cinema

Egypt's most wanted dog

Emmanuel F24 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:12:03 +0200

Egyptians are not amused by “I love you, Man” (Paramount Pictures), the latest summer comedy to come from across the Atlantic. The reason: the main character’s dog is named after the country's former president, Anwar Sadat.

In this film, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) asks his friend Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) his dog’s name, to which Sydney answers : "Anwar Sadat like the Egyptian president (...) Because they are so similar!”. A dog looking like the former president? That’s one joke too many for some Egyptians, who voiced their disappointment in public and even created a Facebook group to get the film off cinema screens.

Anwar Sadat was president of Egypt from 1970 until 1981. He was the first Arab leader to visit Israel and to speak in front of the Knesset in November 1977. Less than a year later, on September 17, 1978, he signed the Camp David Accords, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Home-made blockbusters

Nicolas F24 — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:19:42 +0200

Picture from "The Hunt for Gollum", a free Web film inspired by "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

"The Lord of The Rings", "Batman" and "The Matrix" were all very popular films which benefit from a strong community. They're so popular that fans are filming their own versions or spoofs of the films, thanks to current computer technology. Most of the young directors behind these films, some of which are reaching professional quality, share the same dream: to become a part of the Hollywood constellation.

In 2003, one of the first realistic film spoofs was released by a couple of German "Matrix" fans. A year later, "The Matrix XP" had been downloaded 16 million times — and that was before YouTube existed.

Julien Mokrani and Samuel Bodin, the two French directors behind the Batman fan film "Ashes to Ashes", eventually managed to catch the attention of renowned Hollywood film director. Thanks to him and to their film experience, they have now signed their first feature film, which opens during the Cannes Festival.

"The Hunt for Gollum" is the latest and probably the most professional-looking fan film ever made. The 40-minute film was made by a young film student helped by a crew of unpaid volunteers, with a budget of only €3,500!

Cannes Festival: “full of smooth-talkers”

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:42:06 +0200

For 23-year-old comedian Deborah Newman, the Cannes Film Festival is a make-or-break. One way, you build a base of professional contacts, the other, you get scammed by fakes full of empty promises.

I was at the festival two years ago working. At the time I had the pass to get into the Palais des Festival. This time round I don't, and I'm left to my own devices. I've been here since Thursday and still haven't managed to get in. I haven't met anyone of importance; no scriptwriters, no directors. The world of cinema is pretty closed - you need those contacts in order to get castings. I'm really counting on the second week. You only have to meet one important person that can open doors for you and launch your career.

On the other hand, you have to be very wary, because Cannes is also full of smooth-talkers. People will take you as naïve just because you're a young woman. That's a classic scenario. They sell you a dream; castings, projects... to take advantage of you. Lots of young comedians fall into that trap. They'll ask you to get undressed for example during a casting. That's happened to a few people I know.

Personally I'm very careful, without becoming paranoid. That kind of talk is usually easy to detect. You only need to ask a few precise questions and then look up what they said on the Web. You just have to keep your head on your shoulders and not believe everything you hear.

I know I'm not going to land the role of my life at the end of these ten days. It's just a good way to build up my address book. Afterwards, come what may..."

Cannes Film Festival: the hunt for a producer is on

Julien — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:39:38 +0200

Film stars and dazzled onlookers are not the only people crowding Cannes at festival times. The Croisette is also home to several young directors, like Cédrick Spinassou, on the lookout for a producer.

Last year, we followed Cédrick as he presented a short film at the Cannes Festival. This time, he’s back on the Croisette with a full-length feature film.

Angels and Demons, part of the grand conspiracy theory?

Team Observers — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:42:00 +0200

In Angels and Demons, Dan Brown claims that the pyramid and the eye on the American dollar are symbols of the Illuminati.

Conspiracy theories sprout like mushrooms at each global crisis, and Swine flu is no exception: one blog blames a mysterious secret society, the Illuminati, for the recent outbreak. Do movies like Ron Howard's upcoming Angels and Demons add fuel to the conspiracy-theory fire?

Most people had never heard of the secret society of the Illuminati before Dan Brown's novel Angels and Demons, sequel to the best-selling Da Vinci Code. In the book and its subsequent Hollywood version, the Illuminati are presented as a renaissance-era society of great thinkers, including the scientist Galileo and the artist Bernini, who were "expelled from Rome by the Vatican and hunted down mercilessly", according to Brown. In fact, the only known Illuminati society recognised by historians was founded nearly a century later, in Bavaria, in 1776. The plot of Angels and Demons takes place 400 years later, when the Illuminati, now a powerful and ruthless secret society, return to take their revenge on Vatican cardinals.

It's a short leap from there to the most common conspiracy theories, in which the Illuminati are said to be a mysterious "elite within the elite" whose goal is to infiltrate positions of power to create a ‘new world order' based on secular knowledge. Some see symbols like the pyramid and the all-seeing eye on US dollar bills as a sign that Illuminati have infiltrated the highest spheres of power.

Under fire for distorting historical events, Angels and Demons movie director Ron Howard wrote in the Huffington Post that the movie is "nothing other than a work of fiction", pointing out that if "fictional movies couldn't take liberties with reality, there would have been no Ben-Hur, no Barabbas, The Robe, Gone With the Wind or Titanic". But Dan Brown's official website is not so quick to dismiss the novels as pure fiction...

China’s latest debate: the story of the Nanking massacre told by "Japanese Schindler"

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:15:39 +0200

Despite its popularity in Chinese cinemas, the director of a film which attempts to deal with "The Rape of Nanking" - the 1937 Japanese massacre in China's former capital - has come under fire on the Chinese web, for his apparent compassion with the Japanese soldiers.

With World War II well under way, on 13 December 1937 the Japanese army stormed the then capital of the Republic of China, Nanking. What followed was six weeks of horror for the defeated army and the civilian population. No less than 300,000 people, subjected to the cruelest atrocities, were killed.

It took four years, almost 80 million yuan (€8.8 million), and 20,000 unpaid extras for director Lu Chuan to bring this bloody episode to the big screen.

"City of Life and Death" (or "Nanking Nanking!" in Chinese) presents the story from the point of view of several characters including a Chinese soldier and a primary school teacher, but also a Japanese soldier consumed by guilt - a personality which web users have labelled the "Japanese Oskar Schindler".

Released a week ago in more than a third of Chinese theatres, the film has already raked in 7.5 million euros in just five days. Heeding to a few modification demands in advance (see third paragraph of this article), the film has also managed to benefit from advertising on the part of the government propaganda department: "Nanking Nanking!" has made it on to the top ten films listed to commemorate the republic's 60 year anniversary.

'The Watchmen', will the movie live up to the comic?

Julien — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:26:28 +0100

Directed by Zack Snyder, the man behind the blockbuster hit '300', 'The Watchmen' is expected to become the latest box-office sensation as it hits US cinemas on Friday. But this widely-anticipated 100-million-dollar movie adaptation of a popular graphic novel from the 80s has left its fan base with mixed feelings.

Tension is rising among fans of the popular graphic novel 'The Watchmen' on the eve of the worldwide release of its highly anticipated movie adaptation. Since the comic book’s first appearance in 1987, movie studios have relentlessly competed to adapt it to the big screen. Last year, just as the project was nearing completion, Fox sued Warner Bros for copyright violation, triggering anger among some fan groups who threatened to boycott Fox films if the project was cancelled. A financial compromise was finally reached, yet a divide remains between the fans who are excited about the movie’s release and those who think 'The Watchmen' should have remained a graphic novel.

Lebanon bans film with naked woman

Julien — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:03:02 +0100

Last week we discussed the scandal sparked by the release of a controversial film in Morocco. Now, another film has been axed in Lebanon. The reason is pretty much the same: sex.

"Help" is the tale of a teenager, Ali, who lives in a van in Lebanon. His life suddenly turns upside down when he meets Thuraya, a prostitute living with a gay man. "Help" is the first feature film by the young Lebanese director Marc Abi Rached. Lebanese authorities initially gave it the green light on two conditions: that it be restricted to viewers 18 years old or older and that an image of female genitals be blurred. The film was scheduled for release on February 19. While the preview went ahead as planned on February 12, three days before nationwide release the authorisation was suddenly revoked. "Help" has turned out to be highly controversial, not least because the lead actress, Joanna Andraos, the daughter of a Lebanese MP, appears fully naked.

Web goes psycho over Christian Bale going psycho

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:15:38 +0100

The leaked audio of Christian Bale's four-minute furious rant, in which he managed to fit in the word "fuck" 35 times, is the web's biggest hit this week. The American Psycho star erupted into the unending onslaught of insults, aimed at one of the set's directors, while shooting for Terminator 4. Even in the land of stars, the verbal assault has caused outrage. But on the inside of the industry, a producer tells us that it's nothing unusual.

Although it happened last July, the audio recording of Bale's outburst didn't reach public ears until this week, when it was leaked by celebrity gossip website TMZ. It turns out the incident happened just days before the Hollywood actor was arrested for allegedly pushing his mother (the charges were later dropped). The victim of the verbal assault was cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, who apparently fiddled with some lights on set when Bale was trying to act out an important scene. In response, Hurlbut received a four minute offensive from Bale, who finished by saying "seriously man, you and me, we're fucking done professionally".

Is Slumdog Millionaire 'poverty porn'?

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:28:57 +0100

Photo: Akshay Mahajan

While Slumdog Millionaire received rave reviews in the rest of the world, in India itself critics are complaining that the British-made picture is unrealistic and full of clichés. Several of our Observers went to the slum where the film is set to find out for themselves.

British director Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is the story of a boy from a Mumbai slum who wins the TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The film shows the poverty, violence and appalling living conditions of Dharavi - one of the world's biggest slums. It's already bagged five Golden Globes and has been nominated for 11 BAFTA awards. But it's caused something of a spark in India, where critics are divided over the British-made picture. Many argue that it is idealistic. One blogger describes it as: "a collection of clichés from the Third World's underbelly for the viewing pleasure of a First World audience". Others have labelled it "poverty porn". Our Observers who visited the area however, found that residents there are happy to see their neighbourhood on the big screen.