Film Festivals 2011

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23981443-venice-film-festival-star-attractions.do

Venice Film Festival: Star attractions
Derek Malcolm Derek Malcolm
26 Aug 2011

No Venice Festival in recent years has included so many British and American movies in its prestigious 22-film competition. The rumour is that Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, demanded a line-up that wouldn't disappear into the maw of the art market - if so, the full third of the competition entries that are English-speaking may have the required effect.

Somewhere, Sofia Coppola's Golden Lion winner last year, did not hit the box-office jackpot, but Marco Muller, the long-serving festival director, believes that this time his candidates will figure prominently in the forthcoming awards season. Many of them are not big-budget movies but seem capable, like last year's Black Swan, of international success. So what do we have to look forward to?

Carnage

Roman Polanski's film of Yasmina Reza's hit play, God of Carnage, about two sets of parents who come together after a schoolyard bust-up between their sons. With Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz.

Contagion

Winslet is also in the star-laden cast of Steven Soderbergh's action thriller about the world threatened by a deadly virus. Adding to the wattage are Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon.

A Dangerous Method

David Cronenberg casts Viggo Mortensen as Freud, Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung and Keira Knightley as his patient in this look at the strange relationship that gave birth to psychoanalysis. Another adaptation of a stage play, Christopher Hampton's The Talking Cure.

Dark Horse

Todd Solondz, who once trained to be a rabbi, casts his icy, often controversial and unorthodox gaze on two adults suffering from arrested development who become lovers. Justin Bartha and Selma Blair star.

Faust

Russia's Alexandr Sokurov, one of the world's most distinctive arthouse directors, deals with the legend. Bound to be surprising and radically different.

The Ides of March

The festival's opening film, next Wednesday, has George Clooney behind and in front of the camera in his highly political tale of an idealistic staffer faced with corruption as his boss, a presidential candidate, strives to win the nomination. Helping are Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.

Shame

British artist and director Steve McQueen's successor to Hunger, his award-winning debut, has Michael Fassbender as a wanton thirtysomething with a complicated sex life whose world is upended further by the visit of his equally wayward sister (Carey Mulligan).

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy

Another go at John le Carré's classic as Gary Oldman's veteran Smiley, replacing Alec Guinness, attempts to uncover a Soviet agent in MI6. Colin Firth, John Hurt and Benedict Cumberbatch in support; directed by Sweden's Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In).

Wuthering Heights

Andrea Arnold follows up her Cannes winners (Red Road and Fish Tank) with an updating of Emily Brontë starring two unknowns, Kaya Scodelario and James Howson, as the young lovers.

Texas Killing Fields

In the Texas bayou a local detective and a New York cop attempt to solve a series of murders that may or may not be connected. Directed by Ami Canaan Mann (daughter of Michael Mann), with Sam Worthington and Sean Michael Cunningham.

Terraferma

Likely to be one of the best Italian films at the festival, coming as it does from the talented Emanuele Crialese. He was born in Rome but has firm roots in Sicily and a passion for its cultural and political history.

W.E.

Andrea Riseborough, James Fox and Australian Abbie Cornish form a fine cast for Madonna's take on Wallis Simpson and the abdication crisis. First reports suggest the film may not please critics but expect a blaze of publicity surrounding its Venice premiere.

Venice Film Festival (labiennale.org) runs Aug 31-Sept 10

http://www.niagarafallstravel.info/toronto-international-film-festival-is-like-a-fall-movie-preview/

Toronto International Film Festival is like a fall movie preview
By admin. Filed in Toronto, Canada

Twenty-eight thousand, five hundred and twenty-six minutes of film; 123 world premieres; 33 screens; 65 countries; and enough movie stars to fill dozens of red carpets: That’s the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival, which begins Thursday. Attendees this year will include George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Francis Ford Coppola, Werner Herzog, Glenn Close, Cameron Crowe, Lynn Shelton, U2, Alexander Payne, Catherine Deneuve — and, racing through multiplexes with a bag of notebooks, me.

This will be my 10th visit to North America’s most prestigious film festival, which I’ve come to see as a fall movie preview. Last year at TIFF, I saw “The King’s Speech” (which went on to become the big winner at the Oscars), “127 Hours,” “Black Swan,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Never Let Me Go,” “Another Year” and other movies that turned into highlights of the season.

This year, a couple of films at the fest have a Seattle pedigree. Local filmmaker Lynn Shelton (“Humpday”) will be in Toronto with her latest, “Your Sister’s Sister,” filmed here in the Northwest and starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass. Former Seattleite Cameron Crowe (“Singles,” “Almost Famous”) returns with the documentary “Pearl Jam Twenty,” profiling the first 20 years of the iconic local band.

Clooney, at the fest two years ago with “Up in the Air” and “Men Who Stare at Goats,” returns with his first directorial effort in six years, the political drama “The Ides of March,” starring himself, Ryan Gosling and Paul Giamatti. Other actor/directors at the festival will be Ralph Fiennes, bringing his Shakespearean drama “Coriolanus”; Jennifer Westfeldt, in “Friends with Kids”; Duplass, in “Jeff Who Lives at Home” (directed with his brother Jay Duplass); and Madonna, in “W.E.,” a story that overlaps with last year’s hit “The King’s Speech,” about King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

Glenn Close, mostly absent from the big screen in recent years, appears with a movie already getting Oscar buzz: “Albert Nobbs,” a period drama set in Ireland, directed by Rodrigo Garcia and written by Irish author John Banville and Close herself. It looks like a strong year for period/literary films: TIFF also will present “The Deep Blue Sea” from British filmmaker Terence Davies (who hasn’t made a feature since his beautiful 2000 adaptation of “The House of Mirth”); Andrea Arnold’s new version of “Wuthering Heights”; Roland Emmerich’s “Anonymous,” a thriller about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays; and Michel Hazanavicious’ “The Artist,” a black-and-white tribute to silent films and a prizewinning crowd favorite at spring’s Cannes Film Festival.

Payne, who hasn’t directed a feature since “Sideways” (seen at TIFF in 2004), is back with “The Descendants,” a tale of a troubled family in Hawaii, starring the busy Clooney. Coppola’s latest, “Twixt,” is the Gothic-inspired tale of a mystery writer, played by Val Kilmer. Pitt attends with the baseball drama “Moneyball,” directed by Bennett Miller (“Capote”).

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, whose films regularly debut at TIFF, returns with the thriller “The Skin I Live In,” starring Antonio Banderas as a terrifying-sounding plastic surgeon. David Cronenberg brings “A Dangerous Method” to the festival, an adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s stage play about Sigmund Freud (played by Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). Gus Van Sant’s “Restless,” with Mia Wasikowska (so good recently in “Jane Eyre”) will be at TIFF, as will Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia,” with Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Quicksilvergames

Favorites from the Sundance Film Festival making a stop at TIFF include Jeff Nichols’ drama “Take Shelter,” with Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain; Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” about a young woman (Elizabeth Olson) caught in the web of a charismatic cult leader; and the love story “Like Crazy” from director Drake Doremus.

Will I be able to see every one of these films, plus many more on my must-see list that there isn’t room to mention here? Of course not. But I’ll be in Toronto for nearly a week, cramming in as much cinematic sustenance (and caffeine) as possible, trying to balance the big-ticket movies with the smaller gems. Watch my blog, Popcorn Prejudice, for frequent reviews, movie-star sightings, big-fest musings and late-night ramblings. See you at TIFF!

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/entertainment/hollywood_mine/?p=578

Venice ’11: The Good & The (very) Bad

The film festival concept is to offer a smorgasbord of the best of world cinema, in 10 days or less. Of the movies I’ve caught in this first half of the 68th Venice Film Festival, the variety and quality is striking.

Hitting the target:
George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH, the opening film. This fourth effort from the actor-director-writer and producer who defines Hollywood hyphenate is an engaging, twisty political fable with broader implications. Some Europeans complained about trying to follow the film’s setup, a Democratic Presidential primary Ohio showdown where Clooney, in a supporting role as Governor Mike Morris, refuses to play dirty. I had no trouble actually. What makes IDES work is how it plays with our expectations and convincingly flips them. The direction is elegant and the ensemble pretty fantastic, from the rival campaign managers beautifully sketched by Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman to the idealistic but naïve press secretary of Ryan Gosling (the film’s central character), to a tough reporter (Marisa Tomei) and a beautiful but hardly dumb intern (Evan Rachel Wood). Opens Stateside early October.

Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE. Somehow Polanski has managed to make a Polanski film from Yasmina Reza’s Neil Simonish sitcom which is an amazing feat by itself. The cast – two couples who meet to civilly discuss a playground fight between their sons played by John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster and Christopher Waltz and Kate Winslet — helps as does the real time length – a brisk 79 minutes. Opens December.

David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD. Gorgeously shot, brilliantly acted, intelligently written and incisively detailed, DANGEROUS METHOD chronicles budding psychological treatment a century ago as theorized by Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and practiced by his disciple Carl Jung (a magnetic Michael Fassbender). The two giants of the movement collide over Jung’s highly disturbed patient (Keira Knightley, dazzling, simply dazzling in a can’t-take-your-eyes-off-her awards worthy performance) as events transpire over a decade. Could this be the festival’s Gold Lion winner as Best Picture? Opens December.

James Franco’s SAL Impressionistic and definitely an art film, this docu-style look at Sal Mineo’s last day on earth before he was murdered for no apparent reason in February 1976 is a love poem to the resilience of actors who long to practice their craft and an amazingly accurate invocation of the sex-obsessed gay subculture of the ‘70s. Franco’s long takes in close-up sustain a dreamy, melancholy mood heightened by the repeated use of a Helen Merrill vocal. Val Lauren doesn’t really look like Mineo but he captures the ‘everything’s fabulous’ mindset of artists who are determined to see the bright day ahead of them, despite life’s shabby realities. Entrancing.

Al Pacino’s WILDE SALOME Humor saves this documentary about making a movie about performing a play and telling the life story of its author. Oscar Wilde is the playwright, Salome is the theatrical piece and Al Pacino is the director of the movie about doing the play (four years ago) in Los Angeles, which is also about Wilde, and also about what Wilde means to him personally. It’s fascinating, full of witty visuals that sustain your interest and attention and in Jessica Chastain’s debut film performance as the teenaged temptress who demanded the head of the prophet John the Baptist we clearly see the talent and beauty that have made her this year’s Big Discovery. As host, narrator and leading player Pacino has never been more fascinatingly theatrical or real.

Emanuele Crialese’s TERRAFIRMA The law of the Sea demands that a ship rescue anyone floundering or drowning in the water. The law in Italy demands that if a ship sees illegals – read black immigrants – floundering or drowning and rescue them rather than call the Coast Guard, the Italians may be arrested, jailed and their ship impounded. This is the heartbreaking dilemma of this gorgeous Italian drama, set on a remote island that is no longer dependent on fishing but summer tourists. The focus is on a young man and his widowed mother. Crialese’s casting, cinematography and spellbinding storytelling make TERRAFIRMA compelling without sentimentalizing its serious subject.

Steven Soderbergh’s CONTAGION Okay, it hardly breaks new ground but it’s effective enough that you’ll leave theaters wishing you could wash your hands and never ever again be around anyone who coughs. Briskly paced and well acted by a large cast of real stars, Contagion charts a global pandemic with realistic determination and a curious lack of emotional involvement. Matt Damon’s grief stricken husband and father remains remote, as does the death of a researcher and the horrors that ensue once the facts emerge about the virus’s deadly potential and panic, looting and quarantine go into effect. Only Jude Law’s slimy blogger, a repulsively self-important hypocrite, overcomes Soderbergh’s docu-style sensibility here.

MISSES:
Steve McQueen’s SHAME Ho hum humdrum but crowds will surely come to see a pair of fully naked celebrity actors – Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, both commanding as very troubled siblings. In these harsh times it’s doubtful any serious filmmaker would make a movie celebrating a sensual life of sex, sex and more sex and SHAME takes the too familiar route of condemning Fassbender’s sex addict who can’t find happiness in online porn, hookers, drugs, drink or even self pleasure while giving us an eyeul of it in a tradition that goes back to silent Cecil B. DeMille epics. Fassbender’s got intimacy issues naturally while Mulligan has dependency issues. McQueen’s sophomore slump follows the compelling Hunger about Irish prisoner and martyr Bobby Sands which also starred Fassbender. SHAME is so dazzling to look at it might’ve been a Bret Easton Ellis clone if only it had a nonstop barrage of brand names (there’s something to be thankful for). There is a lovely moment though when Mulligan beautifully solos on a slow tempo version of “New York, New York.” (American distribution is being arranged)

Philippe Garrel’s THAT SUMMER (Un Ete Brulant). Venice audiences can be tough and the laughs that greeted this stinker were well deserved. Monica Bellucci moves like a sphinx and is about as expressive as one playing an Italian actress married to a depressed French painter (Louis Garrel, the director’s son) who, it so happens as the film begins, kills himself. By the time this dawdling nonsense is over, you might think he was lucky.

Madonna’s W.E. When Wallis Simpson began her affair with England’s future King Edward VIII she never intended to be anything other than his mistress. After all, the King had to marry a virgin and produce an heir and the American divorcee Simpson at 40 could fulfill neither requirement. Madonna, who wrote and directed this beautifully bland and boring, not to say inane, study of one of the world’s great mistaken romances, supposedly wants to understand why a King would give up his throne for the woman he loves. But to do that she would have to try to understand the King which W.E. (it stands for Wallis & Edward) never attempts. We do hear someone say, “It was not a case of domination but of possession” but that hardly rates as an explanation. The Wallis we see expertly evokes the actual image but remains a hollow entity. The King is simply a good-looking model with girlfriends but no inner life. Even worse is the tacked-on contemporary story of a miserably married New Yorker named Wally (Abbie Cornish, curiously inexpressive, with black witch colored hair to match Simpson’s) who idolizes the Duchess of Windsor and has a fling with a Sotheby’s security guard (!) she meets while monotonously viewing the Windsors 1998 estate sale day after day afer day. You’ll be dazed.

Simon Kaijser da Silva’s STOCKHOLM EAST Unwitting Swedish self-parody in a lethargic study of the aftermath of a child’s accidental death. The mother is traumatized, her marriage falls apart while the man responsible for her daughter’s death is chronically depressed. As she fixates on her loss, he meets her, finds he’s in love with her, yet cannot tell her who he is while she pretends with him that her daughter is alive. A ridiculous, unbelievable plot with a leading performance of such glum inexpressiveness to suggest an SNL parody of dour Swedish filmmaking. (No American release)

Yorgos Lanthimos’s ALPS Brain damaged cinema from the Greek filmmaker whose Dogtooth (which I have yet to see) established his reputation. Actors emote in monotones, treat each other cruelly, horrible things happen and people generally behave as if unhinged. Yet it all proceeds as if the Bodysnatchers had invaded and human emotion is buried. A woman suturing her ripped cheek in front of a mirror echoes pi. Play-acting dominates people’s lives as they always wonder, who’s your favorite singer? Your favorite movie star? Banality of a non-festive kind.

Tony Ching, Siu-tung’s THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE Anyone who thinks Hollywood’s summer movies were too often a barrage of computer generated video games should try to sit thru this endless, ugly version of a beloved Chinese fairy tale that delivers atrocious computer generated images virtually nonsstop. As the sorcerer Jet-Li looks bored out of his gourd.

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=145744

Catherine Deneuve and Anouk Aimée add their names to those attending the Jacques Demy cycle
inShare
WEBWIRE – Thursday, September 15, 2011

The actor Michael Fassbender and director Steve McQueen will present Shame in the Zabaltegi-Pearls section

The two most emblematic actresses of Jacques Demy’s cinema will come to San Sebastian, where they will pay homage to and recall the director to whom the 59th Festival dedicates a complete retrospective.

Catherine Deneuve, one of European cinema’s most popular and best-loved actresses, she played the leading role in Jacques Demy’s Les parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964), winner of the Golden Palm at the Cannes Festival and of an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film. Deneuve later starred in another two of Demy’s best known movies, Les demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort, 1967) and Peau d’âne (Donkey Skin, 1970). The actress received the San Sebastian Festival’s Donostia Award for lifetime achievement at its 43rd edition in 1995.

Anouk Aimée is another myth for film aficionados thanks to her lead part in Demy’s first feature film, Lola (1960). She repeated this character years later in another of the director’s works, Model Shop (1969), going on to lend her voice and presence to his last picture, La table tournante (1988).

Aimée is also specially remembered for her collaboration with Federico Fellini in La dolce vita (1960) and Fellini 81/2 (1963), and will therefore, during her stay in San Sebastian, visit the exhibition Fellini. The Circus of Illusions, organised by the "La Caixa" Social and Community Project and NBC Photographie, in collaboration with the San Sebastian City Council and the San Telmo Museum.

Another two distinguished members of today’s cinema have also confirmed their presence at this year’s Festival: Michael Fassbender and Steve McQueen, lead actor and director of the film Shame, to be presented in the Zabaltegi-Pearls section.

Michael Fassbender recently landed the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the last Venice Film Festival for his part in Shame. One of the most remarkable actors on today’s movie scene, Fassbender’s filmography includes titles like Steve McQueen’s first film, Hunger (2008), Fish Tank (2009), Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds (2009), Centurion (2010), Jane Eyre (2011), X-Men: First Class (2011) and David Cronenberg’s latest film, A Dangerous Method (2011).

Steve McQueen made a name for himself on the film scene when his first work, Hunger (2008), won the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Festival. The film went on to earn recognition and accolades at numerous international festivals and was presented in the Zabaltegi-Pearls section of San Sebastian’s 56th edition. His second film, Shame, competed at the recent Venice Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize.

http://www.eitb.com/en/news/entertainment/detail/737043/catherine-deneuve-anouk-aimee-visit-zinemaldia-2011/

Catherine Deneuve and Anouk Aimée to visit Zinemaldia 2011

09/15/2011

Other confirmed guests at this year's San Sebastian Film Festival are Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender, director and star of the film 'Shame'.

Catherine Deneuve and Anouk Aimée are set to visit this year's San Sebastian Film Festival. The two most emblematic actresses from the cinema of Jacques Demy will be present at Zinemaldia 2011 to take part in a tribute to the late French director, to whom this 59th edition will pay tribute.

Catherine Deneuve, one of the most well-known faces from European cinema, shot to fame thanks to one of Demy's, 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' in 1964, a film which was awarded the Palm d'Or at that year's Cannes Festival and received an Oscar nomination for for Best Foreign Language Film. Deneuve went on to star in two more of Demy’s most famous works: 'Les demoiselles de Rochefort' in 1967 and 'Peau d'âne' in 1970.

The actress received the Donostia Prize in recognition of her career at the 43rd edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1995.

Anouk Aimée is another screen legend, mostly thanks to her role in Demy's 1960 feature film 'Lola'. Years later she starred in another of his films, 'Model Shop', released in 1969. In 1988, she provided the voice for one of Demy's last works, 'La table tournante'. Aimée is also remembered for her work with Federico Fellini in his films 'La Dolce Vita' (1960) and 'Fellini 81/2' (1963). During her stay in San Sebastian, Anouk will pay a visit to the San Telmo Museum's Fellini exhibition ‘Circus of Illusions'.

Other confirmed guests

Michael Fassbender, who has just been awarded the Copa Volpi for Best Actor at this year's edition of the Venice Film Festival for his role in 'Shame'.

'Shame' director Steve McQueen, meanwhile, who made his name when his first film, 'Hunger' (also starring Fassbender) won the Camera d'Or at Cannes in 2008, will be accompanying his lead man at this year's Zinemaldia. His second work, 'Shame', was competing at the Venice Festival earlier this year where it was awarded the Fipresci Award by film critics.

http://insideireland.ie/2011/09/14/european-accolades-for-three-irish-films-34777/

European accolades for three Irish films
September 14, 2011

By Christopher Weir

Three Irish films have made a big impact on the European Film Awards this year.

Juanita Wilson’s offering ‘As If I Am Not There’, Element Pictures’ ‘Essential Killing’ and Fastnet Films’ ‘Silent Sonata’ have all been nominated in their year’s awards.
The European Film Awards honours the best in European Cinema every year

The European Film Awards honours the best in European Cinema every year

The awards will be held in Berlin in December.

Across the European film festival circuit in general this year, Irish films have proved very successful.

Earlier this year, Michael Fassbender took home Actor at the Venice Film Festival, while Director of Photography, Robbie Ryan, won Best Cinematographer for his work on Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

The European Film Awards honours the best in European Cinema every year including Best European Film, European Director, European Actress and European Actor.

‘As If I Am Not There’ has already picked up major awards at the Irish Film and Television Awards earlier this year for Best Film, Best Script and Best Director.

Wilson’s earlier film ‘The Door’ was also nominated for Best Short Film Oscar last year, attracting the attention of Variety who named her among their Ten Directors to Watch in 2011.

Elsewhere, Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowsji’s ‘Essential Killing’ has already picked up the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, while war drama ‘Silent Sonata’ took home seven awards at the 13th Festival of Slovenian Cinema, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.

http://austinist.com/2011/09/20/austin_film_festival_2011_lineup_an.php

Austin Film Festival 2011 Lineup Announced

Shame

Start getting officially excited, as the Austin Film Festival 2011 lineup has now been almost entirely announced. Added to the list of what we already know about: The Descendants, Shame, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Sal.

The Descendants stars George Clooney as a man dealing with life following his wife's boating accident and is directed by Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt). In Shame, Michael Fassbender plays a sex addict in Manhattan. Martha Marcy May Marlene, about a woman fleeing the influences of a cult, has already won critical raves, and Sal is James Franco's latest project.

These wanna-sees join the excellent selections already announced (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Freak Dance), so be sure to get your badge before prices increase after Sept. 30. Oh yeah, and the Opening Night, Centerpiece and Closing Night films haven't even been announced yet (they will be soon, though).

The 18th annual Austin Film Festival and Conference will take place Oct. 20-27, and the lineup includes everything from Academy Award hopefuls to that short film you saw shooting in your neighborhood a few months ago. This fest focuses on the filmmaking process and includes panels and special guests as well as plenty of parties and -- this year -- crossover events with the Texas Book Festival (more about that soon). We'll keep you updated over the next few weeks as more details emerge, and seriously, buy your badge already.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/page-eight-a-dangerous-method-238632

'Page Eight,' 'A Dangerous Method' to Bookend Warsaw Festival
12:05 PM PDT 9/21/2011 by Scott Roxborough

Imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi asked to be jury president.

COLOGNE, Germany -- David Hare's modern-day spy thriller Page Eight will open the 2011 Warsaw Film Festival on Oct. 7. Hare and Page Eight star Bill Nighy are expected to attend.
our editor recommends
Page Eight: Toronto Review
A Dangerous Method: Venice Film Review

David Cronenberg's Freudian thriller A Dangerous Method, starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightly, will close the event Oct. 16.

Among the world premieres at Warsaw this year will be Beast, the psychological horror film from Denmark's Christoffer Boe (Reconstruction) and Being Mitsuko, the feature directorial debut from Japanese actor Kenji Yamauchi.

One invited guest who won't be attending Warsaw is Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Warsaw asked Panahi to be president of the festival jury this year but the helmer remains under house arrest in Tehran, awaiting sentencing for alleged anti-government activities.

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/sep/21/toasts-telluride-and-toronto/

The Toasts of Telluride and Toronto

A Report from the Continent’s Two Most Important Film Festivals
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
By Roger Durling

The jolt of seeing something daring, something new, watching an artist’s uncompromising vision come to fruition — that’s one of life’s most exciting experiences, and a main reason why I go to film festivals. These jolts are rare, but when they arrive, they’re worth the wait.

Being one of the first people to see Steve McQueen’s latest directorial work, Shame, gave me one of those exhilarating moments at the Telluride Film Festival during this past Labor Day weekend. Starring Michael Fassbender in one of the best performances this year as a sex addict trying to keep his and his damaged sister’s lives from derailing, Shame is unbending, raw, offensive, and thrilling. Not for the timid, the film goes the distance, recalling Midnight Cowboy and American Gigolo and taking you deep down the rabbit hole. Though Shame was the definite highlight of both Telluride and Toronto International Film Festival, it was just a slice of the amazing crop of films unveiled.

Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, his long-awaited follow-up to Sideways, was another critical success and an audience favorite. Based on the novel of the same name and starring George Clooney in a career-best performance, The Descendants deals with a family coping with their mother’s impending death. Funny, heartbreaking, and incisive, this movie will be on everybody’s Top Ten of 2011.

Another darling was Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist, a silent film about the advent of the talkies. It’s a film lover’s banquet — absolutely delicious and beautifully crafted by someone who’s passionately in love with film. Swept up in the sheer joy of it all, I found myself crying uncontrollably for the last half-hour. In channeling Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Jean Dujardin should be nominated for Best Actor.
Moneyball
Click to enlarge photo

Moneyball

The biggest surprise for me was Moneyball, the most intelligent sports movie I’ve ever seen. Director Bennett Miller (Capote) gets Brad Pitt to deliver his best in creating a sports movie like you’ve never seen before, one that recalls the intelligence of last year’s The Social Network, which is not surprising since Aaron Sorkin worked on both scripts.

Other master filmmakers brought their new works to both festivals, including Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki, who proved himself in top form with Le Havre, a droll and bittersweet take on Europe’s immigration issue in which a shoe-shiner tries to save a child in the French port city. David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, starring Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, and Fassbender (again!), is about the relationship between Carl Jung and Freud and proved to be a fascinating, puzzling, and intriguing drama, just like the veteran helmer’s past works.
Dangerous Method
Click to enlarge photo

Dangerous Method

Also premiering at Telluride was Glenn Close’s long gestating labor of love, Albert Nobbs. Close played this same character, a woman disguising herself as a butler in Victorian England, on stage in the early 1980s, and this film will reward her an Oscar nomination for determination alone.

Clooney was also busy unspooling his latest directorial effort in The Ides of March, a timely political thriller starring Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Clooney himself. Based on the play Farragut North, the film is aptly made, savvy and thought-provoking in dealing with a corrupt political campaign.

The hands-down best foreign film was Iran’s A Separation, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi. It’s a complex, painful, and fascinating drama in which a woman leaves her husband and causes explosive results that expose a network of personal, religious, and political bureaucracies and complicated relationships involving sex and class. Farhadi’s visual composition is stunning. Clearly influenced by Western filmmaking, A Separation will undoubtedly become a dinner-table conversation staple when it reaches our movie houses.

I enjoyed Mexico’s Miss Bala, tightly directed by Gerardo Naranjo. This claustrophobic and frightening thriller involves a young woman whose dream to win a beauty pageant catches her in the middle of a struggle between organized crime and the police. As the beauty in a bestial male-dominated world, Stephanie Sigman in the lead role is terrific.

Other films were not as well received. Oscar nominee Fernando Meirelles’s 360 didn’t impress, and, despite Tilda Swinton’s amazing performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin, the film gets dragged down by its director Lynne Ramsay’s overindulgent use of symbolism. But these were minor complaints. The hills of Telluride and the streets of Toronto were alive with the flickering of amazing films. Great things are coming for film lovers — just you wait!

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/23/the-real-festival-stars/

The real festival stars

Now that the circus act has left Toronto, our critic picks the films that are bound for glory
by Brian D. Johnson on Friday, September 23, 2011 3:35pm - 0 Comments
The real festival stars

George Pimentel/WireImage/Getty Images; Courtesy of TIFF

It was celebrity gridlock. Each year the juggernaut of the Toronto International Film Festival seems bigger than ever, but with its 36th edition (Sept. 8-18), it turned a corner. Anchored by its grand new headquarters, the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the festival finally moved fully downtown. As black SUV limos lined the streets, disgorging stars into the red-carpet blaze of cameras, the city’s entertainment district turned into a glass-and-concrete answer to Cannes—with some surreal moments worthy of Fellini.

Counter-spinning tabloid gossip, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie wrapped their arms around each other in a regal show of marital bliss at the premiere of Moneyball—for which Pitt earned up to $15 million as a hero who reinvents baseball by casting low-rent players instead of high-priced stars. Fresh from her hydrangea-bashing faux pas with a fan in Venice, Madonna ran a gauntlet of critical scorn for W.E., her risible take on Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, then denied reports that her goons told festival volunteers to avert their eyes when the Queen Mother of Pop came into view. Impresario Garth Drabinsky, on the eve of going to prison for fraud, took a hubris-heavy perp walk down the red carpet with Christopher Plummer for the premiere of Barrymore. Bono introduced a U2 documentary by comparing songwriting to sausage-making. And Neil Young did a double take when a grey-haired lady introduced herself at the premiere of his concert film—he confessed he had a crush on her in the fourth grade.

Now that the stardust has settled, and the circus has left town, all that remains of the festival are the movies. Some of them we’ll still be talking about in February. Each year TIFF launches the fall season of Oscar-pedigree films, and as the buzz merchants tried to sniff out the next King’s Speech or Slumdog Millionaire from 268 feature titles, there was no obvious champ. But some clear contenders stood out. It was above all a festival of stellar male performances—Clooney, Pitt, Gosling, Fassbender, Harrelson—even if the audience prize went to Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now?, a feel-good fable of female liberation from Lebanon.

Most of the films winning acclaim at TIFF were twisted tales of beautiful losers. Spanning the zeitgeist, their themes ranged from professional sports to professional sex, from fly-fishing to fatherhood. Perhaps the most talked-about was Steve McQueen’s Shame, a bleak and torrid odyssey of a cold-blooded sex addict, portrayed with full-frontal bravado by the prodigiously talented, and endowed, Michael Fassbender. Flipping from addict to analyst, Fassbender also popped up in A Dangerous Method, as a mild-mannered Carl Jung, who graduates from healing a barking-mad Russian patient (Keira Knightley) to paddling her bare bottom in an adulterous affair. Despite that kinky interlude, given that it’s directed by David Cronenberg, the most shocking thing about this elegant biopic is that it’s not shocking. Scripted by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons), it unfolds as a loquacious essay on the origins of psychoanalysis—enlivened by Viggo Mortensen, who steals every scene as Sigmund Freud, and gets more mileage out of a cigar than anyone since Groucho Marx.

The festival program was swimming with sex and nudity. I lost count of masturbation scenes. Penises abounded. And prostitution was sympathetically portrayed in films ranging from Elles—starring Juliette Binoche as a married journalist who comes to envy the student hookers she interviews—to 360, in which Jude Law has a nervous date with a call girl. And sex with an intern tips the shrewd intrigue of The Ides of March, in which George Clooney directs himself as a Democrat campaigning for the White House. That film, however, belongs to Ryan Gosling, who rivalled Fassbender with his own double bill of brains and brawn, as the genius press secretary in Ides and the dead-cool hero of Drive.

The politician played by Clooney in Ides is close to the actor’s own smooth public persona. He gives a more momentous performance in The Descendants, the best of a string of movies about losers trying to repatriate fatherhood. Set in Hawaii, it’s an umbrella cocktail of comedy and drama directed by Alexander Payne, who does for the Hawaiian landscape what he did for wine in Sideways. Clooney is cast against type as a shambling, ineffectual father who tries to track down his unfaithful wife’s dirtbag boyfriend while she lies in a coma. Meanwhile, he’s about to sell a piece of island paradise that’s been in his family for generations. Tears of laughter and tragedy merge in a wildly unpredictable narrative that’s driven home by an insolent teenage daughter who prods Dad into taking charge.

These days it seems the most vital accessory for a serious actor is an unruly child. Woody Harrelson won raves for his scorching performance as a corrupt cop patrolling the underbelly of Los Angeles in Rampart. As he binges on sex, drugs and brutality, the drama’s linchpin is a rebellious teenage daughter. A feral young girl helps Willem Dafoe locate his soul as he stalks the Tasmanian tiger in The Hunter. And Café de flore, a brilliant drama from Quebec writer-director Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.), toggles between two stories of overwhelmed parents: a single mother in ’60s Paris (an incendiary Vanessa Paradis) struggles to raise a Down’s syndrome boy, while a divorced DJ in present-day Montreal tries to rein in a daughter who’s in open revolt against his new girlfriend.

In Moneyball, as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, Brad Pitt is a single father who revolutionizes baseball, but whose life coach is his precocious daughter. Directed by Capote’s Bennett Miller, Moneyball is better than anyone could expect. And after too many character roles, Pitt finally gets to shine as the movie star he was born to be, with the wit and swagger of a latter-day Robert Redford. But what makes the movie click is his hilarious odd-couple chemistry with Jonah Hill, as a nerdy economist who attacks baseball like a blackjack player counting cards.

Sports was as ubiquitous as sex at TIFF, from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen—a romcom wrapped around a crackpot plan to bring fly-fishing to the desert—to three tales of underdog hockey heroes. Canadian cinema has a losing record trying to tap the box-office potential of our national game—Score: A Hockey Musical, which opened TIFF last year, was a disaster. Breakaway, a corny comedy about a Sikh hockey team, dishes up a multicultural formula of Bollywood romance, hip hop, and high-shticking. It doesn’t aim high, but with Rob Lowe cruelly typecast as the conceited coach, and screenwriter Vinay Virmani as the charming lead, it somehow finds the net. Goon, from Fubar director Michael Dowse, is more potent stuff, the tale of a sweetly idiotic, painfully polite bouncer who gets recruited as an enforcer for a minor-league team. With Jay Baruchel rooting from the sidelines, it’s lethally funny, but Goon’s heroic embrace of the game’s blood lust makes one wince in light of the recent deaths of former NHL strongmen. The Last Gladiators, Alex Gibney’s documentary about ex-Canadiens enforcer Chris Nilan, suffers from a similar problem—of being too timely, yet not timely enough.

Competing for the limelight at TIFF is a contact sport in its own right. And while Hollywood stars dominate the media, the festival also serves as a gateway for world cinema—Iran’s A Separation was voted second most popular film—and an outlet mall for homegrown fare, with a whacking total of 34 Canadian features this year, including co-productions. None was more keenly anticipated than Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz, starring Michelle Williams as a woman torn between a comfy marriage to Seth Rogen and the dreamboat next door. Polley’s sophomore feature is as bold and flamboyant as her Oscar-nominated debut, Away From Her, was restrained and sombre. But TIFF’s prize for best Canadian feature went to Philippe Falardeau’s quiet gem, Monsieur Lazhar, a note-perfect drama about an Algerian refugee teaching elementary school in Montreal.

Meanwhile, Edwin Boyd won the award for best Canadian feature debut with its hell-bent saga of a real-life Canadian outlaw (Scott Speedman) who became a folk hero in postwar Toronto—robbing banks after failing to make it as an actor. Director Nathan Morlando, who tracked down Boyd in 1995, says the idea came from studying existential philosophy at the University of Toronto—“I was interested in the anti-hero.” Boyd, who wore theatrical makeup when robbing banks, was inspired by film noir and James Cagney.

In the end, even in the cold Canadian shadows of the TIFF industrial complex, all roads lead back to Hollywood.

http://www.digitalninjastl.com/blog/2011/09/23/london-film-festival-xan-brookss-top-10-picks/

London film festival: Xan Brooks’s top 10 picks
September 23, 2011 by guardian.co.uk

From Steve McQueen's Shame to Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, these are the films not to miss at the LFF
Terrafirma (Oct 13,14)

Away from the star-stuffed main events, the London film festival provides more than its share of hidden treasures and messages in bottles. Emanuele Criolese's heartfelt human drama is a prime example: a portrait of fishermen, migrants and the law of the sea, pungently set on the volcanic island of Linosa, just south of Sicily. This tale of two tribes of the dispossessed comes framed as coarse-grained social realism in its first half, a tense thriller in its second. It's well worth seeking out.

Shame (Oct 14,15)

The British artist Steve McQueen took a prize at Cannes for his debut feature Hunger. Shame is better still: a tragic boulevard of broken dreams, superbly played by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan as the damaged siblings drifting around a sterile, anonymous Manhattan. "We're not bad people," Mulligan's character insists. "We just come from a bad place." In lush, painterly strokes, Shame evokes a world where sex has been traded so freely and so heavily that it has long since lost its power to shock, stimulate or even give pleasure. This film, by contrast, does all three with ease.

Alps (Oct 16,18)

Alps is a flat, black tour-de-force from the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, who won plaudits for his previous film, Dogtooth. The Alps, it transpires, is to a rag-tag troupe of bereavement gurus who earn their crust by play-acting the recently deceased. Lanthimos follows the fortunes of the sad-eyed Nurse (Aggeliki Papoulia) as she re-enacts precious moments for grieving widowers and the parents of a teenager who was killed in a car crash. Alps is deadpan, chill as ice and arguably a shade too oblique for its own good. Yet its ambition and audacity takes the breath away.

Les Enfants du Paradis (Oct 16)

The archive sidebar is one of the joys of the London film festival. This year's section finds room for the likes of Elia Kazan's America, America, Nicolas Ray's We Can't Go Home Again and the teenybop classic Bye Bye Birdy, featuring a pouting Ann-Margret and recently referenced by an episode of Mad Men. All of these are worth a visit, so long as we don't forget Les Enfants du Paradis, Marcel Carne's glorious celebration of the Paris theatre, shot under the radar during the Nazi occupation, dusted off for the new millennium and as full of life, lust and lustre as it ever was.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Oct 17)

It's a police procedural by the Turkish film-maker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, which means that it is long and deliberate and pruned of anything resembling CSI-style thrills. But stay with it. Follow in the footsteps of Ceylan's protagonists (the cops, doctor, prosecutor and suspects) as they hunt a body in the barrens and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia casts an extraordinary spell. It's arguably the director's most muscular, most fully realised film to date, and deservedly won the grand prix at the 2011 Cannes film festival (a prize it shared with the Dardennes' similarly fine The Kid With a Bike, which also screens at this year's LFF).

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Oct 17,18)

Lynne Ramsay returns from a decade in the wilderness to rustle up this gripping adaptation of the Lionel Shriver bestseller. Tilda Swinton plays the flayed, anguished middle-class mum, stranded in the suburbs and toiling to connect with her sociopath son (Ezra Miller, downright sulphurous). In other hands this might have been a cheesy, Omen-style horror flick. Ramsay keeps it light and liquid and shot through with devilish set-pieces. I particularly liked Swinton's jittery Halloween excursion, rattling through town to the strains of Buddy Holly.

The Artist (Oct 18,22)

The Artist, which arrived out of nowhere at this year's Cannes film festival, may well be the most purely intoxicating film we'll see all year: a ravishing homage to the last days of the silent era, audaciously framed as a silent movie itself (compete with inter-titles and orchestral star) and dotted top to tail with delirious sight gags and rueful asides. Jean Dujardin stars as glossy tragedian, ushered towards obsolescence and eclipsed by his co-star. Michel Hazanavicius's film is clever and knowing but it possesses soul in abundance. See it quick, before we talk it to death.

Carnage (Oct 18,19,22)

You can usually rely on Roman Polanski to wield a pitchfork, turn up the heat and show that hell is other people. Carnage is his adaptation of the play by Yasmina Reza, recreating a Brooklyn apartment on a Paris soundstage and letting its quartet of characters (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C Reilly, Christophe Waltz) bounce off the walls. The action plays out in real time, as the afternoon turns towards dusk and the tempers rise to boiling point. The moment when a convulsed Kate Winslet vomits copiously over the coffee table stands proud as the film's gaudy, psychedelic showstopper.

Miss Bala (Oct 19,20,22)

Gerardo Naranjo's white-knuckle thriller was one of the break-out hits of Cannes. Miss Bala shows a forensic attention to detail as it pitches a hapless beauty queen (Stephanie Sigman) into the midst of a drug war between the dealers and narcotics agents in lawless Baja California. There are no heroes and villains in this jumbled, corroded terrain. All them are heading straight to hell and the drop-off arrives with a rollercoaster panache.

Footnote (Oct 25, 27)

A cerebral comedy about two scholars of the Talmud is never going to be multiplex catnip, but Footnote is so crisp, so smart, so perfectly played that it will make converts of even the most entrenched non-believers. Israeli comic Shlomo Bar Aba plays Professor Shkolnik Sr, a grouching academic, effortlessly overshadowed by his charismatic son (Lior Azkenazi) and offering prayers for an 11th-hour reprieve. Writer-director Joseph Cedar handles the tale's twists and turns with a sure-footed grace.

London film festival 2011
Steve McQueen
London film festival
Festivals

Xan Brooks

guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News

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Briefs from Venice
Posted on September 23, 2011 from Souffle

A few small note from the recent Venetian visions. A good lineup that has crowded the halls in Milan. We'll see if it will be full even when these films - many already purchased or already out - will occupy the regular programming.

Himizu of Zion I

Japan Post Tsunami debris, desire for redemption - set by the institutions (schools) - the desire for normalcy anonymous. The young Sumida is used as a metaphor for out of Zion I Youth left in the lurch by indifferent families, in a country where only ruins the moral and spiritual crime seems to have solid walls to sleep. Do not give up, escape apathy, (re) start. How many tragedies must kill the fathers to (re) acquainted. And have a girl next door who knows how to set the direction and help us to find an answer to the question: who are they?.
Zion I work hard for allegories, knowing exaggeration to touch the viewer with piercing shots that leave no escape, at the edge of pathos, touching on the ridiculous (but only to Western eyes). And it's really hard to not love these trucks in the rubble of the camera, for intense close-ups torn lens, the camera or what (in) follows the two young actors (very good) in the race to the future, shouted from tears "Sumida not give up."

Faust Aleksandr Sokurov

Opera dense, complex, that transcends its subject to become an object of contemplation. Sokurov is confirmed pager great images in a film that asks much of the audience, first and foremost attention to the word (in the beginning was the Word? Faust is asked not too happy with the translation of the Gospel of John, or the action?).
And the movie is almost crushed between the verb (thoughts, endless philosophical discussions) and action (the need to show the beauty and ugliness of the world through the beauty and ugliness of the body). The audience drowns in frames, in denominations of light, in the precipitate of the images, the film that comes close to decompose, accompanied to the underworld of the viewer's gaze. Required closure of tetralogy of power (Moloch, Taurus and The Sun, Hitler, Lenin and Hirohito) because it lays the theoretical and symbolic.

Ps James Franco

In recounting the last days (or better the last day) of life of the actor Sal Mineo, known in Italy especially for being in opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, James Franco shows diligent pupil of Gus Van Sant (without still have the love that comes out of the camera, but already had the attention to his characters that the director of Seattle has always shown).
Mineo was a writer, actor, director. It was also homosexual. Franco did not fall into the traps of the biopic on the last day for which the main character is always "exemplary" and "mythical", captures the viewer with simple, effective sign that warns that we are witnessing the last hours of the actor, uses footage with material the intent of making fiction of reality, and brings home a decent movie, correct. Not passionate about what he might have wanted but at least a couple of scenes (the evidence in the theater) that are great movies.

David Cronenberg's A Dangerous method

The Little History of Violence, much room has a view. Cronenberg has a material potentially interesting, but, trapped in the script by Christopher Hampton, builds a story of passions, romantic and traditional costume that does not have the strength to become (unfortunately) Dangerous Liaisons, provides some time for dangerous film, but even more stride in commissioning ivoryana scene set. Keira Knightly's acting inadmissible that the director provides to the public without having made ​​a pact with him and he deserves great laughter in the room.

Shame by Steve McQueen

Cinema of the body to Steve McQueen. In Hunger of protest, claim, living example of denial of rights, in the instrument of negation of Shame inner barrier to becoming an adult.
The protagonist of Shame, Brandon (Michael Fassbender gives body to the soul and beautiful) is prey to a preoccupation with sex that hides an immaturity of feelings difficult to admit. And if the sexual encounters (for a fee or not) take place as codified rituals (you want a drink?) Leaving (only) the body speak, even shout her not, Brandon is able to verbalize her discomfort with her ​​sister only Sissy, though apparently in the intensive dialogue on the couch seems to come out the winner (is not immature, who says "I have a job and a house and you do not?" Claims of a "bourgeois system" only false, apparently, a stability that is only exterior).
Atony of feelings, firmness of the body. To love is to admit your discomfort. Shame you can not do it.

http://bestclubslasvegas.com/best-clubs-las-vegas/toronto-wrap-best-of-fest-oscar-boosts-winners-and-losers/

Toronto Wrap: Best Of Fest, Oscar Boosts, Winners And Losers
September 23, 2011 – 5:06 am

The pretence with the drop movie festivals is to guess expectations going in vs. what was obviously achieved. Various distributors launched their drop slates, and watched with wish or abhorrence at how their cinema were received by audiences and critics. Oscar contenders possibly changed deliver in the awards race, or were pushed back. Other indies hoped their drive-in theatre would be picked up by the correct distributor in time for this year’s Oscar race. Some were, a few weren’t. It’s difficult for drive-in theatre that have already debuted at other festivals to collect up new momentum, nonetheless the press will bank features for release. The greatest sound goes to the new players, always.

Winners
The Descendants.
Fox Searchlight came out ahead with Alexander Payne’s four-hankie family slapstick The Descendants , that should consequence multi-part nominations (think Terms of Endearment , a cancer the theater that creates you giggle and cry), from Oscar perennials Clooney and Payne to TV singer Shailene Woodley in supporting. As Payne points out-and 50/50 moreover demonstrates-studios have been depriving audiences audiences of something they love-a movie that touches their emotions.

The Artist. Telluride and Toronto crowds ate up the French/English hybrid, and so did the media. This movie will be a strike and a soothing throw down the center for Academy voters, who will admire the wordless time black-and-white Star is Born romance. But campaigning for it will be The Weinstein Co.‘s challenge. While French writer-director Michel Hazanavicius speaks attractive English, TWC’s principal barrier will be alighting an Oscar assignment for charismatic French clown Jean Dujardin, who won most appropriate actor on his home territory at Cannes. When Marion Cotillard won her most appropriate singer Oscar for La Vie en Rose , she worked hard to upgrade her English and changed to Los Angeles to work the promotion trail. So did Spain’s Penelope Cruz, who won most appropriate ancillary singer for Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona . we watched Dujardin in action in Toronto with his translator at his side. It was a struggle.

George Clooney.
The renouned star, who was memorably tributed in Telluride (where folks similar to me got a few acquire face time) is a close for a most appropriate actor assignment for The Descendants , but it waste to be seen where his directing bid The Ides of Mar , a sharp diplomatic the theater formed on the fool around Farragut North , winds up. Some considered debuting the movie in Venice might have been a inapplicable designation ; but it didn’t wow the hordes in Toronto, either. we longed for the press screening, that was on gap day, and scored a sheet to a open screening, usually to uncover that it had taken place two hours earlier. Whoops.

Moneyball.
The movie played similar to gangbusters. And it’s tracking. Despite all the sturm and drang that went in to its production, Bennett Miller, returning to the director’s chair after a long interregnum after 2005′s Oscar-winning Capote , directed the liner in to harbor. The populist, up-the-establishment ball movie looks similar to a hit. But it’s not this year’s A Social Network , just since Sony, writer Scott Rudin and writer Aaron Sorkin are involved, nor is it other Michael Lewis phenom similar to The Blind Side , even even though he wrote the non-fiction ball expose. Miller, Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, working together, have fashioned a disposition investigate with ball as its setting. It’s about an initial thinker (Oakland A’s broad executive Billy Beane) who singlehandedly changed the way the diversion is played. Will the movie hoard a most appropriate photo slot? Will Brad Pitt’s easygoing, naturalistic performance consequence him other nomination? This movie could help pull Pitt in to disagreement for The Tree of Life ; Fox Searchlight is bizarrely campaigning him for most appropriate ancillary actor. He is completely the star-dominating lead in the Malick movie. Who else? Why fool around these games? Let the most appropriate performance win. I’ll be extraordinary to see how SAG and the Golden Globes hoop this issue. Moneyball is not indispensably an HFPA-friendly movie.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Toronto audiences cheered Jonathan Levine’s 50/50 (September 30), that is other weepie that earns its clapping via laughs, tears and authenticity. Gordon-Levitt gives an awards-worthy performance in Will Reiser’s semi-autobiographical book about his fighting with cancer conflicting producer/actor Seth Rogen, essentially personification himself, who tries to keep his most appropriate consort shouting as he undergoes chemo and an operation, losing his partner (Bryce Dallas Howard) together with his hair. Anjelica Huston is the mom he does not want to share his sickness with, and Anna Kendrick his initiate shrink.

Ryan Gosling.
Coming out ahead interjection to two well-reviewed heading purposes is Gosling. Both Drive , that non-stop well correct after getting yet other media speed up from Toronto (following Cannes and the LA Film Fest), and Clooney’s diplomatic the theater The Ides of Mar are boosting Gosling in to a bonafide movie star.

Kirsten Dunst.
The singer went to Toronto, the crucible of drop entertainment media, to speak up her Cannes best-actress-winning purpose in Melancholia , cheerful truly that Lars von Trier was nowhere in sight. (He did his damage in Berlin and on the phone to GQ , instead.) Will all that debate spin the Magnolia movie in to a must-see for Oscar voters? (Maybe.) Will Dunst be rewarded for her smart performance? She’s due. But Magnolia will must be push. Will they? It’s not their standard territory.

Anonymous .
This movie valid a astonishment crowd-pleaser. The John Orloff book was well-regarded until Shakespeare in Love knocked it out of the water. Well, Sony established its blurb possibilities and Roland Emmerich, a talented cinematic hand craftsman when given the correct material, delivers a rich, windy ( VFX-enhanced ), interesting time story of an swap reality, explaining the poser of who was William Shakespeare. According to Oxfordians, it’s Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, played with great glamour by Rhys Ifans and young Jamie Campbell Bower. Joely Richardson plays his great love, the young Queen Elizabeth, whilst her mom Vanessa Redgrave is absolute as Elizabeth in her dotage, who still has a flicker in her eye is to functions of her once-beloved Edward. The movie is suffused with the admire of Shakespeare: with Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance on hand, what’s not to like? Is it an Oscar contender? Production pattern and costumes, yes, and possibly Orloff, nonetheless a subplot in the third deed takes an unfavorable overdramatic turn. Redgrave is a burly contender for ancillary singer for other film, Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus (TWC), so other standout performance won’t hurt.

Rachel Weisz .
The singer starred in 3 drive-in theatre at the fest, two ensembles- 360 , Fernando Meirelles and Peter Morgan’s compliance of La Ronde , that is looking U.S. distribution, and David Hare’s well-mounted but slight view thriller, Page Eight (upcoming on PBS)-and one excellent lead, in Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea . She’s splendid as a lady in post-Blitz London used up by admire for a young flier (Tom Hiddleston). Music Box will give the movie an Oscar shot.

Michael Fassbender. Much as it did with The Wrestler , Searchlight acquired Steve McQueen’s Shame , that played well in Venice, Telluride and Toronto, and generated ample speak about Fassbender’s heartbreaking, no-holds-barred performance as a sex addict. The subject is, that of the year’s 4 Fassbender performances will win the day? Fox’s X-Men: First Class supposing a star-making purpose in a genre movie expected to be discharged by the Academy actors’ branch. But Focus Features has every goal of fighting for a assignment for Fassbender as Mr. Rochester in the well-reviewed well read dress the theater Jane Eyre , that is correct up Oscar voters’ alley. It will be difficult to bring that movie back-but BAFTA could fool around a key purpose in that effort, ample as BAFTA helped Focus measure nominations with other time drama, Atonement .

For its part, Sony Pictures Classics nurtures high hopes for David Cronenberg’s cunning time biopic A Dangerous Method , that is my preferred movie of the season so far. Fassbender plays Karl Jung as an honourable veteran who wrestles with new ideas about psychiatry and the inlet of passionate request from not usually his coach Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) but his patients (Vincent Cassell and Keira Knightley). Where Fassbender winds up will rely on such variables as the distributors, whether audiences and critics embrace the films, and the Academy itself, that finally, against a few expectations, did not frustrate at the severity of Black Swan final year.

Sony Pictures Classics.
It was a large year at Toronto for SPC co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, who well-known their 20th year at the featured item tag with a Jonathan Demme Q A, their annual low-key cooking (where we got to cling to with David Cronenberg, Keira Knightley, Agnieszka Holland, Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon) and a blow-out party. SPC is still solid as she goes with a theatrically-driven agenda, as against to the more VOD-oriented Magnolia and IFC. SPC pushed for more concern at the fest for Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method , Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter , featuring a overwhelming performance from Shannon (who is moreover superb in Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher ), Holland’s dour pyre the theater In Darkness , that is Poland’s Oscar access and a shoo-in for a unfamiliar nomination, and Asghar Farhadi’s critically-hailed A Separation , that is Iran’s authorized submission is to Oscars. Israel’s expected Ophir leader will be Cannes’ opponent father-son academics the theater Footnote , that will then make it the authorized entry. Making a not as big dash were two Cannes holdovers, Gus Van Sant’s regretful bagatelle Restless and Pedro Almodovar’s eccentric The Skin we Live In , along with Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress , a attractive caprice ably carried by Greta Gerwig.

IFC Films .
The AMC-owned indie distributor came in to the celebration with 11 entries, inclusive German Oscar access Pina , directed by Wim Wenders, difficult kill in cold blood documentary Into the Abyss , directed by Werner Herzog (one Telluride high indicate was having an unpretentious lunch with the two aged chums), the Dardenne brothers’ The Kid with a Bike , that one after another to fool around well (a Toronto prominence was sitting with the pleasurable Dardennes at IFC’s annual dinner) and Joshua Marston’s dignified Albanian-language the theater The Forgiveness of Blood . IFC and kin section Sundance Selects moreover acquired a few films, inclusive Christophe Honore’s Cannes access Beloved , Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna , starring Freida Pinto and Your Sister’s Sister , actress-writer-director Lynn Shelton’s anticipated follow-up to Humpday . She continues to do wonders for Mark Duplass’s behaving career. (He and writer-director hermit Jay’s college of music effort, Jeff, Who Lives at Home , is a good-for-nothing and prosaic family slapstick starring Jason Segal, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon and the widespread Judy Greer that roughly pulls itself out at the end.)

Pick-Ups: The celebration boasted that this year’s marketplace saw a 20% overload in universal movie deals as of Friday, with a few 20 sales so far. A unreasonable of drive-in theatre were looking placement in Toronto, many of them anticipating for a shot at the awards season. To that end, Luc Besson’s The Lady , starring Michelle Yeoh in a relocating loyal intrigue conflicting David Thewlis, was acquired by new indie distributor Cohen Media Group, whilst Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea scored a year-end container from Music Box Films, creation its first pierce in to English-language transport , ample reduction Oscar territory. Oscilloscope scooped up Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights , Magnolia’s genre tag Magnet grabbed Bobcat Goldthwait’s sardonic God Bless America and Goldwyn nabbed conform biodoc Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel.

Among the more blurb indie offerings, Jennifer Westfeldt’s rom-com Friends with Kids went to Lionsgate/Roadside, whilst Lionsgate took abhorrence slapstick You’re Next ). Suburban family slapstick The Oranges went to ATO Pictures, Australian inhospitable surroundings actioner The Hunter starring Willem Dafoe, went to Magnolia, Brit condemned residence thriller The Awakening went to Cohen Media Group, and Lasse Hallstrom’s Ewan McGregor-starrer Salmon Fishing in the Yemen valid the festival’s greatest sale, $5-million, to inspired CBS Films, that has not long ago changed in to assertive acquisitions mode. Mickey Liddell ( Biutiful ) moreover paid millions for William Friedkin’s thriller Killer Joe , starring Matthew McConaughey, with a releasing partner still to be announced.

Still in bargaining are Oren Moverman’s difficult L.A. patrolman noir Rampart , starring Woody Harrelson, Hungarian Oscar access The Turin Horse , directed by Bela Tarr, and the festival’s astonishment assembly winner, Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now , the authorized submission from Lebanon, amid many others, from well-received Sarah Polley the theater Take This Waltz , starring Michelle Williams, to Tanya Wexler’s Victorian the theater Hysteria , about the innovation of the vibrator, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Felicity Jones and Hugh Dancy, that 4 buyers are chasing . (Brit ingenue Jones had a great festival; she moreover stars in Paramount Vantage’s Sundance pick-up Like Crazy .)

Losers
Judging from the word-of-mouth on the street, the greatest bombs in Toronto were Francis Ford Coppola’s abhorrence movie Twixt , that the director will self-distribute, Joel Schumacher’s Cage-Kidman starrer Trespass (Avi Lerner’s Millennium Films) and Derick Martini’s Las Vegas-set Hick , that is still looking a distributor.

The Weinstein Co.
While The Artist scored off the charts, Madonna’s time intrigue W.E. played really bad in Venice and Toronto (here’s IW’s Madonna interview ), and diplomatic lampoon Butter moreover unsuccessful to measure with critics in Telluride and Toronto (although it played improved with audiences), forcing Weinstein to situation a dare to Michele Bachmann to attend the premiere. Luckily TWC has lots of cinema in play; still to be listened from is Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady , starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, nonetheless it must be mentioned that Lloyd did send Mamma Mia! . And TWC has been effectively office building hum for other Williams-starrer, My Week with Marilyn , that debuts at the NY Film Festival.

The NYFF launches September 30 and will reprise a preference of Cannes, Venice and Toronto titles. Still to be motionless is how SPC’s Carnage will fool around stateside. It got a few reviews in Venice, but gap night in NYC will discuss it the tale. we wondered if The Descendants might not have done a improved gap than a shutting is to NYFF, after they couldn’t obtain Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy, stranded sharpened The Dark Night Rises , to attend Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . We will shortly find out.

This is my specific Toronto slice, the cinema that managed to obtain my concern by trait of their endowment season or merger promise, or screenings that we slipped in to just since we felt similar to it. You never know what you may find. we still have screeners in the pile.

Toronto Oscar Hopefuls :
50/50 (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Summit)
Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Roadside)
Anonymous (Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Columbia)
The Artist (Jean Dujardin, TWC)
Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes, vanessa Redgrave, TWC)
A Dangerous Method (Michael Fassbender, SPC)
The Deep Blue Sea (Rachel Weisz, Music Box)
The Descendants (George Clooney, Shaileine Woodley, Fox Searchlight)
The Lady (Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, Cohen Media Group)
Melancholia (Kirsten Dunst, Magnolia)
Moneyball (Brad Pitt, Columbia)
Shame (Michael Fassbender, Fox Searchlight)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (Tilda Swinton)

Ten Best of Fest (new films):
1. A Dangerous Method
2. The Descendants
3. Rampart
4. Coriolanus
5. Moneyball
6. Shame
7. 50/50
8. The Deep Blue Sea
9. Into the Abyss
10. Anonymous

Good Not Great (alphabetical):
Albert Nobbs (Rodrigo Garcia, Roadside Attractions)
Friends with Kids (Jennifer Westfeldt, Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
The Island President (Jeff Shenk, ITVS)
Jeff, Who Lives at Home (Mark and Jay Duplass, Paramount Vantage)
The Lady (Luc Besson, Cohen Media Group)
The Last Gladiators (Alex Gibney)
Machine Gun Preacher (Marc Forster, Relativity Media)

Disappointments (alphabetical):
Americano (Mathieu Demy, MPI)
Barrymore (Eric Kanuel)
Butter (Jim Field Smith, TWC)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (Martin Scorsese, HBO)
My Worst Nightmare (Anne Fontaine)
The Oranges (Julian Farino, ATO)
Page Eight (David Hare, PBS)

Sundance/Cannes Repeats:
The Artist (TWC)
Drive (Film District)
Footnote (SPC)
Habemus Papam (IFC)
Le Havre (Janus)
The Kid with a Bike (IFC)
Like Crazy (Paramount Vantage)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight)
Melancholia (Magnolia)
Restless (SPC)
The Skin we Live In (SPC)
Sleeping Beauty (Sundance Selects)
Take Shelter (SPC)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (Oscilloscope)

Get Thompson on Hollywood Email Updates

http://www.cinepolisnews.com/2011/09/22/las-anecdotas-del-festival-de-san-sebastian/

Anecdotes San Sebastian Festival

Posted in Special , Festivals
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San Sebastian (Spain), September 22, 2011 .- Film festivals come the stars to people, but this year in San Sebastian all is especially mundane, with Michael Fassbender arriving by motorcycle to the event, Glenn Close changing the great restaurants for some tapas or buying peaches Frances McDormand.
As the great French film diva Catherine Deneuve arrives and fails to present the film after its discoverer, Jacques Demy (and has postponed his meeting with San Sebastian twice), it seems that the whims of a star this year have been the only positive cut the festival.
Michael Fassbender, the actor wanted the festival especially after his charms in the film "Shame", finally made an appearance late in the morning in San Sebastian, having taken as no option to get the boat or plane, but the bike.
From Mickey Rourke in "Rumble Fish" and like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One", never a motorcycle had pulled many hormones staff that awaits your arrival but his film has already burned all their projections in the Zinemaldia.
Another star that prevented the plane, which is a dish of your choice, was Julie Delpy who arrived with an anecdote from Paris, where he took the night train to the nearby French town of Biarritz to arrive in San Sebastian to present his "Le Skyalab".
In the early hours of the morning, her face laughing justified sleep because a man had entered the compartment by mistake and mistook her for his bride, arriving to grope in the dark bed in which the protagonist of "White" sleeping peacefully .
Glenn Close, one of the biggest stars of the festival with the Donostia Prize, canceled his reservation at one of the best restaurants in San Sebastian because he preferred to "go for tapas." San Sebastian was in a short time and preferred to mingle with his people.
The jury, however, have time for everything. Thus, Frances McDormand have seen it by choosing the best peaches in a fruit shop near the Kursaal, while his companion Sophie Okonedo deliberations, the star of "Hotel Rwanda" (2004), was holding the umbrella, which in some must be noted that the actress from "Fargo" is the group's president be elected by the Concha de Oro
But to discuss without being disturbed, the jury also go to the famous restaurant Arzak, where he seized McDormand Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia for the cell to stop tweeting once. As he recovered, he told his "followers" anecdote.
Despite this act of discipline, the official jury sometimes late as every Tom, Dick, to the point of delaying the screening of one of the films in competition, with the resulting anger of the audience.
Not that is anything new there, but Julian Schnabel for years that passed through the festival and, while no longer carries the pairings that designing its former partner, now prefers to wear overalls painter, white socks with a picture of the Virgin and a smartphone "customized" with a headphone effect "vintage".
In addition, interviews to promote his film "Miral", "because it's worth it" because that is not in the festival program, gives them lying on the floor of the terrace of Maria Cristina. (EFE)

http://blogs.terra.es/blogs/cine/archive/2011/09/22/an-233-cdotas-del-festival-de-san-sebasti-225-n.aspx

Thursday, September 22, 2011 10:43
Tales from a festival of San Sebastián, mundane

Film festivals come the stars to people, but this year in San Sebastian all being particularly mundane, with Michael Fassbender bike coming in Donostia, Glenn Close changing the great restaurants for a few tapas and Frances McDormand buying peaches.

Michael Fassbender, the actor wanted the festival especially after showing the size of its charm in the film "Shame", finally made ​​an appearance late in the morning in San Sebastian, after taking an option to get the boat not or plane, but the bike.

Another that kept the plane, which is dish of your choice, was Julie Delpy who arrived with an anecdote from Paris, where he took the night train to get to Biarritz in San Sebastian to present his "Le Skyalab".

In the early hours of the morning, her face laughing justified sleep because a man had entered the compartment by mistake and mistook her for his bride, arriving to grope in the dark bed in which the protagonist of "White" sleeping peacefully . Posts to be wrong ...

Glenn Close, one of the biggest stars of the festival with the Donostia Prize, canceled his reservation at one of the best restaurants in San Sebastian because he preferred to leave San Sebastian tapas as pro. San Sebastian was in a short time and preferred to mingle with his people.

The jury, however, have time for everything. Thus, Frances McDormand have seen it by choosing the best peaches in a fruit shop near the Kursaal, while his companion Sophie Okonedo discussions held his umbrella, that something has to be noted that the actress in "Fargo" is the group's president be elected by the Concha de Oro

But to discuss without being disturbed, the jurors will also Arzak, where he requisitioned McDormand Álex de la Iglesia mobile to tweet to stop once. As he recovered, he told his "followers" anecdote.

Terra Cinema - EFE - Mateo Sancho Cardiel

http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch_nicely_edited_trailer_for_the_49th_new_york_film_festival/

Watch: Nice Job on the Trailer for the 49th New York Film Festival
by Nigel M Smith (Updated 6 hours, 4 minutes ago)
Watch: Nice Job on the Trailer for the 49th New York Film Festival

The trailer for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival gets the job done: It got us excited for the 17 days of programming to come.

Featuring music by Alexandre Desplat (“The Tree of Life”) from the event’s opening night film, “Carnage,” the trailer deftly cuts together clips from some of the high-profile films screening at the festival. Among them: “Melancholia,” “The Skin I Live In,” “Miss Bala,” “The Artist,” “Pina,” “The Descendants,” “A Separation” and “A Dangerous Method.”

Fun fact: “Carnage” is the second New York Film Festival opening night film for which Desplat has composed music. He also created the original score for Stephen Frears’ “The Queen,” which opened the festival in 2006.

The 49th New York Film Festival runs September 30 to October 16.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/09/27/iranian_strife_israeli_police_argentinian_politics_and_nic_ray_5_hidden_gem

indieWIRE’s 5 Hidden Gems from the 2011 New York Film Festival
by Eric Kohn (September 27, 2011)
indieWIRE’s 5 Hidden Gems from the 2011 New York Film Festival
Esteban Lamothe in "The Student." Image courtesy of the New York Film Festival.

The New York Film Festival, which begins September 30, offers plenty on the surface: There’s the new Roman Polanski (opening-night selection “Carnage”), the sweeter side of the Dardenne brothers (“The Kid With a Bike”) and David Cronenberg turning his camera on the relationship between Freud and Jung (“A Dangerous Method,” starring Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender). Lars Von Trier and Abel Ferrara offer apocalyptic relationship stories (“Melancholia” and “4:44: Last Day on Earth,” respectively), while Martin Scorsese will unveil his sprawling HBO documentary on George Harrison.

Guaranteed crowdpleasers all, but the less-boldfaced program components include a number of provocative discoveries. Here’s a few of them.

“Policeman”
Everyone seems lost in Nadav Lapid’s “Policeman” (“Ha-shoter”), an unsettling story of brawny Israeli anti-terrorist officers and the equally clueless activists they’re tasked with hunting down. While blatantly topical, this is not a political film of the moment, but rather a calculated meditation on purpose. Developed by first-time director Lapid, the script for “Policeman” contains a persistently muted, disquieting tone that the director could expand upon in subsequent efforts. While somewhat problematically fragmented, “Policeman” is loaded with insight into the nuances of Israeli society.

“A Separation”
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s devastating portrait of an Iranian couple ensnared in unexpected legal problems has been selected as Iran’s official entry for the Academy Awards for best foreign language film. It also won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as Silver Bear awards for the performances of its leads. It’s easy to see why: Farhadi (“About Elly”) delicately examines what it means for a secular-minded couple to live under societal oppression. The moody Nader (Payman Moadi) refuses to leave Iran with his wife Simin (Leila Hatami), who wants to find a better place to raise their adolescent child. The couple considers getting a divorce, but before they get the chance, Nader accidentally finds himself accused by a religious maid and her unemployed husband, who claim Nader caused her to have a miscarriage. Much of the movie finds the two couples standing before an irritated judge whose biases continually shift, reflecting the ever-changing source of sympathy in Farhadi’s incredibly perceptive narrative.

“The Student”
A speedy depiction of university politics and the spirited radicalism associated with them, “The Student” (“El estudiante”) announces 31-year-old Argentinean filmmaker Santiago Mitre as a South American Aaron Sorkin. A screenwriter whose credits include Pablo Trapero’s “Carancho” and “Leonera,” Mitre uses his directorial debut to craft a fascinating and heady universe filled with moody young intellectuals and back-stabbing schemes. It might be the first serious political narrative about undergraduate matriculation.

“This is Not a Film”
Jafar Panahi took risky circumstances and turned them into art. A first-person account of the Iranian filmmaker at home awaiting news of his prison sentencing, “This is Not a Film” is a sharp, measured critique that puts a human face on Iranian censorship. Aided by his friend, documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (who was recently imprisoned), Panahi muses on the state of affairs that led to his six-year prison sentencing and 20-year ban on making movies. Miraculously smuggled into Cannes just before the festival began, “This is Not a Film” is an eloquent indictment of Iranian society that’s also unexpectedly funny, personable and sad.

“We Can’t Go Home Again”
Most people know Nicholas Ray as the director of 1950’s Hollywood classics like “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Johnny Guitar” and “In a Lonely Place.” After those prolific years, however, Ray entered a radically different stage of his career. As a teacher at the State University of New York at Binghamton in the 1970’s, a nexus for avant-garde filmmaking during a crucial period of its history, Ray took an interest in far more experimental storytelling techniques. The result is his most daring, baffling and distinctly profound “We Can’t Go Home Again,” a partly fictionalized look at Ray’s relationship to some of his students and the countercultural energy they represented for the jaded director. Never completed before the director’s death in 1979, “We Can’t Go Home Again” barely saw the light of day after a mixed reaction at Cannes in 1973. Newly restored and now set for DVD release through Oscilloscope Laboratories, “We Can’t Go Home Again” retains its unique allure as both Ray’s personal essay on age and responsibility as well as a kind of non-linear coming-of-age comedy. The film screens at the New York Film Festival along with “Don’t Expect Too Much,” a documentary about the production of “We Can’t Go Home Again” directed by Ray’s widow, Susan.

http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/film/two-timing-at-the-lff#.ToNtm9TazEo

Two-Timing At The LFF

Tipped for Oscar gold, Michael Fassbender does the rounds as Sigmund Freud in A Dangerous Method and as self-destructive sex addict in Steve McQueen hotly anticipated Shame. Flanked by Brit belles du jours, Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan respectively, Fassbender is not shy to praise his ‘wonderful, beautiful’ co-stars.

A look at the actors with two films at the 55th BFI London Film Festival, including Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz.
Posted 27th September 2011, 12:44pm in Film

The build-up to the 55th BFI London Film Festival is underway, with tickets going on sale this week.

The star-studded event runs from 12th to 27th October, with premieres, previews and galas of the hottest films coming up over the next year.

The festival boasts not one, but two outings from some of the most exciting actors in the film industry right now, including Michael Shannon and Michael Fassbender. There's also the respected, familiar, Oscar-bothering faces such as George Clooney and John C. Reilly, as well as Academy Award-winner Rachel Weisz, who opens and closes the festival in style.

Add to this the imagination of Terry Gilliam and the experimentation of Jonas Menkas, and you've got some exciting "double bills". Take a look at our gallery above to find out more about the films.

Head over to bfi.org.uk/lff for the full line-up and ticket details. We'll be bringing you a preview of the best hidden gems to look out for, as well as all the action once the festival gets underway on 12th October.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23991440-george-clooney-carey-mulligan-and-keira-knightley-on-the-southbank.do

What to watch: Our critics' guide to the BFI London Film Festival
Derek Malcolm and Charlotte O’Sullivan
27 Sep 2011

Booking is now open for next month's BFI London Film Festival - our critics guide you to their highlights

DEREK MALCOlM'S CHOICES

A Dangerous Method Even in his most orthodox movie to date, David Cronenberg manages to insert a scene in which Keira Knightley is spanked as she looks in the mirror. Further recommendation is that it's an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's fascinating play about the relationship between psychoanalysts Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and their subject Sabina Spielrein (Knightley).

Carnage Roman Polanski shoots his loose adaptation of Yasmina Reza's play about two middle-class families, a playground bust-up between their children and a similar conflagration among the adults just right. Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C Reilly are the ideal cast. Stunning fun.

Coriolanus Not the easiest Shakespeare to make into a film but Ralph Fiennes, who plays the grim general as well as directing, creates a formidable head of steam and has the benefit of a good supporting cast, Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave included. Strong stuff, marshalled with skill.

Crazy Horse You would not expect distinguished documentarist Fred Wiseman to make a film about a strip club, but Paris's historic Crazy Horse is more of a typically French manifestation of arty erotica. Beautifully shot, it displays enough flesh to make your eyes water, and a sly sense of humour too.

Elena A chance to see one of the best Russian films of the year, a deserving winner of the Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes. Director Andrei Zvyagintsev elicits a superb performance from Nadezhda Markina as a timid woman, married to a rich but sick businessman, trying to secure the financial future for her son and his family.

Oslo, August 31st Joachim Trier made the excellent Reprise and this new film confirms him as one of Scandinavia's best directors. Let out from his drug rehabilitation centre for a day, Anders deliberately flunks a job interview and wanders round Oslo trying to reconnect with his old life. Exceptional film-making, made with great warmth.

Shame Steve McQueen's follow-up to his multi-award-winning Hunger has Michael Fassbender in the lead again, as a desperate New York sex addict with an equally needy and possibly suicidal sister (Carey Mulligan). Brilliantly filmed and performed.

Terraferma Director Emanuelle Crialese sets this tale in Sicily, where a poor fishing family illegally try to help African refugees they have picked up from the sea. A strong and sympathetic vision from the maker of Respiro.

The Artist If anyone had predicted that this silent film would prove to be one of the most popular at Cannes, they would have been laughed out of court. But Michel Hazanavicius has caught the Hollywood of 1927 to which he pays tribute - when sound threatened the careers of silent-era stars - with remarkable truthfulness, and Jean Dujardin, as the worried actress in question, contributes a brilliant portrait. Who needs words?

The Deep Blue Sea Terence Rattigan, newly reassessed as a master of his craft and Terence Davies, one of our most distinctive film-makers, seem a perfect fit in this sad but headily romantic tale of love among the post-war ruins between the wife of a judge (Rachel Weisz, never better) and a louche RAF pilot (Tom Hiddleston). Simon Russell Beale is also splendid as the sad husband.

The Ides of March George Clooney's political drama, which he co-wrote, directed and acts in, proves that Good Night, and Good Luck was no fluke. It's excellently acted throughout (Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman) and casts a balefully accurate eye on corruption and double dealing in American election campaigns.

The Kid With a Bike The Belgian Dardennes brothers, twice Palme d'Or winners at Cannes, took away another good prize at the festival earlier this year for this affecting tale of a boy who faces an often hostile adult world with a kind of desperate courage. It is not easy to be this simple and direct, but they seem to achieve it every time.

Whores' Glory Austrian documentarist Michael Glawogger interviews prostitutes from Bangkok, Bangladesh and Mexico, one of whom asks simply: "Why do women have to suffer so much?" A fitting companion piece to the film-maker's moving Workingman's Death.

Wuthering Heights Andrea Arnold's atmospheric stab at relieving the Emily Brontë classic of melodrama among the crinolines is indebted to Robbie Ryan's already award-winning cinematography. The cast of mostly non-actors at times play second fiddle to the Yorkshire weather but Solomon Glave and Shannon Beer are great as the young Heathcliff and Cathy, and Arnold's sheer audacity shines through.

CHARLOTTE O'SULLIVAN'S CHOICES

Alps Look out, the Greeks are coming! With the help of many of the cast and crew from the recently released and enigmatic Attenberg, Yorgos Lanthimos (Oscar-nominated for Dogtooth) serves up another bizarre gem, this time involving a troupe of professionals (all named after mountains) who try to "fill the gap" of the recently deceased. Relatives seem happy to accept these substitutes but when Nurse (Aggeliki Papoulia) does work on the side all hell breaks loose.

Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life The prolific, LA-based Werner Herzog delves into a senseless murder (committed in Texas in 2000) and, in the process, creates his own version of In Cold Blood. The two killers; the relatives of their victims; stray townspeople; an unborn child and a Chevrolet Camaro now host to a small tree all prove crucial to a story that refuses to have a neat beginning or end.

I Wish The latest from quiet genius Hirokazu Kore-eda (After Life; Nobody Knows; Still Walking). When their parents divorce, Japanese brothers Koichi and Ryunosuke (played by real-life siblings), find themselves living at opposite ends of Kyushu. The eldest, keen to get the whole family back together, pins his hopes on a recently installed bullet train line. Sounds like a Japanese take on The Parent Trap. It's not.

The Descendants George Clooney outdoes himself in a family drama from Alexander (Sideways) Payne. Matt King (Clooney) is a Hawaiian lawyer and landowner who sets off with two daughters in tow - including wayward teen Alexandra (excellent newcomer Shailene Woodley) - to confront his dying wife's lover (Matthew Lillard). Payne and Clooney use humour and the lovely locations to draw us in, then knock us for six with their grasp on mortality and privilege.

The Future Miranda July is a fey, cutesy performance artist who somehow makes unsettling and subtle films. Her follow-up to Me and You and Everyone We Know is narrated by a wounded cat called Paw Paw, who tumbles into the world of drifting thirtysomethings Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater). Jon Brion (best known for his work with Paul Thomas Anderson and Charlie Kaufman) ensures the music is just-so intense.

Trishna Michael Winterbottom's third Thomas Hardy adaptation casts Slumdog star Freida Pinto as a modern-day Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Beautiful, Rajasthan peasant Trishna is bewitched and bewildered by London-born hotelier's son, Jay (Riz Ahmed, so good in Four Lions, even better here). Class and sex make her impossibly vulnerable. Viewers will be left weak at the knees by the soundtrack (by Shigeru Umebayashi) and cinematography (Marcel Zyskind).

Martha Marcy May Marlene Sean Durkin's debut (a big hit at Sundance), offers a sensitive, bold take on what it means to leave a cult and also contains two great performances. Elizabeth Olsen (younger sister of the infamous twins) is Martha, a smart teen desperate to escape guitar-strumming, Catskill Mountains guru, Patrick - the ferociously edgy John Hawkes (last seen in Winter's Bone). He's not easily out-run.

Michael A 35-year-old Austrian insurance drone called Michael (Michael Fuith) keeps a 10-year-old boy in his cellar. Sometimes he takes Wolfgang (David Rauchenberger) to the petting zoo. At night, he rapes him. Men like Josef Fritzl and the recently charged Gottfried W (who abused two incarcerated daughters for 40 years) often seem too bad to be true. It's the solidity of Michael that gives the movie (from one-time casting director Markus Schleinzer) the force of a terrifying revelation.

Miss Bala The fall and fall of Laura, a wannabe Baja beauty queen (ex-model Stephanie Sigman, outstanding) allows director Gerardo Naranjo to make fresh sense of the Mexican drug wars. Produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, the story is based on a real - chilling - incident from 2008. In Miss Bala ("Miss Bullet") thrills and pathos come joined at the hip.

Sarah Palin - You Betcha! Nick Broomfield does his jokey-serious thang, this time with the Tea Party goddess. He can't (or won't) get quality time with Palin herself but visits with the former Alaska governor's parents, Chuck and Sarah, and talks to her many and various enemies. Strong females rarely bring out the best in Broomfield. Still, there are some snort-out-loud moments and the insights into US political life are fascinating.

Where Do We Go Now? This comedy from 37-year-old Lebanese-Canadian Nadine Labaki is a likely contender for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. Fighting between Muslims and Christians looks set to tear a tiny village apart but a group of women refuse to accept their fate as widows-in-waiting. Labaki, who also stars as heroine Amale, looks like a young Cher (or an old Cher, for that matter). She's definitely arrived.

The 55th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, runs October 12-27. All venues, screening dates and times at bfi.org.uk, where booking is now open; also by telephone, 020 7928 3232 (9.30am-8.30pm daily), or in person at the box office of BFI Southbank, SE1 (11am-8.30pm daily). Stand-by tickets may be available 30 minutes before screening at the venue.

http://www.latinoreview.com/news/49th-new-york-film-festival-opening-week-14940

49th NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL: OPENING WEEK
By Ron Henriques on October 03, 2011
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49th NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL: OPENING WEEK

For the month of October, New York is where it appears to be happening for cinema, as the 49th New York Film Festival gets under way. Beginning September 30, this year's slate offers features from directors such as Roman Polanski, Lars von Trier, David Cronenberg, Pedro Almodovar, the Dardenne Brothers and Alexander Payne.

As with previous years, many of these films have already debuted at film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Toronto. That also makes them susceptible to piracy and I'm sorry to say that a good number of these films are already available as illegal downloads online. Let's face it, unless you're a New Yorker or true cinephile, the average moviegoer isn't going to pay out extravagant prices to see a slate of films like this. But there are some good films to be found here and although many of them have yet to be released or find distribution, I implore you to seek them out when they do reach theaters, support them and view them on a real movie screen as the filmmakers intended.

The best I've seen so far is the unreleased crime drama Miss Bala, the remarkable debut from director Gerardo Naranjo who has the potential to be either the next Fernando Meirelles, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu or something even greater. The Opening Night film is Roman Polanski's Carnage, with the Centerpiece being Simon Curtis' My Week With Marilyn followed by the Closing Night film, Alexander Payne's The Descendants.



Here are four features from the festival's opening week:



carnage-1


CARNAGE

Rating: A-

The amazing thing about Roman Polanski is that he just might be the only director who can pull of a film about four people who hate each other yet refuse to leave the room. No stranger to claustrophobic stories (Knife in the Water, The Tenant, Repulsion), Polanski masterfully pulls of this onscreen adaptation of Yasmina Reza's stage play God of Carnage in a breathtaking short 80 minutes. But what an amazing 80 minutes it is as two couples initially feud in a civil fashion before tearing into each other and debating everything from life, death, parenting and the selfish nature within all of us.

For well publicized reasons I won't mention here, Polanski shot this feature in Paris and yet although the entire film is set in a Brooklyn apartment, it feels very much like my beloved borough. I'm sure the Ikea furniture that populates the apartment of Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) has a lot to do with it, but whatever visual tricks Polanski has employed to make what's happening outside their living room windows feel like Brooklyn, he's expertly pulled it off.

The film opens with a credit sequence set in a playground against the backdrop of the East river. Two boys amongst a group of pre-teens are feuding before one of them suddenly whacks the other across the face with a tree branch. We can't hear what they were arguing about and it doesn't matter since this story is really about their parents. The parents of the victim, Penelope and Michael, invite Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) over to their apartment to discuss why their son violently reacted as he did. It's a meeting over coffee and cake meant to make peace, even though both couples have already begun to feud over the wording of the Longstreet's written statement. Nancy and Alan both come from the corporate world with the latter being a lawyer for a prominent pharmaceutical company, while the more bohemian Michael sand Penelope sell bathroom supplies and work in a bookstore respectively.

carnage-2

Just when it appears the conversation is over and the Cowans offer to make amends by paying the Longstreet's dental bills for their son, the four characters somehow find it difficult to part ways. Polanski does this several times in the picture, with the Cowan's almost making it to the elevator down the hall and it always works realistically. Coffee and apple/peach cobbler, turns to espresso, followed by a can of soda to calm Nancy's upset stomach and before long the couples are sharing a bottle of rare Scotch. Even though the Cowans see their son as a spoiled terror on two legs, they're not about to let off-hand comments from the Longstreets go undefended. The Cowans keep their coats on for much of the story, suggesting they have better things to do, especially Alan, who constantly chats on the phone with his office. The pharmaceutical company he represents is in the middle of a massive suit involving a faulty drug and as fate would have it Michael's mother is taking it. Halfway through the act, there's a bit of down and dirty business that I won't divulge here, but it affects the outcome of the story in a hilarious turn. Let's just say the apple/peach cobbler may have had something to do with it and the victim isPenelope's prized copy of an Oskar Kokoscka catalog that rests on her coffee table.



Reza's one act play was already well written, yet for its English language debut it was translated by Christopher Hampton. Polanski teamed with Reza to refine it for the big screen and the result is a raw and engaging battle of wits and words between four people. None of these characters are particularly likable either; in time they each show their flaws and reveal their true natures. Hardly anyone takes sides because over the course of the day even husbands and wives reveal their unhappiness to each other. Each of the four players travel to both ends of the emotional spectrum and they all give marvelous performances. Polanski not only makes the story's Brooklyn setting feel real, but the manner in which he chooses to shoot scenes makes the location feel fresh every time. That's no easy task for a film that's essentially a one act play shot in an apartment. As I said, Polanski just may be the only director who can pull that off and he has.



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A DANGEROUS METHOD



Rating: B+

David Cronenberg is a director who has always been interested in the frailties of human beings. The characters in his films are flawed individuals who are often unable to move beyond inner turmoil and difficulties. The director has explored various genres from crime to sci-fi, horror and psycho-sexual drama all of which have involved explorations into the human mind. A Dangerous Method is right up Cronenberg's alley as it examines the strained relationship between real life psycho therapists Carl Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud. Christopher Hampton's script is an adaptation of his 2003 stage play The Talking Cure, which in turn was based on John Kerr's A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud and Sabina Spielrein.

If Spielrein seems unfamiliar to you, it's because history has not been as kind to her as it has to Jung and Freud. Not that the two doctors are well revered, but they have had an enormous impact on psycho analysis. Cronenberg's film opens with Spielrein (Keira Knightley) literally being dragged into a mental hospital outside Zurich in 1904 and placed under the care of Jung (Michael Fassbender). Though the young Russian girl suffers from violent seizures and mood swings, Jung determines that his patient is highly intelligent. She appears to be suffering from a sexual fear of humiliation that stems back to abuse from her father at the age of four.

A year later, Spielrein has made a recovery and with Jung's help plans to study psycho analysis herself after assisting him in several experiments. She is also desperately attracted to him, though he sees the prospect of a romantic relationship as unprofessional. It also doesn't help that Jung is married to a young wife (Sarah Gadon) who is not only wealthy, but has just given birth to their first child. Nevertheless, Jung eventually gives in to his impulses and begins an affair with Spielrein that involves bondage and humiliation.

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When Jung finally does meet his idol Freud (Viggo Mortensen), the two men's legendary meeting is a conversation held for over thirteen hours. Though Freud feels that psycho analysis is a domain strictly for Jews, he's intelligent enough to welcome a Catholic like Jung into his inner circle. Despite the fact that Jung disagrees with Freud's habit of connecting every symptom to sexuality, he holds the advice of the older man in high esteem. It is because of this that he agrees to treat a patient of Freud's, a fellow doctor and cocaine addict by the name of Otto Gross (Vincent Cassell). Gross has a habit of sleeping with his patients and when Jung confesses his desires for Spielrein, the two men reverse roles and Jung follows the advice to embark on an affair.

Throughout the course of the picture Jung and Freud's relationship slowly begins to disintegrate and Spielrein proves to be the initial catalyst. When Jung attempts to end the affair, Spielrein reacts violently, imploring Freud to step in. The seeds of doubt concerning his young protege are planted when Freud is initially lied to by Jung concerning the truth of the affair, but the root of their disagreement are their two conflicting philosophies.

Jung believes that psycho analysis should help patients discover where their inner conflicts stem from in an effort to correct them and become the best person they can and were meant to be. Freud simply feels the process should only explain to the subject why they are they way they are and just accept it, nothing further. Cronenberg and Hampton efficiently explore the duality of humans through the story of three complex and considerably flawed individuals.

Fassbender wonderfully plays Freud as a man wondering why human beings continually suppress their natural instincts, while Mortensen has aged handsomely for the role of the legendary doctor only interested in analysis, not self improvement. The picture's most startling and powerful performance belongs to Knightley who almost completely disappears into the role of Spielrein. During the early mental hospital scenes, she appears to be channeling a young Helena Bonham Carter as her agitation and fits progress to the point where it feels as if she may burst from her own skin. Yet when Spielrein finally does accept and give in to her instincts and desires there's great intelligence to be found in Knightley's performance and she makes a convincing analyst. Knightley also effortlessly pulls of Spielrein's Russian accent, dropping her familiar British tone which in the past has made her sound...well, snooty. Say what you will about the actress, this is perhaps the best performance of her career and if it doesn't gain attention in the awards circuit, it will no doubt make other filmmakers of Cronenberg's caliber take notice.




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MISS BALA

Rating: A-

Mexican writer/director Gerardo Naranjo makes one of the most impressive debuts in recent years with a narrative feature that focuses on the drug world that has besieged his country. The drug trade in Mexico is a multi-billion dollar business that has claimed 28,000 lives in the last five years. Miss Bala is centered around one innocent life, that of 23-year-old Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman) a beautiful girl with dreams of winning the Miss Baja beauty pageant.

Laura barely escapes with her life during a nightclub shooting, but unfortunately, her best friend Suzu has gone missing. Her naïve mistake is trying to find out what happened to Suzu as she seeks the aid of local police. In this country, the police are just as dirty as the criminals and Laura soon finds herself kidnapped and forced to carry out the bidding of a notorious drug gang led by the ruthless Lino (Noe Hernandez).

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Laura's many attempts to escape prove futile since Nino and his gang know where she lives and threaten the lives of her father and younger brother. She essentially becomes their mule, performing such missions as driving an SUV full of ammunition back across the border from San Diego and parking a car in front of the U.S. Embassy that later turns out to have the bodies of two DEA agents in the trunk. Lino takes such a liking to Laura that he even arranges for her to become a finalist in the pageant with surprising results.

Naranjo's picture shares much in common with Fernando Meirelles' City of God a film that depicted Rio de Janiero as another country ravaged by gangs and drugs. The criminal element here are also a rag-tag gang of thugs, but they are also impressively organized as Nino and his minions continually and successfully undermine the efforts of the police and successfully evading capture. They even construct a near flawless plan to assassinate a General who happens to have a weakness for beauty pageant contestants.



At the heart of the film is an incredibly emotional and engaging performance from Sigman as a young innocent thrust suddenly thrust into the violent world death, heavy gunfire and the threat of no longer being useful to her captors. The performers that Naranjo surrounds her with feel so raw and realistic that when Laura is sexually assaulted late in the film, you're not sure if you should empathize with her or her assailant.

Naranjo's style is often in your face, with intricately designed tracking shots through carnage and gunfights, making you feel very much a part of the action. Yet he still manages to present a compelling human drama making for an impressive debut and a powerful lead performance from Sigman. One of the best if not THE best film of the year so far.



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MELANCHOLIA

Rating: C+

The most memorable thing surrounding the big splash of Lars von Trier's Melancholia at this year's Cannes film festival was the director's comments that he was a Nazi who sympathized with Hitler. Though it's been nearly seventy years,von Trier obviously had no clue that the events of World War II are still open wounds for some and that his bone headed remarks would strike a nerve. Several in fact. The Best Actress win of Melancholia's star Kristen Dunst was overshadowed by the incident and hopefully reception of the film in the art house circuit won't suffer the same fate.

Melancholia isn't particularly one of von Trier's best films; in fact it's damn peculiar, overly-ambitious and at times unintentionally laughable. As expected from von Trier, his latest has a lot more going for it than your mindless generic theatrical experience. Surprisinglym it shares a lot in common with Terrence Malick's recent The Tree of Life in that it's a feature that explores the meaning of existence. Where Life focused on the beginning, Melancholia is set against the backdrop of the end.

Dunst plays Justine, a successful advertising copywriter who has just married the rather dashing Michael (Alexander Skarsgard). It's supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but you wouldn't know it from looking at Justine. Sadness and misery plague her face and behavior much to the embarassment of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and wealthy brother-in-law John (Keifer Sutherland) who paid a fortune to hold the reception at his lavish chateau. Justine is a flurry of emotions which leads to peculiar behavior like having an epic fight with her arrogant boss (Stellan Skarsgard), refusing intimacy with Michael, yet shagging a stranger on the estate's golf course. When it's revealed that her parents are flirtatious philanderer Dexter (John Hurt) and his neurotic, cynical ex-wife Gaby (Charlotte Rampling), you wonder how Justine has held onto her sanity as long as she has.

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Long story short, the wedding reception takes a turn for the worst and so does Justine's behavior as she plunges into a deep depression. Already furious that he's lost a fortune on the wedding, John sees no reason for Claire to become nursemaid to Justine, basically, bathing, dressing and feeding her younger sister after her fall into despair. Meanwhile the whole world has taken notice of the sudden appearance of Melancholia, a rogue planet threateningly approaching Earth. John who is keen on astronomy assures Claire that the planet will simply “fly-by” Earth in a near miss and is actually excited about witnessing the event. But Claire is not so sure. Her doubt begins to increase as she finds herself gazing more and more through their young son Leo's telescope and soon doubt slowly turns into hysteria. The rogue planet is circling the Earth in a dance of death and both sisters will deal with impending doom in surprisingly different ways.



As a sufferer of depression, von Trier's idea for the film originated in sessions with his therapist where he learned that depressive people deal with crisis in a calmer manner than most people because they already expect bad things to happen. Such is the reaction of Christine when the threat of the rogue planet colliding with Earth becomes more eminent. The infamous scene where Dunst lies naked in a stream in the moonlight may seem laughable to some, but its also an early sign of the character of Christine accepting the inevitable. It remains to be seen if Dunst drew upon her own publicized experiences with depression to play such a character who is both foolish and wise, dead and yet alive. Claire is indeed somewhat of a sympathetic character, yet its difficult to identify with her as well as the other players in the story.

Von Trier expertly establishes mood early on with the various players refusing to acknowledge the impending disaster of the wedding. There's some particularly fine and memorable work from Hurt, the consistently venomous Rampling as well as Udo Kier as a snooty and superficial wedding planner. Von Trier desperately attempts to shock the senses with a soundtrack that prominently features the soaring romantic sounds of Wagner's Tristan & Isolde. Visually, this is a stunning picture even without it's pre-credit sequence of digitally rendered visual f/x involving Earth and Melancholia colliding in various ways. Ultimately it feels like a missed opportunity.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warsaw-film-festival-kicks-245527

Warsaw Film Festival Kicks Off
3:13 AM PDT 10/7/2011 by Vladimir Kozlov

One of Central and Eastern Europe's main film events is to showcase 127 features and 97 shorts.

MOSCOW– The 27thedition of the Warsaw International Film Festival is to kick off on Oct. 7, featuring films from 59 countries, but with a traditional focus on Central and Eastern Europe.
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Organizers hope that the parliamentary campaign in Poland won’t overshadow the country’s main cinema event. “We start two days before parliamentary elections in Poland and our opening night is the last night of the campaign, but I'm happy to say that despite the politics we are getting a very big media attention,” Stefan Laudyn, the festival’s director, told The Hollywood Reporter.

He added that the festival received a record number of submissions this year, 90 percent of which the selection committee had to turn down.

According to Laudyn, this year’s festival’s program is a combination of films by established filmmakers and first-time directors, while over 50 percent of the films in the International Competition are European, International or World premieres.

Among the highlights of the international competition are Rose by Polish director Wojtek Smarzowski, Beast by Denmark’s Christoffer Boe, the Romanian-Polish co-production Crulic – The Path to Beyond by Anca Damian, and Tomas Lunak’s Alois Nebel, jointly produced by the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.

The international competition’s jury is presided by British director Antonia Bird. The winners are to be announced at the closing ceremony on Oct. 15. David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method will be the festival’s closing night film.

The CentEast Market is to be held as part of the festival on Oct. 14-16, showcasing recently completed films and works in progress by Central and Eastern European directors, including Kasia Roslaniec, Andrzej Jakimowski, Bohdan Slama, Boris Khlebnikov, and Ivan Vyrypaev.

ADM and Shame will be at Montreal. Here's the schedule:

http://www.nouveaucinema.ca/files/FNC_Catalogue_2011-grille.pdf

ADM will be at Viennale:

http://www.viennale.at/en/preview_11/spielfilme/

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/10/06/2011_leeds_international_film_festival_announces_official_selection

2011 Leeds International Film Festival Announces Official Selection
iw By Austin Dale (October 6, 2011)
2011 Leeds International Film Festival Announces Official Selection
"Shame" will appear as the Closing Gala film at the 25th Leeds International Film Festival.

The 25th Leeds International Film Festival announced its full official selection programm, which includes Andrea Arnold’s “Wuthering Heights” and Steve McQueen’s “Shame” as its opening and closing galas, respectively.

The festival’s official selection includes twelve UK premieres, including “The River Used to be a Man,” “Nana” and “The Other Side of Sleep.”

“Take Shelter” will screen out of competition along with Bela Tarr’s “The Turin Horse” and his classic seven-hour masterpiece “Satantango.”

Full press release below:

25th Leeds International Film Festival announces complete Official Selection including Closing Gala Shame

7th October 2011, Leeds, UK – The 25th Leeds International Film Festival today announces its full Official Selection programme including Closing Gala film Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender, which will close the Film Festival’s Official Selection on Friday 18th November.

Following McQueen’s critically-acclaimed directorial debut Hunger, also starring Fassbender, Shame follows Brendan (Fassbender) who plans his life around relentless sexual encounters until a visit from his wayward sister forces him to reassess his priorities. Screening courtesy of UK distributor Momentum Pictures, Shame has already garnered much critical-acclaim for Fassbender’s intensely stunning portrayal of Brendan at its screenings at Venice and Toronto International Film Festival. The announcement adds to LIFF25’s mounting excitement following the previously announced Opening Gala screening of BAFTA and Oscar-winning director Andrea Arnold’s bold new adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Between the two Gala screenings, LIFF25 presents an Official Selection featuring the Golden Owl Competition: twelve UK premieres demonstrating strong potential for UK arthouse distribution. Films holding their UK premieres in LIFF25’s Official Selection after winning major international awards include The River Used to be a Man which screens fresh from director Jan Zabeil’s winning of the Kutxa-New Directors Award at San Sebastian Film Festival, and Nana, awarded the Locarno 2011 Opera Prima for Best First Film. Other features in the competition showing the vast variety to be found in new international cinema include dreamlike Irish murder story The Other Side of Sleep, Australian aboriginal docudrama Toomelah, and the latest gem from the Romanian new wave, Best Intentions.

Out of competition, preview screenings of new cinema from around the world include Take Shelter, a domestic drama/supernatural thriller blend starring Michael Shannon in his second collaboration with director Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories), and Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse, recently announced as Hungary’s Oscar nomination for this year, and winner of both the Jury Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI prize at this year’s Berlinale. Tarr’s epic Sátántangó will also screen in its full 450 minute form in the Film Festival’s retrospective selection. Two of Rotterdam’s 2011 Tiger Award winners Finisterrae and Journals of Musan will also screen as part of the Official Selection.

Chris Fell, Director of Leeds International Film Festival said:
‘We are thrilled to close the LIFF25 Official Selection with Steve McQueen’s mesmerising Shame, featuring an unforgettable performance from Michael Fassbender. In a year rich with stunning new British films, Shame will be another powerful highlight of the Leeds 2011 programme that opens with Andrea Arnold’s breathtaking Wuthering Heights on 3rd November.’

The full programme of the 25th Leeds International Film Festival including the complete Official Selection programme, genre cinema strand Fanomenon, documentary strand Cinema Versa, experimental cinema section Cherry Kino, and short film competition programme Short Film City, will be officially launched at Leeds Town Hall at 8pm on Friday 7th October, and will be available in full at leedsfilm.com.

Leeds International Film Festival:
Leeds International Film Festival is the largest regional film festival in the UK, showcasing the very best new cinema from around the world to an audience of 40,000. The LIFF25 programme sections are: Official Selection with new cinema discoveries, exclusive previews, archive specials and the Golden Owl competition; Fanomenon, the UK’s largest fantasy film celebration, including the Méliès d’Argent competition and the Thought Bubble Comic Convention; Cinema Versa, the Film Festival’s documentary section focusing on Human Rights, music, and live collaborations; Short Film City, dedicated to the short film form with UK and international competitions; and Cherry Kino, with experimental films by contemporary filmmakers as well as works from film history.

The 25th Leeds International Film Festival is presented by Leeds City Council and funded by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the British Film Institute, and Screen Yorkshire, with leading partners Kahlua, Kirkstall Brewery and Sierra Nevada, East Coast, twentysix Digital, Marketing Leeds and Vue Cinemas.

The full LIFF25 programme, including tickets and passes, will be available online from 7th October 2011.

www.leedsfilm.com
www.facebook.com/LIFF1.
www.twitter.com/LIFF25, #LIFF25.

Festival programmes are available from Friday 7th October and special edition festival catalogues (limited run) will be available during the festival.

The Golden Owl Competition:
The Golden Owl Competition originated in 2004, showcasing 10-15 new feature films from around the world, all UK or English premieres and all made by non-established directors, i.e. those who have not had their films distributed before in the UK. The competition is designed to provoke debate about the narrow distribution system of feature films in the UK. Feature scompeting the the 2011 competiion are:

22nd of May (22 Mei) Dir. Koen Mortier, Belgium, 2010
Best Intentions (Din dragoste cu cele mai bune intentii) Dir. Adrian Sitaru, Romania/Hungary, 2011
Fuerteventura Dir. Mattias Sandström, Sweden, 2010
The Gravedigger (A sírásó) Dir. Sándor Kardos, Hungary, 2010
Heat Wave (Après le Sud) Dir. Jean-Jacques Jauffret, France, 2011
Nana Dir. Valerie Massadian, France, 2011
New Jerusalem Dir. Rick Alverson, USA, 2011
The Other Side of Sleep Dir. Rebecca Daly, Ireland/Netherlands/Hungary, 2011
The Prize (El Premio) Dir. Paula Markovitch, Mexico/Farnce/Poland/Germany, 2011
The River Used to be a Man Der Fluss War Einst Ein Mensch Dir. Jan Zabeil, Germany, 2011
Summer of Goliath (Verano de Goliat) Dir. Nicolás Pereda, Mexico/Canada/Netherlands, 2010
Toomelah Dir. Ivan Sen, Australia, 2011

http://neworleansfilmsociety.org/festival/detail/852/A-Dangerous-Method

Dangerous Method

CANADA, GERMANY, UK, SWITZERLAND 99 min.

Friday, October 14, 6:45 p.m.
Theatres at Canal Place
Buy Tickets

Friday, October 14, 6:50 p.m.
Theatres at Canal Place
Buy Tickets

Friday, October 14, 8:55 p.m.
Theatres at Canal Place
Buy Tickets

Director
David Cronenberg
Writers
Christopher Hampton, John Kerr
Producer
Jeremy Thomas
Cinematographer
Peter Suschitzky
Editor
Ronald Sanders