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Tag: Jane Campion

  • Naomi Kawase to preside over Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for Festival de Cannes

    Naomi Kawase to preside over Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for Festival de Cannes

    NEW DLEHI: Japanese director Naomi Kawase, whose film Sweet Bean (An), had been the opening film of Un Certain Regard last year, is to preside over the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for its 69th edition of the Festival de Cannes. 

    A statement from the Festival said: “There are some directors whose careers are constantly intertwined with the Festival, much to its delight. The story with Naomi Kawase began back in 1997 when aged 27, she became the youngest winner of the Caméra d’or for her film Suzaku (Moe no Suzaku). The promise of this early discovery has since been reaffirmed time and again – as borne out by the selection in Competition of a whole series of her feature films: Shara (Sharasojyu) in 2003, The Mourning Forest (Mogari no Mori) in 2007, Hanezu (Hanezu no tsuki) in 2011 and Still the Water (Futatsume no mado) in 2014. In 2013, as a member of the Feature Film Jury, Naomi Kawase played a key role on the Croisette alongside Steven Spielberg”.

    In her films Naomi Kawase uses limited budgets and prefers non-professional actors – a sign of the director’s beginnings in the documentary genre, which first brought her to prominence after she graduated from the Photography School of Osaka. 

    When her appointment was announced, Naomi Kawase said: “Films enrich people’s lives, and their worlds inspire new possibilities. It is a little over 100 years since the advent of films, and their potential is ever expanding. They are exceptional media that can embody the diversity of world cultures, and their stories are like another life that enchants the audiences who see them. Short films are exceptionally difficult as they face the question of how much of a story can be experienced in their short duration, while they also contain myriad possibilities yet unseen. And among films created by students there will be the discovery of hidden brilliance like a gemstone, which makes me very much look forward to participating in this jury, a journey of adventure.”

    Renowned producer and director Gilles Jacob added: “From her Japanese roots, Naomi Kawase (Caméra d’or 1997) takes her extreme delicateness, refined manners and moral elegance. Her pointillist talent has helped generate a cinematic intelligence and a subtle art full of poetic mystery and graceful simplicity, conveyed through the great emotions of life and the tiny gestures of everyday existence. This year she will join a long line of great presidents of the Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury, from Martin Scorsese and Abbas Kiarostami, to Jane Campion, Hou Hsiao Hsien, John Boorman and the Dardennes brothers.”

  • Naomi Kawase to preside over Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for Festival de Cannes

    Naomi Kawase to preside over Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for Festival de Cannes

    NEW DLEHI: Japanese director Naomi Kawase, whose film Sweet Bean (An), had been the opening film of Un Certain Regard last year, is to preside over the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for its 69th edition of the Festival de Cannes. 

    A statement from the Festival said: “There are some directors whose careers are constantly intertwined with the Festival, much to its delight. The story with Naomi Kawase began back in 1997 when aged 27, she became the youngest winner of the Caméra d’or for her film Suzaku (Moe no Suzaku). The promise of this early discovery has since been reaffirmed time and again – as borne out by the selection in Competition of a whole series of her feature films: Shara (Sharasojyu) in 2003, The Mourning Forest (Mogari no Mori) in 2007, Hanezu (Hanezu no tsuki) in 2011 and Still the Water (Futatsume no mado) in 2014. In 2013, as a member of the Feature Film Jury, Naomi Kawase played a key role on the Croisette alongside Steven Spielberg”.

    In her films Naomi Kawase uses limited budgets and prefers non-professional actors – a sign of the director’s beginnings in the documentary genre, which first brought her to prominence after she graduated from the Photography School of Osaka. 

    When her appointment was announced, Naomi Kawase said: “Films enrich people’s lives, and their worlds inspire new possibilities. It is a little over 100 years since the advent of films, and their potential is ever expanding. They are exceptional media that can embody the diversity of world cultures, and their stories are like another life that enchants the audiences who see them. Short films are exceptionally difficult as they face the question of how much of a story can be experienced in their short duration, while they also contain myriad possibilities yet unseen. And among films created by students there will be the discovery of hidden brilliance like a gemstone, which makes me very much look forward to participating in this jury, a journey of adventure.”

    Renowned producer and director Gilles Jacob added: “From her Japanese roots, Naomi Kawase (Caméra d’or 1997) takes her extreme delicateness, refined manners and moral elegance. Her pointillist talent has helped generate a cinematic intelligence and a subtle art full of poetic mystery and graceful simplicity, conveyed through the great emotions of life and the tiny gestures of everyday existence. This year she will join a long line of great presidents of the Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury, from Martin Scorsese and Abbas Kiarostami, to Jane Campion, Hou Hsiao Hsien, John Boorman and the Dardennes brothers.”

  • Dev Patel to star in ‘Lion’ with Nicole Kidman

    Dev Patel to star in ‘Lion’ with Nicole Kidman

    MUMBAI: The Slumdog Millionaire actor Dev Patel has been finalised to star with Nicole Kidman in the new The Weinstein Company drama Lion.

     

    The drama, based on the memoir ‘A Long Way Home’ by Saroo Brierley, follows a street kid from Calcutta (Patel) who is taken in and adopted by a couple in Australia.

     

    Garth Davis, who co-directed the Golden Globe-winning miniseries ‘Top of the Lake’ with Jane Campion, is set to helm the movie while Luke Davies, the screenwriter on Anton Corbijn’s upcoming Life, adapted the book for the screen.

     

    In addition to Lion, Patel plays self-taught Indian math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in Matt Brown’s period drama The Man Who Knew Infinity. He will also star in Lionsgate’s Soviet-era thriller Child 44 and The Road Within, a remake of the hit German dramedy Vincent Wants to Sea.

     

    Patel also appears in John Madden’s upcoming The Second Best Marigold Hotel, the sequel to the 2011 hit, which Fox Searchlight will release in the US next year.

     

    It was earlier believed that Hugh Jackman would also star in the film, but as per media reports, the actor has denied any connection to the project.

  • The 67th Festival de Cannes jury announced

    The 67th Festival de Cannes jury announced

    MUMBAI: The New Zealand director, producer and screenwriter Jane Campion, winner of the Palme D’Or or for The Piano, will be the president of the jury for the 67th Festival de Cannes. Cannes has always sought to adopt a universal and international approach, and in tune with this tradition, Campion will be surrounded by eight luminaries of world cinema, from China, Korea, Denmark, Iran, the United States, France and Mexico.

     

     As in 2009 the jury will therefore include five women and four men. Their task will be to decide between the 18 films in competition in order to select the winners – to be announced on stage at the ceremony on 24 May. The winner of the Palme D’Or will be screened during the festival’s closing evening on 25 May, in the presence of the jury and the entire team of the winning film.

     

    The jury members include:

     

    Carole Bouquet, actress (France): After her film debut in 1977 with Luis Bu?uel in That Obscure Object of Desire, Bouquet alternated between arthouse and blockbuster productions. A Bond girl in 1981 in For Your Eyes Only, she worked with Bertrand Blier on Buffet Froid (1979) and Too Beautiful For You (1989) for which she won the César for Best Actress. She appeared in Le jour des idiots by Werner Schroeter, Michel Blanc’s Dead Tired and Embrassez qui vous voudrez, Lucie Aubrac by Claude Berri, L’Enfer by Danis Tanovic, Nordeste by Juan Diego Solanas (Festival de Cannes 2005) and Unforgivable by André Téchiné.

     

    Sofia Coppola, director and screenwriter (United States): Coppola’s first feature film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it met with international critical acclaim. Four years later, after several Oscar nominations for Lost in Translation, including Best Director, she walked off with the Best Screenplay award. Her third film, Marie Antoinette was selected in Competition at Cannes in 2006. After picking up a Golden Lion in Venice for Somewhere (2010), Sofia Coppola opened Un Certain Regard with her last film The Bling Ring at the Festival de Cannes in 2013.

     

    Leila Hatami, actress (Iran): Born in Tehran into a family of filmmakers, she started out acting in films directed by her father, Ali Hatami, before starring in Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1998) which brought her to national attention. It was Asghar Farhadi who established her on the world stage with A Separation (Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin Festival). She picked up the Best Actress award in Karlovy Vary for her role in Ali Mosaffa’s Last Step in 2012.

     

    Jeon Do-yeon, actress (South Korea): The first Korean actress to receive the Best Actress award at the Festival de Cannes for her role in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong (2007), Jeon Do-yeon started out as a television actress before turning exclusively to cinema. Her major films include I Wish I Had a Wife by Ryoo Seung, My Mother, The Mermaid by Park Jin-pyo and The Housemaid by Im Sang-soo, presented at Cannes in 2010. A massive celebrity in her country, she has just finished shooting Memories of the Sword by Park Heung-sik.

     

    Willem Dafoe, Actor (United States): Twice nominated for an Oscar, for Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe has appeared in 80 films including Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, Light Sleeper by Paul Schrader, The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese, Antichrist by Lars von Trier and The English Patient by Anthony Minghella. He will soon be appearing in A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn and Pasolini by Abel Ferrara. A co-founder of the Wooster Group – an experimental theatre collective – he is currently on tour with Bob Wilson’s play The Old Woman.

     

    Gael García Bernal, actor, director and producer (Mexico): Bernal first came to public attention in I?árritu’s Amorres Perros, soon followed by Y Tu Mamá También by Alfonso Cuarón. He then featured in films directed by some of the greats of international cinema, such as The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education, The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry, Babel by Gonzalez Inarritu and The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch. In 2005, he founded his Canana production company with Diego Luna and in 2010, after a few short films, directed his first feature film, Deficit, selected at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes.

     

    Nicolas Winding Refn, director, screenwriter and producer (Denmark): His first film, Pusher (1996), written and directed at the age of 24, immediately became a cult movie and he shot to fame throughout the world. He then directed Bleeder (1999), Fear X (2003), Pusher II & III (2004 & 2005), Bronson (2008) and Valhalla Rising (2009). In 2011, Drive was presented at the Festival de Cannes and won the Best Direction prize, awarded by the jury presided by Robert De Niro. His last film, Only God Forgives, featured in Competition at Cannes in 2013.

     

    Jia Zhangke, director, screenwriter and producer (China): After first studying art Jia Zhangke, born in 1970, attended the Beijing Film Academy in the 1990s. After the success of his first film, Xao Wu (1998), he directed Platform (Zhantai, 2000) and Unknown Pleasures (Ren xiao yao, 2002) selected for Venice and Cannes respectively. Still Life picked up the Golden Lion in Venice in 2006. He also presented 24 City at the Festival de Cannes, in Competition in 2008 and I Wish I Knew for Un Certain Regard in 2010. Last year, A Touch of Sin garnered the Best Screenplay prize awarded by the jury presided by Steven Spielberg.

  • Jane Campion to head feature jury, Abbas Kiarostami chairs short jury at Cannes Film fest

    Jane Campion to head feature jury, Abbas Kiarostami chairs short jury at Cannes Film fest

    NEW DELHI: The Cannes film festival that is scheduled between 14 May to 25 May this year will see ‘Titli’ by Kanu Behl as the only Indian film to have made it to the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

     

    The two-hour film will be screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival in the seaside French resort.

     

    It will feature 19 films in competition opening with Grace De Monaco by Olivier Dahan; 18 films in competition opening with Party Girl by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, and Samuel Theis; and one film to mark the 70thanniversary celebration of the Le Monde newspaper. In addition, there will two out of competition, three midnight, and five special screenings in the Festival which is considered the top film festival in the world.

     

    The New Zealand director, producer and scriptwriter Jane Campion is to preside over the Jury of the 67th Cannes Film Festival, while the 2014 Cinefondation and Short Films Jury will be presided over by the renowned Abbas Kiarostami from Iran, and Argentinean scriptwriter, producer and director Pablo Trapero, will preside over the Jury for Un Certain Regard.
            

    The short film jury will be presided over by the renowned Abbas Kiarostami from Iran, and Argentinean scriptwriter, producer and director Pablo Trapero, will preside over the Jury for Un Certain Regard.

     

    Some of the films in competition are ‘Winter Sleep’ by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Adieu Au Langage by Jean Luc-Godard, The Homesman by Tommy Lee Jones, and Jimmy’s Hall by Ken Loach.

     

    The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders is in the Un Certain Regard section, while Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home is in the out of competition section.

  • Jane Campion to lead the 2014 Cannes Film Festival jury

    Jane Campion to lead the 2014 Cannes Film Festival jury

    MUMBAI: Jane Campion, a New Zealand native writer, producer and director, has been selected to lead the jury at the next Festival de Cannes that takes place from 14 to 25 May, 2014. Campion steps into the shoes of Steven Spielberg, who presided over the jury last year. Interestingly, Campion is in fact the only female director to have won the Palme D’or, for The Piano in 1993, having already garnered the Short Film Palme D’or back in 1986, for Peel – a unique double success story in the history of the Festival de Cannes.

     

    “Since I first went to Cannes with my short films in 1986, I have had the opportunity to see the festival from many sides and my admiration for this Queen of film festivals has only grown larger. At the Cannes Film Festival they manage to combine and celebrate the glamour of the industry, the stars, the parties, the beaches, the business, while rigorously maintaining the festival’s seriousness about the Art and excellence of new world cinema,” said Campion in a press release.

     

    “It is this world wide inclusiveness and passion for film at the heart of the festival which makes the importance of the Cannes Film Festival indisputable,” Campion further adds. “It is a mythical and exciting festival where amazing things can happen, actors are discovered, films are financed careers are made, I know this because that is what happened to me! I am truly honoured to join with the Cannes Film Festival as President of the in Competition features for 2014,” concludes Campion. “In fact I can’t wait.”

     

    Born in a family of artists, Jane Campion studied anthropology, then art, before turning to film, where her rise to success was meteoric. In the wake of her acclaimed short films, which culminated in a Palme D’or, she captivated international critics with Sweetie (1989), her first feature film, selected In Competition at the Festival de Cannes. After An Angel At My Table (1990), inspired by the works of Janet Frame, in which the theme of an extraordinary woman engaged in the painful quest to assert her identity had already been sketched out, she returned to competition in Cannes in 1993 with The Piano, which won the Palme D’or as well as Best Actress prize for Holly Hunter, starring opposite the unforgettable Harvey Keitel. A few months later, Campion, was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Oscars and she picked up the award for the best Screenplay.

     

    Her subsequent works have been Portrait of a Lady in 1996 with Nicole Kidman, Holy Smoke in 1999 with Kate Winslet, and In the Cut (2003) with Meg Ryan. Her last film for cinema, Bright Star, an original vision and fictionalised biography of the poet Keats and his muse, was presented In Competition at Cannes, in 2009.

     

    Campion recently won the remarkable public and critical acclaim with the Sundance Channel Original Series, Top of the Lake, in which she develops her favorite themes, portraying the splendor of nature, the outpouring of romantic passion and the revolt of women against societies dominated by violence and machismo.

  • A Palme d’or for the Cinéfondation!

    A Palme d’or for the Cinéfondation!

    Jane Campion is to head up the Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury of the 66th Festival de Cannes, a position held previously held by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Michel Gondry, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Martin Scorsese and John Boorman.

    Originally from New Zealand, Jane Campion has attracted critical acclaim since the very beginning of her film career: in 1986 she won short film Palme d’or for Peel and garnered interest from critics all over the world for Sweetie, the first feature she presented in competition at the Festival de Cannes. After An Angel at my Table, she returned to Cannes with The Piano, which won the Palme d’or in ’93, as well as the best actress award for Holly Hunter.

    Her work, which is dominated by the presence of fascinating women in search of their identity, comes in a variety of styles, from Holy Smoke (Kate Winslet) and Portrait of a Lady (Nicole Kidman) to In the Cut (Meg Ryan). Her latest film, Bright Star, was a fictional biography of the poet Keats and his muse, and was presented in competition at Cannes in 2009.

    Gilles Jacob, president of the Festival de Cannes and the Cinéfondation, declared: “Jane is a child of Cannes. I know this as it was I who selected her first three short films for the Festival, because I liked her style and consistency. Naively perverse young girls, teens closed in around their solitude, and women mulling over desires and regrets: Jane’s is a passionate universe that she firmly holds in check as she draws these intricate group portraits. I am delighted that the love story between Lady Jane and the Festival continues today as she takes on the role of president.”

    The Cinéfondation and Short Film jury is comprised of five eminent figures from the worlds of film and literature and they choose their three prize winners from among the Cinéfondation’s selection of film school entrants. The jury also chooses the winner of the short film Palme d’or, which is presented during the closing ceremony of the Festival, on Sunday May 26th 2013.

  • Jane Campion only woman to win Palme d’Or at Cannes in last fifty years

    Jane Campion only woman to win Palme d’Or at Cannes in last fifty years

    NEW DELHI: Only one woman filmmaker – Jane Campion – has won an award in the Palme d’Or at Cannes in the past 50 years.
     
    Revealing this, Swedish Film Institute CEO Anna Serner also revealed that only 54 of the thousand-plus films that have competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in the past 50 years have been made by women.

    Additionally, only one woman – Kathryn Bigelow – of the four women from the more than four hundred who have been nominated for an Oscar for best director has won.

    The facts were revealed at a press conference held in Cannes to mark the 50th anniversary of the Swedish Film Institute.

    Serner introduced an international equality initiative for films. “In Sweden women have directed roughly ten per cent of all feature films over the last fifty years”, said Serner.

    Furthermore, eight women have won the Swedish National Film Award for best director in the last fifty years, five of them in the last ten years

    Serner put forth an equality package of mentoring, an inside look at the industry and a study of women who are about to make their first feature. She urged film industries, filmmakers, producers and film festivals around the world to look at this question and help to bring about international equality.

    Announcement was also made about new projects including the upcoming Waltz for Monica to be released in December about the Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund. Directed by Per Fly and written by Peter Birro, the film also stars Edda Magnason as the talented vocalist who died tragically in 2005 from a fire in her apartment. Magnason, Birro and Fly all attended the anniversary dinner.