Cannes picks Marilyn Monroe as its 65th anniversary poster girl

The 65^th Cannes Film Festival has selected a photo of Marilyn Monroe, taken by Otto L. Bettmann, as the poster for the 2012 festival.

“Fifty years after her death, Marilyn is still a major figure in world cinema, an eternal icon, whose grace, mystery and power of seduction remain resolutely contemporary,” the festival explained in a statement issued with the poster. “The Festival poster captures Marilyn by surprise in an intimate moment where myth meets reality — a moving tribute to the anniversary of her passing, which coincides with the Festival anniversary. She enchants us with this promising gesture: a seductively blown kiss. The Festival is a temple of glamour and Marilyn is its perfect incarnation. Their coming together symbolizes the ideal of simplicity and elegance.”

The Italian filmmaker and 2001 Palme d’Or winner, Nanni Moretti, heads the jury at this year’s festival.

The 2012 Cannes Film Festival will take place 16 – 27 May, its closing night coinciding with the Monaco Grand Prix.

And the Winner is… Unidos da Tijuca

And the winning samba school for Carnival 2012 in Rio de Janeiro is Unidos da Tijuca that had taken as its theme the late Brazilian singer-songwriter and poet, Luiz Gonzaga.

Gonzaga’s most famous song is “Asa Branca”, an absolute Brazilian classic that has been covered by many Brazilian singers, but none better or more authentic than by the man himself. Even David Byrne has recorded an English language version.

From the city of Recife in northeast of Brazil, Gonzaga was known as the “king of baião”, and was a master of the accordion.

Unidos da Tijuca scored 299.9 points from the official carnival jury with Salgueiro in second with 299.7, and Vila Isabel in third with 299.5. Uniao da Ilha, that had London as its theme, came eighth.

Unidos da Tijuca, under carnavlesco Paulo Barros, also won the title in 2010, but previous to that its only other title had been way back in 1936.

And the relegated schools this year, which won’t be in the top group in 2013, are Porto de Pedra and Renascer de Jacarepaguá.

Critical Divide reports on Rio’s Carnival for Las Iguanas

Critical Divide’s Chris Pickard is reporting on Rio de Janeiro’s carnival for the Latin American restaurant chain, Las Iguanas (www.iguanas.co.uk).

Chris is hoping to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding Rio’s carnival, and started by reporting that Brahma’s brewery’s international muse for 2012 is Jennifer Lopez (www.iguanas.co.uk/news/jlo-heads-rio-carnival).

Critical Divide and F&ME at the Berlin Film Festival for “Children of the Revolution”

As reported in Screen International, Chris Pickard of Critical Divide has been at the Berlin Film Festival with F&ME for meetings about Julien Temple’s new musical documentary Children of the Revolution, which will shoot in Rio de Janeiro during 2012.

 

F&ME gets DVD box set; plans Streetkids United follow-up

10 February, 2012 | By Wendy Mitchell

EXCLUSIVE: HB Films to launch 10-film box set of international co-productions; F&ME readies two shoots in Brazil.

London-based Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) is working with UK distributor HB Films to launch a 10-film box set of F&ME’s international co-productions, Cinema Without Frontiers. The titles include Before The Rain, Eleven Men Out and Quest For A Heart.

This comes as Mike Downey and Sam Taylor’s F&ME has a packed slate, including new football documentary follow-up Streetkids United II, being made to coincide with the 2014 Street Child World Cup in Rio. A Brazilian filmmaker will direct. (Tim Pritchard had directed the 2011 documentary, which screened in Berlin last year.) Downey noted: “The street child poverty issue is massive in Brazil, and to get right to the heart of the issue we want a director to become fully entrenched and deeply involved in the lives of the street child community in Rio.”

Taylor added: “The 2014 event will bring teams of street children from 20 countries to compete for the Street Child World Cup and to make their voices heard. As with the first Streetkids United film in Berlin – our goal is to tell the story of the children and the event – and through this to draw attention to the terrible plight of street children across the globe.”

Also in Brazil, F&ME is kicking off the shoot for Julien Temple’s music documentary Children Of The Revolution in April. Writer and co-producer Chris Pickard (Critical Divide) said: “The film will reflect on the social, political, financial, cultural and technical revolutions that have taken place in 1970s to today, a time when the city and Brazil stand on the threshold of hosting two of the world’s largest and most prestigious high profile events, the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and The Olympic Games in 2016.”

Shooting now for the company are Peter Greenaway’s Goltzius And The Pelican Company (which will post at Molinare in London), portmanteau film Zagreb Stories 2-Love, and Estonian Kadri Kousaar’s English-language European Psycho, starring UK actor Lee Ingleby.

Set to shoot in the autumn is UK-Dutch-Belgian co-production N.N., to be directed by Ineke Smits and produced by veteran Els Vandervorst. The story is about a pathologist’s search for his past.

Now in post is Andrzej Jakimowski’s Imagine (aka Blind Watching) starring Edward Hogg and Alexandra Maria Lara. Sales company discussions are underway.

Now just finished is child prostitution story Lilet Never Happened directed by Jacco Groen.

www.screendaily.com/news/uk-ireland/fme-gets-dvd-box-set-plans-streetkids-united-follow-up/5037757.article

TAM Airlines receives “Cellars in the Sky” Awards

TAM Airlines has won two of the top categories in Business Traveller’s prestigious “Cellars in the Sky”; awards that recognise airlines for the quality of the wines served on board their aircraft. The Brazilian company received the award for best red wine served in First Class. The wine in question, Clos Canon 2008, is an elite Bordeaux produced in Saint-Emilion. TAM also took the award as the airline with the most improved First Class wine cellar. The awards took place in London on 6 February 2012 at The Grosvenor Hotel in Victoria.

The winning wine is produced for TAM by Château Canon, part of the Chanel group, from pure Merlot grapes passing through fine oak barrels. The wine offers an intense and alluring display of aromas of ripe dark fruit, mixed with coffee, chocolate and delicate floral touches. Soft, flavourful, concentrated and complex, it is a spectacular example of the degree of sophistication that Bordeaux can reach.

The Clos Canon is just one of the wines to feature on TAM’s award winning First Class 2011 cellar. Others included the Champagne, Drappier La Grande Sendrée; the white wines, Dr. Bürklin-Wolff Pechstein Grand Cru (Pfalz, Germany), and Denis Dubourdieu Clos Floridene Blanc (Bordeaux, France); and two other reds, Señorio San Vicente (Rioja, Spain), and Altas Quintas (Alentejo Portugal).

“Every year TAM carefully selects the wines it is to serve on board, looking to offer the best quality wines in all classes that compliment the dishes offered from our menus. Winning these important international awards at Business Traveller’s “Cellars in the Sky”, demonstrates that we are on the right track, and it is also an inspiration for us to improve even more the inflight experience that we offer to our customers, “says Manoela Amaro, director of TAM Marketing.

Since 2001, Arthur Azevedo, one of the most respected wine consultants in Brazil and executive director of the Brazilian Association of Sommeliers of Sao Paulo, has been responsible for selecting the wines to be served on board TAM’s flights. Azevedo carefully searches for and sources wines of the highest quality, and this has earned him and TAM major international awards, including at Global Traveler’s “Wines on the Wing” awards in 2010 and 2011, and in “Cellars in the Sky” in 2009, when TAM was chosen to serve the best white wine in First Class.

Business Traveller has organized the “Cellars in the Sky” awards since 1985. For eight months, a panel of five experts have blind tasted over 250 wines served in the First Class and Business Class of the world’s leading airlines.

LATA 2012 Media Awards at the House of Lords

The Latin American Travel Association presented two major media awards at its annual reception in the Palace of Westminster, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary British-Latin America Group on 2 February 2012.

Wanderlust Magazine was recognised by LATA for its outstanding coverage of Latin America, and in helping to promote and develop travel and tourism throughout the region.

The other award was presented to A South American Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby, a three part television series that was produced by Fresh One and broadcast by the BBC. LATA recognised the excellence of the series, and its impact in promoting the understanding of South America in the United Kingdom.

The awards were presented on the House of Lords’ Terrace by Baroness Hooper, CMG, chair of the All Party Group, and Edward Paine, the LATA chairman.

Jeremy Brown, MP, the Minister of State responsible for Central and South America, and the Olympics, addressed the gathering.

Guests included members of the Lords and Commons, Ambassadors and high-ranking diplomats from the Latin American embassies in London, and members of LATA and the LATA Foundation, and their guests.