FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews film historian Russell Merritt. 

Earlier this year, we lost David Shepard, one of the most important film preservationists and beloved champions of silent and classic cinema. If you have seen a Chaplin film, a D.W. Griffith film, a European silent movie, etc., chances are Shepard had something to do either with its restoration or its distribution. Film historian Russell Merritt, who knew him well, dedicated the Jonathan Dennis Memorial Lecture of the 36th Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto) to him. “You don’t have to be unknowledgeable about film not to have heard about David Shepard,” he tells us in this interview, “and yet he is one of the major architects of film preservation and film distribution.” In addition to telling us about the many things Shepard did in his life and career, he also talks about where he believes his passion for early and classic cinema to have come from, and a little bit about how he met Shepard and the impact he had on his own career. With Merritt, who has also collaborated with the Pordenone Silent Film Festival for many years, we discuss the important role this festival played in raising awareness of the importance of silent film heritage and the pleasures of showing it. Finally, as the icing on the cake, we talk about a film that somewhat represents Le Giornate, A Flash of Light by D.W. Griffith. Made in 1910, A Flash of Light was one of three films Griffith made in one single week (the pioneering filmmaker made over 400 one-reel and two-reel films before making the work he is arguably best known for, The Birth of a Nation, in 1915). Though it is neither the most famous, nor the best film by Griffith, it represents the festival, which exhibits all silent films, from the famous usual suspects and the masterpieces, to the obscure and not so good works, in order to celebrate the entire landscape of the exciting first thirty years of film history and to celebrate the work of film preservation (including the teachings of David Shepard) that allows us to see them today.

The Jonathan Dennis Memorial Lecture: In 2002 the Giornate del Cinema Muto inaugurated this annual lecture in commemoration of Jonathan Dennis (1953-2002), founding director of the New Zealand Film Archive. Jonathan Dennis was an exemplary archivist, a champion of his country’s culture, particularly of Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand – and above all, a person of outstanding human qualities. The lecturers selected as people who are pre-eminent in some field of work associated with the conservation or appreciation of silent cinema. Previous lecturers include Neil Brand, Peter Lord, Naum Kleiman, and James Curtis. Film historian Russell Merritt dedicated the 2017 Jonathan Dennis Memorial Lecture to the memory of film preservationist David Shepard. The lecture was titled “David Shepard – Shadowing Silent Film for Fifty Years.”

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Jay Weissberg, director of the 36th Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto).

Director of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto), joined us for a chat about the 36th edition, as it approached its conclusion. It was, indeed, another stellar edition of the most important silent film festival in the world. It included all types of films from the first thirty years of silent cinema, in a celebration not only of silent film, but also of film preservation. Weissberg provides us with a detailed overview of this year’s program, sharing with us, as he does, his knowledge and passion for silent film and cinema in general. He begins by talking about the Giornate’s opening film, The Crowd (King Vidor, 1928), and the closing film, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927), both accompanied by live orchestral scores composed by Carl Davis. (Both films, he tells us, are also incredibly still unavailable on DVD.) He also tells us about the program on Soviet Travelogues, the reason why actress Louise Brooks was chosen as the cover girl for this year’s Giornate catalog, the festival’s tribute to the great silent era actress Pola Negri, the screening of titles from the golden age of Scandinavian cinema, and a lot more.

For the Festival website, click here.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Laura Horak and Maggie Hennefeld, curators of the film Nasty Women.

Laura Horak and Maggie Hennefeld presented a strand at the 36th Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto) titled Nasty Women. The title of the strand was inspired by Donald Trump, who called Hillary Clinon a nasty woman while she was responding to a presidential campaign question. It featured slapstick comedy films from the early 1900s about women who were funny in an unruly and a little bit nasty kind of way. Horak and Hennefeld also give us a few examples of titles presented in the program, most of all of which have hardly ever been heard of – and, as Hennefeld tells us, some of them have not even been identified yet. From this strand we conclude that, while when we say slapstick comedy people immediately think of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and the other usual suspects, there were also some amazing female slapstick comedians from the silent era, who made films that are certainly worth re-discovering.

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

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Christian Sonderegger, director of the film Coby.

FRED sits down for a chat with Christian Sonderegger, director of Coby, here in competition within the ZFF’s International Documentary selection. An engrossing film about the transition of a brave girl into a loving man, Coby finds its biggest strength in the depiction of life as we all know it: made of bills and insecurities, of love and (mis)understanding.

Coby:  “Changing has consequences, not changing also has consequences”. Jacob is living a regular life in Ohio along with his partner Sara. Nothing points towards the fact that a couple of years ago Jacob used to be a woman. His ‘former self’, Susanna, was 23 when she told her parents that she wanted to be the man that she always felt she was. Her long path to change was as disruptive for her loved-ones as it was for ‘Coby’ himself; since the very first injection of testosterone, she kept a meticulous YouTube journal. Filmmaker Christian Sonderegger, Jacob’s half brother, weaves that impressive video material with clips of various family members to create a fascinatingly intimate portrait of an incredibly strong person who changes to remain the same. The film becomes a metaphor for human adaptability to (seemingly) vast changes.

For the web page of the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Helen Mirren, protagonist of the film  The Leisure Seeker.

Helen Mirren is the protagonist along with Donald Sutherland of Paolo Virzì’s english language debut The Leisure Seeker, in competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The Oscar winner talks about her role in the film, a woman who is bossy, charming, who loves life, loves to engage in life and a character Helen Mirren likes thinking to have things in common with. Helen Mirren defines The Leisure Seeker not only a love story but “a tale of seeking liberation”.

The Leisure Seeker: The film stars Academy Award-winner® Helen Mirren and two-time Golden Globe-winner® Donald Sutherland as a runaway couple going on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker, travelling from Boston to The Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. They recapture their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.

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

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Colin Warner, protagonist of the film Crown Heights.

FRED has the honour to meet with Colin Warner, a man who managed to live and resist his wrongful conviction of murder, which kept him in jail for 21 years. This is an occasion to talk to a person who has the integrity and the inner power to overcome perhaps the biggest systemic threat to our life: the forceful deprivation of freedom.

Crown Heights:  On April 10, 1980, a shot echoed out across the streets of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Although 18-year-old Colin was nowhere near the crime scene, he was arrested on the basis of supposed eyewitness accounts. Later he was convicted of murder. Neither his affirmations of innocence nor the solid reasoning of his defendant convinced the jury otherwise. While Colin is facing life behind bars, his friend Carl King refuses to accept the obvious miscarriage of justice and takes it upon himself to prove Colin’s innocence – regardless of his own happiness. Director Matt Ruskin brings an altogether unbelievable story to the screen: based on true events, Colin Warner, a Trinidadian migrant, was wrongly imprisoned for 21 years.

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Matt Ruskin, director of the film Crown Heights.

Matt Ruskin sits down with us at the ZFF lounge to tell us about the making of Crown Heights, his latest film based on the true story of Colin Warner, an innocent man who was able to survive 21 years of wrongful incarceration, and still fights for everyone’s justice.

Crown Heights:  On April 10, 1980, a shot echoed out across the streets of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Although 18-year-old Colin was nowhere near the crime scene, he was arrested on the basis of supposed eyewitness accounts. Later he was convicted of murder. Neither his affirmations of innocence nor the solid reasoning of his defendant convinced the jury otherwise. While Colin is facing life behind bars, his friend Carl King refuses to accept the obvious miscarriage of justice and takes it upon himself to prove Colin’s innocence – regardless of his own happiness. Director Matt Ruskin brings an altogether unbelievable story to the screen: based on true events, Colin Warner, a Trinidadian migrant, was wrongly imprisoned for 21 years.

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti partecipated in the press conference of the film Molly’s Game, by writer Aaron Sorkin.

FRED participated in the Press Conference of Molly’s Game, acclaimed writer Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut. Spanning from plagiarism to gun control, Sorkin let the Zurich Film Festival’s audience understand his take on filmmaking: he is still looking forward to working with great directors, but he is not done directing either.

Molly’s Game:  “What makes you feel good about losing? Winning.” Highly ambitious young skier Molly Bloom’s childhood Olympic dreams are dashed following a tragic accident. Her plan B is poker. And thanks to her extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit, Molly soon rises through the ranks to become the organiser of illegal poker games. It’s not long before Hollywood stars are joining business tycoons for a taste of these secret and highly exclusive evenings, and millions of dollars begin exchanging hands. But when the FBI moves in, the Princess of Poker and her lawyer, Charlie, must make an important decision: either offering up their clients or atone for their deeds. The great screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s spirited directorial debut brings the true story of Molly Bloom to the screen, whose memoirs became a worldwide sensation.

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PODCAST. Matt Micucci interviews Sebastian Köthe, winner of the Collegium Award at the 36th Pordenone Silent Film Festival.

Sebastian Köthe was the winner of the Collegium Award at the 36th Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto). Each year, the festival invites 12 “scholarship” collegians, with the aim of attracting new, young generations to the discovery of silent cinema, and to infiltrate these newcomers into the very special community that has evolved around the Giornate during its three decades. At the end of the collegium experience, which besides film screenings also includes masterclasses with some of the best qualified experts in film history (film scholars, historians, archivists, collectors, critics, academics, and just plain enthusiasts), each collegian is required to contribute an essay, which could not have been produced without the “Giornate experience.”

Köthe, as mentioned, was awarded the Collegium Award this year for his paper. In this interview, he talks about the subjects he dealt with in it, which is published on the Giornate del Cinema Muto website. He also talks about where his passion for silent cinema originated and whether it has informed his work as a filmmaker and film writer. He also discusses the topic of watching silent films from the first thirty years or so of cinema from a 21st-century perspective and, finally, concludes the interview by commenting on the 2017 edition of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival and what some of the highlights of this year’s program have been.

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PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Björn Runge, director of the film The Wife.

Behind any great man, there’s always a greater woman: this is the concept The Wife revolves around. The film is Björn Runge’s english language debut, it’s a European Premiere at the Zurich Film Festival and it can count on the strength of its protagonist: Glenn Close. The director reveals how he got on board of the film’s project, based on Meg Wolitzer’s novel published in 2003. Runge comments on how The Wife was a marvellous opportunity for Glenn Close to finally show all her skills and bravura to the fullest and how he was lucky enough to be part of it.

The Wife:  Behind any great man, there’s always a greater woman … and you’re about to meet her. It is crucial you get to know this woman – many of us already do and don’t even realise it. Joan Castleman (Glenn Close): a still-striking beauty with impeccable credentials, the perfect alpha wife. Forty years spent sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to fan the flames of her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his skyrocketing literary career. Ignoring his infidelities and excuses because of his “art” with grace and humour. Their fateful pact has built a marriage upon uneven compromises. And Joan’s reached her breaking point. On the eve of Joe’s Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewels in a spectacular body of work, Joan’s coup de grâce is to confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and secret of his career. She’s written every word.

For the official page of the film, click here.

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