The Cinema Lounge
The Cinema Lounge meets ONLINE via ZOOM on Monday, March 8, 2021 at 7:00pm. Our topic is Pick the Oscar Noms.
It's our annual "Pick the Oscar Nominations." Before the Academy will announce its Oscar choices, this is our chance to pick who should be nominated, and who probably will be. This has been the strangest Oscars season in years. How will that be reflected in the nominations?
Please RSVP to atspector@hotmail.com and you'll get the Zoom link 1-2 days before the discussion.
Visit the Cinema Lounge page for future dates.
The Cinema Lounge, a film discussion group, meets the third Monday of every month (unless otherwise noted) at 7:00pm at Teaism in Penn Quarter, 400 8th St., NW in Washington, DC (closest Metro stop is Archives, also near Metro Center and Gallery Place). NOTE: We will meet in the downstairs area. WE ARE MEETING ONLINE THIS MONTH. You do not need to be a member of the Washington DC Film Society to attend. Cinema Lounge is moderated by Adam Spector, author of the DC Film Society's Adam's Rib column.
Adam’s Rib Responds to Scorsese's Call to Action
In the March 2021 issue of Harper’s Magazine, Martin Scorsese sounded an alarm. He wrote that "The art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator, 'content.'" While Scorsese was surely not the first to raise this concern, his words carry much weight. Beyond his own acclaimed work as a filmmaker, Scorsese has devoted his life to preserving and celebrating film history. Does everything he wrote ring true? How can we as film lovers respond? I grapple with these questions in a new Adam's Rib column.
The 50th IFFR International Film Festival Rotterdam
By Ron Gordner, DC Film Society Member
The 50th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam this year will later be a mix of some physical screenings, but primarily virtual screenings like many other film festivals and was held February 1-7, 2021 with a later expanded edition to be held on June 2-6, 2021. Although most of the IFFR Pro networking and special press and industry presentations were virtual they were coordinated and of value to varied film professionals. Continued sharing of filmmaking experiences during the pandemic and marketing as at other festivals were discussed.
From the IFFR website
In February 2020, Vanja Kaludjercic was chosen to be the new director of the IFFR festival and to plan the 50th anniversary 2021 festival. She has a great deal of film and industry experience internationally and from within the Dutch film industry. She commented: “I look forward to extending the festival’s long-standing reputation for supporting and spearheading the careers of young and upcoming filmmakers worldwide…” The festival has also supported more women in key directing and other filmmaking roles. Four women directors from the Tiger competition this year discussed the importance of having women telling their unique stories and highlight contemporary personal, local and global issues.
Rising coronavirus infection rates in the Netherlands, as in other European countries has forced IFFR to split the 2021 festival, its 50th-anniversary event. During the Feb. 1-Feb. 7 period, Rotterdam screened the festival's international premieres and its main competition lineups in the Tiger, Big Screen and Limelight areas. From June 2 until June 6, Rotterdam will try to hold some large public screenings — assuming COVID conditions make that feasible and safe — intended to celebrate the highlights of the festival's 50th year anniversary. The Dutch city of Rotterdam is one of the world's largest audience and industry-driven festivals, boasting close to 350,000 admissions and around 3,000 industry attendees in a typical year. IFFR continues to target the global art-house cinema development, production and marketing; particularly from Asia and developing countries.
The Hubert Bals Fund historically has dedicated supporting filmmakers from developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other areas of the Middle East and Eastern Europe from various entry points: script development to post-production for unique voices with different artistic visions needed to be seen. Four funded Hubert Bals films can be found at the 2021 Berlinale also.
The coveted Tiger Competition this year included 16 titles (14 World Premieres and 2 International Premieres). Check the link for the titles, background and jury.
The VPRO Big Screen Competition this year included 14 premiere titles.
The Limelight selections for 2021 includes 12 films chosen for their avant-garde or cinematic highlights.
The opening film was the recent Danish movie Riders of Justice starring special guest Mads Mikkelsen.
IFFR Big Talks can also be viewed online with the following guests: Mads Mikkelsen, Kelly Richardt, Benoit Jacquot, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Nicolas Jaar, and Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.
IFFR 2021 also selected 17 new film projects for the CineMart co-production market to support during the 50th anniversary festival year. Projects ranged in variety and from countries such as Brazil, Iran, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Ecuador.
IFFR AWARDS:
The top Tiger Award including 40,000 Euros was presented to Indian director P.S. Vinothraj for the film Pebbles “as a lesson in pure cinema” for its cinematic portrayal of a family living in poverty in Southern drought-ridden India.
From the IFFR website
The Special Jury Award was presented to French director Pascal Tagnati for the movie I Comete-A Corsican Summer and also to Norika Sefa for the Kosovan film Looking for Venera.
El Perro que no Calla (The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet) by Argentinian director Ana Katz won the VPRO Big Screen Award on an apocalyptic but hopeful movie that would be seen later in Dutch movie theatres.
From the IFFR website
The Audience Award went to Jasmila Zbanic for her moving film about the Srebrenica massacre by Serbians under protection of U.N. sources: Quo Vadis Aida.
The FIPRESCI Award went to the Taiki Sakpisit film The Edge of Darkness and the Youth Jury Award was given to Philippe Lacote’s Best International Feature Film La Nuit des Rois for its blending of different performance arts outside a jail in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The Ammodo Tiger Shorts Awards were presented to Basir Mahmood from Pakistan for Sunsets, Everyday; Cuban directors Alejandro Perez Serrano and Alejandro Alonso Estrella for the Havana city symphony in Terranova; and to U.S. Native American artist Fox Maxy for the empowering short Maat Means Land. The KNF Shorts Award was given to Ane Hjort Guttu from Norway for Manifesto, another satire about art and society. The jury also nominatee the short Flowers Blooming in Our Throats by Eva Giolo for the European Film Awards short film category.
U.S filmmaker Kelly Reichardt also received a special Robby Muller Award for an “image maker” visual artist in the name of a famous Dutch cinematographer for her latest lauded film First Cow also this year’s Limelight title for “liberating independence and clarity of aesthetic vision.”
The following films were seen either in competition or from a larger catalog of other films from 2019, 2020 and some older films that played IFFR and other festivals in past years made available via Festival Scope. A section also of SCOPE EXPANDED included 34 of the films submitted for the 2021 Best International Feature Film.
MUST SEE FILMS:
200 Meters (Ameen Nayfeh; Palestinian Territories/Jordan/Qatar/Sweden; 2020). This is the distance separating a wall between Israel where a Palestinian father’s family lives and his work in Palestine when he has to maneuver an emergency trip back to Israel. The Jordanian nominee for Best International Feature Film.
Dear Comrades (Andrey Konhalovskiy; Russia; 2020). In 1962 the Soviet Union raises food prices and the local workers of the industrial city of Novocherkassk do the unthinkable thing and go on strike. Lyufmila, a loyal Communist party administrator is angered by the proletariat response but also is concerned about her daughter who is somwhere demonstrating in the city. This is a highly lauded nominee for Best International Feature Film for the 2021 Oscars.
A Distant Place (Jeong-mal Meon Got; South Korea; 2021). Jin-woo is a single man who has raised his young niece since his twin sister abandoned the infant. He and his father run a sheep ranch in rural Hwacheon. Two visitors, the errant child's mother and Jin-woo's former lover from Seol, cause new family and societal stressors.
The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet [El Perro Que No Calla] (Ana Katz; Argentina; 2021). A quietly engaging film about Sebastian, a thirty-something drifting temp worker, and his survival and interaction with a world during an apocalyptic environment which somewhat parallels the current pandemic.
The Jump (Ralph Eustis; Lithuania/Latvia/France; 2020). A documentary on the fascinating Simas Kudirka, a Lithuanian sailor who tried to defect to the U.S. from a Soviet fishing boat in 1970 and the political, physical and societal hardships he faced for years. Alan Arkin played Simas in the 1978 TV movie The Defection of Simas Kudirka.
The Man Who Sold His Skin (Kaouther Ben Hania; Tunisia/Belgium/France/Germany/Sweden/Turkey; 2020). Sam Ali is a Syrian refugee who fled to Lebanon but can find no way to get to Europe to meet his girl friend. Jeffrey Godefroi (Koen De Bouw who plays the odd eccentric criminology professor on the Dutch detective TV series Professor T.), is a famous Belgian artist who offers him passage as a living art canvas for his tattooed art. A fascinating study in what constitutes art, greed, independence, and human rights as refugees and as an art work. This is the Tunisian nominee for Best International Feature Film.
Mitra (Kaweh Modiri; Netherlands/Germany/Denmark; 2021). Haleh is an Iranian expat living in the Netherlands and is still grieving over her daughter executed by the Islamic State 37 years ago for protesting. She thinks she recognizes the voice of a woman who was a friend to her daughter and may have turned her into the police.
Quo Vadis Aida (Jasmila Zbanic; Bosnia & Herzogovinia/Austria/Romania/Netherlands/Germany/
Poland/France/Norway/Turkey; 2020). When her town of Srebrenica is taken over by the Serbian Army, Aida, local translator for the U.N. forces tries valiantly to save her family and townspeople from a genocidal purge. The nominee for Best International Feature Film from Bosnia and Herzogovinia.
Riders of Justice (Anders Thomas Jensen; Denmark; 2020). The opening festival film from the director of Men & Chicken (2015) actors Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas are included in a motley crew of characters who help Markus (Mikkelsen) and his daughter try to find if his wife was not in an train accident but a planned assasination and avenge her.
VERY GOOD FILMS:
Beasts [La Terre des Hommes] (Nael Marandin; France; 2020). Young farmer Constance and her fiance work with her father to try and save his farm and make plans for expansion in a tight beef market.
Drifting (Jun Li; Hong Kong,2021). A released prisoner finds social injustice trying to assimilate into society while his fellow homeless friends have the police and other authorities tear down their meager street barriers and toss their belongings in the garbage. A young social worker comes to their defense but they continue hardships.
Fighter (Jero Yun; South Korea; 2021). Jina is a young woman from North Korea who has finished readjustment training and is looking for new work amid the stigma of being a North Korean refugee. She finds a job cleaning a boxing gym and becomes interested in boxing and shows talent and a possible way to make money and be accepted.
Fox in a Hole (Arman Riahl; Austria; 2020). A young man Fuchs apprentices with an existing arts teacher in a prison school setting but wants to bring even more unconventional lessons and a sense of learning to the inmates which does not make the warden happy.
Gull (Kim Mi-Jo; South Korea; 2021). O-Bok, a woman in her early 60s, works in a seafood open market. She is raped by a manager there and tries to forget it, but becomes more angry and hurt and reports the incident to her daughters. The repercussions from her husband, neighbors and others in the town are quite horrendous in her quest for justice.
Liborio (Nino Martiniez Sosa; Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico/Qatar; 2021). A tale of the legendary Liborio, a peasant with magical, spiritual powers who lead his early 1900s fellow peasants to create their own community and deal with the U.S. marine forces now on their lands.
Pebbles (P.S. Vinothraj; India, 2021). A simple, but cinematic story of an alcoholic father and his small son on the road to go back to the wife he abuses after conflicts with her family and from the viewpoint of the small son. Winner of the IFFR’s major Tiger Award this year.
Running to the Sky (Mirlan Abdyalykov; Kyrgyzstan; 2019). 12 year old Jekshen is bullied at school by classmates and the teacher because of his poverty and drunken father. He is a good runner but has no money for running shoes, so runs barefooted but still is the best runner. He also is threatened with receiving an F in school if he doesn’t pay the school fees. The child takes on the heavy responsibility of being the adult with his father and mother who has left. One girl at school who is friendly and another schoolmate want him to run in the upcoming race where the winnings could change his circumstances. The Kyrgyzstan submission for Best International Feature Film is a simply made but powerfully evocative story of a child in poverty.
Wet Season (Anthony Chen; Singapore/Taiwan, 2019). A Malaysian teacher tutors a boy who is a good athlete but a struggling academic student. The teen fantasizes about her and the closeness becomes a problem. Singapore’s submission for Best International Feature Film.
Witches of the Orient [Les Sorcieres de l'Orient] (Julien Faraut; France, 2021). An excellent documentary about the 1964 Gold Medal Olympics winners in Volleyball with archival footage and recent interviews with many of the players and the dedicated practice sessions with their coach.
GOOD FILMS:
Agnes Joy (Silja Hauksdottir; Iceland, 2019). Rannveig is a middle aged mother and wife bored with her job and marriage. Her daughter Agnes will soon be leaving and the mother is having difficulties with separation anxiety and other family issues. This is Iceland’s submission for Best International Feature Film.
Archipelago (Felix Dufour-Laperriere; Canada, 2021). A faux animated documentary about the Saint Lawrence River with some fictional islands and archival with poetic phases.
Aristocrats [She is Noble] (Yukiko Sode; Japan, 2021). A quietly layered tale of a young woman and the classes in Japanese society dealing with dating and marriage prospects and the self-arrival of shy young woman and what she wants out of life.
Aurora (Paz Fabrega; Costa Rica/Mexico; 2021). Aurora is a 17 year old student in Luisa’s creative workshops. She has an unwanted pregnancy, can’t deal with her parents and wants to escape to get an abortion. Luisa becomes a confident but has she crossed the line as a possible adult and teacher?
Bebia, A Mon Seul Desir (Juja Dubrachkas; Georgia/United Kingdom; 2021). Ariadne, is a young model in the city but returns to her small Georgian village when her grandmother dies and argues with her mother but agrees to comply with a strange funeral ceremony.
Botox (Kaveh Mazaheri, Iran, 2020). A thriller about adult sisters who continue to lie about the whereabouts of their brother but try to continue life as normally as possible.
The Cemil Show (Baris Sarhan; Turkey, 2021). A comedy, drama, thriller about Cemil, a common man who wants to be an actor and has memorized a movie but wants to re-enact that role of the villain in a movie… or is it in real life?
Friends and Strangers (James Vaughan; Australia, 2021). A wryly funny take on young elite twenty year olds Alice and Ray in different vignettes dealing with their bored lives and awkward attempts at meaningful adventures.
I Comete: A Corsican Summer (Pascal Tagnati; France, 2021). Reminiscent of an Eric Rohmer style film about several young people in Corsica for the Summer and their interactions and philosophies of life.
Looking for Venera (Norika Sefa; Kosovo/Macedonia, 2021). Venera and Dorina are chums but both want more freedom than their family or watching community allow in Kosovo. Their paths change in different ways that shape their future and friendship.
Madalena (Madiano Marcheti; Brazil, 2021). A trans woman is found dead in a field in rural Brazil and little is being done about the murder. Three of Madalena’s other trans gender friends talk about her and go through her belongings. Brazil has one of the highest rates of transgender homicides.
Open Door (Florenc Papas; Albania/Kosovo/Italy/North Macedonia, 2019). Elma returns from the city and is picked up by her married sister Rudina but is pregnant and unmarried. How can she face her father without a husband? They plan to find someone to pose as her fiancé although her sister is reluctant to play along with the plan and has her own marital problems. This is Albania’s submission for Best International Feature Film.
Sexual Drive (Kota Yoshida; Japan, 2021). Three short erotic stories that deal with secret sexual desires, exotic and aphrodisiac foods and preparation, and affairs without really becoming elicit.
This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese; Lesotho, 2019). Veteran actress Mary Twala portrays Mantoa, an 80 year old widow who gathers the strength to continue living and spearhead a resistance against the dissolution of her community for the creation of a reservoir to be built. It is Lesotho’s submission as the Best International Feature Film.
For more information on the continuing IFFR festival see the website. The IFFR Unleashed 50/50 is 50 films from the past 50 IFFR editions showing over 50 days. The festival will continue in parts throughout the year and have additional features and events June 2-6, 2021.
We Need to Hear From YOU
We are always looking for film-related material for the Storyboard. Our enthusiastic and well-traveled members have written about their trips to the Cannes Film Festival, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, London Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Palm Springs Film Festival, the Reykjavik Film Festival, the Munich Film Festival, and the Locarno Film Festival. We also heard about what it's like being an extra in the movies. Have you gone to an interesting film festival? Have a favorite place to see movies that we aren't covering in the Calendar of Events? Seen a movie that blew you away? Read a film-related book? Gone to a film seminar? Interviewed a director? Taken notes at a Q&A? Read an article about something that didn't make our local news media? Send your contributions to Storyboard and share your stories with the membership. And we sincerely thank all our contributors for this issue of Storyboard.
Calendar of Events
FILMS
No calendar listings until theaters open. Some theaters in Virginia are open but not yet in DC.
In addition to streaming services, many local theaters offer streaming for select films.
Film festivals of note for March include the Capital Irish Film Festival (AFI); the D.C. Independent Film Festival; Francophonie; and the Environmental Film Festival.
Previous Storyboards
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
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