The lineup for the 56th BFI London Film Festival was unveiled Wednesday with 225 fiction and documentary features set for the event, including 14 World, 15 International and 34 European Premieres. The lineup also includes a gala for the world premiere of Crossfire Hurricane , a documentary celebrating 50 years of The Rolling Stones, who are expected to attend the event. As announced earlier, the European Premiere of Tim Burton’s 3-D animation Frankenweenie will open LFF on October 10th. The festival will close withMike Newell’s Great Expectations with Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. Other gala highlights include Toronto titles such as Ben Affleck’s political thriller Argo , Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut Quartet as well as Roger Michell’s Hyde Park On Hudson , which will screen as the London Film Festival’s Centerpiece. And drama The Sessions is set, starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy. The London Film Festival’s 2012 Competition Slate: Official Competition European Premieres: Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths UK Premieres Michel Franco’s After Lucia David Ayer’s End of Watch Rama Burshtein’s Fill the Void Daniele Ciprì’s It Was the Son François Ozon’s In the House Cate Shortland’s Lore Pablo Larraín’s No Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone First Feature Competition (recognizing an original and imaginative directorial debut): 3 European premieres Masaaki Akahori’s The Samurai that Night Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus Barry Berk’s Sleeper’s Wake 9 UK premieres Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild Tom Shkolnik’s The Comedian Maja Miloš’ Clip Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Neighbouring Sounds Scott Graham’s Shell Andrey Gryazev’s Tomorrow Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda Documentary Competition Categories : 4 World Premieres Charlie Paul’s For No Good Reason Nick Ryan’s The Summit Sarah Gavron’s Village at the End of the World Greg Olliver’s Turned Towards the Sun 1 International Premiere Sébastien Lifshitz’s Les Invisibles 4 European Premieres Jay Bulger’s Beware of Mr Baker Shola Lynch’s Free Angela and All Political Prisoners Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God Amy Berg’s West of Memphis 3 UK Premieres Katja Gauriloff’s Canned Dreams Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns’ The Central Park Five Ulises Rosell’s The Ethnographer The nominees for “Best British Newcomer”: Rowan Athale – director/screenwriter Wasteland Sally El Hosaini – director/screenwriter My Brother the Devil Fady Elsayed – actor My Brother the Devil Scott Graham – director/screenwriter Shell Eloise Laurence – actor Broken Rufus Norris – director Broken Chloe Pirrie actor Shell Tom Shkolnik – director/screenwriter The Comedian
The previously untitled, Ben Affleck/Rachel McAdams-starring project due later this year has also received an R rating for “some sexuality and nudity.” Ugh. This calls for a petition ! Meanwhile the film still awaits an official release date; stay tuned here for details as events warrant. [ CARA via Film Stage ]
The previously untitled, Ben Affleck/Rachel McAdams-starring project due later this year has also received an R rating for “some sexuality and nudity.” Ugh. This calls for a petition ! Meanwhile the film still awaits an official release date; stay tuned here for details as events warrant. [ CARA via Film Stage ]
Dazed and Confused often gets lumped in with pot comedies and is celebrated on 4/20, but Richard Linklater’s first studio film transcends mere pot comedy and is still one of the most realistic teen movies ever made. It arrived at a time (1993) when teen movies were out of vogue, and it dared to take a trip down memory lane to a time remembered more with cringes than smiles. It’s arguably the most anti-nostalgia period movie ever, as acknowledged by Linklater himself. Digging in to the Criterion Collection extras (a Blu-ray Criterion release came out in October ), here are some bits of evidence of that, tied to some of the movie’s most memorable lines. “It’s the like every-other-decade theory, you know? The ’50s were boring. The ’60s rocked. The ’70s, oh my God, they obviously suck.” Linklater admits that teenage years are tough no matter what decade you’re in: “I can’t look back too nostalgically at this,” he says. “It’s the only years you have. You’ve got no choice.” But the filmmaker looked around at teen movies that’d been done before and still wanted to tell his teenage rock ’n’ roll movie. Strangely, when asked about the ’70s in behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews, many of the teenage actors came out of the film shoot having a favorable opinion of the decade. The core group of girls, who bonded offscreen — Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams, Christine Harnos and Michelle Burke — actually appreciated the wardrobe of bellbottoms and pants that jokingly required pliers to zip up. For a painful look back at what people wore in the ’70s, see also an audio-free, fairly eerie feature in which the costume supervisor dons many of the characters’ costumes. “Wipe that face off your head, bitch.” The off-the-cuff line is spoken by fascist hazing ringleader Darla, played by Posey, after she tortures the new group of freshman girls on the last day of school. In one of the cast interviews, the actress says that the line was from a play she’d done and was a bad translation from German. She suggested the line to Linklater, and he was all for it. In the DVD commentary and making-of feature, Linklater likened working on his studio debut — for the mini-major Gramercy Pictures — to the initiation rituals that kick the film into gear. (A gleefully vicious Ben Affleck is Posey’s male counterpart.) The director references the bits he had to fight to include, like a simple “good game” hand-slap lineup after Mitch’s baseball game, that didn’t move the film forward but instead captured the dull essence of what life is like for a teenager. Of the pressure from studio executives, Linklater says: “At the end of the day, it was sort of my boxing match that makes or breaks you as a fighter, and I sort of survived it. I don’t know if I won or if there was a draw. I think I won.” That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age. The role of Wooderson, the skeezy older member of the pack, was a breakthrough for Matthew McConaughey, and the story of how he stumbled into the role is recounted in a couple of the film’s special features. Basically, McConaughey happened to be at the same Austin, Texas, hotel bar as casting director Don Phillips. They did some serious male bonding over a four-hour conversation, talking about everything but movies. When they got kicked out of the bar for talking too loudly, the wannabe actor proved himself so awesome — by calling the hotel to stand up for Phillips — that the casting director suggested he would be good for what was then a small part in the film. Of the “high school girls” line, one of Wooderson’s best, Linklater says in the director commentary, “It concerns me I could write such a line.” Of the character himself, the director admits that having the older but not necessarily wiser member of the group of friends was an essential teen memory for him. He cites the years before driving age when kids are at the mercy of anyone willing to chauffeur them around, and how peer pressure came into play in those cases. All I’m saying is that if I ever start referring to these as the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself. Perhaps the reason many critics complain that Dazed and Confused has no plot is that Linklater strove to capture the boredom of being a teenager: driving around, meeting up late at night back at the place you hate, your high school, because there’s nowhere else to go. In several of the extra features, the director recalls that viewers have told him the movie is just like their high school experience. He seems taken aback by it, though, because it does show a specific small-town Texas life that he survived, with characters that were composites of old friends. Those composites are the only cause for nostalgia in the movie. The friends who were a lifeline to sanity during high school are worth remembering. Similarly, in a bittersweet interview, local Austin actress Christin Hinojosa, who played freshman Sabrina, gives a teary interview toward the end of filming in which she talks about the friends she made the summer of the shoot, and how just like at the end of camp, they probably won’t stay in touch.
How do you come to the rescue of the millions of children who need someone — anyone — to do what they can’t: get their bullies off their backs? Director Lee Hirsch has sounded a call to action with his new documentary Bully , which exposes bullying from the front lines. Opening today, the film follows several kids and families struggling to stop the taunting and violence. Hirsch captures the frustration and helplessness among not only the victims but also their parents, who have lost trust in our modern school system. There’s Alex, 12, who seems convinced his bullies are his friends; Ja’Meya, 14, locked up after brandishing a gun on the bus where she faced her tormenters; and Kelby, 16, whose whole family retreated into isolation after she came out as a lesbian. Also profiled are the families of a teenager, Tyler, and an 11-year-old, Ty, whose bullying-related suicides devastated their communities and served as a wake-up call. If the film is taken to heart, it should be among the catalysts for changing the “kids will be kids” mentality among some educators and other authority figures. On a micro level, parents who participated in the film are speaking out in their communities and persuading kids to protect one another. Hirsch is working on getting his movie into schools, where it can have more influence. After a whiplash-inducing saga over its MPAA rating, initially an R for strong language, Bully will be released unrated in New York and Los Angeles before expanding to other cities on April 13. Hirsch spoke to Movieline about the movement that has grown out of his project, the newly famous Bully kids, and whether minors will go to the theater to see the film. When were you made aware of the rampant bullying going on in schools these days, and what led to your decision to make a documentary about it? The drive to make the documentary film is that I was bullied as a kid, so it’s very much a piece of my narrative. You know it’s bad, and I had talked about it over the years with people and sort of sensed that it’s a problem greater than my own. I didn’t really understand until we saw the extent to which people were affected by this, to the millionth. It’s funny you ask that because I feel like I dish out these statistics as if I’ve know them forever, but actually there was a process of discovering how big this really was. Then you start doing the math and thinking, if 13 million kids get bullied a year, and you start adding that up from generation to generation, there’s a lot of folks that have this narrative, that have a story, when it comes to bullying. So all those things came together when we started getting into it. Now it’s been three years that I’ve been working on this. It’s interesting you asked me that, I hadn’t thought about that. Did you have any problem getting kids or parents to participate in the film? No, not at all. We shot so many more stories than we were able to include in the final version of the film. We had people reaching out to us. We reached out to a lot of families. It was so different, because we filmed kids like Kelby, where they were outwardly looking for somebody to hear their story and share their outrage, and then Alex, who we very much stumbled upon while being allowed to film inside this school and see how adults and folks were handling certain situations. I wasn’t surprised by the willingness of people, because I remember that feeling of wishing someone would listen to me. I thought it was really brave of Ty’s friend to admit that he’d been a bully at one time. I wondered if you considered putting more kids in the film who shared that side of the story. I had. I think ultimately the narrative of this film is it tells the story of families that are on the victim side, and so you just settle into a world where you’re seeing what they see, as they see it and they deal with it. Ultimately it became less about, “what are the arguments on this side and that side, and what’s this position and that position,” or a full, drawn-out exploration of the psychology of bullying, but rather it became about telling five stories. We didn’t even know how many stories we were going to tell as we shot it. We were just looking to tell stories that allowed you to walk in the shoes of the kids and families who were dealing with this. Now that the Weinstein Company is releasing the film unrated, how do you imagine kids seeing the movie? Do you think they’ll be going to the theater or seeing it in school? We still have school districts reaching out to us every day. We’re in discussions for how to facilitate that. We have a goal of a million kids seeing the film. On their own and with groups. Within their schools and with organizations. Engaging on our website, bullyproject.com , and participating in the movement. We want to have real engagement. That’s the goal now. I think we want to be able to support viewers after they see the film with how they can be involved, how to make a difference. How to do anything from stand up and how to make that meaningful and supportive, to how parents navigate the school system when they’re advocating on behalf of their kids. I think that’s a long-winded answer to say that yes, I really do think that kids are going to come see this film. I think we owe a lot of that to Katy Butler for inspiring hundreds of thousands of teens to sign this petition , and it’s also thanks to so many of the celebrities who have spoken out for the film. It’s exciting. You’re talking to me the day before it opens. I can’t wait to see what happens. Have you seen any positive changes in schools since you started the project? In Alex’s school? In any school, or in any aspect of it, actually. Have you seen anything positive happen as a result of just making the film and building the website? I feel like, how do you measure half a million signatures and people sharing their stories? I think that’s impact. How do you measure the thousands of people that have written on our wall? People are supporting each other and writing to each other and building a community that feels like it’s turning into a movement. I feel that the film has already had impact in ways that I couldn’t have dreamed. I think that already the conversations are rich and deep that people are having about bullying at their schools, about what the climate and culture are like in their community. I think that those conversations are happening, and that’s change, that’s transformation. It’s very exciting. Do you have any plans to do follow-ups with the kids from your film? I don’t have time to do a follow-up film of any kind, but I am in touch with all of the families on a regular basis. Certainly Alex and his family, in particular, and we see them all the time, with Kelby and her family. They come to screenings. They’re doing press. Alex went and argued before the MPAA with Harvey Weinstein. These families are like my second family now. They mean the world to me, and it’s been awesome to get to spend a year with them. Other people are putting cameras in front of them, but it’s not me. I wonder if years down the road we’ll hear from them. I think there would always be an interest in hearing how they’re doing. The families are going to have to make a decision about whether they want this press to continue. For them, boy, this was unexpected, right? I had a sense that maybe we would do some press. It’s been extraordinary for me. I couldn’t have seen this, but for them, it’s been a confusing and extraordinary ride. We just give them as much support as we humanly can. I’ll always be in their lives, and I feel that in my film work I always develop strong bonds with the people that end up in my films, my subjects. It always matters that they see the film and that they’re part of the process and that that relationship stays strong. That comes through in the film. I’m so proud of them — in particular, because I see them so often, Kelby and Alex — because they’ve become advocates. People are writing me and saying, “Can you please send this to Alex? He’s my hero.” It’s incredible. It’s harder for the families that have lost kids. That’s … I … I think about them a lot because they have suffered such an ultimate loss. And they’ve embarked on a new path of advocating for kids and inspiring kids. They’ve been incredible advocates. I’ve seen that a lot with families of kids who have committed suicide that’s been linked to bullying. Can you imagine that sense of injustice that they feel? No. No, you can’t. I can’t either. They’re so engaged, and they’re such powerful advocates. I see many of these families doing such powerful work out in the world. Bully opens today in New York and Los Angeles, with additional cities to come on April 13. Read Stephanie Zacharek’s review here . [Photo: Getty Images]
Do you live in the New York area? Are you interested in film criticism? If you answered “yes” to both, then clear your calendar on the evening of April 4, when Movieline’s chief critic Stephanie Zacharek will join an esteemed panel of peers to discuss film criticism today. No, really! The event is even called “Film Criticism Today.” And it’s free! Read on for the details. The New School will host the panel; its Web site relays the info below. Again, attendance costs nothing, but you must RSVP for a seat. Get yours now… Film Criticism Today April 4, 2012 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. The Screen Studies program at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts presents a distinguished and diverse panel of speakers who will look at the current landscape of film culture and film criticism, addressing how it has evolved over time, and what its newest phases of development mean for the future. Moderated by Noah Isenberg, director of Screen Studies, panelists include:
Here at Movieline readers have to work for their hard-earned prizes, but today we have a haiku contest that should also engage your inner child and tap into the most whimsical, fantastical depths of your imagination: Write an original haiku inspired by this weekend’s colorful and witty Snow White retelling Mirror Mirror — a movie featuring heroines in swan dresses and people wearing boats as hats ! — and you could win dinner and a movie for four! The family-friendly fairytale from director Tarsem Singh ( The Cell , The Fall , Immortals ) stars Lily Collins as Snow White, a princess living under the thumb of her power-hungry stepmother the Queen (Julia Roberts). When a dashing prince arrives in the kingdom, Snow White is sent to her death but finds refuge with a band of diminutive bandits, becoming a bandit princess and a champion for the people. Stay for the credits or you’ll miss the Bollywood dance number! So: The contest! Take inspiration from Tarsem’s vivid, bold fairytale ( Click for a gallery of Mirror Mirror’s fantastic designs and costumes ) and compose an original haiku. You know the drill — use the 5-7-5 syllable format to write a clever ditty about Mirror Mirror that captures the spirit of the modern-tinged Snow White retelling. (Hint: That iconic line “Mirror, mirror, on the wall… who’s the fairest of them all?” breaks up quite nicely into seven syllable-segments. I’m just saying.) What’s at stake in this contest for the ages? Behold the grand prize, courtesy of Relativity: (1) “Kids’ Night Out” dinner and movie package, which includes a $100 Gift Card to Red Robin and $60 worth of Fandango bucks, enough for 4 people to enjoy! Dinner and a movie for the whole family? What a steal . Get to writing, already! Entries must be received along with your name and an email address where you can be reached. You may enter in the comment section below or on Movieline’s Facebook or Twitter pages. Contest ends Monday, April 2 at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET. U.S. entrants only. One submission per person.
Everyone’s got their thing for getting through a rough week. (Read: Every week.) Some people do yoga, others meditate, more still pray, drink, cower tearfully in the office bathroom for 30 minutes at a time, or indulge any number of other palliatives. Myself, I increasingly find myself turning to “Firecracker,” quite possibly the greatest unofficial music video ever created. Also, I know this has nothing to do with movies per se, which is precisely the point. The true magic happens shortly after the 2:00 mark. Happy Friday. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Look, everyone and their mother is going to be playing Hurley’s numbers from LOST today for the chance to win $640 million in tonight’s Mega Millions draw. (You know: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.) Your friendly Movieline editors aren’t necessarily endorsing the insane gamble that is the national lottery, but if you’re going to throw your hat and your dollars into the ring with the rest of America by going on a last-minute ticket buying frenzy (get ’em by 7:45 pm tonight, California!), here are the winning numbers that nabbed the jackpot for Nic Cage and Bridget Fonda, Bow Wow, and a handful of other lucky folks on the big screen. Lottery Ticket (2010) Bow Wow and his grandma hit it big with a $375 million jackpot… with numbers from (what else?) a fortune cookie. Winning numbers: 04 32 33 42 45 (21) — It Could Happen to You (1994) Based on the true story of a cop who split a winning ticket as a tip with a local waitress. Lesson learned: Don’t give lotto tickets as tips (or anyone with whom you don’t want to share ), maybe unless your waitress looks like Bridget Fonda. Winning numbers: 06 12 16 26 64 08 — Paycheck (2003) “Reverse engineer” Ben Affleck saves the world from a future-telling device and gets his memory wiped, but not before leaving himself the winning numbers to a lottery jackpot. Winning numbers: 17 44 04 26 37 40 and 22 — Lucky Numbers (2000) Weatherman John Travolta and his ditzy girlfriend Lisa Kudrow rig the lottery and then get her cousin Michael Moore to buy the winning ticket. I couldn’t bring myself to watch the entire movie all over again just to confirm the numbers but these numbers are visible in the trailer, should you choose to use them. Winning numbers: 22 70 16 9 27 07 — Waking Ned Devine (1998) It’s worth noting that winning the lotto in the movies quite often leads to death, betrayal, and other assorted ills. Take Ned Devine, for instance, who dies — happily, I suppose — from joy when he hits the jackpot. Winning numbers: 19 40 04 07 25 29 — All About the Benjamins (2002) If you play these numbers, you are required to buy your lottery ticket in the style of Mike Epps. Winning numbers: 15 30 37 38 45 47 Remember, gambling can become addictive, your chances of winning are insanely slim, and Movieline makes no promises that these numbers will win you anything at all. But feel free to cut me in on your winnings if you hit the big time! Consider it a tip. Good luck! Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Already the parents of two beautiful daughters, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are now the proud mom and dad of a beautiful baby boy as well! Congratulations! The A-list couple, who got married back in 2005, have proven pretty skillfull at picking out pretty girl names, with Violet and Seraphina. The little boy’s name? Alas, mum’s the word on the little guy’s name for now. But he’s here ! Jen and Ben with Violet, 6, last fall. Seraphina is 3 . “It would be so weird to have a boy,” the actress told Ellen DeGeneres recently, but also said the experience would be absolutely “cool and different.” Affleck, in turn, said that the 3-against-1 female-to-male ratio in his house leaves him significantly outnumbered. Looks like he has a teammate at last! “He knows when to swoop in with the gesture. He’s sweet that way,” the actress says of her husband. “Honestly, I would do anything for that man.” “I always know that it’s not taken for granted.” Aww. Congrats again to the whole family! [Photo: WENN.com]
