Shame at Venice 2011

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/telluride-2011-a-dangerous-method-231146

Film "Shame" brings sex addiction tale to Venice
ReutersBy Mike Collett-White | Reuters – Sun, Sep 4, 2011

By Silvia Aloisi

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Up-and-coming Irish actor Michael Fassbender plays a sex addict in "Shame," a movie by British video artist Steve McQueen that is vying for the top prize at the Venice film festival.

It is the second lead role for Fassbender in a competition movie at this year's festival after his portrayal of psychoanalyst Carl Jung in David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method."

In Shame, the German-born Fassbender is Brandon, a handsome, 30-something executive living in New York whose only distraction from work is seducing women, masturbating at home or in the office and looking for sex on the Internet.

The tightly controlled rhythm of his life begins to fall apart when his needy, dysfunctional sister Sissy, played by Carey Mulligan, arrives for an unannounced visit.

Her presence, and her craving for Brandon's attention, disrupt his lonely existence even further, and his only way out seems to be wandering the streets at night in search of new sexual adventures.

Fassbender, whose portrayal of Brandon was warmly applauded after a press screening Sunday, said taking part in the film's graphic sex scenes was not easy.

"Yes (it was) uncomfortable doing the sex scenes, you just have to jump and turn really," he said.

"The most important thing I guess is that everybody involved feels as comfortable as they can. And then just go for it so you don't have to do too many takes."

McQueen, whose debut film was the widely acclaimed "Hunger" about the last months of Irish Republican Army activist Bobby Sands in Belfast's Maze prison, said he saw similarities between the two films.

Hunger also starred Fassbender in the lead role.

"Clearly Hunger was a political film but Shame is also political. That one was about a prison in northern Ireland, this one it's about how someone's freedom can actually imprison them and they need an addiction in order to numb a pain, how our lives have been changed sexually by the Internet," he said.

"I love Brandon, he's trying and it's difficult. He's not so far away from most of us at the end of the day. He is not a bad person, I think the character is not at all repulsive, maybe unfamiliar but extremely recognisable."

The title Shame was chosen after interviews with sex addicts and their experiences in preparation for the film.

"The word shame came cropping up in those interviews," McQueen said.

His career began with film-related projects, he quickly branched out to include sculpture and still photography, and his work has been displayed at the Biennale of Art in Venice.

McQueen said he saw no big differences between his artworks and his feature films.

"There are no barriers between the two. Of course in one you're going to have a bit more narrative and the other less so, but the process is the same, it's work."

Asked why Mulligan, who was in Australia to shoot Baz Luhrmann's "Great Gatsby," had not come to Venice to present his movie, McQueen replied: "It's out of order. She should be here.

"I am very upset about that, actually. I don't know Baz Luhrmann, whatever ... I wouldn't do to him what he did to me."

(Reporting By Silvia Aloisi, editing by Mike Collett-White)

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/09/05/michael-fassbender-explores-sexual-obsession-in-shame/

September 5, 2011, 8:00 AM ET

Michael Fassbender Explores Sexual Obsession in ‘Shame’

By Dean Napolitano

Getty
Actor Michael Fassbender, left, and director Steve McQueen attend the ‘Shame’ premiere during the 68th Venice Film Festival at Palazzo del Cinema on September 4, 2011 in Venice, Italy.

British director Steve McQueen’s stark drama about a man’s sexual compulsions held its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Sunday, earning high praise for the artist and filmmaker, as well as for star Michael Fassbender.

“Shame” is about one New York man’s obsession with sex: chance encounters with random women, visits with prostitutes and pornography on the Internet. His daily routine is interrupted when his younger sister — an emotionally unstable woman who works sporadically as a cabaret singer and who’s in desperate need of sibling attention — moves in with him. His world of bar-hopping and sexual flings soon begins to unravel as he grows more isolated and he’s unable — and unwilling — to give his sister the family connection she longs for.

McQueen has described the film as an examination of “a person who has all the Western freedoms and through his apparent sexual freedom creates his own prison.”

At a press conference Sunday just before the film’s red-carpet premiere, Fassbender said the film’s graphic sex scenes and nudity made things “uncomfortable” on the set. “The most important thing,” he said, “is just to make sure that everybody involved is comfortable — you know, as much as you can be — and then just sort of go for it so you don’t have to do too many takes.”

Carey Mulligan plays the role of the sister and performs a new interpretation of Frank Sinatra’s signature piece, “New York, New York.”

“It’s a very sad song,” McQueen said to reporters. “If you read the lyrics, it’s very much a blues song.”

The film is Fassbender’s second premiere at Venice in three days: “A Dangerous Method,” in which he plays psychiatrist Carl Jung opposite Viggo Mortensen’s Sigmund Freud, held its premiere on Friday.

“Obviously it’s a great privilege and honor to be here” with two films, Fassbender said. Both films are competing in the festival’s main competition.

McQueen and Fassbender teamed previously for the 2008 film “Hunger.”

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2011/09/mcqueens-shame-wins-fipresci-award-in-venice/

McQueen’s Shame wins FIPRESCI Award in Venice
By Ryan Adams | September 10, 2011

In addition to winning the international critics’ FIPRESCI Award in Venice, Shame also earns Best Film honors from Arca CinemaGiovani and CinemAvvenire. The Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award goes to Roman Polanski’s Carnage. The Queer Lion has been awarded to Al Pacino’s Wilde Salome.
Venice La Biennale Collateral Awards 2011
FIPRESCI Award
Best Film, Venezia 68: Shame by Steve McQueen
Best Film, Orizzonti and International Critics’ Week: Two Years at Sea by Ben Rivers
SIGNIS Award
to Faust by Aleksandr Sokurov
Special Mention to A Simple Life by Ann Hui
Premio del pubblico “Kino” – International Critics Week Award
to Là-Bas by Guido Lombardi
Label Europa Cinemas Award
to Présumé Coupable (Guilty) by Vincent Garenq
Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award
to Carnage by Roman Polanski
Cinema for UNICEF Commendation: Terraferma by Emanuele Crialese
Francesco Pasinetti (SNGCI) Award
to Terraferma by Emanuele Crialese
SNGCI Commendation: L’ultimo terrestre by Gian Alfonso Pacinotti
Brian Award
to The Ides of March by George Clooney
Queer Lion Award (Associazione Cinemarte)
to Wilde Salome by Al Pacino
Arca CinemaGiovani Award
Best Film Venezia 68: Shame by Steve McQueen
Best Italian Film: L’ultimo terrestre di Gian Alfonso Pacinotti
Biografilm Lancia Award
to Black Block by Carlo Augusto Bachschmidt
Jury Award to Pivano Blues – Sulla strada di Nanda by Teresa Marchesi
C.I.C.T. UNESCO “Enrico Fulchignoni” Award
to Tahrir 2011 by Tamer Ezzat, Ayten Amin, Amr Salama
CICAE Award
to O le tulafale (The Orator) by Tusi Tamasese
CinemAvvenire Award
Best Film Venezia 68: Shame by Steve McQueen
Best Film – Il cerchio non è rotondo Award: O le tulafale (The Orator) by Tusi Tamasese
FEDIC Award
to Io sono Li by Andrea Segre
Special Mention to Pasta nera by Alessandro Piva
Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award
to L’ultimo terrestre by Gian Alfonso Pacinotti
Future Film Festival Digital Award
to Faust by Aleksandr Sokurov
Special Mention to Kotoko by Shinya Ysukamoto
Nazareno Taddei Award
to Tao jie (A Simple Life) by Ann Hui
Lanterna Magica Award (CGS)
to Io sono Li by Andrea Segre
Open Award
to Marco Müller
La Navicella – Venezia Cinema Award
to Tao jie (A Simple Life) by Ann Hui
Lina Mangiacapre Award
to Io sono Li by Andrea Segre
Special Mention to Fabrizio Cattani- Maternity Blues
Gianni Astrei pro life Award
to Tao jie (A Simple Life) by Ann Hui
AIF – FORFILMFEST Award
to Scialla! by Francesco Bruni
Mouse d’Oro Award
to Killer Joe by William Friedkin
Mouse d’Argento to Kotoko by Shinya Tsukamoto
UK – Italy Creative Industries Award – Best Innovative Budget
to L’arrivo di Wang by Manetti bros.
Equal Opportunity Award
to Tao jie (A Simple Life) by Ann Hui
Gillo Pontecorvo Award – Arcobaleno Latino
to Gaetano Blandini, Nicola Borrelli, Gian Marco Committeri, Roberto Lo Surdo, Mario La Torre
Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Special Award
to Himizu by Sono Sion
Interfilm Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue
to Girimunho (Swirl) by Helvécio Marins Jr. and Clarissa Campolina
Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award
to Scialla! by Francesco Bruni
Special Mention to Eva by Kike Maillo

http://criticschoice.com/headlines/?p=3212

Fassbender, ‘Shame’ Have Big Weekend At Festivals

Michael Fassbender in "Shame" (photo: See-Saw Films )

When it comes to the film festival circuit, director Steve McQueen’s sexually-charged drama “Shame” has nothing to be ashamed of.

The film scored star Michael Fassbender a Best Actor award Saturday at the 68th annual Venice Film Festival. Also honored in Venice were “Faust” for Best Picture and Hong Kong actress Deanie Yip for Best Actress for “A Simple Life.”

Fassbender plays a sex addict in “Shame,” which teams the actor with his “Hunger” director Steve McQueen.

At the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Fox Searchlight picked up “Shame” for U.S. distribution. The Hollywood Reporter observed, however, that the film likely will be slapped with an NC-17 rating.

Fassbender has held a high profile in theaters in 2011, with the major roles of Mr. Rochester in “Jane Eyre” and Erik Lensherr/Magneto in “X-Men: First Class.”

He soon also will star opposite Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley in director David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method,” which also was shown in Venice.

– Tim Lammers