FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Sebastián Lojo, director of the film Los Fantasmas.

An interview with Sebastián Lojo, director of Los Fantasmas, presented in the Bright Future strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film is set in the lower classes of Guatemala City and explores, among other things, lack of communication. Lojo talks with us about this particular theme as well as how sex and violence serve as disruption within the narrative. He also talks about how the actors he cast helped shape the characters they portrayed and more.

Los Fantasmas: Handsome Koki earns a living in Guatemala City winning people’s confidence, after which their possessions go missing. By day he is a tourist guide, but at night he seduces men and takes them to Carlos’ hotel, where they are robbed. Koki and Carlos are two sides of the same coin; their fates are intertwined through their violent activities. One day, Koki is targeted by one of the men he stole from, leading Carlos to replace him with another good-looking young man. The shock of this sudden removal of his means of subsistence causes Koki to realise what his life was like, in an almost out-of-body experience.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Marion Hänsel, director of the film There Was a Little Ship.

Belgian filmmaker Marion Hänsel was the subject of a retrospective at the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam, within which she also presented her new work – an intimate feature documentary titled There Was a Little Ship (Il était un petit navire). Here, she tells her story of her life, revisiting memories from childhood to present day during a two-month stay hospital stay. In this interview, we ask the filmmaker whether it was difficult to revisit some of these moments, whether she considers herself a nostalgic person, the experience of working with archive footage along with footage she filmed herself, and more.

There Was a Little Ship (Il était un petit navire): A two-month hospital stay marks the start of a journey through the memories of a woman, the filmmaker. Invisibly providing voiceover, she returns to 1949, to the staircase she would take down to the water as a child in Marseille, where she was born. This leads her to Antwerp, England, New York, Paris and other places she visited as a child, teen or adult.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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The post Marion Hänsel – There Was a Little Ship #IFFR2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Maria Clara Escobar, director of the film Desterro.

An interview with filmmaker Maria Clara Escobar, whose latest film Desterro was selected for the Tiger Competition of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Desterro also marks Escobar’s fiction feature directorial debut. In this interview, she shares her thoughts about some of the main themes dealt with in the movie, including communication and family. She also talks about some of the ways in which she worked with actors to get the right performances from them, how her background in documentary filmmaking influenced her work on this film and more.

Desterro: We follow the life of Brazilian couple Laura and Israël, who are in their mid-thirties and have a five-year-old son, Lucas. They live together, but seem to have lost interest in one another’s thoughts and cares. Their relationship seems headed for the rocks, and the only one who seems to still be looking for something from life is Lucas. Laura feels the warning signs of impending catastrophe. Then she disappears, and some time later Israël learns that Laura is dead, her body in Argentina. He doesn’t tell anyone – not even their son. As they were not married and have no savings, Israël faces the practical problems of bringing Laura’s body home. The last part of the film flashes back to Laura’s bus journey south and her encounters along the way with other (female) passengers, and particularly with a man who reminds her of her partner.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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The post Maria Clara Escobar – Desterro #IFFR2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Jorge Thielen Armand, director of the film La Fortaleza.

An interview with Jorge Thielen Armand, director of La Fortaleza, presented in the Tiger Competition of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film, in short, is the story of an alcoholic man who, while falling apart, travels to the Amazon jungle to rebuild a tourist camp and himself – but falls prey to various vices while there. The director reveals that this film was inspired by experiences and stories of his own father, who stars as a version of himself in the movie. He also talks about such themes as masculinity, present in the film, and his urge to talk about contemporary Venezuela, among other things.

La Fortaleza: Roque, who is old enough for a midlife crisis, has just wrecked his mother’s car. He blames the chaos in Venezuela, but his parents don’t share this view, and throw him out of their house. To battle his demons, and the drink, he travels into the southern jungle to renovate a cabin he built there in happier times. He meets old friends, now captivated by the gold rush. His desire for redemption conflates with an increasingly violent environment.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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The post Jorge Thielen Armand – La Fortaleza #IFFR2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Jens Meurer, director of the film An Impossible Project.

An interview with Jens Meurer, director of An Impossible Project, presented in the Deep Focus strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. This documentary could be described as a love letter to all things analogue, which revolves around a man named Doc, who saved the last Polaroid factory. Meurer talks with us about how he met doc, whether he shares his same passion for analogue and why he decided to shoot this documentary on 35 mm. He also talks about one of the things he believes this film is truly about — the importance of preserving things before they fade away.

An Impossible Project: Dr. Florian ‘Doc’ Kaps had always been fascinated by analogue image and sound recording mediums, but it wasn’t until the very last Polaroid factory was threatened by demolition in the wake of the digital revolution that he swung into action, determined to save the famous instant photography device. However, this eccentric Austrian proved not to have much of a business brain. During the few years that this energetic documentary follows Doc, a shift in the zeitgeist occurs and other analogue lovers come to the fore. A small group swims powerfully against the tide, freeing themselves from the tech giants who hold us in their uncomfortable grasp.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Illum Jacobi, director of the film The Trouble With Nature.

An interview with filmmaker Illum Jacobi, who talks with us about his latest film, The Trouble With Nature, presented in the Bright Future strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film is loosely based on the life of Edmund Burke, one of the architects of the capitalist system, and is especially inspired by his writings on the sublime. In our chat, Jacobi gives us his own definition of the sublime and talks about the relationship people have with nature today. He also tells us whether he sought to make his film a critique of the capitalist system, the importance of sense of humor in the movie, the challenges and upsides of shooting most of The Trouble With Nature outdoors and much more.

The Trouble With Nature: Rampant debt and a significant midlife crisis send philosopher Edmund Burke (Antony Langdon) fleeing from London to embark on an expedition through the French Alps. He brings along a servant on loan from his brother’s plantation in the West Indies, a young indigenous woman named Awak (Nathalia Acevedo from Post Tenebras Lux). Together they set out to discover the sublime in this 18th-century road movie. Ill-equipped for the outdoor life, Burke whinges the days away while Awak carries all their supplies and makes sure his face is perpetually powdered.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Diyar Hesso, producer of the film The End Will Be Spectacular.

An interview with Diyar Hesso, producer of The End Will Be Spectacular, presented as part of the Perspectives strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Hesso is also the co-founder of the Rojava Film Commune, the Kurdish film commune credited as makers of this film. He tells us about why and how this Commune was set up, and how it not only produces Kurdish films from a Kurdish point of view but also how it promotes and is involved with several aspects of the proliferation of film culture in the region. The End Will Be Spectacular is a feature film that tells the story of the siege of Sur, based on the experiences of many of the people involved with the making of the film and appearing in it – A fascinating and compelling story told via the words of Hesso.

The End Will Be Spectacular: Between 2012 and 2019, the Kurds set up a ‘stateless democracy’ in Rojava, northern Syria, based on local self-governance, gender equality and a communal economy. The Rojava Film Commune was established in 2015, in the middle of the Syrian civil war, to make films based on that region’s reality. The End Will Be Spectacular is an uncompromising war film about resistance fighters who are attempting in 2015 to break the Turkish siege of Sur, the historic heart of the Turkish-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. The hundred-day battle claims many victims and Sur is almost entirely destroyed. Some of the survivors play lead roles in this film by Ersin Çelik, a member of the Rojava Film Commune.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Deniz Tortum, director of the film Phases of Matter.

An interview with Deniz Tortum, who presented his feature documentary debut Phases of Matter in the Bright Future strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film is set in a hospital, filmed when plans for its complete demolition seemed to be set in motion. But it is also a location that has a personal connection with Tortum – he was born there and his father is a doctor there. In this film, he talks in more detail about his desire to film in this particular location, the way in which it humanises the representation of patients and doctors on film, the similarities between filmmakers and doctors, and more.

Phases of Matter: The professor strides resolutely through the old Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Hospital. She stops next to a patient. Having professionally exchanged some medical data, she interestedly asks the elderly woman on the bed what book she is reading. The professor picks it up and reads a love poem aloud – an unexpected contrast in Deniz Tortum’s depiction of the parallel world of doctors and other workers in the hospital where he was born and where his father is a doctor.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Antony Langdon and Nathalia Acevedo, actors of the film The Trouble With Nature.

An interview with Antony Langdon and Nathalia Acevedo, the undisputed lead actors of Illum Jacobi’s film, The Trouble With Nature, presented in the Deep Focus strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film draws inspiration from Edmund Burke (played by Langdon) and on this film, the two actors give their own interpretations of each other’s characters. They also discuss their definitions of the “sublime,” their relationships to nature, peeing habits and much more, in what may simply be described as just little-over-ten-minutes of pure radio gold.

The Trouble With Nature: Rampant debt and a significant midlife crisis send philosopher Edmund Burke (Antony Langdon) fleeing from London to embark on an expedition through the French Alps. He brings along a servant on loan from his brother’s plantation in the West Indies, a young indigenous woman named Awak (Nathalia Acevedo from Post Tenebras Lux). Together they set out to discover the sublime in this 18th-century road movie. Ill-equipped for the outdoor life, Burke whinges the days away while Awak carries all their supplies and makes sure his face is perpetually powdered.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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The post Antony Langdon, Nathalia Acevedo – The Trouble With Nature #IFFR2020 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews An Tran, director of the film Moving Pictures: Filmmakers and the Art of Cinematography.

An interview with An Tran, director of Moving Pictures: Filmmakers and the Art of Cinematography, presented in the Deep Focus strand of the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film was producer by ARRI to mark their 100th anniversary, and features many notable cinematic artists from different generations and of varied cultural and formative backgrounds. An Tran tells us about the project, as well as her own awakening to the art of cinematography.

Moving Pictures: Filmmakers and the Art of Cinematography: As a relatively young art form, film is constantly undergoing change. Decades ago, film cameras were unwieldy monsters on a tripod or rails. Now, a whole array of variants and aids have sprung up: from Steadicams and crane shots to incredibly light handheld cameras. The digital revolution also had a radical impact. And then again, not so much: the collaboration between director of photography and director is still as close as ever, professional traditions and jargon remain, and old masters such as Rembrandt still inspire many film professionals.

To discover more about the festival, click here.

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