By Jill Lawless
CANNES, France (AP) --Norwegian director Joachim Trier thinks the best qualities of American cinema have moved to TV — and he wants them back.
In Trier's Cannes Film Festival entry "Louder Than Bombs," a bereaved father and two sons struggle to console and understand one another after the death of their family's matriarch, a famous photojournalist played by Isabelle Huppert.
The movie, Trier's English-language debut, is set and filmed in New York state with a cast that includes Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg and teenage actor Devin Druid.
Trier said he grew up "watching a lot of American movies that were great at portraying real life."
"When I was growing up, everyone's parents got divorced and suddenly came 'Kramer vs. Kramer' or 'Ordinary People,'" he told reporters at a Cannes press conference Monday. "Years later when I was a teenager, suddenly we saw a movie like 'The Breakfast Club' that felt relevant to our lives."
Trier said that strand of rich, imaginative storytelling "has emigrated to wonderful TV shows." With "Louder Than Bombs," he and his collaborators decided: "Let's try to kidnap that back."
The film, which is competing for the top prize at Cannes, the Palme d'Or, has an elaborate structure but a simple message: Families are complicated.
Byrne's father is baffled by teenage son Conrad (Druid), while distant older son Jonah (Eisenberg) is experiencing a crisis after the birth of his first child.
"For the family who's left behind after a tragedy like this (the mother's death), how one puts together one's life after that is a very complex journey," Byrne said. "The film is also an examination of family, and what it means to be a father, to be a son, to be a wife, to be a husband."
Trier, whose "Oslo, August 31," played in Cannes' Un Certain Regard category in 2011, intersperses the main storyline with other imagery, including the video games that the younger son plays and the photographs Huppert's character takes in the war zones and refugee camps.
"I think we were interested in, for lack of a better term, polyphonic structure," the director said. "Which means the different voices of the family creates one story."
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More