FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Milind Dhaimade, director, and Varun Shah, producer of the film You Are My Sunday from the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

Friends, football and everyday struggles. The charming simplicity of the nature of You Are My Sunday, Indian comedy directed by Milind Dhaimade, is not only carried wonderfully but is also what makes the film so universal. The themes dealt with in this film, from the need for more space and independence to the desire to fall in love, can be understood by anyone and the fact that this film also achieves this in a straightforward and realistic manner also speaks in favor of comedy as a film that can achieve with the right mix of maturity and childishness what more serious films often can’t in terms of representing everyday problems.

You Are My Sunday is also enriched by the performances of the cast. Dhaimade shares with us that he believes casting to be a vital step in the making of the film. Besides this and much more, in discussing the origins of the film, he retraces his journey to the making of You Are My Sunday, which started when he was filming commercials, along with producer Varun Shah, who also joins us for this chat. Their desire, ultimately, was not to compromise their idea for the film. In this too, many might be able to identify with the makers of this film.

YOU ARE MY SUNDAY. Set in densely populated Mumbai, this buddy movie about a group of amateur footballers is a real treat. Milind Dhaimade’s feature debut finds a group of five men struggling to balance their busy work and home relationships with their desire to escape every Sunday to Juhu Beach – the one place with enough space to relax and play their beloved game. It’s paradise. But then, during one match a senile old man joins in and kicks the ball into a nearby political rally. The punishment for the unintended misdemeanour is harsh and the friends’ despondency at not being able to play becomes a reflection of each individual’s own pressure-cooker life, threatening to boil over and severely test their bond of friendship. Dhaimade’s depiction of straight men sharing emotions and love for each other as they struggle to win the day is both a rare and welcome sight.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Marco Del Fiol, director of the documentary The Space in Between: Marina Abramovic in Brazil from the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

he celebrated Serbian artist Marina Abramovic decided to set off on travels across the country of Brazil, a country which she had traveled through before and that fascinated and influenced her throughout her life. This time, she went through various rituals that, in many ways, echoed her works in art that dealt with discovering the limits of the body.

She also decided to travel with director Marco Del Fiol, whose journey in making this film lasted four years, as he tells us in the story, and the end result was this documentary: The Space in Between: Marina Abramovic and Brazil. He also tells us why he thinks that this time, Abramovic’s journey was different, both emotionally and physically. Besides this, and many other things we discuss, he talks about representing the artist’s innermost thoughts, especially in the moments where a visual representation was cinematically required; in other words, in the moments where not much was happening on the outside, but lost was going on inside the mind of Marina Abramovic.

Finally, Del Fiol also discusses the country of Brazil. He specifies “the title of the film is Marina Abramovic and Brazil because Brazil is a character in the movie.”

THE SPACE IN BETWEEN: MARINA ABRAMOVIC AND BRAZIL. This is a bold and unsettling plunge into the unknown. The inimitable Serbian artist Marina Abramovic has long been fascinated by Brazilian mystical traditions. Seeking out methods of personal and emotional healing, she embarks on an introspective journey deep into the Brazilian interior in order to further push the limits between the physical, the spiritual and the arts. Abramovic is utterly captivating as she recounts her fearless and often jaw-dropping experiments at the hands of various mediums, crystal healers and shamans, culminating in a beguiling Ayahuasca ceremony. Director Marco Del Fiol infuses a good dose of humour to the proceedings, and employs a visual style that creates space to capture the artist engaging with nature and the elements. It’s a fascinating journey with one of the most unpredictable and mesmerising artists of our times.

The post Marco Del Fiol – The Space in Between: Marina Abramovic in Brazil #LFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Jorge Caballero, director of Patient from the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

The title of Jorge Caballero’s latest documentary, Patient, also points out to the fact that one must indeed be patient in order to psychologically overcome the frustrating bureaucratic obstacles of health systems. Such is the case with Nubia, a Colombian woman, whose teenage daughter is gravely ill. Caballero follows her struggles, and the extent of her love and devotion, in his honest film Patient, which had its British premiere in the Debate section of the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

The key word, which he often repeats in our interview, is “honest.” The honesty of the portayal can be seen in a number of ways, which he mentions in the film, and that include the style, quite well defined despite the fact that, in following this tragic situation, the director, much like the subjects of the documentary, had to be ready for anything – ready for the unexpected.

The film is ultimately also a monument to a mother’s love for her daughter, and Nubia is an inspiring woman to say the least. Limping her way through the long corridors of the bureaucratic maze of the Colombian health system, she lives for her daughter and longs for her to feel well. We ask Caballero how he first came across these wonderful individuals and whether they were open to being filmed and comfortable in front of the camera.

PATIENT. In a Bogotá hospital, a young teenager is gravely ill with cancer. Almost constantly at her side is her mother Nubia. On those rare occasions when she’s not comforting her daughter, Nubia is battling the bureaucratic complexities of the Colombian health care system to ensure her daughter gets the medicine and care she requires, and talking through the increasingly limited treatments offered by the doctors. Focused exclusively on the heroic Nubia – we never see her ailing daughter, but her anguish permeates every frame of this heart-rending film – Jorge Caballero’s documentary is a masterly lesson in ethical restraint and watchful compassion. Understandably, this achingly sad film has distressing moments, but through its admiring portrait of the quietly indefatigable Nubia, Patient emerges as a profoundly touching and deeply humane tribute to a tireless act of parental love.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Joachim Lafosse, director of After Love, from the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

Joachim Lafosse’s film After Love is the story of a couple, married with kids, in its dying days. The French title of the movie, L’Economie du couple, cleverly seems to single out money problems behind the reason for their falling out, but as the film shows in its development, there is something more personal behind it. In fact, as Lafosse says in this interview, there is another love story that flourishes out of this sorry situation.

The film is impressive because it feels real. There are things that come together in it to make it a truly powerful viewing experience. One is the cinematography which, together with the close setting – the house in which the story and the vast majority of the narrative of that place – lends After Love a close and intimate power and intensity. And then there is the acting, headed by Bérénice Bejo and Cédric Kahn, negotiating the terms of their divorce and their own personal emotions throughout the film. Lafosse talks about how he worked with them, and at some point reveals that one of the films he likes the most is Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, specifying that he has always looked for his very own Elizabeth Taylor and that, for After Love, he found her in the form of Bejo.

AFTER LOVE. Bérénice Bejo and Cédric Kahn star in this insightful, emotionally affecting look at the final weeks in a marriage. The original title translates as ‘The Economy of the Couple’, and here shared life (house, children) is a currency that must be negotiated in the breakup. Living in a bijou converted garage in Brussels with their eight-year-old twin daughters, Boris and Marie’s relationship is in the spluttering last few days; every sight of Boris brings Marie’s disappointment to the surface. He knows it, but is boorishly convinced he can charm his way out of the crisis. Plus, he can’t afford to move out. Our Children (LFF2012) director Joachim Lafosse (whose actors prepped by watching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), gives two of cinema’s finer actors a fantastic script to riff off. The result is a complex, tender portrait of the brittleness of relationships. It may be a small window on these lives but what it reveals speaks volumes.

The post Joachim Lafosse – After Love #LFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Jesper W. Nielsen, director of The Day Will Come, presented at the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

A foster home in the late 60’s in Denmark. This is where most of the narrative of The Day Will Come, directed by Jesper W. Nielsen and presented in the Debate section of the 60th BFI London Film Festival takes place.

The film tells the story of two young brothers, whose lives are suddenly turned upside down when they are brought to a foster home. Different times and different forms of education, as soon as they get there, they are introduced to a tough world in which they are constantly subjected to abuse. Nielsen does not shy away from the dark, indeed often very dark, aspects of the story. At the same time, while he specifies that the film is about the loss of innocence and is not really intended for a young audience, he also shows the more hopeful sides of his film, especially through the underlying theme of the moon travel. One of the central two brothers, in fact, dreams about becoming an astronaut, and his committment to this dream serves as a real inspiration for carrying on and overcoming all the challenges he is faced with in his everyday life.

In this interview, Nielsen tells us how the specific time frame affects his story, whether he always intended to use the approach of never sugarcoating his film’s situations and how he was able to work with his young cast and get the type of touching and excellent performances he did out of them in spite of the difficulty of the roles they played.

THE DAY WILL COME. It’s the late 1960s and Copenhagen is blossoming. With the Space Race at full tilt, it seems there is a world of infinite possibilities and excitement for brothers Elmer and Erik. But their lives are irreparably changed when their mother falls ill and they are entrusted into the care of the archaic Gudbjerg Home for Boys. It’s presided over by brutal headmaster Frederik Heck (Lars Mikkelsen, House of Cards, Sherlock), who sees as his vocation the transformation of ‘unruly’ boys into obedient citizens and maintains a regime of corporal punishment and dubious medical intervention. Elmer’s irrepressible spirit and the appointment of a humbled but humane teacher (Sofie Gråbøl, The Killing) might offer some hope, but fermenting any kind of revolt is dangerous under this vicious regime. Inspired by true events, Søren Sveistrup’s unflinching script addresses the subject of institutional abuse head-on. And the top-notch Scandinavian cast brings intelligence and power to this challenging tale.

The post Jesper W. Nielsen – The Day Will Come #LFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Carles Torras, director of Callback from the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

Callback is the English language debut by director Carles Torres. The film was crafted by him and the leading actor of the film, Martin Bacigalupo. The end result is a film that sits well with familiar cinematic portrayals of psychopathic men.

In this case, the leading character is Larry De Cecco, whose short description is summed up perfectly in the BFI London Film Festival’s synopsis for the film: “a struggling voice actor, part-time removals man, practicing psychopath.”

Torras talks to us about the style and construction of the film, and the various themes that are dealt with in the film, such as loneliness and feigned personalities – the latter point inspired more general observations, of which the highlight is the director jokingly remarking “maybe the film industry is full of aliens.” The film, after all, talks about the American dreams, and that is another aspect from Callback which we examine in this interview.

CALLBACK. Meet Larry de Cecco – struggling voice actor, part-time removals man, practising psychopath. Dividing his time between his thankless day job and a series of humbling auditions, Larry takes enjoyment in minor break-ins and perverse acts of vandalism. When an aspiring actress rents a room in his apartment, it looks like the reclusive Larry might have found a friend, but it is not long before his dark urges rise to the surface. With his English language debut, Spanish director Carles Torras has crafted a scathing critique of the American Dream, shot with cool precision and infused with a caustic streak of black humour. Larry’s unhinged stoicism can be traced through a dark history of screen sociopaths, from Travis Bickle to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, but lead actor and co-writer Martin Bacigalupo’s revelatory, squirm-inducing performance makes for a truly distinctive anti-hero who will not be easily forgotten – no matter how hard you try.

The post Carles Torras – Callback #LFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Ben Wheatley, director of The Ghoul, presented at the 2016 BFI London Film Festival.

We met director Ben Wheatley to talk about his film The Ghoul, presented in the Thrill section of the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

In this interview, he reveals to us that at the origins of the film was an idea to make a movie, among other things, about depression. This fact alone introduces the fact that The Ghoul is certainly not afraid to visit some dark territories.

In fact, one of the most interesting features of the film is its structure, which takes the viewer down a tortuous path in which we are left wondering about what is real and what isn’t about what is revealed to us of the world of the film’s leading character, Chris, played by Tom Meeten. What are the challenges of constructing a film like that? We ask Wheatley this and more in our podcast interview.

THE GHOUL. Low budget Brit thriller, The Ghoul is an atmospheric slow-burn crime film more interested in psychology and the occult than in solving crimes. Tom Meeten’s detective Chris is called to investigate a mysterious, possible double murder. Discovering clues in the house of a shadowy suspect, he goes undercover as a patient to see the suspect’s psychotherapist. But our understanding of Chris is quickly turned on its head as we get inside his, with Meeten excelling in portraying his character’s complex duality. Gareth Tunley, who previously starred in Kill List and Down Terrace, turns director here and his intricate plots pay homage to the illustrious lineage of British genre-bending directors that includes Wheatley, Nic Roeg and Christopher Nolan. Gathering comedy royalty and friends (Alice Lowe, Niamh Cusack, Paul Kaye, Rufus Jones, Dan Renton Skinner and Geoffrey McGivern), Tunley proves himself adept at turning limited resources into a British indie debut of great style and invention.

The post Ben Wheatley – The Ghoul #LFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Alice Diop, director of On Call, presented at the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

On Call was filmed by director Alice Diop at a walk-in service for asylum seekers in a hospital near Paris. The service is one of only a few like it, and is run by people who are really dedicated and passionate about the cause. It’s worrying it think that it is also a service that might be lacking in various other parts of the world, not only France.

On Call, directed by Diop and presented in the Documentary Competition section of the 60th BFI London Film Festival is timely also because the refugee crisis is a subject of constant debate. One of the things Diop succeeds in doing in her focused and unflinching documentary is humanize the topic of immigration by having the camera focused with no cuts on the intertwining events and lives of the patients who walk into the hospital rooms, all carrying their own emotional baggages along with their physical ills and troubles.

Our interview focuses on a number of key aspects, such as her own words to describe the particular choice of style employed in the making of the film and how she was able to get access to the location and film the patients as well as getting so close to them.

ON CALL. For this topical documentary, Alice Diop spent a year at the walk-in service for asylum seekers in Avicenne hospital, near Paris. Arriving in a state of physical and mental exhaustion, often traumatised by their exile and the limbo they’re kept in while seeking asylum, a succession of men and women arrive to seek treatment, some medicine or solace from the outside world. Filmed in static shots in the claustraphobia of a hospital room, the film captures dozens of consultations, giving voice to each new arrival who tells their personal, often harrowing story. It immediately personalises each patient, taking them out of the chilling anonymity they experience daily. The film also highlights the restrictions the doctors face, working with few resources to alleviate the overwhelming misery they witness with each consultation. On Call is a film of profound humanity that underlines the limits of our societies.

The post Alice Diop – On Call #LFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Damien Chazelle, director and Emma Stone, actress of La La Land, the opening film of the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

LA LA LAND tells the story of Mia, an aspiring actress, and Sebastian, a dedicated jazz musician, who are struggling to make ends meet in a city known for crushing hopes and breaking hearts. Set in modern day Los Angeles, this original musical about everyday life explores the joy and pain of pursuing ones dreams.

The post La La Land, winner of the Golden Lion #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Filmmaker Bruce La Bruce is interviewed by participants of 28 Times Cinema at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Filmmaker Bruce La Bruce (Gerontophilia, Pierrot Lunaire) was the president of the jury at this year’s edition of Venice Days. He tool some time to talk about his art with some of the participants of this year’s 28 Times Cinema, the components of the jury. The interview is conducted by Cora Frisching, and she was assisted by Eva Liisa Sepp, Beth Hayden, and Kiyan Agadjani.

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