2011-2020

IMDB:
RIVER ROAD is the story of two Yugur ethnic minority brothers, Bartel and Adikeer. They set out on a journey across the prairies of northwestern China in search of their parents, skillfully maneuvering their camels over the vast expanse of dry ground. The allure of the film’s core components – the great outdoors, children, and animals – instantly catch our attention. Though realistic, the boys’ journey, powered by dreams and anxiety, is depicted with a touch of fantasy. And to firmly establish his characters, director Li Ruijun imbues this impressive effort – a coming-of-age drama couched in the guise of an adventure – with a winning sense of humor rooted in careful attention to detail. At the heart of the film, however, is a mournful air, bemoaning the disappearance of ethnic minorities and the destruction of nature. As suggested by its epic scale, the work has the classic qualities of a film that allows us to enjoy being emotionally affected emotional by what we see.Read More »

“For Jean-Luc Godard,with all the admiration and affection of
Jacques Perconte and Nicole Brenez,December 3, 2020.”

At the end of October (a few days before my birthday actually) Nicole Brenez asked me to produce a small film for a great man, a short film, a film like a birthday song, a common gift. Of course, I go for it, although I wonder how I could do something like this. That JLG sees one of my films, that he tampers with it and uses it is a blessing, a huge honor, but it’s quite another thing to send him images, to make a little film for him, so humble the gesture be it … Nicole Brenez sends me many portraits that she likes very much, some are historical documents, others images made by JLG himself. She also sends me documents, films, recordings. An incredible amount of stuff for a month of immersion. The birthday is December 3. I don’t know why, but I immediately wanted to grab my camera and take JLG to a screen on a boat, for a ride in the port of Rotterdam (where I live). I have tried several times to express this intuition. I wanted to film.Read More »

The producers wrote:
This film is about the remarkable life of a poor priest’s son, Georg Julius Justus Sauerwein (born 1831 in Hanover, died 1904 in Christiania/Oslo), and his lifelong love for Princess Elisabeth of Wied, later Queen of Romania.

As a young man, he was invited to the court to be her tutor, and helped her develop her artistic gifts immensely as such. Their friendship, along with his increased affection for her, could not be tolerated, and he was banished from the royal court.
Pining for Elisabeth, he put all his energy into fighting for minorities and their right to speak their native languages. In his day, he was the most vilified person in the German press, seen as a traitor to the German empire. Elisabeth later became the first Queen of Romania. Georg and Elisabeth stayed in touch by sending each other letters, books and articles.Read More »

Theatrical cut (13 minutes longer than TV cut, and has no TV bug markers).

Stanley Kubrick’s mark on the legacy of cinema can never be measured. He was a giant in his field, his great works resembling pristine pieces of art, studied by students and masters alike, all searching for answers their maker was notoriously reticent to give. While he’s among the most scrutinized filmmakers that ever lived, the chance to hear Kubrick’s own words was a rarity—until now.Read More »

Quote:
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many to stay at home, preventing people from meeting each other in real life. In the absence of any physical connection, this short explores alternative forms of contact among neighbors by making use of an old 16mm camera, a zoom lens, and a few meters of expired film.Read More »

In a Chilean little town, the son of an uprooted couple, formed by a rigorous communist father and a loving but weak mother, tries to pave his own path in a society that does not understand their Jewish-Ukrainian origins.Read More »

In a large building in a Parisian district, Elsa lives alone. Her young neighbor Alice hears her playing the piano at home and enjoys it. Elsa suggests that she learn the piano and offers to play it at home, when she is not there. Alice thus gets into the habit of living in Elsa’s apartment several times a week.Read More »

Quote:
June 1944, France is still under the German occupation. The writer and communist Robert Antelme, major figure of the Resistance, is arrested and deported. His young wife Marguerite Duras, writer and resistant, is torn by the anguish of not having news of her and her secret affair with her comrade Dyonis. She meets a French agent working at the Gestapo, Pierre Rabier, and, ready to do anything to find her husband, puts himself to the test of an ambiguous relationship with this troubled man, only to be able to help him. The end of the war and the return of the camps announce to Marguerite Duras the beginning of an unbearable wait, a slow and silent agony in the midst of the chaos of the Liberation of Paris.Read More »

Quote:
Périot’s inspired third feature invites French high school students to reenact key scenes from RESUMPTION OF WORK AT THE WONDER FACTORY, WITH THE BLOOD OF OTHERS, Godard’s LA CHINOISE and other 1960s and 70s films which deal with radical politics. These reenactments are intercut with discussions that explore what, if anything, the subjects of these scenes mean to the students now. Both a lesson in film history and a snapshot of the political present, this smart and subtle film proposes an original perspective on the contemporary state of French cinema’s radical past.Read More »