Tag: European

December is once again the month of European cinema!

Posted on by victorfraga

We are delight to announce that the fourth edition of the ArteKino Festival will take place throughout the month of December, from the very first day of the month until the end of the year. This gives you plenty of time to enjoy the 10 films carefully selected exclusively for you!

The online Festival is aimed at cinephiles from all over Europe who are seeking original, innovative and thought-provoking European productions. You can watch films on ArteKino’s dedicated website and also on ArteKino iOS and Android app (developed in conjunction with Festival Scope). Subtitles are available in ten different languages: English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Once you have finished watching your favourite movies, you can rate them on a scale 1 to 5. The film with the highest score will receive the European Audience Award of €20,000. The sum will be shared between the director, the producer and the international distributor, thereby encouraging a wider geographical distribution of the film. In addition, a jury of six to 10 young Europeans, aged between 18 and 25, will select a movie to win an award of €10,000. The young Europeans will be invited to Paris for the European Audience Award and the Young Public Award Ceremony in January.

ArteKino is supported of the Creative Europe Media Programme of the European Union. Below is a list of the 2019 selection, listed alphabetically. Click on the film title in order to accede to our exclusive review (where available) in here in order to accede to the ArteKino portal and watch your favourite European movies right now!

PS – The winner of this year’s ArteKino has now been announced: Psychobitch. You can watch it for free until the end of January by clicking here.

…

.

1. Messi and Maud (Marleen Jonkman):

They say that children are the gifts that keep on giving, yet for many couples out there, their Christmases, birthdays and anniversaries seem empty of gifts. So it is for Frank (Guido Pollemans) and Maud (Rifka Lodeizen), both now past 40, eager to put a decade of miscarriages and false starts behind them. Flying to the Andes, an awaited rebirth is marred by another miscarriage, the following argument causes Maud to abandon her husband for the barren countryside. Only through a chance encounter with 8-year-old Messi (Cristobol Farias), does Maud re-discover the value of life.

Lodeizen delivers an extraordinarily well put together performance, even if the story sounds very conventional. Twelve minutes into the film and Lodeizen clothes herself in funereal black robes, wailing at the failures her blond body holds. She holds the contrived moments with an elegiac loneliness, aching for a child of her own to carry and hold. Her travel companion is the very thing she’ll never bear, a sprightly child, fervent, feverish and full of life.

Messi and Maud is also pictured at the top of this article.

.

2. Normal (Adele Tulli):

An unsettling visual journey through gender norms in contemporary society. Immersed in a kaleidoscopic mosaic of visually powerful scenes, viewers experience the ritualised performance of femininity and masculinity hidden in ordinary interactions, from birth to adulthood.

Isolating the slightly grotesque, uncanny elements surrounding our everyday life, NORMAL meditates on what remains imperceptible about it – its governing norms, its inner mechanisms. The result is that what counts as ‘normal’ does not feel so reassuring, anymore.

.

3. Psychobitch (Martin Lund):

Fifteen-year-old Frida assumes to be the class outsider. In this world of the “Generation Perfect”, the other kids at school agree: Frida is so weird. Marius does pretty much everything he can to be exemplary. When the two are paired up as study buddies, he sees it as another opportunity to show everyone what a great guy he is. But Frida has no intention of being “fixed” by the class golden boy.

Their study sessions become the catalyst for a turbulent relationship. Yet in his fights with Frida, Marius also experiences something exciting, challenging and completely new.

.

4. Ruth (Antonio Pinhao Botelho):

Ruth is about football, but, apart from a brief sequence at the end, there are no scenes of the great game being played. Instead, this movie uses sport as a means to explore Portugal’s colonial legacy, delivering a tale of a changing nation.

The year is 1958, the country is Portuguese Mozambique and the city is Lourenço Marques (now called Maputo), introduced in an opening montage as the “Jewel of the Indian Ocean”. Our protagonist Eusébio (Igor Regalla) is a young black lad from the streets, impressing everyone he meets with his devastating footballing skills. Playing for Sporting de Lourenço Marques, he is noticed by white Portuguese scouts for Benfica, who regularly travel to Mozambique to find players who can play for clubs back home.

.

5. Sad Song (Louise Narboni):

The artist must look in many places in order to find their muse. For Fonnard, capturing the untamed spirit of the wandering refugee brought wasn’t a mere altruistic gesture. Captured under the slanted camera angles, Fonnard cuts vegetables with Ahmad, sharing a community of comradeship and love. Exchanging lyrics of a poetic and musical nature, the intertwined art forms form the basis for a concert that might prove Fonnard’s purest work. With Ahmad at her side, Fonnard has a new muse, a new mirror and, most importantly, a dear friend.

This is one of the more compelling documentaries of the year, detailing the companionship that close quarters can both bring and inhibit. For a generation of viewers versed in Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, this might not come across as something entirely original, but Narboni’s piece feels genuinely organic, instead of tediously automated.

.

6. Selfie (Agostino Ferrente):

Alessandro and Pietro are 16 years-old and live in Naples, district of Traiano where, in the summer of 2014, Davide Bifolco, also 16, was shot by a policeman who mistook him for a fugitive. They are inseparable friends, Alessandro works as a waiter in a bar, Pietro dreams to become a hairdresser. Alessandro and Pietro accept the director’s proposal to shoot themselves with an iPhone, commenting live on their own daily experiences, their close friendship, their neighbourhood – now empty, in the middle of summer – and the tragedy that ended Davide’s life.

.

7. Sons of Denmark (Ulaa Salim):

Shakespeare famously proclaims in Hamlet: “There is something rotten in the state of Denmark”. In Sons of Denmark something is indeed very rotten in the Scandinavian country. Forget nice social democrat Denmark, the land of hygge, Danish pastries and the Little Mermaid. This is a country where migrants live in fear of vicious, xenophobic gangs, where pigs’ heads are deposited where Muslims gather, and random acid attacks are made on innocent foreigners. This film is an impressive debut by its director and writer Ulaa Salim. Made by the migrant community in Denmark, mainly Syrian and Iraqi, and their sympathisers, it portrays a country of cruel disdain for those who seem just a bit different.

.

8. Stitches (Miroslav Terzic):

Based on true events, Stitches takes place in contemporary Belgrade, 18 years after a young seamstress was coldly informed of her newborn’s sudden death. She still believes the infant was stolen from her. Dismissed by others as paranoid and with a mother’s determination she summons the strength for one last battle against the police, the hospital bureaucracy and even her own family to uncover the truth.

9. Thirst (Svetla Tsotsorkova):

A couple and their teenage son live on a hilltop, doing the laundry for local hotels, despite the intermittent water supply. Their simple life is overturned by the arrival of a father-and-daughter team of diviner and well-digger, who promise to bring an end to this precarious existence by finding a source on their arid hill. But ultimately, these newcomers quench a thirst that is much stronger than that for mere water.

.

10. Thirty (Simona Kostova):

This somewhat millennial take on the midlife crisis follows a bunch of friends in a hip Berlin neighbourhood for 24 hours while they celebrate – or at least attempt – the birthday of one of them. The German drama, which premiered in Rotterdam earlier this year and is available online throughout December as part of the ArteKino Festival, is a snapshot of the existential ennui of the 30-somethings.

The writer Övünç (Övünç Güvenisik) turns 30 and calls upon his mates to party, all the while coping with a severe creative block. His friend Pascal (Pascal Houdus) is coming to terms with a bad breakup with Raha (Raha Emami Khansari), a struggling actress with bouts of depression. Other members of the group – such as Henner (Henner Borchers) and Kara (Kara Schröder) – also deal with insecurities. Together, they venture outside in order to enjoy life, although internally, they have no clue how to begin.

Crossing European borders without leaving your sofa!

Posted on by victorfraga

ArteKino is back this month only. Until December 31st, you can watch 10 dirty gems* of European cinema entirely for free and without budging from the comfort of your sofa, chair, desk or bed! the selection includes five films made by women directors. Film-lovers from 45 European countries will be able to explore a rich selection of films by established directors and also nascent filmmakers, along with outstanding performances by a new generation of on-screen talent.

We took the opportunity to have a word with Olivier Pere, the Artistic Director of the ArteKino Festival. He has revealed the dirty secrets of a such an exciting initiative. ArteKino’s selection is genuinely audacious and distinctive. This year’s selection includes films from countries as diverse as Austria, Greece, Poland and the Netherlands. Dirty topics include a critique of savage capitalism, growing up in a prostitution environment, abortion under extreme circumstances and much more. You can check out the full list and our exclusive reviews by clicking here.

*Only eight films are available to view in the UK, and there are restrictions in other countries, too.

Image at the top by Bertrand Noel. Images below from Flemish Heaven and L’Animale, respectively.

…

.

DMovies – When and how did Artekino begin? Where did the idea come from? What are the aims and objectives of the initiative?

Olivier Pere – The idea behind the ArteKino Festival was born three years ago, when ARTE was looking to increase its support for European cinema in an innovative way. We came up with a completely digital festival that would be free for internet users all across Europe. Over the course of three editions, we have refined the way in which the festival operates, but the initial principle and goals remain the same: promoting the distribution and recognition of independent European cinema by selecting 10 remarkable arthouse films from major international festivals that have not found their way into theatres outside of their home country.

DM – Tell us about the curatorship. How do you view and select the films each year?

OP – I am in charge of the artistic direction of the festival. I identify films at festivals and in international sales agents’ catalogues. I see some of the films at festivals, and most of the time sales agents send me links to films that I ask for in order to make my selection.

DM – You describe your selection as “10 bold films”. What’s your definition of “bold” and of “art cinema”, and what are the selection criteria for your films?

OP – I choose films according to their quality, their originality, and of course their availability. We try to offer a balanced selection that can include films of various genres, from fiction to documentary, while remaining very attentive to the diversity of European languages and cultures represented (generally one film per country) and to the gender balance of the directors. Artistic boldness can come from a film’s aesthetics or from its subject matter, and how those things relate to contemporary themes.

DM – According to an industry player, only 37% of European films are seen outside their home market. Does this reflect your experience? And what should we do in order to improve this figure?

OP – Yes, and that is why we have developed the ArteKino Festival. We look for films that have low visibility outside of their country of origin and the festival circuit. Some of these films enjoy success in their home country but have difficulty travelling beyond national borders. This is true of comedies, but also of other films. Our festival is a way of crossing borders while staying in the comfort of one’s home.

DM – What’s your message for aspiring filmmakers everywhere who’d like to see their film on ArteKino?

OP – Young directors often need international festivals to receive critical acclaim and to enable their films to travel, as well as to be sold. With the ArteKino Festival, we offer them a way of reaching new audiences by inviting viewers who don’t have easy access to new European arthouse films.

DM – What’s your message to film lovers everywhere overwhelmed by the vast choice of VoD everywhere? Why should they watch films on ArteKino?

OP – We should specify that we are campaigning for movie lovers to continue discovering films in their original birthplace – the movie theatre. ArteKino Festival acts as a complement, not a substitution. Unfortunately, due to their location, some people do not have access to movie theatres that screen arthouse cinema. And it is no longer possible to assume that all films can be distributed in theatres – there are simply too many films being made, and there is a lack of diversity in a number of countries. That is why we invite them to discover new films free of charge in this new festival format.

I dream of a Black Europe!

Posted on by victorfraga

The symbolism of the latest World Cup win couldn’t be clearer. Nineteen out of 23 players of the French football team are either immigrants or children of immigrants. The majority of those are of Black heritage, either from Africa and the Caribbean. Steve Mandanda, Alphonse Areola, Presnel Kimpembe, Rafael Xavier Varane, Samuel Umitite, Djibril Sidibe, Benjamin Mendy, Paul Pogba, Corentin Tolisso, N’Golo Kante, Blaise Matuidi, Steven Nzonzi, Thomas Lemar, Ousmane Dembele are amongst those. And the big revelation of the world Kylian Mbappe is entirely of African descent. Mbappe became so successful and synonymous with his home nation that the French newspapers twisted the French national motto to include the 19-year-old player “Liberté, Egalité, Mbappé”.

This is wonderful news. Even the most ardent bigots and xenophobes had to recognise and to face a multicultural and diverse Europe. But is the same phenomenon reflected in cinema? Unfortunately the answer is a resounding NO. Black Europeans are yet to leave their mark on European cinema. The number of Black European filmmakers remains extremely low, and the names are scarce, particularly outside Britain. This is in contrast to the US, where established Black filmmakers of both sexes have been challenged the racial orthodoxy of the film industry for quite some time, including extremely dirty names such as Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, Dee Rees and Gina Prince-bythewoods, to name just a few.

Well, it’s about time that the UK embraces the Windrush generation (pictured above) and Black Brits more wholeheartedly in the film industry. Likewise for the rest of Europe. We need more “Afropean” helmers, who can show us Europe from a Black perspective. We’ve had enough whitewashing in the film industry.

Below is a list with some of the most promising black talent behind the camera in Europe. We hope that these talented artists will continue to flourish with many more films to come, and also that the list will grow massively in the years to come. Alongside “Liberté, Egalité, Mbappé”, let’s also sing “God Save our glorious (Steve) McQueen” in the very near future. We want Black Europeans to shine on the football field, behind the film lenses and everywhere else.

You might also want to check out the Women of the Lens for Black female talent in film in the UK and beyond. Also, don’t forget to click on the film titles below in order to accede to our exclusive dirty review (where available).

…

.

1. Steve McQueen (United Kingdom, pictured below):

McQueen is the most successful black European filmmaker at present. The London-born and Amsterdam-based helmer has directed the critically acclaimed Hunger (2008), Shame (2011) and the multiple Academy Award winner 12 Years a Slave (2013).

2. Damani Baker (United Kingdom):

This British cinematographer and filmmaker is best known for his feature The House of Coco Road (2017), a tribute to Caribbean women in the UK (more specifically, the director’s mother.

3. Amma Asante (United Kingdom):

Amma Asante is also British, and she is a screenwriter, a film director and also a former actress. Her filmography includes Belle (2013) and A United Kingdom (2016).

4. Isabelle Boni-Claverie (Switzerland/France):

Originally born in the Ivory Coast, this author, screenwriter and film director moved to Switzerland when was just a few months ago, and she now lives in France. She directs mostly documentaries, and her best known title is Too Black To Be French? (2015).

5. Amandine Gay (France, pictured below):

This French feminist, filmmaker and actress is just 33 years old. Her documentary Ouvrir la Voix (2015) was made by the means of crowdfunding, and includes interviews with 24 Black women in France.

6 – Mo Asumang (Germany):

This 54-year-old filmmaker was born in the former German capital, Bonn. He has already directed seven featurettes on various topics including race and veganism.

7 – Oliver Hardt (Germany):

This filmmaker is based in Frankfurt am Main. His portfolio consists of award-winning documentaries and high-profile corporate films for firms and institutions such as Mercedes Benz, Lufthansa, the German Design Council and the Art Institute of Chicago.

8 – Sally Fenaux Barleycorn (Spain):

Sally is based in Barcelona. Her first fiction short film Skinhearts, premiered in Amsterdam in 2015. She has now directed her first two adult films with XConfessions as a Guest director, Touch Crimes (2016) and Tinder Taxi (2017).

9 – Fred Kudjo Kworno (Italy, pictured above):

This activist-producer-writer-director, was born and raised in Italy and now based in New York (US). He directed the brilliant Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema (2015).

10 – Bibi Fadlalla (the Netherlands):

Bibi Fadlalla is a filmmaker based in Rotterdam. Bibi has worked for several Dutch television programmes and has directed several documentaries.

Fancy an emotional walk through European cinema?

Posted on by victorfraga

This Autumn take a walk on the wild side of European cinema without leaving the comfort of your home. DMovies is delighted to announce that we are joining forces with Under the Milky Way and The Film Agency in order to reclaim the hidden gems of European film often overlooked. These movies are part of the Walk This Way project, which is funded by EU Media (a sub-programme of Creative Europe) and is aimed at fostering and promoting straight-to-VoD European cinema. The Film Agency is handling the PR and communications of the initiative.

So we took the opportunity to talk to Muriel Joly, Head of the Walk this Way project, and find out why we should be watching European films on VoD, what’s so special about the Collection, how it all started and where we’re going next!

DM0vies – Where did the idea for the Walk this Way Collection come from?

Muriel Joly – The idea came from the fact that too few European films are seen outside their country of origin each year (only 37% out of the 1740 European films produced on a yearly basis). Indeed, a “traditional” distribution (meaning in theatres) for these films can be complex, costly and not profitable, while a straight to digital release can be much less expensive and highly flexible (you can target the territories you want, stop the distribution when you need).

As an aggregator, Under the Milky Way is a real pure player in terms of digital distribution. Hence building these collections of films and distributing them on global and local VOD platforms throughout Europe is really our core business.

So, with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA we decided to create a real editorial line to highlight the wealth of European Films regrouping them by genre (thrillers or comedy) or by commercial potential.We invest a lot in subtitling and marketing to maximise the distribution effort.

DM – How does VoD help to give visibility to innovative European cinema overlooked elsewhere?

MJ – VoD is really opportunity for this European cinema for two main reasons. On the one hand, for these European films, hardly distributed, VoD represents really low entry costs. In addition, the existence of pan-European platforms covering many territories with only a single point of entry for the supply allows for a considerable smoothness in term of process, and a real cost efficiency.

On the other hand, for the VoD platforms these films do represent a real opportunity to diversify their offer and differentiate themselves towards their audience.

DM – Which Way are we Walking next?

MJ – To the rest of the world !! For the first time this year, we enlarged our distribution to the US, Canada, Latin America and Japan. We are thrilled to see how our European films will be welcomed over there! [end of interview]

Our first four films are part of the Award Winning Collection, which is being launched on November 6th. They are fabulously dirty movies that deservedly snatched various prizes and accolades across the globe in the past four years. There are gems from Portugal, Germany, Iceland and France (with a scary Japanese twist). Enough to keep you entertained every Friday night this November!

All films are available on iTunes, Google, Sony, Microsoft and Amazon Instant Video. Daguerrotype is also available on Sky. Stay tuned for our exclusive dirty reviews in the next few weeks, as well as the upcoming Men of the Edge Collection (in December):

.

1. Daguerrotype (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2016):

From acclaimed Japanese master Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata, Pulse), comes the French-Japanese production Daguerrotype, a classic ghost story bent through the lens of one of the most singular horror visionaries at work today.

Jean (Tahar Rahim), a young Parisian with few skills and even fewer prospects, seems an unlikely candidate for assistant to famed photographer Stéphane (Olivier Gourmet), an obsessive perfectionist living in isolation since his wife’s unexpected death. Yet he soon finds himself in his new employer’s vast, decaying mansion, helping to create life-sized daguerrotypes so vivid they seem almost to contain some portion of their subjects’ souls. Their model is most often Stéphane’s daughter and muse, Marie (Constance Rousseau), and as she and Jean fall in love they realise they must hatch a plot to leave Stéphane’s haunted world forever. But is there something malevolent within the massive daguerrotypes that will prevent their escape?

Kurosawa has recently directed Creepy (2016) and Before we Vanish (2017), both already featured on DMovies.

.

2. Saint George (Marco Martins, 2016):

Portuguese director Marco Martins reunites with Nuno Lopes after the success of his first acclaimed feature film ‘Alice’ (2005). Drowning in debt, unemployed boxer Jorge (Nuno Lopes) is on the verge of losing his young son and his Brazilian wife. He is one of shocking amounts of Portuguese families and companies unable to repay their loans in the time of European troika bailout measures. Due to his intimidating physique, Jorge must reluctantly accept a job with a collection agency which drags him into a world of violence and crime.

Nuno Lopes role of boxer Jorge was awarded with Best Actor en the Venice Horizon Award 2016.

.

3. Metalhead (Ragnar Bragason, 2013)

This dirty gem comes from Iceland. It’s the year 1970 and as Black Sabbath record their first album and mark the birth of Heavy Metal, Hera Karlsdottir (Thora Bjorg Helga) is born on the cowshed floor at her parents’ farm in rural Iceland. The years of her youth are carefree until a tragedy strikes when her older brother is killed in an accident. In her grief she finds solace in the dark music of Heavy Metal and dreams of becoming a rock star.

Director Ragnar Bragason is one of Iceland’s most popular and critically acclaimed filmmakers of the younger generation. He is best known for his twin feature-films Children (2006) and Parents (2007) and the popular TV series trilogy The Night Shift.

.

4. All of a Sudden (Asli Ozge , 2016):

A German film with a Turkish gaze. After the party in Karsten’s apartment, everybody leaves except Anna (Natalia Belitski). Admiringly, Karsten (Sebastian Hülk) approaches this mysterious woman. How could he have known, that in a moment of weakness, his well-established life would spiral out of control and turn into a disaster? In this small provincial German town, disappointment soon fuels anger, justice hides behind hypocrisy, and evil gradually unfolds.

Istanbul-born, Germany-based director Asli Ozge was recognised for All of a Sudden with the Label Europa Cinemas – Special Mention award at Berlin International Film Festival 2016 and the Fipresci Award at the Istanbul International Film Festival 2016.