FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Xin Yukun, director of the film Wrath of Silence.

Director Xin Yukun presented his latest film, Wrath of Silence, at the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. (The film stars actor Song Yang, whom we have also interviewed in Macao.) In this interview, the director talks to us about what prompted him to make his film and his level of familiarity with the small mineral mining town in northern China setting where the story of Wrath of Silence takes place. Xin Yukun also shares with us his takes on some of the main themes of the film, the importance of silence and fighting in it, and whether it was intentional for him to portray all of his characters ambiguously; in a way in which the lines between good and bad are not always easily defined.

Wrath of Silence:  In a small mineral mining town in the mountains of northern China, a miner Zhang Baomin returns to his small family sheep farm only to learn that his young son Lei hasn’t come back from shepherding for two days. He begins a search for the boy which stirs up anxiety, resentment and distrust among the townsfolk who turn a blind eye to the reality of a missing child. But Zhang does not stop the search even when he comes head to head with the corruption and danger that permeates the local mining business.

The post Xin Yukun – Wrath of Silence #IFFAM2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Michael Pearce, director of the film  Beast.

Director Michael Pearce presented his feature debut, Beast, at the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. In this interview, he tells us that the film took him a long time to make but in retrospects considers the long process as worthwhile because it allowed him to make Beast a film that represented the type of film he is interested in making. He also talks about the importance of the setting – Jersey, England, and one of the motives behind his decision to have the protagonist of Beast female: “We have a lot of great male antiheroes in cinema… but I started to struggle to think about female versions of that.” Among the other topics of this interview, Pearce tells us about how he met and cast Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn, whose work on Beast was important because, as he says, “the film is so emotionally demanding for the performers.”

Beast:  Moll Huntford, 27, is a young woman who is yet to begin her life on the island of Jersey off the coast of England. Trapped by a controlling family, who have kept her on a tight leash ever since she was involved in a violent incident as a teenager, Moll still lives at home under the watchful eye of her domineering mother. When Moll falls in love with the mysterious outsider Pascal she feels like she can breathe for the first time in her life. However, when the body of a young girl is found on the island – the fourth victim of a sexually motivated serial killer – Pascal is a prime suspect.

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PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Angela Robinson, director of the film Professor Marston and The Wonder Women.

Angela Robinson has always been a fan of Wonder Woman since infancy and had always wondered why, besides a TV series, we continued to watch films, sequel, remakes on Batman and Superman but we never got to watch a film about Diana and her super powers. But Wonder Woman was destined to shine again and it’s only a coincidence that Angela Robinson’s film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is out in the same year as the first blockbuster DC comic movie on Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins. Angela Robinson, in Torino to present the film at the 35th Torino Film Festival, describes the genesis of her film project. At first she wanted to narrate the life of William Moulton Marston, the inventor of Wonder Woman and author of the comic book but then she realized that she couldn’t really get deeper into this man’s life without focusing on the two women he shared his creativity and life with, his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and their mutual lover Olive (Bella Heathcote).

Professor Marston and The Wonder Women:   The 1950s. William Moulton Marston teaches psychology at Harvard. An illustration buff, unbeknownst to his students and colleagues he has created Wonder Woman, the heroine of protofeminist comic books who was censured at the time. A controversial, sexy and astute character, her genesis can be traced back to the two women Marston loved: his wife Elizabeth and Olive, his student and the third element of a ménage à trois which had to be kept secret. But can a person love and live his own sexuality freely when he is surrounded by raging hate and obscurantism?

For the official page of the film on the Festival website, click here.

The post Angela Robinson – Professor Marston and The Wonder Women #TFF35 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Song Yang, actor of the film Wrath of Silence.

Actor Song Yang talk about his work on Wrath of Silence, directed by Xin Yukun, on which he plays the leading role and that was screened at the 2nd International Film Festival & Award Macao. In this film, Song Yang plays a mute; the challenge entailed acting in silence for the whole film. Yang point out another challenge that working on Wrath of Silence entailed: the fact that it is set in a rural setting, which meant that he had to lose some of his city habits, having been brought up and lived in a city environment all his life. Besides this, another challenge came from the fact that Song Yang normally acts in martial arts films and TV serials; though he gets physical in this film as well, Wrath of Silence is more dramatic. We ask him about this and about his work with the director.

Wrath of Silence:  In a small mineral mining town in the mountains of northern China, a miner Zhang Baomin returns to his small family sheep farm only to learn that his young son Lei hasn’t come back from shepherding for two days. He begins a search for the boy which stirs up anxiety, resentment and distrust among the townsfolk who turn a blind eye to the reality of a missing child. But Zhang does not stop the search even when he comes head to head with the corruption and danger that permeates the local mining business.

The post Song Yang – Wrath of Silence #IFFAM2017 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Sarmad Masud and Suhaee Abror, director and actress of the film My Pure Land.

Director Sarmad Masud and actress Suhaee Abro talk about My Pure Land, from the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Masud describes the film as a modern feminist western and tells us that it is based on a true story from Pakistan of three women who defended their agricultural land from heavily armed men seeking to claim it as a part of a familial feud. He also tells us that this is a frighteningly common situation and that My Pure Land, by focusing on one story represents a microcosm of this situation in Pakistan. Abro talks about connecting with her character, admitting that she was initially intimidated by her as well as the weapons in the film. They also tell us about the importance of storytelling, one of the touching underlying themes of the movie and, among other things, the influences from the western genre.

My Pure Land:  The true story of a young woman called Nazo who, together with her mother and sister, are forced to defend their home after a bitter family feud leads to her father’s incarceration. In their isolated farmhouse in Pakistan, the women find themselves surrounded by armed men hired by their uncle Mehrban to take back the land. But Nazo is not easily beaten and when two of his men are killed in the attack, Mehrban calls in a local militia group of 200 armed bandits. But even with only a handful of bullets left, Nazo refuses to give in.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Jeremy Renner, actor and Talent Ambassador of the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao.

Actor Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Avengers) was one of the talent ambassadors of the 2nd International Film Festival & Award Macao. The actor and producer talked about his impressions of the region and his opinion on its potential and its culture; he also reveals that this is his very first time in Macao. We also ask him for an opinion on Chinese movies, and he tells us that although he has not had time to watch many films since he entered the industry, he looks at the regions where directors are doing interesting things, and expects that China will be the place to look out for soon. Renner also talks about the upcoming Avengers movie or, rather, how little he can reveal about it. He does claim that it will be one of the biggest movies ever released and that they are all excited about it. He also shares his views on the recent #metoo movement and whether he prefers working on bigger budget blockbusters, like The Avengers series, or smaller (perhaps more character driven) ones, such as his latest film, Wind River.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Joan Chen, member of the jury of the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao and actress of the film The Last Emperor.

Director and actress Joan Chen was one of the members of the jury of the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. She is also the star of the Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning 1987 feature The Last Emperor, one of the special screenings at this year’s festival. This is where we start our interview, as Chen recalls what it was like to work with the celebrated Italian cineaste and how working on this important film impacted and shaped her subsequent career. Chen also went on to direct movies of her own. Here, she talks about her own experiences as a director and whether she feels the film industry has changed, for better or worse, for female directors.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Lawrence Osborne, author of the novel The Ballad of a Small Player and jury member of the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao.

Author Lawrence Osborne was one of the jury members of the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. He tells us that this was his first experience as a juror at a film festival, though he watches more films than he reads books, he prefers this experience to his previous ones at book festivals. However, does this also mean that his activities within the film industry will increase? We also talk about his novel, The Ballad of a Small Player, which is set in Macao, and why he decided to write a novel based on this part of the world.

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PODCAST| Samantha Sartori interviews Anik Datta, director of the film Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo, at the 48th International Film Festival of India, Goa.

IFFI’s journey from 23 countries in 1952 to 100 countries in 2017 With 47 years of existence and over a decade’s presence in Goa, IFFI has grown massively in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In 1952, it started with the participation of 23 countries with over two hundred films’ entries. This year, the numbers have increased multifold to submissions from over 100 countries across the world. IFFI celebrates its 48th this year with a more showbiz and a greater zeal from film artists around the globe. During the festival, we had the pleasure to talk with Anik Datta, director of Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo, selected in the Indian Panorama section. We talked about the making of the movie and other aspects of this epic thriller. A special thanks to the producer Billy Chatterjee who made this interview possible. Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo will open in UK this December, in Sweden soon, and you can see the movie in other festivals around the world.

Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo:  Professor Asimava Bose is a well-known sci-fi writer, a fellow at Oxford University. Every year he returns to Calcutta. His second wife Indrani is an ex-film actress, now runs an NGO. There are many other characters. Asimava’s son, his first wife, Indrani’s daughter, Indrani’s assistant, A film director and others. During one of Asimava’s yearly Calcutta visits he receives a surprise gift, a book Meghnadbodh Kabya from an unknown sender. Curiously, six months before his visit to Calcutta he had received the same book in London. The second time Asimava gets the book, it has a strange effect on him. One morning Asimava does not return from his morning walk. This creates a sensation in the media. Though there are various suspects with possible motives there is not much progress. After a lot of twists and turns the mystery is solved exposing an unlikely perpetrator with an unexpected motive.

To discover more about the Festival, click here.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Ofir Raul Graizer, director of the film The Cakemaker.

Ofir Raul Graizer talks about his directorial feature debut, The Cakemaker, which was screened in competition at the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Graizer defines this film as a personal story; here he tells us why. Certainly, his personal connection to the story must have added to his passion for making it, despite the difficulties he encountered in raising sufficient funds to make it, which he explains here. The director also talks about how the film reflects upon the theme of love through the story of the connection between two people who, despite being worlds apart, have both lost someone they deeply cared about. The Cakemaker, as the title might suggest, includes several beautiful shots of food and cakes; this, Graizer agrees, is an important part of the film.

The Cakemaker:  Thomas, a young German baker who runs a popular pastry shop in Berlin, is having an affair with Oren, a married man from Israel who has frequent business visits to Germany. When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers about his death. Disguising his relationship to Oren, Thomas infiltrates the life of his late lover’s widow Anat who owns a small café in the city and starts to work for her. As his traditional cakes and cookies bring the establishment to life, Thomas finds himself involved in Anat’s life in a far deeper way than he ever anticipated.

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