Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Award-winners announced at Durban International Film Festival



The 33rd edition of the Durban International Film Festival, with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund,  this evening (Saturday, July 28) announced its award-winners, prior to the closing film. Winner of the Best Feature Film award, Love (Amour) was applauded by the International Jury as “unmissable”, and the film’s director Michael Haneke, as a “contemporary master with an astute understanding of his cinematic world”. The Best Feature Film award carries a cash prize of R50 000.
The international Jury which comprised Zimbabwean filmmaker and novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, hot South African director Oliver Hermanus, producer and television presenter Kgomotso Matsunyane, and Canadian producer, director Peter Wintonick also awarded the Best First Feature Film prize ( R20 000) to Australian Julia Leigh for Sleeping Beauty (Australia).
Animation Film wins best SA prize
Receiving a cash prize of R30 000, the Best South African Feature Film was awarded to Adventures in Zambezia (South Africa), directed by Wayne Thornley. Of the large number of South African films screened this year, the jury’s unanimous voice lauded this film as one with “strong writing and direction, and beautiful animation infused with the spirit of the continent…” and one that “tells an African story from an African perspective while having clear global appeal”.
The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award, with a prize of € 2,500, went to Malika Zouhali-Worral and Katherine Fairfax Wright’s film Call Me Kuchu which focuses on attacks on gay  people in Uganda.
The full list of awards is: 


Best Film: Love (Amour) (France, Austria, Germany), directed by Michael Haneke




Best South African Feature Film: Adventures in Zambezia (South Africa), directed by Wayne Thornley


Best First Feature Film: Sleeping Beauty (Australia), directed by Julia Leigh

Best Director: Benh Zeitlin for Beasts Of The Southern Wild (USA)

Best Actress: Deanie Ip in A Simple Life (Tao Jie) (Hong Kong SAR China)



Best Actor: Joseph Wairimu in Nairobi Half Life (Kenya, Germany)

Best Cinematography: Gökhan Tiryaki for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey)

Best Screenplay: Ercan Kesal, Ercan Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey)

Special Jury Mention Feature Film: Goodbye (Be Omid E Didar) (Iran), directed by Mohammad Rasoulof

Best Documentary: 5 Broken Cameras (Palestinian Territories, France, Israel, The Netherlands), directed by Guy Davidi

Best South African Documentary: The African Cypher (South Africa), directed by Bryan Little

Documentary Special Jury Mention: Calvet (Costa Rica, France, Nicaragua, United Kingdom, United States), directed by Dominic Allan

Best Short Film: The Bird Spider (La Migala) (Spain), directed by Jaime Dezcallar

Best South African Short Film: Doppelganger (South Africa), directed by Joshua Rous



Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award: Call Me Kuchu (USA), directed by Malika Zouhali-Worral and Katherine Fairfax Wright

DIFF Wavescape Audience Choice Award: The Art of Flight (USA), directed by Curt Morgan

DIFF Documentary Audience Choice Award: Searching for Sugarman (Sweden, United Kingdom), directed by Malik Bendjellou

DIFF Feature Film Audience Choice Award: The Lady (France, United Kingdom), directed by Luc Besson

Sunday is the last day of screenings with film screenings at Suncoast Cinema, Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Cinema Nouveau Gateway, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (University of KwaZulu-Natal), Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre (Kwa-Mashu), and the Blue Waters Hotel.

The 33rd Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City of Durban, German Embassy in South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa, French Season in South Africa, and a range of other valued partners. 

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Rod Stewart signs worldwide recording deal with Universal Music Group.


The multi-album deal will see Stewart team up with Grammy award-winning producer, songwriter and Verve Music Group chairman David Foster to record his first Christmas album.
Stewart will team up with Grammy award-winning producer, songwriter and Verve Music Group chairman David Foster for the album, which will be his first festive LP.


It will feature a handful of big name vocal duets and will be released this autumn via Verve Music Group.
"I've known Rod and Arnold for many years and have been wanting to work with them for some time," said UMG CEO Lucian Grainge.
"Rod possesses one of pop music's most inventive and memorable voices; and we're delighted to be part of the next great chapter in his already storied career."
"UMG remains committed to artistic creativity and expanding opportunities for artists in the marketplace," he added, "and nowhere is this more evident than in our new partnership with an artist of Rod's caliber."
Rod Stewart said, "I'm confident that by partnering with my fellow CBE, Lucian, and his cracking, top-notch company, we have the best team in the business. And the chance to work again with David Foster makes it that much sweeter."
Arnold Stiefel added: "This is a match made in heaven. Rod's writing spirit has been rekindled and Universal is the perfect keeper of the flame."

From music week



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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Nominees and Winners of the 65th Cannes Film Festival



highly gifted Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke won his second Palme d’Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival with his romantic thriller Amour (Love). His first Palme d’Or was for his film The White Ribbon in 2009. Thousands of filmmakers, distributors, movie buffs, tourists and others thronged the festival from from May 16 to May 27, 2012. The President of the Jury for the main competition was the notable Italian director Nanni Moretti while British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard and the event was hosted by French screen diva Bérénice Bejo.
There were 22 films in the Official Selection and Egypt was the only African country in competition this year, but her entry Yousry Nasrallah’s Baad El Mawkeaa (After The Battle) did not win any prize.
The following are all the selected films and winners, including winners of other awards.
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Brazil:Special guest country to the 65th Cannes film festival




 Brazil:Special guest country to the 65th Cannes film festival





This year the Festival de Cannes celebrates Brazil as its “special guest country”. Following on from Egypt in 2011, it is the second year in a row that the Festival has shone the spotlight on a great filmmaking nation.

The quality of Brazil’s output is clearly on display with four films in Official Selection, plus On the Road by Walter Salles in Competition.

A Música segundo Tom Jobim by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, co-directed with Tom Jobim’s granddaughter Dora Jobim, will be the subject of as Special Screening on Tuesday 22 May. Tom Jobim, composer of the famous “Girl from Ipanema” was one of the founding fathers of Bossa Nova. Nelson Pereira dos Santos for his part is considered as one of the pioneers of new Brazilian cinema.

Also being screened during Cannes Classics:

- Xica da Silva by Carlos Diegues, one of the most prominent Brazilian directors in terms of the Festival de Cannes (in particular with his films Bye bye Brasil - 1980, Quilombo - 1986, Rio Zone - 1987). He is President of the Jury at this year’s Caméra d´Or.

- Twenty Years Later by Eduardo Coutinho. Eduardo Coutinho is regarded as Brazil’s most important documentary maker, having also made Edificio Master, The Mighty Spirit and Peões.

Carlos Diegues, Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Juliana Rojas (whose Trabalhar Cansa was selected for Un Certain Regard in 2011), will also take part in a debate at the Short Film Corner.

Director Karim Ainouz (whose Madame Sata was selected for Un Certain Regard in 2002 and Abismo Prateado at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011) is a member of the Cinéfondation and short films juries.

The homage to Brazil will conclude with a musical fiesta on Tuesday 22 May at the Agora from 11 pm.
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

65th FESTIVAL DE CANNES AWARDS





The official Jury of this 65th Festival de Cannes, presided over by Nanni Moretti, revealed this evening the prizes winners during the Closing Ceremony.
Bérénice Bejo hosted Audrey Tautou and Adrien Brody on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière to award the Palme d’or to Michael Haneke for his film Amour (Love).
Claude Miller’s Thérèse Desqueyroux starring Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche and Anaïs Demoustier, was screened at the end of the ceremony.

SYNOPSIS OF AMOUR(LOVE)

Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers.
Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family.
One day, Anne has an attack.
The couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Michael HANEKE
CREDITS
Michael HANEKE - Director
Michael HANEKE - Screenplay
Darius KHONDJI - Cinematography
Jean-Vincent PUZOS - Set Designer
Nadine MUSE - Film Editor
Monika WILLI - Film Editor
Jean-Pierre LAFORCE - Sound
Guillaume SCIAMA - Sound


ACTORS
Jean-Louis TRINTIGNANT - Georges
Emmanuelle RIVA - Anne
Isabelle HUPPERT - Eva
Alexandre THARAUD – Alexandre

Biography of Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke (born 23 March 1942) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. Haneke has worked in television‚ theatre and cinema. He is also known for raising social issues in his work. Besides working as filmmaker he also teaches directing at the Filmacademy Vienna.
At the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, his film The White Ribbon won the Palme d'Or for best film, and at the 67th Golden Globe Awards the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2012, his film, Love, premiered and competed at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film would go on to win the Palme d'Or, making it his second win of the prestigious award in three years and putting him in an elite club of only seven with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola. He has made films in French, German and in English.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

UNCERTAIN REGARDS


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Official Selection 2012


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Official Selection 2012

 


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