FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Frederick Wiseman, director of the film Monrovia, Indiana.

We had the pleasure to talk to Frederick Wiseman about his latest work: Monrovia, Indiana. Monrovia, Indiana is out of competition for Venice 75.

Monrovia, Indiana explores a small town in rural, mid-America and illustrates how values like community service, duty, spiritual life, generosity and authenticity are formed, experienced and lived along with conflicting stereotypes. The film gives a complex and nuanced view of daily life in Monrovia and provides some understanding of a way of life whose influence and force have not always been recognized or understood in the big cities on the east and west coasts of America and in other countries.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Frederick Wiseman – Monrovia, Indiana #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Errol Morris, director of the film American Dharma.

Filmmaker Errol Morris presented his latest film, American Dharma, at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The documentary finds the director attempting to understand the controversial figure of Steve Bannon. In this interview he shares with us his thoughts on the man and the current rise of populism – even questioning the term itself – and more.

American Dharma: No stranger to interviewing some of the most controversial figures of the day, Errol Morris turns his lens on Steve Bannon, questioning him about his beliefs, current feelings about Trump, and films that shaped Bannon’s understanding of the world. Morris proposes that for those who disagree with Bannon, ignoring him is the most dangerous course of action.

To know more about the film, click here.

The post Errol Morris – American Dharma #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Brady Corbet, Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy and Stacy Martin, director and actresses of the film Vox Lux.

Brady Corbet, with his stars Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy and Stacy Martin talk with Angelo Acerbi about the film Vox Lux. The structure as an opera sheet is used to narrate the key moments of 20 years of American recent history using Celeste, a rising popstar, as a narrative tool. Natalie Portman conveys the stress and hysteria of pop stardom in a breathless performance, with the fundamental help of Cassidy and Martin. And the girl can sing and dance too…!

Vox Lux: The film follows the rise of Celeste from the ashes of a major national tragedy to pop superstardom. The film spans 18 years and traces important cultural moments through her eyes, starting in 1999 and concluding in 2017.

The post Brady Corbet, Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin – Vox Lux #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Willem Dafoe, actor of the film At Eternity’s Gate.

Willem Dafoe plays the role of artist Vincent Van Gogh in Julian Schnabel’s latest film, At Eternity’s Gate, which premiered in the official competition of the 75th Venice International Film Festival. In this film, Dafoe talks about getting into the role and learning to paint, as well what it’s like to work with Schnabel – who is also a painter himself.

At Eternity’s Gate: This movie is an accumulation of scenes based on Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, common agreement about events in his life that parade as facts, hearsay, and scenes that are just plain invented. The making of art gives an opportunity to make a palpable body that expresses a reason to live, if such a thing exists. Even with all the violence and tragedy that has been associated with Van Gogh’s life, there is no doubt, his was a life lived rich with magic, profound communication with nature and the wonder of being. Van Gogh’s work is ultimately optimistic. His unique perspective is one whose belief and vision make visible and physical the inexpressible. He seems to have transgressed death and encouraged others to do the same.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Hagar Ben-Asher, director of the film Dead Women Walking.

Filmmaker Hagar Ben-Asher talks about her feature film, Dead Women Walking, featured on the program of the 75th Venice International Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori strand. The film tells nine stories of women and execution in the United States – the story of the final days of a series of women on death row. In this interview tells us about the episodic structure of the film, the project’s origins as a web series and her choice of finally making it a feature film, and the delicate research project during which she interviewed a number of executioners.

Dead Women Walking: Told through nine moving vignettes, each anchored by a subtle, yet overwhelming performance, Dead Women Walking traces the final days of a series of women on death row, from two weeks before one inmate’s execution to mere minutes before another’s. As these narratives develop, the human toll of the death penalty—not only on the women convicted of violent crimes, but also on their families, prison officials, and ministers and counselors coaching them through their final days—comes into clear focus. There’s Wendy, for example, whose mother declines to visit her the day before her execution; Helen, who meets her 18-year-old son (Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders) for the first time since he was adopted shortly after her imprisonment; and Celine, who watches a documentary about her case and conviction while having her last meal.

The post Hagar Ben-Asher – Dead Women Walking #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Sudabeh Mortezai, director of the film Joy.

Sudabeh Mortezai presented her latest work, Joy, at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori strand. In this interview we talk about the film with her, her research on the topic and the discoveries she made, the way she privileged and encouraged improvisation and her views on the general situation that she examines in her film.

Joy is a young Nigerian woman caught in the vicious cycle of sex trafficking. She works the streets to pay off debts to her exploiter Madame, while supporting her family in Nigeria and hoping for a better life for her little daughter in Vienna. Joy struggles to understand her role in this merciless system of exploitation when she is instructed by Madame to supervise Precious, a teenage girl fresh from Nigeria who is not ready to accept her fate.

The post Sudabeh Mortezai – Joy #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| David Martos interviews Amos Gitai, director of the films A Letter To A Friend in Gaza and A Tramway in Jerusalem.

We discuss with Amos Gitai the role of cinema in helping to solve political problems, as well as the differences between working on a fiction project and a documentary one.

A Letter To A Friend in Gaza is a 30 minutes long poetic song to reconciliation between Israel and Palestine based on a letter by Albert Camus.

A Tramway in Jerusalem is a situation comedy that juxtaposes stories and human situations in the context of the current Israeli Palestinian society in 2018. In Jerusalem the tramway connects several neighborhoods, from East to West, recording their variety and differences. The film brings together a whole mosaic of human beings unfolding in this city which is also the spiritual center of the three great monotheistic religions.

For the page of A Letter To A Friend in Gaza on the Festival website, click here.

For the page of A Tramway in Jerusalem on the Festival website, click here.

The post Amos Gitai – A Letter To A Friend in Gaza / A Tramway in Jerusalem #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| David Martos interviews Emir Kusturica, director of the documentary El Pepe, una vida suprema.

We reflect with Kusturica on the political ideas of Pepe Mujica, how he decided to open up to the director and how difficult it is to make a documentary with only one protagonist work.

El Pepe, una vida suprema: Mujica trusted acclaimed Serbian director Emir Kusturica to tell his life journey and together they forge an intimate dialogue that explores the meaning of existence as a political commitment and as a poetic adventure. The shooting began in 2014, during Mujica’s last months in office and his first days after leaving the presidency.

For the page of the film on the Festival website, click here.

The post Emir Kusturica – El Pepe, una vida suprema #Venezia75 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Luca Guadagnino, Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson, director and actresses of the film Suspiria.

It is inspired by Dario Argento’s masterpiece that he watched and loved in 1977 when he was 10 years old but Luca Guadagnino made his own version of Suspiria, in competition at the 75th Venice Film Festival. Starring Dakota Johnson as the young american dancer Susie and Tilda Swinton as ballet school director Madame Blanc, the film only starts with the same premises as the Argento’s one but then goes through a different journey. Guadagnino unveils how he worked on the editing and the sound design in order to balance these elements with the dark and melancholic music of Thom Yorke. Dakota Johnson explains how she worked on her body by looking at all the famous ballet and contemporary dancers such as Pina Bausch. Tilda Swinton has been friends with Luca Guadagnino for 25 years and reveals how she has been wanting to do a remake of Suspiria for all this time.

Suspiria: A darkness swirls at the centre of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the troupe’s artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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