FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Ben Russell, director of the film Good Luck.

Director Ben Russell talks about his latest film, Good Luck, from the 70th Locarno Festival where it screened as part of the international competition. This documentary is a portrait of two mining communities in different parts of the world: Serbian copper miners and gold miners from Suriname. Russell talks about his reasons for making the movie. We also dissect the film and single out a number of elements of Good Luck, including the use of black and white close-ups of the miners and what having shot the film on Super16mm film adds to it..

Good Luck: shot on Super16mm, Good Luck is a portrait of two mining communities operating on opposite sides of a hostile world: the state employees of a 400m-deep underground Serbian copper mine and the Maroon laborers of an illegal gold mining operation in the jungle tropics of Suriname.

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

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Felix Randau, director of the film Iceman.

Director Felix Randau’s Iceman screened in Piazza Grande at the 70th Locarno Festival. He stopped by FRED’s studio to talk about it. The starting point of the movie is, arguably, the oldest unsolved mystery: that surrounding the death of a body that was discovered years ago and later turned out to have died over 5,300 years ago. Randau tells us why he decided to tell this story in Iceman. He also talks about some of the most daring choices he opted for, most notably, the choice to use an imagined but informed language for the dialogue, and how the actors dealt with this challenge. He also discusses the cinematography and the specific location scouting, which was a lengthy and necessary process.

Iceman: the Otztal Alps, more than 5,300 years ago. A Neolithic clan has settled near a creek where their leader, Kelab, is the keeper of the holy shrine, Tineka. One day, while Kelab has gone hunting, the settlement is attacked and the members of the tribe brutally murdered, including Kelab’s wife and son. The holy shrine is stolen and the only survivor is a newborn baby. Blinded by the pain, Kelab sets out on a journey to seek revenge, and has no other choice than to bring the infant with him. The characters in the film speak an early version of the Rhaetic language. No translation is required to comprehend the story.

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

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PODCAST | Bénédicte Prot interviews Annemarie Jacir, director of the film Wajib (Duty).

Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir tells us more about her third feature Wajib (Duty) – after Salt of This Sea (FIPRESCI Prize Un Certain Regard, Cannes; Palestine’s 2008 Oscars entry) and When I Saw You (Palestine’s 2012 Oscars entry) -, starting with the interesting Palestinian/Mediterranean wedding invitation ritual which is the reason for the day-long father-and-son road trip accross the streets of Nazareth that the film depicts, as the duo visits one by one the homes of their many future guests, and confront each other, and reunite. Jacir talks about eternal Christmas, white lies, and the universal implications of this very touching story. She also describes the dream-related process which led her to cast, to play the father of Saleh Bakri’s character in Wajib (Duty), his real-life father, Mohammad Bakri.

Wajib (Duty): Abu Shadi is a divorced father and a school teacher in his mid-60s living in Nazareth. After his daughter’s wedding in one month he will be living alone. Shadi, his architect son, arrives from Rome after years abroad to help his father in hand delivering the wedding invitations as per local Palestinian custom. As the estranged pair spend the day together, the tense details of their relationship come to a head challenging their fragile and very different lives.

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

The post Annemarie Jacir – Wajib (Duty) #Locarno70 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Andrei Cretulescu, director of the film Charleston.

FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Andrei Cretulescu who’s at the 70th Locarno Festival with his first feature film Charleston. The title refers to the particular music genre and Cretulescu explains how the title was perfect because it can be exported everywhere in the world without being translated. Charleston contains many explicit references to the 70’s Italian comedy and Cretulescu reveals how he grew up with that cinema and how he desperately look for a red and old FIAT 500 that could be function and sustain a road trip. Charleston finally describes how you can even become friends with a love rival when he’s the only one you can share the same pain with.

Charleston: a couple of weeks after the fatal car crash of his wife, Ioana, Alexandru is drunk and alone as he celebrates his 42th birthday. He receives an unexpected visit from Sebastian, a shy and younger man, who had been Ioana’s lover for the past five months. Sebastian wants Alexandru to help him overcome the despair caused by the woman’s death.

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

The post Andrei Cretulescu – Charleston #Locarno70 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Dominik Locher, director of the film Goliath.

Director Dominik Locher presented his feature film Goliath in the international competition of the 70th Locarno Festival, a film about a young man, soon-to-be a father, developing an addiction to injecting steroids and excessive power training. In this interview he talks about his tackling this sort of addiction; the exploration of the theme of male vulnerability; his actors Sven Schelker and Jasna Fritzi Bauer (who play the central couple of Goliath), and more. Given his personal connection to the Locarno Festival, not only as a Swiss filmmaker, we also ask him to tell us what film he considers to have been the most important of his life (in reference to this year’s edition #movieofmylife initiative): he tells us one title, than another, then a few more, etc.

Goliath: gentle gestures, passionate gazes: separated from the rest of the world, David and Jessy live in a simple two-room apartment in the suburbs. Their love is put to the test when Jessy unintentionally gets pregnant. The thought of becoming a father causes David to panic. When, a few days later, they are attacked in the suburban train and David is unable to protect his girlfriend, David’s fear of not being man enough is confirmed. In desperation, he starts to inject anabolic steroids and gets into excessive power training. His newly acquired muscles initially help him to feel strong and confident. But the effect of the steroids soon turns negative. David develops aggressive and unpredictable traits and becomes a threat to his girlfriend and the unborn child…

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

The post Dominik Locher – Goliath #Locarno70 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Rana Eid, director of the film Panoptic.

Director Rana Eid talks about Panoptic, her feature directorial debut, which premiered at the 70th Locarno Festival in the Signs of Life competition. Panoptic is Eid’s personal journey through Beirut’s underground, but it is also a film exploring the past and present of Lebanon, with observation on its future; it is a version of the truth. In this interview, she talks with us about the film’s haunting theme of an impossibility of burying the dead; the impact of her work as a sound designer on Panoptic; the importance of information and the danger of a lack of it, and more.

Panoptic: delving into Beirut’s underground, Panoptic explores Lebanon’s schizophrenia. Depicting a nation thriving for modernity while ignoring the vices preventing it from achieving its goal, director Rana Eid examines this paradox through sound, iconic monuments and secret hideouts.

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

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PODCAST | Bénédicte Prot interviews Serge Bozon, director of the film Madame Hyde.

Every few years, with the help of his long-term accomplice, scriptwriter Axelle Ropert, actor Serge Bozon turns into an exuberantly imaginative director and delivers a hilarious comedy full of witty dialogues, verging on the absurd whilst being extremely ingenious, and interpreted by brilliant actors who delight us with their masterfully colourful rendition of Bozon’s quirky characters. Madame Hyde is his fifth venture of this kind. Bozon tells us more about the darker side that slowly emerges in this comedy inspired by Stephenson’s famous novel, the choice of a suburban high-school as a setting, the way his various main characters hide/hyde behind certain schemes of thought which are not illogical despite their apparent wackiness, and about the very interesting message on rational thinking at the bottom of it all.

Madame Hyde: Mrs. Géquil is an eccentric teacher despised by her colleagues and students. On a stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she wakes up, she feels different. Will she now be able to keep the powerful and dangerous Mrs. Hyde contained?

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

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, co-directors of the film Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras).

Directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra talk about their film Good Manners, screened in the international competition of the 70th Locarno Festival. Good Manners plays with many elements of horror films, musicals, fairy-tales, naturalism, and the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, where the film is set. Among the topics discussed in this interview: their desire to show the city’s many identities; their interest in genre films; the acting, and more.

Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras): Clara, a lonely nurse from the outskirts of Sao Paulo, is hired by mysterious and wealthy Ana as the nanny for her unborn child. The two women develop a strong bond, but a fateful night changes their plans.

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

The post Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra – Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras) #Locarno70 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Tommy Wirkola, director of the film What Happened to Monday?

Director Tommy Wirkola talks about his latest film, What Happened to Monday?, one of the films screened at Piazza Grande, the outdoor cinema screening venue of the Locarno Festival, during its 70th edition. The film, deals with contemporary fears and topics through a science-fiction narrative set in a not so distant future tackling overpopulation and famine with a sinister and strict “One Child Policy.” The story is that of seven sisters who are forced to live in the outside world as one single person, Karen Settman, each playing the role on one assigned day of the week. All seven sisters of What Happened to Monday? are interpreted by Noomi Rapace, and Wirkola tells us about how the actress took on this challenge. He also tells us about his interest in films that have both an entertaining value and thematic depth, and much more, how the “seven sisters” were originally meant to be “seven brothers” and how this change impacted the end result on What Happened to Monday?, and much more.

What Happened to Monday?: a heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant and her boss, a Hollywood starlet. As the assistant travels across Los Angeles to unravel the mystery, she must deal with a determined policeman. At the same time, her understanding of friendship, truth and celebrity is deeply questioned.

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

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PODCAST | Bénédicte Prot interviews Mathieu Kassovitz, actor of the film Sparring.

A brief conversation with French actor Mathieu Kassovitz on his role in Sparring and on the Excellence Award he just received in Locarno. In actor-turned-director Samuel Jouy’s debut feature, Mathieu Kassovitz is Steve Landry, an ageing boxer who manages (despite his mediocre track record and the risks involved) to become the sparring partner of a champion (played by real-life boxing champion Souleymane M’Baye) in order to buy a piano for his daughter, and because he does love the sport, even though it is not quite clear whether he’s ever really ‘got IT’. With undeniable generosity, the French actor appears in Sparring to have dedicated himself body and soul to training in boxing, and to the construction of this irresistibly touching ‘loser’ character, who paradoxically gets less and less pathetic as his unimpressive career keeps dwindling down, thanks to Landry’s truly graceful acceptance of his shortcomings, and the loving family life underpinning it – for an important subplot in this touching film is his beautiful relationship with his very cool wife (Olivia Merilahti, who also composed some of the musics in the film), who loves him just as he his and is proud of him anyhow, as well as with his bright 10- or 12-year-old daughter Aurore (whose life is only beginning, as her name suggests, and for whom he has all the hopes in the world, as he is at the twilight of his failed dream). For this intelligent young girl, who sees everything and understands quite well what is at stake, her dad always comes out looking like a hero and someone who ultimately manages to open doors, without counting on chance or on anyone’s charity, and Kassovitz manages to embody beautifully this broken man who is indeed a hero, if unsung. The 2017 Moët & Chandon Excellence Prize Mathieu Kassovitz has just received, here at the Locarno Festival, is indeed a well-deserved honour.

Sparring: in his early forties, small-time boxer Steve Landry (Mathieu Kassovitz) has lost more bouts than he’s won. But before hanging up his gloves for good, he accepts an offer than many would turn down flat: being the sparring partner to emerging champion Tarek M’Bareck. One last chance to dazzle his wife and his children. Starring: Mathieu Kassovitz, Olivia Merilahti, Souleymane M’Baye, Billie Blain, Ali Labidi…

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

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