Notícias

After Sundance Film Festival concludes in late January, the next big cinematic event on the globe is the Berlin International Film Festival. With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, they’ve now announced their first line-up of titles, including Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope (pictured above), Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party (pictured below), and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, as well as a restoration of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder TV show.

Check out the first titles below, and return for our coverage from the festival.

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul)

Hungary

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour

Romania/Germany/France

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti,...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny.

Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama The Queen of Spain, starring Penelope Cruz, will get its international premiere in the Berlinale Special strand.

More to follow…

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul) (Hungary)

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour (Romania / Germany / France)

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni, Vlad Ivanov

World premiere

Beuys - Documentary (Germany)

By Andres Veiel ([link...

X-Men franchise director Bryan Singer, whose first two features debuted at the Sundance Film Festival — including The Usual Suspects in 1995 — was one of the industry figures named to the Sundance juries that will judge this year’s films when the festival begins next week. Singer, who has X-Men: Days of Future Past due in May, will be one of five members of the U.S. Dramatic Jury. Other members of the juries include Tracy Chapman, Lone Scherfig, Leonard Maltin, and screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). A complete list of the juries, courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival, can be viewed after the jump.

Gloria, which just finished playing Tiff, directed by Sebastian Lelio and starring Paulina Garcia has been selected to represent Chile in the Foreign Language race for the 86th Academy Awards ®

Fresh off its highly successful North American premiere at The Telluride Film Festival, Gloria was Special Presentation at the Toronto Int'l Film Festival.

I was lucky to be able to spend an hour speaking with director Sebastián Lelio and

2013 Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award winner Paulina Garcia, the film’s star.

Paulina Garcia in real life barely resembled Gloria who is a seemingly comfortable “woman of a certain age” who still feels young…like me, and also like me, she enjoys dancing. Her children have lives of their own as does her former husband, she has a job and while comfortable, she is a bit at a loss for a place and for love. I had not realized that in fact those people I dance with are perhaps also looking for love – all I ever see them do is dance.

But like Gloria, though lonely, they are making the best of their situation. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair - until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever.

Speaking with Paulina Garcia, I was first struck with how unlike the character Gloria she was. Sophisticated and refined, speaking perfect English, we related on a different level from how I related to her in the film, and I had related intimately; I had identified completely with Gloria and I had thought I would, in fact, be meeting Gloria herself.

Paulina told me how unusual it is to be in every scene. Playing such a character focused so deeply into life forced her to move the center of herself to a different point. After the movie had been shot, she felt the pain in her very bones from the different positions and motions of Gloria’s person. When it was over, she felt like she had emerged from a very deep ocean dive. Acting is on the surface, but the character played is really more like an iceberg.

Sebastian added that the relationship between Gloria and everyone else is not the action but in the air around them. It is the anti-matter you experience in the film, not the plot. The spotlight was always upon her. There was not a single frame in which Gloria’s body was not present. Every single scene is about how she is feeling about people, things and the world. And she reflects the world, as it is today in Santiago, Chile – discontented and seeking ways to take action against the discontent.

The relationship built between Sebastian and Paulina prior to filming was not based on the film, but on aligning their minds. It was an unusual friendship that was built between the director and actress. He gave her things to read unrelated to the film, she read Cassavetes on Cassavetes, (the name Gloria was not spurious); he gave her quotes, information on vortexes and whatever else interested him in those days. He was very clear about how personal the film would be, creating layers of emotion and artistry. Once they began working together, they shared a sort of mindful shorthand. He might say, “Do your own vortex” and she would define the world in her own terms so she could do her part. Paulina/Gloria was the point of the film and everything had to go around her, as if she were the vortex.

The other character in the film – whom we did not discuss at all, but who was an extraordinary counterweight to Gloria, was Sergio Hernandez who played Rodolfo. Very sexy and very soulful, he is dogged in his pursuit of Gloria and is dogged by his “ex-wife” and daughters. He has played in Sebastian Lelio’s previous films La Sagrada Familia in 2006 which I caught during my first trip to Chile as an guest of the Valdivia Film Festival in ‘05 and in El Ano del Tigre, his third film which played Locarno in 2011. Both these were also “insistent observations of characters going through evolutionary crossroads: family as a sacred trap; the interest in the tension that exists between a person and character; and the conviction that film is a face-on battle”, to quote Sebastian.

La Sagrada Familia was shot in 3 days in 35mm, a true indie film. It was a sort of “punk” film and it met with great success and so Sebastian could access national funds to make his second film Navidad which along with some private investment was finally paid off two months ago. Navidad was about teenage runaways going through a sort of initiation into the carney world. He directed Year of the Tiger just after Chile’s major earthquake and Fabula put in the money ($100,000) for this urgent film. It is a testament to the Year Zero and was shot in 12 days. It went on to play Toronto and Locarno. These are all available along with interviews on Festival Scope.

The year 2005 was the year that a new generation of filmmakers was beginning to create Chilean cinema as we know it today. Not only Sebastian Lelio withLa Sagrada Familia, but the producer of Gloria and Year of the Tiger, Fabula’s Pablo Larrain (along with his brother Juan de Dios Larrain) was developing his breakout film, Tony Manero and had just finished Fuga. Pablo also wrote and directed Post Mortem , produced El año del tigre , produced and directed No and produced this year’s Sundance hit Crystal Fairy. It was Diego Izquierdo whose Sexo con Amor we were repping who brought us to Valdivia that year as he was working on El rey de los huevones . It was the year En la Cama by Matias Bizes ( La vida de los peces ) was the most popular film in Chile and films were finally breaking from the post-Pinochet trauma. The “other Sebastian”, Sebastian Silva, was the inspiration behind the writers of Mala Leche and La Sagrada Familia, and was writing the first film he would also direct, La vida me mata (Life Kills Me).

Gloria was such a fine work of art that it was developed in the Cannes Residency (Cinefondation) program and garnered national funds for its production. It was screened as a Work in Progress first in Chile’s Sanfic and then in San Sebastian in 2012 where it won the Cine in Construccion Award. Sebastian has recently received a Guggenheim fellowship and support of the Daad Berliner Kunstlerprogram for the development of his new projects.

To be witness to Chile’s spectacular growth in the international business gives me such a thrill. I can’t wait to see Sebastian’s next film which he is working on now in the Berlinale Residency (September – December), writing it with an eye toward co-production. The new film explores masculine emotions. Perhaps it will once again star Paulina Garcia.

Gloria

Directed by: Sebastián Lelio

Tiff 2013 - Special Presentation

Chile - 109 minutes - In Spanish with English subtitles

Director: Sebastián Lelio

Starring: Paulina García

Producer: Fabula - Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín

Tiff 2013: Special Presentation

U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions

Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media

The film will be released by Roadside Attractions and is being sold internationally by Funny Balloons, who has already sold it to

Australia

Rialto Distribution (Australia)

Austria

Thimfilm Gmbh

Brazil

Imovision

Canada

Métropole Films Distribution

Colombia

Babilla Cine

France

Funny Balloons

Germany

Alamode Film

Greece

Strada Films

Israel

New Cinema Ltd.

Italy

Lucky Red

Japan

Respect

Korea (South)

Pancinema

Netherlands

Wild Bunch Benelux

Portugal

Alambique

Sweden

Atlantic Film Ab

Switzerland

Filmcoopi Zurich Ag

Turkey

Bir Film

United Kingdom

Network

USA

Roadside Attractions...

Nadia Dresti, Delegate of the Artistic Direction, Head of International at the Locarno International Film Festival talks to Susan Kouguell about Industry Days (August 10-12), Step In and Carte Blanche.

Nadia Dresti: “The film festival’s role has to become more a place to help a film to be released afterwards, and Locarno is a perfect place to put these people together and mix.”

Dresti is passionate about her work, and about spotlighting independent filmmakers from countries who face challenges getting their work noticed and distributed. Nadia and I met at her office this week to discuss the Locarno International Film Festival’s various initiatives that will take place during Industry Days.

Dresti: “We received 1,300 submissions, and Carlo Chatrian and his team saw between 500-700 films around the world, so 2,000 films altogether. Carlo selected 100 new films. What about the other films? Some go to smaller festivals, but more than 1,000 titles don’t go anywhere; they will not find a release. There is a gap with this small release possibility and the gap is getting bigger. I think the system is wrong.”

The Industry Office

The Industry Office of the Locarno Film Festival was designed to support producers and agents presenting films at the festival by connecting them with international sales and distribution professionals, and exhibitors. Their goal is to play an active role in the support of auteur films; whether launching a new project or extending and optimizing existing services and initiatives, the Industry Office aims to support sales agents, distributors, producers and exhibitors in their respective tasks, ranging from the conception to the release of independent art-house cinema.

Nadia Dresti: “Every activity is tailor made. Most important are the films, and around the films – the producers, buyers, and so on – and the types of films that we believe in.”

Industry Days

Launched in 2010, the Locarno Film Festival’s Industry Days offer international film industry professionals the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive series of initiatives designed for them. The goal -- to facilitate networking. By supporting the sales agents and producers who are presenting films at the Festival, they put them in contact with buyers, distributors and exhibitors. Industry Days also develops through specially organized and exclusive screenings, alongside works-in-progress sessions, discussions, round tables and events that take place under the umbrella of the Industry Home Base, encouraging every opportunity for exchange. These are combined with two further initiatives, Carte Blanche and Step In.

Carte Blanche

Nadia Dresti: “We have Carte Blanche, an initiative we started three years ago, showing films in postproduction by emerging talents from a different country in Asia, Africa, Latin America or Southeast Europe. This year Carte Blanche is dedicated to Chile.”

Carte Blanche will screen seven films in postproduction. Each film will be introduced by its producer and director to the various international sales agents, distributors and festival programmers in order to facilitate post-production and sales partnerships. Following each screening, there will be a Q&A session, during which the industry professionals will have the opportunity to connect with the producers. A three-person industry professional jury will select the best film that will receive a cash prize to support the completion of the film.

Nadia Dresti: “There is a lot of emerging talent. We saw 30 films in postproduction, we selected seven and we invited the seven producers to introduce their films, and Chile brings the directors. We have 20 people from Chile to introduce at Locarno. This is great visibility for them; they are honored as a country -- it’s a win-win. We bring filmmakers to producers. It also gives sales companies time to discover new films, to see the seven films, which helps the producers. In Piazza Grande we’re going to show Gloria directed by Sebastián Lelio, who was in competition in 2011 with El El Año del Tigre. Juan de Dios Larraín, producer of both titles, is on our official jury. CinemaChile is hosting the Industry Days opening party.

Step In

Now in its second year, Step In, an initiative designed as an exchange platform in which new promising strategies for distribution, exhibition and sales of auteur cinema are discussed and developed in small, closed working sessions.

Nadia Dresti: “Last year we had a think tank and decided to focus on eastern countries where theaters are closing down and art-house films are hardly released. We invited key players from different countries -- Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to come to Locarno and sit down with sales companies and other buyers.”

This think-tank initiative, focusing on issues of distribution for auteur European cinema in Central and Eastern Europe, is organized in collaboration with Europa International, Europa Distribution and Europa Cinemas. This year Step In will wrap up last year’s focus on the festivals of the region, giving voice to professionals of the area, including Tallinn’s Baltic Event, When East Meets West in Trieste, Kino Pavasaris in Vilnius, Sofia Meetings, Romanian Days in Cluj, CineLink in Sarajevo, Connecting Cottbus, New Horizons in Warsaw and the Art Film Festival in Bratislava. But we decided to open the think tank to additional European territories as well, to compare experiences. International sales agents, distributors, exhibitors and funders will discuss key issues of distribution. We also invited Us industry people like Eugene Hernandez from Lincoln Center and Ryan Werner from Radius-tw.

Nadia Dresti: “Step In day takes place on Sunday. First, in the morning, there will be a presentation about the Russian market; the state of distribution and exhibition of art-house films in the Russian market. Among the presenters will be an expert from uniFrance, a big exhibitor from Russia, and three distributors from Russia.”

The working session – the brainstorming part of the morning, gathers distributors, sales agents, members of Europa Distribution, Europa International and Europa Cinemas, some funders, festivals, and co-production markets. After an introduction of the key issues, participants will break into groups to work on a specific challenge pertaining to the future of distribution of art-house films in Europe.

Nadia Dresti: “There will be five working tables that will include different buyers and sellers, discussions of anti-piracy, and so on – we want these people to sit down and talk. This is going to last one-and-a-half hours, then the five different moderators will come out with a statement, present their results, and discuss suggestions about how we can work better together to get a particular film released.”

To learn more about Industry Days and the Locarno International Film Festival visit: http://www.pardolive.ch

---------About the author: Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University and presents international seminars. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com...

The Berlin International Film Festival (February 6 – 16, 2014), one of our industry's major festivals, is calling for projects for the second year of its residency program. The Berlinale Residency is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Nipkow Programme and the Guadalajara International Film Festival, in cooperation with the Media Mundus program of the European Union and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The international Berlinale Residency fellowship program is inviting six filmmakers with their latest film projects to Berlin from August 15 to November 15, 2013, so they can finalize their screenplays, and develop production and distribution strategies. An international jury – consisting of Clare Binns (Director of Programming and Acquisitions at City Screen, Great Britain), producer Cedomir Kolar (Asap Film, France) and Thomas Hailer (Berlinale Programme Manager, Germany) – has chosen six directors and their projects.

Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick comments: “With the Berlinale Residency, the Berlinale has successfully expanded its programme to promote filmmakers. I’m delighted that in the initiative’s second year we’ll again be supporting international directing talents in developing their new projects.”

Berlinale Residency participants in 2013:

Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan: The Wounded Angel

Producer: Beibit Muslimov, Kazakhfilm Studios, Kazakhstan

Born in Kazakhstan in 1984, Emir Baigazin studied film and television directing at the Kazakh National Academy of Arts. In 2007 he participated in the Asian Film Academy in Busan. He is also an alumnus of the 2008 Berlinale Talent Campus. Baigazin’s debut feature film, Harmony Lessons, was supported by the World Cinema Fund and celebrated its premiere in the Berlinale Competition 2013, where it won a Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution. The film was considered an extraordinary discovery and is now travelling the international festival circuit.

Bence Fliegauf, Hungary: Glowing Wormhole

Producer: Bence Fliegauf, Fraktál Film, Hungary

Hungarian filmmaker Bence Fliegauf’s debut feature film Forest premiered in the Berlinale Forum in 2003. One year later, Dealer (2004) garnered him over 20 awards, including the Fipresci Prize at the Mar del Plata Film Festival. He won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival forMilky Way in 2007. His first English-language movie, Womb, was screened in Locarno and Toronto. The Berlinale Competition 2012 presented Fliegauf’s latest film, Just the Wind, which received the Jury Grand Prix and went on to be screened at many other film festivals.

Alistair Banks Griffin, USA: Therese (working title)

Producer: Eric Overmyer, USA

Alistair Banks Griffin was born in 1978 in England and raised in New Orleans. He received his BA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Griffin’s short film Gauge (2008) premiered at the New York Film Festival. In 2009 he was the recipient of a Cinereach grant for his first feature film, Two Gates of Sleep, which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and then won the New Talent Grand Pix Award at Cph:pix in Copenhagen in 2011. The film has screened at numerous international festivals and museums.

Sebastián Lelio, Chile: Greeting to the Sun

Producer: Juan de Dios Larraín, Fábula, Chile

Born in Chile in 1974, Sebastián Lelio graduated from the Escuela de Cine de Chile. In 2006, he completed his first film, La Sagrada Familia, which received many awards and international recognition. His second film, Navidad, made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. El Año del Tigre, his third feature film, was released in the international competition of the Locarno Film Festival in 2011. His latest film, Gloria, premiered in the Competition of the Berlinale in 2013, where it was highly acclaimed by the critics and the audience, and took home a Silver Bear for Best Actress.

Elina Psykou, Greece: Ivo & Sofia

Producer: Giorgos Karnavas, Heretic, Greece

Born in 1977 in Greece, Elina Psykou studied film directing at the Lykourgos Stavrakos Film School and sociology at Panteion University, both in Athens. She went on to study cultural history at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. In 2007 she participated in theBerlinale Talent Campus. She has written and directed two short films, Sunday Trip (2004) and Summer Holidays (2006). Psykou’s first fictional feature film, The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, won the Best Work in Progress award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; the film had its world premiere in the Berlinale Forum in 2013.

José Luis Valle, Mexico: Operation Baby

Producer: José Luis Valle, Caverna Cine, Mexico

Born in El Salvador, José Luis Valle became a citizen of Mexico, where he studied literature and film. His short film Chimera won the Kodak Film School Competition and received an Honorary Mention at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in 2006. His documentary The Pope’s Miracle screened at the Locarno Film Festival in 2009. Valle’s first fictional feature, Workers, received support from the World Cinema Fund, premiered in the Berlinale Panorama in 2013, and won the Mezcal Prize for the best Mexican entry at the 28th Guadalajara International Film Festival.

Kirsten Niehuus, Managing Director of Film Funding at the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, states: “Alongside our other artist-in-residence initiatives, the Berlinale Residency represents the successful continuation of our Berlin 24/7 program. Together with the Berlinale and the Nipkow Programme, we wish the six filmmakers a creative and inspiring time in the metropolitan area of the capital.”

The Berlinale Residency directors will stay in Berlin from August 15 to November 15, 2013. With script consultants from the Nipkow Programme and other experts from the industry, they will finalize their screenplays. In a workshop towards the end of the Residency, their producers will also receive concrete feedback from experienced industry professionals and assistance in preparing the projects for the international market. In February 2014, the filmmakers will return to Berlin so they can present their projects with their producers to potential co-producers and financers at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. A number of the participants will also be given the opportunity to present their works at the Ibero-American Co-Production Meeting in Guadalajara in March 2014.

The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival (February 7-17) has announced the first six titles in its competition lineup. Productions and co-productions from Germany, France, Austria, the Republic of Korea, Chile, Romania, Spain and the U.S. are included, with Gus Van Sant's "Promised Land" and the new film by Hong Sang-soo, "Nobody's Daughter Haewon," and the third in Ulrich Seidl's "Paradise" trilogy ("Paradise: Hope"), part of the program. The festival also announced the world premiere of doc "Unter Menschen" ("Redemption Impossible"), directed by Christian Rost and Claus Strigel, in the Berlinale Special section. Competition: Gloria Chile/Spain By Sebastián Lelio (La Sagrada Familia, Navidad, El año del tigre) With Paulina García, Sergio Hernández World premiere Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin (Nobody's Daughter Haewon) Republic of Korea By Hong...

The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival has announced the first six films from its competition lineup.  The films include productions and co-productions from Austria, Chile, France, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Spain and the USA. In addition, the festival announced that Christian Rost and Claus Strigel will present the world premiere of their documentary "Unter Menschen" (Redemption Impossible) in the Berlinale Special. The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival runs February 7-17, 2013.   Competition   Gloria Chile/Spain By Sebastián Lelio (La Sagrada Familia, Navidad, El año del tigre) With Paulina García, Sergio Hernández World premiere   Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin (Nobody's Daughter Haewon) Republic of Korea By Hong Sangsoo (Night and Day, Hahaha, In Another Country) With Eunchae Jung, Sunkyun Lee World premiere   Paradies: Hoffnung...

The Berlinale’s Competition section has picked the first six films for the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. They include productions and co-productions from Austria, Chile, France, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Spain and the USA.

In addition, Christian Rost and Claus Strigel will present the world premiere of their documentary Unter Menschen (Redemption Impossible) in the Berlinale Special.

Competition

Gloria

Chile/Spain

By Sebastián Lelio (La Sagrada Familia, Navidad, El año del tigre)

With Paulina García, Sergio Hernández

World premiere

Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon)

Republic of Korea

By Hong Sangsoo (Night and Day, Hahaha, In Another Country)

With Eunchae Jung, Sunkyun Lee

World premiere

Paradies: Hoffnung (Paradise: Hope)

Austria/France/Germany

By Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days, Import Export, Paradise: Love)

With Melanie Lenz, Vivian Bartsch, Joseph Lorenz, Michael Thomas

World premiere

Poziţia Copilului (Child’s Pose)

Romania

By Călin Peter Netzer (Maria, Medal of Honor,...