How can you make a film about the fall of Yugoslavia? This is the question American documentarian Travis Wilkerson asks himself at the start of Through the Graves the Wind is Blowing, after acknowledging his own position as a foreigner in Croatia. We see him stating his name, age, height, talking about his family and occupation (a college professor), and what drew him to this corner of Europe. A frank, open narration is characteristic of Wilkerson’s films, and while the 2022 Berlinale Forum entry Nuclear Family (co-directed with his wife Erin Wilkerson) excavated deeply personal themes and transposed them over American nuclear politics, Through the Graves uses this sincerity as a springboard to tell a story that doesn’t belong to him in the first place.
We meet Ivan Perić (playing a version of himself), a police detective in charge of solving tourist murders in Split. Addressing the camera, he...
We meet Ivan Perić (playing a version of himself), a police detective in charge of solving tourist murders in Split. Addressing the camera, he...
- 2/29/2024
- by Savina Petkova
- The Film Stage
The city of Split has long been a tourist magnet, famous for the churches and flagstones of its picturesque Old Town, and for the beauty of the rocky, sparkling Croatian coastline. But not all visitors come for the culture. Some seek the trashier pleasures of rowdy bars and cheap drinks, and all they know of the area’s history is that the spectacular medieval fortress clinging to a nearby cliffside was a “Game of Thrones” location.
Split is also where US filmmaker Travis Wilkerson (“Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?”) recently lived for a stretch, having resolved — and then failing — to make a movie about the dissolution of Yugoslavia. This he tells us on camera, at the beginning of “Through the Graves the Wind is Blowing,” the film he made instead of that one, and it’s an admission of compromise that somehow never compromises the integrity of what follows: a witty,...
Split is also where US filmmaker Travis Wilkerson (“Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?”) recently lived for a stretch, having resolved — and then failing — to make a movie about the dissolution of Yugoslavia. This he tells us on camera, at the beginning of “Through the Graves the Wind is Blowing,” the film he made instead of that one, and it’s an admission of compromise that somehow never compromises the integrity of what follows: a witty,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
Berlinale co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are going out with a bang in their final year, with a lineup unveiled today featuring the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jane Schoenbrun, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Matias Pineiro, Travis Wilkerson, Kazik Radwanski, Annie Baker, and more.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
- 1/22/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the 20 titles selected for its official Competition as well as its competitive Encounters strand.
Scroll down for full list
New films from Claire Burger, Olivier Assayas, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition lineup, with stars including Rooney Mara, Gael Garcia Bernal, Sebastian Stan and Cillian Murphy, who leads the festival’s opening film Small Things Like These.
Festival heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek unveiled the selections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin today (January 22).
The 2024 Berlinale will run February...
Scroll down for full list
New films from Claire Burger, Olivier Assayas, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition lineup, with stars including Rooney Mara, Gael Garcia Bernal, Sebastian Stan and Cillian Murphy, who leads the festival’s opening film Small Things Like These.
Festival heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek unveiled the selections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin today (January 22).
The 2024 Berlinale will run February...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Competition line-up for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival will be announced today at a press conference at 11am Cet (10am GMT).
Scroll down for line-up
Co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will reveal the titles for the Competition and Encounters sections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin.
The announcement will also be live-streamed on the festival’s homepage and social channels. Watch it live above.
Screen will update this page with the Competition titles as they are announced. Refresh the page for latest updates.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of...
Scroll down for line-up
Co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will reveal the titles for the Competition and Encounters sections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin.
The announcement will also be live-streamed on the festival’s homepage and social channels. Watch it live above.
Screen will update this page with the Competition titles as they are announced. Refresh the page for latest updates.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
More than 200 international filmmakers have rallied in support of ousted Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian, pledging their names to an open letter imploring the cultural organization to keep the artist director in place. Among the first signatories were Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Joanna Hogg, “Corsage” director Marie Kreutzer, Andrew Ross Perry, and Olivier Assayas. Over the course of the day on Wednesday, another 130 directors joined them, the list swelling to include M. Night Shyamalan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Tilda Swinton, and Claire Denis. 260 filmmakers have now signed the open letter.
“We, a diverse group of filmmakers from all over the world, who have deep respect for Berlin International Film Festival as a place for great cinema of all kinds, protest the harmful, unprofessional, and immoral behavior of state minister Claudia Roth in forcing the esteemed Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian to step down despite promises to prolong his contract,” says the letter.
Chatrian...
“We, a diverse group of filmmakers from all over the world, who have deep respect for Berlin International Film Festival as a place for great cinema of all kinds, protest the harmful, unprofessional, and immoral behavior of state minister Claudia Roth in forcing the esteemed Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian to step down despite promises to prolong his contract,” says the letter.
Chatrian...
- 9/6/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Martin Scorsese, Radu Jude, Joanna Hogg, Claire Denis, Bertrand Bonello, M. Night Shyamalan, Kristen Stewart, Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Margarethe von Trotta are among the international filmmakers and talents who have signed an open letter in support of Carlo Chatrian whose mandate as artistic director of the Berlinale will come to an end next year. The number of signatories has now exceeded 400 names and keeps growing.
As we reported last week, Chatrian had been expected to stay on beyond 2024, and was surprised to learn that the German body which oversees the festival, Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (Kbb), announced that it would no extend his contract. The org had previously said it would abandon the model of having an executive director and an artistic director and return instead to having a single director, following the next edition. The festival’s executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek will also be leaving her post after the next edition.
As we reported last week, Chatrian had been expected to stay on beyond 2024, and was surprised to learn that the German body which oversees the festival, Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (Kbb), announced that it would no extend his contract. The org had previously said it would abandon the model of having an executive director and an artistic director and return instead to having a single director, following the next edition. The festival’s executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeek will also be leaving her post after the next edition.
- 9/6/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
PoetBerlinale have announced the first 62 titles selected for the 72nd edition of their festival, set to take place physically from February 10 — 20.FORUMAfterwater (Dane Komljen)Poet (Darezhan Omirbayev)The Middle AgesEurope (Philip Scheffner)A Flower in the Mouth (Éric Baudelaire)Memoryland (Kim Quy Bui)My Two Voices (Lina Rodriguez)Nuclear Family (Erin Wilkerson, Travis Wilkerson)Super Natural (Jorge Jácome)The United States of America (James Benning)Forum EXPANDEDDragon Tooth (Rafael Castanheira Parrode)Home When You Return (Carl Elsaesser)Jail Bird in a Peacock Chair (James Gregory Atkinson)Sol in the Dark (Mawena Yehouessi)vs (Lydia Nsiah)PANORAMATalking About the Weather (Annika Pinske)The Apartment with Two Women (Kim Se-in)Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes)Swing Ride (Chiara Bellosi)Dreaming WallsKlondike (Maryna Er Gorbach)A Love Song (Max Walker-Silverman)Myanmar Diaries (The Myanmar Film Collective)Into My Name (Nicolò Bassetti)Nelly & Nadine (Magnus Gertten)We, Students! (Rafiki Fariala)Until Tomorrow (Ali Asgari...
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: George Segal and Elliot Gould in California Split (1974). Actor George Segal, a "defining face of 1970s Hollywood" known for his roles in films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Robert Altman's California Split, has died. The 2021 Jury and Special Award winners of the 28th SXSW Film Festival have been announced, with winners including Megan Park's The Fallout and Jeremy Workman's Lily Topples the World. Recommended VIEWINGFor the series A One-Woman Confessional: Eight Films by Cecilia Mangini, Another Gaze's streaming project Another Screen has also made available a video of Mangini and Agnès Varda's first meeting in 2011. Metrograph's official trailer for Claire Denis' L'Intrus, her 2004 adaptation of an essay by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy. The film will be available at the cimema's virtual theatre from March 26 to April 8. A fan-made...
- 3/28/2021
- MUBI
Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
- 3/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Always be wary of claims of “first” or “only.” Such is the case with brand-new streaming platform Documentary Plus+, which announced this summer that it would be “the first of its kind to focus exclusively on documentary films.” The venture comes from Xtr, the well-financed Los Angeles-based nonfiction film and television studio that Oscar-nominated documentary short producer Bryn Mooser (“Lifeboat”) launched last year.
Xtr, which took five co-financed films to Sundance 2020 — including well-received docs “Feels Good Man,” “Mucho Mucho Amor,” and “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” — plans to roll out Documentary Plus+ this fall; a representative said they’re hoping for the end of September.
Billed as a “highly curated documentary streaming service,” Documentary Plus+ aims to “provide audiences with the best in documentary film and further serve as a permanent home for the work of nonfiction filmmakers along with added distribution and amplification of their projects across all social channels.
Xtr, which took five co-financed films to Sundance 2020 — including well-received docs “Feels Good Man,” “Mucho Mucho Amor,” and “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” — plans to roll out Documentary Plus+ this fall; a representative said they’re hoping for the end of September.
Billed as a “highly curated documentary streaming service,” Documentary Plus+ aims to “provide audiences with the best in documentary film and further serve as a permanent home for the work of nonfiction filmmakers along with added distribution and amplification of their projects across all social channels.
- 8/20/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
At the end of a recent appearance of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert asked his guest, Run the Jewels rapper Killer Mike, what white people could do to be better allies in what has become a serious moment of reckoning in our country. The artist’s answer: go watch the work of Jane Elliott, an educator who’s been conducting classroom experiments involving race, role play and the pain of exclusion since the Sixties. We have no idea how many people took his advice and sought out the Frontline...
- 6/4/2020
- by David Fear, Tim Grierson and Maria Fontoura
- Rollingstone.com
10 Great ‘Small’ Movies You Might Have Missed in the 2010s, From ‘Manakamana’ to ‘The Fits’ (Photos)
The films on this admittedly non-comprehensive list were not distributed by major studios, but by smaller specialty companies. They played for a couple of weeks (or less) in big cities, maybe even just one night in a museum. They weren’t on the multiplex radar at all. But to adventurous film audiences, they were a vital part of any discussion about cinema. They told complex stories ignored by major studios. The dug deeper into abstraction or discomfort. And they pushed at the edges of filmmaking practice in ways that will influence the mainstream in the future.
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
- 12/11/2019
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
The Art of Self-Defense (Riley Stearns)
If Fight Club taught us one thing and one thing only it is to never underestimate the power of a bored single man with nothing to lose. And that is, in some ways, also the central thesis of Riley Stearns’ delightfully twisted The Art of Self-Defense, a pitch-black comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg as sad sack Casey, a lonely auditor who, in the film’s opening scene, is mocked at a distance in French by a couple. He, unfortunately, has become proficient in French, working his way through cassette tapes on his commute to work. He’s an easy and perhaps asexual target,...
The Art of Self-Defense (Riley Stearns)
If Fight Club taught us one thing and one thing only it is to never underestimate the power of a bored single man with nothing to lose. And that is, in some ways, also the central thesis of Riley Stearns’ delightfully twisted The Art of Self-Defense, a pitch-black comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg as sad sack Casey, a lonely auditor who, in the film’s opening scene, is mocked at a distance in French by a couple. He, unfortunately, has become proficient in French, working his way through cassette tapes on his commute to work. He’s an easy and perhaps asexual target,...
- 10/11/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Bumblebee (Travis Knight)
With Bumblebee, director Travis Knight and writer Christina Hodson weave together two different movies: 1) A sensitive, familiar riff on E.T. about a young girl who, struggling with the recent death of her father, regains her confidence through a clandestine friendship with an alien and 2) A less bombastic version of a Michael Bay-helmed Transformers movie, complete with Autobot vs. Decepticon lore, mechanical fight scenes with grinding metal sounds high in the mix, explosions, etc. To their credit, Knight and Hodson semi-seamlessly combine both movies without too much tonal clash. It’s just a shame that the end result never amounts to more than a “fine,...
Bumblebee (Travis Knight)
With Bumblebee, director Travis Knight and writer Christina Hodson weave together two different movies: 1) A sensitive, familiar riff on E.T. about a young girl who, struggling with the recent death of her father, regains her confidence through a clandestine friendship with an alien and 2) A less bombastic version of a Michael Bay-helmed Transformers movie, complete with Autobot vs. Decepticon lore, mechanical fight scenes with grinding metal sounds high in the mix, explosions, etc. To their credit, Knight and Hodson semi-seamlessly combine both movies without too much tonal clash. It’s just a shame that the end result never amounts to more than a “fine,...
- 3/22/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In today’s film news roundup, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” sets a studio record, Chris Meledandri and Glenn Close are honored, an art-house streaming service is unveiled, and “Cliffs of Freedom” gets a release.
Trailer Stats
The first “Spider-Man: Far From Home” trailer has set a record as the biggest digital launch in Sony Pictures history after 24 hours.
The teaser trailer was unveiled Jan. 15 and generated 130 million views, topping the 116 million views for the first “Spider-Man: Homecoming” trailer. Sony said Friday the trailer was shared at twice the frequency of the first trailer for “Homecoming” and social conversation volume was also the highest in the studio’s history, topping 1.1 million posts in the first day. The studio reported that audiences were particularly excited to see Tom Holland’s return as Spider-Man and Jake Gyllenhaal’s debut as Mysterio.
The trailer began with Holland embarking on a European adventure that’s...
Trailer Stats
The first “Spider-Man: Far From Home” trailer has set a record as the biggest digital launch in Sony Pictures history after 24 hours.
The teaser trailer was unveiled Jan. 15 and generated 130 million views, topping the 116 million views for the first “Spider-Man: Homecoming” trailer. Sony said Friday the trailer was shared at twice the frequency of the first trailer for “Homecoming” and social conversation volume was also the highest in the studio’s history, topping 1.1 million posts in the first day. The studio reported that audiences were particularly excited to see Tom Holland’s return as Spider-Man and Jake Gyllenhaal’s debut as Mysterio.
The trailer began with Holland embarking on a European adventure that’s...
- 1/19/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
With FilmStruck gone and Fandor recently sold to a new entity, cinephiles would appear to be running out of streaming services catered toward them. Here to fill that void is Ovid.TV, a new venture from six different independent film distributors — Bullfrog Films, Distrib Films Us, First Run Features, Grasshopper Film, Icarus Films, and KimStim — set to launch in March. In a statement announcing the new Svod platform, Ovid is is said to be “designed to provide North American viewers with access to thousands of mostly un-streamable documentaries, independent films, and notable works of international cinema.”
Jonathan Miller of Icarus Films, who will serve as director of Ovid, said, “the time for this kind of partnership is now, as the streaming giants focus on generating fast-turnaround new content, this coalition will offer new access to high-quality catalogs found nowhere else, featuring some of the most celebrated filmmakers and films in the canon.
Jonathan Miller of Icarus Films, who will serve as director of Ovid, said, “the time for this kind of partnership is now, as the streaming giants focus on generating fast-turnaround new content, this coalition will offer new access to high-quality catalogs found nowhere else, featuring some of the most celebrated filmmakers and films in the canon.
- 1/18/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Cinema Eye Honors said that Eyes on the Prize, the landmark civil rights docuseries that first aired on public television in 1987, will receive the group’s 2019 Legacy Award. The honor will be bestowed January 10 during the 12th annual Cinema Eye Honors awards ceremony in New York.
“For me and so many others, Eyes on the Prize was a transformational cinematic experience, artfully crafting the history of a nation into an unforgettable story,” Cinema Eye board co-chair Dawn Porter said Thursday. “Countless filmmakers have been inspired by this elegant body of work.”
Created and by the late Henry Hampton’s Blackside, the 14-part Eyes on the Prize is considered the definitive documentary record of the American civil rights era, tracing the country’s long and brutal march toward equality and the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It aired in two parts, the first covering the years 1954–1965 and...
“For me and so many others, Eyes on the Prize was a transformational cinematic experience, artfully crafting the history of a nation into an unforgettable story,” Cinema Eye board co-chair Dawn Porter said Thursday. “Countless filmmakers have been inspired by this elegant body of work.”
Created and by the late Henry Hampton’s Blackside, the 14-part Eyes on the Prize is considered the definitive documentary record of the American civil rights era, tracing the country’s long and brutal march toward equality and the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It aired in two parts, the first covering the years 1954–1965 and...
- 12/20/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
An epic concert from nearly a half-century ago, sports documentaries that break the mold, a look at the American Midwest, a document of a film that never was — these were just a few of the subjects and stories that this year’s documentary offerings brought us. With 2018 wrapping up, we’ve selected 16 features in the field that left us most impressed, so check out our list below and, in the comments, let us know your favorites.
Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack)
A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a fetal technical glitch that was finally resolved thanks to digital workflows and persistence. What remains is a powerful and captivating performance by the great Aretha Franklin as she opts to...
Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack)
A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a fetal technical glitch that was finally resolved thanks to digital workflows and persistence. What remains is a powerful and captivating performance by the great Aretha Franklin as she opts to...
- 12/13/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAmy Heckerling on the set of the Off Broadway musical of her film Clueless.We are delighted by the news shared by the New York Times that American auteur Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) is producing an Off-Broadway musical of her pop culture landmark film (and so much more!), Clueless. For more on the director, read our 2016 interview.Recommended VIEWINGMarcelo Martinessi's lovely debut film The Heiresses, a delicate drama focusing on the self-discovery of a wealthy, middle-aged queer women in Paraguay, gets an English trailer. We reviewed the film at the 68th Berlinale held earlier this year.The Criterion Collection produced this lovely video exploring the birth and programming vision of New York's Walter Reade cinema. Recommended READINGIt's that time of the year again: Year-end lists of the best films of 2018 have...
- 12/12/2018
- MUBI
Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap,” an look at small-town American life through the lens of a group of skateboarder friends, led the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors nominations for nonfiction filmmaking Thursday.
The film, a Hulu original documentary, landed seven bids, for direction, editing, cinematography, original score, debut feature and the audience award, in addition to outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking, the organization’s top prize. It was also mentioned in the “Unforgettables” sidebar honoring the subjects of many of this year’s documentaries.
The seven-nomination haul was enough to match Cinema Eye’s record, held by Louie Psihoyos’ “The Cove,” Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir.”
The other nominees for outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking were “Bisbee ’17” (five nominations), “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” (five nominations), “Of Fathers and Sons” (three nominations), “Three Identical Strangers” (three nominations) and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...
The film, a Hulu original documentary, landed seven bids, for direction, editing, cinematography, original score, debut feature and the audience award, in addition to outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking, the organization’s top prize. It was also mentioned in the “Unforgettables” sidebar honoring the subjects of many of this year’s documentaries.
The seven-nomination haul was enough to match Cinema Eye’s record, held by Louie Psihoyos’ “The Cove,” Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir.”
The other nominees for outstanding achievement in nonfiction feature filmmaking were “Bisbee ’17” (five nominations), “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” (five nominations), “Of Fathers and Sons” (three nominations), “Three Identical Strangers” (three nominations) and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?...
- 11/8/2018
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Variety Film + TV
“Minding the Gap,” a documentary that mixes stories of skateboarding teens with a dark family story, led all films in nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors, one of the top awards devoted to all facets of nonfiction filmmaking.
Bing Liu’s highly personal film tied a Cinema Eye record by receiving seven nominations overall, one in a previously announced category and six in the 10 categories that Cinema Eye announced on Thursday. Those included nominations for directing, editing, cinematography and music, as well as one in the marquee category, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.
Other nominees in that category were Robert Greene’s “Bisbee ’17,” RaMell Ross’ “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” Talal Derki’s “Of Fathers and Son,” Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” and the 12th highest-grossing documentary of all time, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Also Read: 'Minding the Gap' Film Review: Powerful...
Bing Liu’s highly personal film tied a Cinema Eye record by receiving seven nominations overall, one in a previously announced category and six in the 10 categories that Cinema Eye announced on Thursday. Those included nominations for directing, editing, cinematography and music, as well as one in the marquee category, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.
Other nominees in that category were Robert Greene’s “Bisbee ’17,” RaMell Ross’ “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” Talal Derki’s “Of Fathers and Son,” Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” and the 12th highest-grossing documentary of all time, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Also Read: 'Minding the Gap' Film Review: Powerful...
- 11/8/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
As 2018 winds down, like most cinephiles, we’re looking to get our hands on the titles that may have slipped under the radar or simply gone unseen. With the proliferation of streaming options, it’s thankfully easier than ever to play catch-up for those films you missed in a theater (or never came to your town), and to assist with the process, we’re bringing you a rundown of the best titles of the year available to watch.
Curated from the Best Films of 2018 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up on. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come at the end of the year), but rather something that will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable,...
Curated from the Best Films of 2018 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up on. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come at the end of the year), but rather something that will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable,...
- 10/24/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Travis Wilkerson’s Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? — set to hit home video on September 18 — is the director’s latest essayistic foray into the political landscape of America. Often focused on buried histories of social movements, here Wilkerson hones in on race and its legacy within his own family and the American South. It is a film about complicity, about being born into and perpetuating power, about the fabric of the American South and the way its own buried history is not just emblematic of the region’s sordid past but of the entire country’s. As in his groundbreaking […]...
- 9/19/2018
- by Daniel Christian
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Travis Wilkerson’s Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? — set to hit home video on September 18 — is the director’s latest essayistic foray into the political landscape of America. Often focused on buried histories of social movements, here Wilkerson hones in on race and its legacy within his own family and the American South. It is a film about complicity, about being born into and perpetuating power, about the fabric of the American South and the way its own buried history is not just emblematic of the region’s sordid past but of the entire country’s. As in his groundbreaking […]...
- 9/19/2018
- by Daniel Christian
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler)
There’s a sentiment expressed early on in Black Panther that just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. It’s a fitting ethos for the 18th film in Marvel Studios’ ten-year assembly line of blockbusters. However same-ish or fatigued some of the cinematic universe might feel, on the balance sheet, they work. While Ryan Coogler’s deep dive into the titular character’s Wakandan homeworld keeps the assembly line working, it heralds not only an improvement on the McU, but a striking and grandiose fantasy in its own right. – Conor O. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Did...
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler)
There’s a sentiment expressed early on in Black Panther that just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. It’s a fitting ethos for the 18th film in Marvel Studios’ ten-year assembly line of blockbusters. However same-ish or fatigued some of the cinematic universe might feel, on the balance sheet, they work. While Ryan Coogler’s deep dive into the titular character’s Wakandan homeworld keeps the assembly line working, it heralds not only an improvement on the McU, but a striking and grandiose fantasy in its own right. – Conor O. (full review)
Where to Stream: Netflix
Did...
- 9/7/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Upon first glance, the title of Travis Wilkerson’s “Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?” carries an air of mystery, as though the film will start with a body and then work its way through a vast conspiracy before identifying the killer. And — in a way — that’s exactly what it does. But not in that order. First we identify the killer: Se Branch, Wilkerson’s great-grandfather, a virulent racist who murdered a black man in 1946 and got away with it scot-free. Then we have the victim: Bill Spann, who had the misfortune of living in Alabama at a time when his life most certainly didn’t matter to the people in charge. Finally, we sift through the vast conspiracy that separated these two men, a vapid system of violence that left one of them alive with his family, and the other dead in an unmarked grave, as Bill...
- 3/1/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Throughout the remarkable Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? – director Travis Wilkerson’s attempt to learn more about and confront the murder of the African American Bill Spann by his white great-grandfather, S.E. Branch, through a cinematic essay on racism in America – there are many black-and-white images of houses, forests, and roads in Alabama, the state in which the killing took place. As interview subjects recount memories or details related to the crime — through either first-person testimony or Wilkerson’s second-hand paraphrasing — the film often eschews focusing on the speaker to dwell on local spaces, quietly moving through static shots of Alabaman milieus. These images are so still that, at first, they resemble photographs — specifically, old photographs of the sort that one might find in the photo album of someone who was alive when Bill Spann was killed. But if you look closely, you’ll see that the...
- 2/27/2018
- by Jonah Jeng
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended VIEWINGJanus Films has released a moving trailer for the late master Abbas Kiarostami's final film, 24 Frames. We were touched by this entrancing film at this past year's Cannes Film Festival.Steven Soderbergh's post-"retirement" phase appears to continue with Unsane. Here's the first tantalizing trailer:Travis Wilkerson is one of the best kept secrets in American cinema, thus we're pleased to see that his latest Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? gets a trailer and distribution via Grasshopper Film:The kind people over at NoBudge have presented the online premieres of two inspired independent films: Kat Hunt's What's Revenge, a docu-fiction comedy about ex-boyfriends and gender relations, and Eric Marsh & Andrew Stasiulis' Orders, a contemplation of the American war machine from a haunted suburban setting.Recommended LISTENINGThe Directors Guild...
- 2/8/2018
- MUBI
"An urgent, often corrosive look at America's past and present." Grasshopper Films recently released this official trailer for a highly acclaimed documentary titled Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, made by filmmaker Travis Wilkerson examining his own family history. This premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and also played at the New York Film Festival, with a limited release coming later this month. Set in Alabama, the film is about the filmmaker's great-grandfather, who murdered a black man in 1946 and got away with it. So he decides to look back at what happened, a personal reckoning with family, murder, and the corrosive racial tensions that have carried from past to present. This trailer doesn't reveal too much, but it does give you an idea of the look and feel of the film, which seems to have a unique highly-saturated tone. The trailer (+ poster) for Travis Wilkerson's doc Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?...
- 2/7/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
As Oscar hopefuls continue their awards campaigns through the voting period, our sights are mostly turned to what 2018 has to offer. February is another promising month, including the final film from a late master, a trio of ambitious sci-fi features, bold character studies, and more. There’s also the kick-off of Ingmar Bergman centennial retrospective, so make sure to seek it out if it’s coming to a town near you.
Matinees to See: Still/Born (2/2), Seeing Allred (2/9), Tehran Taboo (2/14), and Game Night (2/23)
15. Hannah (Andrea Pallaoro; Feb. 23)
Synopsis: Hannah is the intimate portrait of a woman’s loss of identity as she teeters between denial and reality.
Trailer
Why You Should See It: Getting a run on the fall festival circuit last year and now arriving in theaters, Daniel Schindel said in his review, “Hannah is Charlotte Rampling’s face. There are barely any other actors to speak of in this film,...
Matinees to See: Still/Born (2/2), Seeing Allred (2/9), Tehran Taboo (2/14), and Game Night (2/23)
15. Hannah (Andrea Pallaoro; Feb. 23)
Synopsis: Hannah is the intimate portrait of a woman’s loss of identity as she teeters between denial and reality.
Trailer
Why You Should See It: Getting a run on the fall festival circuit last year and now arriving in theaters, Daniel Schindel said in his review, “Hannah is Charlotte Rampling’s face. There are barely any other actors to speak of in this film,...
- 1/31/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Travis Wilkerson’s Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? was one of the must-sees on last year’s festival circuit, presented either as a straight-ahead documentary or through a “live cinema” environment wherein the writer-director presented his footage with an in-person voiceover. In whatever form it’s seen, many — from the Village Voice to the New York Times to Sight & Sound to Artforum to the New Yorker — spoke of it as a titanic experience, inciting chills for its exploration of personal history as a microcosm of national shame.
The theatrical version of Wilkerson’s project will be released next month by Grasshopper Film, and thus there is a trailer to mark the occasion. Overlaying the horrifying history with images of southern life and the ultimate image of decency, Atticus Finch, it gives some taste of the journey endured by its creator.
Watch below:
Formally audacious and emotionally powerful: a meditation on conscience and responsibility,...
The theatrical version of Wilkerson’s project will be released next month by Grasshopper Film, and thus there is a trailer to mark the occasion. Overlaying the horrifying history with images of southern life and the ultimate image of decency, Atticus Finch, it gives some taste of the journey endured by its creator.
Watch below:
Formally audacious and emotionally powerful: a meditation on conscience and responsibility,...
- 1/29/2018
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Grasshopper Film has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?, Travis Wilkerson’s documentary that played both the Sundance and New York film festivals The film will open theatrically on February 28, 2018 at Film Forum in New York City, followed by a national rollout. The film chronicles a 1946 murder in Alabama, committed by the filmmaker’s great-grandfather S.E. Branch, who killed Bill Spann, a black man. The murder has become hidden family…...
- 11/22/2017
- Deadline
Considering the esteemed level of curation at the New York Film Festival, which begins this Thursday at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, a comprehensive preview could mostly consist of the schedule.
There’s the gala slots (Last Flag Flying, Wonderstruck, and Wonder Wheel), Main Slate selections (featuring Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, The Square, Mudbound), two films from Film Twitter phenom Hong Sang-soo, and much more, as well as a 24-film Robert Mitchum retrospective and a delectable line-up of restorations.
So rather than single all of these out for our yearly preview, we’re looking at a handful of under-the-radar highlights from across the festival. Check them out below and return for our coverage.
Before We Vanish (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
There are few directors who would choose to take a semi-sincere approach to a lengthy pseudo-philosophical science-fiction film — especially not one that lightly pries into our fundamental psychological...
There’s the gala slots (Last Flag Flying, Wonderstruck, and Wonder Wheel), Main Slate selections (featuring Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, The Square, Mudbound), two films from Film Twitter phenom Hong Sang-soo, and much more, as well as a 24-film Robert Mitchum retrospective and a delectable line-up of restorations.
So rather than single all of these out for our yearly preview, we’re looking at a handful of under-the-radar highlights from across the festival. Check them out below and return for our coverage.
Before We Vanish (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
There are few directors who would choose to take a semi-sincere approach to a lengthy pseudo-philosophical science-fiction film — especially not one that lightly pries into our fundamental psychological...
- 9/25/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The following essay was produced as part of the 2017 Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
Locarno isn’t just home to a major European film festival. It’s also an ideal place for many Swiss and foreign families to travel in summer and enjoy its hot weather, pleasant cuisine, and serene lake. This makes it a terrific place for contemplating new movies.
Ironically, during the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, many of the films outwardly questioned the value of traditional family life. Many viewers encountered the puzzling contrast of watching subversive movies, leaving the screening rooms, and watching very conventional heterosexual families enjoying their vacations. But this only made the power of these movies stand out.
“C’est moi” says Fanny Ardant, a transgender women, in “Lola Pater,” the film by the Franco-Algerian director Nadir Mokneche,...
Locarno isn’t just home to a major European film festival. It’s also an ideal place for many Swiss and foreign families to travel in summer and enjoy its hot weather, pleasant cuisine, and serene lake. This makes it a terrific place for contemplating new movies.
Ironically, during the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, many of the films outwardly questioned the value of traditional family life. Many viewers encountered the puzzling contrast of watching subversive movies, leaving the screening rooms, and watching very conventional heterosexual families enjoying their vacations. But this only made the power of these movies stand out.
“C’est moi” says Fanny Ardant, a transgender women, in “Lola Pater,” the film by the Franco-Algerian director Nadir Mokneche,...
- 9/14/2017
- by Francisco Noronha
- Indiewire
The 55th New York Film Festival will debut a starry roster of documentaries featuring giants of the art and literary worlds as well as Alex Gibney’s postponed “No Stone Unturned,” a critical investigation into the 1994 Loughinisland massacre in Ireland, which was pulled from Tribeca in April.
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist Gay Talese...
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist Gay Talese...
- 8/23/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The 55th New York Film Festival will debut a starry roster of documentaries featuring giants of the art and literary worlds as well as Alex Gibney’s postponed “No Stone Unturned,” a critical investigation into the 1994 Loughinisland massacre in Ireland, which was pulled from Tribeca in April.
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist...
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist...
- 8/23/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Ben & Joshua Safdie's Good TimeThe lineup for the 2017 festival has been revealed, including new films by Wang Bing, Radu Jude, Raúl Ruiz and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Jean-Marie Straub, Jacques Tourneur and much more.Piazza GRANDEAmori che non sonno stare al mondo (Francesca Comencini, Italy)Atomic Blonde (David Leitch, USA)Chien (Samuel Benchetrit, France/Belgium)Demain et tous les autres jours (Noémie Lvovsky, France)Drei Zinnen (Jan Zabeil, Germany/Italy)Good Time (Ben & Joshua Safdie, USA)Gotthard - One Life, One Soul (Kevin Merz, Switzerland)I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, USA)Iceman (Felix Randau, Germany/Italy/Austria)Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Belgium/France)Lola Pater (Nadir Moknèche, France/Belgium)Sicilia! (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Italy/France/Germany)Sparring (Samuel Jouy, France)The Big Sick (Michael Showalter, USA)The Song of Scorpions (Anup Singh, Switzerland/France/Singapore)What Happed to Monday (Tommy Wirkola,...
- 7/12/2017
- MUBI
Atomic Blonde, The Big Sick, The Song Of Scorpions among line-up.
The line-up for the 70th Locarno Festival (Aug 2-12) in Switzerland has been announced.
Scroll down for the full line-up
The 16-strong Piazza Grande strand features 11 world premieres, including opening night film Tomorrow And Every Other Day directed by Noemie Lvovsky and starring Mathieu Amalric, and closing night music doc Gotthard - One Life, One Soul, about the swiss rock band.
Other Piazza Grande films include Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron, Good Time starring Robert Pattinson, Kumail Nanjiani’s The Big Sick, What Happened to Monday? with Glenn Close and the world premiere of Anup Singh’s The Song of Scorpions, starring Irrfan Khan, who will attend the festival.
Actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz will receive the festival’s 2017 excellence award and Nastassja Kinski will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award.
Michel Merkt (Toni Erdmann, Elle) will receive the festival’s best independent producer award.
As...
The line-up for the 70th Locarno Festival (Aug 2-12) in Switzerland has been announced.
Scroll down for the full line-up
The 16-strong Piazza Grande strand features 11 world premieres, including opening night film Tomorrow And Every Other Day directed by Noemie Lvovsky and starring Mathieu Amalric, and closing night music doc Gotthard - One Life, One Soul, about the swiss rock band.
Other Piazza Grande films include Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron, Good Time starring Robert Pattinson, Kumail Nanjiani’s The Big Sick, What Happened to Monday? with Glenn Close and the world premiere of Anup Singh’s The Song of Scorpions, starring Irrfan Khan, who will attend the festival.
Actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz will receive the festival’s 2017 excellence award and Nastassja Kinski will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award.
Michel Merkt (Toni Erdmann, Elle) will receive the festival’s best independent producer award.
As...
- 7/12/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
Mubi is presenting the world premiere of James N. Kientiz Wilkins' The Republic from July 4 - August 3, 2017.The cinema of James N. Kienitz Wilkins occupies an unusual space in the contemporary art scene. Most of his films are the result of some sort of conceptual procedure, a decision either to treat his original footage according to some abstract system or to apply his own logic to found material. And yet, there is a plainspoken quality to Kienitz Wilkins’ work that smooths out any potential “art damage” or intimidation factor. Kienitz Wilkins has successfully adapted some of the most critical weapons in the arsenal of experimental cinema to produce a stark poetry of the everyday.Kienitz Wilkins’ newest “film,” The Republic, is quite possibly his most radical effort to date. For starters, you will notice that I put the word “film” in quotation marks, since it is no easy matter to...
- 7/4/2017
- MUBI
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?May is an interesting time for a film festival. In a sense, the calendar year for cinema is starting over in May, since that’s when two major international festivals occur—Cannes and Oberhausen. Where Cannes showcases the latest work from global arthouse auteurs—your Almodóvars and von Triers and Hanekes and the like—Oberhausen specifically focuses on short films, some of them by the world’s most prominent avant-garde filmmakers. A significant portion of what screens at both Cannes and Oberhausen will set the agenda for other film festivals in the coming year, in terms of which films and filmmakers ought to be shown.San Francisco’s Crossroads happens during May as well, and this puts it in a unique position with respect to other, larger festivals. Artistic director Steve Polta is able to assemble an experimental film festival comprised of older,...
- 5/19/2017
- MUBI
This year’s True/False Film Fest will hopefully be remembered as Claire Simon’s coming out party. The master French director received a rare three-film retrospective at the Columbia, Missouri festival that collectively highlighted her endless curiosity for life’s spectrum of emotions and anxieties. Within the tight confines of a playground or classroom her inquisitive camera never stops searching for something new, all the while quietly dissecting hierarchies of power and judgment. Comparisons to the great Frederick Wiseman are natural, but Simon’s films always leave room for bits of humor that help transcend the coldness of institutional mechanisms.During a post-screening Q&A for The Graduation, Simon’s latest documentary that examines the intense admittance process for France’s prestigious film school La Fémis, the director described each student’s struggle as “a really big fight to be in the castle.” Dreams of prestige and success validate...
- 3/16/2017
- MUBI
A Ghost StoryBelow you will find our favorite films of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, as well as an index of our coverage.Awardstop Picksjosh Cabritai.Call Me By Your NameII.A Ghost StoryIII.Beatriz at Dinner, Dayveon, Dina, Golden Exits, Kuro, Person to PersonLAWRENCE N Garciai.Call Me By Your NameII.Golden Exits, My Happy FamilyIII.Beatriz at Dinner, Dina, The Big Sick, Landline, Long Strange TripCORRESPONDENCESBy Josh Cabrita and Lawrence N Garcia#1 Josh Cabrita on William Oldroyd's Lady Macbeth, Dustin Guy Defa's Person to Person | Read#2 Lawrence N Garcia on Travis Wilkerson's Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, Gillian Robespierre's Landline, Damien Power's Killing Ground, Taylor Sheridan's Wind River | Read#3 Josh Cabrita on Bryan Fogel's Icarus, Dee Rees' Mudbound, David Lowery's A Ghost Story | Read#4 Lawrence N Garcia on Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name, Matthew Heineman's City of Ghosts,...
- 2/1/2017
- MUBI
Wind RiverDear Josh,After lulling us into a false sense of complacency with Friday’s clear skies, Utah apparently decided to give us a proper welcome with some real snow. So after a two-hour delay, crawling up the I-80 from Salt Lake City into Park City proper, past the occasional “Impeach” sign and hitchhikers on their way to the Women’s March, I was just grateful to have arrived (though a missed screening means word on Charlie McDowell’s intriguing sci-fi entry The Discovery will have to wait). Discoveries in general, though, are what Sundance is all about, positioned as it is at the beginning of the year, and featuring a host of relative unknowns right alongside more established filmmakers. When this year’s slate was first announced, however, I’ll cop to feeling a twinge of disappointment given the lack of major names, especially after 2016’s embarrassment of riches.
- 1/30/2017
- MUBI
An anguished expression of white guilt in the guise of a family-shame detective story, Travis Wilkerson's Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? is a theatrical/film hybrid, more one-man-show than documentary. Recounting his attempt to learn more about his great-grandfather's killing of a black man in 1946, Wilkerson is a compelling enough guide that it may be some time before the audience starts to wonder if the central mystery is a red herring. The work will likely fare better at experimental theater fests than in film venues, despite some intriguing film effects.
Festival materials described a more involved stage setup,...
Festival materials described a more involved stage setup,...
- 1/24/2017
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Person to PersonDear Lawrence,Sometime during our excursion from Vancouver to Park City you asked about a movie I’ve been planning in my head for over a year. Though neither of us are filmmakers by trade or by nature, we both have an innate desire to create, to harness life experience and transform it into something universal: into art. But as critics, we’ve become accustomed to deciphering meaning rather than creating it, better at explaining with words than evoking with images, inspired to discuss others’ stories but not tell our own. But instead of making a movie, my life had become one. Our trip began on Wednesday with a two hour inspection at the border where we were ultimately turned away. The next day was gonzo, shifting tones at a breakneck speed, jerking us around from crushing disappointment to hope, from frustration to elation. If Wednesday seemed like...
- 1/22/2017
- MUBI
As the Sundance Film Festival’s groundbreaking and technology-facing New Frontier section kicks off its second decade in existence, the 2017 edition of the section boasts its most stacked and varied programing picks yet. The full slate includes “story worlds” in Augmented Reality headsets, projection-mapped acrobatics, a Vr beauty salon producing neuroscience data via the internet of things and a host of socialized, interactive and immersively haptic Vr story experiences.
The rest of the lineup includes live performances, a feature film and augmented reality experiences built to complement 22 Vr experiences and 11 installations, showcased between three venues in Park City. The Claim Jumper will host 10 immersive installations focused on cross-disciplinary story construction, while the Vr Palace will feature 17 Vr experiences alongside an additional installation and the Vr Bar will offer a lineup of mobile Vr. Two New Frontier projects are part of the Festival’s New Climate program, which highlights the environment and climate change.
The rest of the lineup includes live performances, a feature film and augmented reality experiences built to complement 22 Vr experiences and 11 installations, showcased between three venues in Park City. The Claim Jumper will host 10 immersive installations focused on cross-disciplinary story construction, while the Vr Palace will feature 17 Vr experiences alongside an additional installation and the Vr Bar will offer a lineup of mobile Vr. Two New Frontier projects are part of the Festival’s New Climate program, which highlights the environment and climate change.
- 12/1/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement of the competition and Next slates, today Sundance has unveiled its New Frontier slate. Now in its 10th year, the section is devoted primarily to Ar, Vr and a variety of installations. Highlights from this announcement include new films from Travis Wilkerson and Jem Cohen, a performance by Terence Nash, plus the latest from Vr veteran Nonny de la Peña and a new Vr project from Rose Troche. Films And Performance 18 Black Girls / Boys Ages 1-18 Who Have Arrived at the Singularity and Are Thus Spiritual Machines: $X in an Edition of $97 Quadrillion […]...
- 12/1/2016
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Top brass at the Park City jamboree announced on Thursday 20 virtual and augmented reality presentations and 11 installations.
The eleventh New Frontier programme includes storyworlds in Augmented Reality headsets, and a Vr beauty salon producing neuroscience data.
Established Vr artist Chris Milk and Aaron Kobli are behind Life Of Us, while immersive journalist Nonny de la Peña will premiere Out Of Exile: Daniel’s Story.
New Frontier will be staged at three Park City venues: Claim Jumper will host ten immersive installations; the Vr Palace will feature 17 Vr experiences alongside an additional installation; and the Vr Bar will offer a line-up of mobile Vr.
Three projects are part of the festival’s New Climate programme highlighting the environment and climate change.
Shari Frilot, Sundance Film Festival senior programmer and chief curator, New Frontier, said: “In an era that has recalibrated economies, redefined social realms and rewired the connection between the individual and the world, we must also...
The eleventh New Frontier programme includes storyworlds in Augmented Reality headsets, and a Vr beauty salon producing neuroscience data.
Established Vr artist Chris Milk and Aaron Kobli are behind Life Of Us, while immersive journalist Nonny de la Peña will premiere Out Of Exile: Daniel’s Story.
New Frontier will be staged at three Park City venues: Claim Jumper will host ten immersive installations; the Vr Palace will feature 17 Vr experiences alongside an additional installation; and the Vr Bar will offer a line-up of mobile Vr.
Three projects are part of the festival’s New Climate programme highlighting the environment and climate change.
Shari Frilot, Sundance Film Festival senior programmer and chief curator, New Frontier, said: “In an era that has recalibrated economies, redefined social realms and rewired the connection between the individual and the world, we must also...
- 12/1/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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