EUROPEAN SECTOR CONDEMNS IRAN FOR PERSECUTION OF FILMMAKER

Heads of the European film sector have spoken in unison condemning the imminent incarceration of Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. The director of the 2020 Berlinale Golden Bear winner There is No Evil, a film that casts a critical eye on the consequences of life under authoritarian rule, has been summoned by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Offenses Relating to Media and Culture to serve one year in prison.

This comes after the Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced the filmmaker (pictured, above) to one year in prison, with a two-year prohibition against working as a director, for alleged propaganda against the government, in July 2019. The internationally acclaimed Rasoulof, an Un Certain Regard winner for his films Lerd (2017) and Au Revoir (2011), is also under a two-year ban on leaving the country and becoming involved in any social or political activity.

"Summoning me to serve my prison sentence only reveals a small fraction of the intolerance and anger that is characteristic of the Iranian regime’s response to criticism,” Rasoulof says. “Many cultural activists are in prison for criticizing the government." He also points out that Iranian prisons are a hotbed for the Covid-19 virus, with conditions unlikely to change under the current regime. “These conditions call for an immediate response from the international community," he says. (Pictured, right; Baran Rasoulof, daughter of the director, and Ehsan Mirhosseini in There is No Evil). 

Institutions that have declared their support for Rasoulof are The European Film Academy, The Cannes Film Festival, the Deutsche Filmakademie, the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Filmfest Hamburg, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the Netherlands Film Fund and the Accademia del cinema italiano-Premi David di Donatello. The bodies have collectively called for the charges against him to be retracted and the travel ban against him to be lifted immediately and unconditionally.

Via a press statement, President of the European Film Academy, Wim Wenders, declared, "Our colleague Mohammad Rasoulof is an artist who keeps telling us about a reality we would otherwise know little about. There is No Evil is a deeply humane portrait of people in extreme situations, situations no human should be forced to experience. We need voices like that of Mohammad Rasoulof, voices defending human rights, freedom and dignity." (Pictured, left; actress Baran Rasoulof at the Berlin Film Festival, with her father and director on the phone, following his Golden Bear win).

Ulrich Matthes, President of the Deutsche Filmakademie, adds “His deeply humane films about freedom and oppression have reached so many people worldwide. He is a representative master of Iranian cinema: a rich film culture that has provided us with some of the most compelling stories about the human condition. Mohammad Rasoulof’s films not only tell us about life in Iran but also speak to us in the universal language of cinema to promote empathy and peace."

The European voices are also demanding Rasoulof’s health and safety be ensured and that film festivals, cinema chains and all artists globally make their protestations known to Iranian officials and embassy staff in their region.

BERLIN SCI-FI FILMFEST FETES M.A.J.I.C., THE TANGLE IN 2019 HONOURS ROLL

Highlighting the event’s growing international standing amongst speculative fiction filmmakers, works from Canada, Italy, Japan and The U.S. were among the honorees at this year’s Berlin Sci-fi Filmfest, which wrapped its third edition under festival directors Alexander Pfander and Anthony Straeger in the German capital this past weekend.

Erin Berry’s Roswell-inspired M.A.J.I.C., a post-X-Files riff that incorporates 'men in black' conspiracy theorising and alien tech-driven alternate realities, took out Best Feature in a hotly-contested field; the independent Canadian production was up against Milena Lurie’s Entangled, Navin Dev’s Zoo-head and Christopher Soren Kelly’s The Tangle for the top trophy. So close was the final tally that The Tangle was singled out for special mention with the Grand Jury Award. (Pictured, top; Paula Brancati, as Pippa Bernwood, in M.A.J.I.C.)

The other major stand-out from the festival line-up was Yuichi Kondo’s Ryoko’s Qubit Summer, a futuristic riff on teen romance that poses the question, ‘Can love exist between an A.I. and a human?’ The short film, featuring touching performances from Miku Komatsu and Ami Yamada, earned the Outstanding Film Award from official jurors Rick McLeod of Celtic Storm Films; Crawford Talents agency head Caprice Crawford; and, sound engineer Iwan Romanow. (Pictured, right; from left, Christopher Soren Kelly, Jessica Graham and Nicole da Silva in The Tangle)  

Berry was denied a double win when Aleem Hossain earned Best Director for After We Leave, a drama about a husband’s search for his wife before the opportunity to live off-world expires. The Best Script award was won by Spain’s Andres Malo Segura and Alfonso Segura Ballesteros for their short Luz Azul (Blue Light), the story of one man’s struggle to cope with a dark memory that has emerged from his archived brain patterns.

The U.K. sector offered up its finest thespians in genre roles, with Brits taking out both the acting categories. Best Actress honouree Krista De Mille (pictured, right) plays ‘Kate’, a warrior-mother fighting for the survival of her daughter, in Martin Gooch’s post-apocalyptic U.K. thriller Black Flowers, while Best Actor kudos went to Sam Gittins for Ciro Sorrentino’s time-travel/alternate reality romp, Time Perspectives.

The vibrant German science-fiction scene was acknowledged with Thorsten Franzen winning the Best Cinematography award for Daniel Raboldt’s man-vs-machine survival thriller A Living Dog, while Marcel Barion’s The Final Land won Outstanding German Contribution.

The highly prized Best Visual Effects category went to the Amsterdam-based post-production house PostPanic for their mesmerising debut science-fiction effort, Sundays. Shot entirely in Mexico City, it envisions a world under the control of a single mega-corporation after a solar flare renders the planet powerless, and the young man whose independent thought may reveal the truth.

The Australian/Croation co-production Slice of Life, co-directors Luka Hrgovic and Dino Julius’ stunning return to the urban decay of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Blade Runner, won Best Fan Film, against the Star Wars-inspired works Bucket Head and The Lightsaber Maker and the ectoplasmic comedy Ghostbusters Italia. Jason Axinn’s blood-splattered cartoon nightmare To Your Last Death, featuring the voices of William Shatner, Ray Wise, Bill Moseley and Deadpool star Morena Baccarin, won for Best Animation.

Others who walked away triumphant from the 2019 Berlin Sci-fi Filmfest included Andréanne Germain’s augmented reality coming-of-age tale Nova, which earned the Best Experimental/Music award; Brett Ryan Bonowicz’s Best Documentary winner Artist Depiction, a profile of the three illustrators who imagined the realities of NASA’s conjecturing (pictured, right); brothers Nick and Adam Hayes’ robo-militaristic Fight Machine, which won both Best Action Short and Best Web/TV Series categories; Patrick Hagarty’s hilarious twist on holiday homecoming Home in Time, for Best Comedy Short; and, Stephen Eigemann’s emotion-filled Rewind, which took Best Drama Short honours for its exploration of how VR technology can help the parent of a deployed soldier deal with anxiety and grief.

REWIND (short film) TEASER from Stephan Eigenmann on Vimeo.

PARASITE, BEANPOLE LEAD HONOUREES AT 2019 ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS

Adding further momentum towards anticipated Oscar glory, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite has claimed Best Feature Film at the 13^th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) last night in Brisbane, Australia. The breakout international success story of 2019 turned its single nomination into the night’s biggest prize, the first win for Korea in the Best Feature Film category since Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine took out the inaugural prize in 2007.

Producer Jang Young-hwan accepted the award (pictured, below), a unique handcrafted glass vessel by Brisbane artist Joanna Bone, on the night. The honour also comes as the Asia Pacific Screen Forum, running concurrently with the awards festivities, focuses on 100 years of Korean cinema.

Stories encompassing thirteen countries and areas within the vast Asia Pacific region were awarded, with the majority of the winners also being their country’s Official Submission for the Academy Awards® in the Best International Feature Film Category. Thirty-seven films from 22 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific region achieved nominations for the prestigious awards, drawn from the 289 films in APSA competition.

The Australian sector was honoured with the Best Youth Feature Film, the prize taken out by Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy, produced by Causeway Films’ Sam Jennings and Kristina Ceyton. The Khmer and Thai language film, shot in Cambodia, is the story of 14 year-old Cambodian Chakra who leaves home in search of a better life only to be enslaved on a fishing trawler. Co-directors Rachel Leah Jones and Phillipe Bellaiche’s Advocate, an Israeli production that recounts the story of Jewish Israeli human rights lawyer Lea Tsemel, beat the only other local nominee, Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, for the Best Documentary trophy.

Director Kantemir Balagov’s Russian wartime drama Beanpole was the only film to take home two APSA awards - Best Cinematography honouree Ksenia Sereda (pictured, right), the first woman to win the APSA in this category, and Balagov and Alexander Terekhov for Best Screenplay. Best Director winner Adilkhan Yerzhanov, helmer of the Kazakh noir feature A Dark, Dark Man, was the focus of the Director’s Chair session at the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Forum and accepted the award on the night. It is his second award following the APSA NETPAC Development Prize win in 2013 (now the Young Cinema Award) for Constructors.

Acting trophies will be travelling to new homes in The Philippines and India. Max Eigenmann won Best Actress for her role as a woman fighting to free her life of domestic violence in Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s Verdict, for acclaimed producer Brilliante Mendoza. Celebrated Indian actor Manoj Baypayee earned Best Actor honours for his role in Devashish Makhija’s Bhonsle; Bajpayee’s win, his second APSA gong, marks a staggering four years in a row that an Indian performer has won in this category.

Beating out highly favoured fellow nominees The Unseen and Mosley, Weathering With You (Japan) was named Best Animated Feature. The film is directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also took home the inaugural APSA in this category in 2007 for 5 Centimetres Per Second.

The APSA International Jury awarded a Jury Grand Prize to Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, who wrote, directed, produced and starred in APSA-nominated film It Must Be Heaven. Suleiman was also awarded the APSA Jury Grand Prize in 2009 for The Time That Remains. The prestigious Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO was awarded to Rona, Azim’s Mother (Islamic Republic of Iran; Afghanistan) by brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmoudi. This award represents APSA’s founding partnership with UNESCO, and the shared goals of the two organisations in the protection and preservation of cultural identity.

The winner of the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film goes to Katriel Schory, one of the most respected figures of Israeli cinema. Schory produced more than 150 titles through is production company BelFilms Ltd and served for twenty years as Executive Director of Israel’s main film funding body, where he produced and promoted 300 films. He is credited with revitalising Israel’s film industry through an emphasis on diversity and international co-production treaties, opening the country’s cinema up to the global audiences.

The APSA Young Cinema Award has been won by emerging Indian filmmaker Ridham Janve whose feature The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain (pictured, above) was also nominated for Best Feature Film and Achievement in Cinematography.

Also announced during the APSA Ceremony were the four recipients of the 10^th MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. Created to support the development of new feature film projects by APSA Academy members, the fund awards four development grants of US$25,000 annually. In 2019, the four recipients are Delphine Garde-Mroueh & Nadia Eliewat (UAE/France) for The Station; Rachel Leah Jones (Israel/United States of America) for Reality Check; Catherine Fitzgerald (New Zealand) for Sweet Lips; and, Dechen Roder (Bhutan) for I, The Song.

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE CELEBRATES ISABELLE ADJANI WITH CLASSICS RETRO SEASON

The mighty screen presence of iconic French actress Isabelle Adjani will be celebrated at the 2019 Alliance Française Classic Film Festival, with a program of seven masterworks featuring the fierce, luminous talent of arguably France’s greatest screen star. The winner of a record five ‘Best Actress’ César Awards, Adjani has appeared in 30 films since her debut at the age of 14 in Bernard Toublanc-Michel’s Le petit bougnat (1970). Says Philippe Platel, the Alliance Française Classic Film Festival’s Artistic Director, “Throughout her internationally acclaimed career, there have contrasting ‘Adjanian’ heroines, at once rebellious and delicate, bold and shy, fire and ice. Defining Isabelle Adjani as a legend, the quintessence of a star, would not [be] sufficient to give a sense of the complexity that surrounds the ‘Mystère Adjani.’”

The retrospective season, featuring the films below, begins in Sydney on November 3, at the Palace Norton Street and Cremorne Orpheum cinemas; and, in Melbourne from November 10 at The Astor Theatre. Check the Alliance Française Classic Film Festival website for further venue and session details.   

THE STORY OF ADELE H. (L’histoire d’Adèle H.; 1975) Dir: François Truffaut
L’ intrigue: In 1863, Adèle Hugo (daughter of renowned French writer Victor Hugo) is in love with British lieutenant Albert Pinson (Bruce Robinson). Despite the Lieutenant rejecting her affections, Adèle’s obsession grows and she eventually succumbs to her wild delusions.
Histoire: After witnessing Adjani’s superb performance in Claude Pinoteau’s The Slap (1974), François Truffaut (pictured, right; with Adjani on-set) sought her for his next film, a historical drama upon the diary of Adèle Hugo. At only 19 years of age, Adjani earned an Academy Award nomination - the youngest ‘Best Actress’ nominee ever at the time.

POSSESSION (1981) Dir: Andrzej Zulawski
L’ intrigue: Faced with an impending divorce from his wife for no apparent reason, Mark (Sam Neill) sets out to uncover the truth behind his wife Anna’s erratic behaviour. He follows her as she descends into extremes of madness, only to discover his suspicions of infidelity have led to something far more sinister.
Histoire: This psychological horror drama defies easy classification and was delivered by one of the most revolutionary filmmakers to emerge from Poland after World War II, Andrzej Zulawski. Adjani’s performance garnered both César and Cannes Film Festival Awards for ‘Best Actress’.

ALL FIRED UP (Tout feu, tout flame; 1982) Dir: Jeau-Paul Rappeneau
L’ intrigue: Pauline (Adjani) is right to be suspicious when her absentee father reappears suddenly. The charming Victor (Montand) has returned to Paris to scrounge for money. A complex, occasional comical struggle emerges between the two and soon, both father and daughter are fending off mobsters.  
Histoire: Adjani and Yves Montand shine in this entertaining farcical thriller, enhanced by a great cast and an amazing soundtrack, composed by the famous French singer Michel Berger.

ONE DEADLY SUMMER (L’été meurtier; 1983) Dir: Jean Becker                                                    
L’ intrigue: The alluring Eliane Wieck moves to a sun-drenched provincial town in Southern France, where the local mechanic Pin-Pon (Alain Souchon), falls in love with her. They are soon married, yet circumstances around Eliane’s arrival remain mysterious. What prompted the family’s move? Is Eliane really in love?
Histoire: An adaptation of Sébastien Japrisot’s novel, this film garnered four Césars in 1983, including ‘Best Original Screenplay’ and ‘Best Editing’. Adjani delivers a captivating performance as a traumatised woman harbouring a terrible secret, which would earn her a second César.

QUEEN MARGOT (La Reine Margot; 1994; RESTORED VERSION) Dir: Patrice Chéreau
L’ intrigue: In 1572, tensions between Catholics and Protestants are at an all-time high. When Marguerite de Valois (Adjani), a Catholic woman, is forced to wed prominent Protestant Huguenot Henri of Navarre (Daniel Auteuil) a wave of increasingly shocking events unfold, culminating in the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
Histoire: Queen Margot was director Patrice Chéreau’s greatest success, winning the Jury Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and five César Awards, including Adjani’s fourth ‘Best Actress’ Award. Raging with passion, sex and violence, Queen Margot is a powerful and provocative film.

SUBWAY (1985; SYDNEY ONLY) Dir: Luc Besson
L’ intrigue: Having stolen compromising documents from a shady businessman, Fred (Christophe Lambert), takes refuge in the Paris Metro. Here, he encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals and develops a romance with a gangster's young trophy wife, Héléna (Adjani).
Histoire: An international blockbuster that launched Christophe Lambert, director Luc Besson and Adjani globally, the visually dazzling Subway was praised by The New York Times for its "highly energetic visual style". Lambert won a César for ‘Best Actor’; composer Eric Serra was nominated for ‘Best Sound’ Award. Good humour, superb music, wild 80s fashion and great acting make this unashamedly crowd-pleasing movie a must see.

CAMILLE CLAUDEL (1988; RESTORED VERSION) Dir: Bruno Nuytten      
L’ intrigue: Set at the beginning of the 1880s, this artistic triumph recounts the tumultuous relationship between Claudel and sculptor Auguste Rodin (Gérard Depardieu)., While it captures the mad genius of Rodin, it also profiles an ambitious woman who is driven to insanity and imprisoned by the societal conventions of her time.                                     
Histoire: In her role as co-producer, Adjani hired Bruno Nuytten (with whom she shares a son) as director of this multi-award winning film, a sensual and impassioned biopic now considered a classic. It would earn five Césars and Adjani a second ‘Best Actress’ nomination at the Academy Awards.

SENEGAL

Senegalese cinema was once the leading production sector on the African continent. The French-influence that permeates the upper-class urban centres and the passion and plight of the native population have combined to lasting effect since the film industry launched in Senegal with Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s 1955 short film L’Afrique sur Seine.

Vieyra (pictured, above) would remain a vocal advocate of Senegal’s representation on-screen with his documentary work, including Mol (1957), Indépendance du Cameroun, Togo, Congo, Madagascar (1960) and En résidence surveillée (Under House Arrest, 1981). His contemporary at the forefront of the post-independence Senegalese film industry was the man that has been called ‘The Father Of African Cinema’ – Ousmane Sembene. Many believe his death in 2007 represents the symbolic end of an era when Senegalese movies and the rich filmmaking culture from which they came sadly passed.

Sembene (pictured, right) was responsible for over three decades of impassioned filmmaking, despite coming late to the field of film directing – he was 37 when he returned home after learning his craft in Moscow. His debut production was the short film Barom Sarret (The Wagoner, 1963), regarded as the first film to be made by a black African filmmaker. He directed the first black African feature film, La noire de... (Black Girl, 1966) and would be responsible for some of the most respected and internationally-acclaimed African films ever made – Mandabi (The Money Order, 1968, shot in the native Wolof dialect), Tauw (1970), Emitai (God of Thunder, 1971, with dialogue in both French and the native Diola language), Xala (The Curse, 1975), Ceddo (Outsiders, 1977), Camp de Thiaroye (The Camp at Thiaroye, 1987) and, most significantly, Moolaade (2004; trailer, below), his powerful indictment of the brutal practice of female circumcision, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival  and the Best Foreign Film award from the National Board of Film Critics (U.S.).

Sembene’s early work not only fuelled the industry in Senegal but focussed the international community on the resources and talent in the region. His exposure is credited with kick-starting the film industries in satellite countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and Mauritania.

Strong filmmaking visions came from Senegal throughout the 1970’s, benefitting from the guidance of notable talents from France. For example, filmmaker Jean Rouch encouraged the early short film projects of Safi Raye, a Senegalese woman who would become the first female director of a feature length film in the region, 1975’s Kaddu Beykat (Letter From My Village). Djibril Diop Mambéty was an outspoken filmmaker whose works of social realism and political drama often brought him into direct conflict with the ruling government – his early shorts Contras City (1969) and Badou Boy (1970) were satirical comments on the rich/poor dichotomy of life in the capital, Dakkar; his first feature, Touki Bouki (Journey Of The Hyena, 1973; pictured, above) took a similarly comical but no less impactful look at the clash of the traditional and the modern. Twenty years later, Mambéty would revisit the villages of Senegal with a far sharper focus with Hyènes (Hyenas, 1993; trailer, below), a forthright blasting of Western culture in general and the World Bank in particular for creating dire poverty in Senegal, but also to the Senegalese people for embracing consumerism so blindly. The film was nominated for the Palme D’or at Cannes in 1994.

Rising costs, the threat of terrorism and the scourge of poverty took its toll on the Senegalese film sector from the early 1980s and remains a hinderance today. Safi Raye continued producing films, but few were released in her homeland, screening mainly in Europe; journalist-turned-filmmaker Ben Diogaye Beye debuted his film Seye Seyeti (A Man Some Women) in 1980 to festival recognition, but he would not direct again until 2004’s Un amour d’enfant (pictured, below); Jean Odoutan’s feelgood comedy-drama Barbecue-Pejo (2000) was a rare success. And Ousmane Sembene had the reputation to finance films in his native Senegal, but funds came from and profits went back to international financiers, who funded his work for the global arthouse marketplace. With its capital Dakkar sorely lacking studio and cinema space and all post-production facilities located offshore, Senegal‘s film artisans went through a period of stagnating creativity. 

For the last decade, a fresh brigade of filmmakers have begun to emerge. These include such directors as Moussa Toure (La Pirogue, 2012), Alain Gomis (Felicite, 2017, winner of the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize) Laurence Gavron (So Far from Vietnam, 2016), Moustapha Saitque (Waiting for the Third Prophet, 2016), Samba Gadjigo (Sambene, 2017; On Black Girl, 2017), and Ousmane William Mbaye (Kemtiyu Seex Anta, 2016). In 2017, the annual subsidy granted by President Macky Sall to Senegalese cinema increased to two billion CFA francs (3 million euros). French director Philippe Godeau and star Omar Sy utilised the land and many local technicians for their film Yao (2018; trailer, below).

In 2019, hope for the future of Senegalese cinema is at an all-time high, with the announcement that director Mati Diop, niece of the legendary Djibril Diop Mambéty, will be the first black woman director to have her film, the drama Atlantique, run In Competition in the 72 year history of the Cannes Film Festival.

Read the Screen-Space Feature 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MATI DIOP here.

Key Event:
Dakar International Film Festival (RECIDAK) – Dakar, Senegal; annually in November.
The Rencontres International Cinématographiques de Dakar was initiated in 1990 by Annette Mbaye D'Erneville through its structure called the Consortium of Communication in Africa (CCA). The idea was to create this event around the 7th art in partnership with the French Ministry of Cooperation and authorities of the Francophonie and show the true identity of Senegal, which is the soul of African cinema. In November 2018, directors, producers, film teachers and art critics attended, with 59 films from 32 countries presented.

Contact:
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication du Sénégal
Building Adja Fatou Diop Nourou
12 ^th  sis Floor Allées Papa Gueye FALL  
Tel: (+221) 33 849 03 38
Web: http://www.culture.gouv.sn/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinisteredelaCultureduSenegal
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CultureGouv

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