50TH THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
WHY CINEMA NOW?
November 13-22, 2009
FOCUS: POST-ROMANCE
For its fourth consecutive year, Focus, the thematic section of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, presents a new and contemporary topic, Post-Romance. The Focus section, curated by film critic Konstantinos Kontovrakis, was inaugurated in the 47th TIFF and has explored subjects such as Teenage Lust/Teenage Angst, Contemporary Wars and Commune 2008. “The Focus anthology, with its annually varying subject matter, seeks the original in every year’s film production, while exploring the manner in which cinema acts as a mirror for contemporary society”, stresses Festival Director Despina Mouzaki.
For the 50th edition of the TIFF, the topic of Post-Romance will redefine the meaning of romance and its multiple connotations and representations in the context of contemporary cinema. Through this year’s film selection, Focus will investigate the manner in which the changing perceptions of gender, sex, human identity, nature and politics affect the norms of the genre, as well as how filmmakers overturn these conventions to depict love stories in a contemporary, unique and subversive framework.
Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak’s debut, winner of the Best First Film and Best Actress awards in the 2009 Locarno IFF, is the story of an unlikely connection in a world of human isolation and detachment. Set in the harsh, atmospheric setting of the Galway coast, it stars Stephen Rea as a lonely widower who meets a young, detached divorcee; when she agrees to work for him, their initially apathetic relationship slowly and subtly evolves into a form of affectionate codependency.
Castaway on the Moon (Kim ssi pyo ryu gi) by Korean director Hey-jun Lee is a quirky, bittersweet comedy about a man, who, after a failed suicide attempt, ends up living alone on an island in the middle of the Han River. His only companion in this new form of existence is a girl from across the river that never leaves her apartment, but shares her life with him through correspondence. Their unique bond provides ample instances for humor yet establishes a solid, unexpectedly tender love story and provides subtle commentary on contemporary loneliness and its various causes and manifestations.
Unmade Beds, Alexis Dos Santos’ second feature after Glue (screened in the 2006 Focus section), observes a community of squatters in a London East End building. The film’s two protagonists, Axl and Vera -whose stories run parallel but never come together- experience sex and romance without much afterthought. From their lustful encounters, colorful adventures and intense emotional states, Dos Santos builds a joyful, energetic mosaic of young people who negate and defy society’s conventions in life as well as in romance. The eclectic indie soundtrack includes music from Greek band Mary and the Boy.
In Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier with Practice, the film’s shy and awkward protagonist, the 28-year-old writer Davy, falls in love with an unknown woman who systematically calls him to have sex over the phone; the peculiar relationship that develops between them helps Davy shed his inhibitions and better understand himself and his sexuality. Largely successful due to the quiet strength and nuance of the central performance by the actor Brian Geraghty, the film presents an often funny, but at the same time bleak view of the contemporary romantic relationship. As in many of the section’s films, alienation and difficulty to connect seem to be the foremost issues between the immature, confused and introverted adults of the 21st century.
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film, Air Doll, based on the manga The Pneumatic Figure of a Girl, is a surprisingly gentle story about a man and his loving relationship with an inflatable doll. Korean actress Bae Doo-na (The Host, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), in the role of the doll who comes alive when her human partner goes to work, infuses the film with innocence; despite the sexual relationship at its center, Air Doll is actually a romantic fairytale that tells us that we are all really empty, until we are loved.
Samson and Delilah by Australian director Warwick Thornton, the Camera d’ Or winner of the 2009 Cannes IFF, is a love story between two teenage Aborigines caught in a vicious circle of poverty, drug use and the complete absence of opportunities with which to build a normal life. Abandoning the harsh desert and the cruelty of their own people, they start on their own Odyssey towards the city, depicted skillfully, not in words, but in looks, silences and the language of body and landscape.
I Am not Your Friend, Gyorgi Palfi’s third feature, presents a major departure from his previous Taxidermia. The film was shot in the space of twenty days, during which nine amateur actors were free to improvise and ad lib on the theme of love, relationships and personal freedom. The feature is preceded by a 13-minute documentary shot at a kindergarten, observing the charming children that will soon become the future’s lovelorn adults.
A Queen Of Hearts... And Her Parisian Lovers by Valerie Donzelli is a subversion of the mainstream romantic film, disguised as a French romp and inspired by the Nouvelle Vague’s own creative games with the genre. Donzelli plays the protagonist herself, a young woman who tries to cure her heartache through various romantic encounters, while her co-protagonist, Jeremie Elkaim plays four different roles. The DYI, low-budget aesthetic of this vivacious romance/musical is the ideal approach for the story and its emotional, passionate heroine.
FOCUS: POST-ROMANCE FILM LIST:
Air Doll (Kuki Ningyo) , Hirokazu Kore-Eda, Japan, 2009
Castaway On The Moon (Kim Ssi Pyo Ryu Gi), Hey-Jun Lee, Korea, 2009
Easier With Practice, Kyle Patrick, Alvarez, USA, 2009
I'm Not Your Friend (Nem vagyok a baratod), Gyorgy Palfi, Hungary, 2009
Nothing Personal, Urszula, Antoniak, Netherlands / Ireland, 2009
A Queen Of Hearts... And Her Parisian Lover (La Reine des pommes), Valerie Donzelli, France, 2009
Samson And Delilah, Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009
Unmade Beds, Alexis Dos Santos, UK, 2009
