A muse, a mother, a fashionista, an actor, a rock ‘n’ roll icon — it’s hard to describe exactly why Anita Pallenberg remains such a compelling figure more than a half-century after the captivating blonde sang backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and starred in movies like “Performance” and “Barbarella.”
The new documentary “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” delves into both the beautiful and tragic moments of her eventful life with the help of a treasure trove of home movies and interviews, as well as an unpublished memoir penned by Pallenberg and narrated by Scarlett Johansson. The footage is coupled with interviews of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, with whom she had a significant relationship, their children Marlon and Angela Richards, director Volker Schlondorff, who cast her in some of his films, and her former friends and associates.
“I’ve been called a witch,...
The new documentary “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” delves into both the beautiful and tragic moments of her eventful life with the help of a treasure trove of home movies and interviews, as well as an unpublished memoir penned by Pallenberg and narrated by Scarlett Johansson. The footage is coupled with interviews of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, with whom she had a significant relationship, their children Marlon and Angela Richards, director Volker Schlondorff, who cast her in some of his films, and her former friends and associates.
“I’ve been called a witch,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
- 5/3/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are even released by the same distributor, Magnolia.
Catching Fire and Brian Jones should, of course, be judged on their own merits, yet it’s impossible not to consider them in-tandem. The perspectives are obviously quite different, as are––to some degree––heroes and villains.
Catching Fire and Brian Jones should, of course, be judged on their own merits, yet it’s impossible not to consider them in-tandem. The perspectives are obviously quite different, as are––to some degree––heroes and villains.
- 5/2/2024
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
It’ll soon be time to pack your tuxes and/or high heels and wonder “why the heck does it get so hot at 6:30 pm, just when I’m lining up for the 7:15 pm screening?” The eyes of the entertainment world will once again turn toward the French Riviera for the 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival.
The main slate announcement was made early Thursday morning, confirming many suspicions, and offering much excitement for hardcore cinephiles. For those with more mainstream tastes—and an eye toward what will still be in play come next year’s Oscars—here are some highlights.
Certainly, the biggest event screening will be the public’s first look at Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” a self-financed behemoth that he’s been dreaming about for decades. The director/vintner is a two-time winner of Cannes’s Palme D’Or—for “The Conversation” in 1974 and “Apocalypse Now...
The main slate announcement was made early Thursday morning, confirming many suspicions, and offering much excitement for hardcore cinephiles. For those with more mainstream tastes—and an eye toward what will still be in play come next year’s Oscars—here are some highlights.
Certainly, the biggest event screening will be the public’s first look at Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” a self-financed behemoth that he’s been dreaming about for decades. The director/vintner is a two-time winner of Cannes’s Palme D’Or—for “The Conversation” in 1974 and “Apocalypse Now...
- 4/11/2024
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Louis Gossett Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hard-as-nails drill instructor in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” a few years after winning an Emmy for his role as the cunning Fiddler in “Roots,” died early Friday morning. He was 87.
Gossett’s family announced his death in a statement, writing: “It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning. We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
In Taylor Hackford’s “An Officer and a Gentleman,” Gossett’s Sgt. Emil Foley memorably drove Richard Gere’s character to the point of near collapse at a Navy flight school. Gossett was the first Black man to win the best supporting actor Oscar for that role.
In addition to “An Officer and a Gentleman,” Gossett is best known...
Gossett’s family announced his death in a statement, writing: “It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning. We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
In Taylor Hackford’s “An Officer and a Gentleman,” Gossett’s Sgt. Emil Foley memorably drove Richard Gere’s character to the point of near collapse at a Navy flight school. Gossett was the first Black man to win the best supporting actor Oscar for that role.
In addition to “An Officer and a Gentleman,” Gossett is best known...
- 3/29/2024
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
German acting legend Hanna Schygulla will be honored this year with a lifetime achievement award at the German Film Awards.
Best known for her work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), and Lili Marleen (1981), Schygulla’s career has included collaborations with the likes of Wim Wenders (1975’s Wrong Move), Jean-Luc Godard (1982’s Passion) and Fatih Akin (2007’s The Edge of Heaven). More recently, the 80-year-old actress has a scene-stealing cameo in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar-winner Poor Things as Martha von Kurtzroc, the eccentric woman Emma Stone’s character befriends on the cruise ship.
“Hanna Schygulla is an institution of German and European cinema,” said Alexandra Maria Lara, president of the German Film Academy, explaining the decision of the honorary jury. “Through her long-standing collaboration with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, she wrote herself into film history. She became an icon of German auteur cinema with international appeal.
Best known for her work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), and Lili Marleen (1981), Schygulla’s career has included collaborations with the likes of Wim Wenders (1975’s Wrong Move), Jean-Luc Godard (1982’s Passion) and Fatih Akin (2007’s The Edge of Heaven). More recently, the 80-year-old actress has a scene-stealing cameo in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar-winner Poor Things as Martha von Kurtzroc, the eccentric woman Emma Stone’s character befriends on the cruise ship.
“Hanna Schygulla is an institution of German and European cinema,” said Alexandra Maria Lara, president of the German Film Academy, explaining the decision of the honorary jury. “Through her long-standing collaboration with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, she wrote herself into film history. She became an icon of German auteur cinema with international appeal.
- 3/13/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
German director Volker Schlöndorff, who won the Cannes’ Palme d’Or and an Oscar for his 1979 drama “The Tin Drum,” is set to direct a film about how Antonio Vivaldi — the 18th-century Italian composer of “The Four Seasons” — formed what is touted as the world’s first all-female orchestra.
Schlöndorff’s still-untitled depiction of this lesser-known aspect of Vivaldi’s career is based on a book by German writer Peter Schneider, which has been adapted for the big screen by Italian scribe Francesco Piccolo (“My Brilliant Friend”) along with the director.
The plan is for cameras to start rolling later this year on the film, which will mark the first foray into Italian-language cinema by Schlöndorff, who is a fluent speaker. It will be shot entirely in Italy. Casting is still being decided, and sales are likely to be launched at the Cannes market in May.
Schlöndorff’s new project...
Schlöndorff’s still-untitled depiction of this lesser-known aspect of Vivaldi’s career is based on a book by German writer Peter Schneider, which has been adapted for the big screen by Italian scribe Francesco Piccolo (“My Brilliant Friend”) along with the director.
The plan is for cameras to start rolling later this year on the film, which will mark the first foray into Italian-language cinema by Schlöndorff, who is a fluent speaker. It will be shot entirely in Italy. Casting is still being decided, and sales are likely to be launched at the Cannes market in May.
Schlöndorff’s new project...
- 3/12/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The film-maker answers your questions on his famous collaborators, whether Brazil is a Christmas movie – and what he really thinks about baked beans
Variety falsely announced your death in 2015 with the headline “Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam dies at XXX”. How did the news reach you? DoubleRDiner
I saw it online. I couldn’t believe I died in a Vin Diesel movie! I thought it was very funny. My family were a little more concerned. My son went into work and his boss said: “Oh, Harry, I’m so sorry for your father’s death,” and Harry knew nothing about the fact that I had died. They have the obituaries ready to go for anybody halfway known. Whoever pushed the button, it was a big mistake. I got on to my agent and lawyer and said: “What do we do about this?” but they were really boring. I said: “I...
Variety falsely announced your death in 2015 with the headline “Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam dies at XXX”. How did the news reach you? DoubleRDiner
I saw it online. I couldn’t believe I died in a Vin Diesel movie! I thought it was very funny. My family were a little more concerned. My son went into work and his boss said: “Oh, Harry, I’m so sorry for your father’s death,” and Harry knew nothing about the fact that I had died. They have the obituaries ready to go for anybody halfway known. Whoever pushed the button, it was a big mistake. I got on to my agent and lawyer and said: “What do we do about this?” but they were really boring. I said: “I...
- 2/1/2024
- by As told to Rich Pelley
- The Guardian - Film News
Account of the German film-maker’s singular career takes in numerous starry admirers but also is a portrait of an existential disruptor
With pop-culture brand recognition like no other auteur, he walks the walk and talks the talk … in that inimitable voice. Werner Herzog – film-maker, visionary, adventurer and first among equals of the New German cinema – is now the subject of a highly enjoyable new documentary from Thomas von Steinaecker, who has assembled an A-list gallery of interviewees to talk about knowing or working with the great man; these include Wim Wenders, Volker Schlöndorff, Nicole Kidman, Chloé Zhao, Joshua Oppenheimer, Robert Pattinson and many more.
The release of this film happens to coincide with Herzog’s autobiography Every Man for Himself and God Against All (which is also the original German title of his film The Enigma of Kasper Hauser) and I was a little disappointed that Radical Dreamer does...
With pop-culture brand recognition like no other auteur, he walks the walk and talks the talk … in that inimitable voice. Werner Herzog – film-maker, visionary, adventurer and first among equals of the New German cinema – is now the subject of a highly enjoyable new documentary from Thomas von Steinaecker, who has assembled an A-list gallery of interviewees to talk about knowing or working with the great man; these include Wim Wenders, Volker Schlöndorff, Nicole Kidman, Chloé Zhao, Joshua Oppenheimer, Robert Pattinson and many more.
The release of this film happens to coincide with Herzog’s autobiography Every Man for Himself and God Against All (which is also the original German title of his film The Enigma of Kasper Hauser) and I was a little disappointed that Radical Dreamer does...
- 1/16/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Festival ran November 2-12.
Sofia Exarchou’s Animal has won the €10,000 Golden Alexander-Theo Angelopoulos prize for best film at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the first time in 30 years a Greek production has won the top prize.
The film’s lead actress Dimitra Vlagopoulou also won the best actress award ex aequo with Joanna Arnow for US production The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, which she also directed.
Vlagopoulou had previously won best actress at Locarno where the film had its world premiere.
The Greek, Austrian, Romanian, Cypriot, Bulgarian co-production follows a group of women...
Sofia Exarchou’s Animal has won the €10,000 Golden Alexander-Theo Angelopoulos prize for best film at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the first time in 30 years a Greek production has won the top prize.
The film’s lead actress Dimitra Vlagopoulou also won the best actress award ex aequo with Joanna Arnow for US production The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, which she also directed.
Vlagopoulou had previously won best actress at Locarno where the film had its world premiere.
The Greek, Austrian, Romanian, Cypriot, Bulgarian co-production follows a group of women...
- 11/15/2023
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
In the weeks before the release of The Stones and Brian Jones, Nick Broomfield’s documentary about the first casualty of the Rolling Stones’ rise to prominence, the band released its 24th (in the UK; 26th in the US) studio album. And as part of the release of Hackney Diamonds, the band’s first studio release in seven years, the Stones’ PR machine went into overdrive. Mick Jagger and Keith Richard made the rounds and, among other topics, often touched on the death of longtime drummer Charlie Watts and its impact on the band. These interviews have tended to be fascinating affairs; such is the state of things when members of rock royalty hit the promotion trail.
One name that was barely mentioned is Brian Jones. That is not altogether surprising; even though Jones was the band’s founder and its first leader, he died more than 50 years ago. But...
One name that was barely mentioned is Brian Jones. That is not altogether surprising; even though Jones was the band’s founder and its first leader, he died more than 50 years ago. But...
- 11/2/2023
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
Martin Scorsese is drawing raves for his latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and the nearly 81-year-old is not the only Hollywood veteran who’s still making movies.
Ridley Scott, who turns 86 in November, has “Napoleon” out that same month while Clint Eastwood and Francis Ford Coppola both have new films in the works.
Here are 15 directors over 80 who are still busy making movies.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Martin Scorsese, 80
The prolific director of “Goodfellas,” and “The Departed” just released his latest epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which reteams him with Leonardo DiCaprio. He also returned to documentaries with 2022’s “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” about New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Margarethe von Trotta, 81
The leading New German Cinema director just released her latest, “Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey Into the Desert,” about the relationship between Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann and Swiss novelist Max Frisch.
Ridley Scott, who turns 86 in November, has “Napoleon” out that same month while Clint Eastwood and Francis Ford Coppola both have new films in the works.
Here are 15 directors over 80 who are still busy making movies.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Martin Scorsese, 80
The prolific director of “Goodfellas,” and “The Departed” just released his latest epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which reteams him with Leonardo DiCaprio. He also returned to documentaries with 2022’s “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” about New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Margarethe von Trotta, 81
The leading New German Cinema director just released her latest, “Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey Into the Desert,” about the relationship between Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann and Swiss novelist Max Frisch.
- 10/20/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Venice film festival: Luna Carmoon’s deeply strange and compelling study of hysteria shows the ways in which childhood trauma can bloom in adult life
A social realist psychodrama of amour fou here in this fiercely intense and often macabre tale from feature first-timer Luna Carmoon, showing how suppressed childhood trauma blossoms into a secret theatre of adult dysfunction and delusion, but it’s also a story in which Carmoon finds the possibility of redemption and escape. Hoard is all the more intriguing for being a very personal project for Carmoon, something made clear in what appears to be an analogue-video home movie clip over the closing credits.
In its study of loneliness and a kind of marooned and thwarted sexuality, Hoard is in some ways like early Ian McEwan such as The Cement Garden – although the lead character has conceived a bizarre obsession with Volker Schlöndorff’s movie The Tin Drum,...
A social realist psychodrama of amour fou here in this fiercely intense and often macabre tale from feature first-timer Luna Carmoon, showing how suppressed childhood trauma blossoms into a secret theatre of adult dysfunction and delusion, but it’s also a story in which Carmoon finds the possibility of redemption and escape. Hoard is all the more intriguing for being a very personal project for Carmoon, something made clear in what appears to be an analogue-video home movie clip over the closing credits.
In its study of loneliness and a kind of marooned and thwarted sexuality, Hoard is in some ways like early Ian McEwan such as The Cement Garden – although the lead character has conceived a bizarre obsession with Volker Schlöndorff’s movie The Tin Drum,...
- 9/2/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe on Billy Wilder’s Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes after speaking with Paul Diamond (Ial Diamond’s son): “They shot all the footage but a lot of it was never scored, never dubbed, never graded. So the three-hour-version, which so many of us yearn for, never did exist in fact.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment, Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe and I discuss how key scenes happen while characters are eating and why a dumpling was changed for the German edition of the novel. Also: Marthe Keller with her Bobby Deerfield (directed by Sydney Pollack) co-star Al Pacino and the infamous cheeseburger ordered at Bayerischer Hof in Munich; Billy Wilder’s Fedora, Greece, and brie; Bewitched, overdressing and underdressing; yearning for unattainable movies, Orson Welles and The Other Side Of The Wind (documented in Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead...
In the second instalment, Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe and I discuss how key scenes happen while characters are eating and why a dumpling was changed for the German edition of the novel. Also: Marthe Keller with her Bobby Deerfield (directed by Sydney Pollack) co-star Al Pacino and the infamous cheeseburger ordered at Bayerischer Hof in Munich; Billy Wilder’s Fedora, Greece, and brie; Bewitched, overdressing and underdressing; yearning for unattainable movies, Orson Welles and The Other Side Of The Wind (documented in Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead...
- 7/21/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe on Billy Wilder’s Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes after speaking with Paul Diamond (Ial Diamond’s son): “They shot all the footage but a lot of it was never scored, never dubbed, never graded. So the three-hour-version, which so many of us yearn for, never did exist in fact.”
In the second instalment, Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe and I discuss how key scenes happen while characters are eating and why a dumpling was changed for the German edition of the novel. Also: Marthe Keller with her Bobby Deerfield (directed by Sydney Pollack) co-star Al Pacino and the infamous cheeseburger ordered at Bayerischer Hof in Munich; Billy Wilder’s Fedora, Greece, and brie; Bewitched, overdressing and underdressing; yearning for unattainable movies, Orson Welles and The Other Side Of The Wind (documented in Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead...
In the second instalment, Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe and I discuss how key scenes happen while characters are eating and why a dumpling was changed for the German edition of the novel. Also: Marthe Keller with her Bobby Deerfield (directed by Sydney Pollack) co-star Al Pacino and the infamous cheeseburger ordered at Bayerischer Hof in Munich; Billy Wilder’s Fedora, Greece, and brie; Bewitched, overdressing and underdressing; yearning for unattainable movies, Orson Welles and The Other Side Of The Wind (documented in Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead...
- 7/21/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Wavelength’s documentary Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer is proving a hot property. The Emmy-winning film production company headed by Jenifer Westphal today announced Shout! Studios has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and MetFilm has acquired international rights.
Thomas von Steinaecker wrote and directed the documentary about Herzog, the legendary German filmmaker who has brought to life dozens of films including Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and documentaries Grizzly Man (2005), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), and Meeting Gorbachev (2018). Von Steinaecker’s film “presents a comprehensive portrait of an iconic artist of our time and features interviews with Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Chloé Zhao, Christian Bale, and more,” according to a release. “With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare and never-before-seen archival material and in-depth interviews with the man himself and celebrated collaborators, we are given an exciting glimpse into his process and personal life.
Thomas von Steinaecker wrote and directed the documentary about Herzog, the legendary German filmmaker who has brought to life dozens of films including Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and documentaries Grizzly Man (2005), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), and Meeting Gorbachev (2018). Von Steinaecker’s film “presents a comprehensive portrait of an iconic artist of our time and features interviews with Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Chloé Zhao, Christian Bale, and more,” according to a release. “With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare and never-before-seen archival material and in-depth interviews with the man himself and celebrated collaborators, we are given an exciting glimpse into his process and personal life.
- 7/18/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Mr. Wilder And Me author Jonathan Coe with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I love Powell and Pressburger, so I was very happy to get in a reference to them.”
With Film Forum’s Written and Directed By Billy Wilder tribute, programmed by Bruce Goldstein, starting next week in New York, Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder And Me is the perfect summer read.
Jonathan Coe on Fedora: “The imagery always reminds me of that Georges Franju film Eyes Without A Face.”
In the first instalment with the author we discuss Christoph Waltz as Billy Wilder in Stephen Frears’ yet-to-be-filmed adaptation of Jonathan’s novel; meeting Volker Schlöndorff just before the Covid lockdown; the images of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now staying with him; a connection between Georges Franju’s [film id=13604]Eyes Without A...
With Film Forum’s Written and Directed By Billy Wilder tribute, programmed by Bruce Goldstein, starting next week in New York, Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder And Me is the perfect summer read.
Jonathan Coe on Fedora: “The imagery always reminds me of that Georges Franju film Eyes Without A Face.”
In the first instalment with the author we discuss Christoph Waltz as Billy Wilder in Stephen Frears’ yet-to-be-filmed adaptation of Jonathan’s novel; meeting Volker Schlöndorff just before the Covid lockdown; the images of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now staying with him; a connection between Georges Franju’s [film id=13604]Eyes Without A...
- 7/8/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Volker Schlöndorff, director of the Oscar and Palme d’Or winning The Tin Drum (adapted from Günter Grass’s novel Die Blechtrommel) with Anne-Katrin Titze on Jonathan Coe’s research on a Billy Wilder film for Mr. Wilder And Me: “I told him everything I knew about Fedora and the shooting of Fedora in Munich.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Jonathan Coe’s imaginative and savvy novel, Mr. Wilder & Me, which centres on the making of Billy Wilder’s penultimate movie, Fedora, seen through the lens of a fictional Greek composer named Calista, credits Volker Schlöndorff as an important source.
Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder And Me (Europa Editions), collection Anne-Katrin Titze Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
I met Volker at the Austrian Cultural Forum’s Hedy Lamarr: Actress. Inventor. Viennese exhibition to discuss his role in the research for the novel, which led us into a wide-ranging conversation that included his documentary series Billy,...
Jonathan Coe’s imaginative and savvy novel, Mr. Wilder & Me, which centres on the making of Billy Wilder’s penultimate movie, Fedora, seen through the lens of a fictional Greek composer named Calista, credits Volker Schlöndorff as an important source.
Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder And Me (Europa Editions), collection Anne-Katrin Titze Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
I met Volker at the Austrian Cultural Forum’s Hedy Lamarr: Actress. Inventor. Viennese exhibition to discuss his role in the research for the novel, which led us into a wide-ranging conversation that included his documentary series Billy,...
- 5/25/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Updated with new title of documentary Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg: Were it not for a chance encounter with the Rolling Stones in 1965, we might remember Anita Pallenberg as an exceptional actress and stunning model. Instead, her life was to be defined largely in relation to her ties with the “greatest rock n’ roll band in the world.”
In the documentary Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg, which premiered earlier this week at the Cannes Film Festival (under the abbreviated title Anita), the radiant and compelling Pallenberg finally gets her due as a creative force in her own right, a woman of alluring beauty, intelligence, dysfunction, addiction, and yes, an important figure in the world of the Stones at their apex.
Directors Alexis Bloom (L) & Svetlana Zill
Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill directed the documentary, which begins with grainy archive of a gorgeous Pallenberg outdoors in a park-like setting,...
In the documentary Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg, which premiered earlier this week at the Cannes Film Festival (under the abbreviated title Anita), the radiant and compelling Pallenberg finally gets her due as a creative force in her own right, a woman of alluring beauty, intelligence, dysfunction, addiction, and yes, an important figure in the world of the Stones at their apex.
Directors Alexis Bloom (L) & Svetlana Zill
Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill directed the documentary, which begins with grainy archive of a gorgeous Pallenberg outdoors in a park-like setting,...
- 5/25/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
It also won the prizes for best director, screenwiting, lead actress and editing.
Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge was the surprise winner of the German Film Awards’ top prize of the Golden Lola for best film, ahead of the Silver Lola for Edward Berger’s All Quiet On The Western Front and the Bronze Lola for Ali Abbasi’s thriller Holy Spider.
The fourth feature from Çatak stars Benesch as a teacher struggling to keep a situation under control in a secondary school also won best director for Çatak, best screenplay for Çatak and Johannes Duncker, best lead actress...
Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge was the surprise winner of the German Film Awards’ top prize of the Golden Lola for best film, ahead of the Silver Lola for Edward Berger’s All Quiet On The Western Front and the Bronze Lola for Ali Abbasi’s thriller Holy Spider.
The fourth feature from Çatak stars Benesch as a teacher struggling to keep a situation under control in a secondary school also won best director for Çatak, best screenplay for Çatak and Johannes Duncker, best lead actress...
- 5/13/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The Teachers’ Lounge, İlker Çatak’s unsettling look at a teacher at the end of her rope, beat our multi-Oscar winner All Quiet on the Western Front to win the top prize for best film at the 2023 German Film Awards, known as the Lolas.
Çatak won the best director Lola and his drama also picked up prizes for best screenplay and best editing, as well as the best actress nod for star Leonie Benesch.
But All Quiet did not go home empty-handed. The first German-language adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque classic 1929 anti-war novel won nine Lolas, including the runner-up silver Lola for best film.
Holy Spider, Ali Abbasi’s Iranian serial killer movie, which premiered in Cannes last year and was largely financed out of Germany, won the third prize Lola in bronze.
This year’s Lolas were held amid an atmosphere of turbulence and soul-searching. Recent revelations about the behavior of Till Schweiger,...
Çatak won the best director Lola and his drama also picked up prizes for best screenplay and best editing, as well as the best actress nod for star Leonie Benesch.
But All Quiet did not go home empty-handed. The first German-language adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque classic 1929 anti-war novel won nine Lolas, including the runner-up silver Lola for best film.
Holy Spider, Ali Abbasi’s Iranian serial killer movie, which premiered in Cannes last year and was largely financed out of Germany, won the third prize Lola in bronze.
This year’s Lolas were held amid an atmosphere of turbulence and soul-searching. Recent revelations about the behavior of Till Schweiger,...
- 5/12/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
They received the most automatic funding from the Ffa for German films at the German box office.
Constantin Film and Warner Bros Germany were the most successful local production companies and distributors for German films at the German box office in 2022, according to the German Federal Film Board (Ffa).
They have been dubbed ‘Industry Tigers’ by the Ffa and means both companies receive the most in the Ffa’s automatic ‘reference funding’ from the organisation, in line with the amount their German films grossed locally and were exposed at international film festivals in 2022.
Munich-based Constantin Film received €1.2m in production...
Constantin Film and Warner Bros Germany were the most successful local production companies and distributors for German films at the German box office in 2022, according to the German Federal Film Board (Ffa).
They have been dubbed ‘Industry Tigers’ by the Ffa and means both companies receive the most in the Ffa’s automatic ‘reference funding’ from the organisation, in line with the amount their German films grossed locally and were exposed at international film festivals in 2022.
Munich-based Constantin Film received €1.2m in production...
- 4/28/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Early last year, Stefan Kitanov, director of the Sofia International Film Festival, thought that after two years of lockdowns and online events, things were finally getting back to normal.
“For two years I was out of all festival events and travels, I avoided all public events and spent time in our family house outside the city,” says Kitanov, who started Bulgaria’s biggest film event 27 years ago. “[Then], just as we thought the pandemic is finally over, the war in Ukraine broke out, just a month before our 2022 edition.”
The festival lineup was already locked down, but Kitanov quickly adjusted to the new reality. And made Sofia’s allegiance clear.
“We decided to withdraw Russian films and call off Russian talents and guests,” recalls Kitanov, who has many friends among both Ukrainian and Russian filmmakers and fellow festival colleagues. “[Ukrainian director] Oleg Sentsov was selected to serve on the main jury, but he...
“For two years I was out of all festival events and travels, I avoided all public events and spent time in our family house outside the city,” says Kitanov, who started Bulgaria’s biggest film event 27 years ago. “[Then], just as we thought the pandemic is finally over, the war in Ukraine broke out, just a month before our 2022 edition.”
The festival lineup was already locked down, but Kitanov quickly adjusted to the new reality. And made Sofia’s allegiance clear.
“We decided to withdraw Russian films and call off Russian talents and guests,” recalls Kitanov, who has many friends among both Ukrainian and Russian filmmakers and fellow festival colleagues. “[Ukrainian director] Oleg Sentsov was selected to serve on the main jury, but he...
- 4/1/2023
- by Stjepan Hundic
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Irish producer and film industry activist Mike Downey has received the inaugural lifetime achievement award of the Stockfish Film Festival in Iceland for his contributions to the international film industry.
The award, presented at a private ceremony Wednesday night, recognizes achievement from professionals in the “academe, production, distribution, film festival and market scenes.”
Downey, founder of Film and Music Entertainment (F&me), has production credits on more than 100 feature films, including Dome Karukoski’s Tom of Finland, Volker Schlöndorff’s Return to Montauk, Agnieszka Holland’s Charlatan and Adrian Sibley’s documentary The Ghost of Richard Harris. He is currently working on Holland’s highly-anticipated upcoming Franz Kafka biopic Kafka. He’s a member of the BAFTA Council, the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
But Downey is arguably better known within the film industry for his tireless activism on behalf of filmmakers in crisis.
The award, presented at a private ceremony Wednesday night, recognizes achievement from professionals in the “academe, production, distribution, film festival and market scenes.”
Downey, founder of Film and Music Entertainment (F&me), has production credits on more than 100 feature films, including Dome Karukoski’s Tom of Finland, Volker Schlöndorff’s Return to Montauk, Agnieszka Holland’s Charlatan and Adrian Sibley’s documentary The Ghost of Richard Harris. He is currently working on Holland’s highly-anticipated upcoming Franz Kafka biopic Kafka. He’s a member of the BAFTA Council, the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
But Downey is arguably better known within the film industry for his tireless activism on behalf of filmmakers in crisis.
- 3/29/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘All Quiet’ leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by Ilker Catak’s The Teachers’ Lounge with seven.
Edward Berger’s Bafta and Oscar award-winner All Quiet On The Western Front has garnered 12 nominations for this year’s German Film Awards (aka Lolas), including for best feature film, best direction, best lead actor (Felix Kammerer), and best cinematography.
Ilker Catak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, which premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section last month, received seven nominations, including best feature film, best direction, best screenplay and best lead actress (Leonie Benesch), while Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider has received four nominations for best feature film,...
Edward Berger’s Bafta and Oscar award-winner All Quiet On The Western Front has garnered 12 nominations for this year’s German Film Awards (aka Lolas), including for best feature film, best direction, best lead actor (Felix Kammerer), and best cinematography.
Ilker Catak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, which premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section last month, received seven nominations, including best feature film, best direction, best screenplay and best lead actress (Leonie Benesch), while Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider has received four nominations for best feature film,...
- 3/24/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Co-production forum marks 20th anniversary this year.
Laurynas Bareisa, winner of the 2021 best film prize at Venice’s Orrizonti section for his debut Pilgrims, is among the directors presenting new projects at the 20th edition of the Sofia Meetings co-production forum (22-26 March).
The Lithuanian director is bringing Drowning Dry to Sofia where it is one of five projects in a section dedicated to second feature films.
The section’s line-up also includes The Last Slap by Italian director Matteo Oleotto whose debut feature Zoran, My Nephew The Idiot premiered in Venice’s Critics Week in 2013.
The Last Slap’s...
Laurynas Bareisa, winner of the 2021 best film prize at Venice’s Orrizonti section for his debut Pilgrims, is among the directors presenting new projects at the 20th edition of the Sofia Meetings co-production forum (22-26 March).
The Lithuanian director is bringing Drowning Dry to Sofia where it is one of five projects in a section dedicated to second feature films.
The section’s line-up also includes The Last Slap by Italian director Matteo Oleotto whose debut feature Zoran, My Nephew The Idiot premiered in Venice’s Critics Week in 2013.
The Last Slap’s...
- 3/17/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
It’s not a coincidence that Volker Schlöndorff’s latest film The Forest Maker, the environmental essay documentary about Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, who found a way to grow trees in the most barren areas of Africa, is opening the 27th Sofia International Film Festival kicking off Thursday in the Bulgarian capital.
One of the major film festivals in Eastern Europe is going green, and the veteran German filmmaker, winner of the Palme d’Or and what was then called the best foreign language Oscar for The Tin Drum (1979), will plant the first tree of the future Sofia Film Festival Forest.
“We wanted to remind ourselves of our deep connection to the land and our power to be agents of change together. We wish to engage the public in the global vision of sustainable development of society and a responsible attitude towards nature”, the festival organizers said about the green...
One of the major film festivals in Eastern Europe is going green, and the veteran German filmmaker, winner of the Palme d’Or and what was then called the best foreign language Oscar for The Tin Drum (1979), will plant the first tree of the future Sofia Film Festival Forest.
“We wanted to remind ourselves of our deep connection to the land and our power to be agents of change together. We wish to engage the public in the global vision of sustainable development of society and a responsible attitude towards nature”, the festival organizers said about the green...
- 3/16/2023
- by Stjepan Hundic
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Edward Berger’s antiwar epic All Quiet on the Western Front has won the Oscar for best international feature for Germany at the 2023 Oscars.
The drama, the first German adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s World War I novel, was the frontrunner in the category after the film picked up nine Oscar nominations, including for best picture.
Lewis Milestone’s 1930 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was also an Oscar champ, winning Academy Awards for best picture and best director.
When taking the stage, Berger gave credit to the “many new friends” he made while working on the film including the cinematographer, costume designer, the hair and makeup designer and the production designer. “I owe everything to you and the rest of my crew,” he said.
He later mentioned how he recently connected with Tár cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister: “We’re from the same town … we made our...
The drama, the first German adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s World War I novel, was the frontrunner in the category after the film picked up nine Oscar nominations, including for best picture.
Lewis Milestone’s 1930 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was also an Oscar champ, winning Academy Awards for best picture and best director.
When taking the stage, Berger gave credit to the “many new friends” he made while working on the film including the cinematographer, costume designer, the hair and makeup designer and the production designer. “I owe everything to you and the rest of my crew,” he said.
He later mentioned how he recently connected with Tár cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister: “We’re from the same town … we made our...
- 3/13/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Steven Spielberg, director of countless blockbusters, delivered a blockbuster speech accepting the Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival.
The filmmaker said that despite directing for six decades, directing “Duel” and “Jaws” felt like “last year.” “I know a lot more about moviemaking than I did when I directed my first feature film at 25. But the anxieties and the uncertainties and the fears that tormented me as I began shooting ‘Duel’ have stayed vivid for 50 years, as if no time has passed. And luckily for me, the electric joy I feel on the first day of work as a director is as imperishable as my fears, because there’s no place more like home for me than when I’m working on a set,” Spielberg said.
“I also feel a little alarmed to be told I’ve lived a lifetime because I’m not finished, I want to keep working.
The filmmaker said that despite directing for six decades, directing “Duel” and “Jaws” felt like “last year.” “I know a lot more about moviemaking than I did when I directed my first feature film at 25. But the anxieties and the uncertainties and the fears that tormented me as I began shooting ‘Duel’ have stayed vivid for 50 years, as if no time has passed. And luckily for me, the electric joy I feel on the first day of work as a director is as imperishable as my fears, because there’s no place more like home for me than when I’m working on a set,” Spielberg said.
“I also feel a little alarmed to be told I’ve lived a lifetime because I’m not finished, I want to keep working.
- 2/22/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Attendees included Carlo Chatrian, Agnieszka Holland, Wim Wenders and Volker Schlöndorff.
The Berlin film festival honoured the legacy of legendary Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, who died aged 91 earlier this month, with a special screening of his last film, documentary Walls Can Talk yesterday (Feb 20).
The attendees included Berlinale’s director Carlo Chatrian, the president of the European Film Academy and Polish director Agnieszka Holland and German directors Wim Wenders and Volker Schlöndorff.
Chatrian said the festival wanted to honour his contribution to cinema and also the special link he had with the Berlinale where he premiered The Hunt (1966), winner of...
The Berlin film festival honoured the legacy of legendary Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, who died aged 91 earlier this month, with a special screening of his last film, documentary Walls Can Talk yesterday (Feb 20).
The attendees included Berlinale’s director Carlo Chatrian, the president of the European Film Academy and Polish director Agnieszka Holland and German directors Wim Wenders and Volker Schlöndorff.
Chatrian said the festival wanted to honour his contribution to cinema and also the special link he had with the Berlinale where he premiered The Hunt (1966), winner of...
- 2/21/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
He was working to the last. Five days before his latest work, “Lorca by Saura,” opened at Madrid’s Infanta Isabel Theater – in what he saw as a new phase of theatre-based creativity – Carlos Saura died on Feb. 10 at his Collado Mediano home in the lap of the Guadarrama mountains, north of Madrid. Agnieszka Holland and Volker Schlöndorff look set to attend a Carlos Saura Homage Screening which will be held at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday Feb. 20 at 17:30.
Further good and great are still to confirmed at an event backed by the Berlin Festival and the European Film Academy.
The tribute will be combined with the double bill of “Rosa, Rosae” and “Walls Can Talk” (“Las paredes hablan”), films which premiered at San Sebastian in 2021 and last year.
A tribute at Berlin, the presence of two great European auteurs, Holland and Schlöndorff, and the double bill all seem highly appropriate.
Further good and great are still to confirmed at an event backed by the Berlin Festival and the European Film Academy.
The tribute will be combined with the double bill of “Rosa, Rosae” and “Walls Can Talk” (“Las paredes hablan”), films which premiered at San Sebastian in 2021 and last year.
A tribute at Berlin, the presence of two great European auteurs, Holland and Schlöndorff, and the double bill all seem highly appropriate.
- 2/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival kicked off with a four-hour celebration of cinema – one that got increasingly political as the hours ticked by.
The German festival has always mixed politics with art, and that intersection could not be avoided in 2023 as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on and the citizens of Iran are imprisoned and executed by an extremist government over human rights. In between, veteran indie director Rebecca Miller offered up her latest, the marital dramedy ‘She Came to Me’, reports Variety.
Berlin jury president Kristen Stewart spoke of the inherent political nature of film early on, addressing the crowd at the Berlinale Palast theatre at Thursday’s opening ceremony.
“There are a lot of oppressions against our physical selves. I’m a girl, but I’m probably the least marginal version of a woman I can be,” Stewart said.
Golshifteh Farahani, another juror, noted some women are not as fortunate.
The German festival has always mixed politics with art, and that intersection could not be avoided in 2023 as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on and the citizens of Iran are imprisoned and executed by an extremist government over human rights. In between, veteran indie director Rebecca Miller offered up her latest, the marital dramedy ‘She Came to Me’, reports Variety.
Berlin jury president Kristen Stewart spoke of the inherent political nature of film early on, addressing the crowd at the Berlinale Palast theatre at Thursday’s opening ceremony.
“There are a lot of oppressions against our physical selves. I’m a girl, but I’m probably the least marginal version of a woman I can be,” Stewart said.
Golshifteh Farahani, another juror, noted some women are not as fortunate.
- 2/17/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
While Anne Hathaway and Kristen Stewart delivered a dose of major red carpet glamour as the Berlin Film Festival returned to a full-scale, in-person operation for the first time since 2020, the event’s role as a political platform was also revived as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the star of Sean Penn’s Berlin-premiering documentary “Superpower,” stole the show.
Hollywood stars were greeted on Thursday by packed crowds outside the Berlinale Palast and by festival co-heads Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian. In addition to unseasonably mild weather, the onlookers were treated to glimpses of the cast and crew of Rebecca Miller’s opening night film “She Came to Me,” including stars Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig and Evan Ellison. Hathaway, sporting a see-through tangle of a dress and arm-length gloves, is the film’s producer and star.
Stewart, who was decked out in Chanel, is this year’s international jury president and,...
Hollywood stars were greeted on Thursday by packed crowds outside the Berlinale Palast and by festival co-heads Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian. In addition to unseasonably mild weather, the onlookers were treated to glimpses of the cast and crew of Rebecca Miller’s opening night film “She Came to Me,” including stars Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig and Evan Ellison. Hathaway, sporting a see-through tangle of a dress and arm-length gloves, is the film’s producer and star.
Stewart, who was decked out in Chanel, is this year’s international jury president and,...
- 2/16/2023
- by Patrick Frater and Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Germany’s anti-war epic “All Quiet on the Western Front” based on Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 classic World War I novel made a lot of noise at the 95th annual Oscar nominations January 24th. The Netflix production earned nine nominations just two behind the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and tying with “The Banshees of Inisherin.”
The Oscar nominations for “All Quiet” come a week after the war drama dominated the BAFTA nominations earning 14. Only two other foreign language films have earned more Oscar nominations: both Ang Lee’s exhilarating “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” from 2000 and 2018’s “Roma” received 10 nominations with “Tiger” winning four Academy Awards while “Roma” picked up three including Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron.
As predicted, “All Quiet” was nominated for Best International Feature, and it has made history by becoming the first German-language movie to be nominated for Best Picture. Its nine nominations topped the six...
The Oscar nominations for “All Quiet” come a week after the war drama dominated the BAFTA nominations earning 14. Only two other foreign language films have earned more Oscar nominations: both Ang Lee’s exhilarating “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” from 2000 and 2018’s “Roma” received 10 nominations with “Tiger” winning four Academy Awards while “Roma” picked up three including Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron.
As predicted, “All Quiet” was nominated for Best International Feature, and it has made history by becoming the first German-language movie to be nominated for Best Picture. Its nine nominations topped the six...
- 1/24/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
“Cinema is not pages and it’s not minutes: it’s the way you look at the minute that passes,” Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin is talking about the 55-page script of “Yunan,” his follow up to “The Stranger” (Al Garib), which played at Venice Days in 2021. Eldin knows from the experience of editing his first film that one page doesn’t equal one minute. “It’s a two hour film,” he says.
Eldin’s second feature is due to film in the first half of 2023 and is currently being presented at this week’s Red Sea Souk Project Market of the Red Sea Film Festival. Iconic figure of New German Cinema Hanna Schygulla and Syrian actor Bassem Yakhour have both been cast in the production. They join Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz (“Capernaum”), and German actor Sibel Kekilli, from “Game of Thrones” and Fatih Akin’s “Head On.”
Filming will...
Eldin’s second feature is due to film in the first half of 2023 and is currently being presented at this week’s Red Sea Souk Project Market of the Red Sea Film Festival. Iconic figure of New German Cinema Hanna Schygulla and Syrian actor Bassem Yakhour have both been cast in the production. They join Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz (“Capernaum”), and German actor Sibel Kekilli, from “Game of Thrones” and Fatih Akin’s “Head On.”
Filming will...
- 12/5/2022
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
France’s Tamasa Distribution has acquired a number of new films and classic titles, including works by Volker Schlondörff, Signe Baumane, Alain Cavalier and Jean-Louis Bertucelli.
The Paris-based distributor secured Schlondörff’s new documentary “The Forest Maker,” a portrait of Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, who has found a way to grow trees in the most barren areas by activating the tree stumps and roots that have continued to live for decades. Known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, the method has secured the livelihood of thousands of farmers in Africa’s Sahel region, restoring not only soil but dignity and hope.
“My Love Affair With Marriage”
Tamasa also picked up Baumane’s award-wining animated film “My Love Affair With Marriage,” which premiered this year at the Tribeca Festival and won the jury prize at the Annecy Animation Festival. It follows Zelma, who is convinced from an early age that love would...
The Paris-based distributor secured Schlondörff’s new documentary “The Forest Maker,” a portrait of Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, who has found a way to grow trees in the most barren areas by activating the tree stumps and roots that have continued to live for decades. Known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, the method has secured the livelihood of thousands of farmers in Africa’s Sahel region, restoring not only soil but dignity and hope.
“My Love Affair With Marriage”
Tamasa also picked up Baumane’s award-wining animated film “My Love Affair With Marriage,” which premiered this year at the Tribeca Festival and won the jury prize at the Annecy Animation Festival. It follows Zelma, who is convinced from an early age that love would...
- 10/17/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
The Forest Maker (Der Waldmacher) director Volker Schlöndorff on meeting Alternative Nobel Prize winner Tony Rinaudo in Berlin, 2018: “Six weeks later I was already meeting him again in Bamako, Mali …”
The Forest Maker (Der Waldmacher) from director Volker Schlöndorff is an evermore important film essay on the decades-long work of Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo with African farmers and the community at-large. Idriss Diabaté from Ivory Coast, Senegal’s Alassane Diago, and Laurene Manaa Abdallah from Ghana are credited as co-directors and provide us with vital insights in their own individual sections.
“Nothing is lost” Rinaudo says and everything can be regrown again. Angela Winkler, star of Volker’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum, lends her enchanting voice to the prologue, which recounts an old African legend about the cradle of mankind, as collected by Carl Einstein.
Volker Schlöndorff with Anne-Katrin Titze on Sebastião Salgado:...
The Forest Maker (Der Waldmacher) from director Volker Schlöndorff is an evermore important film essay on the decades-long work of Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo with African farmers and the community at-large. Idriss Diabaté from Ivory Coast, Senegal’s Alassane Diago, and Laurene Manaa Abdallah from Ghana are credited as co-directors and provide us with vital insights in their own individual sections.
“Nothing is lost” Rinaudo says and everything can be regrown again. Angela Winkler, star of Volker’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum, lends her enchanting voice to the prologue, which recounts an old African legend about the cradle of mankind, as collected by Carl Einstein.
Volker Schlöndorff with Anne-Katrin Titze on Sebastião Salgado:...
- 10/4/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Click here to read the full article.
Since Angela Merkel left office last year after a remarkable 16-year reign as German Chancellor, the timing is perfect to examine her history and her legacy. German-born filmmaker Eva Weber has seized the challenge and created a thoughtful portrait of Merkel. An impressive group of witnesses — including Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Tony Blair, journalist Christiane Amanpour and even award-winning filmmaker Volker Schlondorff (a longtime friend of Merkel’s) — help to put her achievements and even some of her failings into sharp focus.
Merkel’s background was as remarkable as her rise to the central corridors of power. She grew up in East Germany under the repressive Communist regime but achieved unusual success when she earned a doctorate in physics. So she was a pioneer in several areas — as a scientist and a woman before she ever entered politics. Her life spans much of...
Since Angela Merkel left office last year after a remarkable 16-year reign as German Chancellor, the timing is perfect to examine her history and her legacy. German-born filmmaker Eva Weber has seized the challenge and created a thoughtful portrait of Merkel. An impressive group of witnesses — including Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Tony Blair, journalist Christiane Amanpour and even award-winning filmmaker Volker Schlondorff (a longtime friend of Merkel’s) — help to put her achievements and even some of her failings into sharp focus.
Merkel’s background was as remarkable as her rise to the central corridors of power. She grew up in East Germany under the repressive Communist regime but achieved unusual success when she earned a doctorate in physics. So she was a pioneer in several areas — as a scientist and a woman before she ever entered politics. Her life spans much of...
- 9/4/2022
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Margarethe Von Trotta To Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor At The European Film Awards
German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th European Film Awards. von Trotta will receive the honor at a ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland, on December 10 where she will be an honorary guest. Born in Berlin and raised in Düsseldorf, von Trotta started her career as an actress, in theatre and appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff before moving behind the camera in 1978 with The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, her solo debut as a director. In 1981, her film Marianne and Juliane about the “German Sisters” Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin won the Golden Lion in Venice as well as two German Film Awards and an Italian David di Donatello. Previous winners of the European Film Academy’s lifetime achievement award include Agnès Varda and Judi Dench.
German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th European Film Awards. von Trotta will receive the honor at a ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland, on December 10 where she will be an honorary guest. Born in Berlin and raised in Düsseldorf, von Trotta started her career as an actress, in theatre and appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff before moving behind the camera in 1978 with The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, her solo debut as a director. In 1981, her film Marianne and Juliane about the “German Sisters” Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin won the Golden Lion in Venice as well as two German Film Awards and an Italian David di Donatello. Previous winners of the European Film Academy’s lifetime achievement award include Agnès Varda and Judi Dench.
- 8/23/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Pioneering female filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta will receive this year’s lifetime achievement honor at the 35th European Film Awards.
The German director and screenwriter has been a force on the European film scene for nearly 50 years since her directorial debut The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, co-directed with Volker Schlöndorff, back in 1975. She has carved out a unique position in cinema history with her focus on female stories, particularly portraits of real-life women overlooked or ignored by history.
Her second film, and first solo directing effort, Marianne & Juliane (1981), which won the Golden Lion in Venice, is a lightly-fictionalized retelling of the story of sisters Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin, one of whom became a journalist and women’s rights advocate, the other a left-wing terrorist. Barbara Sukowa, who starred as Marianne in the film, became von Trotta’s muse, playing the lead...
Pioneering female filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta will receive this year’s lifetime achievement honor at the 35th European Film Awards.
The German director and screenwriter has been a force on the European film scene for nearly 50 years since her directorial debut The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, co-directed with Volker Schlöndorff, back in 1975. She has carved out a unique position in cinema history with her focus on female stories, particularly portraits of real-life women overlooked or ignored by history.
Her second film, and first solo directing effort, Marianne & Juliane (1981), which won the Golden Lion in Venice, is a lightly-fictionalized retelling of the story of sisters Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin, one of whom became a journalist and women’s rights advocate, the other a left-wing terrorist. Barbara Sukowa, who starred as Marianne in the film, became von Trotta’s muse, playing the lead...
- 8/23/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
German film director, screenwriter, and actor Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th European Film Awards.
Set to take place on Dec. 10 in Reykjavik, Iceland, the award ceremony will pay tribute to von Trotta’s “unique contribution to the world of film.”
Born in Berlin, von Trotta grew up with her mother in the German city of Düsseldorf and started her career acting in theater and in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff. She went on to become a leading female director of European auteur cinema and made her directorial debut in 1978 with “The Second Awakening of Christa Klages.” Her credits include “Marianne & Juliane” which won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1981, “Sheer Madness,” which competed in Berlin in 1983, and “Rosa Luxemburg,” which premiered in Cannes in 1986 and won Barbara Sukowa the Best Actress Award. The film also received an...
Set to take place on Dec. 10 in Reykjavik, Iceland, the award ceremony will pay tribute to von Trotta’s “unique contribution to the world of film.”
Born in Berlin, von Trotta grew up with her mother in the German city of Düsseldorf and started her career acting in theater and in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff. She went on to become a leading female director of European auteur cinema and made her directorial debut in 1978 with “The Second Awakening of Christa Klages.” Her credits include “Marianne & Juliane” which won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1981, “Sheer Madness,” which competed in Berlin in 1983, and “Rosa Luxemburg,” which premiered in Cannes in 1986 and won Barbara Sukowa the Best Actress Award. The film also received an...
- 8/23/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The ‘Wolfwalkers’ composer will recieve lifetime achievement award.
French composer Bruno Coulais is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the 2022 World Soundtrack Awards, which are presented at Film Fest Ghent on October 22.
Coulais’ music for screen ranges from 2001 French hit The Crimson Rivers through to documentary epic Winged Migration and acclaimed animation Wolfwalkers.
His first score was for filmmaker François Reichenbach, who asked him to provide music for the 1979 short documentary México Mágico.
1996 was a turning point in his career after he created the score for nature documentary Microcosmos, winning Coulais his first of three César Awards
The song...
French composer Bruno Coulais is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the 2022 World Soundtrack Awards, which are presented at Film Fest Ghent on October 22.
Coulais’ music for screen ranges from 2001 French hit The Crimson Rivers through to documentary epic Winged Migration and acclaimed animation Wolfwalkers.
His first score was for filmmaker François Reichenbach, who asked him to provide music for the 1979 short documentary México Mágico.
1996 was a turning point in his career after he created the score for nature documentary Microcosmos, winning Coulais his first of three César Awards
The song...
- 7/5/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
It had been nearly three decades since a film was last screened in Ciné Apollon, an open-air theater in the resort town of Edipsos on the north shore of the Greek island of Evia. But the arrival of several hundred moviegoers on June 15 for a screening of French filmmaker Coline Serreau’s “La Belle Verte” (The Green Planet) offered a much-needed sense of rebirth: for the cinema, and for an island that was devastated by catastrophic wildfires last summer.
As part of wide-ranging efforts to revitalize struggling communities and give a boost to the local economy, the organizers of the Thessaloniki Film Festival this year launched the Evia Film Project, a five-day event that underscores the perils of climate change and offers the film industry a chance to explore the possibilities of green film production.
When the audience gathered at the Apollon for the opening of the festival, which ran...
As part of wide-ranging efforts to revitalize struggling communities and give a boost to the local economy, the organizers of the Thessaloniki Film Festival this year launched the Evia Film Project, a five-day event that underscores the perils of climate change and offers the film industry a chance to explore the possibilities of green film production.
When the audience gathered at the Apollon for the opening of the festival, which ran...
- 6/20/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
“Goya, Carrière and the Ghost of Buñuel,” which plays Cannes Classics this Saturday, begins with French film great Jean-Claude Carrière in a train, singing an ancient song in Occitan, the language of Provence, where he came from.
Visiting Goya’s birthplace, he’ spies a cauldron and comments that there was one like that in his own family home.
Towards the end of the film, surveying “The Colossus,” Goya’s painting of a giant dominating tiny people in a valley below who flee in all directions, Carrière observes that the painting capture a sense of immigration. Unlike so many of his friends, and indeed his wife, Nahal Tajadod, Carrière notes, he will have the privilege of being buried in the same place where he was born.
Directed by José Luis López Linares, (“Bosch: The Garden of Dreams”), ”Goya, Carriére and the Ghost of Buñuel” pictures Carrière coming to Spain to revisit...
Visiting Goya’s birthplace, he’ spies a cauldron and comments that there was one like that in his own family home.
Towards the end of the film, surveying “The Colossus,” Goya’s painting of a giant dominating tiny people in a valley below who flee in all directions, Carrière observes that the painting capture a sense of immigration. Unlike so many of his friends, and indeed his wife, Nahal Tajadod, Carrière notes, he will have the privilege of being buried in the same place where he was born.
Directed by José Luis López Linares, (“Bosch: The Garden of Dreams”), ”Goya, Carriére and the Ghost of Buñuel” pictures Carrière coming to Spain to revisit...
- 5/20/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
It’s back and Criterion’s got it, so be prepared for sharp-talking insights on Billy Wilder’s nearly flawless, cinema-changing ode to cold-blooded murder, Los Angeles style. Edward G. Robinson wants Fred MacMurray but Barbara Stanwyck has him wrapped around her trigger finger. James M. Cain tapped into our city’s domestic malaise — who doesn’t know somebody they’d like to trade in for some extra cash? What about the extras? The Big C has Noah Isenberg, Imogen Sara Smith, Eddie Muller, Angelica Jade Bastién. Plus, we get the legendary Wilder interviews with Volker Schlöndorff, uncut and völlig ungeklärt. Revolver under the sofa cushion, anyone?
Double Indemnity
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1126
1944 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 31, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Tom Powers, Jean Heather, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, Mona Freeman,...
Double Indemnity
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1126
1944 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 31, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Tom Powers, Jean Heather, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, Mona Freeman,...
- 5/17/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
’The Forest Maker’ is the Palme d’Or winning director’s first ever feature doc
German sales agent Patra Spanou Film is to introduce veteran German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff’s first feature documentary, The Forest Maker, to international buyers at the Cannes market next week.
The completed documentary focuses on the Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo who has lived and worked in Africa for several decades. There he has discovered and put in practice a solution to the extreme deforestation and desertification of the Sahel region.
The Forest Maker was released by Weltkino in German cinemas on April 7. Schlöndorff has travelled...
German sales agent Patra Spanou Film is to introduce veteran German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff’s first feature documentary, The Forest Maker, to international buyers at the Cannes market next week.
The completed documentary focuses on the Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo who has lived and worked in Africa for several decades. There he has discovered and put in practice a solution to the extreme deforestation and desertification of the Sahel region.
The Forest Maker was released by Weltkino in German cinemas on April 7. Schlöndorff has travelled...
- 5/13/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
José Luis López Linares’ “Goya, Carrière and the Ghost of Buñuel,” a portrait of French film great Jean-Claude Carrière, captured breaking down the paintings and personality of painter Francisco de Goya, has been acquired for international sales by Reservoir Docs.
In its earliest sales, the doc feature has closed the two biggest markets in Europe with reputed distributors, licensing France to Epicentre and Germany and Austria to Weltkino. Syldavia Cinema will distribute in Spain, Version Digital in Italy and Outsider Films in Portugal.
Launched in 2020 by Anais Clanet, Reservoir Docs will bring the documentary feature onto the market at next month’s Cannes Festival.
“Reservoir Docs has always been a key sales agent for theatrical art & culture docs and Jose Luis’ work fits perfectly,” said Clanet. “To me, Goya painted European conflicts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries but he didn’t only chronicle his times: Somehow, he was a visionary,...
In its earliest sales, the doc feature has closed the two biggest markets in Europe with reputed distributors, licensing France to Epicentre and Germany and Austria to Weltkino. Syldavia Cinema will distribute in Spain, Version Digital in Italy and Outsider Films in Portugal.
Launched in 2020 by Anais Clanet, Reservoir Docs will bring the documentary feature onto the market at next month’s Cannes Festival.
“Reservoir Docs has always been a key sales agent for theatrical art & culture docs and Jose Luis’ work fits perfectly,” said Clanet. “To me, Goya painted European conflicts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries but he didn’t only chronicle his times: Somehow, he was a visionary,...
- 4/29/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
People On Sunday brought together Robert Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann early in their careers.
A feminist remake of the 1930-Berlin set silent classic People On Sunday is being developed by German director Alice Agneskirchner, whose documentary Come With Me To The Cinema is screening in Berlinale Forum Special.
People On Sunday brought together Robert Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann early in their careers and is seen as a key work in the development of their careers.
The film showed a group of young Berliners enjoying themselves in the city on a typical Sunday.
A feminist remake of the 1930-Berlin set silent classic People On Sunday is being developed by German director Alice Agneskirchner, whose documentary Come With Me To The Cinema is screening in Berlinale Forum Special.
People On Sunday brought together Robert Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann early in their careers and is seen as a key work in the development of their careers.
The film showed a group of young Berliners enjoying themselves in the city on a typical Sunday.
- 2/14/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
WarnerMedia Germany has confirmed that Ricky Gervais is among the cast of its comedy series Greenlight – German Genius, which is now shooting in Berlin.
The eight-part TV satire stars Kida Khodr Ramadan (4 Blocks) as himself. It recounts a dramatized version of events after Ramadan’s real-life Twitter exchange with Gervais in 2018, in which the British comedian praised Ramadan’s performance in 4 Blocks.
In Greenlight, Ramadan convinces Gervais to give him the rights for a German adaptation of Extras. However, as he attempts to progress the show to production, he comes up against the fact that the Germans aren’t particularly known for their humor, and that there are not many international stars in the country.
Also in the cast are a host of known German actors, musicians, and comedians, including: Detlev Buck, Frederick Lau, Tom Schilling, Veysel Gelin, Olli Schulz, Heike Makatsch, Maria Furtwängler, Sascha Geršak, Katrin Bauerfeind, Britta Hammelstein,...
The eight-part TV satire stars Kida Khodr Ramadan (4 Blocks) as himself. It recounts a dramatized version of events after Ramadan’s real-life Twitter exchange with Gervais in 2018, in which the British comedian praised Ramadan’s performance in 4 Blocks.
In Greenlight, Ramadan convinces Gervais to give him the rights for a German adaptation of Extras. However, as he attempts to progress the show to production, he comes up against the fact that the Germans aren’t particularly known for their humor, and that there are not many international stars in the country.
Also in the cast are a host of known German actors, musicians, and comedians, including: Detlev Buck, Frederick Lau, Tom Schilling, Veysel Gelin, Olli Schulz, Heike Makatsch, Maria Furtwängler, Sascha Geršak, Katrin Bauerfeind, Britta Hammelstein,...
- 11/25/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Ricky Gervais has boarded “Greenlight – German Genius” a new series from WarnerMedia Germany inspired by one of his tweets from 2019.
The 8-episode series, which has started shooting in Berlin, satirises the German television industry.
Two years ago the “After Life” writer and actor sent a public message via Twitter to German actor Kida Ramadan praising his portrayal of character Toni Hamady in series “4 Blocks.”
“Congratulations,” wrote Gervais. “Another masterpiece.”
In a case of art imitating life, Ramadan and Gervais will now appear as fictional versions of themselves in “Greenlight – German Genius,” in which Ramadan convincing Gervais to let him make a German adaptation of his hit series “Extras” after the comedian sends Ramadan a tweet praising his performance in “4 Blocks.”
However, Ramadan hits a stumbling block when he realizes there aren’t any international celebrities in Germany to cameo in the adaptation all while trying to navigate the...
The 8-episode series, which has started shooting in Berlin, satirises the German television industry.
Two years ago the “After Life” writer and actor sent a public message via Twitter to German actor Kida Ramadan praising his portrayal of character Toni Hamady in series “4 Blocks.”
“Congratulations,” wrote Gervais. “Another masterpiece.”
In a case of art imitating life, Ramadan and Gervais will now appear as fictional versions of themselves in “Greenlight – German Genius,” in which Ramadan convincing Gervais to let him make a German adaptation of his hit series “Extras” after the comedian sends Ramadan a tweet praising his performance in “4 Blocks.”
However, Ramadan hits a stumbling block when he realizes there aren’t any international celebrities in Germany to cameo in the adaptation all while trying to navigate the...
- 11/25/2021
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
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