This post contains spoilers for the season 4 finale of "Star Trek: Lower Decks."
I remember finishing the pilot for "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and having one overriding thought: "I might be in love with Beckett Mariner."
Okay, well more accurately, I might be in love with voice actress Tawny Newsome, whose charismatic and rambunctious performance, treading the line into sardonic while never being insincere, gives me life in every episode of "Lower Decks" that I watch. That's not to say Mariner depends only on her actress to be a star. She's complex enough to be a real person — even if she's usually just a cartoon — and her contradictions reflect those that make "Star Trek" what it is.
Sure, there are Trekkies out there who think "Star Trek" is only philosophy about the human spirit and morality plays — I do love a good "Darmok" or "In The Pale Moonlight." However, episodes...
I remember finishing the pilot for "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and having one overriding thought: "I might be in love with Beckett Mariner."
Okay, well more accurately, I might be in love with voice actress Tawny Newsome, whose charismatic and rambunctious performance, treading the line into sardonic while never being insincere, gives me life in every episode of "Lower Decks" that I watch. That's not to say Mariner depends only on her actress to be a star. She's complex enough to be a real person — even if she's usually just a cartoon — and her contradictions reflect those that make "Star Trek" what it is.
Sure, there are Trekkies out there who think "Star Trek" is only philosophy about the human spirit and morality plays — I do love a good "Darmok" or "In The Pale Moonlight." However, episodes...
- 11/6/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Star Trek quandaries are most provocative when they illustrate a solid "What if?" scenario.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 10 offers renegade miscreant Nick Locarno up as a "What if?" foil to Mariner, embodying a potential future Beckett where rage and ego have derailed skill and talent.
Meanwhile, Tendi must live out the "What if?" of her returning to her family of pirates because the needs of the many outweigh her dream of being a Starfleet scientist.
This season finale does what Lower Decks has always done well, building a fast-paced action comedy on the foundation of Star Trek canon.
At this point, it's pretty meta, as much of the canon it references is its own.
I'll admit that this season has managed to subvert many of my expectations.
Theorizing based on the seeds planted in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3, I had forecast an AI uprising leading to some...
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 10 offers renegade miscreant Nick Locarno up as a "What if?" foil to Mariner, embodying a potential future Beckett where rage and ego have derailed skill and talent.
Meanwhile, Tendi must live out the "What if?" of her returning to her family of pirates because the needs of the many outweigh her dream of being a Starfleet scientist.
This season finale does what Lower Decks has always done well, building a fast-paced action comedy on the foundation of Star Trek canon.
At this point, it's pretty meta, as much of the canon it references is its own.
I'll admit that this season has managed to subvert many of my expectations.
Theorizing based on the seeds planted in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3, I had forecast an AI uprising leading to some...
- 11/3/2023
- by Diana Keng
- TVfanatic
This post contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale
As we all know, “Lower Decks” is about a quartet of ensigns in the shadow of big important Starfleet ships like the USS Enterprise-d. Despite their unenviable position, the four officers remained committed to their mission, even to the point that one of them sacrificed their lives.
What? No, I’m not talking about Beckett Mariner, Brad Boimler, Sam Rutherford, or D’Vana Tendi. No, I’m talking about the original “Lower Decks” crew: Sam Lavelle, Sito Jaxa, Alyssa Ogawa, and Taruk.
One of the standout episodes of the uneven seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Lower Decks” followed Nurse Ogawa, a longtime background character working with Dr. Crusher, to focus on her and her oft-ignored friends. That episode ended with the death of Bajoran Ensign Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), redeeming her participation in a dangerous...
As we all know, “Lower Decks” is about a quartet of ensigns in the shadow of big important Starfleet ships like the USS Enterprise-d. Despite their unenviable position, the four officers remained committed to their mission, even to the point that one of them sacrificed their lives.
What? No, I’m not talking about Beckett Mariner, Brad Boimler, Sam Rutherford, or D’Vana Tendi. No, I’m talking about the original “Lower Decks” crew: Sam Lavelle, Sito Jaxa, Alyssa Ogawa, and Taruk.
One of the standout episodes of the uneven seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Lower Decks” followed Nurse Ogawa, a longtime background character working with Dr. Crusher, to focus on her and her oft-ignored friends. That episode ended with the death of Bajoran Ensign Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), redeeming her participation in a dangerous...
- 11/2/2023
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
Beckett Mariner's self-sabotaging nature has been a part of the fabric of Star Trek: Lower Decks for so long that it's become accepted canon.
The daughter of two high-ranking Starfleet officers with her own exceptional skills and strong moral compass, it's been a profound mystery why she's determinedly undermined any promotion that has come her way.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 9 finally reveals her reasons behind the behavior, as Ransom's refusal to demote her has recently driven her to extreme levels of risk-taking, alarming everyone who cares about her.
In a near overload of narrative convergence, this penultimate piece also begins to draw together the threads originally spun in Season 2 with the glorious tale that was "Wej Duj," wherein we first meet T'Lyn and Ma'ah.
Revisiting -- yet again -- my belief that Ma'ah is a Klingon Boimler and T'Lyn is Vulcan's answer to Mariner, it shouldn't surprise...
The daughter of two high-ranking Starfleet officers with her own exceptional skills and strong moral compass, it's been a profound mystery why she's determinedly undermined any promotion that has come her way.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 9 finally reveals her reasons behind the behavior, as Ransom's refusal to demote her has recently driven her to extreme levels of risk-taking, alarming everyone who cares about her.
In a near overload of narrative convergence, this penultimate piece also begins to draw together the threads originally spun in Season 2 with the glorious tale that was "Wej Duj," wherein we first meet T'Lyn and Ma'ah.
Revisiting -- yet again -- my belief that Ma'ah is a Klingon Boimler and T'Lyn is Vulcan's answer to Mariner, it shouldn't surprise...
- 10/27/2023
- by Diana Keng
- TVfanatic
This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers.
In “The Inner Fight,” the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘s fourth season, the big bad is revealed to be someone we haven’t seen in a long time. Once a promising Starfleet Cadet and talented pilot, he let his youthful arrogance get the better of him, ending his career in disgrace. Even before Beckett Mariner opened a bunker door and the shadowy figure emerged, we heard the smarmy voice of Robert Duncan McNeill and realized who was back.
No, not Tom Paris. It’s Nick Locarno!
Yes, McNeill did play Lt. Jg./Ensign./Lt. Jg. Tom Paris for seven seasons on Star Trek: Voyager. And yes, he was a gifted pilot whose career ended in disgrace due to his arrogance. And Star Trek producers would have us believe that McNeill never appeared as a member of Starfleet before the Voyager premiere “Caretaker.
In “The Inner Fight,” the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘s fourth season, the big bad is revealed to be someone we haven’t seen in a long time. Once a promising Starfleet Cadet and talented pilot, he let his youthful arrogance get the better of him, ending his career in disgrace. Even before Beckett Mariner opened a bunker door and the shadowy figure emerged, we heard the smarmy voice of Robert Duncan McNeill and realized who was back.
No, not Tom Paris. It’s Nick Locarno!
Yes, McNeill did play Lt. Jg./Ensign./Lt. Jg. Tom Paris for seven seasons on Star Trek: Voyager. And yes, he was a gifted pilot whose career ended in disgrace due to his arrogance. And Star Trek producers would have us believe that McNeill never appeared as a member of Starfleet before the Voyager premiere “Caretaker.
- 10/26/2023
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
Spoilers for "Star Trek: Lower Decks" follow.
The overarching thread of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4 so far has been a mysterious ship attacking a variety of ships throughout the Alpha Quadrant: we've seen it take one Klingon, Romulan, Orion, Ferengi, and Bynar ship each.
The season's penultimate episode, "The Inner Fight," reveals the pilot of this hostile ship, and it's a twist that no one saw coming. The ship doesn't belong to a new alien race, but someone with a more personal connection to Starfleet: Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), a Starfleet Academy washout turned pilot for hire. The Cerritos crew discovers blueprints for the ship at Locarno's hideout while he abducts Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) to the ship. The episode ends with Mariner and Locarno face to face, and they seem to have a history.
Now, the episode doesn't explain why Locarno built the ship and has been attacking others.
The overarching thread of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4 so far has been a mysterious ship attacking a variety of ships throughout the Alpha Quadrant: we've seen it take one Klingon, Romulan, Orion, Ferengi, and Bynar ship each.
The season's penultimate episode, "The Inner Fight," reveals the pilot of this hostile ship, and it's a twist that no one saw coming. The ship doesn't belong to a new alien race, but someone with a more personal connection to Starfleet: Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), a Starfleet Academy washout turned pilot for hire. The Cerritos crew discovers blueprints for the ship at Locarno's hideout while he abducts Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) to the ship. The episode ends with Mariner and Locarno face to face, and they seem to have a history.
Now, the episode doesn't explain why Locarno built the ship and has been attacking others.
- 10/26/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Canada-based movie distributor and aggregator H264 is launching a world sales arm with the acquisition of “Red Rooms,” which has its world premiere next week in the Crystal Globe Competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The company is focused on festival-driven, innovative films.
“Red Rooms,” directed by Quebec filmmaker Pascal Plante, is a cyber-thriller questioning the collective fascination with murderers. It will screen at Karlovy Vary on July 4, and will then open the Fantasia Film Festival on July 20 for its North American premiere.
Montréal-based H264 is also ramping up its international slate by adding “Mademoiselle Kenopsia,” from filmmaker Denis Côté, who won awards at Berlin with “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” and Locarno with “Curling.”
The company is also representing the dark comedy “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, starring Sara Montpetit (“Falcon Lake”) and Steve Laplante.
Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne, founder and president of H...
“Red Rooms,” directed by Quebec filmmaker Pascal Plante, is a cyber-thriller questioning the collective fascination with murderers. It will screen at Karlovy Vary on July 4, and will then open the Fantasia Film Festival on July 20 for its North American premiere.
Montréal-based H264 is also ramping up its international slate by adding “Mademoiselle Kenopsia,” from filmmaker Denis Côté, who won awards at Berlin with “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” and Locarno with “Curling.”
The company is also representing the dark comedy “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, starring Sara Montpetit (“Falcon Lake”) and Steve Laplante.
Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne, founder and president of H...
- 6/30/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Enterre Seus Mortos
We’ve been big fans of the filmmaker since he broke out with Locarno preemed Hard Labor (2011) and Un Certain Regard selected Good Manners (2017) – both co-directed with Juliana Rojas. He hit Berlinale with 2020’s All the Dead Ones (read review) and could return to the Golden Bear comp with his latest work – the book to film adaptation of Ana Paula Maia’s Enterre Seus Mortos. Marco Dutra moved into production back in February of last year in Rio de Janerio with players Selton Mello, Marjorie Estiano and Betty Faria grabbing top billing. Dutra reteamed with his Good Manners cinematographer Rui Poças.…...
We’ve been big fans of the filmmaker since he broke out with Locarno preemed Hard Labor (2011) and Un Certain Regard selected Good Manners (2017) – both co-directed with Juliana Rojas. He hit Berlinale with 2020’s All the Dead Ones (read review) and could return to the Golden Bear comp with his latest work – the book to film adaptation of Ana Paula Maia’s Enterre Seus Mortos. Marco Dutra moved into production back in February of last year in Rio de Janerio with players Selton Mello, Marjorie Estiano and Betty Faria grabbing top billing. Dutra reteamed with his Good Manners cinematographer Rui Poças.…...
- 1/17/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen named as Talent Village ambassador.
Les Arcs Film Festival’s industry programme has selected eight emerging directors for its Talent Village initiative and has named Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen as its Talent Village ambassador.
The programme, consisting of workshops and meetings, is designed to help the directors move from short to feature-length projects, with a particular attention given to industry issues and international aspects of the projects.
Kuosmanen won the Grand Prix in Cannes in 2021 for Compartment N°6, a follow-up to his Un Certain Regard film The Happiest Day In The Life of Olli Mäki...
Les Arcs Film Festival’s industry programme has selected eight emerging directors for its Talent Village initiative and has named Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen as its Talent Village ambassador.
The programme, consisting of workshops and meetings, is designed to help the directors move from short to feature-length projects, with a particular attention given to industry issues and international aspects of the projects.
Kuosmanen won the Grand Prix in Cannes in 2021 for Compartment N°6, a follow-up to his Un Certain Regard film The Happiest Day In The Life of Olli Mäki...
- 11/2/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
The Locarno Film Festival is following the lead of A-list neighbor Berlin and going gender-neutral.
From 2023 on, Locarno’s acting honors will no longer be categorized according to gender — best actor and best actress — but be gender-neutral “best performance” and “best supporting performance” awards.
For the 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, set for August 2-12, 2023, the festival’s two main competitions, Concorso internazionale and Concorso Cineasti del presente, will each present two awards for the best performances.
Berlin was the first big film festival to take this step, last year handing out its first gender-neutral Silver Bears for best leading performance, which went to Maren Eggert for her starring role in Maria Schrader’s sci-fi screwball comedy I’m Your Man, and best supporting performance to Lilla Kizlinger for Bence Fliegauf’s Forest — I See You Everywhere. This year’s acting honors...
The Locarno Film Festival is following the lead of A-list neighbor Berlin and going gender-neutral.
From 2023 on, Locarno’s acting honors will no longer be categorized according to gender — best actor and best actress — but be gender-neutral “best performance” and “best supporting performance” awards.
For the 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, set for August 2-12, 2023, the festival’s two main competitions, Concorso internazionale and Concorso Cineasti del presente, will each present two awards for the best performances.
Berlin was the first big film festival to take this step, last year handing out its first gender-neutral Silver Bears for best leading performance, which went to Maren Eggert for her starring role in Maria Schrader’s sci-fi screwball comedy I’m Your Man, and best supporting performance to Lilla Kizlinger for Bence Fliegauf’s Forest — I See You Everywhere. This year’s acting honors...
- 9/14/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
American actor Matt Dillon, whose career has ranged from gritty independent cinema with Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989) through the blockbuster comedy of the Farrelly brothers’ There’s Something About Mary (1998) to the European auteur cinema of Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2018) and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic (2019), will be honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Locarno International Film Festival.
Dillon will receive his award in Locarno on August 4. The festival will pay tribute to the versatile actor with a screening of Drugstore Cowboy and City of Ghosts, Dillon’s 2002 directorial debut. Dillon will also participate in a Q&a with the Locarno audience Friday, Aug. 5.
Since his film debut at age 14, in Jonathan Kaplan’s cult classic Over the Edge (1979), Dillon has carved out a unique career moving seamlessly between the indie cinema of Gus Van Sant and...
American actor Matt Dillon, whose career has ranged from gritty independent cinema with Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989) through the blockbuster comedy of the Farrelly brothers’ There’s Something About Mary (1998) to the European auteur cinema of Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2018) and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic (2019), will be honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Locarno International Film Festival.
Dillon will receive his award in Locarno on August 4. The festival will pay tribute to the versatile actor with a screening of Drugstore Cowboy and City of Ghosts, Dillon’s 2002 directorial debut. Dillon will also participate in a Q&a with the Locarno audience Friday, Aug. 5.
Since his film debut at age 14, in Jonathan Kaplan’s cult classic Over the Edge (1979), Dillon has carved out a unique career moving seamlessly between the indie cinema of Gus Van Sant and...
- 6/21/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With his work on Star Wars, RoboCop, Jurassic Park, Starship Troopers, and many more, the Oscar-winning Phil Tippett has come to define the landscape of visual effects for the past many decades––particularly on the now-rare practical side of filmmaking. The artist has been toiling away at an ambitious independent new project, Mad God, for quite some time, having first attempted to begin work on it back in the early 1990s. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the film has now completed production and is set to premiere at Locarno Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival this month.
Ahead of the premiere, the enticing, nightmarish first teaser has arrived. Described by its creators as an “experimental, hand-made, animated film, set in a Miltonesque world of monsters, mad scientists, and war pigs,” this first preview is a refreshing breath of air from the CGI-heavy creations numb the mind. For more on the plot,...
Ahead of the premiere, the enticing, nightmarish first teaser has arrived. Described by its creators as an “experimental, hand-made, animated film, set in a Miltonesque world of monsters, mad scientists, and war pigs,” this first preview is a refreshing breath of air from the CGI-heavy creations numb the mind. For more on the plot,...
- 8/2/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sabine Gisiger’s “The Mies van der Rohes,” Steven Vit’s “My Old Man” and Caterina Mona’s “Semret” feature in this year’s pix-in-post showcase First Look, one of the industry highlights of the Locarno Film Festival, which focuses for the first time on movies from Switzerland.
The films are joined in First Look by Valentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos,” Leon Schwitter’s “Reduit” and Jackie Brutsche’s “Las Toreras” in a six-title spread which works as a predominantly new Swiss talent showcase.
Four of the six movies are first features, another a second; only Gisiger has a directorial career that stretches back several decades.
Presented by established production houses or producers such as Zurich’s Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and Ticino’s Michele Pini, the titles also drill down, often in a highly personal fashion – two of the titles are autobiographical doc features – on questions...
The films are joined in First Look by Valentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos,” Leon Schwitter’s “Reduit” and Jackie Brutsche’s “Las Toreras” in a six-title spread which works as a predominantly new Swiss talent showcase.
Four of the six movies are first features, another a second; only Gisiger has a directorial career that stretches back several decades.
Presented by established production houses or producers such as Zurich’s Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and Ticino’s Michele Pini, the titles also drill down, often in a highly personal fashion – two of the titles are autobiographical doc features – on questions...
- 7/27/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor, who is one of the directors on Neon’s anthology movie The Year Of The Everlasting Storm which premieres in Cannes next week, is set to write and direct Niebla for Rt Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira.
Film takes place on a cruise ship heading towards a distant nondescript coastline. In the middle of the ocean, the large and eclectic group of international passengers, all seem to be escaping their own realities. Among them Julia, a 35-year-old woman who won the cruise as a raffle prize at work, embarks on what she believes to be a simple vacation and finds herself stuck in a physical and emotional purgatory.
Teixeira and Lourenço Sant’Anna will produce with Alan Terpins executive producing. Project is planning to shoot next year. CAA Media Finance arranged the financing and will represent the sales rights.
Sotomayor also directed Too Late to Die, which won...
Film takes place on a cruise ship heading towards a distant nondescript coastline. In the middle of the ocean, the large and eclectic group of international passengers, all seem to be escaping their own realities. Among them Julia, a 35-year-old woman who won the cruise as a raffle prize at work, embarks on what she believes to be a simple vacation and finds herself stuck in a physical and emotional purgatory.
Teixeira and Lourenço Sant’Anna will produce with Alan Terpins executive producing. Project is planning to shoot next year. CAA Media Finance arranged the financing and will represent the sales rights.
Sotomayor also directed Too Late to Die, which won...
- 7/10/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Titles are from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
This year’s five nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2020 have been unveiled as the New Nordic Films market kicks off in Haugesund.
The lucrative prize, now in its 18th year, comes with an award of $55,300, which is shared equally between the screenwriter, director and producer,
Films are chosen by national committees in the five Nordic countries, with this criteria: “The nominated films must have deep roots in Nordic culture, be of high artistic quality, distinguish themselves by their artistic originality, and combine and elevate the many elements of film...
This year’s five nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2020 have been unveiled as the New Nordic Films market kicks off in Haugesund.
The lucrative prize, now in its 18th year, comes with an award of $55,300, which is shared equally between the screenwriter, director and producer,
Films are chosen by national committees in the five Nordic countries, with this criteria: “The nominated films must have deep roots in Nordic culture, be of high artistic quality, distinguish themselves by their artistic originality, and combine and elevate the many elements of film...
- 8/18/2020
- by 1100142¦Wendy Mitchell¦39¦
- ScreenDaily
Solveig Langeland will stay on at Sola as director.
German firm Koch Films, part of the Koch Media Group, has acquired all shares in Solveig Langeland’s sales company Sola Media, which specialises in family entertainment and animation.
Langeland will stay on as managing director of Stuttgart-based Sola. She will be supported in content acquisitions by Moritz Peters, who has been focused on building Koch Films’ library in recent years and will be co-managing director of Sola. Koch will also assist Sola in the areas of legal, admin and finance.
Founded in 2004 by Langeland, Sola specialises in selling and distributing family animated titles,...
German firm Koch Films, part of the Koch Media Group, has acquired all shares in Solveig Langeland’s sales company Sola Media, which specialises in family entertainment and animation.
Langeland will stay on as managing director of Stuttgart-based Sola. She will be supported in content acquisitions by Moritz Peters, who has been focused on building Koch Films’ library in recent years and will be co-managing director of Sola. Koch will also assist Sola in the areas of legal, admin and finance.
Founded in 2004 by Langeland, Sola specialises in selling and distributing family animated titles,...
- 8/13/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Collaboration with Untamed Stories in UK, Spain’s Filmmarket Hub to expand reach beyond US for first time.
The Writers Lab in the US, the non-profit for female screenwriters over 40 that counts Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman among its supporters, is partnering on an international platform with Untamed Stories in the UK and Spain’s Filmmarket Hub.
The collaboration will expand the reach of The Writers Lab beyond the US for the first time. Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon co-founded the lab in 2015 and produce it with New York Women in Film & Television (Nywftv).
Online marketplace Filmarket Hub will...
The Writers Lab in the US, the non-profit for female screenwriters over 40 that counts Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman among its supporters, is partnering on an international platform with Untamed Stories in the UK and Spain’s Filmmarket Hub.
The collaboration will expand the reach of The Writers Lab beyond the US for the first time. Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon co-founded the lab in 2015 and produce it with New York Women in Film & Television (Nywftv).
Online marketplace Filmarket Hub will...
- 8/13/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
One of the most entrancing films I’ve seen in the last few years has been Helena Wittmann’s debut feature Drift, screened at New Directors/New Films back in 2018, and beautifully reviewed by our own Leonardo Goi here. The German director is now prepping her follow-up feature and the cast has been announced, along with new details.
Variety reports that Denis Lavant and Angeliki Papoulia will lead the Mediterranean-set feature Human Flowers of Flesh. The 16mm-shot film, featured in Locarno’s The Films After Tomorrow spotlight, follows our heroine Ida, who navigates with an all-male crew along the route of the French Foreign Legion from Marseille to Sidi-Bel-Abbes via Calvi on a contemporary odyssey that is at once political and sensuous. Wittman, who serves as her own cinematographer, has said Claire Denis’ Beau Travail is an inspiration, as well as Éric Rohmer’s The Green Ray.
“It is an...
Variety reports that Denis Lavant and Angeliki Papoulia will lead the Mediterranean-set feature Human Flowers of Flesh. The 16mm-shot film, featured in Locarno’s The Films After Tomorrow spotlight, follows our heroine Ida, who navigates with an all-male crew along the route of the French Foreign Legion from Marseille to Sidi-Bel-Abbes via Calvi on a contemporary odyssey that is at once political and sensuous. Wittman, who serves as her own cinematographer, has said Claire Denis’ Beau Travail is an inspiration, as well as Éric Rohmer’s The Green Ray.
“It is an...
- 8/10/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The news that Lucrecia Martel was working on a new feature film — less than three years after premiering 2017’s “Zama” — was excitedly received by world cinema buffs: nine long years had separated “Zama” and her previous feature, “The Headless Woman,” and admirers of the enigmatic Argentine auteur had no reason to expect a suddenly increased work rate.
“Zama,” after all, was a film that reflected its lengthy gestation and repeated delays in its hypnotic style. A scathing post-colonial portrait of a Spanish magistrate in a remote South American colony, spiraling into madness as he awaits a reassignment that never seems to come, the film’s feverish, intoxicated atmospherics bespoke a filmmaker fully immersed and entangled in her own creative process: the type of cinema Lucrecia Martel makes is not conceived, much less made, overnight.
Perhaps, then, Marcel will take the pandemic-induced limbo in which the film industry finds itself more in her stride than most.
“Zama,” after all, was a film that reflected its lengthy gestation and repeated delays in its hypnotic style. A scathing post-colonial portrait of a Spanish magistrate in a remote South American colony, spiraling into madness as he awaits a reassignment that never seems to come, the film’s feverish, intoxicated atmospherics bespoke a filmmaker fully immersed and entangled in her own creative process: the type of cinema Lucrecia Martel makes is not conceived, much less made, overnight.
Perhaps, then, Marcel will take the pandemic-induced limbo in which the film industry finds itself more in her stride than most.
- 8/7/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Nuuk-based Polarama Greenland working on ‘Kalak’, the new film from Isabella Eklöf.
Four Icelandic and Greenlandic producers have joined forces to launch a new production, co-production, production service, and casting company called Polarama Greenland.
The new outfit, based in Nuuk, hopes to be a one-stop shop for the international industry who want to shoot in Greenland as well as working on Greenlandic features.
Polarama Greenland is an independent and self-owned sub-division of Iceland’s Polarama.
Panorama Greeland is co-producing and providing services to Kalak, the forthcoming Greenland-set feature from Swedish director Isabella Eklöf (Holiday); the outfit is also in talks...
Four Icelandic and Greenlandic producers have joined forces to launch a new production, co-production, production service, and casting company called Polarama Greenland.
The new outfit, based in Nuuk, hopes to be a one-stop shop for the international industry who want to shoot in Greenland as well as working on Greenlandic features.
Polarama Greenland is an independent and self-owned sub-division of Iceland’s Polarama.
Panorama Greeland is co-producing and providing services to Kalak, the forthcoming Greenland-set feature from Swedish director Isabella Eklöf (Holiday); the outfit is also in talks...
- 8/7/2020
- by 1100142¦Wendy Mitchell¦39¦
- ScreenDaily
Neo Sora, director of “The Chicken,” playing in this year’s Locarno Festival short film competition, and his producer Albert Tholen have shared details on the filmmaker’s upcoming debut feature “Earthquake,” a screenplay participant at Berlinale Talents Tokyo in 2017.
Friends, roommates and collaborators, Sora and Tholen are enjoying the bittersweet distinction of a Locarno Festival world premiere. While thrilled by the honor, there is sadness that they will be participating from thousands of miles away, and separately, Tholen from the two’s apartment in Brooklyn and Sora from Tokyo, where he has been stuck since the Covid-19 breakout slowed international travel.
“Locarno is one of the best festivals out there for curating films that capture the most forward-looking cinema around the world. For us, we could not be happier that we got into Locarno,” said Sora. He also pointed out that after the publication of Locarno’s shorts program,...
Friends, roommates and collaborators, Sora and Tholen are enjoying the bittersweet distinction of a Locarno Festival world premiere. While thrilled by the honor, there is sadness that they will be participating from thousands of miles away, and separately, Tholen from the two’s apartment in Brooklyn and Sora from Tokyo, where he has been stuck since the Covid-19 breakout slowed international travel.
“Locarno is one of the best festivals out there for curating films that capture the most forward-looking cinema around the world. For us, we could not be happier that we got into Locarno,” said Sora. He also pointed out that after the publication of Locarno’s shorts program,...
- 8/5/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about plans for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival comes news about two more upcoming events: San Sebastian and Locarno. Variety reports Woody Allen’s new comedy-drama “Rifkin’s Festival” will open the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival in September. The event is celebrating its 68th edition this year. “Rifkin’s Festival” will mark Allen’s second San Sebastian opener after “Melinda and Melinda” at the 2004 festival, where he was also the recipient of the Donostia Award for career achievement. Other Allen films that have played San Sebastian include “Manhattan,” “Zelig,” “Match Point,” and “Irrational Man,” among others.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
- 6/25/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Thompson on Hollywood
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about plans for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival comes news about two more upcoming events: San Sebastian and Locarno. Variety reports Woody Allen’s new comedy-drama “Rifkin’s Festival” will open the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival in September. The event is celebrating its 68th edition this year. “Rifkin’s Festival” will mark Allen’s second San Sebastian opener after “Melinda and Melinda” at the 2004 festival, where he was also the recipient of the Donostia Award for career achievement. Other Allen films that have played San Sebastian include “Manhattan,” “Zelig,” “Match Point,” and “Irrational Man,” among others.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
Many in the industry expected San Sebastian to host the world premiere of Allen’s new film as the director shot the project in and around the city last summer. “Rifkin’s Festival” centers around an American couple who travel to the San Sebastian Film Festival and are pulled in opposite directions.
- 6/25/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
New works by prominent auteurs Lucrecia Martel, Lav Diaz, Lisandro Alonso and Wang Bing grace the lineup of works-in-progress unveiled by the Locarno Film Festival.
The canceled Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema on Thursday announced 20 titles that made the cut for its innovative The Films After Tomorrow initiative that will provide support to filmmakers forced to stop working due to the global pandemic. Of these, 10 are international and 10 from Switzerland. Prizes will be awarded by juries made up by still unspecified filmmakers on Aug. 15.
“Our role is to act as a link between films, the industry and audiences, and so (when Locarno was canceled due to coronavirus concerns) we looked at alternative ways of carrying out that mission, assessing where our intervention could be most useful at this time,” said Locarno artistic director Lili Hinstin at a Zoom presentation during the Cannes Virtual Market. A total of 545 projects from 101 countries were submitted,...
The canceled Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema on Thursday announced 20 titles that made the cut for its innovative The Films After Tomorrow initiative that will provide support to filmmakers forced to stop working due to the global pandemic. Of these, 10 are international and 10 from Switzerland. Prizes will be awarded by juries made up by still unspecified filmmakers on Aug. 15.
“Our role is to act as a link between films, the industry and audiences, and so (when Locarno was canceled due to coronavirus concerns) we looked at alternative ways of carrying out that mission, assessing where our intervention could be most useful at this time,” said Locarno artistic director Lili Hinstin at a Zoom presentation during the Cannes Virtual Market. A total of 545 projects from 101 countries were submitted,...
- 6/25/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Latin America are under discussion.
FilmSharks has announced out of the Cannes virtual market a raft of deals on Veronica Chen’s Sundance entry High Tide (Marea Alta).
Guido Rud has struck a deal with Somos for all rights in the Us, Av Jet for all rights in Taiwan, and HBO Europe for pay-tv and Svd rights for Eastern Europe.
France, Spain, Germany, Australia, and Latin America are under discussion.
The Argentinian film centres on married Laura, who grows increasingly paranoid after she has an affair with a contractor on a project at her beach house.
FilmSharks has announced out of the Cannes virtual market a raft of deals on Veronica Chen’s Sundance entry High Tide (Marea Alta).
Guido Rud has struck a deal with Somos for all rights in the Us, Av Jet for all rights in Taiwan, and HBO Europe for pay-tv and Svd rights for Eastern Europe.
France, Spain, Germany, Australia, and Latin America are under discussion.
The Argentinian film centres on married Laura, who grows increasingly paranoid after she has an affair with a contractor on a project at her beach house.
- 6/25/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Switzerland’s Close Up Films, producer of the Participant Media-backed Toronto-premiered “Sing Me a Song” and co-producer of high-profile Cannes title “The Swallows of Kabul,” is developing a new production, “The Gift” (“Faiseuse de Secret”).
Set to be presented on Saturday April 25 as part of an Rts Prize: Documentary Perspectives showcase at Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland, news of “The Gift,” comes as Close Up Films bows its latest film, Michele Pennetta’s “Il Mio Corpo,” in main competition on Visions du Réel’s online platform. It will be made available to 500 viewers over April 25 to May 2. Swiss sales company Sweet Spot Docs has acquired international sales rights to “Il Mio Corpo.”
Produced by Close Up Films’ Flavia Zanon, whose credits also include Karim Sayed’s “My English Cousin” and Locarno-selected “Bird Island,” “The Gift” turns on what seems a remarkable phenomenon for modern-day Switzerland. The Secret is...
Set to be presented on Saturday April 25 as part of an Rts Prize: Documentary Perspectives showcase at Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland, news of “The Gift,” comes as Close Up Films bows its latest film, Michele Pennetta’s “Il Mio Corpo,” in main competition on Visions du Réel’s online platform. It will be made available to 500 viewers over April 25 to May 2. Swiss sales company Sweet Spot Docs has acquired international sales rights to “Il Mio Corpo.”
Produced by Close Up Films’ Flavia Zanon, whose credits also include Karim Sayed’s “My English Cousin” and Locarno-selected “Bird Island,” “The Gift” turns on what seems a remarkable phenomenon for modern-day Switzerland. The Secret is...
- 4/24/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Carlo Chatrian’s rapid rise to becoming Berlin’s artistic director stems from the steely resolve of a soft-spoken film lover with smarts and a clear sense of what he considers meaningful in contemporary cinema today.
The Italian film critic and curator previously served a five-year stint as artistic director of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He is considered a bold choice on the part of German culture minister Monika Gruetters, who led the search team for a new Berlinale topper after
longtime director Dieter Kosslick exited last year. Chatrian is tasked with rebooting the Berlinale’s lineup, which Kosslick critics said was too large and favored quantity over quality.
Chatrian says that in his job interview with the culture minister and the selection committee, he “told them what cinema means for me and what I think festivals are.” His vision for Berlin and also what he achieved at Locarno motivated their choice,...
The Italian film critic and curator previously served a five-year stint as artistic director of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He is considered a bold choice on the part of German culture minister Monika Gruetters, who led the search team for a new Berlinale topper after
longtime director Dieter Kosslick exited last year. Chatrian is tasked with rebooting the Berlinale’s lineup, which Kosslick critics said was too large and favored quantity over quality.
Chatrian says that in his job interview with the culture minister and the selection committee, he “told them what cinema means for me and what I think festivals are.” His vision for Berlin and also what he achieved at Locarno motivated their choice,...
- 2/17/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
There remains one group we’ve yet to hear from when it comes to the best films of 2019: the directors who made them. IndieWire has reached out to a number of our favorite filmmakers to share their lists and thoughts on what made this year great.
As is advisable with creative people, we gave the directors a great deal of freedom in how they reflected on the year in moving images. What follows is everything ranging from traditional top 10 lists to favorite moments and performances, with lists that span TV, podcasts, and much more.
This is the fourth year IndieWire has done this survey, and what was exciting about this particular group is how many are international, and the wide range of films they celebrated. If you are bored with every end-of-the-year list looking the same, you are in for a treat, as some of the best filmmakers highlight...
As is advisable with creative people, we gave the directors a great deal of freedom in how they reflected on the year in moving images. What follows is everything ranging from traditional top 10 lists to favorite moments and performances, with lists that span TV, podcasts, and much more.
This is the fourth year IndieWire has done this survey, and what was exciting about this particular group is how many are international, and the wide range of films they celebrated. If you are bored with every end-of-the-year list looking the same, you are in for a treat, as some of the best filmmakers highlight...
- 12/30/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
As the Festival World Evolves, Locarno Finds Itself Through Marriage of the Mainstream and the Risky
The following essay was produced as part of the 2019 Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
“Locarno … has become respectable, too,” Locarno’s incoming Artistic Director Lili Hinstin wrote in the press release that accompanied the festival’s program announcement last July. She borrowed the quotation from the People’s Pervert John Waters, who has long shared the very sentiment with regards to his own work.
As Hinstin explained, the decades-old festival is not just respectable now, it’s also respected and “that respect was gained by being one of the major world festival that takes the bigger risks. The one that shakes things up, brings surprises, ruffles feathers, asks questions.” The 72nd edition of the festival presented many challenges for Hinstin and her mission to keep such an ethos going, from how to fill the...
“Locarno … has become respectable, too,” Locarno’s incoming Artistic Director Lili Hinstin wrote in the press release that accompanied the festival’s program announcement last July. She borrowed the quotation from the People’s Pervert John Waters, who has long shared the very sentiment with regards to his own work.
As Hinstin explained, the decades-old festival is not just respectable now, it’s also respected and “that respect was gained by being one of the major world festival that takes the bigger risks. The one that shakes things up, brings surprises, ruffles feathers, asks questions.” The 72nd edition of the festival presented many challenges for Hinstin and her mission to keep such an ethos going, from how to fill the...
- 9/14/2019
- by Laura Davis
- Indiewire
The Cool WorldAt the Locarno Film Festival, we sat with the Los Angeles-based independent curator and writer Greg de Cuir Jr. to discuss the 46-film collage he programmed at the festival dedicated to the representation on film of the black peoples and cultures in the African diaspora. It was an invitation to reflect on the notion of black cinema and a journey throughout the 20th century revisited under a different light.Notebook: How did the idea of this retrospective came about and why have you decided to bring it to Locarno?Greg De Cuir Jr.: Well, Locarno decided to bring it. So it was their idea. It was [Artistic Director] Lili Hinstin’s idea to do something on black culture. So it wasn’t necessarily that I created something and brought it here. What I did was to expand and develop a theme and put together a method. Then, I fixed...
- 9/2/2019
- MUBI
There’s a terrific moment in “143 Sahara Street” when a visitor to Malika’s isolated teahouse in the Algerian desert pretends to be a prisoner on the other side of the metal grated window, and Malika cracks up laughing from the role-play. Before then, Hassen Ferhani’s attractive observational documentary has done pretty much everything we expect it to do since the opening shot: The camera will basically stay put, the enigmatic protagonist — Malika — will win our hearts and the Sahara light will create endlessly picturesque variations on an immovable canvas. But that one unanticipated scene changes the dynamic, making Malika not just the passive rural subject of a sophisticated director but a playful co-conspirator in the act of portraiture. More focused than Ferhani’s well-received debut, “Roundabout in My Head,” his latest resulted in Locarno’s best emerging director award and should help draw more attention to this talented filmmaker.
- 8/31/2019
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
Photo by Ottavia Bosello
From the mezzanine level of Caffè Verbano, Locarno’s Piazza Grande glitters under the scorching sun, the army of black and yellow chairs sprawling below the festival’s biggest screen and iconic open-air theatre. At a table overlooking the piazza, Kiyoshi Kurosawa sits for the last few interviews ahead of the premiere of his new feature, To the Ends of the Earth.
It’s the Japanese horror master’s second time in Locarno–in 2013, his Real found a slot in the Swiss festival’s international competition–though the first in the non-competitive sidebar for which the fest is possibly best known for, the programme named after the square where, every night, an 8,000-strong audience enjoys some of the best in the year’s world cinema.
Assuming one can still find a leitmotiv in an oeuvre that’s as vast as it is growing increasingly protean, To...
From the mezzanine level of Caffè Verbano, Locarno’s Piazza Grande glitters under the scorching sun, the army of black and yellow chairs sprawling below the festival’s biggest screen and iconic open-air theatre. At a table overlooking the piazza, Kiyoshi Kurosawa sits for the last few interviews ahead of the premiere of his new feature, To the Ends of the Earth.
It’s the Japanese horror master’s second time in Locarno–in 2013, his Real found a slot in the Swiss festival’s international competition–though the first in the non-competitive sidebar for which the fest is possibly best known for, the programme named after the square where, every night, an 8,000-strong audience enjoys some of the best in the year’s world cinema.
Assuming one can still find a leitmotiv in an oeuvre that’s as vast as it is growing increasingly protean, To...
- 8/22/2019
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
The Golden Leopard goes to Portugal for Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela.
Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa received Locarno Film Festival’s top honour, the Golden Leopard, for his latest feature Vitalina Varela which had its world premiere in the Swiss festival’s international competition.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The international jury headed by French filmmaker and novelist Catherine Breillat also presented the Leopard for best actress to the 55-year-old Cape Verde islander Vitalina Varela for her performance in the film named after herself.
This is the second time Costa had taken home one of the main awards...
Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa received Locarno Film Festival’s top honour, the Golden Leopard, for his latest feature Vitalina Varela which had its world premiere in the Swiss festival’s international competition.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The international jury headed by French filmmaker and novelist Catherine Breillat also presented the Leopard for best actress to the 55-year-old Cape Verde islander Vitalina Varela for her performance in the film named after herself.
This is the second time Costa had taken home one of the main awards...
- 8/17/2019
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
It’s 50 years since John Waters made his first feature film, “Mondo Trasho” — a scuzzy, Divine-starring underground ride that set the tone for a career of joyously offending delicate sensibilities and expanding the boundaries of U.S. indie cinema, through such now-celebrated films as “Pink Flamingos,” “Polyester” and the original, pre-Broadway incarnation of “Hairspray.” With Locarno celebrating Waters’ films with a mini-retrospective and the Pardo d’onore Manor award for career achievement, we caught up with the 73-year-old to discuss cinematic rebellion, past and present.
Half a century ago, when you were releasing your first feature, you can’t have imagined that you’d now be getting career awards and retrospectives at a major film festivals.
I know, I love it. It’s so different, though. When I was growing up, people’s parents found my films and called the police. Now people say to me, “My parents love you,...
Half a century ago, when you were releasing your first feature, you can’t have imagined that you’d now be getting career awards and retrospectives at a major film festivals.
I know, I love it. It’s so different, though. When I was growing up, people’s parents found my films and called the police. Now people say to me, “My parents love you,...
- 8/14/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Joining the rarified pantheon of expansive cinematic storytelling occupied by the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, Jacques Rivette’s Out 1, Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah, Wang Bing’s West of the Tracks, and any number of Lav Diaz films comes Mariano Llinás’ 14-hour epic La Flor. Following a festival tour including Locarno, New York, and Toronto, Grasshopper Film will now unleash the cinematic event of the year starting next week in New York City and we’re pleased to premiere the trailer.
A decade in the making and shot across three continents, the film stars Elisa Carricajo, Valeria Correa, Pilar Gamboa, and Laura Paredes across six episodes, each bringing a different genre to the table, from a bonkers B-movie about mummies to a musical to a spy thriller to a Renoir remake and beyond. Llinás, who burst onto the international filmmaking scene with 2008’s four-hour Extraordinary Stories,...
A decade in the making and shot across three continents, the film stars Elisa Carricajo, Valeria Correa, Pilar Gamboa, and Laura Paredes across six episodes, each bringing a different genre to the table, from a bonkers B-movie about mummies to a musical to a spy thriller to a Renoir remake and beyond. Llinás, who burst onto the international filmmaking scene with 2008’s four-hour Extraordinary Stories,...
- 7/25/2019
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Rome-based Summerside Intl. has acquired international sales rights to Klaudia Reynicke’s “Love Me Tender.”
The second feature from Peru-born and Switzerland-based filmmaker will receive its world premiere at the Locarno Festival in its Filmmakers of the Present competition, which focuses on first and second features.
Summerside Intl. is the world sales agent, excluding and Lichtenstein and Switzerland. The film, also written by Reynicke, will be distributed in Switzerland by First Hand Films.
“Love Me Tender” is produced by Tiziana Soudani, Muchela Pini and Gabriella De Gara at the Ticino-based Amka Films, founded by Soudani in 1988. Its credits include Alice Rohrwacher’s 2018 Cannes Festival best screenplay winner “Happy as Lazzaro” and 2014’s “The Wonders” which took a Cannes Grand Jury Prize, as well as Silvio Soldini’s “Bread and Tulips,” a big box office hit which swept nine David di Donatello awards.
Italian-language Swiss public broadcaster Rsi Radiotelevisione Svizzera co-produces.
The second feature from Peru-born and Switzerland-based filmmaker will receive its world premiere at the Locarno Festival in its Filmmakers of the Present competition, which focuses on first and second features.
Summerside Intl. is the world sales agent, excluding and Lichtenstein and Switzerland. The film, also written by Reynicke, will be distributed in Switzerland by First Hand Films.
“Love Me Tender” is produced by Tiziana Soudani, Muchela Pini and Gabriella De Gara at the Ticino-based Amka Films, founded by Soudani in 1988. Its credits include Alice Rohrwacher’s 2018 Cannes Festival best screenplay winner “Happy as Lazzaro” and 2014’s “The Wonders” which took a Cannes Grand Jury Prize, as well as Silvio Soldini’s “Bread and Tulips,” a big box office hit which swept nine David di Donatello awards.
Italian-language Swiss public broadcaster Rsi Radiotelevisione Svizzera co-produces.
- 7/23/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank will be honored at the 2019 Locarno International Film Festival with a lifetime achievement award.
Swank will receive the festival's Leopard Club Award, given to “a major film personality whose work has made a lasting impact on the collective imagination.”
Making the announcement Wednesday, Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new artistic director, called Swank “an actress whose roles and life story are emblematic of female strength and tenacity.”
Swank will attend Locarno to receive the award, which will be presented at the Swiss festival Aug. 9. Locarno will also screen the two ...
Swank will receive the festival's Leopard Club Award, given to “a major film personality whose work has made a lasting impact on the collective imagination.”
Making the announcement Wednesday, Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new artistic director, called Swank “an actress whose roles and life story are emblematic of female strength and tenacity.”
Swank will attend Locarno to receive the award, which will be presented at the Swiss festival Aug. 9. Locarno will also screen the two ...
- 7/17/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The Locarno International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its 2019 lineup, with highlights including screenings of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Asif Kapadia's soccer documentary Diego Maradona and the world premiere of 7500, an action thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt from German director Patrick Vollrath.
But Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new creative director, said she hoped her inaugural festival would be one that “shakes things up, brings surprises, ruffles feathers [and] asks questions.” Taking over from Carlo Chatrian, the new artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival, Hinstin reaffirmed Locarno's position on the calendar as the festival ...
But Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new creative director, said she hoped her inaugural festival would be one that “shakes things up, brings surprises, ruffles feathers [and] asks questions.” Taking over from Carlo Chatrian, the new artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival, Hinstin reaffirmed Locarno's position on the calendar as the festival ...
- 7/17/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank will be honored at the 2019 Locarno International Film Festival with a lifetime achievement award.
Swank will receive the festival's Leopard Club Award, given to “a major film personality whose work has made a lasting impact on the collective imagination.”
Making the announcement Wednesday, Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new artistic director, called Swank “an actress whose roles and life story are emblematic of female strength and tenacity.”
Swank will attend Locarno to receive the award, which will be presented at the Swiss festival Aug. 9. Locarno will also screen the two ...
Swank will receive the festival's Leopard Club Award, given to “a major film personality whose work has made a lasting impact on the collective imagination.”
Making the announcement Wednesday, Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new artistic director, called Swank “an actress whose roles and life story are emblematic of female strength and tenacity.”
Swank will attend Locarno to receive the award, which will be presented at the Swiss festival Aug. 9. Locarno will also screen the two ...
- 7/17/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Locarno International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its 2019 lineup, with highlights including screenings of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Asif Kapadia's soccer documentary Diego Maradona and the world premiere of 7500, an action thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt from German director Patrick Vollrath.
But Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new creative director, said she hoped her inaugural festival would be one that “shakes things up, brings surprises, ruffles feathers [and] asks questions.” Taking over from Carlo Chatrian, the new artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival, Hinstin reaffirmed Locarno's position on the calendar as the festival ...
But Lili Hinstin, Locarno's new creative director, said she hoped her inaugural festival would be one that “shakes things up, brings surprises, ruffles feathers [and] asks questions.” Taking over from Carlo Chatrian, the new artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival, Hinstin reaffirmed Locarno's position on the calendar as the festival ...
- 7/17/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This loose adaptation of Jack London’s novel is an Avventurosa, Ibc Movie, Match Factory and Shellac Sud co-production, whose release date confirms its likely participation in the Venice Film Festival. Pietro Marcello’s hotly anticipated second work, Martin Eden, is currently in post-production and is highly likely to be selected for the Venice Film Festival 2019. Thanks to his earlier documentaries and then his first work Lost and Beautiful (rewarded by Locarno’s youth jury in 2015), Marcello has made a name for himself as one of the most talented, independent and visionary young directors working in Italy today. His second attempt at a full-length fiction film is attracting interest, not only for its subject - a loose adaptation of Jack London’s celebrated novel – but also for the presence of an extraordinarily versatile and talented actor, namely...
Switzerland’s Locarno Festival has announced that the Intl. Film Festival of Panama will become its fourth and final festival partner in Latin America.
“The impact the Locarno Industry Academy will have on professionals of the region is ineffable,” said Panama Festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron. “Attention is being paid to an industry and an audience that is ready for its own cinema. The many festivals and alternative cinemas that are opening in the region attest to this.”
International projects carried out by the Academy will be supervised by Marion Klotz, longtime Locarno Academy collaborator, project manager and member of the selection committee for its co-production lab, Open Doors.
Colombian-Mexican distribution, production and consulting company Interior Xiii founder-director Sandra Gómez will moderate, and provide more local knowledge, as she has at previous editions of academies held in Latin America.
The Academy launched in 2010, intent on developing emerging industry talents in distribution,...
“The impact the Locarno Industry Academy will have on professionals of the region is ineffable,” said Panama Festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron. “Attention is being paid to an industry and an audience that is ready for its own cinema. The many festivals and alternative cinemas that are opening in the region attest to this.”
International projects carried out by the Academy will be supervised by Marion Klotz, longtime Locarno Academy collaborator, project manager and member of the selection committee for its co-production lab, Open Doors.
Colombian-Mexican distribution, production and consulting company Interior Xiii founder-director Sandra Gómez will moderate, and provide more local knowledge, as she has at previous editions of academies held in Latin America.
The Academy launched in 2010, intent on developing emerging industry talents in distribution,...
- 2/8/2019
- by Jamie Lang and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
I Was At Home, But
German art-house auteur Angela Schanelec will be set to unveil her ninth feature, the intriguingly titled, I Was At Home, But. Schanelec remains frustratingly underappreciated outside of Europe, as many of her works often evoke trailblazing predecessors such as Ackerman, Antononioni, and Bresson, all whom she regularly cites as inspiration. Her films often involve long, static shots, and are comprised of narratives distilled to the basest of dramatic function. Schanelec broke a six year hiatus in 2016, following 2010’s Orly with her Locarno competing The Dreamed Path.…...
German art-house auteur Angela Schanelec will be set to unveil her ninth feature, the intriguingly titled, I Was At Home, But. Schanelec remains frustratingly underappreciated outside of Europe, as many of her works often evoke trailblazing predecessors such as Ackerman, Antononioni, and Bresson, all whom she regularly cites as inspiration. Her films often involve long, static shots, and are comprised of narratives distilled to the basest of dramatic function. Schanelec broke a six year hiatus in 2016, following 2010’s Orly with her Locarno competing The Dreamed Path.…...
- 1/8/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Ghost Town Anthology (Repertoire des villes disparues)
For his eleventh feature film, French-Canadian auteur Denis Côté adapts the first novel by Laurence Olivier Repertoire de villes disparues as Ghost Town Anthology. Starring Robert Naylor (of Wim Wenders’ 2015 film Everything Will Be Fine) alongside a supporting cast of Josée Deschênes, Jean-Michel Anctil, Larissa Corriveau, Diane Lavallée and Rémi Goulet, the project was produced by Ziad Touma of Couzin films and was part of the Frontieres Buyers Showcase in Cannes 2018. Locarno provided Côté with his first major platform, where he won an award for 2005’s Drifting States, returning in 2007 with Our Private Lives and winning Best Director for 2008’s All That She Wants and another Best Director win for 2010’s Curling.…...
For his eleventh feature film, French-Canadian auteur Denis Côté adapts the first novel by Laurence Olivier Repertoire de villes disparues as Ghost Town Anthology. Starring Robert Naylor (of Wim Wenders’ 2015 film Everything Will Be Fine) alongside a supporting cast of Josée Deschênes, Jean-Michel Anctil, Larissa Corriveau, Diane Lavallée and Rémi Goulet, the project was produced by Ziad Touma of Couzin films and was part of the Frontieres Buyers Showcase in Cannes 2018. Locarno provided Côté with his first major platform, where he won an award for 2005’s Drifting States, returning in 2007 with Our Private Lives and winning Best Director for 2008’s All That She Wants and another Best Director win for 2010’s Curling.…...
- 1/4/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Based on the novel Nobi by Natto Wada, the original, 1959 film, instigated much controversy in the west, for its grotesqueness and the fact that it portrayed Japanese soldiers as victims. In Japan, however, it was immediately hailed for its anti-war message and artfulness, winning a number of awards in local festivals, before Locarno also netted it the Golden Sail for Best Film in 1961. However, through the years, the film was recognized globally, and is currently considered a masterpiece. Shinya Tsukamoto presents a low-budget (the film was produced through his own company Kaijyu theater), gorier take on the story of a Japanese soldier trying to survive during the last days of the war, as the Imperial Army retreats in disorderly fashion.
The soldier’s name is Tamura, a low-level soldier who suffers from TB, and is kicked out by both his commanding officer and the doctor in charge of the field hospital,...
The soldier’s name is Tamura, a low-level soldier who suffers from TB, and is kicked out by both his commanding officer and the doctor in charge of the field hospital,...
- 1/2/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Veteran American publicist and producer Richard Lormand, a well-loved fixture on the international festival circuit, where he was instrumental in launching and championing scores of auteurs such as Fatih Akin, Amos Gitai, Lav Diaz and Alice Rohrwacher, has died.
Lormand, who was based in Paris, was 56. The cause of death was complications from cancer. Lormand, a tireless promoter with a genuine passion for film, had been fighting the disease for the past year while working almost nonstop at the Berlin, Locarno, Venice and San Sebastian festivals, among other events, his assistant, Federico Mancini, said in a statement.
Lormand’s FilmPressPlus slate announcements, which generated genuine buzz among many critics and journalists, always opened with an affectionate “Bonjour Film Lovers!” Over the past 25 years, he handled several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear winners, such as the Taviani Brothers’ “Caesar Must Die,” which took the top prize in Berlin...
Lormand, who was based in Paris, was 56. The cause of death was complications from cancer. Lormand, a tireless promoter with a genuine passion for film, had been fighting the disease for the past year while working almost nonstop at the Berlin, Locarno, Venice and San Sebastian festivals, among other events, his assistant, Federico Mancini, said in a statement.
Lormand’s FilmPressPlus slate announcements, which generated genuine buzz among many critics and journalists, always opened with an affectionate “Bonjour Film Lovers!” Over the past 25 years, he handled several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear winners, such as the Taviani Brothers’ “Caesar Must Die,” which took the top prize in Berlin...
- 11/16/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The international film industry has been paying tribute to a beloved figure.
RIchard Lormand was a popular and flamboyant personality in the film world, whose tireless work and dedication to cinema made him the compass point for filmmakers, sales agents, distributors and journalists.
Over the past 25 years working in international communications, film publicity and marketing, he handled a plethora of award-winning films, including several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear victors.
Lormand was working as part of the press consultancy team at the Locarno Film Festival and was preparing for the re-launch of the Marrakech International Film Festival...
RIchard Lormand was a popular and flamboyant personality in the film world, whose tireless work and dedication to cinema made him the compass point for filmmakers, sales agents, distributors and journalists.
Over the past 25 years working in international communications, film publicity and marketing, he handled a plethora of award-winning films, including several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear victors.
Lormand was working as part of the press consultancy team at the Locarno Film Festival and was preparing for the re-launch of the Marrakech International Film Festival...
- 11/16/2018
- by Kaleem Aftab
- ScreenDaily
The international film industry has been paying tribute to a beloved figure.
RIchard Lormand was a popular and flamboyant personality in the film world, whose tireless work and dedication to cinema made him the compass point for filmmakers, sales agents, distributors and journalists.
Over the past 25 years working in international communications, film publicity and marketing, he handled a plethora of award-winning films, including several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear victors.
Lormand was working as part of the press consultancy team at the Locarno Film Festival and was preparing for the re-launch of the Marrakech International Film Festival...
RIchard Lormand was a popular and flamboyant personality in the film world, whose tireless work and dedication to cinema made him the compass point for filmmakers, sales agents, distributors and journalists.
Over the past 25 years working in international communications, film publicity and marketing, he handled a plethora of award-winning films, including several Palme d’Or, Golden Lion and Golden Bear victors.
Lormand was working as part of the press consultancy team at the Locarno Film Festival and was preparing for the re-launch of the Marrakech International Film Festival...
- 11/16/2018
- by Kaleem Aftab
- ScreenDaily
Morelia, Mexico — In 2010, Switzerland’s Locarno Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer movie event, held its inaugural Locarno Academy with the intent to develop emerging industry talents from multiple industry disciplines such as sales, distribution, exhibition and production. In 2014, Morelia became the first festival to partner with the Academy for what has since become a yearly event backed by the Mexican Film Institute (Imcine).
“One thing we discuss here is that in Latin America we all do many things,” said Locarno Academy moderator and Interior Xiii founder-director Sandra Gomez.
“We are producers, but also distributors, we try to make deals with exhibition companies and so we end up in many parts of the business because that’s how it has to be done here. We don’t have many sales agents in Latin America, for example,” she added.
Joining Gomez on the Academy team was Marion Klotz, who has long collaborated...
“One thing we discuss here is that in Latin America we all do many things,” said Locarno Academy moderator and Interior Xiii founder-director Sandra Gomez.
“We are producers, but also distributors, we try to make deals with exhibition companies and so we end up in many parts of the business because that’s how it has to be done here. We don’t have many sales agents in Latin America, for example,” she added.
Joining Gomez on the Academy team was Marion Klotz, who has long collaborated...
- 10/27/2018
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The following essay was produced as part of the 2018 Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the Locarno Film Festival.
Kenyan Ng’endo Mukii was the only black Sub-Saharan filmmaker showing her film “Yellow Fever” at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. For the duration of the festival, she participated in the Filmmakers Academy, an educational workshop. During a residency with the South African Realness program, Mukii— a mixed-media animator who lives in the Kenyan capital Nairobi—developed the script for her first feature, which is, in her words, “set in Kenya with two girls and a goat and explores coming-of-age themes through the forms of magical realism and the fable.” When she first noticed the scarcity of contemporary African cinema in the festival’s programming, Mukii—modest, witty, precise in her language—was shocked. “I had no idea of how underrepresented African filmmaking was,...
Kenyan Ng’endo Mukii was the only black Sub-Saharan filmmaker showing her film “Yellow Fever” at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. For the duration of the festival, she participated in the Filmmakers Academy, an educational workshop. During a residency with the South African Realness program, Mukii— a mixed-media animator who lives in the Kenyan capital Nairobi—developed the script for her first feature, which is, in her words, “set in Kenya with two girls and a goat and explores coming-of-age themes through the forms of magical realism and the fable.” When she first noticed the scarcity of contemporary African cinema in the festival’s programming, Mukii—modest, witty, precise in her language—was shocked. “I had no idea of how underrepresented African filmmaking was,...
- 8/25/2018
- by Katja Zellweger
- Indiewire
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