Some of the starting points of Martijn Maria Smits’ second feature film Waldstille were a country song by Bill Callahan; Drover, and the concept of a man on a crusade trying to free himself from the past.
“Stupid tree. Stupid rock. Stupid concrete. Stupid people. Stupid sky. Everything stupid.”
Celebrating five years of Roffa Mon Amour couldn’t pass without showing Alain Resnais’ first feature film Hiroshima Mon Amour.
Child pornography disguised as a cautionary documentary. Exploitative. Gross. These are just a few of the angry and outraged reactions to Kids after the film came out in 1995.
Kostis, an introvert, balding, overweight middle-aged doctor lives on the small Greek island Antiparos. In winter there is little to do, but in summer it transforms into a hedonistic happiness space for the worlds international party people.
Intrigued by the imposing dance moves tomboy Toni exchanges the boxing gym for a place in the professional dance team.
March 31st we screen Days of Being Wild: Wong Kar-Wai’s second feature film in KINO. The film came out in 1990 and meant his breakthrough as a director to watch closely.
The film was his first collaboration with cinematographer Christopher Doyle with whom he made six more films after.
Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristian Mungiu – Romanian directors with whom the Romanian New Wave was born. With their black humour and minimalist style these makers pointed out the life, corruption and the stagnation of post-Ceausescu Romania. Director Ardrian Sitaru is clearly one of them; his provoking Ilegitim is said to be the Festen of Eastern Europe.
Discover directors of the future with Roffa Mon Amours monthly screenings. Watch our interview with Jihane Chouaib on her beautiful first feature film Go Home.
A slice-of-life dark comedy about Betty, a lonely female security guard working at a deteriorating strip mall. Isolated and friendless, a glimmer of hope appears when a charming bartender shows her kindness, leading to an unexpected sexual encounter.
Torino Film Fest 2016 was lots of films, non-stop rain, too many aperitivos and a Visconti dream-apartment. Here is a selection of some of our favourite films this year.
A tragedy happens in the factory of Maquinaria Panamericana. Her father-like boss Don Alejandro is found death in his office. With him dies the illusion that the company was doing fine; it was actually bankrupt.
A drunk passenger causes an accident were a young motorcyclist ends up under the taxi of driver Lao Shi. The passenger disappears and Lao Shi decides to do the unexpected in modern, self-absorbed China. He drives the victim to the nearest hospital and saves his life. Something he shouldn’t have done. Leaving the crime scène prematurely he ends up in a bureaucratic fight with insurances companies and the police.
One of the hottest hits at the Sundance Festival 2015 and the Imagine Festival 2016 was Robert Eggers’ debut The Witch; a unique historical horror film. It’s the story of a Puritan family in New England, around 1630, who have a series of highly unpleasant experiences with the title character.
The Romanian Elena becomes a surrogate mother to Danish couple Kasper and Louisa who live a remote life without technology far away from the big city. As soon as Elena gets pregnant she starts feeling sick. Something evil is growing inside of her destroying everyone surrounding it.
A car passes by; a teenage girl gets in on the passenger side. She’s bored and plays with her phone next to the driver. Is he her father? No, he is a customer bringing her to a ‘love hotel’ where she must grant his wildest erotic fantasies. Secretly she sends messages to her cool friend Vicky, who she asks to come and save her. Together they will teach the dirty bastard a lesson. If Vicky arrives on time…
Já, Olga Hepnarová portrays a Czech mass murderess who drove a truck into a group of innocent bystanders in 1973. This beautiful black and white film kept us up for quite some nights discussing evilness.
Opening with 11-year old Nicolas diving deep into the ocean Évolution has us experience both excitement and anxiety. For a moment we envy the boys childhood, being so close to nature. Even more when we follow him into the picturesque coastal village where the houses are white and where we meet his mother, serene and beautiful.
A bit too serene maybe.
The newest generation of Colombian filmmakers is no longer interested in shocking its audience with the horrors taking place in their country.
Already in 2011 Boi Neon, or Neon Bull, was presented at Cinemart. It was Gabriel Mascaros first feature film script, but he eventually debuted with Ventos de Augusto in 2014.
From the bowels of Vesuvius, Pulcinella, a foolish servant, is sent to present-day Campania to grant the last wish of Tommaso, guardian of the Royal Palace of Carditello.
During IFFR Roffa Mon Amour picks out some of the greatest up and coming directors. Today we introduce rising star: Nina Gantz.
Tanna was the first film to be announced by International Film Festival Rotterdam this year. We watched the film at London Film Festival and had a really nice chat with directors Martin Butler and Bentley Dean.
It rarely happens to us, leaving a cinema before the end of the film. But during Berlinale 2015 our film schedule was so tight that we had to leave Chorus 20 minutes before the end to catch another film. It’s not that Chorus was a bad film, but we felt relieved when we closed the cinema doors behind us. Taken away from the devastating lives of Christophe and Irène who – after ten years of unsolved misery were confronted with the awful truth about what happened to their 8 year old son. The film reveals their pain and sadness after they lost their child who was taken by a pedophile and never returned home.
‘Terrence Malick-like luminous’; ‘Angelo Badalamenti’s ethereal contemporary score’ and ‘powerful and ambitious feature debut’ Only a few of the phrases Londen Film Festival Guide used to describe Daniel Denciks feature debut. And so we went from the brutal realism of Babai to the romanticized film Guldkysten.
One of the finest films we’ve seen at London Film Festival was Babai, the first feature film of Kosovo-born director Visar Morina. Visar is in Vienna when we talk to him. His girlfriend lives there; he has to visit her from time to time he adds jokingly. He asks how London was and if the sound was loud enough. ‘It’s never loud enough’, he explains. ‘It has to be loud!’
‘Pretty loud’, we reassure him
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) tells the story of a French woman and a Japanese man who, both happily married, have a one-night romance in Hiroshima.
Films can have great impact on our lives and ideals. We asked some of our favorite people to tell us something about a film that influenced their live. This time we spoke with musician Aafke Kloppenburg, who will perform on July 25th during the festival with her band Victim Victim.
Films can have great impact on our lives and ideals. We asked some of our favorite people to tell us something about a film that influenced their live. This time we spoke with musician Jasper Boogaard, who will perform on July 25th during the festival with his band Goodnight Moonlight.
Due to working on his third film script Carlos Vermut is hidden somewhere in the mountains of Japan. Even his agent has no clue where he is exactly. And even if he did: Carlos is not to be disturbed. Unfortunate, but understandable: the director of Magical Girl is one of the most original minds in this world and original minds need some alone-time to stay that way.
Saturday July 25th we screen I Swear I’ll Leave This Town, the second feature film of Daniel Aragão. Daniel is from Recife, Brazil. Besides being a filmmaker, he’s an avid record collector of ‘everything that is good’. He knows where to find vinyl in every city he visits.
I Swear I’ll Leave This Town premiered at Rio Film Festival where Bianca Joy Porte, who plays the role a young disturbed woman in corrupted city Recife, won the Best Actress Award.
Sunday July 26th we screen the sensible coming-of-age film The Summer of Sangailé. Two girls, one introverted, fascinated by stunt planes but crippled by a fear of heights, the other one full of fantasy, creative and living her life to the fullest meet in a lakeside holiday village.
Thursday July 23rd we screen The Boss, Anatomy of a Crime. Director Sebastian Schindel was already a documentary maker when he read the non-fiction novel about the case of Hermogenes. He was deeply impressed and contacted the writer, the lawyer who defended the ‘real’ Hermegones, to discussed possibilities of turning the event into a film. The film premiered in Busan where it won the prestigious audience award. Ever since the film has won many prizes including four more audience awards. Also in home country Argentina the film was a box office smash.
Friday July 24th we screen Sunrise, the psychedelic second feature film of Partho Sen-Gupta. Patho grew up in Mumbai, where he started working in the Bollywood studio’s at the age of sixteen. He received a scholarship to study at the prestigious film school La Fémis. Ever since, he has been living all around the world. In April Sunrise won the prestigious The Black Tulip Award at Imagine Film Festival. We interviewed Patho about the making of his second feature film, his struggles and ideals.
This interview is a collaboration between Roffa Mon Amour and film magazine Schokkend Nieuws
Films can have great impact on our lives and ideals. We asked some of our favorite people to tell us something about a film that influenced their live. This time we spoke with novelist Raoul de Jong.
Why do we watch film? It is a fundamental question that constantly occupies your mind when you organize a film festival. An even better question would be: why do we think that you should see our unique selection of films?