THE MAX REBRAND TRAILERS

Warner Bros. Discovery revealed the plans for and put a name to its new streaming service, Max, during a large-scale press presentation on the Warner Bros. Studio lot Wednesday, April 12.

Central to the excitement surrounding the rebrand (and some analysts have questioned just how exciting the whole thing turned out to be) was a rebrand sizzle reel and roster of first-look trailers that suggests there will be quality entertainment value in the repackaged streamer. Some of the big announcements came without video support -  a new “The Big Bang Theory” series; a show set in “The Conjuring” universe called “The Devil Made Me Do It”; a “Game of Thrones” spinoff, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight”; and, a “faithful” series adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books over the next 10 years. But what was on show was star heavy and undeniably impressive...

INTRODUCING MAX - THE ONE TO WATCH

"It’s all here. Iconic series, award-winning movies, fresh originals, family favorites, and the best entertainment for every mood."

TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY | Official Teaser 

"A new chapter in the acclaimed HBO Original Series True Detective, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, is coming this year to Max."

THE PENGUIN | Featurette

"The new Max Original Series from Matt Reeves and the next chapter in The Batman saga is now in production. Coming in 2024 to Max"

THE SYMPATHIZER | Official Teaser

"The Sympathizer, the new @HBO Original Limited Series based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is coming to Max in 2024."

BARBIE DREAMHOUSE CHALLENGE | Official Teaser

"Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge is coming soon to Max and HGTV."

THE REGIME | Official Teaser

"The Regime, an HBO Original Limited Series starring Kate Winslet, is coming in 2024 to Max"

SMARTLESS: ON THE ROAD | Official Trailer

"Smartless On The Road is coming May 23 to Max."

GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI | Official Teaser

"Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is coming in May 2023 to Max."

FIXER UPPER: THE HOTEL | Official Teaser

"Fixer Upper: The Hotel is coming this fall to Max."

THE SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON TRAILER COMPILE

First-look trailer reveals are coming thick and fast out of San Diego, where this year's star-studded Comic-Con is unfolding to hordes of pop-culturalists, ravenous for fresh content. The first wave of visual treats include properties from comic-book movie titans Marvel and DC, studios such as Warner Bros and New Line and streamers AMC+ and Paramount+.

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Wakanda Forever is the only theatrical release that Marvel Studios has left for 2022, so it makes sense for it to get the spotlight on the biggest stage of San Diego Comic-Con. 

After Chadwick Boseman died in August 2020, the filmmakers had to rethink how a sequel would work without his character, T’Challa. In December 2020, Disney announced that a new actor would not be hired to fill the role, adding that the new movie would focus on other characters within the world of Wakanda, the fictional African country where T’Challa was king.

ANNE RICE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Based on Anne Rice’s revolutionary gothic novel, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and Claudia’s (Bailey Bass) epic story of love, blood and the perils of immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian).

Chafing at the limitations of life as a black man in 1900s New Orleans, Louis finds it impossible to resist the rakish Lestat’s offer of the ultimate escape: joining him as his vampire companion. But Louis’s intoxicating new powers come with a violent price and the introduction of Lestat’s newest fledgling, the child vampire Claudia, soon sets them on a decades-long path of revenge and atonement. 

BLACK ADAM:

Dwayne Johnson stars in the action adventure Black Adam. The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the DC Super Hero comes to the big screen under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra.

Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS:
From New Line Cinema comes Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word “SHAZAM!,” is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” stars returning cast members Zachary Levi (“Thor: Ragnarok”) as Shazam; Asher Angel (“Andi Mack”) as Billy Batson, who are joined in the sequel by Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”), with Lucy Liu (“Kung Fu Panda” franchise) and Helen Mirren (“F9: The Fast Saga”).

JOHN WICK 4:
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) takes on his most lethal adversaries yet in the upcoming fourth installment of the series. With the price on his head ever increasing, Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Osaka to Berlin.

Joining Reeves on-screen will be a cast that includes Lawrence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Scott Adkins, Natalia Tena, and Clancy Brown.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER
This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. 

Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

BRADLEY COOPER TRANSFORMS INTO LEONARD BERNSTEIN FOR NETFLIX’S MAESTRO

Set photos from the currently-in-production biopic Maestro indicate that actor-director Bradley Cooper has Oscar in his sights, with the star donning extensive make-up and morphing into the great Broadway composer Leonard Bernstein for the Netflix project.

The prestige pic, which also stars Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre, is Cooper’s follow-up to his 2018 critical and commercial hit, A Star is Born. As reported in Variety, the actor was confirmed for the part when it was to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

“I [told Spielberg], ‘May I research the material and see if I can write it and direct it? Would you let me do that?’” Cooper revealed during an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, earlier this year. “Steven has a lot of interests — he’ll just choose one thing and all of the other things will be on hold. I think he knew he wasn’t going to make that movie for a while. He was kind enough to hand it off to me, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years.”

Copper confessed his long-standing love for the skill that was a key component of Bernstein’s immense talent. “I've wanted to be a conductor since I was a kid. I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Opus 35’ in D major. I could do it as if I knew everything about it without really being able to speak the language.”

Although plot details have not been forthcoming, IMDb provides the following synopsis: “Maestro will tell the complex love story of Leonard and Felicia, a story that spans over 30 years - from the time they met in 1946 at a party and continuing through two engagements, a 25 year marriage, and three children: Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein Simmons.” Stranger Things star Maya Hawke and Magic Mike player Matt Bomer are confirmed as part of Cooper’s ensemble.

MAESTRO is slated to hit theatres and premiere on Netflix in mid-2023. 

FIVE FANTASTIC TRAILERS FROM FANTASIA FEST 2021

The 2021 line-up of Fantasia Festival is exactly the celebration of global genre films that a 25th anniversary event should be. Hollywood is coming to the party - James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad will screen on August 4 at the festival’s birthplace, Montreal’s historic Imperial Theater - but just as importantly, both the Canadian domestic sector and the international film community will be represented en masse.

Under the leadership triumvirate of Pierre Corbeil, Mitch Davis and Nicolas Archambault, Fantasia 25 is set to bolster a reputation built over a quarter-century as one of the world’s guiding genre gatherings. To kick-off our Fantasia Fest coverage, let’s look at five trailers that have us intrigued, engaged, excited…

ALL THE MOONS (Dir: Igor Legarreta; Spain | France, 102 mins) As war rages through 1876 Spain, an orphanage is bombed; a young girl is rescued by a woman whom she perceives to be an angel, and who heals her wounds, while telling the girl she must now avoid the daylight and promises the girl that she will see many more full moons. The two become separated, and the girl is forced to take shelter, facing an uncertain future – and one that will last far beyond that of ordinary human beings.
Screens with SHE AND THE DARKNESS on Thursday 19th and Saturday 21st.

DREAMS ON FIRE (Dir: Philippe McKie; Japan | Canada, 124 mins) Yume has only one dream – to break into the dance world in Japan. She moves to Tokyo, navigating her day-to-day routine between street dance competitions, hip-hop classes, life in her tiny flat, and the many encounters with colourful characters. All alone, she has to take a job as a hostess to help her survive. Far from her initial ambitions, this job may help her to assert herself and gain self-confidence...unless it leads her into a toxic spiral existence.
Screens with FOREVER & EVER on Sunday 8/8 and Tuesday 10/8.

DR. CALIGARI (Dir: Stephen Sayadian, aka Rinse Dream; USA | 80 mins) Bizarre, stunning, goofy and unsettling, Dr. Caligari embraces the avant-garde in its exquisite and hilarious exploitation of America’s repressed libido. In 1989, one of the most iconic and fantastical works in American exploitation cinema was barely released. Thanks to a new restoration, it will finally find its audience, and retroactively be appreciated as the underground masterpiece that it is.

Screens on Monday 16/8.

TELOS OR BUST (Dir: Brad Abrahams; USA | Canada, 6 mins) Ascended masters, new religions, inner-Earth cities, crystals and lost continents. Immerse yourself in the confluence of strange myths and beliefs of the citizens of Mount Shasta, California. From director Brad Abrahams (Love and Saucers, 2017; Conspiracy Cruise, 2019), Telos or Bust is the pilot for his upcoming docuseries Keep Folklore Alive, featuring episodes about cryptids, aliens, yokai and more.
Screens with YOU CAN’T KILL MEME on Sunday 15/8 and Tuesday 17/8

HELLO TAPIR (Dir: Kethsvin Chee; Taiwan, 89 mins)
It has the body of a pig, the trunk of an elephant, the ears of a horse and the feet of a rhinoceros. At night, it passes through sleeping villages and gobbles up people’s pesky nightmares. This huge, fantastical beast is a tapir, and eight-year-old Ah Keat’s father once told the boy he had seen one. Now, Ah Keat wants his father back, and he believes the tapir can help, so he and his friends begin a quest to find the gentle, benevolent giant.
Screens with INSIDE on Saturday 14/8.

SO WHAT WILL WE BE WATCHING AT THE MOVIES?

Every morning, the world’s moviegoers are waking to news that another major blockbuster has upped stumps and sulked to some far away release date or streaming platform fate. Mulan? Straight to tele. Dune? From December 2020 to October 2021. Pixar’s Soul? Again, tele. Spielberg’s West Side Story? December 2020 to December 2021. Mr Bond’s latest, No Time to Die? April 2020 to November 2020 to April 2021. Gerard Butler’s asteroid epic Greenland? (Ed: ok, we get it...)

Most cinemas are soldiering on (thanks a lot, Regal!), but desperate cinephiles can only take so many retro sessions of The Princess Bride or another pre-COVID Andre Rieu moshpit. So what new release movies will be given the unenviable task of drawing crowd-shy audiences out of their pandemic bunkers and back into multiplexes…?

MINAMATA (Director: Andrew Levitas; Writers: David K. Kessler, Stephen Deuters, Andrew Levitas and Jason Forman. Stars Johnny Depp, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jun Kunimura, Minami and Bill Nighy) Bumped from the first-quarter of 2020, this earnest, Oscar-worthy biopic of Life magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith and his role in exposing mercury poisoning in coastal Japan looks a serious return to form for Depp. Early reviews suggest it is an earnest but important work bound for award season glory, with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s score leading the charge. Early 2021.

FATMAN (Directors, Wrters: Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms. Stars Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.) The plot? Santa Claus must contend with a hitman sent from a disappointed child. High-concept, sure, but when St. Nick is played by that jolly ol’ screen presence Mel Gibson, and the hitman is should-be-in-everything character actor Walter Goggins, suddenly Fatman becomes that most tempting holiday treat - the anti-Christmas Christmas movie (think Bad Santa, The Ref...oh, ok, Die Hard). Mid-November 2020 in limited US release.

RAMS (Director: Jeremy Sims, Writer: Jules Duncan. Stars Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie, Wayne Blair and Hayley McElhinney) An Aussie reworking of Grímur Hákonarson’s Icelandic arthouse hit of 2015, Jeremy Sims’ sheep station rural comedy centres on two feuding brothers (recast here as Sam Neill and Michael Caton) who better overcome their differences or lose everything. A battle-scarred Roadshow Films are suddenly betting the farm on a yarn using offcuts from past Aussie box-office charmers The Castle, The Dish and Last Cab to Darwin. Cute trailer. October 29 in Australia; other territories to follow.

FREE GUY (Director: Shawn Levy, Writers: Matt Liebermann and Zak Penn. Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Taika Waititi, Jodie Comer and Joe Keery) This looks more like the global blockbuster wannabe destined to drag cinemagoers out of the couch-groove and back to cinemas...right? Ryan Reynolds plays Joe Average, whose normal life in a crazy world is turned upside down when he learns he’s an NPC (non-playable character, apparently) in a vidgame simulation. So...Truman Show meets Deadpool meets The Matrix, I guess. It goes global from December 9 and 10.

NOMADLAND (Director, Writer: Chloe Zhao. Stars Frances McDormand) Based on one of those ‘life-changing bestsellers’, exciting auteur Chloe Zhao (independent ‘It Girl’ after 2018’s The Rider) helms Frances McDormand as Fern, a women from a economically desolate small town who decides to convert a van into a home and travel the great American hinterland seeking work. The film has cut a swathe through the 2020 festival circuit (or what’s left of it), finding favour with juries in Toronto, San Sebastien and Venice. The December 4 US release would usually be on the back of Oscar momentum, but it’s going to take some especially focussed marketing in 2020.

NEWS OF THE WORLD (Director: Paul Greengrass, Writer: Luke Davies. Stars Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Marvel, Ray McKinnon) Another Oscar-heavy line-up (Hanks, of course; United 93's Paul Greengrass, back from the wilderness; Lion scribe Davies) in a western (ew, tough sell) that looks very traditional, though certainly watchable. Could fall to the eye of Ridley Scott's go-to DOP Dariusz Wolski to drag people into cinemas. Hanks alone wasn't enough to keep the war epic Greyhound in Sony's vault; they offloaded it to Apple when COVID hit. Westerns have grand vistas to work with, which might be what it takes to lure TV people away from their big small-screens. December 25 in US; January 1 in UK; other territories later.  

GIMME SHELTER! NEW STREAMING PLATFORM SEEKS TRUTH BY DESIGN

How the human race fills its earthbound space is the central theme of the new streaming service Shelter, which launches globally on July 31. The brainchild of actor/producer Dustin Clare, the subscription content provider will drill down on architecture, design and lifestyle in its cutting edge exploration of mankind’s relationship with the aesthetics of modern living.

“Design is at the centre of our lives, from our homes and environment, to our aspirations, our holidays and escapes,” said Clare, via press release. “The reality of lockdown has made us re-examine our connection to home, our immediate environment, and the world around us. There are so many films and TV series which explore our relationship to our space [and through] Shelter, we invite you to explore, be inspired, be entertained and most of all, be engaged.” (Pictured, top; a scene from Jesper Wachtmeister's Microtopia)

Shelter has sought creative partners for the launch that share similar goals in the fields of design, sustainability and innovation. Global publishing giants Design Anthology and Green Magazine will host and present content, fronted by trusted personalities such as Charlie Luxton, Dermot Bannon, Tim Ross and Sarah Beeney. (Pictured, right; a selection of the Shelter program line-up) 

A key initiative undertaken by Clare and his team is pairing with Eden Reforestation Projects, a global not-for-profit organisation that has replanted over 300 million trees in nations such as Ethiopia, Nepal, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, and Central America. Shelter will fund a new tree for every paid subscriber that signs on for the streaming service, aiming to contribute in excess of a thousand new-growth plants in the months ahead.

As well as presenting over 200 hours of long- and short-film films curated from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, United States and South America, Shelter will commission and premiere exclusive content. The first of these is award-winning filmmaker Jim Lounsbury’s Inspired Architecture series; six 15 minute episodes that explore such uniquely Australian structures as JR’s Hut in Gundagai, Permanent Camping in Mudgee and Hart House at Great Mackerel Beach. Utilising interviews with both architects and their clients, the landmark series explores the narrative of the buildings and their creators, and draws the viewer into an active exploration of modern architecture and design.

Elsewhere across the platform, subscribers will find such fascinating works as Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Homo Sapiens (2016), a study of the finite fragility of human existence and the end of the industrial age; Eric Bricker’s account of the life of legendary architectural photographer Julius Schulman, Visual Acoustics (2008; pictured, right), narrated by Dustin Hoffman; Life Architecturally (2012), director Britt Arthur’s insight into the husband and wife team of architect Robert McBride and interior designer Debbie Ryan; and, Daryl Dellora’s Harry Seidler: Modernist (2017), a retrospective celebration of the life and work of Australia's most controversial architect.

Register now for updates and more information at the SHELTER website. Download the SHELTER APP for iOS and Android from 31 July or watch online.

Shelter Inspired Architecture Official Promo-1 from Shelter on Vimeo.

THE SCREEN-SPACE PUBLIC DOMAIN FILM FESTIVAL VOL. II

With Volume 1 of The Screen-Space Public Domain Film Festival bringing in solid traffic numbers, and with no legal notices being served on us for copyright breach, we are moving ahead with the next edition of our YouTube-enabled, homestay-friendly online movie marathon.

Again, we are pretty certain these films fall within the public domain guidelines, but if any don’t, please let us know and we’ll take them down. For now, wash your hands and settle back for ten films lovingly curated for your personal pandemic picture party…

WHEN TIME RAN OUT (Dir: James Goldstone; stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden; 1980) An active volcano threatens a South Pacific island resort and its guests, as a power struggle ensues between the property's developer and a drilling foreman.

UPHILL ALL THE WAY (Dir: Frank Q. Dobbs; stars Mell Tillis, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell; 1986) Texas 1916: Small time con men Ben Hooker & Booger Skaggs are caught cheating by a tough, mysterious gambler. The boys must concoct a plan to get their hands on some money, find a way out of town and land straight back in trouble.

LIGHT OF DAY (Dir: Paul Schrader; stars Joan Jett, Michael J. Fox, Gena Rowlands; 1987) A pair of siblings must choose whether to pursue their dream of touring with their rock band or support their family and stay in Cleveland, Ohio.

THE DOLL SQUAD (Dir: Ted V. Mikels; stars Michael Ansara, Francine York; 1973) The CIA assigns a group of five female operatives, code named The Doll Squad, to stop a madman's plan to release rats infected with bubonic plague.

THE ISLAND Russian with English subtitles (Dir: Pavel Lungin; stars Pyotr Mamonov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Dmitriy Dyuzhev; 2006) Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.

SPLINTERS (Dir: Adam Pesce; 2011) In the 1980s, an Australian pilot left behind a surfboard in the Papuan New Guinea village of Vanimo. Twenty years on, surfing is not only a pillar of village life but a means to prestige. With no access to economic or educational advancement, a spot on the Papua New Guinea national surfing team is the way to see the wider world; the only way.

ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE (Dir: Antonio Margheriti; stars Rik Van Nutter, Gabriella Farinon; 1960) In the 22nd Century, a reporter for the Interplanetary News is assigned a story aboard a space station. An errant spaceship enters the solar system and its photon generators are radiating enough heat to destroy Earth. The reporter must figure out a way to enter the spaceship, disarm the generators, and escape before suffocating.

AT LAST...BULLAMAKANKA: THE MOTION PICTURE (Dir: Simon Heath; stars Steve Rackman, Gary Kliger, Angry Anderson, Gordon Elliott, Ian 'Molly' Meldrum) Rhino Jackson is seeking re-election as Mayor. He works with his son Taldo to hold a concer and win a horse race. Claire and her father Walter own a property being taken over by Jackson.

RAPHAËL OU LE DÉBAUCHÉ French with English subtitles (Dir: Michel Deville; stars Maurice Ronet, Françoise Fabian, Jean Vilar) France, 1830: A young, beautiful virtuous widow meets a man of debauched leisure. He first tries to seduce her but soon gives up. But she has fallen in love with him, and tries not to look as inacessible.

BROKEN (Dir: Alan White; stars Heather Graham, Jeremy Sisto; 2006) Deep in the LA night, Hope confronts all the wrong turns she's made since leaving Ohio and ultimately meets the biggest wrong turn of all in her ex-boyfriend Will, who's determined to win back her love or die trying.

SCREEN-SPACE claims no ownership of any of the titles being used in The Public Domain Film Festival posts. All are being sourced via YouTube. Our sincere apologies if any breach copyright entitlement; please contact us at screenspace3@gmail.com with proof of ownership and we will remove immediately.  

THE SCREEN-SPACE PUBLIC DOMAIN FILM FESTIVAL VOL. 1

Maybe you cleaned out your physical media stash when you got Netflix. Or maybe those monthly subsciber fees just proved too rich, given you’re never at home. And, because you’re a decent human being, your dodgy brother-in-law’s pirated library is not an option. Now, you’re self-isolating to help save the world and you’ve got nothing too watch...

Welcome to the first edition of The Screen-Space Public Domain Film Festival. To save you the burden of searching YouTube, we have collated a first round selection of ten films up for grabs on the video sharing service that nobody owns (we think; if any are under copyright, let us know and we’ll take them down immediately). We hope our selection helps make your home-stay days a bit more bearable… 

GUNFIGHTERS MOON: (Dir: Larry Ferguson; stars Lance Henriksem , Kay Lenz; 1995) A notorious gunfighter returns to his ex-wife, who only wants him to save her sheriff husband from being killed by gunmen out to free his condemned prisoner.

CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (Dir: Henry Hathaway; stars James Stewart, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Conte; 1948) In 1932, copkiller Frank Wiecek is sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad leads Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal to look into the case. When McNeal starts to believe in Wiecek’s innocence, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.

LAND OF THE MINOTAUR aka The Devil’s Men (Dir: Kostas Karagiannis; stars Donald Pleasance, Peter Cushing; 1976) A satanic cult kidnaps three young people and an Irish priest must destroy a baron's cult of man-bull worshippers in the Balkans.

THE BAT (Dir: Crane Wilbur; stars Agnes Moorhead, Vincent Price; 1959) Mystery writer Cornelia Van Gorder has rented a country house which not long ago had been the scene of some murders committed by a strange and violent criminal known as "The Bat". The lonely country house soon becomes the site of many mysterious and dangerous activities.

THE GOLD RUSH (Dir: Charles Chaplain; stars Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain; 1925) A lone prospector ventures into Alaska looking for gold, mixing it up with burly characters and, using his singular charm, falling in love with the beautiful Georgia.

FOUR HORSEMEN (Dir: Ross Ashcroft; 2012) The modern day Four Horsemen continue to ride roughshod over the people who can least afford it. 23 international thinkers come together and break their silence about how the world really works and why there is still hope in re-establishing a moral and just society.

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE (Dir: Joseph Green; stars Jason Evers, Virginia Leith; 1962) A doctor experimenting with transplant techniques keeps his girlfriend's head alive when she is decapitated in a car crash, then goes hunting for a new body.

THE MARS UNDERGROUND (Dir: Scott J. Gill; 2007) Visionary rocket scientist, Robert Zubrin, has a plan for getting humans to Mars in the next ten years and ultimately turning the Red Planet blue. But can he win over the skeptics at NASA and the wider world?

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (Dir: Delbert Mann; stars Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine; 1979) Paul Baumer, an idealistic young German, enlists in the German Imperial Army, thinking war would be a great adventure. He soon discovers the opposite as the war drags on...

BODY ROCK (Dir: Marcelo Epstein; star Lorenzo Lamas, Vicki Frederick; 1984) Chilly is just a guy from the streets with a talent for break-dancing. When his wicked moves catch the eye of an industry pro, Chilly finds his dreams of fame and fortune coming true, for better or for worse.

SCREEN-SPACE claims no ownership of any of the titles being used in The Public Domain Film Festival posts. All are being sourced via YouTube. Our sincere apologies if any breach copyright entitlement; please contact us at screenspace3@gmail.com with proof of ownership and we will remove immediately.  

TRAILERS OF THE BERLINALE

BERLINALE 2020: Having punched above its weight for many years but now firmly established as one of the global festival calendar's major events, the Berlin Film Festival, otherwise known as Berlinale, celebrates its 70th birthday in 2020. Established in 1951 under the guiding principle, "A Showcase for the Free World", the Berlinale has a two-tiered focus - the Programming strands, which include the iconic 'Competition' line-up as well as such focussed sidebars as Generations, Panorama, Encounters, Perspektive Deutsches Kino and Homage; and, the Commercial arm, led by the sales frenzy that is the European Film Market (EFM).

The Berlinale and EFM have become gateway events for the very latest releases from Europe and beyond. Each year, first-look trailers arrive that announce major new works... 

BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ  (Dir: Burhan Qurbani, starring Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król and Annabelle Mandeng; Germany / Netherlands; 183 mins)
From the Program: Francis has survived his escape from Africa. In Berlin he gets to know Hasenheide park, the city’s clubs and its streets. His pal Reinhold becomes an adversary. Mieze brings both happiness and tragedy. Döblin’s classic as a dark present-day odyssey.

THE ROADS NOT TAKEN (Dir: Sally Potter, starring Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek and Laura Linney; United Kingdom; 85 mins)
From the Program: Twenty-four hours in the life of Leo, a mentally impaired New York resident. A day that for him is characterised by hallucinatory trips into various parallel lives. At his side is his daughter Molly, who worries about him and loves him.

THE INTRUDER (El Prófugo; Dir: Natalia Meta, starring Érica Rivas, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Daniel Hendler, Cecilia Roth and Guillermo Arengo; Argentina / Mexico; 94 mins) 
From the Program: After a traumatic experience, Inés develops a sleep disorder and is haunted by violent nightmares. Do the characters who populate her dreams want to take possession of her body?

PINOCCHIO (Dir: Matteo Garrone, starring Roberto Benigni, Federico Ielapi, Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini and Marine Vacth; Italy / France / United Kingdom; 124 mins)
From the Program: A faithful adaptation of the well-known story of Pinocchio, to which Matteo Garrone has added a unique visionary dimension. Pinocchio’s world is simultaneously real and fantastic – this is an Italy redolent of the earth, the sea and the farmyard.

LAST AND FIRST MEN (Dir: Johann Johannson, narrated by Tilda Swinton; Iceland; 70 mins)
From the Program: The concrete brutalism of Yugoslavian war memorials, Tilda Swinton’s voice and the music of Jóhann Jóhannsson are the protagonists of this visionary total work of art by the Icelandic composer and filmmaker, who died in 2018 when he was only 48.

TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN (Dir: Sandra Wollner, starring Lena Watson, Dominik Warta, Ingrid Burkhard and Jana McKinnon; Austria / Germany; 94 mins)
From the Program: Ten-year-old Elli is an android. She loves the man she calls “Daddy” and is the vessel for his memories, which mean nothing to her, but everything to him. A formally dense and provocative invitation into the realm of virtual and psychological reality.

SA-NYANG-EUI-SI-GAN (Time to Hunt; Dir: Sung-hyun Yoon, starring Lee Je-hoon, Ahn Jae-hong, Choi Woo-shik, Park Jeong-min and Park Hae-soo; Republic of Korea; 134 mins)
From the Program: After three years in prison, Jun-seok convinces his mates to rob a casino. The heist succeeds, but then the young gangsters themselves become the hunted. An action-packed, dystopian thriller set in a post-capitalist South Korea of the near future.

BERLINALE 2020 runs February 20-March 1 at several sites in Berlin. Full ticket and session details can be found at the event's official website.

HYPERLINKS BOASTS BIG SCREEN WEB-CONTENT IN FIRST YEAR OF INTERNET-FOCUSSED FEST.

A new inner-city film event that sells itself as a “multi-day exploration of digital pasts, presents and futures” is certain to add further fuel to the increasingly complex debate as to what constitutes ‘contemporary cinema’.

Hyperlinks is the latest progressive programming initiative from the Sydney film collective Static Vision and explores the artistry, aesthetics and thematic elements that are central to the new digital age of storytelling. Over three days, the new wave celebration will screen 13 features and nine shorts at the Pink Flamingo Cinema in the inner-west arts hub of Marrickville.

Somewhat ironically, the event kicks off with a retrospective session featuring Olivier Assayas’ visionary 2002 cyber-thriller Demonlover, starring Connie Nielsen, Chloe Sevigny and Gina Gershon. A prescient vision of dark-web insidiousness and interactive sex and violence, it was hailed by Variety upon release as, “a moody and intriguing corporate thriller [that] eventually spins off into uncharted realms of cyberhell.”

The remainder of the program is drawn from the vast digital landscape that lords of modern society (YouTube, facebook, Twitter, et al), finding compulsive narratives in collage works, clip packages and intimate documentation of ground-breaking personalities and fantastic technologies. These include:

A SELF-INDUCED HALLUCINATION (Dir: Dan Schoenbrun; USA, 74 mins). A breakdown of the Slenderman mythology and the grip that the creepy pasta meme held over a generation of impressionable YouTube users.

SEARCHING EVA (Dir: Pia Hellenthal; Germany, 84 mins) AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE. Eva oscillates between her real life as an anarchic vagabond, social marginal figure and feminist sex worker and the life of her Internet persona, iconised as the leading figure of the authentic.

AIDOL (Dir: Lawrence Lek; U.K., 83 mins) AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE. A fading songstress, Diva, enlists and aspiring A.I. songwriter to mount a comeback performance at the 2065 eSports Olympic finale.

TOURISM (Dir: Daisuke Miyazaki; Japan, 77 mins) AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE. Two Japanese micro-influencers must deal with missing phones, rooftop noise gigs and a sudden dance sequence when a trip to Singapore leads to them getting lost amongst the urban sprawl.

L.A. TEA TIME (Dir: Sophie Bedard Marcotte; Canada, 82 mins) AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE. Combining elements of video installation art and first-person documentary making, Marcotte’s ‘quasi-doc’ track a desperate filmmaker’s journey to meet her creative icon, Miranda July.

The Hyperlinks shorts roster further enhances the paradigm-shifting nature of modern film technology and its ability to invent and enhance fresh directions in narrative structure. Of the short film program, seek out In Event of Moon Disaster (Dir: Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund; USA, 6 mins), a deep-fake take on a Nixon contingency speech; A Room with a Coconut View (Dir: Tulapop Saejareon; Thailand, 28 mins), a study of Thailand’s past and present through a hotel resort’s AI system; and, Watching the Pain of Others (Dir: Chloe Galibert-Laine; France, 31 mins), a challenge to the traditional documentary form in its study of online conspiracy theorising.

HYPERLINKS: A STATIC VISION FESTIVAL will screen February 21-23 at Pink Flamingo Cinema, 18-24 Sydney Street Marrickville. Session and ticketing details can be found at the official website.