Werner Herzog is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. He is known for his unique filmmaking process, such as disregarding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing the cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films.
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).
Billy Elliot is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy who discovers a passion for ballet. His father objects, based on negative stereotypes of male ballet dancers. The film stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, Gary Lewis as his father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters as his ballet teacher.
Bonnie Francesca Wright is an English actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her role as Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter film series.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films, Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the animated films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); and the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).
The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Festival in 1932, Cannes Film Festival in 1939 and Berlin Film Festival in 1951. Originally launched at Olinda outside Melbourne in 1952 as the Olinda Film Festival, in 1953, the event was renamed the Melbourne Film Festival. It held this title over many decades before transforming in the Melbourne International Film Festival. MIFF is one of Melbourne's four major film festivals, in addition to the Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF), Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) and Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF). Erwin Rado was the Melbourne Film Festival's iconic director appointed in 1956. The Australian Dictionary of Biography notes Mr Rado was the Festival's first paid director and also shaped its character with his 'uncompromising drive for excellence'. He served as MIF Director until 1980, returning to stage the 1983 event. Other notable Directors include Tait Brady, Sandra Sdraulig, James Hewison, Artistic Director Michelle Carey and current AD, Al Cossar appointed 2018.
High Tension is a 2003 French slasher film directed by Alexandre Aja, co-written with Grégory Levasseur, and starring Cécile de France, Maïwenn, and Philippe Nahon. Its plot follows two female students who arrive at a secluded farmhouse to study, where they are shortly invaded by a serial killer.
Naked is a 1993 British black comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring David Thewlis as Johnny, a loquacious intellectual and conspiracy theorist. The film won several awards, including best director and best actor at Cannes. Naked marked a new career high for Leigh as a director and made the then-unknown Thewlis an internationally recognised star.
Daniel Deacon is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, producer, and former actor. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narratives. Desire, passion, family, and identity are among Almodóvar's most prevalent subjects in his films. He came to prominence as a director and screenwriter during La Movida Madrileña, a cultural renaissance that followed after the end of Francoist Spain.
Denizen is a 2010 low-budget sci-fi horror-action film written and directed by J.A. Steel. The film stars Steel, Julie Corgill, Glen Jensen, Ben Bayless, and Jody Mullins, and is Steel's third feature film.
Gravity is a 2013 science fiction thriller film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who also co-wrote, co-edited, and produced the film. It stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as American astronauts who are stranded in space after the mid-orbit destruction of their Space Shuttle, and attempt to return to Earth.
Young Adult is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody, and starring Charlize Theron. Reitman and Cody worked together previously on Juno (2007). Young Adult began a limited release on December 9, 2011, before expanding to a wide release on December 16, 2011. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and Theron earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
Beautiful Thing is a 1996 British romantic comedy film directed by Hettie MacDonald and released by Channel 4 Films. The screenplay was written by Jonathan Harvey based on his own original play of the same name.
Cycle of Violence, also known as Crossmaheart, is the first stand-alone novel by Northern Irish author, Colin Bateman, released on 13 November 1995 through HarperCollins. The novel follows a journalist named Miller and his appointment in the hostile town of Crossmaheart; it was well received by reviewers. A movie adaptation has been made, named Crossmaheart also, and was featured in a number of film festivals.
Burlesque is a 2010 drama film directed and written by Dominic Deacon and starring Haydn Evans, Christina Hallett and Poppy Cherry. The film was released on 26 August 2010 in Australia and won Best Australian Feature Film at the 2010 Sexy International Film Festival. This film was shot in Melbourne, Victoria.
Two Days, One Night is a 2014 Belgian-French-Italian drama film written and directed by the Dardenne brothers, starring Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione. It competed for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Sydney Film Prize at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival, was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, nominated for two César Awards and for nine Magritte Awards, winning three, including Best Film and Best Director for Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film was selected as Belgium's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated, though Cotillard received a Best Actress nomination for her performance in the film, making her the first actor to be nominated for a Belgian film.
Burnt is a 2015 American drama film directed by John Wells and written by Steven Knight, from a story by Michael Kalesniko. The film stars an ensemble cast including Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Daniel Brühl, Matthew Rhys, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alicia Vikander, Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson. The film was released on October 30, 2015, by The Weinstein Company.
Be My Cat: A Film for Anne is a 2015 Romanian found footage psychological horror feature film directed, produced, written by, and starring Adrian Țofei, about an aspiring filmmaker obsessed with actress Anne Hathaway who goes to shocking extremes to convince her to star in his upcoming film.
Light in the Dark is a 2019 Nigerian drama/thriller feature film by Ekene Som Mekwunye. The film stars some of the biggest names in Nollywood, such as Rita Dominic, Joke Silva, Saidi Balogun, Kiki Omeili, Bimbo Ademoye, and Kalu Ikeagwu.
