Varèse Sarabande will release the Sicario – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD September 18, 2015, the same day that the Lionsgate film premieres in limited release, before opening wide on September 25.
The album features original music by Academy Award nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory Of Everything, Prisoners).
Sicario debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, earning rave reviews for both the film and the score. Vanity Fair Magazine called the score “rumbling, evocative” and “he (Jóhannsson) has a wonderful knack for balancing eye-popping technical flourishes with more organic texture and mood.”
Sicario is Jóhannsson’s second collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve, for whom he scored the 2013 film Prisoners.
“Denis didn’t use temp music while editing, so I began writing the music with a completely blank slate. This was both daunting and exhilarating,” said Jóhannsson. “Like Prisoners, it’s quite tense and has a certain sense of dread,...
The album features original music by Academy Award nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory Of Everything, Prisoners).
Sicario debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, earning rave reviews for both the film and the score. Vanity Fair Magazine called the score “rumbling, evocative” and “he (Jóhannsson) has a wonderful knack for balancing eye-popping technical flourishes with more organic texture and mood.”
Sicario is Jóhannsson’s second collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve, for whom he scored the 2013 film Prisoners.
“Denis didn’t use temp music while editing, so I began writing the music with a completely blank slate. This was both daunting and exhilarating,” said Jóhannsson. “Like Prisoners, it’s quite tense and has a certain sense of dread,...
- 8/6/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
From Focus Features comes the inspirational drama The Theory Of Everything. Starring Eddie Redmayne & Felicity Jones, the opens in select cities this Friday, November 7th.
Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2″), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.
Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.
Based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, director James Marsh went with Icelandic composer and musician Jóhann Jóhannsson...
Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2″), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.
Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.
Based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, director James Marsh went with Icelandic composer and musician Jóhann Jóhannsson...
- 11/7/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This week’s big studio release, The Good Lie, gives us a look at a current conflict or war starting from the viewpoint of children (and following them as adults in the Us). For this new foreign film we journey back several decades to see a war, World War II to be precise, through the eyes of children over in Europe, much as in 2008′s Winter In Wartime. While that was through the viewpoint of one pre-teen boy, this new film concerns two pre-teen boys, twins who share an intense unspoken bond. Hopefully movie goers will not be confused by the English translation of the title, for this has very little in common with the tear-jerker from ten years ago, although this one is pretty darn sad. Its original title is Le Grand Cahier, Hungarian for The Notebook.
As the film begins we meet the twins (Lazlo and Andras Gyemant) on a very happy day.
As the film begins we meet the twins (Lazlo and Andras Gyemant) on a very happy day.
- 10/3/2014
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Survival and the hardships of war are explored from a very specific and thought-provoking perspective in János Szász’ “The Notebook.” A pair of twins in Hungary during World War II is left to fend for themselves when their parents must move away escaping prosecution. Their hateful grandmother, who is supposed to care for them, forces them to work tirelessly and shows no compassion despite their young age. Progressively, they desensitize themselves by enduring pain, starvation and getting rid of any memories from their past life, including their mother. Szász’ savagely beautiful film delivers bleakness enhance with a touch of fantasy, but always aware of the dark world in which his characters inhabit. Heartbreakingly poetic and visually elegant, “The Notebook,” based on Agota Kristof’s novel Le grand cahier, is one of the most daring European films of the year. The film was Hungary’s Official Oscar Submission last year and it made it to the final 9-film-shortli out of 76 titles submitted.
Szász kindly talked to us from Hungary about the performances in his film, the origin story of the project, and the hint of hope underneath the darkness
Read More: Review "The Notebook" (Le grand cahier)
Carlos Aguilar: Tell me about the origin of the project, where you interested in the novel beforehand?
János Szász: “The Notebook” is a very old story. 15 years ago, the first time I read the book I fell in love with it and I immediately wanted to take the rights, everyone laughed at me for that. Getting the rights was very difficult because they were taken for 15 years, and many directors wanted to make it into a movie. I had made the short “The Witman Boys,” which is also a story about two very young souls, in a way I wanted to make another film in this genre. I was in the queue to get the rights.
Finally, approximately four or five years ago I had the fortune of meeting the author Agota Kristof. Every character in the novel comes from memories of her life. In 1956, during the anti-communist revolution, she got pregnant. She and her family had to leave Hungary. She didn’t want to leave because she loved this country. It was a very dark time in her life, because she didn’t want to be a deserter, as she would say. She died two years before we began to shoot the film. She was a wonderful person. We became very close. She was someone who could not lie. She didn’t want to lie about her life. She didn’t want to lie about how hard it was for her and her brothers. She told me it was very painful to write this book.
Aguilar: Both twins, László Gyémánt and András Gyémánt, deliver marvelous performances. They are unflinching and naturalistic throughout. Was it a difficult task for you to elicit this from the young boys?
János Szász: To tell you the truth, it was really easy [Laughs]. We found these two kids in a very small village in the south of Hungary living in poverty. They had been living a life that was not very pleasant. They lived with their grandmother and they had no money. They, despite being children, had to work everyday. When I visited them I started telling them about the war and how hard life is, etc. They were just laughing at my face. They told me, “Janos, we know exactly how hard life is.” They had their own similar experiences, so what you feel when you see them in the film comes from their past. They were able to base the story on those experiences. For the scenes where they beat each other, we talked to Andras, and it was clear that this sort of thing has happened in their lives.
There were difficulties at times. Imagine two boys from the countryside who suddenly find themselves shooting a film. They have their own van, everybody loves them, but it’s only for 50 days of shooting. Suddenly it stops, and it was hard for them. We couldn’t take them back to where we found them like if they were props. I’m very happy that we still have a very good relationship and to know that they are in a college in Budapest. They have a chance to try to have a better life now. On set, what was difficult was that, even though their presence is strong, they were two amateurs. All the other actors are professionals, and it was hard for them to achieve this kind of simplicity. As a director, my job was to help those actors be simple, not to do much.
Aguilar: The film has a specific visuals aesthetic. It is realist, but also ventures into a sort of dark fairytale. How did you achieve this particular atmosphere?
János Szász: Christian Berger was our cinematographer. He is great. He has worked in films like “The White Ribbon.” First off, this is an adaptation, and I, Janos, as the one adapting, have to think about a lot of things. In the book there are no names for the boys and the voice is always in plural, “we decided” or “we did…” I told Christian that it was very important to find this “We.” Therefore, we chose to shoot the film in cinemascope and to always have these two guys together in every frame.
They are always together, but at the end we notice this erosion in their relationship. I did think of it as a dark fairytale, but it was very hard to make a war movie without showing war. There is abuse and violence, but I think my intention to make a cold fairytale came across. I didn’t want to get too close to things, I wanted visual distance, that’s why I was knocking on Christian’s door. I wanted to find someone who doesn’t want to get too close, someone who doesn’t want to provoke your emotions. He is a master at keeping that distance, while still taking the audience close to the story.
Aguilar: The notebook in the story seems to represent an alternative reality for these two boys. What are your though on the role it plays?
János Szász: The notebook is the only place where they are honest. It is like a priest, like a confessional for these two kids. It is a place for fantasy, that’s why I decided not to use only the words but to bring the notebook to life. It is also a very secretive tunnel into the truth. If you are Catholic, every Sunday you’d go to church and talk to the priest, but in the story the priest is not a person. This fairytale territory represents freedom.
Aguilar: In order to survive the twins desensitize themselves, they try to forget their loved ones to become stronger. Where you ever concerned of how bleak or how dark you could make the film? I think there is a compelling sense of unyielding courage to your approach.
János Szász: I think the novel is much more darker. For me it is not that dark because it is the story about two boys who are taken to live with their unknown grandmother. The mother tells them they must continue learning, but that above all they must survive. These are two good boys, and they listen to their mother. They will continue learning, but the subject has changed, the subject now is the war. They are learning how to survive it. They are gaining skills, but even if they come out physically alive, do they survive the war mentally? They need to be strong, they need to be able not to eat for days, and they need to forget about emotions. To have emotions during the war would be like committing suicide for them. They have a new moral code, which during the war is not so black and white. You can’t really judge their actions towards other people. Even with their grandmother, there is hatred there, but under the skin of that hatred one can see a special type of love. The bleakness is not so black and white.
Aguilar: Despite all the events and situations these two boys must go through, do you think there is a place for hope in their journey?
János Szász: Personally I think there is a lot of hope in the story. They still preserve a certain kind of innocence. They have gone through terrible things, but they had no choice but to do those things. Eventually, they must part and separate, but this represents hope. This is their only hope. One of them goes west, just like the author Agota Kristof, and the other stays in Hungary. This is their hope for a new life. You must know that this based on the first book of a tetralogy. In the second part they return and they reconnect.
"The Notebook" opens today in NYC at the Quad Cinema and in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal in Santa Monica...
Szász kindly talked to us from Hungary about the performances in his film, the origin story of the project, and the hint of hope underneath the darkness
Read More: Review "The Notebook" (Le grand cahier)
Carlos Aguilar: Tell me about the origin of the project, where you interested in the novel beforehand?
János Szász: “The Notebook” is a very old story. 15 years ago, the first time I read the book I fell in love with it and I immediately wanted to take the rights, everyone laughed at me for that. Getting the rights was very difficult because they were taken for 15 years, and many directors wanted to make it into a movie. I had made the short “The Witman Boys,” which is also a story about two very young souls, in a way I wanted to make another film in this genre. I was in the queue to get the rights.
Finally, approximately four or five years ago I had the fortune of meeting the author Agota Kristof. Every character in the novel comes from memories of her life. In 1956, during the anti-communist revolution, she got pregnant. She and her family had to leave Hungary. She didn’t want to leave because she loved this country. It was a very dark time in her life, because she didn’t want to be a deserter, as she would say. She died two years before we began to shoot the film. She was a wonderful person. We became very close. She was someone who could not lie. She didn’t want to lie about her life. She didn’t want to lie about how hard it was for her and her brothers. She told me it was very painful to write this book.
Aguilar: Both twins, László Gyémánt and András Gyémánt, deliver marvelous performances. They are unflinching and naturalistic throughout. Was it a difficult task for you to elicit this from the young boys?
János Szász: To tell you the truth, it was really easy [Laughs]. We found these two kids in a very small village in the south of Hungary living in poverty. They had been living a life that was not very pleasant. They lived with their grandmother and they had no money. They, despite being children, had to work everyday. When I visited them I started telling them about the war and how hard life is, etc. They were just laughing at my face. They told me, “Janos, we know exactly how hard life is.” They had their own similar experiences, so what you feel when you see them in the film comes from their past. They were able to base the story on those experiences. For the scenes where they beat each other, we talked to Andras, and it was clear that this sort of thing has happened in their lives.
There were difficulties at times. Imagine two boys from the countryside who suddenly find themselves shooting a film. They have their own van, everybody loves them, but it’s only for 50 days of shooting. Suddenly it stops, and it was hard for them. We couldn’t take them back to where we found them like if they were props. I’m very happy that we still have a very good relationship and to know that they are in a college in Budapest. They have a chance to try to have a better life now. On set, what was difficult was that, even though their presence is strong, they were two amateurs. All the other actors are professionals, and it was hard for them to achieve this kind of simplicity. As a director, my job was to help those actors be simple, not to do much.
Aguilar: The film has a specific visuals aesthetic. It is realist, but also ventures into a sort of dark fairytale. How did you achieve this particular atmosphere?
János Szász: Christian Berger was our cinematographer. He is great. He has worked in films like “The White Ribbon.” First off, this is an adaptation, and I, Janos, as the one adapting, have to think about a lot of things. In the book there are no names for the boys and the voice is always in plural, “we decided” or “we did…” I told Christian that it was very important to find this “We.” Therefore, we chose to shoot the film in cinemascope and to always have these two guys together in every frame.
They are always together, but at the end we notice this erosion in their relationship. I did think of it as a dark fairytale, but it was very hard to make a war movie without showing war. There is abuse and violence, but I think my intention to make a cold fairytale came across. I didn’t want to get too close to things, I wanted visual distance, that’s why I was knocking on Christian’s door. I wanted to find someone who doesn’t want to get too close, someone who doesn’t want to provoke your emotions. He is a master at keeping that distance, while still taking the audience close to the story.
Aguilar: The notebook in the story seems to represent an alternative reality for these two boys. What are your though on the role it plays?
János Szász: The notebook is the only place where they are honest. It is like a priest, like a confessional for these two kids. It is a place for fantasy, that’s why I decided not to use only the words but to bring the notebook to life. It is also a very secretive tunnel into the truth. If you are Catholic, every Sunday you’d go to church and talk to the priest, but in the story the priest is not a person. This fairytale territory represents freedom.
Aguilar: In order to survive the twins desensitize themselves, they try to forget their loved ones to become stronger. Where you ever concerned of how bleak or how dark you could make the film? I think there is a compelling sense of unyielding courage to your approach.
János Szász: I think the novel is much more darker. For me it is not that dark because it is the story about two boys who are taken to live with their unknown grandmother. The mother tells them they must continue learning, but that above all they must survive. These are two good boys, and they listen to their mother. They will continue learning, but the subject has changed, the subject now is the war. They are learning how to survive it. They are gaining skills, but even if they come out physically alive, do they survive the war mentally? They need to be strong, they need to be able not to eat for days, and they need to forget about emotions. To have emotions during the war would be like committing suicide for them. They have a new moral code, which during the war is not so black and white. You can’t really judge their actions towards other people. Even with their grandmother, there is hatred there, but under the skin of that hatred one can see a special type of love. The bleakness is not so black and white.
Aguilar: Despite all the events and situations these two boys must go through, do you think there is a place for hope in their journey?
János Szász: Personally I think there is a lot of hope in the story. They still preserve a certain kind of innocence. They have gone through terrible things, but they had no choice but to do those things. Eventually, they must part and separate, but this represents hope. This is their only hope. One of them goes west, just like the author Agota Kristof, and the other stays in Hungary. This is their hope for a new life. You must know that this based on the first book of a tetralogy. In the second part they return and they reconnect.
"The Notebook" opens today in NYC at the Quad Cinema and in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal in Santa Monica...
- 8/29/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
The idea of viewing wartime through the eyes of children has had its share of cinematic treatments over the years. Based on a prize winning novel of the same name, Hungarian director János Szász adds The Notebook/Le Grand Cahier to that list. It's a WWII drama that has a darker, much more sinister tone in reflecting human survival than, say, Steven Spielberg's Jg Ballard adaptation, Empire of the Sun (1987), starring baby Christian Bale. The film tells a story of young twin brothers (played by András and Lázló Gyémánt), singularly known only as bastards by their cruel grandmother, who reluctantly takes the boys into her care in her rural farm. This was decision of the twins' parents, who thought the kids would have a better chance...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 8/28/2014
- Screen Anarchy
About as different from its 2004 Ryan Gosling — Rachel McAdams namesake as possible, The Notebook (A nagy füzet) recounts the harrowing saga of unnamed teenage twin boys (András and Lázló Gyémánt) who, in 1944 Hungary, are unceremoniously dumped by their mother (Gyöngyvér Bognár) at their grandmother's (Piroska Molnár) remote farm for protection from WWII horrors.
There, the old "witch" beats them and berates them as "bastards." In response, the siblings teach one another how to endure pain and hardship. Bleak circumstances lead to bleak moral codes in János Szász's sobering wartime drama, as the boys study the Ten Commandments but find that blackmail, cruelty, and murder are not...
There, the old "witch" beats them and berates them as "bastards." In response, the siblings teach one another how to endure pain and hardship. Bleak circumstances lead to bleak moral codes in János Szász's sobering wartime drama, as the boys study the Ten Commandments but find that blackmail, cruelty, and murder are not...
- 8/27/2014
- Village Voice
The Notebook (Le grand cahier) (A nagy füzet) Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: A- Director: János Szász Screenplay: Agota Kristof, András Szekér, Tom Abrams – adapted from Agota Kristof’s novel (see below) Cast: András Gyémánt, Gyöngyvér Bognár, László Gyémánt, Piroska Molnár, András Réthelyi, Ulrich Matthes Screened at: Sony, NYC, 8/13/14 Opens: August 29, 2014 In his 1954 dystopian novel “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding creates a world of British boys as sole inhabitants of an island without adult authorities. They try to govern themselves but end up with disaster. Simply put, the youngsters become barbarians. In “The Notebook,” we discover [ Read More ]
The post The Notebook Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Notebook Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 8/17/2014
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
More than a few recognizable titles in today's MPAA bulletin beginning with a Cannes Film Festival hopeful in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman starring Michael Keaton and Edward Norton. Fox Searchlight will distribute the pic, and I'm sure they're hoping for a good showing in the South of France before they set an official release date on what won't be your typical superhero-esque movie. Next is Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow co-starring Emily Blunt as the sci-fi version of Groundhog Day receives a PG-13 ratings as does Warner Bros.'s Godzilla remake. No surprise on either front. And from mutant monsters to medieval dragons, Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon 2 scored a PG rating as did Radius' food documentary Fed Up. I've included the complete bulletin below. 14 Blades Rated R For violence and bloody images. And So It Goes Rated PG-13 For some sexual references and drug elements. Automata Rated R For violence,...
- 4/8/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Hungarian director Janos Szasz, who won the top prize at Karlovy Vary with The Notebook, is back working on another Holocaust novel.
And the Rat Laughed , by Israeli novelist and playwright Nava Semel, is the story of a five-year-old girl whose only companion during the long months of hiding underground from the Nazis, was a rat.
Semel’s novel, which has already been adapted into a chamber opera, will be produced by Miki Zachar through her Cinema Soleil France company, as well as production companies in Germany and Poland.
Highly regarded by critics, the novel has been described an unconventional and unique Holocaust story that takes place in the past, present and future, about brave human beings and the power of love and fantasy as means of survival.
Szasz enjoyed success last year with The Notebook (Le Grand Cahier), about twin siblings enduring the harshness of the Second World War in a village on the Hungarian border...
And the Rat Laughed , by Israeli novelist and playwright Nava Semel, is the story of a five-year-old girl whose only companion during the long months of hiding underground from the Nazis, was a rat.
Semel’s novel, which has already been adapted into a chamber opera, will be produced by Miki Zachar through her Cinema Soleil France company, as well as production companies in Germany and Poland.
Highly regarded by critics, the novel has been described an unconventional and unique Holocaust story that takes place in the past, present and future, about brave human beings and the power of love and fantasy as means of survival.
Szasz enjoyed success last year with The Notebook (Le Grand Cahier), about twin siblings enduring the harshness of the Second World War in a village on the Hungarian border...
- 4/2/2014
- by dfainaru@netvision.net.il (Edna Fainaru)
- ScreenDaily
Efm: Brisk business for Beta Cinema; Pandastorm buys five.
Beta Cinema’s two Competition titles – Dietrich Brüggemann’s Stations Of The Cross and Edward Berger’s Jack – were the Munich-based sales company’s top-selling titles at this year’s European Film Market (Efm).
Stations Of The Cross has been sold to France (Memento), Italy (Satine Film), Spain (Caramel), Poland (Aurora), Benelux (Wild Bunch), Portugal (Vendetta Films), Greece (7 Films), Scandinavia and the Baltic States (Nonstop), Ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery) and Hungary (Circo).
As reported by ScreenDaily yesterday, the UK (Arrow) has also taken the drama, which had been the top-rated film of the Screen jury before Richard Linklater’s Boyhood was screened.
Further interest has been shown from the Us and Australia for the Ufa Fiction production, which received the Silver Bear for Best Script and the Ecumenical Jury’s prize for the best film in the Competition..
Jack has been acquired for France (Diaphana), Japan (Showgate), Norway (Europa...
Beta Cinema’s two Competition titles – Dietrich Brüggemann’s Stations Of The Cross and Edward Berger’s Jack – were the Munich-based sales company’s top-selling titles at this year’s European Film Market (Efm).
Stations Of The Cross has been sold to France (Memento), Italy (Satine Film), Spain (Caramel), Poland (Aurora), Benelux (Wild Bunch), Portugal (Vendetta Films), Greece (7 Films), Scandinavia and the Baltic States (Nonstop), Ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery) and Hungary (Circo).
As reported by ScreenDaily yesterday, the UK (Arrow) has also taken the drama, which had been the top-rated film of the Screen jury before Richard Linklater’s Boyhood was screened.
Further interest has been shown from the Us and Australia for the Ufa Fiction production, which received the Silver Bear for Best Script and the Ecumenical Jury’s prize for the best film in the Competition..
Jack has been acquired for France (Diaphana), Japan (Showgate), Norway (Europa...
- 2/19/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Oscar 2014 predictions (photo: Amy Adams and Christian Bale in ‘American Hustle’) Below are our last-minute Oscar 2014 predictions. The 86th Academy Award nominations are going to be announced on Thursday, January 16, at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. We will be posting the list of Oscar 2014 nominations here. As mentioned elsewhere on this site, the Oscar nominations always offer some kind of surprise that will leave some elated and others mighty pissed off. Last year, for example, left out of the Best Director roster were favorites Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Ben Affleck for Argo. The latter film, predictably, went on to take home the Best Picture Academy Award. Also, a few years ago, Christopher Nolan was bypassed for Inception, while a couple of years before that, Nolan and his film, The Dark Knight, were bypassed for Best Picture,...
- 1/16/2014
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Canada’s official entry into the 86th annual Oscars for the foreign language category will be released by Entertainment One on Blu-ray and DVD February 11, 2014. Director Louise Archambault’s Gabrielle (2013) tells the story of a mentally challenged young woman who struggles for independence and the freedom to express herself sexually. The film [...]
Continue reading: Home Entertainment News: January 6, 2014: Gabrielle, Le Grand Cahier...
Continue reading: Home Entertainment News: January 6, 2014: Gabrielle, Le Grand Cahier...
- 1/6/2014
- by Romney J. Baldwin
- Film-Book
Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2014 semi-finalists (photo: ‘Two Lives,’ with Liv Ullmann and Julia Bache-Wiig) Out of 76 submissions, nine movies have been selected as semi-finalists for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Listed in alphabetical order by country, the films are: Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director. Best Actress European Film Award winner Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh star as a couple whose love is put to the test after their daughter falls seriously ill. Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker / Epizoda u zivotu beraca zeljeza, Danis Tanovic, director. Set in Bosnia’s Roma (gypsy) community and based on real-life events, this 2013 Berlin Film Festival Grand Prix winner stars Berlin’s Best Actor Nazif Mujic as a scrap-metal collector and salesman desperately trying to save the life of his wife, who has been denied medical assistance because she lacks health insurance.
- 12/24/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Top brass at the 25th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) have announced a new programme on Canadian Cinema as well as the traditionally strong roster of foreign-language films eligible for the Fipresci Award in the Awards Buzz section, and Modern Masters.
The festival will screen 45 of the 76 official foreign-language Oscar submissions under the umbrella of Awards Buzz.
“We’ve selected Canadian films for a special focus at this year’s festival for many reasons, not the least of which is the wealth of talent emerging from its relatively small, indigenous film industry, and the depth and richness of story and character portrayal its films exemplify,” said festival director Darryl Macdonald.
“Whether it’s established auteurs like Denis Coté, Denis Villenueve and Atom Egoyan, gifted actor-directors like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley or newly emerging talents like Chloé Robichaud, Craig Goodwill and Sébastien Pilote, Canadian creative ingenuity is on abundant display in its films. All of this...
The festival will screen 45 of the 76 official foreign-language Oscar submissions under the umbrella of Awards Buzz.
“We’ve selected Canadian films for a special focus at this year’s festival for many reasons, not the least of which is the wealth of talent emerging from its relatively small, indigenous film industry, and the depth and richness of story and character portrayal its films exemplify,” said festival director Darryl Macdonald.
“Whether it’s established auteurs like Denis Coté, Denis Villenueve and Atom Egoyan, gifted actor-directors like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley or newly emerging talents like Chloé Robichaud, Craig Goodwill and Sébastien Pilote, Canadian creative ingenuity is on abundant display in its films. All of this...
- 12/12/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Soon we'll be inundated with Foreign Film Oscar Submission news but for now news from three countries to get us started. The Oscar Charts will be up this weekend for this always diverse and exciting (if you're paying attention) category. [Thanks to Daniel, Yonatan and A.D. for the tips]
S#x Acts
Israel
Israel has been on a hot streak with Oscar with four nominations in the past six years so news of the Ophir Awards is always important. This narrows the field for which film will be their official submission since they go with the Ophir winner. Seven films are in the running for their Best Picture (The Ophir).
The frontrunner is Bethlehem (12 nominations) a drama about the Arab- Israel conflict which focuses on three characters: An Israeli secret services agent, his teenage Palestinian informant and the informant's older brother, a commander of the Al Aqsa Martyr's brigade. Other nominees include S#x Acts, a drama about a...
S#x Acts
Israel
Israel has been on a hot streak with Oscar with four nominations in the past six years so news of the Ophir Awards is always important. This narrows the field for which film will be their official submission since they go with the Ophir winner. Seven films are in the running for their Best Picture (The Ophir).
The frontrunner is Bethlehem (12 nominations) a drama about the Arab- Israel conflict which focuses on three characters: An Israeli secret services agent, his teenage Palestinian informant and the informant's older brother, a commander of the Al Aqsa Martyr's brigade. Other nominees include S#x Acts, a drama about a...
- 8/14/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
World premieres of Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Fred Schepisi’s Words And Pictures and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo are among the Tiff line-up of galas and special presentations.
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now Kevin Macdonald (UK) WPThe...
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now Kevin Macdonald (UK) WPThe...
- 8/13/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
World premieres of Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Fred Schepisi’s Words And Pictures and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo are among the TIFF line-up of galas and special presentations announced on Tuesday [13].
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now [link...
The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.
The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.
Wp = World premiere
IP = International premiere
Np = North American premiere
Cp = Canadian premiere
Tp = Toronto premiere
GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now [link...
- 8/13/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 48th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) came to a close in the Bohemian town of the same name this weekend, with Hungarian WWII tale "Le Grand Cahier," based on the bestseller "The Notebook" from Agota Kristof, taking the Crystal Globe for best feature. The competition jury, presided over by Polish director Agnieszka Holland ("In Darkness," episodes of "Treme," "The Wire" and "The Killing") and also including Tribeca Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer, awarded Ben Wheatley's black-and-white oddity "A Field in England" their Special Jury Prize, while U.S. indie "Bluebird" from Lance Edmands, which premiered at Tribeca, walked away with a shared Best Actress award. Local arthouse veteran Jan Hrebejk, whose "Divided We Fall" was nominated for an Oscar in 2001, won Best Director for his latest film, "Honeymoon," which stars his regular lead actress Anna Geislerova as a bride who discovers an ugly episode in...
- 7/8/2013
- by Boyd van Hoeij
- Indiewire
At the closing awards ceremony of the 48th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Janos Szasz’s "Le Grand Cahier" (Hungary) took the top prize, the Crystal Globe, which comes with $25,000 to be split by director and producer (Sandor Soth). The film also earned the Europa Cinemas Label. (Full list of winners below.) Based on Agota Kristof’s award-winning World War II novel "The Notebook," "Le Grand Cahier" is about 13-year-old twins who go to live with their grandmother during the war. The first feature backed by the new Hungarian Film Fund, "Le Grand Cahier" is co-produced with Austria's Amour Fou, France's Dolce Vita, Germany's Intuit and Hungary's Hunnia Film Studio. Brit filmmaker Ben Wheatley won the special jury prize ($15,000) for "A Field In England," which opened in the UK on Friday. Czech director Jan Hrebejk won best director for his film "Honeymoon," while Czech director Alice Nellis earned the audience award for "Revival.
- 7/7/2013
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Janos Szasz’s Le Grand Cahier walked away with the Crystal Globe at the 48th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.Scroll down for full list of winners
The Hungarian film impressed jury and industry alike with its depiction of 13-year-old twins sent to their grandmother during the Second World War (it is based on Agota Kristof’s award-winning novel The Notebook).
The producer of the film, Sandor Soth [pictured], picked up the award in front of a delighted audience. Le Grand Cahier was co-produced with Austria (Amour Fou), France (Dolce Vita) and Germany (Intuit), and it is the first completed feature to be backed by the new Hungarian Film Fund (the Hungarian production company was Hunnia Film Studio.
The Kviff top prize comes with $25,000 to be split by director and producer. The film also won the Europa Cinemas Label.
Ben Wheatley won the special jury prize (worth $15,000) for A Field In England and appeared in a special video thank...
The Hungarian film impressed jury and industry alike with its depiction of 13-year-old twins sent to their grandmother during the Second World War (it is based on Agota Kristof’s award-winning novel The Notebook).
The producer of the film, Sandor Soth [pictured], picked up the award in front of a delighted audience. Le Grand Cahier was co-produced with Austria (Amour Fou), France (Dolce Vita) and Germany (Intuit), and it is the first completed feature to be backed by the new Hungarian Film Fund (the Hungarian production company was Hunnia Film Studio.
The Kviff top prize comes with $25,000 to be split by director and producer. The film also won the Europa Cinemas Label.
Ben Wheatley won the special jury prize (worth $15,000) for A Field In England and appeared in a special video thank...
- 7/7/2013
- ScreenDaily
Two 13-year-old twin brothers are forced to shack up with their evil, country-bumpkin grandmother during the war in Le Grand Cahier, Hungarian director János Szász's rather detached adaptation of Agota Kristof's heart-rending, French-language WWII bestseller The Notebook. Technically almost too immaculate, the film smoothens many of the original's rough edges, replacing the book's unreliable and disturbing children's point-of-view with a distancing voice-over, cute animated sequences and two stone-faced performances that make it hard to care about these identical siblings who decide to train themselves in cruelty so they'll stand a better
read more...
read more...
- 7/7/2013
- by Boyd van Hoeij
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Hungarian film Le Grand Cahier (A Nagy Füzet) directed by János Szász took the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this weekend (6/7July). The prize is worth 25,000 dollars, shared between the producer and the director of the film in which two teenage twin brothers are confronted with the horrors and realities of war.
Sandor Söth producer of the film Le Grand Cahier ((A Nagy Füzet) with the Grand Prix - Crystal Globe.
Other accolades bestowed by the jury head by Polish director Agnieszka Holland went to Ben Wheatley's low budget A Field In England (with a 15,000 dollar award) while the best director honour was awarded to Jan Hřebejk for Honeymoon / Líbánky from the Czech Republic. The best actress award was shared by Amy Morton for her role in Bluebird by Lance Edmands (a Us-Swedish co-production) with her co-actors Louisa Krause, Emily Meade and Margo Martindale.
Sandor Söth producer of the film Le Grand Cahier ((A Nagy Füzet) with the Grand Prix - Crystal Globe.
Other accolades bestowed by the jury head by Polish director Agnieszka Holland went to Ben Wheatley's low budget A Field In England (with a 15,000 dollar award) while the best director honour was awarded to Jan Hřebejk for Honeymoon / Líbánky from the Czech Republic. The best actress award was shared by Amy Morton for her role in Bluebird by Lance Edmands (a Us-Swedish co-production) with her co-actors Louisa Krause, Emily Meade and Margo Martindale.
- 7/6/2013
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
#46. János Szász’s The Notebook
Gist: Not your remake of the Ryan Gosling film, based on Agota Kritóf‘s famous and bestselling novel of the same name (Le Grand Cahier), in a village on the Hungarian border, two young brothers grow up during war time with their cruel grandmother and must learn every trick of evil to survive in the absurd world of adults. Ulrich Thomsen and Ulrich Matthes are among the cast.
Prediction: Filling in the Hungarian film product quota, the veteran helmer has not been to the festival since 97′s Witman fiúk – which screened in the Un Certain Regard section. I think we might be looking at a repeat in the same section.
prev next...
Gist: Not your remake of the Ryan Gosling film, based on Agota Kritóf‘s famous and bestselling novel of the same name (Le Grand Cahier), in a village on the Hungarian border, two young brothers grow up during war time with their cruel grandmother and must learn every trick of evil to survive in the absurd world of adults. Ulrich Thomsen and Ulrich Matthes are among the cast.
Prediction: Filling in the Hungarian film product quota, the veteran helmer has not been to the festival since 97′s Witman fiúk – which screened in the Un Certain Regard section. I think we might be looking at a repeat in the same section.
prev next...
- 4/6/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.