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The Toronto Film Festival completed its slate Thursday, adding 45 titles to various programs to bring the overall number of feature-length pics in the 2009 edition to 271, including nearly 100 world preems.
Fest also released a 500-plus list of guests expected to walk the red carpet includingGeorge Clooney, Penelope Cruz, Demi Moore and Oprah Winfrey plus directors the Coen brothers, Steven Soderbergh and Claire Denis.
World preems in Masters include Amos Gitai’s “Carmel,” reflecting his own past as a soldier; Suzana Amaral’s “Hotel Atlantico,” following an unnamed actor wandering through southern Brazil; Francois Ozon’s “Le Refuge,” exploring the relationship between a pregnant woman and the brother of her late boyfriend; and Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s “The Window,” in which plans for a man’s charitable act go awry.
Masters is rounded out by North American preems of helmer Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner “The White Ribbon”; Lars von Trier’s erotic-horror pic “Antichrist”; Denis’ story of French expats in Africa, “White Material”; Marco Bellocchio’s fictionalized portrait of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, “Vincere”; Kira Muratova’s “Melody for a Street Organ”; and Goran Paskaljevic’s “Honeymoons.” Margarethe von Trotta’s “Vision” has its Canadian preem.
Discovery adds world preems of Oscar Ruiz Navia’s “Crab Trap” and Laxmikant Shetgaonkar’s “The Man Beyond the Bridge.”
Belgian helmer Jaco Van Dormael’s Venice-bound “Mr. Nobody,” a sci-fi fantasy starring Jared Leto, joins Special Presentations.
Contemporary World Cinema adds 24 titles, all international or North American preems, including pics from helmers Robert Connolly (“Balibo”), Lee Hae-joon (“Castaway on the Moon”), Ole Bornedal (“Deliver Us From Evil”), Alex van Warmerdam (“The Last Days of Emma Blank”), Sarah Watt (“My Year Without Sex”),Mia Hansen-Love (“Le Pere de mes enfants”), Wanma Caidan (“The Search”) and Romanian omnibus film “Tales From the Golden Age.”
BERLIN – Steve McQueen’s “Hunger,” about the final weeks in the life of imprisoned Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands, has won the Grand Prix at the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland.
Fest is the country’s biggest film showcase.
Screening in the international competition, “Hunger” beat Craig Baldwin’s U.S. title “Mock Up on Mu” and Alain Cavalier’s French drama “Irene” for the E20,000 ($29,000) prize, the fest’s highest honor, on Sunday.
“Hunger” also took also the critics award, worth another $14,400.
The audience prize went to “Oxygen,” by Russian helmer Ivan Vyrypayev.
Nik Sheehan’s documentary “Flicker,” about artist-inventor Brion Gysin and his contraption that promised a drugless high, won best film ($14,400) in the Film on Art Intl. Competition. Johan Grimonprez’s “Double Take” received a special mention.
In the New Polish Films sidebar, the $36,000 Wroclaw Film Prize, founded by local mayor Rafal Dutkiewicz, went to “Snow White and Russian Red,” by Xawery Zulawski. Katarzyna Roslaniec, director of “Mall Girls,” won the New Director prize, worth $14,400.
The 11-day fest unspooled 242 films from 45 countries plus 303 shorts. More than 122,000 viewers attended the event’s 564 screenings.
The Palme d’Or was awarded to Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon.
The Palme d’Or Prize was awarded at the hands of Isabelle Huppert and Michael Haneke accepted the distinction for The White Ribbon with these words, “Thank you very much. Sometimes my wife asks me a very feminine question: that is, am I happy. Well, let me say that at this moment in time, I am very happy. Much thanks also to Thierry Frémaux for including me in this prestigious competition; to my producers, for letting me do what I wanted; to the funding sources which financed the film, and to the children, who were an enormous gift to me. A thousand thanks!”
Eric Gaillard/Reuters
CANNES, France — Economic downturn? What economic downturn? There are no hard times on the red carpet at Cannes, where they know how to party like it’s 1788 or at least like the prerecessionary days of 2008. On Wednesday the 62nd Cannes Film Festival opened with the customary smiles and patrician waves as the stars and auteurs promenaded into the world premiere of Pixar’s“Up.” It was all très chic, if very de rigueur, save for the awe-inspiring moment when the 80-year-old French director Agnès Varda, busy photographing the photographers, nimbly dodged being knocked over by a posing and blissfully oblivious Tilda Swinton.
Given the throb of bad news preceding the festival (“Economic Woes at Cannes” read a typical headline), you might even think that Pixar’s latest, a 3-D charmer directed by Pete Docter (“Monsters, Inc.”), about an old man who takes literal and emotional flight with the help of a child, had been chosen for its title alone, as a way to buoy the down attendees. At least for the first few days, there were more empty seats at the press screenings and breathing room in the hallways. But the mood in the Palais, the festival’s headquarters, was cautiously optimistic, or perhaps just realistic. You couldn’t help wondering, Is this thinned population the recession or a sign of a correction — an indication that there might be fewer movies clogging screens?
It’s too early to tell, of course, though the idea that there might be a silver lining to the dark clouds, particularly for the kinds of nonstudio movies that make their way from Cannes to American specialty screens, was a theme that emerged from a highly unscientific poll I conducted by e-mail before the festival kicked off. James Schamus, the chief executive of Focus Features, a specialty division ofNBC Universal that recently released Jim Jarmusch’s “Limits of Control,” put the larger economic woes into pragmatic, film-world perspective.
Cannes Film Festival
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe in “Antichrist,” a film directed by Lars von Trier and showing at the Cannes festival.CANNES, France — There’s no question that Lars von Trier knows how to get a rise out of the Cannes press — along with its rapt attention, its incredulous laughter and this year at least, its lusty jeers. The Danish middle-aged enfant terrible, who has been shaking up both the festival and world cinema for more than a decade with films like “Breaking the Waves” and “Dogville,” is clearly intent on holding on to his provocateur status, even if it means alienating (dividing, baffling) his audience further. This, in any event, seems one explanation for his latest, “Antichrist,” an alternately deadly serious and highly ironic exploration of psychosexual trauma, with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a couple grieving the death of their only child.
Francis Ford Coppola is to open the 41st edition of Directors’ Fortnight (May 14-24) with his Argentina-set family drama “Tetro.” The self-financed production stars Vincent Gallo as an exiled writer who’s visited in Buenos Aires by his estranged younger brother. Helmer will self-distribute the movie in the U.S. through his own American Zoetrope Releasing.
Pic was originally offered a non-competing slot by Thierry Fremaux in this year’s Official Selection, which Coppola declined. Fortnight topper Olivier Pere then stepped in with his own offer — arguably snagging one of the biggest names for the Cannes sidebar in recent memory.
“After Coppola announced that he wouldn’t show ‘Tetro’ out of competition, we asked to screen it for the Quinzaine,” Pere told Daily Variety. “We loved it! And our enthusiasm convinced Coppola that an opening Fortnight slot would be the ideal place to debut his film.”
With five features, including “Tetro,” U.S. directors have a stronger presence in the Fortnight than in Cannes’ Competition. Two are sexually edgy comedies that already screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Jim Carrey-Ewan McGregor starrer, “I Love You Phillip Morris,” an openly gay romcom directed by freshmen duo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, has yet to find a distributor Stateside. Pic was co-produced by Gaul’s EuropaCorp, who will handle the French release.
Writer-director Lynn Shelton’s lowbudget comedy, “Humpday,” about two straight friends who attempt to make an amateur gay porno, was picked up by Magnolia at Sundance. Stateside release is skedded for mid-July.
“Contemporary American comedies have grown more and more interesting in recent years,” Pere told Daily Variety. “The Fortnight always goes for films that reflect contemporary reality, but this year we leaned more towards movies that approach the subject with a sense of distance and humor.”
The U.S. selection also includes another lowbudget, mumblecore-brand film, Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Go Get Some Rosemary.” Josh Safdie’s previous feature, “The Pleasure of Being Robbed,” was in the 2008 Fortnight.
American presence is rounded out by a third Sundance title, U.S.-born Palestinian/Jordanian director Cherien Dabis‘ immigrant indie dramedy “Amreeka.” Critically acclaimed debut was picked up by National Geographic Entertainment, who plans a fall release Stateside.
Aside from Coppola, the sidebar, which unveiled its lineup in Paris on Friday, also includes other auteurs more usually associated with Cannes’ Official Selection.
Portuguese arthouse fave Pedro Costa – whose “Colossal Youth” competed in the fest’s 2006 edition — will preem his docu, “Ne change rien.” The French-Portuguese co-prod trails Gallic thesp/singer Jeanne Balibar through rehearsals and concerts across the globe.
South Korean helmer and Cannes regular Hong Sang-soo will present his new film “Like You Know It All.” Hong competed twice for the Palme d’Or in 2004 and 2005.
Fortnights’ closing film is debuting duo Yaron Shani’s and Scandar Copti’s fast-paced and violent youth drama, “Ajami.” Jaffa-set story relates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through multiple viewpoints as characters clash throughout the city’s dangerous streets. Shani is Israeli and Copti is Palestinian. German salesco Match Factory will handle international sales.
Francophone films from Gaul and Canada are another staple in this year’s selection. French vet Luc Moullet will preem his docu, “Land of Madness,” about the over-abundance of violent family crime in his native Southern Alps region.Arthouse comic director Alain Guiraudie will present his latest romp, “Le roi de l’evasion.” Popular local comic book artist Riad Sattouf debuts with “Les beaux gosses,” a teenage comedy about a sex-obsessed loner who can’t manage to get a date.
Two French co-prods include the Franco-Japanese family drama “Yuki & Nina,” co-directed by Japanese auteur Nobuhiro Suwa and Gallic thesp Hippolyte Girardot, who makes his helming debut; and Axel Ropert’s Franco-Belgian dramedy “La Famille Wolberg,” about a family coming apart over their daughter’s upcoming 18th birthday party.
Quebecois films rep their strongest Fortnight presence in recent years, with three titles, including 19-year old thesper Xavier Dolan’s helming debut, “J’ai tue ma mere” (I Killed My Mother). Director Denis Villeneuve’s “Polytechnique” dramatizes the 1989 massacre of several female engineering students by a gun-wielding misogynist in Montreal’s Polytechnique School.
“Carcasses,” the third feature by scriber-helmer Denis Cote, is an intimate drama set in a monumental junkyard of rusting automobiles.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had this many Quebecois films in the selection, which gives the Quinzaine a more Francophone feel than usual,” explained Pere.
Non-North American or European titles are, as in the Official Selection, less present than in previous years. The Bulgarian race-crime drama “Eastern Plays,” by freshman helmer Kamen Kalev, and the Singaporean experimental narrative “Here” by contemporary artist Tzu-Nyen Ho are two such examples.
Both films will be vying for the Camera d’Or, along with the Mexican director Michel Franco’s “Daniel & Ana,” about two teenagers whose lives are thrown into turmoil by a kidnapping.
Other Camera d’Or contenders are closer “Ajami,” “Les beaux gosses” and “J’ai tue ma mere.”
“I think the variety of this year’s selection will surprise our audience,” quipped Pere, who’s overseeing his sixth and last edition before taking the reins at Locarno later this year.
“I hope to continue the auteur-driven work I’ve been doing during six years at the Fortnight, but with more ambition and a greater scope.”
As for his successor, the SRF (Societe des Realisateurs de Films, which runs the Fortnight) is currently reviewing a short list of remaining candidates, and plans for an announcement once the fest hits the Croisette.
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT LINEUP
“La Pivellina,” Austria, Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel
“The Alasness of Things,” Belgium-Netherlands, Felix van Groeningen
“Eastern Plays,” Bulgaria-Sweden, Kamen Kalev
“Carcasses,” Canada, Denis Cote
“J’ai tue ma mere,” Canada, Xavier Dolan
“Polytechnique,” Canada, Denis Villeneuve
“Navidad,” Chile, Sebastian Lelio
“Oxhide II,” China, Liu Jia Yin
“La famille Wolberg,” France-Belgium, Axelle Ropert
“Land of Madness,” France, Luc Moullet
“Le roi de l’evasion,” France, Alain Guiraudie
“Les beaux gosses,” France, Riad Sattouf
“Yuki & Nina,” France-Japan, Nobuhiro Suwa, Hippolyte Girardot
“Ajami,” Israel-Germany, Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani (closer) “Daniel & Ana,” Mexico-Spain, Michel Franco
“Karaoke,” Malaysia, Chan Fui (Chris) Chong
“Ne change rien,” Portugal-France, Pedro Costa
“Here,” Singapore-Canada, Tzu-Nyen Ho
“Like You Know It All,” South Korea, Hong Sang-soo
“Amreeka,” U.S., Cherien Dabis
“Go Get Some Rosemary,” U.S.-France, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
“Humpday,” U.S., Lynn Shelton
“I Love You Phillip Morris,” U.S.-France, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
“Tetro,” Argentina-Spain-Italy, Francis Ford Coppola (opener)
Sundance, the first major fest to take place in the midst of the brutal economic downturn, is likely to be a more subdued affair.
There will still be the usual distribs scouting pics and sellers offering a full range of fare, but the overall noise level at the fest, running Jan. 15-25, is expected to be turned down a bit.
Organizers are marking the fest’s 25th anniversary with special “storytelling”-themed events and Web content. Steven Soderbergh will sit on a panel seeking to answer the question “What next?”
That question has haunted the indie and specialty arenas of late. Despite the fall emergence of breakouts like “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Milk” and “Doubt” at the mini-majors, the hangover from 2008 has lingered as vets absorb the disappearance of Warner Independent and Picturehouse and a big pullback by Paramount Vantage just three years after its euphoric “Hustle and Flow” Sundance moment. Add the breakdown of ThinkFilm, Bob Yari’s release arm and other pure indies and the ground has shifted significantly underfoot.
Funding for pics is available, but the capital-intensive distribution and marketing sectors have been in dire straits of late.
“It just feels a lot tougher this year because so much is changing,” said Bob Berney, who headed Picturehouse before it was unplugged last year by Time Warner. “Even so, I’m looking forward to Sundance just for the chance to see movies because it’s often been a place of renewal.”
“It’s a hard thing to know until you get there,” said Celine Rattray, who produced this year’s “Winning Season” and “Grace Is Gone,” a conspicuous Sundance commercial miss. “For every ‘Hamlet 2,’ there’s a ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ Sundance remains the best place to sell American independent films. No other festival has stepped into that role. There are fewer distributors than a year ago, but the appetite is there.”
Ariana Bocco, acquisitions chief at IFC, sees the 1990s-bred bidding war as endangered but not extinct. “A month or two, people said there would only be a couple of active buyers, but it’s starting to feel like a lot of people will be taking serious looks at things,” she said. “It’s always a function of how a film screens. If people love something, they will still compete to get it, regardless of the larger economic situation.”
Fest director Geoff Gilmore has estimated the value of acquisition deals in 2008 at about $15 million, down from $45 million in 2007. It could dip even lower this year, though most attendees have a stake in seeing that it does not.
Among the sales titles generating interest are “I Love You, Phillip Morris,” the gay prison comedy starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, repped by CAA and Endeavor; blaxploitation riff “Black Dynamite” from Endeavor; and “Mystery Team,” a comedy with a seriously adolescent streak repped by Submarine.
Andrew Hurwitz offers “Big Fan,” the directing debut of “Wrestler” scribe Robert Siegel. The Film Sales Co. has Jeff Lipsky’s comedy “Once More With Feeling,” starring Chazz Palminteri and exec produced by Rainbow Entertainment chief operating officer Ed Carroll.
The performance of docs has diminished significantly at the B.O., but sellers are optimistic about improved revenues from TV and the potential for money to flow from the Web.
The wellspring of publicity from a well-executed and well-received Sundance bow can still propel a film down a “Slumdog Millionaire”-like path. Thus stars such as Carrey, McGregor, Richard Gere, Uma Thurman and Ashton Kutcher appear alongside up-and-comers and indie scenesters vying for attention in the dramatic competition and documentary categories.
Friday’s Salt Lake City gala feature is R.J. Cutler’s Anna Wintour doc “The September Issue.”
On the sponsorship front, Volkswagen pulled out but was replaced by Honda, and despite reports that others were about to bail, supporters have largely held firm. Despite massive layoffs at Time Inc. and its own masthead turnover, Entertainment Weekly is back for an 18th year as a backer.
But the usual cavalcade of splashy parties and “branding opportunities” has run headlong into a newly ticklish issue — how to cruise through a gifting suite and still look like you’re sympathetic to the hardships that others are experiencing. From early indications, less-expensive wares are replacing electronics and pricey clothing in gifting suites.
Media outlets are feeling a major financial squeeze. Consequently, while the overall media rolls remain flat with last year, the premium outlets are sending fewer people.
“Some critics aren’t coming at all, and that makes it tough for films to get noticed, which is the whole point,” noted a publicist.
North African cinema was the big winner as the 5th Dubai Film Fest wrapped Thursday, with Franco-Algerian co-production “Masquerades” winning the Muhr Award for film.Lyes Salem’s pic, about an Algerian man who tries to marry off his narcoleptic sister, also won the fest’s inaugural Fipresci prize.
Another Franco-Algerian co-production, helmer Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche’s “Adhen-Dernier Maquis,” won the special jury prize, and laurels for editor and composer. Pic is about a group of immigrant workers in a Paris suburb who protest when their boss attempts to build an on-site mosque.
Moroccan helmer Nour-Eddine Lakhmari’s “Casanegra” won the actor prize — shared between Anas Elbaz and Omar Lotfi — and best cinematographer. French-Algerian thesp Hafsia Herzi picked up the best actress award for her turn in Moroccan director Souad El-Bouhati’s debut feature “Francaise.”
Palestinian helmer Annemarie Jacir won the script prize for her debut feature “Salt of This Sea.”
Fest expanded the Muhr awards section for Asian and African cinema. Korean helmer So Yong Kim won the film prize in that category for “Treeless Mountain.”
Fest co-production market, the Dubai Film Connection, selected its six projects out of 21 entries, with more than $100,000 in development coin doled out. Three projects received $25,000 each: Jordanian helmer Mahmoud al-Massad’s “This Is My Picture When I’m Dead,” Lebanese helmer Chadi Zeneddine’s “Barbershop Trinity” and Algerian helmer Djamila Sahraoui’s “Ouardia Once Had Sons.”
Fest wrapped Thursday with attendees calling the week-long event a success. Though there was a noticeably less glitzy feel to the 5th edition, fest boasted strong industry presence from the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. The inaugural Dubai Film Market received a thumbs-up from buyers and sellers for its user-friendliness, while the Dubai Film Connection increased the number of projects and coin it handed out.
The Rome Film Festival’s budget is being slashed from this year’s $24 million to a maximum of $15 million, rekindling questions about the future size and scope of the Eternal City extravaganza.
Citing the global economic crisis, a board meeting attended by Rome’s conservative mayor, Gianni Alemanno, on Wednesday deliberated the drastic cut, while confirming that the fest will run in 2009.
The event, launched in 2006 by Rome’s then-Mayor Walter Veltroni, has been captive to political turmoil ever since the left-wing Veltroni stepped down in May when Silvio Berlusconi won national elections and Alemanno gained power in the Italian capital.
That’s why the economic crunch isn’t the only crucial factor in determining Rome’s reconfiguration. Though the fest draws 70% of its funding from corporate sponsors, everything in Italy, including corporate funding, is political.
However, Rome’s budget for its fourth edition is only slightly less than the $16 million that the Venice Film Festival had at its disposal this year.
Meanwhile, Rome has other pressing issues to resolve. Giorgio Gosetti and Teresa Cavina — co-directors of its Cinema 2008 section, which made up most of the competition lineup of the fest — ankled after the October edition due to differences with fest prexy Gianluigi Rondi, who was installed in June.
Gosetti also headed Rome’s informal Business Street mart, while Cavina was chief of its New Cinema Network co-production mart.
Other European fests including Spain’s San Sebastian and Holland’s CineKid have issued public warnings that the looming threat of budget cuts could put them out of business.
By Nicky Vivarelli
Thematically, the lineup for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, announced Wednesday, marks a noticeable generational shift.So says fest director Geoff Gilmore, who will preside over the presentation of 118 feature-length films, including 91 world premieres. The pics in this year’s lineup show “an awareness of the world that wasn’t there a dozen years ago. It comes from the Internet, from a realization that America is not cut off from the rest of the world,” Gilmore said.
Sundance will unspool Jan. 15-25 in Park City, Utah.
Entries in the four competition categories, which were announced Wednesday, were selected from among 3,661 submissions (up slightly from 3,624 a year ago). Of these, 2,038 narrative features were considered for the U.S. and world dramatic competitions, and 1,623 domestic and foreign documentaries were submitted.
“There’s quite a bit of romance and melodrama in this year’s festival, a lot of genre, a lot of emotion. But I think it’s a type of escape that’s not necessarily escapist,” Gilmore said. “Over the last couple of years, audiences got tired of films that directly engaged the Iraq War and other heavy subject matter. This year there’s an eclecticism and a breadth of storytelling that will see audiences perhaps open up to things they haven’t seen before. There’s not a single focus.
