Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 9:04AM by Nathaniel R
Cannes closing ceremony is later today but we have the first round of winners from the sidebars, official and otherwise. So let's get right to it...
Border, Brazil, Cannes, Girl, LGBT, Scandinavia, foreign films Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 7:31PM Seán McGovern completes his Berlinale coverage. Until next year's fest!
You're no-one in Berlin unless you're coughing, which is what 75% of people (myself included) have been doing this last week.
Negative temperatures make for more serious cinema goers, although 2018's edition had its share of sideswipes. The festival's director Dieter Kosslick has two years remaining before his tenure is up and many are anxiously awaiting a fresh vision. Nevertheless, Berlin has some of the most offbeat and independently-minded filmmakers showing their work, and the gems are absoultely there. Let's have a final look at some of the curiosities that may or may not end up in a cinema near you.
Golden Bear Winner - TOUCH ME NOT (dir. Adina Pintile, Romania/Germany/Czech Republic/Bulgaria/France)
The only premiere at the Berlinale Palast that I managed to go to also turned out to be the the winner of the Golden Bear...
Monday, September 4, 2017 at 11:42AM "The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.
Hi there! I want to talk to you about ducts.
I mean that quite seriously, though I’m also quoting the opening lines of Terry Gilliam’s wacky and wonderful Brazil. It’s a film with a lot of unique production design, for which art director Norman Garwood and set decorator Maggie Gray received an Oscar nomination. They lost to Out of Africa, but I find it helpful to pretend that didn’t happen.
It’s nearly impossible to choose a single element to feature. I’ve half a mind to simply post all of the bleakly hilarious propaganda posters that clutter the walls of the film’s dystopian metropolis. Another option would be the design of the dream sequences, which become increasingly majestic as Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) loses touch with reality.
But I still want to talk to you about ducts...
Monday, November 28, 2016 at 10:37PM 
Jose here. After a complicated, slightly controversial, submission process that saw several filmmakers remove their name from consideration, Brazil selected David Schurmann’s Little Secret as the film that would represent them at the 2016 Academy Awards. The real life drama is based on the life of Schurmann’s adoptive little sister, who went from anonymity to becoming one of the most notorious people in Brazil. Needless to say so this means that it takes an easy Google search to find out where the film goes and how some plot twists end (i.e. spoilers await). This is Schurmann’s first feature film, but not the first time he’s featured stories about his family in his work. The Schurmanns are famous in Brazil for their maritime adventures, as well as their books and documentaries. I spoke to David about working so close to his family, adding dramatic turns to reality and being part of the Oscar race.
So, here’s another less subtle spoiler warning before the full interview...
Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 8:38PM NewFest, New York's LGBT Festival, runs through Tuesday. Here's Chris on three of the festival's foreign selections...
Don't Call Me Son
Anna Muylaert continues to explore complex family dynamics in Don't Call Me Son, her follow-up to last year's Brazilian Oscar submission The Second Mother. Teenage Pierre (Naomi Nero) and his younger sister have their lives upended when their mother is jailed for stealing them at birth, thrusting them apart and into the homes of their birth parents. Further complicating the film's identity politics is Pierre's burgeoning gender dysphoria...
