FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Samantha Sartori interviews Megumi Sasaki, director of the film A Whale of A Tale.

We met Megumi Sasaki in New York at the US opening of A Whale of A Tale. She told us about her feelings after the movie The Cove pointed the finger at the little village of Taiji in Japan. What happened after is beyond activism: it is an example of internet bullying which ruined the peace of a little village with hundreds of years of history. Sasaki points out that this is a battle between localism and globalism. This movie is one of the first talking about what internet bullying means in this kind of situation, and as many people as possible should see what being attacked by the media means, and why we should have enough information before making a judgement. The movie is opening August 17th at the QUAD theatre in New York, August 24th in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall, September 7th in San Francisco and also in September in Seattle.

A Whale of A Tale: After the movie The Cove won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2010, the fishermen in Taiji were attacked over social media and media. The Cove vilified the fishermen in Taiji, who were there for hundreds of years hunting whales. For the first time after almost eight years, A Whale of a Tale is giving a voice to the people of Taiji.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Megumi Sasaki – A Whale of A Tale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Samantha Sartori interviews Eric Matti, director of the film BuyBust.

BuyBust by Eric Matti was selected for the closing night of the New York Asian Film Festival 2018. With a selection of over 50 movies from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, it is the most comprensive festival of Asian movies in New York City. At the world premiere of BuyBust, we had the pleasure to meet the director Eric Matti and talked about how he got the idea to write a movie set in the most dangerous place in Manila and how he worked with the stuntmen and actors to create this dystopian movie about a one-night operation of an anti-narcotics squad. We then talked about some technical aspects of the movie, like the impressive sound editing and the rich and striking soundtrack which includes traditional instruments, classical music, heavy metal and much more. The movie will premier in the Philippines July 23rd and will open in theaters August 1st. The movie has already a distributor for the United States and Canada and will open August 10th.

BuyBust: After two decades making erotica, fantasy, horror, thrillers and a superhero comedy, Erik Matti directs his first all-out action film. And it’s relentless, featuring 309 stuntmen, 1,278 extras, and a wildly ambitious three-minute, one-cut action scene in which superstar Anne Curtis fights back hordes of thugs across rain-drenched rooftops. Curtis stars as Nina, a rookie police officer on a doomed buy-bust operation with an elite anti-narcotic squad. Matching The Raid and The Villainess in scope and body count, the director of On the Job and Honor Thy Father also takes a sharp knife to contemporary political realities in the Philippines.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Eric Matti – BuyBust #NYAFF2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Samantha Sartori interviews Anne Curtis, actress of the films BuyBust and Sid & Aya.

We had the pleasure to talk with Anne Curtis at the closing night of New York Asian Film Festival 2018. She plays the protagonist in two of the six movies selected from the Philippines: in Eric Matti’s BuyBust as Nina, a police officer on a doomed buy-bust operation with an elite anti-narcotic squad, and the cheeky cafe waitress Aya in Irene Villamor’s Sid & Aya, inspired by the the black swan theory of Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Anne Curtis told us how she worked with Eric Matti and how she prepared for this physically demanding role, without a body double. We then talk about the work she did with Irene Villamor to create the complex character of Aya. We previously met both directors, who were enthusiastic about working with her. Finally, we talked about how she chooses her projects. Her kindness is beyond imagination. The line of fans waiting to meet her after the screening of both movies was around the block! We can’t wait to see her in her next project!

BuyBust: Curtis stars as Nina, a rookie police officer on a doomed buy-bust operation with an elite anti-narcotic squad. Matching The Raid and The Villainess in scope and body count, the director Eric Matti also takes a sharp knife to contemporary political realities in the Philippines. A Well Go USA release.

Sid & Aya: After decades of films that followed formula, a handful of (mostly) female filmmakers are reinventing the staple genre of Philippines cinema: the romance. Irene Villamor is at the vanguard, with vibrant dialogue, honest situations…and sex. Here, Dingdong Dantes plays a cutthroat stockbroker who can’t sleep at night. He befriends Anne Curtis’s sassy cafe waitress and offers to pay her $20 an hour to talk him through his insomnia. But she becomes the one in control in this anti-romance that has as much to say about class war as the battle of the sexes.

The post Anne Curtis – BuyBust and Sid & Aya #NYAFF2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Lora Mure-Ravaud, director of the film Blackjack.

An interview with director Lora Mure-Ravaud, from France, who was selected to be part of Future Frames at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. European Film Promotion (EFP) presents ten outstanding young directors from Europe with their latest work at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival every year. Mure-Ravaud’s film is called Blackjack.

Blackjack:  Fleeting encounters, a mutual attraction that requires no words. Two lonely people who meet in an unusual place. Leila works as a croupier at a hotel casino in a predominantly male environment; Camil books himself a room in the same hotel… A fragment of the life of a woman whose singular appearance prompts a myriad of questions; Leila, however, guards her privacy assiduously.

The post Lora Mure-Ravaud – Blackjack #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Cristiana Palmieri interviews Mehdi Avaz and Julie Christiansen, director and actress of the film While We Live.

Mehdi Avaz talks about the making of the film While We Live and how the story was inspired by the events that occurred to a friend of his while he was in high school. Julie Christiansen talks about the leading female character, Trine, who, despite the terrible events affecting her life, refuses to be a victim, showing incredible strengths and resilience.

While We Live: Inspired by true events, While We Live is a story of family, loss and love that follows four people in Northern Denmark and how their fates intertwine after a tragic accident. The story is told through a brilliantly intricate narrative that interweaves past and present to peel back layers of buried resentment and guilt.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Mehdi Avaz and Julie Christiansen – While We Live #ScandiFilmFest appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, artistic director of Cairo Film Festival.

An interview with Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, artistic director of the Cairo Film Festival, from the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. This year, the Cairo Film Festival will celebrate its landmark 40th edition and run from November 20 to November 29. The artistic director talks to us about the objectives of the festival, its structure, the current situation of Egyptian film and its presence on the international scene and more. He also talks to us about his experience in Karlovy Vary this year and his opinion on the overall quality of the films he has seen here.

The post Youssef Cherif Rizkallah #KVIFF53 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Zita Erffa, director of the documentary The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life.

Director Zita Erffa presented her feature documentary The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life in the official documentary competition of the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film talks about an intimate and personal story, as the director herself tries to reconnect with her quasi-estranged brother, who has a conservative Catholic order of priests. Here, she talks about working on the project, how her own attitude towards the order changed while she was filming, and how the cameras impacted her reconnection with her brother.

The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life:  Why did the director’s brother enter a conservative Roman Catholic order, causing him to sever all ties with the outside world? The shooting of this fresh, self-reflexive documentary about an eroded sibling bond becomes the pretext for long-desired personal contact and a therapeutic aid to help her heal herself.

The post Zita Erffa – The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life #KVIFF53 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Neven Samardzic, director of the film Clean.

An interview with director Neven Samardzic, from Georgia, who was selected to be part of Future Frames at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. European Film Promotion (EFP) presents ten outstanding young directors from Europe with their latest work at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival every year. Samardzic’s film is called Clean.

Clean:  Fudo is a drug addict, but after his best friend overdoses, he is determined to stay clean. He’s confident that, this time, it’ll definitely work out. With no money and no dignity, he begins the first day of his new life. An optimistically realistic film which reminds us that junkies deserve hope too.

The post Neven Samardzic – Clean #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews consultant Isabelle Fauvel at Torino Film Lab.

Isabelle Fauvel, tutor at Torino Film Lab, consultant for many film festivals and head of Initiative Film, a France-based consulting company for developing film projects, talks about her job in Torino: how it started, the actual challenges and the potential developments.

The post Isabelle Fauvel #TorinoFilmLab appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Michal Duris, director of the film Warm Comedy About Depression, Madness and Unfulfilled Dreams.

An interview with director Michal Duris, from Slovakia, who was selected to be part of Future Frames at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. European Film Promotion (EFP) presents ten outstanding young directors from Europe with their latest work at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival every year. Duris’ film is called Warm Comedy About Depression, Madness and Unfulfilled Dreams.

Warm Comedy About Depression, Madness and Unfulfilled Dreams:  States of depression or mild insanity shouldn’t immediately be viewed as something negative. Talented director Michal Duris portrays a family whose members have known each other for so long that it’s difficult to differentiate between love and cabin fever. Everyone will experience a crisis at some point in their lives, but it’s important to talk about it. Even if it means potential dialogue will be replaced with sticky notes.

The post Michal Duris – Warm Comedy About Depression, Madness and Unfulfilled Dreams #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.