We’ve never considered our stuff either homage or spoof. Those are things other people call it, and it’s always puzzled me that they do.
The bigger stars we’ve worked with have been without the movie-star vanities or meshugaas that you read about and dread. [George Clooney], for example, was the opposite. He has no entourage. He’s a big movie star, but a nice guy.
[Ethan Coen] had a nightmare of one day finding me on the set of something like The Incredible Hulk (2008), wearing a gold chain and saying, “I’ve got to eat, don’t I?”
[Ethan Coen] once described the way we worked together as: one of us types into the computer while the other holds the spine of the book open flat. That’s why there needs to be two of us – otherwise he’s gotta type one-handed. That’s how you “collaborate” with someone else.
[upon winning the Oscar for Best Director for No Country for Old Men (2007)] In the late ’60s, when [brother Ethan Coen] was 11 or 12, he got a suit and a briefcase and we went to the Minneapolis International Airport with a Super 8 camera and made a movie about shuttle diplomacy called “Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go”. And, honestly, what we do now doesn’t feel much different from what we were doing then.
It’s really rare in TV not to think, ‘Well, I’ve seen a version of this before.’
Making a pretty picture, an image, is a completely different thing from acting to camera.
I think ‘Humans’ is more about provoking the idea that there is a class of beings in society that we treat as less than… as subordinates; people who we treat badly and take for granted. Often they are the same people who work hard to keep the city going. We need to think about that.
Save the Children is also working to improve accommodation for refugee families living outside settlements. I met a family which had been living in a substandard building without windows, doors or a toilet.
I hate the idea that people should listen to what actors have to say on certain issues more than anyone else. Actors have no more right to be heard than anyone.
I visited a Child Friendly Space where children take part in structured play and development activities in a safe environment. These are designed to develop their cognitive ability as well as address their psychosocial needs. As I watched them sing songs and take part in games, it struck me that these kids could be anywhere in the world.
My parents are wonderful, practical, sensible people, and the expectation was that I would study something academic.
Blythe Danner is somebody whose career I admire. She’s a great actress and does good work, but also has a life of her own. I love my job but, at the end of the day, I want to come home and watch a movie and drink a bottle of wine with my husband.
I was never the class clown or anything like that. When I was growing up and doing theatre in Seattle, I was always doing very dramatic work. Now I can’t get a dramatic role to save my life!
[on losing herself in her relationships]I made that mistake, I think, a little bit, like ‘I’m checking my relationship off the list and if that would be the final piece of advice I could give you, that would be know your worth, know your independence.
Life is too short to be in relationships where you feel this isn’t fully right or somebody doesn’t have your back, or somebody doesn’t fully value you. Don’t be afraid to feel your independence if things aren’t right.
TURNCOAT, 28min., South Korea
Directed by Jason Montgomery
A shrewd merciless crime boss must investigate the scene of his brother’s assassination for answers, revenge, and to avoid the same fate.
I had spent the last several years living in South Korea; teaching English and writing screenplays. I got the itch to actually shoot something and direct it, as it had been way too long. Even though I didn’t have much of a network, few resources, and little money, I decided to use what I had and make something. My ex-teaching colleague and neighbor Maurice (Rob in the film) had left our teaching academy to pursue acting, and over some drinks in the local bar the film was shot in, we got the idea for me to write and direct something with him as the lead.
What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
It was kind of surreal. I’ve seen, heard, and given reactions like that many times, but to see people I’ve never met giving such deep and intelligent consideration to my film was amazing.
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As one of the first women to join Hamburg’s homicide squad in the 1990s, Marianne Atzeroth-Freier, almost single-handedly, convicted the „acid barrel murderer“, who went down in German history as one of the most horrific murder cases.
During a court break in an abduction case, Marianne Atzeroth-Freier is approached by an older woman, whose daughter went missing. She feels obliged to help her. During her search for the missing daughter, she repeatedly encounters inconsistencies and resistance within the male driven police system.
As she received no support from her colleagues or the head of her department, she was forced to investigate in her private time.
Through her meticulous way of investigating, her empathy and ability to listen to the relatives of the victims, Marianne Atzeroth-Freier was able to break through the dominance of cruelty.
She was able to uncover the terrible deeds, finds the missing victims, giving certainty to the relatives and finally convicts the murderer Lutz R. Marianne Atzeroth-Freier never received recognition for this during her time in service.
Director Biography – Matthias Freier
Matthias Freier studied philosophy and film after graduation. In the middle of the 90ies, he moved to New York City for 6 years and visited the New York Film Academy. His short film “Fishmind” was shown at film festivals. Back in Germany, he directed over 50 music videos and quickly became one of the most appreciated directors in his field.
The experience from the world of music videos and image films, helped him into directing commercials and he has enriched the advertising industry with honest and memorable pictures since.
The Toyota campaign “Start your impossible” for which he directed three films, won the Golden Lion in Cannes in 2018.
In 2022 he finished the short film „Hauskeeper“ which ran on many festivals.
The documentary film “The Invisible Ones” is a long-awaited and personal project that Matthias has been working towards for the last 20 years. The film tells the story of his stepmother Marianne Atzeroth-Freier. She was one of the first women to join the Hamburg homicide squad. In the 80s and 90s, her empathy towards the victims and her criminalistic instinct played a major role in catching one of the worst serial killers in Hamburg’s history.
Awards: 2012 Cannes Gold for Corporate Media TV , Quadriga, Transform. 2013 Silver Effi for the films Deutsche Bahn: Kein Job wie jeder andere and Telekom: Stakkato. 2018 Golden Lion Cannes for the Toyota “Start your Impossible” campaign.
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QUOTES:
I was very happy playing sports until I was 18, and then there were a couple of years where I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I saw some theatre in Oklahoma and made a decision to learn about acting. It wasn’t really with an eye on making films or even making a living; it was really about trying to focus on something that had the potential of taking the place of sport in terms of something to penetrate.
I don’t intentionally choose movies that aren’t going to be successful commercially. It just happens that the most interesting scripts I read are outside the mainstream. I like characters who have an edge to them, who are going to do something unexpected.
Acting is not a competition to me. One of the first things I learned about acting was, the only person you compete against is yourself.
[on Senator John McCain, whom he portrayed in Game Change (2012)] He’s a man with a tremendous sense of honor and duty. And I think, when he decided to go into politics, his ambition and his ego were in constant conflict with this sense of honor and duty and patriotism.
When I was a kid, it wasn’t very often that I could go to the movies and see an entire movie carried on the shoulders of someone who looked like me.
It’s so exciting to headline a film. It’s not every day you see a Latina carrying a full-length feature.
I have been a fan of Dexter (2006) since the pilot. Once I got the audition I just squealed, and you would have thought I just won $45 million.
I’m dating a very high-maintenance career.
To me, acting is like tennis. You’re only as good as the person you’re playing with, so if you’re playing with Michael C. Hall, what do you have to worry about?
Latinos are the fastest growing minority, and we’re obviously not going anywhere. We’re extremely loyal as a people, and I think Hollywood is starting to recognize that. It’s very rare for a major studio to nationally distribute a film with Latino talent, not only in front of the camera, but also behind the camera.
Festival Reviews 