The fourth episode of this season of Encuentros features:Laura Huertas Millán (France-Colombia), a visual artist and filmmaker whose research has been mainly concerned with questioning colonial discourses, the ways in which ethnography has approached its subjects of study, and the relationship between human beings and nature.Her work, which bears a strong experimental imprint, includes video installations and short works such as The Labyrinth (El laberinto) and Black Sun (Sol negro), which have been presented at film festivals in Toronto, Berlin, Rotterdam, Locarno and Marseille. The Harvard Film Archive, the Cinemateca de Bogotá and festivals such as Mar del Plata and Ficunam have also organized retrospectives of his work.Luis López Carrasco (Spain), a director and producer of experimental cinema, with a special interest in the creation and reflection on archival material. In his filmography, which explores the idea of "fake found footage," he obliquely portrays stories and characters...
- 11/30/2023
- MUBI
Berlinale Talents Alumni Prepare to Shine in Cannes
It’s slowly edging towards summer here in Berlin and that means one thing: Cannes is close! And as the sun gets ever brighter, many of Berlinale’s former Talents are also preparing to dazzle on the Croisette!
Three alumni are starring in films in Competition; Sherwan Haji in Tarik Saleh’s Boy from Heaven, Sara Fazilat in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, which was produced by Sol Bondy and Jacob Jarek, and finally Nadia Litz joins the glittering cast of David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. Also in Competition is Lukas Dhont’s Close, co-written by Angelo Tijssens. Un Certain Regard provides a stage for more Talents to shine, with 17 alumni involved in 9 films, including Ariel Escalante’s Domingo y la niebla, to name one example. The film was edited by Lorenzo Mora Salazar, music composed by Alberto Torres, with Nicolás Wong Díaz acting as both producer & cinematographer. Abinash Bikram Shah’s Lori screens in the Short Films Competition, alongside two films with Zuolong Shan as executive producer, Bi Gan’s A Short Story and Story Chen’s The Water Murmurs.
Critic’s Week features 11 former Talents who have contributed their creativity to 8 films in the selection. The Woodcutter Story was in fact developed at our Script Station by writer and director Mikko Myllylahti, edited by Jussi Rautaniemi and produced by Jussi Rantamäki, the short Cuerdas was shot by Lara Vilanova and there will also be a special screeing of Goutte d’Or, produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond.
Excitingly, the Director’s Fortnight will show the debut feature films of three Talents alumni: Manuela Martelli’s 1976, edited by Camila Mercadal and produced by Dominga Sotomayor, Elena López Riera’s El agua and Pamfir by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. Included in the selection is Un Varón by Fabian Hernández, which Louise Bellicaud produced.
To see the complete picture of all Berlinale Talents alumni at Cannes, including those selected for the Cinéfondation’s Atelier, Les cinémas du monde’s La Fabrique and the Acid programme, click here.
Reconnect in Cannes — Register now!
Building lasting relationships across all disciplines and editions is a crucial part of what we do. And since Cannes offers plenty of opportunities for long awaited informal encounters over a coffee or rosé, we’d love to build up the group again. If you are a Berlinale Talents alumni please register your attendance at the festival, market (or just on the beach) by clicking here. Who else is in Cannes? Find out here.
Dedicated to Discovery
The 17th edition of Talents Buenos Aires took place from April 19–23. Borrowing from Luis López Carrasco’s film of the same name, this year’s theme was ‘The Year of Discovery’. Drawing inspiration from the film’s exploration of Spain’s political and social crisis in the early 1990s, the programme’s aim was to promote critical and aesthetic thinking regarding recent world events and their influence on the film world. It was an engaging 5 days of events for the 55 Talents from all over South America, from workshops on non-traditional distribution with Maui Alena or on acting with Maria Laura Berch, to a dialogue on cinema as discovery with Darío Aguirre, and plenty of networking sessions. Welcome to the skilled film professionals who are now part of the Talents family, and congratulations to the team of Talents Buenos Aires on another great edition.
The preparations for Talents Guadalajara in June, Talents Durban in July and Talents Sarajevo in August are currently in full swing, and further out on the horizon, the 13th Talents Tokyo will be held from October 31 to November 5 within the Tokyo FILMeX Festival 2022.
Thanks for staying tuned and catching up!
The Berlinale Talents team
Upcoming Dates
May 6, 2022: Application deadline for Talents Guadalajara
May 31, 2022: Application deadline for Talents Sarajevo
May 31, 2022: Application deadline for Talents Tokyo
June 11–15, 2022: Talents Guadalajara takes place
Early July, 2022: Call for entries for Berlinale Talents 2023
July 22–26, 2022: Talents Durban Takes place
August 13–18, 2022: Talents Sarajevo takes place
October 31 — November 5, 2022: Talents Tokyo takes place
Photo credits:
1) Still from Close, co-written by Angelo Tijssens © Lukas Dhont / Diaphana Distribution
2) Talents Buenos Aires key visual 2022Berlinale Talents
Berlin International Film Festival
Potsdamer Platz 11, 10785 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 25920–515
www.berlinale-talents.de...
It’s slowly edging towards summer here in Berlin and that means one thing: Cannes is close! And as the sun gets ever brighter, many of Berlinale’s former Talents are also preparing to dazzle on the Croisette!
Three alumni are starring in films in Competition; Sherwan Haji in Tarik Saleh’s Boy from Heaven, Sara Fazilat in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, which was produced by Sol Bondy and Jacob Jarek, and finally Nadia Litz joins the glittering cast of David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. Also in Competition is Lukas Dhont’s Close, co-written by Angelo Tijssens. Un Certain Regard provides a stage for more Talents to shine, with 17 alumni involved in 9 films, including Ariel Escalante’s Domingo y la niebla, to name one example. The film was edited by Lorenzo Mora Salazar, music composed by Alberto Torres, with Nicolás Wong Díaz acting as both producer & cinematographer. Abinash Bikram Shah’s Lori screens in the Short Films Competition, alongside two films with Zuolong Shan as executive producer, Bi Gan’s A Short Story and Story Chen’s The Water Murmurs.
Critic’s Week features 11 former Talents who have contributed their creativity to 8 films in the selection. The Woodcutter Story was in fact developed at our Script Station by writer and director Mikko Myllylahti, edited by Jussi Rautaniemi and produced by Jussi Rantamäki, the short Cuerdas was shot by Lara Vilanova and there will also be a special screeing of Goutte d’Or, produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond.
Excitingly, the Director’s Fortnight will show the debut feature films of three Talents alumni: Manuela Martelli’s 1976, edited by Camila Mercadal and produced by Dominga Sotomayor, Elena López Riera’s El agua and Pamfir by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. Included in the selection is Un Varón by Fabian Hernández, which Louise Bellicaud produced.
To see the complete picture of all Berlinale Talents alumni at Cannes, including those selected for the Cinéfondation’s Atelier, Les cinémas du monde’s La Fabrique and the Acid programme, click here.
Reconnect in Cannes — Register now!
Building lasting relationships across all disciplines and editions is a crucial part of what we do. And since Cannes offers plenty of opportunities for long awaited informal encounters over a coffee or rosé, we’d love to build up the group again. If you are a Berlinale Talents alumni please register your attendance at the festival, market (or just on the beach) by clicking here. Who else is in Cannes? Find out here.
Dedicated to Discovery
The 17th edition of Talents Buenos Aires took place from April 19–23. Borrowing from Luis López Carrasco’s film of the same name, this year’s theme was ‘The Year of Discovery’. Drawing inspiration from the film’s exploration of Spain’s political and social crisis in the early 1990s, the programme’s aim was to promote critical and aesthetic thinking regarding recent world events and their influence on the film world. It was an engaging 5 days of events for the 55 Talents from all over South America, from workshops on non-traditional distribution with Maui Alena or on acting with Maria Laura Berch, to a dialogue on cinema as discovery with Darío Aguirre, and plenty of networking sessions. Welcome to the skilled film professionals who are now part of the Talents family, and congratulations to the team of Talents Buenos Aires on another great edition.
The preparations for Talents Guadalajara in June, Talents Durban in July and Talents Sarajevo in August are currently in full swing, and further out on the horizon, the 13th Talents Tokyo will be held from October 31 to November 5 within the Tokyo FILMeX Festival 2022.
Thanks for staying tuned and catching up!
The Berlinale Talents team
Upcoming Dates
May 6, 2022: Application deadline for Talents Guadalajara
May 31, 2022: Application deadline for Talents Sarajevo
May 31, 2022: Application deadline for Talents Tokyo
June 11–15, 2022: Talents Guadalajara takes place
Early July, 2022: Call for entries for Berlinale Talents 2023
July 22–26, 2022: Talents Durban Takes place
August 13–18, 2022: Talents Sarajevo takes place
October 31 — November 5, 2022: Talents Tokyo takes place
Photo credits:
1) Still from Close, co-written by Angelo Tijssens © Lukas Dhont / Diaphana Distribution
2) Talents Buenos Aires key visual 2022Berlinale Talents
Berlin International Film Festival
Potsdamer Platz 11, 10785 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 25920–515
www.berlinale-talents.de...
- 5/10/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Lacima Producciones, the company behind Luis López Carrasco multi-prize winner doc “The Year of the Discovery,” is joining forces with Colombia’s Sandelion on archive film project “Elena Gave Birth to a Beautiful Child.”
Madrid-based Begin Again Films handles international sales and has also taken Spanish distribution rights.
Co-directed by Chiara Marañón, head of content at streaming service Mubi, and Colombia’s Juan Soto Taborda, “Elena Gave Birth” taps the domestic archive of Miquelina Fiter, made up of cans of film and video tapes spanning six decades of the 20th century.
The doc will explore the traces of time in the history of a family from the Catalan city of Vic and Spain under Franco’s dictatorship.
The film will use almost wholly archive images, particularly those of the Miquelina Fiter Fund, found by Soto, and deposited at the Catalonia Cinematheque.
A first task for the project is to order...
Madrid-based Begin Again Films handles international sales and has also taken Spanish distribution rights.
Co-directed by Chiara Marañón, head of content at streaming service Mubi, and Colombia’s Juan Soto Taborda, “Elena Gave Birth” taps the domestic archive of Miquelina Fiter, made up of cans of film and video tapes spanning six decades of the 20th century.
The doc will explore the traces of time in the history of a family from the Catalan city of Vic and Spain under Franco’s dictatorship.
The film will use almost wholly archive images, particularly those of the Miquelina Fiter Fund, found by Soto, and deposited at the Catalonia Cinematheque.
A first task for the project is to order...
- 10/21/2021
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Following on an initial sale to Mubi for U.S., U.K, Italy, Turkey and India, Brussels-based sales agency Be For Films has clinched its first tranche of sales to international distributors on Berlinale Encounters title “Azor,” the first feature from Swiss talent to track Andreas Fontana.
In new sales, Pamela Leu at Be For Films, part of the pan-European Playtime Group, has closed Spain (Vitrine Filmes), Portugal (Legendmain Filmes), Greece (Cinobo), Cis (Capella Film), China (Huanxi Media Group), Brazil (Vitrine Filmes) and, just this week, Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution).
The news deals mean that “Azor” has sold more of less half of the 15 major territories in the world.
“Azor” is produced by Eugenia Mumenthaler and David Epiney from Alina Film and co-produced by France’s Local Films, Argentina’s Ruda Cine and Swiss public broadcaster Rts.
The deals also show “Azor” shaping up as one of the standout Swiss titles...
In new sales, Pamela Leu at Be For Films, part of the pan-European Playtime Group, has closed Spain (Vitrine Filmes), Portugal (Legendmain Filmes), Greece (Cinobo), Cis (Capella Film), China (Huanxi Media Group), Brazil (Vitrine Filmes) and, just this week, Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution).
The news deals mean that “Azor” has sold more of less half of the 15 major territories in the world.
“Azor” is produced by Eugenia Mumenthaler and David Epiney from Alina Film and co-produced by France’s Local Films, Argentina’s Ruda Cine and Swiss public broadcaster Rts.
The deals also show “Azor” shaping up as one of the standout Swiss titles...
- 3/31/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Goyas were presented by Antonio Banderas from the theatre he owns in Malaga.
Pilar Palomero’s directorial debut Schoolgirls won the best film and best new director award at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday March 6 in a pandemic-era ceremony that celebrated fresh voices and a strong female presence.
The hybrid ceremony - all the nominees were at home - was sober and started with a minute’s silence for the pandemic’s victims. It was also much shorter than usual. The socially-distanced red carpet was only for the celebrities in charge of giving the awards and Antonio Banderas,...
Pilar Palomero’s directorial debut Schoolgirls won the best film and best new director award at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday March 6 in a pandemic-era ceremony that celebrated fresh voices and a strong female presence.
The hybrid ceremony - all the nominees were at home - was sober and started with a minute’s silence for the pandemic’s victims. It was also much shorter than usual. The socially-distanced red carpet was only for the celebrities in charge of giving the awards and Antonio Banderas,...
- 3/7/2021
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Pilar Palomero’s coming-of-age story The Girls took home the top prizes, including best picture, at the 35th annual Goya Awards on Saturday. The annual Spain awards show, hosted by Antonio Banderas, also saw Palomero’s drama win the prizes for new director, original screenplay and cinematography.
The 35th Goya Awards adopted a hybrid format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and featured talent present and receive awards virtually or on-site at an audience-less Teatro del Soho CaixaBank. Among the Hollywood names presenting the event’s various awards were Pedro Almódovar, Penélope Cruz, J.A. Bayona, Alejandro Amenábar and Paz Vega. The ceremony also featured pre-recorded messages from a number of Hollywood names including Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Charlize Theron.
1492: Conquest of Paradise and Broken Embraces actress Angelina Molina took home the ceremony’s Honorary Goya award.
See the full list of winners at...
The 35th Goya Awards adopted a hybrid format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and featured talent present and receive awards virtually or on-site at an audience-less Teatro del Soho CaixaBank. Among the Hollywood names presenting the event’s various awards were Pedro Almódovar, Penélope Cruz, J.A. Bayona, Alejandro Amenábar and Paz Vega. The ceremony also featured pre-recorded messages from a number of Hollywood names including Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Charlize Theron.
1492: Conquest of Paradise and Broken Embraces actress Angelina Molina took home the ceremony’s Honorary Goya award.
See the full list of winners at...
- 3/7/2021
- by Alexandra Del Rosario
- Deadline Film + TV
Pilar Palomero’s “Schoolgirls” (“Las Niñas”), a coming-of-age story and generational portrait of Spanish women who would now be in their 40s, swept an extraordinary and admirable 35th edition of Spain’s Goya Awards on Saturday, scooping best picture, new director, original screenplay and cinematography.
Salvador Calvo won best director for the three-part, Africa-set drama “Adú,” a Netflix pick-up produced by Telecinco Cinema, Ikiru Films and La Terraza Films that proved one of Spain’s biggest box office hits of last year, earning €6.3 million ($7.6 million) at the Spanish box office, promoted to the hilt by Telecinco Cinema parent Mediaset España.
Marking a milestone in his transition from Spanish heartthrob to character actor, Mario Casas won best actor for “No Matarás.” Patricia López Arnaíz took best actress for her role in “Ane is Missing,” a confident mother-daughter relationship drama-thriller melding psychological observation and social critique, set against the background of high-speed train construction in a 2009 Bilbao.
Salvador Calvo won best director for the three-part, Africa-set drama “Adú,” a Netflix pick-up produced by Telecinco Cinema, Ikiru Films and La Terraza Films that proved one of Spain’s biggest box office hits of last year, earning €6.3 million ($7.6 million) at the Spanish box office, promoted to the hilt by Telecinco Cinema parent Mediaset España.
Marking a milestone in his transition from Spanish heartthrob to character actor, Mario Casas won best actor for “No Matarás.” Patricia López Arnaíz took best actress for her role in “Ane is Missing,” a confident mother-daughter relationship drama-thriller melding psychological observation and social critique, set against the background of high-speed train construction in a 2009 Bilbao.
- 3/6/2021
- by John Hopewell and Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Berlinale Talents is in itself one of the biggest, if temporary hubs, for burgeoning creatives in film and TV. Here, Variety spreads the net slightly wider to spotlight 10 on the rise writers-directors.
Miguel Ángel Blanca
Director of two features to date, including sci-fi thriller “I Want the Eternal,” Blanca’s films skew towards tragicomedy, talks about double lives and everyday darkness. To world premiere shortly, his latest movie, “Magaluf Ghost Town,” addresses the downsides of intrusive tourism. “I’m happy genre-bending, twisting film language, working between documentary and fiction, mixing comedy and horror to create a dark image of everyday life,” he says.
Luis López Carrasco
His first feature, “El Futuro,” world premiered at Locarno, receiving excellent reviews. Lightning’s struck twice with his an epic 300-minute doc feature “The Year of Discovery,” an analysis of Spain’s apparently boom decade of the ‘90s which has become the first documentary...
Miguel Ángel Blanca
Director of two features to date, including sci-fi thriller “I Want the Eternal,” Blanca’s films skew towards tragicomedy, talks about double lives and everyday darkness. To world premiere shortly, his latest movie, “Magaluf Ghost Town,” addresses the downsides of intrusive tourism. “I’m happy genre-bending, twisting film language, working between documentary and fiction, mixing comedy and horror to create a dark image of everyday life,” he says.
Luis López Carrasco
His first feature, “El Futuro,” world premiered at Locarno, receiving excellent reviews. Lightning’s struck twice with his an epic 300-minute doc feature “The Year of Discovery,” an analysis of Spain’s apparently boom decade of the ‘90s which has become the first documentary...
- 3/2/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Programmers from leading international film festivals gathered for an online roundtable on the opening day of the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro Days industry section to discuss the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic. While expressing their hope to soon be able to present films on the big screen, they nevertheless touted at least some advantages to online presentations.
The IFFR’s 50th edition is itself taking place in two parts, the current online section and a more festive event planned for June that is to include outdoor presentations and cinema screenings.
Moderated by Rotterdam programmer Michelle Carey, the roundtable included Mar del Plata’s Cecilia Barrionuevo, Singapore’s Kuo Ming Jung, Claire Diao of Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, Toronto’s Liane Cunje and Sergio Fant of the Berlinale.
Berlin’s February slot made it one of the few festivals to actually take place entirely physically last year before the coronavirus hit Europe.
The IFFR’s 50th edition is itself taking place in two parts, the current online section and a more festive event planned for June that is to include outdoor presentations and cinema screenings.
Moderated by Rotterdam programmer Michelle Carey, the roundtable included Mar del Plata’s Cecilia Barrionuevo, Singapore’s Kuo Ming Jung, Claire Diao of Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, Toronto’s Liane Cunje and Sergio Fant of the Berlinale.
Berlin’s February slot made it one of the few festivals to actually take place entirely physically last year before the coronavirus hit Europe.
- 2/2/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Whether a viewer in 1896 or 2020, cinema has always been a dynamic and variable experience. Cinema as an event—as a manifestation of a meeting point between the art of moving images and an audience, big or small—has never fit any one definition, and this last year, so severely disrupted by a global pandemic, has deeply underscored the versatility and resilience of our great love.Our viewing this year, like that of so many, has been strange: compromised, confrontational, escapist, euphoric, painful, revelatory—encompassing all of the reactions one can have to film. How we encountered our favorite movies and most meaningful cinematic experiences of the year was hardly new: A by-now-normal mix of festivals, theatres, various subscription and transactional streaming services, as well as private screener links and gems buried on over-stuffed hard drives. But for most of the year, the communal experience shrunk to living rooms and glowing screens.
- 12/23/2020
- MUBI
European entries A Storm Was Coming, For the Time Being and The Trouble with Nature also departed triumphant from the fifth incarnation of the Galician festival. Back for a fifth year, the Novos Cinemas Pontevedra International Film Festival (15–20 December) rose to the challenges of 2020 with a hybrid format, combining screenings at the Teatro Principal de Pontevdra and on the streaming platform Filmin. This year’s programme shone a special spotlight on filmmaker Luis López Carrasco (The Year of Discovery), with the honour of opening the proceedings granted to Lois Patiño’s Lúa Vermella. Six days packed with screenings, activities and discussions concluded with this year’s closing film, My Mexican Bretzel by Nuria Giménez Lorang. The Official Jury, comprising filmmakers and programme directors Pela del Álamo, Elena Duque and Nuria Giménez herself, ultimately bestowed the Novos Cinemas Award for Best Film in the Official Selection to There Will Be No More.
- 12/22/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Spain’s Luis López Carrasco picked up the Best International Film prize for his documentary “The Year of the Discovery” (“El año del descubrimiento”) on Sunday at Argentina’s Mar del Plata, the only Latin American film fest granted a Category A status by producers assn. Fiapf, placing it in the same league as Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian and Locarno, among others.
Given the restraints imposed by the pandemic, the festival hosted an online edition and offered free access to all Argentine residents.
Carrasco’s sophomore feature follows his debut film “El Futuro,” which premiered at Locarno and collected numerous awards on the festival circuit. “The Year of the Discovery” portrays the flipside of 1992 Spain, which celebrated hosting the Olympics Games in Barcelona and the World Expo in Seville while in Murcia, south-east Spain, enraged workers from the naval, mining and chemical sectors where companies were shut down, battled alongside students against the police,...
Given the restraints imposed by the pandemic, the festival hosted an online edition and offered free access to all Argentine residents.
Carrasco’s sophomore feature follows his debut film “El Futuro,” which premiered at Locarno and collected numerous awards on the festival circuit. “The Year of the Discovery” portrays the flipside of 1992 Spain, which celebrated hosting the Olympics Games in Barcelona and the World Expo in Seville while in Murcia, south-east Spain, enraged workers from the naval, mining and chemical sectors where companies were shut down, battled alongside students against the police,...
- 11/30/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
In today’s Global Bulletin, Atresmedia commissions a Spanish version of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock” trailer drops, Lightbox will produced a three-part docu-series about Sophie Toscan du Plantier for Netflix, Hardcash announces a new coronavirus doc for ITV, and the Seville and Zagreb festivals announce their 2020 winners.
Format
¡Hola Hola Hola! Media company World of Wonder is teaming with Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia and production company Buendía Estudios on “Drag Race Spain,” a new Spanish version of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for Atresmedia’s SVOD platform Atresplayer Premium. The Spanish update adds to the list of previous format deals in Thailand, Chile, Canada, Netherlands, and “RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K.,” recently renewed for a second and third season.
Passion Distribution brokered the deal with Atresmedia and will distribute internationally, including an exclusive deal with Wow Presents Plus in the U.S., U.K and internationally, which will...
Format
¡Hola Hola Hola! Media company World of Wonder is teaming with Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia and production company Buendía Estudios on “Drag Race Spain,” a new Spanish version of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for Atresmedia’s SVOD platform Atresplayer Premium. The Spanish update adds to the list of previous format deals in Thailand, Chile, Canada, Netherlands, and “RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K.,” recently renewed for a second and third season.
Passion Distribution brokered the deal with Atresmedia and will distribute internationally, including an exclusive deal with Wow Presents Plus in the U.S., U.K and internationally, which will...
- 11/16/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
With Catalonia’s theatres shuttered because of health-and-safety measures, the 27th Barcelona Independent Film Festival is gearing up to take place online, via various digital platforms. Today, The Year of the Discovery, which has only just won an award at the 17th Seville European Film Festival (see the news), will open the 27th L’Alternativa Barcelona Independent Film Festival – with an added master class set to be given by its director, Luis López Carrasco, to boot. Given that movie theatres in Catalonia have been closed for weeks, on this occasion, the gathering will unspool entirely via the digital platforms Filmin, YouTube and Vimeo. Epicentro (Austria/France) by Hubert Sauper, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the most recent Sundance, will be the event’s closing title and will be shown on Sunday 29th. In its Official Section for International Features, audiences will be able to watch ten titles.
- 11/16/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Time (dir. Garrett Bradley)Top Picksdoug DIBBERN1. Time (Garrett Bradley)2. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)3. Gunda (Viktor Kossakovsky)4. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-Soo)5. The Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)6. The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel)7. Red, White and Blue (Steve McQueen)8. The Calming (Song Fang)9. Night of Kings (Philippe Lacôte)10. Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)Daniel KASMAN1. Figure Minus Fact (Mary Helena Clark)2. Her Socialist Smile (John Gianvito)3. Untitled Sequence Of Gaps (Vika Kirchenbauer)4. Labor of Love (Sylvia Schedelbauer)5. Beginning (Dea Kulumbegashvili)6. The Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)7. Red, White and Blue (Steve McQueen)8. Isabella (Matías Piñeiro)9. The Calming (Song Fang)10. Humongous! (Aya Kawazoe)Michael SICINSKI1. Figure Minus Fact (Mary Helena Clark)2. Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)3. Her Socialist Smile (John Gianvito)4. The Inheritance (Ephraim Asili)5. Apiyemiyeki? (Ana Vaz)6. The Human Voice (Pedro Almodóvar)7. Time (Garrett Bradley)8. Isabella (Matías Piñeiro)9. The Last City (Heinz Emigholz)10. Trust Study #1 (Shobun Baile)Correpondences#1 Daniel Kasman introduces the 2020 festival and reviews Lovers...
- 10/14/2020
- MUBI
After decades of perceived underdevelopment, Spain reintroduced itself to the world in 1992. During the spring and summer of that year, the country hosted both the Expo ‘92 world’s fair in Seville and the Olympics Games in Barcelona. But against this celebratory backdrop, turmoil seethed as thousands of workers protested the economic measures that threatened the local industrial sector, eventually resulting in the razing of the parliament building in Cartagena—incidents all but forgotten in light of the day’s more publicized events.In The Year of the Discovery, director Luis López Carrasco looks back on the events of 1992 through the lens of the 2008 recession that crippled Spain’s economy. A kind of staged documentary set in a real-life bar in Cartagena, the film—co-written by Raul Liarte and shot by Carrasco on period appropriate Hi8 video—recreates the era through a combination of interviews and conversations with and amongst locals...
- 10/5/2020
- MUBI
This year, the New York Film Festival will look different than the past fifty-seven years––and it’s not just the shift from in-theater screenings to outdoor and virtual, but also with its programming. With the new leadership of NYFF Director Eugene Hernandez and NYFF Director of Programming Dennis Lim, one of the major changes in Film at Lincoln Center’s yearly showcase of the best in world cinema is the addition of a new section titled Currents.
A nod to previous programs featured in the festival––including Views From the Avant-Garde, Explorations, and Projections––Currents provides an expansive overview of the filmmakers that are among the boldest and most innovative working today. With a lineup including 14 features and 46 short films, representing 28 countries, Currents takes a comprehensive look at both the future of filmmaking from emerging directors as well as new offerings from established filmmakers.
Opening Night of Currents is...
A nod to previous programs featured in the festival––including Views From the Avant-Garde, Explorations, and Projections––Currents provides an expansive overview of the filmmakers that are among the boldest and most innovative working today. With a lineup including 14 features and 46 short films, representing 28 countries, Currents takes a comprehensive look at both the future of filmmaking from emerging directors as well as new offerings from established filmmakers.
Opening Night of Currents is...
- 8/24/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The festival in Greece shifted online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
David France’s Welcome To Chechnya has won a hat-trick of awards at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which moved online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The film, which chronicles the ongoing anti-lgbtq persecution raging in the Russian republic of Chechnya, won the festival’s top prize – the Golden Alexander award – which comes with a cash prize of €15,000. It also won the Mermaid Award, presented to the festival’s best Lgbtqi-themed film, and the Fipresci prize.
The documentary, produced by New York-based Public Square Films and BBC Storyville, debuted at...
David France’s Welcome To Chechnya has won a hat-trick of awards at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which moved online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The film, which chronicles the ongoing anti-lgbtq persecution raging in the Russian republic of Chechnya, won the festival’s top prize – the Golden Alexander award – which comes with a cash prize of €15,000. It also won the Mermaid Award, presented to the festival’s best Lgbtqi-themed film, and the Fipresci prize.
The documentary, produced by New York-based Public Square Films and BBC Storyville, debuted at...
- 5/28/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦¬307¦Alexis Grivas¦39¦
- ScreenDaily
The documentary by Spanish director Luis López Carrasco claims the Grand Prize, with Makongo, Chronicle of the Stolen Land and There Will Be No More Night also scooping trophies. Composed of Florian Caschera, Stéphane Mercurio, Hania Mroué, Terutaro Osanaï and Cristina Piccino, the feature film competition jury of the 42nd Cinéma du Réel Festival (which was held online in view of the current health crisis) crowned The Year of the Discovery, by Spain’s Luis López Carrasco, its winner. The film takes as its basis events dating back to 1992 - riots and protests unfolding in Cartagena, in the south-east of Spain, a country which, at the time, was trying to pass itself off as civilised, modern and dynamic (ten years after Felipe González’s labour party victory) – narrated by way of discussions filmed in a cafe in the present day. The jury explained their decision as follows: "A great epic.
Pervasive use of split screen, a sprawling, relaxed approach to time and a carefully recreated period look – both in costumes and image quality – make the 1992 of The Year of the Discovery (El año del descubrimiento) feel truly unique. Director Luis López Carrasco has a keen interest in history and social change as perceived through the lens of a collective, and in his latest film he reprises and expands on the techniques employed in his debut El Futuro (2013) to shine a spotlight on events in mid-90s Spain that run counter to the historical narrative of progress and prosperity of the time.…...
- 2/17/2020
- by Tommaso Tocci
- IONCINEMA.com
At a festival as big as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, early screenings are essentially shots in the dark. There is no buzz yet, and most films have little written about them or are by filmmakers whose previous works have received relatively little exposure. I opted on the second day to give Luis López Carrasco’s El Año del Descubrimiento a shot partly because I had heard of his previous feature, El Futuro, but mostly because its 200-minute runtime helped it to stand out amid a slate of films I knew next to nothing about. From the very beginning, its use […]...
- 2/11/2020
- by Forrest Cardamenis
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
At a festival as big as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, early screenings are essentially shots in the dark. There is no buzz yet, and most films have little written about them or are by filmmakers whose previous works have received relatively little exposure. I opted on the second day to give Luis López Carrasco’s El Año del Descubrimiento a shot partly because I had heard of his previous feature, El Futuro, but mostly because its 200-minute runtime helped it to stand out amid a slate of films I knew next to nothing about. From the very beginning, its use […]...
- 2/11/2020
- by Forrest Cardamenis
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The formally audacious and politically enticing documentary The Year of Discovery may feel daunting with its 200-minute runtime, but Luis López Carrasco’s new film is anything but taxing.
Presented mostly as two parallel screens, the documentary is shot with a VHS camera (which mimics most of the news footage that is used to illustrate its events) and focuses on a generation of factory workers in the Spanish region of Murcia, who protested due to the precarious condition of their jobs. While the protests were happening, the local parliament burned up. It’s an image also burned into the mind of the director, who decided to make the film once he realized that not many people remembered how or why it happened.
Divided in three chapters and an epilogue, the film is a profound exploration of the motives behind the protests, mostly through direct interviews with those involved in them,...
Presented mostly as two parallel screens, the documentary is shot with a VHS camera (which mimics most of the news footage that is used to illustrate its events) and focuses on a generation of factory workers in the Spanish region of Murcia, who protested due to the precarious condition of their jobs. While the protests were happening, the local parliament burned up. It’s an image also burned into the mind of the director, who decided to make the film once he realized that not many people remembered how or why it happened.
Divided in three chapters and an epilogue, the film is a profound exploration of the motives behind the protests, mostly through direct interviews with those involved in them,...
- 2/11/2020
- by Jaime Grijalba
- The Film Stage
The artistic director reflects on this year’s festival.
Bero Beyer, the outgoing artistic director of International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr), says new talent should not try to compete with Disney if they are to be successful in the film industry. “You’re not going to beat Disney at their own game. So don’t even try.”
To foster this mindset, the theme of the final year of his five-year stint at the helm of the Rotterdam Film Festival was ‘New Talent.’ In March, Beyer will take over as CEO of the Netherlands Film Fund.
“What I hope to be...
Bero Beyer, the outgoing artistic director of International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr), says new talent should not try to compete with Disney if they are to be successful in the film industry. “You’re not going to beat Disney at their own game. So don’t even try.”
To foster this mindset, the theme of the final year of his five-year stint at the helm of the Rotterdam Film Festival was ‘New Talent.’ In March, Beyer will take over as CEO of the Netherlands Film Fund.
“What I hope to be...
- 2/1/2020
- by 1101024¦Kaleem Aftab¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The first five directors talked with festival director Bero Beyer and programmer Muge Demir.
”They can cut the flowers, but spring will always come,” was the defiant response to increasing nationalism and reduced state funding, from a press conference with five directors participating in the Tiger Competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr).
The directors were discussing a speech by then Brazilian culture minister Roberto Alvim last week, that borrowed heavily from one made in 1933 by Nazi minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels, in which Alvim said Brazilian art must be “heroic and national… it will be deeply committed to the urgent aspirations of our people,...
”They can cut the flowers, but spring will always come,” was the defiant response to increasing nationalism and reduced state funding, from a press conference with five directors participating in the Tiger Competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr).
The directors were discussing a speech by then Brazilian culture minister Roberto Alvim last week, that borrowed heavily from one made in 1933 by Nazi minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels, in which Alvim said Brazilian art must be “heroic and national… it will be deeply committed to the urgent aspirations of our people,...
- 1/27/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
The titles span countries and cultures, ranging from traditional to experimental approaches, all encompassing urgency and cinematic relevance. At its press conference on 18 December, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) unveiled the full lineup of its 49th edition. The announcement includes the 10 titles running in the Tiger competition, as well as the 9 picks for the Big Screen Competition and the 15 feature-length debuts in the Bright Future Competition. The festival, which will be held from 22 January to 2 February, will open with a screening of Mosquito. The film, by Portuguese director João Nuno Pinto, tells a World War I story from an unexpected angle, following a Portuguese soldier through the African wilderness. This years’ Tiger Competition counts no less than 10 titles. Several of the filmmakers have a history with the festival, such as Luis López Carrasco, who presented his feature-length debut El Futuro there in...
- 12/19/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood’ to close the festival, which runs January 22 to February 2.
João Nuno Pinto’s Mosquito is to open the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam, which has unveiled its full line-up of competition titles.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Mosquito follows a 17-year-old Portuguese recruit who gets lost in the African wilderness in 1917 and marks the second feature from Portuguese director Pinto following 2010’s América. It will also compete in Iffr’s Big Screen Competition.
The festival will close with Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, starring Tom Hanks as Us icon Fred Rogers.
João Nuno Pinto’s Mosquito is to open the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam, which has unveiled its full line-up of competition titles.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Mosquito follows a 17-year-old Portuguese recruit who gets lost in the African wilderness in 1917 and marks the second feature from Portuguese director Pinto following 2010’s América. It will also compete in Iffr’s Big Screen Competition.
The festival will close with Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, starring Tom Hanks as Us icon Fred Rogers.
- 12/18/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
My Mexican BretzelThe titles for the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam are being announced in anticipation of the event running January 22 – February 2, 2020. We will update the program as new films are revealed.
Tiger COMPETITIONEl año del descubrimiento (Luis López Carrasco)Beasts Clawing at Straws (Kim Yonghoon)The Cloud in Her Room (Zheng Lu Xinyuan)Desterro (Maria Clara Escobar)Drama Girl (Vincent Boy Kars)La fortaleza (Jorge Thielen Armand)Kala azar (Janis Rafa)Nasir (Arun Karthick)Piedra sola (Alejandro Telemaco Tarraf)Si yo fuera el invierno mismo (Jazmín López)
Bright Future COMPETITIONBabai (Artem Aisagaliev)Chaco (Diego Mondaca)Los fantasmas (Sebastián Lojo)Fellwechselzeit (Sabrina Mertens)For the Time Being (Salka Tiziana)I Blame Society (Gillian Wallace Horvat)Moving On (Yoon Dan-bi)My Mexican Bretzel (Nuria Giménez Lorang)Ofrenda (Juan María Mónaco Cagni)Panquiaco (Ana Elena Tejera)A Rifle and a Bag (Isabella Rinaldi / Cristina Hanes / Arya Rothe)Sebastian jumps über Geländer (Ceylan-Alejandro...
Tiger COMPETITIONEl año del descubrimiento (Luis López Carrasco)Beasts Clawing at Straws (Kim Yonghoon)The Cloud in Her Room (Zheng Lu Xinyuan)Desterro (Maria Clara Escobar)Drama Girl (Vincent Boy Kars)La fortaleza (Jorge Thielen Armand)Kala azar (Janis Rafa)Nasir (Arun Karthick)Piedra sola (Alejandro Telemaco Tarraf)Si yo fuera el invierno mismo (Jazmín López)
Bright Future COMPETITIONBabai (Artem Aisagaliev)Chaco (Diego Mondaca)Los fantasmas (Sebastián Lojo)Fellwechselzeit (Sabrina Mertens)For the Time Being (Salka Tiziana)I Blame Society (Gillian Wallace Horvat)Moving On (Yoon Dan-bi)My Mexican Bretzel (Nuria Giménez Lorang)Ofrenda (Juan María Mónaco Cagni)Panquiaco (Ana Elena Tejera)A Rifle and a Bag (Isabella Rinaldi / Cristina Hanes / Arya Rothe)Sebastian jumps über Geländer (Ceylan-Alejandro...
- 12/18/2019
- MUBI
Last weekend’s fourth edition of the Spanish Independent Film Festival and Market in Albacete saw El año del descubrimiento scoop the coveted Work in Progress award. On 25, 26 and 27 October, Abycine Lanza, the Albacete International Film Festival’s market for independent cinema, returned for a fourth year, the twenty-first for the festival itself. The coveted Work in Progress award, in the form of a €7,000 grant towards post-production costs, was presented to El año del descubrimiento, the second solo feature by Murcian director Luis López Carrasco (El futuro). The project is funded by Lacima Producciones (Spain) and Alina Film (Switzerland) — find out more here. Carrasco’s film beat off competition from three other finalists: La ofrenda, by Ventura Durall (The Two Lives of Andres Rabadan), starring Alex Brendemühl and Verónica Echegui — another Spanish–Swiss co-production, this time between Nanouk Films, Fasten, Suica Productions and Bord Cadre; Pedra Pàtria, a...
- 10/30/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
The filmmaker who dazzled audiences with his first solo feature, El futuro, is immersed in the post-production of his sophomore film, which once again calls into question Spain’s official history. With a screenplay by Luis López Carrasco and Raúl Liarte, El año del descubrimiento (lit. “The Year of Discovery”) stars non-professional actors who live in Cartagena and La Unión (Murcia). As was the case in the first film that the director made on his own (he was also part of a collective called Los Hijos), the instant cult hit El futuro (2013), its loose, fluid genre will teeter between fiction and documentary, blending real images with fictitious ones in order to recreate scenes from the past, and thus highlight and pick apart the contradictions in Spain’s recent history, in addition to shedding light...
Below you will find our favorite films of the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival, as well as an index of our coverage.Top Picksfernando F. CROCE1. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)2. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)3. Western (Valeska Grisebach)4. Ex Libris (Frederick Wiseman)5. Faces Places (Agnès Varda, Jr)6. Manhunt (John Woo)7. Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Bruno Dumont)8. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)9. The Day After (Hong Sang-soo)10. Let the Corpses Tan (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)Kelley DONG1. Rose Gold (Sarah Cwynar), Strangely Ordinary This Devotion (Dani Restack, Sheilah Wilson Restack)3. Good Luck (Ben Russell)4. Manhunt (John Woo)5. The Third Murder (Hirokazu Kore-eda), Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu)Daniel KASMAN1. Ex Libris (Frederick Wiseman)2. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)3. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)4. Strangely Ordinary This Devotion (Dani Restack, Sheilah Wilson Restack)5. I Love You, Daddy (Louis C.K.)6. Rose Gold (Sarah Cwynar)7. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)8. below-above (André...
- 9/19/2017
- MUBI
It’s been an interesting run-up to the Toronto International Film Festival, and in terms of the survival of the species, the good ol’ U.S.A. has been something of a race to the bottom. What would do us in first: violent neo-Nazis whose activities are almost explicitly condoned by the Klansman In Chief? Or a 1,000-year weather event on the Gulf Coast whose magnitude surely owes something to global climate change, and whose aftermath of collapsing dams and exploding chemical factories has everything to do with systematic neglect?Given the state of things down here, who wouldn’t want to repair to Canada for some challenging cinema? As always, the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) is the place to be in September, and Wavelengths once again features the best of the fest. This is because the films selected for Wavelengths are the opposite of escapism. Whether they tackle...
- 9/7/2017
- MUBI
Luis López Carrasco in Benidorm.From director Luis López Carrasco's diary, just after finishing his film El Futuro.October 9, 2012. Benidorm.This morning we shot the sunrise from the neon cross. It’s the first thing we’ve shot since we got to Benidorm. The fact that we shot El Futuro last week is really hitting us now, everyone is exhausted. Monolo and I have managed to convince Ion [de Sosa, director of Androids Dream and cinematographer/producer on El Futuro] to go for a swim as soon as we got there, some sort of baptism to give us a boost of energy to start the shoot. After the swim we had an English breakfast. Which means we were in a great mood to then go and wake up the rest of the crew.Although he is shooting fiction, Ion keeps the cartesian vision from [his first film] True Love. He gives the same importance to objects and people when he is searching for the right shot.
- 5/5/2016
- MUBI
Mubi is exclusively showing two new, brilliant and unconventional films from Spain: Luis López Carrasco's El Futuro (April 11 - May 10) and Ion de Sosa's Androids Dream (April 12 - May 11). We asked the two filmmakers—friends and collaborators—a few questions about their work. For an in-depth exploration of the two films, we recommend Michael Pattison's article, Back to the Future: Androids Dream and El Futuro.Spanish directors Ion de Sosa (front left) and Luis López Carrasco (back right).Notebook: How did you each manage to bring your projects to life?Luis LÓPEZ Carrasco: After living in Berlin for a few months through a scholarship program, I came back to Spain in 2010 fully energized with the aim to set up a production company, finance my own projects and support friends whose work I deeply admire. The international success of Los Hijos Collective led me to believe...
- 4/22/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Mubi will be exclusively showing El Futuro April 11 - May 10 and Androids Dream April 12 - May 11, 2016 . From this very moment, I want to appeal to the political forces, the institutions, the autonomous regions, provincial and local councils, unions, business corporations, the media, and to every sector of national daily life so they feel integrated and support this collective mission: to consolidate democracy in Spain and to overcome the economic crisis… No citizen should feel alienated by this beautiful mission of modernization, progress, and solidarity.—Felipe González, Spanish general election victory speech, 1982 Silence. It flashed from the woodwork and the walls; it smote him with an awful, total power, as if generated by a vast mill. It rose from the floor, up out of the tattered gray wall-to-wall carpeting. It unleashed itself from the broken and semi-broken appliances in the kitchen, the dead machines which hadn’t worked in all the time Isidore had lived here.
- 4/11/2016
- by Michael Pattison
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.