April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.
One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...
One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...
- 3/18/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a Béla Tarr double bill, with new 4K restorations of Damnation and Sátántangó, Léa Mysius’ The Five Devils, Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists, and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists.
They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory
May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill
May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...
They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory
May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill
May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...
- 4/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
As this documentary opens, a group of Japanese women in their 70s sit around a table, eating and reminiscing. They are the surviving members of a volleyball team, founded at a textile factory, that between the late 1950s and the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, became the best in the world. Dubbed ‘The Witches of the Orient’ by the press during their early 60s world tour, in which they defeated all comers, including their biggest rivals, the Ussr.
Julien Faraut’s film mixes archive footage of the team, of anime inspired by them and of Japan at and before the time of their dominance, with contemporary footage of interviews with the surviving members, as well as bits of their current daily routine. As far as it goes, it’s not an uninteresting subject, but in terms of focus it passes by much of the most provocative material. In (finally) contextualising its anime clips,...
Julien Faraut’s film mixes archive footage of the team, of anime inspired by them and of Japan at and before the time of their dominance, with contemporary footage of interviews with the surviving members, as well as bits of their current daily routine. As far as it goes, it’s not an uninteresting subject, but in terms of focus it passes by much of the most provocative material. In (finally) contextualising its anime clips,...
- 7/15/2021
- by Sam Inglis
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Julien Faraut’s documentary recounts how a Japanese women’s volleyball team recruited from factory workers became national heroes in the 60s
Following the philosophical tennis documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, Julien Faraut is back with yet another unusual, enigmatic sports film, this time tracing the extraordinary journey of the undefeated Japanese national women’s volleyball team in the 1960s. Assembled from a group of factory workers, these young, initially amateur athletes went to extraordinary lengths to hone their skills, under the stern and ruthless training of head coach Hirofumi Daimatsu. Winners of the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the team enjoyed a streak of 258 victories, earning the “witches” sobriquet abroad and inspiring a string of pop culture tributes, most notably Chikako Urano’s Attack No 1 manga series.
In retelling this stranger-than-fiction chapter of sports history, Faraut’s choice of materials ranging from interviews with surviving members of the team,...
Following the philosophical tennis documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, Julien Faraut is back with yet another unusual, enigmatic sports film, this time tracing the extraordinary journey of the undefeated Japanese national women’s volleyball team in the 1960s. Assembled from a group of factory workers, these young, initially amateur athletes went to extraordinary lengths to hone their skills, under the stern and ruthless training of head coach Hirofumi Daimatsu. Winners of the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the team enjoyed a streak of 258 victories, earning the “witches” sobriquet abroad and inspiring a string of pop culture tributes, most notably Chikako Urano’s Attack No 1 manga series.
In retelling this stranger-than-fiction chapter of sports history, Faraut’s choice of materials ranging from interviews with surviving members of the team,...
- 7/13/2021
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
As Sheffield Doc Fest wrapped its first online edition, we spoke with one of the most promising filmmakers to emerge from that discipline in recent years. With just two titles released, Parisian director Julien Faraut has become quietly synonymous with finding new and surprising territory in one of documentary cinema’s most hackneyed genres: the sports documentary.
In The Realm of Perfection came like a breath of fresh air in 2018; his latest continues the trend. Again working with footage from the National Institute of Sport, where he continues to work as an archivist, The Witches of the Orient tells the story of the 1964 Japanese Women’s Olympic volleyball team and the television anime they would later inspire–two distinct threads Faraut weaves into something hypnotic. As the film arrives in the U.S. read our conversation below.
The Film Stage: I read a nice line recently from Marc Nemcik. He said,...
In The Realm of Perfection came like a breath of fresh air in 2018; his latest continues the trend. Again working with footage from the National Institute of Sport, where he continues to work as an archivist, The Witches of the Orient tells the story of the 1964 Japanese Women’s Olympic volleyball team and the television anime they would later inspire–two distinct threads Faraut weaves into something hypnotic. As the film arrives in the U.S. read our conversation below.
The Film Stage: I read a nice line recently from Marc Nemcik. He said,...
- 7/10/2021
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
‘Witches of the Orient’ Review: Colorful, Thoughtful, Cinematic Essay on a Legendary Volleyball Team
Three years ago, filmmaker Julien Faraut, a documentarian attached to France’s Institute National de Sport, took a trove of John McEnroe footage and crafted the dazzling “In the Realm of Perfection,” a foundational text in the emergent micro-genre of the sports-documentary-that’s-not-really-about-sport. His new film, “Witches of the Orient,” may substitute volleyball for tennis, and loosely sketch out the Japanese women’s team that dominated the sport in the early 1960s, but it shares many of the hallmarks: a dreamy, glitchy, immersive soundtrack, a crackling editing style and a facility with 16mm archive footage that practically puts you inside its gorgeous grain.
But where the focus of “Realm” was so narrow that its peculiar thesis — that tennis and filmmaking are somehow analogous — emerged with thrilling clarity, “Witches” never quite finds its own unifying principle. And so for all the film’s playful artistry, the effect is more scattershot. Sometimes it’s almost self-contradictory,...
But where the focus of “Realm” was so narrow that its peculiar thesis — that tennis and filmmaking are somehow analogous — emerged with thrilling clarity, “Witches” never quite finds its own unifying principle. And so for all the film’s playful artistry, the effect is more scattershot. Sometimes it’s almost self-contradictory,...
- 7/7/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe announced today in IndieWire the upcoming launch of our new original podcast! Hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the first season of the Mubi Podcast will focus on films that have great importance in their home country, but are lesser known by international audiences and critics. We begin with Paul Verhoeven's second feature Turkish Delight and its unique significance during the counterculture movement in 1970s Holland. The episode feaures exclusive interviews with Paul Verhoeven, Monique van de Ven, and Jan de Bont. Check out the trailer above and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts here.Filmmaker Milton Moses Ginsberg, best known for his debut feature Coming Apart (1969) and the horror comedy film The Werewolf of Washington (1973), has died. The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that Steven Soderbergh's latest, the...
- 5/26/2021
- MUBI
"I really didn't think these girls could win." KimStim Films has unveiled a new official US trailer for the acclaimed indie documentary titled The Witches of the Orient, the latest feature from French filmmaker Julien Faraut follow his other cult hit sports doc John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection. This sports history doc film tells the story of the 1964 Japanese Olympic volleyball team, referred to at the time as the "Oriental Witches." It's a remarkably unique and empowering story about a group of women from Japan in the 1950s, still reeling and recovering following WWII, who came together and worked incredibly hard to become the best volleyball team in the world. Of course their biggest competitor was Russia, but it all lead to a triumphant victory at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. I saw this doc at the Rotterdam Film Festival earlier this year and it's a very unique film...
- 5/21/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
After rethinking the parameters of the sports documentary with John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, director Julien Faraut has returned with another singular tale in the world of competition, this time exploring a peculiar, fascinating true story. The Witches of the Orient, which premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year, follows a group of Osaka textile workers that formed a Japanese women’s volleyball team in the late 1950s and became an Olympics-winning international sensation, feminist role models, the subject of a wildly popular comic book, and a still-influential anime.
KimStim has now acquired the film, in a deal negotiated by KimStim’s Ian Stimler and Bojana Maric of the Swiss based Lightdox. Set for a July 9 release beginning at Film Forum in NYC, perfectly timed before this year’s Olympic Games are set to kick off in Tokyo, we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
KimStim has now acquired the film, in a deal negotiated by KimStim’s Ian Stimler and Bojana Maric of the Swiss based Lightdox. Set for a July 9 release beginning at Film Forum in NYC, perfectly timed before this year’s Olympic Games are set to kick off in Tokyo, we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
- 5/20/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Titles include ‘Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story’ and Mark Cousins’ ‘The Story of Looking’.
Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films has secured UK and Ireland rights to a raft of documentaries set to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest.
The acquisitions are led by Laura Fairrie’s Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story in a deal with AGC International, the sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios. Following its world premiere at Tribeca next month, Modern Films is planning event preview screenings of the documentary in late June followed by a wider theatrical release...
Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films has secured UK and Ireland rights to a raft of documentaries set to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest.
The acquisitions are led by Laura Fairrie’s Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story in a deal with AGC International, the sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios. Following its world premiere at Tribeca next month, Modern Films is planning event preview screenings of the documentary in late June followed by a wider theatrical release...
- 5/17/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
In his extraordinary portrait of American tennis champ John McEnroe, In the Realm of Perfection (2018), French filmmaker Julien Faraut engineered a hypnotizing meditation on the intersection between sports, performance and the creation of images—not at all the conventional retread of history one might expect from anything with the “sports movie” label. In his latest, The Witches of the Orient, Faraut returns to the arena of athletic competition in similarly idiosyncratic fashion, profiling the women of Japan’s most famous volleyball team. Made up of former textile workers, team “Nichibo Kaizuka” nabbed gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and inspired a […]
The post “I’ve Always Been Very Frustrated with Sports Films”: Julien Faraut on The Witches of the Orient, Learning from Chris Marker and Volleyball Anime first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I’ve Always Been Very Frustrated with Sports Films”: Julien Faraut on The Witches of the Orient, Learning from Chris Marker and Volleyball Anime first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/31/2021
- by Beatrice Loayza
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In his extraordinary portrait of American tennis champ John McEnroe, In the Realm of Perfection (2018), French filmmaker Julien Faraut engineered a hypnotizing meditation on the intersection between sports, performance and the creation of images—not at all the conventional retread of history one might expect from anything with the “sports movie” label. In his latest, The Witches of the Orient, Faraut returns to the arena of athletic competition in similarly idiosyncratic fashion, profiling the women of Japan’s most famous volleyball team. Made up of former textile workers, team “Nichibo Kaizuka” nabbed gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and inspired a […]
The post “I’ve Always Been Very Frustrated with Sports Films”: Julien Faraut on The Witches of the Orient, Learning from Chris Marker and Volleyball Anime first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I’ve Always Been Very Frustrated with Sports Films”: Julien Faraut on The Witches of the Orient, Learning from Chris Marker and Volleyball Anime first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/31/2021
- by Beatrice Loayza
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Lee Isaac Chung's Minari. Nomadland, Minari, Soul, and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm are among this year's Golden Globe winners. Find our complete list of nominees and winners here. Canyon Cinema Foundation has announced a new curatorial fellowship, Canyon Cinema Discovered, that will offer four fellows the opportunity to curate programs from Canyon's collection of films. Applicants can be based in anywhere in the world. Spike Lee and HBO will be teaming up for the multi-part documentary NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½, described as “an epic chronicle of life, loss and survival in the city of New York over the twenty years since the September 11th attacks.” The film will include first-hand stories told by over 200 New Yorkers. Recommended VIEWINGThe official teaser trailer for Barry Jenkins' series The Underground Railroad, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel,...
- 3/3/2021
- MUBI
Three years after debuting with the exhilarating essay film In the Realm of the Perfection (2018), about American tennis icon John McEnroe, French filmmaker Julien Faraut returns with a sports-related feature that dives even further into the well of cultural history. In The Witches of the Orient, Faraut looks east, to the story of a women’s volleyball team that became a sensation in Japan on their way to capturing Olympic gold in 1964. Formed in 1953 at the Nichibo Kaizuka textile factory, the team comprised a group of day laborers who by night practiced under the tutelage of a notoriously demanding coach to become an unstoppable force in the world of women’s volleyball, inspiring legions of fans and spawning untold numbers of manga comics and anime television programs in their likeness.Charting the team’s rise from their quaint origins in Osaka to their Olympic victory in Tokyo, Faraut—whose day...
- 3/1/2021
- MUBI
Fresh off Sundance and a series of compelling interviews about how she chronicled the Covid-19 outbreak in China and its rampage across the the U.S., Nanfu Wang’s In the Same Breath will have its New York premiere as the opening film in the Museum of Modern Art’s Doc Fortnight 2021.
The twenty-year old fest will be virtual, running from March 18 to April 5, with 18 documentary features, short films and special projects. Two films are world premieres and several are North American premieres, including the closing selection, Julien Faraut’s Les sorcières de l’Orient (Oriental Witches), the account of a historic Japanese women’s volleyball team and its meteoric ascent to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
The lineup includes Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers’ Inside the Brick Wall; Mohamed Soueid’s The Insomnia of a Serial Dreamer; Rosine Mbakam’s Delphine’s Prayers; Anthony Banua-Simon’s Cane Fire; Ali Essafi’s...
The twenty-year old fest will be virtual, running from March 18 to April 5, with 18 documentary features, short films and special projects. Two films are world premieres and several are North American premieres, including the closing selection, Julien Faraut’s Les sorcières de l’Orient (Oriental Witches), the account of a historic Japanese women’s volleyball team and its meteoric ascent to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
The lineup includes Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers’ Inside the Brick Wall; Mohamed Soueid’s The Insomnia of a Serial Dreamer; Rosine Mbakam’s Delphine’s Prayers; Anthony Banua-Simon’s Cane Fire; Ali Essafi’s...
- 2/22/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Never doubt a documentary filmmaker’s propensity to eke out the narrowest of niches. We’ve had films on spelling bees and İstanbullu kitties, but the latest comes to us from Japan, via France, and the story of the unlikely heroes of the 1964 Japanese Women’s Olympic volleyball team––and their still less likely second act in the world of anime. The Witches of the Orient offers some flare to go with that intriguing duality: a stylish structure in which footage of the team’s greatest feats are intercut with corresponding animations from the TV shows they later inspired.
Parisian filmmaker Julien Faraut is no stranger to this kind of ideas-filled archival work, having breathed fresh life into a different pile of footage, and a different temperament of sporting heroism, with In The Realm of Perfection in 2018––a rough gem about the tennis player John McEnroe and his defining loss at the 1984 French Open.
Parisian filmmaker Julien Faraut is no stranger to this kind of ideas-filled archival work, having breathed fresh life into a different pile of footage, and a different temperament of sporting heroism, with In The Realm of Perfection in 2018––a rough gem about the tennis player John McEnroe and his defining loss at the 1984 French Open.
- 2/22/2021
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
The Museum of Modern Art has unveiled the festival lineup for Doc Fortnight 2021, the 20th edition of its annual showcase of nonfiction films from around the globe. Over 18 documentary features and four short films will be screened as part of the festival.
In a concession to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s films will be offered exclusively on MoMA’s Virtual Cinema from March 18 to April 5, 2021. The festival boasts two world premieres and numerous North American debuts. Doc Fortnight 2021 will kick off with the New York premiere of Nanfu Wang’s “In the Same Breath,” a look at the origins and spread of Covid-19, charting its early days in Wuhan, China to its deadly rampage through the United States. The festival is truly global in scope including filmmakers from Lebanon, Cameroon, Brazil and Morocco, among many other countries.
The closing night film is “Les sorcières de l’Orient (Oriental Witches...
In a concession to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s films will be offered exclusively on MoMA’s Virtual Cinema from March 18 to April 5, 2021. The festival boasts two world premieres and numerous North American debuts. Doc Fortnight 2021 will kick off with the New York premiere of Nanfu Wang’s “In the Same Breath,” a look at the origins and spread of Covid-19, charting its early days in Wuhan, China to its deadly rampage through the United States. The festival is truly global in scope including filmmakers from Lebanon, Cameroon, Brazil and Morocco, among many other countries.
The closing night film is “Les sorcières de l’Orient (Oriental Witches...
- 2/22/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Julien Faraut's 2018 documentary In the Realm of Perfection worked with the recorded footage of a sporting event to speak about philosophy, image creation, editing and the impetus behind proficient sportsmen and women like John McEnroe, the "protagonist" of the film. Faraut's newest film doesn't stray too far, this time focusing on an entire sports team, the Japanese female volleyball team that won the gold medal at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. But, just like with his directorial debut, The Witches of the Orient (origital title Les sorcieres d l'Orient) goes much more deeper than just showing the footage. The film takes its name from the nickname gave by the press to the Japanese team throughout the first Japanese Olympics, the ones that were so dearly featured...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/11/2021
- Screen Anarchy
Swiss sales outfit Lightdox has acquired Julien Faraut’s documentary “Les Sorcières de l’Orient,” taking part in the Big Screen Competition of the Rotterdam Film Festival.
The film follows the former players of the Japanese women’s volleyball team. Now in their 70s, they used to be known as the “The Sorcerers of the East” because of their seemingly supernatural powers on the courts. From the formation of the squad in the late 1950s as a worker’s team at a textile factory, right up until their triumph at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, their memories and true magic from long ago bubble up into a heady brew where fact and fable fly hand in hand.
Faraut told Variety: “I’ve always thought that if I enjoyed making a film, the viewers will probably enjoy watching it afterwards. It was such a delight to meet The Sorcerers, to be inspired by their strength,...
The film follows the former players of the Japanese women’s volleyball team. Now in their 70s, they used to be known as the “The Sorcerers of the East” because of their seemingly supernatural powers on the courts. From the formation of the squad in the late 1950s as a worker’s team at a textile factory, right up until their triumph at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, their memories and true magic from long ago bubble up into a heady brew where fact and fable fly hand in hand.
Faraut told Variety: “I’ve always thought that if I enjoyed making a film, the viewers will probably enjoy watching it afterwards. It was such a delight to meet The Sorcerers, to be inspired by their strength,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Davide Abbatescianni
- Variety Film + TV
During today’s press conference, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) announced vital details for its 2021 edition. IFFR 2021 will also take place from 1 to 7 February, and will be opened by film “Riders of Justice” by Anders Thomas Jensen and the Robby Müller Award recipient Kelly Reichardt. They will also be part of IFFR Talks, next to Benoît Jacquot, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Dea Kulumbegashvili and Nicolás Jaar. IFFR 2021 will also be the first year for new festival director Vanja Kaludjercic — who is also debuting IFFR’s online format. The entire online programme will be available to audiences across the Netherlands, and the Press / Industry screenings, IFFR Talks programmes accessible worldwide. Premieres will have Q&As and live interaction will be available to limited ticket capacity for 72 hours.
Next year’s slate also shows plenty of promise. Of the 16 films selected for the festival’s Tiger Competition, 6 hail from different points...
Next year’s slate also shows plenty of promise. Of the 16 films selected for the festival’s Tiger Competition, 6 hail from different points...
- 12/23/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Looking for VeneraThe first titles for the International Film Festival Rotterdam's hybrid multi-part 50th edition program have been revealed. Under new festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, the newly-organized and extended IFFR 2021 will feature a new program structure, with competition sections to be presented between 1 – 7 February. The festival will resume again between 2 – 6 June with Bright Future (the festival's existing section dedicated to emerging film talent) and what will be the festival's latest and largest section, Harbour. In February the festival will also celebrate the 75th anniversary of Amsterdam's Eye Filmmusuem, while in June IFFR's own 50th year will be celebrated with a special anniversary program. Tiger COMPETITIONAgate mousse (Selim Mourad)Bebia, à mon seul désir (Juja Dobrachkous)Bipolar (Queena Li)Black MedusaA Corsican Summer (Pascal Tagnati)The Edge of Daybreak (Taiki Sakpisit)Feast (Tim Leyendekker)Friends and Strangers (James Vaughan)Gritt (Itonje Søimer Guttormsen)Landscapes of Resistance (Marta Popivoda)Liborio (Nino Martínez Sosa...
- 12/22/2020
- MUBI
The Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) has unveiled the line-up for its 50th edition, with the Mads Mikkelsen-starring Riders Of Justice set to open the fest.
You can see the full line-up below. The event has had to change its traditional format for 2021 due to ongoing pandemic disruption. It will now run as a two-stage event, initially with a hybrid showcase of films February 1-7, followed by a physical event June 2-6.
The flagship Tiger Competition has confirmed 16 titles, 14 of which are world premieres. There are a further 15 titles in the Big Screen competition, which looks to bridge the gap between popular and arthouse cinema, while the non-competitive Limelight section will feature 13 titles, most of which have played other festivals, such as Magnus von Horn’s Sweat and Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida?.
Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy Riders Of Justice will be having its international premiere...
You can see the full line-up below. The event has had to change its traditional format for 2021 due to ongoing pandemic disruption. It will now run as a two-stage event, initially with a hybrid showcase of films February 1-7, followed by a physical event June 2-6.
The flagship Tiger Competition has confirmed 16 titles, 14 of which are world premieres. There are a further 15 titles in the Big Screen competition, which looks to bridge the gap between popular and arthouse cinema, while the non-competitive Limelight section will feature 13 titles, most of which have played other festivals, such as Magnus von Horn’s Sweat and Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida?.
Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy Riders Of Justice will be having its international premiere...
- 12/22/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Anders Thomas Jensen’s action comedy “Riders of Justice,” starring Mads Mikkelsen, will open the 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam. The festival will be staged in two parts this year: the first, in a hybrid format, running Feb. 1-7, and the second, hopefully a physical event, June 2-6. The awards ceremony will take place on Feb. 7.
In “Riders of Justice,” Mikkelsen plays Markus, a military man who returns home to look after his daughter Mathilde following his wife’s death in a train accident. At first it looks like she was the victim of a tragic piece of bad luck, but then mathematics geek Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a fellow passenger on the train, shows up with his two eccentric colleagues, Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro), and floats the theory of a possible murder conspiracy. The film plays in the Limelight section.
Jensen is Denmark’s top screenwriter,...
In “Riders of Justice,” Mikkelsen plays Markus, a military man who returns home to look after his daughter Mathilde following his wife’s death in a train accident. At first it looks like she was the victim of a tragic piece of bad luck, but then mathematics geek Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a fellow passenger on the train, shows up with his two eccentric colleagues, Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro), and floats the theory of a possible murder conspiracy. The film plays in the Limelight section.
Jensen is Denmark’s top screenwriter,...
- 12/22/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
If you’re looking to dive into the best of independent and foreign filmmaking, The Criterion Channel has announced their August 2020 lineup. The impressive slate includes retrospectives dedicated to Mia Hansen-Løve, Bill Gunn, Stephen Cone, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Alain Delon, Bill Plympton, Les Blank, and more.
In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...
In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...
- 7/24/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Disney’s latest live-action remake takes on Universal’s sequel and Paramount’s Elton John biopic.
This weekend’s UK box office sees Disney’s Aladdin open against Universal’s family animation sequel The Secret Life Of Pets 2 and Paramount’s Elton John biopic Rocketman.
Both Aladdin and Rocketman entered UK cinemas on Wednesday (May 22) for two days of previews prior to their opening weekend, while Pets opens today (May 24). The UK has a bank holiday on Monday (May 27), meaning the full figures will be reported on Tuesday (May 28), including Fri-Sun grosses and the extra three days.
Aladdin is...
This weekend’s UK box office sees Disney’s Aladdin open against Universal’s family animation sequel The Secret Life Of Pets 2 and Paramount’s Elton John biopic Rocketman.
Both Aladdin and Rocketman entered UK cinemas on Wednesday (May 22) for two days of previews prior to their opening weekend, while Pets opens today (May 24). The UK has a bank holiday on Monday (May 27), meaning the full figures will be reported on Tuesday (May 28), including Fri-Sun grosses and the extra three days.
Aladdin is...
- 5/24/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Disney’s latest live-action remake challenges Paramount’s Elton John biopic.
This weekend’s UK box office sees Disney’s Aladdin remake and Paramount’s Elton John biopic Rocketman open against each other.
Both titles entered UK cinemas on Wednesday (May 22) for two days of previews prior to their opening weekend. The UK has a bank holiday on Monday (May 27), meaning the full figures will be reported on Tuesday (May 28), including Fri-Sun grosses and the extra three days.
Aladdin is the latest live-action remake of a beloved Disney property to come from the studio in recent years. Beauty And The Beast remains the top performer,...
This weekend’s UK box office sees Disney’s Aladdin remake and Paramount’s Elton John biopic Rocketman open against each other.
Both titles entered UK cinemas on Wednesday (May 22) for two days of previews prior to their opening weekend. The UK has a bank holiday on Monday (May 27), meaning the full figures will be reported on Tuesday (May 28), including Fri-Sun grosses and the extra three days.
Aladdin is the latest live-action remake of a beloved Disney property to come from the studio in recent years. Beauty And The Beast remains the top performer,...
- 5/24/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
The tempestuous tennis star wages war against the world in documentary-maker Julien Faraut’s philosophical portrait
In this cherishably idiosyncratic essay-film, archivist Julien Faraut has spun documentarist Gil de Kermadec’s raw footage of John McEnroe’s fractious mid-80s progress at the French Open into the basis of a philosophical rumination – Herzogian voiceover by Mathieu Amalric – on tennis, cinema and life. Steady old Ivan Lendl gets barely a look-in on the other side of the net; the attraction here lies in watching one man wage noisy war against a world built on treacherous clay.
McEnroe makes a fascinating focal point. Faraut seeks to elevate him as a singularly tortured creative, an auteur in sports socks. His face set in that teenage De Niro scowl, he offers no celebration, not even a terse, Murray-like fist pump; coaches will recoil at his tendency to stop after each shot, as if anticipating the worst.
In this cherishably idiosyncratic essay-film, archivist Julien Faraut has spun documentarist Gil de Kermadec’s raw footage of John McEnroe’s fractious mid-80s progress at the French Open into the basis of a philosophical rumination – Herzogian voiceover by Mathieu Amalric – on tennis, cinema and life. Steady old Ivan Lendl gets barely a look-in on the other side of the net; the attraction here lies in watching one man wage noisy war against a world built on treacherous clay.
McEnroe makes a fascinating focal point. Faraut seeks to elevate him as a singularly tortured creative, an auteur in sports socks. His face set in that teenage De Niro scowl, he offers no celebration, not even a terse, Murray-like fist pump; coaches will recoil at his tendency to stop after each shot, as if anticipating the worst.
- 5/24/2019
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
Newly uncovered courtside footage of the tennis star’s 1984 French Open final defeat has been turned into a documentary about sport, film and the nature of genius
John Patrick McEnroe was the wayward artist of men’s tennis, a spoilt-brat genius who used his racket as a wand. Throughout his peak year of 1984 he conjured magical winners from impossible angles and whipped furious storms from the calmest of waters. His matches became a box office draw – high-octane drama beamed live to the masses.
I first fell for tennis during McEnroe’s mid-80s heyday, at about the same time I fell in love with cinema. So I am indebted to the director Julien Faraut for reconciling my twin passions. Tennis, he insists, is the most cinematic of sports. Its top-flight athletes are the equivalent of movie auteurs. These players are distinctive, inimitable and in perfect command of their material. That is,...
John Patrick McEnroe was the wayward artist of men’s tennis, a spoilt-brat genius who used his racket as a wand. Throughout his peak year of 1984 he conjured magical winners from impossible angles and whipped furious storms from the calmest of waters. His matches became a box office draw – high-octane drama beamed live to the masses.
I first fell for tennis during McEnroe’s mid-80s heyday, at about the same time I fell in love with cinema. So I am indebted to the director Julien Faraut for reconciling my twin passions. Tennis, he insists, is the most cinematic of sports. Its top-flight athletes are the equivalent of movie auteurs. These players are distinctive, inimitable and in perfect command of their material. That is,...
- 5/16/2019
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Marielle Heller)
Do you have a Lee Israel work on your shelf? What should be a matter of owning one of her books or not since she was a notable author of biographies who hit the New York Times Best Sellers list, things get much more complicated when you look closer to see she wrote more than just about the likes of Dorothy Kilgallen and Estée Lauder. Israel also wrote as some of her subjects too. During the early 1990s when she was down on her luck professionally, financially, and personally, a fateful discovery occurred that would ultimately ensure her name would...
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Marielle Heller)
Do you have a Lee Israel work on your shelf? What should be a matter of owning one of her books or not since she was a notable author of biographies who hit the New York Times Best Sellers list, things get much more complicated when you look closer to see she wrote more than just about the likes of Dorothy Kilgallen and Estée Lauder. Israel also wrote as some of her subjects too. During the early 1990s when she was down on her luck professionally, financially, and personally, a fateful discovery occurred that would ultimately ensure her name would...
- 2/8/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A limited-perspective snapshot of a perpetually moving target, and insistent on adhering to 2018 theatrical premieres — thus haunted both by the past and the specter of already-seen “2019” cinema that deserves notice as much as anything herein. Or: it is what it is.
Honorable Mentions
Mandy, A Star Is Born, Cold War, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Wandering Soap Opera
10. 24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami)
A push-pull experience par excellence: plainly beautiful for its still and natural landscapes, roughshod with the superimposition of effects; statically framed but open to variables, experimentation, “accidents” that are perhaps part of a larger plan, depending on what production story you buy; and thrilling for the breadth of its imagination while also a bit boring in the follow-through. More and more it seems our minds need opportunities to sit, wander, think for themselves amidst stimuli rendering the likes of 24 Frames all the more far-flung. Woe betide the audience saddled with...
Honorable Mentions
Mandy, A Star Is Born, Cold War, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Wandering Soap Opera
10. 24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami)
A push-pull experience par excellence: plainly beautiful for its still and natural landscapes, roughshod with the superimposition of effects; statically framed but open to variables, experimentation, “accidents” that are perhaps part of a larger plan, depending on what production story you buy; and thrilling for the breadth of its imagination while also a bit boring in the follow-through. More and more it seems our minds need opportunities to sit, wander, think for themselves amidst stimuli rendering the likes of 24 Frames all the more far-flung. Woe betide the audience saddled with...
- 12/31/2018
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Cinema Eye Honors said that Eyes on the Prize, the landmark civil rights docuseries that first aired on public television in 1987, will receive the group’s 2019 Legacy Award. The honor will be bestowed January 10 during the 12th annual Cinema Eye Honors awards ceremony in New York.
“For me and so many others, Eyes on the Prize was a transformational cinematic experience, artfully crafting the history of a nation into an unforgettable story,” Cinema Eye board co-chair Dawn Porter said Thursday. “Countless filmmakers have been inspired by this elegant body of work.”
Created and by the late Henry Hampton’s Blackside, the 14-part Eyes on the Prize is considered the definitive documentary record of the American civil rights era, tracing the country’s long and brutal march toward equality and the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It aired in two parts, the first covering the years 1954–1965 and...
“For me and so many others, Eyes on the Prize was a transformational cinematic experience, artfully crafting the history of a nation into an unforgettable story,” Cinema Eye board co-chair Dawn Porter said Thursday. “Countless filmmakers have been inspired by this elegant body of work.”
Created and by the late Henry Hampton’s Blackside, the 14-part Eyes on the Prize is considered the definitive documentary record of the American civil rights era, tracing the country’s long and brutal march toward equality and the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It aired in two parts, the first covering the years 1954–1965 and...
- 12/20/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
1. Eight Hours Don’t Make a DayI don’t know for sure how much my love of this poster is tied up with my love of this film (a seven-hour 1972 German miniseries directed by R.W. Fassbinder that had never before been shown in the U.S.), except that I liked it an awful lot before I watched it (when I wrote about it back in March), and loved it even more after I’d seen it. Impeccably illustrated by British artist Sam Hadley in a wonderful pastiche of '70s advertising art, I’d say that in its unusually upbeat portrayal of a group of actors who we expect to look glum, that it’s the poster we need right now.2. ShopliftersWinner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s slow-burning family drama Shoplifters was released by Magnolia in the U.S.
- 12/7/2018
- MUBI
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
A24 Films on Kanopy
With FilmStruck sadly heading into its early grave last night, one may be looking for more options for streaming. One of the best alternatives is Kanopy, which can be accessed for free with a library card in select areas. They’ve also just added a wealth of A24 films ranging from this year’s First Reformed and Lean on Pete all the way back to their first offerings like Enemy and Spring Breakers.
Where to Stream: Kanopy
De Palma (Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow)
Recently, Kent Jones’ Hitchcock /Truffaut — a documentary on the famous interview sessions between the two directors — boasted perhaps the most chaotic,...
A24 Films on Kanopy
With FilmStruck sadly heading into its early grave last night, one may be looking for more options for streaming. One of the best alternatives is Kanopy, which can be accessed for free with a library card in select areas. They’ve also just added a wealth of A24 films ranging from this year’s First Reformed and Lean on Pete all the way back to their first offerings like Enemy and Spring Breakers.
Where to Stream: Kanopy
De Palma (Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow)
Recently, Kent Jones’ Hitchcock /Truffaut — a documentary on the famous interview sessions between the two directors — boasted perhaps the most chaotic,...
- 11/30/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Cinema Eye Honors, which annually presents awards to “celebrate outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction film,” has revealed its nominees in 10 categories, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Nonfiction Short. Multiple nominees include Robert Greene’s ”Bisbee ‘17,” Sandi Tan’s “Shirkers,” and RaMell Ross’ ”Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” with five nods each. While Greene is a Cinema Eye Honors vet, both Tan and Ross are first-time filmmakers.
Another first-time filmmaker on the rise: Bing Liu, whose autobiographical skateboarding doc “Minding the Gap,” leads the nominees with a total of seven nominations. That’s good enough to put the newbie filmmaker into rarefied territory, tying his film with lauded documentaries like Louie Psihoyos’ ”The Cove,” Lixin Fan’s ”Last Train Home,” and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” for most Cinema Eye Honors nods ever. As Liu is a named nominee for six of those awards, he’s...
Another first-time filmmaker on the rise: Bing Liu, whose autobiographical skateboarding doc “Minding the Gap,” leads the nominees with a total of seven nominations. That’s good enough to put the newbie filmmaker into rarefied territory, tying his film with lauded documentaries like Louie Psihoyos’ ”The Cove,” Lixin Fan’s ”Last Train Home,” and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” for most Cinema Eye Honors nods ever. As Liu is a named nominee for six of those awards, he’s...
- 11/8/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap,” an look at small-town American life through the lens of a group of skateboarder friends, led the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors nominations for nonfiction filmmaking Thursday.
The film, a Hulu original documentary, landed seven bids, for direction, editing, cinematography, original score, debut feature and the audience award, in addition to outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking, the organization’s top prize. It was also mentioned in the “Unforgettables” sidebar honoring the subjects of many of this year’s documentaries.
The seven-nomination haul was enough to match Cinema Eye’s record, held by Louie Psihoyos’ “The Cove,” Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir.”
The other nominees for outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking were “Bisbee ’17” (five nominations), “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” (five nominations), “Of Fathers and Sons” (three nominations), “Three Identical Strangers” (three nominations) and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...
The film, a Hulu original documentary, landed seven bids, for direction, editing, cinematography, original score, debut feature and the audience award, in addition to outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking, the organization’s top prize. It was also mentioned in the “Unforgettables” sidebar honoring the subjects of many of this year’s documentaries.
The seven-nomination haul was enough to match Cinema Eye’s record, held by Louie Psihoyos’ “The Cove,” Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir.”
The other nominees for outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking were “Bisbee ’17” (five nominations), “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” (five nominations), “Of Fathers and Sons” (three nominations), “Three Identical Strangers” (three nominations) and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...
- 11/8/2018
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Variety Film + TV
“Minding the Gap,” a documentary that mixes stories of skateboarding teens with a dark family story, led all films in nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors, one of the top awards devoted to all facets of nonfiction filmmaking.
Bing Liu’s highly personal film tied a Cinema Eye record by receiving seven nominations overall, one in a previously announced category and six in the 10 categories that Cinema Eye announced on Thursday. Those included nominations for directing, editing, cinematography and music, as well as one in the marquee category, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.
Other nominees in that category were Robert Greene’s “Bisbee ’17,” RaMell Ross’ “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” Talal Derki’s “Of Fathers and Son,” Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” and the 12th highest-grossing documentary of all time, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Also Read: 'Minding the Gap' Film Review: Powerful...
Bing Liu’s highly personal film tied a Cinema Eye record by receiving seven nominations overall, one in a previously announced category and six in the 10 categories that Cinema Eye announced on Thursday. Those included nominations for directing, editing, cinematography and music, as well as one in the marquee category, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.
Other nominees in that category were Robert Greene’s “Bisbee ’17,” RaMell Ross’ “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” Talal Derki’s “Of Fathers and Son,” Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” and the 12th highest-grossing documentary of all time, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Also Read: 'Minding the Gap' Film Review: Powerful...
- 11/8/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
I haven’t done one of these posts in a while, since April in fact, and back then I talked about how I was resisting moving my movie poster curation over to Instagram from Tumblr. But just a couple of weeks later I bit the bullet and launched Movie Poster of the Day: Instagram edition. I still don’t love Instagram as a platform for posters as much as Tumblr—people tend to look at it on smaller screens for one thing, posters are not so easy to share and re-blog, and I much prefer the look of Tumblr’s archive page which keeps posters at their original ratio. But Instagram is the future, or at least the present, and so I’m now posting in both places, and though Tumblr tells me I have 314,457 followers, versus 1,094 on Instagram, the number of likes I get on each is surprisingly similar...
- 11/2/2018
- MUBI
Modern Films boards Berlin premiere.
John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection, the feature documentary that premiered in Berlin and also played the BFI London Film Festival, has been picked up for UK distribution.
Sales agent Film Constellation has struck a deal with Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films – the latter is planning to release the film around the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2019.
Director Julien Faraut’s experimental film documents tennis legend John McEnroe’s performance at the 1984 French Open, when he was no.1 in the world, and is narrated by Mathieu Amalric. It premiered in Berlin’s Forum strand...
John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection, the feature documentary that premiered in Berlin and also played the BFI London Film Festival, has been picked up for UK distribution.
Sales agent Film Constellation has struck a deal with Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films – the latter is planning to release the film around the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2019.
Director Julien Faraut’s experimental film documents tennis legend John McEnroe’s performance at the 1984 French Open, when he was no.1 in the world, and is narrated by Mathieu Amalric. It premiered in Berlin’s Forum strand...
- 10/26/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi‘s “Free Solo” leads the third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards with six bids, including Best Documentary and Best Director. Also nabbing nominations in those two top categories is Bing Liu‘s “Minding the Gap,” which is also in the running for Best First Time Director, as well as “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” “Dark Money,” “Hitler’s Hollywood,” and “Three Identical Strangers.” In all 10 films were nominated for the top prize at these awards bestowed by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. (Bfca). The other four are “Crime + Punishment,” “Hal,” “Rbg,” and “Wild Wild Country.”
Last year the Bfca nominated 16 films for this award, three of which –“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” “Faces Places,” and “Strong Island” — went on to contend at the Oscars. And in 2016 the Bfca shared its Best Documentary winner (“O.J.: Made in America”) with the Academy...
Last year the Bfca nominated 16 films for this award, three of which –“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” “Faces Places,” and “Strong Island” — went on to contend at the Oscars. And in 2016 the Bfca shared its Best Documentary winner (“O.J.: Made in America”) with the Academy...
- 10/16/2018
- by John Benutty
- Gold Derby
Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s “Free Solo,” which captured rock climber Alex Honnold’s hair-raising ascent of Yosemite National Park’s 3,000-foot El Capitan rock formation, led the nominations for the third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, it was revealed Monday. The film netted six nominations including best documentary and best director.
Close behind with five mentions each were “Minding the Gap” and “Wild Wild Country,” from Hulu and Netflix respectively.
Voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics and Television Journalists Assns., the awards will be presented at a gala event hosted by science educator and television personality Bill Nye on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Bric in Brooklyn, New York.
The nominees are:
Best Documentary
“Crime + Punishment” – Director: Stephen Maing (Hulu)
“Dark Money” – Director: Kimberly Reed (PBS)
“Free Solo” – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Films)
“Hal” – Director: Amy Scott (Oscilloscope)
“Hitler’s Hollywood” – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland...
Close behind with five mentions each were “Minding the Gap” and “Wild Wild Country,” from Hulu and Netflix respectively.
Voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics and Television Journalists Assns., the awards will be presented at a gala event hosted by science educator and television personality Bill Nye on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Bric in Brooklyn, New York.
The nominees are:
Best Documentary
“Crime + Punishment” – Director: Stephen Maing (Hulu)
“Dark Money” – Director: Kimberly Reed (PBS)
“Free Solo” – Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (National Geographic Documentary Films)
“Hal” – Director: Amy Scott (Oscilloscope)
“Hitler’s Hollywood” – Director: Rüdiger Suchsland...
- 10/15/2018
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Variety Film + TV
Bleecker Street is taking Aaron Guzikowski’s crime-drama Papillon to a fairly wide 500-plus theaters this weekend, aiming the title, starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek, at the adult audience it says are prime moviegoers for the summer wind-down. The feature will easily be the biggest opener among the weekend’s Specialty newcomers. Magnolia Pictures is opening Andrew Bujalski comedy Support The Girls, launching in select cities and starring Regina Hall and Haley Lu Richardson. Oscilloscope is playing doc John McEnroe: In The Realm of Perfection, Julien Faraut’s unique take on the tennis star’s 1984 French Open. And, writer-director Isabel Coixet drama The Bookshop from Greenwich Entertainment, starring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson, rolls out in New York and L.A.
Also opening in limited release is First Run Features title Hot To Trot. The company is targeting fans of dance and Lgbt audiences for the Michael Dinner comedy-fantasy,...
Also opening in limited release is First Run Features title Hot To Trot. The company is targeting fans of dance and Lgbt audiences for the Michael Dinner comedy-fantasy,...
- 8/23/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
John McEnroe is having a bit of a moment, at least on movie screens. You might assume that it doesn’t get any better than being played by Shia Labeouf in a mediocre biopic, but the notoriously volatile tennis legend has — by little virtue of his own — somehow become the subject of an even more remarkable tribute that’s been decades in the making. Julien Faraut’s “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” is a sports documentary unlike any other, a beguiling and delightful piece of visionary non-fiction that uses its namesake to investigate the ontological nature of watching tennis.
Wait, keep reading! It’s a lot more interesting than it might sound. Entirely culled together from hours and hours of gorgeous 16mm footage shot by Gil de Kermadec (the former technical director of the French Tennis Federation), Faraut’s hypnotic portrait looks at the game through the lens of film theory,...
Wait, keep reading! It’s a lot more interesting than it might sound. Entirely culled together from hours and hours of gorgeous 16mm footage shot by Gil de Kermadec (the former technical director of the French Tennis Federation), Faraut’s hypnotic portrait looks at the game through the lens of film theory,...
- 8/22/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection is an immersive, impressive and elegant ethnographic film essay that revisits 16mm footage of John McEnroe during the 1984 Roland-Garros French Open. The fiery, left-handed McEnroe was then ranked the world’s number one player and had several singles and doubles Grand Slam titles to his name. Breezing through the early stages of the tournament playing a sublime form of tennis that elevated him far above his mere mortal peers, he seemed on an unstoppable path to certain victory. Meeting the implacable Ivan Lendl in the final, a rival similar in calm, cool and collected temperament to old nemesis Björn Borg, McEnroe raced into a two sets to love lead but then began to psychologically unravel, losing control of his emotions and ultimately gifting Lendl, whom he had accused of being ‘chicken’ earlier in the match, an unlikely comeback and first Grand Slam title.
- 8/22/2018
- MUBI
Mathieu Amalric on directing Barbara: "There would be immediately a presence. It was the spirit we were waiting for." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue over breakfast, Mathieu Amalric discussed with me Pierre Léon's initial involvement with Barbara, Jeanne Balibar's performance, a clip from Jacques Brel's film Franz, an Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai moment, and filming sensations.
Mathieu Amalric will soon be seen as Dr. Paul Gachet in Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (Closing Night film of the 56th New York Film Festival), co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière and Louise Kugelberg, shot by Benoît Delhomme, and starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh, with Oscar Isaac as Paul Gauguin, Rupert Friend as Theo, Emmanuelle Seigner, Mads Mikkelsen, and Niels Arestrup.
Carlotta (Marion Cotillard) with Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) in Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael's Ghosts (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël)
Mathieu is also the...
At the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue over breakfast, Mathieu Amalric discussed with me Pierre Léon's initial involvement with Barbara, Jeanne Balibar's performance, a clip from Jacques Brel's film Franz, an Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai moment, and filming sensations.
Mathieu Amalric will soon be seen as Dr. Paul Gachet in Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (Closing Night film of the 56th New York Film Festival), co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière and Louise Kugelberg, shot by Benoît Delhomme, and starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh, with Oscar Isaac as Paul Gauguin, Rupert Friend as Theo, Emmanuelle Seigner, Mads Mikkelsen, and Niels Arestrup.
Carlotta (Marion Cotillard) with Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) in Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael's Ghosts (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël)
Mathieu is also the...
- 8/14/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The best film we saw at the Berlin Film Festival this year was John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection. The title may suggest your typical sports documentary, but Julien Faraut’s feature is anything but. A formally thrilling, fascinating probe into how the realms of cinema and tennis relate, it’s an essential viewing for any cinephile–regardless of your feeling towards the sport of tennis. Narrated by Mathieu Amalric, the first U.S. trailer has now arrived ahead of a release next month from Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “It is a film very much about that volatile legend but it’s bookended with a quote from his namesake, the similarly antagonistic Jean-Luc Godard who, in an interview with l’Equipe, once uttered the immortal words: “Sport tells the truth, cinema doesn’t.” Faraut sets out to find that truth but also to show how tennis,...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “It is a film very much about that volatile legend but it’s bookended with a quote from his namesake, the similarly antagonistic Jean-Luc Godard who, in an interview with l’Equipe, once uttered the immortal words: “Sport tells the truth, cinema doesn’t.” Faraut sets out to find that truth but also to show how tennis,...
- 7/26/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Before John McEnroe exploded onto the tennis scene, tennis players were expected to comport themselves with the utmost civility. But the American firebrand was a champion whose skills were overshadowed by an electric volatility and penchant for yelling at umpires and line judges. After a faithful rendition by Shia Labeouf (who enjoys his own kind of notoriety) in last year’s “Borg/McEnroe,” the legendary tennis player is getting his own documentary — one just as unconventional as its subject.
Directed by Julien Faraut and featuring narration by Mathieu Amalric, “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” uses gorgeous 16-mm-shot footage from McEnroe’s run at the French Open in 1984. The film premiered at the Berlinale and went on to play Film Society of Lincoln Center’s The Art of the Real program.
In April, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote of the film: “Accessible to tennis fans but targeted squarely at cinephiles,...
Directed by Julien Faraut and featuring narration by Mathieu Amalric, “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” uses gorgeous 16-mm-shot footage from McEnroe’s run at the French Open in 1984. The film premiered at the Berlinale and went on to play Film Society of Lincoln Center’s The Art of the Real program.
In April, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote of the film: “Accessible to tennis fans but targeted squarely at cinephiles,...
- 7/25/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
It’s only been around for five years, but The Art of the Real has already established itself as one of the world’s most essential showcases for game-changing, rule-breaking, genre-busting new cinema. Dedicated to films that blur the line between fact and fiction — or reveal to us how blurred that line is and always will be — this annual Film Society of Lincoln Center series is the kind of thing that makes you want to put quotation marks around reductive terms like “documentary” and “non-fiction.” These are unclassifiable works of freeform cinematic innovation, movies that are more accurately defined by their inclusion in this program than they are by any of the words we often use to describe them.
The 2018 edition of The Art of the Real is predictably stacked with strong work, from a movie about a tennis player that reimagines how we think about sports, to a movie...
The 2018 edition of The Art of the Real is predictably stacked with strong work, from a movie about a tennis player that reimagines how we think about sports, to a movie...
- 4/28/2018
- by David Ehrlich and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
This week we're going to the Art of the Real festival in NYC from April 26 to May 6, which will feature documentaries by big names of international cinema like Sergei Loznitsa, Corneliu Porumboiu and Kazuhiro Soda, and will open with Julien Faraut's John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection.
By Glenn Dunks
I finally just finished season one of The Handmaid’s Tale, which feels appropriate to note as I sit down to write about the incredible documentary Yours in Sisterhood. If people thought that the themes of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel remained pertinent to present day society, then what can be said about this documentary that repurposes unpublished letters to the editor of Ms. magazine from the 1970s as a reflection on the struggles of women in contemporary society.
This compelling documentary by Irene Lusztig, full of rich words and thought-provoking dichotomies, takes its name from Amy Erdman...
By Glenn Dunks
I finally just finished season one of The Handmaid’s Tale, which feels appropriate to note as I sit down to write about the incredible documentary Yours in Sisterhood. If people thought that the themes of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel remained pertinent to present day society, then what can be said about this documentary that repurposes unpublished letters to the editor of Ms. magazine from the 1970s as a reflection on the struggles of women in contemporary society.
This compelling documentary by Irene Lusztig, full of rich words and thought-provoking dichotomies, takes its name from Amy Erdman...
- 4/19/2018
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, Julien Faraut's unconventional feature bio-documentary about the iconic tennis star that had its world premiere this year at the Berlin Film Festival. The pic will now hit theaters in August at New York’s Film Forum, followed by a national expansion. Narrated by Mathieu Amalric, the film mines a store of 16mm-shot footage of McEnroe during one of his French Open runs — the…...
- 3/22/2018
- Deadline
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired Us rights to Julien Faraut’s John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection following its world premiere in Berlin last month.
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired Us rights to Julien Faraut’s John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection following its world premiere in Berlin last month.
O-Scope plans an August theatrical release at Film Forum in New York City followed by nationwide expansion.
Faraut wrote and directed John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection and Mathieu Amalric narrated the documentary, which uses original 16mm footage to revisit the Us tennis great’s performance at the French Open.
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired Us rights to Julien Faraut’s John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection following its world premiere in Berlin last month.
O-Scope plans an August theatrical release at Film Forum in New York City followed by nationwide expansion.
Faraut wrote and directed John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection and Mathieu Amalric narrated the documentary, which uses original 16mm footage to revisit the Us tennis great’s performance at the French Open.
- 3/22/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
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