You can do little wrong when you decide to go to Montreal for the Fantasia International Film Festival and this year’s lineup proves to be no exception. Want a taste? David Morley’s MUTANTS, Adam Mason’s BLOOD RIVER, José Mojica Marins’ EMBODIMENT OF EVIL, Tom Shankland’s THE CHILDREN, Park Chan-wook’s THIRST and Satoshi Miki’s INSTANT SWAMP are just some of the titles at this year’s festival.
There is a lengthy announcement after the break. Take your time and we are sure you’ll find some must-sees. Then we’ll see you in Montreal between July 9th and 27th.
Continue Reading "FANTASIA 2009 announces lineup. She be a doozy!!!"...
Something I have wondered about many times is why, exactly, we don’t see more genre film coming out of Israel. The nation produces a decent number of films every year and given its history you’d expect a certain amount of apocalyptic imagery to come seeping through, just as is the case with Japanese film. But strangely it doesn’t happen much.
Enter Dan Sachar, a young writer-director who has just completed his sophomore film school project, a post-apocalyptic short titled When It Will Be Silent. Shot in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Jordan the film captures, in Sachar’s words, “the last day of a love tale in a morbid post apocalyptic world.” Having just had the chance to see the full short, it’s hard not to see parallels to Tarkovsky’s Stalker in the way that Sachar uses an actual, blasted setting for his film and it’s also hard not to imagine that this is just a small part of a much larger story. No matter how you look at it, however, it’s fantastic.
I can’t share the full short but I do have a brief teaser below the break and a pair of behind the scenes stills at the link below.
Continue Reading "The Apocalypse Comes To Israel In WHEN IT WILL BE SILENT"...
[I’m bouncing this back to the top of the page purely because my set just arrived and it is gorgeous.]
A beautiful-looking boxset put out by the Jeonju International Film Festival showcases the work of filmmakers from Asia, Africa and Europe, and includes both the long-awaited English-subtitled version of Song Il-gon’s Magicians as well as Shinya Tsukamoto’s Haze and Bong Joon-ho’s Influenza. This from Tom Giammarco’s Seen in Jeonju:
Every year since the first Jeonju International Film Festival back in 2000, JIFF selects three filmmakers who are given 50 million KRW to create a thirty-minute digital movie. No restrictions are given to the topic or type of film to be made and many of the results have been outstanding. Now, gathered together for the first time, these 27 films from 2000-2008 have been made available in a 915 minutes, 9-disk set.
The DVD will be sold at the JIFF website beginning June 15.
The ever diligent Japanese director is lacing up his sandals and brandishing a katana sword for an upcoming remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 film Thirteen Assassins
The two producers behind this project are based in Japan and the UK. Japan’s Toshiaki Nakazawa picked up this year’s foreign-language Oscar for Departures, you might have heard of it, and has worked with Miike on Sukiyaki Western Django and The Bird People in China. The UK’s Jeremy Thomas has a extensive experience with Asian cinema. He made Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and brought Takeshi Kitano’s Brother to the international marketplace. Having a western based producer behind the production should mean a greater chance of Miike’s film traveling outside of Japan. Toho Studios has already bought the rights for the Japanese theatrical release.
Receiving a confidential order from a senior executive of the Tokugawa Sshogunate, 13 samurai warriors set about plotting to assassinate Matsudaira Nariaki, chief of the Akashi feudal clan who is extraordinarily cruel and lewd. The group has 60 days to achieve the goal by ambushing the Akashi procession returning from Edo after a one-year attendance. How can the 13 assassins, who are given only one chance and not allowed to fail, engage the 53-person procession and kill Nariaki? The assassins thrilling plan and actions reach the climax in a war of slaughter depicted with breathtaking, heroic reality. Plot Synopsis from Eiichi Kudo’s film
HanWay films will be on the market floor in Cannes this week so we expect our Lord and Master Todd to come back with something, anything, to share. Filming begins in July!
Continue Reading "Takashi Miike to remake Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 film ‘Thirteen Assassins’!"...
In the world of English-language film, South Africa remains a bit of an undiscovered country, with very few films from that nation travelling out onto the international stage. But make no mistake about it, that is going to change and probably change rather soon. And one film that I know is starting to attract attention is raw indie thriller Slam-Bang.
SLAM-BANG takes place over the duration of a day. When an IT guy is roped into stealing information off a computer, he finds himself surrounded by violence and mayhem as things don’t work out the way they should. Thwarted each step of the way by ruthless killers determined to stop him, he must race against time to save his girlfriend’s life. But he soon learns that it will take more then guts to survive the day. This black comedy/thriller is a wild tale, jam-packed with guns, torture, drugs… and guts.
The trailer is still rather rough but there’s an undeniable energy to the thing. Check it out below the break.
Continue Reading "Trailer For South African Indie Action Thriller SLAM-BANG"...
I usually turn to Brian Darr at Hell on Frisco Bay to keep apprised of upcoming film-related events in the San Francisco/Bay Area, but as his entries at that site have become infrequent—no doubt because he’s avidly working on his essay and slide show for this summer’s upcoming San Francisco Silent Film Festival—I turn to Michael Hawley and film-415 to nudge me towards this screening or that. My thanks to Michael for sharing his previews with Twitch.
Continue Reading "Michael Hawley Looks Ahead"...
Bay Area cinephiles will be obsessively checking their in-boxes this Friday, awaiting e-mail instructions on how to access the program for the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF52). The line-up won’t be officially announced until the March 31 press conference, but for the third year in a row, SF Film Society members get to peek (and start buying tickets) four days earlier. Press releases have arrived at a steady clip over the past few weeks, and the festival has already revealed much of its hand. Here’s a recap of what we know so far, followed by a bit of speculation and wishful thinking over what Friday might have in store.
Continue Reading "SFIFF52—Michael Hawley Anticipates the Line-up"...
Last year I commented how funny it was that loyal forumer and sometimes contributor Peter Cornelissen had seen many movies, yet our lists hardly overlapped.
Well, guess what: this year I saw more movies, Peter Cornelissen saw more movies, but still at the end we only had two films in common. And we went to different screenings so we never even met!
Needless to say I was very interested in his yearly wrap-up, and here it is.
Over to you, Peter!
Recap of the 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam
– by Peter Cornelissen
The IFFR is one of the biggest of the European film festivals, so, where to start? Always a small problem. With a still new director (it was the second year for Rutger Wolfson) and now a new logo too, some attempts are made at creating a bit of transparency. But with hundreds of films in the programme there can never be a single theme to focus on. This year none of the themes that were focused on by the festival itself appealed to me. There were ghost and other horror movies from Asia in the spotlight while the high point of the rise in that genre has long since been reached. Turkish cinema was in the spotlight but “Three Monkeys” was not in the selection. And with outdoor screenings on huge canvasses of specially commissioned pieces some discussion about formats should have been provoked, but of course this was just more of a promotional stunt.
But don’t take all that as a negative. Promotion must be made to keep the festival going and although I was missing quite a few films that should have been obvious selections (like “Three Monkeys”, but also the new Philippe Grandrieux movie “Un Lac”), this years crop was nothing short of spectacular. So without a theme and ‘only’ 23 features seen, I’m going to talk here about the premiere films that I saw; just to bring you the news about the latest movies out there.
(Peter’s bullet reviews after the break!)
Continue Reading "IFFR 2009 Wrap-up by Peter Cornelissen: more reviews than you can shake a stick at!"...
From the capacity audiences at San Francisco’s Noir City, I’ve shifted to the sparse attendance at Pacific Film Archive’s third annual African Film Festival National Touring Series; a sobering familiar reminder of the status of African cinemas in the United States. Echoing the sentiments voiced by Thomas J. Bikales in his unpublished 1997 dissertation “From ‘Culture’ to ‘Commercialization’: The Production and Packaging of an African Cinema in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso”, Jason Sanders offers by way of introduction to the series: “In a world that’s seemingly becoming more interconnected every day, the chances to see new international cinema are paradoxically shrinking, with independent film distributors shutting down and theaters preferring to show the ‘safest bets.’ Into this void steps the touring program of the annual New York African Film Festival, which presents an opportunity to experience the vibrant voices and visions of recent cinema from across the African continent.”
The mission statement for the New York African Film Festival says it all: “In the 1950s and 1960s, African film was born to combat decades of stereotypes depicting Africa as the ‘dark continent.’ With the camera as their tool, African filmmakers began to create new images of postcolonial Africa that promoted a nuanced understanding of African cultures and history. Slicing through stereotypes, African cinema became a unique blend of vibrant aesthetic experimentation and biting social critique. In the past 50 years, African filmmaking has become as diverse as the continent from which it springs. History and politics provide the impetus for themes such as previously suppressed critiques of colonialism, post-independence corruption, chronicles of tribal customs and visions of contemporary society. At the same time, African filmmakers draw on the wellspring of myth, fantasy, humor and magic in order to forge a unique visual and narrative sensibility where tradition and modernity encounter each other. This kind of cinema stands as a powerful intellectual and emotional force, making it one of the most effective educational tools and media for cross-cultural communication.”
Continue Reading "PFA—AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2009"...
My perpetual thanks to Frako Loden for offering Twitch her notes from this year’s edition of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which I was not able to attend this year.
* * *
On the same flight from SFO as programmer Anita Monga, we arrived four hours late but didn’t miss any screenings like last year. I attended the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival for all but the final weekend—eight days. I got in four films a day at five different venues and was able to eat and shuttle expeditiously in between. Special thanks to the sweet-and-sour cabbage soup at Sherman’s Deli! I stayed at the Coyote Inn in the Tennis Court neighborhood, a 10-minute walk to the Regal where I saw most of my films. (Anita stayed at A Place in the Sun Garden Hotel, so named because it was built in the early 1950s as a retreat for the production crew of that film.) The days were uniformly sunny and warmer than previous years. No late-evening screenings. This year felt even more geriatric than the year before. I had some great conversations with festivalgoers, but I had more than my share of stupefying exchanges with people who didn’t have the slightest idea what films were doing in their brains. Aside from the first day’s movie, which had us being moved from one screening room to another and stuck in the second row after an hour’s wait in line, there were no logistical fuckups that I experienced. Nonetheless there was plenty of loud complaining, a few emotional meltdowns and indignant comments in line and during some screenings. A huge increase in loud, one-way cell conversations as near-deaf callers barked into their phones. Back in Berkeley I got a sick jolt from hearing some music on TV and realized it was the same Mercedes ad that I had been forced to watch over 30 times at the start of each screening.
Warning: I tried not to include plot spoilers, but some of these capsules may contain information that could be construed as spoilers.
Continue Reading "PSIFF 2009—Frako Loden Takes Notes"...
This year AMC will present a six hour mini-series, a reinterpretation of the British 1960s cult hit series The Prisoner, starring Sir Ian McKellen as Number Two and Jim Caviezel as Number Six. I cannot admit to being a fan of the original show. It was a touch before my arrival on the shores of jolly old England and was something that I never got around to watching in syndication. However, there is a devout following of the original show and popular shows like The Simpsons have paid homage to its influence.
A man, known as “Six,” finds himself inexplicably trapped in “The Village” with no memory of how he arrived. As he explores his environment, he discovers that his fellow inhabitants are identified by number instead of name, have no memory of any prior existence, and are under constant surveillance. Not knowing whom to trust, Six is driven by the need to discover the truth behind The Village, the reason for his being there, and most importantly—how he can escape.
We’ve been given a sneak peak at the production. You can find the video after the break.
Continue Reading "Sneak peak of AMC’s mini-series The Prisoner with Sir Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel"...
Good grief, I’ve never hit the International Film Festival Rotterdam as hard as I did this year. Peter and I have seen so many movies and talked to so many people that, as you may have noticed, we have had barely any time to actually WRITE anything! You can expect many reviews and interviews from us in the coming week(s).
But Saturday evening the 31st marked the official end of the festival and all the awards have now been given. A full list can be found after the break, but here are the three winners of the much-coveted Tiger Awards:
“BREATHLESS”, Yang Ik-June (South Korea)
“WRONG ROSARY”, Mahmut Fazil Coskun (Turkey)
“BE CALM AND COUNT TO SEVEN”, Ramtin Lavafipour (Iran)
Who said Asian cinema is dead, aye?
Tiger Award winners each get a cool 15,000 Euro to play with, and as only first-time and second-time directors can enter the competition this money is guaranteed to fall into the right hands: fledgling moviemakers who are desperately scraping together money for their next production.
As for the picture on the upper-left: this is what Yang Ik-June looks like after you give him two beers, 15,000 Euro and a cool trophy!
You can expect an interview with him and a full review for “Breathless” in the next few days.
More awards after the break…
Continue Reading "IFFR 2009: Awards! Awards!"...
Kristin Thompson caught Jerusalema at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and describes it as “Michael Mann shooting a gritty Hong Kong action film, but setting it among Johannesburg gangs.” Many are agog at the film’s City of God-like depiction of South Africa as an urban war zone, but director Ziman told audiences at a Q and A at the festival that Johannesburg really is that bad. South African audiences apparently agree, as it was submitted as South Africa’s Oscar contender for the year. Ziman talks a bit in this interview about the title of the film, which comes from an African hymn about Jerusalem being described as the Promised Land throughout the Bible. The bitter subtext here refers to all the ways in which Johannesburg has failed to become the “new Jerusalem” envisioned by the end of apartheid. Instead what remains is an endless cycle of criminals and schemes like those documented in the film. References in various reviews to a scene where several budding criminals watch Michael Mann’s Heat for tips on how to jack an armored car call to mind the Pulp Fiction conversation in Jia’s Unknown Pleasures. Stumbling across bits of Hollywood in these settings is always unsettling when they connect back to real life circumstances abroad. The good news is that the film has been picked up for American distribution, but Ralph Ziman is being tight-lipped until an official announcement. Until then, this detailed review at Fataculture should suffice. We will keep an eye on upcoming screenings.
True to my own thematic heart, this year Turner Classic Movies (TCM) approaches the Oscar® season with its annual “31 Days of Oscar” organized as a university curriculum, with Academy Award®-winning and nominated films representing such a wide array of departments as economics and biology to music appreciation and world history. As film host and historian Robert Osborne has specified, “In case you wonder why we call our Academy Award® salute ‘31 Days of Oscar’ and extend it three days past the 28 days of February, no college degree is required to learn the reason. The answer is simple. When we began our Oscar® salutes in 1995, the Academy Awards® were presented every March which has 31 days. Then in 2004, the award month was changed to February, so we changed too, but decided to extend our salute as well to continue delivering a full “31 days” of the best of the best.” As the official biographer of the Academy Awards®, Osborne is full of such facts and I welcomed the opportunity to talk with him once more; it’s always a genuine pleasure.
Continue Reading "TCM: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR—Interview With Robert Osborne"...
The eleventh issue of movieScope is on the stands. Online, readers can access an abbreviated edit of my conversation with Arnaud Desplechin (ah, wordcount!), as well as Adam Thursby‘s profile of actor Stephen Rea. Liz Hobbs writes up the Old Vic Theatre and explores the collaboration between stage and screen.
A portion of the cover feature on Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is available by way of editor Eric Lilleør’s introductory editorial. At the “Fading In” sidebar Andy Conway wryly riffs on “Fundophobia, Draftophilia and the ADDP.”
In the Insiders P.O.V. sidebar of the print issue, Mick Southworth & Martin McCabe reminisce on the bygone era of movie poster art in their essay “Coming Soon: The Art of the Quad.” Director Ron Oliver offers tips on directing children in his piece “Alligators Have the Right Idea.” Rick Drew recruits Seth Lochhead as a case study of what’s involved in selling a script and building a career in his article “What Happens After Your Big Break?” With “¡Viva Producing!”, Leopoldo Gout shares how a multi-cultural and multi-medium background can enhance a producer’s eye. And Kieron Connolly profiles Oscar®-winning Brit film editor Anne V. Coates in “Film isn’t the End of Everything.”
The Features sidebar includes Adam Thursby’s dispatch from the 2008 British Independent Film Awards. Chris Patmore catches up with actress and human rights activist Nandita Das at The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival where she screened her directorial debut Firaaq. Patmore likewise profiles Tulpan director Sergei Dvortsevoy. Athos Kyrus focuses on Michael V. Lewis, CEO and co-founder of the world’s leader in 3-D projection technology. Liz Hobbs follows up and updates her 2008 list of filmmakers to watch. And Rich Bradley elicits a survey of African cinemas from Burkina Faso’s most prolific director Gaston Kaboré.
Cross-published on The Evening Class.
