Five Must-See Films From the New York Film Festival (Village Voice)

By J. Hoberman

The 47th New York Film Festival (September 25 through October 11) features some things old, some things new, and some new things by directors who are really, really old. Opening night's Wild Grass is by Alain Resnais—an alum of the very first NYFF—who, at 87, is not even this year's senior filmmaker.

There are movies you'd expect to find at Lincoln Center, such as the last Cannes Film Festival's critical favorite (Wild Grass), Palm d'Or laureate (Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon), and most notorious film (Lars von Trier's Antichrist). Also, the Sundance Audience and Grand Prize winner, directed by Lee Daniels and contractually known as Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. And, perhaps, there are a few movies conspicuous by their absence, like the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man or Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are. Let the wild rumpus start . . .

It's all about the mix. I was in the kitchen, so I know. The other chefs on the NYFF selection committee were my colleagues Scott Foundas and Melissa Anderson, former Voice film editor Dennis Lim, and, of course, festival director Richard Peña. No lack of continuity: Returning to the fest are Marco Bellocchio (Vincere), Bong Joon-ho (Mother), Catherine Breillat (Bluebeard), Claire Denis (White Material), Bruno Dumont (Hadewijch), Harmony Korine (Trash Humpers), Todd Solondz (Life During Wartime), and, after 22 years, Malien director Souleymane Cissé (Min Ye . . . )—not to mention Resnais, 81-year-old class of '68er Jacques Rivette (Around a Small Mountain), 83-year-old '70s regular Andrzej Wajda (Sweet Rush), and the 100-plus but ageless Manoel de Oliveira (Eccentricities of a Blond-Haired Girl). Comrade Foundas offered to moderate a panel entitled "80 and Loving It." (For his take on all the old guys, see page 18.)

On the other hand, there are a dozen or more filmmakers who have never had movies in the NYFF, including the 25-year-old Philippino prodigy Raya Martin (Independencia), 32-year-old Maren Ade (Everyone Else), 34-year-old Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective), the notorious minimalizer Pedro Costa (Ne Change Rien), and Israeli Samuel Maoz, who brings his first film, Lebanon, which he made on the cusp of 50.

Lebanon, which won the Golden Lion a few weeks ago at Venice, was—along with Police, Adjective—the closest thing to a unanimous favorite for the amiably fractious committee. Yeah, right, I thought, when told it had been hyped as another Waltz With Bashir. Actually, Maoz's recollection of his wartime experience, set entirely inside a tank heading north on the first day of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, should be compared to No Exit, as directed by Sam Fuller. For this jaded committee member, the NYFF slate provided a number of other surprises (including the presence of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story as the festival's first-ever pre–opening night opener). Here are five more unlikely-sounding items that proved to be unexpected pleasures. None, as of this writing, have distributors. Some are showing only once; all are movies I'm looking forward to seeing again.

Ghost Town A three-hour Chinese doc—filmed by a director so new that he isn't even listed on IMBD, over a period of months (years?) in a near-deserted village in the mountains of southwest China—arrives over the transom. Give Ghost Town 15 minutes, and you won't be able to shut it off—the assortment of religious evangelists, hardcore drunks, and abandoned children that Zhao Dayong finds living their lives provide a drama (and a look) as compelling as any in the festival. September 27

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Who cares about a lost movie by the half-forgotten "French Hitchcock"? But the title of Serge Bromberg's documentary, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, has a double meaning. A rigid, audience-manipulating control freak, Clouzot attempted to go all nouveau vague in the early '60s with a hallucinatory psychological thriller. Inferno's protagonist is pathologically jealous of his hot, young wife (Romy Schneider), but the real head case was the director—unable to finish the movie and, as both survivors and surviving footage indicate, driven half-mad in the attempt. (See page 22.) October 4

To Die Like a Man Fado-singing, pooch-pampering trannie grows old: Sounds like a yawn, but João Pedro Rodrigues's To Die Like a Man is a deep and fabulously sad fable, as well as an example of lyrical, playful, unpredictable filmmaking from this Portuguese festival star. (It's this year's I'm Gonna Explode.) September 30, October 1

Kanikosen While we're talking kabuki: Kanikosen, by the Japanese provo-punk who calls himself Sabu. If a manic manga-style, two-dimensional adaptation of a once-famous Japanese-Communist agitprop novel sounds like your cup of tea, trust me: It is. September 27, 28

Trash Humpers The fest doesn't lack for provocations, although von Trier's Antichrist strains, Breillat's Bluebeard is over-subtle, and Solondz's Life During Wartime waxes too philosophical. Bruno Dumont's humorless Hadewijch deserves to be rated PFC (pretty fucking crazy), but the wackiest transgression is Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers. I've always considered Korine an untalented poseur, but, as the poet said, a fool persists in his folly until he becomes wise. October 1, 2

"El secreto de sus ojos", candidata argentina al Oscar a mejor filme extranjero

"El secreto de sus ojos", de Juan José Campanella, fue elegida hoy por la Academia Nacional de Cine para competir por Argentina para una candidatura a la mejor película extranjera en los premios Oscar que entrega la Academia de Hollywood.

Ahora, la Academia deberá evaluar si el filme argentino es nominado entre las mejores producciones que llegarán a la tradicional ceremonia anual de Hollywood. Protagonizada por Ricardo Darín, Guillermo Francella y Soledad Villamil, la película de Campanella, actualmente en competencia en el Festival de Cine de San Sebastián, obtuvo 57 sobre 85 votos.

En segundo lugar quedaron "Las viudas de los jueves", de Marcelo Piñeyro, "Días de Mayo", de Gustavo Postiglione, y "El niño pez", de Lucía Puenzo, con cuatro votos cada una.

Programación del Festival de Roma

Competition:

After by Alberto Rodriguez - Spain
Alza La Testa by Alessandro Angelini - Italy
Brotherhood by Nicolo Donato - Denmark
Every Day Is A Holiday (Chaque Jour Est Une Fete) by Dima El-Horr - France - Lebanon
Dawson, Island 10 (Dawson Isla 10) by Miguel Littin - Chile - Brazil - Venezuela
The Last Station by Michael Hoffman - Germany
Plan B by Marco Berger - Argentina (FOTO)
Youth (Quingnian) by Geng Jun - China
Regrets (Les Regrets) by Cedric Kahn - France
Triage by Danis Tanovic - France-Ireland-Spain
The Man Who Will Come by L’Uomo Che Verra - Giorgio Dirtti - Italy
Up In The Air by Jason Reitman - US
Sea Purple (Viola Di Mare) by Donatella Maiorca - Italy
Vision by Margareth Von Trotta - Germany

Out Of Competition:
Christine (Cristina) by Stefania Sandrelli - Italy
The City Of Your Final Destination by James Ivory - US
The Concert (Le Concert) by Radu Mihaileanu - France- Romania-Belgium-Italy
I, Don Giovanni (Io, Don Giovanni) by Carlos Saura - Italy-Spain
Julie & Julia by Nora Ephron - US
The Warrior And The Wolf (Lang Zai Ji) by Zhuangzhuang Tian - China
Oggi Sposi - Just Married by Luca Lucini
A Serious Man by Joel and Ethan Coen - US

Out of competition - Alice in The City
Hachiko: A Dog’s Story by Lasse Hallstrom - US
Astro Boy by David Bowers - US

Special Event

The Twilight Saga: New Moon - presentation of sequences from the upcoming film

Extra - documentaries in competition:
American Boy: A Profile Of Steven Prince/ American Prince by Martin Scorsese, Tommy Pallotta - US
Con Artist by Michael Sladek - US
Fratelli D’Italia by Claudio Giovannesi - Italy
Garbo, The Man Who Saved The World by Edmon Roch - Spain
I Knew It Was You by Richard Shepard - US
L’Italia Del Nostro Scontento by Elisa Fuksas, Francesca Muci, Lucrezia Le Moli - Italy
Latta E Caffe - Riccardo Dalisi, Napoli E Il Teatro Della Decrescita by Antonello Matarazzo with Bruno Di Marino
Mamachas Del Ring - Betty M. Park - Bolivia
PIN2011 - Recollection Of The Street (Erinnerung An Die Strasse) by Torsten Konig- Germany
The One Man Beatles by Cosimo Messeri - Italy
Severe Clear by Kristian Fraga - US
Sons Of Cuba by Andrew Lang - UK

New York Film Festival 2009: Director Alain Resnais, 87 Years Young (Village Voice)

Buena vida la de Scott Foundas. En Toronto me contaba que venía de estar en Sudáfrica en el rodaje de INVICTUS, de Clint Eastwood, y que habìa estado en París entrevistando en persona a Alain Resnais. Tal como lo prometió, al comenzar el Festival, la entrevista suya sale publicada en Village Voice... Y tal como le avisé, aquí la subo.

By Scott Foundas

In that half-century, Resnais has done much to implode, reshape, and expand our sense of cinematic possibilities, from his collaborations with nouveau roman architects Marguerite Duras (Hiroshima) and Alain Robbe-Grillet (Last Year at Marienbad) to his proto–Charlie Kaufman time-travel opus Je t'aime, je t'aime to his unrealized project with Marvel Comics impresario Stan Lee—decades before comics became all the Hollywood rage. Perpetually avant-garde and avant la lettre, a forerunner of the French New Wave but never officially part of it, at 87, Resnais still seems driven by a restless, childlike curiosity. In hindsight, Resnais's 1956 short film Toute la mémoire du monde, a portrait of the French national library and its encyclopedic holdings, seems less documentary than autobiography.

"They say that a director always makes the same film," says Resnais when I meet him on a damp Paris morning earlier this month, his beige overcoat turned up at the collar, his gleaming sneakers nearly the same shade of white as his impeccably coiffed hair. "I try to make, as François Truffaut said, the next film in opposition to the one that came before. I'm not sure if I succeed. To put it another way, I agree with the auteur theory, but I don't consider myself an auteur. I'm more of an artisan, a craftsman." Such self-effacement is trademark with Resnais, who has always eschewed the "a film by" credit and has never taken a formal screenplay credit, either, though he is said to collaborate closely with his screenwriters (in the case of Wild Grass, Alex Reval and Laurent Herbiet).

Breaking a career-long policy of never adapting a novel, Resnais based Wild Grass on a book by French author Christian Gailly, whose writing, he says, "had a theatrical tone and dialogue that I liked very much, that seemed very close to a project I had in my head. Gailly has written 13 novels. I asked him for permission to adapt one of his books, but said I wanted to read all 13 before choosing. And he said, 'Choose the one you want, and we'll meet again. Good luck.' "

Resnais ultimately settled on The Incident, which follows the blossoming, albeit largely one-sided amour fou between Georges (played in Wild Grass by Resnais regular André Dussollier) and Marguerite Muir, a dentist who moonlights as an aviatrix (played by Sabine Azéma, another regular and also Resnais's wife). The theft of Marguerite's purse, seen flying through the air in the early moments of the film, is the inciting event of Gailly's title. When Georges subsequently recovers her wallet in a parking garage, the seemingly happily married husband and father begins fantasizing about this strange dentist/pilot with a mountain of frizzy red curls—a lust that goes on to express itself in a series of strangely comic and even violent ways. Is Georges mad or merely madly in love? Is Marguerite terrified of him, turned on, or both? As in so much of Resnais's work, multiple interpretations and the absence of a concrete reality are standard.

For the film's title, Resnais chose Wild Grass because "I have the impression that these are two people who have no reason to meet, no reason to love each other. In French, 'les herbes folles' means a plant that grows in a place where it has no hope of developing—in a crack in a wall, or a ceiling. I wanted to say that I consider these two characters to be completely deprived of reason." Then he adds, in English: "But aren't we all? When you read the history of France or America or England, it's a litany of mistakes: The king should not have done this; the people should not have done that. Why should a character be any different?"

Arguably Resnais's trippiest, most freely associative experiment since 1968's Je t'aime, je t'aime (a critical and commercial failure in its day), Wild Grass zig-zags zanily from one genre to the next: Sometimes, it's a screwball comedy (complete with a couple of Keystone-worthy cops played by Mathieu Amalric and Michel Vuillermoz); sometimes, it's a thriller; sometimes, it's an old-fashioned movie romance. All the while, the camera of cinematographer Eric Gautier swoops and glides like Marguerite's plane, through fields of gauzy, diffuse light punctuated by neon accents. "We decided that the light should be emotional rather than realistic," says Resnais, citing a source of inspiration in one of his beloved comic-strip illustrators, Terry and the Pirates creator Milton Caniff. "At a time when comic strips were very disparaged as an art form, I was very happy to learn that Orson Welles and Milton Caniff had a correspondence in which they said that each was influenced by the other. And Orson Welles was not an imbecile!"

Though he rarely gives interviews, in person, Resnais cuts a magnanimous figure, generous with his time and considerate in his responses. He is happy to engage on almost any subject, from the strict Catholic schools he attended as a child in Brittany (where "cinema wasn't considered an art—it was a distraction") to his early inclination that "there was something important in cinema, which was the manipulation of time through editing." It is an idea that Resnais, who had been teaching himself filmmaking since receiving an 8mm camera at the age of 12, was able to explore further when he moved to Nazi-occupied Paris and enrolled in one of the first classes of the French national film school.

The persistence of time would surface in much of Resnais's work of the subsequent five decades, in the astonishing now-and-then Auschwitz juxtapositions of his 1955 short Night and Fog (the first major film about the Holocaust and still one of the most affecting), in the non-linear loop-de-loops of Je t'aime, je t'aime, and in the compression of simultaneously occurring events of Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour. The conditional nature of memory, both personal and historical, has been another career-spanning preoccupation, though Resnais himself bristles a bit at the "memory" label. "I prefer to say 'the imaginary,' " he says. "All our lives, we live with the memory of a sad experience, or a pleasant one, and, thanks to those memories, we try to avoid other sad experiences and try to repeat pleasant ones. But we don't remember things exactly as they happened, thanks to the chemical processes of the brain. A memory that's too short doesn't suffice; with the imaginary, one can retain everything."

If one were to summarize Resnais's incredibly diverse filmography in a single statement, it might be an inversion of the architectural maxim that form should follow function. For Resnais, form is paramount: "I always have the idea that, if there's a precise form, you will get the emotion of the spectator—the emotion and the interest," he says, and it's this concern that underlies his most seemingly disparate work, from the visceral "pure cinema" of his early films to the deliberate artifice of his more recent play adaptations. It has also led some to accuse him of being overly cerebral and distant, including Pauline Kael's charge (in a review of 1977's Providence) that "most of the giants of film haven't been able to find the form for everything they've got in their heads; Resnais seems to have nothing but form in his."

But while Resnais's films can seem cool to the touch, those implacable surfaces more often than not belie churning currents of complex human emotion, from the shell-shocked survivors of Hiroshima mon amour to the hopeless romantics of Wild Grass. "It's really a matter of life imitating art instead of the opposite—the way we often feel the emotions of everyday life as if they had already registered on the screen," he says. "When everyday life resembles cinema, it interests me more than when I see a documentary film. If you make a film very close to reality, you don't have to give it a form. I feel that when there is a form, I come closer in fact to the reality of life."

Wild Grass plays at the New York Film Festival opening night, September 25."After the cinema, nothing surprises you. Everything is possible." So says the lovesick obsessive Georges Palet in a scene from Wild Grass, the 18th feature film directed by Alain Resnais, which arrives exactly 50 years after his debut, Hiroshima mon amour, which was praised by Eric Rohmer as "the first modern film of sound cinema."

Programación completa del Festival de Río de Janeiro (24/9 al 8/10)

Across 15 days, commencing September 24, the city of Rio de Janeiro once again becomes the official capital of cinema. Festival do Rio, the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, will present more than 300 films from more than 60 countries, shown in around 40 locations, distributed between cinemas and sites around Rio. This year’s programme will include for the first time public events staged in 10 of the city’s squares.

Festival do Rio opens on Thursday 24 September with the Latin American premiere of Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, which premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The festival’s closing gala screening, on Wednesday 7 October, will be the Brazilian premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.. Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender will both attend the festival screening.

In what has become Latin America’s biggest film festival, the public will for 15 days be able to check out the most awaited new films, discover rarities, and participate in debates and special sessions in the presence of personalities from world cinema. In addition to director Quentin Tarantino, legendary actress Jeanne Moreau – a guest to recognise the Year of France in Brazil, leading Argentine director Juan José Campanella, and one of the founders of New Wave, filmmaker Agnes Varda, have already confirmed their presence at the festival.

With more than 300 films divided across 20 sections, the festival will play host to scores of premieres of unseen works of legendary directors, such as Broken Embraces by Pedro Almodovar, Taking Woodstock by Ang Lee – the opening film of Festival do Rio, Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino, which will close the Festival, The White Ribbon, by Michael Haneke, Bright Star, by Jane Campion. In addition such sure-bet audience pleasers as Fais-mo plaisir, by Emmanuel Mouret, I Killed My Mother by Xavier Dolan, and La Pivellina by Tizzi Covi and Rainer Frimmel, are among other cinema pearls that

will have their premiere screenings in Latin America at Festival do Rio.

Traditional festival sections, Panorama, Expectativa 2009, Première Brasil, Première Latina, Midnight, Gay, Dox, Geração (Generation - which celebrates 10 years) are joined by some special sessions this year: Meio Ambiente, with eight films which address ecological and social themes; O Brasil do Outro (the Other Brazil), a different look at Brazil through the eyes of outsiders, and Imagens da Turquia (Images of Turkey) with six new features harvested from Turkish cinema – a cinema which is making a stand out impression at world film festivals.

Accompanying the commemorations of The Year of France in Brazil, the Festival brings into focus French cinema with 4 sections : Homenagem a ARTE( A Tribute to ARTE), dedicated to one of the most important French television channels which plays an important role also in the production of cinema; a special section of rarely-seen (in Brazil) films of actress Isabelle Huppert; a celebration of 50 years of Gallic hero Asterix, the most French of heroes; and a tribute to actress Jeanne Moreau, one of the world’s greatest actresses who comes to Rio especially for the Festival as part of celebrations of France in this year.

With the objective of spreading cinema to everyone in the city, the 2009 Festival edition will extend to a new public. A host of new venues and locations for screenings will be an added part of this year’s official circuit and provide new opportunities to see films, and this is anticipated to raise audience to the highest level of all times.

The Festival, for the fourth year, will make a space for films created on mobile phones in Pocket Films and in collaboration with CPCB, will screen a totally restored print of Brazilian director Suzana Amaral’s classic A Hora Da Estrela (The Hour of the Star) with a special gala at the Odeon Petrobras almost 25 years after its first release. Amaral is also feted in the Première Brasil section where her newest film Hotel Atlantico is selected in competition.

Cinelândia, Rio’s historic downtown centre, will be the meeting point between the public and the festival’s international guests. Gala and public screenings of competition section Première Brasil films will take place at the Odeon Petrobras cinema and at the Centro Cultural da Justica Federal (Federal Justice cultural Centre).

The festival headquarters Pavilhão do Festival (Festival Pavilion), located at the downtown Galpão de Cultura e Cidadania will host RioMarket, and Cine Encontro (Cinema Encounters) where public meet film-makers, along with a new space dedicated especially to jogos de cinema – which will focus the growing relationship between cinema and cinema-based multi-platform games. Highlights of the Festival Pavilion programmes include:

- RioMarket 2009 – the business centre of Festival do Rio welcoming professionals from audiovisual - will present workshops with well-know professionals of the industry, among them: Christopher Newman, winner of 3 Oscars and sound editor/recorder on films such as The Godfather, The Exorcist and The English Patient; Marc Norman, Academy Award winning writer of Shakespeare in Love; Carlos Saldanha, director of Ice Age 2 and 3; along with Ice Age producer Lori Forte, and Vanessa Morrison, President of Fox Animation. Applications to join the various workshops taking place during RioMarket can be made at: www.riomarket.com.br

- Cine Encontro (Cinema Encounters) is open to the public and has the aim to bring together spectators in direct contact with those who make cinema through a programme of debates and discussions with filmmakers and actors and actresses of the films screened in Première Brasil, with international guests from other festival sections, and with representatives of the best of filmmaking. All the activities of Cine Encontro are free admission.

- new at the Festival Pavilion will be a space created for the public to understand and explore jogos de cinema (cinema games) – films that have become games and games which have become films, transferring from movie screen to mobile screens. The games will be available on different platforms and consuls: Wii, X-Box, PSP, Playstation 3, PSP and computers. The programme is open to the public between 10:00am – 5:00pm . Among the biggest that have already been confirmed and which visitors may play: James Bond 007 Quantam - X360 / The Spiderwick Chronicles - PC / Disney’s Highschool Musical – WII / Beowulf – X360 / Indiana Jones - PS2

Unseen films, screenings of classics, special presentations, retrospectives, seminars, debates and meetings with directors and international actors make the event one of the most important encounters of cinema in Latin America.

Festival do Rio 2009
With the support of
CIMA – Centro de Cultura, Informação e Meio Ambiente
Grupo Estação

FESTIVAL DO RIO – Programme Highlights 2009

· PREMIÈRE BRASIL – The most popular and prestigious section of Festival do Rio which has its gala and public screenings at the Odeon Petrobras. The only competitive section of the Festival, in which the films compete for the ‘Rendentor’ trophy. This year the section will feature 42 features and 18 shorts which makes Première Brasil the biggest festival window for national cinema.

· Mostra COMPETITIVA (COMPETITION)

Fiction Features - Competition

- Bellini e o Demônio, directed by Marcelo Galvão
- Cabeça a Prêmio, by Marco Ricca
- Do Começo ao Fim, by Aluizio Abranches
- Histórias de Amor Duram Apenas 90 Minutos, by Paulo Halm
- Hotel Atlantico, by Suzana Amaral
- Natimorto, by Paulo Machline
- O Amor Segundo B. Schianberg, by Beto Brant
- Os Famosos e os Duendes da Morte, by Esmir Filho
- Os Inquilinos, by Sérgio Bianchi
- Sonhos Roubados, by Sandra Werneck
- Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque Te Amo, by Karim Aïnouz e Marcelo Gomes

Feature Length Documentaries - Competition

- Belair, by Noa Bressane e Bruno Safadi
- Dzi Croquettes, by Tatiana Issa e Raphael Alvarez
- Penas Alternativas, by Lucas Margutti e Joao Valle
- Reidy, A Construção da Utopia, by Ana Maria Magalhães
- Sequestro, by Wolney Atalla
- Tamboro, by Sergio Bernardes


A full list of shorts in competition and out of competition titles can be found at the Festival do Rio site. www.festivaldorio.com.br

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· Mostra PANORAMA WORLD CINEMA – Films from celebrated directors, world premieres and prevously seen at the world’s leading film festivals. Titles include:

- London River (London River), by Rachid Bouchareb (France)
- Corações em Conflito (Mammut / Mammoth), by Lukas Moodysson (Switzerland)
- Ricky (Ricky), by François Ozon (France)
- Doce perfume (Tatarak / Sweet Rush), by Andrzej Wajda (Poland)
- It Might Get Loud by Davis Guggenheim (US)
- Singularidades de uma rapariga loura (Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl), by Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal)
- Barba Azul (Barbe Bleue / Bluebeard), by Catherine Breillat (France)
- A Doutrina de Choque (The Shock Doctrine ), by Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross (UK)
- The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band), by Michael Haneke (Germany)
- A casa Nucingen (La Maison Nucingen / Nucingen House), by Raoul Ruiz (France)
- 35 Doses de Rum (35 Shots of Rum), by Claire Denis (France)
- O maravilhoso mundo da lavanderia (Die Wundersame Welt der Waschkraft / The Wondrous World of Laundry), by Hans-Christian Schmid (Germany)
- Mother by Bong Joon-ho (South Korea)
- Amália by Carlos Coelho da Silva (Portugal)
- As praias de Agnes (Les Plages d’Agnès / The Beaches of Agnès), by Agnès Varda (France)
- Maradona by Kusturica, by Emir Kusturica (Spain)
- Bastardos Inglórios (Inglourious Basterds), by Quentin Tarantino (US)
- Abraços partidos (Los Abrazos Rotos / Broken Embraces), by Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
- Distante Nós Vamos (Away We Go), by Sam Mendes (US)
- Coco antes de Chanel (Coco avant Chanel / Coco Before Chanel), by Anne Fontaine (France)
- (500) Dias com ela (500) Days of Summer), by Marc Webb (US)
- Fais-moi Plaisir! (Please, Please Me!), by Emmanuel Mouret (France)
- Les Herbes Folles (Wild Grass), by Alain Resnais (France)
- Aconteceu em Woodstock (Taking Woodstock), by Ang Lee (US)
- Brilho de Uma Paixão (Bright Star), by Jane Campion (UK)
- A batalha dos 3 reinos (Chi Bi / The Battle of Red Cliff), by John Woo (China)
- O Desinformante! (The informant! ), by Steven Soderbergh (US)
- Nova York, Eu Te Amo (New York, I Love You), by Mira Nair, Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Shekhar Kapur, Shunji Iwai, Joshua Marston, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Wen Jiang, Randall Balsmeyer (France)
- Viagem aos Pireneus (Le Voyage aux Pyrénées), by Jean-Marie, Arnaud Larrieu (France)
- Julie & Julia by Nora Ephron (US)
- Parada by Marco Pontecorvo (Italy)
- Che 2 - A Guerrilha (Che: Part Two), by Steven Soderbergh (Spain)
- Mais tarde, você vai entender... (Plus tard, tu comprendras... / One Day, You Will Understand), by Amos Gitaï (France)

***
· Mostra EXPECTATIVA 2009 – The biggest rising stars of contemporary cinema, films by directors breaking out on the international circuit. Some titles:

- Só quero caminhar (Sólo Quiero Caminar / Just Walking), by Augustín Díaz Yanes (Mexico)
- DongBei, DongBei - uma chinesa do norte (Dongbei, Dongbei / A North Chinese Girl), by Zou Peng (China)
- Tandoori Love - um romance à indiana (Tandoori Love), by Oliver Paulus (Switzerland)
- Seraphine by Martin Provost (France)
- A terceira parte do mundo (La Troisième partie du monde / The Third Part of the World), by Eric Forestier (France)
- Porco cego quer voar (Babi buta yang ingin terbang / Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly), by Edwin (Indonesia)
- Aguas turvas (De Usynlige / Troubled Water), by Erik Poppe (Norway)
- O poder do soul (Soul Power), by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte (US)
- Piquenique (Pescuit Sportiv / Hooked), by Adrian Sitaru (Romania)
- Yang Yang (Yang Yang), by Cheng Yu-Chieh (China)
- A Pequenina (La Pivellina), by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel (Áustria)
- Retorno a Hansala (Return to Hansala), by Chus Gutierrez (Spain)
- Nada pessoal (Rien de Personnel / Nothing Personal), by Mathias Gokalp (France)
- Uma vida nova em folha (Une Vie Toute Neuve / A Brand New Life), by Ounie Lecomte (France)
- Eu matei a minha mãe (J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother), by Xavier Dolan (Canada)
- Jaffa (Jaffa), by Keren Yedaya (France)
- O dia da transa (Humpday), by Lynn Shelton (US)
- Ramata (Ramata), by Léandre-Alain Baker (Senegal)
- O pai dos meus filhos (Le père de mes enfants / Father of My Children), by Mia Hansen-Love (Germany)
- Coco (Coco), by Gad Elmaleh (France)
- A Siciliana rebelde (La Siciliana Ribelle / The Sicilian Girl), by Marco Amenta (Italy)
- 27 Cenas sobre Jorgen Leth (27 Cenas sobre Jorgen Leth / 27 Scenes About Jorgen Leth), by Amir Labaki (Brasil)

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· Mostra O BRASIL DO OUTRO (THE OTHER BRAZIL):

- Rio Breaks (Rio Breaks), by Justin Mitchell (US)
- Sergio (Sergio), by Greg Barker (US)
- Só quando eu danço (Only When I Dance), by Beadie Finzi (UK)
- O Areal (The Sandpit), by Sebastian Sepulveda (Chile)
- Dançando com o diabo (Dancing with the Devil), by Jon Blair (UK)
- I Am Happy (I am Happy), by Soraya Umewaka (Japan)
- Parajuru (Une semaine a Parajuru / A Week in Parajuru), by José Huerta (Brasil)
- Os Gracies e o Nascimento do Vale Tudo (The Gracies and the Birth of Vale Tudo ), by Victor Cesar Bota (Brasil)
- Trópico da Saudade, Claude Lévi-Strauss e a Amazônia (Claude Lévi-Strauss, auprès de l'Amazonie), by Marcelo Fortaleza Flores (France)

***

· Mostra GERAÇÃO

A selection specifically put together to reach children, adolescents and teachers. The section offers workshops; promotes the Vídeo Fórum, a programme that presents audiovisual works entirely made by kids and teenagers; and, of course, spool films from all over the world. This year completes 10 years of this section of the festival.

- Quem tem medo do lobo? (Kdopak by se vlka Bál), by Maria Procházková (Czech Republic)
- Eu sei que você sabe (I Know You Know), by Justin Kerrigan (UK)
- O lar das borboletas escuras (Tummien Perhosten Koti), by Dome Karukoski (Finland)
- Cadê meu irmão? (Mein Bruder ist ein Hund / My Brother Is a Dog), by Peter Timm (Germany)
- Somos Todos Diferentes (Taare Zameen Par / Stars on Earth), by Aamir Khan (Índia)
- Valo (Valo), by Kaija Juurikkala (Finland)
- As aventuras de Gui & Estopa (The Adventures of Gui & Estopa), by Mariana Caltabiano (Brasil)

****
· Mostra PREMIÈRE LATINA – the most recent productions from Latin America. Some titles:

- A próxima estação (La próxima estación), by Fernando E. Solanas (Argentina)
- O segredo dos seus olhos (El secreto de sus ojos / The Secret in Their Eyes), by Juan José Campanella (Argentina)
- Cinco dias sem Nora (Cinco Días sin Nora / Norah’s Will), by Mariana Chenillo (Mexico)
- Deuses (Dioses / Gods), by Josue Mendez (Peru)
- A criada (La Nana / The Maid), by Sebastian Silva (Chile)
- Histórias extraordinárias (Historias extraordinarias / Extraordinary Stories), by Mariano Llinás (Argentina)
- Arranca-me a Vida (Arráncame la vida / Tear This Heart Out), by Roberto Sneider (Mexico)
- Um Namorado para Minha Esposa (Un Novio Para Mi Mujer / A Boyfriend For My Wife), by Juan Taratuto (Argentina)
- As viagens do vento (Los Viajes del Viento / The Wind Journeys), by Ciro Guerra (Colombia)
- Navidad (Navidad / Christmas), by Sebastian Lelio (Chile)
- Chuva (Lluvia / Rain), by Paula Hérnandez (Argentina)
- Luisa (Luisa), by Gonzalo Calzada (Argentina)
- A beleza da luta (Lo Bello de la Pelea / Beauty of the Fight), by John Urbano (US)

- O presente de Pachamama (El Regalo de la Pachamama / Pachamama), by Toshifumi Matsushita (Japan)
- Boogie (Boogie, el aceitoso / Boogie), by Gustavo Cova (Argentina) (Animation)

***

· Special ISABELLE HUPPERT:
- A comédia do poder (L’ivresse du pouvoir / Comedy of Power), by Claude Chabrol (France)
- 8 Mulheres (8 femmes / 8 Women), by François Ozon (France)
- Um amor tão fácil (La Dentellière / The Lacemaker), by Claude Goretta (France)
- Mulheres diabólicas (La Cérémonie / A Judgement in Stone), by Claude Chabrol (France)
- A Separação (La Séparation / The Separation), by Christian Vincent (France)
- Entre nós (Coup de foudre / At First Sight), by Diane Kurys (France)
- A Lei de quem tem poder (Coup de torchon / Clean Slate), by Bertrand Tavernier (France)


***

· IMAGENS DA TURQUIA (IMAGES OF TURKEY)

- Mommo (Mommo / The Bogeyman), by Atalay Tasdiken (Turkey)
- O mercado (Pazar - Bir ticaret masali / The Market), by Ben Hopkins (Turkey)
- A caixa de Pandora (Pandora‘nin Kutusu / Pandora’s Box), by Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey)
- Leite (Süt / Milk), by Semih Kaplano lu (Turkey)
- Meu raio de sol (Hayat Va / My Only Sunshine), by Reha Erdem (Turkey)
- 10 para as 11 (11’ e 10 Kala / 10 to 11), by Pelin Esmer (Turkey)

***

· Mostra MUNDO GAY (GAY WORLD) – premieres GLT films from other festivals around the world many which face difficulty finding commercial exhibition in Brazil:

- Ander (Ander), by Roberto Castón (Spain)
- O fim do amor (The End of Love ), by Simon Chung (Hong Kong)
- An Englishman in New York by Richard Laxton (UK)
- Árvores com figos (Fig Trees), by John Greyson (Canada)
- Fantasma (Ghosted), by Monika Treut (Germany)
- Os Tempos de Harvey Milk (The Times of Harvey Milk), by Rob Epstein (US)
- Sinos silenciosos (Wu Sheng Feng Ling / Soundless Wind Chime), by Kit Hung (Switzerland)
- Morrer como um homem (Morrer como um homem / To Die Like a Man), by João Pedro Rodrigues (Portugal)
- Fúria (Outrage), by Kirby Dick (US)
- Boy (Boy), by Auraeus Solito (Philippines)
- Homens (Men), by Lucia Caus and Bertrand Lira (Brasil)
- Depois de Tudo (After Everything), by Rafael Saar (Brasil)

****
· Mostra MIDNIGHT MOVIES – the most cult of the sections, a serenade to the bizarre, weird and experimental:

- Human Zoo ( Human Zoo), by Rie Rasmussen (France)
- Os Yes Men consertam o mundo ( The Yes Men Fix the World), by Andy Bichlbaum , Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr (US)
- Sede de Sangue (Bak-Jwi / Thirst), by Park Chan-wook (South Korea)
- Vogue - a edição de setembro (The September Issue), by R.J. Cutler (US)
- Big River Man (Big River Man), by John Maringouin (US)
- Black Dynamite (Black Dynamite), by Scott Sanders (US)
- Uma moda transgressora (Ein Traum In Erdbeerfolie / Comrade Couture), by Marco Wilms (Germany)
- O clone volta para casa (Kuron wa kokyo wo mezasu / The Clone Returns Home), by Kanji Nakajima (Japan)
- Tyson (Tyson), by James Toback (US)
- Hair India (Hair India),by Raffaele Brunetti, Marco Leopardi (Italy)
- A Town Called Panic (Panique au Village), by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar (Belgium)
- Amargo (Amer), by Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani (Belgium)
- Em Busca do Paraíso (Heaven Wants Out), by Robert Feinberg (US)
- Além do jogo (Beyond the Game), by Jos de Putter (Holland)
- O rei da fuga (Le roi de l’evasion / The King of Escape), by Alain Guiraudie (France)
- American Boy: o retrato de Steven Prince (American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince), by Martin Scorsese (US)
- American Prince (American Prince), by Tommy Pallotta (US)
- A Gruta (The Grotto), by Filipe Gontijo (Brasil)
- When you’re strange (When You’re Strange), by Tom DiCillo (US)
- Matadores de Vampiras Lésbicas (Lesbian Vampire Killers), by Phil Claydon (UK)
- The Chaser (Choo Gyeok Ja), by Hong-jin Na (South Korea)


***
· Mostras DOX e FRONTEIRAS -

Mostra DOX - international documentaries, a genre that has established itself as one of the strongest growing cinema trends of the new millennium.

- 211: Anna (211: Anna), by Giovanna Massimetti, Paolo Serbandini (Italy)
- Teto de vidro (The Glass House), by Hamid Rahmanian (Iran)
- Nollywood Babilônia (Nollywood Babylon), by Ben Addelman, Samir Mallal (Canada)
- Os sonhos sobrevivem ao poder? (Le Pouvoir détruit-il le rêve? / Behind the Rainbow), by Jihan El-Tahri (Egypt)
- Amor, sexo e mobilete (Amour, sexe et mobylette / Love, Sex and Mopeds), by Maria Silvia Bazzoli, Christian Lelong (France)
- A China continua distante (China is Still Far), by Malek Bensmail (France)
- Rip: um manifesto remixado (Rip: A Remix Manifesto), by Brett Gaylor (Canada)
- American Casino (American Casino, by Leslie Cockburn (US)
- Teatro de guerra (Theater of War), by John Walter (US)
- O cerco neoliberal (L'Encerclement – La démocratie dans les rets du néolibéralisme / Encirclement – Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy), by Richard Brouillette (Canada)

*
· Mostra FRONTEIRAS (FRONTIERS)

- Por um instante, a liberdade (Pour un instant, la liberte / For the Moment, Freedom), by Arash T. Riahi (France)
- Rachel (Rachel), by Simone Bitton (France)
- A madrugada do mundo (L’aube du monde / Dawn of the World), by Abbas Fahdel (France)
- Teza (Teza), by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia)
- A Batalha para o Tribunal (The Reckoning), by Pamela Yates (US)
- Fixer: o sequestro de Ajmal Naqshbandi (Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi), by Ian Olds (US)
- Lentes abertas: Iraque (Our Emotions Take the Pictures: Open Shutters Iraq), by Maysoon Pachachi (UK)
- O menino e o cavalo (The Horse Boy), by Michel Orion Scott (US)
- Sussurros ao vento (Sirta la gal ba / Whisper with the Wind), by Shahram Alidi (Iraq)
- O Fogo sob a neve (Fire Under the Snow), by Makoto Sasa (US)
- Estado de emergência (Living in Emergency), by Mark N. Hopkins (US)
- Playground (Playground), by Libby Spears (US)

***
· Mostra MEIO AMBIENTE (ENVIRONMENT)

- Pelo amor à água (Flow: For Love of Water), by Irena Salina (US) - Nossos filhos nos acusarão (Nos enfants nous accuseront / That Should Not Be: Our Children Will Accuse Us), by Jean Paul Jaud (France) - Petróleo bruto (Crude), by Joe Berlinger (US) - Vamos ganhar dinheiro (Let’s Make Money), by Erwin Wagenhofer (Áustria) - No Impact Man (No Impact Man), by Laura Gabbert, Justin Schein (US) - Plastic Planet (Plastic Planet), by Werner Boote (Áustria) - Katanga Business (Katanga Business), by Thierry Michel (France) - Roleta da fortuna (Good Fortune), by Landon Van Soest (US) *** www.festivaldorio.com.br

"Francia", de Adrián Caetano (Variety review)

Francia

(Argentina) A La Expresion del Deseo production. (International sales: La Expresion del Deseo, Buenos Aires.) Produced by Israel Adrian Caetano. Co-producer, Juan Pablo Gugliotta. Directed, written by Israel Adrian Caetano.

With: Milagros Caetano, Natalia Oreiro, Lautaro Delgado, Monica Ayos.

By LESLIE FELPERIN

Warm-hearted but irritatingly mannered, the intimate Argentine drama "Francia" explores the confusing world of modern families through the eyes of a young girl. Latest feature by offbeat helmer Israel Adrian Caetano ("Buenos Aires, 1977") deploys an assortment of cinematic bric-a-brac -- from split-screen views and voiceover narration to whole poems furled down the edge of the frame -- that nevertheless fails to distract from the fact that the screenplay lacks focus. Niche release looks like the pic's best bet.

About 10 years old, Mariana (Milagros Caetano, the helmer's daughter) has lived with her mother, Cristina (Natalia Oreiro), ever since her parents split up when she was a baby. Her dad, Carlos (Lautaro Delgado), who runs a failing machine shop, is involved in Mariana's life, but neither parent quite knows how to deal with Mariana's aggressive outbursts at school, insistence on listening to her CD player constantly or demands that they call her Gloria. When Carlos splits from his g.f., he moves into a spare room at Cristina's, reuniting the family in an unconventional but eminently modern way. Sensitive, underplayed thesping and evocative atmosphere rep strong points, but tonal shifts prove ultimately confusing.

Camera (color/B&W), Julian Apeztequia; editor, H. Omar Ester; music, Ivan Wyzsogrod; production designer, Guillermo Quintana; art directors, Pablo Tanno, Angel Suparregui; costume designer, Caroline Langer. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Venice Days), Sept. 6, 2009. Running time: 78 MIN.

Uruguay dominates San Sebastian Films In Progress awards (Screen)

¡La peli con Jorge Jellinek!

Uruguayan films La Vida Util and Norberto Apenas Tarde have won the industry and TVE awards in this year’s San Sebastian Films In Progess section.

Federico Veiroj’s drama La VidaUtil, about a lonely projectionist at an arthouse cinema in Montevideo, has won the support of leading Spanish producers Mediapro alter scooping the key industry award. The production company will now co-produce alongside Veiroj’s company Cinekdoque.

“I am absolutely delighted to have the support of Mediapro on this project,” Veiroj told ScreenDaily. “I was open to co-producing the film with other companies, but to have them onboard is amazing.”

As part of the industry award, the film will also be provided with the services of Best Digital, Kodak, Molinare Madrid, No Problem Sonido, Technicolor Entertainment Serves Spain and Titra Film to complete post-production on the project and create an English 35mm subtitled version of the film.

Veiroj’s previous film Acne won the TVE award in Films In Progress back in 2007 and went on to premiere at Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight. It later won the grand jury prize for an international film at the American Film Market.

Meanwhile, Daniel Hendler’s Norberto Apenas Tarde, about a man taking confidence classes so he can become an estate agent, picked up the TVE award and will receive $88,600 (€60,000) towards post production. It will later be shown by the broadcaster on Spanish TV.

Finally, Natalia Smirnoff’s Argentinean drama Rompecabezas took the Casa De America prize, which awards $15,000 (€10,000) towards the development of the film. The film tells the story of a 50 year old housewife with a gift for puzzles who teams up with a millionaire to enter the world puzzle championships,

“Fox” Opening AFI Fest (IndieWire)

Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” will open the 2009 AFI Fest when it has its North American premiere on Friday, October 30, 2009 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Based on Roald Dahl’s book—and written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach—the animated movie includes the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Jarvis Cocker. The film is produced by Allison Abbate, Scott Rudin, Wes Anderson and Jeremy Dawson.

“Wes Anderson is an American original,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President & CEO, in a statement. “It is a distinct honor for the American Film Institute to shine a proper light on his extraordinary talents by premiering his latest gift to the nation and to the world.”

The fest is set for October 30 - November 7, 2009 in Hollywood.

Ciao My Shining Star - The Songs of Mark Mulcahy (2009)

Link

01. Thom Yorke – “All For The Best”

02. The National – “Ashamed Of The Story I Told”

03. Michael Stipe – “Everything’s Coming Undone”

04. David Berkeley – “Loves The Only Thing That Shuts Me Up”

05. Dinosaur Jr. – “The Backyard”

06. Chris Harford & Mr Ray Neal – “Micon The Icon”

07. Frank Black – “Bill Jocko”

08. Vic Chesnutt – “Little Man”

09. Unbelievable Truth – “Ciao My Shining Star”

10. Butterflies Of Love – “I Have Patience”

11. Chris Collingwood (Fountains Of Wayne) – “Cookie Jar”

12. Frank Turner – “The Quiet One”

13. Rocket From The Tombs – “In Pursuit Of Your Happiness”

14. Ben Kweller – “Wake Up Whispering”

15. Josh Rouse – “I Woke Up In The Mayflower”

16. Autumn Defense – “Paradise”

17. Hayden -”Happy Birthday Yesterday”

18. Juliana Hatfield – “We’re Not In Charleston Anymore”

19. Mercury Rev – “Sailors And Animals”

20. Elvis Perkins – “She Watches Over Me”

21. Sean Watkins – “A World Away From This One”

Rotterdam & Berlinale Press Talent Campus

39th International Film Festival Rotterdam
January 27 – February 7, 2010

IFFR Trainee Project for Young Film Critics

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The International Film Festival Rotterdam welcomes applications for the 12th edition of its IFFR Trainee Project for Young Film Critics taking place during the 39th festival edition (January 27 – February 7, 2010)

Deadline for applications: Friday November 6, 2009.
Information / applications: IFFR Press Office, press@filmfestivalrotterdam


INTRODUCTION
The International Film Festival Rotterdam supports film making, film producing and journalistic talent on several levels: the main festival section 'Bright Future' (including competitions for feature length and short films) presents recent works by first and second time filmmakers; Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund contributes to film projects in developing countries and CineMart organizes a trainee project for young film producers (Rotterdam Lab) in close collaboration with its partner organizations. Recognizing the important role of film criticism to the perception of independent cinema, the Rotterdam film festival organizes a trainee project for young film critics.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The IFFR Trainee Project for Young Film Critics is a talent development program that offers up to six young (under 30 years), motivated and talented professional film critics from outside The Netherlands a chance to travel abroad for covering a major international film festival, to get acquainted with the Rotterdam film festival in particular and the broad range of independent cinema it offers.

The project was created in 1998 motivated by the fact that young and upcoming film critics get less opportunities to explore and sharpen their knowledge and views on independent and experimental cinema - and the festivals, like the International Film Festival Rotterdam, that present it.

TRAINEE PROGRAM
The program of the Trainee Project consists a.o. of taking part in the Rotterdam FIPRESCI Jury meetings; exploring an assigned part of the festival; publishing about the festival on the IFFR website and in the festival's newspaper Daily Tiger; expert meetings; reporting about the festival for own affiliation(s). Trainees are offered a IFFR press badge, budget hotel accommodation during the festival period; part of travel expenses.

The past editions the Rotterdam film festival welcomed trainee film critics from:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Turkey, UK and USA.

WHAT TO EXPECT
• IFFR 2010 press accreditation
• budget hotel accommodation from January 28 - February 6, 2010
• (part of) travel costs according to country of origin.
• The IFFR wants its trainee film critics to really participate in the festival. Each trainee will take part in a programme of meetings and will be assigned tasks ranging from attending the FIPRESCI Jury-meetings, covering a festival sidebar and contributing to the IFFR Daily Tiger. Each trainee will also be asked to report on their assignments and experiences in articles, interviews or essays on the IFFR website. There will be time to explore all aspects of the festival - films, art exhibitions, panel discussions, Q&A sessions and debates.
• In addition, the trainees should work on articles to be published in their home country. The trainees will form a team, supported by the IFFR Press Office and Daily Tiger Editorial Staff.

CRITERIA FOR APPLICATION
· Age under 30 years
· Fluent command of the English language (written and spoken)
· Demonstrable experience in film criticism (printed media, radio/television, online)
· Not yet established enough to profit from facilities as attending international film festivals outside your country.
· Have agreement(s) with printed and/or online media to publish a report or reports on the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2010.

Your application will only be taken in consideration if you match all the above criteria.

HOW TO APPLY
Your application should include all of the following documents and information:
• a motivation letter to support your application: explain why this project and the Rotterdam festival appeals to you.
• your resume (CV) including your contact details and date of birth.
• up to three proofs of recent work you published on (independent) film or film festivals. If not in English, provide English translations to demonstrate your command of this language. If you work for a print medium, send in complete copies of your affiliation with your articles or reviews.
• information about your affiliation(s): title, name of chief editor, postal address, phone number, email account, periodicity, circulation, web address, estimated unique page views per month.
• a recommendation letter (on company letterhead) of your principal affiliation’s editor assigning you to cover IFFR 2010 and confirming that your IFFR 2010 report will be published.

You may send in your application:
• by mail to press@filmfestivalrotterdam.com
• or by land mail to IFFR Press Office, PO Box 21696, 3001 AR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Deadline for applications: Friday November 6, 2009.
Applications received after this date risk not to be proceeded. Notification before Dec 5, 2009.


Please note: if you are selected and participate in the IFFR Trainee Project for Young Film Critics, you agree that your work produced as part the project may be published by IFFR in print or online in the festival's publications and on the FIPRESCI website.

For further information, please contact:
IFFR Press Office
Bert-Jan Zoet, Head of Media Relations
phone +31 10 8909090
e-mail press@filmfestivalrotterdam.com

FIPRESCI informs

Berlinale Talent Campus #8 — The Talent Press
Call for Applications

Berlinale Talent Campus, Goethe-Institut and FIPRESCI invite young film critics to Berlin.

Dear friends of film,

We'd like to invite you and/or your colleagues to apply for The Talent Press, a project of the Berlinale Talent Campus, of Goethe-Institut and FIPRESCI (the International Federation of Film Critics). Young film critics and film journalists will be invited to Berlin to report on the films at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival (February 11–21, 2010) and on the events of the Berlinale Talent Campus (February 13–18, 2010).

The call for applications for the Talent Press is now open. Please read the following application regulations carefully (they can also be found online at www.berlinale-talentcampus.de and www.fipresci.org)

Eligible are:

Young film critics or journalists
— fluent in English (in writing and speaking);
— under 30 years;
— eager to report on films screened at the Berlin International Film Festival and on events held during the Berlinale Talent Campus 2010;
— having published articles in newspapers, film magazines, on websites or at universities.

What we expect from you:

— To be willing to cover a broad range of journalistic work: you will write interviews, reviews, reports, articles and features on the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Berlin International Film Festival;
— To attend daily editorial meetings with a personal mentor (see below).

The work you write may be published on www.berlinale-talentcampus.de and www.fipresci.org. Participants will grant unlimited use and exploitation rights in and to all articles and reviews done in the framework of the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Berlin International Film Festival.

What we will offer you:

— The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and to be with 350 young talented filmmakers from all over the world and to experience the day-to-day buzz of a prestigious A-Festival.
— You will be guided through the Berlin International Film Festival by Peter Cowie (former International Publishing Director of "Variety" and author of many books on film), Oliver Baumgarten (Chief Editor "Schnitt") and other renowned film critics. Rubaica Jaliwala is your contact person from the Berlinale Talent Campus team.
— Every day, you have the opportunity to write a critique about a film from the festival program or short reviews of an event at the Campus program, and will discuss and review it with your fellow participants and film critics.
— Free accommodation in youth hostels in Berlin from February 12–19, 2010.
— A share of the travel expenses depending on your country of origin.

Your online application should include:

— curriculum vitae and personal data (address, email etc.)
— up to three original copies of articles that you have published in the last two years (if these articles are not in English you should supply us with a decent translation as a proof of your English writing skills for each article).

How to proceed completing an online application:

You can only apply on the Berlinale Talent Campus website:
www.berlinale-talentcampus.de
(All relevant information and the application form can be found by clicking on "apply now" on the homepage of the Berlinale Talent Campus site. Make sure you choose the "Talent Press Application" when you have to choose an application)
— Get an application number on the website;
— Log in and fill out the complete online application form;
— Please ensure that you have filled out the online application completely.
If you are unable to upload your articles you can send them by regular mail;
— Your work must be at the Berlinale Talent Campus offices by October 7, 2009;
Please make sure your name and application number are clearly displayed on the articles you send.

If you have any queries please contact info@berlinale-talentcampus.de

The application deadline is October 7, 2009. Successful candidates will be notified by the end of December.

Kind regards,

The Berlinale Talent Campus Team
Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
Potsdamer Strasse 5
D-10785 Berlin
T +49 (30) 259 20 515
F +49 (30) 259 20 519
info@berlinale-talentcampus.de
www.berlinale-talentcampus.de

The Berlinale Talent Campus is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival. The Talent Press is organized in co-operation with FIPRESCI, Goethe Institute and Goethe Forum.

FIPRESCI – International Federation of Film Critics
Schleissheimer Str. 83, D-80797 Munich, Germany
T +49 (89) 18 23 03, F +49 (89) 18 47 66
info@fipresci.org, www.fipresci.org