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Matthieu Laclau is a French editor who has been working in China and Taiwan since 2008. His collaboration with director Jia Zhangke in A Touch of Sin won him Best Film Editing at the Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent to the Oscars. This year he edited three films in Cannes: Caught by the Tides in Competition, Black Dog in Un Certain Regard, and Meeting with Pol Pot in Cannes Premiere. We sat down with him during the festival and discussed his work on all three films. This interview is originally commissioned by Directube 导筒. The Chinese version will be published on Directube later.

The Film Stage: First, I want to congratulate you for having three films in the Official Selection at this year’s Cannes. How did you get involved with all three? Obviously, you worked with Jia Zhangke since A Touch of Sin but it’s your first time...

Like Jia Zhangke’s Ash is Purest White, Caught by the Tides is a multi-decade triptych beginning in the early aughts and ending in the present, its past emerging from a sort of video diary practice he maintained up through 2006’s Still Life. As he explains, “I got my first digital video camera in 2001. I took it to Datong in Shanxi back then and shot tons of material. It was all completely hit-and-miss. I shot people I saw in factories, bus stations, on buses, in ballrooms, saunas, karaoke bars, all kinds of places.” There are numerous other similarities with 2018’s […]

The post Cannes 2024: Caught by the Tides, Misericordie, Grand Tour first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Like Jia Zhangke’s Ash is Purest White, Caught by the Tides is a multi-decade triptych beginning in the early aughts and ending in the present, its past emerging from a sort of video diary practice he maintained up through 2006’s Still Life. As he explains, “I got my first digital video camera in 2001. I took it to Datong in Shanxi back then and shot tons of material. It was all completely hit-and-miss. I shot people I saw in factories, bus stations, on buses, in ballrooms, saunas, karaoke bars, all kinds of places.” There are numerous other similarities with 2018’s […]

The post Cannes 2024: Caught by the Tides, Misericordie, Grand Tour first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Exclusive: George Robinson, the star of Netflix’s Sex Education, is attached to headline the movie Still Life based on the award-winning Texas Monthly 2009 article of the same name written by Skip Hollandsworth.

Still Life tells the true story of John McClamrock, to be played by Robinson, and his mother Ann. The two made a life together within the walls of their small Dallas home after John was paralyzed by an errant tackle on a Dallas high school football field in 1973. John McClamrock’s story garnered worldwide attention and support.

The film will be produced by Jim Whitaker and Jeff Sussman and directed by Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann. Scott Brown, Texas Monthly president, Megan Creydt of Texas Monthly, and Kevin James are EPs.

The screenplay, originally by Jon Boyer and rewritten by Buck and Schlingmann, is based closely on the article as well as personal accounts from the McClamrock family.

First Song From Lim Giong + Alex Zhang Hungtai Out Now

Celebrated Taiwanese musician, DJ, composer and actor Lim Giong asks — what does it mean to be a pure person?

The question was originally posed in 2001 when Giong composed the score for Hou Hsiao Hsien’s film Millenium Mambo. In the iconic opening scene, Giong’s “A Pure Person” begins to play as actress Shu Qi glides through a tunnel.

19 years later, Giong is joined by five contemporary Taiwanese-based and diaspora musicians to reflect on the question. Through new melodic and philosophical interpretations of “A Pure Person,” the compilation contains the past, present and future of Taiwan.

Today, Alex Zhang Hungtai unveils his version. Formerly known as Dirty Beaches, Hungtai currently works as a composer for film soundtracks, along with acting in independent films.

A Pure Person features contributions from jazz pianist YuYing Hsu, Jieh, electronic duo Non-Confined Space and Taiwanese...

Launched at Cannes in May 2015, “Mountains May Depart” is an ambitious and more commercial project by Chinese director Jia Zhangke. An important and well-regarded member of the “Sixth Generation” of Chinese independent film-makers, Zhangke has consistently narrated with style and heart, friendship, love and family ties in post-Mao society. This movie is indeed a sum and an evolution of the themes that he has been exploring in his previous movies and unravels in a three-dimensional landscape of past, present and future.

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The tripartite narration comprises of three segments, set in 1999, 2014 and 2025. The first and longer part starts at the eve of the new Millennium in Fenyang (the director’s hometown) with a group of merry people dancing to the Pet Shop Boys’ song Go West, a not-so-subtle allusion to the spirit of that precise moment. It’s the break from an uncomfortable past, the dawn of a...

Beta Cinema has boarded “Nowhere Special” and will sell the Uberto Pasolini film internationally.

“The Full Monty” producer Pasolini directs from his own screenplay. Based on true events, the movie stars James Norton (“McMafia”) as, John, a window cleaner who has dedicated his life to bringing up his son on his own. When John is given months to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for the 3-year-old.

The picture is a U.K., Italy, Romania co-production. The shoot started in August.

Beta Cinema partnered with filmmaker and producer Pasolini on several previous projects, including his directorial debut, “Still Life,” which was well-received when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2013.

“’Still Life’ was a particularly joyful collaboration with many deserved awards and numerous sales and, most importantly, successful releases in many territories,” said Munich-based Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter. “We feel that ‘Nowhere Special’ has a similar tone,...

German outfit Beta re-teams with Pasolini after previously partnering on ‘Still Life’ and ’Machan’.

German powerhouse Beta Cinema has boarded world sales on Nowhere Special, the upcoming drama from director Uberto Pasolini.

Now shooting in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the film stars James Norton as thirty-five-year-old window cleaner John, who has dedicated his life to bringing up his son after the child’s mother left them soon after the birth. When John is given a few months to live, he attempts to find a new family for his child.

Multi-hyphenate Pasolini also wrote the screenplay and serves as the main producer on the project.

Oriental Intl. makes its FilMart sales debut with a line-up of six new titles and a library of 20 arthouse classics and shorts. The firm is the Hong Kong branch of Chinese state-run radio and TV broadcaster Cri-cibn’s smart TV division. The company has five employees but only one employee based permanently in Hong Kong. It is involved in film acquisition, distribution, co-production and the promotion of Chinese films abroad in festivals.

Cri-cibn, however, is an enormous operation with over 400 employees. It is part of the larger China Media Group, the country’s most prominent government-run media coalition, which also includes state broadcaster CCTV and China National Radio. Its smart TV department also acts as one of the country’s seven censors regulating what content makes it onto Chinese smart television platforms.

The four completed titles in its slate are drama “The Fall,” by director Zhou Lidong, documentary “Fading Mountains,...

The latest film from writer and director Jia Zhangke adds new insights to his previous titles like Still Life and A Touch of Sin. Again starring his wife Zhao Tao, Ash Is Purest White follows two outsiders for some twenty years as their fortunes flow and ebb in China’s new economy. Set partly in a gritty coal-mining town and partly on the Yangtze River at the moment when the then-under-contruction Three Gorges Dam was about to forever change the landscape, the film resembles the structure of Mountains May Depart in its use of three time periods and chapters. But, as Jia explains, what starts […]...

The latest film from writer and director Jia Zhangke adds new insights to his previous titles like Still Life and A Touch of Sin. Again starring his wife Zhao Tao, Ash Is Purest White follows two outsiders for some twenty years as their fortunes flow and ebb in China’s new economy. Set partly in a gritty coal-mining town and partly on the Yangtze River at the moment when the then-under-contruction Three Gorges Dam was about to forever change the landscape, the film resembles the structure of Mountains May Depart in its use of three time periods and chapters. But, as Jia explains, what starts […]...

Jia Zhangke’s new feature Ash Is Purest White, opening in the Us this Friday, March 15, marks the Chinese director’s ninth collaboration with actress Zhao Tao. It’s now been twenty years since the pair first began working together, on Jia’s landmark feature Platform (2000); in the interim they’ve forged what is arguably the most fruitful artistic partnership in contemporary cinema. When I wrote the following article for Fireflies #3 in early 2016, Jia’s most recent feature Mountains May Depart (2015) seemed like a culmination of his and Zhao’s work up to that point—and it was. But now we have Ash Is Purest White, which takes the years-spanning premise of its predecessor even further, and, because of the film’s meta-textual relationship to Jia’s own corpus, feels like a truly summative work. Ash Is Purest White is indeed a grand tour through the pair’s filmography, following Zhao’s resilient heroine Qiao,...

The official poster and first stills for Argentine horror flick Respira (Breathe) have been released.    Respira (Breathe) is the third film by Gabriel Grieco (Still Life (2015) and Hipersomnia (2017)). It was one of the seven films selected to participate in the "Upcoming Fantastic Films" section at Marché du Film (Cannes Film Festival) this year.    Leonardo gets a job as a fumigator pilot in the soybean fields and moves with his family to the countryside. When he starts working, he discovers a dark secret that will put him and his family in danger.     A couple of familiar names are attached this project. Nico and Luciano Onetti, the brothers behind their final Giallo flick Abrakadabra and psycho family horror flick What the Waters Left Behind...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

This article was produced as part of the Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring journalists at the Locarno Film Festival, a collaboration between the Locarno Film Festival, IndieWire and the Film Society of Lincoln Center with the support of Film Comment and the Swiss Alliance of Film Journalists.

While Ken Loach’s “I, Daniel Blake” was surprisingly awarded the Palme d’Or this May, many critics slammed the film (and Cannes judges) for its blunt portrayal of the disenfranchised worker. Few audiences dig being preached at, and Loach’s politics were seen to trump its storytelling. Regardless of how mawkish one may find Loach’s alleged swan song, his concern for a 59-year-old ex-carpenter from Newcastle battling to stay on welfare connected with the George Miller-led jury, highlighting the resonance of Loach’s timely social critique.

It should be no surprise then that the jobless were frequent fixtures at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival,...

Photo by Darren HughesMidway through A Touch of Sin (2013), Jia Zhang-ke’s violent and reality-inspired account of China’s seismic economic shifts, a massage parlor receptionist played by Zhao Tao is attacked suddenly by a non-descript businessman, who beats her with a fistful of renminbi while shouting, “Isn’t my money good enough? Not a prostitute? Who is then?” Jia documents the assault in a two-minute, unbroken closeup, whipping the camera from side to side with each blow. By the end, Zhao’s cheeks and neck are flush from exertion and physical contact, which is an interesting intrusion of documentary into such a fantastic scene. She reaches for a hidden knife and then, with a swift slash to the man’s chest, becomes transformed into a wuxia warrior. A Touch of Sin seems to have marked a shift in Jia’s filmmaking, away from the contemplative, docu-realist style that...

Read More: How 'Mountains May Depart' Director Jia Zhangke Juggled Past, Present and Future in His Latest Epic In the first talk of this year’s HBO Directors Dialogue Series, the 53rd New York Film Festival welcomed renowned Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke back for the seventh (count ‘em) time. The director's 17-year filmmaking career has consistently yielded significant cinematic expressions of a changing China, with titles such as "Still Life," "A Touch of Sin" and "The World." The filmmaker is currently on the Main Slate of the New York Film Festival with his latest ambitious feature, "Mountains May Depart." In addition to being a director at this year’s festival, Jia Zhangke is also the subject of a documentary by Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles, entitled "Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang," which is playing in the Spotlight on Documentary section. At the event, Jia Zhangke spoke with Dennis Lim, the director of programming.

South Korea’s 20th Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has announced iconic Taiwanese actress and filmmaker Sylvia Chang will lead this year’s New Currents jury.

The Golden Bear-nominated 20 30 40, which Chang directed and acted in, screened in Busan’s A Window on Asian Cinema section in 2004.

She has also helped discover and produce for new directing talents who previously included Ann Hui and Edward Yang.

Joining her on the jury: Indian director Anurag Kashyap, whose critically-acclaimed innovative works include Black Friday, Dev.D and Gangs of Wasseypur I & II; German actress Nastassja Kinski, whose films include Roman Polanski’s Tess and Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas; Korean director Kim Tae-yong, whose films include Memento Mori, Family Ties and Late Autumn; and Village Voice chief film critic Stephanie Zacharek.

The jury will award $30,000 each to two films in the competition for new Asian directors.

Biff will run Oct 1-10 with the Asian Film Market running Oct 3-6 this year.

Asian...

Zabaltegi strand of the festival will feature 24 titles.Scroll down for full list

The 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) has unveiled the features that will comprise its Zabaltegi programme, including Spanish premieres of new films from Laurie Anderson, Eric Khoo, Corneliu Porumboiu, Walter Salles and Alexander Sokurov.

The non-competitive strand includes features, documentaries, animation and shorts, and the first screening of all films in the section will run at the Tabakalera centre for contemporary culture and creation, the hub of Zabaltegi activities from this year.

Titles in the section that played at this year’s Cannes include Porumboiu’s black comedy The Treasure, which won the Un Certain Regard Talent Prize; Tambutti documentary Beyond My Grandfather Allende, winner of the L’Oeil d’Or award for best documentary; and Magnus Von Horn’s debut The Here After, which played in Directors’ Fornight.

Films that will first be seen at Venice (Sept 2-12) include Francofonia, from Russian...

Exclusive: Festival selects trio to judge first competitive section, aimed at ‘auteur films’; Cameron Bailey talks strand.

The Toronto International Film Festival (September 10-20) has selected directors Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), Claire Denis (Beau Travail) and Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness) as the jury for its new auteur-focused programme Platform, the festival’s first competitive strand.

Speaking exclusively to Screen, Cameron Bailey, artistic director of Toronto International Film Festival, said of the inaugural jury: “For me this is a dream team. Platform is named in part after Zhang Ke’s film of the same name, it’s an inspiration for the kind of cinema that we wanted to highlight.”

“Denis has been at our festival many times before with her films, she’s also worked with our talent lab,” he continued. “We highly admire her cinema and her cinematic mind, the way she thinks about film.”

“Holland has worked through so many different generations and styles...

Exclusive: Festival selects trio to judge first competitive section, aimed at ‘auteur films’; Cameron Bailey talks strand.

The Toronto International Film Festival (September 10-20) has selected directors Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin), Claire Denis (Beau Travail) and Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness) as the jury for its new auteur-focused programme Platform, the festival’s first competitive strand.

Speaking exclusively to Screen, Cameron Bailey, artistic director of Toronto International Film Festival, said of the inaugural jury: “For me this is a dream team. Platform is named in part after Zhang Ke’s film of the same name, it’s an inspiration for the kind of cinema that we wanted to highlight.”

“Denis has been at our festival many times before with her films, she’s also worked with our talent lab,” he continued. “We highly admire her cinema and her cinematic mind, the way she thinks about film.”

“Holland has worked through so many different generations and styles...

The entwined subjects of time passing and landscapes changing have always been synonymous with the work of Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke; his latest feature, Mountains May Depart, expands these ideas to a point that exists beyond any previously established horizon. The film may well be Jia’s most ambitious to date, in this respect: it spans three decades in all, touching down in 1999, 2014 and 2025, so essentially covering our past, present and future. As with all of Jia’s work, location here plays an integral role – like Platform and Pick Pocket, the narrative revolves around the director’s hometown of Fenyang – with scenes unfolding among local festivities on packed streets, or upon the scorched earth of a local coal mine that recalls similar shots in Barbara Loden’s Wanda. And just as we witnessed the gradual construction of the Yangtze River’s Three Gorges Dam (and inevitable destruction of the...

This month on the Newsstand, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee and Scott Nye to discuss the September 2015 Criterion Collection line-up, as well as the latest in Criterion rumors, news, packaging, and more.

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Shownotes Topics The September Criterion Line-up (and the delayed announcement) Orson Welles Updates: Issa Clubb at the University Of Michigan, Chimes At Midnight, It’s All True, The Immortal Story, Othello New titles rumored: In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks), The Decalogue, The Graduate, Valley Of The Dolls / Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Janus Films: A Poem Is A Naked Person theatrical run, poster, trailer, etc. Last month’s E-mail newsletter drawing: empty coat (Young And Innocent?) The Apu Trilogy poster is now available from the Criterion store Episode Links The September Criterion Collection line-up … Blind Chance (1981) Gérard DuBois Breaker Morant (1980) Mister Johnson (1990) Sean Phillips.

Our weekly feature in which a writer answers the question: if you could force your friends at gunpoint to watch one movie or TV show, what would it be? David Lean is best known for directing such big-screen epics as "Bridge on the River Kwai," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago," but he first came to the attention of American audiences with the small-scale 1945 romantic drama "Brief Encounter," which charts the doomed love affair between two restless Brits (Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard) who are both married with children yet feel stifled by their dry middle-class existences. The film is an adaptation of Noel Coward's one-act play "Still Life," which some contemporary critics suggest was a coded representation of the "forbidden love" Coward experienced as a closeted gay man. The play and Lean's film version could certainly could be construed that way, but even taken straight (no pun intended...

You may not have heard of Chinese actress Zhao Tao, but chances are you will during the awards ceremony at the end of this year's Cannes Film Festival. Tuesday night, the movie she starred in, Mountains May Depart, directed by her husband and longtime collaborator Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin, Still Life), got a seven-minute standing ovation. And the loudest cheers and applause came for Zhao — who had tears streaming down her face. More and more, she's looking like a likely spoiler for the Best Actress race. Before the festival started, the smart money was on Cate Blanchett or Marion Cotillard. In Todd Haynes's Carol, Blanchett plays a chic ’50s divorcée defying repressed times by seducing Rooney Mara's much younger shopgirl. Cotillard plays none other than Lady Macbeth opposite Michael Fassbender. Harvey Weinstein is distributing both of them, so you know how your Oscar race is looking.

China is becoming ever-more influential on world cinema. Tentpoles now frequently make as much money there as they do in the U.S, which has led to blockbusters being tooled and aimed specifically towards those audiences. It seems unlikely that this new cultural exchange will continue to be a one-way relationship, and it's only a matter of time before a Chinese filmmaker becomes a household name. It's unlikely to be Jia Zhangke, but he's already a very familiar figure among cinephiles. The 45-year-old is widely seen as the best Chinese filmmaker of his generation, having won the Golden Lion at Venice for "Still Life" in 2006, and he has continued to attract attention ever since, most notably with 2013's "A Touch Of Sin" which picked up the screenwriting prize at Cannes that year. He's back in competition at the festival this year with "Mountains May Depart," his most ambitious effort yet.

Jia Zhangke's Mountains May Depart "addresses a host of pet themes through a less quirky, stylized lens than 2013’s gruesomely violent A Touch of Sin or 2006’s Still Life," finds Variety's Scott Foundas. "But if Mountains feels a touch schematic at times, and awkward in its third-act English-language scenes, the cumulative impact is still enormously touching, highlighted by Jia’s rapturous image-making and a luminous central performance by the director’s regular muse (and wife), Zhao Tao." We've got a clip and we're gathering reviews as they come in from Cannes. » - David Hudson...

Jia Zhangke's Mountains May Depart "addresses a host of pet themes through a less quirky, stylized lens than 2013’s gruesomely violent A Touch of Sin or 2006’s Still Life," finds Variety's Scott Foundas. "But if Mountains feels a touch schematic at times, and awkward in its third-act English-language scenes, the cumulative impact is still enormously touching, highlighted by Jia’s rapturous image-making and a luminous central performance by the director’s regular muse (and wife), Zhao Tao." We've got a clip and we're gathering reviews as they come in from Cannes. » - David Hudson...

Exclusive: The former Pretty Pictures acquisitions chief heads to the Croisette with her freshly minted consultancy and a prestige stable of clients and films.

Featurette will advise on acquisitions, co-productions and strategic planning as it aims to provide a one-stop shop to clients in what is becoming a rapidly evolving landscape.

Matits is currently working with Eric Le Bot’s Version Originale and Pim Hermeling’s September Film, formerly known as Wild Bunch Benelux.

“We are delighted that we can rely on Aranka’s expertise, taste and network to tap into the many more opportunities the market has to offer,” said Eric Le Bot.

Matits, whose career credits include working in sales at THINKFilm International, is gearing up her new venture to work with projects at any stage of production and a range of clients.

“The diversification of both content and distribution channels will open opportunities for new acquisitions strategies,” said Matits...

As the I for Iran series has taken the Tiff Lightbox by storm, with several sold out screenings and great press coverage, Sound on Sight has taken a moment to ask some questions on what has brought the series to Toronto and the greater impacts of Iranian cinema are within an increasingly globalized world.

Brad Deane, who is the Senior Manager, Film Programmes at Tiff, and the programmer for the series at Tiff Cinematheque.

Amir Soltani, a Toronto-based film critic and contributor to The Film Experience and Movie Mezzanine, who also writes and co-hosts a podcast about Iranian films at Hello Cinema. Amir Soltani will be introducing Hamoun, Dariush Mehrjui’s incisive, ironic, and finally dreamlike study of middle-class Iranian life, on Saturday, March 28 at 3:45pm.

Check out the rest of the series schedule Here

What has brought the I for Iran series from Fribourg International Film Festival to Toronto?...

He might equally feel at home on the Lido, but it is on the Croisette where the Sixth Generation Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke will take a bow. Annually presented on the opening day of Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, the filmmaker behind seminal films Unknown Pleasures (2002), The World (2004), Still Life (2006) and we’ll throw in 2013′s A Touch of Sin for good measure, will be presenting a masterclass for 2000′s the Platform (Thursday May 14th at Théâtre Croisette – Jw Marriott). Zhangke is currently in prep mode with Mountains May Depart (#10 on our Most Anticipated list) which is looking less of a 2015/possible Venice title and more like a 2016 release.

The Carrosse d’Or Prize has been awarded since 2002 by the filmmakers of the Srf to honor one of their own during Cannes Film Festival — previous winners include Cannes Film Fest royalty in Jim Jarmusch (2008), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2012) and last year was awarded...

Kicking off the I for Iran: A History of Iranian Cinema by Its Creators on March 5th is a short film program introduced by Roya Akbari, an actress from Kiarostami’s acclaimed film Ten. A filmmaker in her own right, her poetic short Only Image Remains headlines the day’s programming and initiates a month long series on Iranian cinema. Over the course of the month a variety of films that have helped define Iranian cinema will be screened, many of which are rarely seen due to rigorous domestic censorship and poor international distribution.

The series originated last year during the Fribourg International Film Festival 2014 after Artistic Director Thierry Jobin invited 14 contemporary Iranian filmmakers including Asghar Farhadi, Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof , and Mohsen Makhmalbaf to select their favourite films from the entire history of Iranian cinema. Fribourg sought to present as many of these films as possible at the festival,...

A couple kisses on a hill next to a billowing smokestack. A child draws a sun on a dusty car windshield.

Celebrated Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke recently released Smog Journeys, a short film sponsored by Greenpeace East Asia that’s meant to mobilize the Chinese people and government to up the anti on the nation’s “war on pollution.”

“I hoped to promote people’s awareness of self-protection, and protection of the environment, and make more people start to realize on their own what is going on around them,” Jia said in a video interview with Greenpeace East Asia. “Besides that, I also sensed something poetic in this—that the power of life remains in people even in horrible environments.”

Jia’s films (A Touch of Sin, Still Life) have won various awards on the international film festival circuit, including at Venice and Cannes. But in a country where the...

★★★★☆ In 1998, Walter Salles brought Central Station (1998) to the Berlinale and came home with the Golden Bear. It was here that Salles met Jia Zhangke, a then relatively unknown Chinese director premièring his debut film Xiao Wu (1997). Salles, like many others, was enthralled by Jia's singular style and unique brand of social realism. As the cultural landscape has morphed and buckled under the weight of globalisation, films such as The World (2004), Still Life (2006) and most recently A Touch of Sin (2013) have increasingly become one of the few ways to witness the real China. Now, Salles returns to the Berlinale this year to premiere his tribute to the critically revered sixth generation director.

Helmed by the nephew of [the late, great] Luchino Visconti, Still Life is a cutting examination of loss, loneliness and alienation in modern society. As the endless cans of tuna and toast suggest, John has no one; essentially, he is not all that different from the unclaimable bodies that he ushers into the earth. Lonely and forgotten, John's fate seems [im]practically predetermined. John spends so much time attempting to connect with the kin of his unclaimed deceased that he makes no attempt to form his own interpersonal relationships. Regardless, the conclusion of Still Life is a tough one to swallow without an endless stream of tears.

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Not wishing to start off on a total downer, let us say that for much of its running time, “Still Life” is just about bearable. Now that’s partly because, catching up with the four-time Venice award-winner [drops to knees, bellows “Why?” at the heavens] at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, we started off well-disposed toward it. Not only did the Uberto Pasolini film (not to be confused with the 2006 Jia Zhang-ke film of the same name which also won at Venice) trail those laurels, but lead Eddie Marsan had just picked up Best Actor in a British Film in Edinburgh, and anyway, Marsan is one of our very favorite character actors, so the chance to see him take on such an inarguably central role was enticing. But only too soon the film wore our goodwill down to a tiny nub, with...

Mountains May Depart

Director: Jia Zhangke // Writer: Jia Zhangke

A preeminent figure in the Sixth Generation movement of Chinese cinema, Jia Zhangke is arguably one of the most renowned auteurs working in cinema today. Famously independently producing his early works, such as Pick Pocket (1997), Platform (2000) and Unknown Pleasures (2002), which were considered underground films, Zhangke was given unprecedented approval for his 2004 film The World (2004), which found the director’s domestic and international renown expand, leading to one of his most celebrated titles, 2006′s Still Life, which took home the Golden Lion at Venice. His next film, 2008′s 24 City was less well received, and Zhangke focused on documentary projects (including the 2010 title I Wish I Knew which premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard). Zhangke saw his most notable acclaim yet with 2013′s A Touch of Sin, which took home Best Screenplay at Cannes, depicting four tales of violence ripped from modern day headlines.

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week […]

The post This Week In Trailers: Still Life, Appropriate Behavior, Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, [Rec] 4: Apocalypse, The Great Museum, appeared first on /Film.

Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs The Museum of Modern Art Through February 8, 2015

In the early months of 1945, Matisse wrote to his daughter that he had gone as far as he could with painting in oil, intending instead to focus his efforts on a large-scale decorative project using the cut-out paper technique he had employed to make sketches and maquettes for his mural and theater projects in the early Thirties ("Red Dancer" [1937-38], and "Two Dancers" [1937–38] for Diaghilev's Rouge et Noir). "Painting seems to be finished for me for now… I'm for decoration -- there I give myself everything I can. I put into it all the efforts of my life." Although he had already been employing this technique for years as an adjunct to his paintings, it was not until the mid-Forties that he turned almost exclusively to cut paper as his primary medium, introducing a radically new operation that came to be called a cut-out.

by Seth Metoyer

It's that time of year again and this years Mile High Horror Film Festival is going to bring it!

Check out the full horror film feature film lineup below.

From The Press Release:

The Mile High Horror Film Festival returns to celebrate five strong years with our best film lineup yet.

This year, the festival expands to include 80 independent horror films from 18 different countries. From slasher maniacs to supernatural spirits, this year’s film lineup is sure to make your skin crawl.

We have several special events lined up that pay homage to the genre: a 60th anniversary presentation of Creature From The Black Lagoon in 3D with actress Julie Adams in person, a 40th anniversary presentation of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with the original 'Leatherface,' Gunnar Hansen in person, Candyman with horror icon Tony Todd in person, and a 15-year anniversary reunion for The Blair Witch Project...

At the Edinburgh International Film Festival this year among the rarest offerings were Iranian films from the earliest days of that country's film industry. Drama The Cow (1969) and short documentary The House is Black (1962) have acquired some fame recently, partially in thanks to the efforts of Mark Cousins in A Story of Film, but other entries have scarcely been seen outside of their native land.

Still Life (1974) seemed to stretch the concept of “slow cinema” to snapping point at times, but some moments broke through the boredom barrier and achieved a meditative stillness or a surprising durational comedy through offscreen sound, deadpan performance (from what I take to be a non-professional cast) and sheer dogged persistence. Director Sohrab Shahid Saless, an important early figure in Iranian film, likes to linger and never moves the camera, and thus has won comparisons with Ozu and Bresson which don’t make much sense...

Be warned: The rhythm is gonna get you.

Well, not to-night but next fall, when the Gloria Estefan bio-musical On Your Feet! hits Broadway. The production colors the life and rise-up of the seven-time Grammy winner/Miami Sound Machine frontwoman, as well as the success of her longtime husband and musician/producer Emilio—who has no less than 19 (!) Grammys to his name—on their road to stardom.

Even better: If you think you got the means to let the music move your feet, the production is holding an open casting search called “Reach Gloria” in Miami and NYC this September,...

Fantastic Fest 2014 is still a little over six weeks away, but the Austin-based festival just released its first wave of films. Some notable selections among this group include The Babadook, a horror film that received critical acclaim at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and The ABC’s of Death 2, a sequel to the divisive 2013 anthology. Here is a full list of the first wave:

The ABC’s of Death 2

Alleluia

The Babadook

Bro’s Before Ho’s

Closer to God

Danger 5 – Series 2

High Five (Relocos Y Repasados)

Horsehead (Fievre)

The Incident (El Incidente)

Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (Jacky Au Royaume Des Femmes)

Kung Fu Elliot

Local God (Dios Local)

The Man in the Orange Jacket

Norway (Norviyia)

Still Life (Naturaleza Muerta)

Tombville

Tommy (TommyMer)

Tusk

V/H/S Viral

Wyrmwood

For more information about the films and the festival, visit http://fantasticfest.com.

The post Fantastic...

We’re nearing September, which means we’re getting close to Alamo Drafthouse’s 10th annual Fantastic Fest. The film festival held in Austin, Texas is one of the most interesting and exciting fests around. Catering to hardcore cinephiles with a little bit of an interest in the strange, Fantastic Fest features a bevy of some of the best new horror films, indie thrillers, dark comedies, and low-budget sci-fi. Last year some of the best films included at the fest were Afflicted, Borgman, Jodorowsky’s Dune, The Sacrament, Blue Ruin, Grand Piano, We Are What We Are, A Field in England, The Congress, and Big Bad Wolves. In 2011 Fantastic Fest was one of the places to see Adam Wingard’s amazing You’re Next before it was shelved until it’s official release just last year.

Now the initial lineup for the 2014 festival has been announced and as always it looks very promising.

Our favorite film festival in the world is nigh. Later next month, Austin, Texas will host hundreds of genre fans for Fantastic Fest 2014!! We have the full list which includes the Us Premiere of Tusk as well as the World Premieres of ABCs of Death 2 and Horsehead. These won’t be all the films that will play the 10th anniversary of the film festival but it would be enough if it was. Look forward to more announcement waves of programming and don’t forget to follow up with our predictions that we made last week. I have added trailers above the film titles, if available. If the trailer is not available, there will be a still above the title.

From the Press Release

Fantastic Fest Celebrates 10 Years Of Chaos And Destruction With Us Premiere Of Kevin Smith’S “Tusk”, Leonard Maltin, The Meltdown With Jonah And Kumail And “ABCs Of Death 2...

A podcaster is slowly turned into a walrus, skaters are hunted by a cult, and 26 different ways to die are revealed. Yes, Fantastic Fest is adding some horror to their 10th anniversary this September. The first wave of programming for the festival has been announced and Kevin Smith’s Tusk will be screened, as well as the horror anthologies V/H/S Viral and ABCs of Death 2.

Fantastic Fest will open with the Us premiere of Tusk and will later feature the Us premiere of V/H/S Viral. ABCs of Death 2 will make its world debut at the festival taking place September 18th-25th in Austin, Texas. We have a press release with more details and the first wave’s full listing of films, as well as the festival’s official Mondo poster:

Austin, TX – Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - “Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to...

It's that time of year again, isn't it? There is no greater party on Earth for fans of genre films than Austin's annual Fantastic Fest, and ten years in, they just keep making it better. "In 2014, we are taking no prisoners. This festival is going to set new boundaries of decadence, destruction and debauchery." - Tim League As much as I love events like Cannes, Sundance, or Toronto, I can't imagine the directors of those festivals ever issuing that statement. The scary thing is that Tim League isn't kidding. Fantastic Fest is special because it's much more than just movies being screened. Every day is packed with events that elevate the entire festival, and with this year taking place at the new Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar, complete with the brand-new Highball, it feels like it's going to be a blow-out the likes of which even the most avid Fantastic...

Fantastic Fest 2014 kicks off September 18th, and the first wave of programming has been announced. With films like Tusk, V/H/S Viral, The Babadook, and ABC's of Death 2 on the menu, it's one not to miss!

From the Press Release:

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the first wave of events, special guests, and film programming for Fantastic Fest 2014, taking place September 18-25 in Austin, Texas, at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.

Fantastic Fest is thrilled to open the fest with the Us Premiere of Kevin Smith's dark horror-comedy Tusk. Smith will be in attendance for a red carpet gala screening and Q&A.

Immediately following Tusk, the world premiere of ABCs Of Death 2 will unveil 26 devilishly diabolical tales at Fantastic Fest with multiple directors from the horror anthology sequel in attendance, including Alejandro Brugués, Robert Boocheck, Lancelot Imasuen, E.L. Katz,...

The Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest has a stellar rep around these parts, and it’s not hard to see why when you consider some of the indie titles that have played there in recent years. Last year alone saw Coherence, Grand Piano and Septic Man make their world premieres, and films like Blue Ruin, Afflicted, Witching & Bitching, The Sacrament and Borgman all land in the U.S. for the first time.

This year doesn’t look to be any different, with a terrific lineup of indie titles including boatloads of promising horror. We’ve got sequels like The ABCs of Death 2 and V/H/S Viral, and originals like Kevin Smith’s anticipated Tusk and The Babadook. Keep in mind this is only the first wave of film announcements for Fantastic Fest 2014 – we’ll keep you posted as more titles are confirmed for the festival, which runs in Austin,...

Not wishing to start off on a total downer, let us say that for much of its running time, “Still Life” is just about bearable. Now that’s partly because, catching up with the four-time Venice award-winner [drops to knees, bellows “Why?” at the heavens] at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, we had started off well-disposed toward it. Not only did the Uberto Pasolini film (not to be confused with the 2006 Jia Zhang-ke film of the same name which also won at Venice) trail those laurels, but lead Eddie Marsan had just picked up Best Actor in a British Film in Edinburgh, and anyway, Marsan is one of our very favorite character actors, so the chance to see him take on such an inarguably central role was enticing. But only too soon the film wore our goodwill down to a tiny nub, with maudlin moment piling on mawkish turn, drenched in a minor-key Rachel Portman score...

"Hieroglyph"! Ordered direct-to-series last October and still scheduled for midseason as of May, the ancient Egyptian adventure-drama "Hieroglyph" will not be moving forward, Fox sources confirm to HitFix. As a result, we'll never find out what those vampire-like creatures were from the "Hieroglyph" trailer, much less what "Hieroglyph" was actually about. And, as a result, Firewall & Iceberg has lost one of its most resilient jokes even before we figured out what the joke even was. "Hieroglyph"! Back in October, Fox said that, "Set in ancient Egypt, where fantasy and reality intertwined, 'Hieroglyph' follows a notorious thief who is plucked from prison to serve the Pharoah, navigating palace intrigue, seductive concubines, criminal underbellies and even a few divine sorcerers." Created by Travis Beacham, "Hieroglyph" was given a 13-episode order as a key piece of Fox's "death to pilot season" strategy. As was the case with "Terra Nova" a few years back,...