FRED Film Radio - English Channel

Nelson Yeo’s cinematic creation “Dreaming & Dying” stands as a mesmerizing tapestry woven with multiple layers of transgressions and surprises, as we discussed during our enlightening interview. The film’s title itself is a portal into a world where identities shift between humans, fish, and frogs, creating a mesmerizing dance of transformation. Dreams and nightmares converge, revealing a captivating blend of harmony and tension.

Set against the evocative backdrop of Singapore’s landscape, a canvas teeming with repressed desires and complex fantasies, “Dreaming & Dying” encapsulates Yeo’s 77-minute debut, a labor of love that resonates deeply with audiences. Premiered in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente section, the film’s narrative orbits around three friends, portrayed by Peter Yu, Kelvin Ho, and Doreen Toh, who reunite after years apart, igniting a love triangle. As they wrestle with emotions and confront their choices, supernatural events unfold around them. The boundary between dreams and reality blurs, reflecting the characters’ psychic states, while the sea’s undulating waves symbolize suppressed yearnings.

During our insightful interview, Nelson Yeo highlighted his background in animation, a foundation that imbues the film with fluidity and dynamism, particularly evident in sequences filmed at the iconic Haw Par Villa. Here, Chinese and Western mythologies converge, painting an intricate tapestry that guides the narrative.

As I explored in our conversation, “Dreaming & Dying” bridges cultures and genres. Yeo’s short films, including “Mary, Mary, So Contrary” (2019), reimagine classics such as Fei Mu’s “Springtime in a Small Town“. This amalgamation of influences culminates in an uncanny yet familiar contemporary Singaporean rendition, a testament to Yeo’s passion for classic Chinese cinema.

Our dialogue also delved into the remarkable performances, such as Yu’s transformation into a merman and the partnership with Toh and Ko, theatre-trained actors. As we discussed, the film’s essence is anchored in the actors’ charisma, enriching the exploration of mature sexuality and unmet desires in later stages of life.

“Dreaming & Dying”, a testament to your artistry and vision, surprises and metamorphoses, evolving from a love triangle into poignant narratives of death and apocalypse. Your insights, shared during our interview, intricately shape this captivating masterpiece that truly caught me unawares.

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Critical Zone (Mantagheye Bohrani) is a compelling and engaging drama film, directed by the talented filmmaker Ali Ahmadzadeh. This thrilling movie, a co-production between Iran and Germany, was presented in the International Competition at the Locarno Film Festival. With its 99-minute runtime, it was filmed in the original Persian language with English and French subtitles.

However, behind the creation of every great film, there is always a producer who plays a crucial role in bringing the director’s vision to the big screen. In our exclusive interview with producer Sina Ataeian Dena, we had the opportunity to explore the behind-the-scenes of “Critical Zone (Mantagheye Bohrani)” and discover the key role of the producer in making this project possible.

The film’s story is set in Iran and was shot without permission from the authorities prior to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” revolution. The film is a powerful reflection of the anger and frustration of the young generation of Iranians, with the story following the character of Amir, guided by his GPS voice, as he navigates the underbelly of Tehran to bring solace to tormented souls of the night.

Director Ali Ahmadzadeh made a courageous choice by deciding to work with real people instead of professional actors. This decision made the film even more authentic and engaging, but it also drew the attention of the Iranian security ministry, putting pressure on the director.

Reportedly, Ali Ahmadzadeh was denied a visa to attend the Locarno festival and was prevented from leaving Iran. Luxbox, the production company, and Sina Ataeian Dena, the producer, received threats to withdraw the film from the screening. This case is a stark example of the struggle for freedom of expression in cinema and the challenge that artists must face in sharing their visions and stories with the world.

Despite the threats and pressures, the director and producer are determined to carry on with the project and showcase the film to the audience. The artistic director of the Locarno festival, Giona Nazzaro, expressed the festival’s support for freedom of expression and called for the respect of Ali Ahmadzadeh’s physical and mental integrity as a human being and artist.

During the exclusive interview with Sina Ataeian Dena, the producer unveiled the inspiration behind the film and the decision to work with real people instead of professional actors. The creative process was guided by a rebellion against prohibitions and restrictions, with the need to hide the camera and find creative solutions to shoot the film.

Sound and the soundtrack played a significant role in the film, and Ali Ahmadzadeh emphasized the importance of sound design and audio mixing in conveying the emotions and atmosphere of the story.

“Critical Zone (Mantagheye Bohrani)” has received widespread acclaim from critics, and the director considers being able to show it to the audience as an even greater victory.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about “Critical Zone (Mantagheye Bohrani)” directly from the words of producer Sina Ataeian Dena. Read and listen to the full interview to dive into the behind-the-scenes of this exciting film and discover how the passion for freedom of expression guided the team behind this extraordinary cinematic production.

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Christof Wehmeier, co-curator, explore the program of the Scandinavian film festival, delving into similarities and differences among the films produced in these countries, pointing out that there are indeed some similarities due to a shared cultural and historic background.

Christof also unpacks Scandi Screams, a deep dive into the dark side of  Scandinavian Cinema. This selection of six films examines folklore traditions and mythology that have influenced filmmakers to shape a new genre over the last fifteen years.

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Empty Nets conveys to the audience the enthusiasm of the director Behrooz Karamizade , and his love for Iran, reasons for the great appreciation (a very long standing ovation ) the film received at his official screening.

Those same feelings are perfectly present in this talk we had with him, after his Special Jury Prize in Karlovy Vary. Behrooz tells his motivations, his drive to the story and he talks about the need of film like this in his country, to give the young Iranians an additional voice in the world.

Plot of Empty Nets: Amir and Narges, two people in love, who might be described as having been born under an unlucky star. The young man is from a poor family background and, after he is laid off from his job as a waiter, he is forced to find work in a fishing community. Narges has a higher social status and comes from a “good family”. For the time being, they are keeping their relationship a secret. In order for them to marry, Amir has to earn enough money for a dowry. To add to his problems, he discovers that the fishery employing him is also involved in dishonest business practices. Behrooz Karamizade’s feature debut is a realistic drama set in contemporary Iran which eschews embellishment in order to depict a struggle for the right to love, an entitlement that shouldn’t be contingent on money.

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At the end of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, we interviewed Anna Wowra, who told us about her film Stuck Together in the FUTURE FRAMES –Generation NEXT of European Cinema section. Inspired in part by the director’s adolescence but also by a news story, Stuck Together tells of the friendship between three teenage girls stuck in a small provincial town, between hopes of escaping, mutual confidences and envy. Anna talks enthusiastically about Future Frames, her experience dealing with other filmmakers during the festival and her future projects.

Another dreary day in a small town. Viki, Sára, and Kiki, three inseparable friends since childhood, are planning to spend their free afternoon the same way they always do: vodka, cigarettes, talking about everything and nothing. But their group dynamic is different today, more explosive: one of them has reached the second round in a casting call for a modeling job, thus raising her chances of leaving this place of dashed hopes and dreams. Her friends might be willing to support her, if only their anger, sadness, and envy weren’t so powerful… A relentless but non-judgmental look at growing up without any prospects of a brighter future.

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Filmmaker Sophia Mocorrea learned from her parents about a strange German tradition that involves kidnapping the bride on her wedding day.  This was the incipit for the making of The Kidnapping of the Bride, his diploma short at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, which has toured  prestigious festivals such as the Berlinale and Sundance and which now arrives at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the section Future Frames.

Sophia is a true force of nature, already intent on developing her first feature film; she tells us about the differences she is experiencing between preparing this and the short film, the adventure with Future Frames and the importance for an aspiring director to make shorts.

In her work German-Argentinean Sophia Mocorrea questions and deconstructs the structures in which young people are socialized within and between cultures. Her award winning short film Matadoras was screened at numerous festivals. Her graduation film, from the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, El secuestro de la novia (eng. The Kidnapping of the Bride, 30 min.), won the Best International Short Film Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and received an honourable mention at the 73rd Berlinale in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. She is currently developing her first feature film Marriage by abduction, which won the Les Arcs Talent Village Award, was invited to the Toronto Film Festival 2022 and is being part of the Torino Script Lab 2023.

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In Amalie Maria Nielsen’s film The Shift, Milo, who lives in a community for troubled girls and who is going through a gender transition, meets Nicki, the only person who sees him for who he really is and supports him. However, things are about to change.

The short film by Amalie Maria Nielsen, presented at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Future Frames section, is, according to the director, a queer film which,  however, does not focus on the gender transition of the protagonist, but on the encounter with those people, who in life they push you to be who you really want, supporting you.

Plot of The Shift: Milo lives in a home for wayward girls. While the other residents struggle with their problematic behavior, Milo is fighting a much bigger battle, for they are seeking to transition behind the walls of the institution. The only person who notices their change and is supportive is Nicki, an attendant at the home who is Milo’s male role model and also the person onto whom they project their desired identity. But the institution’s walls are too thin for Milo not to hear a rumor that turns their life upside down. More than an exploration of the fragile nature of gender identity, The Shift above all looks at the importance of having a source of support at times when our perception of ourselves is changing.

The post “The Shift”, Interview with director Amalie Maria Nielsen appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Interview with Inês Pedrosa e Melo, director of Home, Revised at the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the EFP FUTURE FRAMES – Generation NEXT of European Cinema.

Screening at the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the EFP FUTURE FRAMES – Generation NEXT of European Cinema, portuguese director Inês Pedrosa e Melo’s latest film Home, Revised already won the Fernando Lopes Award for Best Portuguese First Film at DocLisboa 2022. The film, as the director comments, is an original look back at Portugal’s past through private home movies and amateur images that becomes an universal and nostalgic film about the personal past of each one of us watching.

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On the occasion of the partnership between FRED and the EFP FUTURE FRAMES  Generation NEXT of European Cinema, we interviewed Slovak director Monika Mahútová on Standing Still, her short feature film talking about the bond between a mother and a daughter, written by Mahútová with Lucia Ditte. The film portrays and explores this bond and relationship from both the mother Hana and the daughter Anna points of view and it was the director and her co-writer’s way of looking back at their personal relationship with their mothers. Mahútová and  Ditte are currently working on their first long feature film.

Standing Still:Twenty-seven-year-old Anna lives with her mother Hana in a small town on the Slovak Hungarian border. Hana tries to protect her daughter so that she will not repeat her own mistakes in life, but instead of earning her daughter’s gratitude, Hana’s actions fill Anna with a sense of frustration and lack of fulfilment. When the young Gergej enters her life, mother and daughter are forced to reassess their relationship… Slovak director Monika Mahútová’s stylistically inventive graduate film looks at the bond between mother and daughter with understanding and subtle humor.

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Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays is Christian Avilés’ first film as director after his graduation and it is the film he presented in the section  EFP FUTURE FRAMES –Generation NEXT of European Cinema at the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In this interview, Avilés explains how the film tackles the “balconing” phenomenon frequently involving adolescents during holidays only as an excuse or an instrument to really talk about teenage depression. Through a voice over and a dreamlike cinematic experience, we realize how the protagonist is dealing with overwhelming thoughts during his coming of age years.

Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays: The sun is a source of life, warmth, and health. But British teenagers live in a country where they don’t get enough sunlight. They suffer mentally and physically and compensate for the lack of sunshine by taking vitamin D supplements. They dream of escaping to the Balearic Islands – Mallorca in the case of the protagonist – to soak up as many rays as possible in the short time they have, so they can enjoy their effects even under the gloomy British skies. A surrealistically poetic film about warmth and dreams, about the stunned reactions of locals who take the sun for granted, and about the grim phenomenon of “balconing,” which has cost some tourists their lives, even though they only came to enjoy the sunshine.

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