British actors Julia Ormond (“Ladies in Black”) and Lydia Page (“Blue Jean”) are set to soon appear in psychological horror movie “Home Education” directed by Italy’s Andrea Niada.
Set in the scenic Sila plateau in Italy’s Southern Calabria region, “Home Education” revolves around a family that are followers of an esoteric cult and live in a secluded house deep in the woods.
Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, Italy’s Indiana Production and BlackBox Multimedia are producing with support from the Calabria Film Commission. Germany’s SquareOne Productions is co-producing and handling international sales. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film in Italian theaters.
Page plays Rachel, a teenager raised according to the cult’s beliefs. When her father Philip dies, Rachel’s domineering mother, Carol, played by Ormond (see first look image), driven by the belief that Philip’s lifeless body will revive itself, forces her daughter to live with the corpse.
Set in the scenic Sila plateau in Italy’s Southern Calabria region, “Home Education” revolves around a family that are followers of an esoteric cult and live in a secluded house deep in the woods.
Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, Italy’s Indiana Production and BlackBox Multimedia are producing with support from the Calabria Film Commission. Germany’s SquareOne Productions is co-producing and handling international sales. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film in Italian theaters.
Page plays Rachel, a teenager raised according to the cult’s beliefs. When her father Philip dies, Rachel’s domineering mother, Carol, played by Ormond (see first look image), driven by the belief that Philip’s lifeless body will revive itself, forces her daughter to live with the corpse.
- 6/13/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
By Lee Pfeiffer
I'm all for ambiguity in feature films and television series. The resistance to tie every plot point up in a neat little bow is an admirable trait among filmmakers and sometimes the tactic results in some tantalizing end products. Prime examples: Patrick McGoohan's classic 1960s TV series "The Prisoner", the meaning of which is still be debated by fans of the show, and director Michelangelo Antonioni's controversial 1966 thriller "Blow-Up" which might require numerous viewings before you figure out the point of the film's final scene. What I have little tolerance for is ambiguity as a cover for sheer pretentiousness. Cult director Abel Ferrara's little-seen 2019 feature film "Siberia" oozes sheer pretentiousness. It's so bizarre that Ferrara had so raise the production budget on Kickstarter through contributions from his enthusiastic fan base. Although the movie was shown at various film festivals, IMDb reports that it's international...
I'm all for ambiguity in feature films and television series. The resistance to tie every plot point up in a neat little bow is an admirable trait among filmmakers and sometimes the tactic results in some tantalizing end products. Prime examples: Patrick McGoohan's classic 1960s TV series "The Prisoner", the meaning of which is still be debated by fans of the show, and director Michelangelo Antonioni's controversial 1966 thriller "Blow-Up" which might require numerous viewings before you figure out the point of the film's final scene. What I have little tolerance for is ambiguity as a cover for sheer pretentiousness. Cult director Abel Ferrara's little-seen 2019 feature film "Siberia" oozes sheer pretentiousness. It's so bizarre that Ferrara had so raise the production budget on Kickstarter through contributions from his enthusiastic fan base. Although the movie was shown at various film festivals, IMDb reports that it's international...
- 8/24/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Abel Ferrara on Willem Dafoe in Siberia: “That’s so Willem! He’s the darkness and I’m the dancer.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Abel Ferrara has kept himself active over the past 16 months, after presenting the world premiere (at the 2020 Berlinale) of Siberia, co-written with Christ Zois, shot by Stefano Falivene (Pasolini), scored by Joe Delia and starring Willem Dafoe with Cristina Chiriac, Anna Ferrara, Dounia Sichov, Simon McBurney, Laurent Arnatsiaq, Phil Neilson, Valentina Rozumenko, Fabio Pagano, and Ulrike Willenbacher.
Clint (Willem Dafoe) with his Inuit friend (Laurent Arnatsiaq)
Abel has Zeros And Ones, starring Ethan Hawke, Valerio Mastandrea, and Cristina Chiriac waiting to go and his must-watch Sportin' Life, sponsored by Saint Laurent, and shot by Sean Price Williams, which intimately documents the Berlin festivities, including musical performances, with Abel singing and playing guitar in clubs. The initial tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic in...
Abel Ferrara has kept himself active over the past 16 months, after presenting the world premiere (at the 2020 Berlinale) of Siberia, co-written with Christ Zois, shot by Stefano Falivene (Pasolini), scored by Joe Delia and starring Willem Dafoe with Cristina Chiriac, Anna Ferrara, Dounia Sichov, Simon McBurney, Laurent Arnatsiaq, Phil Neilson, Valentina Rozumenko, Fabio Pagano, and Ulrike Willenbacher.
Clint (Willem Dafoe) with his Inuit friend (Laurent Arnatsiaq)
Abel has Zeros And Ones, starring Ethan Hawke, Valerio Mastandrea, and Cristina Chiriac waiting to go and his must-watch Sportin' Life, sponsored by Saint Laurent, and shot by Sean Price Williams, which intimately documents the Berlin festivities, including musical performances, with Abel singing and playing guitar in clubs. The initial tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic in...
- 6/29/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
For four minutes of curator Sam Abbas’ 58-minute collection of docushorts from several European and American cinematographers, the camera sits on wrinkled bed sheets. A piano plays, with a softness that encompasses the meditative nature of Erēmīta (Anthologies). With more background knowledge, Erēmīta should grow in one’s estimation. All proceeds will go to Amnesty International. Each filmmaker had final cut on their short, and without much of a prompt besides the idea to use a cell phone to film, the mini-movies tell pandemic stories in diverse ways, to varying results.
Combining work from cinematographers with wider filmographies like Ashley Connor and Alexis Zabé (The Florida Project) with director Abel Ferrara’s go-to cameraman Stefano Falivene and others like Antoine Héberlé and Soledad Rodríguez, Abbas organizes a reflective, pensive hour of cinema. The documentaries range from a closer look––with interviews––at those living on the Venice Boardwalk (Zabé’s...
Combining work from cinematographers with wider filmographies like Ashley Connor and Alexis Zabé (The Florida Project) with director Abel Ferrara’s go-to cameraman Stefano Falivene and others like Antoine Héberlé and Soledad Rodríguez, Abbas organizes a reflective, pensive hour of cinema. The documentaries range from a closer look––with interviews––at those living on the Venice Boardwalk (Zabé’s...
- 2/26/2021
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
An early promo trailer has debuted for an experimental pandemic project called Erēmīta (Anthologies) (the word "Erēmīta" translates to "Hermit" in Latvian). This was conceived by Egyptian cinematographer / filmmaker Sam Abbas, and is an anthology of short docs intertwined with literature composed during the 2020 pandemic by leading DPs. Abbas explains: "I, like many others, get very excited about using certain cameras, lenses, conversations with the cinematographer, colorists, sound designers but really, everyone I work with! But when it comes down to it, if needed, cinema can be made under any circumstances... We can only make a film virtually... We all share two main things: passion and a plethora of time." Each Dp oversaw their individual film, having final cut for their piece. "There is no theme, film whatever you want, however you want with whomever you want." Featuring footage from Alexis Zabé, Ashley Connor, Antoine Héberlé, Sam Abbas, Soledad Rodríguez,...
- 1/25/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
“There is no theme. Film whatever you want, however you want, with whomever you want.” This is the message that Egyptian filmmaker Sam Abbas sent to his favorite cinematographers as an invitation to contribute to the new film Erēmīta (Anthologies). Directors of photography from five countries––USA, France, Argentina, Italy, and the UK––answered the call and today we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer for the anthology project.
Featuring contributions from Abbas (Alia’s Birth, Marie, The Wedding), Alexis Zabe (The Florida Project, Silent Light, Post Tenebras Lux), Antoine Héberlé (A Son, My Favourite Fabric, GriGris), Ashley Connor (Madeline’s Madeline, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Death of Dick Long), Soledad Rodríguez (Pendular, Maternal, The Student), Stefano Falivene (Siberia, Pasolini, Mary), the zero-budget production will now get a release next month on VOD and Virtual Cinemas with all profits going entirely to a charity the team will choose.
Featuring contributions from Abbas (Alia’s Birth, Marie, The Wedding), Alexis Zabe (The Florida Project, Silent Light, Post Tenebras Lux), Antoine Héberlé (A Son, My Favourite Fabric, GriGris), Ashley Connor (Madeline’s Madeline, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Death of Dick Long), Soledad Rodríguez (Pendular, Maternal, The Student), Stefano Falivene (Siberia, Pasolini, Mary), the zero-budget production will now get a release next month on VOD and Virtual Cinemas with all profits going entirely to a charity the team will choose.
- 1/25/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Egyptian filmmaker Sam Abbas made a splash when he released his queer-themed movie “The Wedding” in secret locations across the Middle East via his Egypt-based ArabQ shingle. The director is now starting a new company in Paris.
Abbas, who is Egypt-born and until recently lived in New York, drew some media attention in 2018 with “The Wedding,” which he wrote, directed and starred in as a young closeted Muslim man from Brooklyn who, while planning to marry his American girlfriend — played by Canada’s Nikohl Boosheri — is having affairs with other men.
“The Wedding” played in secret speakeasy-type venues by invitation only in Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt via ArabQ, Abbas claimed, which helped prompt some publicity when the film briefly screened in New York to unenthusiastic reviews. Variety’s Jay Weissberg called “The Wedding” “a dull slice of Lower Manhattan mumblecore.”
Still, the ArabQ initiative was bold since LGBTQ people...
Abbas, who is Egypt-born and until recently lived in New York, drew some media attention in 2018 with “The Wedding,” which he wrote, directed and starred in as a young closeted Muslim man from Brooklyn who, while planning to marry his American girlfriend — played by Canada’s Nikohl Boosheri — is having affairs with other men.
“The Wedding” played in secret speakeasy-type venues by invitation only in Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt via ArabQ, Abbas claimed, which helped prompt some publicity when the film briefly screened in New York to unenthusiastic reviews. Variety’s Jay Weissberg called “The Wedding” “a dull slice of Lower Manhattan mumblecore.”
Still, the ArabQ initiative was bold since LGBTQ people...
- 10/28/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In their sixth collaboration together Abel Ferrara and Willem Dafoe take a deep dive into the human consciousness with a surreal examination of one man’s dreams and memories. Renowned for his provocative outlook, Ferrara is a director who isn’t afraid to push boundaries as well as the audience’s patience. His latest is easily his most perplexing film to date, doing away with any sort of conventional narrative in favour of a series of scarcely linked vignettes, with Dafoe’s ever-compelling presence being the only connective glue. In spite of Dafoe’s committed performance and some beautiful cinematography, Siberia’s deliberately impenetrable existential musings quickly become tiresome.
Siberia begins pretty intelligibly, with a calming voiceover from Clint (Dafoe) recalling a childhood fishing trip with his father. But it’s not long before things degenerate into a self-indulgent mess of ideas and images. Clint has turned his back on...
Siberia begins pretty intelligibly, with a calming voiceover from Clint (Dafoe) recalling a childhood fishing trip with his father. But it’s not long before things degenerate into a self-indulgent mess of ideas and images. Clint has turned his back on...
- 10/16/2020
- by Luke Channell
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Egyptian filmmaker Sam Abbas has teamed with leading cinematographers from around the world to create the documentary “Erēmīta (Anthologies).”
The anthology was shot during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown and will feature contributions from the following DPs: Alexis Zabé, Chayse Irvin Ashley Connor Soledad Rodríguez Stefano Falivene Antoine Héberlé Benoît Dervaux (“The Unknown Girl”) and Sam Abbas.
Leading the project, Abbas said, “I, like many others, get very excited about using certain cameras, lenses, conversations with the cinematographer, colorists, sound designers but really, everyone I work with! But when it comes down to it, if needed, cinema can be made under any circumstances. This is a circumstance where we can only make a film virtually if we want to collaborate. We all share two main things: passion and a plethora of time.”
Each cinematographer oversaw their project, having final cut for their individual piece. Abbas curated the entire project adding, “There is no theme,...
The anthology was shot during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown and will feature contributions from the following DPs: Alexis Zabé, Chayse Irvin Ashley Connor Soledad Rodríguez Stefano Falivene Antoine Héberlé Benoît Dervaux (“The Unknown Girl”) and Sam Abbas.
Leading the project, Abbas said, “I, like many others, get very excited about using certain cameras, lenses, conversations with the cinematographer, colorists, sound designers but really, everyone I work with! But when it comes down to it, if needed, cinema can be made under any circumstances. This is a circumstance where we can only make a film virtually if we want to collaborate. We all share two main things: passion and a plethora of time.”
Each cinematographer oversaw their project, having final cut for their individual piece. Abbas curated the entire project adding, “There is no theme,...
- 7/30/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Dream team Abel Ferrara and Willem Dafoe, who most recently collaborated on “Tommaso” and “Pasolini,” have done it again with the upcoming Berlinale premiere, “Siberia.” IndieWire shares the stunning first trailer for the film, which is currently seeking U.S. distribution, below. The film premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on February 24.
Throughout, star Dafoe (who recently won an Indie Spirit award for his supporting turn in “The Lighthouse”) wanders the nightmares and dreamscapes of the mind. “You’ve destroyed my life,” a woman laughingly tells him, launching Dafoe, whose character is called Clint, on a dark night of the soul across haunting set pieces. The film boasts cinematography from Stefano Falivene, who worked on Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic” and also shot Ferrara’s “Pasolini.”
Here’s the official synopsis of the film, courtesy of the Berlin Film Festival. In short, we’re firmly in Ferrara country here,...
Throughout, star Dafoe (who recently won an Indie Spirit award for his supporting turn in “The Lighthouse”) wanders the nightmares and dreamscapes of the mind. “You’ve destroyed my life,” a woman laughingly tells him, launching Dafoe, whose character is called Clint, on a dark night of the soul across haunting set pieces. The film boasts cinematography from Stefano Falivene, who worked on Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic” and also shot Ferrara’s “Pasolini.”
Here’s the official synopsis of the film, courtesy of the Berlin Film Festival. In short, we’re firmly in Ferrara country here,...
- 2/22/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Abel Ferrara’s account of the last days of the Italian auteur, played by Willem Dafoe, is beautiful and enigmatic
“Narrative art is dead – we are in a period of mourning”; “To scandalise is a right, to be scandalised a pleasure”; “Refusal must be great, absolute, absurd…” Abel Ferrara’s infatuated tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini is littered with such gnomic bon mots, which could apply equally to either director. Like Pasolini, Ferrara has courted both outrage and admiration; he made his name with The Driller Killer, and remains most celebrated for Bad Lieutenant, a film drenched in equal parts with Catholic ideology and censor-baiting exploitation.
This handsomely oblique film focuses on the very end of Pasolini’s life, as he completes work on Salò, Or the 120 Days of Sodom and makes plans for Porno-Teo-Kolossal, the unmade magnum opus which is here reimagined by Ferrara in startling, elegiac fashion. Willem Dafoe...
“Narrative art is dead – we are in a period of mourning”; “To scandalise is a right, to be scandalised a pleasure”; “Refusal must be great, absolute, absurd…” Abel Ferrara’s infatuated tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini is littered with such gnomic bon mots, which could apply equally to either director. Like Pasolini, Ferrara has courted both outrage and admiration; he made his name with The Driller Killer, and remains most celebrated for Bad Lieutenant, a film drenched in equal parts with Catholic ideology and censor-baiting exploitation.
This handsomely oblique film focuses on the very end of Pasolini’s life, as he completes work on Salò, Or the 120 Days of Sodom and makes plans for Porno-Teo-Kolossal, the unmade magnum opus which is here reimagined by Ferrara in startling, elegiac fashion. Willem Dafoe...
- 9/13/2015
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Venue: Venice Film Festival
Venice -- In 2004 of a 23-member Sri Lankan handball team suddenly showed up in Bavaria. The team had fooled the German Embassy in Colombo, got itself an invite for a tournament, then boarded the plane with the sole idea of never returning home. When the bluff became apparent, with even the audiences wondering why a national team did not have a clue of the game's rules, the entire team vanished, probably into Italy. Not one of them has been traced.
Director Uberto Pasolini, a producer on "The Full Monty," uses this incident to dramatize what he feels is a flawed immigration policy in the West. He -- and his film -- argues there must be a free movement of human capital as there is of financial capital. He collaboarted with renowned Sri Lankan playwright Ruwanthie de Chickera to script the story of the 23 men, who had...
Venice -- In 2004 of a 23-member Sri Lankan handball team suddenly showed up in Bavaria. The team had fooled the German Embassy in Colombo, got itself an invite for a tournament, then boarded the plane with the sole idea of never returning home. When the bluff became apparent, with even the audiences wondering why a national team did not have a clue of the game's rules, the entire team vanished, probably into Italy. Not one of them has been traced.
Director Uberto Pasolini, a producer on "The Full Monty," uses this incident to dramatize what he feels is a flawed immigration policy in the West. He -- and his film -- argues there must be a free movement of human capital as there is of financial capital. He collaboarted with renowned Sri Lankan playwright Ruwanthie de Chickera to script the story of the 23 men, who had...
- 9/4/2008
- by By Gautaman Bhaskaran
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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