FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Mark Higham, programme director and founder of Film Literacy Europe, from the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

A number of panel discussions and various events took place at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film festival, revolving around the concepts of film education and film literacy. One of the participants, Mark Higham, is the director of Film Literacy Europe, an institution that offers help and support in the development of film literacy programs across the European territories. We ask him about it and he also tells us about some of its international projects. One particularly stands out; “The Empathy Project” aims to establish communication between young people from countries in conflict. The conversation also offers insight in the overall concept of film literacy, and Higham even reveals some of the challenges, most of which are of practical nature, that Film Literacy Europe encounters in its work.

For more information on Film Literacy Europe, go to http://www.filmliteracyeurope.org/about.html

The post Interview with Mark Higham, Film Literacy Europe #KVIFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Triin Ruumet, director of The Days That Confused from the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

What’s the best part of filmmaking? To Triin Ruumet, 28, who presented her feature debut The Days That Confused at Karlovy Vary this year, it is being in the sauna with the people you love, who are making a film with you. The answer is so down to earth, it is almost disarming. But that is Triin quite simply. She will not abide the conventional laws of interviews at an international film festival. In fact, at the end of the interview, she bursts spontaneously into a song; possibly the best outro to a FRED Film Radio interview.

Regarding the film, she is as straight to the point. “It’s a film about a guy who wakes up, gets drunk, goes fu**ing, fu**s with the wrong people…” And what bout the mistreatment of women in this film? “I’m not a feminist,” she quickly replies. “I actually like people opening the door for me.” Fair enough. There’s is little more to say to describe this interview with words. Might as well click the button and hear how refreshing and punk it is. Only be warned – this is NOT one for the easily offended.

THE DAYS THAT CONFUSED: Allar, 27, and his friends spend their lives in their Estonian small town goofing off, getting drunk, and driving as if there’s no tomorrow. When one of their outings ends in an accident, Allar begins to reflect on his life. The quest to find meaning, however, is full of twists and turns… With the help of bold music and visuals, the debuting Estonian director takes the viewer on a dynamic ride through the wild nineties, while also following the struggles of a searching mind.

Teaser – The Days That Confused from Kinosaurus Film on Vimeo.

The post Director Triin Ruumet talks about “The Days That Confused” #KVIFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Petr Kazda, co-director of the film I, Olga Hepnarová from the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

“This is my verdict. I, Olga Hepnarová, a victim of your brutality, sentence you to death by vehicle.” These are the haunting words written by a young woman, Olga Hepnarova, before running over a crowd of random people walking down a street, with a truck. The haunting story, which took place in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, in 1973, is the starting point with which directors Petr Kazda and Tomas Weinreb imagined the reasons behind such a senseless and famous act of everyday terrorism.

We caught up with Kazda, who screened the film I, Olga Hepnarova as part of a section dedicated to some of the best titled Czech cinema had to offer over this past year.

We had a chance to talk about why he believes this particular story still resonates with present times. We also asked him about his collaboration with the lead actress, who dominates the action on-screen, and the director even tells us why the choice of casting Michalina Olszanska, a Polish actress playing a Czech female, made so much sense. In addition, we also talk about the specific style, such as the use of black and white and mostly still camerawork, as well as the challenges of constructing a story around an anti-hero, compared to a character that is meant to be liked and admired by the audience, and a female anti-hero at that.

I, OLGA HEPNAROVA: Normalization-era Prague, July 10, 1973. A 22-year-old woman by the name of Olga Hepnarova borrows a Praga truck and heads for the tram stop at Strossmayer Square. Once there, she steps on the gas and slams into a group of 30 people, killing eight. She later admits to the mass murder, explaining that she was punishing a heartless society for tormenting her. Two years later she was hanged, the last woman to be executed in Czechoslovakia. Just as she had wanted. In their debut picture, without glossing over the guilt for a brutal crime, directors Tomas Weinreb and Petr Kazda focus in on several key years and moments in the life of a lonely person. The dark and dispassionate drama, composed in part from long, carefully constructed shots, features a powerful performance by Polish actress Michalina Olszanska, whose Hepnarova is just as inscrutable as her act. Premiered at Berlin, this black-and-white film is one of the strongest Czech entries of the year.

The post Director Petr Kazda talks about “I, Olga Hepnarová” #KVIFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Vitaly Mansky, director of Under the Sun from the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

No country shuts off its borders quite like North Korea. The footage, information and news from North Korea is rare and enigmatic. What veteran filmmaker Vitaly Mansky did in his documentary Under the Sun was to try and exploit his Russian origins to make a documentary about everyday life in North Korea, a feat made possible by the fact that Russia, along with China, is one of only two countries with which North Korea has international relations. Nevertheless, the restrictions imposed upon the filmmaker were evident from the beginning – the film was in its planning stage a year prior to the beginning of shooting.

In the end, the filming of Under the Sun was far more enlightening that the sometimes absurd artificiality of the images being shot themselves. In this interview with Mansky, we ask the director about these restrictions and how they shaped the final film. We also ask him, somewhat inevitably, what the reaction from North Korea has been, as well as from other parts of the world. It seems like North Korea, predictably, wanted the film to have been destroyed initially. But then an even stranger development occurred…

UNDER THE SUN: The renowned documentarist gets the go-ahead to record the life of an ordinary North Korean family. To what extent will he be able to observe what goes on behind the screen of pervasive communist ideology? Unique footage that probes deep into one of the most heavily guarded places on Earth.

The post Director Vitaly Mansky talks about “Under the Sun” #KVIFF2016 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Ahmed Abdullahi, director of “Francis” from Future Frames at the 51st KVIFF

Does cinema have the power to make an impact and talk about delicate and strong messages? Our conversation with AhmedAbdullahi, director and Swedish participant of the European Film Promotion’s Future Frames platform, a platform highlighting up and coming talent in the European filmmaking landscape, involves this question due to the provocative nature of the film which was screened in Karlovy Vary and directed by him; Francis.

In the film, Abdullahi tells the story of a group of West Africans working in Sweden planting trees, and their poor working conditions gradually beginning to resemble something close to slavery. On top of discussing his short film, we also talk about his experience at Future Frames and ask him to reveal some future projects and ambitions of his.

FRANCIS: Francis and nine other west Africans travel to Sweden to work planting trees. They hope to be able to earn money for their families. But once they have arrived they end up working in conditions that resemble slavery. The work is hard and the days are long – and their wages are much lower than had been promised. They work on commission and don’t earn enough to even afford a ticket home. They are stuck. Francis refuses to accept this situation. But when he protests his boss dismisses his complaints as laziness. He is told that he has to work harder. One evening Francis returns from the plantation area after what appears to have been a day of hard work. He seems to have planted every sapling. His foreman is very pleased. But his childhood friend Eric suspects that something else is going on. When Francis is then given the job of being his friends’ foreman, things come to a point. Can he be loyal to his friends and at the same time satisfy his boss? Francis is a film about friendship, loyalty and human values, about racism, greed and betrayal.

For more information on Future Frames, go to http://www.efp-online.com/en/project_talent_promotion/future_frames.php

The post Interview with Ahmed Abdullahi, director of “Francis” #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Karen Vázquez Guadarrama, director of “Flower of a Thousand Colours” from Future Frames at the 51st KVIFF.

A sensorial experience. A poetic portrait. Wonderful words used by filmmaker Karen Vázquez Guadarrama to briefly describe her work, the film Flower of a Thousand Colours, with which she was selected at the 2016 edition of Future Frames, the European Film Promotion’s platform dedicated to up and coming talented directors from the European territory. There is more, as she says that she is currently entertaining the thought of re-examining the place in which the film is set, a remote Bolivian mining camp, for a feature length film this time. The subject of the film and its meditative contemplation begs the question of whether or not such studies receive different reactions from people, especially in terms of perspective from a Western viewpoint looking upon a setting that may seem

The subject of the film and its meditative contemplation begs the question of whether or not such studies receive different reactions from people, especially in terms of perspective from a Western viewpoint looking upon a setting that may seem impoverished. As Vazquez Guadarrama insists, the woman who is the central subject in the film may appear to live a sad life, but it is in fact not so, as that woman herself is quite happy and used to her routine. Besides talking about her film and the reaction the film received in Karlovy Vary, we talk about her experience as a participant in Future Frames.

FLOWER OF A THOUSAND COLOURS is an intimate portrait of Emiliana, a single mother who tries to survive in a remote Bolivian mining camp at 4897 meters above sea level. Emiliana lives with her children in the middle of the paradise like mountains of Mina Argentina. But appearances are deceptive: the life in the camp is fierce. Those who find tin eat, does who don’t, don’t eat. And because the excessive alcohol consumption in the camp, Emiliana has to be constantly aware of the dangers surrounding her family.

For more information, go to http://www.efp-online.com/en/project_talent_promotion/future_frames.php

The post Interview with Karen Vázquez Guadarrama, director of “Flower of a Thousand Colours” #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Tonći Gaćina, director of “Tourism!”from Future Frames at the 51st KVIFF

A documentary about people working in the tourism sector in Croatia, in the summer. This is the charming concept of TonciGacina‘s short, Tourism!, screened as part of European Film Promotion’s 2016 Future Frames program, which highlights the up and coming talented filmmakers from all over Europe.

We talk about how he shot the film, how many hours of footage he was left with before editing and whether or not his selective editing process was based upon feeling or a general knowledge of what he wanted to have in the film before he made it. In addition, we talk about his experience at Future Frames and ask him about any future project he is currently working on, as well as whether he sees himself as a documentary filmmaker or one that may eventually dip his fingers in the fictional world.

TOURISM!: Every summer towns and cities on the Croatian coast double their population through the influx of tourists from all over the world. Tourism is today the biggest part of the Croatian economy, and it often looks like it may be the only one. Tourism! traces the fragments of various stories along the Croatian coast. Some of the locals catch and farm fish, some prepare it, and some entertain the guests… The life cycle appears never to end; faces, identities, emotions and results transcend towns and locations.

For more information on Future Frames, go to http://www.efp-online.com/en/project_talent_promotion/future_frames.php

The post Interview with Tonći Gaćina, director of “Tourism!” #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Klara Kochańska, director of “Tenants” from Future Frames at the 51st KVIFF

Klara Kochańska was selected to participate in European Film Promotion’s 2016 Future Frames platform, intended to highlight the work of up and coming filmmakers from different parts of the European continent.

Her film Tenants, she reveals, was inspired by a true story and she also talks about some of her influences in making the film; among them, Roman Polanski (who made a similarly titled psychological thriller in 1976, The Tenant.) Besides talking about Tenants, Kochanska also offers her insightful observations on her experiences at Future Frames this year and what a learning experience it has been. Besides this we also talk about he future plans and projects, one of which seems quite adventurous.

TENANTS: Justine, a lonely woman in her thirties, buys an indebted apartment on a bailiffs auction. On the day she wants to move in, she discovers that the keys she was given don’t match the door. The faith will test her endurance, character and morals. Sometimes a dream fulfills as a nightmare…

For more information on Future Frames, go to http://www.efp-online.com/en/project_talent_promotion/future_frames.php

The post Interview with Klara Kochańska, director of “Tenants” #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Maria Luz Olivares Capelle, director of “Forest of Echoes” from Future Frames at the 51st KVIFF

Maria Luz Olivares Capelle, born in Argentina and living in Austria, was one of the participants of Future Frames, the European Film Promotion’s platform highlighting up and coming talented filmmakers from different European countries.

The story of her film Forest of Echoes is quite interesting, particularly due to its journey beginning through research from a documentary she worked on herself, which then developed into a fiction film. While the film stars children and it is a film with children, it is not, as she says, a film for children (at least not exclusively). Aside from talking about this film, we also discuss her experience at Future Frames in Karlovy Vary and she reveals to us some future ambitions, plans and projects.

FOREST OF ECHOES: A teenager, Christina, loses her friends in the forest. Looking for them she finds the bodies of three drowned kids on the shore of a lagoon. On summer holiday, deep in the woods, three kids, cousins, are playing around a lake when they find a drowned young woman drifting in the water. Games, lies and rituals unfolding into a circular time in which death loses its ultimacy. What is real and what is a mirage? Who is dreaming and who is being dreamed?

For more information on Future Frames, go to http://www.efp-online.com/en/project_talent_promotion/future_frames.php

The post Interview with Maria Luz Olivares Capelle, director of “Forest of Echoes” #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Mariam Kakabadze, producer of Father by Davit Pirtskhalava from Future Frames at the 51st KVIFF

Georgian director Davit Pirtskhalava was selected for the 2016 Future Frames program organized by the European Film Promotion to highlight the works of up and coming talented filmmakers from different parts of Europe.

With the director indisposed, a representative, in fact, a producer of the film that was screened at Future Frames, Father, was present on his behalf. Mariam Kakabadze, producer of Father, talks to us about the film and, appropriately about the production, as well as the way in which director Pirtskhalava likes to work, planning everything meticulously before the shoot. In this case, the fact that the crew was on friendly terms aided communication throughout the production. Aside from Father, we also talk about future projects and her experience at Future Frames.

FATHER: Lado is nineteen when his father comes back home unexpectedly after a very long absence. The young man tries desperately to get some answers from his parent, but in vain. When his father leaves again, Lado goes back to his life of crime, together with his younger brother. He is left to answer the questions their father would not hear. For more information, go to http://www.efp-online.com/en/project_talent_promotion/future_frames.php

The post Interview with Mariam Kakabadze, producer of “Father” #FutureFrames appeared first on Fred Film Radio.