Baftas 2013

Hi all,

A quite nasty flu obliged me to spend most of my weekend in bed.
To kill the time I managed to watch all the films nominated and listed which ones/who should win in my opinion.
Watching the red carpet at the moment and quite enjoying it.

Let's see,
Giulia

Best picture
[Amour should win for Best Picture but it has not being nominated]
Argo
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best British film
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Seven Psychopaths
Skyfall

Best director
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best actor
Ben Affleck, Argo
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Best actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Best supporting actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best supporting actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Judi Dench, Skyfall
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Best original screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal Zero Dark Thirty
Michael Haneke, Amour
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best adapted screenplay
Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David Magee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Chris Terrio, Argo

Best foreign
Amour: Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
Headhunters: Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn
The Hunt Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann
Rust and Bone: Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
Untouchable: Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun

Best documentary
The Imposter: Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
Marley: Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCullin: David Morris, Jacqui Morris
Searching for Sugar Man: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
West of Memphis: Amy Berg

Best animation
Brave: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie: Tim Burton
ParaNorman: Sam Fell, Chris Butler

Best cinematography
Danny Cohen, Les Miserables
Roger Deakins, Skyfall
Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln
Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina
Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

Best editing
Stuart Baird, Skyfall
William Goldenberg, Argo
Fred Raskin, Django Unchained
Tim Squyres, Life of Pi
Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty

Best production design
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer: Anna Karenina
Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson: Les Miserables
David Gropman, Anna Pinnock: Life of Pi
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson: Lincoln
Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock: Skyfall

Best costume design
Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor, Great Expectations
Paco Delgado, Les Miserables
Joanna Johnston, Lincoln
Colleen Atwood, Snow White and the Huntsman

Best make up and hair
Ivana Primorac, Anna Karenina
Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger: Hitchcock
Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lisa Westcott, Les Miserables
Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou: Lincoln

Best sound
Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman: Django Unchained
Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst: Les Miserables
Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill: Life of Pi
Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers: Skyfall

Best original music
Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat, Argo
Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
John Williams, Lincoln
Thomas Newman, Skyfall

Best special visual effects
Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley: The Dark Knight Rises
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth: Prometheus
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer: Life of Pi 
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick : Avengers Assemble

The EE Rising Star award (voted for by public)
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander

Rimini Rimini Rimini

 

Hi all,

In a recent trip to my hometown I had the chance to enjoy a lovely walk along the river Marecchia with an old friend. It was his idea. He told me 'Get ready and wait for me at the bench'. The bench is where we used to meet when we were teenagers. A solid ugly stone where we spent many hours just sitting, listening to music, talking.

I felt that I needed to bring my camera. It was a wonderful warm day and while walking we spoke of what only matters in life: Love. Looking at the bigger picture, at our friends, at our lives. I enjoyed this sunny May afternoon so much. I can't share what was said. Maybe one day I can put some of it in a book or a movie but the pure perfection of this afternoon can't be repeated. All I can do and all I want to do is sharing some pictures.

The pictures below show the houses along the river Marecchia. It is called 'Lungofiume degli Artisti' (Artists' Riverside ) and it is an initiative of association Infezna. The concept behind it is to offer a different vision of the this area of Rimini. The walls of the houses have been carefully prepared for the murals by artisan Aldo Casciello. Coordinated by painter Giuliano Maroncelli many artists created their work on these walls. Most of the stories depicted are related to the sea and are a mixture of painting and poetry.


I tried to translate the poem from dialect to English. I would love to have your feedback and other versions if anyone can help.

           This hot wind coming from the sea accompanies our journey

           with its drawings and its colours is the frame of our love.

           - Guido Lucchini

   Today the sea

   is an entanglement

   of sun and blue.

   Children playing 

   on the beach

   and a woman

   who is preparing

   something to eat.

   - Guido Lucchini

   

    On the breeze of the evening 

    he went on the shore,

    he chatted..He chatted..

    And the moon up there listened.

    - Lidiana Fabbri

    

    Forgiveness makes men free. 

    - Andrea Sacchini

    In that moment

    when I am 

    in front of this sea

    I am still holding you

    in my arms.

    - Guido Lucchini

Down there on the harbor there is always a sail coming towards me 

 - Lidiana Fabbri

 
    Wintery sea
    Suspended in the mist
    the shout of the seagulls
    is the alive hollo
    of the unreal surroundings.
    - Piero Romei
   

Last but not least my favorite mural. It is a tribute to 'Amarcord' by Federico Fellini. In the film, the bricklayer Calcinazz (Rubble) says 'Mio nonno fava i mattoni, mio babbo fava i mattoni, fazzo i mattoni anche me, ma la casa mia dov’è?' (My grandad made bricks, my dad made bricks, I make bricks myself, but where is my house?). These word were written by the late Tonino Guerra.

  My grandad made bricks, my dad made bricks, I make bricks myself, but where is my house?


With this last picture I leave you.

If you have the chance go to Rimini and see this beautiful murals with your own eyes. I can just show you the pictures but there are many senses involved in a trip to this beautiful place: the smell of the sea, the warmth of the sun and the sound of seagulls and waves. ENJOY!

Morpheus

Sleepless nights. Too many of them recently.
In the dark everything is different and magic and inspiring.
But I need some sleep. I so need it.
Morpheus I need sleep and no dreams tonight. Just sleep.
Goodnight

Music is the reason why I know time still exists

Ambition is positive and healthy. But only if it comes from love, beauty and truth. If you feel down focus on what you have in your life already. People who give you love, affection and their time. If they are worth it they are here to stay. Soon you'll be back on track. Stronger.

Hichestan

Do you remember the first time you arrived in London? Or in a foreign land?

You surely won't forget the experience of Bahram and his family. A man immigrating to a land of hope and wealth in order to have a better life and find a cure for the illness of his daughter. Hichestan is a story of illegal immigration, of Iran, of England, of big issues related to politics and social integration. But this is just the general background of a very personal story of a father, husband and man who can not provide for his family. It's the poetic and bitter report of a married couple facing problems of trust, poverty, national identity. If one of the two decide to change would the other one be ready to follow and accept the change?

Hichestan is the title of an Iranian poem translated in English as 'Neverland'. Here it is:

به سراغ من اگر مي آييد

پشت هيچستانم

پشت هيچستان جايي است

پشت هيچستان رگ هاي هوا پر قاصدهايي است

كه خبر مي آرند از گل واشده دورترين بوته خاك

روي شنها هم نقشهاي سم اسبان سواران ظريفي است كه صبح

به سرتپه معراج شقايق رفتند

پشت هيچستان چتر خواهش باز است

تا نسيم عطشي در بن برگي بدود

زنگ باران به صدا مي آيد

آدم اينجا تنهاست

و در اين تنهايي سايه ناروني تا ابديت جاري است

به سراغ من اگرمي آييد

نرم و آهسته بياييد مبادا كه ترك بردارد

چيني نازك تنهايي من

واحه ای در لحظه- حجم سبز

سهراب سپهری

If you come to visit me

You will find me beyond the neverland

Behind neverland there is a place

Where the veins of the air is full of dandelions

Who bring the happy tidings of flowers blossoming

At the farthest bush

Over the sands also you can see the delicate footsteps of the horseman who mounted the

Anemone hill of ascension at morning

Beyond the neverland the umbrella of desire has been spread

So that the breeze of thirst can run into leave's root

The siren of the rain resounds

One is lonely here

And in this loneliness the shade of an elm

Stretches to eternity

If you come to visit me

Come gently and slowly lest the fragile china of my

Solitude cracks

The poem is beautiful. 'Behind the neverland' is the place where people connect, where politics, nationalities, rules and geographical borders do not matter anymore. It is the place when men are men and women are women and we are all equal human beings facing our destiny. It is a place of hope where a change of country would not translate in a change in the inner core of people. The travelling and the longing for this place make people alive and push them to always change, dream and hope. The 'never' in front or the world 'land' in the title has a nostalgic appeal and it perfectly reflects the tone of the film. Its musicality recalls the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia and hope. It is pretty clear from my comments on the film that I am looking forward to watch it and suggest you all do the same. It will be an entertaining piece of art that at the same time touches current issues but with a very personal approach. When it comes to general matters, nothing is more effective than watching a single case to understand the feelings that lie under the analytical surface of general considerations and percentage tables. The film was written by International artists Parviz Ghodsi (playing Bahram in the movie and a real life George Clooney lookalike from Iran), James Kinsman, Hernan Diaz Laserna, Tiger Musigapong and Hannah Primeand.

The film is now in post production but you can follow the updates on:

FB: http://www.facebook.com/hichestanmovie

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/artimanamedia

Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2387487/

...and here of course.

Make sure you check out the this beautiful piece of art. I can't wait for its release.

Hope you all are having a great day!

GB

--

Friday quote

I have a tendency to - if I get too mellow, I - I ripen and then rot, you know.

Woody Allen in 'Annie Hall'

Dreams, Resolutions and a Guitar

'Such a long time I don't write. Here and anywhere else. My soul has been a bit dry for a few months.. But I will set my heart on fire. Almost literally. it happened already. I burned. I wrote my script, I played it. Alas, he wasn't aware of most of it. This made me even more nervous and aggressive and, well, the hated alter ego. My bad. I should stop expecting people to act as I want them to. I will be off work (at last!!!) for a while and I will get creative again. Stress away, ideas in. Poetry and beauty will be back.

Just sorted out my LastFm app on the MacBook and I found this song called Youngblood by the Scams. It put me in a 'writing' mood. Oh well, don't judge me. I am still poisoned with work and ordinary things. I didn't think about Virginia for a while and about myself. About passion as a positive feeling. Too many people that surround me are part of that tedious 95% I've avoided for my whole life. I'll be back to my old self in a couple of weeks. For good. I'll fight for myself. Love Beauty Poetry

And I'll play guitar. Properly. It will take a while but I deserve that.

Playing will soothe me, it already made me a better dreamer.