1.
Birdman (film)
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Birdman or, commonly known simply as Birdman, is a 2014 American black comedy film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. It was written by Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr. the film stars Michael Keaton with a supporting cast of Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts. The story follows Riggan Thomson, a faded Hollywood actor best known for playing the superhero Birdman, as he struggles to mount a Broadway adaptation of a short story by Raymond Carver. The film covers the period of previews leading to the opening, and with a brief exception appears as if filmed in a single shot. The film was shot in New York City during the spring of 2013 with a budget of $16.5 million jointly financed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, New Regency Pictures and it premiered the following year in August where it opened the 71st Venice International Film Festival. Birdman had a theatrical release in the United States on October 17,2014, followed by a wide release on November 14. It also won Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture at the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Keaton and Best Screenplay at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards. Riggan Thomson is a faded American actor who is famous for playing the superhero Birdman in a film trilogy 20 years ago and he is tormented by the mocking and critical internal voice of Birdman and is frequently shown performing feats of levitation and telekinesis. Riggan is trying to gain recognition as an actor for writing, directing. Jake, Riggans best friend and lawyer, is producing the play which co-stars Riggans girlfriend Laura, Riggans daughter Sam, a recovering drug addict whom he is trying to reconnect with, is working as his assistant. The day before the first preview, a light falls onto Riggans hopeless co-star Ralph. At Lesleys suggestion, Riggan replaces Ralph with her boyfriend, the brilliant, Riggan clashes continually with Mike and is incensed at influential theater critic Tabitha Dicksons praise for Mikes performance, but Jake persuades him to continue with the play. Riggan catches Sam using marijuana and berates her, she tells him he is expendable, during the final preview, Riggan goes for a cigarette and accidentally locks himself outside with his robe stuck in the fire escape door. He is forced to walk through Times Square in his underwear, a concerned Sam is waiting in his dressing room after the show. She thinks the performance was very weird but sort of cool and they talk about the show, him being a bad father and her rehab experience. She shows him that the Times Square footage is going viral, Riggan goes to a bar for a drink and approaches Tabitha, accusing her of not understanding theater and just being someone who crudely labels things. She tells him that she hates ignorant Hollywood celebrities who pretend to be serious actors, on the way back, Riggan buys a pint of whiskey, drinks it and passes out on a stoop. Riggan jumps off the roof and flies through the streets of Manhattan before arriving at the theater, on the opening night the play is going very well
2.
The Golden Era (film)
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The Golden Era is a 2014 Chinese-Hong Kong biographical drama film directed by Ann Hui, written and executive produced by Li Qiang and starring Tang Wei and Feng Shaofeng. Tang portrays Xiao Hong, while Feng plays Xiao Jun, two of the most important writers of 20th century China, other notable characters portrayed include Lu Xun, Duanmu Hongliang and Ding Ling. The movie was screened out of competition at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and it was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. The movie won Best Film and Best Director awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, the idea for the film dates back to 2004, when Ann Hui and Chinese screenwriter Li Qiang discussed their interest in penning a story involving early 20th Century writers Xiao Hong and Ding Ling. Research made by Hui and Qiang raised concerns over the possible censorship from the government because of Ding Ling’s open criticism of the Communist Party throughout her life. In 2007, Hui and Qiang decided to focus on Xiao Hong, after a suggestion from Beijing production company Cheerland Films, although initially uninterested in Xiao Hong’s work when she read them in the 1970s, Hui later reread her novels as part of better understanding the literary writer. The Golden Era production cost ¥70 million and lasted five months, during which shooting took place on location in Harbin, Wuhan, and Shanghai. Ann Hui would later describe the process of filming The Golden Era as making her “tense and nervous”, the Golden Era made its world premiere on September 6,2014 at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, where it was shown out-of-competition and selected as the festivals closing film. Huis previous full-length directorial feature, A Simple Life, also premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, the film continued to appear in other festivals, including the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival while making its first public release on October 1,2014 in China. On October 17,2014, The Golden Era was released in the U. S. in a run that comprised just 15 theaters over a span of 6 weeks. Edko Films Ltd. released The Golden Era on Blu-ray under Region A coding on January 28,2015 and this physical release includes an interactive photo gallery and a making-of featurette. The film had earned ¥51.49 million at the Chinese box office, in its limited US release, The Golden Era earned $102,931 in 15 theaters. The Golden Era received mixed to positive reviews, most reviews praised Ann Huis direction and insightfulness into Xiao Hongs life, but criticized its running time and the loosely structured narrative. As of June 16,2015, Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 63% rating compiled from 5 positive and 3 negative reviews, the average score from those reviews is 6/10. Movies Singapore praised the film for its depiction of Xiao Hong, calling The Golden Era a powerful coming-of-age story, easternkicks. coms Andrew Heskins found that, though at times overwhelming, complimented Ann Hui for seeking to push her methods and styles of storytelling. Boston Heralds James Verniere applauded the film for its telling of Xiao Hong. The editing and experimental nature of The Golden Era was commented on by critics
3.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
4.
Golden Lion
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The Golden Lion is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the committee and is now regarded as one of the film industrys most distinguished prizes. In 1970, a second Golden Lion was introduced, this is an award for people who have made an important contribution to cinema. The prize was introduced in 1949 as the Golden Lion of Saint Mark, previously, the equivalent prize was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia, awarded in 1947 and 1948. Before that, from 1934 until 1942, the highest awards were the Coppa Mussolini for Best Italian Film, no Golden Lions were awarded between 1969 and 1979. Sixty-eight produced a dramatic fracture with the past,14 French films have been awarded the Golden Lion, more than that of any other nation. However, there is considerable diversity in the winners. Five American filmmakers have won the Golden Lion, with awards for John Cassavetes and Robert Altman, as well as Ang Lee, Darren Aronofsky and Sofia Coppola. The Golden Lion, by contrast, has awarded to ten Asians during the same time period. Ang Lee won the Golden Lion twice within three years during the 2000s, once for an American film and once for a Chinese-language film, zhang Yimou has also won twice. Other Asians to win the Golden Lion since 1980 include Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Trần Anh Hùng, Takeshi Kitano, Kim Ki-duk, Jafar Panahi, Mira Nair, and Lav Diaz. Russian filmmakers have won the Golden Lion several times, including since the end of the USSR. Still, to date 33 of the 54 winners were European men, since 1949 only four women have ever won the Golden Lion for directing, Mira Nair, Sofia Coppola, German Margarethe von Trotta and Belgiums Agnès Varda. In comparison to the other major Western European festivals, the Berlinales Golden Bear has also awarded to four women. In the history of Cannes, only one woman filmmaker has been awarded the Palme dOr
5.
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
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A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is a 2014 internationally co-produced black comedy-drama film written and directed by Roy Andersson. It is the installment in his Living trilogy, following Songs from the Second Floor and You. It premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival where it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film and it was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. Its title is a reference to the 1565 painting The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the painting depicts a rural wintertime scene, with some birds perched on tree branches. Andersson said he imagined that the birds in the scene are watching the people below and he explained the title of the film as a different way of saying what are we actually doing, thats what the movie is about. At the Venice Film Festival, Andersson said that the film had been inspired by the 1948 Italian film Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica, the movie consists of a series of mostly self-contained tableaux, sometimes connected by recurring themes or characters. The story loosely follows two traveling novelty salesmen, Jonathan and Sam, who live in a flophouse. Although there is no storyline in the traditional sense, all scenes are connected. 8/10. The consensus reads, Expertly assembled and indelibly original, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch concludes writer-director Roy Anderssons Living trilogy in style, the film also received a score of 81 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 23 reviews, indicating universal acclaim. The film also won the Golden Lion award at the Venice International Film Festival. com
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Andrei Konchalovsky
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Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky is a Russian film director, film producer and screenwriter. He was a frequent collaborator of Andrei Tarkovsky earlier in his career and he is the son of Natalia Konchalovskaya and Sergey Mikhalkov, and brother to Nikita Mikhalkov who is also a well known Russian film director. He changed his first name to Andrei and took his grandfathers surname as his stage name. He is the brother of filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov and the son of author Sergei Mikhalkov and he studied for ten years at the Moscow Conservatory, preparing for a pianists career. In 1960, however, he met Andrei Tarkovsky and co-scripted his movie Andrei Rublev and his first full-length feature, The First Teacher, was favourably received in the Soviet Union and screened by numerous film festivals abroad. His second film, Asya Klyachinas Story, was suppressed by Soviet authorities, when issued twenty years later, it was acclaimed as his masterpiece. Thereupon, Konchalovsky filmed adaptations of Ivan Turgenevs A Nest of Gentle Folk and Chekhovs Uncle Vanya, in 1979 he was a member of the jury at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival. His epic Siberiade upon its 1979 release was received at Cannes. His most popular Hollywood releases are Marias Lovers, Runaway Train, based on a script by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and Tango & Cash, starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. Konchalovskys full-length feature, House of Fools, with a role by Bryan Adams as himself, set in a Chechen psychiatric asylum during the war. His film, The Nutcracker in 3D had its American release on November 24,2010, the film had a reported $90,000,000 budget and brought in a total of $65,944 in its U. S opening weekend. The film was critically derided, with Roger Ebert stating in his review of the film. Who considered it even remotely a plausible idea for a movie and his film The Postmans White Nights won the Silver Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. In 2016 Paradise directed by him won the Silver Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival and it was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards. Konchalovsky has been married five times and his first wife was Irina Kandat. His second wife was Kazakh actress Natalia Arinbasarova, with whom he has one son, Yegor and his third wife was Viviane Godet, with whom he has a daughter, Alexandra Mikhalkova, born October 6,1971. His fourth wife is Irina Ivanova, with whom he has two daughters, Nathalia and Elena and his fifth wife is Russian actress Julia Vysotskaya, they have been married since 1998 and have two children, Masha and Piotr. After he came to America, while not working, he lived with Shirley MacLaine, then left her for Nastassja Kinski, special Silver St. George for his contribution to world cinema, 20th Moscow International Film Festival,19972003 Sergei Prokofiev TV documentary in the “Geniuses” series
7.
The Postman's White Nights
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The Postmans White Nights is a 2014 Russian drama film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. It tells the story of the people of a remote Russian village, all actors in the film are non-professionals and casting took a year. It was selected for the In Competition section at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, in September 2014, director Konchalovsky withdrew the film from the list of films being considered for the Russian entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was filmed at the Kenozersky National Park, Arkhangelsk Oblast, the film also got 83% on Metacritic and on Cine Vue who gave him four stars. The Hollywood reporter, The setting itself is gorgeous, with its boxy cottages fringed by grassy clearings and woodlands, it’s a rare pleasure to see a film made with such an elegant compositional eye. Deep-focus shots of Lyokha at his most pensive, standing on the shores of the lake, are loaded with a sense of place, and of belonging. Indiewire. com, “The Postman’s White Nights” is being celebrated as a quasi-documentary. And it is that, no doubt, but for us it went much further than mere anthropological interest, the Postmans White Nights at the Internet Movie Database
8.
72nd Venice International Film Festival
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The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition, a restored version of Federico Fellinis film Amarcord was shown at the festival. The Venezuelan film From Afar by Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion award, everest was selected as the festivals opening night film, while Guan Hus drama film Mr. Six served as the closing night film. Actress and director Elisa Sednaoui hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, the festival honoured Brian De Palma with Glory to the Filmmaker Award and a documentary film titled De Palma by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow also screened at the festival. Jonathan Demme received the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award, who served as the President of Horizons section jury
9.
70th Venice International Film Festival
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The 70th annual Venice Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with an achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci was the President of the Jury and he was previously the President of the Jury at the 40th edition in 1983. Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, was the film of the festival. Italian actress Eva Riccobono hosted the opening and closing nights of the festival, the Golden Lion was awarded to the Italian documentary film Sacro GRA. It was the first documentary film to win the award at the Venice Festival
10.
Venice Film Festival
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The film festival is part of the Venice Biennale, which was founded by the Venetian City Council in 1895. The film festival has taken place in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, since its inception the Venice Film Festival has grown into one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The 74th Venice International Film Festival is scheduled to be held from 30 August to 9 September 2017, the first edition of the Venice Film Festival was carried out from the 6 to the 21 of August in 1932. The festival began with an idea of the president of the Venice Biennale Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata and Luciano De Feo, with good reason, the festival was considered the first international event of its type, receiving strong support from authorities. This first edition was held on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Venice Lido, and at that stage it was not a competitive event. The very first film to be shown in the history of the Festival was Rouben Mamoulians Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the second edition was held two years later, from 1 to 20 of August in 1934. For the first time it included a competition, at least 19 countries took part with over 300 accredited journalists. The Mussolini Cup was introduced for best foreign film and best Italian film, other awards were the Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment to best actor and actress. The prize for best foreign film went to Robert J. Flahertys Man of Aran and was a confirmation of the taste of the time for auteur documentaries, starting in 1935, the Festival became a yearly event under the direction of Ottavio Croze. The actors award was renamed Volpi Cup, in 1936 an international jury was nominated for the first time and in 1937 the new Cinema Palace, designed by the architect Luigi Quagliata, was inaugurated. The 1940s represent one of the most difficult moments for the review, the conclusion of the Second World War divides the decade in two. Before 1938 political pressures distorted and ruined the festival, in addition, few countries participated and there was an absolute monopoly of institutions and directors that were members of the Rome-Berlin Axis. The festival resumed full speed in 1946, after the war, with the return of normalcy, Venice once again became a great icon of the film world. In 1947 the festival was held at the Doges Palace, a most magnificent backdrop for hosting a record 90 thousand participants, surely it can be considered one of the greatest editions in the history of the festival. For the next twenty years the festival continued its development and expansion in accordance with the plan set in motion after the war. In 1963 the winds of change blow strongly during Luigi Chiarini’s directorship of the festival, during the years of his presidency, Chiarini aspired to renew the spirit and the structures of the festival, pushing for a total reorganization of the entire system. The social and political unrest of 1968 had strong repercussions on the Venice Bienniale, from 1969 to 1979 no prizes were awarded and the festival returned to the non-competitiveness of the first edition
11.
Ann Hui
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Ann Hui On-Wah, MBE is a Hong Kong actress, director, producer and occasional screenwriter. She is one of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers amongst the Hong Kong New Wave and she is known for her controversial films about social issues in Hong Kong. Hui has won awards for her films, including, Best Director and Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards. She was honored for her lifetime accomplishments at the 2012 Asian Film Awards, on 23 May 1947, Ann Hui was born in Anshan, Liaoning province, Manchuria to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother. In 1952, she moved to Macau, then Hong Kong at the age of five, Hui then received a Masters in English and comparative literature at the University of Hong Kong until 1972 and later, studied at the London Film School for two years. Before receiving her degree, Hui studied and did her thesis on the works of Alain Robbe-Grillet, when Hui returned to Hong Kong after her stay in London, she became the assistant to the prominent Chinese film director, King Hu. Her breakthrough directorial work began with several series and short documentaries on 16mm for the Television Broadcasts Limited television station. During 1977, Hui produced and directed half a dozen films for the Independent Commission Against Corruption, two of these films were so controversial that they had to be banned from airing. A year later, Hui directed three episodes Below the Lion Rock, which depicts the lives of people from Hong Kong, under the public broadcasting station, the most recognized episode of Hui’s is Boy from Vietnam, which is the start of her Vietnam trilogy. After a few years in the industry, Hui finally directed her first feature-length film. In the 1980s, Hui’s career was growing on the cinema circuit. The most popular films for that time were Eastern variations of Hollywood oriented gangster, but Hui did not follow the trend and preferred to create more personal films. Many of her best films involved themes pertaining to cultural displacement, in particular, her central characters are often individuals who are forced to relocate to another country and shown to be struggling and learning to survive. Hui tends to explore the reactions to different environments and their responses to their return home. Her best known works, which fall under this category, are The Story of Woo Viet, although Hui has directed some generic films, another common theme she works with is family conflict, such as in the film My American Grandson. One of her most personal work is Song of the Exile, the film depicts the story of a young woman, Cheung Hueyin returning to Hong Kong for her sisters wedding after studying film in London for a couple of years. The Hueyin and her mother, who is Japanese, do not seem to have a steady relationship, in the 1990s, Hui’s work began to target more commercialized films. Her directing career has slowed down a bit, as she focused more on work for other filmmakers
12.
Roy Andersson
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He has spent much of his professional life working on advertisement spots, directing over 400 commercials and two short films, but only directing six feature-length films in six decades. Anderson is considered one of the most important living European film directors, later described by the Village Voice as a slapstick Ingmar Bergman”, Roy Andersson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1943. A year after graduating from the Swedish Film Institute in 1969, he directed his first feature-length film, following this success, Andersson fell into a depression. Eventually he directed the film Giliap which was released in 1975, the film was a financial and critical disaster, went wildly over budget, and suffered lengthy delays in post-production. Giliap went in a different direction than A Swedish Love Story – replacing crowd-pleasing joy and soft humour with dark comedy. After Giliap, Andersson took a 25-year break from directing, focusing his efforts mainly on his commercial work. In 1981 he established Studio 24, an independent film company, later, he directed a short-film commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare entitled Something Happened. The official explanation was that it was too dark in its message, the film is on a top ten list of all-time best short films, set by the Clermont-Ferrand festival. In March 1996, Andersson began filming Songs from the Second Floor, after its premiere at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival the film also became an international critical success. It won the Jury Prize in Cannes and five Guldbagge Awards in Sweden for best film, direction, cinematography, screenplay, the film was made up of forty-six long tableaux shots, marrying tough, bleak social criticism with his characteristic absurdist dead-pan and surrealism. Roy Andersson continued his work at Studio 24 and his next film You. The film won The Nordic Council Film Prize in 2008, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City presented a retrospective of Anderssons work in September 2009. The film, titled A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence was released in 2014, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City presented a retrospective of Anderssons work entitled Its Hard to Be Human, The Cinema of Roy Andersson in 2015
13.
Joshua Oppenheimer
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Joshua Lincoln Oppenheimer is an American film director based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Best known for his Oscar-nominated films The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, Oppenheimer is a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award and a 1997 Marshall Scholar. Oppenheimer was born to a Jewish family in Austin, Texas and he is currently a Reader in documentary film at the University of Westminster. His first film The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase won a Gold Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival From 2004 to 2012, he produced a series of films in Indonesia. His debut feature film about the individuals who participated in the Indonesian killings of 1965–66, The Act of Killing, oppenheimers next film, The Look of Silence is a companion piece to The Act of Killing. Since then, it has gone on to win a further 70 international awards, in 2014, after a screening of The Act of Killing for US Congress members, Oppenheimer called on the US to acknowledge its role in the killings. In July 2016 he was named as a member of the competition jury for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. London & New York, Serpents Tail,1997, ISBN 1-85242-553-9, going through the motions and becoming other. History and Histrionics, Vision Machines Digital Poetics, in, Marchessault, Janine and Lord, Susan, Fluid screens, expanded cinema. University of Toronto Press,2007, Toronto, Canada, pp. 167–183, show of force, a cinema-séance of power and violence in Sumatras plantation belt. In Critical Quarterly, Volume 51, No 1, April 2009, killer Images, Documentary Film, Memory and the Performance of Violence. Joshua Oppenheimer for The New York Times, joshua Oppenheimer at the Internet Movie Database
14.
The Look of Silence
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The Look of Silence is a 2014 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer about the Indonesian killings of 1965–66. The film is a piece to Oppenheimers 2012 documentary The Act of Killing. It was executive produced by Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards. A middle-aged Indonesian man, whose brother was murdered in the 1965 purge of communists, confronts the men who carried out the killings. Out of concern for his safety, the man is not fully identified in the film and is credited only as anonymous, some shots consist of the man watching extra footage from The Act of Killing, which includes video of the men who killed his brother. He visits some of the killers and their collaborators—including his uncle—under the pretense of an eye exam, although none of the killers express any remorse, the daughter of one of them is clearly shaken when she hears, apparently for the first time, the details of the killings. Additionally, the film has screened at the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, IDFA, on 10 November 2014,2,000 people came to the official and public premiere of the film in Jakarta. On 10 December 2014, International Human Rights Day, there were 480 public screenings of the film across Indonesia, the screenings of the film in Indonesia has been sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia and the Jakarta Arts Council. It was selected for screening in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2015, Oppenheimer hoped the Oscar buzz the film was generating would pressure the US government to formally acknowledge its collusion in the killings. The Look of Silence received critical acclaim, on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 96% rating, an average score of 8. On Metacritic, the film has a 92 out of 100 rating based on 29 critics, on 14 January 2016, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
15.
Thelma Schoonmaker
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Thelma Colbert Schoonmaker is a French-born American film editor who has worked with director Martin Scorsese for over forty years. She has edited all of Scorseses films since Raging Bull, first working with Scorsese on his feature film Whos That Knocking at My Door. Schoonmaker has received seven Academy Award nominations for Best Film Editing, Schoonmaker was born in Algiers, French Algeria, the daughter of American parents, Thelma and Bertram Schoonmaker. Bertram, descended from the New York Schoonmaker family, was employed as an agent of the Standard Oil Company, Thelma was raised in various countries, including on the Dutch-Caribbean island of Aruba. Schoonmaker did not live in the United States until she was a teenager, in 1955, Schoonmaker was interested in a career in international diplomacy and began attending Cornell University in 1957, where she studied political science and the Russian language. When she graduated from Cornell in 1961, she began taking State Department tests in order to apply for positions in the U. S. government, in reaction to this experience, Schoonmaker switched gears and began taking a course in primitive art. While doing graduate work at Columbia University, Thelma Schoonmaker answered an ad that offered training as an assistant film editor. She responded to the employment advertisement in The New York Times, the job entailed assisting an editor who was randomly cutting frames from classic European films, so that their length would conform to the running times of U. S. television broadcasts. Although she was revolted by the callousness of the methods, Schoonmaker nonetheless picked up important technical skills. A negative cutter had butchered his film, not leaving enough negative frames to allow for hot splicing, one of her film professors asked Schoonmaker to help Scorsese, a close working relationship with him unfolded over the next thirty-five years. Schoonmaker edited Scorseses first feature film, Whos That Knocking at My Door, at NYU Schoonmaker also met filmmaker Michael Wadleigh and later edited his influential music festival documentary, Woodstock on which Scorsese also worked. Consequently, there was a gap between her work on Scorseses student films and her Oscar-winning work on Raging Bull. “I would have loved to work with Marty, but I wasn’t in the union…. And then, finally, Marty called me about Raging Bull and the lawyers got me in the union. ”While Schoonmaker didnt officially work with Scorsese until Raging Bull, she did make an uncredited contribution to Taxi Driver. Scorsese had decided not to edit the picture Taxi Driver during proaction shooting, at one point, Steven Spielberg visited Scorsese and chipped in with some contributions towards the final edit. Schoonmaker helped to some film industry glass ceilings, and has amassed an extensive list of film editing credits. Varietys Eileen Kowalski notes that, Indeed, many of the greats have been women, Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker, Anne V. Coates. She appears in The Aviator as one of Howard Hughes editors during the filming of Hells Angels, Schoonmaker was married to film director Michael Powell from May 19,1984 until his death in 1990. Since his death, Schoonmaker has dedicated herself to preserving the films and honoring the legacy of her husband and she was introduced to Michael Powell by Martin Scorsese and London-based film producer Frixos Constantine
16.
Frederick Wiseman
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Frederick Wiseman is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theatrical director. Wiseman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Gertrude Leah and he gained a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College in 1951 and a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1954. He spent 1954 to 1956 serving in the U. S. Military, Wiseman spent a few years in Paris before coming back and started teaching law at Boston Universitys Institute of Law and Medicine. He then started documentary filmmaking, and has won numerous awards, as well as Guggenheim. In 2003, Wiseman was awarded the Dan David Prize for his films, which make us reckon with our emotions. In 2006, Wiseman received the George Polk Career Award, given annually by Long Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity, the first feature-length film that Wiseman produced was The Cool World in 1963. He next produced and directed Titicut Follies and he has both produced and directed all of his films since. They chiefly are studies of social institutions, for example, hospital, high school, all have been aired on PBS, one of his primary funders. The style of Wisemans films is often referred to as the observational mode, at least that is not true for me and cinema verité is just a pompous French term that has absolutely no meaning as far as Im concerned. In spring 2012, Wiseman took actively part in the three month exposition of Whitney Biennial, in 2014, he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. In 2016, he was a recipient of an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Wisemans films are, in his view, an elaboration of a personal experience and not an ideologically objective portrait of his subjects. In many interviews, Wiseman has emphasized that his films are not and cannot be unbiased, the editing is highly manipulative and the shooting is highly manipulative. What you choose to shoot, the way you shoot it, the way you edit it, represent subjective choices that you have to make. In I had 110 hours of material, I only used 4 hours – near nothing. The compression within a sequence represents choice and then the way the sequences are arranged in relationship to the other represents choice, all aspects of documentary filmmaking involve choice and are therefore manipulative. Aspect of it is that you have to, try to make is true to the spirit of your sense of what was going on. My view is that these films are biased, prejudiced, condensed, compressed but fair. I think what I do is make movies that are not accurate in any objective sense, I think I have an obligation, to the people who have consented to be in the film
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Alexandre Desplat
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Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat is a French film composer. Fox, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, The Kings Speech, Moonrise Kingdom, Argo, Rise of the Guardians, Zero Dark Thirty, Godzilla, The Imitation Game, and Unbroken. Desplat was born in Paris, to a French father and a Greek mother who met at the University of California, after their marriage, they moved back to France, where Alexandre was born. Alexandre is the brother of Marie-Christine, also known as Kiki, who is leading jazz band Certains lAiment Chaud. At the age of five, he began playing piano and he also became proficient on trumpet and flute. He studied with Claude Ballif, Iannis Xenakis in France and Jack Hayes in the U. S. Desplat swiftly became skilled, Desplats musical interests were wide, listening to a mix of the French symphonists like Ravel and Debussy, jazz and even more exotic world music. He was also influenced by South American and African artists, among whom were Carlinhos Brown and Ray Lema. Being a big fan of films, Desplat set his sights on becoming a composer from an early age. He worked on his first film Le souffleur in 1986, when recording the music for his first film, he met violinist Dominique Lemonnier who became his favorite soloist, artistic director and wife. Desplat worked on many films throughout his career since the 1980s, and his big Hollywood break came in 2003 with the soundtrack for the film Girl with a Pearl Earring. Fox, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, The Ghost Writer, Daniel Auteuils remake of La Fille du Puisatier, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Desplat has composed songs that have been sung in films by such artists as Akhenaton, Kate Beckinsale, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Valérie Lemercier, Miosotis. He has also written music for the theatre, including pieces performed at the Comédie Française, Desplat has conducted performances of his music played by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Desplat has also given Master Classes at La Sorbonne in Paris, in 2007, he composed the scores for Philip Pullmans Golden Compass, Zach Helms directorial debut Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium with American composer Aaron Zigman, and the Ang Lee movie Lust, Caution. He won the 2007 BMI Film Music Award,2007 World Soundtrack Award,2007 European Film Award and he also won the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Film Music in The Beat that My Heart Skipped. In 2008, Desplat received his second Oscar nomination for David Finchers Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Desplat received his third Oscar nomination and a BAFTA nomination for Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2010, both of which were won by Michael Giacchino for Up. In early 2011, Desplat began to write the music to Harry Potter and he reunited with director David Yates, who offered Desplat the opportunity to score the second part after his work on the Part 1 soundtrack in 2010 enchanted everyone in the control room. Desplats soundtrack sequel to the 2008 film Largo Winch was released in 2011 and was well received, Desplats 2011 projects included The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick, A Better Life, La Fille du Puisatier, Roman Polanskis Carnage, and George Clooneys Ides of March
