Everyone's a critic, but when it comes to considering Michael Moore's Sicko, some critical voices might be a little bit more important than others.

From Roger Ebert's positive review:

I saw the movie almost a year to the day after a cartoid artery burst after surgery and I came within a breath of death. I spent the next nine months in Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the Pritikin Longevity Center, and still require the daily care of a nurse. I mention this to indicate I am pretty deeply involved in the health care system. In each and every case, without exception, I have been cared for by doctors who are kind, patient, painstaking and expert, and by nurses who are skilled, wise and tireless. My insurance has covered a small fortune in claims. My wife and I have also paid large sums from our own savings.

So I have only one complaint, and it is this: Every American should be as fortunate as I have been. As Moore makes clear in his film, some 50 million Americans have no insurance and no way to get it.

(Thanks to Movie City News for the link.)

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/30/2007 11:14:00 AM Comments (0)

On the day of Sicko's expansion to over 400 screens, John Pierson, who repped Roger and Me and namechecked Michael Moore in the title of his Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes, sends an open letter to the director. While citing Sicko as Moore's best filmmaking to date, he brings up the issues about Moore raised in the doc Manufacturing Dissent and discusses the goals of political filmmaking in general.

Read it over at Indiewire.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/29/2007 03:31:00 PM Comments (0)

Over at his blog, Scott Kirsner says he wants to avoid getting sucked into the iPhone media vortex but has failed. He links to two articles, , one in Variety, where he discusses Apple's Fair Play DRM and how the company has created a "closed loop" in which it will be difficult for other content providers to sell media for the iPhone platform.

Still, there's enough in Kirsner's article and elsewhere to make me think that the iPhone will be more successful than some think as a movie platform. In his piece Kirsner talks to Jim Flynn, chief exec of the site EZ Takes, which sells non-DRM-encoded films like Super Size Me which can play on the device. And, he ends with a quote from Flynn who says that, just as consumers can rip a DVD and load it into their video iPod, movies can be placed on the iPhone with basic hacking skills. "I could train a money to do it," he says.

Kirsner also links to this article on GigaOM by Om Malik in which it is reported that there may soon be a way for you to watch videos downloaded from the aggressively positioned movie site Jaman on the similarly guarded Apple TV device:

The folks at Jaman have developed a plug-in of sorts for AppleTV that basically installs on the AppleTV box, and allows your PC/Mac to find and sync content from Jaman’s client to Apple’s box. It still maintains its copyright protected status, and 7-day-rental policy. For legal reasons Gaurav Dhillon refused to talk about how they did the hack, but said Google is your friend… your will find the answer.

Jaman has done a great job of (unofficially) integrating their service with AppleTV, and the experience was as seamless as say YouTube. But more importantly, the visual quality on a big screen plasma screen was stunning… scratch that, breath taking, when compared to Apple’s own video offerings. I think Apple should give this product their blessing and give people a good reason to buy AppleTV, which is still a hobby according to Steve Jobs.

For more iPhone news, Boing Boing has an excellent round-up of links, Playboy is first-up in the adult industry with iPlayboy, Playmate wallpaper for your phone, the The iPhone Blog is running overtime to keep up with all the news, and Ray Pride uses the occasion of the iPhone's release to pen a romantic ode to old-fashioned theater going.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/29/2007 08:57:00 AM Comments (0)

The trailer for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, debuted on MSN yesterday. The film already looks far more opulent and operatic then it’s predecessor. But I guess I should have expected as much when I saw the Universal logo.

The film examines the tumultuous relationship between Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) and famed explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). The film also stars Samantha Morton as Mary Queen of Scots who conspires with Philip of Spain to bring an end to Elizabeth’s reign. Shekhar Kapur remains at the helm.

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 6/28/2007 09:46:00 AM Comments (0)

Last year writer/director So Yong Kim (pictured) was one of Filmmaker's 25 New Faces of 2006, and now, her debut feature, In Between Days, is opening in New York. GreenCine rounds up links to the rave reviews, and The Reeler has an interview with Kim in which she discusses her upcoming projects, the current movie's long march through the festival circuit and into release, and the methods by which she cast her movie.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/27/2007 06:04:00 PM Comments (2)

Writer Lauren Wissot emailed me after I blogged about the Antidote Films vs. JT Leroy verdict with a link to her own blog, Beyond the Green Door, where she's posted several pieces about the case. Wissot takes the pro-Laura Albert position in two posts, beginning with:

I guess I’m trying to find the humor in all this because, frankly, Laura Albert’s Kafkaesque nightmare scares the hell out of me. Though the defense lawyers have broached the subject of Albert’s psychiatric history on the stand, Albert’s mental health is irrelevant. (Though as a good friend of mine pointed out, amputees who run marathons are called inspirational for turning disability into creative pursuit, so why isn’t Laura Albert being held up as a hero for turning her emotional “disability” into art?) No, this case is solely about a book – published as fiction, optioned as fiction, end of story. And this is why even the sanest of artists needs to heed the wake-up call, this frightening cautionary tale. As an author who published a 100% nonfiction memoir as fiction (only because my U.K. publisher’s “brand” is erotic fiction so I didn’t have much of a choice), will I one day be sued because my story happened, because I actually exist? Sound crazy? Laura Albert’s being sued right now because she exists and JT Leroy doesn’t. Fact is the only hoax, the only fraud perpetrated, is by a judicial system that could allow a baseless case like this to even come to trial.

And, in a post-verdict piece entitled Judgement Day,, she offers:

This case was not about Laura Albert masquerading as a teenage, truck stop prostitute, but about getting revenge for the shame caused when one feels they’ve been suckered. Not too long ago this same level of intense mob hatred was directed at author James Frey after his supposed memoir was revealed to be fiction. But James Frey is not another one of Laura Albert’s alter egos. Mr. Frey published fantasy as hard fact. Laura Albert published JT Leroy’s “memoir” as fiction....

Instinctively I knew Albert’s defense had miscalculated when they chose to address her mental health (irrelevant to the case) instead of sticking straight to the facts. This wasn’t a criminal trial, I thought, and any attempt to gain sympathy for a person able to talk her way into celebrity friendships could only backfire, with the jury instead seeing Albert as a manipulative woman hiding behind her past abuse. Playing (psychological) defense instead of turning the tables and playing (willing accomplice) offense carried an implicit admission of wrongdoing. The defense shouldn’t have taken responsibility – the bait – for a criminal act not committed. There should have been no apologies made for JT Leroy’s birth, no excuses or remorse. To paint Albert as a frail, helpless victim is absurd. She’s strong enough to have become an accomplished writer who fought for her work to get noticed, with or without her alter ego. The point isn’t that Albert didn’t know what she was doing – the point is that everyone else on some level, whether they’re willing to admit it or not, did.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/26/2007 12:45:00 AM Comments (3)

Today I attended an unveiling of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists list of top 100 films. The press release claimed this list would act as a “counter” to last weeks AFI top 100 list, which they felt slighted films directed by women.

A press release:

The Tenth Anniversary of AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies List got us to thinking, especially when we noticed that of 400 films nominated for AFI’s list, only 4.5 were directed by women. Without knowing who’d been on AFI’s nominating committee nor what instructions they were given, we thought it would be interesting and fun to see whether AWFJ members– a diverse group of strongly opinionated and outspoken professional women film journalists who care passionately about the movies and industry they cover– would develop a list substantially different AFI‘s. Without issuing directives nor suggesting that only films made by and/or about women be eligible, we asked members to suggest titles they’d like to see on AWFJ’s Top 100 Films List. All titles submitted were placed on the ballot, members voted, votes were tallied. The result, presented in alphabetical order, is an eclectic, perhaps somewhat surprising collection of titles. It’s neither politically nor academically correct, and it’s far from definitive. But it can be said to reflect our women’s perspective, and we’ve annotated each title, indicating why it’s favored. We had so much fun compiling our list, we’ll probably do it again. Meanwhile, we hope you’ll enjoy reading our list as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Many people at the event (including myself) were taken aback when the list was released and included only 16 films directed by women. Attendees claimed this list was no better then the AFI list and even though it was compiled by female film journalists, it still boasted the same level of discrimination.

At the end of the day the list may not say what certain feminists and promoters of the women’s film movement want it to say, however, it exists as an important cultural document none-the-less. It raises questions such as: What does this mean concerning female film directors? Is it an issue of quality or femininity? Are there even a hundred films by women directors that could be compiled into their own 100 lists? It represents a polemic in the filmmaking world.

The full list can be found here.

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 6/25/2007 05:28:00 PM Comments (3)

Over at The Guardian, Mark Ravenhill - best known for his play, Shopping and Fucking - writes a typically incendiary, rabble-rousing piece on “a sinister conspiracy no one's talking about ...spreading through movies, television drama, fiction writing for adults and children. It's beginning to creep into the theatre. It's a cult with thousands of glassy-eyed members. It's poisoning more and more of our culture. It's called Story. And I want you to help me put an end to it.”

Ravenshill does not mince his words on Robert McKee's seminal screenwriting book, and continues:

“Story could only have come out of America, birthplace of Fordism. By assembling cars on a production line, a cheap, reliable product was made available to millions of consumers. A few decades later, the same principles were applied to McDonald's. Individuality was sacrificed, but in exchange the customer got a cheap meal and a brand that was recognisable and reliable anywhere in the world.

It was only a matter of time before the same principles were applied to Hollywood films. By the 1980s, the studios had created a blueprint for the perfect film, a tool by which any script could be analysed and "improved". The aim was to produce a product that was as reliable as a McDonald's burger.”

Ravenshill's solution? A mass book-burning. Read the whole piece over here.

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/25/2007 09:34:00 AM Comments (0)

Paranormalist Jim Callahan has created a psychologically subtle piece of interactive noir/horror in the form of a short film. He's a contestant trying out for the Spielberg-produced On the Lot show. Check it out and see if Callahan's magic works on you...

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/24/2007 09:17:00 PM Comments (0)

A jury in Manhattan this afternoon ruled for plaintiff Antidote Films International in its lawsuit charging Laura Albert, the writer behind fictitious literary star JT Leroy, with fraud. Antidote was awarded the $110,000 it paid for film options to the Leroy novel Sarah and $6,500 in punitive damages.

In a blog posting below I noted the reference to coverage in the New York Times discussing the fact that the trial has had the effect of entering the story behind the creation of the Leroy material into the public record, making it fair game for filmmakers, documentarians, writers, etc. It's this angle that Albert addressed in this Associated Press piece running in Newsday.

Although Albert stared straight ahead when the verdict was read, and said she expected the decision, she was quick to condemn it.

"This goes beyond me," Albert said. "Say an artist wants to use a pseudonym for political reasons, for performance art. This is a new, dangerous brave new world we are in." She said that Antidote had succeeded in exposing more of her life story during trial, and will try to make more money off of it.

"They made my life public domain. It's about commerce," she said. "They're going to try to hijack my copyrights, which is like stealing my child."

Whether or not the exhibits and testimony of the trial lead to the creation of new works, Antidote v. Albert has succeeded in extending the 21st century's most fascinating literary hoax into a whole new discursive realm. While some have argued that the case is about the right of an author to create a pseudonym for him or herself (and Antidote has proposed that it's just about the non-ability of a fictitious person to enter into legal agreements), the verdict is a step towards defining the responsibilities of the alter-ego. In an age in which many if not most people employ fictitious identities in everything from puffed-up dating profiles to Second Life avatars, Antidote v. Albert seeks to identify the responsibilities of identity -- even a fictitious one.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/22/2007 08:05:00 PM Comments (2)

Over on the main page, Howard Feinstein's interview with Michael Moore.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/22/2007 10:18:00 AM Comments (0)

The Antidote Films vs. JT Leroy trial has gone to jury in New York today, and Alan Feuer's most recent piece in the New York Times touches on what may be the most notable byproduct of the trial.

There's been discussion in the trial of director Steven Shainberg's idea to do a "Sarah Plus" version of the Leroy story, blending elements of novel Sarah with the real-life story of its creation by writer Laura Albert. Of course, that would require some kind of purchasable or in the public domain material documenting Albert's life to pull off.

Writers Feuer:

It is within reason to assume that the commercial value of “Sarah” will rise on the force of the publicity the book has received at trial. There is, however, another situation that might inflate its value even more.

Steven Shainberg, the proposed director of the film, testified that when he learned who had truly written “Sarah” an inspiration came to him to make a “meta-film,” a triple-layered movie that would blend the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project he took to calling “Sarah Plus.”

Of its three required elements — the book, the JT Leroy saga and the inner life of Laura Albert — the latter two have essentially been thrust into the public sphere by testimony at the trial.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/22/2007 10:15:00 AM Comments (0)

Over at Variety, Anne Thompson has posted a link to the trailer for Margot at the Wedding, Noah Baumbach's follow-up to The Squid and the Whale.

Nicole Kidman and (Baumbach's wife) Jennifer Jason Leigh play sisters Margot and Pauline, at odds over the latter's decision to marry Malcolm (Jack Black). The trailer promises another funny, bittersweet tale of familial conflict and, according to Thompson, Baumbach fans will only have to wait until fall to see the movie.

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/21/2007 12:27:00 PM Comments (1)

Variety is reporting that Monster's Ball director Marc Forster will direct the next James Bond movie. I loved Casino Royale and think Forster's choice is definitely keeping my interest up for the next one.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/19/2007 04:27:00 PM Comments (2)

Over at the Wholphin blog, Mike Plante has started a great, occasional series entitled "Lost Pets." It's his rescue-by-blog of worthy films from the last ten years that have drifted out of the public and industry consciousness. In his most recent entry he discusses Jennifer Shainin and Randy Walker's Apart from That:

As I think about those accolades for past films, I think about APART FROM THAT from just last year. I think about it as great American cinema, made by enthusiastic filmmakers and actors and crew. I think about how it looks and sounds great, not about how much it cost or what camera they must have used. I think about how great the quirky characters are, not about the actors who portray them. Because they aren’t famous. And since they aren’t famous, and since the filmmakers aren’t known, and since the film doesn’t fit into a marketable genre, I think about how you probably haven’t seen one of the great American films from last year.

For more on the film, including several clips, click on the link above.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/19/2007 02:01:00 PM Comments (0)

I didn't know Daniel Robert Epstein personally, but I read and admired the smart, cinephilic and always entertaining interviews he'd do with film directors over at the Suicide Girls site and would often link to them here. Now, Epstein is reportedly dead at 31. There are few details, but click on the link for some remembrances from Missy Suicide and, at current count, over 300 other posters.

And here is another appreciation from Edward Douglas at Coming Soon.

Here's an excerpt from one of Epstein's favorite interviews -- Alejandro Jodorowsky:

Epstein: El Topo became a seminal movie after its release in the United States. What were your expectations when you finished the film?

Jodorowsky: I never in my life have expectations. I only live. I was very surprised one day, when I was invited to New York for a Bangladesh concert. Ok, I came and a limousine was waiting for me. It was the first time in my life I was in a limousine and I was with a very beautiful Hindu secretary. I came to the first row for the Bangladesh concert and then they took me to a restaurant with all the musicians there. I was astonished. It was almost like a dream. I never expected nothing.

DRE: A big part of the experience of seeing your movies was being on psychedelics and other drugs, were you ever into drugs?

AJ: No, no, for me it wasn’t my reality. At that time, in New York if you don’t take drugs or smoke marijuana or cocaine, you were an idiot person. The first time I smoked a marijuana cigarette I was 40 years old in order to sell the picture. I did it because nobody would take me seriously if I had never smoked. When I went to a party here in New York I had to go to a window with a little hole to breathe because all the smoke from the marijuana was killing me.

DRE: What was your mindset when you were making the films?

AJ: I have a monstrous imagination. I am like a monster, more than Dali, more than Salvador Dali. I have an enormous imagination and all my life I was like that. It is something I do naturally.

Labels: obituaries

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/19/2007 12:49:00 AM Comments (0)

A couple of months ago, we premiered exclusive footage from John Sayles' forthcoming Honeydripper. If you live in New York and you want to get another advance taste from what promises to be a great movie, you should stop by the World Financial Center Plaza tomorrow at 7pm. Sayles himself is introducing a one-off performance by the Honeydripper Allstar Band, who will be playing blues and rock 'n' roll from the film. Honeydripper will be released next year by Emerging Pictures.

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/18/2007 09:20:00 PM Comments (1)

Scott Kirsner just passed along a few links that aren't yet up on his great CinemaTech blog. The three clips linked below are Kirsner's interview with indie film consultant (and sometime Filmmaker contributor) Peter Broderick just after the Cannes Film Festival.

In part one Broderick and Kirsner discuss film and new technology.

In part two they talk about the changing world of film financing.

And part three is all about marketing and audience building.

Peter has always been a thoughtful, ahead-of-the-curve commentator on independent film distribution, so I suggest you check these out on Google Video.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/16/2007 11:32:00 PM Comments (0)

Metafiction collided with the law in a New York court this week as Antidote Films, the production company of producer Jeff Levy-Hinte (Thirteen, Laurel Canyon), sued Laura Albert, the woman behind the fictitious author JT Leroy and the novel Sarah, for fraud.

Reports Alan Feuer in The New York Times:

This intricate game of hide-and-seek with its interlocking issues of identity, fame, money and the healing power of art has now leapt from the media to what is arguably the culture’s second most obsessive arena: the courts. A film production company has sued Ms. Albert for fraud, saying that a contract signed with JT Leroy to make a feature film of Sarah should be null and void, for the simple reason that JT Leroy does not exist.

Feuer references O. Henry, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte and the team of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman in discussing the intricate issues surrounding authorship and the relationship of the author to a work. With regards to Sarah, Antidote's argument is that Leroy's "true-life" backstory involving a childhood spent working at truck stops as a child prostitute, was integral to the book's value.

Feuer, again:

As movie people say, the “inciting incident” of the lawsuit came with the publication in late 2005 of an article in New York magazine that questioned JT Leroy’s identity. The Times followed with an article in February that identified Ms. Albert as the true author of Sarah.

The producers at Antidote were stunned; they were also worried that the commercial prospects of their project might crumble. As Mr. Curtner put it: “The whole autobiographical back story aura that made this so attractive was a sham.”

Mr. Weinstein told the jury that the contract with Antidote was for a book, not a back story, and that the film company could have made the movie no matter who wrote the novel. He then went on to suggest that the project was in freefall (a bad screenplay) and that Antidote had used the excuse of disputed authorship as an escape hatch.

Read Feuer's piece for more of the arguments on both sides.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/16/2007 03:26:00 PM Comments (0)

The Paul Thomas Anderson fansite Cigarettes and Red Vines has just posted the first trailer for Anderson's latest, There Will Be Blood. It looks completely stunning and just the kind of change-up I want to see from Anderson right now. Can't wait till this is released.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/16/2007 01:02:00 PM Comments (0)

Is it just me, or does this picture of Matt Damon used as the new poster for The Bourne Ultimatum...



seem very influenced by this similarly brooding image of Asger Leth, director of the excellent documentary on Haiti gangs, Ghosts of Cité Soleil?

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/15/2007 08:47:00 PM Comments (1)

If you're not a member of the IFC center, maybe it's time to join as they have some cool events coming up.

On Monday, June 18 at 7:00pm & 9:15pm Charles Burnett will appear in person to introduce his groundbreaking feature Killer of Sheep, along with his short film, Several Friends. Tickets are free for IFC Center members and are available at the box office. Tickets for non-members are on sale for $11.

An IFC press release:

KILLER OF SHEEP was one of the highlights of IFC Center's Year Two, as New Yorkers discovered this amazing film thirty years after it was made. Charles Burnett was out of the country working on a new project when we opened this film in April, so he has not been available to present a screening to IFC Center audiences. But, with the film entering its twelfth and final week, Burnett is fortunately able to join us now not only to talk about KILLER OF SHEEP, but also to present the New York premiere of SEVERAL FRIENDS, his very first shortfilm from 1969. Thanks to Milestone Films, we will also be giving away KILLER OF SHEEP posters to the first 100 attendees at each screening.

Also, Matthew Barney will be present at the IFC center on June 20th to introduce his short De Lama Lamina as well as other select shorts. The event will commcence at 7:30. Tickets are on sale now for members ($15). Non-members will have to wait to the day of to purchase seats not claimed.

An IFC press release:

Last year, art/film icon Matthew Barney (The Cremaster Cycle) gave us one of the popular hits of IFC Center's Year One with Drawing Restraint 9. On June 20, Barney will be at IFC Center to present three of his rarely-screened short films. DE LAMA LAMINA (2004), a collaboration between Barney and Arto Lindsay, is a stunning depiction of man confronting nature, fueled by Lindsay's music, in the face of the spectacle of Brazilian Carnaval. Also on the bill are SCAB ACTION (1988), Barney's first video work, along with DRAWING RESTRAINT 13 (2007), a filmed performance from Barney's most recent exhibition in New York.

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 6/14/2007 02:14:00 PM Comments (0)

In the Village Voice, Robert Shuster reports on artist Christian Tomaszweski, who has spent three years creating a series of installations directly inspired by David Lynch's Blue Velvet. According to the article, they remake "the movie's spaces, props, and moods, including the hallways outside Isabella Rossellini's apartment, a scale-model view from the closet where naked Kyle MacLachlan witnesses gas-sucking Dennis Hopper commit a brutal rape, and that notorious severed ear."

According to a press release issued by New York's The Sculpture Center, which is exhibiting the work through July 29:

Since 2004, Christian Tomaszewski has been plunging into the entrails of David Lynch’s cult classic Blue Velvet (1986). Tomaszewski has been meticulously reconstructing parts of the film in real space: exploring the ability of architectural fragments to convey dramatic narrative. Tomaszewski is fascinated by the challenge of superimposing one space and structure onto another: the first, artificially woven together through film editing; the second, a totalizing structure defined by the walls and activities of the exhibition space. Both sets of conventions dissolve in their collision, leading to a third reality, which is a thematic structure in itself.

'

As perverse as this venture seems to be, I, a big Lynch fan, will actually be more looking forward to Tomaszewski's next project. Here's Shuster again:

He hopes that his next major project—a series of posters for non-existent movies—"will totally confuse." They'll use the names of well-known directors and actors, with the usual dense small-text credits, and will appear around the city as a kind of street art, pasted up next to those advertising the real thing. "We'll see how far we can go with it," he says, "but it's quite an important part of the concept. I don't want to apply for a permit and all this. . . . I want to create a new story. I don't just want to have posters hanging in a gallery." Individually painted, they won't resemble the typical American version, which Tomaszewski says, with a hint of disdain, "is always about selling the product." Rather, he'll draw inspiration from the Polish School of Posters—renowned in the '60s and '70s for their clean bold motifs—as well as other European styles that he's meticulously researching. So look for announcements around town of a trilogy by Lynch, a mysterious tragedy called Akira, and—presented with a striking red-and-black image of a steam engine—a "hauntingly fascinating" work by the masterful Andrzej Wajda.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/13/2007 08:30:00 PM Comments (4)

Over at Movie City News, Larry Gross posts one of his occasional and quite brilliant critical essays, this time on those eight seconds of black at the end of The Sopranos. And although Gross sees in Sopranos creator David Chase echos of Tolstoy and Balzac and not the Joyce or Kafka of The Prisoner creator Patrick McGoohan, it's occurred to me that the conclusion of Chase's series has inspired the same level of audience vexation that the famous final episode of The Prisoner caused back in the '60s.

Gross's article is long and fascinating in its consideration of the aesthetic issues Chase must have been grappling with when deciding how to end the show.

An excerpt:

This is to say that the grand contradiction inside Chase's creation was its own ambivalent participation in cultural history. It dealt with an outmoded 20th century world-view (specifically the nostalgically remembered decades of the sixties and seventies) colliding with 21st century ambiguity and the artist, whether he fully knew it or not, caught right in the middle of the same thing in his own aesthetic process.

Click on the link above to read the rest... highly recommended.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/13/2007 08:17:00 PM Comments (0)

New viewing technology allows audiences to see a film with astounding visual clarity and a pitch perfect soundtrack. The problem, however, with HD-DVD’s, BluRay’s and DVD’s in general, is that it's hard to go back and "update" the millions of films that have been released in the past one hundred years.

This list is incredibly small and in no way represents the "best" films not available on DVD. But here are ten films that are important entries in cinematic history and deserve restoration for a new generation of viewers.

BLOOD AND ROSES dir: Roger Vadim, 1960.
One of Roger Vadim's first films is this erotically charged adaptation of the first vampire tale ever written: Sheridan la Fanu's Carmilla. The film features a surreal dream sequence that is cut down or completely out of most available prints.

LA LUNA dir: Bernardo Bertolucci, 1979.
This highly controversial entry from Bertoluci stars Jill Clayburg as an American opera star whose son is falling into trouble and in love with her. Vittorio Storaro's cinematography is dreamy and Ennio Morricone's score is haunting.

JOHNNY GUITAR dir: Nicholas Ray, 1954.
Nicholas Ray's feminist western has, unfortunately, not received the respect it deserves. The film boasts an amazing cast including Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge and Ernest Borgnine. Often described as a "Shakespearean Western." Great use of Technicolor to boot.

HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER'S APOCALYPSE dir: Eleanor Coppola, 1991.
A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at filming Apocalypse Now. Watch Francis Ford Coppola slowly come apart as his film goes over budget and out of control. Some of the best footage ever compiled concerning the filmmaking process. It's a shame this wasn't included in any of the recent DVDs.

YELLOW EARTH dir: Chen Kaige, 1984.
Before he made Hero and The Curse of the Golden Flower, Zhang Yimou served as a cinematographer on Chen Kaige's fifth-generation masterpiece. The film is an exquisite tale of struggles in recent Chinese history and an examination of the natural conflict that exists between culture and government.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES dir: Mario Bava, 1965.
There are a lot of films that take credit for inspiring Alien, but this is probably the least well-known. Mario Bava's tale of a planet that inhabits souls of a lost race has also inspired thousands of prime-time rip-offs. Innovative use of color and production design, espicailly for its low budget!

ZABRISKIE POINT dir: Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970.
Antonioni's hippie film is still just as frustratingly beautiful as the day it was released. A great soundtrack by Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia, The Youngbloods, and Patti Page complements a young couple's attempt to find love in a plastic society. A dreamlike desert orgy and an apocalyptic ending make this essential counterculture viewing.

KINGS OF THE ROAD dir: Wim Wenders, 1976.
One of Wim Wender's first contributions to New German Cinema is still not available on DVD. Great black and white cinematography by Robby Müller captures the desolation of the East German countryside. A clear influence on Jim Jarmusch.

HAMLET dir: Kenneth Branagh, 1996.
The last feature-length film to be shot on 70mm and it's still not available on DVD or widescreen VHS. The film uses the complete text of Shakespeare's play and updates the setting to the late 19th century. The film is a lush, visual feast and deserves a quality transfer.

BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980.
Fassbinder's magnum opus is a fifteen hour mini-series that has rarely been seen since its inception, although it has strong cult following. A critical look at working-class Germany, many consider this Fassbinder's best work. A Criterion Collection DVD has been in talks for years.

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 6/12/2007 03:09:00 PM Comments (19)

The 10th Brooklyn International Film Festival had its closing night awards ceremony last night. A full list of winners is given below.

Grand Chameleon Award
ARRANGED

Best Narrative Feature
ARRANGED

Best Documentary - Diane Seligman Award
CHILDREN OF THE WAR

Best Narrative Short
SMALL AVALANCHES

Best Experimental
RAYMOND

Best Animation
DOG DAYS

Spirit Awards - films in which the festival recognizes its own spirit
Narrative Feature SALTY AIR
Documentary THE EDGE OF HOPE
Narrative Short CONTACT
Experimental STARTLE PATTERN
Animation I MET THE WALRUS

Best new director
FELICITAS KORN for AMOUR FOU

Jury Award
WINTER JOURNEY

Audience Awards
Narrative Feature BODY/ANTIBODY
Documentary DAUGHTERS OF WISDOM
Narrative Short A MOMENT
Experimental START TO FINISH
Animation IN THE HOUSE OF THE SIN EATER

Certificate for Outstanding Achievement
Best Male Actor TATE ELLINGTON (The Elephant King)
Best Female Actor SHEILA MCCARTHY (Small Avalanches)
Production LUCA PALANCA, MALEK AKKAD, JON SHEINBERG (Made in Brooklyn)
Cinematography FREDRIK CALLINGAARD (Finkle's Odyssey)
Screenplay THORSTEN WETTCKE (Sunny)
Editing CARLA RUFF (Daughters Of Wisdom)
Score CHARLIE SCHMID (Body/Antibody)

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/11/2007 03:16:00 PM Comments (1)

IFP announced today the ten films selected to participate in its third annual Narrative Rough Cut Lab, a national program connecting mentors and projects by first-time feature filmmakers before they are submitted to festivals. Taking place in New York City June 12 – 15, this year’s Lab includes a number of new initiatives, such as: the formation of an Advisory Board, expansion of the program from three to four days, and moving the program from September to June, thereby ensuring that participants will have time after working with their mentors to submit their strongest work possible prior to the submission deadlines of leading winter and spring festivals.

Selected for the Lab:
BOPPIN’ AT THE GLUE FACTORY (dir. Jeffrey Jay Orgill)
EL COYOTE (dirs. Sergio Palacios & Damian Rodriquez)
THE FIRST BREATH OF TENGAN REI (dirs. Junko Kajino & Ed M. Koziarski)
GENERAL IMPRESSION OF SIZE & SHAPE (dir. Alex Karpovsky)
THE MARCONI BROS. (dirs. Marco Ricci & Michael Canzoniero)
MOON EUROPA (dir. Chris Bower)
THE NEW YEAR PARADE (dir. Tom Quinn)
OLDER THAN AMERICA (dir. Georgina Lightning)
RAINBOW AROUND THE SUN (dirs. Kevin Ely & Beau Leland)
TALES FROM THE DEAD (dir. Jason Cuadrado)

Go to the IFP site to learn more about the Lab.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 6/11/2007 01:17:00 PM Comments (0)

In case you haven't seen it yet, there's an interview with Todd Rohal over in the Director Interviews section of the site. Rohal's excellent and wonderfully original debut feature, The Guatemalan Handshake begins an exclusive one-week run today at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, which you should definitely check out.

It's also a great excuse for me to link to two of Rohal's short films which you can watch online. Single Spaced (1997), his very first short (which was nominated for a Student Academy Award) is over at ifilm and Knuckleface Jones (1999), Rohal's graduation film can be enjoyed on Atom Films. I'm also embedding one of the excellent trailers for The Guatemalan Handshake below.

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/08/2007 12:01:00 PM Comments (1)

Over on the main page check out Jamie Stuart's Q&A with legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

Here's an excerpt:

Filmmaker: Apocalypse Now. Theatrically, it was amazing to see it in its Scope aspect ratio, in 2001. I know that at this point you're preferential to 2:1, but some people were upset to see it on DVD cropped from the 35mm 2.35.

Storaro: Well, I always connected with one painting that Leonardo did, The Last Supper. The Last Supper is 2:1. At the time of shooting Apocalypse Now, I was not aware. I don't really remember when I became conscious of the 2:1. Definitely when I started to originally transfer Apocalypse Now (to video). In my opinion, it wasn't working in 2.35 -- at that time, we were forced to do a pan-and-scan. That was the worst. So we had to find a common ground between film and television. The aspect ratio for 65mm is 1:2.21, and the new video aspect ratio is 1.78. If you remove 0.21 from the 65mm, and then you have high definition which is supposed to be the future film/television format, you'll find the perfect balance between the two is 2:1. So any transfer I do is at 2:1. I remember with Bertolucci when we did The Last Emperor and we watched it on the television screen, we didn't like it at 2.35. We found it was much better at 2:1. Now, I only shoot 2:1. I refuse to not shoot 2:1. And I only transfer with this, even the old films, because I know it's the only solution for the future. It's the only meeting point that we have. The DALSA at 4k gives me some encouragement to continue in this way.

Now, there's this rumor they're going to retransfer Apocalypse Now at 1:2.35 -- I will not do it. I will not do it. Because on a television it doesn't work.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 6/08/2007 11:54:00 AM Comments (0)

A few weeks ago, Scott posed the question Can Indie Directors Ever Really Rock?

That issue will always be hotly disputed, but I personally would argue that documentaries are the best way of capturing the spirit of a musician, and there are two fine examples which come out today. First there is the long-overdue re-release of photographer Bruce Weber's iconic portrait of jazz legend Chet Baker, Let's Get Lost. Though nominated for a Best Documentary Academy Award, it hasn't been seen since 1993, but now a restored 35mm print is being shown at Film Forum in an exclusive 3-week run. If you make it tonight's 7:00 screening, you can also catch a Q&A with Weber.

Also worth catching is Keven McAlester's You're Gonna Miss Me. Like Let's Get Lost, the film is a documentary about one of the music world's victims of fame, except this one has a happy ending. In the 1960s, Roky Erickson was the frontman of The 13th Floor Elevators, the first psychedelic rock band, but his reliance on heroin and LSD and subsequent schizophrenia crippled his creativity and all but ended his career. McAlester's doc charts Erickson's sad story and watches as his youngest brother battles to help Roky escape from his hermetic existence and reclaim his life. The film plays at Cinema Village from today, and if you want to find out where a rehabilitated Erickson is playing live, check his website for more details.

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/08/2007 10:40:00 AM Comments (0)

Knocked Up just keeps on finding ways of getting itself written about. Some - like Judd Apatow being sued for plagiarism - are admittedly not down to Apatow and Univeral's masterful promotion of the film, but most of them are. Last week we had the fake video of Apatow firing Michael Cera from the film, and now another has surfaced, this time of pottymouthed Jonah Hill (Cera's co-star in the upcoming Superbad) having a go at Ang Lee and Brokeback Mountain. It's hardly surprising that, as Matt Dentler reported yesterday, Knocked Up is doing better business than Pirates 3.

# posted by Nick Dawson @ 6/06/2007 02:41:00 PM Comments (0)

Bamcinématek has a great line up for this summer including some rare films by Chris Marker and a brand new print of Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou.

On June 11th BAM will screen The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer, a cinematic essay on French icon Yves Montand. Along with this BAM will screen two largely unseen shorts: The Embassy and The Sixth Side of the Pentagon. With the upcoming Criterion release of La Jetée/Sans Soeil this screening is a perfect complement.

Speaking of Criterion, Janus films has acquired a new, restored print of Godard's crime/comedy Pierrot le Fou which BAM will host from June 15th -26th. A Criterion DVD with all the goodies is promised later this year. More details at ioncinema.com.

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 6/06/2007 12:13:00 PM Comments (0)

At the Filmmaker office we've been researching the emerging online indie film market for an upcoming story about how independents are selling their work through digital download services. But perhaps I should just keep a running link to Scott Kirsner's Cinematech blog as he's made this field his beat for the last several months. This week he posted "For Indie Filmmakers: How to Sell DVDs Online", a recounting of a conversation he had with Jamie Chvotkin, founder of FilmBaby.com, a site that assists filmmakers in the marketing and promotion of their DVDs. (More info here.)

What's interesting about the post is Chvotkin's account of what sells (Jeff Krulik's Heavy Metal Parking Lot is the top seller so far, with over 8,000 copies sold) as well as news about FilmBaby's future plans. The site is making deals with NetFlix, Google, CinemaNow, iTunes and Google, acting, in essence, as a kind of clearinghouse for indie content. The company even did a deal with Urban Outfitters to place "Ask a Ninja" compilations in the chain's stores.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/06/2007 11:44:00 AM Comments (1)

Out on DVD today is Joe Angio’s documentary, How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (And Enjoy It), on the life and work of Melvin Van Peebles.

I saw the film at its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival a few years back and when I watched it again on IFC not too long ago I was reminded by how well done the film is. Angio not only examines how Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song invented the Blaxploitation genre, but spotlights his renaissance life which includes working on Broadway and the New York Stock Exchange. But I think what works best about the film is Melvin himself. You could seriously just film 90 minutes of him riffing about anything that comes off the top of his head and it would be watchable. The man has always had a knack for what’s entertaining and thought-provoking.

Here’s a Q&A Movie Web did with Angio about the doc. Enjoy.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 6/05/2007 12:43:00 PM Comments (0)

Over on the main page Nick Dawson interviews Knocked Up's writer/director, Judd Apatow.

Here's Apatow on what he considers to be his defining trait, awkwardness:

It's true, I'm a very awkward person. It's hard to shake. Some people are wired for drug abuse or alcoholism or smoking; on some level, I'm wired to always feel like a goofball. No matter how well things go, I feel like I'm 15 years old. So when I'm out at a restaurant with my wife, I always feel like I'm on a first date and she might run at any moment. And it's very strange, especially as I head into my 40th year, that I can't shake that, even after about 17 years of therapy.

And here is his advice to aspiring writer-directors:

I always tell writers that the most important thing they can do is write. I knew a lot of writers who would write a script and then spend a year trying to make something happen with it – but in that year they wouldn't write something else. I remember years ago when I first met Mike Binder, he was this guy who had six scripts layin' around, and he was writing the seventh one! He would tell me how much he would learn whenever he would write a script, and never stopped writing. I think that's the best thing someone can do, to not get all obsessed about whether people liked your scripts or are willing to make it, but to start the next one and continue to learn about your craft. Good things always happen to the hardest workers.

Follow the above link for more.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/02/2007 08:10:00 PM Comments (2)

An article in the LA Times (which comes via Scott Kirsner at CiemaTech) reports on how specific corporations have ponied up money for films whose subject matter fits their market demographic. In "Advertiser cash flows to indie film projects," Lorenza Muñoz writes:

In what could be the latest trend in the financing of independent films, Unilever brand Dove has agreed to invest $3 million — about one-fifth of the budget — into "The Women," the first theatrical movie by Diane English, the creative force behind the hit television series "Murphy Brown." Gatorade, the sports drink maker, quietly put up $3 million for the production of "Gracie," a story about a girls soccer team that is coming out this weekend.

Perhaps Stihl Chainsaws will help out Eli Roth in his next endeavor.

# posted by Peter Bowen @ 6/02/2007 05:40:00 PM Comments (0)

Matt Richtel in The New York Times today looks at how the internet is transforming the adult entertainment industry. As the porn business has always been something of a trendsetter when it comes to adoption of new technologies and viewing patterns -- the adult biz was instrumental in popularizing home video in the '80s, for example -- the article is worth reading for independent filmmakers. It discusses how the 'net is now beginning to inflict record-industry-scale losses on the porn industry while also noting how the porn companies are responding to the threat.

From the piece:

After years of essentially steady increases, sales and rentals of pornographic videos were $3.62 billion in 2006, down from $4.28 billion in 2005, according to estimates by AVN, an industry trade publication. If the situation does not change, the overall $13 billion sex-related entertainment market may shrink this year, said Paul Fishbein, president of AVN Media Network, the magazine’s publisher. The industry’s online revenue is substantial but is not growing quickly enough to make up for the drop in video income.

Older companies in the industry are responding with better production values and more sophisticated Web offerings. But to their chagrin, making and distributing pornography have become a lot easier.

“People are making movies in their houses and dragging and dropping them” onto free Web sites, said Harvey Kaplan, a former maker of pornographic movies and now chief executive of GoGoBill.com, which processes payments for pornographic Web sites. “It’s killing the marketplace...."

“The barrier to get into the industry is so low: you need a video camera and a couple of people who will have sex,” Mr. Fishbein said.

The article winds up with an interesting discussion of the benefits of free clip distribution on the web.

Manny Ulele, the founder of a Las Vegas-based video production company and Web site, said the use of these teaser videos was turning the online pornography business into something of a science. (That is not his real name, but one he uses for business purposes.)

Mr. Ulele said his company could pay $500 to $600 a day to get its short clips listed prominently on popular video clearinghouses. He said that fee could be justified by the rates at which people follow through: 1 in 1,000 viewers of the free content click onto his site, he said, and 1 in 600 of those might buy something — a subscription, DVD or other product.

Over all, he said, his Web site has around 10,000 customers paying $30 a month to download or stream video clips.

“The perception of the consumer is that there is free porn,” Mr. Ulele said. “But most of it nowadays is controlled.” He added that he and other operators understood what length of video clip, and what kind of clip, would hook viewers.

“We’ve been fine-tuning it for years,” he said. “We’re able to determine exactly what works and what doesn’t.”

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/02/2007 02:47:00 PM Comments (0)

Filmmaker Astra Taylor (Zizek!), who was one of our "25 New Faces of Independent Film" last year, and producer Laura Hanna are producing clips for VideoNation, the new web documentary component of The Nation magazine. Their first has just been posted, a short piece on Iraq Veterans Against the War.

The link to the new Nation video page is here and the piece itself is also embedded below. Taylor says to check back in a couple of weeks for her second piece, an animation about industrial food pollution.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/02/2007 11:11:00 AM Comments (0)

Although the Chinese occupation has never included atrocities such as ethnic cleansing, the attempted cultural eradication of the Tibetan people and their Buddhist religion harkens a gross human rights violation. In the years before the occupation only males were allowed to serve as monks, the spiritual leaders of the Tibetans. Since the 1950's the Chinese militia has attempted to systematically dismantle the religious and social practices of Tibet including burning down monasteries, prosecuting monks and killing thousands of worshippers in the process. In 1990, in an attempt to resurrect Buddhists practices in Tibet, the Kala Rongo monestary was formed and began to admit and incorporate women into mystical fold.

If you’re around Brooklyn next week you might stop by the Brooklyn Film Festival and check out Bari Pearlman's new film Daughters of Wisdom, which highlights the struggles and accomplishments of the female initiates. Shot against the breathtaking landscape of Nanchen, the nuns tell their stories of struggle from the cultural demise of Tibet, through the prejudices within the Buddhist hierarchy. The film also follows the villagers and nomadic families of Nanchen who since the occupation live in abject poverty without running water, proper medical care or an adequate food supply. The film also contains a riveting interview with Lama Norlha Rinpoche a meditation retreat master and founder of the monestary. He explains why women will play a vital role in the resurrection of the Tibetan people and the Buddhist practice. The film is beautiful, important and poignant so if you’re in town check it out, if not, maybe its time you came for a visit. You can check out dates and showtimes here.

# posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 6/01/2007 04:12:00 PM Comments (0)

I met independent filmmaker Mohammed Naqvi a couple of years ago when he participated in the IFP Director's Lab, which I taught. Now, he's finished a powerful film, Shame, which is a doc version of the dramatic script he was writing back then. Premiering on Showtime this week, the film "tells the true story of international human rights icon Mukhtaran Mai, a Pakistani peasant who was gang-raped and publicly shamed in her village, but used her trauma to spark a legal revolution that exposed centuries of brutal tribal conflict and government mismanagement."

Here are the Showtime dates:

Showtime May 31 9:00 PM
Showtime Too Jun 3 8:00 PM
Showtime Jun 6 6:15 PM
Showtime Jun 11 6:30 PM
Showtime Too Jun 12 5:55 PM

And here is the trailer:

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 6/01/2007 03:23:00 PM Comments (0)