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A Portuguese production, the psychological thriller horror movie Amelia’s Children had its premiere at the MOTELx Lisbon Horror Film Festival last year, then received a theatrical release in Portugal last month. Now Magnolia Pictures is gearing up to give the film a VOD and limited theatrical release in the US on March 1st – and with that date just one month away, we’ve got a trailer for Amelia’s Children embedded above.

Written and directed by Gabriel Abrantes, who previously made the comedy Diamantino with Daniel Schmidt, the film has the following synopsis: When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward...

"This vision that haunts you. It just means you're part of this family." Magnolia Pictures has revealed an official trailer for an indie horror film from Portugal titled Amelia's Children, set for release in March in the US. This already opened in Portugal in January after premiering there at a genre festival last year. The latest from the filmmaker behind Diamantino. When Edward's search for his biological family leads him to a remote, mysterious villa in the mountains in Northern Portugal, he's thrilled to meet his long-lost mother and twin brother. However, he soon learns that he's linked to them by a scary monstrous secret. The horror film stars Brigette Lundy-Paine, Carloto Cotta, Anabela Moreira, Alba Baptista, and Rita Blanco. This doesn't look as good as it should, too many underlit scenes and generic scares about creepy family ties. // Continue Reading ›...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Misery loves company, which may account for Portuguese director João Canijo’s decision to split his angst-ridden hotel-set project into two complementary films. Both were selected for the Berlinale, with the half centered on the hotel guests (“Living Bad”) landing in the Encounters section, and “Bad Living,” which revolves around the hotel staff, taking a main competition slot. It makes reviewing one without reference to the other something of an exercise in shadowboxing, especially when, as in “Bad Living,” the minute observation of its deteriorating female relationships could have used some kind of counterpoint, if only to make an unremittingly bleak, fractious 127 minutes pass a little faster. They may work in hospitality, but the women of “Bad Living” live in a draining, near-permanent state of hostility.

The heartbreak hotel location is perhaps the film’s biggest star. It’s a large, modern building, though not so modern that it doesn...

Joao Canijo’s newest cinematic venture Mal Viver had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). The film revolves around a family of women trying to save their relationships and the family hotel and stars Anabela Moreir, Madalena Almeida, Cleia Almeida, Vera Barreto, and Rita Blanco.

Mal Viver starts with an establishing shot on a backyard pool, with Angela (Barreto) cleaning, and Piedade (Moreir) lounging poolside, when suddenly, Piedade’s mother Sara (Blanco), daughter Salome (Almeida), and Raquel (Almeida), show up. All the women exchange confused glances until Piedade and Salome awkwardly embrace because they haven’t seen one another in a long time. Apparently, she wasn’t aware her own child was visiting, and she’s pissed no one told her. The women sit down for dinner and have a catch-up conversation in the hotel restaurant they manage, and although it’s a lively albeit graphic discussion,...

Portuguese auteur Joao Canijo (Blood of My Blood) arrives at the 2023 Berlinale with not just one but two films — a diptych shot in the same hotel location with overlapping characters. Bad Living (Mal Viver) focuses largely on the women who own and run the hotel, while its companion, Living Bad (Viver Mal), centers on some of the hotel’s guests. (Both films unfold within the same time frame.) Full disclosure: I have not seen Living Bad, but given that Bad Living was selected for the festival’s main competition presumably it was deemed to be the stronger work. One can only shudder to imagine what an ordeal Living Bad must be to endure. Punishingly slow, grandiloquently depressing and ultimately not even especially convincing psychologically, Bad Living feels like the work of people who sincerely believed they were making great art. Sadly, they were mistaken.

Bad Living assembles a procession of mostly static,...

Portuguese auteur João Canijo (San Sebastián winner “Blood of My Blood”) has a brace of films at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023. “Bad Living” is in competition while its companion piece “Living Bad” is in the Encounters strand.

“Bad Living” follows five conflicted women who are operating an old family-run hotel, trying to save it from going under. The unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments. “Living Bad,” which plays out like the reverse shot of “Bad Living,” follows the stories of three groups of guests in the same hotel with glimpses of what transpires in the first film.

The genesis of the films go back to “Blood of My Blood” (2011), where the lives of a family living in the outskirts of Lisbon are disrupted within a short period of time.

“‘Blood of My Blood’ was supposed to be two...

One of the most fascinating, ambitious cinematic projects premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival this month comes from Portuguese director João Canijo, who will be debuting a pair of connected films in different sections. First up, his Competition selection Mal Viver (Bad Living) draws inspiration from the plays of Strindberg and films of Rivette in telling the story of five women who are running a decaying hotel. Then the Encounters election Viver Mal (Living Bad) is set in the same location, but from the viewpoint of the guests. Ahead of the premieres, we’re thrilled to exclusively debut the first trailers.

With the same creative team behind both films, including cinematographer Leonor Teles, editor João Braz, sound team of Elsa Ferreira and Tiago Raposinho, production designer Nádia Henriques, and costumer designer Silvia Siopa, the cast of Mal Viver features Anabela Moreira, Rita Blanco, Madalena Almeida, Cleia Almeida, and Vera Barreto,...

The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition as well as its sidebar Encounters competitive section.

A total of 18 films have been selected for the international competition with highlights including Christian Petzold’s latest film Roter Himmel (Afire), Margarethe von Trotta directing Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps in Ingeborg Bachmann — Journey Into the Desert, and Philippe Garrel returns with a new feature titled The Plough.

Scroll down for the full lineup.

This morning the festival also revealed an extra special screening: Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn will debut a documentary titled Superpower, a film shot in Ukraine last year at the outbreak of Russia’s invasion and follows president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 16-26.

Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. The festival had initially done a good job of increasing...

Carga Breaking Glass Pictures Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net by: Harvey Karten Director: Bruno Gascon Screenwriter: Bruno Gascon Cast: Michalina Olszanska, Vítor Norte, Rita Blanco, Sara Sampaio, Miguel Borges, Dmitry Bogomolov, ana Cirstina de Oliveira Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 3/1/19 Opens: Tbd. You can tell the bad guys by their smoking. And boy, does […]

The post Carga Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

The European Film Academy will hold the 26th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 7th, 2013. To make fans part of the celebration every year the audience gets to choose the winner of the Efa People's Choice Award. This  year one lucky fan will also have the chance to attend the awards ceremony and be part of a fantastic event that brings together Europe's greatest film stars, directors, actors and actresses.

Audiences in the past have  awarded the honor to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's beloved Amelie, Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, and incredibly 3 times to Spanish master Pedro Almodovar (All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Volver).

To vote and for a chance to win a trip to the 26th European Film Awards click Here

The Nominees Are:

Anna Karenina

UK, 124 min

Directed By: Joe Wright 

Written By: Tom Stoppard 

With: Keira Knightley, Aaron Johnson, Jude Law, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander

The Best Offer (La Migliore Offerta)

Italy, 130 min

Written & Directed by: Giuseppe Tornatore 

With: Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland

The Broken Circle Breakdown

Belgium, 100 min

Directed by: Felix van Groeningen 

Written by: Carl Joos & Felix van Groeningen 

With: Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh, Nell Cattrysse, Geert van Rampelberg, Nils de Caster

The Deep (Djúpið)

Iceland/Norway, 92 min

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur 

Written by: Jón Atli Jónasson & Baltasar Kormákur 

With: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jóhann G. Jóhannsson, Stefán Hallur Stefánsson, Björn Thors, Thorbjorg H. Thorgilsdótir

The Gilded Cage (La Cage Dorée)

Portugal/France, 90 min

Directed by: Ruben Alves 

Written by: Ruben Alves, Jean-André Yerlès, Hugo Gélin

With: Rita Blanco, Joaquim de Almeida, Roland Giraud, Chantal Lauby, Barbara Cabrita, Lannick Gautry

I'm So Excited (Los Amantes Pasajeros)

Spain, 90 min

Written & Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar

With: Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces, Raúl Arévalo, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth

The Impossible (Lo Imposible)

Spain, 114 min

Directed by: J.A. Bayona

Written by: Sergio G. Sánchez & María Belón

With: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast

Kon-Tiki

Norway, Denmark, UK, Germany, Sweden, 113 min 

Directed by: Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg

Written by: Petter Skavlan

With: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Bassmo Christiansen, Tobias Santelmann, Gustaf Skarsgaard, Odd-Magnus Williamson, Jakob Oftebro, Agnes Kittelsen

Love Is All You Need (Den skaldede frisør)

Denmark, 111 min 

Directed By: Susanne Bier

Written By: Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier

With: Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Paprika Steen, Kim Bodnia

Oh Boy

Germany, 83 min

Written & Directed by: Jan Ole Gerster 

With: Tom Schilling, Marc Hosemann, Friederike Kempter, Michael Gwisdek

Searching for Sugar Man

UK/Sweden, 83 min

Directed by: Malik Bendjelloul...

#10. Living – Dir. Vasili Sigarev (Russia)

Premiering at the 2012 Rotterdam Film Festival, this sophomore effort from Vasili Sigarev is, of course, ironically titled, rather making itself one of those “glass half empty” pictures. It’s a certifiable downer, interweaving three separate stories of miserablism in modern day Russia, and at its best, is distressing to sit through. But I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t watch anything I could get my hands on from this director, creating some of the most memorable film sequences I happened to see this year.

#9. The Place Beyond the Pines – Dir. Derek Cianfrance (Us)

Premiering at the Toronto Film Fest 2012, Derek Cianfrance casts Ryan Gosling once more in his followup to Blue Valentine. Gosling, here a motorcycle stunt driver (sound familiar?) turns bank robber…and then the picture becomes something else completely.

#8. Everybody In Our Family – Dir. Radu Jude (Romania)

Add Radu Jude to the...

Title: Amour Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Grade: B. Director: Michael Haneke. Screenwriter: Michael Haneke Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud, William Shimell, Ramon Agirre, Rita Blanco Screened at: Critics’ DVD, 11/30/12 Opens: December 19, 2012 “Would you like to live to 100?” asks 70-year-old Dan to his septuagenarian friend Paul. “Don’t ask me,” replies Paul. “Ask the guy who’s 99.” “Amour” poses the question at an earlier age, drawing up the experiences of a couple in their eighties, one of whom has expressed a desire to put an end to her suffering. In our youth-crazed culture, one in which young people generally [ Read More ]

The post Amour Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Bloodletting: Canijo’s Latest a Masterwork of Familial Upheaval

Portuguese director Joao Canijo returns with his eighth feature, Blood of My Blood, (his first fictional outing since 2007’s Misbegotten) a sprawling, all consuming portrait of one week in the life a matriarchal run familial unit in the slums outside Lisbon, and may indeed be his masterpiece. Inevitably, there’s no denying a comparison of technique with Altman and Mike Leigh (Canijo spent two years developing the characters with the actors via a series of workshops as Leigh does), but the film stands quite firmly as an often uncomfortable, unpleasant, and always fascinating family saga that would, in a fair world, finally open up the English speaking market to Canijo’s previous directorial efforts, which date back to the early 80s.

In Padre Cruz, a slum on the edge of Lisbon, the Fialho clan, whose workable, but makeshift daily existence is about to be severely shaken.

We’re all ready for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it looks that we’re not the only one. According to the latest reports, Michael Haneke‘s Love (Amour) may walk the Croisette this May. And when we say Love we actually mean These Two, because that was the previous title of Haneke’s latest project that has quite interesting casting team on board. Check out the rest of this report for more details.

In Love, Haneke is actually reteaming with Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf), but the movie also star French icon Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as well as Portuguese actress Rita Blanco.

The story centers “on cultured octogenarians Georges (Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), who are retired music teachers.

Their daughter (Huppert), also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne suffers a minor stroke. When she leaves the hospital and returns home,...

You have to hand it to 89-year-old Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira.

Not only does he regularly make films when others have long retired, but his latest is an ambitious, tremendously satisfying experience. "Anxiety" (Inquietude) is visually superb, narratively complex and ultimately moving in ways few films even aspire to.

Alas, this supremely artistic effort -- a special screening selection at the Cannes film festival -- is not commercial enough to warrant more than a minor domestic U.S. release, but it's a sure-fire hit for the festival circuit.

A composite film with three distinct but interconnected sections, "Anxiety" opens with an exquisitely rendered tete-a-tete between a philosophically suicidal old man (Jose Pinto) and his aging son (Luis Miguel Cintra) that tricks one into expecting a rich but stagey meditation on the bodily and mental deterioration that afflicts even the most well-respected and successful of men when they enter their autumn years.

Indeed, about 35 minutes in, both protagonists have fallen to their deaths, and the curtain falls on what has been a 1930s stage production of Helder Prista Monteiro's "The Immortals", with two well-heeled gents in the audience. The story picks up with the middle-aged unnamed "him" (Diogo Doria) and his younger "friend" (David Cardoso) becoming involved with a pair of high-class courtesans, picking up a thread from the play that the love of women can make men of any age feel young.

Mildly jealous of the more substantial patrons they must contend with, the two men develop a theory about Suzy (Leonor Silveira) and Gabi (Rita Blanco). Skilled in lovemaking, but essentially exotic caged animals, the beautiful sophisticates have inherited the stoic legacy of Marcus Aurelius, taking pleasure in sacrifice.

In a melancholy, fatalistic confession, not-long-for-this-world Suzy reveals that "happiness is a small thing" when she has had everything else she's ever wanted in the way of fine living.

Late at night, the "friend" sets out to console "him" with a strange tale called "Mother of a River", based on a short story by Oliveira collaborator Agustina Bessa-Luis.

In this gorgeously composed finale, a socially constricted village girl (Leonor Baldaque) turns to the mystical 1,000-year-old Mother (Irene Papas) in a metaphorical suicide that results in the former being declared a witch and being chased off by a swarm of black-robed matrons. She turns away from the lover (Ricardo Trepa) who encouraged her trying to break with traditions and becomes the new "Deep Water", magically merging with nature to become a guardian of humanity.

ANXIETY

Madrago Filmes, Gemini Films,

Wanda Films and Light Night

Screenwriter-director: Manoel de Oliveira

Producer: Paulo Branco

Director of photography: Renato Berta

Art direction-costumes: Isabel Branco

Editor: Valerie Loiseleux

Sound: Philippe Morel, Jean-Francois Auger

Cast:

The Immortals

Father: Jose Pinto

Son: Luis Miguel Cintra

Marta: Isabel Ruth

Suzy

Him: Diogo Doria

Friend: David Cardoso

Suzy: Leonor Silveira

Gabi: Rita Blanco

Mother of a River

Mother: Irene Papas

Fisalina: Leonor Baldaque

The Fiance: Ricardo Trepa

Running time -- 112 minutes...