Not even 12 hours ago we learned Kristen Stewart had nabbed a new auteur in Panos Cosmatos, a wise choice by the ever-adventurous actress. Her other choice on May 2, 2024 is quite another level of intrigue: Albert Serra, the perpetual festival favorite whose Pacifiction was something of a breakout hit, yes, if not quite to a level anyone anticipated. (Anyone but the man himself.) Per Film Stiftung, Serra’s previously announced Out of This World has secured funding, coinciding with a planned 2025 premiere.
Out of This World will likely feature an uncharacteristic level of English dialogue for Serra. As the official synopsis goes: “An American delegation travels to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions. Out of This World explores the eternal rivalry between Russia and the USA.”
“As is often the case, one of the year’s...
Out of This World will likely feature an uncharacteristic level of English dialogue for Serra. As the official synopsis goes: “An American delegation travels to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions. Out of This World explores the eternal rivalry between Russia and the USA.”
“As is often the case, one of the year’s...
- 5/3/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Running April 4-7, the Iff Panama brings to this year’s edition a rich mix of standout director driven titles from Europe, the Spanish-speaking world and beyond, spangled by highlights from Central America, including Panama:
“Bila Burba,” (Duiren Wagua, Panama)
Documentary. Wagua’s debut feature. The Gunadule nation’s ties with the Panamanian government were fraught with territorial and cultural disputes. In 1925, leaders Simral Colman and Nele Kantule, inspired by their warrior ancestors, joined forces to unite their communities in the ‘Dule Revolution’ against police brutality. Today, their descendants honor this legacy through street theater, transforming community streets into stages to commemorate their ancestors’ struggle.
Bila Burba
“Brown,” (Ricardo Aguilar, Panama)
Penned by Aguilar’s regular collaborator, Manolito Rodríguez, the story centers on Teófilo Alfonso, also known as “Panamá Al” Brown, the first Latin American World Boxing Champion. After a fixed fight costs him his title, he retires to Paris.
“Bila Burba,” (Duiren Wagua, Panama)
Documentary. Wagua’s debut feature. The Gunadule nation’s ties with the Panamanian government were fraught with territorial and cultural disputes. In 1925, leaders Simral Colman and Nele Kantule, inspired by their warrior ancestors, joined forces to unite their communities in the ‘Dule Revolution’ against police brutality. Today, their descendants honor this legacy through street theater, transforming community streets into stages to commemorate their ancestors’ struggle.
Bila Burba
“Brown,” (Ricardo Aguilar, Panama)
Penned by Aguilar’s regular collaborator, Manolito Rodríguez, the story centers on Teófilo Alfonso, also known as “Panamá Al” Brown, the first Latin American World Boxing Champion. After a fixed fight costs him his title, he retires to Paris.
- 4/3/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Producer Pierre-Olivier Bardet has become a hero to filmmakers who rock the boat – feature and documentary revolutionaries who work in ways that he says are “completely unique,” as he puts it: Albert Serra, Frederick Wiseman, Wang Bing and Alexandr Sokurov.
And it’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have agreed to produce an English version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Kenneth Branagh (after Francis Ford Coppola and several luminaries declined the project), set in World War I.
But for Bardet, the fascination of working with those who reject the usual conventions of filmmaking is what drives him – which is a key reason he was honored at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival for his contribution to cinema by the Czech producers association.
Bardet’s new film with Serra, focused on the rituals of bullfighting in Spain, is likely to push boundaries still further,...
And it’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have agreed to produce an English version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Kenneth Branagh (after Francis Ford Coppola and several luminaries declined the project), set in World War I.
But for Bardet, the fascination of working with those who reject the usual conventions of filmmaking is what drives him – which is a key reason he was honored at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival for his contribution to cinema by the Czech producers association.
Bardet’s new film with Serra, focused on the rituals of bullfighting in Spain, is likely to push boundaries still further,...
- 10/28/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
One of the most purely pleasurable films of the year, Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things secured France’s pick as their Oscar entry over Anatomy of a Fall, which should be no surprise to those who have seen both films. Led by Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, the culinary drama may go down easy, but there’s an impressive sense of heartbreak and longing to the film, which will next stop by the 61st New York Film Festival before opening from IFC Films. Along with a new trailer, they’ve set an awards-qualifying run in December 2023, then a limited opening on February 9, 2024 and expansion on February 14, 2024.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s...
- 10/4/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Over the past couple of years, thousands of readers have followed the blood-soaked adventures of Owen the Barbarian and his talking axe in the viscerally violent, eerily ominous, and endlessly entertaining Vault Comics series Barbaric, written by Michael Moreci with artwork by Nathan Gooden! Now the world of Barbaric is expanding with the first issue of Queen of Swords (written by Moreci with artwork by Corin Howell), and we caught up with Moreci in a new Q&a feature to discuss fleshing out the world of Barbaric, collaborating with the talented artists Gooden and Howell, and plans for another Barbaric spinoff!
You can read our full Q&a with Michael Moreci below, be sure to visit Vault Comics' official website for more information, and check out our previous post to read Barbaric #1 in its entirety as well as an extended preview of Queen of Swords #1!
Also, keep an eye out...
You can read our full Q&a with Michael Moreci below, be sure to visit Vault Comics' official website for more information, and check out our previous post to read Barbaric #1 in its entirety as well as an extended preview of Queen of Swords #1!
Also, keep an eye out...
- 6/15/2023
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
New to Streaming: Pacifiction, R.M.N., Millennium Mambo, Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV & More
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
- 5/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
From Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden, Addison Duke, and Jim Campbell, Barbaric is easily one of my favorite recent comic book releases. Giving readers an action-packed and blood-filled yet humorous story that will please any fantasy fan, I'm always suggesting it to new and lifelong comic book readers alike. I'm thrilled that Vault Comics has provided us with the entire first issue of Barbaric #1 exclusively for Daily Dead readers, along with an extended preview of the first issue in the upcoming standalone spinoff series Queen of Swords!
Barbaric #1: Barbaric #1 is collected with the other two issues as part of Barbaric Vol. 1: Murderable Offenses:
"Owen The Barbarian has an axe. And he's gonna do good with it if he has to kill someone.
Owen the Barbarian has been cursed to do good with what remains of his life. His bloodthirsty weapon, Axe, has become his moral compass with a drinking problem.
Barbaric #1: Barbaric #1 is collected with the other two issues as part of Barbaric Vol. 1: Murderable Offenses:
"Owen The Barbarian has an axe. And he's gonna do good with it if he has to kill someone.
Owen the Barbarian has been cursed to do good with what remains of his life. His bloodthirsty weapon, Axe, has become his moral compass with a drinking problem.
- 5/4/2023
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.REMEMBRANCERyuichi Sakamoto: Coda.Ryuichi Sakamoto died last week at the age of 71. He was the keyboardist for Yellow Magic Orchestra, who revolutionized techno in the early ’80s, and later became a pioneering composer for film—notably Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which he stars. It is impossible to sum up his impact in a bullet point, but we offer up a few finds: below, a clip from the 1985 film Tokyo Melody, in which Sakamoto shows us how to compose on the then-state-of-the-art Fairlight Cmi. Here, a 2018 New York Times piece about his quest to create the ideal background playlist for a beloved restaurant. “If I was an architect, I would be a bad one,...
- 5/3/2023
- MUBI
Last month, the 48th César Awards ceremony took place and alongside trophies given to recent releases, David Fincher was bestowed the Honorary César. It looks like the director––who is in post-production on his Michael Fassbender-led crime thriller The Killer ahead of a November release––took the honor seriously as he watched all the Best Film nominees: Pacifiction, Forever Young, Rise, The Innocent, the evening’s winner The Night of the 12th.
Across the viewings, the only one he appreciated was reportedly Albert Serra’s Pacifiction. Star of the film and César Best Actor winner Benoît Magimel told Allocine that he went to a dinner featuring Fincher and Brad Pitt, who relayed the kind words about the film. Magimel said, “[Brad Pitt told me]: ‘David Fincher is pretty tough. In twenty years, I must have seen him about five times happy to see a film. Meaning, he doesn’t like anything.’ He said to me,...
Across the viewings, the only one he appreciated was reportedly Albert Serra’s Pacifiction. Star of the film and César Best Actor winner Benoît Magimel told Allocine that he went to a dinner featuring Fincher and Brad Pitt, who relayed the kind words about the film. Magimel said, “[Brad Pitt told me]: ‘David Fincher is pretty tough. In twenty years, I must have seen him about five times happy to see a film. Meaning, he doesn’t like anything.’ He said to me,...
- 3/21/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Far and away our consensus favorite of this year’s Cannes Film Festival was Albert Serra’s competition entry Pacifiction. Set on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, it follows the journey of a French bureaucrat with a hypnotic vision. It’s been picked up by Grasshopper Film and Gratitude Films for a theatrical release, and a new international teaser brings intrigue without (thankfully) revealing too much. Serra’s work will also be stopping by TIFF and NYFF ahead of its to-be-announced opening.
As Rory O’Connor said in his review,” Pacifiction is what Albert Serra might describe as an unfuckable movie. “Unfuckable is, you take the whole thing or you don’t take it but you cannot apply a critical judgment in an easy way,” he explained to us in 2019, “because it is what it is and it doesn’t look like any other film.” Pacifiction does not look like any other film.
As Rory O’Connor said in his review,” Pacifiction is what Albert Serra might describe as an unfuckable movie. “Unfuckable is, you take the whole thing or you don’t take it but you cannot apply a critical judgment in an easy way,” he explained to us in 2019, “because it is what it is and it doesn’t look like any other film.” Pacifiction does not look like any other film.
- 8/17/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The good news is that Pacifiction, the latest feature from Catalan auteur Albert Serra, who’s only in his 40s but directs like a grand old man of the 1960s avant-garde, is quite watchable, even sort of plot-driven — for a Serra film.
It’s got a fun central performance from Benoît Magimel and a spectacular Tahitian location. There’s even a surfing scene, the closest Serra may have ever gotten to an action sequence. On the other hand, it is still a 162-minute slog. And that aforementioned plot is a very attenuated, listless creature, telling a murky — in every sense — tale of political intrigue and municipal power struggles that refuses to be resolved or reveal any mysteries by the end. It’s like a Polynesian version of Chinatown but made by a cast and crew stoned on rum and ketamine. Forget it, Jake, it’s Papeete.
Highbrow viewers who like...
It’s got a fun central performance from Benoît Magimel and a spectacular Tahitian location. There’s even a surfing scene, the closest Serra may have ever gotten to an action sequence. On the other hand, it is still a 162-minute slog. And that aforementioned plot is a very attenuated, listless creature, telling a murky — in every sense — tale of political intrigue and municipal power struggles that refuses to be resolved or reveal any mysteries by the end. It’s like a Polynesian version of Chinatown but made by a cast and crew stoned on rum and ketamine. Forget it, Jake, it’s Papeete.
Highbrow viewers who like...
- 5/27/2022
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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