FRED Film Radio - English Channel

Ella Manzheeva – Director – The Gulls (Chaiki)

FRED’s Nicolò Comotti meets Ella Manzheeva, director of the film The Gulls (Chaiki) from the Forum section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

The Gulls is Ella Manzheeva’s feature debut, and deals with the themes of loss and recovery. She tells us about how she sees this film as being one about happiness. She also explains what it was that made her want to tell this story and talks about choosing to cast first time actress Evgeniya Mandzhieva in the pivotal role of The Gulls.

Plot: The Gulls is the story of Elza, who lives in a small town in the Republic of Kalmykia on the Caspian Sea. Another year comes to an end, it’s cold and the steppe is covered in a thin layer of snow. When her husband, who makes a living from illegal fishing, asks her one night what she did during the day, she lies. She wasn’t at her mother’s, but at the bus stop. She thought of leaving – to find out what it might be to escape the infinite expanse of her dreary small world. But she didn’t dare; instead she stays and withdraws into herself, unconcerned by who might see. One day, her husband doesn’t return from a dangerous boat trip. It is said that a fisherman only returns if he has a woman waiting for him and that seagulls are the souls of the missing.

The post Ella Manzheeva – The Gulls #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Evgeniya Mandzhieva – Actress – The Gulls (Chaiki)

FRED’s Nicolò Comotti interviews actress Evgenya Mandzhieva, who plays the leading role in the film The Gulls directed by Ella Manzheeva, which was presented in the Forum section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Internationally acclaimed top model Evgeniya Mandzhieva talks with us about making her cinematic acting debut in The Gulls, and talks about the challenges of Ella Manzheeva’s project and the process of getting into the character – which required her, among other things to ditch her “sophisticated” lifestyle and learn Kalmyk…and even become a baker for seven days!

Plot: The Gulls tells the story of Elza, who lives in a small town in the Republic of Kalmykia on the Caspian Sea. Another year comes to an end, it’s cold and the steppe is covered in a thin layer of snow. When her husband, who makes a living from illegal fishing, asks her one night what she did during the day, she lies. She wasn’t at her mother’s, but at the bus stop. She thought of leaving – to find out what it might be to escape the infinite expanse of her dreary small world. But she didn’t dare; instead she stays and withdraws into herself, unconcerned by who might see. One day, her husband doesn’t return from a dangerous boat trip. It is said that a fisherman only returns if he has a woman waiting for him and that seagulls are the souls of the missing.

The post Evgeniya Mandzhieva – The Gulls #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Matt Porterfield – Director – Take What You Can Carry

FRED’s Nicolò Comotti interviews director Matt Porterfield, who presented his mid-length narrative short Take What You Can Carry in the shorts competition of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Take What You Can Carry is a reflection on people, their longing and their surroundings. Matt Porterfield talks about what inspired him to make such a film, and also expands on his interest for the theme of communication. He also talks about making this short film, his first narrative short film in fact, without a formal screenplay and about filming it in Berlin.

Plot: Take What You Can Carry is a journey through day and night, night and day. Lilly has been living in Berlin for a while. She is a US American passing through. She has a lover and no penthouse. The relationship is vague. “You come and go as you please”, he says. “What do you mean?”, she asks. “Nothing.”, he says, “I’m happy when you’re here.” – “I’m also happy when I’m here.” Then he plays guitar and she embraces him from behind. Only briefly, then she packs her suitcase. Lilly drifts between worlds and places. Looking for people and connections but remaining in the external. During rehearsals with the performance group Gob Squad, her thoughts and wishes thrive: words become actions. Back at the apartment, a letter from her home awaits her. Matt Porterfield calmly tells of the longing to arrive in quietly composed scenes.

The post Matt Porterfield – Take What You Can Carry #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Robert Connolly – Director – Paper Planes

FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Robert Connolly, who is at the 65th Berlinale to present his new film Paper Planes in the Generation Section.

Paper Planes also features Ed Oxenbould (Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) and Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans).

One Australia’s leading filmmaker, Robert Connolly, talks about the challenges and difficulties of writing and directing a film for kids and how he took some advice directly from his children. Paper Planes is a film about friendship, the one among the little protagonist Dylan and his new Japanese competitor Kimi, the strong bond between the kid and his grandfather and finally the intense and contrasting relationship between Dylan and his caring but broken-hearted father. As only an adult would do, Dylan will know when it’s the right time to shake his father up and let him understand that he has to start living his life again.

Plot: Paper Planes is an imaginative family film about a young Australian boy’s passion for flight and his challenge to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan.

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Sebastian Silva – Director – Nasty Baby

FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Sebastian Silva, in Berlin to present his new film Nasty Baby in the Panorama section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Silva comes from Sundance Film Festival where the film had its US premiere. Nasty Baby focuses on a Brooklyn gay couple, trying to have a baby with their best friend, who is played by Kristen Wiig. Their nice neighborhood’s harmony is often disturbed by “The Bishop”, a mentally disturbed man who keeps bothering them, their friends and neighbors.

Nasty Baby has so many different layers of interpretation that it grows on the audience even after it ends. Sebastian Silva admits that his intent was to leave the audience morally confused at the end of the film since as you get to know these characters it becomes very difficult not to take their side after all, despite their “bad behaviour”.

Plot: Nasty Baby centers on a Brooklyn couple, Freddy and his boyfriend Mo, who are trying to have a baby with the help of their best friend, Polly. The film follows the trio as they navigate the idea of creating life while confronted by growing harassment from a menacing local known as ‘The Bishop.’ As things take a dark turn, their joyous pursuit of parenthood is suddenly clouded.

The post Sebastiàn Silva – Nasty Baby #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Sebastian Schipper – Director – Victoria

FRED’s Nicolò Comotti meets filmmaker Sebastian Schipper, who presented his film Victoria from the main competition 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Sebastian, director of the ambitious and engaging Victoria, a one take journey of emotions and unexpected events, talk about the planning and rehearsal process that took place before the shoot. He also gets into detail about the filmmaking process and the challenges that had to be faced during filming. He also explains that he sees this film as one that “attacks the nervous system”, and shares with us his aims to make Victoria a sensory experience.

Plot: Victoria, a young Spanish woman, dances through the Berlin scene with abandon. She meets four mates outside a club who introduce themselves as Sonne, Boxer, Blinker and Fuß. They quickly get chatting. Sonne and Victoria take a fancy to each other and slip away from the group at the first opportunity. But their tender flirting is rudely interrupted by the others because, for these pals, the night is far from over.

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Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson – Directors – The Forbidden Room

FRED’s Nicolò Comotti meets Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson talk about their feature film The Forbidden Room, which was presented in the Forum section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Directors on a quest for lost films and lost plots. Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson tell us about the way this film started as an interactive project on the internet and the fascinating work process and research that was put into constructing The Forbidden Room. They also talk about getting the film to look the way they wanted it to, and finding ways of expanding the potential of digital filmmaking through graphic design, editing and a creative post-production process.

Plot: A submarine in distress, a lumberjack who mysteriously appears to the crew – wasn’t he just in the dark forests of Holstein-Schleswig rescuing the beautiful Margot from the claws of the Red Wolves? A neurosurgeon who digs deeply into the brain of a manic patient; a murderer who pretends to be the victim of his own killings; a traumatised young woman “on the Deutsch-Kolumbianisch Express somewhere between Berlin and Bogota”; seductive skeletons, zeppelins colliding, and a hot bath that seems to have triggered the whole thing.

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Doris Pack – coordinator – LUX Prize

FRED’s Nicolò Comotti meets the LUX Prize coordinator Doris Pack from the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Doris Pack talks about the constant struggles of cinema gaining credibility and funding from the European Parliament. She talks about her work as a coordinator of the LUX Prize and shares with us some of her activities at the Berlin International Film Festival. She also comments on the growth of European cinema and some other projects that are in the works and that concern the visual arts.

The post Doris Pack – LUX Prize Coordinator #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Filipe Metzembacher, Marcio Reolon – Directors – Seashore (Beira-Mar)

FRED’s Angelo Acerbi interviews Filipe Metzembacher and Marcio Reolon, the directors of the film Seashore (Beira-Mar) from the Forum section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

The directing duo tells us about their experience on their directorial debut, and how they worked together on Seashore to tell a story that has some connection to their youth, as well as their will to talk about male friendship in the way that it is for today’s generations.

Plot: Having been good friends for years, Martin and Tomaz now find themselves on the cusp of adulthood. Martin’s father sends his son to southern Brazil, where the family is from, to sort out an inheritance matter. Tomaz accompanies him there. For both of them, the brief excursion to the coastal town becomes a journey into themselves. It’s not just the sea that nearly reaches the doors of the country house which exerts a slow, yet relentless pull on them – the two friends have the same effect on one other. Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s richly atmospheric, autobiographically inspired feature debut follows its two main characters on a weekend that will change their relationship forever. Seashore (Beira-Mar) is a wander through the borderlands between love and friendship, exploring sexual orientation and personal identity. The outstanding camerawork picks up on the protagonists’ complex emotional states in the same way as the soundtrack captures the roaring of the sea: gentle and powerful in equal measure. Always on an equal footing with the subject and the characters, the film creates a moment of magic and tenderness. Looking for love and finding it are sometimes one and the same thing.

The post Filipe Metzembacher, Marcio Reolon – Seashore (Beira-Mar) #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Mateus Almada and Mauricio Barcellos – Actors – Seashore (Beira-Mar)

FRED’s Angelo Acerbi meets Mateus Almada and Mauricio Barcellos, the actors of Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s film Seashore (Beira-Mar), which was presented in the Forum section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Mateus and Mauricio share with us their delight in being part of Seashore, and tell us what attracted them to the project and what connected them to the characters they portrayed. They also share with us their views on relationships and why they think “adults” are wrong in making them more complex and problematic than they should be.

Plot: Having been good friends for years, Martin and Tomaz now find themselves on the cusp of adulthood. Martin’s father sends his son to southern Brazil, where the family is from, to sort out an inheritance matter. Tomaz accompanies him there. For both of them, the brief excursion to the coastal town becomes a journey into themselves. It’s not just the sea that nearly reaches the doors of the country house which exerts a slow, yet relentless pull on them – the two friends have the same effect on one other. Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s richly atmospheric, autobiographically inspired feature debut follows its two main characters on a weekend that will change their relationship forever. Seashore (Beira-Mar) is a wander through the borderlands between love and friendship, exploring sexual orientation and personal identity. The outstanding camerawork picks up on the protagonists’ complex emotional states in the same way as the soundtrack captures the roaring of the sea: gentle and powerful in equal measure. Always on an equal footing with the subject and the characters, the film creates a moment of magic and tenderness. Looking for love and finding it are sometimes one and the same thing.

The post Mateus Almada, Mauricio Barcellos – Seashore (Beira-Mar) #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.