Neuigkeiten

Cannes Critics’ Week film “The Woodcutter Story” has debuted its trailer. It’s the feature film directorial debut from Mikko Myllylahti, the writer of Cannes Un Certain Regard winner “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki.” The film is being sold by French sales outfit Totem Films.

“The Woodcutter Story” centers on Pepe, a woodcutter in an idyllic small town in Finland. In the span of a couple of days, a series of tragic events gradually destroys his quiet and happy life – but Pepe seems to be fine with it all, as if he held a secret to existence that is hard to grasp.

Myllylahti was inspired to write the story following an encounter with a woodcutter who – despite having lost everything – “accepted his ordeals with a smile on his face.”

Myllylahti said: “The more I thought of him and his attitude towards life I started to realize a potential for a story,...

The Woodcutter Story

A TorinoFilmLab and Cinéfondation lab selection, and winner of the Critics’ Week’s Next Step Award, there is a lot of forward momentum for Finnish filmmaker Mikko Myllylahti‘s debut film. Filming on The Woodcutter Story (aka Metsurin tarina) might have wrapped up in February of 2021 – but the final touches were completed just this past December. Starring Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Jarkko Lahti (featured in image above), Katja Küttner and Aki Rumbin, Myllylahti tackles the not so rare occurrence of the destructive nature of alcoholism – and in terms of style and tone, we can imagine this might be fitted with some noir Scandi humor.…...

Instinct, the psychological thriller starring Game of Thrones‘ Carice van Houten and Aladdin‘s Marwan Kenzari, has been chosen by The Netherlands as the country’s official selection in the Oscars’ International Feature Film race.

The pic, which won an award for its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and is prepping for its North American premiere this month at Toronto, is from first-time feature director Halina Reijn. The plot revolves around and experienced psychologist working in a penal institution who becomes obsessed with a sex offender who appears to be ready to return to society. (See a trailer below.)

Topkapi Films produced in a co-production with Man Up and Bnnvara, and is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive en CoBo Fund. Films Boutique is handling international sales...

“To Be Heard” and “Hot Coffee” win big at Seattle International Film Festival’s awards ceremony today at Seattle’s Space Needle.

See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:

Siff 2011 Competition Awards

Siff 2011 Best New Director

Grand Jury Prize

Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)

Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”

Siff 2011 Best Documentary

Grand Jury Prize

Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)

Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.

“To Be Heard” and “Hot Coffee” win big at Seattle International Film Festival’s awards ceremony today at Seattle’s Space Needle.

See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:

Siff 2011 Competition Awards

Siff 2011 Best New Director

Grand Jury Prize

Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)

Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”

Siff 2011 Best Documentary

Grand Jury Prize

Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)

Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.