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For Werner Herzog, cinema is an active art, participatory one in which the creation of a work requires the practitioner to actually live (or have already lived) it, as if truth comes most compellingly from an artist’s firsthand experience with their subject matter. Herzog’s fiction films are intrinsically linked to his documentaries in that, in both cases, the German auteur is often not simply the storyteller but, also, a willing and essential participant, his presence fundamentally, messily tangled up in the final product.

So it goes with Aguirre, The Wrath of God, Herzog’s 1972 tale about an expedition of Spanish conquistadors through Peru’s jungles and down the treacherous Huallaga river. A saga of adventurers—led by Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski)—driven headlong into annihilation by their hubris and desire for immortality, it’s the first of Herzog’s many features in which his (anti-)heroes...

Titles from “Lupin” co-creator François Uzan, former Netflix top exec Erik Barmack, indie multinational Boat Rocker and Brendan Foley, writer of “Cold Courage,” will be pitched on Wednesday and Thursday at Spain’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment. The pitch sessions form the industry centerpiece of the meet. Following, profiles of entries in four of the six categories: Copro, High-End, Docudramas and Feel Good:

CoPro Pitch

“Destape,” (Satisfaction Iberia, Spain)

The latest from Pablo Barrera, a co-creator of admired crime drama “Punta Escarlata,” a mystery drama turning on (the fictional) Rosa Burnett, a face of Spain’s ‘70s destape cinema, movies with tantalizing nudity. Now, thought dead, Burnett returns from gthe shadows to wreak her vengeance.

“Fin del Año,” (Têm Dênde Productions, Brazil)

A supernatural suspense drama from Vânia Lima at Salvador’s Têm Demdê Productions, behind Ruy Guerra’s “Time, Knifed,” presented at Ventana Sur. A bus transporting five people who...

Above: French grande for Long Weekend. Artist Léo Kouper.Update: Sadly, because of coronavirus precautions closing down all of Lincoln Center yesterday, this series has been cancelled. It may only ever exist in poster form.One of the most interesting and eclectic New York repertory series in many a moon starts today at Film at Lincoln Center. Titled “Mapping Bacurau,” the series has been handpicked by filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles to highlight the varied cinematic influences behind their current arthouse-meets-grindhouse sensation. The result is a baker’s dozen of eccentric horror movies, spaghetti westerns, revenge saga,s and essential texts of the Cinema Novo movement. Having art directed the U.S. poster for Bacurau with illustrator Tony Stella and designer Midnight Marauder, it was fascinating to see how the posters for these films had echoes in our final design, even if only coincidentally. One of which was...

Buenos Aires — In a return to film production after serving as president of Argentina’s National Institute of Film and the Audiovisual Arts (Incaa) and then as a member of parliament, film producer Liliana Mazure is teaming with prestigious counterparts in Mexico and Brazil on a three-part, pan-regional dark comedy, “Mental Health Not Included.”

Lead produced by Mazure’s Arca Difusión in Argentina, Laura Imperiale’s Cacerola Films and Carlos Sosa’s Viento del Norte in Mexico and Beto Rodrigues Panda Filmes in Brazil, “Mental Health” will be directed by Martin Salinas, writer of 2003 Diego Luna starrer “Nicotina” and writer-director of the Diamond-distributed and then Netflix-released “Ni un hombre más,” with Valeria Bertuccelli.

Also written by Salinas, “Mental Health Not Included” kicks in with the president of the United States, Donald Cramp, announcing an end to international trade: the U.S. will henceforth function as a self-sufficient economy. He...

Film director who was regarded as ‘the father of Brazilian cinema’

Before the late 1950s Brazilian cinema had caused hardly a ripple worldwide. Then Nelson Pereira dos Santos, who has died aged 89, joined Ruy Guerra and Glauber Rocha to form the Cinema Novo co-operative, initiating exciting developments in Brazilian cinema that inspired political film-makers all over Latin America.

At the time Pereira, the oldest of the three film directors and always considered “the father of new Brazilian cinema”, was also the most experienced. He had already practised what Cinema Novo preached. Adopting Italian neo-realist principles of documentary-style location and shooting with non-professional actors, in 1955 Pereira had made Rio, 40 Degrees, which set the standard for independent cinema in Brazil.

Now that most of the Cannes Film Festival 2016 line-up has been settled when it comes to new premieres, their Cannes Classics sidebar of restored films is not only a treat for those attending, but a hint at what we can expect to arrive at repertory theaters and labels like Criterion in the coming years.

Today they’ve unveiled their line-up, which is toplined by Bertrand Tavernier‘s new 3-hour and 15-minute documentary about French cinema, Voyage à travers le cinéma français. They will also be screening William Friedkin‘s Sorcerer following his masterclass. Along with various documentaries, both classics in the genre and ones about films, they will also premiere new restorations of Andrei Tarkovsky‘s Solaris, Jean-Luc Godard‘s Masculin féminin, two episodes of Krzysztof Kieślowski‘s The Decalogue, as well as films from Kenji Mizoguchi, Marlon Brando, Jacques Becker, Mario Bava, and more.

Check out the line-up below.

The sensorial cinema of Gabriel Mascaro, who turned the life of a group of cowhands into a poetic experience in Neon Bull (Boi Neon), was the big winner at the 17th edition of Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival.

The allegory of the recent economic transformations in Brazil received four Redentor awards on Tuesday night: best film, best screenplay, best cinematography and best supporting actress for Alyne Santana.

Previously the film screened in Venice, where it won the Orizzonti special jury prize, and Toronto.

The best director prize was shared between Ives Rosenfeld’s Hopefuls (Aspirantes), a journey of a young amateur football player, and Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Kill Me Please (Mate-Me Por Favor), a teen horror film set at a school in Barra de Tijuca. Both works are first features.

The jury headed by the director and cinematographer Walter Carvalho also celebrated Hopefuls with a best actor prize for Ariclenes Barroso and a...

Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival opened last night (Oct 1) celebrating the life and work of local hero Chico Buarque who, at 71, remains one of Brazil’s top composers, musicians and singers.

The world premiere of documentary Chico - Artista Brasileiro packed Cine Odeon, a 90-year-old movie theatre that will host public screenings of the most important festival sections, including Premiere Brasil.

As Rio celebrated its 450th anniversary in March, it proved appropriate to open the city’s film festival with a documentary that reflected its spirit and culture.

Directed by Miguel Faria Jr., the film attempts to uncover the man behind the artist simply known as “Chico” in Brazil, with testimonials from the musician and those closest to him.

Chico - Artista Brasileiro centres on the list of the artist who wrote Bossa Nova songs in the 1960s and faced censorship in the 1970s, for attacking the Brazilian military dictatorship in his lyrics.

Chico is also...

Rio de Janeiro’s International Film Festival opened last night (Oct 1) celebrating the life and work of local hero Chico Buarque who, at 71, remains one of Brazil’s top composers, musicians and singers.

The world premiere of documentary Chico - Artista Brasileiro packed Cine Odeon, a 90-year-old movie theatre that will host public screenings of the most important festival sections, including Premiere Brasil.

As Rio celebrated its 450th anniversary in March, it proved appropriate to open the city’s film festival with a documentary that reflected its spirit and culture.

Directed by Miguel Faria Jr., the film attempts to uncover the man behind the artist simply known as “Chico” in Brazil, with testimonials from the musician and those closest to him.

Chico - Artista Brasileiro centres on the list of the artist who wrote Bossa Nova songs in the 1960s and faced censorship in the 1970s, for attacking the Brazilian military dictatorship in his lyrics.

Chico is also...

Top brass at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival announced that 41 feature and 19 shorts from Brazilian filmmakers will screen in the 17th edition, set to run from October 1-14.

The Première Brasil competition section will screen 13 features, of which ten will receive world premieres. An additional two features and two documentaries will screen out of competition.

Other Brazilian productions such as a restoration of Walter Lima Jr’s 1965 classic Menino de Engenho (Plantation Boy) will screen in special Première Brasil sidebars such as New Trends, Panorama, Expectation and Fronteiras.

Première Brasil is the only competitive section of the festival and Redentors will be presented on closing night. The audience will vote on three awards for best Brazilian feature film, best documentary and best short film.

As part of this years commemoration of the 450 years of the founding of Rio, the festival will screen six films that have the city as its setting or reflect the theme of Rio...

Werner Herzog is one of my all time favourite directors. Ever since watching his take on Nosferatu, I knew I was hooked. Exploring both his fictional and documentary films, you will find a fascinating body of work. Sure, some of his opinions I really don’t agree with (I’m talking about you, Into the Abyss and Death Row) but whether you agree with the content or not, a film with Herzog’s name on it will at least touch you in one way.

The British Film Institute recently released a 10 disc box set of some of Herzog’s films. Over the coming weeks (and maybe months) I will be going through each disc. Part review. Part retrospective. Hopefully you will join me on my Herzogian journey.

Whether you are a fan of Herzog or a newcomer to his work, I hope you at least get something out of this.

When you begin exploring the work of director Werner Herzog some (if not most) will argue Aguirre, the Wrath of God is likely the best place to start. Though I don't think you get the full picture of this portion of Herzog's career without including Fitzcarraldo or the documentary My Best Fiend, which came another 12 years later, detailing Herzog's work with Aguirre star Klaus Kinski. Without Kinski, Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo and, most likely, Herzog would not be the same. With that in mind, know this is the first review in a coming triptych, meant to build off one another to the point an entire picture begins to form. History, in this case, cannot be ignored. Considered an entry in the West German New Wave, Aguirre is very loosely based on the accounts of Spanish Dominican monk Gaspar de Carvajal (played in the film by Del Negro) as well as the life...

Norma Bengell dead at 78: Iconic (and controversial) Brazilian film, stage, television, and recording star made history as the first actress to be seen naked (full frontal) in a mainstream film (photo: Norma Bengell and John Herbert in ‘As Cariocas’) Norma Bengell, a sort of Brazilian Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Fonda rolled into one, died of lung cancer in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro on October 9, 2013. She was 78. Best known internationally for her leading-lady roles in several Italian-made cult classics of the mid-’60s, Norma Bengell was known in Brazil as a controversial show business veteran and for being the first “name” actress (purportedly anywhere in the world) to be seen fully naked — full frontal — in a mainstream film. Note: Hedy Lamarr, then billed as Hedy Kiesler, does swim and run around in the nude in Gustav Machaty’s 1933 Czech drama Ecstasy. However, Lamarr’s naked swimming was disguised by the water,...

Behind The Candelabra | The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone | After Earth | The Iceman | Thérèse Desqueyroux | Come As You Are | The Last Exorcism: Part II | 009 Re: Cyborg | Aguirre, Wrath Of God

Behind The Candelabra (15)

(Steven Soderbergh, 2013, Us) Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd. 118 mins

The fact that Hollywood wasn't interested in backing a story involving celebrity, dictator-style kitsch, cosmetic surgery, rhinestones, signet rings and poodles (oh, and gay people) proves once again that nobody there knows anything. Douglas is terrific as the flamboyant but needy Liberace, and this true-life relationship drama is both hilarious and empathetic, harking back to a pre-Aids era of innocence and excess. Rob Lowe's hair provides excellent support.

The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone (15)

(Shane Meadows, 2013, UK) 96 mins

If the Roses were the greatest band in the world to you, then this is probably the greatest doc in the world. Meadows,...

★★★★★ What defines a bona fide cult classic? Is it its bold, inimitable style? It's army of loyal devotees, perhaps? Or is it its unconventional approach to the cinematic form as a whole? Whichever of the aforementioned attributes floats your monkey-infested raft, Bavarian director Werner Herzog's 1972 effort Aguirre, the Wrath of God more than meets the criteria. A firm favourite among critics, filmmakers and arthouse admirers the world over, Herzog's existentialist trek through the perilous Amazon rainforest helped to herald in the era of New German Expression and also introduced wildman Klaus Kinski to dumbstruck audiences.

Now newly restored and returning to selected cinemas in June of this year courtesy of the British Film Institute, Herzog's third feature stars the incomparable Kinski - once described by Herzog as "probably the most difficult actor in the world to deal with" - as the titular Don Lope de Aguirre, a power-crazed conquistador...

Many things in the history of Mozambique and Mozambican cinema are directly connected with the political and artistic aspirations of the 70s. In 1975, the last African country to win its independence after a 10 years struggle, ex-Portuguese colony Mozambique becomes a people's socialist republic with plans to create a national cinema production system. It is destined for education, propaganda and "fighting the remnants of colonial mentality." The young Inc (National Film Institute) "imports" professionals, committed filmmakers willing to participate into the building of a people's cinema and television. Among them are Ruy Guerra, Mozambican born pioneer of Brazilian Cinema Novo, Cuban and Yugoslavian technicians, then joined by Jean Rouch and Jean-Luc Godard, both willing to experiment with new ways in filmmaking… In the 80s, president Machel's death coupled with guerrilla attacks launched by the apartheid governments of South Africa and Rhodesia destabilize Mozambique to the point of civil war. The cinema program dies.

A 7-minute preview of a Brazilian comedy/crime/drama film called 5 x Slum, Now by Ourselves (5 vezes favela agora por nos mesmos) an official selection of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Shepherded by Brazilian producers Carlos Diegues and Renata De Almeida Magalhaes, the story goes… a multi-character, multi-story project that documents the varied daily lives of the many residents of Rio’s favelas – each story directed by young filmmakers who live there, via filmmaking workshops and master classes by such directors as Fernando Meirelles, Walter Salles, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and Ruy Guerra.

MADRID -- The Films in Progress section of the 52nd San Sebastian International Film Festival, a program devoted to awarding completion funds to new projects, has selected seven films from South America and Spain to vie for postproduction incentives, organizers said Thursday. The titles in the sidebar, set to run Sept. 21-22, include Alvaro Buela's Alma Mater (Uruguay); Marcelo Gomes' Cinema, Aspirina e Urubus (Brazil); Tristan Bauer's Iluminados por el Fuego (Argentina); Javier Fox Patron's El Marlboro y el Cucu (Mexico); Edgardo Cozarinsky's Ronda Nocturna (Argentina); Sebastian Campos' La Sagrada Familia (Chile); and Ruy Guerra's O Veneno da Madrugada (Brazil).

TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival said Tuesday it will spotlight Brazil as part of this year's national cinema showcase. Latin American film programmer Diana Sanchez will choose between eight and 10 Brazilian movies for the sidebar. No titles were released. Brazilian filmmakers that have seen their work unspool in Toronto include Fernando Meirelles, Karim Ainouz, Aluisio Abranches, Lais Bodanzky, Toni Venturi, Lucia Murat, Ruy Guerra, Andrucha Waddington and Walter Salles. In recent years, Toronto's national cinema sidebar has focused on South Korea, Spain, Japan, Vietnam, Iran and Poland. The 28th Toronto International Film Festival is set for Sept. 4-13.