Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/463339
III This week maltatoday, Sunday, 15 February 2015 This week distaste for the norm and a pale-faced G.I. played by the foremost luscious women since the French New Wave. The director clearly toys around with 'genre' and that old saying about having a girl, a guy, and a gun. More politically savvy is a title from The (return of the) Critics' Choice program: Bianco Sai, Preto Fica by Adirley Queirós. This Brazilian picture takes place during a coup d'état by time-travelling B- Boys. Complete fiction, complete madness, and without a hint of nostalgia, it is with such risky business that people come back to Rot- terdam year in year out. Slightly ajar would be something more con- servative and safe. Thus, the pan-European premiere of Erbarme Dich – St Matthews Passion by Ramón Gieling, felt ideal for a broader audience. It also played simultane- ously in more than 40 cities as part of IFFR Live. IFFR Live is a new program that broad- casts festival titles to a host of cinemas across Europe, and for Gieling, turned them into a satellite opera house. In Gieling's own ode to orchestral manoeuvres in the dark, he develops a subtle narrative that is part docu- mentary, part performance. Peter Sellars, the stage director, also gave Gieling a personal interview and opened up about his desire to weep for St Matthew's Passion, in response, you can then hear the reply of Émile Cioran. The deadly shriek of a philosopher who whispers in a pitch-black scene saying, "If there is anyone who owes everything to Bach, it is God." This pan-European initiative between distributors, the audience, and the festival is part of Wolfson's legendary motion. His tactic is to innovate, engage, and broaden the celebration of film in any form. Despite the critics, Wolfson's last year has become one of the most heavily attended box-office line-ups until recently. This also marks an interest- ing relationship between the industry, the Dutch audience, and the role of the festival as a game-changer. Surefire titles like Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, and Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy also had their international premiere in Rotterdam with one or two screenings. However, the program was biased towards smaller titles (and their industry) which garnered three to five screenings per week. With their own star-cast live on stage, Pussy Riot and Japa- nese singer songwriter, Shibutani Subaru, threw a late night tantrum for their own premiere. It was Much Crazy. Much Fun. Very Kawai (cute). Very Kowai (scary). In that magical hour, no one really knows the difference, then so be it. It's as good a day as any when Russia and Japan come close to a band fight. And to conclude, a general observation about the Dutch from a 'neigh-high' Malteser. For a nation that still speaks of itself as a small country, their festival is pretty well in check. It is at the IFFR that you can tap into the world's heartbeat, and this kingdom, certainly knows where to find it. Showbergplein: Where it all begins for the Rotterdam Film Festival Portrait of a hometown: Tired Moonlight by Britni West LGBT military station: Fort Buchanan Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice – a jarringly mainstream choice for the Festival