News for
Flaming Creatures (1963) More at IMDbPro »

ad feedback

6 items from 2012

29 March 2012 7:00 AM, PDT | Bad Lit | See recent Bad Lit news »

It might seem like an obtuse question, but does a film festival that puts “underground” in its name under any sort of obligation to screen only “underground films”? And — as Bad Lit, the self-proclaimed Journal of Underground Film asked a few years ago — who’s deciding what’s an underground film, anyway?

First popularized in the 1960s, the term “underground film” was typically applied to the movies coming out of the New York City avant-garde and experimental scene. More importantly, the term implied that these films had elements that were dangerous to normal society.

Watching an underground film, it was assumed one could witness degenerate acts such as the queer vamping of Jack Smith‘s Flaming Creatures or the black mass rituals of Kenneth Anger‘s Invocation of My Demon Brother, or — hopefully — bare boobs.

Eventually, though, the degeneracy of the ’60s underground film scene gave way to the more formal, »

- Mike Everleth

17 February 2012 10:17 AM, PST | Bad Lit | See recent Bad Lit news »

On Feb. 11, 2012, the Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn, New York screened long lost films by iconic and hugely influential underground filmmaker Jack Smith was screened. This footage has been restored by Jerry Tartaglia and Daniel Feinberg, and was funded by the Barbara Gladstone Gallery.

In the above video, first you’ll have to wade through two intros by Film-makers’ Cooperative director Mm Serra and Coop founder Jonas Mekas who were on hand for a special celebration honoring the 50th anniversary of the Coop. Then, the Smith footage is very brief, but absolutely gorgeous to behold. Seeing these in person must have been an incredible treat at this event.

And it’s worth it to listen to some important underground film history by Mekas about his early relationship with Smith. Eventually, they would have a falling out over Mekas’ distribution of Smith’s classic film Flaming Creatures.

However, Mekas discusses here their »

- Mike Everleth

14 January 2012 7:00 AM, PST | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

Transsexual characters promote positive discussion, regardless of who plays them. But trans actors need more opportunities

"He's playing a transsexual," said Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning, as the BBC announced that Sean Bean would star as Simon, an English teacher with an "alter ego" named Tracie in legal drama Accused. "[It's] a brilliant story," Stephenson told the Broadcasting Press Guild, "untold, I think, on mainstream television." Bean's appearance is the latest to raise an issue constantly debated within certain circles: should trans roles on screen be played by trans people?

Critiquing stereotypical portrayals in Whipping Girl, Julia Serano stated that "in a world where transsexual and intersex works of art … are not considered mainstream enough to be nominated for Emmys and Pulitzers, the facade presented in [HBO drama] Normal … profoundly shapes audience opinions about transsexual and intersex people". The problem, argued Serano, was that Normal appropriated gender-variant experiences without including transgender perspectives, »

- Juliet Jacques

14 January 2012 7:00 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

Transsexual characters promote positive discussion, regardless of who plays them. But trans actors need more opportunities

"He's playing a transsexual," said Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning, as the BBC announced that Sean Bean would star as Simon, an English teacher with an "alter ego" named Tracie in legal drama Accused. "[It's] a brilliant story," Stephenson told the Broadcasting Press Guild, "untold, I think, on mainstream television." Bean's appearance is the latest to raise an issue constantly debated within certain circles: should trans roles on screen be played by trans people?

Critiquing stereotypical portrayals in Whipping Girl, Julia Serano stated that "in a world where transsexual and intersex works of art … are not considered mainstream enough to be nominated for Emmys and Pulitzers, the facade presented in [HBO drama] Normal … profoundly shapes audience opinions about transsexual and intersex people". The problem, argued Serano, was that Normal appropriated gender-variant experiences without including transgender perspectives, »

- Juliet Jacques

5 January 2012 12:20 PM, PST | MUBI | See recent MUBI news »

Reaction on Twitter and Facebook to yesterday's late-breaking news that the Village Voice had laid off J Hoberman, a staff writer since 1983 and chief film critic since 1988, was swift and harsh. The New York Times' Ao Scott's comment that "the Village Voice has been mostly irrelevant for years, Except for J Hoberman and a few others" is one of the milder comments, though he did add that the paper's "now worth less than its cover price," which, of course, is $0. Following the waves of fury, some who might be in a position to know have suggested that Hoberman will "land on his feet" and I know I'm not alone in sincerely hoping he does.

Today's must-read, then, is "A History of Film Criticism at the Village Voice," which Hoberman wrote back in October 2005 on the occasion of the alternative weekly's 50th anniversary. As far as I can tell, you can't »

5 January 2012 8:23 AM, PST | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »

In the wake of yesterday's news that J. Hoberman, longtime senior film critic for The Village Voice, had been laid off from the publication, the critic has sent a letter to current Voice staffers. Hoberman also posted the letter on his personal website and sent it around to colleagues and friends. Here's the letter: Dear colleagues, Yesterday afternoon I learned that my position at the Village Voice had been eliminated. I’ve been a staff writer at the Voice since 1983, a regular film reviewer since 1978, and sold my first free-lance piece (an article on Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures) as a virtual toddler back in 1972. In fact, I grew up reading the Voice–in addition to spending most of my working life in its employ. But, nothing lasts forever, and I’ve had a pretty good run in what, for me, was the greatest job imaginable. I learned nearly everything »

6 items from 2012