FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Shubhashish Bhutiani, director of Hotel Salvation from the Biennale College of Venezia 73.

Shubhashish Bhutiani tells us all about a tradition originating from Varanasi, where people go to die – a place in which if they die, it is said, their souls will be saved. This religious tradition is a business, of course, and the film tells us abuout the trip to Varanasi of an old grumpy man and his devoted son. Shubhashish shares with FRED the reasons behind the film’s tone and colour and the sense of a tradition that looks at the passage of death in a totally new perspective.

HOTEL SALVATION (Mukti Bhawan): An ominous dream convinces 77-year-old Dayanand Kumar that his end could be near. He takes the news to his son Rajiv, knowing he wants to breathe his last in the holy city of Varanasi and end the cycle of rebirth, by attaining salvation. Being the dutiful son he is, Rajiv is left with no choice but to drop everything and make the journey with his stubborn father. Daya and Rajiv check into Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation) in Varanasi, a guesthouse devoted to people who want to die there. But as the days go by, Rajiv struggles to juggle his responsibilities back home, while Daya starts to bloom in the hotel. Rajiv gives his father a shot at salvation but as family bonds are tested, he finds himself torn, and not knowing what he must do to keep his life together.

The post Shubhashish Bhutiani – Hotel Salvation #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews director Ana Lily Amirpour and Suki Waterhouse, who talk about their film The Bad Batch from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

THE BAD BATCH. A savage dystopian fairytale set in a Texas wasteland where society’s rejects are just trying to make ends meet.

The post Ana Lily Amirpour, Suki Waterhouse – The Bad Batch #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews director Kei Ishikawa, who talks about his film Traces Of Sin from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

TRACES OF SIN. Tanaka is going through a tough time trying to support his younger sister Mitsuko, recently arrested and hold up in jail. As an investigative reporter, he immerses himself into a story about a shocking murder case gone cold. The “perfect” family—successful businessman, beautiful wife and adorable child—was brutally murdered a year ago and the case remains unsolved.

The post Kei Ishikawa – Traces Of Sin #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews director Stéphane Brizé and Judith Chemla, who talk about their film Une Vie from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

How terribly recent Guy de Maupassant’s novel Une Vie is. That is the thought that Brizé had when he decided to adapt it for the big screen. At the heart of it all is its viewpoint on women. He expresses this in our short chat, which took place after the official press conference of the film at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, where it screened in competitine.

The film’s power also rests on the shoulders of actress Judith Chemla, playing the leading role in Une Vie with great intensity. How did she prepare for the role? Find out…

UNE VIE. Normandy, 1819. Jeanne is a young woman full of childish dreams and innocence when she returns home after finishing her schooling in a convent. She marries a local Viscount, Julien de Lamare, who soon reveals himself to be a miserly and unfaithful man. Little by little Jeanne’s illusions are stripped away.

The post Stéphane Brizé, Judith Chemla – Une Vie #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews director Laurie Simmons, who talks about her film My Art from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

MY ART. Ellie Shine is a 65-year-old single artist living in New York City. She has a good life: a stable teaching job, successful friends, and a loyal, aging dog named Bing. As her dream of a respectable place in the art world becomes more elusive, her frustration with her lack of recognition feels alarmingly urgent. When she is offered the summerhouse and studio of a famous friend she seizes the opportunity to hit the reset button on her life and work. She unwittingly finds inspiration in two out-of-work actors who maintain the gardens at her summer retreat: Frank, a widower trying to reassemble his life post-grief by turning his back on a mediocre acting career, and Tom, a young, hungry actor whose wife has a less ambitious vision for their idyllic country life. Joining them is John, a thrice-divorced, disillusioned lawyer looking for a summer distraction. This unlikely trio helps Ellie reinvent her artistic identity by participating in her DIY art videos— improbable recreations of old Hollywood films. They accompany Ellie on an odd and unexpected journey toward finding her late-blooming artistic momentum.

The post Laurie Simmons – My Art #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews director Deepak Rauniyar, who talks about his film White Sun from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

WHITE SUN. When his father dies, anti-regime partisan Chandra must travel to his remote mountain village after nearly a decade away. Little Pooja is anxiously awaiting the man she thinks is her father, but she’s confused when Chandra arrives with Badri, a young street orphan rumoured to be his son. Chandra must face his brother Suraj, who was on the opposing side during the Nepali civil war. The two brothers cannot put aside political feelings while carrying their father’s body down the steep mountain path to the river for cremation. Suraj storms off in a rage, leaving Chandra with no other men strong enough to help. Under pressure from the village elders, Chandra must seek help from outside the village to obey the rigid caste and discriminatory gender traditions he fought to eliminate during the war. Chandra searches for a solution in neighboring villages, among the police, guests at a local wedding, and rebel guerrillas…

The post Deepak Rauniyar – White Sun #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Jay Weissberg, director of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Jay Weissberg’s first edition as director of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Giornate del Cinema Muto) will take place from October 1st-8th. Excitement is hard to hold back as he anticipates some things we can expect from this year’s program, including special screenings of The Thief of Baghdad (1924) and a retrospective on the first even winner of Best Art Direction at the Academy Awards, William Cameron Menzies. On top of this, the festival hosts a collegium for young silent film enthusiasts, which Weissberg talks about. Jay Weissberg is, of course, also an established film critic, and us being at the Venice Film Festival, we ask him about his thoughts on this year’s edition of the oldest film festival in the world.

http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/

The post Jay Weissberg – Pordenone Silent Film Festival #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews Simone Moraldi, education consultant of THE FILM CORNER, from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

FRED Film Radio meets with Simone Moraldi, film literacy expert and FRED@school collaborator, to talk about the exciting new project of the Cineteca di Milano THE FILM CORNER.

The objectives of the project are to design, release and test an online digital virtual platform for film literacy, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by web 2.0 and innovative cross-media approaches in the digital era. Its intention is to raise the average film-literacy level of the EU’s young audiences. The general aim of the project is to create an easy-to-use model for film literacy that will improve film-literacy skills. The technical development will be supported by a set of offline knowledge transfer activities aimed at teachers and students. The goal is to share the platform and to explore its potential uses as a tool for pedagogical purposes in class.

The post Simone Moraldi – The Film Corner #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews Birgit Heidsiek, founder of Green Film Shooting, from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

FRED Film Radio has the opportunity to talk to Birgit Heidsiek, founder of Green Film Shooting, a magazine and portal that has the objective to spread new ways of making cinema while respecting and protecting the environment.

The post Birgit Heidsiek – Green Film Shooting #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Marina Marzotto, vicepresident of the Italian Independent Film Producers Meeting, from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Marina Marzotto tells all about the 6th edition of the Italian Independent Film Producers Meeting, that will happen in Matera next year, in March 2017. This event is getting bigger every year, symptom of a serious need of the Italian film industry of additional possibilities and solutions to the problems of independent film producers. And Marina has some ideas to develop about this issue.

The post Marina Marzotto – International Meeting of Independent Cinema #Venezia73 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.