FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Bénédicte Prot interviews Teresa Villaverde, director of the film Colo.

After explaining the meaning of the title, Colo, and the warmth the word contains, Portuguese filmmaker Teresa Villaverde underlines the close connection between the intimate family crisis she is describing and the economic context, in Portugal and elsewhere. The tension, she points out, comes from the perception that the current situation is at a standstill, as if Portugal and the world and every one of us were waiting for something to happen, but not without some hope and faith in the younger generation.

Colo: Scene after scene, snapshot after snapshot, the film follows the slow descent of a family of three – Father (João Pedro Vaz), Mother (Beatriz Batarda), and their teenage daughter Marta (Alice Albergaria Borges) – into silence, frustration, and disconnection, following the sudden unemployment of Father. An observational yet perceptive camera captures the subtle shifts in the family dynamics, in the context of a painful and ominous standstill.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Teresa Villaverde – Colo #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Michael Winterbottom, director of the film On The Road.

It’s not the first time that Michael Winterbottom commits to a music project. This time he got so fascinated by life on tour and the wandering routine of bands prmoting their album that he decided to totally focus his “filming”attentions on that. Winterbottom chose young band of Wolf Alice as the subject of his new docu-film On The Road so he followed them with a crew on the final tour of their first album My Love is Cool. However a simple documentary on a band was not enough for Winterbottom who decided to add a fictionary element to the real story and introduce a love story in the film between Estelle and Joe, the only two fictional characters in the film, played by gorgeous actors who “acted” 24/7 to better melt into the film. On the Road screens at the 67th Berlinale in the Generation section .

On The Road: March 2015. North London rock four-piece Wolf Alice take to the streets of the UK to promote their debut album, My Love Is Cool, for the last time. Driving from city to city, playing 16 cities in three weeks, the band are joined by Estelle (Leah Harvey), an intern with the band’s record company, who will be helping the band with their promotional duties, accompanying them as they visit local radio stations and give interviews to the press. Estelle strikes up a intimate friendship with Joe (James McCardle), a member of the band’s road crew, and through their eyes, we see both the magic and monotony of life on the road, giving us a glimpse behind the scenes of a passionate young rock band in their searing prime.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Michael Winterbottom – On The Road #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer, actors of the film Call me by your name.

Armie Hammer was the Star of this year’s Berlinale with two films screening at the 67th Edition: Final Portrait and Call me by Your Name. On the contrary, Timothee Chalamet is the this Festival’s revelation, a breath of fresh air on screen and in real life. The actors talk about their experience on set with Luca Guadagnino and how developing these characters and their love for each other was a unique experience. Call me by your name describes the essence of first love in the purest and most universal way and Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet reveal their own relationship with passion and desire that their character experience so strongly for the first time.

Call me by your name: It’s the summer of 1983, in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman, (Timothee Chalamet) a 17- year- old American-Italian boy spends his days in his family’s 17th century villa lazily transcribing music and flirting with his friend Marzia (Esther Garrel). One day Oliver, (Armie Hammer) a charming, 24-year-old American scholar working on his doctorate arrives as the annual summer intern tasked with helping Elio’s father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture. Amidst the sun-drenched splendor of this sensual setting, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer – Call me by your name #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Călin Peter Netzer, director of the film Ana, Mon Amour.

His Child’s Pose won the Golden Bear in 2013 at the Berlinale and after 4 years, Calin Peter Netzer is back in competition at the 67th berlinale to present Ana, Mon Amour based a on a novel . The film explores the limits between love, addiction and codependency through the Toma and Ana’s love story. At first he’s the strongest one and she is the weakest until the situation changes drastically. Ana, Mon Amour moves along past and present of the couple during 7 years of their life together. Netzer reveals his interest for psychiatry and the analyzes the differences between this way of investigating the human brain and the one carried on by religion and the instrument of confession.

Ana, Mon Amour: Toma meets Ana while they are both studying literature at university. Ana has a mild neurotic disorder and suffers from panic attacks. Toma follows her to every dark corner she ends up in, he fights his parents when they reject her, he accepts being a father and marries her, he becomes her babysitter, her driver, her everything. Toma appears to be in control of the couple’s relationship, when in fact he just gravitates around a woman he can not understand, pushing his endurance to the limit, trying to save her.When Ana overcomes her fears and adapts to the outside world, Toma remains alone, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, striving to understand the whirlwind that he has gone through.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Călin Peter Netzer – Ana, Mon Amour #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Travis Matthews, director of the film Discreet.

Travis Matthews, a veteran to the Panorama section at Berlinale, talks with Angelo Acerbi about his most challenging film to date: a thriller, as far as plot is concerned, but with a narrative that totally eludes all the rules of the genre. There were social and political reasons behind this project, and, peculiar as it is, the film brings out a new and enticing way of filmaking that will surely struck some chords.

Discreet: bacon sizzling in fat, a young woman thanking the subscribers of her YouTube channel, a corpse neatly wrapped up in black garbage bags and floating down a river – as clear as the first few images of Travis Mathews’ mystery thriller may be, the connections only become clearer gradually, as if they were emerging from the subconscious. This elliptically edited story, which revolves around a man who can no longer be described as young, is accompanied by an eerie soundscape. Filmmaker Alex lives in a van. He sets up his camera in rural areas in the US, in the no-man’s land near highways. During a visit to his mother, a former alcoholic, she shares with him a well-kept secret. There is also a small boy, with whom Alex develops an unexpectedly close relationship. Director Mathews chronicles a modern day gay existence in the West – from anonymous sex to heterosexual porn in a sex bar cabin, or as a service in a motel room. A small house and a life on the margins of society. Meanwhile, on the radio, we are treated to a steady stream of right-wing slogans against everything that is not white and heterosexual, here in Texas.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Travis Matthews – Discreet #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Lolita Chammah, actress of the film Barrage.

Lolita Chammah is the protagonist of Barrage by Laura Schroeder, screening at the 67th Berlinale in the Forum Section. The film sees Catherine (Lolita Chammah) as a young mother coming home to her pre-adolescent daughter and her mom to try and pick up where she left. It is the story of a mother trying to learn how to get her role back into her daughter’s life. The film shows how young women have to deal with the society’s concept of a good mother and how difficult it is to decide which path to take in life. In Barrage, Isabelle Huppert plays Catherine’s mom and since the two women are also mother and daughter in real life, Lolita Chammah tells FRED the joys and difficulties of working with such a strong and famous Oscar nominee mother

Barrage: Catherine returns to Luxembourg from Switzerland following a period of ten years during which her daughter Alba was raised by her own mother Elisabeth. From the side of the tennis court, she watches Elisabeth coach Alba, her face clearly showing how well she remembers this mixture of stimulus and humiliation from her own childhood. The roles in this female family trio have been assigned. Does Catherine stand any sort of chance of being a mother to her daughter after so much time has passed? On a spontaneous trip to the family’s summer house, Alba and Catherine’s wounds and longings come out into the open. Sometimes they seem more like two very different sisters, who dance together in the garden and wear the same childish sweatshirts. When they bury Catherine’s dog Charbon in the forest, they resemble two children performing a ceremony for a pet. Catherine named the dog after a song, “Black Like Coal” – the same dark colour as the depressive moods she takes tablets to ward off. The gentleness of Laura Schroeder’s storytelling is shot through with serious undertones, supported by a carefully chosen soundtrack and most of all her superb actors.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Lolita Chammah – Barrage #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Ildikó Enyedi, director of the film On Body and Soul.

Fred’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Ildiko Enyedi, director of On Body and Soul, film in competition at the 67° Berlinale. When asked on the genesys of the film, Ildiko answers: “I was in love” . Being in love is a status that opens every door to people’s feelings and emotions and that led Ildiko to write the story of this connection. Maria and Endre are two strange souls that miraculously find each other. They feel each other and they really get what the other person is and that’s something so rare to see in life and on the big screen.

On Body and Soul: the director of an industrial slaughterhouse is suspicious about Maria, the new quality inspector sent by the authorities. Endre thinks she’s pretty, but she’s too formal and keeps too much to herself. He also thinks she’s too tough on grading the beef carcass, but Maria sticks to her standards with the same focused order she tries to run her life. During routine company interviews, a lady psychologist discovers that Maria and Endre are having similar recurring dreams. They are embarrassed by what this implies, as the two introverts know nothing about one another outside of work. The following day, they check again: they had the exact same dream the night before. As they continue to compare dreams, it becomes clear that they meet each night in a common realm: a peaceful snowy forest where they are graceful deer who gently love each other. Maria and Endre hesistantly accept this strange coincidence. They cannot ignore the intimacy they share so effortlessly in their dreams. For two people seemingly not suitable at all for love, it won’t be easy to recreate in broad daylight this harmonious relationship of their lonely nights…

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Ildikó Enyedi – On Body and Soul #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Hiam Abbass, actress of the film Insyriated.

Hiam Abbass is back on FRED from the 67th Berlinale to present her latest film, Insyriated, screening at the Festival in the Panorama section. The film sees a woman having to protect her entire family from the horror of the war outside, while trapped in her apartment. In the first minutes of the film, Oum Yazan (Hiam Abbass) tells Halima, the young woman she’s hosting at her house, that she will find the strength to be brave. Being brave and courageous is a choice for women during the war, Hiam Abbass comments on this moment in the film and on it’s important to never get used to war, fight, fear. This is why her character is so determined to have a normal life while there are shootings and bombings outside.

Insyriated: trapped inside her house in a city under siege, Oum Yazan, mother of three, turned her flat into a safe harbor for her family and neighbors, trying to protect them from the war outside. When bombs threaten to destroy the building, when snipers turn the courtyards into deadly zones, and burglars break in to claim their dreadful bounties, maintaining the thin balance of routine inside the walls becomes a matter of life and death.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Hiam Abbass – Insyriated #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Philippe Van Leeuw, director of the film Insyriated.

Philippe Van Leeuw’s new film has just shaken the Panorama’ section of the 67th Berlinale as it represents the horror of Syria’s word by following a family trapped in their own apartment. Its title is Insyriated and its main actress is Hiam Abbass. The idea of the film came to Van Leuw in 2013 and from that time, the war hasn’t stopped and it’s still on so the film keeps being actual. Besides Hiam Abbass, Diamand Abou Abboud and Juliette Navis, all the other actors in the film are from Syria and on their experience Van Leeuw based some of the happenings in the film. The kitchen is the place where they try to hide, we don’t see or can’t see what happens outside but the uncertainty of what future will bring them is written on their faces, their panting, their trying to have a normal life despite the cruelty and killings outside.

Insyriated: trapped inside her house in a city under siege, Oum Yazan, mother of three, turned her flat into a safe harbor for her family and neighbors, trying to protect them from the war outside. When bombs threaten to destroy the building, when snipers turn the courtyards into deadly zones, and burglars break in to claim their dreadful bounties, maintaining the thin balance of routine inside the walls becomes a matter of life and death.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Philippe Van Leeuw – Insyriated #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Bénédicte Prot interviews Teona Strugar Mitevska, director of the film When the day had no name.

Leading Macedonian director and producer Teona Strugar Mitevska, back in Berlin with another sensitive, nuanced story paired with masterfully suggestive and technically impeccable visuals, tells us more about the true subject of the film (beyond the true story that inspired it). She also reflects on the construction of her group of characters and pays hommage to French DoP Agnès Godard’s conceptual depth and profound understanding of her intentions.

When the day had no name: Based the true story of a yet unexplained multiple murder which shook today’s Macedonia, a country still stifled by inner ethic and religious divisions, with an economy offering little prospects, the film follows the final day of a wandering group of teenage boys, all friends, with their aggression and frustrations, their shyness and unformulated desires, and the lack of guidance and healthy values around them. between glorious country landscapes and dark city walls.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

The post Teona Strugar Mitevska – When the day had no name #Berlinale appeared first on Fred Film Radio.