In a week celebrating the talents of women, what better than a DVD giveaway of a female-directed film. Sophie Barthes’ film Cold Souls has been recently released on DVD and thanks to the lovely people at Madman we have three copies to give away. To go into the draw you must be an Australian resident. Simply email your name and address to olivia@trespassmag.com by the 2nd June for your chance to win. Make sure you put ‘Cold Souls’ in the title of the email.
Director Sophie Barthes with the film’s star Paul Giamatti
Sophie Barthes is a French-born screenwriter and director. She grew up in the Middle East and South America and studied Film and International Affairs at Columbia University, NYC. One of Barthes’ first major film projects was a documentary looking at UNICEF literary programs for women in Yemen, made with cinematographer and frequent collaborator, Andrij Parekh (the cinematographer on Cold Souls).
After getting a couple of award-winning short films under her belt, Snowblink /Zimove Vesilya(2004) and Happiness (2006), Barthes was admitted to the 2007 Sundance Screenwriters Lab with Cold Souls, her debut feature.
Cold Souls (2009) mixes dark dead-pan humour with philosophy. Paul Giamatti stars playing a slightly more neurotic version of himself (we hope). At the beginning of the film, the actor is in New York rehearsing Chekhov’s play, Uncle Vanya, and feeling increasingly burdened by the role and the impact it is having on him. After being recommended to read an article in The New Yorker about soul extraction and storage, Giamatti makes a drastic decision…
An existential crisis film, imbued with themes of loneliness, Cold Souls plays with a very modern understanding of ‘the soul’ and relates that to our very technological approach to medicine and well-being. Starring the fantastic David Strathairn (L.A. Confidential, Fracture), the ever brilliant Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves, The Proposition) and introducing the talents of Russian actress, Dina Korzun to the English speaking world.
To watch the trailer for the film, and to read my original review of the film, when it had its theatrical release, click here
