Icelandic feature Rams and Colombian rural drama Land and Shade take top prizes at Greek festival.Scroll down for full list of winners
Icelandic director Grimur Hakonarson’s Rams (Hrutar) has been named best film at the 56th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Nov 6-15) winning the Golden Alexander.
It beat competition from 13 other first and second films screened in this year’s particularly strong international competition section.
The film, awarded the Un Certain Regard top prize earlier this year in Cannes, deals with two brothers, who haven’t spoken to each other for over 40 years though living in neighbouring farms in a remote valley in Iceland raising sheep.
World sales are handled by Polish outfit New Europe Film Sales. It will be released in Greece by Ama Films.
Following a long tradition of Latin American productions sweeping the Thessaloniki awards, features from Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela shared the majority of the other official and side awards...
Icelandic director Grimur Hakonarson’s Rams (Hrutar) has been named best film at the 56th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Nov 6-15) winning the Golden Alexander.
It beat competition from 13 other first and second films screened in this year’s particularly strong international competition section.
The film, awarded the Un Certain Regard top prize earlier this year in Cannes, deals with two brothers, who haven’t spoken to each other for over 40 years though living in neighbouring farms in a remote valley in Iceland raising sheep.
World sales are handled by Polish outfit New Europe Film Sales. It will be released in Greece by Ama Films.
Following a long tradition of Latin American productions sweeping the Thessaloniki awards, features from Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela shared the majority of the other official and side awards...
- 11/16/2015
- by alexisgrivas@yahoo.com (Alexis Grivas)
- ScreenDaily
Presented with low-key naturalism, Petting Zoo rides out the ebbs and flows of Layla's life with astonishing subtlety and grace, never once falling prey to melodramatically contrived narrative trappings. In newcomer Devon Keller's extremely capable hands, Layla is presented with unbridled realism, as if she is the subject of a cinema verite documentary. The keen perspective of Petting Zoo is purely observational, allowing the audience to develop their own opinions about the onscreen events. Reproductive rights and unplanned pregnancies are heated subjects in Texas politics, yet Magee admirably directs Layla's narrative arc without ever being heavy-handed or overtly-political.
- 3/22/2015
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Layla (newcomer Devon Keller) is a high-school senior shacking up with her dropout boyfriend Danny (Kiowa Tucker). An honor student, she gets a scholarship to Ut Austin and then finds out she's pregnant. Given her predicament, what can she do? Petting Zoo, from director Micah Magee (see my interview with her), thrusts the viewer into several months of Layla's life.
One notable facet to the main character is that she is working poor. Layla refuses to live with her financially stable but abusive father, so has to move in with her elderly grandmother (Adrienne Harrell, Zero Charisma) and share a bed. Magee perfectly conveys the utter vulnerability of her situation. We see Layla sleeping many times -- through loud parties in Danny's apartment, in a friend's car after seeing Girl in a Coma, on her grandmother's couch after hearing bad news. Such sequences illustrate the precariousness of her life, and...
One notable facet to the main character is that she is working poor. Layla refuses to live with her financially stable but abusive father, so has to move in with her elderly grandmother (Adrienne Harrell, Zero Charisma) and share a bed. Magee perfectly conveys the utter vulnerability of her situation. We see Layla sleeping many times -- through loud parties in Danny's apartment, in a friend's car after seeing Girl in a Coma, on her grandmother's couch after hearing bad news. Such sequences illustrate the precariousness of her life, and...
- 3/18/2015
- by Elizabeth Stoddard
- Slackerwood
SXSW 2015: ‘Petting Zoo’ documents the transition from adolescence to adulthood with intimate detail
Petting Zoo
Written and directed by Micah Magee
USA/Germany/Greece, 2015
“I’m everywhere now, the way is a vow to the wind of each breath by and by.” Johnny Flynn’s “The Water” is prominently featured twice in Micah Magee’s Petting Zoo, serving to remind the audience of life’s unpredictable nature. People may make plans for the future, but in reality there is no telling how the road before them will unfold. Protagonist Layla (Devon Keller) experiences a number of difficult transitions throughout Petting Zoo. Over the course of several months, she progresses from adolescence to maturity, and Magee’s camera is there to document her growth in poignant, intimate detail.
Layla’s story begins on a high note. An honor roll student and hard-working individual, she secures a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas. She lives primarily with her congenial grandmother, apparently having a strained relationship with her parents.
Written and directed by Micah Magee
USA/Germany/Greece, 2015
“I’m everywhere now, the way is a vow to the wind of each breath by and by.” Johnny Flynn’s “The Water” is prominently featured twice in Micah Magee’s Petting Zoo, serving to remind the audience of life’s unpredictable nature. People may make plans for the future, but in reality there is no telling how the road before them will unfold. Protagonist Layla (Devon Keller) experiences a number of difficult transitions throughout Petting Zoo. Over the course of several months, she progresses from adolescence to maturity, and Magee’s camera is there to document her growth in poignant, intimate detail.
Layla’s story begins on a high note. An honor roll student and hard-working individual, she secures a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas. She lives primarily with her congenial grandmother, apparently having a strained relationship with her parents.
- 3/16/2015
- by Jacob Carter
- SoundOnSight
Writer/director Micah Magee may not live in Texas full-time now, but she has strong connections to the Lone Star State. She graduated from Ut (dual degree Plan II Honors and Radio-tv-Film) and worked as programming director for Cinematexas International Short Film Festival. Most recently, she filmed her feature Petting Zoo in San Antonio.
In Magee's film, Layla (young actress Devon Keller) is a teenager living on the edges of poverty whose plans to attend college are subverted by an unexpected pregnancy. Petting Zoo played as part of the Panorama Special programming at Berlinale in February, and has its North American premiere at SXSW later this month.
In these hectic days before the festival begins, Magee answered questions for us via email interview.
Slackerwood: What drew you to tell this story?
Micah Magee: Petting Zoo was shot in San Antonio, Texas. It was filmed in the places of my childhood,...
In Magee's film, Layla (young actress Devon Keller) is a teenager living on the edges of poverty whose plans to attend college are subverted by an unexpected pregnancy. Petting Zoo played as part of the Panorama Special programming at Berlinale in February, and has its North American premiere at SXSW later this month.
In these hectic days before the festival begins, Magee answered questions for us via email interview.
Slackerwood: What drew you to tell this story?
Micah Magee: Petting Zoo was shot in San Antonio, Texas. It was filmed in the places of my childhood,...
- 3/5/2015
- by Elizabeth Stoddard
- Slackerwood
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