Media Release Thursday 1 May 2008
Sydney Film Festival 2008 announces Official Competition films
Sydney Film Festival today announced the 12 films selected for the inaugural Official Competition. The films include three films selected for Cannes Film Festival 2008. Of the twelve films, three are World Premieres and nine will have their Australian Premiere at Sydney Film Festival.
The Sydney Film Prize is for ‘new directions in film’. Selected films must ‘have emotional power and resonance; be audacious, cutting edge and courageous; and go beyond the usual treatment of their subject matter’. SFF is the first Australian film festival to have an Official Competition accredited by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations).
The Official Competition is supported by the New South Wales government, which pledged AUD$1.8 million over four years in September 2007. The winning film will receive AUD$60,000, generously provided by SFF’s Principal sponsor, Hunter Hall Investment Management and a unique award created by Dinosaur Designs.
The Official Competition Jury, comprising two Australians and three internationals, will be announced at Cannes Film Festival in May. All Jury members will attend SFF in June and each of the 12 films will have a red-carpet Gala Premiere at State Theatre within the first 12 nights of the festival. SFF will be hosting guests representing the competition titles.
On 16 June, Sydney Film Festival, in conjunction with Opera Point Events, will hold an Awards Ceremony at Sydney Opera House Northern Foyer to announce the Official Competition Award and the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films.
“It is the character of our Sydney – audacious, cutting-edge and courageous – that we are seeking among the films competing in our Official Competition for the Sydney Film Prize. It has been a privilege to work with such enticing criteria and I am proud to launch the inaugural line-up with a selection of films that truly deliver on these qualities in a range of ways,” said SFF Executive Director Clare Stewart, speaking from Sydney today.
“The selection reflects our ambitions to grow Sydney Film Festival’s international standing by presenting three World Premieres; it brings local audiences three films direct from Cannes and the line-up is rounded out with highly anticipated Australian Premieres from significant directors”.
The 12 Official Competition films are: 3 World Premieres: Vincent Ward’s Rain of the Children, Nash Edgerton’s The Square, Matthew Newton’s Three Blind Mice 9 Australian Premieres: Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Fernando Eimbcke’s Lake Tahoe, Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, Antonello Grimaldi’s Quiet Chaos, Carlos Reygada’s Silent Light, Kimberly Peirce’s Stop-Loss and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata
Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky will also be the Opening Night film for Sydney Film Festival 2008.
Page 1 of 5 The 12 Official Competition films are (in screening order):
Happy-Go-Lucky Wednesday 4 June at 7.30pm Dir-Scr Mike Leigh | Prod Simon Channing-Williams | With Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Eddie Marsan | UK | 118mins | Rialto Distribution Mike Leigh defies all expectation with this sparkling film about the relentlessly cheerful Poppy (Sally Hawkins), a London teacher whose boundless optimism protects her from the darker things in life. Overly effervescent at first, Poppy’s spritely, joking, bounding way becomes increasingly endearing as she prevails through a series of uproarious encounters with a bigoted, uptight driving instructor (Eddie Marsan), parties with her housemate and best friend Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) and plots the rescue of a troubled little boy. Sally Hawkins positively shimmers in a performance that won her Silver Bear for Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival. Australian Premiere
Born in Salford near Manchester, Mike Leigh trained as an actor, subsequently taking up studies at London Film School before becoming a director and screenwriter, as well as a playwright and stage director. Features include Bleak Moments (71, SFF 1973); Life Is Sweet (90, SFF 1991); Secrets and Lies (96, SFF 1996); Vera Drake (04); Happy Go Lucky (08).
Silent Light (Stellet Licht) Thursday 5 June at 6.30pm Dir-Scr Carlos Reygadas | Prod Jaime Romandia, Carlos Reygadas | With Elizabeth Fehr, Jacobo Klassen, Maria Pankratz | Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany | Plautdietsch, Spanish, French, English | 142mins | Kojo Pictures The films of Carlos Reygadas render magisterial themes – death, sex, love, fidelity and redemption – with a sharp, appraising eye for the banal. Based in a contemporary Mennonite community on the outskirts of Chihuahua in northern Mexico, Silent Light is about the consequences of an adulterous relationship. Arresting cinematography, nuanced performances from the non-professional Mennonite cast and symphonic use of natural sounds propel this languid, poetic work to celestial heights. Australian Premiere
After studying and practicing law, Carlos Reygadas turned to filmmaking, making four short films Adult (98); Prisoners (99); Birds (99); Superhuman (99). His feature debut Japón (02) won the Caméra d’Or Special Distinction at Cannes Film Festival. Other features: Battle And Heaven (05); Silent Light (07).
Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo) Friday 6 June at 6.30pm Dir Antonello Grimaldi | Scr Nanni Moretti, Laura Paolucci, Francesco Piccolo | Prod Domenico Procacci | With Alessandro Gassman, Nanni Moretti | Italy | Italian | 112mins | Fandango Films Quiet Chaos is the story of Pietro (Nanni Moretti), a production executive, and his relationship with his ten- year-old daughter after his wife’s death. Unable to deal with his daughter’s seeming acceptance, and waiting for his own emotional response to take hold, Pietro spends the day in a park, waiting for her to finish school. This becomes habitual, and soon his life and work are run from the park bench, a nearby restaurant and his car. Co-written by Moretti and based on the novel by Sandro Veronesi, this subtle and engrossing film expertly weaves one man’s unusually manifested grief with warm humour, adult sensuality and a broader, palpable sense of social malaise. Australian Premiere
Antonello Grimaldi studied law in his home Sassari, from 1980–83 and subsequently trained at Gaumont Film School in Rome. He is both a film and television director and accomplished actor. Features as director; Mulla ci può fermere (88); Il Cielo è sempre più blu (95); Un Delitto impossibile (01); Quiet Chaos (08).
Rain of the Children Saturday 7 June at 6.30pm Dir-Scr Vincent Ward | Prod Vincent Ward, Marg Slater, Tainui Stephens | With Miriama Rangi, Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison | New Zealand | English, Maori | 98mins | Rialto Distribution Vincent Ward’s deeply personal and incredibly moving film unravels and re-imagines the story of Puhi, the Tuhoe woman he documented in In Spring One Plants Alone (1981). Then Puhi was 80 and caring for her schizophrenic son, and Ward, at 21, was an art student. While not the subject of the earlier film, Puhi believed herself to be cursed, and it is this curse that is the centre of Rain of the Children. An extraordinary woman, Puhi was chosen by prophet Rua Kenana to marry his son, survived the 1916 police raid on Rua’s Maungapohatu community, and bore 14 children. Cutting between early footage, Ward’s own to-camera narration, contemporary interviews with Tuhoe descendents and recreated historical sequences; Ward reveals both the heartrending background of Puhi’s belief in the curse, and her lasting power over him. World Premiere
Vincent Ward began his filmmaking career at 18, making his feature debut with Vigil (84, SFF 1984). His features The Navigator (1988) and Map of the Human Heart (1993) were the first films by a New Zealander to be officially selected for Cannes Film Festival. Other features: What Dreams May Come (98); River Queen (05, SFF 2006).
Page 2 of 5 Hunger Saturday 7 June at 9.15pm Dir Steve McQueen | Scr Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh | Prod Robin Gutch, Laura Hastings-Smith | With Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham | UK | 90mins | Becker International UK artist Steve McQueen, in collaboration with Irish playwright Enda Marsh, has created an extraordinary feature debut about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Establishing the conditions of Her Majesty’s Maze prison near Belfast in the early 80s, McQueen initially presents the prison cells as installation sites for articulating a series of intense and violent clashes between wardens and prisoners. In a bold narrative choice, Sands (Michael Fassbender) only emerges as a character in a punchy philosophical exchange with a Catholic priest, dissecting the political and religious implications of his decision to starve himself. Clearly influenced by McQueen’s recent stint as a war artist in Iraq, the contemporary relevance of Hunger is loud and resounding. Australian Premiere. Selected to open Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2008
After studying at Chelsea School of Art in England, Brit Steve McQueen graduated from Goldsmith’s College, London, where he made his first short films, before attending Tisch School of the Arts in NY. His work includes experimental short films, photography and sculpture. He won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1999. Hunger (08) is his feature debut.
Three Blind Mice Sunday 8 June at 6.30pm Dir-Scr Matthew Newton | Prod Ben Davis | With Ewen Leslie, Toby Schmitz, Matthew Newton | Australia | 92mins | Dirty Rat Productions-Odin’s Eye Entertainment Deceptively freewheeling, this psychological drama follows three young Australian naval officers on shore leave before being shipped out to Iraq. The dynamic is uneasy and tinged with malice: one is looking for a way out; one is anxious to reconnect with his girlfriend; and the third is full of attitude and bent on a night of excess. The nursery-rhyme line that follows the film’s title acutely describes Newton’s punchy script, propelled by rapid-fire dialogue, growing tension between the friends and frenetic on-the-town action. The focus shifts from how they run, to why they run, when the uncomfortable secret that simultaneously binds and divides them is finally revealed. Some of Australia’s finest acting talent grace the smaller roles in this energetic, collaborative film made with youthful audacity and verve. World Premiere
Matthew Newton (born Melbourne) graduated from NIDA and has performed lead roles in film, television and on stage. His theatre credits include The White Devil; Volpone; Boy Gets Girl; The History Boys; Rock ‘n’ Roll. Films as an actor include Looking for Alibrandi (00); The Bet (06); Bitter and Twisted (08).
My Winnipeg Tuesday 10 June at 7.30pm Dir Guy Maddin | Scr Guy Maddin, George Toles | Prod Jody Shapiro, Phyllis Laing | With Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage, Amy Stewart | Canada | 80mins | Madman Entertainment A magical mystery tour of director Guy Maddin’s hometown, this ‘docu-fantasia’ is part fact and part fusion of melodrama, silent film and travelogue. Structured around an urgent getaway narration (which Maddin will perform live at its Australian Premiere screening) and melding found footage with brazen reconstructions, the film links the most unlikely collection of archival moments, memories and urban myths. Central is the re- enactment of family history and hilarious sequences with B-movie icon Anne Savage (as Maddin’s overbearing mother) providing the film with its decidedly crooked spine. Wicked and wildly entertaining, this is autobiography at its creative best. Australian Premiere.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Guy Maddin directed his debut feature, Tales from the Gimli Hospital in 1998. His feature credits include Archangel (90, SFF 1991), Careful (92), Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (97, SFF 1998); Cowards Bend The Knee (03, SFF 2004); The Saddest Music In The World (03, SFF 2005); Brand Upon the Brain! (06, SFF 2007); My Winnipeg (07, SFF 2008).
Tokyo Sonata Wednesday 11 June at 6.30pm Dir Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Scr Max Mannix, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Sachiko Tanaka | Prod Yukie Kito, Wouter Barendrecht | With Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyoko Koizumi, Kai Inowaki | Japan-The Netherlands-Hong Kong | Japanese | 119mins | Fortissimo Films Taking the psychic leaps of a Haruki Murakami novel and exhibiting a compositional playfulness that at times resembles Jacques Tati, Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa embarks on a new direction with Tokyo Sonata, an allegorical story about an ordinary Japanese family. Father walks out on his job and spends his days amongst the secret unemployed; youngest son rebels at school and takes clandestine piano lessons; older son ups and joins the American army; and Mother becomes increasingly distressed by the deception and suspicion in her family. Scripted by Australian Max Mannix, this playful, oddly measured drama screeches into unexpected territory with alarming audacity, more than a hint of stylistic tribute to 60s Japanese cinema, and the altogether serious project of reversing the family’s seemingly inevitable demise. Australian Premiere. Selected for Un Certain Regard, Festival de Cannes 2008.
Page 3 of 5 Kiyoshi Kurosawa (born Kobe) started directing while studying sociology at Rikkyo University. He has averaged three films a year since his 1983 debut feature, Kandagawa Wars, his films have consistently been selected for Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals. Feature films include Cure (97, SFF 1998); Serpents Path (98); Pulse (01); Bright Future (03); Doppelganger (03); Loft (05); Retribution (06).
Lake Tahoe Thursday 12 June at 6.30pm Dir Fernando Eimbcke | Scr Fernando Eimbcke, Paula Markovitch | Prod Christian Valdelièvre With Diego Catano | Mexico | Spanish | 85mins | Funny Balloons 16-year-old Juan inexplicably crashes the family car and spends the rest of the day wandering the streets of his dead-end town of Puerto Progreso, Yucatán, trying to get it repaired. His encounters along the way are played out with the understated and minimalist humour of an early Jim Jarmusch film. Luminously filmed by Alexis Zabé (who also shot Silent Light) and making terrific use of off-camera action, Fernando Eimbcke’s follow-up to Duck Season (SFF 2005) takes an unforeseen emotional turn when Juan finally arrives home. What at first seemed like an absurd accident suddenly becomes a sad and perverse act of grieving. Eimbecke exhibits a superb touch with mostly unprofessional actors, and Diego Cataño (also in Duck Season), is endlessly watchable as Juan. Australian Premiere. Selected as ‘Revelation of the Year’, Critics’ Week Cannes 2008
Fernando Eimbcke (born Mexico City) studied drama and film at Universidad Nacional Aut noma de Mexico 1992-96. His work includes several short films and music videos. His first feature film, Duck Season (04, SFF 2005), was selected for Critics’ Week at 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Lake Tahoe (08) is his second feature.
Stop-Loss Friday 13 June at 6.30pm Dir Kimberly Peirce | Prod Kimberly Peirce, Mark Roybal, Scott Rudin, Gregory Goodman | Scr Mark Richard, Kimberly Peirce | With Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum | USA | 112 mins | Paramount Pictures Urgent and volatile, Kimberly Peirce’s Stop-Loss kick-starts with a testosterone-pumped home-movie mash- up detailing a group of soldiers on downtime in Iraq, before switching into full gear with a boldly filmed Tikrit battle sequence. When all this hyped-up action takes its very real toll, the soldiers return home to Brazos, Texas, where the film changes pace but the men remain feverish, eager to either get back to the front or to re-enter civilian life. When one of the soldiers (Ryan Phillippe) discovers that the US Army are about to invoke a ‘stop-loss’ clause and return him to Iraq, he goes AWOL, signs up his best friend’s girl (Abbie Cornish) and hits the road. Australian Premiere
Writer-director Kimberly Peirce (born Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) studied English and Japanese Literature at University of Chicago and film at Columbia University. Her debut feature was the Academy Award winning Boys Don’t Cry (1999). She directed an episode of the cult TV series The L Word. Stop Loss (08) is her second feature.
In Bruges Saturday 14 June at 6.30pm Dir-Scr Martin McDonagh | Prod Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin | With Elizabeth Berrington, Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson |UK-Belgium | 107mins | Icon Film Distribution Martin McDonagh feature debut is a brilliantly scripted, wise-cracking genre-bender with a surprisingly fibrous moral centre. Ray and Ken are two mismatched hit men, sent to lay low in the medieval Flemish town of Bruges after a botched execution. Ray is antsy and can’t stand the place, while Ken finds the chocolate- box location a strangely soothing, nostalgia-inducing antidote. While waiting for the call from their gangster boss (Ralph Fiennes in hilarious form), they become entangled in a series of bizarre and distracting local encounters. McDonagh’s sleight-of-hand is audacious: on the surface this is a profane comedy, but underneath it surges with rawness and vulnerability, the sad story of an ageing criminal wanting to save his troubled sidekick from repeating his own mistakes. Australian Premiere
A Londoner of Irish descent, Martin McDonagh is best known as a prizewinning playwright. He has twice won the Olivier Award – for The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore – and been nominated for The Tony Awards four times. Other plays include The Cripple of Inishmaan, A Scull in Connemara, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. In Bruges (07) is his feature debut.
Page 4 of 5 The Square Sunday 15 June at 6.30pm Dir Nash Edgerton | Scr Joel Edgerton, Matthew Dabner | Prod Louise Smith | With David Roberts, Claire van der Boom, Joel Edgerton | Australia | 116mins | Roadshow Films Director Nash Edgerton, whose extensive experience as a stunt performer has honed his eye for action sequences, delivers with this broody, suburban noir. Construction supervisor Ray (David Roberts) is entangled in an illicit affair, prompting him to act outside his ordinary square. Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner’s script courageously centres the action on a hapless everyman whose false moves are made with such uncertainty that he will neither be the hero nor redeemed. The seething masculinity and craggy physicality of the ragtag gang of corrupt tradesmen and petty crims remains doggedly colloquial while rooted in the 40s tradition of Robert Siodmak and Anthony Mann. The over-heated Christmas backdrop, both exotic and familiar, provides the perfect context for the film’s peppering of comic and musical diversions. Australian Premiere
Nash Edgerton has worked as an actor, stunt performer, editor, producer, writer, and director. His short film Deadline won Tropfest 1997. He has directed numerous award-winning short films, commercials and music videos. The Square (08) is his debut feature.
The 55th Sydney Film Festival, 4–22 June 2008. Full program announced on Thursday 8 May 2008 www.sydneyfilmfestival.org
For further information please contact Next Step Media Next Step Media Ph: 02 9283 8555 (+61 9283 8555) Suite 201 Level 2, 185 Elizabeth St, Sydney 2000 Sarah Wilson Mob: 0405 364 643 (+61 405 364 643) Email: [email protected] Sophie Hodges Mob: 0403 959 528 (+61 403 959 528) Email: [email protected] Charlotte Greig Mob: 0404 111 919 (+61 404 111 919) Email: [email protected]
About the 55th Sydney Film Festival 4–22 June 2008 Sydney Film Festival screens feature films, documentaries, short films and animations across the city at State Theatre, GU George Street Cinemas, Metro Theatre and Dendy Opera Quays. The festival is a major event on the New South Wales cultural calendar and is one of the world’s longest running film festivals. The 55th Sydney Film Festival opens on Wednesday 4 June 2008, with the Official Competition red carpet galas screening for the first 12 days, culminating in an Awards ceremony on Monday 16 June. The Closing Night Gala is on Saturday 21 June with the Festival finishing on Sunday 22 June.
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