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Film Festivals
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2008
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 30 August 2009 12:01
- Written by Laura Blum
And the town is ready for its close-up. For eight days, 253 feature films from around the world will be screened amid some of Eastern Europe's most elegant spa hotels. Once the oases of royalty, these lovingly preserved manses still serve up therapeutic hot springs--a pleasure that, to today's EU passport-toting Czech, is a reminder of why some homegrown traditions must be protected at all costs.
All the more reason why the West Bohemian outpost two hours from Prague prizes its festival. Drawing thousands of industry types, film buffs and travelers questing for an Old World escape with modern distractions, the annual bash pumps enough krowns into Karlovy Vary's coffers to support its preservation habit.
Also preening their exteriors every fest are celebrities-Robert De Niro will stardust the opening night tribute gala and Saffron Burrows fronts Amy Redford's The Guitar-consigning to history's quaint dustbin Karlovy Vary IFF's 40 years of alternating with fellow traveler Moscow International Film Festival, until 1993. Again enter the Pupp, which that year joined with the Town of Karlovy Vary and the Ministry of Culture in creating a foundation tasked with producing the festival.
Over the years the KVIFF has emerged as the leading showcase of Eastern European cinema. It has two main jousts: the Official Competition among international premieres, whose grand prize is the Crystal Globe ($20,000), and the celebrated East of the West section, where filmmakers from Europe's Orient contend for top honors. East of the West marks Karlovy Vary's strategic niche in the increasingly crammed world festival circuit, mirroring the Czech Republic's geopolitical perch between Central and Eastern Europe. Of Parents and Children, by Vladimír Michálek, represents the country in this segment.
KVIFF was founded more than 60 years ago to showcase productions of the newly nationalized Czechoslovak film industry, and to this day its homegrown titles command a nurturing hand. "It's important to have an overview of film production in the domestic environment, and to have the will to help promote it," said KVIFF program director Eva Zaoralová. "Thanks to their screenings at Karlovy Vary, various Czech films have found their way into competition at other festivals or informative programs, or they've been purchased for distribution abroad."
While the festival prides itself on celebrating quality work regardless of national origin, it does its part for indigenous talent. Explained Zaoralová, "It's chiefly a case of including a Czech film in the main competition." Michaela Pavlatova's Night Owls and Petr Zelenka's Dostoevsky-inflected The Karamazovs are the Czech submissions vying in the Official Competition; Zelenka's Year of the Devil snared the Crystal Globe in 2002.
Ten movies grace the Czech Films 2007-2008 program, among which Jan Hřebejk's relationship dramedy, Teddy Bear, stands out for its tonal departure from the director's Oscar-nominated WWII remembrance, Divided We Fall. Václav Havel inspired two cinematic ruminations in this non-competitive section, one a documentary by Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek (Citizen Havel) and the other, a seriocomedy by Jiří Vejdělek (Václav). Absurdist doesn't begin to describe the humor in this unlikely tale of mental disorder and clemency based on a true story involving the artsy Czech leader. And Alice Nellis is back with Little Girl Blue, having swept three Czech Lions (Best Czech Film) in 2007 for her previous foray into domestic tensions.
Also of Czech provenance, Jana Bokova's Bye Bye Shangai, Helena Trestikova's Rene and Juraj Lehotsky's Blind Loves are contenders in the documentary silo. This last aims to open viewers' eyes with its four love stories among the sight-impaired, while Bye Bye Shangai profiles several accomplished Czech émigrés and concludes that you really can't go home again in any meaningful way. The eponymous subject of Rene is the sometime imprisoned, sometime released criminal and writer Rene Plasil, set against a cascade of political events in and beyond the Czech Republic. The documentary competition gins the entries that exceed 30 minutes from those that don't, and gives both nonfiction formats a reprieve from oblivion.
Conquering obscurity is what a popular sidebar curated by Variety magazine is all about. Now in its eleventh edition, Variety Critics' Choice: Europe Now! is jointly sponsored withthe European Film Promotion (EFP). Seven of this year's ten works are debut features, with directors under 40 a recurring theme, inviting the broad observation that young talent is currently amok across Europe.
Some of the marquee-name entries at Karlovy Vary are bunched under the Open Eyes program. This whizz-worthy event reprises 13 films recently screened at Cannes. Gomorra, by Italian Matteo Garrone, took this year's Grand Prix on the Croisette, and it joins jury prizewinner Il Divo, another spiky political expose by way of Italy, in the Open Eyes lineup. So do Three Monkeys, which nabbed for Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan Best Director award, and Lorna's Silence, Best Screenplay laureate from the Dardenne brothers. The animated war documentary Waltz with Bashir comes to Open Eyes amid an extra measure of anticipation. Its Israeli director, Ari Folman, bagged KVIFF's Special Jury Prize in 1996 for the comedy Saint Clara, and he sits on the 43rd KVIFF Grand Jury.
Heading up that Jury is émigré filmmaker Ivan Passer, whose credits range from Czech New Wave classics The Firemen's Ball and Loves of a Blond (which he co-wrote and assistant directed) to Hollywood release Cutter's Way (which he directed). Jurors include British actress Brenda Blethyn, US producer Ted Hope, Dutch actress Johanna ter Steege, Hungarian-born cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and Czech actor/composer/musician Jan P. Muchow.
Beyond the whirr of screenings, parties and panels and the glam of stars and spas, Karlovy Vary once again opens for business-the business of toasting international work while also boosting the Czech and other former Socialist bloc movie industries whose films are as challenging to fund as they are to distribute outside of national borders.
ZINEBI 50: Festival Of Nonfiction and Tapa-Sized Films
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 23 August 2009 03:30
- Written by Laura Blum
The Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film (ZINEBI) jubilates its 50th birthday November 23-29, 2008, making it one of the world’s oldest showcases of the seventh art. Who knew?
A mere hour from San Sebastián—home to Spain’s premier fest--this year’s juried meet in the heart of Basque country drew 2,849 contenders from 85 countries for its coveted Mikeldi Award. Eighty of these survived Selection Committee scrutiny, which includes the criterion that films and video productions come in at 45 minutes max. Twenty-six countries are represented in the final slate.
NY Latino Film Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Saturday, 22 August 2009 22:40
- Written by T. Terry Maloney
The New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) celebrated its 10th Anniversary recently, screening in Manhattan from July 27 to August 2nd. This year, NYILFF debuted in new venues at the Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 9 and the School of Visual Arts Theater. NYILFF is presented by Home Box Office.
Major stars appearing in films at this year’s festival included Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, Calle 13, Ruben Blades, Vin Diesel, Christina Milian, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Jim Jones, Kerry Washington, Brandon Routh, Illeana Douglas, Shannyn Sossamon, Lara Flynn Boyle, Easi Morales, Ericka Alexander, Voltio, Tego Calderon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor Rasuk, Kuno Becker, Ana de la Reguera and Rev. Al Sharpton.
"We are very excited to be celebrating our 10th Anniversary,” says Calixto Chinchilla, Executive Director. “The NYILFF began as a dream to showcase our talent and to empower Latinos. We’ve been fortunate to have grown in size and stature. This year, we have everything; highly anticipated Hollywood premieres to independent films from filmmakers across the globe, industry forums, music showcases and free outdoor events for everyone."
Director Greta Gerwig Makes “Little Women” With Big Characters & Award Ambitions
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Features
- Published on Friday, 07 February 2020 15:21
- Written by Brad Balfour
Of the controversies associated with this year’s Oscars, the absence of women among many of its categories — especially Best Director — have highlighted the inequity of this award’s process. And of the many women creators considered, Little Women director Greta Gerwig‘s omission has often been cited in the media as most egregious one. Nonetheless, the film’s lead Saoirse Ronan, who plays Jo — the sister who writes the book that all is based on – was nominated for Best Actress; Florence Pugh got a Best Supporting Actress nom and Gerwig got one for Best Adapted Screenplay.
When Gerwig emerged on the scene, she was known as an actor but she has admitted that her control freak nature drove her to finally make her own movies. Lady Bird, her first feature, surfaced to great notice and and award noms, proclaiming her as a new face among female directors. So when talk stirred about the making of a new cinematic Little Women (there have been several before this), Gerwig clamored to be the one to make it a reality. It also offered a considerable challenge for anyone to make a new version distinct from those earlier versions.
Author Louisa May Alcott’s classic 19th century novel reflects what is still a very progressive take on young women and their own self-determination. But really, it’s no wonder since Alcott’s own parents were very much part of progressive movements of their own time. And Louisa May’s own life took shape on her own terms; she was an abolitionist, feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. Her debut novel detailed the life of four sisters and surprised its readers at the time. Her book emerged shortly after the Civil War, becoming a significant text for a generation whose world have been overturned by an overwhelming war.
Acknowledged the tall 30-something in an interview, “I am a Little Women nerd. There is so much of the book that struck me as wildly modern and so important to tell right now. My love of the book was where I began — I read it so many times when I was a girl, but in reading it as an adult I thought, ‘This is even more alive than I had remembered.’ In reading it as an adult I kept underlining passages and writing, ‘Do people know this is in this book?’
Though seemingly targeted to young women of the day, it addressed issues in a refreshingly adult manner and cogent in ways that other such books of the time weren’t for audiences of all stripes. It not only didn’t look down on its characters, it challenged women to see themselves in a new light which stirred strong feminist leanings.
Gerwig added, “My guiding light became was, ‘How do I not change what’s in the book, but bring out what’s already there, and make a film that Louisa May Alcott would have liked?’ I was able to do things like have the publisher say, ‘Frankly, I don’t understand why she didn’t marry the neighbor.’ I know that everyone for all time has asked that question and because of the way I structured the film, I was able to actually have someone say that.
“When I read the book as an adult I was struck by the sections when they are adults because, being an adult, I read them in a new way. They were amazing and incredibly compelling: sister Amy in Europe, contending with whether or not she is a great artist is completely fascinating and interesting; the oldest, Meg, is married and has children and is what you’d consider to be narratively closed as a character because she’s married, is dealing with domestic frustrations, being left alone with her young children and spending too much money and not telling her husband about it. The youngest, Beth is at home alone in her childhood dealing with what she knows is her own [impending] death. I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, this is fascinating.’ And then I realized once those girls are all separate as adults they are never going to be all together again. The thing they miss is already gone. They’ll never get it back.
“I found that to be very moving, and it allowed the thing that they are looking back at and that they are yearning for in some way to be the thing that the audience is also yearning for. It was something that occurred to me also because there’s so much doubling in the book between the first half and the second half. The most obvious one, the initial one that I was moved by, was that, the magic of childhood is [illustrated] when Beth gets sick, she [then] gets better. But in adulthood, when Beth gets sick, she dies.”
The smiling Gerwig told a crowd before the film rolled. “I grew up with this book; a lot of people did. They felt like my sisters. Their adventures felt like my family’s. In some ways, when you grow up with literature like this, it becomes part of your internal life. It’s always been my dream to make this before I even had the option.”
At a special screening where Gerwig did a Q&A, she was asked, in what way did she put her own stamp on the film; how did she “Gerwig-ized” it? “I would say that 90% of the dialogue is either directly word for word from the book or from a letter or journal that Louisa May Alcott had written. If there’s a Greta Gerwigness in it, I would say it’s been the speed of delivery more than anything else. I actually think you’d be surprised. Most of the lines are — even some lines that you don’t think are — in the book, which is the reason I wanted to make the movie. like with Marmee’s line, ‘I’m angry almost every single day of my life.’ That’s from the book. When I reread it, I underlined it and wrote beside it. ‘Marmee’s been angry for a 150 years?’ It was more about pulling things out of the book that I felt hadn’t really been explored fully. And then speeding it all up, because part of the pleasure to me was taking these lines that had been embroidered on pillows and having them raced through.”
As for her incredible cast, she noted in another talk, “What they did was they so tenderly brought each and every character to life. They did that magical thing that you can do [in a film like this] — they make them live and breathe in front of you.
“One of the things that struck me when I was working on it, was how much these women as adults meant to me, in going through their adulthood. The way I have structured the movie is about how we are always are walking with our childhood selves in a way. As a young girl my heroine was Jo, and as a young woman, my heroine was Louise May Alcott.”
