FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST |David Martos interviews Diana El Jeiroudi, director of the film Republic of Silence.

Diana El Jeiroudi has been assembling little clips of footage for this film for years.. and now, selected by Venice 2021 out of competition, Republic of Silence tells the story of her life, of Syria and the suffering of a people. She talks to FRED about the political mission of her film and its nature of a non-linear tale

Republic of Silence: Twelve years in the making, Republic of Silence bears witness to a tragedy on an epic scale, accompanied by an ever-expanding mosaic of fragile, deeply embedded moments from the filmmaker’s life.

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PODCAST |Matt Micucci interviews Priyankar Patra, producer of the film Once Upon a Time in Calcutta.

A conversation with Priyankar Patra, producer of Once Upon a Time in Calcutta, presented in the Orizzonti section of the 78th Venice Film Festival. The film is directed by Aditya Vikram Sengupta, who unfortunately was unable to make the festival due to COVID measures. In this interview, Patra talks about the film, which feels a little like a magnum opus and reveals Calcutta as a microcosm with its many colours and textures.

Once Upon a Time in Calcutta: After the loss of her daughter, Ela not only loses her identity as a mother, but also the only reason to be with her husband. When she is refused a home loan by the bank, her boss, owner of a massive Ponzi scheme, makes her an offer she struggles to accept. Ela reconnects with her stepbrother to reclaim her half of an old family theatre, but he refuses, blaming Ela for his own dark fate. In between all this, Ela’s childhood sweetheart resurfaces and gives her the warmth and hope for a new beginning. Just as Ela starts living the life she had dreamed for herself, she realises that she isn’t the only scavenger in the city brimming with hunger.

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PODCAST |David Martos interviews Alexandre Moratto, director of the film 7 Prisoners.

Alexandre Moratto, director of 7 Prisoners – at the Mostra de Venezia in Orizzonti Extra – talks to FRED about conceiving this intense thriller about human trafficking in Sao Paulo. During the interview, he addresses the social situation in Brazil and how was it to work with Rodrigo Santoro as the “bad guy” in the film.

7 Prisoners: To provide a better life for his family in the country, 18-year-old Mateus accepts a job in a junkyard in São Paulo for his new boss, Luca. But when he and a few other boys become trapped in the dangerous world of human trafficking, Mateus will be forced to decide between working for the very man who imprisoned him or risk his and his family’s future.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Ameer Fakher Eldin, director of the film Al Garib.

A conversation with Ameer Fakher Eldin, director of Al Garib, presented in the program of the Giornate degli Autori, the independent and parallel section of the 78th Venice Film Festival. Taking place in a small village in the occupied Golan Heights, the film is a story of redemption and empathy in the midst of the war in Syria. In this interview, the director talks about his personal connection with the specific location where the film is set, the importance of empathy in his filmmaking, sensibility in the midst of a hostile environment and more.

Al Garib: In a small village in the occupied Golan Heights, the life of a desperate unlicensed doctor, who is going through an existential crisis, takes another unlucky turn when he encounters a man wounded in the war in Syria. Overturning all community expectations in times of war and national crisis, he ventures forth to meet his newly found destiny.

The post Ameer Fakher Eldin – Al Garib #Giornate2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST |Ilaria Gomarasca interviews Peter Kerekes, director of the film 107 Mothers.

An interesting talk with Peter Kerekes, director of 107 Mothers, a choral portrait of women in an Ukranian jail. Almost all the characters are played by real convicts and the director spent several months overs many years in order to know their stories and film them..

107 Mothers: Lesya has committed a crime of passion which brings her a seven-year sentence in one of Odessa’s women’s correctional facilities. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, women of all ages, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant women, and women with children. If not for the colour of the uniform, it would sometimes be hard to tell who is who.

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PODCAST |Matt Micucci interviews Mounia Akl, director of the film Costa Brava.

A conversation with Mounia Akl, director of the film Costa Brava, presented at the Orizzonti section of the 78th film festival. In this film, the life of a Lebanese family that has retreated to the wild to escape trauma and air pollution is disturbed when their little corner of paradise is invaded and a garbage landfill is built right outside their fence. In this film, Akl talks about the many themes of the film, discusses the role of family in modern society, the problem of air pollution in Lebanon and more.

Costa Brava: Growing up in Lebanon, I was surrounded by chaos and poetry. The country was always on the verge of an apocalypse, leading us to live fully and never sleep peacefully. This dichotomy is what Lebanon is, and who I have become. It has brought our society to a place of absurdity where people come to sterilize their homes to protect themselves. It has also armed us with limitless imagination, humor, and a visceral experience of life. Today however, even that escape is no longer possible, the dystopia has entered our hearts. I try to look at a family’s structure in hopes of mirroring the one of our society. Once this family is fractured, it can reinvent itself with less lies and more selfless love.

The post Mounia Akl – Costa Brava #Venezia78 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST |David Martos interviews Ana Lily Amirpour, Kate Hudson and Benny, director, actress and dog of the film Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.

Ana Lily Amirpour, director, and Kate Hudson, lead protagonist [alongside with the dog Benny] visit FRED’s booth to talk about Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, in competition during the 78th Mostra de Venezia. They talk about their work together and how the character of Bonnie was built.

Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon: A girl with unusual powers has been locked up in a mental hospital for over a decade… one night when a blood moon rises she awakens her from an ancient slumber and breaks free to re-join modern-day civilization in the wet swampy streets of New Orleans. She makes her way barefoot and empty handed like a hungry newborn into the adventure and chaos of the French quarter, where she will cross paths with the many strange inhabitants of this hedonistic city, while searching to understand where she belongs in this world, and who is a real friend.

The post Ana Lily Amirpour, Kate Hudson, Benny – Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon #Venezia78 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST |David Martos interviews Ed Skrein and Craig Robinson, actors of the film Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.

Ed Skrein and Craig Robinson, supporting actors in Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon -in competition in the 78th Mostra de Venezia- talk to FRED about their relationship with Ana Lily Amirpour during the shooting of the film. They also describe their characters and the process of choosing roles: which are the most appealing ingredients for them in a project or a script

Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon: A girl with unusual powers has been locked up in a mental hospital for over a decade… one night when a blood moon rises she awakens her from an ancient slumber and breaks free to re-join modern-day civilization in the wet swampy streets of New Orleans. She makes her way barefoot and empty handed like a hungry newborn into the adventure and chaos of the French quarter, where she will cross paths with the many strange inhabitants of this hedonistic city, while searching to understand where she belongs in this world, and who is a real friend.

The post Ed Skrein, Craig Robinson – Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon #Venezia78 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | David Martos interviews Alex Carvalho, director of the film Salamandra.

Alex Carvalho, director of Salamandra, talks to FRED about being selected by the Settimana Internazionale della Critica in the 78th Mostra de Venezia. His first feature film, set in his hometown Recife, depicts how a woman -portrayed by Marina Fois- seeks for freedom after taking her of her dying father. Carvalho says this purchase of freedom is present in every character of the film.

Salamandra: In the wake of the years lost to the strain of her father’s care. Catherine feels smothered by the difference between her feelings and real life. She escapes to Brazil, hoping to reconnect with her sister. Finally unburdened yet still unable to overcome her anxiety, she stumbles into an improbable relationship with an attractive young man. Gil presents her a second chance to experience the time she might have lived had things been different. Determined to begin again, Catherine must decide whether to see her reinvention through to its violent and irrevocable conclusion.

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PODCAST |Matt Micucci interviews Bogdan George Apetri, director of the film Miracol.

A conversation with Bogdan George Apetri, the director of Miracol from the Orizzonti section of the 2021 Venice International Film Festival. The film is split into two chapters and revolves around an investigation on a shocking event involving a young nun and an urgent matter. In this interview, Aperti talks about some of the themes discussed, including that of religion, which is quite prominent in the movie, and the style, as well as some of its details, including the constant presence of a sporadic presence of the radio throughout the film.

Miracol: A young nun sneaks out of her monastery to attend an urgent matter but never makes it back and a police detective’s investigation into her fate, uncovers clues and revelations that lead not only to the truth but a miracle as well.

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