FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Maïmouna Doucouré, director of the film Cuties-Mignonnes.

With her debut feature, Cuties – Mignonnes, she won Direct­ing Award: World Cin­e­ma Dra­mat­ic at the Sundance Film festival and now, Maïmouna Doucouré just got a Special Mention from the Generation KPlus Jury at the 70th Berlinale. The film, a coming of age story about a 11 years old girl named Amy, explores the difficult search for an identity of a soon-to-be woman, living a conflicting combination between traditions and possible futures. Becoming a woman nowadays brings along a very complicated question: What kind of women do we want to be in a new world where we’re trying to fight all the cultural impositions standing between us and a real gender equality? Maïmouna Doucouré tries to analyze the possible answers with Cuties.

Cuties-Mignonnes: Am I still a girl or already a woman? And if I’m a woman, what kind do I want to be? Eleven-year-old Amy lacks the words to express these questions, and she doesn’t have any quick answers to them either. The conflicts in Amy’s life reflect the contradictory positions that she perceives in her surroundings: there’s her conservative, polygamous, Senegalese extended family , freshly resettled in Paris, and then there are her peers at school, practicing for a dance-off. Together they hope to hold their own against the older girls, imitating moves from music videos and performing stereotypical poses without any awareness yet for what they represent. Amy’s attempt to navigate both worlds leads to tension and disappointment while requiring constant transformation on her part.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Maïmouna Doucouré – Cuties-Mignonnes #Berlinale2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Niklas Pollmann interviews Sandra Wollner, director of the film The Trouble with Being Born.

Interview with Sandra Wollner about artificial intelligence, legitimacy of (intelligent) sex dolls and how her film differs from the “classical Pinocchio narrative”

The Trouble with Being Born: The Trouble with Being Born shows the life of a childlike replicant that mirrors the desires and wishes of her owners — a pedophile father and an old woman who lost her younger brother in her youth days long time ago.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Niklas Pollmann interviews Cristi Puiu, director of the film Malmkrog.

Interview with Cristi Puiu about his new film Malmkrog and how it was a challenge and first time experience to Cristi Puiu as radical break with his former works.

Malmkrog: Malmkrog is about a group of Russian noblemen in the end of the 19th century discussing about moral, the existence of good and evil as well as the Russo-Turkish war.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Jon Holmberg, director of the film Sune – Best Man.

After the success of Sune Vs Sune presented at the Berlinale 2019, The Anderssons are back at the Berlinale with some new adventures led by the unpredictable Sune, now forced to decide whether to go to his grandfather’s wedding or on school trip. Jon Holmberg describes his second time directing this young but talented actors and how he approached this new Sune’s adventure.

Sune – Best Man: Sune is in a difficult situation and try as he might, he cannot make up his mind. Should he join the rest of his class on a school trip – the one he and his sweetheart Sophie have been looking forward to for so long? Or should he instead go to his grandfather‘s wedding – especially now that granddad wants him to be best man? To make things worse, in true sci-fi-thriller style, Sune‘s future self keeps turning up to try and thwart his every decision. Torn between two loved ones, Sune ends up dragging his family into a fast-paced road trip filled with treacherous twists and turns. Full of madcap schemes and always ready with a witty retort, the Anderssons from Sune vs Sune are back, ready to handle the conflicts of family life with a lot of heart and a healthy dose of humour.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Elis Gerdt, Baxter Renman, Tea Stjärne and Lily Wahlsteen, actors of the film Sune – Best Man.

At the 70th Berlinale, Elis Gerdt, Baxter Renman, Tea Stjärne, Lily Wahlsteen, the young protagonists of Sune – Best Man, sequel to the 2019 film Sune Vs Sune and huge box office success in Sweden, talk about their new adventure. What would they like to acquire from their characters? Listen to their smart and thoughtful answers.

Sune – Best Man: Sune is in a difficult situation and try as he might, he cannot make up his mind. Should he join the rest of his class on a school trip – the one he and his sweetheart Sophie have been looking forward to for so long? Or should he instead go to his grandfather‘s wedding – especially now that granddad wants him to be best man? To make things worse, in true sci-fi-thriller style, Sune‘s future self keeps turning up to try and thwart his every decision. Torn between two loved ones, Sune ends up dragging his family into a fast-paced road trip filled with treacherous twists and turns. Full of madcap schemes and always ready with a witty retort, the Anderssons from Sune vs Sune are back, ready to handle the conflicts of family life with a lot of heart and a healthy dose of humour.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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The post Elis Gerdt, Baxter Renman, Tea Stjärne, Lily Wahlsteen – Sune-Best Man #Berlinale2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | David Martos interviews Chris Lewis, son of myth Jerry Lewis, about the film The Day the Clown Cried.

Chris Lewis, son of actor and comedian Jerry Lewis, visits Berlinale 2020 because he’s preparing a donation for the Deutsche Kinemathek: all the materials kept by his father from the shooting of The day the clown cried, a film lost in time.

The Day the Clown Cried is an unreleased 1972 Swedish-French drama film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It is based on an original screenplay by Joan O’Brien and Charles Denton, from a story idea by Joan O’Brien, with additional material from Jerry Lewis. The film was met with controversy regarding its premise and content, which features a circus clown who is imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.

To discover more about the 70th edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Helen Mirren, actress and Oscar-winner awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement.

The 70th Berlinale honours Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren with the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement. The British actress has been collecting awards after awards and is one of the most international artists the audiovisual world can count on. When receiving a career award, every actor is forced to look back at their career and Helen Mirren makes no exception. She is particularly proud to receive an honorary award from Berlinale as its festival audience has always been a very demanding one and that makes the prize even worthier as it is not given lightly. Among the transformative moments Dame Helen Mirren can recall are two very important, the first is when she saw a Shakespeare play for the first time and the second, was her watching L’avventura by Michelangelo Antonioni. Those two moments defined her choice of wanting to be part of that world, the acting world, hoping to have the chance in her future to hold a script in her hands preparing for a part. Luckily enough, Helen Mirren’s dreams came true and audiences around the world have been gifted with her outstanding performances in films, theatre plays, tv series.

The 70th Berlin International Film Festival will honour Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren with its Homage and award her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement. The award ceremony on Thursday, February 27, 2020 at the Berlinale Palast will include a screening of The Queen (2006, dir: Stephen Frears).

Not only is Helen Mirren one of the world’s most renowned actresses, she was also one of the youngest ever to join the famed Royal Shakespeare Company. Over the decades, her charisma, expressiveness, and range as an actress have been amply demonstrated in a wide variety of genres.

Among the many accolades Mirren has received, she won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe for her performance in The Queen. In addition to many international film prizes, her stage work has also been honored with the leading theatre tributes – the Olivier Award, Tony and Drama Desk Awards. In 2003, Helen Mirren was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to drama.

Helen Mirren has a unique acting style that allows her to feel at home in both British and American cinema, making it possible to work with auteur filmmakers, who have clearly defined styles such as Robert Altman or Paul Schrader, and acting in big US action films like RED and the Fast and Furious franchise.

After working mainly in theatre, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Mirren’s first major film role was in Michael Powell’s 1969 comedy Age of Consent. She subsequently made her mark in 1980’s The Long Good Friday (dir: John Mackenzie), playing the assertive girlfriend of a top gangster. Her portrayal of Georgina in Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) was also legendary. Beginning in the 1990s, Helen Mirren increasingly expanded and diversified her roles in both film and television, among them Robert Altman’s 2001 Gosford Park (Berlinale 2002). Her flair for comedy was once again in evidence with Calendar Girls (2003, dir: Nigel Cole). Between 1991 and 2006, she headed up the seven instalments of the TV series Prime Suspect as police superintendent Jane Tennison. In The Last Station (2009), directed by Michael Hoffmann, she played Leo Tolstoy’s wife Sofya. She was at the Berlinale in 2015, alongside co-star Ryan Reynolds, with Woman in Gold (dir: Simon Curtis). Since then, she has appeared onscreen in Eye in the Sky (2015, dir: Gavin Hood) and The Leisure Seeker (2017, dir: Paolo Virzì) among others.

Mirren gives another terrific performance in the thriller The Good Liar (dir: Bill Condon), co-starring with Ian McKellen, which recently opened theatrically in Germany and will also be shown in the Homage section.

Click here if you are interested in Homage and Honorary Golden Bear 2020 for Dame Helen Mirren.

To discover more about the 70th edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, DOP of the film Last and First Men.

FRED Film Radio has the chance to talk to the talented cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, here at the Berlinale for his work with the late Johann Johansson and his Last and First Men. Last and First Men is a hypnotic total work of art, a requiem for the universe containing echoes of Kubrick, Tarr and the avant-garde that turns cinema into a pure synthesis of sounds and images; a place of the impossible, where the deepest past meets the most distant future.

Last and First Men:  There are no people in Last and First Men, but the film does feature three very special protagonists: the concrete testimonies of Yugoslavian brutalism, Tilda Swinton’s voice and the music of Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who composed the soundtracks for Sicario and Arrival and who died in 2018 at the age of 48. Jóhannsson made several Super 8 and 16mm shorts and often used visual elements when performing his musical works. The idea for his first feature-length film came to him in 2010 when he saw Dutch photographer Jan Kempenaers’ images of the colossal monuments of the Tito era. Jóhannsson, an avid reader of science fiction, accompanies his 16mm black-and-white footage with excerpts from British author and philosopher Olaf Stapledon’s eponymous visionary 1930 novel, read ethereally by Tilda Swinton.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Eric Steel, actor of the film Minyan.

Eric Steel crafted a moving and precise tale, with a perfect description of an era , through an astonishing color palette and camera pov . The plot is moving and educational, bringing us back, in a softer and more intimate tone, to an updated Scorsese’s Taxi Driver atmosphere. Eric talks about the film and its production with Angelo Acerbi, at the world premiere in Berlin.

Minyan: For a Jewish prayer community or “minyan” to be able to hold a service, it must consist of at least ten practising Jews. David, who was born into a Russian immigrant family, is 17 years old and regularly helps out at minyans in Brighton Beach, a district of New York that is characterised by Jewish life. His father, a former boxing coach, his mother and his beloved grandfather all take this for granted. But David, who is just starting to tentatively explore life in the East Village gay scene, gradually begins to question the strict rules of his community and makes friends with two elderly gay Jews. At the same time, David’s sexual awakening cannot help but be affected by the emergence of HIV and AIDS. Director Eric Steel sets his sensitive portrait of a gay Jewish youth in the as yet un-gentrified, roughshod New York of the 1980s. In his feature-film debut, he depicts unobtrusively and with quiet humour how one young man squares social attributions – immigrant, Jew, homosexual – with his own feelings and learns to define them anew.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Samuel H. Levine, actor of the film Minyan.

Samuel H. levine is a nice, funny and handoms actor who shares with Angelo Acerbi, in Berlin, his thoughts about his role in Minyan, where he plays a young jewish russian gay guy coming to terms with his own sexuality and proudly balancing the rules and teachings his upbringing brought him with his personal life, in a almost neo-realistic New York of the late 80’s. His talk shows his passion for this film and his role in it.

Minyan: For a Jewish prayer community or “minyan” to be able to hold a service, it must consist of at least ten practising Jews. David, who was born into a Russian immigrant family, is 17 years old and regularly helps out at minyans in Brighton Beach, a district of New York that is characterised by Jewish life. His father, a former boxing coach, his mother and his beloved grandfather all take this for granted. But David, who is just starting to tentatively explore life in the East Village gay scene, gradually begins to question the strict rules of his community and makes friends with two elderly gay Jews. At the same time, David’s sexual awakening cannot help but be affected by the emergence of HIV and AIDS. Director Eric Steel sets his sensitive portrait of a gay Jewish youth in the as yet un-gentrified, roughshod New York of the 1980s. In his feature-film debut, he depicts unobtrusively and with quiet humour how one young man squares social attributions – immigrant, Jew, homosexual – with his own feelings and learns to define them anew.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Samuel H. Levine – Minyan #Berlinale2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.