What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 17th July 2019.

The 37th annual Munich International Film Festival (Filmfest München) took place between June 27th and July 6th this year and is the largest summer film festival in Germany and second only in size and importance to the Berlinale. It has been held annually since 1983 and takes place in late June. It presents feature films and feature-length documentaries. The festival is also proud of the role it plays in discovering talented and innovative young filmmakers. With the exception of retrospectives, tributes and homages, all of the films screened are German Premieres and many are European and World Premieres.

This years winners and grinners of the numerous awards and a total prize pool of in excess of EU200K, are as follows :-

CineMerit Award

* Since 1997, the Munich International Film Festival has honoured outstanding personalities in the international film community for extraordinary contributions to motion pictures as an art form. This year both Actor and Director Ralph Fiennes, and Actor Antonio Banderas were honoured with this prestigious award. 

CiniMasters Competition

* The ARRI/OSRAM Award goes to the best international film in the CineMasters Competition. The Award carries a purse valued at EU50K and is awarded by a three-member independent jury. The winner in this section went to Brazilian film 'Bacurau' Directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles. A special mention went to the Belgian, Danish and Norwegian Co-Produced 'Cold Case Hammarskjold' Directed by Mads Brugger. There were eight other films in this competition section that took in 'Between Two Waters' from Spain; 'Blaze' from the US and Directed by Ethan Hawke; 'An Easy Girl' from France; 'Fire Will Come' from France, Luxembourg and Spain; 'Liberte' from Germany, France, Portugal and Spain; 'Parasite' from South Korea and Directed by Bong Joon-ho; 'Peterloo' from the UK and Directed by Mike Leigh and 'The Place of No Words' from the US and Directed by Mark Webber.
CiniVision Award
* Sponsored by the Motion Picture Licensing Company, the CineVision Award carries a purse of EU15K and honours the Director of an international newcomer film. The award has been presented at the Munich International Film Festival since 2007, and since 2012 it has its own section: the CineVision Competition for Best International Film by an Emerging Director. An independent three-member jury elects the winner. The winner of this section went to Director Melina Leon for her Peru, Spain and USA Co-Produced film 'Cancion Sin Nombre' ('Song Without a Name'). There were nine other films in this competitive section, that were : 'Angelo' from Luxembourg and Austria; 'Animals' from Australia, Ireland the UK; 'The Art of Self Defence' from the USA; 'The Climb' also from the USA; 'Judy and Punch' from Australia; 'Land of Ashes' from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and France; 'The Man Who Surprised Everyone' from Russia; 'Manta Ray' from China, Thailand and France; and 'Winter After Winter' from China.
CiniCoPro Award
* The EU100K CineCoPro Award is the most generous award for German Co-Producers of international Co-Productions. As many as ten international Co-Productions involving German Co-Producers compete for this unique prize in a special section of the program. All of the nominated films celebrated their World Premiere or their German Premiere in Munich. The winner within this section of the competition was the German and Brazilian Co-Produced 'A Vida Invisivel De Euridice Gusmao' ('The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao') by Director Karim Ainouz and Co-Producers Viola Fugen and Michael Weber. There were eight other entries in this section, those being : 'Gaza' from Germany, Canada, Ireland and the UK; 'Hier' from Germany, France, Morocco, Holland, Sweden and Hungary; 'It Must Be Heaven' from Germany, France, Canada and Turkey; 'The Orphanage' from Germany, France, Denmark, Luxembourg, Afghanistan and Qatar; 'Saturday Afternoon' from Germany, Russia and Bangladesh; 'Stay Still' from Germany and Italy; 'The Traitor' from Germany, France, Italy and Brazil; and 'The Whistlers' from Germany, France and Romania.

For the full low down on all the events, the comings and goings, the toing and froing, the celebs, the awards and of course the films played in and out of competition, you can visit the official website at : https://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/en/  

This week there are just three latest release movies coming to your local Odeon. We kick off with the live action remake of an already hugely popular and successful animated Disney classic of twenty-five years ago that sees a new born lion cub destined for great things first having to grow up and face numerous hardships and challenges along the way before claiming his rightful place as a leader of the African animal kingdom. We then have a biographical drama film charting the life and times of an iconic Russian born ballet dancer and his defection to the west, before closing out with a biographical documentary about an iconic mission to step foot on the Moon and the three men who made groundbreaking history in the process.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'THE LION KING' (Rated PG) - here we have an already hotly anticipated live action remake of Disney's 1994 traditionally animated musical feature film 'The Lion King' which was made for US$45M and grossed worldwide US$969M and spawned a whole industry for the next 25 years that included a whole raft of derived works, such as a hugely successful Broadway adaptation which has toured the world and still is; two direct-to-video follow-ups being the sequel, 'The Lion King II:Simba's Pride' in 1998, and the prequel 'The Lion King 1½' in 2004; two television series, 'Timon and Pumbaa' and 'The Lion Guard'; a 3D re-release in 2011 and a video game release. 'The Lion King' garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy among its total awards haul of 36 wins and a further 29 nominations. And so here hot on the heels of his success with the live action version of 'The Jungle Book' in 2016, Director and Co-Producer Jon Favreau is back in the chair for this version of the timeless Disney classic.

The story here will be familiar to adults and kids alike but by way of a recap, Simba (voiced by Danny Glover as the grown up Simba and J.D. McCrary as the young Simba) the lion cub idolises his father, Crown Prince Mufasa (voiced once more by James Earl Jones) of the Pride Lands, and takes to heart his own royal destiny on the wild and sweeping plains of Africa. But not everyone in the kingdom is rejoicing the new cub's arrival. Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Mufasa's brother, and prior heir to the throne has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is soon ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, culminating in Simba's exile. Now, with help from a curious pair of newfound friends - Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and Timon (Billy Eichner), Simba must figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his. Also starring the voice talents of Beyonce as Nala and Shahadi Wright Joseph as the young Nala, Simba's childhood best friend and future love interest; and Alfre Woodard as Sarabi - the Queen of the Pride Lands, Mufasa's mate and mother of Simba. The film is released in the US this week too.

'THE WHITE CROW' (Rated M) - this British biographical film is Directed, Co-Produced and stars Ralph Fiennes in only his third filmmaking outing following 'Coriolanus' in 2011 and 'The Invisible Woman' in 2013. Based on the 2007 authorised biography 'Rudolf Nureyev : The Life' by Julie Kavanagh, this film charts the life and times of how the little boy who was born on a train in Siberia at the beginning of World War II grew up to become the top ballet dancer in Russia and how a life altering visit to Paris in 1961 at the age of 22, saw him seek asylum in France which in turn made him the greatest male ballet star ever. Starring acclaimed dancer Oleg Ivenko as Rudolf Nureyev and Ralph Fiennes as Alexander Pushkin the Russian ballet dancer and ballet master. The film saw its world Premier screening at the Telluride Film Festival back in late August 2018, and only now does it go on general release, having received generally mixed or average Reviews thus far.

'APOLLO 11' (Rated G) - here this American documentary film Directed, Co-Produced and Edited  by Todd Douglas Miller centres on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first spaceflight to land humans on the Moon. The film consists solely of archival footage, including 70mm film that was previously unreleased to the public, and does not feature narration, interviews or modern recreations. Back in 2016 CNN Films approached Todd Douglas Miller to make a film for the 50th anniversary in 2019 of the Apollo 11 landing and this is the resultant offering. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in late January this year and was released in the US in early March to critical acclaim and a Box Office take so far of US$10M.

With three new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-