Oscars - Denmark: Mads Mikkelsen lends steely star power to Denmark's hunt for Oscar - by Eric Kelsey

Danish drama "The Hunt" has at least one advantage over its rivals in its bid to win the best foreign-language picture Oscar: the familiar face of Mads Mikkelsen.

Mikkelsen, the 48-year-old star of NBC television thriller "Hannibal," is no unknown to Oscar voters. The Danish actor has starred in three Oscar-nominated films over the last decade from the nation of about 5.6 million people.

Mikkelsen's work in Hollywood and his association with the upper echelon of the Danish film industry underscore his ability to maintain a high profile in both the United States and his home country.
But any mention of his global recognition may be greeted with a shrug from the tall Dane known for his steely countenance.

"Denmark is a small country and if I can make two films a year (here), people start getting sick and tired of you," Mikkelsen said wryly. "So this is kind of nice. I can do more than one (film) per year."


Read more: Mads Mikkelsen lends steely star power to Denmark's hunt for Oscar | Reuters

US-EU relations: Why France (EU) is gearing up for a culture war with the United States-by Agnès Poirier

Do you remember the most Homeric of world trade negotiations, called the Uruguay round, which took place between 1986 and 1994? I was a teenager then and I remember that round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt) vividly.

I had taken to reading the austere Le Monde every day and remember the uncouth Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association in Hollywood, who particularly despised European film directors for pleading with their governments to exclude cinema, and the arts in general, from the negotiations. Valenti roared back: "Culture is like chewing-gum, a product like any other." At the time, France's President François Mitterrand led the rebellion and, sphinx-like, treated the like of Valenti with hauteur. He retorted: "The mind's creations are no mere commodities and can't be treated as such."

The contrast sums up the opposing views: the US considers cinema and the arts as entertainment industries making profits; Europe considers culture as the product of ideas that go beyond a strict commercial value. In the late 80s, France coined the notion of "cultural exception" which has since morphed into the less arrogant-sounding "cultural diversity", a principle adopted in October 2005 by Unesco as a legally binding convention passed by 185 states against two. The naysayers were the US and Israel.

Twenty years later, we're back at it with the opening of talks for a new transatlantic trade agreement. The problem is, this time Europe is in a weaker state. France may have warned this week (paywalled link) that it will not start negotiation if cultural industries are not excluded from trade talks, making its point with a letter signed by 16 European culture ministers, but will it prevail once again? Nothing is less sure. To make the situation even trickier than in 1993, it seems that the EU commission supremo, José Manuel Barroso, is playing a double game. Eager to please Washington – he is said to want to succeed Ban Ki-moon at the UN, he is telling the Europeans to, as we say in French, put water in their wine, ie pacify the Americans.

However, Barroso risks appearing incoherent, saying last month, "we should not exclude the audio-visual sector in negotiations with the US," before adding, "at the same time, we must make it clear that the cultural exception is not negotiable." Go figure.

The notion of cultural diversity for Europe is a crucial one. It is not, as marketers would have it, a rear-guard reaction from an old continent – it is the fight for a rich intellectual and artistic debate in which profit-making should not be the only consideration. France's system of subsidies for the arts and quotas for European films on its screens has for decades allowed a large public to discover and embrace different points of view. In France, American films have "only" a 50-60% market share, compared with 90% in the UK. Why would we want to see more American films, simply because they have the financial power to impose themselves in our multiplexes, when there are gems to be discovered coming from other countries, albeit financially fragile and which need help to get to us?

Note EU-Digest:  This point is very well taken. Maybe there is also an urgent need to review if Europe would really benefit from a so-called "ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement" with the US, if the final goal is mainly profit focused? 

Read more: Why France is gearing up for a culture war with the United States | Agnès Poirier | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Movie Industry - France: As Cannes 2013 raised its curtain, a question: is the selection too French or too what?

Yesterday's  lift-off  of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera shows much promise and spirits are high.

Wednesday night was the gala screening of the opening film, Baz Luhrmann’s star-studded, 3D adaptation of “The Great Gatsby”; tourists are swarming the Croisette, snapping photos and revelling in the giddy, pre-party vibe; and critics fresh off the plane from various corners of the globe are shrugging off jet lag and greeting each other as if it’s the first day of school after summer vacation (in other words: hugs, kisses, and the occasional snarky remark about a rival).

Meanwhile, the sun is shining bright, inspiring some festival-goers to head for a dip in the turquoise Mediterranean waters before 4 days of anticipated -- and already much-cursed -- rain.

The atmosphere and players at Cannes don’t change much from year to year. It’s always an odd mix of glamour and grit, work and play, with leggy model types tipsy from too much champagne strutting amid journalists jittery from too much coffee, while publicists bark orders at terrified-looking interns and stern security guards reliably step in to prevent you from getting to where you want to go. In the background, inevitably, is the endless thump-thump of generic Euro-techno emanating from cars and night clubs temporarily set up on the beach.

Read more: As Cannes 2013 raises curtain, a question: is the selection too French? | Les blogs

Denmark: Woody Allen In Denmark: The Director's Next Film May Shoot In Copenhagen

Woody Allen is not done with you yet Europe. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the director has his sites set on Copenhagen, Denmark, for the location of his next film.

The currently untitled movie would be Allen's second since the Oscar-winning "Midnight in Paris" -- before the Denmark tale gets underway, he has "Nero Fiddled," a story set in Rome. It stars Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz and, in his first on-screen appearance since 2006's "Scoop," Allen himself.

As for the untitled Copenhagen flick, it won't begin production until 2013.

For more: Nero Fiddled Woody Allen

France - Movie Industry: 'The Artist' triumphs at Oscars - by Charlie McCollum

The first time a silent, black and white film won the Oscar for best picture, it was 1929 and the movie was a World War I saga called "Wings."

The second time came Sunday night as "The Artist," a joyous low-budget movie about the silent era of Hollywood, won the top prize. It also took home three other Oscars including best director (Michel Hazanavicious) and best actor (Jean Dujardin).

Dujardin, the star of "The Artist," won for his role as silent film actor George Valentin, whose career is threatened by the coming of sound. "I love your country," he said in accepting the award he won over such actors as George Clooney and Brad Pitt. He is the first French actor to win the award.

Hazanavicius beat out a field that included Hollywood heavyweights Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Alexander Payne and Terrence Malick. Before "The Artist's" unexpected success, Hazanavicius was largely unknown outside of his home country where his claim to fame was the series of highly successful "OSS 117" spy parodies.

For more: 'The Artist' triumphs at Oscars - San Jose Mercury News

Oscars pick 9 movies for foreign film shortlist

Award-winning Iranian film "A Separation" was among nine movies on the shortlist for the Oscars' best foreign language film nominations announced on Wednesday.

"A Separation," which tells the story of a couple struggling with the decision of whether to leave their country, has won a slew of awards for the year's best foreign language film, including the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.

Films from Germany, Denmark, Morocco, Taiwan, Poland, Israel, Belgium, Canada, and Award-winning Iranian film "A Separation" were among nine movies on the shortlist for the Oscars' best foreign language film nominations announced on Wednesday.

"A Separation," which tells the story of a couple struggling with the decision of whether to leave their country, has won a slew of awards for the year's best foreign language film, including the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.

For more: Oscars pick 9 movies for foreign film shortlist - chicagotribune.com

The 17th London Turkish Film Festival 24 Nov – 8 Dec 2011

A showcase for outstanding and innovative Turkish film both contemporary and classic, the 17^th London Turkish Film Festival promises to deliver a programme of films that will challenge, entertain and inspire. With an enviable line up that also includes the latest films from established directors such as Nuri Bilge Ceylan (‘Once Upon a Time in Anatolia’); Dervis Zaim (‘Shadows and Faces’) and Sedat Yilmaz (‘Press’), the emphasis this year will be on emerging talent, providing an important platform for a new generation of Turkish film-makers working both at home and abroad.

Festival director Vedide Kaymak comments ‘Over the last decade, Turkish filmmakers, not only in Turkey, but also those living in the rest of the world, have found new creative directions, making critically acclaimed films, and winning awards all over the world. The LTFF has always had an inclusive approach towards programming, and I am especially excited by our programme this year. Now in its 17th year, our festival has grown from a small three-day event to a full-scale two week festival and this year we have been able to push the boundaries further than ever. We are privileged to be able to open up the new trans-cultural Turkish cinema to new audiences in venues across London.’

Gracing the red carpet for the Opening Night Gala was the legendary Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, star of classic films by Fellini, Visconti and Leone. Cardinale stars in Ali Ilhan’s delightful first feature ‘Being Italian with Signora Enrica’, a heart warming comedy-drama about an elderly Italian woman who takes in a young Turkish exchange student.

Other highlights of the festival include Tayfun Pirslimoglu’s ‘Hair’, which won both best Turkish Film and best Director at the 2011 Istanbul Film Festival; ‘September’, the first feature from photographer Cemil Agacikoglu; ‘Do Not Forget Me Istanbul’, a portrait of Istanbul as seen through the eyes of six young International directors and ‘Home’, the first feature from actor Muzatffer Ozdemir, best known for his role in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s ‘Distant’, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

For more: The 17th London Turkish Film Festival 24 Nov – 8 Dec 2011

Canada: Documentaries Set Sights on abuses of Wall Street

Several films now playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, and set to open in theaters around the United States in the next few months, offer a brutal assessment of the debt-swapping high jinks, regulatory failings and general spirit of self-aggrandizement that, by the movie world’s lights, led to the financial collapse of 2008.

Two documentaries, “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” directed by Alex Gibney, and “Inside Job,” from Charles Ferguson, take direct aim at Wall Street powers who are described as contributing to the financial implosion. The films also land some shots on Mr. Spitzer, the watchdog who became governor of New York and who fell from grace in a prostitution scandal but has now been somewhat rehabilitated as a host on CNN.

“Client 9” is set for release on Nov. 5 by Magnolia Pictures. “Inside Job” will be shown at the New York Film Festival later this month, then will be released commercially by Sony Pictures Classics in October. A third film, “Casino Jack,” directed by George Hickenlooper, casts Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff, the former businessman and lobbyist who was sentenced to federal prison after a conviction for defrauding Indian tribes and contributing to official corruption.


Note EU-Digest: Its good to have these films out. Will it change much of the Wall Street casino culture, probably not. What would work, which hardly anyone wants to mention or tackle, is to putting some of the culprits in jail and getting some really effective laws in place to see this does not happen again.


For more: Documentaries Set Sights on Wall Street - NYTimes.com

Russia Today: No water and no sex in Absurdistan

RussiaToday : Entertainment : No water and no sex in Absurdistan

Top German film director has told RT about the
making of his acclaimed movie, ‘Absurdistan’. Veit Helmer’s allegorical
comedy tells the story of a tiny village inhabited by just 14 families
between Asia and Europe.

Life is strange in Absurdistan.
There are only two pressing problems - a chronic lack of water and lazy
men. As the battle of the sexes breaks out, the main slogan adopted by
the women becomes: "No water - no sex!"



Helmer’s picture features two childhood sweethearts who seem destined
for one another, but the sex strike threatens the young couple's first
night of love.