CHILDREN
CHILDREN one of ten best European films 2006!
January 13th, 2007Börn (Children) was recently
selected as one of the Ten Best Films of 2006 by
european-films.net!
The article on the ten best films can be read
here:
href="http://european-films.net/content/view/536/62/">http://european-films.net/content/view/536/62/
The
full review of Börn was added today and can be found here:
href="http://european-films.net/content/view/541/57/">http://european-films.net/content/view/541/57/
CHILDREN is awarded ‘Special Jury Prize’ at COURMAYEUR NOIR
December 12th, 2006Jury awards Nick Cassavetes film. Deborah François wins
Best Performance prize for La tourneuse de pages. Special Jury Prize to
Ragnar Bragason’s Börn (Children)
The international jury’s
motivations are as follows:
The jury very much liked The Last
King of Scotland for its quality and especially for the performance of
Forrest Whitaker. Nevertheless, in our final deliberation we decided to
award the prizes to the films that in our view stretched the boundary of
the genre of film noir.
Two films made the top of our list, both
capturing elements of the zeitgeist of modern society: one a powerful,
glossy drama enhancing the emptiness of a rich society which bases its
role models on media icons, the other, quite opposite, a raw edgy
ensemble film which bases itself on the aspirations of a flawed group of
people in a deprived society in which the boundary between children and
adults is permanently blurred. These films are:
Special Jury
Prize:
Börn (Children) by Ragnar Bragason
Valle d’Aosta
Cinema Award for Best Film:
Alpha Dog by Nick Cassavetes
CHILDREN leads Edda - The Icelandic Academy Awards contenders.
November 2nd, 2006Children scored a leading eight nominations for the annual
Edda Awards, in an announcement from the Icelandic Film & TV Academy
today.
The film, which depicts the lives of an underworld
enforcer, a single mum with 4 kids and a schizophrenic that entwine in a
powerful symphony of redemption and revenge, has already won domestic
and international critical acclaim. The film had it..s international
premiere in competition at the San Sebastian International Film Festival
in September.
In addition to being nominated for best dramatic
picture, Children won a best director nomination for director Ragnar
Bragason, and acting nominations for four of the stars, Gisli Orn
Gardarsson, Nina Dogg Filippusdottir, Olafur Darri Olafsson and Margret
Helga Johannesdottir. It was also recognized in the screenplay and score
categories.
Other best dramatic picture contenders included
Baltasar Kormakur’s Jar City, and Thicker Than Water by Arni Olafur
Asgeirsson.
CHILDREN at the American Film Market!
October 26th, 2006Children will be screened in Los Angeles at the
AFM:
Sunday, Nov. 5th - 11:00 AM - Broadway Cineplex
..4
Tuesday, Nov. 7th - 9:00 AM - Broadway Cineplex
..3
http://www.afmfilms.org/catalog/FilmDetail.php?id=1992
Please
contact Clare Crean of our sales agent THE WORKS for further
information
Clare.Crean@theworksmediagroup.com
Variety Review!
October 21st, 2006Children
Born (Iceland)
By GUNNAR REHLIN
A
Sam-film release of a Vesturport production, in association with Artbox,
Klikk Prods. and Koggull Films. (International sales: Vesturport,
Reykjavik.) Produced by Gisli Orn Gardarsson, Hlynur Kristjansson,
Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, Nanna Kristin Magnusdottir, Nina Dogg
Filippusdottir, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Ragnar Bragason, Vikingur
Kristjansson. Executive producer, Kristin Olafsdottir. Directed by
Ragnar Bragason. Screenplay, Bragason, Gardarsson, Filippusdottir,
Olafsson and cast.
With: Gisli Orn Gardarsson, Olafur Darri
Olafsson, Nina Dogg Filippusdottir, Andri Snaer Helgason, Margret Helga
Johannesdottir, Sigurdur Skulason, Hanna Maria Karlsdottir, Theodor
Juliusson, Kristjan Franklin Magnus, Kristbjorg Kjeld, Ellert A.
Ingimundarson, Erlender Eiriksson, Kristjana Skuladottir, Lara
Sveinsdottir.
A dark and often unrelentingly violent look at a
group of dysfunctional people in Reykjavik, “Children” makes tough but
compelling viewing. Shot in stylized B&W, sophomore pic by
writer-director Ragnar Bragason will travel nicely along the fest
circuit with commercial stops at some arthouses along the way. It’s the
Icelandic entry for Oscar’s foreign-language category.
Gardar
(Gisli Orn Gardarsson) is a young underworld enforcer in Reykjavik
who’s gotten tired of his job. After beating his own employers
senseless, he decides to do something right for once: find his teenage
son, Gudmund (Andri Snaer Helgason), and try to make things right
between them.
Gudmund lives with his mother, Karitas (Nina Dogg
Filippusdottir), and his three young sisters in a rundown apartment. Now
divorced from the girls’ father — who’s remarried and wants custody
of them — Karitas is hard up for money and peddles drugs she’s stolen
from the hospital she works in.
Gudmund’s only friend is Marino
(Olafur Darri Olafsson), a schizophrenic in his early 30s who lives with
his mother in the same apartment block as Karitas and her family. When
Marino finds out his mom is dating a stranger, his behavior grows more
and more weird.
Marino takes a special dislike to Gardar when the
latter comes to see Gudmund. And when Karitas sees Gardar, she turns
hysterical. But Gardar and Gudmund start seeing each other in secret,
leading to a series of increasingly tragic events capped by a kind of
happy ending.
Inspired by Mike Leigh’s working methods, Bragason
and his cast collaborated in creating the characters and story. Though
the pic resembles Bragason’s first, “Fiasco” (2000), in its episodic
structure, “Children” has a much more satisfying feel, both in the
roundness of the characters and in the twists and turns of the story.
These are people not quite at the bottom of society, but pretty darned
close; for most of them, the actions they take to survive only make
things worse.
Low-budgeter’s choice of shooting in B&W was a
happy one, as the often stylized photography by Bergsteinn Bjorgulfsson
adds to the constant feeling of looming catastrophe. Reykjavik has never
been shown like this before.
The movie’s violence is swift and
brutal, done in a way that really shows, for example, how much a broken
nose can hurt. Tech credits are fine.
Camera (B&W), Bergsteinn
Bjorgulfsson; editor, Sverrir Kristjansson; music, Petur Tor
Benediktsson; sound (Dolby Digital), Huldar Freyr Arnarson. Reviewed at
Haugesund Film Festival, Norway, Aug. 21, 2206. (Also in San Sebastian
Film Festival — competing, and Pusan Film Festival — World Cinema).
Running time: 92 MIN.
Pusan
October 19th, 2006Had a great time at Pusan. Met great people and ate
interesting food, and vice versa.
The festival was so popular I had a
very hard time getting tickets for other screenings.
Hope my
radiation level hasn’t risen.
Love,
Ragnar
Children joins the Oscar race
September 27th, 2006The Icelandic Film and TV Academy announced today (Thursday
21 September 2006) that members had voted Vesturport’s and Director
Ragnar Bragasons CHILDREN (Original title: Börn) to be the Icelandic
candidate for the Oscar-nomination as Best Foreign-Language
Feature.
All Oscar nominations will be out on Tuesday, 23
January; the ceremony takes place on Sunday, 25 February.
Jón Gnarr - Bakþankar Fréttablaðinu 21.9.2006
September 21st, 2006LOKSINS LOKSINS
.g hef fordóma gegn íslenskum
bíómyndum. .g er búinn að sjá svo margar
slæmar myndir að ég
fer með sérstöku hugarfari á íslenskra mynd. ‘Eg er ekki
einn
um þetta. Íslenskar bíómyndir hafa fengið nokkuð sérstakan sess
hjá
íslensku þjóðinni. Fólk tekur þeim með fyrirvara og er
undir það búið að
myndin sé sóun á tóima og fjármunum. Og
það er ansi oft raunin þótt auðvitað
séu nokkrar
undantekningar. AUðvitað er oft reynsluleysi og peningaleysi um
að
kenna en þ´vi miður held ég að ástæðan sé frekar afstaða
ákveðinnna aðila
sem koma að gerð myndanna. .eir líta á
kvikmyndina sem sína sköpun og sitt
einkaverkefni og sjá aðra sem
sína aðstoðarmenn. .g held að eigingirni og
hroki hafi skemmt
meira af íslenskum kvikmyndum en reynsluleysi eða
annað.
Kvikmynd er samstarfsverkefni margra aðila. Til að
geta gert sitt besta
þarf fólk að njóta sannmælis, fá
viðurkenningu og hvatningu en umfram allt
samskipti. .að er ekki
bara leikstjórinn sem gerir myndina. .að eru
leikarar, tökumenn,
hljóðmenn, búingahönnuðir, leikmyndahönnuðir og
fjöldi
annarra sem kemur að vinnunni. .að er hlutverk
leikstjórans að halda utan um
heildarmyndina. Hann er
verkstjórinnn. Til að verkið gangi upp verður hann
að hafa meiri
áhuga á því en sjálfum sér.
Nú er verið að sýna í
bíó kvikmynd sem ég tel marka spor í íslenskri
kvikmyndagerð.
.g fór á hana með hálfum huga vegna þess að mér var boðið
á
hana. .að er kvikmyndin Börn. Loksins er komin íslensk mynd
sem skiptir
einvherju máli. ‘Eg bjóst ekki við miklu en fékk
allt. .etta er í fyrsta
skipti sem ég fæ engan bjánahroll á
íslenskri mynd. Að myninni lokinn
langaði mig til að standa upp
og klappa.
Leikurinn er frábær. Íslenskir leikarar geta
leikið í bíómynd. Handritið er
gott og líður átakalsut
áfram. Leistjórnin er góð, myndatakan og öll
umgjörð. En það
sem mér fannst best var að finna þennan sanna tón. Mér
fannst
ég finna fyrir samstafi aðstandendanna og virðingu og kærleika
þeirra
fyrir viðfangsefnunum. Myndin er algjörlega laus við
klisjur,
sjálfbirgingshátt og þá tilgerð sem svo oft einkennir
íslenskar myndir. Mig
langar til að nota aðstöðu mína og hvetja
Íslendinga til að fara og sjá
þessa mynd. .g ætla að fara
aftur. .g óska leikrum, leikstjóra og öllum
aðstandendum
innilega til hamingju með vel unnið verk.”
Jón Gnarr
Director’s statement
September 20th, 2006When you write fiction you are limited by your imagination
and you often create likeable characters that are acceptable to the
audience. The danger is that you distance your self from real life and
create characters that are one-dimensional.
With the films
CHILDREN and PARENTS I started from a theme. I felt what sort of things
I wanted to explore in an instinctive way and I wanted to make films in
close co-operation with the actors, working profoundly on character to
achieve authenticity in the acting.
Inspired by the working
methods of Leigh, Godard and Casavettes, I got the theatre group
Vesturport to collaborate with me. The actors were given the assignment
of presenting a character they know from their own lives or loosely
based on real people. They were to undergo practical training and
explore particular aspects of their characters, such as getting to know
their characters’ jobs.
The following months we spent on
improvisation and research to build up the characters and develop the
plot. During this I decided how the characters were to be linked then
retired to write the outline, which was primarily to distill the
improvisations to their essence, give them structure and develop the
story. And then shooting began, with no written dialogue, but each actor
with an extensive sense of his character. The thing was to be, not to
act.
CHILDREN and PARENTS are films made with passion felt by all
who took part. First and foremost we wanted to tell the stories that
matter to us, and hopefully would affect our future
audience.
Ragnar Bragason
Children at San Sebastian
September 19th, 2006Children is in Official Competition “Zabaltegi New
Directors” at SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Sept 22nd -
27th).
Vesturport • Klapparstíg 16 • 101 Reykjavík • Iceland • rakel (at) vesturport.com