[The Torino Film Festival just wrapped up - naming Tony Manero it’s big winner, a choice that both surprises and pleases me to no end - and our very own Paolo Gilli was present throughout. He weighs in now with his take on events.]
The Torino Film Festival (21-29 November), that closed this past weekend, is probably Italy’s finest Festival, always equally divided between the old and the new, American, Asian and European cinema. This year’s edition, the second under the supervision of actor-director and Cannes favourite Nanni Moretti (Ecce Bombo, Caro Diario, Aprile and La Stanza del figlio), had again an impressive line up, including W (Oliver Stone), Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson), Somers Town (Shane Meadows), The Escapist (Rupert Wyatt), festival-winner Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain), Die Welle (Dennis Gansel), Made in America (Stacy Peralta), Religulous (Larry Charles), Hunger (Steve McQueen), Dream (Kim Ki-duk), United Red Army (Koji Wakamatsu) and many more.
But Torino wouldn’t be complete without its traditional retrospectives, covering this time the complete filomgraphies of noir-master Jean Pierre Melville and Roman Polanski (including all of his acting roles). Besides those, there was a third retro, titled “British Renaissance”, a list of 36 movies including everything from John MacKenzie’s The Long Good Friday (1980) to Peter Greenway’s Drowning by Numbers (1988). Even Michael Palin dropped by to introduce Monty Python’s Meaning of Life (1983).
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Hostess Peaches Christ is thrilled to announce that a great, big, B-movie dream of hers is about to come true! One night only on Wednesday, December 17th, at San Francisco’s Landmark Bridge Theatre, Peaches will present—not just once, but twice at 7:00PM and 9:40PM—a Midnight Mass produced stage-show featuring cult film icon and genre superstar Bruce Cambell live and in-person. Peaches has been dying to honor Bruce Campbell—as she says “forEVER”—and is putting together this San Franciscan evening of Idol Worship, preceding the Bay Area premiere of Bruce Campbell’s directorial debut My Name Is Bruce. Tickets are $10.50 and can be purchased here.
Synopsis for My Name Is Bruce: When the small mining town of Gold Lick, Oregon needs to rid itself of a vengeful monster, they kidnap actor Bruce Campbell—star of the Evil Dead trilogy, Bubba Ho-tep and countless B-movie horror films—and recruit him to be their local savior. Mortified at first, Bruce eventually goes along with the plan, convinced that it’s all an elaborate birthday present from his agent (Ted Raimi). But the scheme goes horribly wrong when their hero, known more for fighting directors than mythical warriors, haphazardly leads the town in battle against the beast. Confronted by a monster that’s not a guy in a rubber suit, and with the blood of innocents on his hands, Bruce has to choose between the harsh reality of Gold Lick and the sanctity of his former, artificial life. A horror comedy written by Mark Verheiden (Smallville, Battlestar Galactica), My Name Is Bruce co-stars Grace Thorsen and Taylor Sharpe.
This is a match made in heaven … well, maybe hell (as in hella fun)! See you there!
Cross-published on The Evening Class.
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film classic The Passion of Joan of Arc is a renowned masterpiece whose rescue from obscurity is the stuff of legend. Long thought to have been lost to fire, the original version was miraculously found in perfect condition in 1981—in a Norwegian mental institution. I first heard of the film through the diaries of Anaïs Nin in her compassionate written portrait of Antonin Artaud, who portrayed the monk Massieu. Long interested in Artaud, I welcomed the opportunity to view the film when it achieved a digital restoration for its Criterion DVD release.
The film details the last hours of Joan of Arc after she has been captured by the English. Her trial, imprisonment, torture and final execution are rendered similarly to a passion play, particularly through Dreyer’s facial close-ups, effected through the use of recently-developed panchromatic film. Renée Jeanne Falconetti (aka “Maria” Falconetti) was commended for her multifaceted performance as Joan, which was her second and last movie role. New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael enthused Falconetti’s turn as Joan of Arc “may be the finest performance ever recorded on film.”
Lack of funds prevented Dreyer from employing the new technology of sound for his film so he elected to shoot it silent, intending it to be watched that way with no musical accompaniment. However, in 1994 composer Richard Einhorn wrote an oratorio based on the movie, entitled “Voices of Light”, which was offered as optional accompaniment on the Criterion DVD release. Einhorn’s oratorio combined with screenings of Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc proved to be a stunning evening of music theatre. The critically-acclaimed event brought sold-out houses to their feet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival; at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center; at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap with the National Symphony; and in dozens of major concert halls across the country. It has now made its way to San Francisco where it will be performed live at the Castro Theatre on Monday evening, November 17, 7:30PM in a co-presentation with Pacific Film Archive. There will also be an encore performance on Sunday, November 23, 7:30PM at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley Campus.
The concert features the University of California Alumni Chorus, UC Men’s and Women’s Chorales, Perfect Fifth, The Women of UC Berkeley’s Perfect Fifth as the Voice of Joan of Arc, and orchestra. Soloists are David Maier, tenor, and Martin Bell, bass-baritone. Tickets will be available at the door; General Admission $15, Seniors $12. For more information, call (510) 643-9645 or visit the UC Alumni Chorus website.
This spectacular concert will be conducted by Dr. Mark Sumner, director of the UC Choral Ensembles. I had the opportunity to touch base with Dr. Sumner in anticipation of this event shortly before his running out the door to fetch the 35mm print at FedEx. My thanks to Katie Woodruff for facilitating an introduction.
Continue Reading "VOICES OF LIGHT / THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC—Interview With Mark Sumner"...
This is a blatant plug for a film that definitely deserves more love. As a part of the Serbian Film Festival in Toronto (which apparently has no web presence), the ‘most expensive movie ever made in Serbia,’ Tears for Sale (aka Charleston and Vendetta) is screening one time only: Tonight at 7pm. Todd and I both caught this Luc Besson produced film at the 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival and fell in love with Uros Stojanovic‘s brash visuals and whimsical-melancholic story telling. Tears for Sale lives up to the work of masters Jean Pierre Jeunet and Terry Gilliam at their most experimental. For those not in Toronto, the DVD (and hopefully Blu-Ray version where this will really shine) cannot come out soon enough.
One of the several trailers is after the jump. Others can be found at the link below.
Continue Reading "Attention Toronto Locals! TEARS FOR SALE at The Bloor Cinema TONITE!"...
The 7th Discovering Latin America Film Festival kicks off in November promising excitement, passion and unrivalled vitality. Anyone who’s seen recent examples of Latin American cinema that have made it to our shores will know that whatever you’re expecting, you’re probably wrong - and therein lies the pleasure. Showcasing the best in shorts, features and documentaries from across Latin America between 27th November and 7th December, this year’s festival is screening at a variety of great venues in central London; the ICA, Tate Modern and Ritzy amongst others. The schedule opens with Chilean director Andrés Wood’s The Good Life (La Buena Vida) on the 27th.
All the details you could want can be found at the official website here.
My interview with San Francisco Film Society associate programmer Sean Uyehara regarding the 3rd edition of the International Animation Festival is up at SF360. Unbeknownst to me, my editor at SF360 lopped off the tail end of the interview, which I offer here for posterity’s sake (though I don’t know why I should; to quote Woody Allen: “What has posterity ever done for me?"):
SF360: With the San Francisco Film Society’s recent partnership with the Film Arts Foundation, will you be teaching any of their film courses?
Uyehara: Yes, I’m teaching an introductory class on basic concepts in film criticism: why critics take certain positions, what it is that they’re falling back on, what their assumptions are. What acumen do writers bring to this kind of writing, what are their goals, and how do they evaluate a movie? What is their criteria?
SF360: Are these classes being held at the Ninth Street Film Center?
Uyehara: Some of the classes are being held there and some are being held in the Presidio.
SF360: Well, Sean, to wrap up, thanks for the insightful preview. I’m genuinely looking forward to this year’s edition of the International Animation Festival and, once again, congratulations on your expanded, multi-faceted efforts.
Cross-published on The Evening Class.
Like a magnum of champagne, Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale christened the launch of the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series early last month. Desplechin flew in from France to take part in the festivities and earlier in the afternoon we sat down in his suite at the Fairmont Hotel to discuss his latest. My thanks to Donald McMahon for his interpretive assistance.
Photo of Arnaud Desplechin courtesy of Robin Holland.
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I’m looking at the schedule for the 6th annual 3rd i (as in “eye") San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival, starting this Thursday November 13. The festival kicks off Thursday evening at the Brava Theater, continuing there Friday evening, and moves to the Castro for longer programs over the weekend. I’m reviewing nine and a half of the fifteen offerings to see what I would choose if I had only one full consecutive day and night to devote to it. Don’t get me wrong—I personally think it’s worth following around all weekend, but most people have non-festival lives to lead and errands to run.
What makes both Saturday and Sunday long but rewarding slogs is the excellence of their morning films. (My thinking is, if you’re at the Castro for an 11:30AM screening, why not stay the entire day and night?) Saturday’s is the lovely 1929 silent film A Throw of Dice (Pranpancha Pash), directed by German director Franz Osten, who made Hindi films with Bombay Talkies producer (and Dice villain) Himanshu Rai. Osten/Rai’s previous works Prem Sanyas (1925) and Shiraz (1928) have been shown at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Dice, a UK-India-Germany co-production that predates Bombay Talkies, dramatizes episodes from the Mahābhārata in which gambling junkie King Ranjit loses his kingdom and fiancée in a crooked wager instigated by a jealous rival. When Ranjit’s loyal vassals learn of the cheat dice, they storm the vast deserts and majestic forts of Rajasthan (where the film was shot) in epic numbers.
Continue Reading "3rd i 2008—Frako Loden Previews the Line-up"...
In mid-January earlier this year Stefan Drössler, the Director of the Munich Film Museum, delivered a lecture co-presented by Pacific Film Archive and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco on the restoration of the German premiere version of Max Ophüls’ Lola Montès; a print acquired by PFA from a private collection with help from Drössler and the Munich Film Museum. Among the scope of Drössler’s many specialities in film history are German cinema, Hollywood cinema (including his leading expertise on Orson Welles) and the history of 3-D, to name just a few. With Lola Montès currently poised for a theatrical run in San Francisco, I thought now would be a perfect opportunity to share his PFA commentary.
Admitting it is always a pleasure to lecture at PFA, Drössler likewise apologized for his modest English. He outlined that he would first discuss the production circumstances behind Lola Montès, followed by 10 minutes worth of production stills from the film, including a survey of the 1950s artwork used for the film’s promotion, which might more fully provide insight as to why there was a near riot when the film was first released. Following that would be a separate 12-minute clip reel comparing the different versions of the film, including rarely-seen takes from the American version, the full version of which is now believed to be lost.
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In his unpublished 1997 dissertation “From ‘Culture’ to ‘Commercialization’: The Production and Packaging of an African Cinema in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso”, Thomas J. Bikales offered the sobering reminder: “[A]s much as Africa’s and Burkina’s films and film makers penetrate the international circuits … they remain far removed from the mainstream. Despite the ever-increasing number of international film festivals and conferences devoted to African cinema, despite the growing body of literature … African cinema continues to be a product produced, consumed, and debated first, on an international more than an African scene, and, second, in an elite, academic/intellectual context that, for better or for worse, is far more circumscribed than many with an interest in African cinema see and/or would like to believe.” (Bikales 1997:ix, quoted in Kay Armatage’s “Screenings by Moonlight”, Film International 2008, Vol. 6, No. 4, p. 38.)
This compromised situation is further complicated by the theoretical problem that “some critics and directors see European funding as a Faustian pact for African and Arab directors”, notwithstanding the practical necessity of such alliances with France, in particular, “because it has led the battle for recognizing cinema as culture and national identity, the so-called ‘cultural exception’ in the ongoing WTO GATT trade dispute with the United States.” (Kevin Dwyer, Beyond Casablanca: M.A. Tazi and the Adventure of Moroccan Cinema, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004:338, 365 and 412, quoted in Jeffrey Ruoff’s “Ten Nights in Tunisia: Les Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage”, Film International 2008, Vol. 6, No. 4, p. 50.)
Kudos to the San Francisco Film Society for offering the revival screening of S. Pierre Yameogo’s Delwende: Lève-toi et Marche to their admittedly cinephilic constituency but via their running Sundance Kabuki Screen series, open to the general public. Hopefully, mainstream audiences will take the hook, as Delwende is a compelling dramatic narrative, which—in her recent review for The New York Times—Jeannette Catsolulis writes: “demonstrates how superstition supports patriarchy and how easily both can slide into misogyny.”
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[Te 2008 Tokyo International Film Festival has just drawn to a close and our thanks go to regular Twitch reader James Hadfield for the following summary of the goings on. Expect to see some reviews from the festival in coming days.]
The 21st Tokyo International FIlm Festival wrapped Sunday, with the US$100,000 Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix going to Tulpan, Sergey Dvortsevoy’s tale of nomad life on the Kazakh steppe. No surprises there: the film had already attracted positive reviews in Europe prior to its appearance here, and remained a firm favorite throughout the week. Dvortsevoy also took home the Best Director gong, presumably in recognition of his expert marshaling of Tulpan‘s cast of children, sheep and randy donkeys.
Acting awards went to Félicité Wouassi, for her commanding performance in François Dupeyron’s With a Little Help From Myself, and Vincent Cassel for his barnstorming portrayal of real-life gangster Jacques Mesrine in Jean-François Richet’s Public Enemy No. 1 (Part 1 & 2). Jerzy Skolmowski’s return to directing after a 17-year absence didn’t go entirely unheralded, either: his bleak Four Nights with Anna won the runner-up Special Jury Prize. The Audience Award, voted for by the general public, went to Tetsu Maeda’s School Days with a Pig.
The first year of TIFF’s eco-friendly makeover saw the opening ceremony’s red carpet turn green, with celebrities pulling up in tiny Toyota eco-cars instead of limousines. More meaningfully, the festival was powered by green energy and featured a new section, natural TIFF, that showcased environmentally-themed films. No mention of whether any efforts were made to offset the carbon footprint clocked-up by the filmmakers, celebrities and assorted hangers-on who flew in for the festival, but I suppose it’s still early days yet.
You’ll find the complete list of award winners below the break.
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1234 is perhaps the nicest film I’ve seen for years, a gentle, modest, airy Brit flick centering on a budding musician. Stevie (Ian Bonar) is a bespectacled young guy who spends his days in the durge of a London call centre and his spare time dreaming of success on the indie music scene. Alongside his drummer friend Neil (Mathew Baynton), the duo recruit the more experienced, but slightly gruff guitarist Billy (Kieron Bew) and his arty bassist friend Emily (Lyndsey Marshal) to complete the line-up of their new band, 1234. As they punt out demos to record labels and work their way round the grubby gig circuit, personal and musical challenges arise, and shifts in the band dynamic threaten the whole enterprise.
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About a week after New Italian Cinema wraps up in San Francisco, and with appetites whetted for Italian cinema, Pacific Film Archive—in collaboration with Instituto Italiano Cultura di San Francisco—launches “Moments of Truth”, their 11-film tribute to the classics of Italian cinema. As Judy Bloch, Publications Director for PFA writes: “Neorealism (the term coined by Italian critics in 1942) is generally acknowledged as the first full-fledged movement for an authentic cinema, a reaction both to fascist Italy’s escapist films and the inherent capitalism of Hollywood-style product. But neorealism was a far cry from cinema verité; as lyrical as it was direct, as sentimental as it was polemic, it was, after all, art. Our series celebrates the art in this initial moment of truth and its many inheritors in Italian cinema.”
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Has the uncertainty of the global economy and the shrinking value of the American dollar got you down? Depressed that you couldn’t afford a trip to Italy this year? Don’t fret! Turn that frown upside down! The San Francisco Film Society and Pacific Film Archive—both in collaboration with the Instituto Italiano di Cultura—are bringing Italy to the Bay Area via the 12th edition of New Italian Cinema running mid-November at Landmark’s San Francisco Embarcadero Center Cinema and PFA’s “Moments of Truth: Italian Cinema Classics” running late November through December at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive.
The San Francisco Film Society, New Italian Cinema Events of Florence, Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco present New Italian Cinema, November 16-23 at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema. This eight-day festival is dedicated to celebrating the rich cinematic tradition of Italy and bringing to Bay Area audiences the directors and films that are driving the recent resurgence in Italian filmmaking. The core of New Italian Cinema is the competitive section with seven films by emerging directors, bookended by a three-film tribute to Tuscan director Paolo Virzì, one of Italy’s most socially concerned filmmakers, and the Closing Night screenings of two risk-taking films, Puccini and the Girl and Gomorrah.
“As Italian films enter a new renaissance, the 2008 New Italian Cinema festival offers a significant lineup of recent works by up-and-coming directors,” said Film Society programmer Rod Armstrong. “This year’s edition covers issues of immigration, aging, friendship, murder and how to make great chocolate. Our Opening and Closing Night films, including Cannes Grand Prize Winner Gomorrah, give notable historical context to life in Italy, ranging from the 18th century to the present.”
The New Italian Cinema Events (NICE) organization in Florence—working with selection committee members Linda Blackaby, director of programming for the Film Society; journalists Deborah Young and Barbara Corsi; and Peter Scarlet, executive director of the Tribeca Film Festival—chose the films to present in the 2008 New Italian Cinema competition. Most filmmakers are expected at the Embarcadero for Q&As with the audiences. The NICE City of Florence Award will be decided by the combined audience ballots from San Francisco and New York and announced at the Closing Night Award presentation following the 5:15 pm screening of Puccini and the Girl on Sunday, November 23.
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November is lining up to be Animation Month here in San Francisco, not only with the San Francisco Film Society’s International Animation Festival mid-month, but kicking off with a rare public appearance by award-winning animator Richard Williams at San Francisco’s Balboa Theatre on Sunday, November 2, 7:00PM. Winner of three Academy Awards, animation director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and author of the definite The Animator’s Survival Kit, Williams will be in the Bay Area to meet with animators at Pixar, ILM and other effects and animation houses. He has agreed to appear at this public showing to benefit the local Animation Association, ASIFA-SF. General Admission is $9.00. Seniors and children under 12 years are $6.50. Advance tickets are available here.
As Gary Meyer has advised, Richard Williams has been in the animation business for over 50 years. He created the Oscar-winning A Christmas Carol, directed the animation in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (two more Oscars), created memorable opening titles for features (The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, What’s New Pussycat?, Casino Royale, The Charge of the Light Brigade), award winning TV commercials, and other projects including the feature Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure.
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