JULY VOD CALENDAR

By Jason Guerrasio

Now up on our VOD Calendar are titles available for the month of July.

Some of the highlights: Duncan Jones‘ fantastic thriller Source Code, Cannes winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, David Robert Mitchell‘s impressive debut The Myth of the American Sleepover and Michael Tully‘s Southern Gothic tale Septien.

For titles from previous months go to our VOD Calendar homepage.… Read the rest

WINTER 2011 ISSUE NOW ONLINE

By Jason Guerrasio

Now up on the site are select stories from the Winter 2011 issue.

Michelle Williams talks about her upcoming film Meek’s Cutoff, as well as the challenges of trying to shake her Blue Valentine character to prepare. We chat with Apichatpong Weerasethakul about his Palme d’Or winner, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. DP Eric Lin (The Exploding Girl) talks shop with Monogamy cinematographer Doug Emmett. As well as interviews with Limitless director Neil Burger and Mike Ott‘s Gotham Awards’ Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You winner, Littlerock.

Lance Weiler also delves into his project, Pandemic, for his Culture Hacker column, which is at Sundance (see our video interview with Weiler); and we reveal a new column which will show up in the mag from time to time: Soapbox. Here Zachary Wigon writes about the cinema’s role in society.… Read the rest

2010 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL | By Livia Bloom

“You know the kind of movie where people laugh and cry?” asked a filmmaker character in Kornél Mundruczó’s Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project (seeking American distribution). “I want you to cry.” “I am crying,” responded the would-be actor before him, his face frozen solid. The internalization of emotion, and the tiny, subtle ways it can creep into the features and postures of even the most stoic characters was explored in some of the best work at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

At first glance, the protagonist of A Screaming Man (pictured above) (Un homme qui crie, seeking distribution), by the talented Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, looks less like a man screaming than a man lounging. Champion (played by Saleh Haroun) hangs out with his teenage son in the pool of the posh hotel where they work, feeds watermelon to his wife till juice drips from her chin, and knows all his neighbors by their nicknames. At night, he does sit-ups on a plastic mat outside his home until he can do no more; then a pause; then he begins again. When this former swimming ace loses the job that defines him, emotional hurt barely registers on his placid surface. Only gradually do his actions, set against the backdrop of his country’s political strife, begin to belie the startling ferocity of his true response and the disastrous ripples of its consequences.

Although not one female director was selected for the Official Cannes Competition this year, it was a great year for female performers. Several actresses did yeoman’s work, backwards and in heels. In Lee Chan-dong’s Poetry, which won this year’s prize for Best Screenplay and has happily been acquired by Kino International, Korean actress Yoon Jung-hee carried the weight of a 139-minute opus on her thin frame. As Mija, an aging working-class maid raising her grandson in a small town, her character is at once modest and tragic, eccentric and proud. She holds her responsibilities very quietly, even when they become nearly unbearable. In Mija, these qualities are communicated in the smallest of ways; they are there in … Read the rest

“UNCLE BOONMEE” TOPS CANNES WINNERS

The 63rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival wrapped up this evening in France with Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (pictured) taking the coveted Palme d’Or. Other winners include Xavier Beauvois‘s Of God and Men receiving the Grand Prix, Mathieu Amalric winning Best Director for Tournee, Juliette Binoche was awarded Best Actress for Certified Copy and in a tie Javier Bardem (Biutiful) and Elio Germano (La Nostra Vita) won Best Actor. See full list of winners below.

Palme d’Or:
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Grand Prix (runner-up):
Des Hommes Et Des Dieux (Of God and Men), directed by Xavier Beauvois

Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director):
Mathieu Amalric for Tournee (On Tour)

Prix du Scenario (best screenplay):
Poetry by Lee Chang-dong

Prix du Jury (jury prize):
A Screaming Man, directed by Mahamat-Saleh Harou

Camera d’Or (best first feature):
Año Bisiesto, directed by Michael Rowe

Prix d’interpretation masculine (best actor):
Javier Bardem for Biutiful
AND
Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita

Prix d’interpretation feminine (best actress):
Juliette Binoche for Certified Copy

Palme d’Or (short film):
Chienne d’Histoire, directed by Serge Avedikian

Other winners:

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Prize of Un Certain Regard: Ha Ha Ha, directed by Hong Sangsoo
Jury Prize: Octubre, directed by Daniel Vega & Diego Vega
Special Prize: The three actresses—Adela Sanzhez, Eva Bianco, and Victoria Rapos—from Ivan Fund & Santiago Losa’s Los Labios (The Lips)

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Art Cinema Award: Pieds nus sur les limaces, directed by Fabienne Berthaud (France)
Prix SACD/SACD Prize: Illégal, directed Olivier Masset-Depasse (Belgium – Luxembourg – France).
Label Europa Cinemas: Le Quattro Volte, directed by Michelangelo Frammartino (Italy)
PRIX SFR: Cautare, directed Ionut Piturescu (Romania) and Mary Last Seen, directed by Sean Durkin (USA)
Palm Dog Award: Vuk, the goatherd’s dog in Le Quattro Volte, directed by Michelangelo Frammartino

INTERNATIONAL CRITICS’ WEEK
Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique: Armadillo, directed by Janus Metz
SACD Prize: Bi, dung so! (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid!), directed … Read the rest