FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Matthew Rankin, director of the film The Twentieth Century. 

A conversation withh Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin on his feature debut The Twentieth Century, screened as part of the Discoveries program of the 26th Vilnius Film Festival. This surrealist tale is inspired by the real-life journals of turn of the 20th-century Canadian statesman William Lyon Mackenzie King. In this interview, he talks about strong style of the film and its wide-ranging influences, as well as his interest in this particularly exciting period in history and more.

The Twentieth Century: Canada at the turn of the 20th century is looking for a new prime minister, and a young William Lyon Mackenzie King feels up to the task. Driven by Oedipal political aspirations, his path to leadership is littered with obstacles: an ongoing Boer war in Africa, a national separatist movement, an elusive love interest, as well as an internal struggle to repress his footwear fetish and onanist impulses. Mackenzie King’s ambition will come out on top in the battles of good vs evil, love vs hate.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Margje de Koning, artistic director of Movies That Matter Festival.

A conversation with Margje de Koning, artistic director of the Movies That Matter Festival, the annual human rights film festival held in The Hague, Netherlands, that will run online this year on April 16-25, in response to the pandemic. Aside from the film screenings, the festival offers other events, including conversations, panels, Q&A sessions and more.

In this interview, de Koning talks about some of what will be offered as part of this year’s Movies That Matter Festival program as well as how it will work, what makes The Hague such an appropriate place for an international human rights film festival and more.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Algirdas Ramaska, CEO of Vilnius International Film Festival.

A conversation with Algirdas Ramaska about this year’s edition of the Vilnius International Film Festival, the 26th in the history of this prestigious international film festival and one of the most important of the region.

Here, he talks with us about the challenges faced in the times of the coronavirus, including an initiative launched in collaboration with some of the top-rate hotels across the Lithuanian capital. He also talks about some of the winners and highlights of this year’s program, which also ran online this year with the hopes of returning to theatre venues as normal next year.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Saulė Bliuvaitė director and actress of the film Limousine. 

A conversation with Saulė Bliuvaitė, director of Limousine, presented in the Shorts Competition program of the 2021 Vilnius Film Festival. This is the young Lithuanian filmmaker’s debut documentary short and it observes groups of people of different generations as they ride in a limousine for a limited period of time. Aside from talking about her interest in the documentary form and limousines, Bliuvaitė also talks about the importance of observation as an aspect of the filmmaking process and shares that she is currently preparing her feature debut.

Limousine: Groups of people from different generations rent a limousine for one hour. They aim to commemorate certain life events or simply to have a good time. However, they get tangled up in resolving personal matters and struggle to find the best way to have the desired fun in this strictly limited period of time.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Fradique, director of the film Air Conditioner. 

A conversation with Fradique, director of the Angolan film Air Conditioner, screening as part of this year’s Vilnius Film Festival. The film revolves around a caretaker and the mystery of falling air conditioning units. Fradique talks about the poetic realism of his film and expands on the importance of memory. He also talks about the filmmaking collective Geração 80, which he has founded and that proves that artistic cinema in Angola is alive and kicking.

Air Conditioner: One day, air conditioners in Angola’s capital Luanda start mysteriously falling from buildings. When security guard Matacedo is told to get his overheating boss an aircon unit before the end of the day, he embarks on a mission that includes a meeting with the eccentric owner of an electronics store. His search is the starting point for a pleasantly free film about the beating heart of Luanda: the buildings which visibly bear the city’s history, and the people trying to rebuild their lives after the civil war.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Dani Rosenberg, director of the film The Death of Cinema and My Father Too. 

A conversation with Dani Rosenberg, director of The Death of Cinema and My Father Too, from the Discoveries program of the 2021 Vilnius Film Festival. A highly personal film revolving around the death of the director’s own father, The Death of Cinema and My Father too can be described as a hybrid film, blending reality and fiction in surprising and inventive ways. In this film, Rosenberg helps us understand the personal motives behind this project and the explains the multi-layered dimensions of this film. He also shares with us how it helped him confront his father’s mortality and how it impacted his own personal development as a man.

The Death of Cinema and My Father Too: A highly personal story, Dani Rosenberg’s feature debut mixes fact, fiction, and autobiography, grappling with the big questions of life and death as a father and son try to freeze time through cinema. Filmmaker Assaf is about to have his first child. Alongside his family, he receives the news that there is an imminent Iranian attack on Tel Aviv. His father Yoel wants to take everybody to a safe place in Jerusalem. Before they go, however, Assaf manages to convince Yoel to play the main role in his new movie, which melts the fiction world into a bittersweet reality.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Mira Staleva, director of Sofia Meetings.

A conversation with Mira Staleva, head of Sofia Meetings, the the co-production market of Sofia International Film Festival, which took place online this year, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In this interview, Staleva talks about the challenges overcome but also the longstanding mission statement of Sofia Meetings, as well as some of the events of this year’s edition and interesting projects pitched.

To discover more about Sofia Meetings, click here.

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