According to Asian Movie Pulse, Otouto — which opens in Japan this January 30th — will be the closing title of the Berlin International Film Festival on February 21st.
It will also be in competition against Zhang Yimou’s film San Qiang Pai An Jing Qi (A Simple Noodle Story), Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer.
Will Yu and Ryo attend the festival? xD
Congrats, Amy! You’ve made it a year!
Now please, get to work on that website you’ve been talking about all this time.
Yeah, where is Nate? Yeah, that. Nate and I are working on something else, which is nothing at the moment… just a random gig, which will hopefully fuel our bank accounts a bit and let us work on YAM fully for a month or two…
This is Julz 2nd straight cover. Hooray! Omedetou!!!
In it she covered the Stockholm Film Festival… met Susan Sarandon xD, there’s a Q&A with Sin Nombre director Cary Fukunaga, reviews for Precious, Up in the Air, Koreeda’s Air Doll, Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, The Cove, Thirst, Dexter Season 4, Sasameki Koto, Family Outing, Les Amants Papillons, 2pm, Shinee, Rihanna, The Swell Seasons, Crowd Lu and more! Oh yeah! There’s also a Julz BSB concert review of their Worldwide This Is Us tour, and some Eva Ayllon. Coz we love variety…
Winner of the Best Short at the LA Film Fest (2002), and the Student Emmy Award,
comes this stop-motion by Dan Blank about the shadows left behind after Hiroshima.
just make sure you have 15min to spare, and let it load before watching~~~
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF, not to be confused with Toronto LOL) has just announced that Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu (Amores Perros, Babel) will be presiding the 22nd edition of the festival to be held from October 17 to October 25th this year.
Also… like I’ve mentioned before, the Tokyo Film Fest, alongside the Shanghai Film Fest are quickly turning into the most important in the region.
Anyway, as all things West media… when you search for the news, you get the articles talking about how dolphin documentary The Cove wasn’t allowed to open the festival. With titles such as “Will Tokyo Film Fest man up and show The Cove?” or “Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Tokyo Film Festival.”
That is why I was so disappointed that our film, after winning awards in the last 13 film festivals it had entered, was rejected by the Tokyo Film Festival, whose theme this year is green. Not that it is that much of a shocker, but the main goal for making the film was to shut down the cove in Taijii, Japan, where 2,300 dolphins are killed every year.
Remember that time when Hayden Panettiere got in trouble in Japan for eh… I dunno, swimming with the dolphins?
But you know, dolphins are cute this is why it deserves a documentary (and it will probably win an Oscar for it if the cuteness continues). Penguins are cute too, I admit it (and they also won an Oscar, LOL). But cows aren’t. This is why cows don’t get a documentary, and we all get to eat meat regardless of how they are slaughtered.
I’m usually not a big fan of this one-side documentaries, because I’m pretty sure they won’t show how Taiji sees this as a way to sustain its town. And it will be all about saving the dolphins… and the people saving them. – I’m looking at you Panettiere. xD – I wonder if they give an alternative to sustain the town’s economy, as well as ranting about how people kill dolphins. You know, it’s fine to show the problem, but it’s not much use without a solution. So we stop hunting them, then what? How would they survive? Please, they’d better not suggest “Dolphin Watching” or I’ll shoot myself. As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t be allowed on “x-animal watching” ever and allow the disturbance in their habitat.
Anyway, this has turned into a rant instead of reporting. LOL
I love eating. I love meat, I can’t live without it. A meal without meat feels not done.
One of the reasons I can’t be a Buddhist – I tried a Buddhist meal once in Hong Kong. So good, but gone so fast. Had to eat again 2hrs. later. Perhaps, I can suggest watching Departures? Things sometimes need to die for you to survive.
Here’s The Cove website.
Here’s a bit more on the Film Festival timeline~~~
Also, when I was 17-ish… I used to sort of look up to PETA, now I just think they’re pretty annoying. Perhaps they should try to change the way they preach. It seems like they just lost something along the way. Like their sanity.
Crap! Now I’m really in the mood for some Sirloin. T-T
I’ll fangirl, but I doubt Isabelle Huppert would appreciate that fangirling. In fact, when I fangirl – I don’t gush. I do the opposite. I will not bother you. It’s a very fine line for me from ignoring someone because I don’t really care, to try to ignore someone because I know they don’t want to be disturbed.
Blame my mom for it. LOL
Anyway, I got to see Isabelle Huppert pretty up close.
The whole “people don’t shove your camera onto her face” thing didn’t work out here. Everyone was flashing her(with their cameras, not the other type of flashing… though that’d be hilarious),
but I was at bay.
So here is a photo-chronic LOL
I normally don’t post much about Film Festivals, mainly because I don’t get to see many of the films during festivals. However, I thought that I should talk about the Toronto International Film Festival, which seems like a big industry thing. I decided to do this mainly because over at theauteurs.com they’ve recently updated their menu bar options with a “festival” section, and the TIFF section (at least for this year’s edition) seems pretty complete with almost 150 film links.
Cannes presence in the site isn’t bad either. Or the San Francisco International Film Festival…
Here goes~
Starting with the Venice Film Festival on September 2nd until September 12th.
TIFF starting on September 10th until September 19th.
and the San Sebastian International Film Festival (Spanish) on September 17th until September 26th.
That’s some pretty heavy Film Festival posting month. Add to that the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) that starts on October 1st until October 16th – but the line-up will be announced on September 12th.
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The Lima Film Festival closes tomorrow (Saturday 15th).
Too much to post today, not enough time to single post everything
so another round of shorts here…
First, Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) has joined Twilight.
WHAT??? Geez… I have nothing left to say about this.
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Independent Spirit Awards are ready for a call of entries for the 25th edition:
EARLY DEADLINE: Monday, September 14, 2009
FINAL DEADLINE: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
as you may know, Spirit Awards nominations mark the beginning of Award Season~
NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED: Tuesday, December 1, 2009
AWARDS CEREMONY: Friday, March 5, 2010
hmm… March? Later than I expected, but oh well~
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The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has added more titles for this year’s event, including screenings for Alejandro Amenabar’s Agora (with Rachel Weisz), and Natalie Portman’s Love and Other Impossible Pursuits.
Those are added to the list of Precious, Kore-eda’s Air Doll and Bong Joon-Ho’s Mother, which I mentioned back in this post…
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and finally… I received an email of Sony Pictures announcing Michael Jackson’s “This is It” – the last rehearsals and behind-the-scenes footage on HD and digital sound to be released on October 30th.
won’t post the “press release” because it’s so long, and to be honest – pretty boring to read.
Reuters is reporting that Jay Chou has been cast as Kato (previously played by Bruce Lee on the series) on the new movie adaptation of the Green Hornet written and played by none other than Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express, Funny People) – really? LOL
I said it! Asian invasion!!! xD
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The Lima Film Festival began today!
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VMA Nominees Announced!
Normally, I would’ve done a different post for this, but I’ve lost my interest on MTV.
Can’t blame me, can you?
Womanizer… video of the year? – oh the sadness. Alongside Spears~~~ Eminem with We Made You, Beyonce with Single Ladies, Kanye and Lady Gaga. – REALLY??? I should really make a Look Back on 2008 Videos, I mean… there should be better, MUCH BETTER music videos than those.
Lady Gaga for the win, even though I didn’t really dig any of it. <- that’s a prediction.
Gigante (2009)
Genre: Subtle Drama with Romantic Comedy Moments
Starring: Horacio Camandule & Leonor Svarcas
Directed by: Adrian Biniez
Gigante (Giant – literal translation) tells the story of Jara, a big security guard that works night shifts at a supermarket, who begins having feelings – maybe a bit of stalkery feelings – for the pretty floor cleaner.
This is the thing about films, your characters can do anything and you can feel whatever you want~ In the real world, having someone secretly following you around would totally freak you out, but it doesn’t happen in Gigante.
Jara sees the floor cleaner through the security cameras, and as days go by he checks on her without her ever knowing. One day he decides to see where she goes when she’s not working only to find out she goes to the Internet cabins, after that he sort of makes a habit out of following her and “watching out” for her, in the process knowing about her likes. He even saves her a couple of times at work, and even defends her honor when some cab driver shouts obscenities/pick-up lines at her – It’s cute in the film, but I don’t recommend anyone trying his moves in the real world. Moreover, I don’t know~ I didn’t feel her. Especially at work, she was absent-minded, and a bit clumsy… actually she exasperated me a bit during her supermarket scenes.
The film has its good moments, even though I saw people sleeping, don’t get me wrong. However, if I wanted to feel good about stalking someone, I’d watch Faye Wong on Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express stalking Tony Leung. LOL – 3/5
Huacho (2009)
Genre: Drama
Starring: Manuel Hernandez, Alejandra Yañez,
Clemira Aguayo & Cornelio Villagran
Directed by: Alejandro Fernandez Almendras
Huacho tells the story of a low-income family in central Chile, following the point of view of each member – grandparents Clemira and Cornelio, daughter Alejandra, and her pre-teenager boy Manuel – for a period of 24 hours, as they deal with the overlap of modern and rural life.
The film starts off early one morning, as everyone gets ready for a new day, and have breakfast, when suddenly the lights go out. Manuel checks if the fuses blew off, but they didn’t, so Clemira asks her daughter if she remembered to pay the electricity bill – Alejandra says she did, but of course she didn’t.
The story breaks off as Clemira leaves for work selling cheese on the side of the highway, Alejandra goes to work at a touristic hacienda, Manuel goes to school, and Cornelio goes to the field he is fencing. It all paints a realistic description of a family that is trapped between a modern society where you need to pay your bills, but still find yourself getting a new dress or wanting a brand new video game, and a rural lifestyle where you struggle for the price of milk to make your own cheese to make ends meet.
The film has a lot of scenes that are devoid from any dialog, and has characters wandering around or just standing there, which either makes you wonder what they’re thinking or gets you to feel gloomy. My favorite segment was probably grandmother Clemira’s as she struggles to sell the fresh cheese she’s made, and all her seller “friends” begin leaving one by one. In the end, Clemira is at the bus stop alone waiting for Manuel to pick her up.
No big climactic big bang booms, Huacho will slowly show you a seemingly average day of a normal family trying to cope with the changing times. It actually reminded me of some slow-paced Japanese films, and those pawn! – 3.75/5
