The French duo behind “The Last Hillbilly,” which received a Special Mention in the First Appearance category at IDFA, have been pitching their new project at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel.
“A Dog’s Life” will follow the journey of six teenage girls from the juvenile detention center in Bakersfield as they embark on a rehabilitation program: for three months, the girls will attempt to mend their own lives by taking care of a rescued dog.
Diane Sara Bouzgarrou told Variety how she and partner Thomas Jenkoe were inspired to pick up where they had left off with their first feature collaboration.
“We finished our last doc, ‘The Last Hillbilly,’ filming kids who were on the edge of teenagehood. The wild fires in California were very much a concern for them so we felt our next film should start where that one had ended,” she said.
They focused on Bakersfield,...
“A Dog’s Life” will follow the journey of six teenage girls from the juvenile detention center in Bakersfield as they embark on a rehabilitation program: for three months, the girls will attempt to mend their own lives by taking care of a rescued dog.
Diane Sara Bouzgarrou told Variety how she and partner Thomas Jenkoe were inspired to pick up where they had left off with their first feature collaboration.
“We finished our last doc, ‘The Last Hillbilly,’ filming kids who were on the edge of teenagehood. The wild fires in California were very much a concern for them so we felt our next film should start where that one had ended,” she said.
They focused on Bakersfield,...
- 4/12/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled its VdR-Industry selection, which includes 27 projects in different stages of production.
The works will be invited to participate in three key forums – VdR-Pitching, VdR-Work in Progress and VdR-Rough Cut Lab – that run as part of the fest’s industry activities in Nyon from April 10-14.
Those who cannot make it to the festival will be able to participate online but organizers are focusing strongly on the in-person event.
“We can’t wait to finally welcome back project holders and industry representatives to the shores of Lake Geneva. We feel strengthened by the lessons we have learned from the digital and hybrid editions of the last two years. In fact, they have opened up new possibilities in terms of activities format and allowed us to widen the range of professionals participating in VdR–Industry,” said Madeline Robert, head of industry and artistic advisor of Visions du Réel,...
The works will be invited to participate in three key forums – VdR-Pitching, VdR-Work in Progress and VdR-Rough Cut Lab – that run as part of the fest’s industry activities in Nyon from April 10-14.
Those who cannot make it to the festival will be able to participate online but organizers are focusing strongly on the in-person event.
“We can’t wait to finally welcome back project holders and industry representatives to the shores of Lake Geneva. We feel strengthened by the lessons we have learned from the digital and hybrid editions of the last two years. In fact, they have opened up new possibilities in terms of activities format and allowed us to widen the range of professionals participating in VdR–Industry,” said Madeline Robert, head of industry and artistic advisor of Visions du Réel,...
- 3/11/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Marseille-based Films de Force Majeure has boarded “Blue Banks,” the buzzy feature debut from Romania’s Andreea Cristina Borțun, whose latest short film “When Night Meets Dawn” premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight section, Variety can reveal.
Pic is the story of a single mother trying to raise her son in a poor Romanian village who’s forced to leave him behind when she gets a job in Marseille. While she’s away, he’s left with a sea of possibilities trying to figure out who he can become.
Borțun described her first feature as “a world of contrasts, where the old and the new, the natural and the man-made sometimes absurdly overlap.”
” ‘Blue Banks’ is a chronicle, told over four seasons, about a young mother’s ambition to live her life according to her own dreams. However her dreams are neither precise, nor great. They are mostly cursory and inappropriate,...
Pic is the story of a single mother trying to raise her son in a poor Romanian village who’s forced to leave him behind when she gets a job in Marseille. While she’s away, he’s left with a sea of possibilities trying to figure out who he can become.
Borțun described her first feature as “a world of contrasts, where the old and the new, the natural and the man-made sometimes absurdly overlap.”
” ‘Blue Banks’ is a chronicle, told over four seasons, about a young mother’s ambition to live her life according to her own dreams. However her dreams are neither precise, nor great. They are mostly cursory and inappropriate,...
- 7/30/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
This number will increase as Cannes, Venice and other summer festival titles are added to the mix alongside studio releases.
French cinemas reopen this Wednesday (May 19) after lying dark for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the country’s 100-plus distributors rushing to set theatrical dates for an estimated backlog of 400 stalled films.
As a result, French cinemagoers will have access to the richest and most diverse offering of films in the world over the coming months, spanning festival titles, local mainstream comedies and dramas, world cinema and studio blockbuster fare, as the summer advances.
As of May...
French cinemas reopen this Wednesday (May 19) after lying dark for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the country’s 100-plus distributors rushing to set theatrical dates for an estimated backlog of 400 stalled films.
As a result, French cinemagoers will have access to the richest and most diverse offering of films in the world over the coming months, spanning festival titles, local mainstream comedies and dramas, world cinema and studio blockbuster fare, as the summer advances.
As of May...
- 5/17/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Screen’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan notes what stood out from the pack at three autumn festivals.
Screen International’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan selects the films that stood out from the pack at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) and International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which went ahead as hybrid events, and Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), which took place entirely online.
PÖFF The Sign Painter
Dir. Viesturs Kairiss
Our critic said: “A spirited, tragicomic drama… Like its mild-mannered but principled protagonist, the film asserts its independence through artistic choices.”
Read our review
Ulbolsyn
Dir. Adilkhan Yerzhanov...
Screen International’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan selects the films that stood out from the pack at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) and International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which went ahead as hybrid events, and Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), which took place entirely online.
PÖFF The Sign Painter
Dir. Viesturs Kairiss
Our critic said: “A spirited, tragicomic drama… Like its mild-mannered but principled protagonist, the film asserts its independence through artistic choices.”
Read our review
Ulbolsyn
Dir. Adilkhan Yerzhanov...
- 12/1/2020
- ScreenDaily
Some filmmakers can take years finding the right subject for their documentary, but in the case of Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe, the directors of “The Last Hillbilly” – which plays Friday in IDFA’s Competition for First Appearance – theirs just walked up and introduced himself. The French director couple from Lille were eating in a fast-food restaurant in 2013 while on vacation in Kentucky when they were approached by a local man named Brian Ritchie. “He came up to us because he heard us speaking French,” recalls Jenkoe. “He said he wanted to take us to ‘the true Kentucky,’ as he called it—the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky.”
“It was a friendship relationship first,” says Bouzgarrou. “Then we got really passionate about finding out what being a hillbilly means. We found his poems. He’s a bit shy about it, but he was very generous with us. All his words,...
“It was a friendship relationship first,” says Bouzgarrou. “Then we got really passionate about finding out what being a hillbilly means. We found his poems. He’s a bit shy about it, but he was very generous with us. All his words,...
- 11/27/2020
- by Kaleem Aftab
- Variety Film + TV
Iranian director Firouzeh Khosrovani has won the IDFA award for best feature-length documentary with “Radiograph of a Family,” a film that uses an intimate study of her parents’ marriage—her father was secular, Westernized and progressive, while her mother was a devout, traditional Muslim—to explore the divisions in Iranian society both in the run-up and aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
The jury, which comprised Marie-Pierre Macia, Ed Lachman, Alice Diop, Abdelkader Benali, and Finn Halligan, praised Khosrovani for the strength of her storytelling, adding, “The fractured body of family life is told through images, photos, and enactments in such a way that the viewer, too, feels the loss.”
Contacted by Zoom, the director screamed with delight. “I’m honored,” she said, after taking a second or two to collect her thoughts. “I have no words to express how happy I am,” she enthused. “I just want to thank...
The jury, which comprised Marie-Pierre Macia, Ed Lachman, Alice Diop, Abdelkader Benali, and Finn Halligan, praised Khosrovani for the strength of her storytelling, adding, “The fractured body of family life is told through images, photos, and enactments in such a way that the viewer, too, feels the loss.”
Contacted by Zoom, the director screamed with delight. “I’m honored,” she said, after taking a second or two to collect her thoughts. “I have no words to express how happy I am,” she enthused. “I just want to thank...
- 11/26/2020
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
The festival has received over 62,000 online film views.
Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph Of A Family has won the best feature-length documentary award at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which held its awards ceremony this evening in Amsterdam and broadcast online worldwide.
The Norway-Iran-Switzerland co-production receives the €20,000 prize; it was selected by a Competition jury consisting of producer Marie-Pierre Macia, directors Ed Lachman and Alice Diop, writer Abdelkader Benali and Screen’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The film is Khosrovani’s take on growing up in Tehran and her parents’ relationship – her...
Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph Of A Family has won the best feature-length documentary award at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which held its awards ceremony this evening in Amsterdam and broadcast online worldwide.
The Norway-Iran-Switzerland co-production receives the €20,000 prize; it was selected by a Competition jury consisting of producer Marie-Pierre Macia, directors Ed Lachman and Alice Diop, writer Abdelkader Benali and Screen’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The film is Khosrovani’s take on growing up in Tehran and her parents’ relationship – her...
- 11/26/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The 9th International Independent Film Festival has crowned as joint champions Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma’s werewolf film and the documentary by Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe. The International Competition might have been dominated by the Iranian film by Saeed Roustaee Just 6.5, but the French competition jury of the 9th International Independent Film Festival (which unspooled 14 – 19 October), composed of Maïmouna Doucouré, Delphine Gleize and Lio, awarded their Grand Prize 2020 to two feature films decorated with Cannes 2020 labels: Teddy by brothers Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma and The Last Hillbilly by Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe. Honoured with Cannes’ Official Selection label, Teddy (Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma’s second feature film after Willy 1er) stars Anthony Bajon, Christine Gautier and Noémie Lvovsky in its cast. Written by the two filmmakers, the story begins one evening, during a full moon, when 19-year-old Teddy who works in a...
- 10/20/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Doha Film Institute (Dfi) supports 39 projects in spring 2020 funding round.
Upcoming films by Palestinian filmmaking duo Tarzan and Arab Nasser, award-winning Cambodian director Kavich Neang and Iraqi filmmaker Shawkat Armin Korki were among the 39 projects that have been granted support by the Doha Film Institute as part of its spring 2020 funding round.
Three-quarters of the selected projects are from the Middle East and Africa.
The Nasser brothers won support for their fiction feature Gaza My Love (previously announced as Apollo) which is in post-production. It revolves around a fisherman who is emboldened to court a market stallholder he has long...
Upcoming films by Palestinian filmmaking duo Tarzan and Arab Nasser, award-winning Cambodian director Kavich Neang and Iraqi filmmaker Shawkat Armin Korki were among the 39 projects that have been granted support by the Doha Film Institute as part of its spring 2020 funding round.
Three-quarters of the selected projects are from the Middle East and Africa.
The Nasser brothers won support for their fiction feature Gaza My Love (previously announced as Apollo) which is in post-production. It revolves around a fisherman who is emboldened to court a market stallholder he has long...
- 6/30/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Selection aims to connect works by emerging directors with distributors and audiences.
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the nine films selected for its special 2020 programme, replacing its 27th annual parallel Cannes showcase which was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Despite the circumstances, we’ve chosen to maintain the criteria of Acid Cannes programming, namely to commit to supporting as many films, nine feature films, with the same special attention given to films without distributors and first features,” the body said in a statement.
Paris-based Acid was created in 1992 by a...
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the nine films selected for its special 2020 programme, replacing its 27th annual parallel Cannes showcase which was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Despite the circumstances, we’ve chosen to maintain the criteria of Acid Cannes programming, namely to commit to supporting as many films, nine feature films, with the same special attention given to films without distributors and first features,” the body said in a statement.
Paris-based Acid was created in 1992 by a...
- 6/4/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Les Arcs Work In Progress Line-Up; Eurimages Co-Pro Award; Apc Buys Movistar+ Series – Global Briefs
The Les Arcs Film Festival has unveiled its selection of work in progress projects for 2019. The event, held at a French ski resort, is a film fest with an industry wing that has become well regarded in its 11 years’ of existence. A total of 18 features will take part this year, seven of which are directed by women (39%) – there were 34% female applicants. None of the selected films have sales agents attached. They are: Anna Nemes’ Beauty Of The Beast (Hungary); Eva Küpper’s Dark Rider; Ekaterina Selenkina’s Figures In The Urban Landscape (Russia), Slávek Horák’s Havel (Czech Republic), Khadar Ahmed’s The Gravedigger; Luàna Bajrami’s The Hill Where Lionesses Roar; Alex Camilleri’s Luzzu (Malta); Alessandro De Toni’s Myjing (Italy); Nabil Ben Yadir’s Praey; Fredrik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm’s Shorta (Denmark); Roman Vasyanov’s...
- 11/26/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The 18 projects are looking for sales agents and distributors.
Upcoming films by Belgian filmmakers Eva Küpper and Nabil Ben Yadir, and Hungary’s Anna Nemes are among the 18 feature projects from 34 territories to be presented at the Work in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival from December 14 to 21.
Nemes will show extracts from her documentary Beauty Of The Beast about female body builders. She is also working on fictional spin-off work Gentle Monster, with compatriot Laszlo Csuja, which won the top prize at the Sam Spiegel Film Lab in Jerusalem over the summer.
Ben Yadir’s upcoming film Præy...
Upcoming films by Belgian filmmakers Eva Küpper and Nabil Ben Yadir, and Hungary’s Anna Nemes are among the 18 feature projects from 34 territories to be presented at the Work in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival from December 14 to 21.
Nemes will show extracts from her documentary Beauty Of The Beast about female body builders. She is also working on fictional spin-off work Gentle Monster, with compatriot Laszlo Csuja, which won the top prize at the Sam Spiegel Film Lab in Jerusalem over the summer.
Ben Yadir’s upcoming film Præy...
- 11/26/2019
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The 18 projects are looking for sales agents and distributors.
Upcoming films by Belgian filmmakers Eva Küpper and Nabil Ben Yadir, and Hungary’s Anna Nemes are among the 18 feature projects from 34 territories to be presented at the Work in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival from ecember 14 to 21.
Nemes will show extracts from her documentary Beauty Of The Beast about female body builders. She is also working on fictional spin-off work Gentle Monster, with compatriot Laszlo Csuja, which won the top prize at the Sam Spiegel Film Lab in Jerusalem over the summer.
Ben Yadir’s upcoming film Præy...
Upcoming films by Belgian filmmakers Eva Küpper and Nabil Ben Yadir, and Hungary’s Anna Nemes are among the 18 feature projects from 34 territories to be presented at the Work in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival from ecember 14 to 21.
Nemes will show extracts from her documentary Beauty Of The Beast about female body builders. She is also working on fictional spin-off work Gentle Monster, with compatriot Laszlo Csuja, which won the top prize at the Sam Spiegel Film Lab in Jerusalem over the summer.
Ben Yadir’s upcoming film Præy...
- 11/26/2019
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
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