Bárbara Paz, director of Babenco: Tell Me When I Die on Héctor Babenco and Ingmar Bergman: “They are both somehow like an orchestra conductor. They meet somewhere in that sense.”
In Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (winner of the 2019 Venezia Classici Award for Best Documentary on Cinema), Bárbara Paz’ outstanding tribute to her late husband Héctor Babenco, she inventively connects personal footage with clips from his films to create a seamless cinematic celebration that is thought-provoking and poetic. His adaptation of Manuel Puig's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, screenplay Leonard Schrader, starring Raúl Juliá, William Hurt and Sônia Braga (with clothes made by her mother), received four Oscar nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay with Hurt winning Best Actor.
William Hurt won an Oscar, BAFTA, and in Cannes for his performance in Héctor Babenco’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Tom Waits was in two of Babenco's films,...
In Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (winner of the 2019 Venezia Classici Award for Best Documentary on Cinema), Bárbara Paz’ outstanding tribute to her late husband Héctor Babenco, she inventively connects personal footage with clips from his films to create a seamless cinematic celebration that is thought-provoking and poetic. His adaptation of Manuel Puig's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, screenplay Leonard Schrader, starring Raúl Juliá, William Hurt and Sônia Braga (with clothes made by her mother), received four Oscar nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay with Hurt winning Best Actor.
William Hurt won an Oscar, BAFTA, and in Cannes for his performance in Héctor Babenco’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Tom Waits was in two of Babenco's films,...
- 2/4/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Artists of all stripes have openly grappled with the spectres of their own mortality, but few film directors have confronted their own looming deaths as bluntly, or with as much vitality, as did Hector Babenco by participating in this climactic work, the part-sober documentary/part-boisterous extravaganza Babenco: Tell Me When I Die. Eschewing sentimentality and regret altogether, the Argentinian-Brazilian director of such powerful dramas as Pixote and Kiss Of the Spider Woman enthusiastically embraced the idea of confronting his own appointment with oblivion in this rambunctious and stylish obituary, which was directed by his wife, Barbara Paz. This is Brazil’s candidate in the Academy’s Best International Feature Film category this year, after having debuted at the 2019 edition of the Venice Film Festival.
Babenco was first diagnosed with cancer when he was just 38, just as he began production of his one big Hollywood films, Ironweed, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
Babenco was first diagnosed with cancer when he was just 38, just as he began production of his one big Hollywood films, Ironweed, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
- 1/27/2021
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
While speaking at a masterclass at Mexico’s 2019 Morelia Film Festival, Willem Dafoe said about acting: “When you do the bidding of someone else, it’s like falling in love: You have a new energy, you don’t think about yourself, you’re on an adventure… and it’s always better when it’s through someone else; you become their creature.”
Indeed, Dafoe has portrayed a slew of characters in his storied career, but perhaps inhabiting Hector Babenco’s alter-ego Diego in the deeply personal “My Hindu Friend” was among his more challenging. While Babenco’s last film was not strictly auto-biographical, it was based on his epic battle with cancer combined with some imagined sequences. “Sometimes I’d ask him about the circumstances [surrounding a scene] and he’d say: ‘Don’t look at me! You’re Diego, you tell me!’ but at other times, he’d close his eyes and give testimony,...
Indeed, Dafoe has portrayed a slew of characters in his storied career, but perhaps inhabiting Hector Babenco’s alter-ego Diego in the deeply personal “My Hindu Friend” was among his more challenging. While Babenco’s last film was not strictly auto-biographical, it was based on his epic battle with cancer combined with some imagined sequences. “Sometimes I’d ask him about the circumstances [surrounding a scene] and he’d say: ‘Don’t look at me! You’re Diego, you tell me!’ but at other times, he’d close his eyes and give testimony,...
- 1/27/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
It’s been a banner year for Latin American cinema where 18 countries, including newcomer Suriname, have submitted films to vie for the international feature Oscar. Half of this year’s crop are by women, many of them debuts. Several entries focus on the plight of Indigenous people and other marginalized groups.
Despite the region’s chauvinistic societies, female cinematic voices have grown in strength in recent years. Some credit the #MeToo movement for the shift in attitudes and the growing number of femme directors in the region. In Bolivia, 85% of the producers are said to be women.
In some nations, private and public initiatives encourage more aspiring Indigenous and other marginalized filmmakers to create their visions. Mexico’s film institute Imcine, run by filmmaker Maria Novaro and her mostly female team, introduced a film fund for Indigenous and Afro-descendent filmmakers in 2019.
Strong female-led debuts hail from the likes of Peru,...
Despite the region’s chauvinistic societies, female cinematic voices have grown in strength in recent years. Some credit the #MeToo movement for the shift in attitudes and the growing number of femme directors in the region. In Bolivia, 85% of the producers are said to be women.
In some nations, private and public initiatives encourage more aspiring Indigenous and other marginalized filmmakers to create their visions. Mexico’s film institute Imcine, run by filmmaker Maria Novaro and her mostly female team, introduced a film fund for Indigenous and Afro-descendent filmmakers in 2019.
Strong female-led debuts hail from the likes of Peru,...
- 1/27/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Following two wins in the past three years, contenders from across the Americas are championing local culture and community.
The lack of physical festivals has not helped any film this year, and the relatively low-key roster from the Americas could have used the opportunity to break out a little-known filmmaker or remind voters of some of the more familiar names in play.
No film from the region made it onto the 10-strong shortlist last season and, despite speculation that some filmmakers might be holding back their latest work for what is hoped will be a return to physical festivals in...
The lack of physical festivals has not helped any film this year, and the relatively low-key roster from the Americas could have used the opportunity to break out a little-known filmmaker or remind voters of some of the more familiar names in play.
No film from the region made it onto the 10-strong shortlist last season and, despite speculation that some filmmakers might be holding back their latest work for what is hoped will be a return to physical festivals in...
- 1/12/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Listen up Oscar fans and international cinema aficioniados. We'd been holding off on this three part deep dive into the list of titles vying for Best International Feature Film until the Academy's announcement. Sadly we hear through the grapevine that they're not actually making this list "official" until very late in January. In other words, less than two weeks after they announce the 90 plus titles, they'll be cutting most of them when the finalist list of ten is announced on February 9th. This is no way to treat the movies, giving them such a tiny window of "official" attention. So we're sharing the list of 93 titles (a record) now and doing our deep dive now... with the caveat that one or two titles might change in late January when the Academy makes this official. If things do change we'll republish the list and the articles then. If they don't, we can just link back.
- 1/11/2021
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
“I have already lived my death — all that’s left is to make the movie.” So says celebrated Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Héctor Babenco in a documentary that, sure enough, attempts to bring closure to a life already concluded. After three decades of living with cancer and related complications, Babenco passed away in 2016 aged 70; directed by his widow Bárbara Paz, “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” movingly serves as both valedictory and valentine, channeling and preserving the spirit of an artist who vocally feared that his life’s work hadn’t been completed. “Tell Me When I Die” may technically be Paz’s first film rather than the eponymous director’s last, but an intimate air of collaboration colors the whole monochrome affair: As a portrait of a dying man trying to at least co-direct his own farewell, it’s so sorely tender as to be a little discomfiting.
The first documentary...
The first documentary...
- 12/28/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
In late director Hector Babenco’s last film, “My Hindu Friend,” the doctor attending to Willem Dafoe’s character, a cancer-stricken Babenco alter-ego, observes: “Those who have a dream to fulfill have a better chance of survival.”
These sage words best encapsulate what kept Babenco alive for more than three decades after he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer at the age of 38. He made just 11 feature films in his illustrious career but each film was a miracle that kept him going until he passed away at 70 in 2016.
“Cinema was his oxygen; the films were Hector, Hector was his films,” says filmmaker-actress Barbara Paz, who marks her directorial feature debut with “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die,” the Brazilian submission for the Best International Feature Oscar, Best Documentary Oscar, and the Spirit Awards for Documentary. While Brazil has sent many fact-based fiction films to the Oscars, this is the first documentary to represent the country.
These sage words best encapsulate what kept Babenco alive for more than three decades after he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer at the age of 38. He made just 11 feature films in his illustrious career but each film was a miracle that kept him going until he passed away at 70 in 2016.
“Cinema was his oxygen; the films were Hector, Hector was his films,” says filmmaker-actress Barbara Paz, who marks her directorial feature debut with “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die,” the Brazilian submission for the Best International Feature Oscar, Best Documentary Oscar, and the Spirit Awards for Documentary. While Brazil has sent many fact-based fiction films to the Oscars, this is the first documentary to represent the country.
- 12/16/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
“Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” is the documentary of Babenco dying. Dying is not pleasant and initially I had a really hard time watching. By its end, however, I not only understood why Brazil submitted it to the Academy; it is in honor of Hector Babenco, one of Brazil’s most accomplished transcultural directors, but I was also moved by the genuine love he had for life and that the filmmaker Barbara Paz had for him.
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
- 12/6/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A year after “Honeyland” became the first film ever nominated for Oscars in both the Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature categories, Italy has become the seventh country to submit a nonfiction film to this year’s international race.
The country’s submission committee chose Gianfranco Rosi’s “Notturno,” an acclaimed doc from the filmmaker whose “Fire at Sea” was Italy’s Oscar entry five years ago. That film ended up being nominated in the documentary category but did not even make the shortlist in the category that was then called Best Foreign Language Film.
“Notturno” was chosen from 25 films under consideration by the Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimediali (Anica), which is authorized by the Academy to choose Italy’s entry each year. The highest-profile film on that list was “The Life Ahead,” directed by Edoardo Ponti and featuring the first screen performance in a decade from Ponti’s mother,...
The country’s submission committee chose Gianfranco Rosi’s “Notturno,” an acclaimed doc from the filmmaker whose “Fire at Sea” was Italy’s Oscar entry five years ago. That film ended up being nominated in the documentary category but did not even make the shortlist in the category that was then called Best Foreign Language Film.
“Notturno” was chosen from 25 films under consideration by the Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimediali (Anica), which is authorized by the Academy to choose Italy’s entry each year. The highest-profile film on that list was “The Life Ahead,” directed by Edoardo Ponti and featuring the first screen performance in a decade from Ponti’s mother,...
- 11/24/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
As we head into Oscar season, some countries are figuring out the advantages of grabbing increased attention with a well-regarded dual entry. Last year, Macedonia submitted documentary breakout “Honeyland” (Neon) for Best International Feature Film, and the movie became the first film to score nominations in both categories.
While the film earned raves, it helped that the movie was well-watched by both the documentary branch and the international committee voters.
In 2020, the most recent international submission is Chile’s World Documentary Sundance selection “The Mole Agent,” which won the Audience Award at San Sebastián. Directed by Maite Alberdi, the dramatic non-fiction film tracks ex-Interpol detective Rómulo Aitken, who selects elderly spy Sergio Chamy to embed in a nursing home and report back the treatment of a woman there.
Other documentaries submitted by their countries this year include Alexander Nanau’s hard-hitting health expose “Collective,” Kenya’s “The Letter” (Maia Lekow...
While the film earned raves, it helped that the movie was well-watched by both the documentary branch and the international committee voters.
In 2020, the most recent international submission is Chile’s World Documentary Sundance selection “The Mole Agent,” which won the Audience Award at San Sebastián. Directed by Maite Alberdi, the dramatic non-fiction film tracks ex-Interpol detective Rómulo Aitken, who selects elderly spy Sergio Chamy to embed in a nursing home and report back the treatment of a woman there.
Other documentaries submitted by their countries this year include Alexander Nanau’s hard-hitting health expose “Collective,” Kenya’s “The Letter” (Maia Lekow...
- 11/19/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
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