NYFF Overflows with Fascinating Auteurs & Oscar Contenders

Gael Garcia Bernal gets licked at the New York Film FestivalSince I'm not doing Toronto this year (I hope to convince a few volunteers to do coverage for the site. If you're going and you're a reader/writer...) I plan to go full hog on the NYFF. I will also be enlisting at least one extra member of the Film Experience team to join me so that we have more for you. Below you'll find the final lineup culled from the official site but I've divvied it up for you into categories.  Please do let us know in the comments which films you're most interested in hearing about, or, if you're in NYC, which films you plan to see.

Buzzy Indies
Martha Marcy May Marlene, in which Elizabeth Olsen leaves a cult in time for her Oscar campaign, directed by Sean Durkin (USA)
A Separation, a tense family drama that keeps winning awards, directed by Asghar Farhadi (Iran)
Shame, directed by Steve McQueen, in which sister Carey Mulligan visits her sex addict brother Michael Fassbender. From the director of Hunger so therefore MUST-SEE... even if constant Michael Fassbender sex scenes weren't enough (UK)

Will Their Countries Submit Them For Oscar's 'Best Foreign Language Film'?
The Kid With A Bike, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is about an abandoned 11 year old. It won prizes at Cannes because it's a rule that all Dardenne Brothers films do, don'cha know. (Belgium) 
Le Havre, directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland)

Miss Bala in danger

Miss Bala, directed by Gerardo Naranjo, in which a beauty pageant contestant runs into trouble with a drug cartel. I'm curious about this one. (Mexico)
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan -- I've never really understood the cinephile adoration -- it's a crime drama about the search for a missing body(Turkey) 
The Student, directed by Santiago Mitre, a political thriller about a student who falls for a radical organizer (Argentina) 

Oscar Players... Maybe
The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, an homage to Old Hollywood (France)
Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski, an adaptation of the hit play (see previous posts) (France/Germany/Poland)
The Descendants, directed by Alexander Payne, in which George Clooney has multiple crises (USA)
My Week With Marilyn, directed by Simon Curtis, about a week in Marilyn's life during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (see previous posts) (UK)

Auteur Mania... (I don't make a habit of missing films by these men)
A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg, about Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Jung (Michael Fassbender) and their crazy subject (Keira Knightley), (UK/Canada/Germany)
 Melancholia, directed by Lars von Trier, in which Kirsten Dunst's wedding plans are plagued by the impending apocalypse. (see previous posts) (Denmark)
The Skin I Live In, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, in which the director finally reunites with Antonio Banderas for a gruesome tale of revenge involving a plastic surgeon. (previous posts) (Spain)

Miscellania
4:44: Last Day On Earth, directed by Abel Ferrara, bills itself as an "apocalypse trance film". Starring Willem Dafoe. (USA)
Corpo Celeste, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, is about a young girl struggling with religion. (Italy)
George Harrison: Living In The Material World, music documentary directed by Martin Scorsese (USA)
Goodbye First Love, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, tracks a first love over eight years (France/Germany)
Pina, directed by Wim Wenders, which is a 3D dance film and tribute to Pina Bausch (Germany/France/UK)
Play, directed by Ruben Östlund, which is a provocative movie about African immigrants taking advantage of Swedish peacefulness (Sweden)
Policeman, directed by Nadav Lapid, which includes wealthy anarchists and anti-terrorist police (Israel/France)
Sleeping Sickness, directed by Ulrich Köhler who won Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival. It involved doctors combating an epidemic of, well, the title (Germany/France/Netherlands)
The Loneliest Planet, directed by Julia Loktev, is an English language drama about a couple falling apart. Starring Gael Garcia Bernal. Yay. (USA/Germany)
The Turin Horse, a meditation "on the interconnectedness of things", directed by Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky (Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA)
This Is Not A Film, directed by Jafar Panahi who is currently appealing his prison sentence in Iran, and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (Iran)

Have at it in the comments!

Nashville Awards: Andrew Haigh's "Weekend" and More...

Jury Deliberations. Most festivals have separate jurors for each of the major sections. Cannes is the one people are most familiar with it being the festival of festivals. The competition slate is the main focus but they don't actually decide each of the awards you hear about. There are other juries gathered to decide things like the Camera D'Or (best first film) and the short film prizes. Nashville has five juries and they're also an AMPAS qualifying festival so if, for instance, a short film wins "best" in category here it becomes eligible for Oscar consideration. I was on the Narrative Competition jury this year. The running joke at the table became "this doesn't leave the table..." so...end of story!

Let it suffice to say that it's always usually enjoyable to discuss movies with other creative types and in this case it was extra enjoyable as my fellow jurors Dan Butler (previous discussed) and Joe Leydon (a Texas based film critic who also writes for Variety) were both fun passionate movie-loving guys.

After we decided our prizes, I scampered over to the Music Film jury when I saw them wrapping up to thank the gorgeous Kimberly Reed for her Prodigal Sons film the one I kept raving about to y'all a couple of years back. She told me about a new percolating project of hers but she's actually still trekking around the country with her breakthrough film years later. Oprah's interest in her story really made a huge impact -- Oprah really does control the world, doesn't she? -- but that kind of sustained interest couldn't have happened to a better documentary or to a more articulate champion for the transgendered community.

BEST OF THE 2011 NASHVILLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Read on to find out which films each jury loved as well as a few notes on the films.

Click to read more ...

Berlinale Closes Pt. 1: Jury Prizes, Teddys, and More

We haven't mentioned the Berlinale at all in the heat of Oscar week. So let's do that, shall we? Better late than never. The festival closes tomorrow but the awards were handed out over the past two days.

"Nader and Simin: A Separation" GOLDEN BEAR

Asghar Fahradi, who got a lot of Oscar buzz a couple years back (though no nomination) for ABOUT ELLY, won this year's Golden Bear for Nader & Simin: A Separation (2011). The Hollywood Reporter explains the film like so.

Farhadi's drama traces the breakup of a Iranian family set against the political tensions in Tehran. While not overtly political, Nader and Simin is starkly critical of conditions in Iran, notably the country's huge class divide. It was widely tipped to win Berlin's top prize, not least because of the current upheaval in the Middle East.

Fahradi dedicated his prize to jailed filmmaker Jafar Panihi who was also supposed to be serving on this very jury. Isabella Rossellini's jury was one short as a result. Rather than replacing him they held a symbolic open seat for him. Some articles are already suggesting that Nader & Simin could be submitted for next year's Foreign Language Film Oscar. But given the open criticisms and the dedication to a jailed filmmaker I wouldn't place your bets just yet; it can be tough to read Oscar submission politics when filmmakers and governments clash.

Competition Jury
Golden Bear: Jodaeiye Nader Az Simin (Nader and Simin, A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi
Silver Bear The Jury Grand Prize: A Torinoi Lo (The Turin Horse) by Bela Tarr
Silver Bear Best Director: Ulrich Kohler for Schlafkrankheit (Sleeping Sickness)
Silver Bear Best Actress: the female ensemble in Nader & Simin
Silver Bear Best Actor: the male ensemble in Nader & Simin
Silver Bear Best Screenplay: The Forgiveness of Blood written by Joshua Marston and Andamion Murataj.

Isabella and her jury liked Nader & Simin so much they gave it ALL the acting prizes, too. This wasn't good news for Coriolanus, the Shakespearean adaptation from Ralph Fiennes that won Vanessa Redgrave in particular Oscar friendly reviews. Regarding the Screenplay prize: If Marston's name looks familiar think Maria Full of Grace. We were wondering when he was going to be back to the cinema.

Silver Bear Artistic Contribution: Wojciech Staron, Cinematography, and Barbara Enriquez, Production Design, for El Premio
Alfred Bauer Prize: If Not Us Who (Wer Wenn Nicht Wir) by Andres Velel
First Feature Award: On the Ice by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Special Mention: The Guard by John Michael McDonagh
Special Mention: Die Vaterlosen by Marie Kreutzer

Crystal Bear
These prizes are for family films. Separate jury.

Best Kplus Feature Film: Keeper’n til Liverpool (The Liverpool Goalie) by Arild Andresen [Norway]
Special Mention: Mabul by Guy Nattiv [Israel/Canada/Germany/France]
Short Film: Lily by Kasimir Burgess [Australia]
Special Mention:  Minnie Loves Junior by Andy Mullins and Matthew Mullins [Australia]
Best 14plus Feature Film:  On the Ice  by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean [U.S.]
Special Mention: Apflickorna by Lisa Aschan [Sweden]
Best 14plus Short Film:  Manurewa by Sam Peacocke [New Zealand]
Special Mention:  Get Real! by Evert de Beijer [Netherlands]

Scandinavia is always winning prizes for family and kids films. It's a niche. Here's the trailer to the winning film. You can tell the "family friendly" categories aren't judged by US prudes. This won the Kplus award, and within seconds of the trailer starting there's jokes about people being well hung and there's shower nudity. Different worlds!

Audience Prizes
Audience Award, Fiction Film:  También la lluvia (Even The Rain) by Icíar Bollaín [Spain/France/Mexico]
This was one of the finalists for BEST FOREIGN FILM but did not make it to the nomination shortlist. It's currently open in select US theaters.
Second Place:  Medianeras by Gustavo Taretto [Argentina/Germany/Spain]
Third Place:  Life in a Day by Kevin Macdonald [Great Britain]
Audience Award, Documentary Film:  In Heaven Underground - The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery (Im Himmel, Unter der Erde. Der Jüdische Friedhof Weißensee) by Britta Wauer
Second Place:  Mama Africa by Mika Kaurismäki
Third Place:  We Were Here by David Weissman (USA)

Teddy Awards
Berlinale's Teddy Award, which is separate from the main fest and judged by LGBT film festival programmers, is one of the oldest annually bestowed Queer Cinema awards. It was first handed out in 1987 to Pedro Almodóvar's Law of Desire. What a kick off, eh?  Perusing the list of past Teddy Award winners is actually a great way to catch up on LGBT films you may have missed. Gay cinema is increasingly not what it used to be. With assimilation into mainstream culture, queer cinema definitely lost its edge and brain-power if not its sex drive. These days we don't seem to get new Gregg Arakis, Gus Van Sants or Todd Haynes and their like but people whose names we never learn directing straight to DVD sex comedies. (sigh)

Last year's Teddy prizes were unusually Hollywood friendly with James Franco's first short film The Feast of Stephen [clip. NSFW] winning Best Short Film and Lisa Cholodenko's eventual Best Picture nominee The Kids Are All Right winning the top prize.

Jake Yuzna's "Open" (2010). Marie Losier's "Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye" (2011)

Jake Yuzma's far more experimental pansexual drama Open won the Jury Prize. I had the pleasure of attending the premiere here in NYC. Artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge  spoke to the audience afterwards. She and her late partner, Lady Jaye, who famously had repeated operations and plastic surgery procedures to look more and more like one another, were the inspiration for the fictional film. So I was surprised to hear that Berlin honored the very same topic again this year. Their Best Documentary prize went to The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier.

The Teddy, the main prize went to Argentina's Ausente, Marco Berger's follow up to Plan B which did the festival circuit last year and is now available on DVD.

Ausente is about teenager who falls in love with his swimming teacher, finding all sorts of excuses to spend time with him.

The Teddys in full
Best Feature Film: Ausente by Marco Berger
Best Documentary: The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier
Best Short Film: (two winners) Generations by Barbara Hammer and Gina Carducci and Maya Deren’s Sink by Barbara Hammer
Jury Prize: Tomboy by Celine Sciamma
Special Teddy Awards:  HIV/AIDS activist Pieter-Dirk Uys from South Africa and New German Cinema director Werner Schroeter (RIP).

Here's the trailer to Ausente which means "absent"