Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Ari Folman’s The Congress

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IONCINEMA.com Top 100 Films

#20. The Congress

Director/Writer: Ari Folman
Producers: Unknown
Distributor: Rights Available.

The Gist: Loosely based on “The Futurological Congress” a short story by sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem. Set in a futuristic world in which everything appears to glisten, money is abundant and there is a general good feeling in the air, but all this has a dark underbelly. This is about the world of an actress (Robin Wright), she’s in decline because the studios just sampled her and they kept using her image, and she walks into the future, which is a world that is totally controlled by the manufacture of psychiatric pharmacology products.….(more)

Cast: Robin Wright

List Worthy Reasons…It’s his use of animation in Waltz with Bashir that essentially put the docu filmmaker on the map. Now that Ari Folman figured out his strength, it’ll serve him well in this crazy sci-fi premise which for the record includes live-action sequences. Full disclosure: I goofed on this being a 2011 release – but I’m not striking it from the list because we really don’t how far into production it is. Here’s a preview for what’s in store.

Release Date/Status?: Cannes 2011: One percent chance. Cannes 2012: 99 percent chance.

 

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society) and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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