Category Archives: Film Festival

A profile on cult FUTURO BEACH director KARIM AINOUZ

Ainouz’s first feature debut, MADAME SATA, premiered in 2002 at the Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard and has won over 40 prizes in national and international film festivals.

His following films, LOVE FOR SALE and I TRAVEL BECAUSE I HAVE TO I COME BACK BECAUSE I LOVE YOU (co-directed by Marcelo Gomes) premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Orizzonti, in 2006 and 2009. LOVE FOR SALE won the Grande Coral – First Prize at the Havana Film Festival among another 50 awards, and I TRAVEL won the Grand Prix Coup de Coeur of the 22nd Rencontres Cinemas D’Amerique Latine of Toulouse, France, amongst 20 other prizes.

Between 2006 and 2008 he directed the HBO TV series Alice, which played in all of Latin America and the US and in 2010 he directed one of the fragments of the collective film Desassossego, which premiered at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. His feature, The Silver Cliff, premiered at the Quinzaine des Realisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival and won Best Director at Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.

In 2011 Ainouz directed a short for the 2011 Destricted Collection Brazil and was invited to direct a commissioned film for the Sarjah Biennial 10. He also collaborated with Olafur Eliasson creating the video installations YOUR EMPATHIC CITY for Videobrasil Festival.

Recently he shot, in Germany and Brazil, his next feature, FUTURO BEACH. He also took part in the project Cathedrals of Culture, a documentary TV series in 3D and 2D that explores how six significant and very different buildings reflect our culture. The project has Wim Wenders as executive producer and features Ainouz as one of the directors. Ainouz was invited as jury to the Cannes Film Festival for the Cinefondation and Short Film Competition in 2012 and to the Heiner-Carow Award at Berlinale in 2013. He was also a jury member at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival and Tokyo Short Shorts Film Festival among others.

As invited lecturer Ainouz has been to Princeton University – Princeton, Brikbeck College – London, MIT – Bostopn, EICTV – Cuba and SFAI – San Francisco.

From 1989 to 1992, he worked as assistant director to Todd Haynes and assistant editor to several feature films. In 1992, Ainouz began to devote himself to his own film projects and directed several shorts and documentaries including SEAMS aand PAIXAO NACIONAL. His work as visual artist has been shown at The Whitney Museum of American Art, Sao Paoulo Biennial and Temporare Kunsthalle Berlin. He was part of the Cannes Residency, Cinefondation, and a resident artist of the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada and of the DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service. He is co-writer of the films BEHIND THE SUN by Walter Salles, CINEMA, ASPIRINS AND VULTURES by Marcelo Gomes and LOWER CITY by Sergio Machado.

Karim holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Brasilia and in Cinema Studies from New York University. After his Master’s he enrolled in the Program of Independent Studies of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

An interview with Diemo Kemmesies, director of SILENT YOUTH

Q: The plot of your film is very simple and straightforward. It’s a character-driven piece, but at the same time devoid of heavy use of dialogue as a dramatic device. When watching it, I got the impression that improvisation played a significant role in developing the scenes. Is that a fair assumption?

A: Some people think that we used improvisation, but that’s not really the case. There are 2 scenes with some improvisation, the beginning of the scene on the balcony and the waiting for the toast in the kitchen.

The rest was completely scripted by me. I’d like to work more with improvisation in the future, but that requires far more time than we had available (we shot the film in 12 days).

Q: Long takes with minimal action, natural dialogue, lack of music (except for the end) and observation of the mundane make Silent Youth a perfect example of realist cinema. Was that a conscious decision? Are you a fan of realism in cinema? And if yes, who are your favourite realist filmmakers?

A: When I first started out, my films lacked that sense of reality, mostly due to my background in theatre. Later on, inspired by the “Berlin School” movement and the works of Dardenne brothers, I realized that sense of vivid reality intensified the movie experience for me.

I wouldn’t say that Silent Youth is realistic in the true sense of the word. The film employs an aesthetically-raw style, but ultimately, it is all carefully fabricated. This is evident in some of Kirill’s words. Is he always telling the truth or is he making it up? Nonetheless, while experiencing the film, it all feels real.

You sit together with Marlo next to Kirill and feel how awkward and complicated it is. I would like for the audience to have an authentic experience in the cinema and take away something meaningful from it.

You can see that my film is highly inspired by Gus van Sant, especially in the way he works with time and thoughts.

Q: Near the beginning of the film, Kirill talks to Marlo about his accident in Russia where he was beaten up. With the events in Russia now, this is actually quite a timely subject. Was the incident in the film inspired by any personal experience of your own or someone close to you?

A: It happened to a close friend of mine, but it had nothing to do with being gay or not. He just befriended the wrong crowd in a rough city like Moscow.

I had a screening in Kiev and the audience was laughing during that scene. It has become such a cliché that a western European thinks this can only happen in Russia.

Q: Do you think your background as someone who comes from East Germany has had any influences on your work?

A: Yes, it has certainly been influential. Until I was 14, I learned in the school that capitalists were evil, communism was the future and something like gay didn’t exist. But soon after, I learned that being a capitalist is cool, communism is the past and that my country was sold out to the former neighbours.

After that, a lot of West German film-makers made comedies about stupid East Germans and the evil communists.

When I now go back to my home town, I can see a lot of scared and frustrated people, which includes the generation that barley knows the East German times.

So yes, I have something that drives me to tell stories in the way I see it and I also have a connection to the East European way of making films.

Q: It seems you’ve led a colourful life in the respect that you started out as an electrician followed by your service at the military and your work at a commune in France. You also founded a magazine named, “Blicklicht” and now work as a software programmer. What were your motivations in pursuing a life in so many different fields and how do you think it has affected you art?

A: In a way, I have a typical biography for someone from East Germany at my age. There was no straight way to go. Everything was new and also my parents couldn’t give me any wise word of advice.

Learning to be an electrician came from GDR (German Democratic Republic). The same goes for the army. Back then, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. No one asked me that question before. In the prison called army, I began questioning myself about my future. Soon after, I left and went to the commune in France.

I started to articulate myself and my ambitions. I first got involved in theatre and finally became a filmmaker. I always feel bad about the hours of my life that I wasted away and think I should have done something fruitful. However, my varied life experiences provide me with a great deal of stories to tell. It also enables me to see the difference between a worker and an actor who is trying to play a worker.

Q: What do you look forward to most on your visit to the Iris Prize and what do you hope to take away from it?

A: I’m really glad that the festival is screening my film and I hope it reaches as wide an audience as possible. It’s my first time visiting the island (UK) so I’m very curious about the environment and the people and the audiences’ response to the film.

– Interview by Amir Abdolrazaghi for the IRIS Prize Festival, Cardiff.

MD Tom Abell: Celebrating 15 Years of Peccadillo Pictures

Tom Abell: 15 Years of Peccadillo Pictures

2000 AD; the name of the galaxy’s greatest comic, the beginning of a new millennium and the year that Peccadillo Pictures was born.

Originally the company was going to be called Piccadilly Pictures in honour of Mark Finch and Tony Kirkhope, two of Tom’s friends who previously organised The Piccadilly Film Festival and had both met untimely deaths. Fortunately the name was already registered to another company, so Peccadillo was suggested as a good replacement (thank you Nicky Gallani) as being the old English word that Piccadilly was derived from.

The company was started on a small loan and originally operated from a desk in Tom and Kahloon’s bedroom, but within a year had a room of its own.

The first film to be released by Peccadillo Pictures was DROLE DE FELIX by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau.

The first VHS / DVD release was LIKE IT IS by Paul Oremland (Yes, VHS was still very popular back then)

The Peccadillo logo was designed by Steve Edwards and is based on Bam Bam, Tom and Kahloon’s cat, who was the office manager until the office moved to Hoxton in 2004. Sadly Bam Bam died in 2009 just before her 23rd birthday.

Peccadillo

Noun: A triumphant little sin.

Company Directors Tom and Kahloon at the Peccadillo Pictures’ 15th Birthday Party

Why We Are Doing This: APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR – From Peccadillo MD

Peccadillo MD – Tom Abell

Out of the hundreds of American independent films that are made each year, how do you take just one and make it a box office success in the UK and the ROI? It’s much harder than it sounds.

Cecilia Frugiuele the producer of APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR approached us four years ago with a project (it had a different title then – we’re forbidden to mention the old name!) which was loosely based on a web series made by and starring Desiree Akhavan called THE SLOPE, where Desiree played one half of a superficial, homophobic lesbian couple. The web series is extremely funny, Desiree was simply fabulous and so was the film script, Peccadillo Pictures was definitely on board.

APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR premiered in Sundance January 2014 and we finally saw it during the Berlin Film Festival in February 2014, the film was simply a breath of fresh air that blew away the winter cobwebs along with all the competition. We were in love. But how do we bring our love of the film to the UK and Republic of Ireland and make all of you love it too?

After meeting Desiree during last year’s London Film Festival the answer was clear, the only way to market the film effectively was to show the rest of you how amazing Desiree is. We needed to make all of the British Isles love her too. And how do we do that when nobody knows who she is?

When you don’t have millions of pounds to spend on a marketing and publicity campaign it comes down to good old determination and perseverance from our team mixed with Desiree’s natural charm. Very early on there were publicity references to Lena Dunham and GIRLS and comparisons to FRANCIS HA and to a smaller degree ANNIE HALL. We had to play to all of these in order to get initial press interest; it is so difficult to get the establishment to embrace something new, but if it sounds like something they already like they’re more likely to take a look.

Once we had their attention the next step was to take Desiree and the film beyond the comparisons and allow the press to “discover” something new. And in the months following the LFF that’s what started to happen. The realisation struck that Desiree and the film were none of the above, that they were very much their own entities and there was a brand new talent here with a unique, subtle voice that demanded to be heard.

Ladies and gentlemen, a star is born.

LGBT History Month Part 2: ACTIVISM!

‘Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.’ – Harvey Milk.

One of the strange things about the numinous idea of ‘human rights’ is that you can’t recognise one until you see that it has been violated. LGBT rights are, by definition, then, about protection from violence rather than prosecution, following that, they’re about acceptance, love, and the ubiquity of both.

Here at Peccadillo we’re very pleased to have released three documentaries about some of the great LGBT rights battles of our time. And, seeing as it’s LGBT History Month here in the UK, we thought we’d write a small piece about our three testaments to those battles:

BEFORE STONEWALL (1984)

Last year this film celebrated its 30^th anniversary, and its power remains unshaken. BEFORE STONEWALL exposes the fascinating and unforgettable decade-by-decade history of homosexuality in America, from 1920’s Harlem through to World War II and the witch hunt trials of the McCarthy era, before, of course, winding up at the Stonewall Inn one summer night… A truly brilliant, award-winning documentary that still packs a lot of punch.

WE WERE HERE (2011)

Attitude magazine sort of summed this one up better than I could, writing that the film was ‘devastatingly, astonishingly powerful. This is a film that needs to be seen today more than ever.’ Exploring how San Francisco dealt with the AIDS epidemic, WE WERE HERE is an edifying must-see that received accolades at film festivals the world over. It’s a film Harvey Milk (quoted above), would be proud of – speaking to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion and determination.

VITO: The Life of Gay Rights Activist VITO RUSSO

One of the ultimate gay activists, a man who changed the face of queer film theory forever, Vito Russo found his voice as a critic of LGBT representation in the media. This is a documentary as much about his life as an academic and cinephile as it is about his activism, but, if he’s unknown to you, you really must take the time to acquaint yourself with Vito – you won’t forget him.

So – if you’re feeling proud of who you are this month, whatever your sexual orientation – take a look at some of these documentaries about the brave pioneers who paved the way for so many of the freedoms we take for granted today!

LGBT History Month: Queer Around the World

We have our LGBT History Month Tree up here in the Peccadillo office (it may or may not be the Attitude ‘Naked Issue’), and we thought we’d do a series of blog posts throughout the month on LGBT history. Today: LGBT rights around the world.
Gay people on film gets more and more mainstream every year – THE IMITATION GAME, PRIDE, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB – these are massive, blockbuster, Oscar nom’d films – but they’re all Western, British or American, in English. I mean, no-one’s expecting a big gay Russian LEVIATHAN, but it’s sad, no, that a big gay Russian LEVIATHAN would, most likely, not get made? At least not right now. (The closest Peccadillo gets to this is our 2013 Polish drama IN THE NAME OF – a moving and controversial film designated ‘A genuine breakthrough’ by Sight and Sound.)

IN THE NAME OF: Polish men get biblical in the water.

Gay icon Hillary Clinton is good on this: ‘Gay people are born into, and belong to, every society in the world. They are all ages, all races, all faiths. They are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes. And whether we know it or whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, our friends, and our neighbours. Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality.’

HILLARY CLINTON: The definition of sass.

So let’s take a whistle-stop tour through some of our favourite LGBT titles not in the English language. This week we’re celebrating the UK release of Brazilian film THE WAY HE LOOKS on DVD and Blu-ray, a sweet, funny and charming film about a blind teenager wondering who he’ll give his first kiss to, his best friend Giovana or handsome newcomer Gabriel. Brazil, with its yellows, lush greens and blues, looks phenomenal on film, and we whole-heartedly champion director Daniel Ribeiro on to his second feature film!

The heat is all well and good until you forgot sunscreen.

THE WAY HE LOOKS: The heat is all well and good until you forget sunscreen.

Also from South America is Lucia Puenzo’s (WAKOLDA, THE FISH CHILD) first feature film – XXY. After winning the Critics’ Week Grand Prize in 2007, the film disarmed audiences around the world with its unflinching portrayal of the life of an intersex teenager (played by the outstanding Ines Efron) living in Uruguay.

XXY: I would write a joke here but this is a genuinely upsetting scene. The bully is skinny.

One of our most remarkable films is Ligy J Pullappally’s drama THE JOURNEY, which tells the story of two beautiful young women who fall in love in an idyllic, though traditional, Indian community. LGBT rights in India are pretty poor, with the Supreme Court reinstating an upheld ban on gay sex in December 2013. One step forward, two steps back. LGBT activism in India remains, however, undimmed, and THE JOURNEY remains a powerful and poignant riposte to the December 2013 ruling.

THE JOURNEY: Splashy fun and games until the chafing kicks in…

Finishing today’s post (but throwing us forward into next week’s ACTIVISM! post) is CIRCUMSTANCE – one of the bravest titles in the Peccadillo collection. Telling the story of two girls navigating the underground club scene of Iran, as well as the extremely repressive restrictions placed on Iranian women above ground. Based on director Maryam Keshavarz’s own experiences of persecution, the film is nevertheless a subtle and intimate look at the burgeoning sexuality of two young women in a dangerous, stifling world.

CIRCUMSTANCE: If you have a sexual reaction to heat, Iran is a great place to live.

The writers, directors, producers and actors behind these films are exceptionally brave people, and here at Peccadillo we feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them, and continue to work with them. Each film demonstrates how essential it is to see LGBT History month as a global, rather than national, event. Stay tuned for more posts throughout the month on LGBT history. Next time: ACTIVISM! The dramas and documentaries that really inspired, or reflect, change.

Grazia launch UK Appropriate Behaviour trailer

Did you catch the first episode of GIRLS last night? If you love your Brooklyn edginess right now, check out the trailer for Desiree Akhavan’s APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR, which has landed today on Grazia UK.

Grazia said:

“Playing Shirin, an Iranian, bisexual teacher, she’s been touted as the new Lena Dunham, but has very much nailed her own tone in low-key film-making. It’s full of IRL cringes, love, heartbreak and family misunderstandings – as well as the most awky lingerie shopping scene we’ve seen, ever. It’s in cinemas from March 6, and we know Desiree will definitely be putting her deadpan spin on 2015 in a big way. We can’t wait.”

Desiree Akhavan & Halley Feiffer in Appropriate Behaviour_1060x644

Lingerie shopping

Desiree, who wrote, directed and stars in APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR is due to feature later in this current season of the Lena Dunham comedy and we can’t wait to see what you think of our new trailer.

Click the link to find out more: bit.ly/ABGrazia

Highlights of 2014 – Part Two

In the second part of our 2014 highlights we present favorite moments from three more Peccadillo staff members.

Jude Watson-Abell is our youngest staff member and joined Peccadillo as apprentice graphic designer.

YOU AND THE NIGHT UK Cinema Poster

The highlight of the year was getting to design my first cimema poster for the film YOU AND THE NIGHT. It was the first time I had designed anything like it and it was a great learning experience. At first it was rather daunting but with the right direction I was able to create a poster that I was proud of. Finishing this poster and seeing people’s positive reaction helped my confidence grow and allowed me to go on to create two more cinema posters. One for the film THE SAMURAI ,which sold rather well at FRIGHTFEST, and another for the film EASTERN BOYS.

Our new Home Entertainment manager Olivier Namet joined Peccadillo in November 2014:

THE WAY HE LOOKS UK Cinema Poster

My highlight for 2014 was starting work at Peccadillo. I have loved their films for years and now I can continue loving OUR films. My film highlight would have to The Way He Looks. I first saw the short film version (which is one of many extras on our DVD and Blu-ray) at Iris and it was fantastic seeing it become a brilliant, funny, and heart-warming feature.

And finally Rob Fowler is the Peccadillo Pictures finance manager and rarely gets let out of the office…

TRU LOVE DVD cover

My highlight was going down to the IRIS PRIZE FESTIVAL in Cardiff which is so friendly and welcoming due to the care and attention of Berwyn and Grant and their team. Particularly getting to meet many of the filmmakers showing their brilliant short films – obvious super talented future feature makers. Our film THE SAMURAI was very well received there and the wonderful Kate Trotter won Best Actress for her role in our film TRU LOVE.

Highlights of 2014 – Part One

In this first look back at 2014, we present the personal highlights from three members of staff, starting with our newest member Will Harwood. Will originally came to Peccadillo as part of our Work Experience programme and somehow managed to get a full-time job:

EASTERN BOYS

“Having rescued me from the wasteland that is London For Graduates, I’ve never been more thankful for Peccadillo Pictures. I’ve always admired and respected the work done here and now to be on the inside of one of the most exciting ventures in UK film is, clichéd as it may seem, a dream come true. I’m so grateful to have gotten the chance to work on the brilliant EASTERN BOYS by Robin Campillo (and am still trying to steal a poster from the office…) and very much looking forward to learning more each day, and asking, pleading, begging Tom and Kahloon to take me to a film festival with them…

Here’s to the 2015: I hope you enjoy it as much as I’m going to. ”

Next up is Nicky Davidson from our Home Entertainment and technical dept:

Stranger By The Lake

“My highlight of this year is working on the incredible STRANGER BY THE LAKE. It was an honour to see the release of what has become not only one of my favourite films of this year, but of all time. And I am super excited about releasing Alain Guiraudie’s previous film, the hilarious countryside romp, KING OF ESCAPE in the new year.”

And Finally Ollie Charles our Communications Manager:

52 Tuesdays

“It brings a great amount of joy and a big smile to my face when I think on the huge amount of films that we have released during 2014. For me, one of my highlights this year was working during the newly named BFI Flare; a wonderful celebration of LGBT cinema from around the world. Not only did we have a great selection of titles in the festival including 52 TUESDAYS, REACHING FOR THE MOON, WHO’S AFRAID OF VAGINA WOLF? and G.B.F. but it also is a great reminder of the fabulous LGBT film community around the world.

Whilst I mention it, releasing G.B.F. was another of my highlights for me as a publicist but also as a huge fan of the film. We welcomed director, Darren Stein and actor, Michael Willett to the UK for the festival where laughs were had all round (and even a slight controversial moment during the festival!). Over the summer we were delighted to welcome Diego Quemada-Diez, the incredibly talented director of THE GOLDEN DREAM. Recently highlighted by Mark Kermode as the best foreign language film of the year, it was so important that we work to release this film and tell audiences around the country about it. This film truly embodied the power of cinema and I am so glad others caught this urgent and essential film.

Michael J Willett from GBF

During the end of the summer, I was invited to Locarno Film Festival and take part in a group of juniors that worked in the film industry across the Europe. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet people but also showed to me who my future colleagues would be in this industry and made me realise, we are all working to secure a wonderful future for film.

The BFI London Film Festival was an incredible moment for me, especially working with Desiree Akhavan who came to London for the premiere of her hilarious comedy, APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR. It was great to see so many press and audiences getting involved with the discussions around this film and I am proud to have witnessed the best Q&A during the entire festival this year!

Appropriate Behaviour

In the last quarter of the year we released three films that remain as some of my favourite ever Peccadillo films. Within weeks of one another we released BOYS and THE WAY HE LOOKS, which are hugely important films to me, because they open discussions about young people and sexuality. They don’t assume homosexuality is an issue but instead follow characters that just are – it was a wonderful breath of fresh air to be able to bring these films to a younger audience, and hopefully allow these people to come out and learn to be comfortable with themselves from an earlier age.

Eastern Boys

Finally, my favourite thriller of the year was Robin Campillo’s EASTERN BOYS, which was an intelligent tale set in the outskirts of Paris, so rarely focused on in film. Robin came to London for the release and it was so wonderful to hear his tales. Looking forward we have a great slate of films for 2015 and I cannot wait to get started and bring more great filmmakers to audiences.”

Why you should see EASTERN BOYS

At Peccadillo we have literally hundreds of films recommended to us every year and there just isn’t enough time to see them all. EASTERN BOYS was recommended by a sales company that we regularly work with, was premiering at the prestigious Venice Film Festival and the previous work from director Robin Campillo indicated he was definitely someone to watch, but the title of the film and the subject of Eastern European rent boys made it all sound so… 90’s.

It would have been very easy to skip the 9am market screening, but we’re glad we didn’t, because the film was definitely one of the best of the year and in Venice it picked up the Horizon Award for Best film – but that was after we had acquired it.

Eastern Boys Final UK Quad

EASTERN BOYS opens with what can be described as a classic cruising scene. Daniel spots Marek hanging out with friends at the Gare du Nord station in Paris and virtually stalks him until he gets him alone, agrees a price and arranges for the young man to come to his apartment the next day.

When Daniel opens his door it’s to a young boy called Marek, the trap is sprung and then “that scene” happens. It’s the scene that everyone who has seen the film talks about, a celluloid moment that is impossible to erase and is certain will go down in film history as one of the most memorable moments in film – ever.

EASTERN BOYS is both an edge of your seat thriller and an intimate exploration of the evolution and meaning of love, it seamlessly moves between one genre and the other toward an unexpected but ultimately very satisfying ending. The film is one hell of a journey and one that Peccadillo is very proud to bring to you.

So please seek out those few cinemas brave enough to show something different to mainstream holiday fare (there are fewer of them every year) and settle back and enjoy an utterly brilliant cinematic experience.

Director Robin Campillo will be in London to present the film On Friday at The Curzon Soho and on Saturday at The Hackney Picturehouse, click below for details of these and other screenings around the UK

For more and to book tickets: http://bit.ly/EasternBoysCinema

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