, etc. Most actors follow the directions and the dialogue in the script, and maybe less than 10% of the outcome is the result of on-set improvisation. You have surely done more for the popularity of soju among cinephiles around the world than anyone else. Why is there so much drinking in your films? There are many drinking scenes in the films, I guess, because I drink quite s regularly. ■
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KOREA FOCUS OPUS PICTURES/UNITED PICTURES
Keeping it fresh Producer-distributor Lee Tae Hun, whose credits include Snowpiercer and The Man From Nowhere, discusses how to stay a key player in the Korean production scene. Jean Noh reports
Jimami Tofu
I
n recent years, South Korean cinema has become increasingly polarised between big-budget commercial films backed by conglomerates at one end, and undernourished low-budget independent films at the other. Lee Tae Hun, CEO of Opus Pictures and United Pictures (UP), whose credits include hits The Man From Nowhere, Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer and New Trial, has made it his mission to keep commercial diversity alive through the films he produces and distributes. “We aren’t limiting ourselves to mid-range budget films, but we want to create a broader range of opportunities for directors to be able to exercise their creativity,” he says. “Financial success is not the only aim for us. We want to keep finding new elements when putting together projects.” Having studied at the University of Edinburgh and taught film at universities in Seoul, Lee began producing in earnest in 2002 when he set up Moho Film with fellow Sogang University alumnus and brother-in-law Park Chan-wook, whose segment of the human-rights omnibus If You Were Me (2003) he produced. After Park’s Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, Lee wanted to try working with other directors as well, and set up Opus Pictures in 2005. He continued to produce for Moho on Park’s sci-fi romance I’m A Cyborg But That’s Okay, which went to Berlin’s 2007
40 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Competition, and worked with CJ Entertainment when producing Ryoo Seungwan’s action film The City Of Violence, which sold to The Weinstein Company and screened in Venice 2006. Having been part of Bong Joon Ho’s Englishlanguage debut Snowpiercer from the project’s inception, Lee was one of the film’s producers, with Opus and Moho backed by CJ. United Pictures In 2007, Lee got together with the heads of Zip Cinema and BK Pictures — Eugene Lee and Shim Bo-kyoung — and started UP, a joint venture for financing and distributing the three Korean powerhouses’ titles. “Production companies were losing influence and were at the beck and call of [investor/distributors] CJ, Showbox and Lotte,” he says. “It was hard to get seed money and to grow of our own accord, which is why we united.” UP’s slate included high-concept hits such as action thriller The Man From Nowhere (2010), which was produced by Opus for $3.7m and clocked up $42.9m at the local box office. Other UP hits included romantic comedy All About My Wife and surveillance thriller Cold Eyes, both produced by Zip. In
2012, Opus and Zip secured investment from, and became subsidiaries of, New York and Hong Kong-based investment company Spackman Group. However, last year Lee decided to separate Opus from Spackman, saying that working with people whose dedicated profession is filmmaking is hard enough. “We’re starting over with an emphasis on our independent spirit,” he says. As of this Cannes, UP is rebranding itself Opus Pictures and opening up to handle other companies’ films as well as those of its original trio. Opus continues to handle UP’s library. In addition to finance and distribution, it is expanding into marketing and acquisitions. Recently, the company did multiple sales on courtroom thriller New Trial to territories including Japan (New Select) and China (Lemon Tree). Starring Kang Ha-neul and Jung Woo, the $3.5m film clocked up more than $14.3m at the local box office. Ahead of Cannes, Opus picked up its first nonKorean title, Singapore-Japan co-production Jimami Tofu. The $350,000 Okinawa-set foodie romance is codirected by Singapore-based Jason Chan and ChrisNew Trial tian Lee.
‘You have to cultivate, not just sit back and pick the fruit’ Lee Tae Hun
Lee Tae Hun sees the increasing “monopoly” of the industry by conglomerates, which focus on pouring money into tentpoles to the detriment of other projects, as the most pressing issue in the local industry. “We need to keep trying to make various kinds of films, to grow new creativity and add value. It’s like farming — you have to cultivate, not just sit back and pick the fruit. If you don’t nourish the soil, in five years, you won’t have anything,” he says. When it comes to new players like Netflix coming into the local market, Lee says: “On the positive side, a wider audience is exposed to Korean films, and that creates new markets. There’s a difference between people who have seen a certain product and those who haven’t. “Of course, watching on devices where you can stop in the middle is quite different from going to a theatre. So I wonder if we aren’t eliminating some of the value s of the medium of cinema,” he says. ■
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PRODUCTION REPORT THE SQUARE
Tobias Henriksson
Circling
The Square Director Ruben Ostlund and producer Erik Hemmendorff of Competition title The Square tell Wendy Mitchell why they have made a film that looks at trust and responsibility in modern society
Elisabeth Moss and Claes Bang on the set of The Square
I
t was the memory of his father’s boyhood stories that helped to spark the ideas behind Ruben Ostlund’s new film The Square. “When he was six years old, he would be sent out in the street in Stockholm to play and his mom would put a tag on him with his name and address,” Ostlund recalls. “You would trust in these other adults to take care of your child if anything happened. That’s a huge attitude shift in how we look at the public now. There is a paranoia.” Ostlund’s producer Erik Hemmendorff, with whom he founded Plattform Produktion in 2002, says the pair began to explore these ideas about trust and responsibility with Ostlund’s 2011 feature Play. “The idea that adults were there to help you — that’s not there any more,” Hemmendorff suggests. “This is something we confronted when we were making Play. Ruben interviewed these young kids who meet each other in public spaces, and there were so seldom any grownups intervening.” The Square is not about children, but
42 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
‘The foreign way of looking at Scandinavia is as an idyllic society. But there is a change going on’ Ruben Ostlund
very much about modern society. “The foreign way of looking [in] at Scandinavia is [that it is] this social democracy, an idyllic society,” Ostlund explains. “But there is a change going on here and I was interested in that.” Ostlund’s last three features have increasingly identified him as one of the most talented and provocative auteurs in cinema today. Ahead of last night’s premiere in Competition at Cannes, The Square has already racked up impressive sales for Ostlund’s longtime sales part-
ner, Philippe Bober’s Coproduction Office. Deals done before the world premiere include to Spain (Avalon); Argentina (CDI); Poland (buyer not yet announced); US (Magnolia); UK (Curzon/Artificial Eye); Germany (Alamode); Sweden (TriArt); France and Benelux (Bac); Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland (Scanbox, with Arthaus in Norway and Finnkino in Finland); Switzerland (Xenis); Greece (Feelgood); Portugal (Alambique); Baltics (Must Kasi); former Yugoslavia (Demiurg); Hungary (Cirko); Czech and Slovak republics (Film Europe) and Turkey (Bir Film). The Square’s main plot is about an art museum dealing with the fallout from a controversial viral video to promote an exhibit called ‘The Square’. “I needed a place for the film to verbalise the topic and that became the art world,” Ostlund explains. “It’s an attractive environment, it’s like taking an existential question to a ski resort,” he says with a smile, referencing his last feature, » Force Majeure.
FACTFILE PLATTFORM PRODUKTION Formed in 2002, Plattform Produktion produced Ostlund’s four previous features: Force Majeure (Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes 2014), Play (Séance Coup de Coeur in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2011), Involuntary (Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2008), and The Guitar Mongoloid (Fipresci prize at Moscow 2005) as well as his shorts such as Incident By A Bank (Berlinale 2010 best short). The Square is a SwedenFrance-Germany-Denmark coproduction led by Plattform, with Film Vast, SVT, Imperative Entertainment, Essential Film, Société Parisienne de Production, Coproduction Office ApS, ZDF/Arte and Arte France Cinéma. It is supported by the Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Eurimages, Danish Film Institute and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
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International cast Ostlund was speaking to Screen in August 2016 during a lunch break while the film was shooting in the director’s hometown of Gothenburg. It was day 42 of a 78-day shoot, and the schedule would be devoted to a scene in which the museum curator, played by Denmark’s Claes Bang, hosts a crisis press conference. The film boasts Ostlund’s most international cast to date and includes Elisabeth Moss, playing a journalist who covers the Nordic countries for a UK magazine, and Dominic West, who is an artist. Stretching a budget of $5.5m (¤5m) — Ostlund’s largest so far — over 78 days is ambitious. “Everybody said it was impossible,” Hemmendorff says. “But if you plan the production, it’s really doable. We understand how to use the money we have in the right places.” The team is also well positioned before the first day of shooting, with six months of prep and location scouting in the bag. The script itself keeps evolving. “Ruben writes all the time, he writes even until the start of shooting and even a little during
44 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
A performance artist (played by Terry Notary) interrupts an awards ceremony at a museum gala dinner
‘Ruben likes to push each scene for a long time’
Bang, Ostlund and Moss on set
Erik Hemmendorff
shooting, so we never lock the script beforehand,” Hemmendorff says. The “luxury” of a long shoot is nonnegotiable for Ostlund. He generally films one scene per day — up to 50 takes — and can take up to four days to shoot a big or complicated scene. “I like to investigate the scene in a real-time aspect,” he explains. It also gives him where you’ve done something so many extra time to work with his regular DoP times, the things that are organic stay, Fredrik Wenzel to make sure camera and the things that didn’t work go away.” angles are just as he wants. Each scene Ostlund likes to work scene by scene is “a visual expression, so I need time to in post-production with editor Jacob get it right”, Ostlund says. Secher Schulsinger, to ensure each “It’s very important to have as much scene is nearly perfect with sound time as possible,” Hemmendorff and image, rather than pictureadds. “It’s a lot about how he locking the whole film and then works with the photographer, doing more post. they put in something and they It has taken five months to take it away. They ask the edit The Square, which was so actors to start rehearsing, we close to the wire for might do takes before the light Cannes that festival is perfect. Ruben likes the director Thierry Fréidea that you push the maux only watched scene for a long time — it after the festival’s up, up, up — and then first press conferdown, and you lose ence. “This is the something, and then you fastest we’ve ever start again, push push edited something,” push. Then you have Elisabeth Moss is part says Hemmendorff. maybe three or four of Ostlund’s most international cast One of the most takes in the end
complex scenes in The Square features a performance artist who interrupts an awards ceremony at a museum gala dinner. It required special time and attention including one full day of rehearsal and three days of shooting. Ostlund discovered the actor who plays the performance artist, Terry Notary, on YouTube. Notary is usually a motioncapture artist and movement coach whose credits include Kong: Skull Island and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. The scene’s uncomfortable realism is enforced by the fact 90% of the people in the scene are gallerists or art investors who frequently attend these kinds of galas. The resulting seven-minute scene is uncomfortable viewing. It could well be one of the most unforgettable scenes that unfolds at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. As the director says proudly: “You know I love awkward s situations.” ■
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Tobias Henriksson
The project began three years ago as an actual art installation, a white marked box in a public space into which anyone could step if they needed help or sanctuary. Working with Swedish film producer Kalle Boman, Ostlund wanted a platform with which to tackle big ideas with public participation. “‘The Square’ is where we have this big trust in the State and take care of each other,” Ostlund says of the altruistic ambitions of the white marked box. “[It is] a sanctuary of trust and caring, within its boundaries we all share equal rights and obligations. It is about some of the most important questions of our time.” The installation, initially designed to be temporary, was instead created as a permanent piece of work in Varnamo in southern Sweden in early 2015. New versions of ‘The Square’ are planned for Grimstad, Norway, and then in Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden. The film explores how audiences and the media respond to the artwork. It has a satirical slant, especially in its portrayal of the media, which “goes straight into the trap” set by the museum and its PR agency: they suspect the press will not care about the exhibit unless they have something provocative to write about. “I really think that we’re [living] in a media circus,” says Ostlund of the way in which news is disseminated and consumed today. “If you’re a politician, people have to know you exist — for that to happen you need to have controversy.”
Fredrik Wenzel
PRODUCTION REPORT THE SQUARE
A FILM BY WOLFGANG
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PROFILE RODRIGO TEIXEIRA
The man from Brazil
First credit He received his first producer credit for Bruno Barreto’s Romeo And Juliet Get Married in 2005 and went on to set up RT Features with a group of private investors later that year. The company produced and financed Heitor Dhalia’s comedy drama Drained, based on a book by Lourenco Mutarelli to which Teixeira had previously bought the film rights. Drained played at Sundance in 2008, giving Teixeira his first taste of the film world outside Brazil. And this also gave Hollywood its first taste of Teixeira as US producers started expressing interest in two books he had optioned: Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw and Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (neither have been made to date). He also secured a US agent in UTA, although he is now represented by CAA. “UTA started representing me because I had money and taste,” says Teixeira, bluntly. “It was the economic crisis and people weren’t putting money into development but it was also a good time to buy books. I started developing a lot of material. My [then] agent Rich Klubeck called me in 2010 and asked if I knew Noah Baumbach and could I finance his new film?” Luckily Teixeira knew and liked Baumbach’s work and was keen to work with producer Scott Rudin, who was already attached to Baumbach’s project. Through
48 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Rodrigo Teixeira (right) and executive producer Santi Lopez on the set of El Hipnotizador
Renato Parada
R
odrigo Teixeira has built a name for himself championing acclaimed low-budget features such as Robert Eggers’ The Witch and Geremy Jasper’s Sundance hit Patti Cake$, which is screening here in Directors’ Fortnight. The Sao Paolo native moved into filmmaking from finance a decade ago, prompted by the desire to work in an industry he had loved ever since he started devouring US cinema as a child. Although his financial background gave him good business experience, Teixeira wasn’t happy. “I didn’t feel connected with that world,” he explains. Teixeira, who is an avid reader, started buying the film, TV and stage rights to novels by Brazilian authors. “I didn’t have a film background so I thought this was a way in,” he says.
Luciana Melo
Brazil’s Rodrigo Teixeira, founder of Sao Paulo-based RT Features, is one of the most intriguing producer-financiers of US independent film-makers. He talks to Jeremy Kay
‘I didn’t have a film background so I thought books were a way in’ Rodrigo Teixeira, RT Features
Directors’ Fortnight title Patti Cake$
RT Features, Teixeira committed to produce and fully finance Frances Ha. “That put me in a position to finance new ventures and projects,” he says. “My career in Brazil was going the same way.” Teixeira went on to fully finance Baumbach’s Mistress America, backed Ira Sachs’ Love Is Strange and was secondposition financier on Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves. At the same time he got in early on a script by rising new director Robert Eggers, and despite being written in arcane English, Teixeira invested in the horror film and produced with Parts & Labor. The result was The Witch, the Sundance breakout of 2015 that became a commercial hit in the US through A24. Teixeira was back at Sundance this year with Patti Cake$ and Luca Guadag-
nino’s Call Me By Your Name, which RT Features co-financed with Memento. Teixeira remains involved with Brazilian cinema and has backed Jonas Carpignano’s drama A Ciambra, which is also screening in Directors’ Fortnight. It is the first completed feature to come from RT Features’ partnership with Martin Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff ’s Sikelia Productions. WME brokered the meeting between the two companies and they struck a deal to unearth new voices. After Cannes, Teixeira hopes to begin production on James Gray’s Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, this summer. Produced by New Regency, it is his biggest project to date and is the fruit of a fourhour lunch with Gray discussing everything from their favourite world cinema
to their most-loved books. RT Features also funded the film’s development. There are three Brazilian films ready to go this year: Karim Ainouz’s The Invisible Life, Jose Eduardo Belmonte’s Rio Siege 2 and Aly Muritiba’s BloodDrenched Beard. FT Features is also in post on the second season of El Hipnotizador for HBO Latin America. FT Features may open a US hub at some point, but for now operates a modest staff, with Teixeira working closely with colleagues Lourenco Sant’Anna in Sao Paulo and Sophie Mas in Paris. Although independent film-making is Teixeira’s first love, this shrewd businessman is also a realist. “It’s important for people to watch our films and our main goal is a theatrical experience,” he says. “However, I have sold a film to Netflix [The Silence Of The Sky] and it was important for the film. I look forward to s working with them in the future.” ■
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Cannes by Ruben Östlund
Courts Métrages Compétition Push It by Julia Thelin
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs The Burden
SWEDISH CO-PRODUCTIONS
Compétition Jupiter’s Moon by Kornél Mundruczó
[HU/DE/SE]
Un Certain Regard Beauty and the Dogs by Kaouther Ben Hania
[TU/FR/SE]
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano
[ IT/ FR / US / SE ]
Marché du Film Becker – Small Town Gangster by Martin Larsson
Beyond Dreams by Rojda Sekersöz
Jazzoo
by Adam Marko-Nord
Oh Deer!
TH E S Q UAR E BY R U B E N ÖSTLU N D, © P LATTFO R M P R O D U KTI O N
Compétition The Square
by Peter Pontikis
The Square by Ruben Östlund
by Niki Lindroth von Bahr
sfi.se Screen_Cannes17_245x335_K1.indd 1
2017-05-16 09.36
SCREEN TV PREMIUM DRAMA, ASIA
The Teenage Psychic
Asia
reaches for the summit Driven by players such as Fox Networks Group, HBO, Amazon and Netflix, the budgets and ambitions for premium drama series in Asia are starting to match other parts of the world. Liz Shackleton reports
O
ver the past few months, it’s become increasingly clear the ‘Golden Age of Television’, and the slow drift of film talents into the world of episodic drama, has also arrived in Asia. In March, Fox Networks Group Asia (FNGA) announced it is producing two high-end, Chinese-language miniseries, joining HBO Asia, which has already rolled out several premium shows in English and Asian languages. Global streamers Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are pouring investment into drama series across Asia, as they are in other parts of the world, and regional online platforms have joined the fray with a slew of originals announced over the past few weeks. FNGA’s miniseries include financial thriller Trading Floor, co-produced with Andy Lau’s Focus Television and China’s Tencent, which is currently in production, and crime thriller Stained, directed by established filmmaker and scriptwriter Patrick Kong. Fox’s Asian networks group first dipped a toe into local-language production in 2012 with the ‘Go Local’ film production initiative, but discovered that smaller-budget Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies struggle to travel. “At one point we realised the scale of local movies is quite limited, so we looked for something more international and started developing these edgy, high-concept premium shows,” says Cora Yim, FNGA’s senior vice president and head of
50 Screen International in Cannes May 20, 2017
Chinese Entertainment. “We’ve started from Hong Kong because we believe it’s a new opportunity for local filmmakers to combine their filmmaking skills with a different kind of storytelling. Also Hong Kong directors are very reliable, so you know what you’re going to get.” Yim says FNGA’s strategy is to focus on real-life stories and characters, at least with the first few series — all the plotlines in Stained are inspired by real events in Hong Kong. “The big difference with the usual TV and film-making process [in the region] is that our writers can spend a long time in research,” Yim explains. “We didn’t push them to come up with the story until they felt they’d done enough research, whereas schedules are usually very rushed.” Taking a cue from its phenomenally successful US parent, HBO Asia began producing premium series in Asia back in 2012, starting with two Englishlanguage shows: detective drama Serangoon Road, co-produced with Australia’s ABC and supported by Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA), and four-part horror mini series Grace. The Singaporebased network has also produced two mixed-language seasons of fantasy series
‘We didn’t push our writers to come up with the story until they’d done enough research, whereas schedules are usually very rushed’ Cora Yim, FNGA
Halfworlds, one directed by Joko Anwar in Jakarta and the other by Ekachai Uekrongtham in Bangkok. More recently, HBO Asia has stepped into Chinese-language production with two kung-fu movies co-produced with China Movie Channel and sixpart Taiwanese series The Teenage Psychic Psychic, about a young girl juggling high-school pressures with her ability to see spirits. In addition, the network’s first original Asian comedy drama, Sent Sent, directed in Singapore by local actor and filmmaker Alaric Tay, will air later this year. “We’ve probably had a bit of an epiphany since we started when we realStained
ised that language is not such an issue,” says HBO Asia CEO Jonathan Spink. “We were always nervous about moving away from English, but took that decision with the two Chinese films, which we considered dubbing but finally just ran in Mandarin, and they performed incredibly well. The Teenage Psychic also performed well throughout the region, including the Philippines.” HBO Asia is eyeing production in other languages and genres across the region and recently brought on board experienced film and TV producer Jessica Kam as senior vice president, HBO Asia Original Production, to spearhead that drive. Streaming giants So far, unsurprisingly, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix have focused on production in territories with big audiences and established content industries that skew heavily towards local-language content — in particular India, South Korea and Japan. Amazon is producing a slew of shows across different genres and formats in India and Japan, with drama offerings including Bollywood director Kabir Khan’s The Forgotten Army (working title), about the army that fought for India’s independence from the British, and maverick Japanese director Sion Sono’s Tokyo Vampire Hotel. In Korea, the SVoD giant is producing live-action drama The Idolmaster, based on a popu» lar Japanese property.
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NEW PROJECTS ANNOUNCED A MATTER OF HONOUR
Director Jon Cassar (24, The Kennedys, Nikita)
GENRE: Spy Thriller STATUS: In Development BUDGET: $20m PRODUCTION TIMELINE: Q1 2018
New York Times bestselling author, Jeffrey Archer has sold almost 330 million books in 93 countries in 33 languages.
The story follows Adam, who goes to England for his father’s funeral and is willed a mysterious letter. Upon discovering the letter’s contents, Adam is immediately on the run and finds himself being pursued by Russia, the CIA and MI6.
THE SHRINE Director Anthony Hickox
GENRE: Thriller/Sci-Fi STATUS: In Development BUDGET: $8m PRODUCTION TIMELINE: Q1 2018
Producer Sebastian Pearson (Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)
A sci-fi thriller of epic proportions. When a US drone strikes a rebel convey, a blackout engulfs the Syrian-Turkish border. Lurking in the darkness is a murderous, alien creature Shytan (The Turkish word for ‘Satan’).
According to legend, when fire from the sky releases Shytan, it is a sign that the end of days has begun. Hearing this tale, the US Marines and Turkish Military team up to stop the impending doom. Amongst them is the attractive Lieutenant Price and his eager female Marines - determined to prove they are as tough as their male counterparts. What both militaries learn is that faith and beliefs must be cast aside in order to survive and in the end of time humanity is stronger united.
INTIMISSIMI ON ICE
An elaborate, multi-million dollar cinematic spectacle featuring, a stellar cast of international talents and world champion ice skaters.
Live Event Filming October 2017 Estimated delivery November 2017 INTIMISSIMI ON ICE 2017 returns with an innovative 360 experience where opera, pop music, figure skating and fashion merge in the iconic Arena di Verona amphitheatre.
GENRE: Family Action Adventure BUDGET: $30m PRODUCTION TIMELINE: 2018
PUGWASH
Pugwash and his crew must race against their deadly enemy Cut-Throat Jake to rescue Tom’s father who is marooned on Firework Island with a hold full of shipwrecked treasure.
CARNABY INTERNATIONAL day5.indd 1
Directed by Daminano Michieletto, a rising star among the new generation of opera and theatre directors with Creative Direction from Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing ceremonies at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Emmy-award winning Marco Baluch.
Director Emmy Award-winning John Hay (Looking for Richard, The Steal) Producer Emmy Award-winning Elliot Jenkins (Skins, Prime Suspect, Jonathan Creek) Pugwash sets sail onto the big screen in a resolutely cinematic, live-action, family adventure that will be filled to the bilges with a supporting cast of the finest British comedy actors on offer. Fast, raucous and overflowing with life, Pugwash will never settle for anything less than explosive belly laughs, knowing smiles and heartfelt emotion. Pugwash will invent the well-established British brand to make it a must-see for kids of today just as it was for their parents.
OFFICE: 23 RUE MACE, 2ND FLOOR For Sales inquiries please contact Tania Sarra, Director of International Sales E: tania@carnabyinternational.com T: +44 7557 515707
18/05/2017 17:41
SCREEN TV PREMIUM DRAMA, ASIA
“We’re looking for stories that are specific — and offer something unique and different that will appeal to local regions — and we’re listening to customer feedback to ensure we’re providing an exceptional customer experience,” says James Farrell, Amazon Prime Video head of Asia Pacific Content. “However, not every country is the same and some territories care more about a localised service or local content than others. Our approach will vary.” Netflix has so far been less aggressive in Asian production but has unveiled two Korean series — Love Alarm and Kingdom — and an adaptation of Vikram Chandra’s novel Sacred Games with India’s Phantom Films. In Japan, where Netflix first made landfall in Asia, it has already streamed popular scripted series such as Hibana: Spark and Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories, along with anime series including Ajin: Demi-Human. Neither company has so far done much with Chinese-language content — presumably because they’re not allowed to launch operations in mainland China. However, Netflix recently signed a small licensing deal with Chinese online platform iQiyi, which hinted the two companies might work together on original shows. Netflix executives were also recently in China talking to filmmakers, and, while it isn’t giving anything away, Amazon surely won’t be far behind. One immediate impact of the shift towards premium drama and the accompanying budget increases is that Asian series are starting to travel around the region. Korean drama, with its competitive production budgets, relatively short seasons and marketable stars, has long drawn enthusiastic audiences throughout Asia and further afield — but series from other territories have historically found it more difficult to break out. Netflix and Amazon are both streaming their Asian shows in as many territories as possible. “Content availability varies by country, but our goal is to make our locally made original series available to our worldwide customer base,” says Farrell. “Our kids anime series Crayon Shin-chan Gaiden has done really well in India. Certainly, as some of our big Indian originals start premiering, we expect the global audience for content from that part of the world to expand dramatically.” In addition to playing across the HBO network in Asia, HBO Asia’s shows are also being distributed outside the region — Serangoon Road was picked up by HBO Latin America and sold to Sony TV in the UK, while the second season of Halfworlds played on SBS in Australia, Shudder in the UK, Ireland and Canada, and HBO in parts of Europe. “We’ve also been
52 Screen International in Cannes May 20, 2017
‘The quality of Asian production is getting better and better’ Jonathan Spink, HBO Asia
talking about shows from all the international networks turning up on HBO in the US,” says Spink. “There’s recognition that, not only us, but other colleagues around the world are producing good shows and there is an outlet — if not on the main HBO channels, then on HBO Now.”
Halfworlds
Grace
Serangoon Road
Actress Jacky Cai launches Trading Floor
LOCAL PLATFORMS While global streamers Amazon and Netflix are both investing heavily in drama series across Asia, regional SVoD platforms including iflix, HOOQ and Viu have also woken up to the advantages of producing original shows. At the recent Asia Pacific Video Operators Summit (APOS) in Bali, Kuala Lumpur-based iflix, which has backing from Sky and Liberty Global, announced a slate of originals including eight-part Indonesian drama Magic Hour. Singapore-based HOOQ, which is backed by Sony and Warner Bros, is producing six-part series On The Job, directed by the Philippines’ Erik Matti, and eight-part romcom The T Party, about a
dating app. The pilot episode of On The Job will be released as a feature film in August. Viu, a mobile-based VoD platform owned by Hong Kong’s PCCW, is producing Hindi-language thriller Gehraiyaan and drama Spotlight with Bollywood filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, while its originals outside of India focus on celebrity content and lifestyle shows. China’s streaming platforms such as iQiyi, Youku and LeTV have already been producing originals including drama series for the past three to four years. iQiyi is coproducing a Chinese version of US drama Chosen with Sony Pictures Television, which is currently shooting in Australia.
Looking outward Meanwhile, Yim anticipates that FNGA’s first two miniseries, which will play on its SCM channel across Asia and the US, will also be sold to other broadcasters and streaming services in territories outside the SCM footprint. HBO Asia and FNGA’s premium shows are also being carried by the broadcasters’ respective streaming services: HBO Go, which is currently available in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and Fox+, which launched in the Philippines in March and is next heading to Singapore. In this highly fragmented, multi-platform world, it has become more important than ever for broadcasters to ramp up original production in order to control rights across more windows. That’s in addition to the growing need to win subscribers, differentiate services and offset the high cost of acquiring content in an increasingly competitive environment. Then of course there are the local broadcasters, streaming services and producers across Asia, which are also upping the ante in drama production. China should be an interesting territory to watch as budgets and ambitions are already increasing. The country is currently in thrall to $17m anti-corruption police procedural In The Name Of The People. Meanwhile, Beijing-based production company Combo Drive Pictures has hired UK writers Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton (Silent Witness) to showrun a big-budget series based on Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee historical mystery novels, expected to start production at the end of the year. “Without a doubt, the quality of Asian production is getting better and better,” says Spink. “And the rise of Korean drama has proved that audiences are prepared to watch subtitles. You might think there are no real similarities between countries in Asia, but in reality there does seem to be interest across the region in shared stories and even non-shared stos ries. It’s got a long way to run.” ■
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Film i Väst congratulates its Co-Productions in Cannes!
Ruben Östlund THE SQUARE
Jonas Carpignano A CIAMBRA
Kaouther Ben Hania BEAUTY AND THE DOGS
Your Scandinavian Partner in Co-Productions Niki Lindroth von Bahr THE BURDEN
Since 1992 Film i Väst has co-produced more than 1 000 feature films, TV-dramas, shorts & documentaries. Film i Väst is one of Europe’s leading regional film funds, located on the Swedish west coast in Västra Götaland. Film i Väst is active as co-producer and investor in international and Swedish film and TV-drama.
www.filmivast.se/com
Film i Väst AD Screen Cannes 170520.indd 1
2017-05-12 14:42:15
SPOTLIGHT CATTLEYA
Claudio Cupellini directs Marco D'Amore in the third season of Cattleya’s Gomorrah
When crime pays As dynamic Italian production company Cattleya celebrates its 20th anniversary, founder Ricardo Tozzi tells Gabriele Niola why he is repositioning it to focus on TV
F
or a film producer, Ricardo Tozzi is remarkably relaxed about not making any actual films this year. Cattleya, the company he founded 20 years ago, is one of Italy’s most profitable production houses, according to the country’s influential trade magazine Box Office. A larger-than-ever slice of those profits now comes from the company’s TV production activities, particularly the international hits Romanzo Criminale and Gomorrah, which are both TV spin-offs from breakout Italian crime films. Now, Cattleya — named by Tozzi after the orchid with which Charles Swann is obsessed in Marcel Proust’s In Search Of Lost Time — is poised to start shooting Netflix series Suburra, the first original Italian-language series to be commissioned by the payTV giant. The omens are good: it’s a crime saga that began life as a film. “In Italy, TV series are strongly linked with movies,” Tozzi explains. “There is a creative synergy between the two. We shoot TV series as if they were films, not in studios but outside, with cinematic lenses and film language. We value the director, and we see cinema as a lab where experimentation takes place.” Cattleya is preparing to shoot two further series after Suburra, both inspired by famous Italian films. Django is a western for
54 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
which Tozzi is soon to announce a French director, and Suspiria a horror series to which he hopes to sign a high-profile Italian actor. Furthermore, Gomorrah writer Roberto Saviano is working on a series called ZeroZeroZero. Also in the pipeline is Colt, originally conceived as a TV series by the legendary Sergio Leone. Tozzi finds TV exhilarating. “It allows us to do what we wouldn’t dare dream of with movies,” he says. “When producing films, we are always worried the audience won’t understand, so we tend to oversimplify. It is the opposite in television. When the storytelling is too clear or easy, we tangle it to challenge the viewer.” Change of emphasis This new focus is the latest in Tozzi’s repositioning of Cattleya away from auteur films, first to easygoing feature comedies and now TV production. “We were among the first to understand the end of the relationship between Italian auteurs and the audience,” Tozzi claims boldly. “It has been a dramatic drop, so two years ago we switched to comedies. But today comedies are no guarantee either. Italian audiences are not as interested in Italian cinema as they used to be.” Cattleya’s most recent features have been modest successes. Earlier this year, Alessan-
‘In Italy, TV series are strongly linked with movies. There is a creative synergy’ Ricardo Tozzi, Cattleya
dro Siani’s comedy Mister Felicita (literally ‘Mr Happiness’) grossed $10.9m (¤10m), while Francesco Amato’s drama Let Yourself Go, starring Toni Servillo, had garnered $1.6m (¤1.5m) by early May. Tozzi plans to further reduce the number of films Cattleya produces. Around 220 are released theatrically in Italy each year, and around half gross less than $55,000 (¤50,000) in a market that effectively shuts down from May to September. “Cinema is not going to die, but it will shrink like it did when TV first arrived in our lives,” Tozzi says. “Movies are coming out one on top of the other, fighting for visibility, and poorly distributed.” This is why Cattleya is launching distribution company Vision, with four other production firms — Wildside, Lucisano Group, Palomar and Indiana Production — and broadcaster Sky. “It will handle only a few titles every year, following each one from the beginning of production with different strategies, merging traditional distribution with online streaming,” Tozzi explains. He confirms that Cattleya is also looking to form a strategic partnership with a European company. “In Italy you can grow only up to a certain point,” says the ever-ambitious Tozzi. “But we would retain our autons omy.” Few would dare to doubt him. ■
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170503_S100F_MDF17_AZ_DAY4_Screen_Quixotes_245x335MM_RZ.indd 1
03.05.17 11:18
H
‘‘
© Charlie Gray 2017
e was a bulldog. But of all the dogs, bulldogs are actually quite sensitive,” says Brian Cox, the Scottish actor who Churchill, reflecting takes the title role in Churchill on the contradictory nature of the celebrated wartime UK prime minister. Speaking in his trailer during a break in shooting, Cox describes Churchill as “a man of destiny” but also a manic depressive who self-medicated through alcohol. “You realise you can’t avoid his theatricality, but it is a device he used,” says Cox. “The cigar was like thumbsucking. He was probably a thumbsucker. He hardly inhaled. He was very much a little boy, in tune with his inner child. He had a miserable time when he was growing up.” Producers Nick Taussig and Paul Van The Guv’nor Guv’nor, Carter of Salon Pictures (The Gascoigne)) originated the project, which is being sold by Embankment Films and is due to be released in the UK by Lionsgate in June. Partly inspired by Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall (2004), which depicted Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker in his final days, they set out to reveal “the man behind the icon, behind the myth”. Churchill was developed with the assistance of the BFI; Salon Pictures is producing alongside Tempo Productions, with backing from Silver Reel, Lipsync and Creative Scotland. Contemporary portrayal The $5.1m (£4m) production is set in the 48 hours leading up to D-Day — June 6, 1944. Churchill, still haunted by the carnage he unleashed during the bungled Gallipoli landings in the First World War, is very wary about the D-Day plans but is overruled by the Allied generals, Dwight D Eisenhower (played by John Slattery) foremost among them. “We’re doing a very contemporary portrait of him. The natural reflection off that was to have a young woman write the screenplay,” Van Carter says of the decision to recruit historian and journalist Alex von Tunzelmann to script Churchill. The film was developed with Cox — renowned on screen as the first Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986) and on stage for his portrayal of King Lear in an acclaimed 1990 production at the UK’s National Theatre — in mind. “If this is going to be the edgy, rock ‘n’ roll, cool Churchill movie, that’s reflected in the conceit — it’s a thriller, a ticking clock,” says Van Carter. “We always knew we were not going to make a Saving Private Ryan, $100m film with the storming of the Normandy beaches. It became all about that internal drama and conflict in Whitehall in the lead-up to D-Day.” The brooding, internal approach
56 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Director Jonathan Teplitzky (far left) and Brian Cox on set at Newhailes Estate, Musselburgh, Scotland
Life during wartime Winston Churchill has been portrayed on screen many times, but Salon Pictures’ latest film shows him in a new light. Geoffrey Macnab reports focuses on Churchill’s relationship with Brian Welsh. “It’s like a Labour suphis wife Clemmie (Miranda Richardson). porter making a film about Margaret There are tensions between them. They Thatcher,” Teplitzky jokes of being an sleep in separate beds. Churchill is aware Aussie telling the story of a man still held he has been neglecting her, and yet responsible for the death of so many remains very dependent on her. “They’re young Australians during the First World symbiotic but there’s a terrible strain on War. “But, as a filmmaker, you look for the relationship,” says Richardson. “He interesting characters and then try to always expects her to be there. He’s putexplore and humanise their behaviour.” ting her in a position where he is potenChurchill may be set in England but it tially an embarrassment to himself. He was shot almost entirely in Scotland. refuses to delegate to his generals. He’s “We talked to all the regions,” Taussig not doing what she perceives to be the explains. “We explored Wales, we real job, to lead the country by attitude explored Yorkshire, but Jonathan had rather than by interfering with the genershot The Railway Man in Scotland. On a als who are doing the dirty work, running low-budget film, we need to use nature the war. She seems to and there are some beautiful have an inherent underlandscapes here, some beautiful standing of that.” horizons, a dramatic quality Australian director that gave us a scale Jonathan Teplitzky we would have (The Railway struggled to get Man) came on in London.” board just a few The filmweeks before makers conproduction tend that began, a late people know less Cox with Miranda Richardson as Clemmie replacement for about Churchill
‘It was about whether we can say something fresh’ Nick Taussig, producer
than they might think, even if his image is everywhere: Churchill’s face is on the UK’s £5 note; his highly theatrical speeches (“We will fight them on the beaches!”) are still frequently invoked; and everyone knows he smoked cigars and made ‘V For Victory’ signs. Gary Oldman is also due to play him in Working Title’s Darkest Hour, scheduled for release at the end of 2017. What they are far less aware of is what Cox calls his “humanity… his flaws, his pettiness, his temper”. “There is obviously a massive existing brand there,” Taussig concludes of the Churchill phenomenon. “The film was about whether we can say something genuinely fresh, new and different s about him.” ■
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© 2016 Salon Churchill Limited
PRODUCTION FOCUS CHURCHILL
SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell
JURY GRID, PAGE 92
paullindsell@gmail.com » Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration
11:45
FESTIVAL
JUST TO BE SURE
(France) 95mins. Dir: Carine Tardieu. Cast: Francois Damiens, Cecile De France, Andre Wilms, Guy Marchand. Erwan, 45, finds out his father is not his biological father. His real father is Joseph, a man her mother briefly knew. How unlucky that Erwan has just fallen in love with the beautiful Anna, who happens to be Joseph’s only daughter! Unable to confront Bastien, who raised him, or to reveal his identity to Joseph and Anna, Erwan also has to deal with Juliette, his own daughter. Now several months pregnant, she still doesn’t know who the father of her baby is. All of sudden Erwan’s life just got really complicated.
AND PRESS
08:30 AVA
(France) 106mins. Dir: Lea Mysius. Cast: Noee Abita, Laure Calamy, Juan Cano. Ava, 13, is spending the summer on the Atlantic coast when she learns that she will lose her sight sooner than expected. Her mother decides to act as if everything were normal so as to spend their best summer ever. Ava confronts the problem in her own way: she steals a big black dog that belongs to a young man on the run. Critics’ Week Miramar
BLOODY MILK
(France) 90mins. Dir: Hubert Charuel. Cast: Swann Arlaud, Sara Giraudeau, Isabelle Candelier-Parnes. Pierre is a 30-year-old dairy farmer. His life revolves around the family farm he took over, his cows, his veterinarian sister and his parents. When the first cases of an epidemic break out in France, Pierre finds out one of his animals is infected. Losing his cows is not an option for Pierre. He has nothing else and he will do whatever it takes to save them. Critics’ Week Bunuel
BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) See box, above
08:45 THE RIDER
(US) 102mins. Dir: Chloe Zhao. Cast: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau. Once a rising star of the rodeo circuit and a gifted horse trainer, young cowboy Brady is warned that his riding days are over when a horse crushes his skull at a rodeo. Back home on the Pine Ridge Reservation, with little desire or alternatives
FESTIVAL & PRESS 08:30 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)
(France) 143mins. Dir: Robin Campillo. Cast: Nahuel Perez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adele Haenel. Early 1990s: with Aids having already claimed countless lives for nearly 10 years, Act Up-Paris
for a different way of life, Brady’s sense of inadequacy mounts as he is unable to ride or rodeo — the essentials of being a cowboy. In an attempt to regain control of his fate, Brady undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America. Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
09:00 OKJA
(South Korea) 118mins. Dir: Bong Joon Ho. Cast: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, An Seo Hyun, Byun Heebong, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Yoon Je Moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick. Meet Mija, a young girl who risks everything
58 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
activists steps up its actions to fight general indifference. Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant who throws his last bits of strength into the struggle. Competition Lumiere Ticket required, Press & Debussy
to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend — a massive animal named Okja. Competition Salle Du 60Eme
11:00 A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN
(France) 116mins. Dir: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire. Cast: Charlie Hunnam. The shocking story of a man’s descent into hell and his incredible journey to redemption. Out of Competition Bunuel Press
THE VENERABLE W
(France) 100mins. Dir: Barbet Schroder. In Burma, the ‘Venerable Wirathu’ is a highly respected and influential Buddhist monk. Meeting
him amounts to travelling to the heart of everyday racism and observing how Islamophobia and hate speech lead to violence and destruction. Yet this is a country in which 90 per cent of the population has adopted Buddhism as a faith: a religion based on a peaceful, tolerant and non-violent way of life. Out of Competition Bazin Press
11:30 JUPITER’S MOON
(Hungary) 123mins. Dir: Kornel Mundruczo. Cast: Merab Ninidze, Gyorgy Cserhalmi, Zsombor Jeger, Moni Balsai. A young illegal immigrant becomes a slave to his power to fly in a world where miracles are trafficked for small change. A cautionary thriller about disillusionment and faith.
TEHRAN TABOO
(Germany) 96mins. Dir: Ali Soozandeh. Cast: Elmira Rafizadeh, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Arash Marandi. The lives of three strongwilled women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling, modern metropolis, avoiding prohibition has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation. Critics’ Week Miramar
WALKING PAST THE FUTURE
(Sweden) 142mins. Dir: Ruben Ostlund. Cast: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss. Drama about an art installation that gets out of hand.
(China) 129mins. Dir: Ruijun Li. Cast: Zishan Yang, Fang Yin. Yaoting, daughter of ageing migrant workers living in the city, is coping with harsh reality while their dreams of a better future are crumbling in an era of drastic changes in China. With little hope of providing her family with a home of their own, she takes part in a series of highly paid medical experiments, with tragic consequences.
Competition Lumiere Ticket required
Un Certain Regard Debussy
Competition Salle Du 60Eme
THE SQUARE
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
13:30 A MAN OF INTEGRITY
(Iran) 117mins. Dir: Mohammad Rasoulof. Cast: Reza Akhlaghirad, Soudabeh Beizaee, Nasim Adabi, Misagh Zare, Zeynab Shabani, Zhila Shahi. Having distanced himself from urban life years ago, Reza turned to goldfish breeding. Somewhere deep in the countryside, his breeding farm provides him with a way of life. But the farm’s administration has recently met a series of difficulties, so he tries to circumvent them while avoiding falling into the trap of a corrupt nexus of human relations. Un Certain Regard Bazin
PROMISED LAND
(US) 117mins. Dir: Eugene Jarecki. A social justice documentary on the Duwamish and Chinook tribes and their fight for restoration of treaty rights. Cannes Classics Bunuel Press
14:00 THE SQUARE
(Sweden) 142mins. www.screendaily.com
»
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SCREENINGS
FESTIVAL & PRESS 14:15 BLOODY MILK
(France) 90mins. Dir: Hubert Charuel. Cast: Swann Arlaud, Sara Giraudeau, Isabelle Candelier-Parnes. Dairy farmer Pierre’s life revolves around the family farm he took over, his cows, his veterinarian sister and Dir: Ruben Ostlund. Cast: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss. Competition Salle Du 60Eme
14:15 APRIL’S DAUGHTER
(Mexico) 103mins. Dir: Michel Franco. Cast: Emma Suarez, Hernan Mendoza. From the winner of the Cannes 2015 best screenplay comes this mother-daughter drama set in Mexico. Un Certain Regard Debussy
BLOODY MILK See box, above
14:45
his parents. When the first cases of an epidemic disease break out in France, Pierre finds one of his animals is infected. Losing his cows is not an option for Pierre — he has nothing else and he will do whatever it takes to save them. Critics’ Week Miramar
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
15:00 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)
60 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Dir: Ali Soozandeh. Cast: Elmira Rafizadeh, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Arash Marandi.
Un Certain Regard Bazin
Critics’ Week Miramar
ISMAEL’S GHOSTS
(France) 110mins. Dir: Arnaud Desplechin. Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marion Cotillard, Louis Garrel. Filmmaker Ismail Vuillard’s life is sent into a tailspin by the return of a former lover just as he is about to embark on the shoot of a new film.
(France) 143mins. Dir: Robin Campillo. Cast: Nahuel Perez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adele Haenel.
Out of Competition Arcades 2
Competition Lumiere Ticket required
(US) 131mins. Dir: Clint Eastwood. Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman. Classic western thriller from ‘the man with no name’ himself.
16:00 A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
(US) 124mins. Dir: Robert Redford. Cast: Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt. Coming-of-age drama set in the Midwest in the early 20th century. Cannes Classics Bunuel
ALIVE IN FRANCE
(France) 79mins. Dir: Abel Ferrara. Cast: Abel Ferrara, Joe Delia, Paul Hipp, Cristina Chiriac, Dounia Sichov, Anna Ferrara, PJ Delia. A rock ’n’ roll glance at cult director Abel Ferrara when he headlines a series of concerts dedicated to songs and music from his films.
fight for her rights and her dignity. But how can justice be had when it lies on the side of the tormentors?
BEAUTY AND THE DOGS
(Tunisia) 100mins. Dir: Kaouther Ben Hania. Cast: Ghanem Zrelli, Mariam Al Ferjani. During a student party, Mariam, a young Tunisian woman, meets the mysterious Youssef and leaves with him. A long night will begin, during which she’ll have to
16:45 UNFORGIVEN
Cannes Classics Debussy
17:00 FACES PLACES (VISAGES VILLAGES)
(France) 100mins. Dir: Agnes Varda, JR. Cast: Agnes Varda, JR. Documentary about two artists travelling around France and the relationship that grows between them. Out of Competition Salle Du 60Eme
TEHRAN TABOO
(Germany) 96mins.
17:15 THE RIDER
(US) 102mins. Dir: Chloe Zhao. Cast: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau. Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
18:30 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)
(France) 143mins. Dir: Robin Campillo. Cast: Nahuel Perez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adele Haenel. Competition Lumiere Ticket required
19:00 THE VENERABLE W
(France) 100mins. Dir: Barbet Schroder. Out of Competition Salle Du 60Eme
19:15 PROMISED LAND
(US) 117mins. Dir: Eugene Jarecki. Cannes Classics Bunuel
19:30 REDOUBTABLE
(France) 102mins. Dir: Michel Hazanavicius. Cast: Louis Garrel, Stacy Martin, Berenice Bejo. Paris 1967: Jean-Luc Godard, the leading filmmaker of his generation, is shooting ‘La Chinoise’ »
www.screendaily.com
SCREENINGS
Dir: Claire Denis. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Josiane Balasko, Philippe Katerine, Gerard Depardieu. Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced with one child, is looking for love — true love — at last. Directors’ Fortnight Olympia 2
21:30 SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER See box, left
22:00 A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN
(France) 116mins. Dir: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire. Cast: Charlie Hunnam. The shocking story of a man’s descent into hell and his incredible journey to redemption.
FESTIVAL & PRESS 21:30 SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
(US) 118mins. Dir: John Badham. Cast: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller.
Disco fever classic about a dead-end worker who is a champion dancer at the weekend.
Dir: Carine Tardieu. Cast: Francois Damiens, Cecile De France, Andre Wilms, Guy Marchand.
Cinema De La Plage Plage Mace
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
SCAFFOLDING
with the woman he loves, Anne Wiazemsky, 20 years his junior. They marry but the film’s reception unleashes a profound self-examination in Jean-Luc. The events of May ’68 will amplify this process, and the crisis that shakes the filmmaker. Deeprooted conflicts and misunderstandings will change him irrevocably. Revolutionary, off-thewall, destructive, brilliant, he will pursue his choices
and his beliefs to breaking point. Competition Debussy Press
19:45 BLOODY MILK
(France) 90mins. Dir: Hubert Charuel. Cast: Swann Arlaud, Sara Giraudeau. Critics’ Week Miramar
20:00 JUST TO BE SURE
(France) 95mins.
(Israel) 89mins. Dir: Matan Yair. Cast: Keren Berger, Ami Smolartchik. Seventeen-year-old Asher has always been an impulsive troublemaker — from primary school through to high school. He is compelled by a lot of rage and violence; yet he is also endowed with a considerable amount of charm and street wisdom. While his strict father sees him as a natural successor to the family’s scaffolding business, Asher finds a
different masculine role model in his gentle literature teacher Rami and forges a special connection with him. Torn between the two worlds, Asher looks for a chance for a new life and new identity. When a sudden tragedy occurs, he has to take the ultimate test of maturity. ACID Arcades 1
20:15 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)
(France) 143mins. Dir: Robin Campillo. Cast: Nahuel Perez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adele Haenel. Competition Olympia 1
20:30 LET THE SUNSHINE IN
(France) 95mins.
Out of Competition Salle Du 60Eme
experienced tracker and hunter who uncovers the frozen body of a teenage girl. Cory teams up with new FBI agent Jane Banner and tribal Police Chief Ben Shoyo to piece together what happened and who is responsible for the grisly crime. The deeper Cory, Jane and Ben delve into the investigation, the more they put their own lives at risk. Directors’ Fortnight Debussy Press
22:15 TEHRAN TABOO
(Germany) 96mins. Dir: Ali Soozandeh. Cast: Elmira Rafizadeh, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Arash Marandi. Critics’ Week Miramar
22:30 ALIVE IN FRANCE
(France) 102mins. Dir: Michel Hazanavicius. Cast: Louis Garrel, Stacy Martin, Berenice Bejo.
(France) 79mins. Dir: Abel Ferrara. Cast: Abel Ferrara, Joe Delia, Paul Hipp, Cristina Chiriac, Dounia Sichov, Anna Ferrara, PJ Delia.
Competition Bazin Press
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
THE SQUARE
SCAFFOLDING
(Sweden) 142mins. Dir: Ruben Ostlund. Cast: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss.
(Israel) 89mins. Dir: Matan Yair. Cast: Keren Berger, Ami Smolartchik.
REDOUBTABLE
Competition Lumiere Ticket required
ACID Arcades 2
23:00
WIND RIVER
THE SQUARE
(US) 105mins. Dir: Taylor Sheridan. Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Jon Bernthal, Graham Greene. Cory Lambert is an
(Sweden) 142mins. Dir: Ruben Ostlund. Cast: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss. Competition Olympia 1
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*MARKET PREMIERE* Lerins M4 / info@visitfilms.com
PRIVATE SCREENING
MARKET SCREENINGS:
TODAY / 9:30 / Lerins 4 (Buyers Only) May 23 / 16:00 / Lerins 3 (Buyers Only)
SCREENINGS
MARKET SCREENINGS
09:00 CONTENTS PANDA PRIVATE SCREENING 3
Contents Panda. 125mins. Lerins 2
LEGEND OF THE DEMON CAT
(China) Moonstone Entertainment/Prestige Films. 25mins. Dir: Kaige Chen. Cast: Shota Sometani, Xuan Huang, Yuqi Zhang, Hao Qin, Hiroshi Abe, Mason Lee, Sandrine Pinna, Luyi Zhang. The Japanese monk Kukai arrives at the Imperial Court, summoned to clear away evil and drive out demons. As he investigates the death of the emperor, he learns of a mysterious demon cat who is terrorising the Imperial court. Kukai and his sidekick slowly uncover the motivation behind the demon cat’s actions: revenge for a princess buried alive by the previous emperor and his court. Lerins 1
evolving relationship.
09:15
Palais B
ABSINTHE
(US) Dreamcatcher Pictures. 15mins.
DRONE See box, below
Palais G Press allowed
THE GIRL WHO INVENTED KISSING
09:30 A VIOLENT LIFE
(France) Pyramide International. 107. Dir: Thierry De Peretti. Cast: Jean Michelangeli, Henri-Noël Tabary. Despite the death threat hanging over his head, Stephane decides to return to Corsica to attend the funeral of his best friend and comrade in arms, Christophe, murdered the day before. It’s an opportunity for Stephane to reminisce about the events that led him, a cultured petty bourgeois from Bastia, to move from small crime to political radicalisation and the underground movement. Critics’ Week Riviera 2
DINA
(US) Dogwoof. 101mins. Dir: Antonio Santini, Daniel Sickles. An eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door-greeter navigate their
(US) Film Mode Entertainment. 106mins. Dir: Tom Sierchio. Cast: Suki Waterhouse, Abbie Cornish, Luke Wilson, Dash Mihok, Vincent Piazza. A seductive, pill-popping drifter stops in a small town and has a dramatic effect on everyone she meets — especially two brothers whose relationship is forced to the brink over the truth of her intentions. Gray 4
JUPITER’S MOON
(Hungary) The Match Factory. 123mins. Dir: Kornel Mundruczo. Cast: Merab Ninidze, Gyorgy Cserhalmi, Zsombor Jeger, Moni Balsai. A young illegal immigrant becomes a slave to his power to fly in a world where miracles are trafficked for small change. A cautionary thriller about disillusionment and faith. Gray 1
MARKET 09:30 DRONE
(Canada) Myriad Pictures. 89mins. Dir: Jason Bourque. Cast: Sean Bean, Patrick Sabongui. Neil is a cog in the wheel of America’s war on terror. A private drone operator, he spends his workdays flying covert missions for the CIA then returns to a family life of suburban mediocrity. But
Neil’s juggling act of husband, father and armchair warrior comes to a crashing halt when a whistle-blowing website reveals he was at the controls of a number of deadly drone strikes. Believing Neil is responsible for the deaths of his wife and child, an enigmatic Pakistani businessman has tracked him down. Gray 2
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intramovies_cannes_daily_may20.qxp_The Testament 11/05/17 10:07 Pagina 3
- RIVIERA C1 - ITALIAN PAVILION
CREDITS NOT CONTRACTUAL
WORLD SALES
Screenings: MAY 20th - 16.00 - PALAIS C MAY 22nd - 16.00 - LERINS 1
SCREENINGS
forever change not only Wendy’s life but also could save grandma’s ranch from being sold. But for how long will Wendy be able to hide Dixie from the adults?
JUST TO BE SURE
(France) SND — Groupe M6. 95mins. Dir: Carine Tardieu. Cast: Francois Damiens, Cecile De France, Andre Wilms, Guy Marchand. Erwan, 45, finds out his father is not his biological father. His real father is Joseph, a man her mother briefly knew. How unlucky that Erwan had just fallen in love with the beautiful Anna, who happens to be Joseph’s only daughter! Unable to confront Bastien, who raised him, or to reveal his identity to Joseph and Anna, Erwan also has to deal with Juliette, his own daughter. Now several months pregnant, she still doesn’t know who the father of her baby is. All of sudden Erwan’s life just got really complicated. Olympia 9
LET THERE BE LIGHT
(Canada) Eyesteelfilm. 80mins. Dir: Mila AungThwin, Van Royko. Follows the story of dedicated scientists working to build a small sun on Earth, which would unleash perpetual, cheap, clean energy for mankind. After decades of failed attempts, a massive push is now under way to crack the holy grail of energy. Palais J
Arcades 3
09:45 CRASH TEST AGLAE
MARKET 09:30 TWICE SHY
(Ireland) 7&7 Producers’ Sales Service. 80mins. Dir: Tom Ryan. Cast: Shane Murray-Corcoran, Iseult Casey, Ardal O’Hanlon, Pat Shortt. to offer his family a better future. His only resources are his own two hands, the surrounding bush and an iron will. When he sets out on an exhausting, perilous journey to sell the fruit of his labours, he discovers the true value of his efforts, and the price of his dreams. Palais H
MAKALA
(France) Les Films Du Losange. 97mins. Dir: Emmanuel Gras. Cast: Kabwita Kasongo. A young man from a village in the Congo hopes
MARYLINE
(France) Gaumont. 104mins. Dir: Guillaume Gallienne. Cast: Adeline D’Hermy, Vanessa Paradis, Xavier Beauvois,
Two young Irish lovers, faced with an unplanned pregnancy, reflect on the choices they have made as they journey to London in order to face the biggest decision of all. Palais D
Eric Ruf. Maryline wasn’t always given the best luck in life but she certainly has a talent for acting. Too humble and sensitive to embrace her natural fit, she can’t help but make an impression on every artist she meets. Arcades 1
MAZE
(Ireland) Visit Films. 93mins. Dir: Stephen Burke. Cast: Martin Mccann, Niamh McGrady, Elva Trill. Inspired by the true events of the infamous 1983
prison breakout of 38 IRA from the Maze Prison — which was to become the biggest prison escape in Europe since the Second World War. Lerins 4
POMEGRANATES IN LAHORE
(Pakistan) Prospect Films. 110mins. Dir: Kirsten Seymour. Doc Corner
THANATOSOPHIA: THE PACT OF SOULS
(France) Imagessence Productionmins. 142mins. Dir: Franck Flanquart. Damien, a laboratory director, has his life turned upside down by a neardeath experience. Now, convinced that there is life after death, and determined to know more about it, he embarks on an adventure following the mysterious and little-known trails
leading to parallel worlds. Gray 5
TWICE SHY See box, left
WENDY — THE MOVIE
(Germany) Beta Cinema. 90mins. Dir: Dagmar Seume. Cast: Jule Hermann, Jasmin Gerat, Benjamin Sadler. Twelve-year-old Wendy doesn’t care too much for her parents’ decision to spend all of summer break at her grandmother’s run-down horse ranch. Following a severe riding accident, she refuses to get back into the saddle. Yet as soon as she arrives, she meets the invalid horse Dixie, which just escaped from the butcher. Dixie seems to be quite fond of Wendy and follows her wherever she goes. The two loners build a friendship that has the potential to
(France) Le Pacte. 85mins. Dir: Eric Gravel. Cast: India Hair, Julie Depardieu, Yolande Moreau. A young woman with a hopelessly rigid personality has one reason for living: her job. She works in the crash test team of a carmanufacturing plant. When the management announces that the activity will be relocated to India, she decides, to everyone’s astonishment, that she prefers to move there rather than lose her job. After all, she does enjoy playing cricket! Together with two (reluctant) colleagues and an old shabby car as means of transport, she embarks in an absurd journey to the end of the world. Olympia 8
DABKA (INTO THE FIRE)
(US) Bankside Films. 116mins. Dir: Bryan Buckley. Cast: Al Pacino, Evan Peters, Melanie Griffith. In 2008, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur forms a half-baked plan to embed himself among the pirates of Somalia. He ultimately succeeds in providing the first close-up look into who these men are, how they
»
66 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
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HAF-CANNES DAILIES-20 MAY 2017-3.pdf
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SCREENINGS
live and the forces that drive them. Olympia 4
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
(France) Films Distribution. 95mins. Dir: Claire Denis. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Josiane Balasko, Philippe Katerine, Gerard Depardieu, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced with one child, is looking for love, true love at last. Lerins 1
ROCK’N ROLL
(France) Pathe International. 123mins. Dir: Guillaume Canet. Cast: Guillaume Canet, Marion Cotillard. Guillaume Canet is told by a young co-star that he’s no longer rock ’n’ roll and can’t sell films any more. He then tries to prove her wrong and gets help from his girlfriend, Marion Cotillard.
their own prejudice and mistrust due to the language barrier and cultural differences. The stage is quickly set for a showdown when men begin to compete for recognition and favour from the local villagers. Lerins 3
10:00 AT WAR FOR LOVE
(Italy) Rai Com. 99mins. Dir: Pierfrancesco Diliberto. New York, 1943: Arturo, a Sicilian emigrant, is in love with Flora and they would like to get married. He enrolls in the US Army in order to start a journey to Sicily to get Flora’s father’s blessing. Palais G
Palais E
WESTERN
(Germany) Films Boutique. 119mins. Dir: Valeska Grisebach. Cast: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov. A group of German workers set off to a construction site in the border region between Bulgaria and Greece. This foreign land and its breathtaking landscape awaken the men’s sense of adventure, but they are also confronted with 68 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
Palais K
HIRED GUN
Vision Films. 90mins. Dir: Fran Strine. Cast: Alice Cooper, Liberty Devitto, Ray Parker Jr. A documentary film about session and touring musicians that are hired by well established and famous bands and artists. Riviera 1
WATER AND SUGAR: CARLO DI PALMA THE COLOURS OF LIFE
(Italy) Adriana Chiesa Enterprisesmins. 90mins. Dir: Fariborz Kamkari. A veritable journey into Italian cinema. Arcades 2
(Canada) Next. 60mins. A 40-minute virtual reality comedy about a Japanese toy robot gifted to a young boy on his birthday in 1982 suburban America. Next VR Cinema
DIVINE DIVAS
(Australia) Moviehouse Entertainment. 120mins. Dir: Jonathan Adams. Cast: Gareth Rickards, Vincent Andriano, Sam Glissan, Hayley Sullivan, Katie Garfield. An activist group makes a deal with the treasureseeking Rovers and their modified four-wheel-drives for an expedition through treacherous Australian terrain. Tensions rise and ulterior motives are revealed with exciting offroad chases, daring rescues and amazing discoveries to follow.
Frontieres. 110mins.
CANADA. BIG ON VR 1
Olympia 5
ROUGH STUFF
FRONTIERES PROOF OF CONCEPT PRESENTATION
(Brazil) Upside Distribution. 110mins. Dir: Leandra Leal. Cast: Rogeria, Jane Di Castro, Divina Valeria. The ‘Divine Divas’ are icons of the first generation of transvestite artists in Brazil in the 1960s. This documentary focuses on the intimacy, the talent and the stories of a generation that has revolutionised the sexual behaviour and the morals of its time. Palais I
FREAK SHOW
(US) The Works International. 95mins. Dir: Trudie Styler. Cast: Alex Lawther, Bette Midler, Annasophia Robb, Abigail Breslin, Laverne Cox. Billy Bloom is somewhere in-between David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Freddy Mercury and Oscar Wilde. Could he be like everyone else if he wanted to? It would certainly save him a whole lot of trouble. But he has absolutely no desire to be like them. When his classmates feel provoked by his drive to be different, it only motivates him further. Gray 3
WOODPECKERS
(Dominican Republic) Film Factory Entertainment. 107mins. Dir: Jose Maria Cabral. Julian finds love and a reason for living in the last place imaginable: the Dominican Republic’s Najayo Prison. Palais C
11:00 ORANGE VR EXPERIENCE
(France) Next. 60mins. Next VR Cinema
11:15 IN LOVE WITH LOU — A PHILOSOPHER’S LIFE
(Germany) Arri Media International. 112mins. Dir: Cordula Kablitz-Post, Susanne Hertel. Cast: Katharina Lorenz, Nicole Heesters, Liv Lisa Fries, Alexander Scheer. When writer and psychoanalyst Lou Andreas-Salome meets young german scholar Ernst Pfeiffer he helps her writing the story of her life and falls in love with her as many have before. Arcades 3
11:30 A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY
(US) Cinetel Films. 90mins. Dir: Susan Walter. Cast: Sharon Stone, Tony Goldwyn, Ellen Burstyn, Famke Janssen, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Liza Lapira, Ryan Lochte. An aspiring fashion »
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WU: THE STORY OF THE WU-TANG CLAN GENRE: DOCUMENTARY; MUSIC
A DOCUMENTARY OF THE RENOWNED HIP-HOP GROUP THE WU-TANG CLAN FEATURING HIP-HOP STARS
GHOSTFACE KILLAH, METHOD MAN, RZA, GZA, RAEKWON THE CHEF, U-GOD, MASTA KILLA, INSPECTAH DECK, AND OL’ DIRTY BASTARD
In the summer of 1993, the Wu-Tang Clan emerged from the slums of Staten Island and took the hip-hop world by storm. Their legacy spanned over a decade, garnering fans world-wide and generating sales in excess of $50 million. This is their story...
“A MUST SEE...” - ERNEST HARDY, LA TIMES
JUSTICE SERVED
RETAKE
GENRE: THRILLER; CRIME
GENRE: DRAMA; ROMANCE; LGBT
US THEATRICAL RELEASE
US THEATRICAL RELEASE
MARVIN YOUNG
STARRING: TUC WATKINS (‘Desperate Housewives’,
AKA
YOUNG MC
MAKES HIS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT!
‘One Life to Live’, The Mummy)
STARRING:
DEVON GRAYE (‘The Flash’, ‘Dexter’,
CHASE COLEMAN (‘Boardwalk Empire’) MARVIN YOUNG AKA YOUNG MC
DEREK PHILLIPS (Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’,
I Am Michael)
‘Friday Night Lights’, 42)
(‘Bust a Move’)
KIT WILLIAMSON (‘Mad Men’)
LANCE HENRIKSEN (Aliens, The Terminator) LOCHLYN MUNRO (Freddy vs Jason,
“Carving out some distinctive new territory in the well-trod world of queer cinema.”
Chicks White Chicks)
GAIL O’GRADY (‘NYPD Blue’, ‘Revenge’)
- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
LAZY EYE
BWOY
GENRE: DRAMA; ROMANCE; LGBT
GENRE: LGBT; THRILLER
US THEATRICAL RELEASE
US THEATRICAL RELEASE
STARRING:
STARRING:
LUCAS NEAR-VERBRUGGHE (‘Grimm’,
ANTHONY RAPP (Rent, A Beautiful
Our Idiot Brother)
Mind, ‘Star Trek: Discovery’)
AARON COSTA GANIS (‘Jessica Jones’) MICHAELA WATKINS (HULU’s ‘Casual’,
“A profoundly sensitive look at love, loss and loneliness.” - LA TIMES
’Satursay Night Live’, Wanderlust)
“So well-written and acted you feel like you’re eavesdropping.”
VARIETY
VISIT US AT OUR BOOTH - RIVIERA H-6 - MARINA CLUB CONTACT: MIKE REPSCH - MIKE@BGPICS.COM - (US) 215-459-2135
OR
MARC HELFRICH - MARC@BGPICS.COM - (US) 267-355-3286
EXTENSIVE CATALOG AVAILABLE
SCREENINGS
designer struggles to find success and love. The story cuts into her life once a year, always on the same date: her birthday. Gray 2
AFTER THE WAR
(Italy) Pyramide International. 92mins. Dir: Annarita Zambrano. Cast: Giuseppe Battiston, Barbora Babulova, Charlotte Cetaire. Bologna, 2002: opposition to the Labor Law explodes in universities and the murder of a judge reopens old political wounds between Italy and France. Marco, a former leftwing activist sentenced for murder and exiled in France for 20 years thanks to the Mitterrand doctrine, is accused of having ordered the attack. The Italian government requests his extradition. Forced to flee with Viola, his 16-yearold daughter, his life will change forever, as well his family in Italy, who have to pay for Marco’s past faults. Riviera 2
C’EST LE COEUR QUI MEURT EN DERNIER
(Canada) Forum Films. 103mins. Dir: Alexis Durand Brault. Cast: Denise Filiatrault, Gabriel Sabourin, Sophie Lorain. A 47-year-old man renews contact with his mother now living in a retirement home, when childhood memories and troubling family secrets emerge. Palais J
CITY OF GHOSTS
(US) Dogwoof. 90mins. Dir: Matthew Heineman. This is the story of a new type of warfare: a battle over ideas, over hearts and minds, over clicks and views. Palais B
DHOGS
(Spain) Stray Dogs. 85mins. Dir: Andres Goteira. Cast: Melania Cruz, Antonio Duran Morris, Miguel De Lira. The intimacy of a hotel room. The immensity of a desert. A desolate gas station. In these picturesque sets, hideous crimes occur under the cold look of unexpected protagonists. But what if there was only a thin line
MARKET 12:00 ALIFU, THE PRINCE/SS
(Taiwan) Reel Suspects. 95mins. Dir: Yu-Lin Wang. Cast: Utjon Tjakivalid, Zhao Yilan, Wu Pengfeng, Chen Zhusheng, Zheng Renshuo. Alifu is an aboriginal boy who works at a salon in the city. He has a dream — to become
between victims, criminals and spectators? Palais F
IN AND OUT
(France) Other Angle Pictures. 86mins. Dir: Bruno Chiche, Pierre Francois MartinLaval. Cast: Louise Bourgoin, Stephane De Groot, Aure Atika. Two couples, Pierre and Aimee and Eric and Penelope, have been friends for years. Only problem: Penelope and Pierre have fallen in love. They decide to call it quits when things start getting too out of control. But the universe decides to play a trick on them and after a final night of passion, Pierre and Penelope wake up to find they’ve switched bodies! To keep their secret, they have to live as each other. And that’s when the trouble begins. Olympia 3
MARRY ME, DUDE
a woman. As the only son of the tribal chief, Alifu is under pressure to succeed his father. Peizhan, a lesbian and also Alifu’s roommate and colleague, is always on his side. However, she gradually finds out her feelings for Alifu are more than just as a friend. Gray 5
MAYHEM
(US) Octane Entertainment. 86mins. Dir: Joe Lynch. Cast: Steven Yuen, Samara Weaving. A virus infects a corporate law office on the day attorney Derek Saunders is framed by a co-worker and wrongfully fired. The infection is capable of making people act out their wildest impulses. Trapped in the quarantined building, our hero is forced to savagely fight tooth and nail for not only his job but his life. Gray 4
MOTHERING
(Iran) Farabi Cinema Foundationmins. 84mins. Dir: Roqiye Tavakoli. Cast: Nazanin Bayati, Houman Seyedi. Two sisters live in Yazd, a city located in the Iranian deserts. One of the sisters has abandoned her love and the other has been abandoned by hers.
(France) Studiocanal. 110mins. Dir: Tarek Boudali.
Palais H
Olympia 9
(China) Golden Network
70 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
RESET
Asia. 106mins. Dir: Chang. Cast: Mi Yang, Wallace Huo, Shih-Chieh King, Chang Liu. Scientist Xia Tian has dedicated so many years to developing her time machine that she hasn’t been able to give her son, Doudou, the attention he craves. Xia Tian vows to spend more time with him once her research is finished. She has managed to send living tissue back in time by 110 minutes. News of her success attracts the attention of Tsui Hu, who kidnaps Doudou. Although Xia Tian follows Tsui Hu’s every instruction, she cannot save her son, so she does the only thing left in her power, sending herself back in time by 110 minutes to put everything right.
he created is far from perfect. Lerins 4
THE TEACHER
(France) BAC Films. 106mins. Dir: Olivier Ayache-Vidal. Cast: Denis Podalydes, Pauline Huruguen, Abdoulaye Diallo. A literature professor is transferred from a prestigious high school to a tough, underprivileged suburb. He prepares himself for the worst. Palais D
WAYNAK (WHERE ARE YOU?)
Makesense. 120mins. Documentary series that allows spectators to change the story around migratory crises, by going from content to action.
WALKING PAST THE FUTURE
(US) Voltage Pictures. 104mins. Dir: Scott Speer. Cast: Ross Lynch, Olivia Holt, Courtney Eaton, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Martin Donovan, John Michael Higgins, Rob Riggle, Famke Janssen, Josh Ostrovsky. When Kyle, a social outcast, happens upon a magical phone app that causes anything he posts to come true, he uses it to create his idea of the ‘perfect’ life. He even wins the affection of the two most beautiful girls in school, Dani and Charlotte. However, he soon learns that the life
Palais K
ALI, THE GOAT & IBRAHIM
(Egypt) Loco Films. 90mins. Dir: Sherif El Bendary. Cast: Ahmed Magdy, Ali Sobhy, Salwa Mohamed Ali, Nahed El Sebai. Ali believes his late girlfriend’s soul has been reincarnated in a goat. Ali, his goat and his friend Ibrahim embark on a journey of friendship and self-discovery across Egypt to reverse the curse. Gray 1
ALIFU, THE PRINCE/SS See box, above
Doc Corner
Lerins 2
STATUS UPDATE
Dir: Jonas Carpignano. Cast: Pio Amato, Koudous Seihon, Iolanda Amato, Damiano Amato. In ‘A Ciambra’, a small Romani community in Calabria, Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. At 14, he drinks, smokes and is one of the few to easily slide between the region’s factions — the local Italians, the African refugees and his fellow Romani. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets of their hometown. When Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong, Pio sets out to prove he’s ready to step into his big brother’s shoes but soon finds himself faced with an impossible decision that will show if he is truly ready to become a man.
(China) Edko Films. 129mins. Dir: Ruijun Li. Cast: Zishan Yang, Fang Yin. Yaoting, daughter of ageing migrant workers living in the city, is coping with harsh reality while their dreams of a better future are crumbling in an era of drastic changes in China. With little hope of providing her family with a home of their own, she takes part in a series of highly paid medical experiments. Debussy
12:00 A CIAMBRA
(Italy) Luxbox. 120mins.
CROSS VIDEO DAYS — VR SCREENINGS
(France) Next. 60mins. Next VR Cinema
DEVIL’S FREEDOM
(Mexico) Films Boutique. 74mins. Dir: Everardo Gonzalez. Mexico, 2016: in some of the world’s most dangerous cities life is not worth much. Looking into the eyes of the protagonists of violence, victims as well as executioners, helps to understand how fear inserted itself in the subconscious of our society. Through a network of concrete stories, we are facing the most obscure traits of the human psyche, the frail »
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Market Screening: Monday May 22, 16:00, Lerins 3 Festival Screenings: Sunday May 21, 11:45 Theatre Croisette Sunday May 21, 20:30, Theatre Croisette Tu e s d a y M a y 2 3 , 1 7 : 0 0 , Cinema Le Raimu Tu e s d a y M a y 2 3 , 21:00, Studio 13 Wednesday May 24 11:30, Arcades 1
SCREENINGS
balance between humanity and evil.
he has a real talent for it Olympia 4
Riviera 1
PLEASE STAND BY FACES PLACES (VISAGES VILLAGES)
(France) Cohen Media Group. 100mins. Dir: Agnes Varda, JR. Cast: Agnes Varda, JR. Agnes Varda and JR have a few things in common. They share a passion for art and they love talking to people. They share part of their lives to create a simple, humorous and peaceful chronicle, and road movie of their friendship Out of Competition Lerins 3
INFILTRATION
(Canada) Seville International. 93mins. Dir: Robert Morin. Palais I
ORCHESTRA CLASS
(France) Gaumont. 96mins. Dir: Rachid Hami. Cast: Kad Merad, Samir Guesmi. Simon is a distinguished, but disillusioned violinist. He has recently gone through a divorce and found a job teaching orchestra in a workingclass neighbourhood in Paris. Arnold is a shy and chubby student who is fascinated with the violin and discovers that
(US) Embankment Films. 100mins. Dir: Ben Lewin. Cast: Dakota Fanning, Toni Collette. A young autistic woman runs away from her caregiver in an attempt to submit her manuscript to a writing competition. Olympia 5
PLOEY — YOU NEVER FLY ALONE
(Iceland) Arri Media International. 9mins. Dir: Gunnar Karlsson, Arni Asgeirsson. The story of a young golden plover who has trouble learning to fly and fails to migrate with his family to warmer climates. With the help of friends he is able to survive in a world full of natural enemies and is, at the end, celebrated as a hero.
Ramazzotti, Renato Carpentieri. Estranged from his family, a retired lawyer grows close to his new neighbours until catastrophe pulls them apart. Lerins 1
TRAFFICKED
(US) Red Sea Media. 104mins. Dir: Will Wallace. Cast: Ashley Judd, Elizabeth Rohm, Sean Patrick Flannery. Inspired by a real story: three girls are trafficked and enslaved in a Texas brothel. Palais E
TREASURES FROM THE WRECK OF THE UNBELIEVABLE
(US) Submarine Entertainment. 90mins.
(UK) Park Circus Group. 85mins. Dir: Sam Hobkinson. Cast: Damien Hirst. This documentary forms an integral part of a wider artistic project of the same name, now on display at the Punta Della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Italy.
Olympia 8
Palais C
Gray 3
SECRET SCREENING BLUE
12:30
STARFISH See box, below
PLOEY — YOU NEVER FLY ALONE
LA TENEREZZA
(Iceland) Arri Media International. 9mins. Dir: Gunnar Karlsson, Arni Asgeirsson.
(Italy) Rai Com. 103mins. Dir: Gianni Amelio. Cast: Elio Germano, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Micaela
Gray 3
MARKET 12:00 STARFISH United States of America Embassy Warsaw
(UK) The Little Film Company. 94mins. Dir: Bill Clark. Cast: Joanne Froggatt, Tom Riley. Tom and Nicola’s happy suburban lives
change for ever when Tom contracts a devastating bacterial infection. A moving, inspirational story of love, and the incredible strength people find when confronted by the unimaginable. Palais G
»
72 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
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SCREENINGS
figure his way out of this mess.
13:00 PLOEY — YOU NEVER FLY ALONE
Gray 1
(Iceland) Arri Media International. 9mins. Dir: Gunnar Karlsson, Arni Asgeirsson.
BARBARA
Gray 3
13:30 THE BALLAD OF LEFTY BROWN
(US) WTFilms. 110mins. Dir: Jared Moshe. Lefty Brown, a mere sidekick and no hero, needs to clear his name and make his own justice when his best friend is killed. Olympia 6
CENTRAL PARTNERSHIP 2017-18 LINE-UP
(Russia) Central Partnership Sales House. 90mins. Lerins 2
THE GAZE OF THE SEA
(Mexico) Mexican Film Institute (Imcine). 80mins. Dir: Jose Alvarez. Palais H
GUCA: SERBIAN DETOX
(Serbia) Rados Film Corp. 72mins. Dir: Igor Stephen Rados.
MARKET 13:30 RESCUE UNDER FIRE
(Spain) Latido Films. 90mins. Dir: Adolfo Martinez Perez. Cast: Ariadna Gil, Raúl Merida, Roberto Alamo, Antonio Garrido, Jacobo Dicenta, Ismael Martinez, Ingrid Garcia Jonsson, David De La Torre, Javier Bodalo, Berta Hernandez.
The crew of a medical helicopter suffers an accident while aiding a Spanish/American division in Afghanistan. The Spanish Army has but one night to organise the rescue of the crew while a huge concentration of Taliban troops start surrounding them. Riviera 2
Doc Corner
ISOLATION
apart many years before. As Carl tries to withstand the insidious influences of his past, so he finds himself increasingly drawn in to the dark imaginings of his own psychological vortex.
(Iran) Derakhshan Aftab-E Alamtab. 90mins. Dir: Morteza Ali Abbas Mirzaei. Cast: Amirali Danaei, Nader Falah, Ali Ostadi, Siamak Safari. A husband whose wife is killed following a chase is allowed out of prison for 72 hours for her funeral.
Olympia 9
Gray 4
OCCIDENTAL
KALEIDOSCOPE
(UK) Independent. 100mins. Dir: Rupert Jones. Cast: Toby Jones, Anne Reid, Sinead Matthews. A year after being released from prison, Carl Woods has done well to carve out a life for himself in the outside world. Having found some work and a flat, he now embarks on his first date in 15 years. The event coincides with his estranged mother’s reappearance in his life, and her subsequent attempts to mend the differences that drove them
LEVELK SCREENING 1
Levelk. 90mins. Palais J
(France) MPM Film. 73mins. Dir: Neil Beloufa. Cast: Paul Hamy, Hamza Meziani, Anna Ivacheff, Louise Orry Diquero, Idir Chender, Brahim Tekfa. Furious protesters occupy the streets of Paris. Antonio and Giorgio, an eccentric couple, take refuge in the Hotel Occidental. Diana, the hotel manager, is instantly suspicious of them and calls the police. With no proper evidence, the officers and hotel staff experience a series of absurd anecdotal events. Palais D
74 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
PORK PIE
(New Zealand) Metro International Entertainment. 105mins. Dir: Matt Murphy. Cast: Dean O’Gorman, James Rolleston, Ashleigh Cummings. Tracks the escapades of a trio of accidental outlaws as they travel the length of New Zealand in a yellow mini, protesting against conformity and chasing lost love, with a posse of cops and a media frenzy in hot pursuit.
robot Robbie enters his life. He’s been separated from his robot parents when his spaceship crashed and now he’s looking for them. Toby decides to offer his help and the two of them become friends. Teaming up, they build an invention that can fly, float and drive on a road — a fantastic Voyager especially designed to help their search. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Sir Joshua and his super bad agents are hot on their heels. Arcades 3
STILL/BORN
(Canada) Jinga Films. 90mins. Dir: Brandon Christensen. Cast: Christie Burke, Jesse Moss, Rebecca Olson, Michael Ironside. When Mary loses one of her twins in childbirth, she spirals into madness thinking her other child is in danger from an evil supernatural entity. Palais F
Gray 2
TRAGEDY GIRLS RESCUE UNDER FIRE See box, above
ROBBY & TOBY’S FANTASTIC VOYAGER
(Germany) Arri Media International. 106mins. Dir: Wolfgang Groos. Cast: Arsseni Bultmann, Alexandra Maria Lara, Sam Riley, Friedrich Mucke, Jordis Triebel. This is the story of Toby, the most creative 11-year-old boy and inventor you can think of. One day, the little
(US) The Exchange. 97mins. Dir: Tyler MacIntyre. Cast: Alexandra Shipp, Brianna Hildebrand, Josh Hutcherson. Two death-obsessed teenage girls use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small midwestern town into a frenzy. Palais B
13:45 SALYUT 7
(Russia) Indie Sales.
121mins. Dir: Klim Shipenko. Cast: Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Pavel Derevyanko, Alexandr Samoylenko, Maria Mironova, Oksana Fandera, Lubov Novikova. Based on actual events. 1985: the Soviet space station Salyut 7, which is in low Earth orbit, suddenly stops responding to commands from the control centre. To investigate the failure, people must be sent to the station. Yet no one in history has ever attempted to dock an uncontrolled vehicle in space. Olympia 8
14:00 50/50 BY 2020 — GLOBAL REACH
Next. 110mins. Palais K
68 KILL
(US) Films Distribution. 92mins. Dir: Trent Haaga. Cast: Matthew Gray Gubler, Annalynne Mccord, Alisha Boe. Scraping by flushing septic systems is not Chip’s vision of a perfect life. But he’s a simple guy and he’s got a great girlfriend in Liza. Sure, she supplements their income with a sugar daddy, but every relationship has its own complexities. When Liza suggests that they relieve her sleazy benefactor of a stack of cash, Chip begins to see a side of her he never knew existed… or never wanted to admit. Now he’s got a gun in his hand, a girl in his trunk and less than 24 hours to
(France) Gaumont. 94mins. Dir: Mathieu Amalric. Cast: Jeanne Balibar, Mathieu Amalric. An actress, Brigitte, is playing Barbara in a film that soon begins shooting. Brigitte works on her character: her voice, the songs and scores, the imitation of her gestures, her knitting, the lines to learn. Things move along. The character grows inside her. Invades her, even… Yves, the director, is also working — via encounters, archival footage, the music. He seems inhabited and inspired by her… but by whom? The actress or Barbara? Olympia 4
BEAUTY AND THE DOGS
(Tunisia) Jour2Fete. 100mins. Dir: Kaouther Ben Hania. Cast: Ghanem Zrelli, Mariam Al Ferjani. During a student party, Mariam, a young Tunisian woman, meets the mysterious Youssef and leaves with him. A long night will begin, during which she’ll have to fight for her rights and her dignity. But how can justice be had when it lies on the side of the tormentors? Un Certain Regard Arcades 2
THE CAKEMAKER
(Israel) Films Boutique. 104mins. Dir: Ofir Raul Graizer. Cast: Tim Kalkhof, Sarah Adler, Roy Miller, Zohar Strauss, Sandra Sade. Thomas, a young and talented German baker, is having an affair with Oren, an Israeli married man who dies in a car crash. Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers. Keeping his secret for himself, he starts working for Anat, his lover’s widow, who owns a small cafe. Although not fully kosher and despised by the religious, his delicious cakes turn the place into a city attraction. Finding himself involved in Anat’s life in a way far beyond his anticipation, Thomas will stretch his lie to the point of no return. »
Palais C
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SCREENINGS
appears more relevant than ever before.
15:00 COLLECTIVE REALITY/BBFF: AUSTRALIAN IMMERSION
Arcades 3
(Australia) Next. 60mins.
BRAVA
Next VR Cinema
(Spain) Inside Content. 91mins. Dir: Roser Aguilar. Cast: Laia Marull, Bruno Todeschini, Emilio Guitierrez-Caba, Sergio Caballero, Francesc Orella. Janine’s life seems to be going well until one day she is attacked on the Underground and everything falls apart. Trying to escape her inner torment, she seeks refuge in the village where her father now lives. She hides her injuries from everybody and tries to relax, but instead of finding peace she comes face-to-face with her dark side.
15:30 A STROKE OF LUCK See box, below
AVA
MARKET 14:00 SATURDAY CHURCH
(US) Westend Films. 83mins. Dir: Damon Cardasis. Cast: Luka Kain, Margot Bingham, Regina Taylor. The Bronx, New York
ESCAPE ROOM
(US) Voltage Pictures. 80mins. Dir: Will Wernick. Cast: Evan Williams, Annabelle Stephenson, Elisabeth Hower, Billy Flynn. To celebrate his 30th birthday, Tyler’s girlfriend, Kristen, takes him and two other couples to play the latest craze — Escape Room. In an escape room, you are locked in a room and given one hour to figure out cryptic clues in order to escape. Harmless fun… until now! The group is led into a locked room and the clock starts ticking. They quickly sense something is wrong, the puzzles become increasingly difficult and increasingly deadly. One by one the escape room claims a new victim and the surviving players realise they are no longer playing a game; they are playing for their lives. Lerins 3
FUNNE — SEA DREAMING GIRLS
(Italy) Intramovies. 78mins. Dir: Katia Bernardi. Daone, a wild, cold, timeless mountain village: a group of ‘Funne’
City: a 14-year-old boy, struggling with gender identity and religion, begins to use fantasy to escape his life in the inner city and find his passion in the process.
marketing tools. About 1,000 feature films were produced in Germany between 1933 and 1945 and only a few were openly Nazi propaganda films and even fewer could be considered harmless entertainment. ‘Hitler’s Hollywood’; look at these films and the people behind them.
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE
(Spain) Film Factory Entertainment. 90mins. Dir: Cuevas Federico. Lerins 1
14:15
(‘women’ in the local dialect) in their 80s are planning a special trip.
Palais E
Riviera 1
(China) China Sunny Media Co. 82mins. Dir: Dake Dong. Palais I
Debussy
GAUGUIN
(France) Studiocanal. 110mins. Dir: Edouard Deluc. Cast: Vincent Cassel. Paris, 1891: painter Paul Gauguin is already well known in Parisian artistic circles but is tired of the so-called civilised world and its political, moral and artistic conventions. In search of his soul, he ventures alone to the other end of the world, Tahiti, consumed with a yearning for original purity and ready to sacrifice everything for his quest.
KUNGFU LITTLE RABBIT
Olympia 9
APRIL’S DAUGHTER
(Mexico) MK2 Films. 103mins. Dir: Michel Franco. Cast: Emma Suarez, Hernan Mendoza. From the winner of the Cannes 2015 best screenplay comes this mother-daughter drama set in Mexico.
Olympia 5
(France) BAC Films. 106mins. Dir: Lea Mysius. Cast: Noee Abita, Laure Calamy, Juan Cano. Ava, 13, is spending the summer on the Atlantic coast when she learns that she will lose her sight sooner than expected. Her mother decides to act as if everything were normal so as to spend their best summer ever. Ava confronts the problem in her own way. She steals a big black dog that belongs to a young man on the run.
BEUYS
(Germany) Beta Cinema. 107mins. Dir: Andres Veiel. An intimate look at a visionary artist, his art and his world of ideas. Seen through a montage of previously untapped sources, the artist
Gray 4
GNOME ALONE (3D)
(US) SC Films International. 100mins. Dir: Peter Lepenois. When Chloe discovers that her new home’s garden gnomes are not what they seem, she must decide between the pursuit of a desired high-school life and taking up the fight against the Troggs. Arcades 1
SATURDAY CHURCH See box, above
THE PARTY
(UK) Great Point Media. 71mins. Dir: Sally Potter. Cast: Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones. A celebratory dinner ends in bloodshed and chaos when secrets spill out over the vol-au-vents. Gray 3
Olympia 2
SIDE A & SIDE B HITLER’S HOLLYWOOD
(Germany) Wide House. 105mins. Dir: Rudiger Suchsland. The Third Reich cinema was a heavily censored industry and at the same time longed to be a German dream factory. It produced, among others, the Nazi blockbuster ‘Munchhausen’, at the request of Joseph Goebbels. It established its own celebrity star system and used the latest
76 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
(India) Rahat Kazmi Films. 115mins. Dir: Rahat Kazmi. Cast: Shoib Nikash Shah, Rahul Singh, Shubam Shubam, Shahid Kazmi, Pari Chaudhary, Raghubir Yadav, Rahul Manhas, Tariq Khan, Zahid Qureshi, Shanaya Khanna. A humorous and satirical take on the complex Kashmir conflict in India and Pakistan.
MARKET 15:30 A STROKE OF LUCK
(Spain) Filmsharks Internations. 91mins. Dir: Nacho G Velilla. Cast: Carmen Machi, Leo Harlem, Carlos Santos, Belen Cuesta, Carmen Ruiz. Luck seems to be smiling on the nearly bankrupt small-town of Villaviciosa
de al Lado when a group of local men win the lottery. However, the win causes more problems than it solves because the men bought the winning ticket at the local brothel and can’t cash it in without their wives discovering they’ve been there! Lerins 4
»
Gray 5
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SCREENINGS
Latido Films. 110mins.
and all natural freshwater is gone. Sanctioned by his government, Commander Fang Rung has undergone molecular fission in order to send his other half, code name Gordon Thomas, back in time to the year 2017. Gordon goes in search of scientist Mona Lindkvist, whose groundbreaking research was lost before it could save the world. When Fang Rung loses contact with Gordon, he sees no alternative but to travel back to 2017 himself, trying to locate his other half before the world is thrown irreparably out of balance.
Riviera 2
Lerins 2
MAN DIVIDED
MRS K
(Denmark) Global Screen. 90mins. Dir: Max Kestner. Cast: Carsten Bjornlund, Anders Heinrichsen, Sofia Helin, Dragomir Mrsic. In the year 2095, the world is ravaged by ecological disaster. Oceans have risen
See box, left
HICKOK
(US) Tricoast Worldwide. 100mins. Dir: Timothy Woodward Jr. Cast: Luke Hemsworth, Bruce Dern, Kris Kristofferson, Trace Adkins, Cameron Richardson. The story of the West’s first gun control law, its unlikely champion, the famous gunfighter and a whiskeysodden scoundrel, Wild Bill Hickok, and the host of enemies out to kill it and our hero. Olympia 6
LATIDO PROMO REEL UPCOMING TITLES
MARKET 15:30
Bai Wu, Faizal Hussein. A woman gives everything to protect her husband and daughter when enemies from her past are hunting her.
MRS K
(Malaysia) Emperor Motion Pictures. 96mins. Dir: Yuhang Ho. Cast: Kara Wai, Simon Yam,
Palais J
PERSERVERANCE
(Slovenia) Slovenian Film Centremins. 100mins. Dir: Miha Knific. Cast: Stefka Drolc, Brane Grubar, Katarina Cas, Lu Q Huong,
Aljaz Tepina, Demeter Bitenc, Ivanka Mezan, Bine Matoh, Ivica Knez. Is our true self defined by the memories left unsaid? Palais B
THE PRO
(South Africa) California Pictures. 90mins. Dir: Andre Velts. Cast: Edwin Van Der Walt, Reine Swart, Vilje Maritz. The story of a young surfer, Tiaan Nothnagel, who has to come to terms with the accidental death of his best friend, Dirkie Lawrence, just before their last year at school. After Dirkie’s death, Tiaan swears off surfing for good, as he can’t stand to be reminded of everything that he and Dirkie shared. But then, Dirkie’s twin sister arrives in town on a mission of her own: to be selected to go on ‘WaveSeekers’, a fictional World Surf Tour and something that Tiaan and Dirkie dreamt of doing themselves.
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78 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
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SCREENINGS
But for her to succeed, she needs Tiaan’s help.
MONTPARNASSE BIENVENUE
Palais F
(France) Be For Films. 97mins. Dir: Leonor Serraille. Cast: Laetitia Dosch, Souleymane Seye Ndiaye, Gregoire Monsaingeon. Broke, with nothing but her cat to her name and doors closing in her face, Paula is back in Paris after a long absence. As she meets different people along the way, there is one thing she knows for sure: she’s determined to make a new start.
THE SERPENT’S GIFT
(Italy) Ellipsis Media International. 87mins. Dir: Roberto Leoni. Cast: Guglielmo Scilla, Valentina Reggio, Benjamin Stender, Alexandra Dinu, Joe Marino, Piero Maggio. From the abyss of time, Eve is coming back to unveil the great secret of Eden that for centuries has been hidden in the depths of the Vatican. Whoever tried to discover it came off badly but an old prophecy indicated that a wise man will yet again pick the prohibited fruit and will discover the gift of the serpent. Palais D
THE SUMMIT
(Argentina) Film Factory Entertainment. 117mins. Dir: Santiago Mitre. Cast: Ricardo Darin, Dolores Fonzi, Erica Rivas, Elena Anaya, Paulina Garcia, Christian Slater. At a summit for Latin American presidents in Chile, Argentinian president Hernaan Blanco endures a political and family drama that will force him to face his own demons. He will have to come to two decisions that could change the course of his public and private life forever: one regarding a complicated emotional situation with his daughter, and the other the most important political decision of his career. Olympia 1
THE WALL
(Norway) Adler & Associates Entertainment. 74mins. Dir: David Kinsella. Cast: Yuna Shin, Jin Han Pak, Corey Mckinley, Conor Smith, Thomas Purdy. David Kinsella thought he was going to North Korea to make a documentary. The North Koreans thought that David Kinsella would let them dictate the terms of his film. Both were wrong. After the government of Kim Jong-un brought in thousands of uninvited extras to help show the country as the regime
Un Certain Regard Lerins 3 Priority badges only
THE STRAYED
(UKraine) Foundation Of Citizens ‘Molodist’. 89mins. Dir: Arkadiy Nepitaluk.
MARKET 15:30 THEY
(US) Luxbox. 80mins. Dir: Anahita Ghazvinizadeh. Cast: Rhys Fehrenbacher, Koohyar Hosseini, Nicole Coffineau. Fourteen-year-old J goes by the pronoun ‘They’ and lives with ‘their’ parents in the suburbs of Chicago. J is exploring their gender identity while
wanted it seen, Kinsella knew he had to change strategy and began framing his shots so that animation could be added in later. Mixing his Korean footage with scenes filmed in his native Belfast, the result was ‘The Wall’, the story of a young female poet living under the North Korean regime, told with a mix of live action and animation. Doc Corner
THEY See box, above
16:00 AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
(Netherlands) Cinema Management Group. 113mins. Dir: Jean Van De Velde. Cast: Peter Paul Muller, Sello Motloung, Gregg Viljoen, Antoinette Louw, Jose Domingos. In 1963, South African lawyer Bram Fischer rises to the challenge as lead counsel to defend Nelson Mandela and 10 other men
80 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
supply runs out. taking hormone blockers to postpone puberty. After two years of medication and therapy, J has to make a decision whether or not to transition. Over a crucial weekend while their parents are away, J’s sister Lauren and her maybe/maybe-not Iranian partner Araz arrive to take care of ‘They’. Olympia 3
accused of sabotage. Lerins 1
BLOOD WINDOW UPCOMING FANTASTIC FILMS
(Argentina) Blood Window. 72mins. A selection of work in progress. Olympia 4
THE CHAMBER
(UK) Great Point Media. 91mins. Dir: Ben Parker. Cast: Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Charlotte Salt, James Mcardle. Dropped into the Yellow Sea and commandeering a research submersible along with its pilot Mats, a Special Ops team led by the headstrong Edwards descend to the ocean floor to search for an unknown object before it falls into enemy hands. Following an accident deep underwater the crew find themselves fighting for their lives and against each other as the water rises and their air
Gray 3
CINEMATIC IN CHINA
(China) Next. 60mins. Next VR Cinema
ELEMENTS OF DISASTER : CRYSTAL INFERNO
(France) Free Dolphin International. 90mins. Dir: Eric Summer. Cast: Claire Forlani, Jamie Bamber, Nigel Barber, Atanas Srebrev, Riley Jackson, Isaac Rouse, Velislav Pavlov, Lorina Kamburova, Nathan Cooper. On the 20th floor of a skyscraper, a gas leak has started a fire: Anne and Ben Bronson, two teenage kids, are trapped in a fiery inferno 20 storeys above the ground, while the fire is spreading throughout the building. From the 60th floor, their parents, Brianna and Tom, who were about to sign their divorce papers, will have to fight together to save their family from the flames. Even if Brianna is a brilliant structural engineer, will she find a way to stop this uncontrolled fire?
110mins. Dir: Arnaud Desplechin. Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marion Cotillard, Louis Garrel. Filmmaker Ismail Vuillard’s life is sent into a tailspin by the return of a former lover just as he is about to embark on the shoot of a new film. Arcades 2
LEVELK SCREENING 2
Levelk. 93mins. Palais E
LITTLE SPIROU
ISMAEL’S GHOSTS
(France) TF1 Studio. 90mins. Dir: Nicolas Bary. Cast: Sacha Pinault, Pierre Richard, Francois Damiens, Natacha Regnier, Gwendolyn Gourvenec, Philippe Katerine, Armelle. Like every hero, the intrepid Spirou was once a kid. And when you’re a kid, you have to obey your elders. Like his entire family before him, Little Spirou is destined to become a professional bellboy. So when his mom announces that he’ll be starting bellhop academy next year, Little Spirou decides, with the help of his friends, to make the most out of their last days together, and to confess his undying love to his sweetheart, Suzette. To do this, Spirou and his buddies organise an extraordinary adventure that she will never forget.
(France) Wild Bunch.
Olympia 5
Gray 5
HAF — HONG KONG GOES TO CANNES
Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum. 110mins. Palais K
Palais G
THE TESTAMENT
(Israel) Intramovies. 90mins. Dir: Amichai Greenberg. Cast: Ori Pfeffer, Rivka Gur, Agit Dasberg, Ori Yaniv. Yoel, 45, an international expert in Holocaust research, has spent more than 15 years diligently studying the Nazi’s methods of annihilating Jews in Austria and Hungary. In the course of his research he discovers, almost by chance, classified documents which hint to the fact that his mother is living under an assumed identity. Yoel is certain that this is a mistake but the further he plunges into his research the more he doubts his mother’s Jewish identity. A mystery about a man who is willing to risk everything to discover the truth. Palais C
THE TRIP TO SPAIN
(UK) Goalpost Film. 110mins. Dir: Michael Winterbottom. Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon. Rob and Steve are back. Six meals in six different places on a road trip through Spain from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean coast, visiting Cantabria, the Basque region, Aragon, Rioja, Castile La Mancha and ending in Andalucia. Olympia 8
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»
SCREENINGS
TOKYO GHOUL
MARKET 17:30
Two estranged teens begrudgingly find themselves walking home together on Halloween 1997, embarking on a surreal journey through their memories, dreams and fears.
BOYS IN THE TREES
(Australia) Myriad Pictures. 112mins. Dir: Nicholas Verso. Cast: Toby Wallace, Gulliver McGrath, Mitzi Rulhmann, Justin Holborow.
Palais F
(Japan) Shochiku Co. 119mins. Dir: Kentaro Hagiwara. Cast: Masataka Kubota, Fumika Shimizu, Yu Aoi. In Tokyo, man-eating monsters called ‘ghouls’ run rampant. The populace has become fearful of these creatures, who hide themselves among ordinary people and remain shrouded in mystery. Kaneki is an ordinary university student. He frequents a coffee house called Antique, where one day he meets a girl named Rize. Little does he know that this encounter will drastically alter the course of his destiny. What does the future hold for Kaneki, who struggles to contain his curiosity regarding the existence of these bizarre entities who take the lives of humans to ensure their own survival? Palais I
17:00 ARTE VR EXPERIENCES
(France) Next. 60mins. ARTE supports talented creators as a co-producer and, as a broadcaster, features ambitious documentaries, creative new programme and original movies and series for TV and digital platforms. Thanks to immersive narration using VR, ARTE promotes creativity, innovation and new storytelling. Next VR Cinema
17:30 ALL THE DREAMS IN THE WORLD
(France) Alfama Films. 108mins. Dir: Laurence Ferreira Barbosa. Cast: Pamela Ramos, Rosa Da Costa, Antonio Torres Lima. Pamela is stuck in her contradictions, failures and absolute love for her family. She feels lost and seems
incapable of imagining how she could live her life. She will try to find her own way between France and Portugal. Lerins 4
BOYS IN THE TREES See box, left
FULL MOON
(Germany) Questionmark Entertainment. 83mins. Dir: Andreas Arnstedt. Cast: Elzemarieke De Vos, Oliver Stokowski, Stephan Grossmann. Lara, a young woman who has been seriously traumatised in her childhood, has set herself up in a pseudo-world full of excesses. Her new boyfriend gradually reveals this and makes Lara come to a serious decision: to face the terrible truth or to continue her self-destructive life. Arcades 3
GROUNDED
(France) Other Angle
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82 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
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SCREENINGS
WIFE & HUSBAND
OH LUCY!
(Italy) True Colours. 100mins. Dir: Simone Godano. Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Kasia Smutniak, Valerio Aprea, Sebastian Dimulescu, Gaetano Bruno, Francesca Agostini, Paola Calliari, Marta Gastini, Flavio Furno. Following an incredible experiment, Andrea, a brilliant neurosurgeon, and his wife Sofia, an ambitious TV host, suddenly find themselves in each other’s body, swapping their whole lives. Forced to be in their partners’ shoes and everyday routine, they will be able to see their relationship from a completely different point of view.
See box, left
Palais D
ON WINGS OF EAGLES
YOU, ME AND HIM
(China, Hong Kong, US) Archstone Distribution. 98mins. Dir: Stephen Shin, Michael Parker. Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Shawn Dou, Richard Sanderson. Eric Liddell — considered China’s first gold medalist and one of Scotland’s greatest athletes — returns to war-torn China.
(UK) Double Dutch International. 98mins. Dir: Daisy Aitkens. Cast: Lucy Punch, Faye Marsay, Gemma Jones, David Warner, David Tennant. A witty romantic comedy set in middle-class England about two female lovers, one a career-driven lawyer and the other a fun-loving, pot-smoking layabout; and their annoying
MARKET 17:30 OH LUCY!
(Japan) Elle Driver. 97mins. Dir: Atsuko Hirayanagi. Cast: Shinobu Terajima, Josh Hartnett, Kaho Minami. Setsuko is seemingly stuck a rut in Tokyo until she is convinced by her niece, Mika, to enroll in an unorthodox English class that requires her to wear a blonde wig and take on Pictures. 85mins. Dir: Alexandre Castagnetti. Cast: Arthur Mazet, Karidja Toure, Thomas VDB, Issa Doumbia, Sonia Rolland, Alexandre Achdjian, Noemie Chicheportiche, Najaa Bensaid, Gregoire Montana, Fred Tousch. Benjamin, a 16-year-old college boy, is grounded. He has been sentenced to be locked up for two hours in a classroom. Moreover, he finds out that he is trapped in a time loop that brings him back, again and again, to the beginning of his time in detention, the moment when Leila, the girl he is secretly in love with, sits next to him. Olympia 3
HEAVY WATER
(US) Red Bull Media House. 90mins. Dir: Michael Oblowitz. Cast: Nathan Fletcher,
an American persona, ‘Lucy’. Her new identity awakens something dormant in Setsuko and she quickly falls for her American teacher, John. When John disappears from class and Setsuko learns he and Mika were in fact dating, she enlists the help of her sister and flies halfway across the world in search of the runaway couple. Olympia 9 Priority badges only
Makua Rothman, Danny Fuller, Herbie Fletcher. A close look at Nathan Fletcher’s relationship with big-wave surfing, tracing his lineage back to his grandfather, one of the pioneers of Oahu’s North Shore, and examining the consequences that Fletcher and his friends have faced in the pursuit of their passion for big waves. Palais J
LIONHEART: THE PRINCE & THE MAP OF DESTINY
(Hong Kong) All Rights Entertainment. 90mins. Dir: Jack Mahboobani. Set in a stunning fantasy world where magic meets steampunk: best friends Jack and Alex come across a magical map that could lead them to “everything your heart desires”, which sets them off on an incredible journey across the perilous Outlands. Arcades 1
84 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS
(Canada) The Solution Entertainment Group. 108mins. Dir: Bharat Nalluri. Cast: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce. After a series of his books have been flops, Charles Dickens decides to write and self-publish ‘A Christmas Carol’. Gray 4
MUMON: THE LAND OF STEALTH
(Japan) TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System Television). 124mins. Dir: Yoshihiro Nakamura. Cast: Satoshi Ono, Satomi Ishihara, Ryohei Suzuki, Yusuke Iseya. The bloodthirsty 16th-century Japanese warlord Nobunaga Oda fears no one except for the ninja warriors of Iga. The greatest of these stealth warriors is Mumon, who is also the laziest. Now Oda’s son Nobukatsu defies his father, resolving to invade the land of Iga. Mumon, against his will, is drawn into an epic battle between the country’s most powerful army and the ninjas of Iga. The fuse is lit for a battle the like of which has never been seen before. Palais H
ODIN’S EYE ANIMATION — LAUNCH AND PRESENTATION
Odin’s Eye Entertainment. 100mins.
Palais B
Casanova neighbour. While neither woman ever wanted children, both end up pregnant, creating conflicts that cause each to re-examine their outlook on life and their relationship. Olympia 6
17:45 YOU DISAPPEAR See box, below
17:50 THE LADY IN THE PORTRAIT
(France) All Rights Entertainment. 90mins. Dir: Charles De Meaux. Cast: Fan Bing Bing, Yue Wu. Arcades 1
18:00 50 IS THE NEW 30
(France) Gaumont. 94mins. Dir: Valerie Lemercier. Cast: Valerie Lemercier. Suddenly Marie-Francine finds herself single and unemployed. She has no choice but to return home to her parents… at the age of 50! ‘50 Is The New 30’ shows us that you can start everything from scratch at 50 — fall in love again, find a new odd job, smoke secretly in your bedroom… even at your parents’ house. Palais K
MARKET 17:45 YOU DISAPPEAR
(Denmark) TrustNordisk. 118mins. Dir: Peter Schonau Fog. Cast: Trine Dyrholm, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Michael Nyqvist. Respected principal Frederik is arrested and charged with embezzling millions.
It appears Frederik has had a brain tumour for the past three years, which has created a change in his personality. His wife Mia, assisted by solicitor Bernard, will have to muster all her strength to get him acquitted and try to save her family. Olympia 2
»
Lerins 2
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AFM_245x335_Screen.pdf 1 2017. 5. 11. 오후 5:50
SAVE THE DATE Early-bird Starts From JULY 1st, 2017 www.asianfilmmarket.org market@asianfilmmarket.org
October 14 -17, 2017
ASIAN FILM MARKET
SCREENINGS
Dir: Bruce Macdonald. Cast: Taylor James, Billy Zane, Jackson Rathbone, Rutger Hauer, Lindsay Wagner. Out of the pages of ancient scripture arises the first superhero saga — that of a child born with supernatural strength in 1200 BCE who, as an adult, leads his oppressed tribe against the mighty empire of his day. Though seduced by women and wine, his feats of might and valour strike fear into the heart of his enemies. In the end, only one God can stand in this tale of seduction, revenge and supernatural might. Lerins 1
SIX CHILDREN AND ONE GRANDFATHER
MARKET 18:00 ALMOST LEGENDS
(Argentina) Filmsharks International. 116mins. Dir: Gabriel Nesci. Cast: Santiago Segura, Peretti Diego, Diego Torres. Axel, a peculiar Spanish guy, goes on a search for his former bandmates in Buenos Aires — 25 years ago they formed a musical group that was about to be famous but for some
mysterious reason never made it. Axel now is going to have to reconnect with Javier, a teacher who cannot communicate with his teen son, and Lucas, a conceited lawyer who loses his job all of a sudden. A double challenge awaits them: to be the band they always dreamed of and, as if that were not enough, to change their dire lives.
Amorim. Cast: Diana Marques Guerra, Anabela Teixeira, Alba Baptista, Mikaela Lupu, Jose Fidalgo, Joao Mota, Ruben Rua, Pedro Barroso, Alda Gomes, Ines Aguiar. Sisters Adelaide, Carolina and Julia Paixao come together with their mother Anita to recount the events that led to one of the most controversial crimes ever committed in Portugal. Palais E
— unemployment takes over a town in eastern Slovakia. Agoston, a family man in his 50s, ventures through Eastern Europe in a desperate attempt to get a job and fulfil his dream — to catch a big fish. Un Certain Regard Palais C
SAMSON
(South Africa) Pure Flix/ Quality Fix. 70mins.
(UK) Movie On Pictures & Entertainment. 100mins. Dir: Yann Thomas. Olympia 1
WAKE
(New Zealand) The Loft. 110mins. Dir: Jarod Murray. Cast: Amanda Phillips, Nathan Straker, Kahurangi Carter, Melvin Te Wani, Jacob Pickering, Bailey Adamson. A group of discontented individuals lives change
for the worse following a tragic event. Faced with a national emergency they must reconcile the past and band together if they want to survive. Palais G
18:15 INNOCENT CURSE
(Japan) Shochiku Co. 111mins. Dir: Takashi Shimizu. Cast: Hideaki Takizawa, Daiki Arioka, Mugi Kadowaki. A suburban town is shaken by a series of mysterious child disappearances and suspicious adult deaths. A rumour begins to spread on the internet that any adult who suddenly encounters a ‘returned child’ will die mysteriously three days later. Local newspaper reporter Shunya Ezaki refuses to believe that children are killing adults, and begins to investigate the truth behind the strange deaths. Who on earth is ‘Kodomo Tsukai’? And what kind of dark fate do the abducted children drag their adult victims towards? Palais I
20:00 BAAHUBALI
India) Arka Mediaworks.
Riviera 1
MARRIAGE
See box, above
will ultimately prove her salvation.
THE DESERT BRIDE
Olympia 8 Priority badges only
ALMOST LEGENDS
(Argentina) Cite Films. 78mins. Dir: Cecilia Atan, Valeria Pivato. Cast: Paulina Garcia, Claudio Rissi. Teresa has worked for decades as a live-in maid with a family in Buenos Aires. When the family sells the house, she is forced to take a job in the distant town of San Juan. Although feeling uncomfortable with travelling, she embarks on a journey through the desert. During her first stop, in the land of the miraculous ‘Saint Correa’, she loses her bag with all her belongings. This unexpected incident leads her to cross paths with El Gringo, a travelling salesman, the only one who can help Teresa find her bag. What seemed like the end of her world
THE INTRUDER See box, right
JUZE
(India) Films Boutique. 93mins. Dir: Miransha Naik. Cast: Rushikesh Naik, Sudesh Bhise, Prashanti Talpankar. Santosh, a 16-year-old boy, is determined to continue with school despite regular beatings from Juze, the ‘Slum Landlord’. As events build to breaking point, Santosh’s passive resistance evolves into the realisation that he must confront Juze and finally achieve freedom from fear. Lerins 3
LEVIANO
(Portugal) Reel Suspects. 108mins. Dir: Justin
86 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
(Japan) Kadokawa Corporation. 118mins. Dir: Shinichi Nishitani. Cast: Dean Fujioka, Shihori Kanjiya, Hisako Manda. A man makes every woman he meets fall in love with him. Not only is he extremely handsome but he’s an amazing conversationalist. He’s intelligent and sexy… and a serial con man! One day, fate brings the women he has cheated together and they search for this pathological liar to find what motivates him. When they find what is behind his life of lies, it is way beyond what they have imagined. Gray 3
MARKET 18:00 THE INTRUDER
OUT
(Hungary) Cercamon. 83mins. Dir: Gyorgy Kristof. Cast: Sandor Terhes. The power plant is closing
(Italy) The Match Factory. 95mins. Dir: Leonardo Di Costanzo. Cast: Raffaella Giordano, Valentina Vannino, Marcello Fonte. A tale of conflict and danger set in
present-day Naples. Like a modern Antigone, a social worker on the frontline of the daily war against criminal mentality is confronted with a moral choice that can destroy the sense of her work and her life forever. Olympia 4
»
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Join the biggest names and the brightest minds
Industry registration now open tiff.net/industry Toronto International Film Festival
September 7 – 17
SCREENINGS
XIIA
(Bulgaria) Xiia. 93mins. Dir: Magdalena Ralcheva. Cast: Radina Kurdjilova. Lina is back to school to teach a new class — a new class, new problems. Palais K
22:00 XTRO
MARKET 20:00 THE RECALL
(Canada) VMI Worldwide. 90mins. Dir: Mauro Borelli. Cast: Wesley Snipes, RJ Mitte. When five friends vacation
at a remote lake house they expect nothing less than a good time, unaware that planet Earth is under an alien invasion and massabduction. Palais H
noticed by legendary figure skater Vladimir Leonov. Lerins 4
THE RECALL See box, above
THE SKY PRINCESS See box, below
137mins. Dir. Rajamouli Sri Sailasri. Cast: Prabhas Uppalapati, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah Bhatia, Anushka Shetty. A mother chooses an adopted nephew over her own son to be the new king. The young king spurns the throne for love. But treachery and betrayal lead to his vile murder, leaving behind an ostracised wife. Their rescued infant child, raised by tribals, returns to avenge his parents.
GINTAMA
SWING AWAY
(Japan) Gaga Corporation. 131mins. Dir: Yuichi Fukuda. Cast: Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, Kana Hashimoto. Gintoki Sakata, a highly skilled but usually lazy samurai, works as a handyman to pay the bills. A request from his client puts him and his friends in danger and Gintoki must face the dark force.
Olympia 6
THE GIRLS FROM ELSEWHERE
BRAVE STORM
(France) Montmartre Motion Pictures. 95mins. Dir: Swapan Ahmed. Cast: Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Urvashi Rautela, June Maliah.
(US) APL Film. 98mins. Dir: Michael Nickles. Cast: Shannon Elizabeth, John O’Hurley, Karl Theobald, Manos Gavros, Viktoria Miller. Following a meltdown that leads to a suspension, professional golfer Zoe Papadopoulos travels to her grandparents’ village in Greece to escape the harsh spotlight of the international sports world. Between baking bread and eating baklava, she meets and mentors a 10-year-old girl who is determined — against all odds — to become the next golf sensation. Along the way, Zoe rediscovers her Greek heritage, her love of the game and the hidden strength within herself as she inspires the townspeople in an epic showdown against a greedy American developer.
(Japan) Blast. 83mins. Dir: Junya Okabe. Cast: Yuki Matsuzaki, Shunsuke Daito, Chihiro Yamamoto. In the year 2050, mankind is extinct on Earth. The last survivors, five Kasuga brothers, plan to use a time machine and exterminate invader Kyrgyz before he invades Earth. They travel back in time to 2015 armed with the design data for Kyrgyz’s giant robot, Black Baron, and their three powers: a device for identifying aliens; psychic ability; and powered suits. Gray 2
EVERYONE’S LIFE
(France) Westend Films. 113mins. Dir: Claude Lelouch. Olympia 7
Riviera 2
Palais B
GIRLS VS GANGSTERS
(China) China 3D Digital Distribution. 114mins. Dir: Chun Chun Wong. Cast: Yihan Chen, Ning Chang, Fiona Sit. Olympia 3
ICE
(Russia) Art Pictures Studio/Art Pictures Group. 113mins. Dir: Oleg Trofim. Cast: Aglaya Tarasova, Alexander Petrov, Maria Aronova. The life of unassuming Nadia changed dramatically when she was
88 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2017
accident that occurred nine years ago, he begins his search for the truth behind this long-forgotten case. Although his boss is reluctant to help out, Chi enlists the aid of a rookie police officer, as well as his colleague, to crack the case. When Chi discovers the sole survivor of the accident has suddenly disappeared, he must beat the clock to get her back. It soon becomes clear there is a dark truth behind this case that Chi never imagined possible. Lerins 2
20:15 DO YOU SEE ME
(US) Global Genesis Group. 90mins. Dir: Corbin Timbrook. Cast: Rya Meyers, Philip Boyd, Lisa London, Jim Fitzpatrick.
Emily is being stalked by a rogue clown. He’s everywhere… including her closet. Gray 1
20:30 BROTHERS IN HEAVEN
Mirovision. Olympia 5
THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES
(UK) Bob’s Your Uncle. 81mins. Dir: Harry Bromley Davenport. Cast: Maryam D’Abo, Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers. Tony’s father Sam, abducted by aliens three years earlier, returns to Earth and seeks out his wife and son, but Rachel has since been living with Joe and the reunion is awkward. Joe doesn’t trust Sam, and Rachel can’t quite decide what her feelings are for her two men. Sam is not the same as when he left, and he begins affecting Tony in frightening ways. Palais H
22:30
(US) Fortitude International. 104mins. Dir: Emmett Malloy, Brendan Malloy. Cast: Jennifer Garner, Maika Monroe. An unflinching look at the modern American family. When the situation at her idyllic Palos Verdes home turns volatile, young Medina attempts to surf her way to happiness.
(France) SBS International. 76mins. Dir: Philippe Garrel. Cast: Eric Caravaca, Esther Garrel, Louise Chevillotte. A father’s 23-year-old daughter moves back home after a traumatic break-up. His new girlfriend, of the same age, also lives with him.
Olympia 4
Arcades 1
LOVER FOR A DAY
Palais F
WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN
(Taiwan) Mandarinvision. 117mins. Dir: Wei-Hao Cheng. Cast: Kai-Hsun Chuang, Wei-Ning Hsu, Chia-Yen Ko, Christopher Lee, Mason Lee. Chi is an ambitious reporter with a bright future ahead of him. After he discovers that his second-hand car has ties to a hit-and-run
MARKET 20:00 THE SKY PRINCESS
(US) Wonderphil Entertainment. 75mins. Dir: Dara Harper. Cast: Vivica A Fox, Robert Gossett, Angell Conwell. An ordinary girl becomes an African
princess with the help of a magical bird. But when the thrill of palace life fades, the same magic that transformed her into royalty prevents her from returning home. Gray 5
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The story of Lý Nhã Ky’s life could be the scenario of a movie It’s the story of a child born in Vung Tau (Vietnam), from a father who fought during the Vietnam War, who became a young woman with an iron will who, at only 17, defied the social, economic, cultural and linguistic barriers to go study and earn for a living in Germany in order to help her family economics in Vietnam. Returning to her native country at the age of 23, she started a career as an entrepreneur and actress in cinema and television and then put all her energy into building a group of companies in connection with real estate, commerce, luxury diamond and fashion of world top brands and cinema, her 3 passions. At only 34 years old, she met and contacted with greatest heads of state. Yet, she has not forgotten where she comes from and participates in many charity funds, by associating with the Operation Smile and Sheen Hok International. Also she founded and became the President of Health Education Development Fund of Vietnam in order to help the most deprived people, children and women mainly in Health and Education. She always defines the pursuit of her career and dedication is for charity. To such an extent that she is usually called the "Lady Di of Vietnam". Ms Ky loves her country, its culture, its wealth and hopes to make it known. Cannes is the biggest film festival in the world, the most publicized too. Since she was already there in 2016 as a sponsor of the Cinéfondation, invited by M. Gilles Jacob, Lý Nhã Ky understands that it is in Cannes that one must be and that her country Vietnam should be present in order to radiate. She will be there on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the International Cannes Film Festival, along with representatives of Vietnamese Tourism and Film that she convinced in this adventure. Ms Ky is definitely the one who brings loudly the colors of her country. Even though no Vietnamese film has been selected this year, Vietnam proudly displaying some sublime pictures of Vietnam on 3 panels facing the Palais des festivals. Its promise of safe haven patiently await their turn to become one of the most attractive tourism hotspots to international friends. Ms Ky will be the guest of the most beautiful after parties, an ther occasion to promote Vietnam and its sublime landscapes as the New Destination for blockbusters and filming, as well as an attractive, friendly and safe destination for Tourism.
Finally, Lý Nhã Ky will organize 3 official lunches on the Majestic beach. An opportunity to bring together officials, journalists and influential festival-goers to whom she wishes to deliver images, culture, art and people of her country. Without a doubt, Lý Nhã Ky adds to the long list of her prestigious titles, the title of a woman of heart and a woman with an exceptional career, a woman worthy of a film heroine. A story that one would imagine one day in selection in Cannes?.
. E R E H S T R A T IT ALLRSE. CONNECT. EXPLO . S S E N I S U DO B 8 1 0 2 B E F 3 15ïš» 2
WWW.EFM-BERLINALE.DE
EFM18_Screen_245x335mm_RZ.indd 1
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WONDERSTRUCK (US) Todd Haynes
★★
★★
LOVELESS (Fr-Rus) Andrey Zvyagintsev
★★ ★★
★
OKJA (S Kor-US) Bong Joon Ho
★★
★★ ★★
★★
★★★
JUPITER’S MOON (Hun-Ger) Kornel Mundruczo
★★
✖
★★
★
BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) (Fr) Robin Campillo
★★
★★★
★★ ★★
★★★
Good
AVERAGE
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
KATJA NICODEMUS Die Zeit, Germany
Excellent
ANTON DOLIN Meduza, Russia
TIM ROBEY, ROBBIE COLLIN The Daily Telegraph, UK
NICK JAMES Sight & Sound, UK
JUSTIN CHANG Los Angeles Times, US
STEPHANIE ZACHAREK Time Magazine, US
KONG RITHDEE Bangkok Post, Thailand
MICHEL CIMENT Positif, France Culture, France
★★★★
JULIEN GESTER, DIDIER PERON Libération, France
THE SCREEN JURY AT CANNES
FABIO FERZETTI Il Fatto Quotidiano, Italy
JURY GRID
★★★
★★
★★★
★★ ★★
★★ ★★
★★ ★★
★★ ★★
★★ ★★
★★
★★★
★
★★★
★★
★★
★★★
★
★★
2.3
★★
★★
★
★★
★
★★
★★★
1.6
★★★ ★★★ ★★★
★★
★★★
2.7 3.2
Based own experiences an Aids★★ activist, Campillo’s film centres on direct-action ★★ on his ★★ ★★ as ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ group ★★ Act Up, ★★which targeted potential★★ cures. Adele and Nahuel Biscayart★★ star. ★★ pharmaceutical ★★ ★★labs withholding ★★ ★★ ★★Haenel★★ ★★Pérez ★★
0.0
museum ★★ director (Claes is about★★ to unveil ★★ a show featuring artist (Dominic whose ★★ latest THE SQUARE (Swe-Ger-Fr-Den) A★★ ★★ Bang) ★★ ★★ an★★ ★★ West) ★★ installation makes the★★ news thanks shock tactics company. Ruben Ostlund ★★ ★★ ★★to the★★ ★★ of a PR ★★ ★★Elisabeth ★★Moss co-stars. ★★ ★★
0.0
THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED) (US) Noah Baumbach
Baumbach makes his★★ Cannes debut film starring Sandler★★ alongside Ben Stiller, Hoffman and ★★ ★★ ★★ in this ★★ ★★ Adam ★★ ★★ ★★Dustin★★ Emma story follows siblings ★★ dealing with their ageing ★★ Thompson. ★★ The ★★ ★★ adult★★ ★★ ★★ father. ★★ ★★ ★★
REDOUBTABLE (Fr) Michel Hazanavicius
Hazanavicius offers up his take★★ on the romance Wave director ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ between ★★ New★★ ★★ Jean-Luc ★★ Godard ★★and actress ★★ Anne Wiazemsky, who he would in 1967 ★★ after directing La Chinoise . Louis ★★ Garrel and★★ Stacy Martin ★★ ★★ ★★ marry ★★ ★★ her in★★ ★★ ★★ star.
0.0 0.0
Colin stars opposite Kidman★★ in a dark★★ tale inspired surgeon finds THE KILLING OF A SACRED ★★Farrell★★ ★★ Nicole ★★ ★★by a Euripides ★★ tragedy. ★★ A charismatic ★★ ★★ life starting apart after★★ meeting★★ a troubled★★ teenage★★ boy. DEER (UK-US) Yorgos Lanthimos his ★★ ★★to fall ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
0.0
HAPPY END (Fr-Ger-Aust) Michael Haneke
An★★ exploration it means★★ to be oblivious suffering of others, Haneke★★ chronicles the lives★★ of a bourgeois ★★of what★★ ★★ to the ★★ ★★ ★★ family the backdrop refugee★★ crisis. Isabelle Trintignant star. ★★ in Calais, ★★against ★★ ★★ of the ★★ ★★ Huppert and Jean-Louis ★★ ★★ ★★
THE DAY AFTER (S Kor) Hong Sangsoo
Kim Minhee★★ stars as a★★ new employee small publishing a philandering Haehyo and ★★ ★★ at a★★ ★★ company ★★ with ★★ ★★ boss. ★★Kwon ★★ Kim Saebyuk co-star ★★ in Hong’s ★★ fourth appearance in Competition. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
RADIANCE (Jap-Fr) Naomi Kawase
Masatoshi with failing★★ eyesight★★ who strikes up a relationship with a writer. ★★ Nagase ★★ plays ★★a photographer ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★Ayame Misaki co-star ★★ for Cannes regular Kawase. ★★ and Tatsuya ★★ Fuji ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
THE BEGUILED (US) Sofia Coppola
A★★ Civil War potboiler who stirs★★ up sexual★★ tension at the all-girl’s in Virginia ★★ about ★★ a wounded ★★ Union ★★soldier★★ ★★ ★★school ★★ where Coppola★★ stalwart ★★ Kirsten Dunst alongside★★ Nicole Kidman, Fanning and ★★ he takes ★★shelter. ★★ ★★stars ★★ ★★ Elle★★ ★★Colin Farrell.
RODIN (Fr-Bel) Jacques Doillon
Vincent moody proto-modernist a film that charts ★★ his stormy★★ relationship ★★ Lindon ★★plays ★★ ★★ ★★ sculptor ★★Auguste ★★Rodin in ★★ ★★ with Claudel (Izia his junior, who becomes lover, model ★★Camille★★ ★★Higelin), ★★25 years ★★ ★★ ★★ his★★ ★★and co-worker. ★★ ★★
GOOD TIME (US) Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
The Safdie brothers for the★★ first time.★★ Robert Pattinson on the run ★★ ★★ step ★★up to Competition ★★ ★★ ★★ stars ★★as a bank ★★robber★★ from streets ★★ of New York. Jennifer★★ Jason Leigh co-star.★★ ★★dangerous ★★ criminals ★★ on the ★★ ★★ ★★and Barkhad ★★ Abdi ★★
A GENTLE CREATURE (Fr-RusGer-Neth-Lith) Sergei Loznitsa
A★★ Gentle Creature Dostoyevsky of the same about the★★ relationship ★★ is loosely ★★ inspired ★★ by the ★★ ★★ story★★ ★★name★★ ★★between an executioner and his victim, from the ★★ executioner’s of view. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ told★★ ★★point ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
IN THE FADE (Ger-Fr) Fatih Akin
Akin’s death of her in a bomb★★ blast. ★★ Hamburg-set ★★ thriller ★★ follows ★★a woman ★★who takes ★★revenge ★★for the★★ ★★family★★ Germany-born, stars in★★ her first German-language ★★ ★★France-based ★★ Diane ★★ Kruger ★★ ★★ ★★ film. ★★ ★★ ★★
L’AMANT DOUBLE (Fr-Bel) Francois Ozon
Ozon with Marine and Jérémie in an erotically of a fragile young woman ★★reunites ★★ ★★ Vacth★★ ★★ Renier ★★ ★★ charged ★★ tale★★ ★★ ★★ who moves her therapist, to find he is not what ★★ in with ★★ ★★ only ★★ ★★ ★★he seems. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (US-Fr) Lynne Ramsay
Joaquin this thriller veteran★★ who attempts a young★★ girl from★★ a sex-trafficking ★★ Phoenix ★★ leads★★ ★★as a war ★★ ★★ to save ★★ ★★ ring. But things not go to plan. Ekaterina co-star.★★ ★★ do ★★ ★★ ★★ Samsonov ★★ and ★★Alessandro ★★ Nivola ★★ ★★ ★★
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