FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST | Rowan Stol interviews James Vaughan, director of the film Friends and Strangers.

FRED FM speaks to director James Vaughan, whose film Friends and Strangers has its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021, and is competing in the Tiger Competition section. We discuss how Friends and Strangers contains references to broader social issues, as they manifest within the lives of the two millennial protagonists. James Vaughan elaborates on some deliberate, and some coincidental features that both make up the scenic environments in the film, as well as contribute to the many invisible factors that are of influence on the characters’ experience of life.

Friends and Strangers: a comedy-drama that explores displacement, disconnection and ennui in contemporary Australia through the eyes of two upper-middle class millennials. Boldly framed and delicately layered, the film presents several sketches from life as experienced by Alice and Ray, two twenty-something drifters born into privilege but seemingly incapable of navigating the featureless ocean of casual employment, limp romances and half-arsed entrepreneurial schemes. Gingerly abandoning teenage daydreams of careers as successful creatives, both are grasping for a way to channel their advantages into something meaningful. But in a society built on simulated images, words, ideologies, choices… Where can the authentic be found? This frustrated, suspended search for the unfindable, and the misadventures that follow, cuts to the heart of Friends and Strangers. (From the website)

To discover more about the film, click here.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Tim Leyendekker, director of the film Feast.

A conversation with Tim Leyendekker, director of Feast, from the Tiger Competition of the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film is based on the shocking events surrounding a troubling Groningen HIV case whereby men were purposely drugged and injected with contaminated blood at parties. In this interview, Leyendekker talks about what it was about this case that inspired him to make the film, how it resonates with today’s pandemic and how his background in fine arts influences his style of filmmaking.

Feast: There was music and wine, but also syringe needles: crates of objects from the scene of the crime displayed on tables. This witty, yet sinister opening scene sets the tone for Feast, Tim Leyendekker’s first feature-length film based on the troubling Groningen HIV case whereby men were purposely drugged and injected with contaminated blood at parties. Leyendekker previously excelled at IFFR by pushing the boundaries of forms and stories. Feast is his own, no-compromise search for the truth, taking in deep, primary emotions such as lust, aggression and the need for security.

The post Tim Leyendekker – Feast #IFFR2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, director of the film Gritt.

A conversation with Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, director of Gritt, from the Tiger Competition of the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film tells the story of a performance artist struggling to the point of exhaustion for her socially critical theatrical production idea to be heard. In this conversation, the filmmaker talks about how much of this movie is based on her personal experience, working with lead actress Birgitte Larsen on the title character and shares with us some of her unique concepts and filmmaking approaches.

Gritt: Gritt is a Norwegian woman with big ideas. She wants to make a socially critical theatre production entitled ‘The White Inflammation’, but can never put into words exactly what it’s supposed to be about. Norway, and maybe the West in general, she says, overcome by apathy. “An inability to act.” The tragedy is that no one wants to hear what she has to say.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Francesco Giai Via, head of studies of  Alpi Film Lab.

A conversation with Francesco Giai Via, head of studies of the Alpi Film Lab, a new advanced initiative for emerging producers based in France and Italy launched by the TorinoFilmLab and the Annecy Italian Film Festival. Alpi Film Lab will unfold in two separate editions over the course of 2021 and 2022, and also continue the longstanding history of collaboration within the film industry between Italy and France.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, director of the film My Favorite War.

A conversation with Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, director of the animated documentary, My Favorite War, about her own experiences of growing up in Soviet Latvia. The film has won many awards on the international scene and is shortlisted for a feature animation Academy Award. In this interview, the director talks about the painstaking process of revisiting her memories and past experiences, as well as the balance between the personal and the universal of this film, and its meticulous animation process.

My Favorite War: a personal animated documentary that tells the story of the director’s growing up in Latvia, part of the Soviet Union, during the years from 1970 to 1990. The Soviet regime used World War II as a significant ideological weapon to intimidate and oppress the population during the Cold War. When Ilze discovers the remains of a German soldier in her backyard sandbox, she begins looking for other stories buried underneath the propaganda.

The post Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen – My Favorite War appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Juja Dobrachkous, director of the film Bebia, à mon seul désir.

A conversation with Juja Dobrachkous, whose film Bebia, à mon seul désir, will be presented at the upcoming edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The film revisits some of the director’s own memories of her own relationship with her grandmother, which along with tradition serves as some of the foundations of the story for her fiction feature debut. We talk about that as well as the many idiosyncratic techniques she employed to make it, her work with non-actors, the film’s stylish black and white cinematography and the burial custom that makes up for a large part of the narrative – an epic journey that in some ways reflects Dobrachkous’ own epic work on the film.

Bebia, à mon seul désir: Young model Ariadna is suddenly called away from the catwalk to attend her grandmother’s funeral in the small village in Georgia where she was born. After an awkward reunion with her embittered mother she learns that, as the youngest member of the family, she is expected to carry out a special ritual. An ancient tradition said to refer to the Greek myth of Ariadne and her thread. Reluctantly, she sets out to fulfil this strange assignment, which will nevertheless prove pivotal in her own life.

The post Juja Dobrachkous – Bebia, à mon seul désir #IFFR2021 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Baris Sarhan, director of the film The Cemil Show.

A conversation with Baris Sarhan, director of The Cemil Show, which will be presented at the upcoming International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The film’s origins can be traced back to a short film of the same name made five years ago with most of the same cast. We talk about these origins over the course of the interview, as well as how the feature explores the theme of celebrity, which Sarhan admits to feeling close to him. Other topics touched upon are whether there will be a continuation of this Cemil saga in the future, the type of cinema that he makes reference to throughout the movie and the strong sense of absurdist style that defines The Cemil Show, among other things.

The Cemil Show: When he auditions for the remake of a classic Turkish film, Cemil is rejected almost immediately. He returns to his job as a security guard at a large shopping mall, where he finds out that his colleague is the daughter of veteran actor Turgay Göral, who once played Cemil’s dream part. When Göral dies an ignominious death, Cemil promptly immerses himself in his life’s work. In the meantime, the mild-mannered protagonist is taunted and humiliated from all sides to such an extent that he increasingly withdraws into Göral’s acclaimed villainous role.

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PODCAST | Francesca Raffi interviews Anna Matamala, Associate Professor at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain).

To listen to this programme, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

ARSAD has become an established forum to exchange ideas on audio description with all interested stakeholders: users, practitioners, researchers, trainers, trainees, regulators, broadcasters, policy makers, social activists, cultural managers and anyone interested in audio description. In 2021, the RAD project organises the ARSAD conference and puts the focus on audio description beyond its traditional boundaries.

Click here to know more about the conference.

Anna Matamala is Associate Professor at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). Currently leading TransMedia Catalonia, she has participated in and led projects on audiovisual translation and media accessibility. She has taken an active role in the organisation of scientific events (M4ALL, ARSAD), and has published in journals such as Meta, Translator, Perspectives, Babel and Translation Studies.

Click here  to know more about her.

The post Anna Matamala – ARSAD 2021 + RAD PROJECT appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST |Matt Micucci interviews Dasha Korol, co-producer of  Russian Film Week USA.

To listen to this programme, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

A conversation with Dasha Korol, co-producer of Russian Film Week USA, set to return on January 23-29 with an online edition. This will be the third edition of the event, which promotes Russian cinema in the United States and Korol talks with us about how it has expanded over these years, as well as what the program for this year’s edition looks like and the films that it will showcase.

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Nicoletta Romeo, co-director of the Trieste Film Festival.

A conversation about the upcoming edition of the Trieste Film Festival in Italy with its co-director, Nicoletta Romeo. This year’s edition, the 32nd in its history, will take place online on January 21-30, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In this interview, Romeo talks about the history and mission statement of the festival, including its focus on central and Eastern Europe. Among other things, she also talks about the decision of going online and some of the defining traits of this year’s program.

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