The Lara Croft Movie in Santorini: Santorini is known and loved for its ample natural beauty. But Santorini's claim to fame extends beyond just its visual beauty for a little-known fact is that it comprises one of the filming locations for Angelina Jolie's movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life. The movie was based on the namesake video game series and was released in 2003.
Shooting commenced in 2002 in the quiet village of Oia. Some locals were elated at the prospect of starring alongside Angelina Jolie, even as extras, while others were outraged at the idea of their lovely town appearing in a film.
For true masochists, this is yet another numbing helping of garishly fake sets playing host to blockheaded and boring action sequences. Not to mention the recycled plot thread of Lara finding a shiny orb, decoding its symbols and seeing some hologram map fly out of it. It literally looks as though they inserted the exact same scene from the first film.
In addition to film and photography production services, Stories for Action offers consultation and workshops to help organizations strategize the best approach for sharing their stories, including preparation for hiring a media professional as well as necessary tools and tips for producing content on a modest budget. Lara offers discounts on these services to non-profit organizations.
The first film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, was released in 2001. Lara is off looking for the Triangle of Light, which The Illuminati seek in order to control time. She has until the planetary alignment to do so, and has rival/love interest Alex West (Daniel Craig) in her way.
Both films
The film opens with a wide shot of twin dusky promontories, a little town tucked into the distant vale. This is Salina, a small island off the Sicilian coast and the setting for the story of a young Italian girl with a unique gift, Lara. The film is the creation of Rome-based language service provider (LSP), Translated.
Lara is helmed by Koen Mortier, an award-winning film director and producer who has been recognized at several international film festivals (Cannes, Rotterdam, etc.). The score was written and produced by multi-awarded composer Michele Braga and TV and film soundtrack composer Emanuele Bossi. Accompanying the duo on the original score are musicians who were part of an internationally renowned orchestra.
The short film was shot over four days during a break in the Covid lockdown. The setting, the southern Italian island of Salina, north of Sicily, has less than 3,000 residents. It is typical of a small Italian coastal town: rural, some faded stucco, very picturesque.
The screening of 20,000 species of bees was a special day at the Berlinale. The Berlinale Palast audience rose to their feet to give Estibaliz Urresola's debut feature film a five-minute standing ovation. A slow-paced film that allows us to look at and meet an 8-year-old girl with big eyes who steals the show in a story that, like a beehive, contains multiple subplots and personal vicissitudes that trap us like flies in honey. A few days later, Sofía Otero would win the Silver Bear for Best Actress, the youngest winner of this award in Berlin.
We celebrate the arrival of a new female director in the Berlinale's official selection, in a year in which the number of films directed by women competing for the Golden Bear rose to six, a 32%. The organisation makes no secret of its efforts to be more inclusive, diverse and egalitarian, including in the co-direction of the festival, committees and juries. The Berlinale has been publishing a gender evaluation since 2004 and although it is still far from parity, the figures have improved significantly since then, reaching 41% in 2019 and always hovering around 30% in official competition and a greater presence in parallel sections.
Urresola offers us her pristine look at transgender childhood and her honesty in portraying characters who walk the border. We spoke to the film's producer, Lara Izagirre (Amorebieta, Spain, 1985), am emerging breakthrough producer as she says, but with a solid career as a director behind her and a winning instinct for recognising pure cinema when she reads a project.
Lara, congratulations on this extraordinary film. Tell us about your experience at the Berlinale, reaching the milestone of bringing a debut film to the official selection of an A-class festival like Berlin.
It has been a dream. From the beginning we fantasised about being in Berlinale, but we couldn't have imagined that we would make it to the Official Selection. I was in a shock for three days, digesting the news. Although the screening of 20,000 Species of Bees was planned on Tuesday 21, almost at the end of the festival, we arrived on the first day to enjoy the festival and understand how it worked. We had enough time to watch other films, to prepare our premiere and organise the after-party. Receiving a ten-minute standing ovation! We couldn't have imagined it would happen. And the icing on the cake was getting the call announcing that Sofia had won the acting award.
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