745 – Aferim! (2015)

timespace coordinates: 1835 Wallachia

Aferim! (English: Bravo!) is a 2015 Romanian drama/western film directed by Radu Jude. The film is set in Wallachia in the early 19th century, when a local gendarme, Costandin, is hired by Iordache, a boyar, to find Carfin, a Gypsy slave who had run away from the boyar’s estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana. Aferim! (2015) is only the second Romanian film to address the Roma slavery, which existed in Wallachia for almost 500 years until 1856. (The first one was the silent film Fata tigani in dormitor (1923). It has apparently been lost, with only a few stills surviving.)

The story is fictional, but director Radu Jude said in the NY Times (Sept. 8, 2015) that he drew on the historical record. Before shooting began, he held a script reading with 20 historians and made adjustments in response to their input.Publication The Hollywood Reporter describes Radu Jude’s film as “a harsh lesson of history, relieved by overlooked humor and classic Western elements”. Variety magazine writes that Aferim! is “an exceptional and extremely intelligent insight into a crucial period of history, a film equally inspired and furious” (wiki)

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0743 – A Viszkis / The Whisky Robber (2017)

timespace coordinates: 80’s Transylvania, Romania > 1988 – 1999 Budapest, Hungary

‘A Viszkis’/’The Whiskey Robber’ is a biographical crime-thriller written and directed by Nimród Antal and stars Bence Szalay as the notorious 1990s folk hero of Hungary, Attila Ambrus, who committed 27 bank and post office robberies from 1993 to 1999 until his eventual capture. The estimated amount of money stolen is more than 100 million HUF (approx. half a million USD) at the time.

For the release in Hungary, a giant promotional billboard was placed above a bank in Budapest.

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739 – The Last King /Birkebeinerne (2016)

timespace coordinates: Norway 1206The Last King (Norwegian: Birkebeinerne) is a 2015 Norwegian historical drama, directed by Nils Gaup.  The film centers on the efforts of the Birkebeiner loyalists to protect the infant, Haakon Haakonsson, who was an heir to the Norwegian throne after the death of his father, King Haakon Sverresson. The film is set during the civil war era in Norway during the 13th-century. 

A story inspired by true events. Norway 1204, Birkebeiners and king Haakon Sverresson possess the throne in Nidaros. They are threaten by Baglers, that has taken power in Eastern Norway, with the help from Denmark among the refugees is the king’s son and heir, Haakon Haakonsson, who is fostered in secret by Inga of Varteig. (wiki)

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0735 – Deadpool 2 (2018)

Deadpool 2 is a 2018 American black comedy superhero Self-reflexive vigilante time travel film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the eleventh installment in the X-Men film series, and a direct sequel to the 2016 film Deadpool. The film is directed by David Leitch from a script by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds, with Reynolds starring in the title role alongside Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, and Jack Kesy. In the film, Deadpool forms the team X-Force to protect a young mutant from the time-traveling soldier Cable.

The first teaser poster, which pays homage to Norman Rockwell‘s 1943 painting Freedom from Want, was released that November. Justin Carter of Comic Book Resources found it “oddly appropriate for Deadpool 2 to co-opt [this] iconic work for a modern pop culture audience” as it is “true to Deadpool’s incredibly referential nature”.

The first footage from the film debuted at the end of a video where Reynolds (in-character as Deadpool) parodies Bob Ross and his television show The Joy of Painting.

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imdb   /   Céline Dion – Ashes

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018 – X-Men (film series)

618 – Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

0732 – The White King (2016)

The White King is a 2016 British sci-fi-drama film written and directed by Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel. It is an adaptation of the 2008 Hungarian novel of the same name written by György Dragomán and follows Djata (Lorenzo Allchurch) growing up in an agrarian totalitarian state, without access to the rest of the world, while dealing with persecution against him and his parents (Agyness Deyn & Ross Partridge) by the government. (wiki)

György Dragomán’s story has been transposed to fictitious near-future dictatorship. Dragomán said this about the film: “In my original novel I wanted to show freedom in a society where freedom should not exist. In their movie Alex and Jörg were brave enough to take my communist childhood tale and adapt it into a modern story, showing us that the threat to freedom is as eternal as our fight for it.”

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721 – Thelma & Louise (1991)

timespace coordinates: 1991, a fictional route between Arkansas and the Grand Canyon

Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American neo-feminist road film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, two friends who embark on a road trip with unforeseen consequences. The supporting cast include Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, and Brad Pitt, whose career was launched by the film.At its release, the film stirred controversy. At the intersection of several genres, it is now considered a classic. It influenced other films and artistic works and became a landmark of feminist film. In 2016, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. (wiki)

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718 – Last Knights (2015)

Last Knights is a 2015 medieval action drama film directed by Kazuaki Kiriya and written by Michael Konyves and Dove Sussman, a South Korea-Czech Republic-UK co-production based on the legend of the forty-seven Ronin. The film stars Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman in the lead roles. It centers on a band of warriors who seek to avenge the loss of their master at the hands of a corrupt minister.

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