FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Jay Weissberg, artistic director of the Silent Film Festival.

A conversation about this year’s Giornate del Cinema Muto, a.k.a. the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, with its artistic director, Jay Weissberg. The most important annual showcase of early silent cinema return to Pordenone, Italy, this year as an in-person event for its landmark 40th anniversary edition. Weissberg shares with us some of the major features of its program, including a focus on women in film, a rare retrospective on Korean silent cinema and its opening and closing gala screenings of Ernst Lubitsch and Alexandre Volkoff masterworks. We also reflect on the reason behind the Giornate del Cinema Muto’s long-standing success over its 40-year history and how it has impacted the way in which film lovers and scholars think about, explore and exhibit early silent cinema.

To discover more about the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, click here.

The post Jay Weissberg – Giornate del Cinema Muto #GCM40 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Saeed Taji Farouky, director of the film A Thousand Fires.

A conversation with Saeed Taji Farouky, director of A Thousand Fires, the opening film of the Critics’ Week section of the 2021 Locarno Film Festival. This is a touching documentary and meditative portrait of a lower class family running an unregulated oil field. In this interview, the filmmaker talks about connecting with the region and the family, shares his thoughts on the movie following the violent coup in Myanmar of this year, and more.

A Thousand Fires :  is a tale of family, oil, and life cycles in Myanmar’s hand-drilled oil fields. Parents Htwe Tin and Thein Shwe work hard to give their children a better future, their lives governed by a web of karma and astrology. All their hopes are pinned on their youngest son – Zin Ko Aung – and when he leaves home to make his own life, his parents must learn to let their children go.

The post Saeed Taji Farouky – A Thousand Fires #Locarno74 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Ninna Pálmadóttir, director of the film All Dogs Die.

A conversation with Icelandic director Ninna Pálmadóttir, part of this year’s Future Frames line-up. Future Frames is a showcase of young promising European directors organized by the European Film Promotion in collaboration with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film directed by Pálmadóttir that will be screened as part of this program in Karlovy Vary is titled All Dogs Die.

All Dogs Die: On a foggy weekend, an aged farmer and his dog duel mortality.

The post Ninna Pálmadóttir – All Dogs Die #KVFF2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST |Matt Micucci interviews Marcell Farkas, director of the film Szeurum.

A conversation with Hungarian director Marcell Farkas, part of this year’s Future Frames line-up. Future Frames is a showcase of young promising European directors organized by the European Film Promotion in collaboration with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film directed by Farkas that will be screened as part of this program in Karlovy Vary is titled Szeurum.

Szeurum : Peti is a diabetic and breeder of phoenixes. When a sweet (!) meteorite lands in his room one day, he can’t wait to rush out and tell someone about it. Irma, dressed in her dad’s old diving suit and the architect of the home-made meteorites, proves to be an ideal companion… Infused with an irresistibly unsettling playfulness, the film briefly addresses and then abandons the problems of the modern world, from an absence of love to pervasive microplastics.

The post Marcell Farkas – Szeurum #KVIFF2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber, director and screenwriter of the film Evolution.

With so little time distance from Pieces of a woman, Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber work together again as director and writer for Evolution, screening at the 74Th Festival de Cannes in the Cannes Premiere section where they explore what it means to being jewish today and to live with such memories or legacy in all their positive and negative nuances. Starting by explaining the title, Evolution, the director and the writer reveal the genesis of the film which takes inspiration,as Pieces of a woman, in some autobiographical events in Kata’s life and her mother’s. As he did in his previous films, with the exception of Pieces of a woman, Kornél Mundruczó walks us through the introduction of a magical or supernatural event to help us connect the dots, which in this film’s case is water, connecting the episodes.

Evolution: In Evolution, acclaimed filmmaking team Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber (Pieces of a Woman) return with a powerful drama tracing three generations of a family, from a surreal memory of World War II to modern day Berlin, unable to process their past in a society still coping with the wounds of its history.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber -Evolution #Cannes2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Luàna Barjami, director of the film The Hill Where Lionesses Roar.

Luàna Barjami is not only the youngest ever female film director participating in the Quinzaine des realizateurs of Cannes Film Festival but she’s also one of the actresses in her debut film The Hill Where Lionesses Roar. The director tells us about the genesis of this coming of age story about these young, spirited hearts, Li, Qe and Jeta living in a small town in Kosovo and dreaming, fighting and working hard to choose their own future.

The Hill Where Lionesses Roar: Somewhere in Kosovo, in a small remote village, three young women see their dreams and ambitions stifled. In their quest for independence, nothing can stop them: time to let the lionesses roar.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Luàna Barjami – The Hill Where Lionesses Roar #Cannes2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviewsAvshalom Pollack and Nur Fibak, actors of the film Ahed’s Knee.

Ahed’s Knee, the new film by Nadav Lapid, screening in competition at the 74th Festival de Cannes is a film about a director fighting and struggling in two battles, the one to survive his mother’s death and the other one to avoid the death of freedom. His actors, Avshalom pollack and Nur Fibak talk about their characters who are inspired by real life people Lapid encountered along his path and discuss the importance of freedom, of never taking it for granted.

Ahed’s Knee: Y., an Israeli filmmaker in his mid-forties, arrives in a remote village at the far end of the desert to present one of his films. There he meets Yahalom, an officer for the Ministry of Culture, and finds himself fighting two losing battles: one against the death of freedom in his country, the other against the death of his mother.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Avshalom Pollack, Nur Fibak – Ahed’s Knee #Cannes2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Arthur Harari, director of the film Onoda.

The Un Certain Regard opening film, Onoda, is a story about resilience, resistance and the power of imagination as the most powerful force in human life. The film is described by its director, Arthur Harari as coming from a story he heard from his father when he was looking for an adventure film to shoot. The protagonist wants to believe in something, he doesn’t want to accept the world as it is. Onoda is the result of a fruitful co-production between many countries including Italy.

Onoda:Japan, 1944. Trained for intelligence work, Hiroo Onoda, 22 years old, discovers a philosophy contrary to the official line: no suicide, stay alive whatever happens, the mission is more important than anything else. Sent to Lubang, a small island in the Philippines where the Americans are about to land, his role will be to wage a guerilla war until the return of the Japanese troops. The Empire will surrender soon after, Onoda 10.000 days later.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Arthur Harari – Onoda #Cannes2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.