20th Czech Lion Winners

Last Saturday the Czech Academy had the annual award ceremony and not surprisingly In The Shadow by David Ondříček, which was Czech Republic submission to 2013 Oscar, swept the awards by winning 9 of the 11 categories in which was nominated. Bohdan Sláma's Four Suns, which got the most nominations (12), was honored with only one award for Best Supporting Actress Actress Klára Melíšková.

These are the winners for top categories and to check winners in all categories please go here.

Best Picture: Ve stínu (In The Shadows), David Ondříček

Best Director: David Ondříček for Ve stínu (In The Shadows)
Best Screenplay: Marek Epstein, David Ondříček, Misha Votruba for Ve stínu (In The Shadows)

Best Actress: Gabriela Míčová in Odpad město smrt (Waste, City, and Death), Jan Hřebejk
Best Actor: Ivan Trojan in Ve stínu (In The Shadows), David Ondříček

Some news coverage in English comment how these awards fail to go beyond the most obvious choices and help further recognize upcoming talents. I tend to agree with the news. Sigh.

En kongelig affære (A Royal Affair)

I was really impressed with this movie, the remarkable performances, the little known (for me) piece of history and how Nikolaj Arcel was able to do "another" European period movie quite different to many that I have seen. So, just imagine the "cultural" shock I had when discovered the not so good reviews movie gets mainly, but not only, in English from a few professional critics and many viewers. This motivates me to do a different approach here as seems like if I saw (again) a different story than many did.

The Film Story - Part 1

Film tells the story of a young queen, Caroline Mathilde, who is married to insane king, Christian VII of Denmark, falls secretly in love with the king's German physician, Johan Friedrich Struensee, and together change too early what later becomes the norm not only in Denmark but across the civilized world or -if you wish- Europe. Is told from the queen's perspective and accordingly to what I read is based primordially on the novel Prinsesse af blodet (Princess of Blood) by Danish author Bodil Steensen-Leth where the queen is the protagonist and the one who narrates story; but also is based on the novel Livläkarens besök (The Visit of the Royal Physician) by Swedish author Per Olov Enquist. So these gives us some clues that story even do is based on actual facts has to have some fiction.

The History

As I'm not that much familiar with Danish history my first instinct told me to check what was fact, so I did a little research from reliable sources. Seems movie is a good dramatization of actual events but there are several issues that seems today are still questionable; most are related to the "affair" or the romance. Some still doubt that Struensee had an affair with the queen, but others confirm that the daughter pictures show resemblance to him and many claim that he had an affair with the queen and also with another woman in the court, which made both women very jealous of each other.

What seems to be real is everything related to Struensee ascension to power, his ahead of time rulings based on his studies of Enlightenment philosophers, and his fall to the aristocrats that had lost all power and finally got it back. All this happening in Denmark 20 years before the French Revolution.

The Story - Part 2

Seems that most viewers see film and only watch the romance, after all who can blame them as if you read the movie title is none other than "A Royal Affair", which most will relate to the romance and not to the other kind of affairs. All right I also saw the romantic affair and admit that it was good, interesting; yet was similar to many European royal stories that we have seen in film, including one mentioned profusely in viewers reviews: the story of Camelot. Most like the romance movie and some even call it a "girlie" film, meaning that is suited only for female audiences. I totally disagree, but then I saw more the "other" story, the one that really captured me to feel all kind of intense emotions, the one that made me think that infamous phrase: "people have the government they deserve".

As movie begins to introduce us to the characters, the queen's tragedy, the king's insanity and whatever follows I was seeing the film with "romance" eyes; but there was one scene that changed all and made me think that there was something more in this story. I'm talking about the scene where the queen finds the books hidden behind the front books in the bookshelf. From that moment on I awoke and started to see film with different eyes. What captured my attention are all the elements that seem to be history accurate and that story seemed to me just fascinating.

I was not aware of this piece of history that happened 20 years before the French Revolution, regret that is lost in history annals and probably will be lost for many even after seeing this film. Won't get into analyzing all the implications but due to Arcel's so contemporary storytelling style plus the outstanding screenplay, made me think about what is happening nowadays around the world, where history tends to repeat itself many times. About the fear of change that some have because will lose their power while others because ignorance. Then, just imagine if Struensee had remained in power world history would have been told quite different today.

The Film

Nikolaj Arcel might be known to some of you because he wrote the outstanding screenplay of Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), that for me is the best of the Millenium saga films; so was not surprising that the screenplay of this movie won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2012 Berlinale that he co wrote with Rasmus Heisterberg. I believe that what makes this movie quite outstanding is the remarkable screenplay that spectacularly blends romance, some humor and historic events while impregnating a very contemporary feel.

Performances by Alicia Vikander (the queen) and Mads Mikkelsen (Struensee) are remarkable but the one that steals the movie for me is Mikkel Boe Følsgaard that gives his insane king performance many layers to make our eyes fixed on him every time he is on the screen. Production design is lavish as well as costumes and production values are on the high end of the scale.

In the end the film is as good as many other European royal period films if you think only about the production values but what makes this film very different is not only the story it tells but also how is told.

As we know film is Denmark's submission to Oscar and before reading reviews I was sure this film will make it to the shortlist of nine and maybe will get a nomination; now I think that only if Academy members see the "other" affairs and how magnificently is blend into romance then perhaps will make the shortlist. Sigh.

Still this is a film I highly recommend to many regular readers as know will enjoy the romance and will appreciate the historic value of this film.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

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!

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.

47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Festival Daily

I have been reading the festival Daily and since find it quite interesting decided to share with you all.

I'm using issuu to publish the pdf file at the fest site, so it is a lot easier to read; but if you wish to read it at the official festival website please go here. All copy rights belong to the festival.

Will be adding daily each Festival Daily, so please come back each day to this post to read the news.




Saturday, July 7

Open publication

Friday, July 6

Open publication

Thursday, July 5

Open publication

Wednesday, July 4

Open publication

Tuesday, July 3

Open publication

Monday, July 2

Open publication

Sunday, July 1

Open publication

Suggest to read great interview with Helen Mirren.
Saturday, June 30

Open publication

Friday, June 29

Open Publication

Suggest to read Boyd van Hoeij -one of my favorite professional movie reviewers- brief movie reviews.

19th Czech Lion Winners

Last Saturday the Academy had the awards ceremony and winners in all categories can be found here, available only in Czech or here in English. Winners are in *BLUE.

--//--
2/21/12
Recently the Czech Academy announced the nominees for this year and Vaclav Havel’s Leaving has the most nominations with 12, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Here are the nominees in the main categories.

Best Film
Alois Nebel, Tomás Lunák
Nevinnost, Jan Hřebejk
Odcházení (Leaving), Václav Havel
*Poupata (Flower Buds), Zdenek Jirasky
Rodina je základ státu, Robert Sedlácek

Best Director
Tomás Lunák for Alois Nebel
Jan Hřebejk for Nevinnost
Václav Havel for Odcházení (Leaving)
*Zdenek Jirasky for Poupata (Flower Buds)
Robert Sedlácek for Rodina je základ státu

Best Actress in a Leading Role
*Anna Geislerová in Nevinnost, Jan Hřebejk
Dagmar Veškrnová – Havlová in Odcházení (Leaving), Václav Havel
Ivana Chýlková in I ženy mají své dny (Perfect Days), Alice Nellis
Malgorzata Pikus in Poupata (Flower Buds), Zdenek Jirasky
Eva Vrbková in Rodina je základ státu, Robert Sedlácek

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Miroslav Krobot in Dům, Zuzana Liová
Karel Roden in Lidice, Petr Nikolaev
Josef Abrhám in Odcházení (Leaving), Václav Havel
*Vladimír Javorský in Poupata (Flower Buds), Zdenek Jirasky
Ondřej Vetchý in Vendeta, Miroslav Ondruš

To check nominees in all categories go here available only in Czech.  Award ceremony will be on March 3 and will be broadcast live on CT1.

Les Bien-aimés (Beloved)

The 2011 Cannes out-of-competition closing film absolutely is a very-very French film by Christophe Honoré that plays again with older French film styles but also integrates more contemporary Honoré style making end result quite interesting, at least for me as been reading around and seems that film is not for all audiences, which made me think that Honoré is an acquired taste for audiences that not particularly care for or like good French Cinema.

But if you like Christophe Honoré then this film will be one of the most enjoyable for the old movies indirect references, an outstanding cast with superb performances and great singing of “paroles chantées”, plus a story about women and the men they love. Actually story is about two women, Madeleine and Véra, mother and daughter, with the one man each loved their whole life; so, story spans from 1964 to 2007.

Young Madeleine (Ludivine Sagnier) escapes from becoming a thief by incidentally discovering street prostitution, only to fall-in-love with Jaromil Passer, a Czech doctor doing a specialization in Paris and her client. Madeleine gets pregnant, marries Passer and goes with him back to Czechoslovakia, but his infidelities plus the Russian invasion, makes her return to Paris with her daughter Véra where he divorces Passer, marries a policeman and lives happily ever after until Passer comes back to Paris and reignites a flame that was never over. I know told a lot about movie, but it’s not much as Madeleine gets older (now performed by Catherine Deneuve), Véra is older (now performed by Chiara Mastroianni), Passer gets older (now performed by outstanding Milos Forman) and story continues with the love between Madeleine and Passer, plus Véra falling in love with Henderson (Paul Schneider) while being with Clément (Louis Garrel), but Henderson is gay; story evolves with relevant vignettes in the life all characters around Madeleine and Véra. All right is not a simple story, yes is complex but will grab you, take you all over the place, squeeze you, touch you, etc. until releases you at the very end.

Film has very high production values and a caring directorial hand that was able to squeeze 40 years in a bit more than 2 hours and extract from very impressive cast extraordinary performances with special mention to great Czech director Milos Forman –he should do more acting-, Ludivine Sagnier in role that feels and looks like a perfectly fit glove to a magnificent hand, and Chiara Mastrioianni performing like I have never seen her before -with many scenes where she looked so much as her real-life father- and somehow stealing scenes when she was on screen. Then Deneuve and Garrel are superb as always.

An extraordinary movie that of course I do recommend to those that love (classical) French cinema (at least as much as I do) and enjoy Honoré’s particular style that recalls Jacques Demy films (especially Les Parapluies de Cherbourg with Deneuve) but also here evolves with older Véra story into his own particular style.

Last, but not least, Christophe Honoré dedicated film to great Marie-France Pisier, RIP.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC