Francis Ford Coppola drew gasps and groans for a prediction he’s now made about the upcoming presidential election.
The filmmaker joined his friends and collaborators Robert De Niro and Spike Lee for a Q&a livestreamed from New York’s AMC Lincoln Square to 65 IMAX theaters across the U.S. on September 24 before a New York Film Festival screening of “Megalopolis.”
The trio, in conversation with New York Film Festival artistic director Dennis Lim, shared reminiscences from their friendship before Coppola went deep on how “Megalopolis” can be seen as a metaphor for the fall of Rome — and explained why he thinks America is headed down the same path.
“My films are a little prescient, they relate to the future,” Coppola said, noting that people asked him “Why are you making a movie about eavesdropping?” when “The Conversation” came out. And then the Watergate tapes dropped shortly thereafter.
“And people always said,...
The filmmaker joined his friends and collaborators Robert De Niro and Spike Lee for a Q&a livestreamed from New York’s AMC Lincoln Square to 65 IMAX theaters across the U.S. on September 24 before a New York Film Festival screening of “Megalopolis.”
The trio, in conversation with New York Film Festival artistic director Dennis Lim, shared reminiscences from their friendship before Coppola went deep on how “Megalopolis” can be seen as a metaphor for the fall of Rome — and explained why he thinks America is headed down the same path.
“My films are a little prescient, they relate to the future,” Coppola said, noting that people asked him “Why are you making a movie about eavesdropping?” when “The Conversation” came out. And then the Watergate tapes dropped shortly thereafter.
“And people always said,...
- 9/24/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Francis Ford Coppola is the latest celebrity to address Donald Trump’s debate comments accusing immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, of eating pets.
“I really was infuriated during the debates, when Haitian people were disparaged,” the filmmaker wrote in a post shared on Instagram. “I feel Haitian people are among the most kind, generous, talented, wonderful I have ever known. They have never been forgiven for winning what was a slave-revolt, and have been punished ever since they liberated themselves.”
Coppola added that he finds the pet-eating claims “so outrageously insulting to a brave, creative and absolutely wonderful people, I cannot tolerate or remain silent.”
He accompanied his message with a still from the Haitian film Freda by Gessica Généus, which Coppola notes he supported.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Francis Ford Coppola (@francisfordcoppola)
During Tuesday’s debate, the former president went on a rant about immigrants eating pets in Springfield,...
“I really was infuriated during the debates, when Haitian people were disparaged,” the filmmaker wrote in a post shared on Instagram. “I feel Haitian people are among the most kind, generous, talented, wonderful I have ever known. They have never been forgiven for winning what was a slave-revolt, and have been punished ever since they liberated themselves.”
Coppola added that he finds the pet-eating claims “so outrageously insulting to a brave, creative and absolutely wonderful people, I cannot tolerate or remain silent.”
He accompanied his message with a still from the Haitian film Freda by Gessica Généus, which Coppola notes he supported.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Francis Ford Coppola (@francisfordcoppola)
During Tuesday’s debate, the former president went on a rant about immigrants eating pets in Springfield,...
- 9/13/2024
- by Tatiana Tenreyro
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Haitian actor and film-maker kept her cameras rolling through the deadly upheavals of 2019. Now she’s starting on a new film, and little has improved – but that’s why she is determined to carry on
Making a film in Haiti, as director Gessica Généus can testify, is no easy thing. When she began work at the end of 2019 on her 2021 feature, Freda, the country was engulfed in the Petrocaribe street protests, named for the vast scandal involving Venezuelan oil that saw billions of dollars vanish.
Through December 2019 and January 2020 she carried on working, at one stage filming while gunfire rang out for hours outside the nightclub where she was filming, prompting concerned calls from her actors’ families.
Making a film in Haiti, as director Gessica Généus can testify, is no easy thing. When she began work at the end of 2019 on her 2021 feature, Freda, the country was engulfed in the Petrocaribe street protests, named for the vast scandal involving Venezuelan oil that saw billions of dollars vanish.
Through December 2019 and January 2020 she carried on working, at one stage filming while gunfire rang out for hours outside the nightclub where she was filming, prompting concerned calls from her actors’ families.
- 10/17/2023
- by Peter Beaumont
- The Guardian - Film News
The feature film “Freda” and short film “You Can Always Come Home,” both family dramas, earned top prizes at the 39th edition of Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival. Presented in a hybrid format this year, with both in-theater and virtual presentations, the 2022 Festival ran from March 4-13.
Making its U.S. premiere at this year’s Festival, “Freda,” directed by Géssica Généus, earned the top award for her first feature set in Haiti, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award. The winning film was selected by jury members Damon D’Oliveria, April Dobbins and Rubén Peralta Rigaud. Of the film, the jury noted, “this film resonated with all of us for its strong, female-centered narrative, and its exceptional performances from emerging actors. We couldn’t stop thinking about this world and these characters, and we appreciated being immersed in a place that we don’t often see onscreen – portrayed in such a realistic,...
Making its U.S. premiere at this year’s Festival, “Freda,” directed by Géssica Généus, earned the top award for her first feature set in Haiti, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award. The winning film was selected by jury members Damon D’Oliveria, April Dobbins and Rubén Peralta Rigaud. Of the film, the jury noted, “this film resonated with all of us for its strong, female-centered narrative, and its exceptional performances from emerging actors. We couldn’t stop thinking about this world and these characters, and we appreciated being immersed in a place that we don’t often see onscreen – portrayed in such a realistic,...
- 3/13/2022
- by Malina Saval
- Variety Film + TV
Two family dramas, the feature film Freda and short film You Can Always Come Home, have earned the top prizes at the 39th edition of Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival. Presented in a hybrid format with in-theater and virtual presentations, the 2022 Festival ran from March 4 through tomorrow.
Making its US premiere at this year’s Festival, Freda, directed by Géssica Généus, earned the top award for her first feature. Set in Haiti, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is an international competition for new narrative feature films that best exemplify richness and resonance for cinema’s future.
The winning film was selected by jury members Damon D’Oliveria, April Dobbins, and Rubén Peralta Rigaud. The jury said, “This film resonated with all of us for its strong, female-centered narrative, and its exceptional performances from emerging actors. We couldn’t stop...
Making its US premiere at this year’s Festival, Freda, directed by Géssica Généus, earned the top award for her first feature. Set in Haiti, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is an international competition for new narrative feature films that best exemplify richness and resonance for cinema’s future.
The winning film was selected by jury members Damon D’Oliveria, April Dobbins, and Rubén Peralta Rigaud. The jury said, “This film resonated with all of us for its strong, female-centered narrative, and its exceptional performances from emerging actors. We couldn’t stop...
- 3/13/2022
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The Miami Film Festival returns this year with a hybrid event that includes nine premieres from March 4-13 in the Florida city. The festival had previously announced that “The Good Boss” would open the event while “Plaza Catedral” would be the closer. In total, 120 films from more than 35 countries will unspool next month.
The festival, organized by Miami Dade College, will bestow its Precious Gems Awards on Ramin Bahrani (“The White Tiger”) and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”), while Dp Ari Wegner and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer will receive the Art of Light Awards.
“The collective spirit of joy and gratitude that we felt from patrons and filmmakers at last year’s shared in-person theatrical screenings strengthened the always mighty creative heart of Miami Film Festival,” said executive director Jaie Laplante. “As we take all necessary precautions to ensure the continued safety of our patrons, we look forward to...
The festival, organized by Miami Dade College, will bestow its Precious Gems Awards on Ramin Bahrani (“The White Tiger”) and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”), while Dp Ari Wegner and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer will receive the Art of Light Awards.
“The collective spirit of joy and gratitude that we felt from patrons and filmmakers at last year’s shared in-person theatrical screenings strengthened the always mighty creative heart of Miami Film Festival,” said executive director Jaie Laplante. “As we take all necessary precautions to ensure the continued safety of our patrons, we look forward to...
- 2/1/2022
- by Shalini Dore
- Variety Film + TV
Personal and political life in Haiti are brought sharply into focus in “Freda,” a powerful and resolutely unsentimental drama about a determined young university student who must decide whether to stay in her deeply troubled country or seek a future elsewhere. Weaving documentary footage of civil unrest into an intelligent and compassionate screenplay that examines what it means to be a Haitian woman in a society stacked heavily in favor of men, “Freda” marks an outstanding feature debut for actress-singer-filmmaker Gessica Geneus. This vital and vibrant drama is Haiti’s submission in the Oscar international feature category.
“Freda” is only the second Haitian feature entered for Oscar consideration, following “Ayiti Mon Amour” by Guetty Felinin in 2017. It’s also just the second Haitian production ever selected for Cannes, after Raoul Peck’s “The Man on the Shore” in 1993. “Freda” received a major profile boost in early December with the announcement that Francis Ford Coppola,...
“Freda” is only the second Haitian feature entered for Oscar consideration, following “Ayiti Mon Amour” by Guetty Felinin in 2017. It’s also just the second Haitian production ever selected for Cannes, after Raoul Peck’s “The Man on the Shore” in 1993. “Freda” received a major profile boost in early December with the announcement that Francis Ford Coppola,...
- 12/19/2021
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
Latin America has submitted 15 contenders in the Academy Awards’ international feature category this time, not quite as big a haul as last year’s tally of 18.
Leading the hopefuls is Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” the fiction debut of Tatiana Huezo, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2022. Her tale follows three girls as they come of age in a remote village afflicted by the drug trade and human trafficking. The Cannes Un Certain Regard winner is now streaming on Netflix, which is putting all its promotional heft behind it. The film’s producers are Jim Stark (“Coffee and Cigarettes”) and Nicolas Celis, the latter a key producer of Mexico’s first-ever international feature Oscar winner, “Roma,” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Huezo’s 2016 documentary, “Tempestad,” represented Mexico at the 90th Academy Awards. Since 1957, when Mexico started participating in the Oscars, 10 of its entries have been nominated, culminating in “Roma’s” win in 2019.
Chile,...
Leading the hopefuls is Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” the fiction debut of Tatiana Huezo, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2022. Her tale follows three girls as they come of age in a remote village afflicted by the drug trade and human trafficking. The Cannes Un Certain Regard winner is now streaming on Netflix, which is putting all its promotional heft behind it. The film’s producers are Jim Stark (“Coffee and Cigarettes”) and Nicolas Celis, the latter a key producer of Mexico’s first-ever international feature Oscar winner, “Roma,” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Huezo’s 2016 documentary, “Tempestad,” represented Mexico at the 90th Academy Awards. Since 1957, when Mexico started participating in the Oscars, 10 of its entries have been nominated, culminating in “Roma’s” win in 2019.
Chile,...
- 12/13/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Elisabeth Moss and Lindsey McManus have boarded writer-director Blerta Basholli’s Hive as executive producers. The Love & Squalor Pictures partners will spearhead the awards push for the Kosovan Oscar entry.
Hive tells the true story of Fahrije (Yllka Gashi) who, like many of the other women in her patriarchal village, has lived with fading hope and burgeoning grief since her husband went missing during the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s. In order to provide for her struggling family, she pulls the other widows in her community together to launch a business selling ajvar, a local food product from peppers and eggplants, and together they find healing and solace in considering a future without their husbands.
When the film debuted in competition this year at Sundance, it became the first in the history of the festival to win all three top awards—including the Grand Jury Prize,...
Hive tells the true story of Fahrije (Yllka Gashi) who, like many of the other women in her patriarchal village, has lived with fading hope and burgeoning grief since her husband went missing during the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s. In order to provide for her struggling family, she pulls the other widows in her community together to launch a business selling ajvar, a local food product from peppers and eggplants, and together they find healing and solace in considering a future without their husbands.
When the film debuted in competition this year at Sundance, it became the first in the history of the festival to win all three top awards—including the Grand Jury Prize,...
- 12/13/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Five-time Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola has joined Freda — the Haitian Oscar entry marking the narrative feature debut of actor, singer and documentarian Gessica Généus — as an executive producer. He will spearhead an awards-season push for the pic, which is only the second Haitian film to be submitted to the Academy Awards’ International Feature category.
“Freda is the kind of cinematic experience I value most: a journey into a way of life not normally accessible to me, providing insight about the real people who live in it. Gessica Généus’ film is an unforgettable jewel told with simple eloquence, beautifully memorable performances, and genuine feeling that few films ever achieve,” said Coppola. “This glimpse of contemporary life in Haiti shows a people who refuse to be defined by their tragic moments and who thrive with good hearts and best intentions. It is my humble honor to serve as the executive producer...
“Freda is the kind of cinematic experience I value most: a journey into a way of life not normally accessible to me, providing insight about the real people who live in it. Gessica Généus’ film is an unforgettable jewel told with simple eloquence, beautifully memorable performances, and genuine feeling that few films ever achieve,” said Coppola. “This glimpse of contemporary life in Haiti shows a people who refuse to be defined by their tragic moments and who thrive with good hearts and best intentions. It is my humble honor to serve as the executive producer...
- 12/7/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Africa’s biggest film festival unfolded in Burkina Faso from October 16 to 23.
Finnish-Somali filmmaker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife scooped the top prize at the 27th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) in Burkina Faso over the weekend.
The largest film festival in Africa, the biannual event normally takes place end-February, start-March but was pushed to October 16-23 this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its top prize is the $36,000 Golden Stallion of Yennenga (Étalon de Yennenga) award. The prizes are named after legendary warrior princess Yennenga, who is considered the mother...
Finnish-Somali filmmaker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife scooped the top prize at the 27th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) in Burkina Faso over the weekend.
The largest film festival in Africa, the biannual event normally takes place end-February, start-March but was pushed to October 16-23 this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its top prize is the $36,000 Golden Stallion of Yennenga (Étalon de Yennenga) award. The prizes are named after legendary warrior princess Yennenga, who is considered the mother...
- 10/25/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Cannes' Official Selection for its 74th edition, running July 6-17.
In Competition
Annette, Leos Carax (France) - Opening Film
The Story of My Wife, Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary)
Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven (Netherlands)
Bergman Island, Mia-Hansen-Love (France)
Drive My Car, Rysuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Ha’Berech (Ahed’s Knee), Nadav Lapid
Casablanca Beats, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
Compartment No. 6, Juho Kuosmanen (Finland)
The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier (Norway)
La Fracture, Catherine Corsini (France)
The Restless, Joachim Lafosse (Belgium)
Paris 13th District, Jacques Audiard (France)
Lingui, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad)
Memoria, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
Nitram, Justin Kurzel (Australia)
France, Bruno Dumont (France)
Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)
Red Rocket, Sean Baker (USA)
Flag Day, Sean Penn (USA)
The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson (USA)
Titane, Julia Ducournau (France)
Tre Piani, Nanni Moretti (Italy)
Tout s'est Bien Passé, François Ozon (France)
A Hero, Asghar Farhadi (Iran)
Un Certain Regard
Moneyboys, C.B. Yi (Austria)
Blue Bayou, Justin Chon (USA)
Freda, Gessica Geneus (Haiti)
Delo (House Arrest), Alexey German Jr. (Russia)
Bonne Mere, Hafsia Herzi (France)
Noche de Fuego, Tatiana Huezo (Mexico)
Lamb, Valdimar Johansson (Iceland)
Commitment Hasan, Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey)
After Yang, Kogonada (USA)
Let There Be Morning, Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Unclenching the Fists, Kira Kovalenko (Russia)
Women Do Cry, Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria)
Rehana Maryam Noor, Abdullah Mohammad Saad (Bangladesh)
Great Freedom, Sebastian Meise (Austria)
La Civil, Teodora Ana Mihai (Romania / Belgium)
Gaey’s Wa’r, Na Jiazuo (China)
The Innocents, Eskil Vogt (Norway)
Un Monde, Laura Wandel (Belgium)
Out of Competition
De Son Vivant, Emmanuelle Bercot (France)
Emergency Declaration, Han Jae-Rim (Korea)
The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes (USA)
Bac Nord, Cédric Jimenez (France)
Aline, The Voice of Love, Valérie Lemercier (France)
Stillwater, Tom McCarthy (USA)...
In Competition
Annette, Leos Carax (France) - Opening Film
The Story of My Wife, Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary)
Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven (Netherlands)
Bergman Island, Mia-Hansen-Love (France)
Drive My Car, Rysuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Ha’Berech (Ahed’s Knee), Nadav Lapid
Casablanca Beats, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
Compartment No. 6, Juho Kuosmanen (Finland)
The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier (Norway)
La Fracture, Catherine Corsini (France)
The Restless, Joachim Lafosse (Belgium)
Paris 13th District, Jacques Audiard (France)
Lingui, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad)
Memoria, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
Nitram, Justin Kurzel (Australia)
France, Bruno Dumont (France)
Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)
Red Rocket, Sean Baker (USA)
Flag Day, Sean Penn (USA)
The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson (USA)
Titane, Julia Ducournau (France)
Tre Piani, Nanni Moretti (Italy)
Tout s'est Bien Passé, François Ozon (France)
A Hero, Asghar Farhadi (Iran)
Un Certain Regard
Moneyboys, C.B. Yi (Austria)
Blue Bayou, Justin Chon (USA)
Freda, Gessica Geneus (Haiti)
Delo (House Arrest), Alexey German Jr. (Russia)
Bonne Mere, Hafsia Herzi (France)
Noche de Fuego, Tatiana Huezo (Mexico)
Lamb, Valdimar Johansson (Iceland)
Commitment Hasan, Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey)
After Yang, Kogonada (USA)
Let There Be Morning, Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Unclenching the Fists, Kira Kovalenko (Russia)
Women Do Cry, Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria)
Rehana Maryam Noor, Abdullah Mohammad Saad (Bangladesh)
Great Freedom, Sebastian Meise (Austria)
La Civil, Teodora Ana Mihai (Romania / Belgium)
Gaey’s Wa’r, Na Jiazuo (China)
The Innocents, Eskil Vogt (Norway)
Un Monde, Laura Wandel (Belgium)
Out of Competition
De Son Vivant, Emmanuelle Bercot (France)
Emergency Declaration, Han Jae-Rim (Korea)
The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes (USA)
Bac Nord, Cédric Jimenez (France)
Aline, The Voice of Love, Valérie Lemercier (France)
Stillwater, Tom McCarthy (USA)...
- 6/3/2021
- IMDbPro News
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