Graham Leggat introduced Graydon Carter, one of the producers of the closing night film Gonzo: The Life and Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and the editor of Vanity Fair magazine since 1992. Not only was this the West Coast premiere of Gonzo, but the Vanity Fair Reel Relief benefit, which Carter proudly announced had raised $100,000 for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He, in turn, introduced Alex Gibney.
Gibney credited Carter as being the individual responsible for phoning him with the idea of doing a film on Hunter Thompson, some of whose writing Vanity Fair had published. Gibney further acknowledged two other producers in the audience: Alison Ellwood and Eva Orner. He stressed the importance of showing Gonzo to a San Franciscan audience since the city was so much a part of Thompson’s life. To preface the film, he offered a quote by Thompson on show business: “Show business is a cruel and shallow money trench; a long, plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. But there’s also a negative side.” Gibney added that Thompson also had a saying: “Buy the ticket, take the ride.” “You bought the ticket,” Gibney shouted out to his cheering audience, “take the ride!”
And what a ride! Equally hortatory and hagiographic, Gonzo frames a larger-than-life personality, the likes of which is nowhere to be found elsewhere even if crucially needed in such desperate times.
Continue Reading "SFIFF51: GONZO—Q&A With Director Alex Gibney"...
We here around Twitch are big fans of the Canadian National Treasure that is Guy Maddin. After a highly successful run on the festival circuit, his latest film, My Winnipeg, is set for a limited theatrical release next month. Perhaps his most accessible film to date, don’t let the fact that it is a documentary (and a documentary on a city, and that city being Winnipeg) scare you away. My Winnipeg is delightful, vitriolic, unique and funny all at the same time (and often in the same scene) as it goes about truly mythologizing the coldest city in the world.
Have you ever wanted to relive your childhood and do things differently? Guy Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD) casts B-movie icon Ann Savage as his domineering mother in attempt to answer that question in MY WINNPEG, a hilariously wacky and profoundly touching goodbye letter to his childhood hometown. The film is a documentary (or “docu-fantasia” as Maddin proclaims) that blends local and personal history with surrealist images and metaphorical myths that cover everything from the fire at the local park, which leads to a frozen lake of distressed horse heads, to pivotal, sometimes traumatic, factually heightened scenes from Maddin’s own childhood.
A big thanks to the Quiet Earth boys for passing the heads up on this.
Never thought I’d see the day when I post something with the words ‘Isabella Rossellini’ and ‘porn’ in it, but he we are. When we first posted about the series of short films that Isabella Rossellini was doing about the sex lives of insects that news single-handedly nearly crashed our server! Now comes word that the Sundance Channel is hosting the series of short films titled Green Porno.
ATTENTION: While this is great news these shorts are only available to viewers in the United States. The shorts will be available outside of the US in July. Stupid.
Head on over and watch Isabella Rossellini do the nasty with bugs! Sundance Channel presents GREEN PORNO!
The opportunity to enjoy my two favorite pastimes in one sitting – movies and basketball – comes along once in a great while. Said fusions often take the form of lower-brow comedies like Semi-Pro, but the occasional gem like The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh or acclaimed doc Hoop Dreams shines through. The second feature-length directorial effort from Adam Yauch (better know as MCA of seminal hip-hop / punk trio The Beastie Boys), Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot lands firmly on the “gem” side of hoops / film hybrid, even if squanders opportunities to dig deeper into the fascinating issues and events it chronicles in favor of a more generalized presentation.
Continue Reading "IIFF 2008 - GUNNIN’ FOR THAT #1 SPOT review"...
For those who’ve been asking how they can get their hands on copies of award-winning films from the Malaysian independent scene, well Da Huang Pictures has just gone online with its webstore.
Da Huang is a collective that consists of filmmakers Amir Muhammad, Tan Chui Mui, James Lee and Liew Seng Tat, and the webstore carries titles by them. At the moment, seven titles are available - Love Conquers All, Flower In The Pocket, Village People Radio Show, Lee’s trilogy of Before We Fall In Love Again, Things We Do When We Fall In Love and Waiting For Love, and Three Short Films By Tan Chui Mui. In time,more titles will be available.
Probably the only thing to complain about here is that there’s not a lot on the DVDs’ specs, eg. aspect ratio, language options, subtitles, extras, etc. But I think it can be safely assumed that ALL of the DVDs are English-friendly.
All the titles are also available at the Asian Film Archive in Singapore.
Ready, get set, go! The wait is over and the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival is fixed to begin. Over the past few weeks I’ve had the chance to preview a handful of festival titles on screener (plus one press screening), and herein offer some thoughts on what I’ve seen.
Out of the bunch, the two films with the biggest pre-festival profiles are undoubtedly Catherine Breillat’s festival opener The Last Mistress (Une vieille maîtresse) and Jia Zheng-ke’s Still Life (Sanxia haoren). Reams have been written about both since their premieres at Cannes 2007 and Venice 2006 respectively. So rather than add to the din, I’ll simply say that both are as excellent as anything else to be found in their directors’ esteemed filmographies. Asia Argento’s feral, spellbinding performance as an obsessed 19th century Spanish courtesan has to be seen to be believed. And Yu Lik-wai’s HD cinematography of the area to be flooded by China’s Three Gorges Dam is as crisp and sumptuous as digital filmmaking gets.
Continue Reading "SFIFF51—Michael Hawley At the Starting Gun!"...
I’ve been meaning to comment for weeks now on the crisp new design of SF360. They’ve done away with the graded green-to-orange color scheme (thank you!) and are now bylining their features. Congratulations to Susan Gerhard and her SF360 team for the fresh new look!
This is as good a time as any to tip the hat because it’s also when SF360 really shines with its coverage of the San Francisco International. Along with her initial report from the SFIFF51 press conference, Susie has organized her writers to focus first on Bay Area filmmakers and their contributions to SFIFF51. These include:
Chuy Varela on Cachao: Uno Mas.
Michael Fox’s interview with Johnny Symons, director of Ask Not.
Michael Fox’s interview with Renee Tajima-Peña, director of Calavera Highway.
Susan Gerhard’s interview with Dawn Logsdon, director of Faubourg Tremé.
Susan Gerhard’s interview with Logan and Noah Miller, co-directors of Touching Home.
Michael Fox’s interview with Craig Baldwin, director of Mock Up On Mu.
Cross-published on The Evening Class.
With two films from Argentina, two from Brazil, one from Chile, and a short from Colombia, the sampling of South American cinema in this year’s SFIFF line-up is considerably less ample than in past years. Notwithstanding, the sextet warrants mention.
Brazil wins out with Philippe Barcinksi’s impressive debut feature Não Por Acaso (Not By Chance, 2007), wherein a tenuous balance between risk and control is played out in the lives of two domineering men who suffer unavoidable and comparable loss. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano has written that in the automotive age the term “accident” is a misleading misnomer and should more appropriately be termed “consequence”; a theme Not By Chance suggests when—as Joni Mitchell sings—"change comes at you like a broadside accident.” Though change might be more the consequence of life, some changes (as the film’s title attests) are not by chance and only by surrendering to serendipity can one risk the insecure hazard of love.
Bound by hold review policy, I can’t say much more; but, Variety has given Robert Koehler considerable more leeway. He recognizes the film’s ambitious promise even as he acknowledges some first film fumbles that Barcinksi commendably overcomes.
Continue Reading "SFIFF51—South American Cinema"...
This year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF), into its 21st edition, runs from 4th to 14th April, and features an unprecedented 13 local feature films and documentaries in a Singapore Panorama section.
I had the privilege of catching the World Premiere of Harman Hussin’s Road to Mecca recently at the Singapore International Film Festival, and had the opportunity to discuss some of the issues that were touched upon during his road trip. Slight spoilers ahead in the interview as we discuss some key moments, so tread with caution if you please!
Stefan: As you noted in the movie, Singapore to Mecca takes about 9 hours by plane. What made you decide to embark on the road less travelled, especially since with limited funds, and on a tight budget. Were you at any time persuaded or discouraged not to go the unconventional way?
Harman Hussin: Like I said during the first screening, “it is my dream - when you see it you’ll believe it”. It’s a dream to pass through this land with an open heart.
I would say there were plenty of indirect discouragements and also of course there were encouragements as well – some of these discouraging and encouraging words are there in the documentary. However, I was never discouraged by those words, but I got to admit it really took a lot of my energies – though in fact it kept me going.
Continue Reading "SIFF 2008 - An Interview with Harman HUSSIN, Director of Road to Mecca"...
Citing last year’s 50th anniversary festival as a “fantastic benchmark” and “a gateway to a brighter future,” SF Film Society Executive Director Graham Legatt and his programming team revealed this year’s equally impressive line-up at a press conference last week. In a recent Evening Class write-up, I summarized all the special events that had been announced prior to the press conference, to which we can now add the following:
* Errol Morris will receive this year’s Persistence of Vision Award, with an on-stage interview and a screening of his latest work, Standard Operating Procedure.
* The Maurice Kanbar Award for screenwriting will go to Robert Towne, who will be interviewed on stage by Eddie Muller prior to a screening of Shampoo.
* This year’s State of Cinema Address will be given by Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine and former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog.
* Rose McGowen and Jason Lee are to be the recipients of this year’s (2nd annual) Midnight Awards, presented to an actor and actress “entering the prime of their careers.”
That same pre-press conference write-up contained the Cinema by the Bay and Castro Theater roster of films. We now know what the other 80-plus programs worth of narrative and documentary features will be, and it’s quite something—full of movies I’d been hoping the festival would bring our way. I’ve had a week to digest the line-up and now offer this overview of what I personally find exciting about SFIFF51.
Continue Reading "SFIFF51—Michael Hawley Previews The Lineup"...
I’ve long felt that Grace Lee’s American Zombie and J.T. Petty’s S&Man would be the perfect doublebill date, primarily because they’re both refreshingly honest about being false documentaries morphing into the horror genre. As I’ve already written, horror movies are once again the rage; but, curiously the really good ones are now called documentaries.
I caught American Zombie when it played the 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and spoke briefly with Grace Lee at that time. The film opened theatrically in Los Angeles this past weekend, with no immediate prospects in view for a Bay Area screening. I was holding off on posting my interview until the film appeared Bayside; but, consider it might be more important to advance its Los Angeles premiere in hopes firing that booster engine propels it to San Francisco.
Continue Reading "AMERICAN ZOMBIE—Interview With Grace Lee"...
My interview with Pedro Costa is up at Greencine’s main site, where Dave Hudson has graciously excused the fact that neither Pedro nor I “are in any rush to move on from one topic to the next.”
Cross-published on The Evening Class.
This year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF), into its 21st edition, runs from 4th to 14th April, and features an unprecedented 13 local feature films and documentaries in a Singapore Panorama section.
I came to experience James and Lynn’s documentaries back in 2006 at a festival screening of Passabe, which explored the themes of justice, reconciliation and forgiveness through the eyes of ordinary villages in remote East Timor. My very first impression was that it was very courageous of them to venture into the road less travelled, and was obviously out of their comfort zone in Singapore. Then their next feature documentary, Aki Ra’s Boys, brought them out to the mine fields of Cambodia, and to see them document Aki Ra up close as he goes about defusing live mines was nothing short of mind-boggling!
The directing duo has definitely earned my respect and admiration. And I got pretty much excited about their Homeless FC project, which makes its local premiere in this year’s SIFF. Despite being overseas at this point in time, they managed to spare me a few moments for this online interview:
Stefan: Hi James and Lynn, I’m pretty excited to be able to finally catch Homeless FC when it makes its Singapore debut, after missing out on its World Premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival last year. I believe the film has travelled the world for close to a year now. Would you like to share with us how the reception toward it had been so far?
James and Lynn: The reception’s been good so far. We recently won an award in Hong Kong, which was very unexpected.
It’s nice to be able to connect with your audience, to have people from all over the world write to you after that, asking after the main characters in your film.
Continue Reading "SIFF 2008 - An Interview with James LEONG and Lynn LEE, Directors of Homeless FC"...
This year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF), into its 21st edition, runs from 4th to 14th April, and features an unprecedented 13 local feature films and documentaries in a Singapore Panorama section.
ENG Yee Peng had made a documentary about her village hometown, Lim Chu Kang, that had to make way for progress and development in the area. Her first documentary, Diminishing Memories, charts a lifestyle in Singapore no more, and collates fond memories of a life bygone. The follow up to that documentary will now make its World Premiere at the SIFF, and I take the opportunity to talk to Yee Peng about her new film.
Continue Reading "SIFF 2008 - An Interview with ENG Yee Peng, Director of Diminishing Memories II"...
Someone has been digging around in the Norwegian film archives to unearth this little Archeological doc from 1999. I have my suspicions, as only one part 1 of 3 of The Goblin Man of Norway seems to be available at the Norsk Film Komite site (the other two are dead links), but it is gorgeously shot and scored, so have a look. It plays like Errol Morris meets John Carpenter and that is pretty darn sweet. The first 6 minuteas are embedded in the Twitch Player after the jump, or downloadable or streamable in the links below.
Continue Reading "What is The Goblin Man of Norway?"...
