Embarking on its 9th edition, this year’s Macau International Film and Video Festival is once again set to bring a wide range of fascinating films from around the world to Macau audiences. The program lineup includes award-winning movies from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Iran, Jordan, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Bulgaria, Russia, The Netherlands and Austria, offering a multitude of styles and genres from drama to psycho-thriller, animation, documentary and mockumentary.
The 13-strong selection of international films will be followed in May by the vibrant “Macao Indies”, taking audiences on an in-depth tour to explore our city and its stories.
The festival also includes a series of parallel activities such as workshops, seminars, displays, outreach screenings and the exciting video challenge “48 Rush Hours”.
Accused
Paula van der Oest
Was middle-aged pediatric nurse Lucia de Berk really the Angel of Death? A single-minded fighter for children’s lives or someone who took it upon herself to release her young patients and others from pain? Selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards (2015).
“The Oscar-shortlisted Dutch thriller retells a chilling true story with David Fincher-like intrigue”
Peter Debruge, Variety
ATA
Chakme Rinpoche
Tibetan filmmaker Chakme Rinpoche directs this compassionate journey of spiritual discovery set in Inner Mongolia.
“The film’s widescreen photography, mixing light-play, landscape and everyday surroundings, is impressively well-composed”
Derek Elley, Film Business Asia
Borderless
Amir hossein Asgari
In a world at war, the rusting hulk of an abandoned ship grounded in marshlands becomes a refuge for a small boy and his fishing. First-time Iranian director Asgari won the prize at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival for Best Future Asian Film.
“If a good film is about telling an old story in nuanced ways, then Amir Hossein Asgari’s Borderless has to be one of the best in this year’s Fajr film festival”
The Guardian
Corrections Class
Ivan I. Tverdovsky
An arresting dramatisation of disabled youngsters in a former Soviet republic. Winner of the prize for Best Debut at Sochi’s Kinotavr festival.
“Progressively disturbing but not without moments of humor, joy and grace”
– Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
Goodnight Mommy
Veronika Franz
After having cosmetic surgery, Mommy comes home – face tightly bandaged – to her twin boys, Lukas and Elias. Produced by Ulrich Seidl, this intensely eerie, ‘naturalist’, psycho-horror film, quivers with dualities, doubles and surfaces.
“A technically proficient and at times unwatchably horrible ordeal set in an elegant modern lake-house bordering sinister forests and fields, all topped off with a huge psychological twist”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
My Voice, My Life
Ruby Yang
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang’s newest film, follows an unlikely group of misfit students from four Hong Kong high schools, cast together for a musical theatre.
“My Voice, My Life touches the heart and will bring some viewers to tears. It contains important lessons, and voices serious concerns, while offering hope for a better tomorrow”
– Yvonne The, The South China Morning Post
Shrew’s Nest
Juanfer Andrés, Esteban Roel
Two Sisters. Loving, caring, possessive, and sometimes, disturbing. Debut directors Andres and Roel craft a psychological thriller set in Franco’s Spain of the 1950s.
“For a film from first-time directors, you’d expect more than a few missteps, but Shrew’s Nest proves that wrong. Dark, confident, and full of rising tension, this is a film that feels more suited to be credited towards horror and thriller veterans”
– Bill Graham, The Film Stage
Song of the Sea
Tomm Moore
A stunning piece of animated cinema, inspired by Celtic maritime folklore, the film tells the story of the last seal-child, Saoirse, and her brother, Ben, as they discover secrets from their enchanted past and race to save the magic in their world. Nominee for the 87th Oscar Animated Feature Film (2015).
“Song of the Sea is a wonder to behold. This visually stunning animation masterwork, steeped in Irish myth, folklore and legend, so adroitly mixes the magical and the everyday that to watch it is to be wholly immersed in an enchanted world”
– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Tales
Rakhshan Banietemad
Documentarian Bani-E’temad returns to dramatic filmmaking with this patchwork of stories, originally conceived as shorts under Iran’s former oppressive regime. Winner of Best Screenplay Award at 71st Venice International Film Festival (2014).
“Bani-E’temad brings fresh insight into the contemporary mores of a much-misunderstood modern society and, even more importantly, shines a light on the less privileged strata within that society”
– Catherine Bray, Hitfix
The Voice of Water
Yamamoto Masashi
The latest work from Yamamoto Masashi, a pioneer in Japanese independent cinema, is a scathing dissection of modern-day religion and true faith.
“Yamamoto returns with his least edgy but in many ways most mature and satisfying film, set in Tokyo’s Koreatown district of Okubo and centring on a small sect that almost tears itself apart when some marketing people move in”
– Film Business Asia
Viktoria
Maya Vitkova
A Bulgarian feminine viewpoint on the traumas of Eastern Europe. Viktoria, an unwanted child born with no navel (disconnected from her rejecting mother) is named baby of the decade by the socialist regime in a surrealist celebration.
“Political and psychological, Vitkova renders this highly personal story with great pathos that showcases her truly inventive sense of humor”
– Emma Myers, Indiewire
Theeb
Naji Abu Nowar
This beautiful, tender story tells of two Bedouin brothers caught in conflicts among Britons, Ottomans and Arabs during World War I. Winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Director at the 71st Venice Film Festival (2014).
“A classic adventure film of the best kind, and one that’s rarely seen these days”
– Jay Weissberg, Variety
What We Do in the Shadows
Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Beset equally by werewolves and computers, this delightful mockumentary asks if thousands of years of death can really prepare anyone to live with the new generations around them.
“What happens when the haywire hits the humdrum? How should the dead, or the undead, adjust to the rhythms of the quick? The quest for answers is what drives this tale, guards its deadpan mood, and guarantees the blast of its finale”
– Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
March 26 | 19:30
The Voice of Water
Japan
2014 | Colour | 129’
In Japanese with English and Chinese subtitles
March 27 | 21:30
Shrew’s Nest
Spain
2014 | Colour | 95’
In Spanish with Chinese and English Subtitles
March 28 | 18:30
My Voice, My Life
Hong Kong
2014 | Colour | 91’
In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
March 28 | 21:30
Tales
Iran
2014 | Colour | 88’
In Persian with Chinese and English Subtitles
March 29 | 16:30
Song of the Sea
Ireland, Denmark, Belgium
2014 | Colour | 93’
In English and Irish with Chinese and English Subtitles
March 29 | 19:30
Viktoria
Bulgaria
2014 | Colour | 155’
In Bulgarian with Chinese and English Subtitles
April 1 | 19:30
Theeb
Jordan
2014 | Colour / 100’
In Arabic with Chinese and English Subtitles
April 2 | 19:30
Corrections Class
Russia, Germany
2014 | Colour | 85’
In Russian with Chinese and English Subtitles
April 3 | 21:30
Accused
Netherlands, Sweden
2014 | Colour | 100’
In Dutch with Chinese and English Subtitles
April 4 | 16:30
ATA
China
2014 | Colour | 92’
In Mandarin with Chinese and English Subtitles
April 4 | 21:30
Goodnight Mommy
Austria
2014 | Colour | 99’
In German with Chinese and English subtitles
April 5 | 16:30
Borderless
Iran
2014 | Colour | 102’
In Persian with Chinese and English Subtitles
Macao International Film and Video Festival 2015 | International films 2015
Screening period: 26 Mar – 5 Apr 2015 | Venue: CCM, Small auditorium | Ticket price : $60 | www.ccm.gov.mo/programme/prog15/MIFVF2015
For full details, visit the Festival website and look out for our preview of the Macao Indies in next month’s issue.
www.ccm.gov.mo/programme/prog15/MIFVF2015/