Vanessa Bryant quietly sobbed in a federal courtroom Wednesday as her lawyer described for jurors the graphic nature of a photo that a sheriff’s deputy purportedly shared with random people at a bar two days after her NBA superstar husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash alongside seven others in January 2020.
The lawyer, Luis Li, said a whistleblower who was at the Baja California Bar & Grill in Norwalk that day was so disturbed by Deputy Joey Cruz’s actions that he filed a formal complaint...
The lawyer, Luis Li, said a whistleblower who was at the Baja California Bar & Grill in Norwalk that day was so disturbed by Deputy Joey Cruz’s actions that he filed a formal complaint...
- 8/10/2022
- by Nancy Dillon
- Rollingstone.com
It’s been a couple months since the last edition of What’s Up Doc? placed Michael Moore’s surprise world premiere of Where To Invade Next at the top of this list and in the meantime much shuffling has taken place and much time has been spent on various new endeavors (namely my Buffalo-based film series, Cultivate Cinema Circle). Finally taking its rightful place at the top, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hagedus’ Unlocking the Cage is in the midst of being scored by composer James Lavino, according to Lavino’s own personal site. Though the project has been taking shape at its own leisurely pace, I’d expect to see the film making its festival debut in early 2016.
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
- 11/5/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s been a surprisingly interesting month of moving and shaking in terms of doc development. Just a month after making his first public funding pitch at Toronto’s Hot Docs Forum, legendary doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman took to Kickstarter to help cover the remaining expenses for his 40th feature film In Jackson Heights (see the film’s first trailer below). Unrelentingly rigorous in his determination to capture the American institutional landscape on film, his latest continues down this thematic rabbit hole, taking on the immensely diverse New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights as his latest subject. According to the Kickstarter page, Wiseman is currently editing the 120 hours of rushes he shot with hopes of having the film ready for a fall festival premiere (my guess would be Tiff, where both National Gallery and At Berkeley made their North American debut), though he’s currently quite a ways away from his $75,000 goal.
- 7/6/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
David Bordwell has posted an hour-long talk, "Hou Hsiao-hsien: Constraints, Traditions and Trends." Also in today's roundup of news and views: Richard Brody on Charles Chaplin's Limelight, Dan Callahan on Jean Harlow, David Cairns on a 1944 animated film by Hermína Týrlová, Arielle Bernstein on Noah Baumbach, Katie Hasty's conversation with composer Cliff Martinez, an upcoming exhibition of collages by John Ashbery and Guy Maddin, a teaser from the New York Asian Film Festival and a Kickstarter campaign from John W. Walter for The Earth Moves, a documentary about Philip Glass, Robert Wilson and their landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach. » - David Hudson...
- 6/7/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
David Bordwell has posted an hour-long talk, "Hou Hsiao-hsien: Constraints, Traditions and Trends." Also in today's roundup of news and views: Richard Brody on Charles Chaplin's Limelight, Dan Callahan on Jean Harlow, David Cairns on a 1944 animated film by Hermína Týrlová, Arielle Bernstein on Noah Baumbach, Katie Hasty's conversation with composer Cliff Martinez, an upcoming exhibition of collages by John Ashbery and Guy Maddin, a teaser from the New York Asian Film Festival and a Kickstarter campaign from John W. Walter for The Earth Moves, a documentary about Philip Glass, Robert Wilson and their landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach. » - David Hudson...
- 6/7/2015
- Keyframe
The 17th annual Boston Underground Film Festival is set to explode all over the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square on March 25-29.
Opening Night: The fun kicks off on the 25th at 7:30 p.m. with the exciting new flick from the always amazing Astron-6 collective, The Editor, an homage to the brutal Giallo movies of the ’70s and ’80s directed by Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy. This will be followed by the restored version of the legendary cult classic Gone With the Pope by the notorious Duke Mitchell.
Closing Night: Goodnight Mommy the debut feature film by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, will screen at 8:30 p.m. on the 29th and is a nightmarish vision of familial dread when twin brothers believe their cosmetically altered mother is literally not the woman she used to be.
Other features include a mix of horror, like Matt O’Mahoney’s...
Opening Night: The fun kicks off on the 25th at 7:30 p.m. with the exciting new flick from the always amazing Astron-6 collective, The Editor, an homage to the brutal Giallo movies of the ’70s and ’80s directed by Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy. This will be followed by the restored version of the legendary cult classic Gone With the Pope by the notorious Duke Mitchell.
Closing Night: Goodnight Mommy the debut feature film by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, will screen at 8:30 p.m. on the 29th and is a nightmarish vision of familial dread when twin brothers believe their cosmetically altered mother is literally not the woman she used to be.
Other features include a mix of horror, like Matt O’Mahoney’s...
- 3/12/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Zediva is no more. U.S. District Judge John Walter effectively shut down the streaming service for copyright violations on Friday, issuing a permanent injunction against the company. Zediva, which hoped to ride a licensing loophole to big profits, has agreed to pay $1.8 million in damages for failing to negotiate with studios for rights to their movies. Also read: Netflix's Streaming Dilemma: Too Fast, Too Cheap, Maybe Out of Control Zediva undercut competitors like iTunes and Netflix by ignoring the 28-day delays imposed by studios for new releases and offering films for $1.99 a...
- 10/28/2011
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
Los Angeles -- A federal judge in Los Angeles issued a preliminary injunction favoring the Motion Picture Association of America in its copyright infringement lawsuit against video-streaming startup Zediva.
The MPAA said in a statement that Judge John Walter issued the order Monday against Zediva, whose founders believed they discovered a legal loophole to allow early instant viewing online by having customers rent DVDs physically located in Silicon Valley.
MPAA Senior Vice President Dan Robbins calls the decision a great victory for workers in the film and television industry.
Zediva said in a statement it intends to appeal, calling the ruling a setback for consumers looking for an alternative to Hollywood-controlled video services.
The MPAA, representing Hollywood studios, in April sued Zediva's parent company Wtv Systems and founder and CEO Venkatesh Srinivasan.
The MPAA said in a statement that Judge John Walter issued the order Monday against Zediva, whose founders believed they discovered a legal loophole to allow early instant viewing online by having customers rent DVDs physically located in Silicon Valley.
MPAA Senior Vice President Dan Robbins calls the decision a great victory for workers in the film and television industry.
Zediva said in a statement it intends to appeal, calling the ruling a setback for consumers looking for an alternative to Hollywood-controlled video services.
The MPAA, representing Hollywood studios, in April sued Zediva's parent company Wtv Systems and founder and CEO Venkatesh Srinivasan.
- 8/2/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
I'm skeptical abour Cars 2. I'm not saying that I think it will be a bad film. I'm just not convinced that the direction Disney and Pixar have taken the franchise is the right one to make this movie the mega hit that Cars wasn't. Cheesy James Bond films aside, the spy movie genre hasn't typically had broad family appeal. Then again, the Disney-Pixar partnership has visited more mature territory in its output before with great success. The Incredibles, which has just been released for the first time on Blu-ray, is definitely not your ordinary family movie. Yet it is one of the collaboration's most revered and popular productions. And rightly so.
The Incredibles was released in theaters in 2004 and proved to be a hit in that realm and on DVD. The story focuses on a group of superheroes who come out of forced retirement to save the world from a wanna-be super villain.
The Incredibles was released in theaters in 2004 and proved to be a hit in that realm and on DVD. The story focuses on a group of superheroes who come out of forced retirement to save the world from a wanna-be super villain.
- 4/21/2011
- CinemaSpy
As inflatable stars arrive in Manhattan ready for their Macy’s close-up, one of the biggest stars in the history of film won’t be at the parade — she’ll be at the IFC Center. Tonight, Stranger Than Fiction will feature its penultimate screening, Marlene, a revival of the 1984 documentary about the reclusive film star Marlene Dietrich, directed by Maximilian Schell, an actor who appeared with Dietrich in Judgment at Nuremberg.
Presented by John Walter, the director of How to Draw A Bunny and Theater of War, Marlene is partly the story of Dietrich and partly the story of Schell’s dogged pursuit of a reluctant subject. Despite their friendship, the notoriously private star turned down his interview requests over and over again. After much pleading, Dietrich finally agreed to an interview but with one non-negotiable condition — Schell could not record her face.
I recently spoke with Walter… Read the...
Presented by John Walter, the director of How to Draw A Bunny and Theater of War, Marlene is partly the story of Dietrich and partly the story of Schell’s dogged pursuit of a reluctant subject. Despite their friendship, the notoriously private star turned down his interview requests over and over again. After much pleading, Dietrich finally agreed to an interview but with one non-negotiable condition — Schell could not record her face.
I recently spoke with Walter… Read the...
- 11/23/2010
- by Mary Anderson Casavant
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Contrary to even our own guide to what's coming out on video-on-demand and online, rumors of the demise of those shiny discs that still take up shelf space have been greatly exaggerated. Take next week, for example, in which one will only be able to enjoy the guilty pleasure of "Lake Placid 3" or the easy charm of the Adam Scott indie comedy "Passenger Side" on DVD or upgrade to high-definition for the "Alien Quadrilogy" boxed set, a rerelease of the "Back to the Future" trilogy or better yet, Criterion editions of Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" or the Japanese curiosity "Hausu" on Blu-ray. And it's not even December yet.
Unfortunately in this time of tightened purse strings, the studios and specialty labels like Shout! Factory, Criterion and Olive Films aren't going to make this holiday season any easier on the wallet, with most digging deep into the vaults to...
Unfortunately in this time of tightened purse strings, the studios and specialty labels like Shout! Factory, Criterion and Olive Films aren't going to make this holiday season any easier on the wallet, with most digging deep into the vaults to...
- 10/21/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
The judge in the wrongful death lawsuit Joe Jackson filed against Dr. Conrad Murray lashed out at both sides ... saying they both screwed up. Judge John Walter denied Dr. Murray's motion to dismiss the case, concluding Murray's lawyer, Charles Peckham, violated court rules by not trying to resolve the issues with Joe's attorney before filing his motion. But the judge also said Joe's lawyer, Brian Oxman, was slow on the uptake in filing his opposition papers ... missing the deadline.
- 10/13/2010
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Since part of the mission of Stranger Than Fiction is to promote “lost gems,” it should come as no surprise that programmer Thom Powers would choose to screen Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera, a little seen (outside of film schools) Soviet classic that has had a profound influence on everything from Jean-Luc Godard to car commercials. A mish-mash of documentary material and visual effects, Man With a Movie Camera is a rapidly edited documentary experiment — and perhaps the world’s first music video. Last night’s screening featured a modern score arranged by John Walter, an editor and filmmaker whose 2002 film, How to Draw a Bunny, never quite got the attention it deserved. Walter’s score is impressive — his atmospheric sampling...
- 5/26/2010
- by Mary Anderson Casavant
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In this week's edition of Indie Roundup, we look back on a busy week for acquisitions, upcoming film awards, and two fests.
Deals. The Garden, nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, was picked up by Oscilloscope and will be released to theaters in the spring and on DVD this summer, according to indieWIRE. Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, the film follows a long court battle to save the South Central Farm, a community produce garden that sprang up in the wake of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
With the unfortunate demise of New Yorker Films, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's critically-acclaimed Three Monkeys will now be distributed by Zeitgeist Films. The theatrical release planned for this month will be delayed to April.
Other films receiving deals, per indieWIRE, with distributor and release dates noted: Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands with the Devil (Regent Releasing, Summer 2009); Lee Isaac Chung's Munyurangabo (Film Movement,...
Deals. The Garden, nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, was picked up by Oscilloscope and will be released to theaters in the spring and on DVD this summer, according to indieWIRE. Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, the film follows a long court battle to save the South Central Farm, a community produce garden that sprang up in the wake of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
With the unfortunate demise of New Yorker Films, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's critically-acclaimed Three Monkeys will now be distributed by Zeitgeist Films. The theatrical release planned for this month will be delayed to April.
Other films receiving deals, per indieWIRE, with distributor and release dates noted: Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands with the Devil (Regent Releasing, Summer 2009); Lee Isaac Chung's Munyurangabo (Film Movement,...
- 3/5/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
Meryl Streep In Director John Walter'S Documentary Theater Of War. Courtesy White Buffalo Entertainment. In the field of documentary, John Walter has emerged as the medium's most eloquent and entertaining cultural historian. The Detroit-born director, who is also an unpublished poet, began his career in the film industry as a boom operator and worked in that capacity on Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II. In the mid 90s, he became an editor, beginning with Norman Reedus' Messenger (1994), and in 1995 he directed Edison's Miracle of Light, an episode of PBS' television series The American Experience. In 2002, Walter made his documentary feature debut with How to Draw a Bunny, a portrait of the Pop Art collage artist and prankster Ray Johnson, which...
- 1/7/2009
- by Nick Dawson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
By Stephen Saito
At the end of our interview at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, John Walter joked that I should link to Balzac's short story "The Unknown Masterpiece" when writing about his documentary, not because he felt the title was a direct reference to its quality, but rather because he had finished the film only 20 minutes before he had to hand it over to the festival. Pondering some last minute tinkering, Walter conjured up the image of Balzac's protagonist, the eternally disappointed artist Frenhofer who works on a single painting for years, until he remembered a film editor friend that passed along George Lucas' advice, "A movie's never finished, it's only abandoned."
All this talk about an artist's process is no surprise coming from Walter, who has followed up his unconventional biopic of "chop artist" Ray Johnson, "How to Draw a Bunny," with the equally intriguing "Theater of War,...
At the end of our interview at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, John Walter joked that I should link to Balzac's short story "The Unknown Masterpiece" when writing about his documentary, not because he felt the title was a direct reference to its quality, but rather because he had finished the film only 20 minutes before he had to hand it over to the festival. Pondering some last minute tinkering, Walter conjured up the image of Balzac's protagonist, the eternally disappointed artist Frenhofer who works on a single painting for years, until he remembered a film editor friend that passed along George Lucas' advice, "A movie's never finished, it's only abandoned."
All this talk about an artist's process is no surprise coming from Walter, who has followed up his unconventional biopic of "chop artist" Ray Johnson, "How to Draw a Bunny," with the equally intriguing "Theater of War,...
- 1/5/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Filmmaker John Walter says he wishes that when he became interested in writer-director Bertolt Brecht, there had been a documentary like Walter's Theater of War. "It's a nonacademic introduction to Brecht that doesn't foreground his theoretical writings but rather his sense of humor and his engagement with the world around him, and with just enough biographical information that gives you a foundation for further exploring his great body of work," says Walter.Interspersed with lively professorial commentary, recollections from Brecht's daughter, and footage of Brecht, the film takes as its jumping-off point the 2006 Public Theater production of Mother Courage and Her Children, featuring an adaptation by Tony Kushner and starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Austin Pendleton. It was directed by George C. Wolfe with music by Jeanine Tesori."I wanted to do this film for quite a while, but I was waiting for the right production, and this was it,...
- 12/31/2008
- by Simi Horwitz
- backstage.com
John Walter's documentary "Theater of War" goes backstage as Meryl Streep rehearses for the Public Theater's 2006 staging of Bertolt Brecht's antiwar play "Mother Courage and Her Children," as directed by George C. Wolfe.
The film also includes a look back at a 1949 production of the show in Berlin, overseen by Brecht and featuring his wife.
It is always a pleasure to watch Streep in action, even just rehearsing. There's no doubt that she is one of our finest actresses.
The film also includes a look back at a 1949 production of the show in Berlin, overseen by Brecht and featuring his wife.
It is always a pleasure to watch Streep in action, even just rehearsing. There's no doubt that she is one of our finest actresses.
- 12/26/2008
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
John Walter labels his film Theater Of War “a documentary about art and politics,” which is the kind of blatant provocation meant to pay homage to the film’s ostensible subject, Bertolt Brecht. In 2006, Walter was allowed to film the rehearsals for George C. Wolfe’s Central Park production of Brecht’s anti-war play Mother Courage And Her Children, starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Austin Pendleton, with a Tony Kushner translation and songs by Jeanine Tesori. Walter was also granted extended time with Streep, who allowed a rare and reluctant glimpse at her process in deference to Brecht, an artist who favored exposing his own artifice. Walter intersperses his coverage of the Mother Courage production with biographical sketches and analysis of Brecht—much of it provided by post-modern novelist Jay Cantor. At one point, Walter shoots some stock footage of Cantor working at his computer, then cuts to a shot of what.
- 12/25/2008
- by Noel Murray
- avclub.com
By Neil Pedley
After a December in which big name stars have been mostly Mia, this holiday week finds Dustin Hoffman getting fired, Brad Pitt getting old and Tom Cruise trying to explain why you really should spend Christmas Day with your family reliving one of the most bloody chapters in recent history. Merry Christmas everyone!
"Bedtime Stories"
A simple glance at the one-sheet for this anarchic family friendly crowd-pleaser from the Mouse House tells you everything you need to know. Searching for a new cash cow post-"Pirates," the folks at Disney took one look at the numbers for "Night at the Museum" and decided they fancied a bit of that, so here comes Adam Sandler fending off aliens, cowboys and Romans when his world is transformed (literally) by the outlandish bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew to sleep with each night, only to discover the stories...
After a December in which big name stars have been mostly Mia, this holiday week finds Dustin Hoffman getting fired, Brad Pitt getting old and Tom Cruise trying to explain why you really should spend Christmas Day with your family reliving one of the most bloody chapters in recent history. Merry Christmas everyone!
"Bedtime Stories"
A simple glance at the one-sheet for this anarchic family friendly crowd-pleaser from the Mouse House tells you everything you need to know. Searching for a new cash cow post-"Pirates," the folks at Disney took one look at the numbers for "Night at the Museum" and decided they fancied a bit of that, so here comes Adam Sandler fending off aliens, cowboys and Romans when his world is transformed (literally) by the outlandish bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew to sleep with each night, only to discover the stories...
- 12/22/2008
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
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