News

Picture Tree Intl. has picked up sales rights to “The Boy Needs Some Fresh Air” (Der Junge muss an die frische Luft), directed by Oscar-winner Caroline Link. The film, which was released by Warner Bros. on Dec. 25 at more than 700 locations across Germany, has garnered a box office of €10.6 million ($12.1 million) to date. Pti will launch it as a market premiere at Berlin’s European Film Market in February.

Based on an autobiographic novel by German comedian Hape Kerkeling, the film is set in Ruhrpott, a West German coal and iron ore mining area, in 1972. It centers on chubby nine-year-old Hans-Peter who is blessed with a talent to make others laugh and grows up in a loving and cheerful family. “Unfortunately, dark shadows attach to the boy’s everyday life as his mother becomes more and more depressed after a failed surgery,” according to a statement from Pti. “For Hans-Peter...

‘The Salesman’ (Courtesy: Amazon Studios and Cohen Media Group)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

The one chance for the entire world to get involved with the Academy Awards has always been the best foreign language film category. Since any country can submit a film each year, though, that means the competition is intense. Let’s take a look at the countries that have snagged nominations this year and see how they’ve performed in the past in the hopes of shedding some light on what might happen come February 26.

This year the five nominees for best foreign language film are Land of Mine from Denmark, A Man Called Ove from Sweden, The Salesman from Iran, Tanna from Australia, and Toni Erdmann from Germany. The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg lists The Salesman as the frontrunner in this category — obviously due to the film’s merits and also potentially due to its director,...

The trickle of foreign film submission info has become and soon it will be a flood. Over the new few days I'll be filling out a lot more of the foreign language submission charts which are written by me and my multi-lingual friend A.D. who knows so much about foreign cinema in so many atypical places he sometimes makes my head spin. But before all that charty speculation a handful of actual news items. 

Jhola from Nepal

New Official Submissions

Jhola is the official submission from Nepal. Nepal enjoyed one previous nomination in this category for Caravan (1999) but they haven't submitted regularly. Jhola is a period piece about the Nepali society custom of the wife having to set herself on fire when her husband dies and go with him. Horrific! Actress Kanchi Garima Panta is said to be very good in the lead role.

Beloved Sisters was announced today to represent Germany.

By Terence Johnson

Managing Editor

The Oscar race is never a dull one and that couldn’t be any more apparent than in the race for Best Foreign Language film. This year is certainly shaping up to be a battle of David vs. Goliath if you looked at the histories of the countries competing. In one corner, you have Italy, with a whopping 12 wins in this category, facing off with a country like Cambodia, with no Oscar nominations. But such is the beauty of the awards season and the Oscars. So before the nominations come out, here’s an Oscar primer to get you caught up on the Foreign Language films.

Belgium – 2013 Nominee: The Broken Circle Breakdown

Logline/Synopsis: Elise and Didier fall in love at first sight, in spite of their differences. He talks, she listens. He’s a romantic atheist, she’s a religious realist. When their daughter becomes seriously ill,...

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's team is all set to take firm legal action against the makers of the Turkish film Benim Dunyam which from the trailers seems like a frame-by-frame adaptation of Slb's 2005 neo-classic Black. Contrary to the reports and speculation on the internet that the Turkish film is actually an official remake of Black, a member of Sanjay Bhansali's production team says the filmmaker had no idea that Black was remade until a friend called to tell him about the uncanny similarities that Benim Dunyam shared in its trailer with Black. Says the source close to Slb. "The Turkish film is bolt from the blue. No one has approached Mr. Bhansali for the rights. It is an unauthorized illegal remake. Indian filmmakers are constantly accused of lifting from foreign sources. Benim Dunyam seems blatantly plagiarized version of Black." With the Turkish film poised for release on October 25, the...

Justine Smith

Bright Star, Jane Campion

Orlando, Sally Potter

Trouble Every Day, Claire Denis

Cleo 5 a 7, Agnes Varda

A New Leaf, Elaine May

The Night Porter, Liliana Cavani

American Psycho, Mary Harron

Anatomy of Hell, Catherine Breillat

Point Break, Kathryn Bigelow

Everyone Else, Maren Ade

Ricky D

Connection, Shirley Clarke

Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold

35 Shots of Rhum, Claire Denis

Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Derin

Seven Beauties, Lina Wertmuller

The Hitch-Hiker, Ida Lupino

Lina Wertmuller- Swept Away

Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt

Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel

Xxy, Lucía Puenzo

Special mention:

Skyscraper – Shirley Clarke

Wasp – Andrea Arnold

On Dangerous Ground – Ida Lupino (uncredited)

Wanda

Chris Clemente

Little Miss Sunshine, Valerie Faris

American Psycho, Mary Harron

Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola

We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay

Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold

Monster, Patty Jenkins

A League of Their Own, Penny Marshall

Wayne’s World, Penelope Spheeris

Clueless, Amy Heckerling

Point Break,...

(In Alphabetical order)

Meek’s Cutoff

Directed by Kelly Reichardt

Kelly Reichardt had a stellar if hushed 2000s, and then she commenced the current decade with a film that is already beginning to feel like an unsung modern classic. Meek’s Cutoff is one of those exhilarating instances in which a marriage of disparate styles produces something tricky to imagine, but perfect to behold: a period piece set in mid-1800’s Oregon, shot in academy ratio and classically beautiful for it, but with Reichardt’s signature severe naturalism. The result is so stark and understated that it begins to feel graceful, weirdly epic. A small caravan of settlers (featuring Michelle Williams and a once again devout Paul Dano) hires a guide, big-talking Stephen Meek, to help them navigate the Oregon Trail. As the terrain grows less forgiving and water evermore scarce, the settlers begin to wonder if the route Meek...

Time For Peace – the humanitarian film and music awards – was held in Paris on Friday, with Sting winning an accolade for best music, and Jimmy Jean-Louis attending.

The Time for Peace Film & Music Awards launched in New York in 1994 by Marion Einbeck and Robert Einbeck, is a response to the need for popularizing films and music recognized for their artistic quality that further the ideals of humanist values such as tolerance, better understanding between people, respect for differences, and human solidarity.

The award has previously been presented to filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg for Schindler’s List and later Amistad, Michael Radford for Il Postino, Scott Hicks for Shine, Caroline Link for Jenseits der Stille (Beyond Silence), Jan Sverak for Kolya, actor Robin Williams for his performance as Sean McGuire in Good Will Hunting, and last year to Edward Zwick for Blood Diamond; in music the award has gone to...

MUNICH -- Actresses shut out their male colleagues to take both acting awards at this year's Munich International Film Festival. In a surprise decision, the three-man jury of cameraman Gernot Roll (Nowhere in Africa), producer Uli Putz (Beyond Silence) and actor Ulrich Noethen (Downfall) chose two women for the Foerderpries Deutscher Film, Munich's top acting award, instead of awarding one of the prizes to a male performer. Joerdis Triebel won for her performance in Emmas Glueck (Emma's Luck), a drama from director Sven Taddicken, while the second award went to Rosalie Thomass for her starring role in an episode of German police series Polizeiruf 110.