FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Jens Pedersen, director and producer of the film Kids on the Silk Road.

Director Jens Pedersen presented two films from his Kids on the Silk Road Series at the 30th International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA). The series follows five children in five different countries and was made over two years with many filmmakers and researchers. In Pedersen’s words, the series is not so much focused on geography, as much as it is focused on the characters themselves, who are “kids who get into a challenge in life that they feel they can act on,” and “who find a way to simply grow as a person.” Five films in total are complete in the Kids on the Silk Road series for now, and Pedersen also looked to attract financing for ten more films, season two of the series, at IDFA this year. In this film, he also talks about the difference between directing children between filming grown-ups, the challenges of making a documentary series in collaboration with many different countries, and more.

Kids on the Silk Road:  A documentary series of unique stories of the extraordinary lives of young children from ten different countries along the colourful Silk Road from China to Venice.

The post Jens Pedersen – Kids on the Silk Road #IDFA2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Michael Pearce, director of the film Beast.

Michael Pearce, in competition at the Torino Film Festival, brings us into the land of Jersey, with its wide landscapes and its narrowminded folks. A tale about a girl with a troubled past, living in an constrained surrounding, where the arrival of a foreign guy breaks all balance, for everyone. With a strong hand he delivers a mezmerising narrative, with the help of a truly impressive cast. Let’s hear directly from his mouth about the genesis of the film, its influences and the idea behind it.

Beast:  Moll lives on the Channel Island of Jersey. Even though she is twenty-seven years old, she still lives with her parents. What keeps her there is the small, rather oppressive community which surrounds her and her morbid relationship with her elderly father and very strict mother. Everything changes when she meets Pascal, a foreigner she knows virtually nothing about but who wins her over with his free spirit. Moll, who is hopelessly in love, goes to live with him and begins a new life. But her happiness is short-lived: Pascal is accused of having committed a series of brutal murders. Despite the hostility and the pressure of the locals, Moll stands by her man. But she will have to pay the consequences of this decision.

The post Michael Pearce – Beast #TFF35 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Richard Loncraine, director of the film Finding Your Feet.

At the past few festivals, there have been more and more films celebrating “old age” as a moment to enjoy and live without regrets and why not, even start again. This was the case of Our Souls at Night and Ella & John in Venice and at the 35th Torino Film Festival with Finding Your Feet, the opening film directed by Richard Loncraine. It is not the first time that Loncraine portrays this particolar moment in people’s life, the protagonists of his previous film, Ruth & Alex (Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman) had to face similar struggles. “I hope this is a film with a real heart” says Loncraine on FRED about Finding Your Feett, a tale of second chances, a love story between a man and a woman but also between two sisters who become close again. Loncraine reveals how great and easy it is to direct great actors such as Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton and Celia Imrie and then explains the poignant choice of the italian song Tintarella di Luna for the protagonists’ trip to Rome.

Finding Your Feet:  When ‘Lady’ Sandra Abbott (Imelda Staunton) discovers that her husband of forty years is having an affair with her best friend, she seeks refuge with her estranged, bohemian, older sister Bif (Celia Imrie). Sandra couldn’t be more different to her outspoken, serial dating, free spirited sibling. But it turns out different is just what Sandra needs and she reluctantly lets Bif drag her along to her community dance class, where gradually she starts finding her feet… and romance. Featuring a star studded cast including Imelda Staunton, Celia Imrie, Timothy Spall, Joanna Lumley and David Hayman, Finding Your Feet is a hilarious and heart-warming modern comedy proving that it’s never too late to start again.

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

The post Richard Loncraine – Finding Your Feet #TFF35 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Jessica Gorter, director of the film The Red Soul.

Director Jessica Gorter presented her feature-length documentary, The Red Soul, at the 30th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Gorter talks to us about her interest in post-Soviet Russia and Josef Stalin’s popularity in the country more than fifty years after his death. In The Red Soul, the director shot many people from many different backgrounds telling many different types of stories, and we ask her how she found them and whether they were influenced by the presence of the camera. In The Red Soul, there is a moment in the end in which two old women, among the protagonists of the documentary, worry about the possibility of having said something that will make Russia look bad. Gorter suggests that this is a moment that refers to the act of filmmaking itself.

The Red Soul:  More than 50 years after the death of Joseph Stalin, Russia is still divided. Was Stalin a great leader who made Russia into a superpower? Or was he a ruthless dictator, responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people? Virtually no family has been left untouched by the consequences of Stalin’s regime, and in every corner of the country, victims’ families are struggling with history. A father wanders through a desolate forest with his teenage daughter, in search of the mass graves of Russian prisoners. Two sisters whose mother was taken away to a prison camp share their early memories. They are still scared to talk about the events openly, because it would put their fatherland in a negative light, and there are plenty of others who would prefer to forget this dark chapter of history altogether. Throughout society, Stalin’s popularity is growing, and there is a yearning for a sense of national unity. The Red Soul shows how the past lives on in present-day Russia, and thus makes its mark on the future.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Antonio Russo Merenda, producer of the documentary The Deminer.

Antonio Russo Merenda produced the documentary feature The Deminer, directed by Hogir Hirori and Shinwar Kamal, which was presented at the 30th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film takes place in the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein, and follows the life of Fakhir, a father of eight who dedicated his life to disarming landmines with his own hands after seeing so many innocent civilians getting injured by them while serving in the Iraqi army. The bulk of the film is composed of archive footage, shot by Fakhir himself and members of his team. It was Kakhir’s eldest son who found them in a suitcase, as Russo Merenda tells us. As he tells us in this interview, it was Hirori who approached him, and showed him ten minutes of the film shortly after he ended his term as documentary film commissioner at the Swedish Film Museum. He recalls that these ten minutes were, to him, “the strongest ten minutes ever [and] we immediately joined forces. He also recalls feeling the need to build “a monument for this incredible character [whose clear goal was] to same as many human lives as possible,” this regardless of race, colour, etc. In this interview, Russo Merenda also tells us about the resonance of The Deminer in light of the recent developments in Northern Iraq. He also talks about the challenge of using aforementioned primary source footage, and about where he hopes the film will travel after IDFA.

The Deminer:  In the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein, Fakhir, a father of eight, is serving in the Iraqi army. All around him, he sees innocent civilians getting injured by landmines, so he determines to disarm them with his own hands, using just a pocketknife and some wire cutters. He clears thousands of roadside bombs, mines and car bombs, knowing that every time he cuts a wire it could cost him his life—which he seems to find less important than the lives of others. In 2014, by this time having lost a leg, he starts working for the Kurdish Peshmerga, disarming boobytraps left behind by IS in and around Mosul. An enthusiastic home video maker, Fakhir collects hundreds of hours of footage of his day-to-day work. We hear his son’s commentary in voice-over as he watches videos of his heroic father in action. Fakhir perseveres despite the warnings of his colleagues—after all, every ringing cell phone could herald an explosion. Every snip of the wire-cutter almost gives us heart failure as well, because there’s certainly no guarantee of a happy ending here.

The post Antonio Russo Merenda – The Deminer #IDFA2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Phil Cox, director of the film Betty – They Say I’m Different.

Director Phil Cox presented his documentary Betty – They Say I’m Different, on the life of 70’s funk singer Betty Davis, at the 30th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). In Cox’s words, Betty was a “black pioneering funk woman who … took on the establishment and the for some reason disappeared off the face of the earth.” She performed electrifying, sexual, bold, provocative, female empowered music at a time when it was completely unheard of. Even now, when music is neatly packaged and dull, it’s very hard to be as original as she was, and her struggle to remain independent is more remarkable when we consider that she was a black woman. In this interview, Cox also talks about the influence she had on the great jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who she was married to at one time, at a time when his music was becoming dull and people were turning away from jazz. He also talks about how he found her; it was, he says, very difficult and it took some time before she started to open up. Even then, “things were complicated.” The director also talks about whether he always had a style in mind for Betty – They Say I’m Different, or whether the visual style of his documentary was formed by the conversations he had with Davis. The filming, in fact, led him to conclude that “the more obstacles you have, the more you’re forced to become creative.”

Betty – They Say I’m Different:  With her suggestive lyrics (If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up) and audacious outfits, the funk singer Betty Davis is far ahead of her time. Too far, perhaps. “If Betty were singing today she’d be something like Madonna; something like Prince,” wrote jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in his 1989 autobiography. Davis married Betty in 1968, and she kept his surname after their divorce the following year. Betty – They Say I’m Different, named after her second studio album, which was released in 1974, focuses on the reasons why this “bold soul sister” left the music industry in the late 1970s. There are interviews with family members, friends, and former band members. The voice-over, tinted with resignation as it describes her life and its directions, is inspired by interviews with Betty Davis and her song lyrics. Davis has various alter egos: besides Nasty Girl (the title of her third album), there’s also the more spiritual Crow. Regardless, she’s “happy my music is still alive.”

The post Phil Cox – Betty – They Say I’m Different #IDFA2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Talal Derki, director of the film Of Fathers and Sons.

Filmmaker Talal Derki talks about his latest documentary feature, Of Fathers and Sons, which had its world premiere at the 30th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Derki filmed the family of an Al-Nusra fighter in a small village in northern Syria for two years and a half, focusing his camera mainly on the children, with an eye towards “the future of the new generation that don’t have a background about life except for what is going on in the war in Syria.” Of Fathers and Sons also marked the return of Derki to his native country and to his people, but by pointing the camera at his protagonists, the story formed itself. His purpose, he says in this interview, was to “focus on the relationship between fathers and sons,” and also about “how the sons can resist the brainwashing.” This is because while childern are expected to start training for the war very quickly – the footage of which is seen in this documentary – they are still childern: “For the kids, there is a resistance to stay kids. They get military training, [but] they’re still kids, and that’s the sad part of the documentary.” The sacrifice is also the father’s, who really loves them. Therefore, in a way, the film represents the paradox of life, when you love something but at the same time you destroy it. In this interview, Derki also talks about gaining access to this part of Syria, and an overview of what life is like there, and how cut off people seem to be from the outside world. He also answers the question of whether he will be going back there to film some more and whether he expects Of Fathers and Sons to ever be screened in Syria.

Of Fathers and Sons:  If you want to tame your nightmares, you need to capture them first. That’s what Syrian documentary filmmaker Talal Derki learned from his father. As in his previous film Return to Homs, he returns to his homeland and becomes part of life in a war zone. For more than two years he lives with the family of Abu Osama, an Al-Nusra fighter in a small village in northern Syria, focusing his camera mainly on the children. From a young age, the boys are trained to follow in their father’s footsteps and become soldiers of God. The horrors of war and the intimacy of family life are never far from one another. At the nearby battlefront Abu Osama fights against the enemy, while at home he cuddles with the boys and dreams of the caliphate. Talal Derki sets out to capture the moment when the children have to let go of their youth and are finally turned into Jihadi fighters. No matter how close the war comes, there’s one thing they’ve already learned: they must never cry.

The post Talal Derki – Of Fathers and Sons #IDFA2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Simon Wilmont, director of the film The Distant Barking of Dogs.

Director Simon Wilmont presente his documentary feature, The Distant Barking of Dogs, at the 30th Internatioal Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film talks about ten-year-old Oleg, living in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine: a warzone. Wilmont was inspired to tell this story after making two shorts about children from more relatively safe worlds, and wondering about places in which children live with danger all the time. As he says in this interview, he wondered: “how does a child who lives in a very dangerous environment find some kind of peace.” He was drawn to Oleg because he was really taken by the way he was “so good at putting words to his feelings.” The film also has a lot of love, and in trying to understand how he was able to achieve such an intimate portrait, we find out that the project could have been jeopardised by a curious rumour about them – “the foreigners” coming into the village. The Distant Barking of Dogs also looks at war in a very compelling way, and the impact it may have on a child: “at this age, you have some kind of inkling that the world I’m living in is dangerous and that something bad can happen. But at this age, it is also characteristic to not linger on such things because there are so many things that capture your imagination.” Finally, we also talk about Oleg’s grandmother, who is also a protagonist in the film, and the reason why she refuses to leave the region, among other things.

The Distant Barking of Dogs:  Ten-year-old Oleg lives in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine – a warzone that often echoes with anti-aircraft fire and missile strikes. Sometimes these sounds are in the distance, while other times they’re frighteningly close. At school, Oleg learns about the bomb shelter and what to do when encountering a landmine. While many have left this dangerous area, Oleg remains with his grandmother, who has taken care of him since the death of his mother. This observational film follows a year in the life of Oleg and emphasizes the warm bond he has with his grandmother. He also has a close friendship with his cousin Yarik, who’s more disturbed by all the sudden noises – or perhaps he’s not as good as Oleg at hiding his fear. Meanwhile, the boys also find the war exciting, especially when a neighbor teaches them how to use a gun. By sticking close to Oleg, The Distant Barking of Dogs shows the effect of conflict on children.

The post Simon Wilmont – The Distant Barking of Dogs #IDFA2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Mikala Krogh, director of the film A Year of Hope.

Director Mikala Krogh presented her latest feature documentary, A Year of Hope, at the 30th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film talks about a group of street boys from Manila, in the Philippines, who are sent to a rehabilitation centre for a year, on an island very different from Manila, where they get the attention and care they don’t otherwise get. These street boys are drug addicted, or were subjected to serious trauma. They are only allowed to stay at the centre for a year, and once the year is out, they will hopefully not return to the streets, but head for a better life. In order to make A Year of Hope, Krogh moved to the Philippines for a year with her family – her husband even ended up being the football coach at the centre; as for her kids, “my childen [are] from Denmark,” so it was good for them to see “another part of life, of reality.” Krogh tells us about the current situation in the Philippines and why centres, such as that she films, are needed. “There are more than one million street kids in the Philippines,” she says. As for the work of the centre, she concludes that you can’t help every child, and while the overall tone of the film is optimistic, “not all stories have a happy end.” In this interview we ask her about how she established a level of trust with the young protagonists of her film, and how she ultimately came to choose the two that she mainly follows in A Year of Hope. She also talks about how the children did not have a problem being filmed, about trying to find a balance between “filming and not filming,” about what the centre does for the kids that are not able to be taken back in by their families, and more.

A Year of Hope:  You won’t want to watch this story about life on the streets of Manila, but you should. It’s shocking to hear young Tracy and Joshua talk about being drugged and sexually abused, about how they have to steal their clothes from clotheslines. Alternatively, we also see them surrounded by love, food and nurturing during their year with the Stairway Foundation in the rural Philippines. While there, they learn that their genitals are theirs and theirs alone. Meanwhile, we see police cadets being taught in the same open way about penises and vaginas. These future officers are obviously more uncomfortable about these discussions than the street children they will someday work to protect. As the children’s conversations are cut with grainy shots of the streets of Manila, the contrast is obvious between the dark city and the sunny coast where children can be children again. But life on the street is always lurking in the background.

The post Mikala Krogh – A Year of Hope #IDFA2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Finlay Pretsell, director of the film Time Trial.

Director Finlay Pretsell presented his feature documentary, Time Trial, at the 30th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film talks about Scottish cyclist David Millar during his last cycling season. Millar was a racing champion who was caught for doping and then returned, becoming a huge advocate against doping. Pretsell tells us that he is a fan of cycling and of Millar, and that the film took some time to make “because it was quite a big production.” He also tells us that it was a difficult film to figure out how to shoot, and that it was hard to figure out a way out of not keeping the camera rolling: “we could never work out a way to do it any differently because there’s only one chance in a race of capturing these moments.” Making the film about just one person was also part of the risk. He tells us whether he ever felt like he was in the way of Millar’s preparation. “I do kind of feel like we were slightly in the way,” he says. “But they were also keen for a distraction, and we were a distraction.” Part of the power of the documentary comes from Pretell’s attention to detail and interest in the small moments, which contribute to a sensorial experience that takes the viewer right in the midst of the action. For instance, on television, you never hear what the cyclists say to each other, the mundane conversations that they have as they race. But Time Trial is also about the pain and frustration, the struggle of having to race and be on a bike for such a long time. In this interview, the director also talks about his interest in the human aspect of the story, his interest in blending documentary and fiction together, and what Millar thought of the film when he watched it.

Time Trial:  This portrait follows the former British road racing cyclist David Millar during his last cycling season. Director Finlay Pretsell has Millar tell his own story, and allows us to feel the impact the sport has on the cyclist. Immersed in the cyclist’s experience through the camera on Millar’s handlebars, we see his sweat and breathe with him in his race against the clock—he’s not getting any younger, and he wants to secure his spot in the Tour de France one last time. Simply by filming the cyclists, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes blurred and shaky, Pretsell makes us feel as if we too are slogging through the rain. We experience the euphoria of the race, but also the tedium. Music evocative of the piercing, repetitive rattle of a bicycle chain captures the endlessness of the route. The swelling, hypnotic sounds underlying the slow-motion footage make the peloton seem like a heard of hunted animals driven ever onwards. Time Trial shows just how far a man will go in his will to win.

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