FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Cristiana Palmieri interviews Armin Miladi, festival director of the Iranian Film Festival in Australia.

Festival director Armin Miladi explains that “despite political and economic challenges, 2018 has been a great year for Iranian Cinema on the international stage. Iranian cinema is recognised internationally for its minimalism and challenging social themes, but there is also a growing Iranian audience for comedy.”

This year’s program presents a mix of films by world-renowned Iranian filmmakers alongside new talents, including Jafar Panahi’s Three Faces, Winner of the Best Screenplay at Cannes and Mostafa Sayari’s debut film As I lay dying presented at the Venice Film Festival.

For the official page of the Festival, click here.

The post Armin Miladi – Iranian Film Festival Australia #iffaus appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Samantha Sartori interviews Frederick Wiseman, director of the film Monrovia, Indiana.

At the 56th New York Film Festival we met Frederick Wiseman and he revealed to us how he works to make his movies. The time he dedicated to editing, starting with the selection of candidate sequences among 120 hours of shooting. Every new film from Frederick Wiseman, now 88 years old, seems more vigorous and acute than the last. His subject here is Monrovia, Indiana; population 1063, as of 2017; located deep in the American heartland. Wiseman alights on key activities: talk among friends over coffee at the diner, packaging meat at the supermarket, trucks loading with corn, expansion debates at town planning commission meetings, and, most intriguingly, a funeral. Monrovia, Indiana is a tough, piercing look at the rhythm and texture of life as it is lived in a wide swathe of this country. A Zipporah Films release. Monrovia, Indiana will open in the US October 26th 2018.

Monrovia, Indiana explores a small town in rural, mid-America and illustrates how values like community service, duty, spiritual life, generosity and authenticity are formed, experienced and lived along with conflicting stereotypes. The film gives a complex and nuanced view of daily life in Monrovia and provides some understanding of a way of life whose influence and force have not always been recognized or understood in the big cities on the east and west coasts of America and in other countries.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Frederick Wiseman – Monrovia, Indiana #NYFF appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Samantha Sartori interviews Tom Surgal, director of the film Fire Music.

At the world premiere of Fire Music at the 56th New York Film Festival, we meet the director Tom Surgal. We talked about his collaboration with John Northrup and Lin Culbertson in the creation of this film about the most innovative moment in music history. Writer/Director Tom Surgal is known for directing a series of groundbreaking music videos for leading alternative bands like Sonic Youth, Pavement and the Blues Explosion. Tom was a teenage protégé of Brian DePalma and has worked in a wide range of film production jobs, including production design, casting and writing. Tom is also a musician who performs regularly with Nels Cline (Wilco), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Jim O’Rourke and Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges) and is co-leader of the improvisational ensemble White Out. He is also a curator who has programmed celebrated music series at various downtown New York venues, including an entire month of shows at John Zorn’s hallowed performance space The Stone. Tom is recognized as a leading authority on Avant-Garde Jazz and boasts one the world’s largest collections of Free Jazz recordings.

Fire Music: Tom Surgal’s film looks at the astonishing sounds (and sights) of that combustible and wildly diverse moment in music known as free jazz, which more or less began with Ornette Coleman, whose tone clusters and abandonment of strict rhythms opened the floor from under modern jazz. Surgal pays close attention to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Albert Ayler, Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Sun Ra & His Arkestra, and, of course, the recently deceased piano genius Cecil Taylor. Filled with priceless archival footage and photographs, Fire Music is a fittingly wild and freeform tribute to music that makes your hair stand on end.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Tom Surgal – Fire Music #NYFF appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews James Gardner, director of the film Jellyfish.

James Gardner tells us the reasons and inspirations that led to the making of his first feature Jellyfish. Jellyfish stars the young and talented Liv Hill as Sarah Taylor, a young carer that finds the cure against her grotesquely tough life in stand-up comedy.

Jellyfish: Fifteen-year-old Sarah Taylor exists in the eye of the storm. The sole caretaker of her family, including precocious twin siblings and a manic-depressive mother who spends most of her time in bed, Sarah runs from school to home to work each and every day. Yet, despite her Herculean efforts to put food on the table and keep the electricity on, she is still forced to engage with more dehumanizing ways to make a few extra bucks-so it’s no wonder that her back is up among her peers at school. Jellyfish tells the story of Sarah’s discovery of an unexpected outlet for her frustration and quick-tempered wit: stand-up comedy. First-time feature film director James Gardner paints a dark and hard-edged picture of life in this grey seaside British town, and, in newcomer Liv Hill, he uncovers a revelatory talent. Thanks to her fiercely evocative and vulnerable depiction of Sarah, Hill gives the audience truly remarkable insight into a young woman living a life far beyond her years.

The post James Gardner – Jellyfish #RomaFF13 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Jim Loach, director of the film Measure of a Man.

Jim Loach stops by our studio in Rome within Alice nella Città to talk about his second film Measure of a Man, a coming of age tale that deals with the universality of bullyism and how to feel comfortable with ourselves. Measure of a Man stars Blake Cooper and Donald Sutherland.

Measure of a Man: A teen develops a bond with a Wall Street executive while learning to stand up to bullies during one life-changing summer.

The post Jim Loach – Measure of a Man #RomaFF13 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Michael Morpurgo and Barnaby Spurrier, writer and producer of the film Kensuke’s Kingdom.

Fred has the pleasure to converse with writer Sir Michael Morpurgo and producer Barnaby Spurrier, here in Rome at the MIA to discuss about their imminent project together: the adaptation of Morpurgo’s book Kensuke’s Kingdom.

Kensuke’s Kingdom: The encounter with Michael Morpurgo and Barnaby Spurrier will be a unique opportunity to get a taste of Kensuke’s Kingdom, an animated feature film still in production, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo. During the meeting, the story boards, footages and the first teasers of the film will be presented. In this context, the producer, the writer and the international distributor of the film will be available to talk to buyers.

The post Michael Morpurgo, Barnaby Spurrier – Kensuke’s Kingdom #MIA2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Desiree Akhavan, director of the film The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

Desiree Akhavan joins us in Rome to talk about her highly acclaimed second feature The Miseducation of Cameron Post, showcasing in Rome Film Fest’s new section Everybody is talking about it.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Adapted from the cult novel by Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post is directed by New York filmmaker of Iranian origin Desiree Akhavan, considered one of the most intense and original voices on the international independent scene. The film has marked Chloë Grace Moretz (Suspiria, Hugo Cabret) out as one of the finest young actresses in American cinema today. The story is set in a small town in Montana, in 1993: young Cameron Post, surprised kissing a girl at the school prom, is shipped off to a religious center, God’s Promise, to “heal her” of homosexuality by means of conversion therapy. Intolerant to discipline and to the center’s dubious methods, Cameron connects with her peers, and ends up creating a small and variegated community that can proudly reaffirm its own identity.

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The post Desiree Akhavan – The Miseducation of Cameron Post #RomaFF13 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Karl Spoerri, director of the Zurich International Film Festival.

Festival Director Karl Spoerri takes stock of ZFF’s life and reveals how a successful festival can be run: with always an open mind and ear towards the world and a good team that shares the same passion.

Karl Spoerri began studies at Zurich’s University of the Arts in 1993. During the summer of 2004, Karl Spoerri and Tim Geser brought the English digital film festival “Onedotzero” to Zurich. This small-scale event led to the development of the Zurich Film Festival and brought together its core team. The following seven years saw Spoerri and his colleagues develop a comprehensive network of agents and managers in Europe and the USA, offering him and his team a unique overview of prevailing trends and the latest talent. Spoerri was the managing director of Millbrook Pictures AG from 2008 until 2011. Millbrook financed and coproduced, amongst other things, Oliver Stone’s W and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method with Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen, which subsequently sold to over 80 countries. In March 2010, Spoerri closed a first look deal with Marc Forster and his production company, a collaboration that led Millbrook to finance the development of further projects. In 2010 Karl Spoerri became the Chairman of the Zurich Summit (Film Finance Forum Zurich) – an international forum focussing on film financing and production, which takes place annually in Los Angeles, New York, Cannes, Moscow, Singapore and Zurich.

The post Karl Spoerri #ZFF2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Kevin McDonald, director of the documentary Whitney.

The acclaimed director Kevin McDonald reveals what he learnt from the making of his latest documentary Whitney. Whitney cracks a part of the incredible enigma that was Whitney Houston: arguably the most virtuoso voice in the history of pop music, as well as a troubled girl that had could not express – or simply be – herself.

Whitney: Whitney Houston was one of the most acclaimed solo artists of her time, yet her life was anything but a dazzling success story. From her early global breakthrough with Bodyguard to drug addiction and her untimely demise in 2012, her career has always been followed closely by the media. Yet, until this very day, her tragic fate still seems riddled with endless mysteries. Director Kevin Macdonald’s documentary-style portrait incorporates never before seen archive footage, private video recordings and conversations with family, friends, her ex-husband Bobby Brown and her co-workers to shine some light into the darkness. Whitney paints the story of the complex life of a vulnerable megastar – impressive concert recordings of what is perhaps the best pop voice of the 20th century are sprinkled with one or two piquant revelations.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Wayne Roberts, director of the film Richard Says Goodbye.

Director Wayne Roberts is here in Zurich to present his second feature: the world premiere Richard Says Goodbye. Richard Says Goodbye is a comedy drama full of snappy humor and a pinch of craziness – a film that is as hilarious as it is touching. Acting icon Johnny Depp stars in the lead role.

Richard Says Goodbye: One day, Richard gets some devastating news: the burnt-out college professor is suddenly faced with an incurable illness and the inevitable end of his existence. Flinging all conventions out of the window, he decides to completely change his life. Richard wants to enjoy what time he has left to the fullest – as freely and impetuously as possible. He leaves no sin unsinned – he drinks, smokes, dives headlong into sexual escapades and doesn’t let anyone get in his way. An act of liberation that brings Richard back to life. But time is running out.

The post Wayne Roberts – Richard Says Goodbye #ZFF2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.