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Friday, May 30, 2014

2014 Movie World Cup

32 Nations. 96 films. One epic movie showdown. Ladies and gents, presenting the 2014 Movie World Cup.

In the past, finding even a single film nation for the 2006 and 2010 Movie World Cup spotlights proved to be a challenge given the lack of film distribution from many competing soccer nations. Therefore, it was a tall order finding three films from all the nations taking part in the 2014 World Cup and a target that I didn't expect to reach. In fact, until last month, I was on track for 92 films. But thankfully, some films appeared in the nick of time. Although, some films also disappeared. DVDs of two films that I had originally planned for the spotlight went missing from the local library, forcing a change in selection.

The delay in finding a lot of the films has meant that not all the viewing will be completed by the start of the Soccer World Cup on June 12. Therefore, this spotlight is likely to run past the end of the World Cup on July 13.

The 32 Nations and their 96 films are divided into the same 8 groups as the Soccer World Cup.

Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Brazil Neigboring Sounds (2012, Kleber Mendonça Filho) Once Upon a Time Veronica (2012, Marcelo Gomes) Entranced Earth (1967, Glauber Rocha)
Croatia Buick Riviera (2009, Goran Rusinovic) Karaula (2006, Rajko Grlic) Witnesses (2003, Vinko Bresan)
Mexico El Violin (2005, Francisco Vargas) Post Tenebras Lux (2012, Carlos Reygadas) Presagio (1975, Luis Alcoriza)
Cameroon A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno) Aristotle’s Plan (2006, Jean-Pierre Bekolo) Quartier Mozart (1992, Jean-Pierre Bekolo)

Group B: Spain, Holland, Chile, Australia

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Spain In the City of Sylvia (2007, José Luis Guerín) Blancanieves (2012, Pablo Berger) The Red Squirrel (1993, Julio Medem)
Holland Borgman (2013, Alex van Warmerdam) The Last Days of Emma Black (2009, Alex van Warmerdam) The Northerners (1992, Alex van Warmerdam)
Chile Tony Manero (2008, Pablo Larraín) Old Cats (2010, Pedro Peirano/Sebastián Silva) The Battle of Chile (1975-79, Patricio Guzmán)
Australia Snowtown (2011, Justin Kurzel) The Hunter (2011, Daniel Nettheim) The Last Wave (1977, Peter Weir)

Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Colombia Crab Trap (2009, Oscar Ruiz Navia) Dog Eat Dog (2008, Carlos Moreno) Oedipus Mayor (1996, Jorge Alí Triana)
Greece Unfair World (2011, Filippos Tsitos) Dos (2011, Stathis Athanasiou) Ghost of a Chance (2001, Vangelis Seitanidis)
Ivory Coast Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M’Bala) Black Diamond (2010, Pascale Lamche) Burn it up Djassa (2012, Lonesome Solo)
Japan Like Father, Like Son (2013, Hirokazu Koreeda) Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (2013, Sion Sono) When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960, Mikio Naruse)

Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy 

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Uruguay A Useful Life (2010, Federico Veiroj) Bad Day to go Fishing (2009, Álvaro Brechner) Whisky (2004, Juan Pablo Rebella/Pablo Stoll)
Costa Rica Cold Water of the Sea (2010, Paz Fabrega) Gestacion (2009, Esteban Ramírez) Caribe (2004, Esteban Ramírez)
England Trishna (2011, Michael Winterbottom) Two Years at Sea (2011, Ben Rivers) If...(1968, Lindsay Anderson)
Italy Le Quattro Volte (2010, Michelangelo Frammartino) The Great Beauty (2013, Paolo Sorrentino) Il Posto (1961, Ermanno Olmi)

Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras 

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Switzerland Das Fraulein (2006, Andrea Staka) We Are The Faithful (2005, Michael Koch) Signer's Suitcase (1995, Peter Liechti)
Ecuador Crónicas (2004, Sebastián Cordero) Qué tan lejos (2006, Tania Hermida) A Titan in the Ring (2002, Viviana Cordero)
France Holy Motors (2012, Leos Carax) Bastards (2013, Claire Denis) L'Argent (1983, Robert Bresson)
Honduras El Porvier (2008, Oscar Estrada) Amor y frijoles (2009, Mathew Kodath/Hernan Pereira) Mi Amigo Angel (1962, Sami Kafati)

Group F: Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria 

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Argentina Gone Fishing (2012, Carlos Sorin) Extraordinary Stories (2008, Mariano Llinás) Invasion (1969, Hugo Santiago)
Bosnia and Herzegovina Cirkus Colombia (2010, Danis Tanovic) Belvedere (2010, Ahmed Imamović) No Man's Land (2001, Danis Tanovic)
Iran This is Not a Film (2011, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb/Jafar Panahi) The White Meadows (2011, Mohammad Rasoulof) Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)
Nigeria Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen) Ezra (2007, Newton I. Aduaka) Last Flight to Abuja (2012, Obi Emelonye)

Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, United States 

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Germany Everyone Else (2009, Maren Ade) Gerhard Richter - Painting (2011, Corinna Belz) World on a Wire (1973, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Portugal The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, Manoel de Oliveira) Centro Histórico (2012, Pedro Costa/Manoel de Oliveira/Víctor Erice/Aki Kaurismäki) Ossos (1997, Pedro Costa)
Ghana The Perfect Picture (2010, Shirley Frimpong-Manso) Sinking Sands (2011, Leila Djansi) A Sting in a Tale (2009, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
USA Blue Ruin (2013, Jeremy Saulnier) Blue Caprice (2013, Alexandre Moors) Faces (1968, John Cassavetes)

Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea

Country Film #1 Film #2 Film #3
Belgium The Referees (2009, Yves Hinant/Eric Cardot/Delphine Lehericey) Eldorado (2008, Bouli Lanners) La Promesse (1996, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
Algeria Rachida (2002, Yamina Bachir) Outside the Law (2010, Rachid Bouchareb) Daughters of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
Russia Alexandra (2007, Aleksandr Sokurov) The Edge (2010, Aleksey Uchitel) Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)
South Korea In Another Country (2012, Hong Sang-soo) The Day He Arrives (2011, Hong Sang-soo) The Housemaid (1960, Ki-young Kim)

The Rules

Group Stage Points

In the Soccer World Cup, the maximum points a team can get from playing their 3 group games is 9. The same 9 points is also the maximum total that a country can achieve when its 3 films are pitted against other nations. The match-ups will be identical to the Soccer World Cup with the difference that Film #1 will only face another nation's Film #1, Film #2 will only go against another nation's Film #2.

Nation A, Film #1 vs Nation B, Film #1

A vote will be cast for a favorite film, thereby ensuring a 1-0 win. The winning nation will be awarded 3 points.

If both films are equally impressive and it is hard to pick a winner, a 1-1 tie will be declared, giving each nation 1 point each.

The top two nations will advance from each of the 8 groups.

If there is a tie for 1st or 2nd place, all 3 films from the tied nations will compete against each other. If after a head-to-head match-up, the nations cannot be separated, a coin toss will be used to pick a winner as a nod towards the Soccer World Cup which in the past used a coin toss as a tie-breaker.

Round of 16, Quarter-Round, Semi-Final, Final Criteria

The best film from all the 16 Nations advancing from the first round will be used in the Second Round.

A head-to-head match-up will be used to pick a winner based on either five or three categories.

Film A vs Film B [Five or Three categories]

If two Fictional films face each other, then the following five categories will be used:

Acting, Story, Cinematography, Direction, Production (Sound, Editing).

If a Documentary is put against a Fictional film, then the following three categories will be used for both films:

Cinematography, Direction, Production (Sound, Editing)

If film A is better than film B in a category, then film A will get 1 point and film B will get 0. If both film A and film B are equal in a category, then they each get 1 point.

If both films are tied 3-3 or 5-5 after all the scores are added up, the winning film will be decided by a subjective vote, which is similar to an emotional penalty shoot-out in soccer.

And finally..why a Soccer Film Spotlight

I first started a soccer film spotlight for the 2006 World Cup. Even though I never managed to find films from all the 32 nations, it was an exciting project which forced me to hunt for films from nations that are not often mentioned in film magazines or websites. For example, spending hours to hunt for films from Ivory Coast, Togo, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine helped shed a light on the state of cinema around the World and introduced me to many regional directors, whose work I could look forward to. The 2006 Movie World Cup helped fuel a love for cinema and opened my eyes to view films from any part of the world. In essence, it became a quest for Cinephilia and allowed me to believe a worthy film could come from any part of the World. As a result, I have been conducting these spotlights regularly not only for the World Cups (2010) but also for the European Championships (Euro 2008, 2012), Copa America (2007, 2011) and once for the African Cup of Nations.

Finding some films is certainly difficult but remarkably some films are easy to access but hidden away from plain sight. For example, the Ivorian film Burn it up Djassa is available to rent via iTunes Canada but it is not displayed anywhere in the Foreign films section. However, a search for the title on a hunch brought it up. Of course, if I was not searching for any films from Ivory Coast, I would have never been able to view this title. Already, I have seen one film that has reinforced the validity of this Movie World Cup. Jean-Pierre Bekolo's Aristotle’s Plan is love for cinema in all its 35mm glory and highlights the pull that filmmaking has for people. I have not come across a single critic who has mentioned this film yet this is a work that deserves to be praised and talked about. I hope to find many other such worthy films from this year's selection, especially those that the rest of the World wrongly ignores.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

African Films

The 15 films from the 5 African Nations taking part in the 2014 Movie World Cup have been selected. Given the difficulty in finding African films, the year restrictions have been relaxed for Film #1 and #2 to be from the years 2000 - 2013 as opposed to 2005 - 2013. The following is the criteria for the three films.

Film 1: previously seen film from 2000 - 2013
Film 2: unseen film from 2000 - 2013
Film 3: film from 1960 - 2004

Algeria

Film 1: Rachida (2002, Yamina Bachir)
Film 2: Outside the Law (2010, Rachid Bouchareb)
Film 3: Daughters of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)

Cameroon: Two films by Jean-Pierre Bekolo are included. In fact, I was very close to picking all three films by him but A Trip to the Country has a relevant soccer segment making it a worthy selection.

Film 1: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
Film 2: Aristotle’s Plan (2006, Jean-Pierre Bekolo)
Film 3: Quartier Mozart (1992, Jean-Pierre Bekolo)

Ghana: Shirley Frimpong-Manso could have had all three films for Ghana but I have taken a gamble on Sinking Sands. Also, Ghana is the only nation to have two female directors represent all three films.

Film 1: The Perfect Picture (2010, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
Film 2: Sinking Sands (2011, Leila Djansi)
Film 3: A Sting in a Tale (2009, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)

Ivory Coast

Film 1: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M’Bala)
Film 2: Black Diamond (2010, Pascale Lamche)
Film 3: Burn it up Djassa (2012, Lonesome Solo)

Nigeria

Film 1: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)
Film 2: Ezra (2007, Newton I. Aduaka)
Film 3: Last Flight to Abuja (2012, Obi Emelonye)

Sunday, May 25, 2014

10th anniversary

I started this blog back on May 10, 2004 with the following entry:

As things begin, so must this blog. Here we go.
History will remind us how special this week was:
1) Valencia crowned Liga Champions after an astonishing collapse by Real. Nothing fake about the win there -- pure hardwork.
2) Arsenal remained unbeaten after 37 games. Thanks to Reyes -- the Spanish connection.
3) Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga in the best possible manner, a 3-1 win away to defending champs, Bayern Munich. The result left no doubt about the best team in Germany.
4) Milan & Roma take dives. But will it be enough for Perugia?
5) 5 in a row. Zoom Zoom.
6) 3-2 overtime win for the red hot Flames. Sharks or no sharks.
7) Stand off. Enough said!!!


More than 10 years have gone by since this blog was started. Initially, the purpose of this blog was to share notes about recent films I was viewing with a few friends who were doing the same. Therefore, this was purely a web film log, fitting in perfectly with the definition of a blog (web log). However as things turned out, my film friends stopped maintaining their blogs and decreased their film viewing around 2005-06 but I increased my film viewing substantially going from seeing 100-150 films a year to a record high of 445 films in 2008.

As I stopped discussing films with one group of friends, along the way, I made many other cinephile friends through the internet. Thankfully, I have been lucky to have met some of them in person. But there are many other film lovers that I have interacted with over the years without even knowing their name or where they live. Of course, not knowing someone's name or what they look like has not gotten in the way of meaningful discussion because cinema has been a common bond for us, therefore no other formal introduction was required.

Since I started this blog, I must have seen anywhere from 3000-4000 films. 2000-2500 of those films have some notes/reviews or are simply logged somewhere on this blog. I have also been fortunate to have traveled to many international film festivals and helped program films for multiple film festivals as well, tales of those adventures are also etched on "Scribbles and Ramblings". It has been an absolutely incredible cinematic journey, one that I hope to be able to continue for many more years to come.

A huge thanks to all the people that have taken the time to read this blog and share their thoughts over the last 10 years. Special mention goes out to Sam Juliano, Norman Crane and Nitesh Rohit for being such regular readers. Plus, I will be always grateful to Michael Guillen for his wonderful website and friendship. I can't forget some wonderful cinephiles with whom I mainly talk via twitter even though I discovered them through their websites: JAFB, Zach, Filipe and Omar. And finally...Acquarello is no longer online but Strictly Film School was the first film website I discovered back in 1996. Acquarello's website was a huge help when I was hunting for foreign films on VHS tapes. Yes, VHS tapes. I have gotten many useful nuggets of advice from Acquarello over the years that I will always cherish.

European Films

The 39 films representing the 13 European Nations taking part in the 2014 Movie World Cup have been selected. The three films from each nation follow the following criteria:

Film 1: previously seen film from 2005 - 2013
Film 2: unseen film from 2005 - 2013
Film 3: film from 1960 - 2004

Belgium

Film 1: The Referees (2009, Yves Hinant/Eric Cardot/Delphine Lehericey)
Film 2: Eldorado (2008, Bouli Lanners)
Film 3: La Promesse (1996, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)

Bosnia: Two films by Danis Tanovic make the cut

Film 1: Cirkus Colombia (2010, Danis Tanovic)
Film 2: Belvedere (2010, Ahmed Imamović)
Film 3: No Man's Land (2001, Danis Tanovic)

Croatia

Film 1: Buick Riviera (2009, Goran Rusinovic)
Film 2: Karaula (2006, Rajko Grlic)
Film 3: Witnesses (2003, Vinko Bresan)

England

Film 1: Trishna (2011, Michael Winterbottom)
Film 2: Two Years at Sea (2011, Ben Rivers)
Film 3: If...(1968, Lindsay Anderson)

France

Film 1: Holy Motors (2012, Leos Carax)
Film 2: Bastards (2013, Claire Denis)
Film 3: L'Argent (1983, Robert Bresson)

Germany

The only nation to have three different formats for its film selection: fiction, documentary and TV Series.

Film 1: Everyone Else (2009, Maren Ade)
Film 2: Gerhard Richter - Painting (2011, Corinna Belz)
Film 3: World on a Wire (1973, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

Greece

Film 1: Unfair World (2011, Filippos Tsitos)
Film 2: Dos (2011, Stathis Athanasiou)
Film 3: Ghost of a Chance (2001, Vangelis Seitanidis)

Holland

I have decided to put all the eggs in one basket by selecting all 3 films from Alex van Warmerdam. It could prove to be a costly mistake.

Film 1: Borgman (2013, Alex van Warmerdam)
Film 2: The Last Days of Emma Black (2009, Alex van Warmerdam)
Film 3: The Northerners (1992, Alex van Warmerdam)

Italy 

Film 1: Le Quattro Volte (2010, Michelangelo Frammartino)
Film 2: The Great Beauty (2013, Paolo Sorrentino)
Film 3: Il Posto (1961, Ermanno Olmi)

Portugal

Film 1: The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, Manoel de Oliveira)
Film 2: Centro Histórico (2012, Pedro Costa/Manoel de Oliveira/Víctor Erice/Aki Kaurismäki) Film 3: Ossos (1997, Pedro Costa)

Russia

Film 1: Alexandra (2007, Aleksandr Sokurov)
Film 2: The Edge (2010, Aleksey Uchitel)
Film 3: Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Spain

Film 1: In the City of Sylvia (2007, José Luis Guerín)
Film 2: Blancanieves (2012, Pablo Berger)
Film 3: The Red Squirrel (1993, Julio Medem)

Switzerland

The only nation to have a short film in the competition. We Are The Faithful is such an appropriate film for a Movie World Cup that it was hard to ignore.

Film 1: Das Fraulein (2006, Andrea Staka)
Film 2: We Are The Faithful (2005, Michael Koch, short film 9 minutes)
Film 3: Signer's Suitcase (1995, Peter Liechti)

On paper, France, Italy, Portugal and Russia appear to be the strongest European representatives. Although, Belgium still have an excellent chance to go far. Picking three films from the Dardennes would have ensured Belgium a genuine chance at the Movie World Cup title but The Referees is present on merit as it finished #1 in my 2010 Year End List.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

CONCACAF Films

When it comes to the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), USA and Mexico are head and shoulders above all the other nations. Both countries are expected to qualify for every World Cup. The two nations also have a healthy film industry which ensures there is no shortage of films to select from for these World Cup Film Festivals. On the flipside, there are always CONCACAF nations which have next to no film industry, making it hard to find even one film. Thankfully, that was not the case this year as the hard work of finding films from Honduras was done four years ago.

Costa Rica

Film 1: Cold Water of the Sea (2010, Paz Fabrega)
Film 2: Gestacion (2009, Esteban Ramírez)
Film 3: Caribe (2004, Esteban Ramírez)

Esteban Ramírez is the most recognizable name when it comes to searching for Costa Rican Cinema.

Honduras

Film 1: El Porvier (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Film 2: Amor y frijoles (2009, Mathew Kodath/Hernan Pereira)
Film 3: Mi Amigo Angel (1962, Sami Kafati, short film 31 minutes)

Mexico

Film 1: El Violin (2005, Francisco Vargas)
Film 2: Post Tenebras Lux (2012, Carlos Reygadas)
Film 3: Presagio (1975, Luis Alcoriza), based on a story by Gabriel García Márquez

USA

Film 1: Blue Ruin (2013, Jeremy Saulnier)
Film 2: Blue Caprice (2013, Alexandre Moors)
Film 3: Faces (1968, John Cassavetes)

For the US Film #3, the intention was to pick a film that fell outside of the studio system. John Cassavetes was an easy choice.

Friday, May 02, 2014

Asian Films

The 12 films from the Asian region of the 2014 Movie World Cup have been selected. Australia is now playing in the Asian zone and not Oceania for the World Cup. Therefore, its films are included along with the other three Asian nations.

The three films from the four nations are selected as per the following criteria:

Film 1: previously seen film from 2005 - 2013
Film 2: unseen film from 2005 - 2013
Film 3: film from 1960 - 2004

Australia 

Film 1: Snowtown (2011, Justin Kurzel)
Film 2: The Hunter (2011, Daniel Nettheim)
Film 3: The Last Wave (1977, Peter Weir)

Iran 

Film 1: This is Not a Film (2011, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb/Jafar Panahi)
Film 2: The White Meadows (2011, Mohammad Rasoulof)
Film 3: Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)

Japan

Film 1: Like Father, Like Son (2013, Hirokazu Koreeda)
Film 2: Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (2013, Sion Sono)
Film 3: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960, Mikio Naruse)

South Korea

Film 1: In Another Country (2012, Hong Sang-soo)
Film 2: The Day He Arrives (2011, Hong Sang-soo)
Film 3: The Housemaid (1960, Ki-young Kim)

In contrast to previous World Cup tournaments, the Asian nations that have qualified have a good cinematic history. This will make for some excellent viewing.

On paper, out of the four nations, Iran appears to have the best chance of going furthest in the tournament. But there are a lot of films to watch. Plenty of chances for an upset or two.