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Stars: Beatriz Batarda, Nuno Lopes, Kris Hitchen | Written by Marco Martins, Ricardo Adolfo | Directed by Marco Martins

Three months before Brexit, hundreds of migrant workers arrive at the UK seaside town of Great Yarmouth looking for work. Many of them end up in local turkey processing plants, with Tânia (Beatriz Batarda) now overseeing many of their daily work routines. Married to callous hotel owner Richard (Kris Hitchen) while having a love affair with fellow migrant Carlos (Nuno Lopes), Tânia dreams of turning her husband’s abandoned hotel lots into a luxury retirement home for the elderly.

When we think of the British seaside, we think of staple motif imagery — slurping a 99 Mr Whippy on a pebble-ridden coast, giving yourself whiplash on the pier’s inevitable wooden rollercoaster, and spending so much time in the amusement arcade that you end up losing your parents. In Marco Martins’ latest feature Great Yarmouth,...

Tânia (Beatriz Batarda), known as Tat, is working on improving her English. She listens to tapes in her car, in her bed, anywhere where she can get a bit of time alone. “Great amenities,” she repeats, and “View of the seafront.” These phrases, and others like them, crop up again and again over the course of Marco Martins’ film, which explores a seaside town full of exploitation, misery and decay.

Officially, Tânia is just a hotel manager. Unofficially, she’s a broker for dozens of Portuguese people who arrive in the UK seeking work. Post-Brexit, and with the visa system under tremendous strain so that even those who might be eligible would struggle to get one within a reasonable time, that means working illegally, which leaves them wide open to exploitation. One employers tells her that he prefers hiring Roma people because they complain less. She points out that that’s because most.

Portuguese auteur João Canijo (San Sebastián winner “Blood of My Blood”) has a brace of films at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023. “Bad Living” is in competition while its companion piece “Living Bad” is in the Encounters strand.

“Bad Living” follows five conflicted women who are operating an old family-run hotel, trying to save it from going under. The unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments. “Living Bad,” which plays out like the reverse shot of “Bad Living,” follows the stories of three groups of guests in the same hotel with glimpses of what transpires in the first film.

The genesis of the films go back to “Blood of My Blood” (2011), where the lives of a family living in the outskirts of Lisbon are disrupted within a short period of time.

“‘Blood of My Blood’ was supposed to be two...

One of the most fascinating, ambitious cinematic projects premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival this month comes from Portuguese director João Canijo, who will be debuting a pair of connected films in different sections. First up, his Competition selection Mal Viver (Bad Living) draws inspiration from the plays of Strindberg and films of Rivette in telling the story of five women who are running a decaying hotel. Then the Encounters election Viver Mal (Living Bad) is set in the same location, but from the viewpoint of the guests. Ahead of the premieres, we’re thrilled to exclusively debut the first trailers.

With the same creative team behind both films, including cinematographer Leonor Teles, editor João Braz, sound team of Elsa Ferreira and Tiago Raposinho, production designer Nádia Henriques, and costumer designer Silvia Siopa, the cast of Mal Viver features Anabela Moreira, Rita Blanco, Madalena Almeida, Cleia Almeida, and Vera Barreto,...

An authentic insight into migrant workers in Britain, the feature drama Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures is an engrossing work that premiered in the San Sebastian Film Festival competition. Directed by Marco Martins (Alice), who co-writes with Ricardo Adolfo, it follows the tough life of Tânia (a superb Beatriz Batarda), who supervises her fellow Portuguese workers in the dilapidated seaside town of Great Yarmouth. Based on interviews with many migrants, it’s a hard-hitting look at working conditions and the moral compromises made by desperate people.

Set over several months in late 2019, before Brexit, it sees Tânia woken up by a bird that’s flown into her modest home. Woozily opening a window to set it free, she prepares for her day in a turkey factory, where the captive poultry have no such luck. It’s shocking to see the way the birds are treated in this cramped abattoir, and it...

Danish international sales and aggregation outfit LevelK has boarded the thought-provoking drama “Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” by award-winning Portuguese director Marco Martins, which world premieres in main competition at next month’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

Hailed by Variety as “a powerful study of intense grief,” Martin’s debut feature, “Alice,” won the Prix Regards Jeune at Cannes in 2005.

The story unravels three months before Brexit, as hundreds of migrants descend on the UK village of Great Yarmouth seeking work in the region’s turkey processing plants. Once there, Tânia greets them with matronly authority, taking charge as innkeeper, accountant, and fixer. As she’s forced to deceive them, her conscience grows heavy and she dreams of a brighter, seemingly unattainable, future transforming derelict hotels into modern retreats for elderly tourists.

Tânia’s struggle unfolds with dim and hazy shots that add a raw and unnerving aesthetic to the film,...

Portugal’s documentary festival runs October 6-15.

A new short film from Argentian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel will open the 20th edition of Portuguese documentary festival, Doclisboa.

North Terminal will have its Portuguese premiere on October 6 and play simultaneously at both Cinema São Jorge in Lisbon and Cinema Trindade in Porto.

The Headless Woman director made the documentary during the pandemic and it follows singer Julieta Laso meeting up with various Argentine artists in the Salta region.

Martel’s last feature film Zama premiered in competition at Cannes 2017 and won best film at Argentina’s Academy Awards.

Closing the festival on...

Full disclosure: this reviewer was not the biggest fan of Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights trilogy. Hailed as masterpiece(s) by most, the 6.5-hour docu-fable could just as easily alienate viewers through its abstruse cinematic language and an overall undersupply of charm. While films certainly don’t have to be plot-driven, it’s much harder to remain engaging or even approachable when you communicate in coldly abstract terms.

Along came Colo, another Portuguese arthouse offering with a capital A set against the backdrop of the country’s economic recession. It’s not only the longest film in competition at this year’s Berlinale but also its most obstinately enigmatic. As with Arabian Nights, traditional storytelling is stripped to a bare minimum here. The way writer/director Teresa Villaverde plays with suggestion and symbolism, however, proves immensely seductive, leaving one teased, provoked, blissfully mystified.

To be sure, the quiet, deliberately-paced drama...

The 2017 Berlin Film Festival has revealed its first slate of 14 films for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections, including new work from Aki Kaurismaki (“The Man Without a Past”), Oren Moverman (“Time Out of Mind”) and Sally Potter (“Ginger & Rosa”). The festival will also screen a restored version of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1972 TV series “Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day.”

Read More: The 2016 Indiewire Berlin International Film Festival Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival

So far, ten films have been invited to screen in Competition, and four films have been selected for Berlinale Special. These productions and co-productions are from the United State, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Senegal and more.

The 67th Berlin International Film Festival will run from February 9 through 19. Further films will be revealed in the coming weeks. For more information, visit the official website.

Read More: The...

After Sundance Film Festival concludes in late January, the next big cinematic event on the globe is the Berlin International Film Festival. With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, they’ve now announced their first line-up of titles, including Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope (pictured above), Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party (pictured below), and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, as well as a restoration of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder TV show.

Check out the first titles below, and return for our coverage from the festival.

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul)

Hungary

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour

Romania/Germany/France

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti,...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among Competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Festival veteran Kaurismäki will debut new film The Other Side Of Hope about a Finnish travelling salesman who meets a Syrian refugee.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the film looks at at how far parents will go to protect their children.

Oscar-nominated Holland, who was nominated for the Golden Bear in 1981, will be at the Berlinale with crime-drama Pokot.

Potter returns to Berlin with ensemble comedy-drama The Party starring Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and [link...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny.

Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama The Queen of Spain, starring Penelope Cruz, will get its international premiere in the Berlinale Special strand.

More to follow…

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul) (Hungary)

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour (Romania / Germany / France)

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni, Vlad Ivanov

World premiere

Beuys - Documentary (Germany)

By Andres Veiel ([link...

It’s All Gone Pete Tong

Written and directed by Michael Dowse

Canada, 2004

The term ‘mockumentary’ is used whenever a film comes along employs the familiar storytelling techniques typically found in documentary filmmaking but for a piece of fiction, specifically comedy. In other words, a parody of a documentary. Talking heads played by actors, characters interacting with the camera, such tropes, hallmarks of documentaries, are turned on their heads as everything in the mockumentary is in actuality a construct of screenwriters and a director and played for giggles. Certainly one of the more fondly remembered examples is the hilarious This is Spinal Tap, the Rob Reiner picture that follows the trials and tribulations of the titular fictional heavy metal band. Few other mockumentaries have ever reached the same heights of verisimilitude to actual documentaries. In 2004 Michael Dowse took his own stab at the genre, so to speak, with It’s All Gone Pete Tong,...

[1] John Cusack and Johnny Knoxville are set to star in Carnaval, a comedy directed by Josh Stern. Cusack will play a sports scout who tavels to Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval in order to sign a soccer star, while Knoxville has been cast as Cusack's musician best friend who tags along. Cusack's character needs to bring the player on board so that he can take over his agency, but his plans go awry when Knoxville's character sleeps with the player's girlfriend. Carnaval will begin shooting in Rio this January. Knoxville's been on a roll lately in terms of landing roles. Over the past few months, he's signed on for the teen comedy Fun Size [2], an untitled camping comedy [3] with Patton Oswalt, and the Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick The Last Stand [4]. Cusack also has a handful of movies lined up for next year, including Lee Daniels' The Paperboy [5], the Edgar Allan Poe...