This Award Season reflects life, uncertainty. Trying to decipher a front runner in the race has confounded critics and filmgoers.
Tar and Everything Everywhere All at Once seem sure bets as does Braden Fraser and Ke Huy Quan are nods bets.
Cate Blanchette, Michelle Yeoh and Danielle Deadwyler for the little seen Till are front runners for actress.
Will Tom Cruise get the gold this year? Top Gun was the feel good flick of the year. The veteran blockbuster draw deserves a trophy for his $1 billion achievement.
The Best Picture field is wide open. Tar, The Fabelmans, Banshees of Inisherin and Babylon top the list. Wakanda and Babylon could sneak in the pack. Avatar:The Way of Water, the $350 million production will certainly get a number of technical nominations leading to a spot on the Best Picture list.
Todd Field for Best Director, Tar has the momentum, but I would not rule out James Cameron.
Award Season runs until March 12th 2023, the final ceremony is the Academy Awards in Hollywood.
Emmy Winner Michaela Coel has become an entertainment juggernaut. Starring in the much talked about series “I May Destroy You” to this month’s highly anticipated Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever. We had the pleasure of interviewing Coel at the Shooting Stars event at the Berlinale a few years ago. The multi-hyphenate actress is on the brink of becoming a household name.
A mockumentary from a South African filmmaker seemed a bit of a long shot. Attending a film festivals is about viewing cinema outside of one’s comfort zone. Part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam Return of the Tiger Section, Daryn’s Gym was a curious title with an unusual premise. Surprisingly, the work from director Brett Michael Innes made me laugh. Soldiers lead by an ill prepared leader in a David versus Goliath battle.
Black and Paper interview with Producer Paulo Areal from the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Normally, South Africa audiences expect serious, heavy subjects. You avoided this narrative, going for comedy. What was the reason? “During COVID there was just so much heartache and pain. Brett Micheal-Innes, the writer-director producer of the film who is a known creative who deals with Dramatic themes, felt we needed to see a different slice of South Africa, a slice where a bunch of lovable misfits come together to fight for a common cause.”
As the producer, how did you approach this film? “Daryn’s Gym was conceived, written, and produced over a 6 months period during COVID.
As the producers it was our task to run the first “COVID Safe feature set’ in South Africa. These uncharted waters had many firsts in terms of Social distancing, COVID protocols and regulations. However, these challengers brought the crew and cast together and made the journey a pleasant one.”
Clifford Joshua Young as Daryn
Was the audience supposed to feel sorry for Daryn, at times feeling the need to put him out of his misery? “I don’t think so, even though Daryn was out of his depth regularly, his naivety was part of his charm and makes him endeared to the audiences.”
The Perfect Villain
Were you hands on in regards to casting? “Brett and I worked closely in the casting process and the final draft of the script was written once the leads had been locked off giving Brett the luxury of crafting the roles for the specific actors.”
Daryn’s Gym was screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
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“Family Is Family”. A family can be a source of inspiration for artists. Morgane Dziurla-Petit’s family inspired work Excess Will Save Us is an examination of close relationship and manipulations. From a small French Village Petit points a lens at inhabitants whipped up by paranoia by far off event. However, in this story, who are the true nemeses?
An interview with Morgane Dziurla-Petit from the International Film Festival Rotterdam
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Congratulations! You shattered illusions about French Sophistication. How has your view changed now as compared to when you started this film? “Well I never had an illusion that French people were particularly sophisticated, growing up in a working class family. But I had the belief that sophistication was needed to change social class which felt important to me when I was younger. This is the kind of things that transforms your heritage into shame.
Making Excess Will Save Us was definitely a work on stopping the shame and creating a dialogue. I do not idealise countryside or working class because I find that there can be a lot of violence – afflicted and inflicted – but making the film made me grow so much more love and understanding for where I come from.”
These types of feelings, manipulations and reactions to events one would expect from perhaps Middle or Rural America, not a few hours drive from Paris. Are you saying emotions are universal? “I think that anyone who makes films has the belief that emotions are universal. And with globalisation, the systems that influence us – even if you are a 93 year old man – are becoming more and more similar. But I am also in a particular situation as a French filmmaker because I live in Sweden – a country that is very much influenced by the US, much more so than France. I can see that it has sometimes influenced my choices.
Even though I work with a multiplication of small stories happening in the village of my family, I wanted them to be understood by an international audience. For example, there is that story about my grandfather believing that the tombstone of my grandmother has a strange smell. One of the versions of the edit went to the point where he shared that it maybe had something to do with Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, a French man famous because he has killed his family and has never been found by the police. Though hilarious for a French person, I could see that this would not land on an international audience so it was removed.”
Comedy Is Love
The dysfunctional relationships were central. As a director was it hard to get the talent to be exposed in this manner on camera? “Comedy is the love language in my family so it was hard with the people I am the closest to – especially my dad – to sometimes go out of that. I wanted the film to operate movements between comedy and drama and my father could be anxious about that. He likes to have a direct answer about what people think of him and there is nothing more direct than a laugh. It is part of his character though and I love that look he has in the film where he is always trying to be seen by the audience. That’s what makes me laugh but that’s also what makes me love his character despite the terrible things he does. All in all each of the non professionals have an opinion on how they want to be seen in the family and it is extremely similar to the way they want the camera to see them.”
The Source of Inspiration
You drew inspiration from your family and community, how did they react to the film? “Amazingly, I really could not have hoped for better. They see the film as something very true to who they are even in the more fictional parts. And I was surprised to see a difference from showing the short film I had made about them where most of their comments back then were on details like the clothes they wore or the cleaning they should have done better. This time they did not speak about that and enjoyed the story… and also understood my job much better going through the emotional journey that they know is a construction of a whole team of people.”
As a filmmaker, are you drawn to more farcical situations? “My next project is a drama so it could be weird to answer yes even though it is something I obviously love. I think that in general I am drawn towards quidproquo, cringe and meta. And these are things that can be worked on in both the context of comedy and drama. They have the power to make you feel intimately close to characters and again… work on our own shames.”
Excess Will Save Us All was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in January.
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Utama has won acclaimed for its visual poetry style. Bolivian Director Alejandro Loayza Grisi‘s film follows the affects of severe weather on a shepherd family.
Chat Cinema Podcast with the filmmaker coming soon.
An extraordinary film released in 1981, Jean-Jacques Beineix‘s DIVA is a classic example of Cinema Du Look. Expressive, colorful, romantic. The French thriller is the story of an Opera Singer and a secret tape. Released by Rialto Pictures in the US.
The 75th Cannes Film Festival opened with a bang with Tom Cruise walking on the legendary Red Carpet. The Superstar brought all the glamour to the South of France this year with his new film MAVERICK.
The 2022 Cannes Film Festival went with heavyweights this year unveiling a star studded line up. Competition for the Golden Palm include features from directors David Cronenberg and Claire Denis along with sixteen other works.
Big Hollywood titles unspooling on the French Riviera include TOP GUN sequel MAVERICK and Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS.
Back in 2017 during a Robert Pattinson press conference, I could not have imagined he would become Batman. Pattinson’s performance has been well received by fans. The blockbuster DC Comic film at the time of writing has grossed $500 million at the box office.
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