FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Alireza Khatami, director of the film Oblivion Verses.

Director Alireza Khatami talks about Oblivion Verses, his feature debut, which premiered in the Orizzonti section of Venezia 74. Khatami talks about the film, plot and characters, and driving themes of his movie. But the conversation goes beyond the film itself, as we try to understand his thoughts about categorization in cinema, how the filmmaking process for him begins with a mental image, and what it was like to make a feature debut, which he tells us is completely different from the short film form.

Oblivion Verses: the elderly caretaker of a remote morgue possesses an impeccable memory for everything but names. He passes his days showing corpses to those searching for their lost ones and tending to his beloved plants. When protest in a nearby city breaks out and the militia covertly raid the morgue to hide civilian casualties, he discovers the body of an unknown young woman. Evoking memories of personal loss, he embarks on a magical odyssey to give her a proper burial with the help of a mystic gravedigger who collects stories of the dead, an old woman searching for her long-lost daughter, and a hearse driver tormented by his past.

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PODCAST | Niclò Comotti interviews Nick Hooker,  director of the film Agnelli.

FRED has the pleasure to meet with documentary filmmaker Nick Hooker, here at Giornate degli Autori with his latest work Agnelli.

Agnelli is the story of Gianni Agnelli, the legendary Italian industrialist and playboy, as told by family, friends, lovers, professional confidantes and rivals – and even his butler and cook. The film chronicles Agnelli’s dramatic and colorful life, beginning with his years as one of the most glamorous international playboys of the mid-20th century. Through revealing interviews with his sisters, mistresses and friends, stories of Pamela Churchill, Anita Ekberg and Jackie Kennedy, among other paramours, come to life, highlighted by newly discovered Super8 footage from Benno Graziani. The story then turns to the 1970s and Italy’s “Years of Lead.” The stabilizing role played by Agnelli and FIAT during those dark and turbulent years was critical to the country’s survival. Rich archival footage reveals the revolutionary unrest in the factories and the murderous threat of the Red Brigades, and children of politicians and Fiat executives assassinated by the Red Brigades recall the tension and conflict in Turin in the late 1970s. The story then returns to Gianni’s family and his troubled relationship with his son, Edoardo. Intimate interviews from the inner circle discuss Agnelli’s failings as a father, and his own son’s alienation and ultimate suicide. Henry Kissinger and other friends recall the tragedy of Edoardo’s death and the impact it had on Gianni. When Agnelli died in 2003 there was an outpouring of profound grief from the people of Turin, as well as across Italy and in jet-set outposts around the world.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Vahid Jalilvand, director of the film Brawl in Cell Block 99.

S. Craig Zahler presented his second feature, Brawl in Cell Block 99, out of competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. He stopped by our studio for a chat about it, along with two of the lead actors of the film: Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Carpenter. Vaughn talks about the physical aspect of his role and the real place from which the story comes from: the latter was able to connect him as an actor with the character he plays. Jennifer talks about how she was able to step into the shoes of her characterl. Zahler shares his thoughts on his film and the possibilities of cinema and the moving image as a medium. Towards the end of the interview, they also reveal that they are currently working on another feature together.

Brawl in Cell Block 99: a former boxer named Bradley loses his job as an auto mechanic, and his troubled marriage is about to expire. At this crossroads in his life, he feels that he has no better option than to work for an old buddy as a drug courier. This vocation improves his situation until the terrible day that he finds himself in a gunfight between a group of police officers and his own ruthless allies. When the smoke clears, Bradley is badly hurt and thrown in prison, where his enemies force him to commit acts of violence that turn the place into a savage battleground.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Samuel Maoz,  director of the film Foxtrot.

Foxtrot marks the return of director Samuel Maoz to the Venice International Film Festival – he won the Golden Lion of the 66th edition with Lebanon. He stopped by our FRED studio for a quick chat about it. We ask him about the story of the film and the idea behind it – such as the exporation of the relationship between things that people can control and things that are beyond one’s control, the use of a three act structure, and his interesting approach when working with his actors.

Foxtrot: Michael and Dafna are devastated when army officials show up at their home to announce the death of their son, Jonathan. Michael becomes increasingly frustrated by overzealous mourning relatives and well- meaning army bureaucrats. While his sedated wife rests, Michael spirals into a whirlwind of anger only to experience one of life’s unfathomable twists which rivals the surreal military experiences of his son.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, actors of the film Downsizing.

Actors Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig are the protagonists of Alexander Payne’s latest feature, which opened the 74th Venice International Film Festival. They stopped by the Venetian FRED studio for a brief chat about the movie. They discuss the roles of their characters. Damon also praises the director for doing great job in representing a real struggle of our world today. Wiig and Damon also reflect on how they would have dealt with the situation the characters go through in Downsizing if it had happened to them in real life.

Downsizing imagines what might happen if, as a solution to over-population, Norwegian scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall and propose a 200-year global transition from big to small. People soon realize how much further money goes in a miniaturized world, and with the promise of a better life, everyman Paul Safranek and wife Audrey decide to abandon their stressed lives in Omaha in order to get small and move to a new downsized community—a choice that triggers life-changing adventures.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Alexander Payne and Hong Chau, director and actress of the film Downsizing.

Downsizing by Alexander Payne opened the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The director stopped by our FRED studio to chat about it, alongside actress Hong Chau. Payne talks about the writing process of the film, “writing is never fun,” while Chau tells our listeners about the character she plays.

Downsizing imagines what might happen if, as a solution to over-population, Norwegian scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall and propose a 200-year global transition from big to small. People soon realize how much further money goes in a miniaturized world, and with the promise of a better life, everyman Paul Safranek and wife Audrey decide to abandon their stressed lives in Omaha in order to get small and move to a new downsized community—a choice that triggers life-changing adventures.

The post Alexander Payne, Hong Chau – Downsizing #Venezia74 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Andrew Haigh, director of the film Lean on Pete.

Director Andrew Haigh talks about his latest feature, Lean on Pete, presented in competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. He stopped by our FRED studio in Venice for a chat, discussing such topics as why he doesn’t think that Lean on Pete is a coming of age movie, how he knows how and when to close his movies (“I think it’s a feeling more than an intellectual understanding), and more.

Lean on Pete follows fifteen-year-old Charley Thompson. He wants a home, food on the table and a high school he can attend for more than part of the year. As the son of a single father working in warehouses across the Pacific Northwest, stability is hard to find. Hoping for a new start they move to Portland, Oregon, where Charley takes a summer job, with a washed-up horse trainer, and befriends a failing racehorse named Lean on Pete.

For the officiale page of the film on the festival website, click here.

The post Andrew Haigh – Lean on Pete #Venezia74 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Chloë Sevigny and Charlie Plummer, actors of the film Lean on Pete.

Andrew Haigh presented his latest film, Lean on Pete, in competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. Two of the actors in the film, Chloë Sevigny and Charlie Plummer (FRED also interviewed Sevigny on her short film Carmen from this year’s MIU MIU Women’s Tales, also presented in Venice this year), stopped by our Venice studio to talk about working on the film. During this interview, they share with us their experience of working on the movie and how they connected with their characters.

Lean on Pete follows fifteen-year-old Charley Thompson. He wants a home, food on the table and a high school he can attend for more than part of the year. As the son of a single father working in warehouses across the Pacific Northwest, stability is hard to find. Hoping for a new start they move to Portland, Oregon, where Charley takes a summer job, with a washed-up horse trainer, and befriends a failing racehorse named Lean on Pete.

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PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Ai Weiwei, artist and director of the film Human Flow.

“You cannot avoid hearing the refugee situation,” says artist Ai Weiwei, who made a documentary feature inspired by it, Human Flow, presented at the 74th Venice Film Festival. The activist, artist and filmmaker stopped by our studio to talk about it. He discusses balancing research with personal experience (such as his own upbringing in China), the visual style of Human Flow, his thoughts on the role of filmmakers today, and more.

Human Flow:  over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice: from teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed- wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; from the haunting lure of lives left behind to the unknown potential of the future. Human Flow comes at a crucial time when tolerance, compassion and trust are needed more than ever. This visceral work of cinema is a testament to the unassailable human spirit and poses one of the questions that will define this century: Will our global society emerge from fear, isolation, and self-interest and choose a path of openness, freedom, and respect for humanity?

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PODCAST | Nicolò Comotti interviews Daniel McCabe and Horeb Bulambo Shindano, director and line producer of the film This is Congo.

FRED has the privilege to talk to Daniel McCabe and Horeb Bulambo Shindano, the filmmaking heroes that managed to bring us one of the fiercest documentaries in recent years: This is Congo. This is Congo is a blunt, violent, earnest and yet hopeful look at one of the largest countries in Africa, ridden by war and the plague of corruption. While today’s Congo is like “hell on earth”, there is a ray of hope for its future, thanks to the warmth, the strength, and the sense of justice that many Congolese have – and want for their own country.

This is Congo:  over the last two decades, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen more than five million conflict-related deaths, multiple regime changes and the wholesale impoverishment of its people. Though this ongoing conflict is the world’s bloodiest since WWII, little is known in the West about the players or stakes involved. For the first time, This is Congo provides a unique and unfiltered look into the world’s longest continuing conflict and those who are surviving within it. By following four compelling characters — a whistleblower, a patriotic military commander, a mineral smuggler and a displaced tailor — the film offers viewers a truly Congolese perspective on the problems that plague this lushly beautiful, mineral-rich nation. These characters exemplify the unique resilience of a people who have lived and died through generations due to the cycle of brutality generated by this conflict.

For the page of the film in the festival website, click here.

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