MANDA BALA: Brazil’s Corruption, Kidnappings, and Frogs
When I read the synopsis of Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala / Send a Bullet in the Sundance Film Festival’s independent film – documentary list I thought the film sounded like supermarket tabloid trash: “In Brazil, known as one of the world’s most corrupt and violent countries, Manda Bala follows a politician who uses a frog farm to steal billions of dollars, a wealthy businessman who spends a small fortune bulletproofing his cars, and a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of mutilated kidnapping victims."
Not helping matters was reading Mary Milliken’s Reuters article on Manda Bala, in which she asserts that there’s “a boom in ear-reconstruction surgeries” in Brazil as a result of the fact that “gangs from the teeming [...]
by Andre Soares | January 31, 2007
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Tags: Documentaries, Film Festivals, Heloísa Passos, Jason Kohn, Manda Bala, Political Movies, Send a Bullet, Socially Conscious Movies, Sundance 2007, Sundance Film Festival
2007 Sundance Winners
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival winners have been announced.
The best U.S. narrative feature was Christopher Zalla’s Padre Nuestro / Sangre de Mi Sangre (top photo), about a young Mexican who hops on a truck transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico to New York City, where the young man’s father supposedly resides.
The best U.S. documentary, Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala / Send a Bullet, also won the best documentary cinematography prize for Heloísa Passos‘ camera work.
The World Cinema prize for documentaries was given to Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem’s Enemies of Happiness, which revolves around 28-year-old female politician Malalai Joya’s parliamentary victory in rabidly patriarchal Afghanistan.
The World Cinema Grand Jury prize for narrative films went to Dror [...]
by Andre Soares | January 27, 2007
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Tags: Christopher Zalla, Enemies of Happiness, Film Awards, Film Festivals, Grace Is Gone, In the Shadow of the Moon, Manda Bala, Sangre de Mi Sangre, Sundance 2007, Sundance Film Festival, Sweet Mud
Sundance 2007 Awards
2007 Sundance Film Festival Awards
2007 Sundance Film Festival: Park City, Utah, January 18-28, 2007
2007 Sundance Winners
The Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic: PADRE NUESTRO / SANGRE DE MI SANGRE, directed by Christopher Zalla
The Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET), directed by Jason Kohn
Special Jury Prize – Documentary: NO END IN SIGHT, directed by Charles Ferguson
The World Cinema Jury Prize – Dramatic: ADAMA MESHUGAAT / SWEET MUD, Israel, directed by Dror Shaul
The World Cinema Jury Prize – Documentary: VORES LYKKES FJENDER / ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS, Denmark, directed by Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem
The Audience Award – Dramatic: GRACE IS GONE, directed by James C. Strouse
The Audience [...]
by Andre Soares | January 27, 2007
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Tags: Christopher Zalla, Film Awards, Film Festivals, Grace Is Gone, Hear and Now, In the Shadow of the Moon, Manda Bala, No End in Sight, Sangre de Mi Sangre, Sundance 2007, Sundance Film Festival, Sweet Mud
Dakota Fanning’s HOUNDDOG Controversy
"You know, I’m an actress. It’s what I want to do, it’s what I’ve been so lucky to have done for almost seven years now. And I am getting older. February 23 is my birthday, I’ll be 13 years old. And I will be playing different kinds of roles. I won’t be able to do the things I did when I was 6 years old when I’m 14. And that’s what I look forward to - getting to play new roles that aren’t too old for me and aren’t too young for me, that are just at the right time.”
That’s Dakota Fanning (above and below, with Robin Wright Penn), whose latest movie, Hounddog, described in the Sundance schedule as "a [...]
by Andre Soares | January 22, 2007
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Tags: Censorship, Dakota Fanning, Deborah Kampmeier, Hounddog, Robin Wright, Sex, Sundance 2007, Sundance Film Festival
Sundance 2007: ZOO, CHICAGO 10
At Cinema Minima: Nick Marshall’s "Sexual Oddities at Sundance 2007"
"At first glance this story of bestiality [Zoo, about a man who died after having sex with a horse] seems to be merely a shock tactic, as exploitive as a donkey show. … But for [director Roberson] Devor [right] … one would expect something more meaningful. Rather than focusing simply on the sexual acts, Devor explores the human side of being outside the societal norm. … Devor’s focus is neither graphic nor exploitive, rather exploring the desire, humiliation, and pain of an unhappily married man who experimented with sexual alternatives until he pushed too far which, ultimately, cost him his life. The film is about thresholds. It’s about how far a [...]
by Andre Soares | January 19, 2007
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Tags: Brett Morgen, Chicago 10, Documentaries, Film Festivals, Political Movies, Roberson Devor, Sex, Sundance 2007, Sundance Film Festival, Zoo
