Movie News from Spain

Spanish actress Maribel Verdú

Málaga Film Festival's Focus is Movies Made in Spain

Isabel Coixet’s 'Tomorrow never ends' (Ayer no termina nunca), starring Javier Cámara and Candela Peña, will open the 16th edition of the Málaga Film Festival, which began yesterday, Saturday 20, 2013, and runs until April 27. The movie, about a couple who reunite in 2017 Barcelona after five difficult years apart, is one of 12 competing for the Golden Cactus Barrel (Biznaga de Oro) awarded to the best film prize this year.

Others in the running at the festival, which focuses on Spanish film, include Daniel Calparsoro’s 'Combustión' (Combustion), which narrates the complications arising from a love triangle formed by Adriana Ugarte, Álex González and Alberto Ammann, the feature debut of TV director Miguel Alcantud, dealing with the reality shock of imported young African soccer talent.

José Coronado will receive this year’s Málaga Prize, and Alex de la Iglesia will be honored with the 2013 Retrospective Prize. Mario Casas and María Valverde star in Civil War drama, 'The Mule' (La mula), which arrives without a credited director after Michael Radford disassociated himself from the troubled project. Gracia Querejeta offers up '15 Years and a Day' (15 años y un día),  in which Maribel Verdú plays the mother of a troubled teenager. Querejeta is the daughter of producer Elías Querejeta.

Read full article in English: http://tinyurl.com/cm4cmof

 

Alta Films Wrapping Permanently?

It appears the Spanish distributor of movies directed by Woody Allen, Danny Boyle, Michael Haneke, Mike Leigh, Michael Moore, Roman Polanski, Steven Soderbergh and others, is calling it quits, according to an article in El País. A few weeks ago, I read an article in a Spanish newspaper that the movie theaters in Madrid, especially on the Gran Via, are being bought, mainly with foreign money, and turned into retail stores, some big box.

Enrique González Macho, the current president of the Spanish Cinema Academy, has admitted that many Spaniards have stopped going to the cinema, the DVD retail business is a disaster because of Internet downloads and TV stations, especially since the public network no longer supports Spanish cinema or art films.

It appears Spanish Cinema could survive Francisco Franco's censorship, but not the rout by Spaniards hurting from the slide of the economy, which has had a huge impact on the Spanish Box Office. Macho is now trying to decide where he will "cut the fat," what to close, and what is worth a continuing fight to keep open.

Read the full article in English: http://tinyurl.com/bqmpphh

SHORT LIST FOR BEST FOREIGN FILM OSCAR®

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. Seventy-one films originally qualified.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

     Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director;
     Canada, "War Witch," Kim Nguyen, director;
     Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director*;
     Denmark, "A Royal Affair," Nikolaj Arcel, director;
     France, "The Intouchables," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
     Iceland, "The Deep," Baltasar Kormákur, director;
     Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
     Romania, "Beyond the Hills," Cristian Mungiu **, director;
     Switzerland, "Sister," Ursula Meier, director.

Mimi's Notes:
* "No" stars Gael Garcia Bernal.
** Mungiu's 2007 film, "4 Months,3 Weeks and 2 Days" (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile)won at Cannes and received many, many additional awards but did not receive a nomination in this category from members of AMPAS®. Speculation abounded that it was because the movie dealt with abortion.  goo.gl/V79XM
 
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2012 are again being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 71 eligible films between mid-October and December 17. The group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

Phase II, the shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 4, through Sunday, January 6, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievement of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood and Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

CANNES - A WRAP

Austrian director Michael Haneke's AMOUR (Love), in French, was awarded the top prize, the Golden Palm (Palme d'Or), for Best Motion Picture Feature at the 65th Cannes International Film Festival, Sunday. He received a Palme d'Or in 2009 for THE WHITE RIBBON in German and Italian. He is only the seventh director to take the top prize twice.

Riva in AMOUR

AMOUR was filmed entirely in Paris, and stars beloved French actors Jean-Louis Trintignant, 81, and Emmanuelle Riva, 85, as an elderly couple still very much in love, and Isabelle Huppert. It is 180 degrees from most of Haneke's movies, as he stated, ". . . a film’s style should match its subject matter, not its director, and 'this film is about love.'"

Saturday, we posted on our "Mimi at the Movies" Facebook page: "We choose Michael Haneke's AMOUR (Love), to capture the Palme d'Or at Cannes tomorrow."  So far, we are two for two this year, the Best Motion Picture Oscar (The Artist) and the Cannes winner!

CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO

THE CANNES UN CERTAIN REGARD 2012 section presented 20 films directed by 26 directors hailing from 17 different countries. Four of the works were first films.

Presided over by Tim ROTH (actor, director), the Jury was comprised of Leïla BEKHTI (actress), Sylvie PRAS (head of cinema - Centre Pompidou Paris, artistic director - La Rochelle Festival), Tonie MARSHALL (director, producer) and Luciano MONTEAGUDO (critic - Pagina/12 - Buenos Aires). According to Roth, “This was an extraordinarily strong group of films and our deliberations were passionate. The film makers never once failed us! Incredible!”

TOP PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
AFTER LUCIA (original title, DESPUÉS DE LUCIA0) by Michel FRANCO, a Mexican/French co-production in Spanish. It is about teenage bullying in Mexico.

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
LE GRAND SOIR (The Great Evening) by Benoît DELÉPINE and Gustave KERVERN. A French production in French.

SPECIAL DISTINCTION OF THE JURY
CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO (original title, DJECA) written and directed by  Bosnian--Herzegovinian filmmaker Aida BEGIC, telling the story of two orphaned siblings struggling to survive during the Bosnian War. Congratulations to Aida, Kevin Spacey and all the gang at the upcoming Sarajevo Film Festival! I will be following.

Writer/Director/Producer Aida Begic

 

AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS (Shared)
Suzanne CLÉMENT for her performance in LAURENCE ANYWAYS directed by Xavier DOLAN, and Emilie DEQUENNE for her performance in À PERDRE LA RAISON (Reason to Lose) directed by Joachim LAFOSSE.

AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR
Mads MIKKELSEN in JAGTEN (The Hunt) directed by Thomas VINTERBERG.

GRAND PRIX
REALITY directed by Matteo GARRONE.

BEST DIRECTOR
Carlos REYGADAS for POST TENEBRAS LUX (title means “light after the darkness”).

BEST SCREENPLAY
Cristian MUNGIU for DUPÃ DEALURI (Beyond The Hills).

JURY PRIZE: THE ANGELS' SHARE directed by Ken LOACH.

Caméra d'Or for Best First Film -  BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD directed by Benh ZEITLIN.

SHORT FILMS
Palme d'Or - SESSIZ-BE DENG (Silent) directed by L. Rezan YESILBAS.

OTHER AWARDS:  NO, starring Gael García Bernal, a Chilean production in Spanish, took Top Prize at the Directors' Fortnight; FIPRESCI Prizes (Critics Awards) went to BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (USA) filmed in New Orleans, and IN THE FOG, a Latvian production in Russian.

It must be noted that, despite a stronger showing of American movies at Cannes this year, U.S. films were shut out when it came to the awards, except for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, which won two awards.

SOME FEATURE MOTION PICTURES THAT RECEIVED FAVORABLE ATTENTION AT THE FESTIVAL:

1. Leos Carax's HOLY MOTORS, labeled bizarre by some. Carax is French. From IMDb Trivia: His professional name, Leos Carax, is an anagram of his first and middle names, "Alex Oscar."

2. A big standing ovation and favorable buzz at Cannes following David Cronberg's COSMOPOLIS premiere with Robert Pattinson and Cronenberg in attendance. At this festival, Pattenson was praised for his acting. The movie features French actress Juliette Binoche, who rose to movie stardom after appearing in Philip Kaufman's  critically acclaimed, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS  OF BEING.

3. Kaufman's latest, HEMINGWAY AND GELLHORN, received some words of warmth at the festival as well. It is an HBO movie, starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen. The drama is centered on the romance between Ernest Hemingway and WWII correspondent Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's inspiration for, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and the only woman who ever asked for a divorce from the writer. This one is definitely on my "must see" list.

Kidman and Owen as Gellhorn and Hemingway

LINKS:

  Cannes Festival Home in English

  Movie reviews plus video

Here Comes Cannes 2012

The first edition of the Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF) was originally set to be held in Cannes in 1939 under the presidency of Louis Lumière. However, it was not until over a year after World War II ended that it finally took place, September 20, 1946. It was subsequently held every September – except in 1948 and 1950 – and then every May from 1952 onwards.

This year is the 65th Cannes IFF Anniversary Edition. It will run from May 16 through May 27th. Among those who mainly are associated with American motion pictures and who are expected to walk the red carpet are: Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn and Matthew McConaughey.

The full line-up for the Festival's Jury, who will judge the 22 motion pictures in competition is: French actress Emmanuelle Devos; German actress Diane Kruger; French designer Jean Paul Gaultier; British actor Ewan McGregor; American director, scriptwriter and producer Alexander Payne; and Haitian director, scriptwriter and producer Raoul Peck.

The Competition Jury will be presided over by Italian director, actor and producer, Nanni Moretti. The task of selecting the best new filmmaker falls to Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Diegues, head of the jury for the Camera d'Or.

President Gilles Jacob, and artistic director Thierry Fremaux, announced the official selection of films in competition, which will include a stronger showing from the U.S. this year than last. Some of the films in competition are from: David Cronenberg (Crash, 1996), Lee Daniels (Precious, 2009), Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 2006) and Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon, 2009).

Veteran French filmmaker Alain Resnais, who is approaching 90, will bring a new film, You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet (Vous N’avez encore rien vu), an adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s Eurydice from Greek mythology, starring Marion Cotillard and Cannes veteran Mathieu Amalric. Resnais won his fourth Palm d'Or in 2009 for Wild Grass.

 LIST OF FILMS IN COMPETITION

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Two-time Oscar nominated director Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom will open the 65th Anniversary Edition Wednesday, May 16, the opening night of competition. Anderson's previous films include: The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Rushmore. The Moonrise Kingdom cast includes Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel and Bob Balaban. Music by Alexandre Desplat, who was nominated for an Oscar for The King's Speech, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Queen.

Focus Features has acquired the world wide rights to Moonrise Kingdom.  It opens in the U. S. in select theaters May 25th.

French director Claude Miller

Thérèse Desqueyroux (a.k.a., Thérèse D ), a 2012 adaptation of the novel by François Mauriac, the final movie directed by the late French director Claude Miller (20 February 1942 – 4 April 2012), will close the festival Sunday, May 27th. A previous adaptation of the novel was filmed in 1962. No release date in the U.S. has been announced.

Miller, film producer, writer and director, was 70 when he died. His principal mentor was my late friend, French director François Truffaut. The movie features Audrey Tautou in the title role as well as Gilles Lellouche and Anaïs Demoustier. A release date in the U.S. has not been announced. READ MORE

 

Every year, the Cannes Film Festival invites prominent figures from the world of cinema to give “Masterclasses,” Chiefly focusing on directing. Previous directors have included Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Wong Kar-wai, etc. from time to time, the Masterclasses explore other aspects of film-making other than directing.

Masterclasses for the 65th anniversary will be given by Philip Kaufman, Alexandre Desplat and Norman Lloyd (above). Each speak about their work at the Buñuel Theatre followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Sean Penn

The Festival de Cannes will present "Haiti: Carnival in Cannes," a benefit event presented by Giorgio Armani in support of Sean Penn’s J/P HRO, Paul Haggis’ Artists for Peace and Justice and Petra Nemcova’s Happy Heart’s Fund for their united and extraordinary fund raising work in Haiti.

That gala evening, presented by Giorgio Armani, will feature a dinner Friday, May 18th at the Festival Agora. The funds raised at the gala will benefit all three charities and help them to bring sustainable programs to the Haitian people quickly and effectively.

A Haitian show entitled “Carnival in Cannes” will present a concert of authentic RaRa and Racine music, created with the RAM band, Haiti's leading Racine group, brought in for the occasion from Haiti. The event will be co-sponsored by Chopard.

Festival Site in English

THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The Cannes Film Festival (CFF) wrapped 23 May. Scroll down for my post of the top winners, 24 May. Since then, there have been further discussions about them.

The world-wide economic slowdown impacted Cannes this year. There were far fewer yachts, stars, press, and attendees. In the U.S., film critics are considered a luxury, and many newspapers have cut then from their staff. That is not true in Europe. For example, a newspaper in France, even though it may be experiencing a financial slowdown, will not ever think of cutting its film critic.

Biggest disappointment among the films in competition was Ang Lee's, TAKING WOODSTOCK. John Powers says the movie is “dinky”. Others made comments such as, “. . . highly anticipated, yet underwhelming.” Powers feels it is not very good cinematically, and probably should not have been in the Festival. He says it is fun to watch, and thinks Cannes accepted it because the Festival turned down BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2006). Judging by the Jury picks, this could have been the Festival for Lee’s LUST, CAUTION (2007).

The biggest surprise about a film that did not get an award at the Festival is Jane Campion's BRIGHT STAR. It received great reviews by critics viewing the film at the Festival. Apparently, it did not impress the Jury. Powers dubbed this years Cannes Festival, a Festival of Violence and Extremes.

The most deliberately provocative movie is Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST. Entertainment Weekly’s critic pulled no punches when he wrote, “Scenes of sexual mutilation in this gruesome story of a couple in [marital] hell elicited involuntary groans and then boos.” Most of the other critics left out “involuntary,” adding jeers, foot pounding, and many leaving the theater.

It has been widely reported that Trier suffered a bout of deep depression before embarking on this film. Despite the huge outcry against the film, Austrian Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress for her role.

There was much buzz about Heath Ledger’s final performance in Terry Gilliam’s THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, which screened out of competition. As usual, the critics didn’t get the film at all. They seldom get a Gilliam movie, but many die-hard fans do. When Ledger died about halfway through the filming, the role was recast to have Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell portray "physically transformed versions" of Tony.

No one else has speculated on this but I am going to. Could the Joker role followed by the mysterious stranger Tony in this “the Devil will have his due, if I don’t undo my mistakes” movie, coupled with Ledger’s recent divorce, and drug use, all have united to seal Ledger’s fate? It is the Doctor’s daughter, Valentina, who is in peril because of what her father has done, and Ledger had a young daughter. Just speculating.

Most critics were kind to Pedro Almodóvar’s latest with Penélope Cruz, BROKEN EMBRACES, praising her performance, but lukewarm to the movie. Poor Penélope had a bad cold, or flu, and missed most of the festivities.

Almodóvar and Lee are losing their mojo, according to the majority of the critics. Perhaps, both need to take a break to unwind and recharge.

On the other hand, critics and viewers generally praised Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, which is the name of a gang slaughtering Nazis. Powers calls it an amazing film because it takes us back to the 1960s WW II Nazi movies, with glimpses reminding one of the TV show, Hogan’s Heroes, but BASTERDS is 100 times more violent. Brad Pitt stars, but Australian Christopher Waltz as a "Jew hunter" in Nazi Germany, won Best Actor for the role, stealing Pitt’s thunder.


Michael Haneke ***** Christopher Waltz ***** Charlotte Gainsbourg

As to the winner, award-winning Austrian writer/director Michael Haneke's black and white drama, THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band, Austria), basically little negative has been written about this stark film, which won both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Golden Palm. In an over-baring patriarchal society, strange and brutal things happen at a rural school in northern 1913 Germany just prior to WW I, which seem to be ritual punishments. How will this affect the school system, and will what happens at school and in the community sew the seeds for fascism?

Haneke's THE PIANO TEACHER (La pianiste, 2001) vaulted him onto the world cinema scene. That award-winner was followed by another critically acclaimed movie, HIDDEN (Caché, 2005), winning the FIPRESCI Prize, and a Best Director for Haneke.

At the Munich Film Festival on 3 July, Haneke will be honored by his peers with the CineMerit Award. Munich Festival kicks off on 26 June and runs until 4 July. I look for THE WHITE RIBBON to do extremely well in Munich, the beautiful city with a sinister past.

To help you wrap the afterglow of Cannes, here are some great links:
1. John Powers, "On the Ground at Cannes, " Part I - Fresh Air, PBS, Tuesday, 26 May.
2. John Powers, "On the Ground at Cannes, " Part II - Fresh Air, PBS, Wednesday, 27 May.
3. “Violence Reaps Rewards at Cannes Festival,” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, 25 May.
4. ”The Ballyhooed, the Magical and All that Mutilation: Cannes ‘09 Winds Down,“ Eric Kohn, Indiwire, 24 May [The link is wrong, but works as 06].

I can hardly wait for next year.