Movie Magazine International Blog

By Moira Sullivan Matti Diop, France, Grand Prize winner at Cannes for "Atlantics" Official Competition Palmarès to Women - Grand Prix Atlantique Mati Diop France. Award For Best Screenplay Céline Sciammi France, Award For Best Actress Emily Beecham Little Joe Jessica Hausner, Austria, Monster God-Short Film Special Distinction, Agustina San Martin , Argentina Céline Sciamma, one of the founders of the French 50/50 by 2020 for gender equality in French film and her new film Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu ("Portrait Of A Lady On Fire") won the best screenplay award at the Cannes film festival that ended May 25. Sciamma is one of two women who are part of the official selection this year of 22 films. Her film is a period piece from 1770 about young artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant ) who is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse without her knowledge, a woman just out of a convent woman betrothed to someone she's never met (Adèle ...

By Moira Sullivan Portrait Of A Lady On Fire - Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu  Cannes is noteworthy in showcasing the latest work of time-honored auteur - which is not always their best. Directors climb up the rungs of the selection sections from short film awards to Palme d'Or  - like Jane Campion's Camera d’Or for Peel (1982) before her Palme d’or, or in the case of Nadine Labaki from Un certain regard  Where do we go from here ( 2011) to Jury prize winner for Capernaum (2019). This film is the top box contender in the world for a film from the Middle East. It is exciting to see that Céline Sciamma and her new film Portrait Of A Lady On Fire - Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu  is one of the top contenders for the Palme d’Or as she climbs the steps in Cannes. This is the epitome of success at Cannes– to ascend the Red Steps. Sciamma is one of two women who are part of the official selection this year of 20+ films. Hulu has already bought the fi...

 Twenty six year old Agnès Varda shooting first feature  La Pointe Courte  (1955). By Moira Sullivan The 72nd Cannes Film Festival opened on May 14 by Edouard Baer, Master of Ceremonies. Excerpts from films made by Agnès Varda who died earlier in March were projected. Varda is featured on the poster for the festival with a young Agnès standing on a stool to shoot her first feature film La Pointe Courte (1955). The feature film jury this year is composed of US director Kelly Reichardt, US actress Elle Fanning, Maimouna N’Diaye director from Burkina Fazo, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, French directors Enki Bilal, Robin Campillo, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos and Paweł Pawlikowski director from Poland - presided over by this year's jury President: Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. The first screening of the official competition followed the ceremony directed by Jim Jarmusch, The Dead Don’t Die starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton,...

By Moira Sullivan On the idyllic Scottish islet of Summerisle, the best fruits and vegetables, livestock and crops grow. Wickerman is a film about this island directed by Robin Hardy based on the 1967 novel Ritual by David Pinner. Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives by seaplane and in the distance, the local men reluctantly send over a dinghy so he can come ashore. The men are rustic, provincial and salty and that goes for pretty much for all the inhabitants of this islet. Sergeant Howie is looking for a missing child - Rowan Morrison. He first stop is at the shop run by Mrs. Morrison who lives with her young daughter. He helps her fill in the color for a drawing of a rabbit. "Everyone knows Rowan, silly", she says,  "and is mostly likely playing in the field". - "A rabbit, silly!". This is the first of many tricks that Sergeant Howie experiences. At the local inn he is served a meal from cans - not fresh produce that the island is known fo...

By Moira Sullivan Swedish actress Britt Eklund On the idyllic Scottish islet of Summerisle, the best fruits and vegetables, livestock and crops grow. The Wicker Man is a film about this island directed by Robin Hardy based on the 1967 novel Ritual by David Pinner. Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives by seaplane and in the distance, the local men reluctantly send over a dinghy so he can come ashore. The gents are rustic, provincial and salty and that goes for pretty much for all the inhabitants of this islet. Sergeant Howie is looking for a missing child - Rowan Morrison. His first stop is at the shop run by Mrs. Morrison who lives with her young daughter. Howie helps her fill in the color for a drawing of a rabbit. "Everyone knows Rowan, silly", she says and is mostly likely playing in the field. A rabbit. This is the first of many tricks that Sergeant Howie experiences. At the local inn he is served a meal from cans - not fresh produce that the island is kno...

By Moira Sullivan Girls of the Sun directed and written by French filmmaker Eva Husson is in San Francisco and one of three films made by women selected for the official competition at Cannes last May. It is an ambitious effort that tells the story of female soldiers called the "Girls of the Sun" battalion, based on a true story from August 2014 set in the Sinjar Mountains of northern Iraq. This was Yazidi territory with 300,000 inhabitants. It becomes the prime target of ISIS attacks in genocidal warfare affecting  Yazidi’s who do not escape in time. The female battalion is committed to rescuing their young boys forced to attend Jihadist schools. The impetus to their bravery is born out of misery - 2000 women and children are driven to destinations in Raqqa in Iraq where they are sexually assaulted, tortured, sold as slaves or forced to marry. Since a woman’s army is unusual for a film ( Born in Flames (1984) by Lizzie Borden is a classic example of "speculativ...

By Purple If you are like me and wish to escape the madness unfolding  in our current daily news, then I prescribe a healthy dose of animation and urge you to leave your bunker and get yourself into a cinema this weekend to check out the Animation Show of Shows .  Now in its 20th year, the Animation Show of Shows continues its ongoing mission to seek out and share a carefully chosen  crop of new animation from around the globe. This year, the Animation Show of Shows features 15 short films that cover a broad spectrum of styles and narratives.  The program starts off strong with an award winning crowd pleaser  " The Green Bird " which delightfully depicts one bird-creatures persistent efforts to keep its egg safe.  This is soon followed by director Andrew Chesworth's sweet short film " One Small Step " which warms the heart while reminding us to keep shooting for the stars. Handkerchiefs might be a good idea.  My  personal favorite film...

By Moira Sullivan Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has won multiple prizes at A – list film festivals including best film at Un Certain Regard at Cannes for Dogtooth in 2009, the Jury Prize at Cannes for The Lobster and Best screenplay for the Killing of a Sacred Deer at Cannes in 2017 – his films plays on language and absurd imaginative encounters. His latest film T he Favourite which won the Grand Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival where it debuted August 30 and is perhaps his most intelligible film  using the conventional form of the historical drama. The title of the film has to do with a specific role of a favored person to the royal court of the time, which includes various levels of intimacy including same sex love or otherwise. The film is about two female lovers to the mid 16th and 17th century regent Queen Anne of England and Ireland (played by Olivia Colman -who took home the Volpi cup at Venice) – and the last of...

By Moira Sullivan Camorran boss Raffaele Cutolo "Camorra" by Francesco Patierno, a documentary in the Venice "Orizzonti" section is an outstanding film unique in its way of illustrating the development if organized crime in the region of Compania and capital city Naples. Using historic newsreel footage and photojournalism, the film’s editor Maria Fantastica Valmori shows how life was from the 1970's to 1990's in this area. The document is a continuous essay, that is relentless in its investigation- a chronicle of violence and poverty of a secret criminal society, the Camorra who are behind multiple homicides through the years. Director Francesco Patierno visited the archives of Rai Teche and Valmori for footage of this time. Many stills also come from the photojournalist Riccordo Carbone from the daily newspaper "Il Mattino”. Once notices there are few women or young girls from the past that are on the films - they are seldom interview...

By Moira Sullivan Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy Brady Corbet has made another spectacular and engaging film after his triumph at the Venice Film Festival three years ago with The Childhood of a Leader, which won best debut film and best director awards. What I like about his work is that his films are open to assembly by the spectator and are an invitation to explore history in new ways. The upbringing of a young boy in The Childhood of a Leader was divided into three acts with a child’s temper tantrums and horrible parents, and a finale of a future era where he is the leader of a fascist government Vox Lux which debuted at Venice September 4 is also divided into acts - the form that Corbet presently has chosen for his films. In this film the young girl Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) is involved in a horrible school shooting, writes a song to express her feelings about It , and becomes a world famous pop singer (Natalie Portman). Brady’s focus and platform in Childho...