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5 must see films in FNC’s TEMPS Ø Section

5 must see films in FNC’s TEMPS Ø Section

The Festival du Nouveau Cinema has arrived and because of it’s strong line-up, there is no way it is possible to see everything worth watching. Faced with an impossible task I proposed myself to focus on just one section of this year’s festival, TEMPS Ø, which is celebrating it’s 10th year in 2014. This section features the more obscure and rebel films of the FNC, programed for an audience who enjoy witty cinematic experiences. My most anticipated films from the TEMPS Ø section this year is a mix of genres and styles that explore different themes and influences.

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Der Samurai (Last Samurai) 

Directed by Till Kleinert

Der Samurai directed by Till Kleinert, who will be present at the festival, is an under 80 minutes long feature set in a wooded region of the German-Polish border. It is a neo-giallo cat and mouse tale of Samurai (Pit Bukowski), a cross-dressing villain that bares a Katana (samurai sword) and a police officer, Jakob (Michel Diercks). The film takes direct inspirations from the visual tone of Giallo movies by incorporating complex editing techniques, highly detailed production design,and expressionist music. Giallo is a film subgenre that emerged from the italian novels in the 1960s, but soon began taking advantage of modern cinematic techniques to create a unique genre blending horror and psychological thrillers. As giallo films frequently lack characterization, believable dialogue, realistic performances, and logical coherence in the narrative one must hope that the balance between the stylistic inspirations and Till Kleinert’s voice create a cohesive cinematic experience. This Neo-Giallo / Queer Exotica / Psychological Horror Thriller has already been picked up for release in Germany and U.K., scheduled to be released in the fall by Peccadillo Pictures.

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L’Enlèvement de Michel Houellebecq

Directed by Guillaume Nicloux

This dramedy by writer director Guillaume Nicloux expands on a phase of the media life of author Michel Houellebecq. In 2011 when the author failed to show to his book tour appearances speculation grew and triggered a variety of surreal rumours one of which suggested that Michel Houellebecq was kidnaped by Al-Qaeda. To this date, it is still unclear exactly what happened during this period. With the premise of an intellectual being abducted by three tough muscled juice-head amateur kidnappers, this docu-fantasy promises the audience some Larry David / Curb Your Enthusiasm moments. Building off Houellebecq’s charm and wit the film promises to explores another side of the stockholm syndrome, offering a meta textual exploration of the author’s persona. I’m looking for that fusion of fiction and documentary in the depiction of Houellebecq’s persona, and I hope the film offers insight into the man while striving for an entertaining ride.

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Giuseppe Makes a Movie

Directed by Adam Rifkin

In Giuseppe Makes a Movie director Adam Rifkin documents the Life and Art of Giuseppe Andrews. Who’s Giuseppe Andrews you might ask? Well, he’s a prolific American musician, film actor, writer, and director, who lived in trailer parks for the most part of his life, which he features prominently, along with their inhabitants in his various artistic projects. In this documentary by Adam Rifkin we follow the making of Garbanzo Gas a no-budget project focused on the characters of Giuseppe Andrews imaginary life. Very influenced by his neighbours, homeless, senior-citizen trash talkers, alcoholics who have been part of his reality since his upbringing Andrews finds a solid voice as a multifaceted artist. Andrews’ unique filmmaking style is a cinéma vérité-meets-exploitation filmmaking that has been compared to the works of John Waters and Harmony Korine. Called by the director Adam Rifkin as “… a true auteur” we can only expect a true and raw depiction of Andrews and his characters, setups and relationships as Rifkin explores real Art vs real Life through Giuseppe Andrews eyes, as mentioned in his website tagline “I was born, lived and died for art”.

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Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau

Directed by David Gregory

This documentary tells the secret story behind Richard Stanley’s involvement in the cult movie The Island of Dr. Moreau. After his cult successes Hardware and Dust Devil, director Richard Stanley was given an $8 million dollar budget and stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer to make his dream project: The Island of Dr. Moreau. Stanley worked developing the script for 4 years only to end up getting fired 4 days into the shoot. It’s a “what might have been movie”, set to be a good documentary about a great subject matter, where we get a sneak peak of the behind the scenes stories that usually stay untold under the hollywood mediatic vail.

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Réalité

Directed by Quentin Dupieux

Réalité is the latest movie of the french director Quentin Dupieux. While to some Dupieux is still better know as as electronica artist Mr. Oizo, he only continues to grow an audience with his bizarre style with films like Rubber, Wrong Cops and Wrong. Dupieux’s movies always try to turn simple funny ideas into unique cinematic experiences. Having said that, it doesn’t mean they are always pleasant experiences but they are for sure unique in their essence. Dupieux’s uses conventional structures and formulas to experiment and expand on how to be witty and unconventional. Réalité tells the story of a horror director who must find the perfect scream in 48 hours to get his film produced in time. It’s sets out to be a meta textual movie with the touch of absurdity that we expect from a Quentin Dupieux’s flick.

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