Valeska Grisebach was born in Bremen and studied Direction in Vienna, at its Film Academy in 1993. Her graduation film and first full-length feature was Mein Stern (You’re a Star 2001). This concern with the ordinary carries through to her latest project Sehnsucht (2006), which distinguished itself at the Berlinale for that year, and received a nomination for the Golden Bear award.
Mein Stern demonstrates a sensitive documentary realism in its portrayal of a relationship between two fifteen year olds, but not to examine social themes of adolescence; rather to draw out emotional realities. Sehnsucht remains in similar territory. Grisebach shows an interest in the different roles we assume at different points in our lives, but how those experiences are demonstrated in the everyday exchanges and minutiae. Interviewed about Mein Stern, she said: “The normal, the quotidian interests me. I didn't want to make a film with any generic statements about youth in the year 2000 but rather to capture a timeless and perhaps even old-fashioned moment.”(www.sensesofcinema.com)
Having trained in Vienna, Grisebach has been making her way back to Berlin where she grew up. She acknowledges being influenced by the films being made by other Berlin-based filmmakers, and describes the idea of a ‘Berliner Schule’ as a “friendly, pragmatic union. Perhaps the connection, as far as the content of our films is concerned, is the attempt to find an approach to reality, and thus to our own identities.” (www.german-films.de).
Monday, January 28, 2008
Director Pen Portraits: Hans-Christian Schmid
Hans-Christian Schmid has made his mark as a producer, director and writer. In addition, one of the most intriguing parts of his identity (and something that marks him as part of the new set of young German directors) is that range of genres and dramatic material he has worked in.
Qualified from Munich’s Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film, he studied scriptwriting at the University of Southern California, L.A. His first films included awarding-winning documentaries, Sekt Oder Selters (1981), about gambling machine addicts and Die Mechanik Des Wunders (1992) exploring the drama and personal tensions around a pilgrimage in his native Altötting.
His career has been built on long-standing associations with producers Jakob Claussen and Thomas Wöbke, and writer/director Michael Gutmann, all being involved in his debut feature Nach Fünf Im Urwald (It’s a Jungle Out There 1995), which also launched Franka Potente. Other acting discoveries include August Diehl (23 and Lichter), who went on to play the morally superior Adolf Burger in Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters 2007).
In 2004, Schmid founded his own production company 23/5, which produced his own film, Requiem and Robert Thalheim’s 'Am Ende Kommen Touristen, (And Along Came Tourists), a contemporary examination of Auschwitz, the relationship of the town to its visitors. The vibrancy of the current German film industry can, I think, be explained in part by this entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated by its directors.
Requiem (2006), which followed the Hollywood version The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a far more controlled and powerful study of the death of an epileptic girl after a series of church-sanctioned exorcisms. Sandra Hueller’s intense central performance won her a Silver Bear at 2006 Berlinale, and the film allows the complexity of the character and the family relationships that conspired with simple religious belief. It, like the documentaries mentioned above, has strong roots in his biography and his early experiences of growing up in Bavaria.
He has been classified as part of a new German school of directors but in a recent interview classifies himself as working on the margins and “watching what they’re doing, although I’m pleased it exists.”
Qualified from Munich’s Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film, he studied scriptwriting at the University of Southern California, L.A. His first films included awarding-winning documentaries, Sekt Oder Selters (1981), about gambling machine addicts and Die Mechanik Des Wunders (1992) exploring the drama and personal tensions around a pilgrimage in his native Altötting.
His career has been built on long-standing associations with producers Jakob Claussen and Thomas Wöbke, and writer/director Michael Gutmann, all being involved in his debut feature Nach Fünf Im Urwald (It’s a Jungle Out There 1995), which also launched Franka Potente. Other acting discoveries include August Diehl (23 and Lichter), who went on to play the morally superior Adolf Burger in Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters 2007).
In 2004, Schmid founded his own production company 23/5, which produced his own film, Requiem and Robert Thalheim’s 'Am Ende Kommen Touristen, (And Along Came Tourists), a contemporary examination of Auschwitz, the relationship of the town to its visitors. The vibrancy of the current German film industry can, I think, be explained in part by this entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated by its directors.
Requiem (2006), which followed the Hollywood version The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a far more controlled and powerful study of the death of an epileptic girl after a series of church-sanctioned exorcisms. Sandra Hueller’s intense central performance won her a Silver Bear at 2006 Berlinale, and the film allows the complexity of the character and the family relationships that conspired with simple religious belief. It, like the documentaries mentioned above, has strong roots in his biography and his early experiences of growing up in Bavaria.
He has been classified as part of a new German school of directors but in a recent interview classifies himself as working on the margins and “watching what they’re doing, although I’m pleased it exists.”
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Czech/Slovak New Wave
We are now very used to the idea of the 'New Wave', applying it to literature (especially science fiction) and popular music as well as cinema. The term appears to have become current in relation to the French New Wave in the late 1950s and the other two New Waves that have been most foregrounded are the British (late 1950s to 1963/4) and the Czechoslovakian (roughly 1962-68). The one that is left out tends to be the Japanese New Wave at roughly the same time as the British and French (probably because the films weren't seen in the West). Others followed under slightly different titles -- often simply as 'New Cinema'.
It strikes me that the French New Wave had two major distinctive features – the enormous number of first-time filmmakers in the period (and thus a 'youth quality') to much of the work and secondly the development of critical writing from the directors themselves and others. Some of the short dictionary type entries make the mistake of linking the Czech/Slovak directors to those in France, but in fact there seems to have been some antagonism between them. The Czech/Slovak directors were generally well-trained and experienced (unlike Godard/Truufaut etc.) and older filmmakers released 'new style' films alongside the younger directors. Like the British, some of the Czech directors used a form of social realism, but others used fantasy and surrealism. Also like the British, literary adaptations were important. Where the French turned to American pulp fiction, Czechs turned to Bohumil Hrabal and other writers. The French New Wave comprised some 200 films mostly made by small production companies, the British New Wave coming at the end of the studio period relied on new companies and state funding in a changing industrial scene. The Czech/Slovak productions all came from state-funded studios but several films were banned in the late 1950s and not released until 1963, the 'New Wave' then being a possible in a 'reform period' between two bouts of repression. Note that the 'Prague Spring' (when the reformist Alexander Dubcek took control of the Czech Communist Party) was just the Spring of 1968, the New Wave started much earlier. Institutional factors are often important in New Waves.
Reference: Alistair Whyte (1971) New Cinema in Eastern Europe, London: Studio Vista
Useful links
http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/czech-slovak-1.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_New_Wave
http://www.criterion.com/asp/in_focus_essay.asp?id=8&eid=177
http://www.popmatters.com/film/features/020331-czech-new-wave.shtml
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839566,00.html
It strikes me that the French New Wave had two major distinctive features – the enormous number of first-time filmmakers in the period (and thus a 'youth quality') to much of the work and secondly the development of critical writing from the directors themselves and others. Some of the short dictionary type entries make the mistake of linking the Czech/Slovak directors to those in France, but in fact there seems to have been some antagonism between them. The Czech/Slovak directors were generally well-trained and experienced (unlike Godard/Truufaut etc.) and older filmmakers released 'new style' films alongside the younger directors. Like the British, some of the Czech directors used a form of social realism, but others used fantasy and surrealism. Also like the British, literary adaptations were important. Where the French turned to American pulp fiction, Czechs turned to Bohumil Hrabal and other writers. The French New Wave comprised some 200 films mostly made by small production companies, the British New Wave coming at the end of the studio period relied on new companies and state funding in a changing industrial scene. The Czech/Slovak productions all came from state-funded studios but several films were banned in the late 1950s and not released until 1963, the 'New Wave' then being a possible in a 'reform period' between two bouts of repression. Note that the 'Prague Spring' (when the reformist Alexander Dubcek took control of the Czech Communist Party) was just the Spring of 1968, the New Wave started much earlier. Institutional factors are often important in New Waves.
Reference: Alistair Whyte (1971) New Cinema in Eastern Europe, London: Studio Vista
Useful links
http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/czech-slovak-1.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_New_Wave
http://www.criterion.com/asp/in_focus_essay.asp?id=8&eid=177
http://www.popmatters.com/film/features/020331-czech-new-wave.shtml
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839566,00.html
Monday, January 14, 2008
Pen Pictures 2: Milos Forman
Milos Forman (b. 1932) was one of the major figures in the Czech/Slovak 'New Wave' of the mid 1960s. He became known for a series of observational social comedies that also satirised the communist state. The four films from this period are:Konkurs (Talent Competition) (1963)
Peter and Pavla (1964)
Blonde in Love (1965)
The Fireman's Ball (1967)
Forman and his collaborators (including writer/director Ivan Passer and cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek) found non-professional actors and filmed them in a documentary style. Many of the films included music performances and several of these can be seen on YouTube (search under "Milos Forman"). In 1968 after many years when Czech films were ignored, three were chosen for screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 1968, including The Fireman's Ball. However, the events of Paris, May 1968, had made an impact on French directors such as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard and to Forman's dismay, they and other French directors picketed the festival and caused it to close. Returning briefly to Prague, Forman saw the Russian tanks coming and decided to get out to America while he still could.
In Hollywood, Forman and Ondricek made Taking Off (1971), a wonderful film that continued the Czech sequence of comedies, this time dealing with middle-class American families whose teenage daughters had run away from home. Several of the techniques adopted for Konkurs are repeated here. The film flopped (it got a wide circuit release in the UK) primarily, Forman argues, because it was a European film without a 'proper' ending. Forman went on to have many big hits including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984). His latest film is Goya's Ghosts (2006), made in Spain with Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman in the lead roles, which reunited Forman with scriptwriter Jean-Claude Carrière who worked on Taking Off.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Current Releases and Old Favourites
Just a prompt, if any of the films we showed on Tuesday looked tempting.....
For recent Polish cinema, Staysci (The Extras) is showing on Sunday (8 pm). By all accounts, a broad comedy of stereotypes, but sounds a nice commentary on the use of Poland as a 'location shoot' by external cinemas, something the industry has encouraged post Communism.
Further ahead, is 'The Saragossa Manuscript' ('Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie'). See David Thompson's write up in the brochure: a Polish classic, based on an epic novel. Remembering the introduction of Zbigniew Cybulski in 'Ashes and Diamonds' (on Tuesday), he is present here in the main role. It has a layered narratives, which start to blend and collapse into each other. The film has been highlighted for its absurdist and black humour.
Obviously, no need for an excuse to see 'A Matter of Life and Death', (on 16th January) directed by Powell, written by Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Pressburger was a Hungarian-born, Jewish refugee from Nazi Europe; as Roy said, teamed with Powell through the agency of (Hungarian) Alexander Korda. I think it's easy to see the commentary on the British of an outsider, with an 'affectionate' eye. (Jack Cardiff, its cinematographer - amongst many other films - will be there in conversation before the film).
Another collaborative masterpiece, with links to our area (not on at Bradford), is 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' with Roger Livesey in the lead. A narrative about a British soldier and his German counterpart (controversial in 1943, so much so that Winston Churchill wanted it banned), it has (I think) a European sensibility in the way it is filmed, perhaps provided by Pressburger's outsider's view.
Finally, please let me confirm I am not on any commission from Pictureville etc.....
For recent Polish cinema, Staysci (The Extras) is showing on Sunday (8 pm). By all accounts, a broad comedy of stereotypes, but sounds a nice commentary on the use of Poland as a 'location shoot' by external cinemas, something the industry has encouraged post Communism.
Further ahead, is 'The Saragossa Manuscript' ('Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie'). See David Thompson's write up in the brochure: a Polish classic, based on an epic novel. Remembering the introduction of Zbigniew Cybulski in 'Ashes and Diamonds' (on Tuesday), he is present here in the main role. It has a layered narratives, which start to blend and collapse into each other. The film has been highlighted for its absurdist and black humour.
Obviously, no need for an excuse to see 'A Matter of Life and Death', (on 16th January) directed by Powell, written by Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Pressburger was a Hungarian-born, Jewish refugee from Nazi Europe; as Roy said, teamed with Powell through the agency of (Hungarian) Alexander Korda. I think it's easy to see the commentary on the British of an outsider, with an 'affectionate' eye. (Jack Cardiff, its cinematographer - amongst many other films - will be there in conversation before the film).
Another collaborative masterpiece, with links to our area (not on at Bradford), is 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' with Roger Livesey in the lead. A narrative about a British soldier and his German counterpart (controversial in 1943, so much so that Winston Churchill wanted it banned), it has (I think) a European sensibility in the way it is filmed, perhaps provided by Pressburger's outsider's view.
Finally, please let me confirm I am not on any commission from Pictureville etc.....
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Renting, buying DVDs
The good news -- MovieMail has a sale on 'World Cinema' which includes Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds and Roman Polanski's Polish feature Knife in Water (for a knock-down £4.99) as well as Jiri Menzel's Czech New Wave film, Closely Observed Trains that we'll be looking at in Week 3. If you enjoyed the opening to Liebelei, you might also enjoy Luchino Visconti's sumptuous melodrama Senso, also in the sale, set in Northern Italy under Austro-Hungarian rule in the 1860s.
The overall picture in terms of getting to see films associated with the course is a little sketchier. My preferred option is to use the rental service from Lovefilm/Sofa Cinema. They are showing Ashes and Diamonds as available and, intriguingly, the other two films in the trilogy as being 'awaiting release'. This can mean anything, but they may be coming. An alternative is to buy Region 1 versions of these titles and the easiest way to do this may be to use either Amazon (the UK site will sell US discs) or Play.com. You'll need a multi-region DVD player to watch the discs, but with these sites you can pay in sterling (one tip, buy only one item per order under £18 or you could face import duties).
If you are puzzled about which titles/directors you want to search for, the best current DVD distributor of Polish, Czech and Hungarian films in the UK (especially for 1960s/70s films) is Second Sight, but it's website is currently not very helpful. However, if you try the other websites and use their search engines and recommendations, you'll quickly get a sense of what is available.
The overall picture in terms of getting to see films associated with the course is a little sketchier. My preferred option is to use the rental service from Lovefilm/Sofa Cinema. They are showing Ashes and Diamonds as available and, intriguingly, the other two films in the trilogy as being 'awaiting release'. This can mean anything, but they may be coming. An alternative is to buy Region 1 versions of these titles and the easiest way to do this may be to use either Amazon (the UK site will sell US discs) or Play.com. You'll need a multi-region DVD player to watch the discs, but with these sites you can pay in sterling (one tip, buy only one item per order under £18 or you could face import duties).
If you are puzzled about which titles/directors you want to search for, the best current DVD distributor of Polish, Czech and Hungarian films in the UK (especially for 1960s/70s films) is Second Sight, but it's website is currently not very helpful. However, if you try the other websites and use their search engines and recommendations, you'll quickly get a sense of what is available.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Pen pictures 1: Andrzej Wajda
Arguably the major figure in Polish Cinema, Andrzej Wajda (born 1926) will be featured in the first class session. Wajda trained as a fine artist after experiencing the war as a teenager but at age 24 he turned to cinema joining the newly established film school in Lodz. His big success came with a trilogy of films dealing with the Polish experience of Nazi occupation, resistance and subsequent liberation. A Generation appeared in 1955, Kanal in 1957 and Ashes and Diamonds in 1958. These films allowed Wajda to gain a high profile in international arthouse distribution -- effectively giving a voice to Poles otherwise trapped behind the Iron Curtain in cultural terms. Later Wajda would repeat this success with two films, Czlowiek z marmuru (Man of Marble) (1976) and Czlowiek z zelaza (Man of Iron) (1981) which managed to satirise Polish politics during the difficult times when workers' resistance to the communist authorities was growing.In 1999, when Poland was joining NATO and preparing to become part of the 'New Europe', Wajda made Pan Tadeusz, a 'Romantic epic' from Polish history and in 2007 his new film Katyn, about the infamous massacre of Polish Army officers by the Red Army in 1940, was a major hit in Poland. In a fascinating interview on the Senses of Cinema website, Wajda explains how Polish Cinema has fared since the Cold War ended and why he has changed the kinds of films he makes. His earlier films were hits abroad but not 'popular box office' at home. His recent films have failed to get a wide release abroad, but attracted large crowds in Poland. Has he become a more 'conservative' filmmaker serving up nationalist nostalgia? Wajda is offering Poles a chance to think about who they are and he is intrigued by the problem of presenting younger Polish audiences with 'political' stories when all they want/have become accustomed to are American-style entertainment films. Ironically, the lifting of censorship has removed the possibility of making political films. In the 1970s people went to those films that got past the censor in the hope of finding some form of critique. Now they don't bother. This is a problem we will discuss towards the end of the course.
Wajda has his own website (in English) and there are also useful summaries on Wikipedia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
