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"...

Shortly before the hordes began chanting, “The Daily is dead; long live The Daily”, David Hudson gathered reviews of Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro, first from its Cannes debut, and then later mid-June when it opened stateside. Here in San Francisco, Coppola met with his audience at the film’s first screening at the Sundance Kabuki.

Outlining how The Godfather created a “tsunami of success” that irrevocably changed his life and filmmaking, Coppola has gleaned from the passing of years a restoration of creative spirit leaning into what he admits is his “second career.” Tetro is, in fact, the second film of his second career; Youth Without Youth being the first. Lustrously shot in digital and projected in 35mm, the film is a rapture to watch, even as its rich visuals disguise an anemic narrative that doesn’t quite ring true. One is grateful for what one has seen; but, not completely satisfied. I’m not a huge Vincent Gallo fan so I place the blame there—for me, he just couldn’t carry the movie—but, Coppola’s “discovery” Alden Ehrenreich has charisma to spare in his debut role and is a talent to watch in future years.

Michael Guillén: One of the images I’m going to carry away with me from Tetro is that of the staged dance sequence near the edge of the sea. It reminded me of One From the Heart for being thrillingly artificial; the kind of artifice that lends itself in some odd way to emotional authenticity. Can you speak to your use of theatrical artifice to create emotion in your films?

Francis Ford Coppola: Of course. Just as the story implies, when Bennie [Alden Ehrenreich] was a little kid, his older brother Tetro [Vincent Gallo] used to take him to movies that were a little bit advanced for a seven-year-old kid and gave him some books to read and what have you and that’s why the boy idolized his brother so much. It’s true, in my own life I have an older brother who took me to see the Korda films, The Red Shoes—of which there’s an excerpt in Tetro—and also Tales of Hoffmann, which is much stranger for a young kid. Just as the character Bennie says, whenever he thought of his brother he always thought of Tales of Hoffmann.

My idea was that—when Bennie is reading [Tetro’s] cryptic notes and writings—that he imagines the story as though it’s scenes from a Michael Powell / Emeric Pressburger dance film. The version of the story that the boy understands is as though it’s told in dance. It’s great that film is one of those mediums that can use different art forms to do different things. It was also fun for me—as someone who has admired The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus and all those beautiful Technicolor films—to get to fool with telling this little story in those images. The image you mentioned of the dancers on the stage with the sea coming in is very much inspired by the dance in The Red Shoes, as you can imagine.

Cross-published on The Evening Class.

Once again, Michael Hawley privileges the Twitch readership with his preview of YBCA’s upcoming calendar.  Thanks, Michael!

Norwegian Black Metal, Graphic Sexual Horror and a Headless Woman.  Jeez, is it Halloween already?  No, it’s just this summer’s insouciant film/video line-up at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  But before we dig into what curator Joel Shepard has in store through September, here’s exciting news for YBCA filmgoers.  Starting July 6, ticket holders will be allowed FREE admittance into YBCA’s exhibition galleries, whose days and hours of operation have been adjusted to align with evening film and video screenings.

Continue Reading "Michael Hawley Previews YBCA’s Summer 2009 Lineup"...

Seventy years later and 1939 is still hailed as a benchmark year for Hollywood cinema.  Celebrating that fact, this evening The Castro Theatre launches its 18-film tribute to 1939, including such classics as Son of Frankenstein and The Man They Could Not Hang, At the Circus and You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man, They Made Me A Criminal and Each Dawn I Die, The Women and Ninotchka, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Destry Rides Again, Wuthering Heights and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Tarzan Finds A Son and Another Thin Man, Gunga Din and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, wrapping up with Golden Boy and Only Angels Have Wings.

If you prefer your home entertainment system to a movie palace, at least 10 of those titles are likewise included in Turner Classic Movies’ 39-film tribute “1939—70th Anniversary of Hollywood’s Greatest Year.”  Each Thursday night through the month of July, TCM will shoot off 1939’s most celebrated fireworks, including all 10 Best Picture Oscar® Nominees (reminding—in the light of recent events—that everything old is new again).  Robert Osborne offers a preview of the festival at Now Playing: The Show and the full schedule can be found at TCM’s website.  TCM’s “39 From 1939” Film Festival also features the premiere of the new Warner Home Video documentary 1939 (2009), which recounts the astonishing accomplishments of Hollywood during this historic film year.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has, of course, been screening all 10 Best Picture Oscar® Nominees throughout the Summer, with only four screenings left to go.

Of related interest, at One Way Street Alan Rode angles in on 1939 by way of a sterling portrait of “the incredible twelve month run of film roles by the great character actor, Thomas Mitchell.”

And, of course, no survey of any given year in cinema history would be complete without a tip of the hat to Thom Ryan’s Film of the Year.  He chose Confessions of a Nazi Spy as his focus on 1939.

So, out of sheer curiosity, what is your favorite film from 1939?

Cross-published on The Evening Class.

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!!!"...

There is no shortage of documentaries on the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, but it seems until now there has yet to be one that gathered together the figures that truly mattered on film, and got the key players in the movement to speak without censoring themselves. Filmmakers Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites have pulled off the nearly impossible task of penetrating the inner circle of a very secular scene with their new documentary, Until The Light Takes Us. Moving from their homebase of New York city to Norway for two years, Ewell and Aites have not only put together what looks to be the most cohesive and fleshed out documentary on the subject, but have also made something that is much more beautiful to look at than it’s counterparts, which all seem to suffer from a VH-1 Behind The Music asthetic.

The fact that Varg Vikernes, of the one man band Burzum, incarcerated for years after being found guilty of arson and murder, appears in the film is no small feat. He has, until now, refused to take part in any of the aforementioned films on the subject. As co-director Ewell put it “Making a black metal documentary without Varg is like making a Rolling Stones documentary without Mick Jagger.”

While one may or may not appreciate the genre of true black metal, one thing is for sure, the sociological apsect of the movement is as deep as anything that has occured in rock and roll. Moving from the psuedo Satanic stance of its origins to a Nationalist movement as the teenaged progenitors grew to manhood (yes, the original true black metal scene is completely male dominated) there is a lot of material to mine here for Ewell and Aites, both visceral and intellectual. Until The Light Takes Us is sure to blow many people preconceived notions to hell (or Valhalla, take your pick) with it’s engrossing tale of anti-Christian activism and extremely articulate interview subjects. I for one am seriously looking forward to seeing Until The Light Takes Us in its entirety.

Screening Dates and Trailer after the Jump.

Continue Reading "Trailer for black metal doc UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US"...

With a hefty stack still of screeners on my desk and opening night tomorrow night the challenge right now is to find time so I can guide you towards good programs in this year’s Worldwide Short Film Festival. Having been much of a doodler all my life putting pen to paper has come relatively easy for me. Putting that together and making animations and short films like this? Well, that proved to be the hard part.

But look at what can be done! Take for example the Film School Spotlight: Royal College of Art program, a ten year retrospective of some of the best the school has created. The program plays on Sunday, June 21st at the Cumberland 4. The mix is varied and diverse and favourites are a matter of personal taste and palate but with twenty-one shorts to choose from I am sure you’re going to have some of your own. Here are mine…

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Film School Spotlight: Royal College of Art program preview"...

You shan’t be disappointed if you decided to take in the Trilogy of Trilogies: Master Animators program at the Worldwide Short Film Festival this year. If you don’t know Bill Plympton by name you certainly know him by his hand drawn animation style. The program offers three short films from Plympton and two other animators, Adam Elliot and Osbert Parker, whose work I was not familiar with before previewing this program. Plympton’s work speaks for itself. And while I was impressed with Elliot’s short films it was Parker’s film noir shorts that got the most love from me. Make sure you don’t miss out on this program. This program is playing at the ROM on Saturday, June 20th. Well worth it!

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Trilogy of Trilogies: Master Animators"...

Ah children. Such a joy. Such a blessing. Such an excuse to watch silly animations and share a laugh. Once again WSFF takes time to cater to the younger and more discerning animation connoisseur by providing a tip top program Shorts for Shorties: Animation Celebrations!. As a special bonus Black and White animator Jon Izen from CBC’s YAMROLL series will host a short drawing workshop after the program has completed. Enrich your child’s life. Take them out on Saturday, June 20 at the ROM for an hour of animated bliss.

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Shorts for Shorties: Animation Celebration! program preview"...

God know’s how many Twitch writers “work” on the always thoroughly Twitch reported Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly before that party starts though, another one takes place at the other side of the ocean: la Mostra Internationale d’Arte Cinematografica, also known as the Venice International Film Festival. GhibliWorld’s Peter van der Lugt will be present to cover it for Twitch, and this is the first news he provides us with:
 
This year Venice, already in its the 66th edition and prolonged with yet another festival direction by Marco Müller, will be handing out life time achievement awards to John Lasseter and the other Pixar directors. Furthermore announced are world premiere screenings of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” in 3D, excerpt previews of “The Princess and the Frog” and an extensive Disney • Pixar Animation Master Class. The rest of Venice’s program is yet to be revealed, except for Venice’s opening film, which was announced yesterday. BAARÌA, the latest film directed and written by Academy Award winner Giuseppe Tornatore (“Cinema Paradiso”, “Malèna”), will open the film fest on September 2nd .
 
BAARÌA,  to screen in competition to contend for a Golden Lion, is not only the Italian film industry’s most costly production for many years, it is the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival for two decades. According to Tornatore:

” BAARÌA is an ancient sound, a magic formula, a key. The only one capable of opening the rusty box in which the meaning of my most personal film is hidden. An amusing and wistful story, of great loves and irresistible utopian dreams. A legend thronged with heroes… But BAARÌA is also the name of a Sicilian town where the people’s lives unfold along the main street. A few hundred metres, no more. But if you walk up and down it for years, you can learn what the whole world will never be able to teach you”.

 
The 66th edition of the Venice International Film Festival is to be held at the Venice Lido from 2 to 12 September 2009. A behind the scenes look of “BAARÌA” can be found here.

Oh! Canada. My home and not so native land. Oh how you make me laugh and titter. Is it no wonder that one of our chief exports are comedians. We are so selfless when it comes to our comedy that we just have to share it with the rest of the world so we send out these comedy ambassadors in hopes that we can teach the world to laugh. And the depth of our comedic talent is on full display in the Oh! Canada: Canadian Comedy Shorts program playing on Saturday, June 20th at the ROM.

Personally I thought the program started slow but it picked up speed after the first three shorts and really paid off by the end. But comedy is fairly subjective and some of you may enjoy all or some of the program. You won’t know unless you buy tickets and check them out for yourself.

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Oh! Canada: Canadian Comedy Shorts program preview"...

Back once more today with another WSFF program preview and it is the second program that our lord and master has created for the festival. Creepy will have a little something for everyone: blood, nudity, violence, shotguns, chainsaws, babies, ghosts and a whole lot of scares. It is going to be a good night. Buy your tickets now for Midnight: Creepy happening on June 19th at the ROM here in Toronto. Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go outside and pet a puppy or something just to get these images out of my head. Find my blood soaked thoughts after the break…

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Midnight: Creepy program preview"...

If I get to preview this festival for the rest of my days I will always make a point of requesting this program. And as long as Andrew David Long keeps programming the Sci-Fi: Out There program I will make numerous threats to loved ones and family members of those responsible for getting me these programs in advance until I have copy of Andrew’s program in my hands. Yes, it is that good. Make a point of buying tickets for this one because it is a collection of wonderfully weird and wacky sci-fi goodness. Monkeys from space. Synchronized swimmers aiming for the stars. The Canadian space program. It’s all in there. Catch it Friday, June 19th at the ROM. Read up on my thoughts after the break.

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Sci-Fi: Out There program preview"...

It’s almost time once again for the Worlwide Short Film Festival and our lord and master Todd has once again gathered together a fine collection of the freaky, the wacky and what the hell was that? shorts for one of the two Midnight programs at this year’s festival. Freaky will screen on Saturday, June 20th at the ROM. It’s as much grossness, sexiness, vulgarity, humor and weirdness you can take in 95 minutes. Read on after the break for my thoughts on the program. Sometimes I wonder why I am friends with this man…

Continue Reading "WSFF09 Midnight: Freaky program preview"...

James Quandt, senior programmer at Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto, has curated several touring retrospectives, including the recent “In the Realm of Oshima” currently screening at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive. He has edited monographs on Robert Bresson, Shohei Imamura, and Kon Ichikawa and is a regular contributor to Artforum. His recent published essays include ones on Robert Bresson, Pedro Costa, and Jia Zhang-ke. Quandt was awarded the Japan Foundation Special Prize for Arts and Culture in 2007.

My sincere thanks to Susan Oxtoby and Jonathan Knapp at the Pacific Film Archive for arranging time for Quandt and I to sit down for a conversation during his brief appearance in the Bay Area to introduce the Oshima retrospective.

Continue Reading "PFA: IN THE REALM OF OSHIMA—Interview With James Quandt"...