A few days ago, the press conference of the 33rd Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards Ceremony series of activities officially announced: the opening film of this year's Golden Rooster Film Exhibition is Director Zhang Yimou's directed work "One Second", which has aroused the expectations of many audiences.
Today, the Golden Rooster Film Festival officially released the first wave of the Golden Rooster International Film Festival, and Fang Meibao, artistic director of the Golden Rooster International Film Festival, also specially wrote an article to introduce the 12 films. They are also the films that participate in the selection of the most popular foreign films by Xiamen audiences, and will meet with domestic audiences during the Golden Rooster International Film Festival from November 18 to November 28.
Fang Meibao
■ Artistic Director of Golden Rooster International Film Festival
The selection unit of foreign films most popular among Xiamen audiences is independent of the selection unit of the Golden Rooster Award, and is conducted in the mode of "audience vote + professional judge selection". We will select 10-12 shortlisted works in hundreds of primary foreign language films, and through the above model, award honors including the most popular films, directors, male and female protagonists.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the artistic achievements, ideas, techniques and technical quality of the film, one of the scoring criteria for the selection conditions of the Golden Rooster International Film Festival is whether the film proposition is in line with the theme of this international film festival. Our theme this year is: Empathy. In addition to this selection criterion, films from non-film producing countries will also receive special consideration. ”
The following is the film list of the most popular foreign films selected by Xiamen audiences this year.
■ "200 Meters" | 200 Meters
Country: Palestine
Genre: Drama / Adventure
Duration: 96 minutes
Directed by: Ameen Nayfeh Amin Nayeffe
The content of the film | the highlights of the film
Mustafa and his wife Salwa come from two Palestinian villages 200 metres apart. It is now separated by a wall, and each lives on one side. As a construction worker, he was granted an Israeli work permit; even so, his permit had expired and he had to cross the border to return to Palestine. This situation affects an otherwise very happy marriage... 」
It is conceivable that Venice nominated the film for its Giornate Autori new film competition, probably for the same reasons as the Golden Rooster International Film Festival. What a ridiculous and lamentable act it is that the visible wall and the invisible, which stand in the way of the common pursuit and development of mankind, demarcate the lines, and crown each other's not and black names. This film takes this proposition to the extreme, just between the audience crying and laughing for the protagonist's encounter in the film, and experiencing the absurdity of the same kind of thing itself.
■ "Cats in the Wall" | Cat in the Wall
Country: Bulgaria/France/Ukraine
Type: Drama
Duration: 92 minutes
Director: Mina Mileva
Mina Mileva
Vesela Kazakova
Visela Kazakova
"The comedy takes place in a government-subsidized house in south-east of The House of Parliament in London. Due to the social and economic division of labor and the influence of gentrification, the building was torn apart. The Bulgarian woman Irina lives there with her youngest son and younger brother. Public elevators have become lavatories; residents from different cultural backgrounds shout at each other instead of greeting each other..."
The film itself is a microcosm of the British underclass. Immigrants from different countries with cultural backgrounds, attaching importance to issues of class and decency, are self-deprecating and unkind. The strength of the work is in the dialogue that sticks to the ground, in the observation of penetration, in the execution of the art without a trace, and in the use of subtleties to express phenomenal social trends. In addition to cleverness, the possibility of arranging cat rescue operations to connect different people and so on, trying to activate transposition thinking is a more ironic stroke.
■ "Island of Lies" | The island of lies
Country: Spain/Argentina/Portugal
Duration: 94 minutes
Director: Paula Cons
Paula Cons
"In 1921, the steamboat Santa Isabel set sail slowly to the United States with 260 Spanish immigrants, but soon after sank near the Spanish island of Salvera in Galicia. Only three women on the island came to help and managed to rescue 50 passengers, who were hailed as heroes. But then people suspected that the accident was man-made, and the rumors spread like wildfire, making the three women feel very stressed..."
The work has a strong storytelling nature and achieves the effect of leading the audience to follow up. In addition to the tight rhythm, what cannot be ignored in this film is the atmosphere created by the high level of overall production design. The audience seems to feel the sea breeze, smell the salty water smell of the characters in the film, lonely and humble, so that the secrets, rumors and lies behind the most fascinating reason, more grounded.
■ "The Blind Organist"
Icarus. The Legend of Mietek Kosz
Country: Poland
Genre: Drama/Biography
Duration: 122 minutes
Director: Maciej Pieprzyca
Macchey Peptzhitsa
"Miyet was born into a poor farm family in Poland, and at the age of 12, his vision was irreversible from an illness, and his mother sent him to a monastery to protect him. The gradual disappearance of his eyesight dealt a huge blow to the young Miette, and the piano became his salvation..."
As mentioned earlier, we may value the people's spirit of the film and the matching of the theme of the current session more than technical considerations. However, in front of the universal proposition of self-redemption, the film's carefully created film score that recreates the musical style of Mietek Kosz, and the outstanding performance of david Og, the male protagonist who plays the jazz pianist, are indeed the two highlights of the work.
■ "The Child Who Outperformed the Bullet"
Bulletpro of Children
Country: Sri Lanka
Duration: 120 minutes
Director: Indika Ferdinando
Indika Ferdinand
"March 17, 1996. At the height of tension between the Tamil Tigers liberation organization and the Sri Lankan army, the eye-popping Australia-Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup final is about to take place at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan.
Thousands of spectators came to the cricket ground and gathered in front of the television set or listened to current affairs commentators' predictions about the game. Meanwhile, in Colombo, a man and his wife boarded a bus with a cardboard box. Then, an accident exposed the contents of the cardboard box. The contents of the cardboard box indicate that passengers will go on a different journey than before."
A fantastic musical theater movie, because it grasps a specific time background, colorful characters, and conditions that allow the story to change, so it is handy, and everything becomes vigorous and outstanding. The work comes from Sri Lanka, a country that produces less than thirty films a year. Inside and outside the film, it seems to prove to the world that as long as there is a dream, as long as there is an imagination, no matter how lacking the conditions and resources are, everything can still be achieved.
■ The Judgment | Verdict
Country: Philippines
Duration: 126 minutes
Directed by: Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
Raymond Ribey Gutierrez
"Joey lives in Manila with her 6-year-old daughter Angel and husband Dante, who is a petty thief. As usual, Dante returned home drunk at night and beat Joey up hard. This time, he also hurt his daughter Angel. Joey fled with her daughter to the local police station and eventually sent her husband to jail..."
Although the film was successfully invited by the Venice International Film Festival and the Doron International Film Festival, the aura of the A-category film festival was not the main consideration we chose, and the court hearing film was not the mainstream of the film festival.
In the Philippines, for a long time, there have been no outstanding works in the film festival category. However, the Verdict did it plainly. If the feature film is to be subdivided into hearings, it is not justice that is discussed in court, but time, procedure, and decision after decision about how one thing develops and what one person's psychological transformation is.
■ "The Man from the Future"
The man of the future
Country: Argentina
导 演:Felipe Ríos Fuentes
Philip Leo
"Elena was raised alone by her mother, because her father Mitchell left their mother and daughter many years ago, so her mother repeatedly refused Mitchell's request for visits. Elena, who grew up without her father's love and practiced fighting for many years, was indifferent to her father, or to all men. After a special journey, Elena has a change of heart about her father and leaves a message for him through the walkie-talkie on the van. At the same time, Mitchell wants to repeat the route he pioneered before retiring, and the father and daughter finally have the opportunity to sit together with open hearts and open their hearts..."
The lack of family relationships affects a person's character development is well known. On the contrary, the incidents of father-son discord are all eye-catching. In fact, misunderstanding and closing the heart is a vicious double cycle. The premise of fixing any relationship is to let go of the self and think differently. Because whether the recognition is secondary, there is no understanding, and what understanding is there? Empathy starts at home. This is a difficult thing to do scientifically, so the film arranges the opportunity needed: the unknowing mediator, unconsciously initiating the mode of ideological transformation of the parties.
■ "Fattening Bride"
Flesh out
Country: Italy
Director: Michela Occhipinti
Michila Ochpinti
"Verita is a modern girl who works at a beauty salon, is addicted to social media and often hangs out with friends. Still, she got engaged to a man chosen by her family. In Mauritania, the plump physique is seen as a symbol of beauty, glamour, wealth and social status. Like many girls her age, Verida is under intense pressure to follow a traditional custom called "force-feeding" to get fat before marriage..."
The contradiction between modern lifestyles and traditional customs and beliefs is playing out every day in different corners of the world. In particular, the traditions of some ancient civilizations have long been forgotten, and only the form of emptiness is left behind.
The value concept that can be changed at any time, the impact on the individual, what is the efficiency first today, can not be separated from the global human problems, is also the film to explore. This difficult question of right and wrong will continue to cycle out, so let's use the time of a movie to stop and pause, savor and reflect.
■ "The Fuehrer Stole the Pink Rabbit"
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Country: Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 110 minutes
Director: Caroline Link
Caroline Link
"Suppose your country starts to change, suppose that when you don't pay attention, some people become dangerous... That's what happened to 9-year-old Anna in 1933. Anna wasn't sure who Hitler was. But one day, when her father disappeared, she realized that the man on the poster would change the whole of Europe – starting with her own little life..."
In today's chaotic world, the economy is unstable, and the epidemic is not retreating, many people have the idea of avoiding disasters and looking for immigrants with a better life. Today's situation not only makes the film's proposition "seasonal", but also directly responds to the theme of empathy.
The film uses a half-understanding child's vision, curiosity and artistic color, cleverly avoids the more common sadness of the film with immigrant encounters as the main story line, and gets rid of the deep bitter and low-cost pattern. Give the film a new angle with a fantasy flavor.
■Between Heaven and Earth
Between Heaven and Earth
Country: Palestine / Iceland / Luxembourg
Duration: 92 minutes
Director: Najwa Najjar
Najiva Najjar
"The film revolves around the divorce story of Salma, a couple in their 30s, and their husband Tamer, a Palestinian from Nazareth whose husband Tamer is the son of a prominent intellectual killed in Beirut. Salma and Tamer married five years ago and have lived in Palestine ever since.
The first time Tamer was allowed three days through Israeli checkpoints was to file for divorce with the Nazareth court. In court, they face a surprising discovery about Tamer's father's past..."
In our relatively remote and unfamiliar And socially turbulent Arab-speaking regions, there have long been differences of opinion, large and small, and it is difficult to live an ordinary life. A divorce event, because of the requirements of the document, reveals the secret of the identity of the family, and the protagonists can only look directly at the problems of race, faction, nationality and emotional identity. The work has a strong story, and sets a time limit for solving problems in the plot, the plot drives the speed, and the exterior has the color of a female movie. But once the audience enters the perspective of the heroine, the heavy questions worth thinking about inside are followed, and people have the urge to continue to discuss after watching the film.
■ "All the Dead"
All the Dead Ones
Country: Brazil / France
Director: Marco Dutra
Marco Dutera
Caetano Gotardo
Setano Gottado
"In Brazil in 1899, shortly after the abolition of slavery, the spirits of the dead were still wandering the world. For the women of the Suarez family, giving up privileges and adapting to middle-class life brought them to the brink of madness. For Ina Nacimento, who was once enslaved, reuniting with her loved ones in a hostile new world forces her to face her true self..."
Produced in a very elaborate way, this drama film, which takes place as far as the Brazilian coffee kingdom in the 1900s, depicts the story of the next family and master and servant in the changing situation, reflecting the ripple effect of social class reset on the individual. History repeats itself, and although there are differences in appearance, there is always a price for the advancement of civilization and the development of society. This can play a wake-up call for reflection for everyone in the big era.
■ "The Best Is Not Coming"
The best is yet to come
Country: France
Duration: 117 minutes
Director: Matthieu Delaporte
Matthew De LaPo
"After a huge misunderstanding, two childhood friends, believing that each other's lives were only a few months away, decided to give up everything to give each other the best time and make up for the losses they had. In the process, once again understand each other and recognize yourself."
A universal proposition, under the rhythm of French humor and sharp rhythm, hilarity and howling evolved boilingly. We see that serious issues, in addition to the usual way of dealing with them, are the contrasts between the national differences and values of people in different countries.
Death and love, two topics that are intimately related to anyone, deserve our constant exploration. After the handwriting and lens narration of creators from different places, can we broaden our inherent thinking laws and see different possibilities?