AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Saturday 28th July, at 20.30h in P.zza del Gesù (Fiumicello) during the award cerimony Provincia di Potenza and the Municipality of Maratea gave the prizes of the III edition of IO, ISABELLA INTERNATIONAL FILM WEEK, an international jury indicated the winners of the Golden Wave 2007:

1. Golden Wave for the section SHE’S HOT, CHE BAMBOLA! DONNE IN CONCORSO to:

STORM OF EMOTIONS by Yael Klopman
(Israel, 2006. Documentary, 82’ italian premiere)

Synopsis: The 1982 peace agreement with Egypt obliged thousands of people to leave their homes in the Sinai desert. From the options they were given by the Israeli government, many chose "Gush Katif" in the Gaza Strip as their new home. To progress the peace process, the Israeli government ordered the evacuation of the Gaza Strip on August 2005. This decision created political and social turmoil. The evacuation was to be the most complex and sensitive mission ever to be undertaken by the police forces. This movie is about emotions, beliefs, conscience and true brotherly love, It is a story of humanity in its finest hour

Motivations: “brave non-fiction film, that offers a unique testimony following step by step the 2005 evacuation of the Gaza Strip. A film that, using the tools and language of documentary in a precise and effective way, manages without intrusion or rethorics to tip into the most humane aspects of the story it tells. In doing so the director gives to the world an amazing document that shows aspects of the Middle East's question like none has ever had the courage to do before! Yael Klopman shows all of her skills in putting into images, without taking a stand, a painful passage in the history of a Nation”.


2. The Golden Wave Provincia di Potenza for the section THE DISCREET CHARM OF DOCUMENTARY, goes to

THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE by Martin Durkin
(Uk, 2007. Documentary, 74’)
Synopsis: The definitive response to Al Gore’s AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. This film shatters all common theories about men-made Globa Warming with the support of scientists and academics, the documentary goes as far as highlighting how politically driven campaigns against CO2 emissions will hurt the development of the Third World.

Motivation: “balanced documentary in which the director does not fear to challenge the "big guys", with excellent technics and argumentations, without forgetting a noble display of humour, the winning ingredient that keeps audiences' attention alive all the way to the end”.


3. For the section PRIMIZIE: SHE’S HOT FIRSTLING EDITION, the prize for best first film goes to:

TAKE YOUR LIFE (Nimm Dir Dein Leben) by Sabine Michel
(Germany, 2005. Fiction, 100’ italian premiere)
Synopsis: Surrealistic feature film that weaves together the life of a strange village with that of a mysterious girl who, looking for her vanished fianceé, finds instead a very special boy.

Motivation: “the film stands out for its originality, both in the script that in the directorial choices; the young director uses at best the resources she has to realise this surreal piece of work, which balances excellently all cinematic tools and devices”.

4. SPECIAL MENTIONS A:

- Anna Biller for her amazing talent and the originality of her work.
“Biller shows a talent out of the ordinary in her aesthetical research and cinematic style. A 360 degrees artist like worldwide Cinema has not seen in a very long time”.

- Maria Victoria Andino for “El Secreto de la Sangre”
“Argentinian talent of which we hope to hear more in the future; in her graduation film she shows great care for the fundamental aspects of the cinematic medium, first of all the photography”.

- Karen Gehres per “Begging Naked”
“The director follows an incredible human story, managing without flaws to transalte it into a universal tale and a beautiful documentary”.

The ending titles roll over this Third Edition of IO, ISABELLA INTERNATIONAL FILM WEEK in a colorful trail of visions and meetings of different cultures that share real emotions lived on and off the silver screen.

See you in 2008!

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IO, ISABELLA's DIRECTORS CONQUER THE WORLD: Xiaolu Guo in Pesaro

writer/director Xiaolu Guo, who with her documentary The Concrete Revolution took part in IO, ISABELLA INTERNATIONAL FILM WEEK 2005, has gained a Special Mention at the 43rd Pesaro Film Festival, her film How is your fish today was part of the competition programme "Pesaro Nuovo Cinema" which listed 8 international titles.

Here is the jury's motivation for the Special Mention:

for the incisive way in which the director couples together, without scholastic strictness, a refined aesthetical research (e.g. the voice-over that, just like a troublesome consciousness, binds and explains the images) and the passionate charge of the difficulty, today, of living in a world without projects and dreams, without direction and without a collective aim. For the clarity and subtile irony used to tell the contemporary compulsion to live through somebody else's life, like the character invented by the protagonist in order to be able to travel just about anywhere; the splendid snowy village, where perhaps it's not worth going in the real life.

We like to congratulate with Xiaolu Guo for this deserved Mention, and hope she'll be part again of our Festival for the 2008 edition.

enjoy the film's trailer

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CANNES LOVES MOORE

This is the chronicle of a long-lived love story, that between the Cannes Film Festival and controversial documentary director Michael Moore. Today at the Press preview Moore's new film Sicko (see previous post on the film) triggered a long applause on the foreground of its ending titles rolling on screen. Since Bowling for Columbine (which was the first non-fiction film screened at the Festival in 40-plus years) Cannes has been Moore's best stage, and Moore has used it to full advantage, moving his circus of controversy and commotion all the way to the French Riviera. Already in 2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 shook the jury led by Tarantino that year, who decided to award the Golden Palm to the film (only another documentary in the history of the Festival ever got so far, it was The Silent World by the famed French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a young Louis Malle), and it generated an unprecedented trail of political commotion for its release right before the U.S. 2004 elections. Three years later, Moore arrives to Cannes with an army of lawyers fully armed for the battle. In the press conference the Canadian director announced that he was forced to bring in Cannes a copy of the film, fearing that the original (which is hidden in a safe place) would be confiscated by American authorities, and continued to say that on Tuesday he might be arrested, because "that is the deadline for the ultimatum the Bush administration declared" for his entering Cuba without permission.

With Sicko the director touches the delicate note of privatised Health Care System in the United States (the HMO is a powerful political lobby in U.S.) and it gives it the Michael Moore treatment, that is to say he puts in the picture a few willingly provocative twists and turns, that this time are summarised in a trip to Cuba to supply the needed medical treatments to those 9/11 volunteers, who saw the HMOs denying them cures to their serious illnesses caused by the toxic wastes of Ground Zero. The aim was to bring the 9/11 heroes to the American territory of Guantanamo to have them get the same excellent care and treatments Guantanamo terrorists get; not succeeding in his effort, Moore got side-tracked into going to a Cuban public hospital, where (arguably, i dare say) the care is shown to be of better standards than the American one. In one precise blow Moore did what Moore is best at: igniting the fuse of controversy.

On the critics' side, besides any comments on the merits of the film and the obvious political battles, one must note that Moore does not get much sympathy from the very non-fiction community he belongs to, many directors (among which the founding fathers of non-fiction filmmaking) feel outraged by his improper use of the non-fiction tools to push his own personal goals and political ideas. A few indicators of this tendency are to be found in Moore's habit to always appear in his own work (in fact he even figures in all of his film posters) as main carrier of the narrative, interviewer and voice-over, which defies all laws of good non-fiction practice. Cannes might love "troublemaker" Moore, but his informed peers are critical of his "un-orthodox" methods; besides, I dare any journalist, on and off La Croisette, to not have doubt that bringing up the story of the Governmental treats almost 20 days after the letter informing Moore of the investigation was issued, might be a smart "publicity" stunt to promote the film among distributors and avoid it to be confiscated (just like it happened with Fahrenheit 9/11).

Forgetting all comments and doubts, the truth of the matter is that Michael Moore is an awfully good filmmaker, who's able to twist and bend the boundaries of documentary to his own will. Even though criticism is correct in ditching his work as one-sided, nevertheless watching his films is still a good (and effective) cinematic experience. All is left to do is to wait and see if also Sicko will make it to the Cinemas.

related links: Moore's website - CNN article praising Sicko - Entertainment Weekly interview on Sicko - video interview to Jacques Cousteau in Cannes 1956

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WONG KAR-WAI OPENS CANNES

In a matter of minutes the 60th Cannes Film Festival will open its doors, the film to mark this moment is My Bluberry Nights by Wong Kar-Way, the Hong Kong director we discovered in Locarno in 1994 where he got nominated for Chung Hing sam lam, re-discovered with Happy Together, loved with In the Mood for Love and declared a master with 2046.

My Bluberry Nights is his first "american" film, it features a prestigious and refined cast (Jude Law, Tim Roth, Rachel Weisz e Natalie Portman), it marks the film debut of talented singer Norah Jones, and promises all the stylistic trademarks and ambience for which the director got his way right into the high ranking positions of best filmmakers worldwide. The plot is the simplest known to man: the film is a delicate road-movie narrating the story of a young girl, Elizabeth, who hits the road after breaking up with her boyfriend, starting a journey of self-discovery; along the way she will meet surreal characters who will help her in the quest.

Only suspicion on the work is the daring choice of the director to cut his "marriage" with Christopher Doyle – supreme master among DOPs, without any dubt one of the best ever – who lended his eye to Kar-Way's visions in 8 films (from Days of being wild to La mano, episode of the collective Eros), a strong and succesful collaboration reminisent of these such as Bergman/Nykvist, Spielberg/Kaminski. For both My Bluberry Nights and The Lady from Shanghai (Kar-Way's next made-in-USA film, a remake of the 1947 Orson Welles' film by the same name.) photography has been put in the hands of Darius Khondji a gifted french-iranian DOP who signed the infernal tones of Se7en and The Ninth Gate.

Here is My Blueberry Night's TRAILER

Following the videos of the trailers for In the Mood for Love and Days of being wild:



related links: interview to Kar-Wai on My Blueberry Nights – Chris Doyle video on cinematography

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MADONNA WITH A MOVIE CAMERA

...Although it sounds like the name of some religious icon of the Cinematic era, the title actually describes the way the Pop star was seen in London in the past few days. Madonna is busy on the set of her first movie as director Filth and Wisdom, a 30 minutes short said to be a sexually charged comedy with religious undertones, rumored to be inspired by the life of Mrs. Ciccone-Ritchie herself. The film is planned to be wrapped in July (probably before Madonna's appearance at the Live Earth Concert on the 7th of July) and people close to the star declared it is expected to do brilliantly on the Festivals circuits.

It's no news that Madonna is fatally attracted to filmmaking, it has been crystal clear since day one (remember Desperately Seeking Susan? a pleasant little film dated 1985 that incredibly earned a Golden Globe Nomination and a Bafta Award to Rosanna Arquette for best performance!), actress on set and lawfully wedded partner of actors and directors of the likes of Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie off-set, the multi-talented queen of pop hasn't just had a fascination with the silver screen, but in her career she has collected a record of 88 soundtracks, 22 roles as actress and 10 as producer. Now she steps on the director's chair and however strange it might sound at first, it seems to be nothing more than the obvious development. More so considering the fact that the ex- material girl has got two more projects as producer: the horror film Digger by John A. Gallagher and This is America by Larry Charles (director of the recent Borat film). Both titles are produced under the wing of Maverick Red, the company that Madonna runs together with the Israeli Guy Oseary

I guess that all is left to say is: the proof of the pudding is in the eating...

Following is the trailer of Desperately Seeking Susan and an old(ish) interview in which Madonna "challenges" a young Italian MTV type of guy of great beauty and scarce insight (this goes straight in the category: How not, ever, conduct an interview!)




related links: Madonna's official website - Maverick label - The Daily Mirror - article on Digger - Borat

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CANNES' RIB: HOW "LA CROISETTE" CREATED THE WOMAN (AND THE OTHER WAY AROUND)

Do you know that weird feeling of "gee I wish I would have thought of this myself"? Well, that's exactly how I felt reading the article And Cannes created woman on the online version of The Independent. How could I not have thoutgh about posting something on the subject on our very own women-in-film oriented blog? I wonder what possesed me. However, thank God our very thoughtful friends at the British paper were sharp enough to point out that nothing better than the long line up of female stars on "La Croisette" summarises the 60 years of history of the father of all glamour struck Film Festivals.

As the Cannes Film Festival starts tomorrow and I will be en-route to this next two weeks Cinema's belly botton, after reading the piece I went on a web-hunt for video/photo material on the subject, just to lift some dust off my Cannes' conscious self, and I was quite surprise to find out that there is not much of a web-trace of those glamorous haydays on the French Riviera. Just some pictures and a handful of videos (some of which I link in this post). Regardless the scarsity of images, looking at the fading portraits of graceful figures flirting with the camera, the legions of photographers following them with their beautiful old paparazzi-style cameras (just like those in La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini) and the famous Bardot bikini stunt that granted moral appropiate status to bikinis throughout the world, was a bit of a spoiler for my trip to this year's Festival...in 2007 it just cannot work the same way! And I wonder: has Cinema lost its power to make the world dream?

Here it's how it used to be, and a glimpse of Juliette Binoche steeling airtime at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival where she was for her lead role in André Téchiné's Rendez-vous:



The 60th Cannes Film Festival runs from 16th to 27th of May.

related links: Cannes' video Archive - The Independent

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Bush vs. Michael Moore part 2: Sicko violated U.S. trade embargo on Cuba

Not yet released and already the new Michael Moore documentary stirs controversy. The canadian filmmaker, known for Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 (which sequel is in pre-production) is the object of a U.S. federal investigation on infringement of the Cuban trade embargo, In March Moore took 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary. Allegedly the workers were given medical treatment in Cuba to demonstrate how they were neglected by the american health-care/health insurance institutions. Traveling to Cuba turns out to be a crime according to American laws. [Which is fair enough, but then why Spielberg and Charlize Theron were allowed what they deny to Moore?]

Sicko – this is the title of the film, not a reference to Moore's addiction to generate commotion around his work – features a dissection of the U.S. health-care system; the film was inspired by a segment on Moore's TV show The Awful Truth, in which he staged a mock funeral outside a health-maintenance organization that had declined a pancreas transplant for a diabetic man. At last September's Toronto International Film Festival, Moore previewed footage shot for Sicko, presenting stories of personal health-care nightmares. One scene showed a woman who was denied payment for an ambulance ride after a head-on collision because it was not pre-approved.

Moore labels the investigation as an abuse motivated by political agenda: I believe that the decision to conduct this investigation represents the latest example of the Bush Administration abusing the federal government for raw, crass, political purposes.

The timing of the investigation is reminiscent of the firestorm that preceded the Cannes debut of Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the festival's top prize in 2004. The Walt Disney Co. refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the film because of its political content, prompting Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein to release Fahrenheit 9/11 on their own. The Weinsteins later left Miramax to form the Weinstein Co., which is releasing Sicko.

Sicko premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theaters June 29.

Here is what CNN and ABC news have to say on the matter:


related links: Michael Moore's website - video: The Awful Truth (mock funeral)

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