Matthew Macfadyen's Lost in Karastan: Montreal Festival features culturally diverse cinema

Will this be the last year for the Montreal World Film Festival? God forbid. There are those in Quebec who have been announcing its demise for awhile, but the hue and cry was especially loud this year. The MWFF has lost most of its public funding, in a city that prides itself on its public festivals, for reasons I won’t attempt to go into here. (Let’s just say that the pugnaciousness so many Québécois display toward the rest of Canada can just as often be directed at each other.)

Unlike the Hollywood launching pad for the next crop of Oscar hopefuls that the Toronto Film Festival has largely (if not entirely) become, Montreal remains what a film festival ought to be, a showcase for films from around the world that North Americans probably wouldn't otherwise get to see. It concentrates less on movies made for international distribution than on those made for viewers in their home countries. As such they provide a much better reflection of different cultures as they see themselves, which more than makes up for the occasional reference that goes over your head.

I still have a few more days to spend here, and hope to be returning next year. Some of the best of what I’ve seen so far:

LOST IN KARASTAN—This bone-dry British comedy about Emil Forester, in which a blocked filmmaker (Matthew Macfadyen) accepts an invitation to a film festival in a small central Asian republic, was inspired by actual events in the careers of director Ben Hopkins and his friend Pawel Pawlikowski (whose Ida recently enjoyed an extended run in Buffalo theaters). That presumably does not extend to the part where our hero is hired by Karastan’s dictator to film his country’s national epic, a project that only Emil takes at face value. And I doubt that either Hopkins or Pawlikowski has ever made a film whose tag line (per one of Emil’s posters) calls it “electroshock therapy for the cinematically brain-dead empire.” You have to love filmmakers making fun of their own inability to recognize reality when a camera gets in the way.


READ MORE HERE: http://artvoice.com/issues/v13n35/film_feature

Matthew Macfadyen joins A Miracle 19 May, 2013 | (By Geoffrey Macnab) SCREEN DAILY

EXCLUSIVE: Brit actor Matthew Macfadyen is to play the lead in Ben Hopkins’ A Miracle, the new German-Turkish-French-British coproduction being put together by Paul Raphael’s Starfield Productions.

The project, which has development funding from the BFI, is expected to announce a sales company shortly.

Macfadyen is to play the lead role of the despairing London schoolteacher Izzy, on the brink of losing both his job and his wife when an opportunity arises to earn some quick and badly needed cash.

The job entails him flying back from Turkey with a coffin.

Hopkins also worked with Macfadyen on his recent project, the gentle black comedy Epic, now in post-production.

A Miracle is a Har Films project in association with Starfield Productions.Co-producers include Flying Moon in Berlin and Mars Films in Istanbul.The film is being developed with assistance of the BFI with funding secured from Screen Yorkshire.

READ MORE: http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/macfadyen-joins-a-miracle/5056405.article

Matthew Macfadyen and EPIC THE MAKING OF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gb_FvBTqQk

Ok, I don't really know what's going on here - they say it's the making of the movie EPIC with Matthew Macfadyen and MyAnna Buring (they do make a gorgeous couple!) uh huh.

Here's what I think.  It's the secret Russian version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.  Matthew Macfadyen is Mr. Darcy (of course), MyAnna Buring is Lizzy Bennet, Lasha Ramishvili is Colonel Fitzwilliam (or Mrs. Bennet...possibly)

The first few seconds are a tangle of arms and legs, none of which, unfortunately, belong to Matthew Macfadyen. Then there's heavy breathing - again, I don't think it's Matthew, because there is no British accent.   It's probably just the film crew reacting to the cold.

We next see Pemberley surrounded by luxurious RV's, and someone named Ben Hopkins combs his hair.  Then the Three Musketeers come in to the ball.

Matthew Macfadyen (VIDEO) Signs to Star in Ben Hopkins' 'Epic' 10:02 AM PST 1/11/2013 by Stuart Kemp (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) (now I know what this strange video was about)

The film, co-written by Hopkins with BAFTA winner Pawel Pawlikowski, is set to begin shooting in Georgia this month.

LONDON -- Matthew Macfadyen, the star of BBC's Ripper Street,  Myanna Buring and Noah Taylor have signed to star in Ben Hopkins' Epic, a U.K.-Germany-Russia-Georgia co-production.

Co-written by Hopkins along with BAFTA winner Pawel Pawlikowski, the movie is billed as "gentle black comedy."

t details the story of a washed-up Oscar winning British film director, named Emil Forester (Macfadyen), who gets invited to make a national epic in an obscure Caucasus Republic called Karastan.

READ MORE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/matthew-macfadyen-signs-epic-ben-hopkins-411284

Matthew Macfadyen lines up for Ben Hopkins’ Epic 11 January, 2013 | By Wendy Mitchell (SCREEN DAILY)

EXCLUSIVE: The UK-Germany-Russia-Georgia co-production starts shooting in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi on Sunday, at the Georgian Film Studios.

The cast is led by Matthew Macfadyen, Myanna Buring and Noah Taylor. Casting was by Wildman Hall.

Director Ben Hopkins wrote the script alongside BAFTA winner Pawel Pawlikowski.

The story is described as a “gentle black comedy” about a washed-up Oscar winning British film director, named Emil Forester (played by Macfadyen), who gets invited to make a national epic in an obscure Caucasus Republic called Karastan.

READ MORE: http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/matthew-macfadyen-lines-up-for-ben-hopkins-epic/5050513.article#.UO_HY1g5Ts0.twitter