FRED Film Radio - English Channel

On Friday 4 July, Aude Léa Rapin and Eve Robin will be in Trieste to hold a masterclass for the public and the young filmmakers in competition at the 26° ShorTS IFF, during which they will talk about their journey and the creative partnership between producer and director.

The masterclass has been organized within the Campolungo section, focusing on the career of young filmmakers whose list of works covers both short and feature films.

French director Aude Léa Rapin, who began her career as photographer and videomaker in the Balkans and Africa, will be showing her...

“I’m very excited to go back again and to revisit that world with my film-making friends, who I’ve known now for so many years. So, I’ll be going back in a couple of months and we start preparation and then we start shooting. The film will be released in December 27”. Andy Serkis is ready to come back to the Middle-earth of “The Lord of the Rings” saga for playing the role of Gollum and directing the movie dedicated to this character. Doing both it will not be a problem for him: “I know Gollum so well, you know. He’s a...

Fran Drescher started her career with a small role in an iconic film “Saturday Night Fever” and then she’s taken part of different projects. We remind her above all for her role of Fran Fine in the television sitcom “The Nanny” (1993–1999).

The actress, one of the protagonist of the 8th edition of Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, says to FredfilmRadio how important is to “believe in your self and never give up. You have to create your own success, everything is an opportunity of growing”.

And about the successfully character “The Nanny” adds: “She is someone that is comfor...

Jane Seymour is one of the protagonist of the 8th edition of Filming Italy Sardegna Festival. The British actress, know for the tv-series “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman“, about her character says: “She was an emancipated woman. In American television we did not have one-hour programs with a female protagonist. She has the awareness of others. And the story was situated in 1876”.

About changing of female storytelling, Seymour explains: “Nowadays there are more different female directors and writers. We want to know our stories. We want to talk about our humanity”. The advice she gives to a young who wants to...

For Pom Klementieff working with Tom Cruise in the last two chapter of “Mission: Impossible” saga “was amazing. He was inspiring, always very curious, generous, funny. A real mentor“, the actress says. We met her at the 8th edition of Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, directed by Tiziana Rocca.

In the films Pom Klementieff has done a long training for the role of Paris. “It was a dream taking park of this action saga, that I saw when I was a child. I wanted to be in Mission: Impossibile. A friend of mine is a stunt-man and I trained my...

“Elio“, the new Pixar movie adventure is ready to conquer Italian cinemas from June 18th, 2025.

Directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina, and produced by Mary Alice Drumm, the film will introduce us to Elio, an 11-year-old whose biggest wish is to get abducted by aliens.

Elio features the voices of Yonas Kibreab as Elio and Zoe Saldaña as Aunt Olga.

In Italy to present the film to the italian audience, directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi along with producer Mary Alice Drumm talk about  the making of “Elio” and focus on t...

We speak with Jacob Cordery, a student filmmaker, and Valeria Moreno and Nicole Ruf, directors of the 2025 Durham Film Festival, about the history of this student-led short film festival, which is supported by Durham University and the BFI (British Film Institute).

Valeria Moreno and Nicole Ruf discuss the history of this short-film festival, which aims to showcase new talent and emerging student filmmakers from across the world. They highlight the vital role of the British Film Institute in supporting the festival, providing advice and serving on the jury annually.

Jacob Cordery, a Durham-based student filmmaker...

At Taormina Film Festival, FRED Film Radio interviewed director Peter Gold and producer James Franco to talk about “Thena”, a movie presented at the 2025 edition.

A Bay Area story

“Thena” is very personal to Peter Gold, having grown up in the Bay Area and witnessed what happens on the streets of San Francisco. How important was it for him to translate those experiences into a cinematic narrative? “It was just a matter of being in touch with my raw emotion based on the script and finding a cast that felt like it represented the Bay Area commu...

Burak Çevik presented his new film “Nothing In Its Place“, at the Milano Film Fest, in the Controcampo section. The film is a daring piece of filmmaking, about real facts that happened in Turkey before the coup of 1980. The style is slick, the action is staged as in a play but the direction uses filming techniques that are more typical for action movies. An interesting film and a strong political statement.

I wanted the audience to feel the importance of what was happening even if it seemed nothing special

Burak Çevik has a massive use of lon...

Almost two years after premiering at the Rome International Film Fest, the 2023 edition, “Firebrand – L’Ultima regina is out in italian cinemas with Vertice 360.

Directed by Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz and starring Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, and Jude Law as the king , the film is based on the novel Queen’s Gambit (now “Firebrand“) by Elizabeth Fremantle.

“Firebrand“ explores Katherine Parr’s life, her role as queen, and her attempt to navigate the dangerous court of Henry VIII. She is portrayed as a passionate advocate for religious change a...

German director Christian Petzold is in Cannes 78, premiering his new film, “Mirrors No.3” in the Quinzaine des Cinéastes.

With Paula Beer as his protagonist in the role of a woman surviving a car accident where her boyfriend dies and finding confort in a stranger’s motherly devotion, the film, because of the wind surrounding it, closes, unexpectedly, the element trilogy.

Petzold indeed started the trilogy in 2020 with Undine and continued it with “Afire“. Both the films had Paula Beer as their muse and it was her to notice the “wind” as essential in “Mirrors No.3“.

Wi...

Japanese director Kei Ishikawa is at the 78th Cannes Film Festival with his new film “A pale view of hills“, screening in the Un certain Regard section.

The film is a big screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same title. As it is Ishiguro’s 1982 debut novel, one of only two novels the author set in Japan, it remained un-adapted for the screen until today.

Ishiguro, who became a co-producer of the film, became also a mentor for Ishikawa, as he was “truly delighted” by the fact that his novel could be turned into a fil...

Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason is back in Cannes with his new film “The Love that Remains“.

After “Godland“, which was set in the late 19th century and premiered in the Un Certain Regard section in 2022, Hlynur Pálmason decided to direct a more personal and intimate film, starting from what was close to him and around him.

“The Love that Remains” tells the story of a family over the course of a year, while mother and father are separating. The three children of the couple are played by Pálmason’s kids in real life.

With...

Spanish director Óliver Laxe paid his fourth visit to the Cannes Film Festival with his fourth feature film, “Sirât”, this time in competition, where this superb work ended up winning the Jury Prize (as well as the Cannes Soundtrack Award, a special mention for the Prix des Cinémas Art et Essai, and the Palm Dog).

We met and talked about ravers, pure sound, trucks, shooting in the desert, the author as an archer. Laxe, who describes his film as “a communion of mutilated people”, but also people who have divested themselves of the idealised image of ourselve...

After winning the Jury Prize of the International Competition of the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, for “Ahed’s Knee”, Israel-born, Paris-based director Nadav Lapid, also crowned with the Berlin Golden Bear in 2019 for “Synonyms”, is back on the Croisette with a striking cinematic gesture entitled “Yes”, viscerally and flamboyantly conveying his reaction to October 7 and his complicated sentiments about his native country through the highly eventful trajectory of a character whose name, Y, sounds like a question even though he’s past looking for answers.

We met the director as he was just coming out of the world premiere of...

After successfully premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, “Sorry, Baby“, Eva Victor’s directorial debut is in Cannes 78 at the Quinzaine Des Cinéastes.

Produced by Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak of Pastel (Moonlight, Aftersun) and the winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Victor’s feature debut, based on her personal experience, depicts the healing journey of Literature professor Agnes (Victor), trying to survive trauma and going on with her life.

“Sorry, Baby” feels also like a cinematic letter to the people that feel stuck in life because of tr...

After winning the Palme d’Or in 2021, Julia Ducournau is back competing at the 78th Cannes Film Festival with her new film “Alpha“.

The film is a a coming-of-age exploring themes the French director has already explored in her previous works, like Raw and Titane: Transformation, parent-sons relationships

Besides young Mélissa Boros playing the lead as Alpha, at the centre of the story there are Alpha’s mother, on screen by Goldshifteh Farahani and her brother, Alpha’s uncle, Amin, astonishingly played by Tahar Rahim.

The actor lost almost 20 kg to play the part as...

French director Julia Ducornau is back in Cannes, the 78t edition with her third film, “Alpha“.

After winning the Palme d’Or in 2021, the filmmaker is again exploring the them of a young girl going through a transformation.

She describes the transformation as an on-going mutation, something that began before the start of the film and continues on after the film is over.

The film is a coming of age as it deals with Alpha (Mélissa Boros)’s struggle to emancipate from the bond she has with her mother, played on screen by Goldsh...

After “Plan 75” , Chie Hayakawa is back in Cannes, at the 78th edition, in competition with “Renoir.

The film depicts an entrancing poetic journey about resilience, the healing power of the imagination and a traumatized family struggling for connection.

The protagonist is a 5th grade girl, Fuki, who is trying to make peace wit the idea that her father is dying of cancer.

A coming of age story that Chie Hayakawa took inspiration from her own experience when she was little. She says: “While the surrounding plots and circumstances are entirely fictional, the emotions of vague...

After directing the successful short film “Lizard“, Nigerian director Akinola Davis Jr is at  Cannes 78, in the Un certain regard with his debut feature “My Father’s shadow.“

Co-written with his brother Wale, the film is a semi- autobiographical tale set in 1993’s Nigerian election crisis and it follows two brothers on a trip with their estranged father.

“My Father’s shadow” manages to tell us  about the history of a country through the filter of one’s personal experience. Davis Jr. lets us breathe Nigeria of that particular political moment in time but at the same time he makes...

Zuzana Kirchnerova premiered her poetic and vibrantly sensorial debut, “Caravan“, at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard sidebar.

We met the Czech director, also a contender for the Caméra d’or, and talked about the physicality of this road movie set in Italy, where a Czech mother and her mentally disabled son have no other choice than to go on the road, as well as her visual approach, the character of Zuza (the third travel companion of Ester and David), and the dichotomy freedom vs. cramped space/situation.

Zuzana Kirchnerova explains...

Pauline Loquès, a former student in Literature and Law who first quenched her thirst for writing by turning to journalism, then trained as a screenwriter, has developed a distinctive signature since her first film, the 30-minute short “La Vie d’une jeune fille“, on a young woman about to celebrate her hen weekend who learns upon arrival that her fiancé doesn’t want to get married anymore, and can’t bring herself to tell her girlfriends.

In “Nino“, her debut feature, screened in competition at the 64th Critics Week, and in the running for the Caméra d’or of the 78t...

Stefania Ippoliti, as Director of the Toscana Film Commission, met with us in Cannes to talk about its presence at the frstival to promote and present a film that was produced in Tuscany with the support of her office; the film is “Heads or Tails“ (“Testa o Croce”). In our chat, we talked about the involvement in the film, and also about the education programme that we talked about in Berlin.

Film commissions often collaborate on film, as in this case

Stefania Ippoliti pointed out that it is a common fact that film commissions in Italy ca...

At the 78th Festival de Cannes, we spoke with director Neeraj Ghaywan about his powerful new film “Homebound“, presented in the Un Certain Regard section. Set in a small North Indian village, “Homebound” follows two childhood friends from a marginalized community as they pursue a police job they believe will grant them dignity—only to find themselves tested by desperation, identity, and their evolving bond.

A Story of Friendship, Dignity, and Discovery

Neeraj Ghaywan describes “Homebound” as “a very universal story of two friends who come from a marginalized background.” The pursuit of a police job becomes a symbo...

“The Phoenician Scheme” marks Wes Anderson’s fourth time inn competition in Cannes .

The film sees Mia Threapleton pairing up with Benicio Del Toro in a father-daughter’s story set in the 1950s.

The new feature film follows the magnate “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro), one of the richest men in Europe, and his daughter Liesl, an aspiring nun played by Mia Threapleton in a spy mission’s adventure to accomplish Zorda’s plan to expand and save his empire.

Along this mission, they will be joined by a Norwegian entomologist played by Michae...

Wes Anderson is back in Cannes Competition for the fourth time with“The Phoenician Scheme“.

His first time was in 2012 with “Moonrise Kingdom“, then there was “The French Dispatch” and finally, two years ago, Asteroid city.

“The Phoenician Scheme“, as every Anderson’s film, can count on a numerous cast led by Benicio Del Toro in the role of “Zsa-Zsa” Korda, one of the richest men in Europe and including newcomers Mia Threapleton as Korda’s nun daughter Liesl and Michael Cera as the Norwegian entomologist Bjorn.

Returning on a Wes Anderson’s film set are...

At the 78th Festival de Cannes, we met with director Kirill Serebrennikov and actor August Diehl to discuss their new film, “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele“. A Cannes Premiere at this year’s festival, the film goes beyond the individual horror of one man’s crimes to explore the systems and silences that made his disappearance possible.

Humanizing the Inhuman

The film follows Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor known as the “Angel of Death,” as he evades justice by escaping to South America. But Kirill Serebrennikov is quick to clarify: “The idea that each war criminal d...

The young Diego Céspedes arrives in Cannes with his first feature film “The Mysterious Glaze Of the Flamingo“, a wonderfully intense and unpredictable tale of inclusion, acceptance and resilience in a small queer community in Chile. The film, developed also through the Torino Film Lab programme, has been included in the Un Certain Regard selection.

Inspired by his mother’s friends and her love for them

Diego Céspedes recalls his childhood days that inspired “The Mysterious gaze of the Flamingo“. His mother, a hairdresser, had gays friends and colleagues who were part of Diego’s life...

Belgian director Valéry Carnoy, highly praised at international festivals for his short films “My Planet” and “Titan“, presented his debut feature, “Wild Foxes”, starring the up and coming young actor Samuel Kircher (known for his stunning performance opposite Léa Drucker in Catherine Breillat‘s “Last Summer“), at the Director’s Fortnight. This arresting, both realistic and poetic film, revolving around a reflection on the way teenage boys are still led to build their minds and bodies according to an idea of masculinity inextricably tied up with patriarchy, invisible pain, friendship, and the need for a teenager to e...

21 years after co-directing “Take out“ with Sean Baker, director and producer Shih-Ching Tsou is competing, at Cannes 78, at the Semaine de la critique with “Left-Handed Girl“.

The film, produced, co-written and edited by Sean Baker, is Shih-Ching Tsou’s first solo project. A family story inspired by a  vivid memory, says Shih-Ching Tsou: “my grandfather once told me not to use my left hand because it was the devil’s hand”.

 “Left-Handed Girl“, as the title suggests, is a female lead story set in Taiwan and it follows a single mother and her two daughters trying to make it in T...

Italian director Mario Martone is back in Cannes’ competition with “Fuori“.

Last time he competed with “Nostalgia“. “Fuori” stars Valeria Golino in the role of writer and author of “The Art of joy“, Goliarda Sapienza along with Matilda De Angelis and Elodie in the role of two inmates the writer befriends during her brief incarceration.

Based on two books by Sapienza, “L’università di Rebibbia” and “Le certezze del dubbio“, the film follows Goliarda in the Rome summer of 1980, living her best life with a rediscovered freedom.

Matilda De Angelis plays Roberta, a woman Goliarda meets in jail...