FRED Film Radio - English Channel

Lisa Takeba – Filmmaker – Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory.

FRED’s Matt Micucci is joined by the lovely Lisa Takeba, the filmmaker of “Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory”, which was presented in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Lisa tells us about how she allowed her colourful style to be influenced by cartoons. She talks about other influences, some of which came from her own family, and gives us an insight into her vivid imaginationa and how she likes to keep track of it in order to then let it loose in her entertaining films.

Plot: The craziness of our times, depicted through old television shows. Haruko is a girl who prefers to cuddle up to her old-fashioned TV set. In this wondrous story, a television can transform into a man: and this is by no means the end of the strange cheerfulness. A masterpiece of the imagination.

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Ismail Basbeth – Filmmaker – Another Trip to the Moon.

FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews filmmaker Ismail Basbeth, whose feature film debut had its world premiere in the Hivos Tiger Awards Ceremony at the 44th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. We chat with Ismael about his concerns for making a film that will speak universally, and his choice to make a film with no dialogue to achieve an international form of filmmaking. He also shared with us his views on filmmaking, and how he describes his cinematography work in his feature debut as one that invites the viewer to look at his film as they would look at a painting.

Plot: “Another Trip to the Moon” is a dreamy, absurdist fantasy film based on Indonesian legends. Asa is the daughter of a seer. To escape her mother’s clutches, she lives hidden in a forest. One day, she is collected by a dog, who turns out to be a man sent by her mother. Sophisticated visions.

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Nathan Silver – Filmmaker – Stinking Heaven

FRED’s Matt Micucci meets once again with Nathan Silver, one of the leading and most distinctive voices in current American independent cinema, who presented his latest film “Stinking Heaven” in the Spectrum section of the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Nathan tells us about his use of improvisation, a defining element in his filmmaking, and about his fascinatingly interesting choice of using a professtional video camera from the early nineties – which is also where this film his set. He also tells us about his identity as a prolific filmmaker and whether or not he is fascinated by the thematic concept of utopia.

Plot: “Stinking Heaven” deals with the fragile harmony of a sober commune, that is cruelly disrupted by the arrival of Ann. The paranoia and drug relapse she causes result in destructive chaos. With admirably controlled improvisations, Silver creates an idiosyncratic film that leaves a deep impression.

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Muki Sabogal – Actress – Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)

FRED’s Matt Micucci meets up with Muki Sabogal, lead actress in “Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)” by filmmaker Juan Daniel F. Molero. The film had its world premiere at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Hivos Tiger Awards competition. Muki tells us about how she connected to the character and how she dealt with the physical challenges that the role she plays entailed. She also talks about her past as a theatre actress and what she thinks the difference between acting for the theatre and acting for the cinema really is.

Plot: Internet cafés and slackers, not-so-innocent schoolgirls and amateur porn using Google Glass, Mayans and the end of the world, acid trips and guinea pigs as extras in an exorcism: things in Lima, the Peruvian capital, where “Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)” is set, are pretty similar to contemporary reality, virtual or otherwise, in the rest of the world.

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Lukas Valenta Rinner – Filmmaker – Parabellum

FRED’s Matt Micucci chats with filmmaker Lukas Valenta Rinner about his film “Parabellum”, which had its world premiere at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. Aside form telling us about the stylistic choices that shape the film, Lukas also shares with us his opinion on why people are so fascinated with the concept of the end of the world and the apocalypse. He also talks with us about how his geographical roots help shape his filmmaking eye, another example of an adventurous European filmmaker taking his skills and artistic talents to another distant country.

Plot: Threatened by the end of the world, a group of Buenos Aires residents receive lessons in survival at a resort in the marshy Tigre delta. The Austrian background of Rinner, who trained in Argentina, shines through in “Parabellum”, a bitterly comical stylisation of human failings when face-to-face with the apocalypse.

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Kyros Papavassiliou – Filmmaker – Impressions of a drowned man

FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews filmmaker Kyros Papavassiliou, whose film “Impressions of a Drowned Man” had its world premiere at the 44th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. He tells us a little bit about what makes the poet Kostas Karyotakis so influential and such a fascinating subject as the central character of his film. We also talk about how he constructed the story and tried to channel the poet’s spirit as well as portraying his message as relevant in today’s world as it was back when it was written – and thus, he also explains his views on what importance art in general holds in modern culture and whether it is more or less than it was back in Karyotakis’ times.

Plot: “Impressions of a Drowned Man” is the story of a man who doesn’t know who he is meets his former love. She tells him he is a famous poet, Kostas Karyotakis, who killed himself in 1928. Every year he returns on the anniversary of his death. A day that has taken place many, many times before plays out again. Will Kostas again make the same decisions?

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Khavn – Filmmaker – Desaparadiso

FRED’s Matt Micucci meets with one of the most productive and versatile Filipino filmmakers of all time – Khavn, whose latest distinctive work “Desaparadiso” had its world premiere at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Spectrum section. One of the most celebrated “darlings” of the International Film Festival Rotterdam returns with his latest creation. He takes his time to explain in great detail his specific and fascinating artistic choices, in exploring once again the delicate subject of the endurance of the nightmarish effect that Dictator Marcos had on the Philippines. On top of that, he introduces to us his upcoming project, which he is currently working on.

Plot: What can a family do if someone disappears in a dictatorship? You can’t go to the police for help or information. Many families were affected in this way by the cruelty of the Marcos dictatorship (1972-1986). “Desaparadiso” shows one of them as an example of paradise lost.

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Juan Daniel F. Molero – Filmmaker – Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)

FRED’s Matt Micucci talks with Juan Daniel F. Molero about his film “Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)”, which had its world premiere in the Hivos Tiger Awards section of the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam. He tells us about about the interesting style he employed to construct his narrative and how his other interest and organic approaches shape his work as a filmmaker. He also comments on how he “really wanted to make a commercial film” before allowing himself to indulge in his beloved experimental style and tells us how he was able to finance the film and complete the film.

Plot: Internet cafés and slackers, not-so-innocent schoolgirls and amateur porn using Google Glass, Mayans and the end of the world, acid trips and guinea pigs as extras in an exorcism: things in Lima, the Peruvian capital, where “Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)” is set, are pretty similar to contemporary reality, virtual or otherwise, in the rest of the world.

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Britni West – Filmmaker – Tired Moonlight

FRED’s Matt Micucci meets with US filmmaker Britni West, whose film “Tired Moonlight” had its international premiere at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. Britni tells us about how she constructed her close depiction of small town America by both planning a narrative but also allowing herself to be open to the impulsive and the unexpected. She tells us how about the technical approach she employed in making creating such a wonderful experience and how she believes it will translate to an international audience. But she also stops to discuss with us her creative nature and the different elements – real and abstract – that influence her works.

Plot: At first sight, small towns are not so different from one another: identical shops and identical pleasures. So “Tired Moonlight” mainly focuses on the inhabitants. Loosely connected to one another, their dreams and desires are what distinguishes them. Intuitive Americana movie gives an atmospheric impression of a small community.

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Miguel Llansò – Filmmaker – Crumbs.

FRED’s Matt Micucci meets Ethiopia-based Spaniard filmmaker Miguel Llansò who, having directed and screened short films at international film festivals, screened his feature debut at the 44th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam – where it had its world premiere. We chat with him about making the transition from shorts to features, about what made Ethiopia the perfect setting for a post-apocalyptic surrealist tale and why he thinks that people should make use of the economic crisis to expand their creative and geographic horizons.

Plot: The story of “Crumbs” is set against the background of spectacular post-apocalyptic Ethiopian landscapes, where our diminutive superhero Gagano – on the one hand gripped by daydreams and on the other by constant fears – has had enough of collecting the valuable crumbs of decayed civilisation, the valuable high points of which are merchandise from Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. When a spaceship that has been hovering high in the sky for years starts showing signs of activity, Gagano has to overcome his fears – but also a witch, Santa Claus and second-generation Nazis – to find out that things aren’t quite the way he thought.

CRUMBS TRAILER from Lanzadera Films on Vimeo.

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