Light of Hope
BIOGRAPHY (2023)
Creators: Tony Phelan, Joan Reiter
InterpretationsCast: Bel Powley, Liev Schreiber

Back in the dark – but also heroic – period of World War II, we are transported by a new series by Disney+ and National Geographic, which gives a new look at the famous “Diary of Anne Frank”. The protagonist here is Miep Gies (Bol Pauli), a young employee of Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) who, along with a few other daredevils, took care of the family’s supplies and all other needs during the war. for two years she remained hidden in Amsterdam. A minor figure in The Diary but with a compelling personal story, Meep is revealed here in a series of fictional works that nonetheless have a solid historical track record.

Everything, of course, starts with a production that is attentive to detail (settings, costumes, etc.) and is therefore able to convey to us the mood of the time, keeping firmly in tension and anguish the people who hid the Jews or resisted the Nazis anyway. This notion of moral duty, of duty, where many others choose the easy path of indifference or even cooperation with the conqueror, returns again and again in a multifaceted whole that tells a little-known but undoubtedly interesting story of genuine heroism.

Silent girl ★★★
DRAMA (2022)
Directed by: Calum Bereid
InterpretationsCast: Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett

On the Cinobo platform, we’re selecting an Oscar nominee for International Film, the directorial debut of Irishman Calum Bereid. In the Irish countryside in the 1980s, 12-year-old Kite grows up quite neglected with his extended family. Expecting another child, her mother sends her to spend the summer with a middle-aged couple living on a farm in the countryside. Thanks to her own care and love, the baby will gradually find her voice and “bloom”, revealing a shocking secret along the way.

Bereid sensitively captures her young heroine in an enchanting natural landscape as she moves from silence and fear into a new reality. The traumas, both her own and those of her new “parents,” are always there, but they are mitigated by the human contact and caress they all so desperately need. The film will be released on the platform from September 5th.