FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Marteinn Thorsson, director of the film Backyard Village.

A conversation with Marteinn Thorsson, director of Backyard Village, which premiered at Santa Barbara’s Nordic Film Competition. This is the story of two broken souls connecting at a guesthouse in a seemingly small Icelandic village. Stylistically, it is a different film from his award-winning XL from 2013, and he talks about what he likes about working with different filmmaking styles. He also talks about setting the film in his own guesthouse, working with the actors on establishing a relationship that would seem genuine and more.

Backyard Village: Brynja finishes her stay in a health clinic in the village of Hveragerdi, Iceland, but is reluctant to return to her life in the capital so she takes lodgings in a small guesthouse. There she meets Mark, a tourist who, likewise, is reluctant to leave the nurturing community.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Oren Gerner, director of the film Africa.

A conversation with Oren Gerner, director of Africa, from the Discoveries section of the 2021 Vilnius Film Festival. This is his feature directorial debut and is a case of blurring fantasy and fiction, as he cast his own father in the lead role of a movie where the protagonist finds himself having to come to terms with aging. In this interview, Gerner talks about his interest in the theme and the experience of working with his own father. He also shares his views on the communication struggles between generations, the distinctive perspective of his movie and more.

Africa: When 68-year-old Meir discovers that after 40 years, inexperienced local teens are set to replace him as organizers of the annual village celebration, the ground beneath his feet begins to shift. In his effort to restore a sense of meaning and vitality, Meir begins to rebel against the inevitable: the betrayal of his physical body, the growing distance from his children, and the loss of relevance. Using elements of real life to construct fiction, the loving director creates a witty, warm and remarkably sincere portrait of a parent.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Eefje Blankevoort and Els Van Driel, directors of the film Shadow Game.

A conversation with Eefje Blankevoort and Els Van Driel, directors of the Shadow Game, winner of the Grand Prize of Geneva in the Creative Documentary Competition of Geneva’s International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights this year. The film talks about the far-reaching consequences of European asylum policy by documenting the lives of teenage refugees in their dangerous journey across European borders. In this interview, they share their views on the current situation and talk about their work on Shadow Game, connecting with the young protagonists of their film and finding out about the concept of “game,” with which they contextualize their journey to what they hope will be a better life.

Shadow Game : If it’s a game, then it’s one of the most dangerous. Every day, teenagers flee war-torn countries, attempting to cross European borders in search of a better future. Hostile nature, fences or armed guards – every step they take towards their final destination might also prove a step towards death. A stunning coming-of-age film in which lives are consumed on the clandestine roads of a fortress continent.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Thomas Quain, director of the animated web series Poxy Bleedin Shop.

A conversation with Thomas Quain, director of the animated web series Poxy Bleedin Shop. This comedic series is set in and around a mysterious off-license in an unnamed town of Ireland and the colourful characters that populate it. In this interview, Quain talks about his interest in animation and the form’s expressive potential, particularly when dealing with such delicate themes as homelessness and alcohol abuse.

 Poxy Bleedin Shop: A comedic, animated 2D web series about an  off-license in the rough part of an unnamed town in Ireland and the colourful characters that frequent it. In this town the only thing worse than being unemployed is having a job.

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PODCAST |Chiara Nicoletti interviews Daniel Bruhl, director and actor of the film Next Door.

For his directorial debut Next Door, in competition at the 71st Berlinale, actor turned director Daniel Bruhl questions all the contradictions of fame and society itself in a theatre play structure story where a famous actor is forced to have a confrontation with a neighbour who knows everything about him and can destroy him. Bruhl chose to interpret the protagonist of the film whose name is Daniel as the director plays with the ambiguity and the duplicity of his real life references and the fictional happenings in the film. Daniel is confronted with his own lies, his contradictions and demons and the audience will be forced to question themselves and watch out for their neighbors.

Next Door : Berlin, the Prenzlauer Berg district. Daniel is a movie star accustomed to success. His loft apartment is stylish and so is his wife, and the nanny has the children under control. Everything is tip-top, bilingual and ready for him to jet off to an audition in London where a role in an American superhero film awaits the celebrated German-Spanish actor. Popping into the local bar on the corner, he finds Bruno sitting there. As transpires by the minute, Bruno has been waiting for this moment for a long time. And so this eternally overlooked man – one of reunification’s losers and a victim of the gentrification of what was once East Berlin – takes his revenge. With Daniel as his target…

To discover more about the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Kemal Yildirim, director of the film The Haunting of the Lady-Jane.

A conversation with filmmaker Kemal Yildirim, who recently launched a fundraising campaign for his new project, The Haunting of the Lady-Jane. In this interview, he talks about some of his previous works, including his latest feature, Wastelands, which is currently on its film festival run. Aside from talking about his new forthcoming project, he talks about his interest in horror film and surrealism.

To help support the project The Haunting of the Lady-Jane, click here.

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PODCAST |Chiara Nicoletti interviews Yngvild Sve Flikke and Kristine Thorp, director and actress of the film Ninjababy.

Norwegian director Yngvold Sve Flikke presents with her protagonist Kristine Thorp at the 71st Berlinale in the Generation section and at Sxsw her latest film Ninjababy inspired by Inga H. Sætre’s graphic novel Fallternikk. It’s the story of Rakel,unsolved and disillusioned young woman who find herself 6 months pregnant without having even noticed. Struggling to decide what to do with this baby coming and whether to embrace motherhood, Rakel will eventually grow up and “come of age” when becoming a mother. Through the protagonist’s eyes Ninjababy is a journey along the thousand nuances of womanhood, maternity and pregnancy.

Ninjababy: When Rakel (23), way too late, finds out she’s six months pregnant after a not-so-romantic one-night stand, her world changes. Her boyfriend, who’s not the father, is kind of ok with her having a baby. But Rakel is absolutely not ready to be a mother. Since abortion is no longer an option, adoption is the only answer. That’s when Ninjababy, an animated character who insists on making Rakel’s everyday life a living hell, turns up. He climbs out from her note book, jumps into her tea cup, and keeps reminding her what a terrible person she is. Ninjababy is a touching and humorous film about how quickly you have to grow up when faced with an unplanned pregnancy in – paradoxically – your most fertile age. The film is freely based on the award-winning graphic novel ‘Fallteknikk’ by Inga H Sætre.

To discover more about the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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PODCAST |Chiara Nicoletti interviews Dash Shaw and  Jane Samborski, director and animation director of the film Cryptozoo.

With Cryptozoo, their animation film on mythical creatures, director Dash Shaw and his wife, animation director Jane Samborski just won a special mention from the jury of the 71st Berlinale Generation section. Set in the 1970’s California the film shows us the internal contradictions of believing a Cryptozoo, could actually be a safe refuge for fantastical creatures such as the dream-devouring chimera Baku. Cryptozoo is an extraordinary and dreamlike trip through capitalism, legends, the concepts of good and bad with a perfect attention to every detail.

Cryptozoo: “C’mon babe, have some faith! There could be magic here, or a utopia! Use your imagination!” – “Utopias never work out.” The scene: California, circa 1970. While the nation’s youth practice free love and protest against the establishment and the Vietnam War, a different sort of struggle plays out underground: veterinarian Lauren Grey tracks down fantastical creatures, rescuing them from abuse and providing refuge in her Cryptozoo. Alas, the military is scheming to get its hands on the greatest cryptid of them all, the dream-devouring chimera Baku, to harness its power and destroy the dreams of the burgeoning alternative culture. In Dash Shaw’s idiosyncratic, transgressive trip, utopic visions of hero and anti-hero are put to the test. Inspired by the psychedelic underground comics of the 1960s, this story situated between lucid dream and horror trip resonates like an echo in our present day.

To discover more about the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Aliaksei Paluyan, director of the film Courage.

For his first documentary feature, Belarus director Aliaksei Paluyan went back to his country to narrate the people and his actor friends constant fight for democracy. Paluyan chose his friends Maryna, Pavel and Denis as the protagonists of the film and he showed their 15 work as activists and as artists of the Belarus Free Theatre. The director explains the reason behind the title, Courage and the way he tried to keep his distance from the happenings while shooting. Courage not only reminds us the power of art but it also tells us all that especially in countries where democracy is taken for granted, we tend to forget that it is instead a right we should always fight for and we should never ever take it for granted.

Courage: In the course of the presidential elections in Belarus in the summer of 2020, three actors from an under-ground theatre „Belarus Free Theatre“ in Minsk get caught up in the maelstrom of mass protests. They are drawn to the wide streets of Minsk to protest vociferously for freedom of speech and the long-awaited change of power. But the people‘s voice is brutally crushed by the regime‘s security apparatus. Members of the theatre group and many other people get arrested. The country is on the brink of civil war. COURAGE accompanies the courageous and peaceful resistance of Maryna, Pavel and Denis before and during the protests. The film takes a very personal look at the events and thus provides a close and gripping insight into the lives of people in today‘s Belarus who are fighting for their freedom and the right to democracy.

To discover more about the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Alexandre Koberidze, director of the film What do we see when we look at the sky?

To depict a love story wasn’t enough for Alexandre Koberidze in What do we see when we look at the sky?, in competition at the 71st Berlinale. The film starts as a love story, an impossible one as it is suddenly and soon cursed by an evil spell but then embraces so many other themes: everyday life with kids playing and going to school, soccer games and the World championship being watched, magical realism and a touch of Italian cinema thanks to the Nanni Moretti references. Koberidze walks us through his film, its genesis (a jet stone he used to wear, as a child, meant to protect him from the evil eye) and its elements.

What do we see when we look at the sky? : It’s love at first sight when Lisa and Giorgi meet by chance on a street in the Georgian city of Kutaisi. Love strikes them so suddenly; they even forget to ask each other’s names. Before continuing on their way, they agree to meet the next day. Little do they know that an evil eye casts its spell on them. Will they manage to meet again? And if they do, will they know who they are? Life goes on as usual in their hometown, street dogs stray, the soccer world cup begins and a film crew on its quest to find true love might be what they need.

To discover more about the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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