FRED Film Radio - English Channel

Joao Salaviza – Director – Montanha.

Joao Salaviza, director of Montanha, speaks about his debut feature Montanha, officially competing in the International Critics’ Week.

MONTANHA: A hot summer in Lisbon. David, 14, awaits the imminent death of his grandfather but refuses to visit him, fearing this terrible loss.

His mother, Mónica, spends her nights at the hospital. The void already left by his grandfather forces David to become the man of the house. He doesn’t feel ready to assume this new role, but without realizing it: the more David tries to avoid adulthood, the more he gets closer to it…

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Today the first edition of FRED at School has come to an end at the Villa degli Autori with the FRED at School Award conferred to “Shun Li and the Poet” (“Io sono lì”) by Andrea Segre, film chosen by young students from 8 European countries which supported the project that started last December.

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Pengfei – Director – Underground Fragrance

FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews director Pengfei, whose feature directorial debut UNDERGROUND FRAGRANCE was featured in the programme of the Venice Days section of the 72nd Vanice Film Festival. The director talks to us about the cultural context that inspired the film, and his knowledge of the drifting community, which is one of its driving concepts. He also tells us about how it was to work with non actors and comments on the attention he pays to architecture as well as the specific and particular visual style he employs.

Plot: Yong Le, a young migrant worker from the south, salvages furniture to re-sell. He lives in a room in Beijing’s Underground City, a labyrinthian former bomb shelter that serves as cheap housing for people looking for opportunity in the big city. But after a bad work accident leaves him temporarily blind, he has to use a rope to find his way around the dimly lit basement halls, until the night meets a girl at the other end of his rope. Xiao Yun, is a migrant too. She is desperately trying to find new employment so that she can leave her job pole dancing at nights. Her meeting with Yong Le and their burgeoning relationship encourages her to hunt for a more respectable job. At ground level, old Lao Jin has been struggling for years to get a decent compensation deal from the authorities who want to demolish his house. His health is declining and his savings are evaporating. And he’s counting on Yong Le to sell his furniture at a good price. Three lives propelled by the “Chinese Dream” intermingle in the vast melting pot of the Beijing metropolis.

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Miranda Otto – Actress – The Daughter

FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews actress Miranda Otto, who talks about her work on the film THE DAUGHTER by Simon Stone, closing film of this year’s edition from the Venice Days section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival.

She talks about her role, how her journey to the project began and what attracted her to the character and well as the collaboration with the director Simon Stone, which included lots of rehearsals, some of which took place over Skype. As well as that, she comments on the film’s very different representation of the Australian as well as her relationship with the rest of the cast and voices her admiration for films that leave some grey areas about their genesis and their epilogues, as they allow for a rewarding engagement between the viewer and the film.

THE DAUGHTER: In the last days of a dying logging town, Christian returns to his family home for his father Henry’s wedding to the much younger Anna.

While home, Christian reconnects with his childhood friend Oliver, who has stayed in town working at Henry’s timber mill and is now out of a job. As Christian gets to know Oliver’s wife Charlotte, daughter Hedvig and father Walter, he discovers a secret that could tear Oliver’s family apart. As he tries to right the wrongs of the past, his actions threaten to shatter the lives of those he left behind years before.

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Lucia Recalde Langarica – Head of Unit Media Support Programme

An overview on the Media Programme and Creative Europe, and a talk about the new challenges european cinema will have to face.

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Fréderic Boyer -Artistic Director – Tribeca Film Fest

The artistic director of the Tribeca Film Festival talks about the evolution of festivals and their possible future.

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Brady Corbet (Filmmaker) and Mona Fastvold (Screenwriter) – The Childhood of a Lead

FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews director Brady Corbet and screenwriter Mona Fastvold on the film THE CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER, which they presented in the ORIZZONTI section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival. The film is a very ambitious and arduous project, and the two tell us about what they went through in order to get this very powerful vision together. They also mention the many influences from art and history that shaped the final piece, and discuss the stylistic choices as well as their work with the cast.

The Childhood of a Leader: This chilling tale tells the story of an American boy living in France in 1918. His father works for the American government on the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. What he witnesses helps to mould his beliefs – and we see the birth of a terrifying ego. Loosely based on the possible childhoods of many great dictators in the twentieth century, The Childhood of a Leader is an unsettling portrait of emerging evil.

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Kohki Hasei – Director – Blanka

Kohki Hasei visits us in our Venice studio to talk about his latest feature, Blanka, part of the Biennale College project.

Blanka: 11-year-old Blanka lives in the streets of Manila. She has no family and survives by begging and stealing from tourists. One day she stops to watch tv in front of an electronics shop: according to the news program, a famous actress has adopted a child that is now living a happy life. An absurd idea flashes into her mind: perhaps, if she could buy a mother, she could also have a good life – going to school, living in a nice house. But she has to multiply her efforts in order to collect enough money. A new opportunity seems to arise from her meeting with Peter, a 55-year-old blind street musician. Blanka and Peter start to help each other live on the street: the little girl helps Peter collect money from his audience, and the musician teaches Blanka how to sing. Blanka has a beautiful voice and, for the first time in her life, she sees that she has other skills other than stealing. However, Peter is concerned about Blanka’s future on the streets; the wisest thing to do for Blanka would probably be to take her to an orphanage. When Blanka finds out Peter’s intentions, she runs away. So she is back to the starting point: stealing and facing street dangers once again. But when the situation is getting truly critical, Peter appears, just in time to save her.

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Nevina Satta – CEO – Sardinia Film Commission

Fred meets with Nevina Satta, CEO of Sardegna Film Commission and Fred Film Radio dear collaborator. Here we explore the world of film commissions, and of course the fantastic possibilities – and rewards – that can be achieved by shooting in Sardinia.

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Yaelle Kayam – Director – Mountain

FRED has the pleasure of meeting Yaelle Kayam, here in Orizzonti’s official competition with her latest directorial effort, MOUNTAIN.

Mountain: Tzvia lives with her family in the Jewish cemetery of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. During the day she is alone, while her husband and sons are at school. She walks in the cemetery trying to escape from her tiring housekeeper duties. During the night, she tries to come closer to her husband, but there’s still a big distance between them. One night she decides to go out and go where she generally spends her days: the cemetery. There she witnesses an unsettling scene: a man and a woman engaging in sexual intercourse on one of the gravestones. Curious about what she saw, she decides to explore this nocturnal, unknown world.

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