Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Check it out! Films From the South

On October 10th this year Film From the South, which is celebrating 20 years, is Northern Europe’s leading festival dedicated exclusively to film from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Festival runs from 7-17 October, 2010. This year they will be honoring The World Cinema Foundation, which Martin Scorsese founded, with a World Premiere of 1931 film Limite by Mario Peixoto's with live accompaniment. They will also be honoring 12 of the World Cinema Foundation's restored film all at the same time! 

They festival's release states that:


Established by Martin Scorsese, the Foundation supports and encourages preservation efforts to save the worldwide patrimony of films, ensuring that they are preserved, seen and shared. Its goal is to defend the body and spirit of cinema in the belief that preserving works of the past can encourage future generations to treat film as a universal form of expression. 


How marvelous no? It's nice to see people around the globe supporting other national cinema's and above all the preservation of those cinemas and their masterpieces. 


Check out what Variety had to say!


If you're in Oslo, Norway. I say get your ass over to this festival pronto!


Happy moviegoing! 


For more information, press inquiries and hi res photos, contact:
In Norway: Alexis Matosalexis@filmfrasor.no; +47.47.83.44.59
In U.S.: Gary Springer, gary@springerassociatespr.com; +1.212.354.4660

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Never Let Me Go

Well shit sake you know! It's a thursday night and I am in ruins because of this movie. It's wonderful. I wish I would have read the book before, but seeing as the collaboration between Mark Romanek and Kazuo Ishiguro, the novel's author, is what produced this film I think it's safe to say it stayed true to form. This is a sci-fi film of the ages, and a love story to be studied. It's stunning, sincere and just astonishing. I can't help it but, it made me cry and I can't stop thinking about it.

Looking at the film you would never pick out the sci-fi element to the whole story but it's amazing how subtle it is and ever so present at the same time. It haunts the film to an extent and yet the aesthetic is organic and natural, lots of greenery, wool, wood, rolling landscapes. The performances are great, it's all about the subtly here. Kiera Knightly is actually good here, Carey Mulligan is too amazing I cannot wait to see what she does next, and Alex Garfield is quite astounding (not sure about spiderman but I guess we'll see) But getting every wince, and eye flutter, allowing us to see someone being stripped emotionally is what is captured so well. But it's so gradual and yet you know the outcome from fairly early on in the film. The pace, the pauses, the looks; everything is given due attention and is executed so well. Please go see this film. It will definitely leave you in a certain state but jeeze this is what film is about. It's not about what you see but what you make others see...no?

Go see this film.

Happy moviegoing!