FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews Abel Ferrara, director of the film Piazza Vittorio, here in Venice with his family.

Abel Ferrara stops by our Venice studio with his family, Christina and Anna. We have the chance to talk about his documentary Piazza Vittorio, dedicated to one of the most iconic squares in Rome.

Piazza Vittorio is the biggest square in Rome. Both the square and the adjacent districts of the Esquiline stand out for the multiethnic variety of their inhabitants. Here, in fact, we find a range of ethnic groups from nearby and far away: Romans, Asians, North Africans and Indians who make the square and neighborhood a lively place but at the same time one that is not easy to manage. Precisely because of its unique and colorful nature, many artists and other figures with ties to the world of cinema, like Matteo Garrone and Willem Dafoe, have chosen to make it their home. Among them is the great director Abel Ferrara, who has decided to portray this world from his own independent and poetic point of view, putting himself physically on the line in the production of the film. Out of this has come a surreal and neorealist picture of a day in the square’s life, with interviews with illegal and legal immigrants, tramps, artists, proprietors of businesses and politicians who give their personal accounts of the place. It is the portrait not just of a square, but of an Italy that is changing and that is trying at all costs to go down the road of integration, often underestimating the side effects.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews John Woo, director of the film Manhunt.

Legendary action film director John Woo sits down with FRED for a chat about his latest feature, Manhunt, presented out of competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The filmmaker tells us about his latest work, the inspiration behind it, his love of cinema, and his desire to make films that are entertaining first and foremost.

Manhunt: produced and distributed by Media Asia Films, director John Woo’s Zhuibu brings together the most outstanding film talents from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong for an action-packed extravaganza. Produced by Gordon Chan and Chan Hing-kai, the film stars Masaharu Fukuyama, Zhang Hanyu, Qi Wei, Ha Ji-won and Angeles Woo. It also features the renowned Yohei Tanada as Art Director, Takuro Ishizaka as Director of Cinematography and Taro Iwashiro as the composer of film’s original score. It is adapted from Juko Nishimura’s novel Kimi yo Fundo no Kawa wo Watare (You Must Cross the River of Wrath), published by Tokuma Shoten Publishing, and the Kadokawa Pictures production of the same name. The film was shot on location in Japan, including the city of Osaka. Zhuibu follows the journey of upstanding lawyer Du Qiu, who is unwittingly drawn into a murder case when all the evidence at the scene points to him being the perpetrator. Knowing that he’s been framed by Luo Zhi, Du Qiu runs from the law to uncover the truth. The police launch a large-scale manhunt, but veteran detective Yamura sees that this seemingly open-andshut case is not that simple after all. During the intense pursuit, a bond begins to build between the fugitive and his pursuer, even though Yamura knows that he can’t fully trust Du Qiu. Is the real killer lurking elsewhere? Is there a hidden conspiracy behind the murder?

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Nathan Silver, director of the film Thirst Street.

FRED catches up with director Nathan Silver for a chat about his latest film, Thirst Street, presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival at the Giornate degli Autori strand. The film portrays a woman on a downward spiral of miscommunication, masochism, and madness. Silver tells us why he believes the lead character of the air hostess, played by Lindsay Burdge, as well as the film as a whole, has autobiographical elements and likens her to his own lifestyle as a filmmaker. He also discusses the film’s portrayal of the dark side of love, and the use of references from classic romantic movies. Aside from many behind the scenes anecdotes of the making of Thirst Street, he also reveals the meaning of the title, his experience of filming in Paris, and that he has already shot a new feature.

Thirst Street: Alone and depressed after the suicide of her lover, American flight attendant Gina travels to Paris and hooks up with nightclub bartender Jérome on her layover. But as Gina falls deeper into lust and opts to stay in France, this harmless rendezvous quickly turns into unrequited amour fou. When Jérome’s ex Clémence reenters the picture, Gina is sent on a downward spiral of miscommunication, masochism, and madness.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Piotr Rosolowski, co–director of the film The Prince and the Dybbuk.

Director Piotr Rosolowski and Elwira Niewiera presented their film The Prince and the Dybbuk in the Venice Classics strand of the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The documentary tells the story of the marvellous, fascinating, and intense life of filmmaker and producer Michael Waszinsky. We meet Rosolowski, who talked to us about the exciting research and filming process, a journey made of online research, film archives, long lost journals, yellow telephone books, and more. He tells us, among other things, about the grey areas of the film, left there also because there would be many stories about Rosolowski that could have been told – from his great film career, to his homosexuality, to his relationship with his Jewish heritage.

The Prince and the Dybbuk: Who was Moshe Waks really? A golden boy of cinema, cunning fraud or a man who constantly confused the illusion of film with reality? The son of a poor Jewish blacksmith from Ukraine, died in Italy as Prince Michael Waszinsky, Hollywood producer and exiled Polish aristocrat. He made more than 50 films including cinema hits with Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale. However only one film was his true obsession—Der Dibuk (The Dybbuk)—based on an old Jewish legend, the most important and mystical Yiddish film ever made, directed by Michael Waszinsky shortly before the the outbreak of the World War II. To the american magazine “Variety” Waszinsky once claimed to be fascinated with the downfall of great nations. The related imagery of pogroms and migration are the sights and images that Waszinsky had so often witnessed in his life. It seems he had achieved almost everything he could possibly have wished, but something seemed to be stalking him, leaving him permanently restless. Waszinsky kept searching for the lost print of his film Der Dibuk (The Dybbuk) which held his early memories of the jewish shtetl and his first love. What secrets did he keep hidden in this old masterpiece of Yiddish cinema?

For the official page of the film in the festival website, click here.

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PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Pascal Diot, director of the Venice Production Bridge.

Pascal Diot comes to FRED Film Radio to discuss the Venice Production Bridge 2017, bringing good news: an increased number of attendees , an increased number of meetings and deals signed and a general feeling of accomplishment that has been testified by many guests. At the end of it, the Venice market is well and growing, and we are all happy about it ( Pascal a little more than us….).

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Michael R. Roskam, Matthias Schoenaerts and Adele Exarchopoulos, director and actors of the film The Racer and the Jailbird.

Director Michael R. Roskam, and actors Matthias Schoenaerts, Adele Exarchopoulos screened their film, The Racer and the Jailbird, out of competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The film is a story of love pitted against fate, reason and weaknesses – things the characters can and cannot control. The director tells us more, and also reveals to us some of the influences of his films. Schoenaerts tells us about his working relationship with Roskam, with whom he worked before (including the Oscar nominated feature, Bullhead), while Exarchopoulos tells us about how her journey of The Racer and The Jailbird began, and about not even having a drivers’ licence before landing the role as a woman racer in this film.

The Racer and The Jailbird: When Gino meets Benedicte, it’s love at first sight, passionate, unconditional, fiery. She is working in the family business, and she also drives cars on circuits. Gino is that kind of normal guy, cool, handsome… but he hides a secret. That kind of secret that can endanger your life and the lives of those around you. Gino and Benedicte will have to fight against fate, reason and their own weaknesses to save their love.

The post Michael R. Roskam, Matthias Schoenaerts, Adele Exarchopoulos – The Racer and the Jailbird #Venezia74 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Amichai Greenberg and Ori Pfeffer, director and actor of the film The Testament.

Director Amichai Greenberg screened his directorial feature debut, The Testament, in the Orizzonti section of Venezia 74. The director stopped at our studio to talk about it, alongside his lead actor Ori Pfeffer, who plays the role of the Holocasust historian investigating on a tragic incident that happened at the end of World War II. Greenberg discusses with us the influences of the stories from the Holocaust and how they impacted him as the son of a generation of Jewish people who were not alive themselves at the time. He also talks about the contrast between the personal and the universal in the film, and how both aspects are balanced in The Testament. Pfeffer too tells us whether he felt this internal search of the character he plays, and also whether he likens it to the acting process in general.

The Testament: Yoel, a senior Holocaust researcher, is in the midst of a widely covered legal battle with powerful forces in Austria, concerning a brutal massacre of Jews that took place toward the end of WWII in the village of Lendsdorf. An influential family of industrialists on whose land the murder took place, is planning to build a real estate project on the very same land. Yoel suspects that their aim is to bury the affair for good, but has trouble finding the conclusive evidence that would stop the project. While investigating the incident Yoel examines classified testimonies of Holocaust survivors, and to his shock and surprise he finds a testimony given by his mother, a testimony he didn’t know existed. In her testimony she confesses to a substantial secret from her past. Yoel, who’s conducting a double-investigation, personal and scientific, is trapped between walls of silence. As a historian with an unshakeable commitment to the truth, he decides to continue his investigations even at the cost of ruining his personal and professional life.

For the official page of the film on the festival website click here.

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PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews Jon Alpert, director of the film Cuba and the Cameraman.

Jon Alpert tells us the story of Cuba and the Cameraman, which is inevitably a big chunk of his own story too. Throughout the years, from the 70s till today, the American journalist/documentary filmmaker has been visiting Cuba and analysing first-hand its socialist structure. An earnest and exciting example of gonzo-style filmmaking, Cuba and the Cameraman shows Cuba as a one-of-a-kind social experiment, but most importantly, as a cradle of beautiful, resolute people.

Cuba and the Cameraman: since 1959, when Fidel Castro ascended to power in the revolution that marked an era, no one had ever gone as deep inside Cuba as Jon Alpert. He began filming in Castro’s Cuba in 1972, having become fascinated with the country, its people, and its culture years earlier. Alpert brought along a small crew and a portable camera, beginning a fascinating, intimate, decades-long chronicle of the Communist country that was 90 miles off the coast of Florida, a longtime political foe, but a mystery to much of the world. Compiled from more than a thousand hours of footage and filmed over 45 years, Alpert follows three families and Fidel Castro. He was there for Cuba’s optimistic socialism of the early ’70s, and for the 1979 Mariel boatlift. He then returned to cover the hardships of the 1980s; the harrowing “Special Period” after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Cuba literally went dark. Cuba and the Cameraman is Castro himself—unguarded, offthe- cuff, and unedited. In their numerous, exclusive oncamera interviews, the cigar-chomping revolutionary affectionately called the straight-shooting Alpert “The Journalist,” and showed a side of himself never seen publicly. Alpert was one of the last Americans to see Castro before his death. Cuba and the Cameraman captures the soul of a nation and its people, and an unknown side of the man who shaped it.

For the official page of the film in the festival website, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Vivian Qu, director of the film Angels Wear White.

Director Vivian Qu talks about her latest film, Angels Wear White, presented in competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. She stopped at our studio for a quick chat about it. She tells us that the film is a story of women in a society that shapes our perception and values. She talks in more detail about the story behind the story and the origins of this idea. She also reveals to us, also by making reference to her previous work Trap Street, that her films have a tendency to be misunderstood by people. Given that her latest film, Angels Wear White, revolves around an event as delicate as the assault on two schoolgirls in a motel, we ask Vivian Qu about the casting process, and she tells us behind the scenes anecdotes about how she worked with the young actresses after an extensive and lengthy search.

Angels Wear White:  In a small seaside town, two schoolgirls are assaulted by a middle-aged man in a motel. Mia, a teenager who was working on reception that night, is the only witness. For fear of losing her job, she says nothing. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Wen, one of the victims, finds that her troubles have only just begun. Trapped in a world that offers them no safety, Mia and Wen will have to find their own way out.

For the official page of the film on the festival website click here.

The post Vivian Qu – Angels Wear White #Venezia74 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Warwick Thornton, director of the film Sweet Country.

Warwick Thornton is a western lover, specifically of the Italian ones by Leone and Corbucci. He wanted his characters to be humans and not perfect, this is why he’d rather be Clint Eastwood than John Wayne. His life, his family history and his aboriginal traditions they all ends into this atypical and elegantly intense western.

Sweet Country: Inspired by real events, Sweet Country is a period western set in 1929 in the outback of the Northern Territory, Australia. When Aboriginal stockman Sam kills white station owner Harry March in self-defence, Sam and his wife Lizzie go on the run. Eventually, for the health of his pregnant wife, he decides to give himself up. He is put on trial in the courtroom of Judge Taylor. But will justice be served?

For the official page of the film in the festival website, click here.

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