FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Graham Skipper, director of the film Sequence Break.

For his first feature film Sequence Break, actor turned director Graham Skipper chooses the 80’s atmosphere to direct an “analogic film” which is essentially a love story between two “antiques”, Oz and Tess, surrounded by an arcade, video games and dreams about the future. The film screens at the 35th Torino Film festival in the dark and irreverent section Afterhours. The Sequence Break in the film is indicated as the higher purpose of the protagonist and Skipper reveals how this is somehow the main message of the film: to not follow in life the path that has been imposed to us by society and structure. “Everybody gets an IT moment”, says Tess to Oz in a conversation. Graham Skipper describes the two IT moments of his life and his cinematographic influences.

Sequence Break:  A reclusive video arcade repair technician, Oz, has his reality fractured when a mysterious new arcade machine appears in his shop and a beautiful young woman enters his life.

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Brian O’Malley, director of the film The Lodgers.

Brian O’Malley tells us all about his new film, a gothic tale set in rural Ireland. A new territory for him after his previous film Let Us Prey, that was more of a classical horror film. A script that enticed him, which he worked on changing a little but moulding the atmosphere in a way that it keeps you hooked.

The Lodgers:  Ireland, the 1920s. Edward and Rachel are a couple of orphaned twins who live in their family’s decrepit estate. Even though they are in a remote place, they are not alone. There are sinister presences in the house that strictly regulate the twins’ lives by imposing three simple rules they must never break. Rule one: Edward and Rachel have to be in bed with the door shut by midnight. Rule two: no one can cross the hedges and access the house. Rule three: the twins can never leave the house for good. Breaking one of the rules would anger the spirits of their ancestors. Just before their eighteenth birthday, Rachel meets a young war veteran and feels immediately drawn to him: he represents a chance to escape the family curse. But Edward doesn’t take kindly to the turn of events and slips into madness. His sister will have to confront the supernatural presences by herself if she wants to finally be free.

The post Brian O’Malley – The Lodgers #TFF35 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Gillies MacKinnon, Petros Markaris and Santiago Mitre, members of the Jury at the 35th Torino Film Festival.

Gillies MacKinnon, director and artist, Santiago Mitre , director and screenwriter, and Petros Markaris , writer, are part of the Official Jury of the 35th Torino Film Festival. How is it for them judging other people’s work? How do they feel about it and how do they think they will take on this duty?

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Nicolas Wackerbath, director of the film Casting.

Nicolas Wackerbath tells us the peculiar way he used to create this film: no screenplay, just improvisation, long continuous shots of one hour and then editing. The intensity we get comes from this strenuous method, which definitely worked.

Casting:  One week before shooting starts, the main protagonist has yet to be cast. Vera is about to make her first TV movie, a remake of Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and takes her time looking for her ideal cast. While the producer and the crew become desperate, an actor in the crew, Gerwin, is happy about the extra work. He earns his money as fixed casting partner and exchanges lines with the famous applicants for the role. When the male lead leaves the production, Gerwin senses his chance to get a fresh start as an actor.

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Armando Iannucci, director of the film The Death of Stalin.

Armando Iannucci, director of The Death of Stalin, tells us about the birth of this incredible and great film. Taken from a graphic novel, it is a comical and hysterical trip into the structure of absolute power and the stupidity that often surrounds it. With an incredible cast that will blow you away.

The Death of Stalin:  1953 seems like any other year during Stalin’s mandate: confident (but not overly so) of his power, he continues to order the murder or deportation of dissidents, to suppress freedom of expression and to make sure the circle of people revolving around him toes the line. One morning, when he is found lying on the floor, his coterie panics… And obviously, the race to become his successor begins. Who will win out over the others: Khrushchev, who is more like a Mafioso than a politician; the loose cannon Molotov; mild-mannered Zhukov; or evil Beria?

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Marleen Jonkman, director of the film Messi and Maud (La Hollandesa).

Marleen Jonkman directs a film about a woman who has to fight her obsession of becoming a mother once she has to surrender to the harsh reality that she cannot have a child. Marleen came on board with a script confirmed, that she then changed and rewrote partially with the screenwriter to give her more personal point of view. A hard task that was worth it. An all-female film, from the director to the writers to the lead actress, in an astonishing nature.

Messi and Maud (La Hollandesa):  Forty-year-old Maud feels like she has failed. After years of trying, she and her boyfriend Frank have to accept that they will never have children. To breathe new life into their relationship, Frank takes her on a trip to Patagonia. While Frank puts all of his energy into making a new start, Maud continues to be obsessed with having a child. After one final quarrel on the subject, she abandons Frank to travel alone, without a destination, over Chile’s serpentine topography. From the rough and cold South of Patagonia to the sweltering heat of the Northern desert, Maud finally makes peace with herself.

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PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Tommy Wirkola and Noomi Rapace, director and actress of the film What Happened to Monday – Seven Sisters.

FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Tommy Wirkola and Noomi Rapace, director and absolute protagonist of What Happened to Monday, presented at the 35th Torino Film Festival in the Festa Mobile section. The film sees Noomi Rapace playing seven identical sisters, developing their personalities and personal journeys in this distopic future where, because of overpopulation threatening the planet’s resources, the One Child Policy forces people to have one child only. The seven sisters manage to hide for 30 years but something goes wrong and they will have to fight to survive. Noomi Rapace describes how challenging this acting experience was for her, from having to die multiple times and then mourn her own death to physically fight with “herself”. Wirkola reveals that it was his decision to change the protagonist from male to female as in the beginning it was supposed to be Seven Brothers.

What Happened to Monday – Seven Sisters:  The out-of-control birth rate has forced governments to enact the drastic One-Child-Policy instituted by the Child Allocation Bureau, which is directed by Dr. Cayman, who has decreed that all children in excess must be hibernated. A woman dies giving birth to septuplet girls and, to save them all, their grandfather hides them and names them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each one of them may leave the house only on the day that corresponds to their name; they use the shared identity of Karen Settman and are forbidden from revealing their family secret. Hidden for six days a week, the seven sisters are only free to be themselves in the prison of the apartment in which they live. Everything goes smoothly until one day Monday doesn’t return home…

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

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Bryan Jones, curator of the special effects for the film What Happened to Monday – Seven Sisters.

Bryan Jones is one of the modern masters in the world of special effects. He worked on Prometheus, Terminator 2, The Lone Ranger. He is considered a god. A nice guy, passionate about his work. An interesting look behind the way special effects are done.

What Happened to Monday – Seven Sisters:  The out-of-control birth rate has forced governments to enact the drastic One-Child-Policy instituted by the Child Allocation Bureau, which is directed by Dr. Cayman, who has decreed that all children in excess must be hibernated. A woman dies giving birth to septuplet girls and, to save them all, their grandfather hides them and names them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each one of them may leave the house only on the day that corresponds to their name; they use the shared identity of Karen Settman and are forbidden from revealing their family secret. Hidden for six days a week, the seven sisters are only free to be themselves in the prison of the apartment in which they live. Everything goes smoothly until one day Monday doesn’t return home…

The post Bryan Jones – What Happened to Monday – Seven Sisters #TFF35 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Sierra Pettengil, director and producer of the film The Reagan Show.

Sierra Pettengil talks with Angelo Acerbi about the making of an impressive documentary about Ronald Reagan’s system of self promotion and communication. She watched, together with her co-director Pacho Velez, more than 1000 hours of archival video material to compose this portrait of one of the most despised US presidents, until now.

The Reagan Show:  Told solely through 1980s network news and videotapes created by the Reagan administration itself, the film explores the president’s made-for-TV approach to politics. This documentary follows Ronald Reagan’s rivalry with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, tracing how the American president used his public-relations skills to overcome Soviet mistrust, the objections of a skeptical press, and the looming threat of World War III.

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PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Pablo Larraín, director and President of the Jury at the 35th Torino Film Festival.

Pablo Larraín is back in Turin as President of the Jury of the 35th Torino Film Festival where he won the official competition in 2008 with Tony Manero. The chilean director joins FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti again after the 2016 Mostra del cinema di Venezia where he presented Jackie to talk about his jury duties, his approach to the films he has to evaluate. What is Pablo Larraín looking for in a film? The director welcomes us into his world once again and describes his feelings about having so many young filmmakers looking up to him and the cinematic world of poetry and politics he created.

The FRED Film Radio Award was given to Pablo Larraín, the Oscar-nominated Director, at the Torino Film Festival on 27th November, where he will be leading the Jury, as President, for the 35th edition of the Festival. “Larraín is a Producer and a Filmaker who manages to combine commitment and formal elegance, denunciation and experimentation with works that are at the same time classic and yet original and that challenge any attempt at categorisation”, explains Federico Spoletti, the founder of FRED Film Radio. He went on to explain, “The Chilean director’s films, even with their variety of themes and languages, depict a very personal yet organic poetic landscape”. Larraín’s art, “breaks with tradition and aims to expose social conventions and all forms of hypocrisy, be it collective or individual”. FRED Film Radio explains its choice in presenting Larraín with this Award, “because in his work, Larraín is particularly determined to unveil the mechanisms of communication and manipulation used by those who wield great power”. The FRED Award was created specifically to acknowledge an individual, in the world of cinema, who strives to promote and support not only independent cinema, but also intercultural exchange.

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