"When "Babette's Feast" (1987) and "Pelle the Conqueror" (1987) won the Oscars in the 1980s, and when Lars von Trier started to do his films - we're a very small country, so when certain individuals go out and make extraordinary things, it kind of makes you believe that you can do it. And everybody there is watching each other's films. The community is strong. And I do believe what we're seeing now is a generation that was brought up with Dogme 95. We're doing something very different, but we're on the shoulders of that movement: We know that the story needs to come first, and that we're unable to compete with others on budget anyway." Writer/director Tobias Lindholm on Danish Cinema


I think Lindholm makes his most salient point in the last sentence. While the American film industry focuses on big-budget, technically-advanced action movies, smaller countries like Denmark and Australia have carved out a place for themselves by producing thoughtful and provocative character dramas. Lindholm's "A War", which I reviewed recently, is a case-in-point.

Not that American filmmakers have given up on drama, however. One of my favorite stories to come out of the Toronto International Film Festival, which recently wrapped, concerns Eleanor Coppola. Wife of "Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola, Eleanor premiered her first feature film "Paris Can Wait", which she scripted and directed, at the fest. She celebrated her 80th birthday in May, but is not letting her age hold her back. "Paris Can Wait", which stars Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin, was picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics on Monday. In a press release, Sony stated the film is "elegantly directed, exquisitely designed, and beautifully acted."

SPC also brokered a deal for "The Leisure Seeker", an adult drama starring Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren. The two play a married couple who impulsively take a road trip from Boston to Key West. The film is currently in production. I will keep you posted on release dates for both of these movies.


Here's the latest article from the Drama Movies site at BellaOnline.com.

A War Film Review
Tobias Lindholm explores the moral complexities of modern combat in "A War". A Danish officer orders a bombing raid in Afghanistan that results in civilian casualties, but saves the life of a wounded soldier. This film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2016.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art17772.asp

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Angela K. Peterson, Drama Movies Editor
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