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
6.
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
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.
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
12.
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
13.
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
14.
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
15.
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
16.
The 400 Blows
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The 400 Blows is a 1959 French drama film, the debut by director François Truffaut, it stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of the films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. Written by Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, the film is about Antoine Doinel, filmed on location in Paris and Honfleur, it is the first in a series of five films in which Léaud plays the semi-autobiographical character. The 400 Blows received numerous awards and nominations, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director, the OCIC Award, the film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing in 1960. The 400 Blows had a total of 4,092,970 admissions in France, making it Truffauts most successful film in his home country. The 400 Blows is widely considered one of the best French films in the history of cinema, in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics poll of the greatest films ever made, Antoine Doinel is a young boy growing up in Paris during the 1950s. Misunderstood by his parents for playing truant from school and stealing, the boy finally quits school after being caught plagiarizing Balzac by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his stepfathers work place to finance his plans to leave home, the stepfather turns Antoine over to the police and Antoine spends the night in jail, sharing a cell with prostitutes and thieves. During an interview with the judge, Antoine’s mother confesses that her husband is not Antoine’s biological father, Antoine is placed in an observation center for troubled youths near the seashore. A psychologist at the center probes reasons for Antoines unhappiness, which the youth reveals in a series of monologues. One day, while playing football with the boys, Antoine escapes under a fence and runs away to the ocean. He reaches the shoreline of the sea and runs into it, the film concludes with a freeze-frame of Antoine, and the camera optically zooms in on his face, looking into the camera. The English title is a translation of the French but misses its meaning, as the French title refers to the idiom faire les quatre cents coups. On the first prints in the United States, subtitler and dubber Noelle Gillmor gave the film the title Wild Oats, before seeing it, some people thought the film covered the topic of corporal punishment. The semi-autobiographical film reflects events of Truffauts and his friends lives, in style, it expresses Truffauts personal history of French film, with references to other works—most notably a scene borrowed wholesale from Jean Vigos Zéro de conduite. Truffaut dedicated the film to the man who became his father, André Bazin. Besides being a study, the film is an exposé of the injustices of the treatment of juvenile offenders in France at the time. It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 32nd Academy Awards, the film holds a very rare 100% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews
17.
Joan Chen
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Joan Chen is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In China she performed in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor. She is also known for her roles in Twin Peaks, Red Rose, White Rose, Saving Face, and The Home Song Stories, Chen Chong was born in Shanghai, to a family of pharmacologists. She and her brother, Chase, were raised during the Cultural Revolution. At the age of 14, Chen was discovered on the rifle range by Jiang Qing. Chen graduated from school a year in advance, and at the age of 17 entered the prestigious Shanghai International Studies University. Chen Chong performed alongside Tang Guoqiang in Zhang Zhengs Little Flower in 1979, Chen portrayed a pre-Maoist revolutionarys daughter, who, reunited with her brother, a wounded Communist soldier, later learned that his doctor was her biological mother. In addition, Chen was in the 1979 film Hearts for the Motherland, the songs, I Love You, China and High Flies the Petrel, sung by Chens character, are perennial favorites in China. In 1981, Chen starred in Awakening, directed by Teng Wenji, at age 20, Chen moved to the United States, where she studied filmmaking at California State University, Northridge. Her first Hollywood movie was Tai-Pan, filmed on location in China and she went on to star in Bernardo Bertoluccis The Last Emperor in 1987 and the David Lynch/Mark Frost television series Twin Peaks as Josie Packard. She starred alongside Rutger Hauer in 1989s The Blood of Heroes, written, in 1993 she co-starred in Oliver Stones Heaven & Earth. She portrayed two different characters in Clara Laws Temptation of a Monk, a princess of Tang dynasty. The award-winning film was adapted from a novel by Lilian Lee, in 1996, she was a member of the jury at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. She later directed Autumn in New York, starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, in the middle of the 2000s, Chen made a comeback in acting and began to work intensely, alternating between English and Chinese-language roles. In 2004, she starred in Hou Yongs family saga Jasmine Women, alongside Zhang Ziyi, in 2005, she appeared in Zhang Yangs family saga Sunflower, as a mother whose husband and son have a troubled father-son relationship over 30 years. She portrayed a glamorous and unstable Chinese nightclub singer who struggles to survive in seventies Australia with her two children, the role earned her four awards including the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress and the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress. In 2008, she starred alongside Sam Chow in Shi Qi, directed by Joe Chow, as a rural mother of a 17-year-old in eastern Zhejiang province. The same year Joan Chen portrayed in Jia Zhangkes 24 City a factory worker once fancied because she resembled Chen herself in the 1979 film Little Flower, but who missed her chance at love
18.
Jessica Hausner
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Jessica Hausner is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. She has directed six films since 1995 and her film Lovely Rita was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Three years later her film Hotel was screened at the 2004 festival and her 2014 film Amour Fou was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In 2002 she was a member of the jury at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival, in 2016, she was a member of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Flora Inter-View Lovely Rita Hotel Sleeper Toast Lourdes Amour Fou Jessica Hausner at the Internet Movie Database
19.
Jhumpa Lahiri
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Nilanjana Sudeshna Jhumpa Lahiri is an American author. Lahiris debut short story collection Interpreter of Maladies won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and she was born Nilanjana Sudeshna but goes by her nickname Jhumpa. Lahiri is a member of the Presidents Committee on the Arts and Humanities and her book The Lowland, published in 2013, was a nominee for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award for Fiction. Lahiri is currently a professor of writing at Princeton University. Lahiri was born in London, the daughter of Bengali Indian emigrants from the state of West Bengal and her family moved to the United States when she was two, Lahiri considers herself an American, stating, I wasnt born here, but I might as well have been. Lahiris mother wanted her children to grow up knowing their Bengali heritage, when she began kindergarten in Kingston, Rhode Island, Lahiris teacher decided to call her by her pet name, Jhumpa, because it was easier to pronounce than her proper name. Lahiri recalled, I always felt so embarrassed by my name and you feel like youre causing someone pain just by being who you are. Lahiris ambivalence over her identity was the inspiration for the ambivalence of Gogol, Lahiri graduated from South Kingstown High School and received her B. A. in English literature from Barnard College in 1989. Lahiri then received degrees from Boston University, an M. A. in English, an M. F. A. in Creative Writing, an M. A. in Comparative Literature. She took a fellowship at Provincetowns Fine Arts Work Center, which lasted for the two years. Lahiri has taught writing at Boston University and the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2001, Lahiri married Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, a journalist who was deputy editor of TIME Latin America. Lahiri lives in Rome, Italy with her husband and their two children, Octavio and Noor, Lahiri joined the Princeton University faculty on July 1,2015 as a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts. Lahiris early short stories faced rejection from publishers for years and her debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, was finally released in 1999. Lahiri later wrote, When I first started writing I was not conscious that my subject was the Indian-American experience. What drew me to my craft was the desire to force the two worlds I occupied to mingle on the page as I was not brave enough, or mature enough, to allow in life. The collection was praised by American critics, but received mixed reviews in India, many people criticise her by saying that she, in her stories, has portrayed India in unclear, untrue and faulty manner. So, the manner of trying to imagine and describe about the motherland, I think that we should coin a new term, i. e. Interpreter of Maladies sold 600,000 copies and received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
20.
Sandy Powell (costume designer)
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Sandy Powell OBE is a British costume designer. She has won three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design for Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, and The Young Victoria and she has also received 13 BAFTA Award nominations, winning for Velvet Goldmine and The Young Victoria. She won many awards in costume design for the latter film. Powell is often associated with Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes, having designed the costumes for six of Scorseses films, Powell left Saint Martins School of Art in London, before completing her degree, due to offers of work from, amongst others, Derek Jarman. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to the film industry
21.
Tim Roth
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Timothy Simon Tim Roth is an English actor and director. He made his role in the 1982 television film Made in Britain. He garnered critical acclaim for his role as Myron in the 1984 film The Hit, Roth gained more attention for his performances in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Vincent & Theo and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He later earned international recognition for appearing in Quentin Tarantinos films, such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms and The Hateful Eight. For the historical drama Rob Roy, Roth won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and he made his directorial debut with The War Zone, for which he received numerous accolades. Roth attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill, as a young man, he wanted to be a sculptor and studied at Londons Camberwell College of Art. Roth made his acting début at the age of 21, playing a white power skinhead named Trevor in a 1982 TV film titled Made in Britain. He played an East End character in King of the Ghetto and he played a shy young man in the 1984 Mike Leigh film Meantime. In 1985, he appeared in the television film Murder with Mirrors and he played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears The Hit, earning an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. In 1989 he had a role as the buffoonish lackey Mitchell in Peter Greenaways The Cook. In 1990, he starred as Vincent van Gogh in Robert Altmans Vincent & Theo, Roth and other young British actors of the time, such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne, and Paul McGann, were dubbed the Brit Pack. Roth was cast as Mr. Orange in Quentin Tarantinos 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, in 1994, Tarantino cast him as a robber in Pulp Fiction. They also collaborated in the 1995 film Four Rooms, where he played Ted and his role as Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination. In 1996, he starred in Woody Allens musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You and he also starred as Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900 in The Legend of 1900, and in the same year and he made his directorial debut in 1999 with The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuarts novel. In 2001, he portrayed General Thade in Tim Burtons Planet of the Apes, Roth was the original choice for the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, but he turned it down for Planet of the Apes. He was considered for the part of Hannibal Lecter in the 2001 film Hannibal before Anthony Hopkins returned to reclaim the role and he appeared in Francis Ford Coppolas Youth Without Youth and Michael Hanekes Funny Games, then starred as Emil Blonsky / Abomination in The Incredible Hulk. From 2009 to 2011, he starred in a series on Fox called Lie To Me and he played Dr. Cal Lightman, an expert on body language who assists local and federal law organisations in the investigations of crimes
22.
Carlo Verdone
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Carlo Verdone is an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director. During the 1970s he started a career highlighting his varied comic style. Verdone made his debut as director in 1980 with the movie Un sacco bello and he used the same formula of the first work in 1981, when he directed Bianco, rosso e Verdone, a funny movie about three different men during election day in Italy. The movie, produced by Sergio Leone, was a success in Italy, thanks to his brilliant comic energy. He starred in Paolo Sorrentinos The Great Beauty in 2013
23.
Moran Atias
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Moran Atias is an Israeli actress. She gained fame in the Italian films Gas, Oggi sposi and she is best known for her work with Paul Haggis in the 2008 TV series Crash and the 2013 film Third Person. She also starred on the FX television series Tyrant, Atias was born in the city of Haifa in northern Israel, to Israeli-born parents of Moroccan Jewish descent. She appeared on the television programme Out of Focus at age 15. She pursued modelling, instead, in Germany and then Italy, in Italy, she was spokeswoman for 2005–06 for the City of Milan in their campaigns against graffiti and animal cruelty in the city. Atias first appeared on television when she was 15, starring in the Israeli youth program Out of Focus, by the age of 17, she went to Germany to launch her modelling career. She modelled for Roberto Cavalli, D&G, and BBG jewellers, later, she hosted an Italian talk show. After establishing herself as a model, she was encouraged to pursue a career in acting and she has appeared in English, Italian, Hebrew, and Spanish films, and was nominated for Best Actress at Festival Sguardo al Femminile for her role in Days of Love. Her work in films led to her being cast in the Italian feature Gas in which she played a provocative drug addict tasked with seducing a gay drug addict. Mother of Tears premièred at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, in 2008, she was cast in the role of the illegal immigrant Inez in the drama series Crash, based on Paul Haggiss Oscar-winning film. After one season, she became the lead opposite Dennis Hopper. Working with Haggis led to her being cast in his film The Next Three Days, in 2011, Atias worked with Cynthia Mort on the television project Radical, playing to role of Ana which Mort had written specifically for her. She was cast in the critically acclaimed Israeli television series Allenby in 2012, where she played Mika and she also served as a producer and worked to adapt it into a United States series. She was cast in the new FX series Tyrant by the creators of the television series Homeland by creator and fellow Israeli. Her work on the film The Next Three Days led to Third Person and she was chosen to play the role of Monika, a Romanian gypsy. To prepare for the role, she lived in Italy for four months and immersed herself in the gypsy lifestyle and she studied with Michael Margota at the Italian Actors Studio to perfect the Italian and Romanian accents. She also served as a co-producer and a co-consultant for the script, the film premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Atias participated in the Artists for Justice and Peace volunteer mission with Sean Penn following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, during her second trip to Haiti, she took part in a workshop at Cine Institute in Jacmel
24.
Pernilla August
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Pernilla August is a Swedish actress, director and screenwriter. She is best known for portraying Shmi Skywalker in Star Wars, Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars, August started acting during her childhood in theatre and at school. She studied acting at Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting in Stockholm 1979–82, before finishing her studies, she attracted the attention of Ingmar Bergman, who cast her in his film Fanny and Alexander, playing the nanny in the directors romanticised portrait of his childhood. She also starred in Bo Widerbergs The Serpents Way as well as his TV-production of Henrik Ibsens The Wild Duck, at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, she has acted in several plays, starting 1981, several directed by Ingmar Bergman and touring internationally. She also worked with Russian director Jurij Ljubimov in Alexander Pushkins A Feast in the Time of Plague, in 1983-84, she worked at Folkteatern i Gävleborg with director Peter Oskarson in Anton Chekhovs Three Sisters. In 2008, she acted in the production of Steel Magnolias in Stockholm. Many in the English-speaking world know her best as Shmi Skywalker and she also appeared in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. She shared the role as Virgin Mary in Mary, Mother of Jesus with Melinda Kinnaman and she played a bomber in the Swedish film Sprängaren. In 2011, she reprised her role as Shmi Skywalker in the season of Star Wars, The Clone Wars for the episode Overlords. After her directorial debut with the 2005 short film Time Bomb, she debuted as director and screenwriter in 2010 with Beyond, starring Noomi Rapace. In October 2011, August was asked to direct a new Danish drama series, Arvingerne, the series premiered on DR on 1 January 2014. Her two youngest daughters have cameos in the series, among many international awards and nominations, at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival she won the award for Best Actress, for her role in Bille Augusts The Best Intentions. For the same film she won the Best Actress award at the 28th Guldbagge Awards. In 2002 she was honored with the Royal Swedish medal Litteris et Artibus for her artistic work and she has been married twice and changed her name both times. Her first marriage was in 1982 to Klas Östergren, with whom she has one daughter, the second marriage was in 1991 to Bille August, with whom she has two daughters, in 1991, this marriage also ended in divorce, this time in 1997. Pernilla August at the Internet Movie Database Pernilla August at the TCM Movie Database Pernilla August at the Swedish Film Database Pernilla August at AllMovie
25.
David Chase
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David Chase is an American writer, director and television producer. Chase has worked in television for 40 years, he has produced and written for such shows as The Rockford Files, Ill Fly Away and he has created two original series, the first, Almost Grown, aired for 10 episodes in 1988 and 1989. Chase is best known for his original series, the influential and critically acclaimed HBO drama The Sopranos. A prominent figure in American television, Chase has won seven Emmy Awards, Chase was born into a working class Italian American family in Mount Vernon, New York. An only child, Chase grew up in a garden apartment in Clifton, New Jersey. Chase has stated that as a child he had problems with his parents. He grew up watching matinée crime films and was known as a creative storyteller during his childhood. One of his characters on the HBO original series The Sopranos, Chase struggled with panic attacks and severe depression as a teenager, something he still deals with today. He graduated from school in 1964 and attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I slept 18 hours a day, Chase later stated and he described his problems as whats come to be known as normal, nagging, clinical depression. He also worked as a drummer during this period, and held aspirations of being a professional musician, after two years, he transferred to New York University, where he chose to pursue a career in film, a decision that was not well received by his parents. He went on to attend Stanford Universitys School of Film and he also worked as a writer of nineteen episodes while on The Rockford Files—a show which he worked on in various capacities for more than four years. He won several Emmy awards, including one for a movie, Off the Minnesota Strip. After The Rockford Files run ended the year, Chase worked in numerous television jobs until he wound up in charge of Northern Exposure in 1993. Chase worked in relative anonymity before The Sopranos debuted, in a recent interview, Chase stated that he experienced frustration for a long period with being unable to break out of the TV genre and into film over this time. In 2000, he was the recipient of the Austin Film Festivals Outstanding Television Writer Award, in 2005, Chase received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his entire body of work. His first original created series was Almost Grown in 1988, with Eve Gordon, although the one-hour series was well received by critics, only 10 episodes aired from November 1988 to February 1989. He also directed the episode and the series finale
26.
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
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Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is a film director from Chad who has lived in France since 1982. He made his first feature film, Bye Bye Africa, in 1999 and his second feature, Abouna, won best cinematography award at FESPACO, while his third, Daratt, won the Grand Special Jury Prize at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival. The 2010 feature film A Screaming Man won the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, making Haroun the first Chadian director to enter, as well as win, an award in the main Cannes competition. In April 2011, it was announced that he would be a member of the jury for the competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. His 2013 film Grigris was nominated for the Palme dOr at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and he has been named as one of the jury members for the Cinéfondation and short film sections of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival
27.
Alice Rohrwacher
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Alice Rohrwacher is an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rohrwacher was born in Fiesole, in Tuscany, to an Italian mother and she spent her youth in the city of Castel Giorgio, where her mother was born and her father Reinhard worked as a beekeeper. She is the sister of the Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher and she studied literature and philosophy at the University of Turin and then specialized in screenwriting at the Holden School in Turin. Her first experience in filmmaking was in 2006, when directing a part of the Italian documentary Checosamanca, in 2011, she directed her first feature film Heavenly Body, which premiered at the Directors Fortnight during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. Her second feature film, The Wonders, won the Grand Prix at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, also in 2014, Rohrwacher was appointed the President of the International Jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. Alice Rohrwacher at the Internet Movie Database Alice Rohrwacher at AllMovie Alice Rohrwacher at Rotten Tomatoes
28.
99 Homes
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99 Homes is a 2014 American drama film directed by Ramin Bahrani, and written by Bahrani and Amir Naderi. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon and Laura Dern, Bahrani dedicated the film to the late film critic Roger Ebert. It competed for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and it won Grand Prix at 2015 Deauville American Film Festival. It also screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was released in a limited release on September 25,2015, by Broad Green Pictures. Real estate operator Rick Carver is in charge of the eviction, Dennis and his family move into a shabby cramped motel room. Dennis goes to Ricks office and tries to back his tools stolen by Ricks men. Rick sees the confrontation and is impressed by Dennis gumption and he offers Dennis work as a repairman at his properties and Dennis accepts. Dennis soon becomes Ricks assistant, helping to carry out himself and set up real estate schemes that exploit government. He starts accepting large payments of money and dips into the lifestyle in which Rick indulges. An evicted home owner living in the motel as Dennis and his family recognizes. Even Dennis son is not happy with the arrangement, Lynn and Connor leave Dennis to stay with her brother. Rick puts together a real estate deal, but it is jeopardized by a legal case brought by a home owner he is trying to evict. Dennis and the owner were friendly acquaintances, but the man turned hostile toward Dennis when he saw him become part of Ricks eviction business. Dennis obeys Ricks order to deliver a forged document to court that defeats the home owners legal case, the subsequent eviction turns into an armed stand-off. Fearing that the man, whose family is also in the house, will likely be killed in a shoot-out, the home owner surrenders, and Dennis is escorted to the law enforcements car so that they can speak with Rick. As Dennis waits in the car the home owners son smiles at him, later on September 13, Michael Shannon joined the cast of the film to play Rick Carver, who teaches Dennis the legal and illegal ins-and-outs of the foreclosure game. On December 10, Laura Dern also joined the cast of the film to play Lynn Nash, Dennis’ widowed mother, principal photography, which began on November 18,2013 in New Orleans, took a holiday break from Christmas to New Year on December 20. Later, the film resumed shooting on January 6,2014, whenever a close-up of Andrew Garfields face is needed, Ramin Bahrani used a 24mm wide angle lens to emulate the thoughts of Garfields character
29.
Ramin Bahrani
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Ramin Bahrani is an American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert listed Bahranis film Chop Shop as the 6th best film of the 2000s, Bahrani is a professor of film directing at Columbia Universitys Graduate Film Program in New York City Bahrani was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Iranian parents. He received his BA from Columbia University in New York City and his first feature film, Man Push Cart, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and screened at the Sundance Film Festival. The film won over 10 international prizes, was released theatrically around the world, Bahrani was awarded the prestigious 2007 Someone to Watch Award Independent Spirit Award. In 2008, he was nominated for Best Director Independent Spirit Award, the film was called a masterpiece by numerous critics including Roger Ebert and A. O. Scott of The New York Times, in 2009, he made a short film Plastic Bag which features the voice of legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog and an original score from Kjartan Sveinsson of the band Sigur Rós. Plastic Bag premiered as the opening film of Corto Cortissimo in the Venice Film Festival where Bahrani was also on the jury for Best First Films. It later screened at Telluride and The New York Film Festival, in 2012 he made a music video of the song Eg anda for the Sigur Ros album Valtari. Bahranis fourth feature film, At Any Price stars Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Heather Graham, Kim Dickens, Clancy Brown and it was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. Bahranis fifth feature film 99 Homes opened to reviews at the Venice Film Festival
30.
The Cut (2014 film)
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The Cut is a 2014 internationally co-produced drama film directed by Fatih Akın. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. The film is about the lives and experiences of a young Armenian by the name of Nazareth Manoogian, in the light of the Armenian Genocide and its repercussions in different parts of the world. The film starts by showing how life, as a blacksmith, was in the city of Mardin, one night, Ottoman soldiers came to his door and took him to work for the army at a road construction, which is basically in the middle of an uninhabited area. While he was working there and as time passed by, he and his friends started to notice different groups of passer-by Armenians, at one point, an Ottoman officer came to their camp and asked them if they would accept to convert to Islam. Some did and some did not, the officer and his fellows took the converts and left. Some soldiers and convicts, recruited solely to kill Armenians, arrived the day to kill the rest. However, while saving his life, the cut made him mute. This cut not only symbolizes Nazareths becoming mute but also his being cut from his life and family and his executioner, who is an Ottoman subject, returned and took Nazareth, with whom later on Nazareth joined a gang composed of former defectors. When he concluded that everyone in his family had died, he was devastated, at that point, he met a soap maker from Aleppo, called Umair Nasreddin. It is in Aleppo that Nazareth learned that his daughters might still be alive and set out to them first in Lebanon, then in Cuba. The Cut at the Internet Movie Database
31.
Fatih Akin
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Fatih Akin is a German film director, screenwriter and producer. Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg to parents of Turkish ethnicity and he attended the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg to study visual communications and graduated in 2000. Fatih Akin has been married since 2004 to German-Mexican actress Monique Obermüller and lives in Hamburg-Altona and his brother, Cem Akin is an actor. Since then he has directed films such as Im Juli in 2000, We forgot to go back in 2001. In 2005 he directed a documentary about the Istanbul music scene, Crossing the Bridge, The Sound of Istanbul and it is narrated by a member of a German experimental band Einstürzende Neubauten, Alexander Hacke, who also produced music for Head-On. In 2007, Akins The Edge of Heaven, a German-Turkish cross-cultural tale of loss, mourning and forgiveness, on October 24,2007, the same film was awarded the first edition of the LUX prize for European cinema by the European Parliament. His most recent film is the comedy Soul Kitchen and he has said he chose this more light-hearted film because he needed a break after making the tough films Head-On and The Edge of Heaven before making his next planned film The Devil. But, he says, now I feel ready to finish the trilogy, in 2012 his documentary film Polluting Paradise was screened in the Special Screenings section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. His 2014 film The Cut has been selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, in Akins cinema, the lives of German Turks are a recurring theme, such as their struggles and their confusion about two different cultures. In Head-On, two different cultures are presented, the conservative Muslim and Turkish view of Sibels family, cahit is presented to be somewhat a mixture of these two ideas and cultures, representing a struggling Turk. Akin, on the hand, has never denied his Turkish roots. Akin defended the T-shirt as more than mere provocation and emphasized, I think that under Bush, Hollywood has been making certain films at the request of The Pentagon to normalise things like torture and Guantanamo. Im convinced the Bush administration wants a world war. Barbara Kosta, Transcultural Exchanges, Fatih Akins Crossing the Bridge, The Sound of Istanbul, in Martinson, Steven D. / Schulz, Renate A. com
32.
Far from Men
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Far from Men is a 2014 French drama film directed by David Oelhoffen. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and it was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 79% of 24 critics gave the film a positive review, metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a generally favorable average score of 74, based on 13 reviews. Far from Men at the Internet Movie Database
33.
Shinya Tsukamoto
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Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad. Tsukamoto started making movies at the age of 14, when his father gave him a Super 8 camera and his cinematic influences included Akira Kurosawa. He made a number of films, ranging from 10-minute shorts to 2-hour features, one of their theatre productions at this time was Denchu Kozo no boken. At the end of the production, Tsukamoto did not want to all the effort they had put into building the set. Tsukamotos early films, Futsu saizu no kaijin and Denchu Kozo no boken made in 1986/87, were short subject science fiction films shot on colour 8 mm film and his black & white 16 mm feature Tetsuo, The Iron Man, made in 1988. Tsukamoto has stated he has a relationship with Tokyo. Tetsuo is considered the definitive example of Japanese cyberpunk, tsukamotos next film, Hiruko the Goblin, was a more conventional horror film, about demons being unleashed from the gates of hell. He then created a follow-up to Tetsuo, The Iron Man, named Tetsuo II, Body Hammer, as a result, the film is often interpreted more as a companion piece than as a straightforward sequel. In Body Hammer, a son is kidnapped by a group of thugs. Tokyo Fist again dealt with the idea of rage as a transformative force, here, a meek insurance salesman discovers that an old friend of his, now a semi-professional boxer, may be having an affair with his fiancée. The salesman then enters into a rigorous and self-destructive boxing training program to get even, in Bullet Ballet, a man discovers that his longtime girlfriend committed suicide with a gun, and becomes obsessed with getting a gun just like that one. His single minded behavior causes him to run afoul of a gang of thugs, things are complicated further by the twin taking control of his wife, an amnesiac with a criminal background. Vital again features a love triangle, this consisting of two women and one man. The story concerns a man whose girlfriend is killed in a car crash whilst being driven by him. He is a student and is given her body to dissect in class. Tsukamoto also acted in and directed the short film Haze in 2005, in 2006, Tsukamoto directed the horror thriller Nightmare Detective. Tsukamoto acts in all of his films, with the exception of those that he worked on as a director for hire. Tsukamoto has appeared in other directors films as well, such as Takashi Miikes Dead or Alive 2, Birds
