2011 Cannes (Probable) Selection

With ONLY 14 days to the Paris press conference at which the Cannes official selection will be announced and because all the fuzz and buzz about the possible contenders decided to do a list here (especially for my photographer friend) with some of the movies that most likely could end up being part of the Selection either In or Out of competition.

From France
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Poulet aux Prunes (Chicken with Plums), France and Germany (wow! Must be seen, of course)
Christophe Honore’s Les bien-aimés (The Beloved), France (Ludivine Sagnier, Catherine Denueve, Louis Garrel… must be seen!)
Mia Hanse Løve’s Un Amour de Jeunesse (Goodbye First Love), France and Germany
Dominik Moll’s The Monk, Spain and France (Vincent Cassel, Sergi Lopez, hmm, yes must be seen)
Bruno Dumont’s Hors Satan (aka L’Empire), France
Mathieu Kassovitz’s L'Ordre et la Morale (Rebellion), France
Pierre Schoeller’s L'exercice de l'État (The Excersice of State), France

From Europe/Asia
Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany and Italy (of course must be seen)
Dardene Bros Le Gamin au vélo (The Kid With a Bike), Belgium, France and Italy (with Cecile de France, must be seen)
Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), Italy and France (yes will watch)
Paolo Sorrentino This Must Be the Place, Italy, France and Ireland (with Sean Penn??? Hmm, will watch)
Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, Finland, France and Germany (of course must be seen)
Ruben Östlund’s Play, Sweden (of course must be seen)
Ulrich Seidl’s Paradies, Germany, France and Austria
Chantal Akerman’s La folie Almayer (Almayer’s Folly), France and Belgium (interesting)
Radu Mihaileanu’s La Source des Femmes (The Source), Belgium, Italy and France
Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, UK
Yorgos Lanthimos Alps, Greece (I know didn’t liked Dogtooth, but of course will watch his next)
Andrei Zvyagintsev’s Elena, Russia (wonder if will be ready but OF COURSE is must be seen for me)
Alexandr Sokurov’s Faust, Russia (the fourth and last film about corruption, of course: must be seen)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Bir Zamanlar Anadolu (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia), Turkey (must be seen for me)
Brillante Mendoza’s Captured, France and Philippines (What??? With Isabelle Huppert!!! Must be seen)
Eric Khoo’s Tatsumi, Singapore and Japan (Very interesting animation)
Nadine Labaki’s Wo Hallah La Wen? (Where Do We Go Now?), Lebanon (release date May 2011, hmm that’s Cannes, isn’t? of course, must be seen for me – follow up to Caramel…)

From the Americas
Carlos Reygadas’s Post Tenebras Lux (After Dark), Mexico and France (“Dying” to watch, but wonder if will be ready for Cannes…)
Juan Solanas’s Upside Down, Canada and France (very interesting posters… lol!)
Gus Van Sant’s Restless, USA (will watch)
Terrence Malick Tree of Life, USA (will watch)

Some still consider that Almodovar’s La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I live In) could make it, but release date is set for September 2, 2011 in Spain, so who knows if will make it to Cannes. Of course is must be seen for me and yes, “dying” to watch it. If you feel like reading about film and Cannes check article here available only in Spanish; says that film is NOT ready for Cannes.

No matter if none, some or many of the above films make it to the selection what it’s a fact is that 2011 will bring movies by excellent directors, many of my dearest favorites, so it’s going to be one of those years when the “wait” will be unbearable. Sigh.

5th Gopo Awards Winners

Exactly the day of my birthday organizers had their award ceremony and in *BLUE are some of the winners. If you wish to check winners in all categories go here available in English.

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2/22/11
Yesterday organizers announced the nominations for the annual awards and here they are.

Best Film
Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceauşescu (The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu), Andrei Ujică, Romania
*Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle), Florin Şerban, Romania, Sweden and Germany
Marţi, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas), Radu Muntean, Romania
Medalia de onoare (Medal of Honor), Peter Călin Netzer, Romania and Germany
Morgen, Marian Crişan, Romania, Hungary and France

Best Debut Film
*Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle), Florin Şerban, Romania, Sweden and Germany
Felicia, înainte de tóate (First of All, Felicia), Răzvan Rădulescu and Melissa de Raaf, Romania and Croatia
Morgen, Marian Crişan, Romania, Hungary and France

Best Director
Peter Călin Netzer for Medalia de onoare (Medal of Honor)
*Florin Şerban for Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle)
Marian Crişan for Morgen
Radu Muntean for Marţi, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas)
Răzvan Rădulescu and Melissa de Raaf for Felicia, înainte de tóate (First of All, Felicia), Romania and Croatia

Best Actress
Ada Condeescu in Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle)
Adriana Trandafir in Europolis, Corneliu Gheorghita, Romania and France
Maria Popistasu in Marţi, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas)
*Mirela Oprisor in Marţi, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas)
Ozana Oancea in Felicia, înainte de tóate (First of All, Felicia)

Best Actor
Andras Hathazi in Morgen
George Pistereanu in Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle)
Mimi Branescu in Marţi, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas)
*Victor Rebengiuc in Medalia de onoare (Medal of Honor)
Yilmaz Yalcin in Morgen

To check nominees in all categories go here available only in Romanian. If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle is the film with more nominations, a record number: 13; followed by Morgen with 11, Tuesday, After Christmas with 10 and with 7 each First of All Felicia, Medal of Honor and Kino Caravan by Titus Muntean.

Now becomes very important to soon have my own Romanian cinema cycle with many, if not all, of the above movies as awards ceremony will be on March 28 and will be streamed live at awards official site and the ProCinema site as well as will be broadcast live in TV of ProCinema and ProTV International.

Celda 211

Impressive movie by director Daniel Monzón, this Spanish/French co-production has won several awards including several Goya awards, and I can promise it will keep you interested from beginning to end. 

What does it take to turn you from a law-abiding citizen into a murderer?

How far would you go to protect yourself and those you love?

How do you react when your life is in danger and you lose all that is precious to you?

Juan Oliver has a new job as a prison officer and reports to work a day early determined to cause a good impression. He is filled with hope and happiness as he kisses his pregnant wife, Elena, goodbye. During his tour of the prison an accident occurs and he ends up in cell 211 during a riot; trying to survive, he decides to convince the others that he is also a prisoner. He ends up by establishing a deep connection with the prison leader, Malamadre.

The movie is served by an excellent cast, with special relevance to the amazing Luis Tosar and and also Alberto Ammann.

The story unfolds offering you a deep analysis of human psyche without been boring or pretentious. If you think you have seen enough movies about inmates and prisons, you are wrong.

As so many times happens, soon we realize that a criminal is not necessarily striped of a heart or feelings, and that the “good guys” (the guards) are not always nice people.

I warn right now it does not offer a happy ending, nor it should. It is as real life is, harsh and tender, unpredictable and multi-layered.

One of the best movies I’ve seen this year.

Green light!

Watch trailer @MOC

5th Asian Film Awards Winners

Last night award winners were announced and here they are in *BLUE for some categories. To check winners in all categories go here.

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1/21/11
Today AFA announced the nominations for these awards and Jury President this year is none other than renowned writer, director, producer and art connoisseur, Yonfan. As we know awards ceremony will be within the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival and will take place on March 21st. These are the nominations for some of the 14 categories.

Best Film
唐山大地震 Tangshan dadizhen (Aftershock), Feng Xiaogang, China
告白 Kokuhaku (Confessions), Tetsuya Makashima, Japan
让子弹飞 Let The Bullets Fly, Wen Jiang, China
पीपली [लाइव] Peepli [Live] (Peepli Live), Anusha Rizvi and Mahmood Farooqui, India
시 Shi (Poetry), Lee Chang-dong, South Korea
*ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ Loong Boonmee raleuk chat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand

Best Director
Feng Xiaogang for 唐山大地震 Tangshan dadizhen (Aftershock), China
Jiang Wen for 让子弹飞 Let The Bullets Fly, China
*Lee Chang-dong for 시 Shi (Poetry), South Korea
Miike Takashi for 十三人の刺客 Juusan-nin no shikaku (13 Assassins), Japan
Na Hong-jin for 황해 Hwang Hae (The Yellow Sea), South Korea
Nakashima Tetsuya for 告白 Kokuhaku (Confessions), Japan

Best Actress
Jeon Do-yeon in 하녀 Hanyeo (The Housemaid), Im Sang-soo, South Korea
Kikuchi Rinko in ノルウェイの森 Noruwei no mori (Norwegian Wood), Japan
Matsu Takako in 告白 Kokuhaku (Confessions), Tetsuya Makashima, Japan
*Xu Fan in 唐山大地震 Tangshan dadizhen (Aftershock), Feng Xiaogang, China
Michelle Yeoh in 剑雨 Jianyu (Reign of Assassins), China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Best Actor
Chow Yun-fat in 让子弹飞 Let The Bullets Fly, Jian Wen, China
Ge You in 赵氏孤儿 Sacrifice, Chen Kaige, China
*Ha Jung-woo in 황해 Hwang Hae (The Yellow Sea), Na Hong-jin, South Korea
Ethan Ruan Jin-Tian in 艋舺 Báng-kah (Monga), Doze Niu, Taiwan
Yakusho Koji in 十三人の刺客 Juusan-nin no shikaku (13 Assassins), Miike Takashi, Japan

Best Newcomer
*Mark Chao You-Ting in 艋舺 Báng-kah (Monga), Doze Niu, Taiwan
Aarif Lee in 歲月神偷 Sui yuet san tau (Echoes of the Rainbow),Alex Law, Hong Kong
Omkar Das Manikpuri in पीपली [लाइव] Peepli [Live] (Peepli Live), Anusha Rizvi and Mahmood Farooqui, India
T.O.P. in 포화속으로 Pohwa Sokeuro (71: Into The Fire), John H. Lee, South Korea
Zhou Dongyu in 山楂树之恋 Shan zha shu zhi lian (Under The Hawthorn Tree), Yimou Zhang, China

To check nominees in other categories please go here. Have seen some of these movies, but there are a few that been doubting watching but now will give them a try; then of course I’m dying to watch Confessions, even when story must be hard to watch, but I also know that Japanese cinema does extraordinary narrative and visuals that make film a lot easier to watch and enjoy.  From those that haven't watch there are too many war movies, but definitively will watch Let The Bullets Fly that's a comedy (!) Chinese style of course.

15th Sofia International Film Festival Awards Winners

The main program of the fest ended on March 13th with a gala screening of Aleksei Uchitel’s КРАЙ (The Edge); to check films in the festival please go here.

International Competition

Grand Prix for Best Film: ПОДСЛОН Podslon (Shelter), Dragomir Sholev, Bulgaria
Jury Special Award: Kar Beyaz (White as Snow), Selim Güneş, Turkey

Best Director: João Nuno Pinto for America, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Russia

FIPRESCI Award: Sound of Noise, Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson, Sweden, Denmark and France

To check winners in all categories go here.

2011 Miami International Film Festival Award Winners

From March 4 to 13 the fest was held in Miami and to check films in competition please go here. Yesterday they had the closing ceremony and here are some of the award winners.

Knight Foundation Ibero-American Competition Grand Jury Prize: Las Marimbas del Infierno (Marimbas From Hell), Julio Hernández Cordón, Guatemala, France and Mexico
Honorable Mention: La Mitad de Oscar (Half of Oscar), Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain and Cuba

Knight Foundation World Competition Grand Jury Prize: Gang de qin (The Pinao in a Factory), Zhang Meng, China
Honorable Mention: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry, USA

To check all awards winners go here.

2010 German Film Critics Association Award Winners

A while back the association announced the winners and here they are in *BLUE; to check winners in all categories go here, available only in German.

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1/4/11
Yesterday the group announced the nominations and Feo Adalag’s fantastic Die Fremde (When We Leave) received seven nominations. These are the nominees.

Best Film
Boxhagener Platz, Matti Geschonneck
Das letzte Schweigen (The Silence), Baran bo Odar
*Die Fremde (When We Leave), Feo Aladag
Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer
Goethe!, Philipp Stölzl
Habermann, Juraj Herz
Vincent will meer (Vincent Wants to Sea), Ralf Huettner
Wir sind die Nacht (We Are the Night), Dennis Gansel

Best Debut Film
Die Entbehrlichen (The Dispensables), Andreas Arnstedt
*Die Fremde (When We Leave), Feo Aladag
Draußen am See (Loosing Balance aka What You Don’t See)), Feliz Fuchssteiner
Parkour, Marc Rensing
Schwekraft, Maximilian Erlenwein

Best Actress
Bernadette Heerwagen in Die kommenden Tage (The Coming Days), Lars Kraume
(tie)*Sibel Kekilli in Die Fremde (When We Leave), Feo Aladag
Julia Koschitz in Der letzte schöne Herbsttag, Ralf Westhoff
(tie)*Sophie Rois in Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer
Katrin Saß in Das letzte Schweigen (The Silence), Baran bo Odar

Best Actor
August Diehl in Die kommenden Tage (The Coming Days), Lars Kraume
Fabian Hinrichs in Schwerkraft, Maximilian Erlenwein
Andreas Lust in Der Räuber (The Robber), Benjamin Heisenberg
Sebastian Schipper in Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer
*Devid Striesow in Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer

To check nominees in other categories go here available only in German. Winners will be announced next month during the 2011 Berlinale.

There are some films that are known to the blog and definitively nominees are a good source for German films to watch as some stories are very interesting; hope I’ll be able to watch a few before the Berlinale.

Camera testing, the press conference, Berandal and sometimes this happens...

WARNING:                    If you haven't already seen MERANTAU, please don't read the section
                       on BERANDAL as it contains some spoilers for the finale of the film.

Late updates seem to be becoming something of a regular feature on this blog but as we are now 9 days away from DAY ONE of the production things are naturally getting more and more hectic.

Anyway, here's the latest blog during which I'll cover what we've been up to the past week. 

CAMERA TEST

Prior to shooting it's customary to conduct a day or two for a camera test. This is basically an opportunity for the crew to work together, figure out the best work flow for all departments while testing specific make up effects, camera rigging, lighting setups and sound recording. We conducted a lot of tests during the day we spent in the studio from squibs tests, controlled explosions to a claustrophobic set that allowed us to try out some rigging enabling the camera to track and turn 180 degrees in a wall less than 1m wide.

The test highlighted a lot of pitfalls (essential for us prior to production as we still have time to fix any issues) but also gave us confirmation as a lot of our more experimental ideas were executed without a hitch.

Once Matt is less busy and has time to update his blog he will go into a lot more detail regarding the camera test and rigging we plan to use on the film. For now here's some snaps I took while I should have been busy working.

Lighting setup at the studio.

The Panasonic AF-100 setup with Nanoflash recorder and Bartec follow focus
set up on the fig rig – this is fucking heavy we are unlikely to use this setup for
the film we’re now looking at some shoulder mount setups.

Preparing for a birds eye view shot.

One of our more claustrophobic locations.

Tegar Satrya (as Bowo) after a spot of bother.

THE PRESS CONFERENCE

Earlier this week we held a press conference to announce the production of THE RAID at FX Mall. It was a good turn out and the press seemed very enthusiastic and supportive of us as we detailed our 2nd film.

The Raid team.

As we have already announced the cast for the film at the press con, here finally, is the full list of actors and actresses that will feature in THE RAID....

      THE RAID

Iko Uwais	-	Rama
Joe Taslim	-	Jaka
Donny Alamsyah	-	Andi
Pierre Gruno	-	Wahyu
Ray Sahetapy	-	Tama
Yayan Ruhian	-	Mad Dog
Tegar Satrya	-	Bowo
Iang Darmawan	-	Gofar
Eka Rahmadia	-	Dagu
Verdi Solaiman	-	Budi
Fikha Effendi	-	Isa
R. Iman Aji	-	Ari
Henky Solaiman	-	Bapak

Our thanks go out to the press that turned up and continue to support us since Merantau, we're still a relatively new production house in Indonesia and we're very grateful for the way they have welcomed us. We talked about the production and the differences between Merantau and The Raid (stuff I've already bored you guys with in the first 3 blogs so I won't re-iterate).... We also spoke about our plans for release, and "hint hint" a possible special advanced screening right here in Indonesia towards the end of 2011, way before our planned release in January 2012. So fans, keep your eyes peeled once I get confirmation I'll be sure to announce it here.

BERANDAL...

Naturally, a lot of questions since we announced THE RAID at the press conference revolved around BERANDAL and why it has been delayed. Outside of the fact that the project had grown in scope and various scheduling issues preventing us from being able to cement a production date, there have been developments in the project since. 

While developing THE RAID in script form I started to toy around with the idea of creating a link between it and BERANDAL. And now I can announce that BERANDAL will actually serve as a sequel to THE RAID providing a continuation for Iko Uwais' character Rama. While some would see this news as a spoiler (i.e. his character doesn't die) I feel that if I killed off his character again so soon after MERANTAU I'd be one almighty fucking hack bereft of ways to finish a film. 

So there you go, spoiler.... Iko survives and lives to fight another day.

In BERANDAL we plan to explore the criminal world and introduce more side characters while creating a franchise for IKO UWAIS, but not one in which his character stays the same throughout. Our plan is to show a growth in each film as experiences begin to shape and mutate his personality for better and for worse.


SOMETIMES THIS HAPPENS...

Yep.





AND FINALLY, THE Q&A...

Q. Do you plan on doing another one-shot fight scene? (from Kelly)
A. We don’t have plans to do a one-shot fight scene in THE RAID, the choreography design has to fit a shot like that. My focus has always been to showcase the complexity of the choreography and the guys have been pretty intricate with their fighting style on this one so every time I do try to do a single shot scene it doesn’t capture the choreography to its fullest. So unfortunately we won’t have a single shot fight sequence this time round, but we do have some uninterrupted long takes that are going to piss off my DoP immensely ☺
 
Q. I'm excited about the first person pov (but also glad you're not sacrificing the clear fight scenes). Any chance we'll get a preview of it? (From Kris)
A. For the POV shots we’ve done limited testing and aren’t planning to use it that often, only a small fraction of shots will be done using this system. We will see how it works once we shoot the fight sequences during production, I doubt I will preview it to be honest as I want to keep as much of the film fresh and unknown as possible. You won’t be getting an almost 3min trailer this time round… that was overkill on MERANTAU. This time we’re going leaner with our trailer enough to tease without spoiling what’s to come.
 
Q. In recent days there are news that make me worried. As you know, government apply new tax for foreign movie. I wish this movie in Indonesia will not be considered as foreign movie nor have difficulty to be played in Indonesia cinemas. (From Kunderemp)
A. Not to worry, everything about THE RAID is an Indonesian production. Fully financed here, production company, staff etc. The only thing bule about it is me, the DoP and our fantastic Exec Producers at XYZ FILMS. So for sure the film classifies as Indonesian.

Q. Do you have any plans to shoot in 3D, like a fight scene? (From Rezcinema)
A. Besides the obvious budget issues personally, I don’t really like 3D. I can’t watch a film in 3D for longer than 10mins before I start to get a headache so the thought of spending months editing a film in 3D is just too much. Also, I genuinely wouldn’t know what to do with the medium besides throwing shit at the audience. I don’t really see how it would benefit a film like this. The talk is about complete immersion in the world of a film – but I don’t feel immersed in a 3D world, cos its not truly 3D its just layers with extra depth.

Other far more talented filmmakers than me can run with 3D technology, I’m happy to stick with 2D. 

Q. Will there be a "bloody" hot looking guy? A guy that will be covered in blood? (From Puspitasari)

A. There will be blood. Broken bones. And chaos.

Okay that's it for now, more next week as Day One approaches ever faster, please keep your questions coming in...