Once again, Michael Hawley helps the Twitch readership keep abreast of one film festival after the other in the San Francisco / Bay Area. Thanks, Michael!
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) turns a ripe young age of 29 this year, continuing its reign as the oldest and largest festival of its kind in the world. Over the course of 18 days (July 23 to August 10) SFJFF will present 71 films from 18 countries—showcasing the best Israeli and Jewish Diasporan cinema to emerge in the past year. Although I missed last week’s press conference announcing the line-up, I’ve poured over the catalog and compiled this list of ten programs I don’t want to miss.
Continue Reading "SFJFF09—Michael Hawley Anticipates the Line-Up"...
As Queers prepare to celebrate Stonewall’s 40th anniversary next month, it’s fitting that films spotlighting LGBT elders be at the center of this year’s Frameline festival. That was the summational spin placed on this year’s event by new Executive Director K.C. Price and longtime Festival Director Jennifer Morris, as they walked us through the 2009 line-up at last week’s press conference. The festival turns 33 this year, and here’s an acknowledged fact that always bears repeating—Frameline is the oldest and largest LGBT film exhibition event in the world. Appropriately, 2009’s rousing theme—“The Power of Film”—is emblazoned upon a purple, fist-pumping Socialist-Realism inspired logo, and the festival’s trailer features THE original Super-8 projector used at the very first festival in 1977.
At a time when many arts organizations are struggling to retain funding, Frameline has emerged relatively unscathed. Price explained that while many of the festival’s corporate sponsors have slashed all arts bankrolling, when it came to Frameline, “they just couldn’t do it.” Happily, this enabled a hold on ticket prices which are already among the lowest of all Bay Area film festivals. There’s more good news for the wallet. For those with weekday afternoons free (whether because of a job layoff or otherwise), the festival is introducing a $35.00 Weekday Matinee Pass good for all 15 Castro Theater screenings, Monday through Friday before 5:00PM. This breaks down to roughly $2.35 per show. Also new in 2009, audience members can eschew paper ballots in favor of voting for films by text-messaging. I’m mighty ambivalent about this one and hereby issue a warning: anyone seen texting their vote (and emitting that horribly distracting light) before a film is finished, will be smacked upside the head with a rolled-up Frameline catalogue by one very annoyed LGBT elder.
Continue Reading "FRAMELINE33—Michael Hawley Anticipates the Lineup"...
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"...
With a multiracial, Hawaii/Indonesia-raised president in the White House, it’s fortuitous that the issue of mixed race is also at the core of many films in the 27th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (“SFIAAFF”). That’s the observation with which Festival Director Chi-hui Yang and Assistant Director Vicci Ho kicked off last week’s press conference announcing this year’s line-up. Additionally, they noted a marked emphasis on films from South Asia, South Korea and Japan this year. I think the program is an even stronger one than usual, at least in terms of containing many of the films I’ve been hoping to see. Here’s a look at some highlights.
The big event is undoubtedly the seven-film spotlight on Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the Japanese auteur best known for his metaphysical thrillers Cure and Pulse. Kurosawa was last here in 2004 for the SF International Film Festival’s screenings of Doppelganger, and I’ve been assured that he will appear at all SFIAAFF screenings before leaving Sunday, the 15th. The series includes his most recent film, the critically acclaimed, Cannes jury prize-winning Tokyo Sonata, as well as four rare, older films which all deal with the theme of revenge. Those are 1997’s The Revenge: A Visit From Fate and The Revenge: The Scar That Never Fades, which screen back-to-back at the Pacific Film Archive; and 1998’s Serpent’s Path and Eyes of the Spider, which are being shown as a late-night, Friday the 13th double-bill at the Castro Theater. A third little-known film directed by Kurosawa in 1998, License to Live is described as a “Tokyo slacker merger of Rip Van Winkle, family melodramas and Samuel Becket-like surrealism.” And finally, for those who missed its brief run at the 4-Star Theater in the summer of 2005, the J-horror classic Pulse will screen once only at the PFA on Sunday, March 25—presenting a real conundrum for those loathe to miss SFIAAFF’s annual Bollywood night at the Castro. I’m a big fan of Kurosawa and there are five films in the series I’ve never seen—bravo to SFIAAFF for finally bringing them our way. It’s interesting to note, however, the absence of 2005’s Loft and 2006’s Retribution, neither of which have screened in the Bay Area.
Continue Reading "SFIAAFF 2009—Michael Hawley Previews the Line-up"...
As its theatrical poster infers, Veit Helmer’s third feature Absurdistan (2008) is a buoyant and romantically ebullient fable, tempering the sexual politics of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata with enchanting dollops of magical realism and insouciant humor. Since at least the Soviet perestroika, the term “absurdistan”—according to Wikipedia—has been in use to satirize “a country in which absurdity is the norm, especially in its public authorities and government.”
Eschewing the term’s potential political heft, however, Helmer adopted it to entitle his allegorical comedy centered on two childhood sweethearts—Aya (Kristyna Malérová) and Temelko (Max Mauff)—who seem destined for each other from the moment they’re born. But when a water shortage threatens their village and the lazy indifference of the male villagers angers the women to go on a sex strike until the drought is resolved, Aya and Temelko’s first night of love—predicted by a narrow astrological window—is jeopardized. Temelko must come up with a solution to the water shortage to satisfy all parties involved in order to win his beloved Aya. His efforts prove comic, poignant and … well … downright absurd.
Continue Reading "REVIEW of ABSURDISTAN (2008)"...
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!"...
If you take a look at the final audience rating list of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, you’ll notice that one of the highest positions is actually held by a documentary which had its World-Premiere there.
And you might want to take a good look at the rating next to it: a whopping 4.36 out of 5. Very high considering the way these scores are calculated, especially since there will always be some people who totally disagree with either the message of a documentary or the way in which the subject is shown.
So you might assume this is a crowdpleaser.
But “pleaser” is the wrong word here, as there is nothing entertaining or amusing about what happened to Ajmal Naqshbandi.
It’s not a crowdshocker either, as director Ian Olds thankfully has an excellent sense of taste and a dislike of both spectacle and fake sentiment.
Crowd-silencer probably comes closest, as “The Fixer: the Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi” left the audience in Rotterdam speechless for several minutes after the ending, at each of its three public showings.
In 2007 Ian and his team were documenting the way in which so-called local “fixers” were helping foreign press crews get their footage in Afghanistan. Ajmal was reputedly the best fixer there was so he became the focus of the documentary.
Little did Ian know that his subject was about to be kidnapped and decapitated by Taliban extremists.
More after the break…
Continue Reading "IFFR 2009: THE FIXER: THE TAKING OF AJMAL NAQSHBANDI Review"...
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"...
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!"...
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"...
Continuing with his articulate generosity, Michael Hawley offers Twitch his write-up on films from Berlin & Beyond that he’s caught on screener. Thanks, Michael!
* * *
“When I left Havana, nobody saw me but me.”
And so begins the most oft-recorded song in the history of music—Sebastián de Iradier’s ode to desire, wanderlust and melancholy—“La Paloma.” Composed in Spanish Basque country in the 1860s, the melody has been adapted by scores of countries and cultures over the past century and a half. Over 2,000 recorded versions are known to exist, which is the subject of Sigrid Faltin’s lovely bit of movie musicology, La Paloma—Longing Worldwide, my favorite of the films previewed for this year’s Berlin & Beyond film festival.
Continue Reading "BERLIN & BEYOND 2009—Michael Hawley Reviews His Screeners"...
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.
It took four years for Israeli director Ari Folman to complete his animated documentary Waltz With Bashir, which was entered in the competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Though—despite predictions—it did not win that honor, Waltz With Bashir went on to win six awards from the Israeli Film Academy, including Best Picture. It had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and its US premiere at the 46th New York Film Festival. The film has been submitted as Israel’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, as well as for Best Animated Feature. Concerned with the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, the film came highly praised at its Cannes premiere as one that would “leave its mark forever on the ethics of war films in general” (Screen Daily). Variety hailed it as “something special, strange and peculiarly potent.” Time magazine asserted that “the message of the futility of war has rarely been painted with such bold strokes.” It was with considerable respect that I sat down to converse with Ari Folman.
Continue Reading "WALTZ WITH BASHIR—Interview With Ari Folman"...
The Global Film Initiative and Virgin America, the California-based airline, are partnering to release the Initiative’s critically acclaimed traveling film series—Global Lens—on Virgin America’s interactive, in-flight entertainment system, RED™. Films from the series are now available on demand on all Virgin America flights.
“Global Lens is a one-of-a-kind film series. Virgin America is a one-of-a-kind airline. Put the two together and you have an in-flight experience that has no comparison,” says Santhosh Daniel, Director of Programs at the Global Film Initiative. The Global Lens series is a collection of dynamic feature-length film from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East that can be seen in more than 35 cities across the United States and in Canada. On Virgin America, the Global Film Initiative brings this diverse and pioneering collection to new audiences via RED™—Virgin America’s touch-screen personal in-flight entertainment system. “Virgin America is committed to offering guests the best and most eclectic entertainment choices in the sky,” says Porter Gale, Vice President of Marketing at Virgin America. “The partnership with Global Lens allows us to offer guests an in-flight film festival of independently produced films at every seatback.”
The inaugural release of Global Lens on RED™ features South African comedic hit Bunny Chow (dir. John Barker) and Argentine drama Kept and Dreamless (dir. Vera Fogwill and Martin DeSalvo), followed by Indonesian critic’s favorite Opera Jawa (dir. Garin Nugroho) and Iranian culinary tour-de-force The Fish Fall in Love (dir. Ali Raffi). In March, Virgin America will also release Global Lens 2009, the sixth installment of the Initiative’s renowned series. One of the most acclaimed lineups yet, Global Lens 2009 includes three North American premieres, Macedonia’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, and prize-winning features fresh from the top festivals worldwide.
As part of the new partnership, the Global Film Initiative and Virgin America are also launching Wing It! a hip, new quarterly arts and culture contest for high school and college-age students. Winners of each contest will receive a ticket to anywhere Virgin America flies, and will also be featured on the Initiative’s website. Wing It! is a creative expansion of the Initiative’s Education Program and will go live Spring 2009. Contest details are available here.
Cross-published at The Evening Class.
Now, this is a surprising and very deserving move. The National Society of Film Critics have just named Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir the Best Picture of 2008 - a move that should help it’s chances for an Oscar nomination later this month. Bashir would have seemed a sure thing to at least be nominated for an Oscar this year but a shortage of submitted animated features means only three animated films can be nominated and with most people figuring Wall*E and Kung Fu Panda will take up two of those slots that means one of arthouse faves Waltz With Bashir or $9.99 is going to be left out cold.
Waltz With Bashir is on screens in limited release right now, check it out if at all possible. The trailers are below the break and you can find my review at the link below.
Continue Reading "National Society Of Film Critics Names WALTZ WITH BASHIR Best Picture!"...
