Month: October 2015

Crumbs (Miguel Llansó, 2015)

On By RebeccaIn Spanish Cinema

01_Crumbs

This is another film seen earlier in the year in a festival context – D’A Festival in Barcelona – and it’s one of my favourite films of 2015. I’ve spotted that it’s getting a US release today but it’s also going to be at Leeds Film Festival next month (ticket details can be found here).

I wrote about the film in the aftermath of going to Barcelona. My review of Crumbs (*****) is over at Eye for Film (here – fair warning: I’ve probably included too many plot details, so maybe hold off reading it until you’ve seen the film), where you can also find the interview I did with director Miguel Llansó (Part 1 and Part 2). I hope to revisit the film before the year is over – when I do, I will write a bit more about it on here.

Crimson Peak (Guillermo del Toro, 2015)

On By RebeccaIn Films

Crimson Peak_Chastain

It’s rare that I see a film on its opening weekend – unless it’s a limited release that may not stick around – but I belatedly realised that I was unlikely to get to Crimson Peak next week, so I went this morning. My review is now up at Eye for Film – here.

I’ve stuck to the bare bones in terms of plot details and have tried to avoid any spoilers – I generally don’t read reviews before I’ve seen a film, but I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone who does read them first. As the review indicates, I felt that there was something missing from the film but I’m still pondering what exactly that was; I may return to it on here when more people have seen it so that I can go into more detail. But I think that it’s highly unlikely that Guillermo del Toro will ever make a film that isn’t worth seeing (and I’m certainly intending to rewatch this one in the future) – so go see!

Festival Report: Curtocircuíto

On By RebeccaIn Films

Volontè

As I’ve already said, I didn’t manage to go to Santiago de Compostela for Curtocircuíto but the festival gave me access to most of the films in the competitive categories. Besides the films that I reviewed for Eye for Film (and some films that I saw in Edinburgh earlier this year – Scrapbook (Mike Hoolboom, 2015), I Am a Spy (Sarah Wood, 2015), and Sound of a Million Insects, Light of a Thousand Stars (Tomonari Nishikawa, 2014)), the standouts for me included World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt, 2015) [which is available to rent on Vimeo], The Liquid Casket / Wilderness of Mirrors (Paul Clipson, 2014), Embargo (Johann Lurf, 2014), Paisaje con perro roto / Landscape With Broken Dog (Orazio Leogrande, 2014), Tehran-Geles (Arash Nassiri, 2014), Descubrimiento de Américo / Discovery of Américo (Miguel Mariño, 2014), and Historia Cerebro / Brain Story (Borja Santomé, 2015).

The latter two films were part of a collection of Galician shorts and given that I’ve been considering the Novo Cinema Galego recently, I decided to focus my festival report on films from that section – my report can be found at Eye for Film. I specifically focussed on Cruz Piñón (Xisela Franco, 2015), Hyohakusha, caminante sin rumbo / Hyohakusha, Aimless Wanderer (Xisela Franco and Anxela Caramés, 2015), and Volontè (Marcos Flórez, Helena Girón, Rafa Mallo, Roberto Mallo, Miguel Prado, Lucas Vázquez de la Rubia, Lucía Vilela, 2015). My choice of films was based on the connections that I could make between them but the collection as a whole illustrated the diversity of cinema being made in Galicia.

Curtocircuíto – Santiago de Compostela International Short Film Festival 2015

On By RebeccaIn Films, Spanish Cinema

Curtocircuito_poster

I have been covering Curtocircuíto from home in North East England rather than venturing to North West Spain – covering festivals from home always feels slightly fraudulent, as if I’m cheating, but travel and accommodation are costly aspects of going to film festivals and so on this occasion I had to be practical and forgo the festival atmosphere and focus on the films. The festival very kindly gave me access to most of the programme (the line-up can be found here), and I have managed to watch a fair range of what was on offer (and I may yet also delve into the filmography of Jørgen Leth – subject of a retrospective – because I’ve discovered that a lot of his films are available on DocAlliance). I will be writing a report on the festival this week (probably with a focus on the Galician films, given that Novo Cinema Galego is an interest of mine), which I will link to on here once it is up. In the meantime, I’ve written a round-up of the award winners.

I have also reviewed five of the films from across the programme – as usual, links to be added once they are online:

Becoming Anita Ekberg_03

Becoming Anita Ekberg (Mark Rappaport, 2014) – an essay film (or film essay?) exploring the formation of Ekberg’s star image.

 

In the Distance_02

In the Distance (Florian Grolig, 2015) – an animated take on isolation in time of war.

 

Neither God_01

Ni Dios ni Santa María / Neither God nor Santa María (Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado, 2015) – witchery and voices from the past.

 

Night Without Distance_03

Noite sem distância / Night Without Distance (Lois Patiño, 2015) – the film that I was most eager to catch up with (regular readers will know that Patiño’s Costa da Morte was my favourite film last year). Another investigation of the Galician landscape, this time in the form of a smuggling operation across the Galicia-Portugal border and utilising a colour negative image.

 

Ulterior_01

Ulterior (Sabrina Muhate, 2014) – an essay film on death and life and our bodies in those states. Unnerving (although admittedly I am squeamish) but I think that this is a director with her own voice (and eye).

The Happiest Days of Your Life (Frank Launder, 1950)

On By RebeccaIn Films

HappiestDays_01

One of Launder and Gilliat’s funniest productions – and a British classic – The Happiest Days of Your Life has just been re-issued on DVD/Blu-ray in the UK. My review for Eye for Film is now online – here.

Fidelio, Alice’s Odyssey (Lucie Borleteau, 2014)

On By RebeccaIn Films

Fidelio

I saw this earlier in the year in a festival context, but the film is out in the UK today. My review is over at Eye for Film – here.

Festival Report: Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2015

On By RebeccaIn Films

Berwick Logo

The ‘media arts’ aspect of Berwick marks it out as a bit different as a film festival (at least in terms of the film festivals I’ve been to so far) and the artists’ installations are placed in buildings / spaces of historical interest throughout the town – it’s a good excuse to explore the area, although I didn’t do as much wandering as last year. I’ve written a festival report for desistfilm focussed on the installations, short films and midlengthers – here. My overall favourite of the festival was Hacked Circuit (Deborah Stratman, 2014) but I’ll also be looking out for future films by Marko Grba Singh (Abdul & Hamza), Daphné Hérétakis (Archipels, granites dénudés), and Anna Sofie Hartmann (Limbo). My preview post on the festival now has the links to the films I reviewed.