Decadent, hermetic, and gleefully hostile to realism, French writer-director Bertrand Mandico’s She Is Conann is the cinematic equivalent of a French Symbolist poem. Throughout, the oneiric imagery seeping from every frame takes precedence over narrative linearity. And yet, even as the film embodies the self-indulgent ideal of art for art’s sake, it devours itself from within and drops the viewer back into the arena of politics.
Lest we forget even for moment that we’re watching a film, She Is Conann is shot in black and white, aside from the sporadic flash of violence and one framing sequence set in hell’s antechamber, where a dead Conann (Françoise Brion) takes stock of her life of barbarism. For her guide, there’s the dog-headed punk clairvoyant Rainer (Elina Löwensohn), whose name could be an allusion to Rainer Maria Rilke or Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Their dialogue at any given moment...
Lest we forget even for moment that we’re watching a film, She Is Conann is shot in black and white, aside from the sporadic flash of violence and one framing sequence set in hell’s antechamber, where a dead Conann (Françoise Brion) takes stock of her life of barbarism. For her guide, there’s the dog-headed punk clairvoyant Rainer (Elina Löwensohn), whose name could be an allusion to Rainer Maria Rilke or Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Their dialogue at any given moment...
- 1/28/2024
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
“She Is Conann” is a new science fiction fantasy thriller feature, directed by Bertrand Mandico, starring Claire Duburcq, Christa Théret, Sandra Parfait, Agata Buzek, Nathalie Richard, Françoise Brion, Julia Riedler and Elina Löwensohn, releasing February 2, 2024 in theaters:
“…traveling through the abyss, underworld dog ‘Rainer’ recounts the six lives of ‘Conann’, perpetually put to death by her own future, across eras, myths and ages.
‘Follow her, from her childhood as a slave of ‘Sanja’ and her barbarian horde…
“…to her accession to the summits of cruelty at the doors of our world…”
Click the images to enlarge…...
“…traveling through the abyss, underworld dog ‘Rainer’ recounts the six lives of ‘Conann’, perpetually put to death by her own future, across eras, myths and ages.
‘Follow her, from her childhood as a slave of ‘Sanja’ and her barbarian horde…
“…to her accession to the summits of cruelty at the doors of our world…”
Click the images to enlarge…...
- 1/5/2024
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
"Six lives. Six incarnations." Altered Innocence has revealed the US trailer for a wild & crazy experimental French film called She Is Conann, a unique re-imagining of the classic Conan the Barbarian myth through a modern gender-swapped lens. Yes, you read that right! This premireed at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year in Directors' Fortnight, with stops at Fantastic Fest and Sitges. It'll be opening in February in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and more, with director Bertrand Mandico and the star at opening weekend showings at Anthology Film Archives in NYC. Conan's life at different stages is shown with a different aesthetic and rhythm from the classic Sumerian era to the near future. The film is a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip that boldly celebrates the influences of Fellini Satyricon, The Night Porter, The Hunger, and Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre to craft a moving portrait of a warrior...
- 1/4/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Experimental French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico isn’t for everyone — i.e. an acquired taste whose visions push boundaries of cinematic expression — but he’s achieved something of a cult fandom over the last three decades. After last pairing with the director on 2022’s “After Blue” and 2017’s uninhibited Venice winner “The Wild Boys” — Cahiers du Cinéma’s top film of 2018 — the distributor Altered Innocence again teams with Mandico on another provocation. His 2023 Cannes premiere “She Is Conann,” nominated for the Queer Palm before going on to play at other festivals including Locarno, is an acid-trip transgressive riff on the Conan the Barbarian myth. IndieWire shares the trailer here.
Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.
Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.
- 1/4/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
If there is cinematic butt to be kicked, rest assured that Jason Statham will be at the front of the line. Since he burst onto the scene in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, he’s left a lot of broken bodies and wrecked cars in his wake. And when Expendables 4 rolls out on September 20, he will be nearing his 50th film, the lion’s share being unapologetic explosive action.
Statham makes movies with staying power. He’s made four Expendables films, three Transporters, two Mechanics (2011 and 2016), tw0 Cranks (2006 and 2009) and two Megs (2018 and 2023). Oh, yes, he also jumped into the Fast and Furious universe, making Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), Fast X (2023) and the spinoff Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019), teaming with Dwayne Johnson.
As a leading man, his films have delivered $1.8 billion worldwide, according to The Numbers.
Statham makes movies with staying power. He’s made four Expendables films, three Transporters, two Mechanics (2011 and 2016), tw0 Cranks (2006 and 2009) and two Megs (2018 and 2023). Oh, yes, he also jumped into the Fast and Furious universe, making Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), Fast X (2023) and the spinoff Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019), teaming with Dwayne Johnson.
As a leading man, his films have delivered $1.8 billion worldwide, according to The Numbers.
- 9/20/2023
- by David Morgan
- Deadline Film + TV
Following The Wild Boys and After Blue, Conann marks the third feature-length project from prolific shorts filmmaker Bertrand Mandico. Many are still not convinced long-form fits his intense and imaginative style, but what’s certain is that Conann makes one heck of a watch. Part of the self-contained cosmos of Mandico’s explosive vision, this new film is a provocative tale of endurance and self-discovery inspired by the fantasy character Conan the Barbarian (or the Cimmerian). Mandico takes the figure of a sword and sorcery hero––obviously interested in his pulp magazine origins––and fashions a timeless, iterative narrative of phantasmagoric fluidity… and glitter.
Conann is framed by a first-person narration, that of Rainer the hellhound (Elina Löwensohn in impressive dog-faced costume), who roams the netherworld and is suspiciously attracted to the main protagonist, however antagonistic he may appear. But the hero is Conann, a queer rendition of an otherwise masculine symbol,...
Conann is framed by a first-person narration, that of Rainer the hellhound (Elina Löwensohn in impressive dog-faced costume), who roams the netherworld and is suspiciously attracted to the main protagonist, however antagonistic he may appear. But the hero is Conann, a queer rendition of an otherwise masculine symbol,...
- 5/30/2023
- by Savina Petkova
- The Film Stage
Bertrand Mandico’s trippy, erotic, preposterous odyssey is packed full of deranged details that could propel it to cult classic status
‘You must kill Kate Bush!” The order is given on a planet far, far away. And so begins the odyssey at the centre of this trippy, erotic sci-fi fantasy, a film that looks like a horny music video from the 80s, neon-lit and smothered with glitter, the screen filled with erect nipples in quantities not seen since the early seasons of Game of Thrones. It’s French, of course, directed by underground film-maker Bertrand Mandico with such loopy abandon I could almost forgive him the film’s obscenely indulgent two-hour-plus running time.
Kate Bush is not the Kate Bush. Her full name is Katarzyna Buszowska (Agata Buzek), and she’s a Polish outlaw on a post-Earth colony in space populated by women. (The men all died soon after arrival.
‘You must kill Kate Bush!” The order is given on a planet far, far away. And so begins the odyssey at the centre of this trippy, erotic sci-fi fantasy, a film that looks like a horny music video from the 80s, neon-lit and smothered with glitter, the screen filled with erect nipples in quantities not seen since the early seasons of Game of Thrones. It’s French, of course, directed by underground film-maker Bertrand Mandico with such loopy abandon I could almost forgive him the film’s obscenely indulgent two-hour-plus running time.
Kate Bush is not the Kate Bush. Her full name is Katarzyna Buszowska (Agata Buzek), and she’s a Polish outlaw on a post-Earth colony in space populated by women. (The men all died soon after arrival.
- 10/4/2022
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
Bertrand Mandico’s new film After Blue is a sci-fi head trip that is going to catch the interest of some viewers, while leaving others feeling dried out and bored. It’s a bold effort, to be sure. A drug-fueled fever dream of a film that aims to recapture the strangest of the strange of 70’s science fiction. In some aspects, it’s a success. It has a wild color palette and style that is visually arresting, but as a story, the film fails to pull itself together enough to form a cohesive narrative that will keep most audiences interested.
When humans made the Earth too toxic for habitation, they fled to a far-off planet they dubbed After Blue. Men quickly died out, unable to adapt to the atmosphere of the planet. Women continued to thrive through artificial insemination, living in small, close-knit communities. One day, teenaged Roxy (Paula Luna...
When humans made the Earth too toxic for habitation, they fled to a far-off planet they dubbed After Blue. Men quickly died out, unable to adapt to the atmosphere of the planet. Women continued to thrive through artificial insemination, living in small, close-knit communities. One day, teenaged Roxy (Paula Luna...
- 7/15/2022
- by Emily von Seele
- DailyDead
Her name is Roxy, but the village girls call her Toxic. With peroxide-blond hair and the Lolita-like naiveté of a vintage sexploitation-movie heroine, Roxy wanders through a post-apocalyptic world as unfamiliar to us as it is to her — for we have all stepped into the parallel dimension that is underground filmmaker Bertrand Mandico’s erotic imagination. Welcome to the dirty paradise of “After Blue.”
Humans have poisoned Earth and fled to a new planet, which they’ve dubbed After Blue. Screens and machines have since been banished, making way for a kind of old-world mysticism of sparkling dust, psychedelic lights and occult symbols — like a third eye, superimposed over the pubic triangle of the most enlightened. Operating in the mode of Polish porno-surrealist Walerian Borowczyk, Mandico creates sensual mood trips using only practical effects (this one could be the “Barbarella”-style sci-fi film-within-a-film being produced in Mandico’s 2018 meta-textual short...
Humans have poisoned Earth and fled to a new planet, which they’ve dubbed After Blue. Screens and machines have since been banished, making way for a kind of old-world mysticism of sparkling dust, psychedelic lights and occult symbols — like a third eye, superimposed over the pubic triangle of the most enlightened. Operating in the mode of Polish porno-surrealist Walerian Borowczyk, Mandico creates sensual mood trips using only practical effects (this one could be the “Barbarella”-style sci-fi film-within-a-film being produced in Mandico’s 2018 meta-textual short...
- 6/3/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
A voice introduces us to the future: “You are in space,” it says, “...the Earth was sick and rotten.” Bertrand Mandico’s second feature, the comedy-western-fantasy After Blue (Dirty Paradise), is named after a post-Earth home to humanity. This other planet, After Blue, located in another solar system, offers anyone with ovaries—anyone without them dies choked by their own hairs—the hope of a redemption. “If everything is to be done, nothing is to be done again,” declares a sign in the natural wilderness: strict and arbitrary rules are established to “strike the evil at its roots,” as one of the surviving women state. At best phantasmagorical, the dream of a humanity free of evil—through its systematic eradication of one gender—produces distortions where community becomes authoritarian, and purification, commanded.One day on an excursion outside her community, Roxy (Paola Luna) discovers buried in the sand a female...
- 6/2/2022
- MUBI
In the not-so-distant future, on a planet far, far away, a mother and daughter travel across a hostile landscape with one mission and one mission only: to kill Kate Bush.
Don’t worry, it’s not beloved 1980s singer-songwriter Kate Bush, but a once-dormant evil Polish woman named Katajena Bushovsky now spreading violence and hatred. This is the quest at the center of Bertrand Mandico’s new film “After Blue (Dirty Paradise).”
The film’s title comes from its setting: “After Blue (Dirty Paradise)” is an acid space western set on the planet that comes after Earth, and it is indeed a dirty paradise, though more the former than the latter. After Blue is populated only by women, or so we’re informed, and they hoped to start society anew with greater peace and prosperity. No screens, no machines (though there are guns).
Also Read:
‘Stranger Things’ Catapults Kate Bush...
Don’t worry, it’s not beloved 1980s singer-songwriter Kate Bush, but a once-dormant evil Polish woman named Katajena Bushovsky now spreading violence and hatred. This is the quest at the center of Bertrand Mandico’s new film “After Blue (Dirty Paradise).”
The film’s title comes from its setting: “After Blue (Dirty Paradise)” is an acid space western set on the planet that comes after Earth, and it is indeed a dirty paradise, though more the former than the latter. After Blue is populated only by women, or so we’re informed, and they hoped to start society anew with greater peace and prosperity. No screens, no machines (though there are guns).
Also Read:
‘Stranger Things’ Catapults Kate Bush...
- 6/2/2022
- by Fran Hoepfner
- The Wrap
In the dark coming-of-age tale “The Pit,” narrow-minded rural Latvia seems as full of lurid secrets as Peyton Place, as well as being a locale where everyone has their nose in everyone else’s business. Marking the feature debut of writer-director Dace Pūce (who co-wrote with Monta Gagane and Pēteris Rozītis), it’s adapted from three stories by Latvian literary prize-winner Jana Egle. The action unfolds through the watchful eyes of an emotionally wounded boy stuck with his strict grandmother, but the film’s odd tone, incompletely developed characters and uneven performances fail to match the poignancy of its source. Named as Latvia’s submission for best international film, “The Pit” will premiere Stateside on Dec. 17 via streaming service Film Movement Plus.
Skinny, misunderstood 10-year-old Markus (Damirs Onackis) is unwillingly dispatched from Riga to the countryside following the death of his drug addict father, an artist. Flashbacks and gossip reveal...
Skinny, misunderstood 10-year-old Markus (Damirs Onackis) is unwillingly dispatched from Riga to the countryside following the death of his drug addict father, an artist. Flashbacks and gossip reveal...
- 12/6/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
While there are many streaming services fighting for your attention, Arrow has the most eclectic collection of horror, sci-fi, exploitation, and cult films, and they're bolstering their collection with new titles every month. Michael Venus' Sleep is a brand new release on Arrow and we have the exclusive trailer reveal that you can watch right now!
"Tormented by recurring nightmares of a place she has never been, Marlene cannot help but investigate when she discovers the place is real. Once there, she suffers a breakdown and is admitted to a psychiatric ward. Determined to discover what happened to her, Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) her daughter, follows and finds herself in Stainbach, an idyllic village with a dark history/secret. What is it that so tormented her mother, and the people of Stainbach? What is the source of the nightmares she suffered? Who is the mysterious Trude that lives in the forest?...
"Tormented by recurring nightmares of a place she has never been, Marlene cannot help but investigate when she discovers the place is real. Once there, she suffers a breakdown and is admitted to a psychiatric ward. Determined to discover what happened to her, Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) her daughter, follows and finds herself in Stainbach, an idyllic village with a dark history/secret. What is it that so tormented her mother, and the people of Stainbach? What is the source of the nightmares she suffered? Who is the mysterious Trude that lives in the forest?...
- 11/2/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
‘After Blue’ Review: Erotic Lesbian Acid Trip Is Like ‘The Love Witch’ Set on Planet ‘Annihiliation’
If you unearthed a glittery demon with one hairy arm who awakened your deepest desires from the third eye between her legs, what lengths would you travel to find her again? This, and plenty more completely insane scenarios, are among the many posed in Bertrand Mandico’s seductive, ethereal, and bizarre epic “After Blue,” aptly subtitled “Dirty Paradise.”
Set on a fantasy planet where only women can survive the harsh climate, the adventure follows a mother and daughter on a grueling journey to find and kill the evil “Kate Bush,” rumored to be death herself. One part “Annihilation” and one part “The Love Witch,” and cast under the veneer of a sadistic “The NeverEnding Story,” the film
The fantastical fable is narrated by Roxy (Paula-Luna Breitenfelder), a petulant teenager with a bleached-blonde mullet, who stares blankly into the camera in conversation with a mysterious disembodied voice. “The Earth was sick,...
Set on a fantasy planet where only women can survive the harsh climate, the adventure follows a mother and daughter on a grueling journey to find and kill the evil “Kate Bush,” rumored to be death herself. One part “Annihilation” and one part “The Love Witch,” and cast under the veneer of a sadistic “The NeverEnding Story,” the film
The fantastical fable is narrated by Roxy (Paula-Luna Breitenfelder), a petulant teenager with a bleached-blonde mullet, who stares blankly into the camera in conversation with a mysterious disembodied voice. “The Earth was sick,...
- 10/7/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
In the post-apocalyptic nightmare of After Blue, humanity—or what’s left of it—roams a former paradise turned wasteland. The Armageddon that wrecked the Earth in some undetermined past left no machines behind, no screens, and, perhaps most conspicuously, no men. In the distant planet the human race fled to, and which writer-director Bertrand Mandico’s film is named after, “they were the first to die,” we’re warned early on: “their hairs grew inside them, and killed them.” As it was for its predecessor, The Wild Boys, After Blue is suffused in a feverish ecstasy, that wild excitement that comes from a watching one world crumble and another jutting into being from scratch, a vision of a clean slate in which everything—and everyone—can be reinvented, and every norm challenged.
At its heart is Roxy (Paula Luna Breitenfelder), a teenage girl living with her mother Zora (Elina Löwensohn...
At its heart is Roxy (Paula Luna Breitenfelder), a teenage girl living with her mother Zora (Elina Löwensohn...
- 8/10/2021
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
Stars: Sandra Hüller, Gro Swantje Kohlhof, Max Hubacher, August Schmölzer, Marion Kracht, Agata Buzek, Martina Schöne-Radunski, Katharina Behrens, Andreas Anke | Written by Michael Venus, Thomas Friedrich | Directed by Michael Venus
Tormented by vivid nightmares she believes are real, Marlene (Sandra Hüller) starts piecing together her oneiric visions. Assembling nightmarish sketches, maddening notes, and recollections gathered throughout the year, she makes her way to a remote hotel in the peaceful village of Stainbach. There, the pieces of the puzzle start falling into place, and she suffers a nervous breakdown. Worried about her mother’s condition, her 19-year-old daughter Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) heads to the psychiatric ward to find her. Coming from the city, the small town’s atmosphere is immediately uncanny. At the hotel – around which everything seems to gravitate – the staff is friendly and helpful. But soon, a well-kept secret and an old curse are uncovered, which, if awakened,...
Tormented by vivid nightmares she believes are real, Marlene (Sandra Hüller) starts piecing together her oneiric visions. Assembling nightmarish sketches, maddening notes, and recollections gathered throughout the year, she makes her way to a remote hotel in the peaceful village of Stainbach. There, the pieces of the puzzle start falling into place, and she suffers a nervous breakdown. Worried about her mother’s condition, her 19-year-old daughter Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) heads to the psychiatric ward to find her. Coming from the city, the small town’s atmosphere is immediately uncanny. At the hotel – around which everything seems to gravitate – the staff is friendly and helpful. But soon, a well-kept secret and an old curse are uncovered, which, if awakened,...
- 8/14/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Paradis sale
French director Bertrand Mandico was the breakout hit of 2018 when Cahier du Cinema named his directorial debut The Wild Boys the best film of the year (he premiered the film in the 2017 Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week). Previously lauded as an experimental filmmakers of a variety of short and medium length films (not to mention some M83 music videos), Mandico has reunited with actress Elina Lowensohn (who headlined his debut) for his sophomore film, the fantasy feature Paradis sale (After Blue), which will also star Polish actress Agata Buzek, Camille Rutherford, Anais Thomas, Claire Duburcq, Vimala Pons, Pauline Lorillard (also of The Wild Boys) and newcomer Paula Luna Breitenfelder.…...
French director Bertrand Mandico was the breakout hit of 2018 when Cahier du Cinema named his directorial debut The Wild Boys the best film of the year (he premiered the film in the 2017 Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week). Previously lauded as an experimental filmmakers of a variety of short and medium length films (not to mention some M83 music videos), Mandico has reunited with actress Elina Lowensohn (who headlined his debut) for his sophomore film, the fantasy feature Paradis sale (After Blue), which will also star Polish actress Agata Buzek, Camille Rutherford, Anais Thomas, Claire Duburcq, Vimala Pons, Pauline Lorillard (also of The Wild Boys) and newcomer Paula Luna Breitenfelder.…...
- 1/3/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Elina Löwensohn, Paula Luna Breitenfelder, Vimala Pons, Agata Buzek, Pauline Lorillard and Camille Rutherford star. An Ecce Films production sold by Kinology. On 12 November 2019 will begin the seven-week shoot for After Blue, the second feature from Bertrand Mandico after The Wild Boys. The cast includes the American actress of Romanian origins Elina Löwensohn, the young Paula Luna Breitenfelder (in her first on-screen appearance), Vimala Pons,...
- 10/17/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Agata Buzek, Lars Eidinger, Claire Tran, Ewan Mitchell, Gloria Obianyo, Jessie Ross, Victor Banerjee | Written by Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau, Geoff Cox | Directed by Claire Denis
High Life is directed by Claire Denis and is her thirteenth film in an esteemed critically acclaimed filmography, but also stands as a few firsts; being her English language debut and her first collaboration with teen heartthrob turned indie megastar, Robert Pattinson. High Life is a low budget high concept sensual thriller. It’s boisterously provocative and sensually stoic. A conundrum of explicit desire and morbid curiosity that burns its way into your brain with an illustrious haze of pragmatic intensity.
The filmmaking on offer is simply superb with the cinematography from Yorick Le Sau being a stellar highlight. The framing and composition are distant and therefore evokes this highly daunting theme of isolation. It...
High Life is directed by Claire Denis and is her thirteenth film in an esteemed critically acclaimed filmography, but also stands as a few firsts; being her English language debut and her first collaboration with teen heartthrob turned indie megastar, Robert Pattinson. High Life is a low budget high concept sensual thriller. It’s boisterously provocative and sensually stoic. A conundrum of explicit desire and morbid curiosity that burns its way into your brain with an illustrious haze of pragmatic intensity.
The filmmaking on offer is simply superb with the cinematography from Yorick Le Sau being a stellar highlight. The framing and composition are distant and therefore evokes this highly daunting theme of isolation. It...
- 5/13/2019
- by Jak-Luke Sharp
- Nerdly
In the Champions League of contemporary filmmaking, Claire Denis, the French writer and director synonymous with her unique dramas that seem uncannily able to balance scope and incision, is a regular finalist. “High Life”, Denis’s latest, is no stain on the brand she has built up among her appreciators over the past three decades; and, for newcomers, it offers a careful glimpse into a mystifying world and a wonderful creative mind.
“High Life” is interested primarily in habitation, human and otherwise, so it’s natural that we begin in a small garden on a tiny spaceship somewhere in the outer reaches of the known universe, accompanied audibly by a baby’s crying. Human nature (specifically intimacy) and its strange ability to invade even the coldest and most clinical of environments seems to be Denis’s primary subject matter. And the film’s title, an ironic spin on the cliché...
“High Life” is interested primarily in habitation, human and otherwise, so it’s natural that we begin in a small garden on a tiny spaceship somewhere in the outer reaches of the known universe, accompanied audibly by a baby’s crying. Human nature (specifically intimacy) and its strange ability to invade even the coldest and most clinical of environments seems to be Denis’s primary subject matter. And the film’s title, an ironic spin on the cliché...
- 5/11/2019
- by Adam Solomons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Pearl Review Pearl (2018) Film Review from the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Elsa Amiel, starring Julia Föry, Peter Mullan, Vidal Arzoni, Arieh Worthalter, and Agata Buzek. For a movie set in a world that is utterly niche, Pearl manages to tell a story that is universal in its emotions and tensions. The film [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Pearl: Fascinating Drama Universal in its Emotions and Tensions [Tribeca 2019]...
Continue reading: Film Review: Pearl: Fascinating Drama Universal in its Emotions and Tensions [Tribeca 2019]...
- 5/6/2019
- by Leah Singerman
- Film-Book
Robert Pattinson in a scene from Claire Denis’ High Life. Courtesy of A24.
For her first English-language film, renowned French director Claire Denis sends Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche into space on a mission to a black hole. Beautiful yet bleak, High Life is more contemplative and ambitious than the typical space drama, but it perhaps does not rank among the best works of the 72-year-old innovative auteur director who gave us Beau Travail and 35 Shots Of Rum.
The director co-wrote the script with Jean-Pol Fargeau. High Life opens on a spaceship far out among the stars, with a man (Pattinson) and a baby as the sole survivors. We know there is a backstory to this, and eventually it is revealed in flashback. The film has moments of violence, bursts of sometimes graphic sexuality, and maintains a creepy tension, but it also moves slowly for most of its running time,...
For her first English-language film, renowned French director Claire Denis sends Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche into space on a mission to a black hole. Beautiful yet bleak, High Life is more contemplative and ambitious than the typical space drama, but it perhaps does not rank among the best works of the 72-year-old innovative auteur director who gave us Beau Travail and 35 Shots Of Rum.
The director co-wrote the script with Jean-Pol Fargeau. High Life opens on a spaceship far out among the stars, with a man (Pattinson) and a baby as the sole survivors. We know there is a backstory to this, and eventually it is revealed in flashback. The film has moments of violence, bursts of sometimes graphic sexuality, and maintains a creepy tension, but it also moves slowly for most of its running time,...
- 4/19/2019
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Break the laws of nature, and you'll pay for it." A24 has finally unveiled their own full-length trailer for the indie sci-fi film High Life, the latest from acclaimed French filmmaker Claire Denis. This low budget, "eerily sexy" sci-fi space drama premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and is also playing at the New York and Sitges Film Festivals last year. The story is about a man, as played by Robert Pattinson, stuck on a spaceship heading to a distant star. He tries to interact with the rest of the crew who are slowly going mad on the long voyage. Reactions from the festivals have been divisive, with extreme love and hate for this super artistic, slow burn sci-fi drama. The full cast includes Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, and Claire Tran. If you've been curious about this, check it out - it is considerably...
- 1/16/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Robert Pattinson (of Twilight fame) stars in a brand new trailer for the upcoming sci-fi film High Life. Originally premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, the film is due to arrive in theaters on April 12th. More inside...
High Life stars Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche in the lead roles with Claire Denis directing, and follows a group of prisoners who are forced to work on a mysterious project in space. During the journey, the prisoners are subjected to unnatural experiments by the scientists on board with them, with apparently devastating results if the trailer is anything to go by.
I've always enjoyed a good science fiction mystery and High Life appears to fit the bill perfectly. With a lone ship out in space and hints of a black hole, the trailer looks like a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, and just a hint of Sunshine.
High Life stars Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche in the lead roles with Claire Denis directing, and follows a group of prisoners who are forced to work on a mysterious project in space. During the journey, the prisoners are subjected to unnatural experiments by the scientists on board with them, with apparently devastating results if the trailer is anything to go by.
I've always enjoyed a good science fiction mystery and High Life appears to fit the bill perfectly. With a lone ship out in space and hints of a black hole, the trailer looks like a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, and just a hint of Sunshine.
- 1/16/2019
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Becky O'Brien)
- Cinelinx
After helping the best film of 2018 reach a larger audience, A24 will hopefully be doing the same when it comes to Claire Denis’ erotic, frightening, beautiful, and strange sci-fi odyssey High Life. An unclassifiable, riveting journey into the depths of the unknown (both as it pertains to space and human desires), they’ve now released the first U.S. trailer for the film starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche.
Josh Lewis said in his review, “While High Life has understandably drawn all kinds of comparisons to the 60s and 70s cerebral sci-fi canon (notably Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey), for both its abstract use of space imagery and its minimalist ship design which more often than not resembles an artificially-lit hospital filled with dated technology, its soul is firmly in the sensibilities of its filmmaker, French master Claire Denis, who mines the genre for a deeply sensorial and moving...
Josh Lewis said in his review, “While High Life has understandably drawn all kinds of comparisons to the 60s and 70s cerebral sci-fi canon (notably Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey), for both its abstract use of space imagery and its minimalist ship design which more often than not resembles an artificially-lit hospital filled with dated technology, its soul is firmly in the sensibilities of its filmmaker, French master Claire Denis, who mines the genre for a deeply sensorial and moving...
- 1/16/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The first trailer for filmmaker, Claire Denis’ High Life has been released. An amalgamation of strange and unnerving certainly makes this one intriguing.
The story centres on a group of criminals on a mission to find an alternate energy source near a black hole. They’re soon sexually experimented on by the scientists on board.
Exclusive Tiff Red Carpet Interviews for High Life
Robert Pattinson plays one of those criminals. Forced into a sexual act, he finds he soon becomes a Father against his will.
Directed by Denis, the film also stars Mia Goth, Juliette Binoche, Andre Benjamin, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Ewan Mitchell, Jessie Ross and Claire Tran.
Also in trailers – Julia Roberts will do whatever it takes to keep her son safe in trailer for Ben is Back
The film is released in 2019
The post Robert Pattinson stars in first trailer for High Life appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The story centres on a group of criminals on a mission to find an alternate energy source near a black hole. They’re soon sexually experimented on by the scientists on board.
Exclusive Tiff Red Carpet Interviews for High Life
Robert Pattinson plays one of those criminals. Forced into a sexual act, he finds he soon becomes a Father against his will.
Directed by Denis, the film also stars Mia Goth, Juliette Binoche, Andre Benjamin, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Ewan Mitchell, Jessie Ross and Claire Tran.
Also in trailers – Julia Roberts will do whatever it takes to keep her son safe in trailer for Ben is Back
The film is released in 2019
The post Robert Pattinson stars in first trailer for High Life appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 10/15/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
High Life International Trailer Claire Denis‘ High Life (2018) international movie trailer stars Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Andre Benjamin, Mia Goth, and Agata Buzek. High Life‘s plot synopsis: “Monte is one of several death row inmates given the opportunity to forgo their sentence in exchange for manning a suicide space mission to [...]
Continue reading: High Life (2018) International Movie Trailer: Death Row In-mate Robert Pattinson’s Second Chance in Space...
Continue reading: High Life (2018) International Movie Trailer: Death Row In-mate Robert Pattinson’s Second Chance in Space...
- 10/13/2018
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Robert Pattinson has a new sci-fi space thriller coming out called High Life and it actually looks pretty damn good. The movie doesn’t look anything like I expected it to be and that’s a good thing. It looks better, darker, and more insane.
The story centers on Pattinson’s character who is on board a spacecraft that filled with convicts and death row inmates who are being used as guinea pigs in a mission heading towards the black hole closest to Earth. There’s a lot more involved with the story than just that, though. Here’s the full synopsis:
Deep space. Beyond our solar system. Monte and his infant daughter Willow live together aboard a spacecraft, in complete isolation. A solitary man, whose strict self-discipline is a protection against desire –his own and that of others– Monte fathered the girl against his will. His sperm was used to inseminate Boyse,...
The story centers on Pattinson’s character who is on board a spacecraft that filled with convicts and death row inmates who are being used as guinea pigs in a mission heading towards the black hole closest to Earth. There’s a lot more involved with the story than just that, though. Here’s the full synopsis:
Deep space. Beyond our solar system. Monte and his infant daughter Willow live together aboard a spacecraft, in complete isolation. A solitary man, whose strict self-discipline is a protection against desire –his own and that of others– Monte fathered the girl against his will. His sperm was used to inseminate Boyse,...
- 10/13/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
In Claire Denis' High Life, a group of criminals accept a mission in space to become the subjects of a human reproduction experiment. Things go from complicated to worse to hallucinogenic when a storm of cosmic rays hit their ship. Wild Bunch has released the first trailer for Denis' (White Material) latest outing and the film is already sparking divisive debate following an early screening at Tiff. Based on the first footage here, it seems like High Life will be a slow-burning and thought-provoking science fiction film for those with a tolerance for artsy space movies bordering on the incomprehensible (also see Marc Caro's Dante 01). Beside Robert Pattinson, the cast includes Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, and Claire Tran....
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/12/2018
- Screen Anarchy
"It's just a new religion for you." Wild Bunch has released the first full-length French trailer for High Life, the latest from acclaimed French filmmaker Claire Denis. The film is in English, so the trailer is also in English. This low budget sci-fi drama premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and is also playing at the New York and Sitges Film Festivals. The story is about a man, played by Robert Pattinson, stuck on a spaceship heading to a distant star. He tries to interact with the rest of the crew who are slowly going crazy on the extended voyage. Reactions from the festivals have been divisive, with extreme love and hate for this super artistic, slow burn sci-fi drama. The cast includes Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, and Claire Tran. This trailer doesn't reveal everything, but it does have plenty of cool footage that...
- 10/12/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
She may be expanding her scope (and reaching entirely new audiences with her first foray into the English language with a Robert Pattinson-led A24 release), but Claire Denis has lost none of her daring vision with High Life. An unclassifiable, riveting journey into the depths of the unknown (both as it pertains to space and human desires), ahead of a release in France, the first brief teaser and more has arrived.
Josh Lewis said in his review, “While High Life has understandably drawn all kinds of comparisons to the 60s and 70s cerebral sci-fi canon (notably Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey), for both its abstract use of space imagery and its minimalist ship design which more often than not resembles an artificially-lit hospital filled with dated technology, its soul is firmly in the sensibilities of its filmmaker, French master Claire Denis, who mines the genre for a deeply...
Josh Lewis said in his review, “While High Life has understandably drawn all kinds of comparisons to the 60s and 70s cerebral sci-fi canon (notably Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey), for both its abstract use of space imagery and its minimalist ship design which more often than not resembles an artificially-lit hospital filled with dated technology, its soul is firmly in the sensibilities of its filmmaker, French master Claire Denis, who mines the genre for a deeply...
- 10/12/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Wild Bunch has debuted the first brief, international teaser trailer for High Life, the latest from acclaimed French director Claire Denis. This low budget sci-fi drama premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and it's playing at the New York Film Festival as well. The story is about a man, played by Robert Pattinson, stuck on a spaceship heading to a distant star. He tries to interact with the rest of the crew who are slowly going crazy on the extended voyage. It's hard to describe this any better than that, and it's a hard film to figure out. Reactions from the festivals have been divisive, with extreme love and hate for this film. The cast includes Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, and Claire Tran. This is a very short teaser that doesn't show much, but at least it's something as we wait for more marketing...
- 10/8/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Well, things just got a lot more interesting. Following news that Shia Labeouf and Mia Goth got divorced and Shia is now dating Robert Pattinson's ex-fiancée, Fka Twigs, Rob and Mia hit the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain together on Thursday. The two were on hand to promote their upcoming film, High Life, and seemed to be in good spirits as they shared a few laughs and chatted with their costars including Agata Buzek and Scarlett Lindsey. Before you jump to any conclusions, though, it's likely that Rob and Mia are just friends. They also attended the Toronto Film Festival to do press for their movie earlier this month.
Rob and Twigs first got together in 2014 but called off their engagement in October 2017. The actor was most recently linked to Suki Waterhouse after they were caught kissing on a movie date in London in July. While the status...
Rob and Twigs first got together in 2014 but called off their engagement in October 2017. The actor was most recently linked to Suki Waterhouse after they were caught kissing on a movie date in London in July. While the status...
- 9/30/2018
- by Monica Sisavat
- Popsugar.com
High Life, the latest film from Claire Denis, premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival in Canada. It is co-written by Denis, Nick Laird, Geoff Cox and Jean-Pol Fargeau.
The film stars Twilight and recent Cronenberg regular Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Outcast’s André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Claire Tran, Ewan Mitchell and Gloria Obianyo.
In these interviews Pattinson talks about wanting to work specifically with Denis, and the director herself opines that the film is ‘not really’ sci-fi and more about something more taboo.
High Life Tiff Premiere Interviews
Plot:
The film takes place beyond the solar system in a future that seems like the present. A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation and is about a group of criminals who accept a mission in space to become the subjects of a human reproduction experiment. They find themselves...
The film stars Twilight and recent Cronenberg regular Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Outcast’s André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Claire Tran, Ewan Mitchell and Gloria Obianyo.
In these interviews Pattinson talks about wanting to work specifically with Denis, and the director herself opines that the film is ‘not really’ sci-fi and more about something more taboo.
High Life Tiff Premiere Interviews
Plot:
The film takes place beyond the solar system in a future that seems like the present. A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation and is about a group of criminals who accept a mission in space to become the subjects of a human reproduction experiment. They find themselves...
- 9/14/2018
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Wild Bunch represents international sales.
A24 has snapped up North American rights to Claire Denis’ English-language debut High Life starring Pattinson following its world premiere in Tiff.
The distributor plans a 2019 theatrical release for the film about criminals on board an imperilled spaceship that stars Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Mia Goth and André Benjamin.
Rounding out the cast are Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Claire Tran, Ewan Mitchell, Gloria Obianyo, Scarlett Lindsey, Jessie Ross, and Victor Banerjee. Denis wrote the screenplay with Jean-Pol Fargeau and Geoff Cox
High Life premiered in Gala Presentations and screens again to the public on Thursday and Friday.
A24 has snapped up North American rights to Claire Denis’ English-language debut High Life starring Pattinson following its world premiere in Tiff.
The distributor plans a 2019 theatrical release for the film about criminals on board an imperilled spaceship that stars Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Mia Goth and André Benjamin.
Rounding out the cast are Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Claire Tran, Ewan Mitchell, Gloria Obianyo, Scarlett Lindsey, Jessie Ross, and Victor Banerjee. Denis wrote the screenplay with Jean-Pol Fargeau and Geoff Cox
High Life premiered in Gala Presentations and screens again to the public on Thursday and Friday.
- 9/12/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Six of the 12 films in the main programme are by women
Six of the 12 features in Venice Days are directed by women for the first time in the event’s 15-year history.
They include Real Love (C’est Ca L’Amour), the second feature from French filmmaker Claire Burger, who co-directed Party Girl, which won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2014. Real Love is a semi-autobiographical drama starring Belgian actor and director Bouli Lanners as Mario, a man left to bring up his two turbulent teenager daughters on his own after his wife walks out on the family. Indie Sales has international rights.
Six of the 12 features in Venice Days are directed by women for the first time in the event’s 15-year history.
They include Real Love (C’est Ca L’Amour), the second feature from French filmmaker Claire Burger, who co-directed Party Girl, which won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2014. Real Love is a semi-autobiographical drama starring Belgian actor and director Bouli Lanners as Mario, a man left to bring up his two turbulent teenager daughters on his own after his wife walks out on the family. Indie Sales has international rights.
- 7/24/2018
- by Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
Juliette Binoche and André Benjamin are set to live the ‘High Life,’ as the duo has signed on to star in the upcoming sci-fi film. The Academy Award-winning actress and the six-time Grammy Award-winning actor will be joined on screen by several other new cast members, including Lars Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Ewan Mitchell, Jessie Ross […]
The post Juliette Binoche and Andre Benjamin Living the High Life in Claire Denis’s Sci-fi Thriller appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Juliette Binoche and Andre Benjamin Living the High Life in Claire Denis’s Sci-fi Thriller appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 9/10/2017
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
Title: Les Innocentes (The Innocents) Director: Anne Fontaine Starring: Lou De Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza, Vincent Macaigne, Joanna Kulig and Eliza Rycembel French director Anne Fontaine adapts a true story about the frailty of faith, exploring with powerful delicacy the human condition. Les Innocentes (The Innocents) is set in Poland in 1945. The magnetic Lou De Laâge is Mathilde Beaulieu, a young French Red Cross doctor who is sent to assist the survivors of the German camps. During her medical mission she discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy during a visit to a nearby convent. The discreet representation of the excruciating calvary of these innocent women is [ Read More ]
The post Les Innocentes (The Innocents) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Les Innocentes (The Innocents) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 11/21/2016
- by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
- ShockYa
The Innocents (Les Innocentes) Music Box Films Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B+ Director: Anne Fontaine Written by: Sandrina B. Karine, Alice Vial, story by Philippe Maynial, adaptation and dialogues by Anne Fontaine and Pascal Bonitzer. Cast: Lou de Laâge, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/21/16 Opens: July 1, 2016 Maureen Dowd, a long-term columnist for the New York Times who is as liberal as her newspaper, wrote once about a debate she had with her more conservative sister. Her sister had criticized Senator John McCain for an alleged extra-marital affair, to which Dowd replied, “Any man who spent five years in a box can [ Read More ]
The post The Innocents Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Innocents Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/31/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Courtesy of Music Box Films
The French drama The Innocents takes place shortly after World War II in Poland, a story involving the war’s devastation and aftermath, the occupying Russian forces who drove out the Germans, and some cloistered Catholic nuns. As such, it will inevitably draw comparison to Ida, the searing drama that explored issues of post-war communist Poland and identity for a woman raised by nuns. Although both films deal with nuns and post-war Poland, Ida’s story largely takes place years after the war, while this one takes place in 1945, in its immediate aftermath.
The Innocents is a rare thing, a story set in a war-torn environment but featuring almost entirely strong female characters. French director Anne Fontaine co-wrote the screen adaptation of the true story. Her previous films include Coco Before Chanel and Gemma Bovary, which she also co-wrote.
The central character was based on a real woman Madeleine Pauliac,...
The French drama The Innocents takes place shortly after World War II in Poland, a story involving the war’s devastation and aftermath, the occupying Russian forces who drove out the Germans, and some cloistered Catholic nuns. As such, it will inevitably draw comparison to Ida, the searing drama that explored issues of post-war communist Poland and identity for a woman raised by nuns. Although both films deal with nuns and post-war Poland, Ida’s story largely takes place years after the war, while this one takes place in 1945, in its immediate aftermath.
The Innocents is a rare thing, a story set in a war-torn environment but featuring almost entirely strong female characters. French director Anne Fontaine co-wrote the screen adaptation of the true story. Her previous films include Coco Before Chanel and Gemma Bovary, which she also co-wrote.
The central character was based on a real woman Madeleine Pauliac,...
- 7/8/2016
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
To help sift through the increasing number of new releases (independent or otherwise), the Weekly Film Guide is here! Below you’ll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.
Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for July 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, July 1. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
The Bfg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall, Ruby Barnhill
Synopsis: The Bfg is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been...
Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for July 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, July 1. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
The Bfg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall, Ruby Barnhill
Synopsis: The Bfg is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been...
- 7/1/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
It’s never too early to start planning a trip to the movies. Now that July is upon us, we wanted to have a place for movie fans to see every film opening in theaters for the entire month. We’ve separated the wide releases from the arthouse/specialty offerings for each week, giving you the best of both worlds. (Synopses are provided by festivals and distributors.)
For more of what’s on the horizon, you can also bookmark our calendar page, where we’ll update releases for the rest of the year. In the meantime, enjoy your time at the theaters!
Week of July 1 Wide
The Bfg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall, Ruby Barnhill
Synopsis: The Bfg is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been...
For more of what’s on the horizon, you can also bookmark our calendar page, where we’ll update releases for the rest of the year. In the meantime, enjoy your time at the theaters!
Week of July 1 Wide
The Bfg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall, Ruby Barnhill
Synopsis: The Bfg is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been...
- 6/30/2016
- by Kate Halliwell, Kyle Kizu and Steve Greene
- Indiewire
2015 was a successful year regarding the quantity and quality of foreign productions shot in Poland. At the beginning of the year, Anne Fontaine (“Coco Before Chanel,” “Perfect Mothers”) filmed a French-Polish co-production “Agnus Dei” in Warmia, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film features Polish and French actresses among others Lou de Laage, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek and Joanna Kulig.
In the spring, the crew of a Polish-German-French-Belgian co-production about the life of Maria Sklodowska-Curie (dir. Marie Noelle) spent 20 days on the set in among others Lodz, Leba and Krakow. The cast is international, and the film is made in French. The Polish Nobelist is portrayed by Karolina Gruszka (“Oxygen”).
The summer brought about increased activity of German producers. A Zdf TV show, “Ein Sommer in…” was filmed in two resort towns in the north-eastern Poland – Mikolajki and Mragowo. Ard and Tvp collaborated on the set of "Polizeiruf 110" ("Police Call 110"), which was filmed in July and August among others in a Polish border-town – Swiecko. Also in July began the shooting of a new part of detective TV series "Der Usedom-Krimi" filmed on both the Polish and German side of the Usedom island.
However, a true influx of foreign productions took place in the autumn. American-Polish thriller “Chronology” was filmed in Poznan. The cast includes William Baldwin (TV series "Gossip Girl," "Adrift in Manhattan") and Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “From Dusk till Dawn”).
The Goetz Palace in Brzesk, in Malopolska hosted filmmakers from India who for six days were shooting “Fitoor,” an Indian adaptation of Dickens's “Great Expectations.” The crew consisted of over 40 Indians and almost 80 Poles. Another crew from India – this time from the so-called Kollywood in the south of the country – spent twenty days on the set in various Polish locations (among others Zakopane, Walbrzych, Krakow, Leba). The film titled “24” features Surya, a Tamil superstar, in the main role.
The autumn months were also very intensive in Lodz with three simultaneous big film sets. Andrzej Wajda (“The Promised Land,” “Walesa. Man of Hope”) worked on his new film “Powidoki”; Opus Film, the producer of “Ida”, organized for an Israeli partner eleven-day shoot to a film set in 1970s – “Past Life,” directed by Avi Nesher; and American director Martha Coolidge (“The Prince and Me,” TV shows “Sex and the City,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Weeds”) filmed her project “Music, War and Love,” whose producer is among others Fred Roos known from such films as “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather” or “Lost in Translation.” The picture features Adelaide Clemens (“The Great Gatsby”), Connie Nielsen (“Gladiator”), Toby Sebastian (“Game of Thrones”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Nymphomaniac”).
The end of the year was also very successful for Malopolska and Krakow. Two movies were filmed in the region – an American-British biography of Martin Luther commissioned by PBS with Padraic Delaney (“The Wind that Shakes the Barley,” “The Tudors”) in the main role; and a feature titled “True Crimes” starring two-time winner of a Golden Globe – Jim Carrey (“The Truman Show,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Mask”) as the protagonist. The crew spent 32 days on the set in Krakow. The picture was directed by Greek Alexandros Avranas (“Miss Violence”), written by Jeremy Brock (“Brideshead Revisited,” “The Last King of Scotland”), and produced by Brett Ratner (“X-Men 3: the Last Stand,” TV series “Rush Hour”). Accompanying Jim Carrey were Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Nymphomaniac,” “Antichrist”); Marton Csokas (“The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”) and Polish actors Agata Kulesza (“Ida”) and Robert Wieckiewicz (“Walesa. Man of Hope”).
The first information about productions planned for 2016 has already been released. In January, Krakow will host the crew of French black comedy “Grand Froid,” Gérard Pautonnier's debut featuring Jean-Pierre Bacri (“The Taste of Others,” “Let It Rain”), Olivier Gourmet (“Rosetta,” “The Son”) and Arthur Dupond (“Bus Palladium”). The project won the first edition of the Krakow International Film Fund.
In the spring, the crew of a Polish-German-French-Belgian co-production about the life of Maria Sklodowska-Curie (dir. Marie Noelle) spent 20 days on the set in among others Lodz, Leba and Krakow. The cast is international, and the film is made in French. The Polish Nobelist is portrayed by Karolina Gruszka (“Oxygen”).
The summer brought about increased activity of German producers. A Zdf TV show, “Ein Sommer in…” was filmed in two resort towns in the north-eastern Poland – Mikolajki and Mragowo. Ard and Tvp collaborated on the set of "Polizeiruf 110" ("Police Call 110"), which was filmed in July and August among others in a Polish border-town – Swiecko. Also in July began the shooting of a new part of detective TV series "Der Usedom-Krimi" filmed on both the Polish and German side of the Usedom island.
However, a true influx of foreign productions took place in the autumn. American-Polish thriller “Chronology” was filmed in Poznan. The cast includes William Baldwin (TV series "Gossip Girl," "Adrift in Manhattan") and Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “From Dusk till Dawn”).
The Goetz Palace in Brzesk, in Malopolska hosted filmmakers from India who for six days were shooting “Fitoor,” an Indian adaptation of Dickens's “Great Expectations.” The crew consisted of over 40 Indians and almost 80 Poles. Another crew from India – this time from the so-called Kollywood in the south of the country – spent twenty days on the set in various Polish locations (among others Zakopane, Walbrzych, Krakow, Leba). The film titled “24” features Surya, a Tamil superstar, in the main role.
The autumn months were also very intensive in Lodz with three simultaneous big film sets. Andrzej Wajda (“The Promised Land,” “Walesa. Man of Hope”) worked on his new film “Powidoki”; Opus Film, the producer of “Ida”, organized for an Israeli partner eleven-day shoot to a film set in 1970s – “Past Life,” directed by Avi Nesher; and American director Martha Coolidge (“The Prince and Me,” TV shows “Sex and the City,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Weeds”) filmed her project “Music, War and Love,” whose producer is among others Fred Roos known from such films as “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather” or “Lost in Translation.” The picture features Adelaide Clemens (“The Great Gatsby”), Connie Nielsen (“Gladiator”), Toby Sebastian (“Game of Thrones”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Nymphomaniac”).
The end of the year was also very successful for Malopolska and Krakow. Two movies were filmed in the region – an American-British biography of Martin Luther commissioned by PBS with Padraic Delaney (“The Wind that Shakes the Barley,” “The Tudors”) in the main role; and a feature titled “True Crimes” starring two-time winner of a Golden Globe – Jim Carrey (“The Truman Show,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Mask”) as the protagonist. The crew spent 32 days on the set in Krakow. The picture was directed by Greek Alexandros Avranas (“Miss Violence”), written by Jeremy Brock (“Brideshead Revisited,” “The Last King of Scotland”), and produced by Brett Ratner (“X-Men 3: the Last Stand,” TV series “Rush Hour”). Accompanying Jim Carrey were Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Nymphomaniac,” “Antichrist”); Marton Csokas (“The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”) and Polish actors Agata Kulesza (“Ida”) and Robert Wieckiewicz (“Walesa. Man of Hope”).
The first information about productions planned for 2016 has already been released. In January, Krakow will host the crew of French black comedy “Grand Froid,” Gérard Pautonnier's debut featuring Jean-Pierre Bacri (“The Taste of Others,” “Let It Rain”), Olivier Gourmet (“Rosetta,” “The Son”) and Arthur Dupond (“Bus Palladium”). The project won the first edition of the Krakow International Film Fund.
- 2/4/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Agnes Dei
Director: Anne Fontaine
Writers: Anne Fontaine, Pascal Bonitzer, Sabrina B. Karine, Alice Vial
French director Anne Fontaine, who has been making features since 1997’s Dry Cleaning, has certainly been jumping around between genres over her past several features, skipping from the romantic comedy of My Worst Nightmare (2013) to her tawdry English language debut Adrift (2013) and a modern twist on Flaubert’s eternal text with 2014’s Gemma Bovary. Her latest is a French-Polish co-production period piece set in 1945, where a nurse working for a branch of the Red Cross caring for French survivors of the German camps is convinced into following a sickly Polish nun to her convent after the woman begs for assistance. The nurse discovers a clutch of nuns all in advanced state of pregnancy.
Cast: Lou de Laage, Agata Buzek, Joanna Kulig, Vincent Macaigne, Agata Kulesza
Production Co./Producers: Mandarin Films’ Eric & Nicolas Altmayer (Yves Saint Laurent)
U.
Director: Anne Fontaine
Writers: Anne Fontaine, Pascal Bonitzer, Sabrina B. Karine, Alice Vial
French director Anne Fontaine, who has been making features since 1997’s Dry Cleaning, has certainly been jumping around between genres over her past several features, skipping from the romantic comedy of My Worst Nightmare (2013) to her tawdry English language debut Adrift (2013) and a modern twist on Flaubert’s eternal text with 2014’s Gemma Bovary. Her latest is a French-Polish co-production period piece set in 1945, where a nurse working for a branch of the Red Cross caring for French survivors of the German camps is convinced into following a sickly Polish nun to her convent after the woman begs for assistance. The nurse discovers a clutch of nuns all in advanced state of pregnancy.
Cast: Lou de Laage, Agata Buzek, Joanna Kulig, Vincent Macaigne, Agata Kulesza
Production Co./Producers: Mandarin Films’ Eric & Nicolas Altmayer (Yves Saint Laurent)
U.
- 1/6/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Sundance 2016 is fast approaching. Last week we posted the movie lineup of Midnight and Competition film selections. We now have the complete lineup for the premieres in both the feature film and documentary categories. We also have their selections for the Spotlight and Kid films. I've also included a list of special events.
There are a lot of great films on this list that I'm excited about seeing because of the incredible talent involved. Viggo Mortensen and Frank Langella star in Captain Fantastic; Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams star in Certain Women; Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover star in Complete Unknown; Paul Rudd and Selena Gomez star in The Fundamentals of Caring; John Krasinski directed a film called The Hollars which he stars in with Anna Kendrick, Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Sharlto Copley, and Charlie Day; Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has made a new...
There are a lot of great films on this list that I'm excited about seeing because of the incredible talent involved. Viggo Mortensen and Frank Langella star in Captain Fantastic; Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams star in Certain Women; Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover star in Complete Unknown; Paul Rudd and Selena Gomez star in The Fundamentals of Caring; John Krasinski directed a film called The Hollars which he stars in with Anna Kendrick, Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Sharlto Copley, and Charlie Day; Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has made a new...
- 12/13/2015
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Premieres A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated narrative films of the coming year. "Agnus Dei" / France, Poland (Director: Anne Fontaine, Screenwriters: Sabrina N. Karine, Alice Vial, Pascal Bonitzer) — 1945 Poland: Mathilde, a young French doctor, is on a mission to help World War II survivors. When a nun seeks her assistance in helping several pregnant nuns in hiding, who are unable to reconcile their faith with their pregnancies, Mathilde becomes their only hope. Cast: Lou de Laâge, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek, Vincent Macaigne, Joanna Kulig, Katarzyna Dabrowska. World Premiere "Ali & Nino" / United Kingdom (Director: Asif Kapadia, Screenwriter: Christopher Hampton) — Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to...
- 12/8/2015
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Sundance programmers have unveiled what is a jaw-dropping, savoury Premieres line-up. With names such as Asif Kapadia (Ali & Nino), Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women), Joshua Marston (Complete Unknown), Ira Sachs (Little Men), Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), Todd Solondz (Wiener-Dog) and James Schamus’ directorial debut (Indignation), the 2016 edition could be considered a “gold” level edition that in the decade plus years we’ve been covering the fest easily rivals what we might find in the Main Comp in Cannes later that year. In addition to titan auteurs names mentioned above, the fest also have faves in Anne Fontaine, Taika Waititi, John Carney and Diego Luna on tap plus will showcase work from Matthew Ross (directorial debut – Frank & Lola) and Matt Ross (sophomore film – Captain Fantastic). Here is the Premieres line-up.
Agnus Dei / France, Poland (Director: Anne Fontaine, Screenwriters: Sabrina N. Karine, Alice Vial, Pascal Bonitzer) — 1945 Poland: Mathilde,...
Agnus Dei / France, Poland (Director: Anne Fontaine, Screenwriters: Sabrina N. Karine, Alice Vial, Pascal Bonitzer) — 1945 Poland: Mathilde,...
- 12/7/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Kate Plays ChristineThe lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 21 -31, has been announced.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONAs You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA): As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson. World Premiere The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, USA): Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Mark Boone Jr. World PremiereChristine (Antonio Campos,...
- 12/7/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Top brass at the Park City festival have rounded out the feature line-up with a dazzling selection on paper that includes new work from Asif Kapadia and other returning alumni such as Todd Solondz, Taika Waititi and Joshua Marston.Scroll Down For Full List
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
- 12/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Top brass at the Park City festival have rounded out the feature line-up with a dazzling selection on paper that includes new work from Asif Kapadia and other returning alumni such as Todd Solondz, Taika Waititi and Joshua Marston.Scroll Down For Full List
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
- 12/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.