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Film Festival

Restored classic films from Ernst Lubitsch, Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polanski are among eight older titles set to play at next month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Lubitsch’s 1920 farce “Kohlhiesel’s Daughters,” will be presented with a live music accompaniment by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. And, despite rumors to the contrary, Kubrick’s first feature, “Fear and Desire,” has been preserved intact and will play at the festival with nine minutes of previously deleted footage. It forms an anti-war pair with Polanski’s 2000 Nazi occupation tale “The Pianist.”

Others selected include Michelangelo Antonioni‘s “Il Grido”; Manoel d’Oliveira’s “Madame Bovary” adaptation “Abraham’s Valley”; Arturo Ripstein’s director’s cut of “Deep Crimson,” restored in 4K with an additional 25 minutes of content; Jacques Rivette’s “L’Amour Fou”; and “The Dupes,” by Tewfik Saleh.

Format

Screentime New Zealand will adapt hit property format “Location,...

You know there are times when a review code from a PR company or distributor just won’t do. You Have to have a physical copy of the game for your own. This is one of those times…. Having been exposed to the Senran Kagura franchise via the two Nintendo 3Ds games, I was eagerly awaiting the Playstation 4 iteration of the series – entitled Senran Kagura Estival Versus (and yes that does seem like a lost in translation spelling mistake) – if only to see the “jiggly-boob” physics is glorious high definition! I joke of course, whilst the Senran Kagura games to feature their fair share of sexploitation and general sleaze, what makes them great – for me at least – is the combat.

But first lets get the (flimsy) plot out of the way: Senran Kagura Estival Versus takes our heroines to an idyllic island where a special event, the Kagura Millennium Festival,...

After premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Belgian auteur Fabrice du Welz’s excellent fourth feature Alleluia went on to play in the esteemed Vanguard lineup in the Toronto International Film Festival before nabbing Best Actor and Actress awards at Fantastic Fest for superb performances from Laurent Lucas and Lola Duenas. Although this didn’t translate into notable box office profit for Us distributor Music Box Films (released in mid-July for a limited theatrical run, the title didn’t crack ten grand in its paltry five week run), du Welz’s beautiful cult-classic in the making will eventually secure a greater following. A recent Blu-ray re-release of Criterion Collection’s presentation of the 1969 Leonard Kastle film, The Honeymoon Killers, based on the same romantic killing spree, should funnel some attention to it, as well as du Welz’s break into English language in 2016 with his next title.

Senran Kagura Burst was one of my personal favourite fighting games of last year so I was incredibly excited to get my grubby little hands on the sequel, once again released on the Nintendo 3Ds, Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson.

If, like me, you enjoyed the first game, you’ll be pleased to hear that this time round the franchise comes complete with more fast-paced beat’em up fun with a host of eye-popping new features, returning character favourites, insane combo chains, hilarious cut-scenes and an abundance of “tantalising” action… And if you’ve played the first game you know Exactly what I mean by that… Yes, those breast physics are in full force one again in this sequel – right from the very first cut scene; and that’s before you’ve so much as hit a single button!

Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson continues directly from the events of Senran Kagura Burst,...

Director’s La calle de la amargura to be presented Out of Competition.

Mexican director Arturo Ripstein is to be honoured at the 72nd Venice Film Festival (Sept 2-12) with a Biennale award to celebrate his 50-year career.

The ceremony will take place before the world premiere of his latest film, La calle de la amargura, which will be presented Out of Competition on Sept 10 in the Sala Grande.

The film is based on the murder of two wrestlers who were found dead at a hotel in Mexico City. Written by Ripstein’s wife Paz Alicia Garciadiego, it stars Mexican actress Patricia Reyes Spindola.

Ripstein’s 1996 Deep Crimson competed for the Venice Golden Lion, while The Virgin Of Lust played in 2002, picking up a special mention.

Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera described Ripstein as “the most vital, tenacious and original director of the generation that made its debut in the mid-Sixties, the heir of...

As usual, the Masters programme is cholk-full of carryover items from world renowned auteurs who’ve already premiered last February (Berlin), this past May (Cannes) or as part of the upcoming action on the Lido (Venice). Of the thirteen titles and personalities that need no introduction, it’s the likes of Hong Sang-soo (Locarno) and the Venice preemed, and not yet picked up items from Skolimowski, Bellocchio & Sokurov (all potential Golden Lion winners) that are still sight unseen for several North American based cinephiles. Here are the baker’s dozen of items:

11 Minutes (11 Minut) – Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/Ireland

North American Premiere

A jealous husband out of control, his sexy actress wife, a sleazy Hollywood director, a reckless drug messenger, a disoriented young woman, an ex-con hot dog vendor, a troubled student on a mysterious mission, a high-rise window cleaner on an illicit break, an elderly sketch artist, a hectic paramedics...

While the Toronto International Film Festival has its fair share of both Hollywood and Canadian productions, the festival has also cultivated a strong look at foreign and arthouse films during its run. Most of these films get their own spotlight in the Masters programme, which featured films from Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Winterbottom, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan in its 2014 lineup. With the 2015 incarnation fast approaching, Tiff announced some of the films that will be seen as part of this year’s Masters lineup. The films, with their official synopses, can be seen below.

Masters

11 Minutes, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, making its North American Premiere

A jealous husband out of control, his sexy actress wife, a sleazy Hollywood director, a reckless drug messenger, a disoriented young woman, an ex-con hot dog vendor, a troubled student on a mysterious mission, a high-rise window cleaner on an illicit break, an elderly sketch artist, a...

Not only have Marvelous Europe announced that Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson will launch in Europe and Australia for Nintendo 3Ds on 27th August 2015 but the franchise is also coming to the Playstation 4 and Ps Vita across Europe and Australia in the first quarter of 2016 – both physically and digitally!

Senran Kagura Estival Versus transports the sexy Shinobis of the franchise to a parallel dimension, where sun-soaked islands are the perfect backdrop for the girls to do battle once more.

Featuring the biggest roster of fighters to date, Senran Kagura Estival Versus is overflowing with explosive ninja moves, outrageous clothes-clearing combos and a scintillating storyline. All previous characters return, with new moves and upgraded skills along with a host of new characters further expanding the roster with new challenges and techniques to master. The game also features online multiplayer matches, allowing up to 10 players (PS4 version only; Ps Vita supports up...

Alleluia, Fabrice Du Welz's sensual, brutal version of the "lonely hearts killers"—made into a 1969 film by Leonard Kastle, The Honeymoon Killers, and Arturo Ripstein's 1996 Deep Crimson—was a highlight of the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes last year, and is now getting a Us theatrical release through Music Box Films' Doppelgänger Releasing arm. Shot close in intimate 16mm, the film juggles tones deftly to capture the loneliness, desire, horror, humor, and absurdity in an amour fou between two single sociopaths who find in each other an intense, primal attraction. But both persons are so distorted, and the love between them thereby turning so distorted, that it leads not to the greatest, strangest love affair—though you could call it that, I suppose—but the most perverse: the man sets up a scheme to seduce and rob women, and his lover, quickly beset by manic jealousy, ends up killing them.

In the Mood For Love: Du Welz Returns With Gloriously Dark Rendering of Insatiable Passion

His first film since 2008’s underappreciated Vinyan, Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz debuts the second installment in his proposed Ardennes trilogy, Alleluia. His 2004 directorial debut, Calvaire (aka The Ordeal) depicted a rather hellacious account of a singer whose car breaks down in the middle of the woods, stranding him in the midst of a very strange and terrifying rural community. Here, Du Welz bases his latest madness on the true account of serial killing couple Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, a case that famously inspired the 1969 film The Honeymoon Killers and 1996’s Deep Crimson, amongst others. But Du Welz hardly unveils a simple account of unhinged, obsessive love. His is a demonic hymnal of passion, a darkly droll exercise in the delusory notion of love as an unhealthy obsession told with aggressive flourish. But...

Marvelous Europe have announced that the Senran Kagura franchise – one of my personal favourite fighting franchises in recent years – will return to the Nintendo 3Ds this summer with Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson, complete with more fast-paced beat’em up fun with a host of eye-popping new features, returning character favourites, insane combo chains, hilarious cut-scenes and an abundance of tantalising action.

As a part of the launch, Marvelous Europe has today unveiled an exclusive pre-order website for those people who prefer to own their games physically. The publisher is offering various packages (pictured below), including special limited edition skus which will be sold exclusively through Marvelous Europe’s dedicated site and Not in stores!

Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is the western title for Senran Kagura 2: Shinku as released in Japan, August 2014. This new game continues directly from the events of Senran Kagura Burst and closely follows the...

Picking up the Best First Film award at the Berlinale, Gabriel Ripstein's "600 Miles" may be the work of a neophyte director, but Ripstein is no stranger to the filmmaking world. He himself has a background as a producer, and is the son of one of Mexico's most enduringly acclaimed directors, Arturo Ripstein ("Deep Crimson"). And he's the grandson of prolific producer Alfredo Ripstein, widely referred to as a founding father of the Mexican film industry. With that pedigree, it feels inevitable not only that Gabriel would follow in the family trade, but that his first directorial film (which he also co-wrote), would be something like "600 Miles" -- a lean, careful, clever tale of divided loyalties and divided territories in the borderlands of Mexico and the U.S. Small in scale and pragmatically narrow in scope, "600 Miles" starts out with an effective bait-and-switch, establishing tension in a deeply uncomfortable scene during which a young.

Alleluia

Dear Fern,

Aye!—you make my festival experience sound like a superhuman toil! If anything, I'm seeing less than you, as you get the pleasures of catching up with the crème de la crème of Cannes. It seems like I see a lot because I'm often reporting on a slew of shorts, but remember, the Wavelengths shorts programs so central to my (any many others') Tiff experience are only four strong, over nearly as soon as they start, the Monday after the festival's opening night. Don't you see what I'm actually doing here? I'm luxuriating in your taking the pressure off me, handling all the much anticipated films by the big auteurs while I get to relax, scribbling notes in the margin about the smaller movies: you make my life easier! That being said, there are still some major films I need to tell you about, to begin wrapping the festival experience up.

NEW YORK -- The true crime thriller Lonely Hearts, starring John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Scott Caan and Laura Dern, has been picked up for U.S. theatrical distribution by Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Screenwriter-director Todd Robinson based the film on an investigation by his grandfather, Detective Elmer C. Robinson (Travolta), into an infamous serial killing spree by "Lonely Heart Killers" Martha Beck (Hayek) and Raymond Fernandez (Leto). Gandolfini will play Robinson's partner Charles Hildebrandt, Caan will play another detective on the case, and Dern will play a co-worker having an affair with Robinson.

"This story has long exerted fascination from filmmakers," said Roadside co-president Howard Cohen, noting that Leonard Kastle's 1970 cult classic The Honeymoon Killers and Arturo Ripstein's 1996 Spanish-language film Deep Crimson (Profundo Carmesi) also covered the tale. Martin Scorsese was fired from Killers after a week on the job.

"This unique film is both a high-voltage thriller and a personal, emotional story," Goldwyn president Meyer Gottlieb said.