Rumores Cultura
Estoril´s Confusing Answer
The Portuguese film festival circuit is overloaded with offers, covering most tastes and sensibilities and indirectly disguising the obvious limitations of the local film industry, still waiting for that big push which will open it to new and greater heights. Quantity rarely means quality though, and Estoril seems to be very much aware of that fact.
This is reflected in their program, mainly consisting on retrospectives and out of competition screenings. No doubt most of them are safe bets, especially considering the big crowds that gathered at Centro de Congressos do Estoril to have a first glimpse at much anticipated films like Cassey Affleck`s I´m Still Here or Robert Rodrigues`s Machete.
By doing this the festival has chosen not to take any risks in distributing larger efforts in its actual competition, that inevitably suffered to a great extent.
Don’t get me wrong, I was very happy to finally have access to these and other films, particularly Roman Polanski`s retrospective that gave us an unique chance to marvel at his earlier works, usually so hard to find.
It is true that it is impossible to expect such a large, for Portuguese standards, and young, only on its 4th edition, festival to have a clear and unmistakable identity. Yet this process of finding its place in the world of film seems a bit rushed in Estoril`s case, as if the event was already at the forefront of the circuit it proposes to revolutionize.
It`s obsession for stars clearly makes it stand out from the rest. Much investment has been made in order to bring to Portugal some key figures in world`s cinema. In the past people like Francis Ford Coppola, David Cronenberg and Juliete Binoche have walked down the red carpet, attracting considerable media coverage. This year Lou Reed and John Malcovich have followed the same path.
Yet I can`t help but raise a question. Why? What exactly did go there to do?
Throughout the week I never felt that buzz and hype you expect to find in this sort of events when they have such a high profile guest list. I truly believe its impact on the general public was far from satisfying expectations. Equally important, I can´t help but feel the same effort would have been put to much better use in the competition program, which was in dire need of quality, and in creating the conditions to promote networking between guests, filmmakers, media and, most vital of all, audiences, of which there was none..
The old model of star filled events is slowly dying, as the new generation of film goers looks for something more interactive and varied in terms of content, instead of what celebrities they will barely see a glimpse of. Similarly, to think a Portuguese event could rival, or simply replicate, Cannes, Venice or Berlin is at least laughable.
I say all this because it is impossible not to recognize the potential the Estoril Film Festival has, and most important, the impact that it could have on the Portuguese film scene. Its almost unlimited resources, when compared with the local competition, and distinguished and influential organization members make it a fertile ground to expand and easily take over the country as its largest and most relevant cultural event. The way the organization has managed to inspire so much private investment is unquestionably one of its greatest merits, specifically in a country so addicted to the state`s support for this sort of events.
All in all Estoril has every reason to think big, and think big it should, if for no other reason because it can. The problem is its method and lack of patience. Until it realizes it takes time and new visions to grow, its future will always be on the balance.
Winners List
Best Film: TILVA ROSH by Nikolai Lezaic
Special Jury Prize João Benárd da Costa: ISABELLE HUPPERT for her role in Copacabana.
Montblanc Best Script Award: REVERSE MOTION by Andrey Stempkovsky ,Anush Vardanyan and Givi Shavgulidze
Honorable Mention: ZAUR BOLOTAYEV, Director of photography in Reverse Motion
Cineuropa Award: TILVA ROSH
Honorable Mention: SONG OF TOMORROW by Jonas Holmstrom e Jonas Bergergard
MEO Award for Best Short Film: Ex-Aequo SREDNI VASHTAR by Alana Osbourne, Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle and SING ME TOO SLEEP by Mgnus Arnesen, The Polish National Film Television e Theatre School
Honorable Mention LE DERNIER INSTANT by Bouchra Moutaharik
L'óreal Young Talent Award: Joana de Verona
Canon Short Film Competition Award: ETIC
Special Prizes: John Malkovich, Marisa Paredes, Alberto Garcia-Alix, Baltasar Gárzon and Giya Kancheli
The Portuguese film festival circuit is overloaded with offers, covering most tastes and sensibilities and indirectly disguising the obvious limitations of the local film industry, still waiting for that big push which will open it to new and greater heights. Quantity rarely means quality though, and Estoril seems to be very much aware of that fact.
This is reflected in their program, mainly consisting on retrospectives and out of competition screenings. No doubt most of them are safe bets, especially considering the big crowds that gathered at Centro de Congressos do Estoril to have a first glimpse at much anticipated films like Cassey Affleck`s I´m Still Here or Robert Rodrigues`s Machete.
By doing this the festival has chosen not to take any risks in distributing larger efforts in its actual competition, that inevitably suffered to a great extent.
Don’t get me wrong, I was very happy to finally have access to these and other films, particularly Roman Polanski`s retrospective that gave us an unique chance to marvel at his earlier works, usually so hard to find.
It is true that it is impossible to expect such a large, for Portuguese standards, and young, only on its 4th edition, festival to have a clear and unmistakable identity. Yet this process of finding its place in the world of film seems a bit rushed in Estoril`s case, as if the event was already at the forefront of the circuit it proposes to revolutionize.
It`s obsession for stars clearly makes it stand out from the rest. Much investment has been made in order to bring to Portugal some key figures in world`s cinema. In the past people like Francis Ford Coppola, David Cronenberg and Juliete Binoche have walked down the red carpet, attracting considerable media coverage. This year Lou Reed and John Malcovich have followed the same path.
Yet I can`t help but raise a question. Why? What exactly did go there to do?
Throughout the week I never felt that buzz and hype you expect to find in this sort of events when they have such a high profile guest list. I truly believe its impact on the general public was far from satisfying expectations. Equally important, I can´t help but feel the same effort would have been put to much better use in the competition program, which was in dire need of quality, and in creating the conditions to promote networking between guests, filmmakers, media and, most vital of all, audiences, of which there was none..
The old model of star filled events is slowly dying, as the new generation of film goers looks for something more interactive and varied in terms of content, instead of what celebrities they will barely see a glimpse of. Similarly, to think a Portuguese event could rival, or simply replicate, Cannes, Venice or Berlin is at least laughable.
I say all this because it is impossible not to recognize the potential the Estoril Film Festival has, and most important, the impact that it could have on the Portuguese film scene. Its almost unlimited resources, when compared with the local competition, and distinguished and influential organization members make it a fertile ground to expand and easily take over the country as its largest and most relevant cultural event. The way the organization has managed to inspire so much private investment is unquestionably one of its greatest merits, specifically in a country so addicted to the state`s support for this sort of events.
All in all Estoril has every reason to think big, and think big it should, if for no other reason because it can. The problem is its method and lack of patience. Until it realizes it takes time and new visions to grow, its future will always be on the balance.
Winners List
Best Film: TILVA ROSH by Nikolai Lezaic
Special Jury Prize João Benárd da Costa: ISABELLE HUPPERT for her role in Copacabana.
Montblanc Best Script Award: REVERSE MOTION by Andrey Stempkovsky ,Anush Vardanyan and Givi Shavgulidze
Honorable Mention: ZAUR BOLOTAYEV, Director of photography in Reverse Motion
Cineuropa Award: TILVA ROSH
Honorable Mention: SONG OF TOMORROW by Jonas Holmstrom e Jonas Bergergard
MEO Award for Best Short Film: Ex-Aequo SREDNI VASHTAR by Alana Osbourne, Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle and SING ME TOO SLEEP by Mgnus Arnesen, The Polish National Film Television e Theatre School
Honorable Mention LE DERNIER INSTANT by Bouchra Moutaharik
L'óreal Young Talent Award: Joana de Verona
Canon Short Film Competition Award: ETIC
Special Prizes: John Malkovich, Marisa Paredes, Alberto Garcia-Alix, Baltasar Gárzon and Giya Kancheli
Animation in focus
Chico y rita`s Rate= 4/5
Kingdom of Women`s Rate= 3/5
This summer’s big box office hits were the confirmation of a continuous trend in cinema, animation is taking over. Toy Story 3 is already the highest earning film of the year, gaining profits of over 1 billion dollars worldwide. The last chapter of the Shrek series is not far behind, drawing similar numbers to Christopher Nolan`s much praised Inception or the teen sensation Eclipse.
Disney and Pixars domination over the genre is undisputable. Their creative use of new technologies has gathered massive audiences who lead us to conclude this is in no way a temporary state of affairs.
While the success of American animations is defining new standards, something interesting is happening in other parts of the world. Some animators are going back to their origins by replacing the same new technologies with a more classical approach, and by doing so achieving completely different results.
One good example is Fernando Trueba`s new film Chico and Rita, one of this year’s highlights of the narrative competition. The Oscar winning Spanish director launched himself on new terrains alongside two renowned Spanish artists, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, to produce a film that, in my view, encapsulates this new dimension of animation, a new film language where hand-drawn characters and places are brutally real, politically critical and altogether thought provoking.
To be fair this phenomenon is not necessarily new, but you would find it hard to point out another moment in film history where so many serious and influential animations have been release simultaneously, creating enough space of maneuver to launch the absurd cry of the birth of an international movement.
Chico and Rita, a love story set on the background of the Latin jazz explosion in the pre-revolutionary Cuba of the 1950`s, attention to detail is nothing short of brilliant. It adds a poetic and emotionally intense reality to a script that, even though it borders on the obvious, is charged with stimulating political and social commentary.
A series of similar productions have been released in the past few years, and more interestingly, from very different corners of the world. In France Sylvain Chomet is being the target of great praise following the recent release of The Illusionist and his now legendary Bellevue Rendez-Vous. The Japanese, in some way, actually set the standard a while ago, in particular through the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Ponyo).
Equally relevant has been the part the middle-east is assuming in this story. From all the animations released in the last few years Waltz and Bashir, from Israeli director Ari Folman, is perhaps the most astonishing of them all. Set during the early 1980`s Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Folman`s daring voyage into his very own forgotten war memories showed us exactly how much animation has got to offer, creating a film truly without parallel.
In this edition of the Abu Dhabi film Festival audiences will have the opportunity to take a look at yet another interesting version of the new animation language. In Kingdom of women: Ein El-Hilweh, Palestinian born director Dhana Abourahme teamed up with Lebanese artist Lena Merhej to present us with a unique experiment. The documentary attempts to compile testimonies by Palestinian women who have survived a series of Israeli invasions and one civil war in the largest refugee camp in Lebanon, Ein El-Hilweh. Most of the stories told by the interviewed women are enough to transport the audience into frightening and despairing scenarios. But what really stands out in Kingdom of women is Merhej contributions, a series of short animations that illustrate these same events, taking the emotional impact yet another step forward.
As animation is also on the rise in other countries in the region, such as Iran, and most important in UAE, with the TV success of Haider Mohammad Haider`s Sha'biyat Al Cartoon, new paths are bound to be open for the emergence of local talent. The question is, will they be able to catch up with the rest of the world?
Chico y rita`s Rate= 4/5
Kingdom of Women`s Rate= 3/5
This summer’s big box office hits were the confirmation of a continuous trend in cinema, animation is taking over. Toy Story 3 is already the highest earning film of the year, gaining profits of over 1 billion dollars worldwide. The last chapter of the Shrek series is not far behind, drawing similar numbers to Christopher Nolan`s much praised Inception or the teen sensation Eclipse.
Disney and Pixars domination over the genre is undisputable. Their creative use of new technologies has gathered massive audiences who lead us to conclude this is in no way a temporary state of affairs.
While the success of American animations is defining new standards, something interesting is happening in other parts of the world. Some animators are going back to their origins by replacing the same new technologies with a more classical approach, and by doing so achieving completely different results.
One good example is Fernando Trueba`s new film Chico and Rita, one of this year’s highlights of the narrative competition. The Oscar winning Spanish director launched himself on new terrains alongside two renowned Spanish artists, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, to produce a film that, in my view, encapsulates this new dimension of animation, a new film language where hand-drawn characters and places are brutally real, politically critical and altogether thought provoking.
To be fair this phenomenon is not necessarily new, but you would find it hard to point out another moment in film history where so many serious and influential animations have been release simultaneously, creating enough space of maneuver to launch the absurd cry of the birth of an international movement.
Chico and Rita, a love story set on the background of the Latin jazz explosion in the pre-revolutionary Cuba of the 1950`s, attention to detail is nothing short of brilliant. It adds a poetic and emotionally intense reality to a script that, even though it borders on the obvious, is charged with stimulating political and social commentary.
A series of similar productions have been released in the past few years, and more interestingly, from very different corners of the world. In France Sylvain Chomet is being the target of great praise following the recent release of The Illusionist and his now legendary Bellevue Rendez-Vous. The Japanese, in some way, actually set the standard a while ago, in particular through the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Ponyo).
Equally relevant has been the part the middle-east is assuming in this story. From all the animations released in the last few years Waltz and Bashir, from Israeli director Ari Folman, is perhaps the most astonishing of them all. Set during the early 1980`s Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Folman`s daring voyage into his very own forgotten war memories showed us exactly how much animation has got to offer, creating a film truly without parallel.
In this edition of the Abu Dhabi film Festival audiences will have the opportunity to take a look at yet another interesting version of the new animation language. In Kingdom of women: Ein El-Hilweh, Palestinian born director Dhana Abourahme teamed up with Lebanese artist Lena Merhej to present us with a unique experiment. The documentary attempts to compile testimonies by Palestinian women who have survived a series of Israeli invasions and one civil war in the largest refugee camp in Lebanon, Ein El-Hilweh. Most of the stories told by the interviewed women are enough to transport the audience into frightening and despairing scenarios. But what really stands out in Kingdom of women is Merhej contributions, a series of short animations that illustrate these same events, taking the emotional impact yet another step forward.
As animation is also on the rise in other countries in the region, such as Iran, and most important in UAE, with the TV success of Haider Mohammad Haider`s Sha'biyat Al Cartoon, new paths are bound to be open for the emergence of local talent. The question is, will they be able to catch up with the rest of the world?
