FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Cosima Mattner interviews Martha Shane, Jennifer 8. Lee and Rayouf Alhumedhi, director, producer and emoji creator of the documentary Picture Character.

The spotlight documentary Picture Character is a thought provoking, fun and artistic tour through the universe of emoji – which is Japanese for “picture character.” We met one of the two directors, Martha Shane, the producer Jennifer 8. Lee and the hijab emoji creator Rayouf Alumedhi. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in NYC 2019 last weekend. What is a language? And what is the difference between emoji and words? Who gets to decide what new symbols get to be part of the language? Clever and creatively, Picture Character tracks the historical development of emoji from their beginnings in Japan in the 90s and sensitively studies their political and ethical implications. Featuring institutions and individuals from cultures as diverse as Argentina, Japan, the US and Europe, the film negotiates the emotional, identity-related and technical dimensions of emoji. Martha, Jennifer and Rayouf shared their personal emoji stories with us and how they discovered emoji as a complex and flexible tool for expression in digital communication. Their film explores how global players like the Unicode consortium monitor the set of emoji that is available globally and how that impacts peoples’ identities. Balancing between advocates of a standardization of emoji and campaigners for culturally specific emoji, the film shows how integral these characters have become to digital communication all over the world. Picture Character is an insightful and well-researched investigation of the world of emojis that puts on view how happy they make!

Picture Character: The rapid rise of emoji (Japanese for “picture character”) is a global phenomenon without precedent. Their widespread use and ability to convey complex messages have not only cemented emoji’s place as an emerging digital language, but prompted difficult questions about the creation of a language and digital communication’s fraught ties to identity and inclusion. In Picture Character, directors Martha Shane and Ian Cheney lead viewers on a deep dive into the ever evolving world of picture characters, from their humble beginnings in Japan to mobile keyboards the world over, and shed fresh light on the private consortium that approves new emoji offerings and the individuals fighting to make the language more representative of its billions of users.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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The post Martha Shane, Jennifer 8. Lee, Rayouf Alhumedhi – Picture Character #Tribeca2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Mark Blane and Ben Mankoff, directors of the film Cubby.

Mark Blane and Ben Mankoff are thrilled and enthusiast. They wrote, directed and, as for Mark, acted in a fresh unusual and funny feature film with a weird lead character in New York, babysitting on a kid that sometimes looks his age and dreaming of a “Leather-man” who can steal his heart. A quirky film with purity, though. They tell us all about it.

Cubby: In this coming of age dramedy shot on 16mm, a misanthropic gay artist finds hope and self-discipline through his friendship with a sensitive 6 year old, Milo, and the adult superhero “Leather-man” who is conjured from a psychedelic cupcake.

The post Mark Blane, Ben Mankoff – Cubby #LOVERSFF19 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Samantha Sartori interviews Selina Miles and Martha Cooper, director and protagonist of the film Martha: A Picture Story.

We attended the world premiere of the feature documentary about the iconic photographer Martha Cooper screened in the spectacular new section of the Tribeca Film Festival “This used to be New York”. We met with Selina Miles, the director, and Martha Cooper herself to discuss Selina’s idea to make a movie about Martha and how they worked in dangerous situations. Martha loves illegal graffiti and so Selina followed Martha on her rides to capture street artists at work. And while Selina was very worried about Martha jumping and running all over the place, Martha, in her 70s, was totally in her element and not worried at all. This journey is not only the story of a photographer, it is so much more. It shows what it means to have lived a fulfilled life without following the conventional rules of this society. Selina Miles’ ability to balance these double aspects of Martha’s life is striking.

Martha: A Picture Story: Martha Cooper is an unexpected icon of the street art movement – a tiny, grey-haired figure running alongside crews of masked graffiti artists. In the 1970’s, as the boroughs of New York City burned, she worked as a photographer for the New York Post, seeking images of creativity and play where others saw crime and poverty. As a result, she captured some of the first images of New York graffiti, at a time when the city had declared war on this new culture. Martha and her co-author Henry Chalfant compiled these images into the book Subway Art. However, the commercial failure of the book forced Martha to leave graffiti behind, moving on to document many other hidden cultures of New York. 20 years later Martha discovers she has become a legend of the graffiti world – a culture that has now exploded into a global movement. Subway Art became one of the most sold – and stolen – art books of all time, photocopied and shared by graffiti artists for decades. At 75 years of age, Martha finds herself navigating a culture vastly changed. The small community born from struggle and adversity, has grown into a commercial industry fuelled by the rise of social media. Now every new piece of street art is immediately uploaded, and crowds line up for selfies in front of popular works. Martha struggles to find her place in this new world, driven by a passion for capturing the creativity that helps people rise above their environment.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST| Samantha Sartori interviews Yu Gu, director of the film A Woman’s Work.

At Tribeca Film Festival we meet Yu Gu, a filmmaker and visual artist born in Chongqing, China and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Yu works in both narrative and documentary film, exploring themes of identity, migration, and the individual’s relationship to society. We talked about how she came across cheerleaders being exploited in the NFL and decided to make a movie, first meeting with a group of employment attorneys and then with the women organizing against the teams, starting with Lacy T. against the Oakland Raiders. There is nothing more American than football and cheerleaders, except for unfair treatment in workplace. This is David against Goliath; the fight of poorly-treated workers against the football teams with effectively unlimited amounts of money to defend themselves.

A Woman’s Work: Football and feminism collide in this documentary following former NFL cheerleaders fighting to end the wage theft and illegal employment practices that have persisted in the league for 50 years. In 2013, Lacy T., an Oakland Raiders’ cheerleader, found herself in a mountain of debt at her team’s behest in paying for beauty upkeep, transportation, and clothing while waiting for a single paycheck that would compensate her for less than the legal minimum wage. In 2014, she enlisted a group of all women labor attorneys, LVBH, to sue her team. NFL mascots and water boys are paid more than $60K per season, concession workers are paid the legal minimum wage plus gratuities, while most NFL cheerleaders were unpaid or paid below the legal minimum wage. Women make up nearly 50% of the audience, yet the NFL abuses the only visible women on their field. Lacy T.’s media blitz ignited four more cheerleader lawsuits. Beyond labor code violations, a culture of toxic masculinity was exposed in cheerleader handbooks setting archaic double standards and rules. On the heels of the #metoo movement, over a dozen more lawsuits were filed by NFL cheerleaders exposing myriad stories of sexual harassment. In the wake of lawsuits, minimum wage salaries have been quietly implemented across the NFL, several lawsuits have settled, and California legislation, proposed by an assemblywoman, was signed into law ensuring the fair treatment of cheerleaders of major league teams as employees.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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The post Yu Gu – A Woman’s Work #Tribeca2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews director Ira Sachs.

Ira Sachs came to Italy to Turin 23 years ago with his first feature film The Delta, winning the Best Feature awards at the Torino Gay and Lesbian Festival (now Lovers Film Fest). A lot has changed since then in the world, in the LGBT community and in the movie industry but his approach to filming never modified much, it implemented but did not drastically change. He tells us why.

The post Ira Sachs #LOVERSFF19 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Sarah Bradbury interviews Natasha Marburger, director of the London Independent Film Festival.

The director of the London Independent Film Festival, Natasha Marburger, sat down with us during the festival to tell us about the UK capital’s premier event for indie filmmakers, the importance of supporting first time filmmakers and broadening access to cinema and the highlights of the 2019 programme including short and feature film viewings, industry talks and networking events.

The London Independent Film Festival (LIFF) is the premier event for first and second-time film-makers, micro-budget and no-budget films in the UK. LIFF offers a fantastic opportunity for indie filmmakers to showcase their achievements, with spaces reserved for first and second time filmmakers and for films that have been overlooked by other events. LIFF presents the best of low-budget filmmaking from around the world, and mixes it up with relevant industry discussions and targeted social networking events. LIFF’s audience is London’s sizeable independent filmmaking community. It’s an indie film festival for indie filmmakers.

To discover more about the Festival, click here.

The post Natasha Marburger – London Independent Film Festival appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Samantha Sartori interviews Lise Friedman and Maia Wechsler, producer and director of the film If the Dancer Dances.

At the theatrical release of If the Dancer Dances we meet the director and producer Maia Wechsler and producer Lise Friedman, we talk about the idea to honor Merce Cunningham’s work, one of the most innovative and inspiring choreographers of modern dance in New York, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 90. If the Dancer Dances opens theatrically in New York (The Quad) on Friday, April 26th and in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3rd (Laemmle Music Hall), with a national release to follow.

If the Dancer Dances invites viewers into the intimate world of the dance studio. Stephen Petronio, one of today’s leading dance-makers, is determined to help his dancers breathe new life into RainForest (1968), an iconic work by the legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham. With help from three members of the former Cunningham company, the film tracks Petronio’s dancers as they strive to re-stage this great work, revealing what it takes to keep a dance – and a legacy – alive. Timed to coincide with Cunningham’s centennial, If the Dancer Dances is the first documentary on the subject of Cunningham’s work since his passing in 2009. Merce Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who stood at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 60 years. As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance and earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts, including the National Medal of Arts and the MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowship. Cunningham is also notable for his frequent collaborations with artists of other disciplines, including the musicians Radiohead and John Cage (also his life partner), as well as visual artists Andy Warhol, who did the décor for RainForest , the dance featured in If the Dancer Dances, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Lise Friedman, Maia Wechsler – If the Dancer Dances appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Cristiana Palmieri interviews festival coordinator Gina Rubiano.

Gina Rubiano explores the festival’s highlights of the two key programme strands: New Spanish Cinema and Cine Latino. Gina talks about Spanish and Latin American co-productions that have boosted Spanish speaking cinema, increasing the interest for Spanish speaking films on a global scale.

The festival opens with Javier Fesser’s critically acclaimed Goya Award-winning box office smash hit Champions (Campeones), and closes with a digital restoration of the firecracker comedy Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios), directed by leading Spanish auteur, Pedro Almodóvar, to celebrate the film’s 30th Anniversary.

To discover more about the Festival, click here.

The post Gina Rubiano #ASFF2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Marios Piperides, director of the film Smuggling Hendrix.

Marios Piperides shows us how a simple comedic stratagem can go a long way. In his feature Smuggling Hendrix, the quest to find a dog name Jimmy reveals the absurdity of bureaucracy and the indifference of the international community that allows a country such as Cyprus to be contended like a war zone for so many years.

Smuggling Hendrix: Yiannis doesn’t have much going for him, save for his adorable dog, Jimi, and his fast-approaching date to get out of Cyprus for good. But when Jimi wanders across the U.N. buffer zone and into the section of the island Turkey seized more than forty years ago, an unregulated state unrecognized by the rest of the world, Yiannis learns, bringing a dog back over the border is not as easy as walking straight home. He enlists a mismatched band of accomplices from every side of the Cyprus dispute to find a way to get Jimi back, while never leaving the land he calls home.

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Badger Skelton, actor of the film Two for Joy.

The talented Badger Skelton, a new face of British cinema, stops by to talk about his first experience on the set of Two for Joy, a powerful drama by Tom Beard. Shot entirely on 35mm film, Two for Joy is an intense and immersive family portrait on the devastating effects of depression. It stars Samantha Morton, Billie Piper, Bella Ramsey, Daniel Mays and, of course, Badger Skelton.

Two for Joy: A coming-of-age drama following a daughter, her mother and her wayward younger brother as their relationship reaches critical mass. A portrait of modern Britain seen through the eyes of a family in crisis which shines a spotlight on issues affecting marginal communities, including young carers, mental illness and national identity.

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