2012 Lux Prize Finalists

Today within the framework of the 9th edition of the ‘Venice Days’ (Giornate degli Autori) section of the Venice International Film Festival, the European Parliament unveiled the three films of the LUX Prize 2012 Competition and here they are.

Csak a szél (Just the Wind), Bence Fliegauf, Hungary, Germany and France

Io Sono Li (Shun Li and the Poet), Andrea Segre, Italy and France

Tabu, Miguel Gomes, Portugal, Germany, France and Brazil

To read the official announcement go here. The three candidates will be screened as special events at the Venice Film Festival and in all the 27 Member States of the European Union. The prize will be awarded on November 21st at a sitting of the Parliament.

47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award Winners

The 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, a non-specialized festival with four competition categories, took place from June 29st to July 7th this year. It was organized by Film Servis Fesival Karlovy Vary, a.s., with Jiří Bartoška as president of the festival and Karel Och as artistic director.

On July 7th 2012, the festival’s juries presented the following awards at the closing ceremony.

Official Selection Competition

Crystal Globe Grand Prix: Mer eller mindre mann (The Almost Man), Martin Lund, Norway

Special Jury Prize: Romanzo di una Strage (Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy), Marco Tullio Giordana, Italy

Best Director: Rafaël Ouellet for Camion, Canada
Best Actress: Leila Hatami in Peleh Akhar (The Last Step), Ali Mosaffa, Iran
Best Actor: (tie)
Henrik Rafaelsen in Mer eller mindre mann (The Almost Man), Martin Lund, Norway
Eryk Lubos in Zabić bobra (To Kill a Beaver), Jan Jakub Kolski, Poland
Special Mention:
Pavel Liška, Tomáš Matonoha, Marek Daniel and Josef Polášek in Polski Film, Marek Najbrt, Czech Republic and Poland
Yannis Papadopoulos in To agori troei to fagito tou pouliou (Boy Eating the Bird's Food), Ektoras Lygizos, Greece

Jury
President: Richard Peña, USA
Rajko Grlić, Croatia
Maria Hatzakou, Greece
Makram Khoury, Israel
Joanna Kos-Krauze, Poland
Ivo Mathé, Czech Republic
François Papineau, France

Other Awards

East of the West Award: Dom s bashenkoy (House with a Turret), Eva Neymann, Ukraine
Special Mention: Aurora (Vanishing Waves), Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper, Lithuania, France and Belgium

Forum of Independents
Independent Camera Award: Smrt čoveka na Balkanu (Death of a Man in Balkans), Miroslav Momčilović, Serbia
Audience Award: Hasta La Vista! (Come As You Are), Geoffrey Enthoven, Belgium

Documentary Films in Competition
Best Documentary under 30 minutes: Story for the Modlins, Sergio Oksman, Spain
Best Documentary over 30 minutes: Poslednata lineika na Sofia (Sofia's Last Ambulance), Ilian Metev, Bulgaria, Croatia and Germany
Special Mention: Soukromý vesmír (Private Universe), Helena Třeštíková, Czech Republic

Non-Statutory Awards

FIPRESCI Prize: Peleh Akhar (The Last Step), Ali Mosaffa, Iran

Ecumenical Jury Prize: Camion, Rafaël Ouellet, Canada
Special Mention: Estrada de Palha (Hay Road), Rodrigo Areias, Portugal and Finland

NETPAC Prize: Tepenin ardi (Beyond the Hill), Emin Alper, Turkey and Greece
Europa Cinemas Label Award: Romanzo di una Strage (Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy), Marco Tullio Giordana, Italy
FEDORA Prize: Zdeněk Jiráský for Poupata (Flower Buds), Czech Republic


Crystal Globe for Lifetime Achievement Award: Helen Mirren, UK
Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema: Susan Sarandon, USA
Festival President's Award: Josef Somr, Czech Republic

To check the announcement at the official site go here. The 48th Karlovy Vary IFF will be held from June 28th to July 6th, 2013.

Do příštího roku!

30th Munich Festival Award Winners

While FILMFEST MÜNCHEN is not a competition festival, several important prizes are awarded in conjunction with their sponsors. Yesterday awards were announced and here they are.

German Cinema New Talent Award
Best New Director: Hanna Doose for Staub auf unseren Herzen (Dust in Our Hearts), Germany
Best New Producer: David Keitsch and Ben von Dobeneck for Staub auf unseren Herzen (Dust in Our Hearts), Germany
Best New Screenwriter: Jan Ole Gerser for Oh Boy, Jan Ole Gerser, Germany
Best Actor: Antonia Putiloff for Little Thirteen, Christian Klandt, Germany
Special mention: Michaela Kezel for Die Brücke am Ibar (My Beautiful Country), Germany

ARRI Award for Best Foreign Film: La Pirogue, Moussa Touré, France Senegal and Germany

CineVision Award: Abrir Puertas y Ventanas (Back to Stay), Milagros Mumenthaler, Argentina and Switzerland
Special Mention: Z Dakeka Widok Jest Pienkny (It Looks Pretty From A Distance), Wilhelm Sasnal and Anka Sasnal, Poland

Bernd Burgemeister TV Movie Award: Riskante Patienten (Risky Patients), Stefan Krohmer, Germany
TELE 5 Award: Hanna Doose for Staub auf unseren Herzen (Dust in Our Hearts), Germany
Bayern 3 Audience Award: Unplugged:Leben Guaia Guaia, Sobo Swobodnik, Germany
Kinderfilmfest Audience Award: Tom and Hacke, Norbert Lechner, Germany
One Future Prize: Le Cochon de Gaza (When Pigs Have Wings), Sylvain Estibal, Germany, France and Belgium

Shocking Shorts Award: Souterrain, Erwin Häcker (Watch trailer here)

CineMerit Award: Melanie Griffith

To check all winners go here.

Cheers!

360

I was in an entertainment mood so decided to watch this movie not knowing much about it but only because cast impressed me. Not even 10 minutes went by when I said: this is Fernando Meirelles! Gosh, I was right. See, Meirelles is not for entertainment purposes but surprise this film was entertaining me, so I relaxed and yes, surprise again, enjoyed the ride a lot more than any of Meirelles latest films.

Cast can't be better with great performances by Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Moritz Bleibtreu, and Jame Debbouze just to name the ones I'm very familiar with; but lesser known (to me) actors were also good. Production specs are great, as I believe it didn't abuse much the split screen which was used during several moments in film. What was outstanding is the movie soundtrack that definitively is must-have for me.

Film tells a series of short stories that start in one point and of course (see movie name) end in the same point, meaning starts in Vienna and ends in Vienna; but travels to Slovakia, London, Paris, and Colorado (USA). In my opinion stories are all about taking decisions and nothing more as the way the movie is constructed there is no time (or need) to develop them further than the glimpses you'll be able to see.

The storytelling technique Meirelles used is complex to describe with words as stories are told in the roundelay style not sequentially but in order, meaning nothing goes back in time, always forward but not in order consequently we will see lots of bits and pieces of each story. In the end, you will get the whole story. It is said that is inspired in Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde, but surely vaguely/freely and definitively this is not Max Ophüls' La Ronde as this film is primordially entertainment, and I say, quite good entertainment that will make you feel distress at certain moments, so don't relate Ophuls oeuvre to this film.

Think that movie perhaps is not for all audiences, especially after reading some reviews; my best reference is that if you enjoy to watch short films where you have not much time to learn much about characters but just to enjoy whatever is shown and you wish for an entertainment moment, then this film is for you.

Surely if I knew I was going to watch a Fernando Meirelles film I would have had expectations and surely film would not satisfy them as never imagined that a film by this director could be entertaining and nothing more. Still, my need for an entertainment moment was completely satisfied with this good film with great actors.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

Crazy Horse

Since the 2011 Biennale where documentary was screened as a special event in the Venice Days section I have been waiting to watch this Frederick Wiseman documentary about the most avant-garde cabaret in Paris and for me, the world. I'm sure that I had high expectations as having seen the show live I was expecting a film that could translate the impressive experience that you can have while watching the show. Unfortunately I was wrong.

Documentary is good as gives us a glimpse to what is behind the scenes of the creation of Désirs, the current show since 2009, and also includes several numbers from the show; but to me watching this doc gave an experience similar to the one I had when I watched the show in Las Vegas, which was okay but was very far from what you see/experience in the Paris Crazy Horse.

So, if you ever seen the show in Paris I'm sure you have to lower your expectations regarding the doc and if you have never seen it, please don't think portraits the amazing experience you will have if you watch show live.

After clearing all of the above have to admit that documentary could be seen as an interesting portrait of a complex creative process that not only shows the tall, thin, totally fit women executing their precise gymnastic moves but also shows that is not only the dancers who work hard, it is everyone that works with choreographer and director Philippe Decouflé. If you're able to see only this then I'm sure you will highly enjoy the film.

Wiseman documentary collected honors in the fest circuit including being nominated for best documentary at the 2012 César Awards and those honors are well deserved as his particular style that has no-interviews and captures a succession of moments, is quite not-mainstream, so please do not expect your regular documentary.

I do recommend doc to those that like non-mainstream films and rare non-exploitative portraits of nude women. But I strongly recommend that next time you're in Paris do not skip this sensational experience that could surprise you beyond whatever you can imagine.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @MOC

トップ Toppuresu (Topless)

For a moment I had the impression that I was watching an "old" film from the '90s thanks to the storytelling style plus the use of light, sound and humor; but no, this is a recent film from 2008 that some claim to recall Pinku Eiga cinema (Japanese Sexploitation) but definitively not me as even when there are some explicit sex (straight sex) scenes, today they are nothing special or out of the ordinary to what we can see in movies from many countries.

Film tells a story that is not often told in the lesbian interest genre as explores the life of lesbians that not leave the closet but go deeper into the closet to assure economic stability. But this is one of the three stories told as also tells about a young girl looking for her lesbian mother that abandoned her to follow her lover and the main character story, Natsuko, that is coping with her lover leaving her to marry, exploring straight sex and finally finding her place in her world as what she is, a lesbian. I found stories interesting but what made film not-easy-to-watch for me was the storytelling style, particularly the humor style with all the hitting.

Still I know this is a must be seen for many that read the blog and enjoy the lesbian interest genre and I do recommend movie suggesting to be patient with the storytelling style to better enjoy the story told.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @MOC

34th Moscow International Film Festival Award Winners

Recently the fest that run from June 21st to 30th, closed with the award ceremony and here are the award winners.

George Awards

Golden George Best Film: Junkhearts, Tinge Krishnan, UK

Silver George Special Jury Prize: Fecha de Caducidad (Expiration Date), Kenya Marquez, Mexico

Silver George Best Director: Andrey Proshkin for Орда Orda (The Horde), Russia
Silver George Best Actress: Roza Hairullina in Орда Orda (The Horde), Andrey Proshkin, Russia
Silver George Best Actor: Eddie Marshan in Junkhearts, Tinge Krishan, UK

Silver George Best Film of Perspectives competition: Wreckers, D. R. Hood, UK
Silver George Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man, Malik Bendjelloul, Sweden and UK

Other Awards

FIPRESCI Prize: A.C.A.B. (A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards), Stefano Sollima, Italy and France
Netpac Prize: Орда Orda (The Horde), Andrey Proshkin, Russia
Russian Film Critics Prize: A.C.A.B. (A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards), Stefano Sollima, Italy and France
Kommersant Weekend Prize: Последняя сказка Риты Poslednyaya skazka Rity (Rita's Fairy Tale), Renata Litvinova, Russia
Film Audience Award: Magnifica Presenza, Ferzan Ozpetek, Italy

Film Club Federation Prizes
A.C.A.B., Stefano Sollima, Italy
Magnifica Presenza, Ferzan Ozpetek, Italy
Dr. Ketel, Linus de Paoli, Germany
The Centrifuge Brain Project, Till Novak, Germany
Kokoko, Avdotya Smirnova, Russia

Prize of the Best Film of Short Films competition: The Centrifuge Brain Project, Till Nowak, Germany

Special Prize for An Outstanding Contribution to the World Cinema: Tim Burton
Special Prize for the Outstanding Achievement in the Career of Acting and Devotion to the Principles of K. Stanislavsky's school: Catherine Deneuve

To read official announcements go here and here.

2012 Lux Cinema Prize Longlist

Yesterday at the Karlovy Vary festival the European Parliament representatives unveiled the ten (10) films that will compete for the three (3) finalists spots and here they are.

À perdre la raison (Our Children), Joachim Lafosse, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland
Barbara, Christian Petzold, Germany
Cesare deve Morire (Caesar Must Die), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy
Crulic - drumul spre dincolo (Crulic - The Path to Beyond), Anca Damian, Romania and Poland
Csak a szél (Just the Wind), Bence Fliegauf, Hungary, Germany and France
Djeca (Children of Sarajevo), Aida Begic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, France and Turkey
Io Sono Li (Shun Li and the Poet), Andrea Segre, Italy and France
L'enfant d'en Haut (Sister), Ursula Meier, France and Switzerland
Louise Wimmer, Cyril Mennegun, France
Tabu, Miguel Gomes, Portugal, Germany, France and Brazil

To read the official announcement go here.

Key dates for the award are as follows, July 24 at the Venice Days press conference in Rome the three (3) finalists will be announced. The three candidates will be screened as special events at the Venice Film Festival and in all the 27 Member States of the European Union. The prize will be awarded on November 21st at a sitting of the Parliament.

2012 Nastri d'Argento Award Winners

Last night at Taormina the SNGCI had their award ceremony and winners are in *BLUE. To read winners in all categories go here, available only in Italian.

6/15
Today the Sindicato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani (SNGCI) announced the nominations and here they are for some categories. Films with most nominations are Ferzan Ozpetek's Magnifica presenza (Magnificent Presence) and Marco Tulio Giordana's Romanzo di una strage (Story of a Massacre), each with 9 nods.

Best Director
Emanuele Crialese for Terraferma
Marco Tulio Giordana for Romanzo di una strage (Story of a Massacre)
Ferzan Ozpetek for Magnifica Presenza (Magnificent Presence)
*Paolo Sorrentino for This Must Be The Place
Daniele Vicari for Diaz (Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood)

Best New Director
*Fracesco Bruni for Scialla! (Easy!)
Gianluca e Massimiliano de Serio for Sette Opere di Misericordia (Seven Acts of Mercy)
Guido Lombardi for La-bàs. Educazione criminale (La-bàs: A Criminal Education)
Andrea Segre for Io Sono Li (Shun Li and the Poet)
Stefano Sollima for A.C.A.B. (A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards)

Best Actress
Carolina Crescentini in L'Industriale (The Entrepreneur)
Donatella Finocchiaro in Terraferma
Claudia Gerini in Il mio domani (My Tomorrow) and Com’è bello far l’amore (Love is in the Air)
Valeria Golino in La Kryptonite nella Borsa (Kryptonite!)
*Micaela Ramazzotti in Posti in Paradiso (A Flat for Three) and Il coure grande delle ragazze (The Big Heart of the Girls)

Best Actor
Fabrizio Bentivoglio in Scialla! (Easy!)
*Pierfrancesco Favino in A.C.A.B. (A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards) and Romanzo di una strage (Story of a Massacre)
Elio Germano in Maginifica Presenza (Magnificent Presence)
Roberto Herlitzka in Sette opere di misericordia (Seven Acts of Mercy)
Vinicio Marchioni in Cavalli (Horses) and Sulla Strada di Casa

Best European Film
*The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
Carnage, Roman Polanski
Faust, Alexander Sokurov
Melancholia, Lars von Trier
Shame, Steve McQueen

Best Non-European Foreign Film
*Drive, Nicholas Winding Ref
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
A Separation, Ashgar Farhadi

I love Ferzan Ozpetek movies and look forward to watch his Magnifica Presenza as soon as possible; also calls my attention Pupi Avanti's Il Coure Grande delle Ragazze (The Big Heart of the Girls) and Segre's Io Sono Li. This year's Nastro of the Year went to Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for Caesar Deve Morire (Caesar Must Die).

To check nominees in all categories go here, available only in Italian. Award ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 30 in Taormina and Stefania Rocca will host.