Karim Ainouz
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“We Were Living at Such an Accelerated Pace…”: Karim Ainouz on Dreaming of a Different Future
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor My experience during this quarantine has been quite ambiguous. I will explain. Germany, where I am based, was one of the first countries to report cases of COVID-19. I remember that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 8, 2020 -
“There’s Political Relevance to Melodrama”: Karim Aïnouz on His Lush Tropical Tale of Sisterhood, Invisible Life
Greenery abounds in Brazilian auteur Karim Aïnouz’s affecting and bright-colored sisterhood saga Invisible Life. Based on Martha Batalha’s 2016 novel, it chronicles the forced disconnection between siblings Eurídice (Carol Duarte) and Guida (Julia Stockler), whose hearts break with each passing day apart in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Victims of a male-dominated society that denies their dreams and ambitions, the sisters embody two sides of the same still resonant struggles women of the time endured. In addition to the striking work of French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, top talent was plentiful across the board. Illustrious producer Rodrigo Teixeira (Call Me By Your […]
by Carlos Aguilar on Dec 21, 2019 -
This is Where We Blow Up: Writer/Director Boots Riley on Sorry to Bother You
“The papers on the boardroom table were stained from corpses.” Those lyrics, from The Coup’s 2012 album Sorry to Bother You, offer some idea of the ideological imperative propelling Boots Riley’s wildly inventive, Brazil-meets-Afrofuturism satire of the same name. Struggling to make ends meet in Oakland, Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) takes a job with telemarketing firm RegalView, where he finds himself rocketing to the top of the corporate ladder after he uses his “white voice” to drum up sales. His activist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson) disapproves, especially after Cassius comes to the attention of deranged tech bro Steve Lift (Armie […]
by Nelson George on Jun 11, 2018 -
Working Class Heroes: Karim Aïnouz on Futuro Beach
I, I wish you could swim I, I wish you could swim Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim Though nothing, nothing will keep us together We can beat them, for ever and ever Oh we can be heroes David Bowie, “Heroes” “How could I do the movie without that song?” Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz asks rhetorically. I’ve just noted the few jabs he’s taken for ending his vibrant new film with the arguably overused Bowie anthem. “That’s the song that actually started Futuro Beach for me. Maybe it was excessive, but I don’t care.” Italics mine: the polite, affable […]
by Howard Feinstein on Feb 25, 2015
