FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Elise Jalladeau, General Director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Elise Jalladeau, the Thessaloniki Festival director, tells us about the joy of having celebrated TDF’s 20th birthday, her view on documentary filmmaking, education and the role of a film festival in this day and age.

To discover more about the Festival, click here.

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Drew Xanthopoulos, director of the film The Sensitives.

Drew Xanthopoulos talks to us about the heartfelt European premiere of his latest film The Sensitives, at TDF20 in the Habitat section. Dealing with a unique topic, Xanthopoulos manages to paint a picture that invites us to sink deeply into its composition. Its visceral aesthetics fully represent the director’s blood and tears that were shed to finish this film. The result is a powerful study on family, fear, and ultimately being part of something, no matter what.

The Sensitives:  For the increasing number of people who are suffering from environmental illnesses, the modern world is full of unseen threats. Pesticides, perfumes, cell phones—any of these can send a “sensitive” into a debilitating downward spiral. Stunningly cinematic, The Sensitives, documents three families struggling with these issues. Joe, too sick to care for himself, faces an impossible choice: an uncertain future with his ever-burdened family or the lure of a safe community built for sensitives like him, far away. Twin brothers Sam and Nathan live with their mother, Karen, inside a sterilized safe home they haven’t left in years but a tragedy causes upheaval and uprooting in their fragile existence. And Susie, who decamped from society for a remote desert homestead decades ago, has finally found relief but contemplates leaving to advocate for awareness, risking her own health. Shot over three years, the film captures the hope and humanity that makes the marginalized undeniably relatable.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Drew Xanthopoulos – The Sensitives #TDF20 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Christine Franz, director of the film Bunch of Kunst.

We were lucky to have Christine Franz taking the journalist hat off for a couple of years to then embark on the journey of making Bunch of Kunst: a Film about Sleaford Mods. Franz immersed herself in the world of the one of a kind band hailing from Nottingham, that, gig after gig, beer after beer took the music scene by its throat and shook things up for many. The result is a riotous doc that restores faith in many music and film lovers, while depicting an intimate and complex portrait of 3 middle-aged men, who found success only after embracing their defeat. Long live Sleaford Mods.

Bunch of Kunst: “Young people are signing major record deals and they just sing about love. I’m a great believer of love. But for fuck’s sake, there’s a lot going on. Who wants to hear that if you are on £15 a week? And you turn the telly on and some fucker is spouting on about love”, says singer Jason Williamson. Thanks to their sweary rants about modern England, Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods have been called “The Voice of Britain” by their fans, “Britain’s angriest band” by the Guardian and “The world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band” by Iggy Pop. Jason Williamson, a former chicken factory worker, benefits adviser and father of two, his band mate, beatmaker Andrew Fearn, and their manager Steve Underwood, avant-garde bedroom label owner and former bus driver, have won over fans with their brutally honest lyrics and DIY ethos. Christine Franz’s official documentary feature, follows them on their two-year journey from Sherwood to chart success. Bunch of Kunst tells the story of three guys taking on the music business on their own terms.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Christine Franz – Bunch of Kunst #TDF20 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Hans Block, director of the film The Cleaners.

Hans Block talks to us about his documentary feature The Cleaners at TDF20. A work of outstanding maturity for a first film, The Cleaners  exposes the dark and secreted world behind the content moderators, people employed by companies that are at the service of the world’s media giants. By kneading a complex and yet balanced network of topics and issues, Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck show us the effect of Social Media’s hegemonic power on today’s world.

The Cleaners: When you post something on the web, can you be sure it stays there? Entering a hidden shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn’t like. Reminding us of the shared social vision of a global village and its degeneration into a web of fake news and radicalisation, the film charts the rise and fall of social media’s utopian ideology.

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PODCAST| Nicolò Comotti interviews Beatrice Behn and Renè Gebhardt, directors of the film The Artist and The Pervert.

Beatrice Behn and Renè Gebhardt packed their things, got a ticket to New York, and spent a year of their lives witnessing the relationship between the composer George Friedrich Haas and the writer, performer and force of nature Mollena Williams-Haas. She is his slave, his muse, they are both feminists and everything works beautifully. They embody the living proof that as long as there is respect, consent and freedom, everyone can be and do whatever they want. A liberating watch, and an eye opener for conservatives, textbook theorists and radical thinkers alike.

The Artist and The Pervert: Georg Friedrich Haas is arguably the most important living composer of symphonic music, but also a descendant of a Nazi family. His wife, whom he met through the dating site “OkCupid”, is a African American kink educator. Their deep relationship is based on an open, yet controversial role-playing game between a white male master and a black female slave. This ground-breaking film documents their lives between perversion, art, love, and radical self-determination.

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Martin Sulik, director of the film The Intrepreter.

Martin Sulik tells us about his film, a classic but intense trip back to through the memories of the Nazi era, from two old men, a Jew who suffered the loss of his family through the hands of the father of the other, who did not want to come to terms with his father’s past, until now. Urgent and compelling, a film that tells us about the incredible revisions of this recent past made by some governments and institutions in Slovakia, but not only there.

The Intrepreter:  An 80-year-old translator, Ali Ungar, comes across a book written by a former SS officer recounting his war experiences in Slovakia. Ali realises that one of the chapters may well describe his own parents’ execution. And so, armed with a pistol, he sets off to Vienna to look for the SS man and take his revenge. But once there, the only person he encounters is the man’s 70-year-old son Georg, a former teacher who has spent his whole life avoiding his father and suffering from an addiction to alcohol. The translator’s visit arouses Georg’s curiosity and he decides to invite Ali on a trip through Slovakia. But whilst Georg is basically out to have a good time, Ali is hoping to find out how his parents really died. Gradually, these two very different men begin to warm to each other and together, they discover a country that would prefer to forget about its past. Oscillating between comedy and tragedy, Martin Sulík’s road movie focuses on two old men weighed down by the unresolved conflicts that have plagued their lives who are now trying to free themselves from this oppressive burden. Jirí Menzel plays the role of the gloomy and worldly-wise Ali, Peter Simonischek is the maverick Georg.

The post Martin Sulik – The Intrepreter #Berlinale2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Lav Diaz, director of the film Season Of The Devil.

There’s no international film festival without Lav Diaz, the prolific Filipino director who already won a Golden Lion at the 2017 edition of the Venice Film Festival. After presenting Lullaby to the sorrowful mystery at the Berlinale last year, Diaz is back on FRED and at the Festival to present, in competition, his latest film Season Of The Devil, a musical, a rock opera inspired by real events and real people set in the darkest period of Philippine history, the 70’s. Lav Diaz reminds us that every period or historical film is a metaphor to describe the present we’re living in Europe and in the world. The devil of the title or the devils in general are the demagogues who rule so many countries now, like the new government in the Philippines. The director also reveals that he chose to direct a musical because of his first love, music. Lav Diaz was indeed a musician and singer during high school.

Season Of The Devil:  In the late 70s, a military-controlled militia gang terrorizes a remote village in the Philippines. The terror inflicted on citizens is not just corporal, but intensely psychological as well. They are constantly fed apocryphal tales about the village leader. A few souls fight, refusing to give up. Poet, teacher and activist Hugo Haniway desperately searches for the truth about his wife’s disappearance… In award-winning director Lav Diaz’s new film, the narrative and characters are a composite of real events and people from the period. It’s a love story set in the darkest period of Philippine history, the Marcos Dictatorship. Season Of The Devil is a Filipino rock opera with music and lyrics by Lav Diaz.

To discover more about the film, click here.

The post Lav Diaz – Season Of The Devil #Berlinale2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Mario Galasso interviews Martín Rodríguez Redondo, director of the film Marilyn.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1979, Martín Rodríguez Redondo studied filmmaking for cinema and television at the Centro de Investigación Cinematográfica (CIC) in the same city. He has been assistant director and producer on numerous documentaries. In 2016 he directed the short film Las liebres which screened at international film festivals and won the short film competition at the Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA) in Argentina. Marilyn is his debut feature as a director. FRED Film Radio met him during the Berlinale and learnt from him those “true facts” his film was “inspired from” – as opposed to “based on”, a distinction Martín seems to care about – and discussed with him violence representation in contemporary cinema.

Marilyn:  There’s not much going on in this part of rural Argentina where a shy young man named Marcos lives with his family. Theirs is a modest existence, where gender roles are clearly demarcated. The hot summer doesn’t make life any easier, but money needs to be earned and the herd of cattle must be kept together. Marcos manages to carve out little islands of freedom during his routine; in these moments he likes to put make-up on his childlike face or slip into colourful dresses behind closed doors. Carnival is just around the corner; this year’s event will change Marcos’ life as dramatically as the family’s unexpected relocation. Martín Rodríguez Redondo’s cinematic debut is a tender portrait of youth and initially repressed self-discovery, told with serene understatement, devoid of guiding music. The roar of motorbikes promises both freedom and danger and, although there appears to be no escape from this world, the situation is far from hopeless for at some point young Federico appears on the scene. The images are contemplative and the narrative linear, yet the course taken by the film’s seemingly predictable trajectory is nonetheless surprising. A story based on true events.

The post Martín Rodríguez Redondo – Marilyn #Berlinale2018 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Chiara Nicoletti interviews Beki Probst, president of the European Film Market.

The European Film market wouldn’t have this name and wouldn’t be the pioneer it is known to be had it not been for Beki Probst and her work from 1988 onwards. Since 2014 she has been the president of the EFM that she created and the 68a Berlinale has awarded her with the most prestigious award, the Berlinale Camera. On FRED Beki Probst describes the first years of EFM, the atmosphere that there was back then and how it slowly but strongly became the big and essential market we know and attend annually to kick off the cinematographic year.

Beki Probst is considered the grande dame of the film world. Under her direction, the European Film Market has developed into one of the largest and most important trade fairs for cinema on the international scene. Dieter Kosslick congratulates his long-time colleague and friend on 30 years of successful work: “Without Beki Probst and her contacts worldwide, her charm and cosmopolitan gift for combining business and culture, the EFM would never have become such a successful platform and the strong backbone of the festival.” Beki Probst was born in Istanbul, where she first worked as a journalist after completing her studies in law and journalism. In 1960, Probst moved to Switzerland, where she became the general manager of the Probst-Kinobetriebe, known today as Quinnie Cinemas. From 1981 to 1988, Beki Probst served as the Berlin International Film Festival’s official delegate for Turkey and Greece. Up until 1995 she also served as a member of the selection committee for Locarno International Film Festival. From 1988 to 2014, Beki Probst was the director of the Berlinale’s European Film Market – Probst rebranded the former “film fair” as the European Film Market and subsequently transformed the event into one of the most significant industry meet-ups for the international film business. In addition, from 1988 to 1996 Beki Probst was the artistic director of the Geneva-based festival “Stars de Démain”. She has served as a jury member on multiple occasions at international film festivals, including appearances in Toronto, Jerusalem and San Sebastián. In 1992 Beki Probst was decorated as “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture. Beki Probst was honoured with the Berlinale Camera on Friday, February 16, 2018, at 11.30 at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau.

To discover more about the European Film Market and Beki Probst, click here.

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PODCAST | Domoina Ratsara, film critic and journalist.

Domoina Ratsara is one of the Talents of this year’s edition of Berlinale Talents. She shares with FRED’s listeners her background and experiences.

Discover more about the Magazine she writes for here.

Follow her Facebook page here.

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