MWFF 2015: Under Heaven

ASMAN ALDYNDA / UNDER HEAVEN

2015, Colour, Kyrgyzstan, First Films World Competition 

This film from Kyrghystan won a Special Mentions of the First Feature Film Jury at the Montreal World Film Festival 2015. 

The film shows us a rural setting in Kyrghystan, a Central Asia country that we, in the west, know very little about. This former Soviet Union republic had fallen on hard economical times after the fall of the Soviet Union. Many of its inhabitants have to travel to Russia to find work to be able to support themselves and their families back home. Most do honest work, but some either become victims to, or consciously choose the make-fast-money-whichever-way-possible schemes, even if they are criminal. 

The film shows us the Kyrghyz customs, some rituals and believes. But the main theme is the relationship between two brothers, what is important to each one of them, what they value the most in their lives, as well as how they relate to others, work, money, love, their community and country. Each of the brothers has a strong character, yet they are very different and choose different paths in life. What they have in common is their attraction to their neighbour girl Saltanat. Her name is symbolic, since in many Asian languages it means: realm, kingdom, monarchy, celebration, festivities or triumph (see here). So the brother's individual relationship with this girl basically symbolizes their relationship to life and even spirituality at large, their relationship to their country, the honesty of their actions, intentions, and workmanship. Each provides an example of what type of society their approach to life would create and how strong that "kingdom" would be.

The film is basically a retelling of the biblical story of Cain and Abel within the contemporary Kyrghystan setting. The brother's names Kerim and Aman also appear to be symbolic. Though they are Kyrghiz names, they seem to have been chosen to come the closest possible to those of the biblical personages. The film, though simply showing the everyday lives of two young Kyrghiz men, illustrates anew some core human principles that were immortalized in the Bible for the future generations to come, including ours.

Film's Official Synopsis

This modern day re-working of the biblical tale of Cain and Abel is set in a remote mountain village in Central Asia. Two brothers, rebellious Kerim and conscientious Aman, live with their mother and work at the family stonemason business. Their father has been forced to find work in Russia in order to pay off Kerim's debts, incurred as a result of his eldest son's drug dealing activities. The brothers both fall for a local village girl, Saltanat, which ultimately leads to a bitter dispute and unforeseen and tragic consequences. 

Director

Born in 1967, Dalmira Tilepbergen graduated philology from Kyrgyz National University and has worked as a teacher, journalist, librarian and assistant director at the Kyrgyzfilm National Studio. She has written and edited several volumes of poetry. She began making her own films in 2001 with a short, Cap for a Falcon, and followed quickly with other shorts and documentaries, including Fragile Wings (2004), Crush Down from the Seventh Floor (2005), First Born (2007), Year of Fire (2011) and Well Being (2012). UNDER HEAVEN is her first fiction feature. 

Production Team

Director : Dalmira Tilepbergen

Screenwriter : Dalmira Tilepbergen

Cinematographer : Akjol Bekbolotov

Editor : Eldiar Madakim

Cast : Anvar Osmonaliev, Taalaikan Abazova, Nurjigit Kanaev, Munara Dooronbekova

Music : Murzali Jenbaev
Film production and Sales : Prod.: Goulmira Kerimova, Kyrgyzfilm, 1 Dinara Asanova Street, Bishkek (Kirghizistan), tél.: +99 (631) 231 48 75, dalmira.cinema@gmail.com

Projections

Saturday August 29, 2015 - 07:00 PM - CINÉMA QUARTIER LATIN 9
Sunday August 30, 2015 - 05:00 PM - CINÉMA QUARTIER LATIN 9
Friday September 4, 2015 - 04:00 PM - CINÉMA QUARTIER LATIN 11

Image courtesy of MWFF and the director of the film.
Film review © Nadia Slejskova

MWFF 2015 Awards

AWARDS OF THE MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL MONTRÉAL 2015

Monday September 7, 2015

Jury

President : Dany Laferrière, writer (Canada)

Luis Urquiza, filmmaker (Mexico)

Gerardo Salcedo, festival programmer (Mexico)

Peter Rainer, writer & film critic (United States)

Ventura Pons, filmmaker, (Spain)

Tea Falco, actress (Italy)

Feature Films

Grand Prize of the Americas:

Mad Love, director Philippe Ramos (France)

Special Grand Jury Award:

Misafir (The Visitor/La Visiteuse), director Mehmet Eryilmaz (Turkey)

Two Films-Tie for Best Director:

2 Nights Till Morning, director Mikko Kuparinen (Finland / Lithuania) 

Dosieto Petrov (Petrov File / Le Dossier Petrov), director Georgi Balabanov (Bulgaria / Germany)

Best Actress:

Malin Buska for The Girl King, director Mika Kaurismäki (Canada / Finland /Germany / Sweden)

Best Actor:

Wolfram Berger for Rider Jack, director This Lüscher (Switzerland)

Best Screenplay:

Letnie Przesilenie (Summer Solstice / Solstice d’été), director Michal Rogalski (Poland/ Germany)

Best Artistic contribution:

Seven Days, director Xing Jian (China)

Innovation Award:

Un Instante En La Habana (Havana Moment), director Guillermo Ivàn Duenas (USA / Cuba / Mexico/ Colombia)

Short Films 

1st Prize :
La Voce (La voix), director David Uloth (Canada)

Jury Award:
Honeysuckle, director Lucy Lumsden (United Kingdom)

Zenith awards for best first fiction feature

Jury members for First Fiction Films:
Pierre Henri Deleau
Donald Ranvaud 
Antoine Zeind

Golden Zenith for the Best First Fiction Feature Film:

Chuyi (The Funeral / Les funérailles), director Qi Wang (China)

Silver Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film:

Para Minha Amada Morta (To My Beloved / À Ma Bien Aimée), director Ali Muritiba (Brazil))

Bronze Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film:

La Linea Delgada Amarilla (The Thin Yellow Line), director Celso Garcia (Mexico)

Special Mentions of the First Feature Film Jury:

Asman Aldynda (Under Heaven), director Dalmira Tilepbergen (Kyrgyzstan)
Rosa Chumbe, director Jonatan Relayze Chiang (Peru)

Public Awards

The Public was invited to vote for the most popular films presented during the 2015 Montreal World film festival

Public Awards for the most popular film of the Festival:
Chucks, directors Sabine Hiebler and Gerhard Ertl, from the Cornelia Travnicek novel (Austria)

Public Award for the most popular Canadian film of the Festival:

The Girl King, director Mika Kaurismäki (Canada / Finland /Germany / Sweden)

Glauber Rocha Award for the Best Latin American:

La Delgada Linea Amarilla (The Thin Yellow Line), director Celso Garcia (Mexico)

Awards for Best Documentary:

TIE Marzia, Ystäväni (Marzia My Friend / Marzia Mon Amie), director Kirsi Mattila (Finland)
Playing Lecuona, director Pavel Giroud (Spain-Colombia)

Best Canadian Short Film:

La Voce (The Voice / La Voix), director David Uloth (Canada)

FIPRESCI PRIZE (INTERNATIONALE FILM CRITICS), WORLD compétition:

Misafir (The Visitor / La Visiteuse), director Mehmet Eryilmaz (Turkey)

FIPRESCI PRIZE (INTERNATIONALE FILM CRITICS), First Feature:

Rosa Chumbe, director Jonatan Relayze Chiang (Peru)

Ecumenical Jury Prize:

L’orchestre de minuit, director Jérôme Cohen Olivar (Morroco)

Ecumenical Jury Mentions:

Doroga Na Berlin (On The Road To Berlin), director Sergei Popov (Russia)
Un Instante En La Habana, director Guillermo Ivàn Duenas (USA, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia)

OTHER AWARDS:

A special grand prize of the Americas is awarded to producer Lord Puttnam for his exceptional contribution to the world of cinema.

MWFF 2015: Finnish Film Foundation Day

Montreal World Film Festival 2015
Finnish Film Industry Day
Photo Highlights

September 5, 2015

The day was marked by the presence of the Finnish Film Foundation at the MWFF 2015. Two films were especially at the foreground. Both are completing in the festival's World Competition. One, entitled 2 Nights Till Morning is a Finnish-Lithuanian production. The other, a historical film about the Swedish Queen Christina The Girl King is a co-production between Germany, Canada, Finland and Sweden.

The celebration started with the Canadian Premier of The Girl King at the CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL. It continued with the The Girl King Press Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. A bit latter, the crew members of both films met for beer and chat at the hotel's open air terrace. And in the evening there was the Finnish Film Foundation reception. I asked a representative from the foundation why a film about a Swedish Queen would be considered to belong under the Finnish auspices. I was told that during the reign of Queen Christina Finland was a part of Sweden.

On September 7, 2015, at the closing ceremony, the following Finnish production films won Awards at the Montreal World Film Festival 2015:

Best Director:

2 Nights Till Morning, director Mikko Kuparinen (Finland / Luthania) 

Best Actress:

Malin Buska for The Girl King, director Mika Kaurismäki (Canada / Finland /Germany / Sweden)

Public Award for the most popular Canadian film of the Festival:

The Girl King, director Mika Kaurismäki (Canada / Finland /Germany / Sweden)

Award for Best Documentary:

TIE Marzia, Ystäväni (Marzia My Friend / Marzia Mon Amie), director Kirsi Mattila (Finland)

The Girl King Press Conference: Actress Malin Buska, Director Mika Kaurismäki

Film 2 Nights Till Morning Director Mikko Kuparinen and Actor Mikko Nousiainen

Chatting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Terrace

Finnish Film Foundation Evening Reception

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos by Nadia Slejskova
© Nadia Slejskova

MWFF 2015: 2 NIGHTS TILL MORNING

2 NIGHTS TILL MORNING 

2015, Colour, Finland, Lithuania, 86 minutes, World Competition 

The film won the Best Director Award at the Montreal World Film Festival 2015 closing ceremony, on September 7, 2015.

The film shows a chance encounter of two people, a man and a woman, on a business trip. Although this in itself is a rather banal situation, the film takes it from there to a more profound level where each character goes through a deeper realization about what is missing in their private lives, and also what it is for them, as sexual beings, to create an emotionally profound and meaningful relationship. This is especially true for the female character who, though in a domestic-type of a relationship with another woman back home in France, has to face her strong attraction to a man and to re-examine her sexuality, her needs, and her emotions. At first she brushes this attraction off as something fleeting and insignificant, but the circumstances of her longer than expected business trip push her to deal with her inner issues in a far more forceful way. The film shows that it is a very difficult thing for her to do. Even towards the end of the film she still tries to flee it, but then another chance encounter happens with the same man at the airport. And though she declines his offer to join him on his new business gig, this encounter gives her strength to say no to a former situation in her life and to allot some time to retrospection.

Although the lead actor Mikko Nousiainen had stated at the Press Conference at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Montreal that the lead role in this film is that of the woman, that the man is a supporting role to help the woman to realize things about herself, to experience her inner turmoil and searching, and therefore to face squarely herself, and also, in my opinion, her true femininity, I could not help but feel that both characters have equally principal roles in the film, and that there were no supporting roles. The man also goes through some profound inner restructuring, although it appears to be an easier process for him than for her. It is for the first time in quite some time he became open to accept somebody fully into his life. He introduces her jokingly to others as, "We got married two days ago."  And she repeats this phrase later in the film. As Freud said, there is truth in every joke. And as Anton Chekhov said, if you have a gun on a set, it has to fire. This type of foreshadowing in the film, as well as the woman's abandoning at the airport the present she got in Vilnius for her French girlfriend, both seem to allude that the end of the film was not the end of the two main characters' relationship, though the director stated the film had an open ending.

It was also wonderful to watch the man's character. He acts spontaneously when encountering somebody special, and stands firmly his grounds vis-à-vis his attraction.  He is a surprising opposite to many troubled men we see on the screen nowadays. Yet his character is not flat or boring but actually quite intriguing. As the director said, the main theme of the film was to show how to be true to oneself, how to discover what was the truth for you. He also added this, "The main conflict of the story isn't between the man and the woman. The main drama happens in the relationship between the woman and her private life back home. Therefore, the biggest turning point in the end of the movie doesn't in fact happen between him and her. The biggest change takes place within her, as she finally has the courage or strength to follow what she feels."

Click on images to enlarge them.

Hover your mouse over images for description and credits.

Film's Official Synopsis

A French architect, Caroline (Marie-Josée Croze), 40, in Vilnius, Lithuania on business, has to spend an extra night in the city due to a delayed work meeting. At the bar of her hotel she meets Jaakko, 35, a Finnish DJ who is in Vilnius for a gig. Caroline lets him understand that she doesn’t speak English, and Jaakko doesn’t speak French. Although they lack a common language, they find themselves enjoying each other’s company. A pleasant evening ends up with them spending a night together in Jaakko’s hotel room. But in the morning everything changes when Caroline reveals that she can speak English after all. Jaakko is a little confused, but plays it cool. Caroline in turn is feeling a bit ashamed and relieved to be leaving the city. Her return home doesn’t proceed as planned, however, as there are no flights out of Vilnius due to an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption. Caroline meets Jaakko again and he suggests that they make the best of it and get to know each other better -- find out what they both are really like. How often does one run into a one-night stand in a foreign country again? Caroline decides to play along. What then follows is 24 hours that could change their lives, but do they dare to seize the opportunity? 

 Director

Born in 1979, Finnish filmmaker Mikko Kuparinen made his directorial debut in 2005 with a short film, Homevideo, and followed that with two other shorts, Truth or Dare (2008) and Sirocco (2012) which won the H.C. Andersen Award, the Grand Prix at the Odense Film Festival, in Denmark. His first feature-length films, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, an adaptation of a play, and MOBILE HORROR (2010), were directed for television. He made his theatrical feature debut in 2012 with the romantic comedy, BODY FAT INDEX OF LOVE (2012). 2 NIGHTS TILL MORNING is his first film in English. 

Production Team

Director : Mikko Kuparinen

Screenwriter : Mikko Kuparinen

Cinematographer : Tuomo Virtanen

Editor : Antony Bentley

Cast : Marie-Josée Croze, Mikko Nousiainen, Arly Jover, Eedit Patrakka, Jonas Braškys, Juozas Gaižauskas

Film production and Sales : Prod.: Mikko Tenhunen, Marko Antila, Kestutis Drazdauskas, Mjölk Production, Elimäenkatu 21, 00510 Helsinki (Finlande), mikko@mjolk.fi/Artbox, Labdari? str. 5, LT-01120 Vilnius (Lituanie), kestas@artbox.lt.

Projections

Monday August 31, 2015 - 07:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL

Friday September 4, 2015 - 02:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL

Excerpt from the Press Conference with Movie Director Mikko Kuparinen 

Actor Mikko Nousiainen at the Press Conference

Top Image courtesy of MWFF 2015 and the Director of the film.
All other photos by Nadia Slejskova.
© Nadia Slejskova

MWFF 2015: RIDER JACK

RIDER JACK

2015, Colour, Switzerland, 90 minutes, World Competition

 

This film deals with the subject matter that many of us have to face at some point in our lives: ageing parents who are starting to have health problems that limit their memory as well as cognitive and physical functioning, and the   necessity of carrying for their well-being either ourselves or arranging for professional care that includes moving them into a nursing home. Yet, at the same time, unresolved problems from the past resurface with a new force, making us to deal with the hurt and pain we felt in our childhood. As a result, we often re-examine and re-establish our relationship with an ageing parent at a completely different level that is quite new to us and to which we have to adjust inwardly.

The time when our parents get old and sick is a tough period in many people's lives. This is especially true for Jack Theiler, the main character in the film, who has to deal with some rough memories from his childhood, and has to accept back into his life his father, whom he has not seen since childhood. Does he succeed? You should see for yourself.

At the end of the film, during the Q & A session with the film's director, one woman from the audience stood up and said, "I hope this film will be available in our cinemas in Quebec later on. Many people will go to see it, they would relate to it since they have to go through similar things themselves."

Film's Official Synopsis

Jack Theiler, 45, a trained chef who has all but failed at life, has had enough of Switzerland. His dream is of a fresh start, preferably in Mallorca. He has successfully completed therapy for his alcoholism and all he needs now is the cash to open a new restaurant. But Jack’s past comes back to haunt him in an unexpected way. His hated father Paul, who he has not seen since childhood, is back in his life. Paul suffers from Alzheimer's and wants to make peace with his son while he still can. But Jack has very different plans for Paul. Two worlds collide, and a journey to Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, turns into an odyssey back to a painfully suppressed past. RIDER JACK is a father-son story that approaches the conflict of generations in a loving and ironic way. A melancholy road movie about missed opportunities and the power of memory. 

Director

Born in in Zurich in 1969, This Lüscher attended jazz school in Switzerland and co-founded the Autodidactic Filmmaker Group. He then graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy with a degree in direction. Selected filmography: Der Mann von der Tür (1993), Brandschoon (1997), Off Beat (1998), Mannen (2001), FERIENFIEBER (2004), Shit Happens (2006), Alptraum (2007), DRINNEN/DRAUSSEN – VON DER OUTSIDER ART ZUR INSIDER ART (2015), as well as several TV series. 

Production Team

Director : This Lüscher

Screenwriter : André Küttel, This Lüscher

Cinematographer : Remko Schnorr

Editor : Katarina Türler

Cast : Roeland Wiesnekker, Wolfram Berger, Rebecca Indermaur, Andreas Löffel, Ragna Guderian, Luisa Ferroni,  Philippe Graber

Music : Triplet Studios

Film production and Sales : Prod.: Olivier Zobrist, Anne-Catherine Lang, Langfilm, Dorfstrasser 14C, 8427 Freienstein-Teufen (Suisse), tél.: +41 (44) 865 66 27, info@langfilm.ch /oz@langfilm.ch.

Projections

Thursday September 3, 2015 - 11:30 AM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL
Thursday September 3, 2015 - 07:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL

Top Image courtesy of MWFF 2015 and the Director of the film.

MWFF 2015: INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION

Original 1958 Czech Poster

VYNÀLEZ ZKÀZY / INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION

1958, B&W, Czech Republic, 78 min., Cinema Classics 

Production Team

Director : Karl Zeman

Screenwriter : Karel Zeman, Frantisek Hrubin

Cinematographer : Antonín Horák, Bohuslav Pikhart, Jirí Tarantík

Editor : Zdenek Stehlík

Cast : Lubor Tokos, Arnost Navrátil, Miroslav Holub, Frantisek Slégr, Václav Kyzlink, Jana Zatloukalová

Music : Zdenek Liska

Film production and Sales : Prod.: Ondrej Beranek, Punk Film, Veslarsky ostrov 62, 147 00 Prague 3 (République tchèque), ondrejberanek@punkfilm.cz.

I highly recommend this film especially for children. It is a wonderful adventure and suspense, where the right wins over the evil. The film's old-fashioned type of narrative, plot, subject matter, animation, and actors' interpretation all give it a sense of authenticity and even innocence, though the film is about malice and a threat of total destraction. This is a digitized remake of the original film that was released in 1958 and won a Grand Prix at the Brussels's Expo 58 World Film Festival. It was subsequently shown all over the world, in many countries, and hundreds of cinemas.

The plot of the film is simple but effective and compelling. The visual effects and animation are stunning, especially when one considers there were no computers at the time to process and create this type of unique background imagery and animation. All the visual effects had to be made from the scratch, laboriously, and manually, by hand. Karel Zeman invented many amazing techniques for this film. They are in the one-of-the-kind category, special and unique, and very effective. And even today, they are still being marvelled at by the cinema and animation specialists since they are not available to be easily recreated by the modern computer programs.

If you will have an opportunity to see this remake of the original Karel Zeman's film, now called INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION, do not hesitate and go to see it. And take your kids and all the children in your neighbourhood with you! 

Film's Official Synopsis

THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE (Czech: Vynález zkázy, literally The Deadly Invention or An Invention for Destruction) is a 1958 Czech adventure film directed by Karel Zeman. Based on several works by Jules Verne, primarily his 1896 novel Facing the Flag, the film evokes the original illustrations for Verne's works by combining live actors with various forms of animation. In it an evil millionaire named Artigas plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world from his headquarters inside an enormous volcano. 

 Director

Karel Zeman (1910-1989) was a Czech film director, artist, pupeteer and animator. After early success with the character Mr Prokouk, and with both glass, INSPIRATION (1949) and cutout animation, A TREASURE OF BIRD ISLAND (1952), he dazzled the film world with a couple special-effects masterpieces JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME (1955) and THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE (1958).

MWFF 2015: WOLF TOTEM

WOLF TOTEM

2015, Colour, China, France, 121 min., World Greats 

Production Team

Director : Jean-Jacques Annaud

Screenwriter : Alain Godard, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Lu Wei, John Collee. D’après le roman de/Based on the novel by: Jiang Rong

Cinematographer : Jean-Marie Dreujou

Editor : Reynald Bertrand

Cast : Feng Shaofeng, Shawn Dou, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Yin Zhusheng, Basen Zhabu

Music : James Horner

Film production and Sales : Prod.: Max Wang, Xu Jianhai, China Film Co., Ltd. / Beijing Forbidden City Film Co., Ltd..

This is a beautiful film to watch. It shows the vast vistas of grasslands and hills in Inner Mongolia, a northern region within China that borders with Mongolia, a country north of China. The cinematographic shots of the landscape and the sky are truly spectacular. The colours are rich and the light is used in the way to depict the true depth of the vast vistas.

The films documents the daily life of a nomadic tribe of horsemen that for centuries had lived in harmony with the surrounding nature and the animals, mainly wolfs and deer that inhabit it. They learned to adjust to the cyclical rhythms of their environment and various dangers the wilderness presented like the seasonal changes, extreme weather events, or the aggression of the wolfs. They also had a deep rooted respect for everything that surrounded them, a spiritual understanding of how everything is connected and how things affect each other, and a knowledge how to do live in harmony within their world.

The film also shows how the tribe's world of living in harmony and respect for surroundings began to fall apart as law enforcers and settlers encroach on their territory from the south. The ecosystem that functioned in perfect harmony for ages becomes all messed up, aggressed and annihilated, and the entire wolf population destroyed.

This film might not be for those who like high action movies, though it has quite a few tense, fast-speed-action moments. It might be rather for those who love to discover the old, traditional wisdom of living and surviving in the harsh, dangerous, natural environments and who would like to learn more about the tribesmen's innate understanding about all that exists in nature around them.

Film's Official Synopsis

In Jean-Jacques Annaud's film adaptation of Jiang Rong's best-selling novel, a young Beijing student is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia. Caught between the advance of civilization from the south and the nomads’ traditional enemies -- the marauding wolves -- to the north; humans and animals, residents and invaders alike, struggle to find their true place in the world. “Annaud is also clearly taken with the ecological message of natural balance that plays such a big part in the tribe’s relationship with the animals and landscapes around them and one of the film’s tangential pleasures is how Wolf Totem suggests the passing of the seasons, its impact on the yurt-dwelling nomads and the way it implicitly acknowledges how a centuries-old lifestyle is quickly being destroyed by the enormous country’s need to feed its ever-growing population.” -- Boyd van Hoeij (Hollywood Reporter) 

Director

French film director, screenwriter and producer Jean-Jacques Annaud began his career by directing television advertisements in the late 1960s. In his first feature film, BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOR (1976), he used personal experience obtained during his own military service in Cameroon. The film won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film. His third film QUEST FOR FIRE received two Césars for best film and best director. Among his subsequent films: THE NAME OF THE ROSE (1986), THE LOVER (1992), SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (1997), ENEMY AT THE GATES (2001), TWO BROTHERS (2004), DAY OF THE FALCON (2011). 

Projections

Saturday August 29, 2015 - 07:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL
Saturday August 29, 2015 - 09:30 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL