This year’s edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is set to present a retrospective on Franz Kafka and his influence on cinema, dubbed The Wish To Be A Red Indian: Kafka and Cinema. It will examine how the influential Czech writer has impacted filmmakers from Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, Ousmane Sembene, Jan Nemec and Steven Soderbergh.
This June will mark the centenary of the final moments of Kafka, who passed away at a sanatorium in the Austrian town of Kierling. Kviff, which kicks off on June 28, will launch this strand in honor of the writer featuring films such as Soderberg’s noir mystery Kafka, Welles’ The Trial, Scorsese’s After Hours as well as Roman Polanski’s The Tenant among others.
The festival will also be honoring casting director Francine Maisler, who has worked with directors such as Denis Villeneuve, Terrence Malick and Alejandro González Iñárritu and whose credits include The Revenant,...
This June will mark the centenary of the final moments of Kafka, who passed away at a sanatorium in the Austrian town of Kierling. Kviff, which kicks off on June 28, will launch this strand in honor of the writer featuring films such as Soderberg’s noir mystery Kafka, Welles’ The Trial, Scorsese’s After Hours as well as Roman Polanski’s The Tenant among others.
The festival will also be honoring casting director Francine Maisler, who has worked with directors such as Denis Villeneuve, Terrence Malick and Alejandro González Iñárritu and whose credits include The Revenant,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced its first wave of program details for its upcoming 58th edition, which is set to take place from June 28 through July 6, 2024. The Czech festival, widely considered to be the most prestigious film festival in Eastern Europe, is set to honor one of the nation’s most famous writers with a new retrospective titled “Franz Kafka and the Cinema.”
The series is set to feature screenings of a wide range of films inspired by the Czech novelist, who famously wove themes of alienation and existential angst into cryptic novels that often flirted with surrealism. Some films, like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” are direct adaptations of Kafka’s writings; but the series also includes movies about Kafka’s life, and films like Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” that were influenced by Kafka’s ideas.
“For decades, Kafka’s oeuvre has functioned as a continuing provocation to filmmakers,...
The series is set to feature screenings of a wide range of films inspired by the Czech novelist, who famously wove themes of alienation and existential angst into cryptic novels that often flirted with surrealism. Some films, like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” are direct adaptations of Kafka’s writings; but the series also includes movies about Kafka’s life, and films like Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” that were influenced by Kafka’s ideas.
“For decades, Kafka’s oeuvre has functioned as a continuing provocation to filmmakers,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The Karlovy Vary Film Festival and Variety have teamed up to honor Francine Maisler, one of the world’s most respected casting directors, whose recent credits include “Dune: Part Two,” “The Bikeriders,” “Challengers,” “Civil War” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Maisler has worked on more than 70 feature films and is a recipient of 15 Artios Awards from the Casting Society of America, including for “Marriage Story” in 2020 and “Don’t Look Up” in 2021. As well as working with director Denis Villeneuve on “Dune: Part Two,” “Dune,” “Arrival” and “Sicario,” her other films include Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” and “Knight of Cups,” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” and “Birdman.” In 2022, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her work on HBO’s “Succession.”
As part of its homage, Karlovy Vary will hold a special screening of one of the films which Maisler worked on. Maisler will also give a public master class,...
Maisler has worked on more than 70 feature films and is a recipient of 15 Artios Awards from the Casting Society of America, including for “Marriage Story” in 2020 and “Don’t Look Up” in 2021. As well as working with director Denis Villeneuve on “Dune: Part Two,” “Dune,” “Arrival” and “Sicario,” her other films include Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” and “Knight of Cups,” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” and “Birdman.” In 2022, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her work on HBO’s “Succession.”
As part of its homage, Karlovy Vary will hold a special screening of one of the films which Maisler worked on. Maisler will also give a public master class,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The Karlovy Vary Festival will pay tribute to one of the Czech Republic’s most famous sons with a retrospective of film adaptations of the work of Franz Kafka from some of the greatest names in cinema. To mark the centenary of Kafka’s death, the festival will screen a series of films directly adapted from, or inspired by, the literary master of angst.
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), Martin Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985) and Federico Fellini’s Intervista; Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations, including Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie version of Kafka’s famous short story. Other highlights include Ousmane Sembene’s Senegalese feature The Money Order (1968) and Kôji Yamamura’s animated short Franz Kafka’s a Country Doctor (2007).
“For decades,...
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), Martin Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985) and Federico Fellini’s Intervista; Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations, including Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie version of Kafka’s famous short story. Other highlights include Ousmane Sembene’s Senegalese feature The Money Order (1968) and Kôji Yamamura’s animated short Franz Kafka’s a Country Doctor (2007).
“For decades,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Med Hondo’s 1979 musical extravaganza West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty is a satirical skewering of the legacy of French imperialism in the West Indies and beyond. From the outset, it defies categorization through its distinct sense of free association as it leaps from one colorful image to the next, often shunning context along the way. Throughout Hondo’s film, the xenophobic and racist rhetoric of haughty, predominately white French aristocrats, bureaucrats, and citizens is combatted, challenged, or lampooned by various African figures. Some are slaves, some are revolutionaries, while some are simply power hungry. The result is a deliriously iconoclastic anti-colonialist work that’s worthy of the finest films from roughly the same period by Ousmane Sembene and Dijbril Diop Mambéty.
Adapted by Hondo and Daniel Boukman from the latter’s novel Les Negriers, West Indies traces an epic history of colonial oppression and enslavement in the West Indies,...
Adapted by Hondo and Daniel Boukman from the latter’s novel Les Negriers, West Indies traces an epic history of colonial oppression and enslavement in the West Indies,...
- 3/17/2024
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
While the movie industry seemingly buckles, Disney’s seemingly cutting back on any physical media anymore, and Best Buy is apparently ending its run of selling DVDs and Blu-Rays, companies like the Criterion Collection are staying the course. As usual, the boutique, cinephile-friendly company always aims to release and rediscover classic movies in the annals of film history, and they’re doing much the same with their May 2024 announcements.
Read More: Criterion Adds ‘I Am Cuba,’ ‘Werckmeister Harmonies’ & More For April 2024
Celebrated Senegalese film director Ousmane Sembène, known for 1966’s “Black Girl,” is getting his further due with “Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène, “a three-disc box set featuring powerful 1970s works by the trailblazing Senegalese auteur.
Continue reading Criterion Adds ‘Anatomy Of A Fall,’ Karyn Kusama’s ‘Girlfight’ An Ousmane Sembène Box Set & More For May 2024 at The Playlist.
Read More: Criterion Adds ‘I Am Cuba,’ ‘Werckmeister Harmonies’ & More For April 2024
Celebrated Senegalese film director Ousmane Sembène, known for 1966’s “Black Girl,” is getting his further due with “Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène, “a three-disc box set featuring powerful 1970s works by the trailblazing Senegalese auteur.
Continue reading Criterion Adds ‘Anatomy Of A Fall,’ Karyn Kusama’s ‘Girlfight’ An Ousmane Sembène Box Set & More For May 2024 at The Playlist.
- 2/15/2024
- by The Playlist Staff
- The Playlist
The Criterion Collection follows an auteur-based diet of cinema, offering a wondrous variety of films from all over the world to sate your appetite. Case in point, consider what May 2024 will bring from the home video label. (All verbiage courtesy of Criterion.) "Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène, three powerful 1970s works by the trailblazing Senegalese auteur; Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet's masterful examination of the line between truth and fiction; and Girlfight, Karyn Kusama's singular tale of a young woman's path to self-realization. "Plus: a Blu-ray upgrade of A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds: Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu, a silent classic from one of cinema's greatest directors alongside his color remake, and Peeping Tom, Michael Powell's still-shocking masterpiece of...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/15/2024
- Screen Anarchy
Criterion’s got murder on their mind. This May will bring a 4K release of Michael Powell’s career-killing masterpiece Peeping Tom, supplemented by appearances from its biggest fans Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker. More recent (and less certain on questions of guilt) is Anatomy of a Fall, arriving on Blu-ray with a 5.1 surround DTS-hd Master Audio rendition of “P.I.M.P. (Instrumental).” Meanwhile, Karyn Kusama’s 2001 feature Girlfight gets a Bd.
Then there’s two sets. Sicking up the mantle of Janus’ career-spanning retrospective, Criterion will release a three-film Ousmane Sembène offering this May––Emitaï, Xala, and Ceddo spread across a nicely designed box––and Ozu’s Floating Weeds / A Story of Floating Weeds duology, which I honestly cannot believe has been stuck on DVD for decades. Color Ozu should be nationally subsidized, and this is a good start at least.
Find cover art below and more details...
Then there’s two sets. Sicking up the mantle of Janus’ career-spanning retrospective, Criterion will release a three-film Ousmane Sembène offering this May––Emitaï, Xala, and Ceddo spread across a nicely designed box––and Ozu’s Floating Weeds / A Story of Floating Weeds duology, which I honestly cannot believe has been stuck on DVD for decades. Color Ozu should be nationally subsidized, and this is a good start at least.
Find cover art below and more details...
- 2/15/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSEvil Does Not Exist.We are saddened to learn that Issue 97 will be Cinema Scope’s last in its current form. To “do something valuable in this field,” editor and publisher Mark Peranson writes, “one needs creative freedom.” This is exactly what, for twenty-five years and just under 100 issues, Cinema Scope was able to provide, offering a space that allowed, per Peranson, “a certain kind of filmmaker’s work to be treated with the intellect and respect they deserve.” The print issue is on its way to subscribers now, and its entire contents—including interviews with Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Rodrigo Moreno, and Alex Ross Perry—can also be read online.Sandra Milo has died at the age of 90. She starred in Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1963) and Juliet of the Spirits...
- 1/31/2024
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSBreathless.The Mubi Podcast returns on January 25. Titled “Tailor Made,” the fifth season will consider landmark movies that captured major fashions of their times—from Jean Seberg in Breathless to Sofia Coppola’s body of work to date—with insights from leading costume designers, fashion designers, cinematographers, and directors.Alongside the announcement of the Competition and Encounters sections, with the addition of new films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Ruth Beckermann, and more, we’ve updated our Berlinale lineup post ahead of the festival’s commencement on February 15.June Givanni, a writer on and curator of African and African diasporic cinema and the founder of the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, is to be recognized by BAFTA with an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
Christopher Nolan is to receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the UK’s lead organization for film.
The award will be presented to the Oppenheimer filmmaker at the BFI Chair’s Dinner in London on February 14, 2024, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards. This will be followed on February 15, 2024, by an In Conversation event at BFI Southbank and a special introduction to Tenet at BFI IMAX, for which public tickets will be available. During the visit, Nolan will also visit the BFI National Archive’s Conservation Centre.
Nolan’s films have won 11 Academy Awards and grossed over $6.1 billion worldwide. The release of his latest film, Oppenheimer, in July 2023 took the world by storm, grossing over $950 million globally for Universal Pictures. The pic is Nolan’s biggest film ever at the UK box office, grossing £58.7 million to date, surpassing The Dark Knight and Dunkirk. The film had a rare...
The award will be presented to the Oppenheimer filmmaker at the BFI Chair’s Dinner in London on February 14, 2024, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards. This will be followed on February 15, 2024, by an In Conversation event at BFI Southbank and a special introduction to Tenet at BFI IMAX, for which public tickets will be available. During the visit, Nolan will also visit the BFI National Archive’s Conservation Centre.
Nolan’s films have won 11 Academy Awards and grossed over $6.1 billion worldwide. The release of his latest film, Oppenheimer, in July 2023 took the world by storm, grossing over $950 million globally for Universal Pictures. The pic is Nolan’s biggest film ever at the UK box office, grossing £58.7 million to date, surpassing The Dark Knight and Dunkirk. The film had a rare...
- 12/4/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
“Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan is being accorded a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute.
“The fellowship recognizes Nolan’s extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema as one of the world’s most successful and influential film directors, constantly pushing the limits of what large-scale filmmaking can be whilst retaining a reverence for the history of the medium and the primacy of cinema-going,” the BFI said in a statement.
The fellowship will be presented to Nolan at the BFI chair’s dinner in London on Feb. 14, 2024, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards. This will be followed on Feb. 15, 2024, by an In Conversation event at BFI Southbank and an introduction to “Tenet” at BFI Imax. During his visit, Nolan will also visit the BFI National Archive’s Conservation Centre.
Nolan’s films, which also include “Memento,” “Batman Begins,” “Inception” and “Dunkirk,” have won 11 Oscars and grossed some $6.1 million globally.
“The fellowship recognizes Nolan’s extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema as one of the world’s most successful and influential film directors, constantly pushing the limits of what large-scale filmmaking can be whilst retaining a reverence for the history of the medium and the primacy of cinema-going,” the BFI said in a statement.
The fellowship will be presented to Nolan at the BFI chair’s dinner in London on Feb. 14, 2024, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards. This will be followed on Feb. 15, 2024, by an In Conversation event at BFI Southbank and an introduction to “Tenet” at BFI Imax. During his visit, Nolan will also visit the BFI National Archive’s Conservation Centre.
Nolan’s films, which also include “Memento,” “Batman Begins,” “Inception” and “Dunkirk,” have won 11 Oscars and grossed some $6.1 million globally.
- 12/4/2023
- by K.J. Yossman and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Nothing quite hits like a tale straight from the heart and after realising he needed to find his own authentic authorial voice, filmmaker Joshua Okwuosa set out to tell an evocative story central to the Nigerian experience and his own life with Okem. A story with origins that are hauntingly commonplace, Okwuosa maintains the verisimilitude of his storytelling by ratcheting up the tension as we focus on the helpless and desperate attempts made by Nigerian immigrant Okem to help his mother back home. Okem is a sharp reminder of the brutal realities faced by people all over the world who are forced to leave their homelands in the hope of providing for their families back home. Ahead of Okem’s premiere on the pages of Dn today, we were able to talk to Okwuosa about the struggles he faced finding an Igbo speaking actor for the role, building the claustrophobia...
- 11/27/2023
- by Sarah Smith
- Directors Notes
The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
An anguished update of, and response to, Ousmane Sembène’s 1965 anti-colonialist classic Black Girl, writer-director Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny grapples with the psychic pain of cultural alienation and familial disconnection. Though it contains elements of supernatural horror—including trickster spiders and murderous mermaids—it’s at heart a deeply felt immigration story, one that finds hope not in the empty promises of the American dream but in the strength and resilience of oppressed peoples.
The film opens on Aisha’s (Anna Diop) first day of work at the luxe Manhattan apartment of a businesswoman, Amy (Michelle Monaghan), who’s hired her to care for her young daughter, Rose (Rose Decker). Aisha, a teacher in her native Senegal, has no trouble caring for the girl, helping her with her French lessons and making food that she’ll actually eat, but she does have issues with Amy, whose festering anxieties make her...
The film opens on Aisha’s (Anna Diop) first day of work at the luxe Manhattan apartment of a businesswoman, Amy (Michelle Monaghan), who’s hired her to care for her young daughter, Rose (Rose Decker). Aisha, a teacher in her native Senegal, has no trouble caring for the girl, helping her with her French lessons and making food that she’ll actually eat, but she does have issues with Amy, whose festering anxieties make her...
- 11/8/2023
- by Keith Watson
- Slant Magazine
The tough thing about being an intrepid cinephile: you trawl and dig for lesser-known masterpieces of world cinema, watch them on subpar (sometimes sub-subpar) rips, and only five-or-so years later see them get a loving restoration. As is the case with their recent L’amour fou release and Ousmane Sembène retro, Janus are putting out Glauber Rocha’s Cinema Novo masterpiece Black God, White Devil in a 4K restoration that looks so good I can only envy anybody who sees it for the first time like so.
Ahead of its November 17 debut at Film Forum, a new trailer has arrived and, in terms often applicable to Glauber Rocha, “goes super-hard.” His brutal vision of Brazil, seen with the added clarity of Metropoles Productions’ restoration, suggests the ideal for these releases: elucidate a lost classic and herald a new entry in the canon. And if I can make suggestions: The Age of the Earth next,...
Ahead of its November 17 debut at Film Forum, a new trailer has arrived and, in terms often applicable to Glauber Rocha, “goes super-hard.” His brutal vision of Brazil, seen with the added clarity of Metropoles Productions’ restoration, suggests the ideal for these releases: elucidate a lost classic and herald a new entry in the canon. And if I can make suggestions: The Age of the Earth next,...
- 10/30/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSPoor Things.The 80th Venice Film Festival concluded last weekend. The jury, chaired by Damien Chazelle, awarded the Golden Lion to Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest, Poor Things; in his latest dispatch, Leonardo Goi calls it "joltingly alive, a film that crackles with the same restless curiosity and lust of its protagonist." See a summary of all the awards, plus a roundup of our coverage.San Sebastian Film Festival has announced who will serve on their festival juries for their 71st edition: Claire Denis will be the president for the Official Section, while Hayao Miyazaki will receive an honorary award for career achievement. His latest film, The Boy and The Heron, will open the festival.Recommended VIEWINGFor their 50th anniversary, the Film Fest Gent have commissioned 25 new short films inspired by new musical compositions. There's...
- 9/16/2023
- MUBI
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring The Wild Bunch, Baraka, Playtime, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as well as Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now in surround sound.
Roxy Cinema
Ahead of The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s feature debut Sexy Beast plays on 35mm; Jean Eustache’s My Little Loves screens.
Museum of the Moving Image
Lost in Translation, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and House Party all show on 35mm; Ida Lupino’s Hard, Fast and Beautiful plays on 16mm.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry screens on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; Billy Elliot plays on Sunday
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored,...
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring The Wild Bunch, Baraka, Playtime, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as well as Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now in surround sound.
Roxy Cinema
Ahead of The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s feature debut Sexy Beast plays on 35mm; Jean Eustache’s My Little Loves screens.
Museum of the Moving Image
Lost in Translation, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and House Party all show on 35mm; Ida Lupino’s Hard, Fast and Beautiful plays on 16mm.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry screens on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; Billy Elliot plays on Sunday
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored,...
- 9/15/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, while the 3D classic I, the Jury screens on Friday; Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry and the Tarantino-presented Winter Kills continue screening on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; four Laurel & Hardy shorts play on Sunday
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring Playtime and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as Sorcerer.
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored, plays in three parts.
Roxy Cinema
A Dennis Hopper series is underway: his great, rarely screened directing efforts Backtrack and The Hot Spot play on 35mm, while a print of Waterworld also screens; The Last Movie shows Sunday.
Museum of Modern Art
A retrospective of the Yugoslav Black Wave is now underway.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, while the 3D classic I, the Jury screens on Friday; Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry and the Tarantino-presented Winter Kills continue screening on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; four Laurel & Hardy shorts play on Sunday
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring Playtime and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as Sorcerer.
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored, plays in three parts.
Roxy Cinema
A Dennis Hopper series is underway: his great, rarely screened directing efforts Backtrack and The Hot Spot play on 35mm, while a print of Waterworld also screens; The Last Movie shows Sunday.
Museum of Modern Art
A retrospective of the Yugoslav Black Wave is now underway.
- 9/8/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Cohen Media Group releases the film in theaters on Friday, February 23.
Like Africa’s “first” film “La Noir De…” (Aka “Black Girl”) (1966), “Io Capitano” begins in Dakar, Senegal. And just as in Ousmane Sembene’s masterpiece, the promise of Europe tempts a young protagonist away from its vibrant streets and warm community to be degraded, dehumanized, and abused. While “La Noir De…” saw a young woman arrive in Antibes, only to find life there a brutal and cruel nightmare that she cannot bear, “Io Capitano” follows 16-year-old Seydou and his cousin Moussa on a tortuous journey just to reach Italy’s shores.
From Italian director Matteo Garrone, best unknown for the unflinching Mafia thriller “Gomorrah,” which saw Naples become a hellish war zone, his latest is the first that sees Italy from an outsider’s perspective, gazing...
Like Africa’s “first” film “La Noir De…” (Aka “Black Girl”) (1966), “Io Capitano” begins in Dakar, Senegal. And just as in Ousmane Sembene’s masterpiece, the promise of Europe tempts a young protagonist away from its vibrant streets and warm community to be degraded, dehumanized, and abused. While “La Noir De…” saw a young woman arrive in Antibes, only to find life there a brutal and cruel nightmare that she cannot bear, “Io Capitano” follows 16-year-old Seydou and his cousin Moussa on a tortuous journey just to reach Italy’s shores.
From Italian director Matteo Garrone, best unknown for the unflinching Mafia thriller “Gomorrah,” which saw Naples become a hellish war zone, his latest is the first that sees Italy from an outsider’s perspective, gazing...
- 9/7/2023
- by Leila Latif
- Indiewire
Bearing talent equal to the totemic filmmakers of his time hasn’t, all these decades hence, helped Ousmane Sembène achieve their cultural, academic, cinephilic stature. The perpetual marginalization of African cinema sure doesn’t help, this shame best exemplified by how few restorations the entire continent’s received––a blight Janus Films look to correct with their centennial retrospective boasting the canonical Black Girl, three new restorations, as well as Guelwaar and Mandabi.
Ahead of a complete series playing Film Forum from September 8 to the 21st, Janus’ trailer shows Sembène’s cinema for its brilliant colorful, musical tones, and political fury. Having seen these films via Mkv files ripped from old DVDs––you’re correct for surmising it was less-than-ideal––these 100 seconds mark a minor revelation. It’s more than Sembène being essential in any condition––anybody seeing these films just now is also supremely lucky.
Find preview and poster...
Ahead of a complete series playing Film Forum from September 8 to the 21st, Janus’ trailer shows Sembène’s cinema for its brilliant colorful, musical tones, and political fury. Having seen these films via Mkv files ripped from old DVDs––you’re correct for surmising it was less-than-ideal––these 100 seconds mark a minor revelation. It’s more than Sembène being essential in any condition––anybody seeing these films just now is also supremely lucky.
Find preview and poster...
- 8/30/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled its Wavelengths program for artist-driven experimental work that includes films by avant garde directors Denis Côté, Radu Jude, the late Chantal Akerman and Wang Bing.
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or winner “Farewell My Concubine” is a highlight of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Classics strand while Jean-Luc Godard’s last film will feature in Wavelengths.
The Classics strand also includes Canadian producer-director Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature documentary “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” (1985), portraying the life of the clarinettist and bandleader, and, after decades of oblivion Jacques Rivette’s New Wave classic “L’amour fou” (1969), whose original celluloid elements were damaged in a fire. A 50th anniversary screening of “Touki Bouki” (1973), from Sengal’s Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène’s “Xala” (1975), presented in 4K, complete the program. Classics is curated by Robyn Citizen, director of programming and platform lead, with contributions from Andréa Picard.
The Wavelengths strand has 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by...
The Classics strand also includes Canadian producer-director Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature documentary “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” (1985), portraying the life of the clarinettist and bandleader, and, after decades of oblivion Jacques Rivette’s New Wave classic “L’amour fou” (1969), whose original celluloid elements were damaged in a fire. A 50th anniversary screening of “Touki Bouki” (1973), from Sengal’s Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène’s “Xala” (1975), presented in 4K, complete the program. Classics is curated by Robyn Citizen, director of programming and platform lead, with contributions from Andréa Picard.
The Wavelengths strand has 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by...
- 8/11/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Toronto International Film Festival has added an additional 17 films to its 2023 lineup, with the new entries the work of a variety of bold international directors, from Radu Jude and Kleber Mendonca Filho to the late Jean-Luc Godard and Chantal Akerman.
The Wavelength section contains 12 features, two films paired in a single program and 19 shorts grouped in three separate programs. It is devoted to “artist-driven experimental films,” in the words of TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “Wavelengths continues to be a celebration of subversion, personal expression, and the vast, inexhaustible capabilities of cinema to enlighten, inspire, awe, resist, disrupt, and propose new ways of seeing and being in the world.”
Films in the section include “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” from the fiery Romanian satirist Radu Jude, “Here” from Belgian director Bas Devos,” the “Oedipus” retelling “Music” from Angela Schanelec, Brazilian Kleber Mendonca...
The Wavelength section contains 12 features, two films paired in a single program and 19 shorts grouped in three separate programs. It is devoted to “artist-driven experimental films,” in the words of TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “Wavelengths continues to be a celebration of subversion, personal expression, and the vast, inexhaustible capabilities of cinema to enlighten, inspire, awe, resist, disrupt, and propose new ways of seeing and being in the world.”
Films in the section include “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” from the fiery Romanian satirist Radu Jude, “Here” from Belgian director Bas Devos,” the “Oedipus” retelling “Music” from Angela Schanelec, Brazilian Kleber Mendonca...
- 8/11/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Venice Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday morning, and its Official Competition featured works by five women filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, who makes history as the first African American woman in selection.
The selected films and filmmakers are Priscilla (Sofia Coppola), Origin (Ava DuVernay), The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland), Woman Of, and Holly (Fien Troch).
There are 23 films in Competition overall, meaning the fest falls far below any sort of gender parity mark. The festival said 32% of submissions this year were from women filmmakers against 66% from male filmmakers. 60 movies did not declare a gender. Nonetheless, DuVernay’s Origin will mark a significant landmark for Venice as the first film by an African American woman to play in Competition.
Related: Venice Lineup Will Generate Debate, Not Least For Inclusion Of Roman Polanski & Woody Allen; Latter Set To Attend Festival
The pic is...
The selected films and filmmakers are Priscilla (Sofia Coppola), Origin (Ava DuVernay), The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland), Woman Of, and Holly (Fien Troch).
There are 23 films in Competition overall, meaning the fest falls far below any sort of gender parity mark. The festival said 32% of submissions this year were from women filmmakers against 66% from male filmmakers. 60 movies did not declare a gender. Nonetheless, DuVernay’s Origin will mark a significant landmark for Venice as the first film by an African American woman to play in Competition.
Related: Venice Lineup Will Generate Debate, Not Least For Inclusion Of Roman Polanski & Woody Allen; Latter Set To Attend Festival
The pic is...
- 7/25/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
A low-key, poetic exploration of life’s ironies, Monica Sorelle’s feature debut Mountains frames the disappearance of Miami’s Little Haiti with a warm, compassionate gaze recalling the masters of social realism––akin to Roberto Rossellini with the touch of Ousmane Sembène’s lighter films. With a title drawn from a Haitian proverb “behind mountains there are mountains,” the film retains a light touch, somewhat more sad than mad as Little Haiti disappears in the city’s building boom. A modest dream home is unobtainable once the real estate vultures circle the neighborhood and Xavier Sr. (Atibon Nazaire), a demolition worker, plays a role in changing his neighborhood permanently, making way for young Whole Foods-shopping professionals to displace families and small businesses.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
- 6/12/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
This interview was originally published in the Notebook Cannes Special, a limited-edition print publication distributed at the Cannes Film Festival. Read this week's Rushes to learn more.Souleymane Cissé. Photograph courtesy of Mahamadou Coulibaly.The cinematic oeuvre of the monumental Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, this year’s recipient of the Carrosse d’Or, describes and names itself. The unassuming poetry of the titles of his three most recognized films, Baara, Finyè, and Yeelen, harmonize the artistic and political orientation of a filmmaking trajectory shaped around labor, beauty, and transformation. Cissé was born in Bamako in 1940, encountering cinema as a child and captivated from the first instance, eventually joining the ranks of African filmmakers emerging in concert with the 1960s decolonization and national liberation struggles on the continent.A drama about a rural and an urban worker which doubles as a searing diagnosis of the labor movement in Mali, Baara is...
- 5/17/2023
- MUBI
Tom Luddy wasn’t famous exactly. But he had a huge impact on film culture via Uc Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive in the ’60s and the Telluride Film Festival in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and up to his death in February at age 79. And while he was based in the Bay Area, a theater full of Luddy-philes from both coasts turned up for his tribute at New York’s packed Paris Theater on April 15. They represented the cross-cultural network that Luddy created over decades of introducing people, sharing his favorite film gems, and luring folks to Telluride by inviting their films or bringing them in as guest directors (like Stephen Sondheim or Salman Rushdie) or tributees (like Athol Fugard or Michael Powell). Once they came, they usually came back.
Five of the stalwarts in the Luddy family, who have supported the festival on the Telluride board of directors and in other ways,...
Five of the stalwarts in the Luddy family, who have supported the festival on the Telluride board of directors and in other ways,...
- 4/16/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSLandscape Suicide, included on Benning's Sight & Sound ballot.Sight & Sound has made individual ballots available for their Greatest Films of All Time poll. You can browse the full, alphabetical list of critics and filmmakers here, along with voters’ comments and accompanying essays. Some favorites of ours so far: James Benning on self-referentiality, Genevieve Yue on the wind.Eight years after The Intern, Nancy Meyers has a new romantic comedy in the works at Netflix, reportedly budgeted at $130 million. Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Owen Wilson, and Michael Fassbender are all in early talks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Author and curator Barbara Wurm has been appointed the new head of the Berlinale Forum program, succeeding Cristina Nord.Recommended VIEWINGIf it's too bad to be true,...
- 3/8/2023
- MUBI
Update The Joburg Film Festival defiantly went ahead with a screening of Ousmane Sembène’s “Black Girl” on Thursday, refusing to bow to political pressure after South Africa’s Film and Publications Board (Fpb) denied it permission to hold a public screening of the Senegalese director’s groundbreaking debut.
In a decision that shocked festival organizers and many of the African filmmakers in attendance, a Fpb reviewer recommended the film be submitted for “full classification” — a process that would determine its suitability for public viewing — “due to prejudicial element that contains acts of hate speech which is degrading of a human being.”
Within hours of this story’s publication on Friday morning in Johannesburg, Variety received word that the Fpb had reversed course and granted the festival permission to screen the film. The board has not yet responded to repeated requests for additional comment.
The decision came one day too...
In a decision that shocked festival organizers and many of the African filmmakers in attendance, a Fpb reviewer recommended the film be submitted for “full classification” — a process that would determine its suitability for public viewing — “due to prejudicial element that contains acts of hate speech which is degrading of a human being.”
Within hours of this story’s publication on Friday morning in Johannesburg, Variety received word that the Fpb had reversed course and granted the festival permission to screen the film. The board has not yet responded to repeated requests for additional comment.
The decision came one day too...
- 2/3/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Spike Lee is to receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the UK’s lead organization for film.
The award will be presented to filmmaker Lee at an event at BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards and BFI Chief Exec Ben Roberts, with an on stage Q&a with Spike Lee accompanied by a screening of Summer of Sam, on 13 February 2023.
While in the UK, Lee will visit teams at the BFI National Archive, who have liaised with the director on a new 35mm print of Malcolm X (1992), to premiere at the BFI’s inaugural Film on Film Festival taking place at BFI Southbank in June. He will also take a masterclass with young filmmakers.
Born in Atlanta in 1957 but raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Lee received his Mfa in Film Production at NYU/Tisch. After graduation, he founded 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, based in Brooklyn.
The award will be presented to filmmaker Lee at an event at BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards and BFI Chief Exec Ben Roberts, with an on stage Q&a with Spike Lee accompanied by a screening of Summer of Sam, on 13 February 2023.
While in the UK, Lee will visit teams at the BFI National Archive, who have liaised with the director on a new 35mm print of Malcolm X (1992), to premiere at the BFI’s inaugural Film on Film Festival taking place at BFI Southbank in June. He will also take a masterclass with young filmmakers.
Born in Atlanta in 1957 but raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Lee received his Mfa in Film Production at NYU/Tisch. After graduation, he founded 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, based in Brooklyn.
- 1/27/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Director, writer, actor, producer and author Spike Lee is being accorded a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute.
The Fellowship will be presented to Lee at a celebratory event at BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI chair Tim Richards and BFI chief executive Ben Roberts on Feb. 13. The event will include an an in-depth on stage Q&a with Lee and a screening of “Summer of Sam.”
While in the U.K., Spike Lee will also visit teams at the BFI National Archive, who have liaised with him on a new 35mm print of “Malcolm X,” to premiere at the BFI’s inaugural Film on Film Festival taking place at BFI Southbank, June 8-11. Lee will also take a masterclass with young filmmakers while he is in the U.K.
Richards said: “I am honoured and excited to be awarding Spike Lee the prestigious BFI Fellowship.
The Fellowship will be presented to Lee at a celebratory event at BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI chair Tim Richards and BFI chief executive Ben Roberts on Feb. 13. The event will include an an in-depth on stage Q&a with Lee and a screening of “Summer of Sam.”
While in the U.K., Spike Lee will also visit teams at the BFI National Archive, who have liaised with him on a new 35mm print of “Malcolm X,” to premiere at the BFI’s inaugural Film on Film Festival taking place at BFI Southbank, June 8-11. Lee will also take a masterclass with young filmmakers while he is in the U.K.
Richards said: “I am honoured and excited to be awarding Spike Lee the prestigious BFI Fellowship.
- 1/27/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Our year-end coverage continues with a look at the best performances of 2022. Rather than divide categories into supporting or lead or by gender, we’ve written about our 35 favorites, period. Find our countdown below and start watching the ones you’ve missed here.
35. The Ensemble of Funny Pages
Owen Kline’s Funny Pages may be the sweatiest, stinkiest, most stress-inducing film you’ll ever watch, and you’ll be happy about it. Daniel Zolghadri (believably manipulative) plays a pushy, privileged teen who dreams of being a cartoonist, but the weirdo script buzzes largely thanks to an offbeat supporting cast. Standouts include Stephen Adly Guirgis as a larger-than-life art teacher, Miles Emanuel as a geeky deadpan Bff, Marcia Debonis as a cheeky public defender, and Michael Townsend Wright and Cleveland Thomas Jr. as the illegal basement apartment roommates from hell. But Matthew Maher, playing an unstable former comic book colorist our protagonist tries coercing into mentorship,...
35. The Ensemble of Funny Pages
Owen Kline’s Funny Pages may be the sweatiest, stinkiest, most stress-inducing film you’ll ever watch, and you’ll be happy about it. Daniel Zolghadri (believably manipulative) plays a pushy, privileged teen who dreams of being a cartoonist, but the weirdo script buzzes largely thanks to an offbeat supporting cast. Standouts include Stephen Adly Guirgis as a larger-than-life art teacher, Miles Emanuel as a geeky deadpan Bff, Marcia Debonis as a cheeky public defender, and Michael Townsend Wright and Cleveland Thomas Jr. as the illegal basement apartment roommates from hell. But Matthew Maher, playing an unstable former comic book colorist our protagonist tries coercing into mentorship,...
- 12/19/2022
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
When she first read the script for Nikyatu Jusu’s haunting genre drama “Nanny,” Anna Diop was shocked to find so many parallels to her mother’s story.
“The script brought back so many memories of my own mother’s experience when she immigrated to the States from Senegal,” Diop said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “I watched her learn how to survive in America. She started braiding hair and she did that out of our house for a couple years and then she opened up a daycare out of our house for the neighborhood kids and families. And then she went into nanny work and started working in people’s homes. It brought back a lot of those emotions of watching my mother really put her ego aside to make do and to survive. So it felt deeply personal to me.”
In the film — which won Sundance’s highest honor,...
“The script brought back so many memories of my own mother’s experience when she immigrated to the States from Senegal,” Diop said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “I watched her learn how to survive in America. She started braiding hair and she did that out of our house for a couple years and then she opened up a daycare out of our house for the neighborhood kids and families. And then she went into nanny work and started working in people’s homes. It brought back a lot of those emotions of watching my mother really put her ego aside to make do and to survive. So it felt deeply personal to me.”
In the film — which won Sundance’s highest honor,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Every 10 years, the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine asks hundreds of film critics to name what they believe to be the 10 greatest movies of all time. From this, a master list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time is compiled. Once released, there's a brief period of effusion followed by days of rage. How could "[insert masterpiece here]" rank below so many films that are clearly inferior, or, god forbid, miss the list entirely? For some, the final list is too esoteric while others find the list too beholden to tradition. Many correctly point out that there's historically been a decided caucasian male slant.
The BFI addressed this last complaint in 2022 by expanding its scope from 846 critics to 1,639. This broadening of perspectives has resulted in what is easily the most racially and ethnically diverse list in the poll's 70-year history. Films from Ousmane Sembène ("Black Girl"), Julie Dash ("Daughters of the...
The BFI addressed this last complaint in 2022 by expanding its scope from 846 critics to 1,639. This broadening of perspectives has resulted in what is easily the most racially and ethnically diverse list in the poll's 70-year history. Films from Ousmane Sembène ("Black Girl"), Julie Dash ("Daughters of the...
- 12/2/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Another decade, another Sight & Sound poll. On Thursday, the British magazine unveiled the 2022 edition of its long-running critics’ poll on the greatest films of all time, with “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” taking the top spot — the first film from a female director to achieve the honor since the poll began in 1952.
Directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman and released in 1975, “Jeanne Dielman” is a three-hour, 20-minute film following the title character (Delphine Seyrig), a single mother and prostitute, as she carries out a monotonous daily routine that slowly breaks apart and collapses. Since its premiere, the film has been highly acclaimed as a landmark of feminist cinema. Previously, it ranked 36 on Sight & Sound’s 2012 edition of the poll, where it was one of only two films in the top 100 from a female filmmaker; the other, “Beau Travail” by Claire Denis, is now ranked at number seven.
In celebration...
Directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman and released in 1975, “Jeanne Dielman” is a three-hour, 20-minute film following the title character (Delphine Seyrig), a single mother and prostitute, as she carries out a monotonous daily routine that slowly breaks apart and collapses. Since its premiere, the film has been highly acclaimed as a landmark of feminist cinema. Previously, it ranked 36 on Sight & Sound’s 2012 edition of the poll, where it was one of only two films in the top 100 from a female filmmaker; the other, “Beau Travail” by Claire Denis, is now ranked at number seven.
In celebration...
- 12/1/2022
- by Wilson Chapman and Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
A comprehensive, personal, and kaleidoscopic look at representation, Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough For You?!? is a passionate and loving walk through film history framed by Blaxploitation cinema of the 1970s. Written, directed, and narrated by the master conversationalist, curator, film scholar, and cultural critic, this is a densely packed visual essay told through film clips, archival materials, and interviews with Black stars of multiple eras who speak to the influence of this sub-genre on their lives and careers.
Borne from the notion that America was in a freefall spiral circa 1968, a new kind of subversive independent cinema arrived on the scene, forcing Hollywood to compete and adapt. Mitchell notes landmarks of representation along with the way—including Robert Downy Sr.’s Putney Swope, an experimental comedy set in the world of advertising,, and Martin Ritt’s The Great White Hope starring James Earl Jones.
Black Enough is...
Borne from the notion that America was in a freefall spiral circa 1968, a new kind of subversive independent cinema arrived on the scene, forcing Hollywood to compete and adapt. Mitchell notes landmarks of representation along with the way—including Robert Downy Sr.’s Putney Swope, an experimental comedy set in the world of advertising,, and Martin Ritt’s The Great White Hope starring James Earl Jones.
Black Enough is...
- 11/9/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Aniara (Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja)
The title shares its name with a city-size spacecraft ferrying humans from Earth to Mars in barely three weeks. It’s a routine trip that’s never run into problems with many passengers already having family on the red planet to greet them upon arrival. But there’s a first time for everything as a small field of debris forces Captain Chefone (Arvin Kananian) off course. Unfortunately a screw breaches their hull anyway, pushing their nuclear fuel supply to critical mass. Expelling it may save them for the moment, but without it they cannot steer. So despite having enough self-sustaining electricity and algae (for air and food), there’s no way to return onto their necessary trajectory.
Aniara (Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja)
The title shares its name with a city-size spacecraft ferrying humans from Earth to Mars in barely three weeks. It’s a routine trip that’s never run into problems with many passengers already having family on the red planet to greet them upon arrival. But there’s a first time for everything as a small field of debris forces Captain Chefone (Arvin Kananian) off course. Unfortunately a screw breaches their hull anyway, pushing their nuclear fuel supply to critical mass. Expelling it may save them for the moment, but without it they cannot steer. So despite having enough self-sustaining electricity and algae (for air and food), there’s no way to return onto their necessary trajectory.
- 9/23/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The jury prize winner at Sundance Film Festival, Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny is a disquieting examination of the horrors of the American Dream through a Senegalese woman who is taking care of an affluent NYC couple. Starring Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector,
Rose Decker, and Leslie Uggams, the film stopped by New Directors/New Films and ahead of a TIFF premiere and a release this fall, the first trailer has arrived.
Margaret Rasberry said in her review, “With Nanny, Nikyatu Jusu presents a more haunting depiction of the American Dream. Her feature debut nods to Ousmane Sembène’s seminal Black Girl while distilling the trials her parents, immigrants from Sierra Leone, endured as Jusu grew up in Atlanta—a mix of domestic drama and frightening images to make us fellow outsiders in a suffocatingly insular world.”
See the trailer below.
Nanny arrives in theaters on November 23 and...
Rose Decker, and Leslie Uggams, the film stopped by New Directors/New Films and ahead of a TIFF premiere and a release this fall, the first trailer has arrived.
Margaret Rasberry said in her review, “With Nanny, Nikyatu Jusu presents a more haunting depiction of the American Dream. Her feature debut nods to Ousmane Sembène’s seminal Black Girl while distilling the trials her parents, immigrants from Sierra Leone, endured as Jusu grew up in Atlanta—a mix of domestic drama and frightening images to make us fellow outsiders in a suffocatingly insular world.”
See the trailer below.
Nanny arrives in theaters on November 23 and...
- 8/30/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Far from the complicated, distressed definition of the Nigerian film movement christened ‘Nollywood’ in the early 2000s, a new coterie of filmmakers have slowly begun to emerge from the country in the more classical sense of a ‘new wave.’ If the recently christened New Nigerian Cinema is retrospectively defined as a clearly defined movement, generated in part to the Surreal16 collective (whose Juju Stories competed in the 2021 Locarno Film Festival for the Golden Leopard), at the forefront is Eyimofe (This is My Desire), the directorial debut from brothers Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri. Evoking a handful of international auteurs in their vibrant slice of Lagos imbibed Neo-realism, like the early works of Claire Denis or Ramin Bahrani, the simplistic humanism inherent in the film’s twin portraits of humans trapped by their specific economical debacles feels as vibrant as Ousmane Sembène or Yasujiro Ozu ever did.…
Continue reading.
Continue reading.
- 7/7/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are being accorded BFI Fellowships, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute.
The fellowships will be presented at the BFI chair’s dinner, hosted by BFI chair Tim Richards, on June 28.
For Eon Productions, Broccoli and Wilson have overseen the Bond franchise for nearly 30 years and together produced nine of the 25 Bond films, the first of which was “Goldeneye” (1995) and includes “Skyfall” (2012), which went on to win the BAFTA for outstanding British Film. Wilson was screenwriter on five films in the 1980s (with Richard Maibaum) and producer of three Bonds with his stepfather and original Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli. The franchise turns 60 this year and the BFI will be marking this anniversary with James Bond 60th celebration weekend of screenings and events in London at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX on Oct. 1 and 2.
Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said:...
The fellowships will be presented at the BFI chair’s dinner, hosted by BFI chair Tim Richards, on June 28.
For Eon Productions, Broccoli and Wilson have overseen the Bond franchise for nearly 30 years and together produced nine of the 25 Bond films, the first of which was “Goldeneye” (1995) and includes “Skyfall” (2012), which went on to win the BAFTA for outstanding British Film. Wilson was screenwriter on five films in the 1980s (with Richard Maibaum) and producer of three Bonds with his stepfather and original Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli. The franchise turns 60 this year and the BFI will be marking this anniversary with James Bond 60th celebration weekend of screenings and events in London at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX on Oct. 1 and 2.
Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said:...
- 6/17/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The producers of the U.K.’s most successful movie franchise are being awarded one of the British film industry’s highest honors.
Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, longtime James Bond producers and custodians, are set to receive the BFI Fellowship, the top honor from the British Film Institute.
The BFI said it was recognizing the pair’s “extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema, with arguably the best loved and most enduring film franchise in the world — James Bond — celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.” The two will receive the fellowship at the BFI Chair’s Dinner, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards, on June 28 in London.
“We are so proud to be awarded the BFI Fellowship on behalf of all of those who have been a part of the James Bond series over 60 years and feel honored to join such...
The producers of the U.K.’s most successful movie franchise are being awarded one of the British film industry’s highest honors.
Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, longtime James Bond producers and custodians, are set to receive the BFI Fellowship, the top honor from the British Film Institute.
The BFI said it was recognizing the pair’s “extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema, with arguably the best loved and most enduring film franchise in the world — James Bond — celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.” The two will receive the fellowship at the BFI Chair’s Dinner, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards, on June 28 in London.
“We are so proud to be awarded the BFI Fellowship on behalf of all of those who have been a part of the James Bond series over 60 years and feel honored to join such...
- 6/17/2022
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Image of Parker Bright protesting Dana Schutz painting at the 78th Whitney Biennale“I was taught in American history books that Africa had no history, and neither did I. That I was a savage about whom the less said, the better.” —James Baldwin At the 78th Whitney Biennale, American artist Dana Schutz’s painting Open Casket conjured up controversy within the art world. The piece abstractly depicted the mangled body of fourteen year old Emmit Till after he had been tortured and lynched by two white men. Black non-binary activist and artist Parker Bright served as the catalyst for some of the important commentary in response to the work. Adorning a shirt with the words “Black Death Spectacle” scrawled across its back, they stood in front of Schutz’s painting blocking it from view. This act of protest sent waves across the art world and forced onlookers to evaluate what...
- 9/3/2021
- MUBI
Above: Us one sheet for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Two weeks ago, as the 57th New York Film Festival kicked off, I griped about the uninspiring quality of the posters for the films in the festival’s main slate. 50 years ago it was a very different story. The posters I have found for the 19 films in the 1969 main selection make up a dazzling collection of illustration and forward thinking graphic design, even, or especially, the type-only poster for the only studio film in the festival: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice which was the opening night film on September 16 (notably a Tuesday evening).Of course, many of these posters might have been made months or even a year after the festival, since we’re looking back with half a century of hindsight, and many of this year’s designs will no doubt be updated, but this was also the era in which...
- 10/11/2019
- MUBI
The African Film Heritage Project has announced that it will screen restorations of four African films on their home continent for the first time as part of the 50th anniversary of the Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou. The Afhp is a partnership between the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (Fepaci), Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, along with its affiliate archive the Cineteca di Bologna, and Unesco. The movies in question are Med Hondo’s “Soleil Ô” (1970), Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamima’s “Chronique des années de braise” (1975), Timité Bassori’s “La Femme au couteau” (1969), and Jean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa’s “Muna Moto” (1975).
The Afhp will also present seven African films previously restored by Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, including work by the likes of Ousmane Sembene, Djibril Diop Mambety, Shadi Abdel Salam and Ahmed El Maanouni.
“I can’t tell you how really deeply inspired and excited I am by African films; ‘Yeelen,...
The Afhp will also present seven African films previously restored by Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, including work by the likes of Ousmane Sembene, Djibril Diop Mambety, Shadi Abdel Salam and Ahmed El Maanouni.
“I can’t tell you how really deeply inspired and excited I am by African films; ‘Yeelen,...
- 2/23/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
For the second straight year, a record eight African films were submitted to the Academy for consideration, vying for a chance to bring home just the third statue for the continent in the nearly 50 years since Costa-Gavras won for the Algerian-French political thriller “Z.”
This year’s submissions aren’t likely to get the buzz of 2017 hopefuls “Felicité,” which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in Berlin for Franco-Senegalese helmer Alain Gomis, or fest darling “The Wound,” by South Africa’s John Trengove. Both were shortlisted for the Oscar but failed to make the final cut.
Related Content Critical Analysis: Prior Nominees Canada and Australia
Even as recent years have showcased a wealth of burgeoning talent in sub-Saharan Africa, moviemaking on the continent remains a challenge, and few countries find the resources to produce Oscar-worthy candidates year after year. Tellingly, it took funding from five countries to power “Felicité...
This year’s submissions aren’t likely to get the buzz of 2017 hopefuls “Felicité,” which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in Berlin for Franco-Senegalese helmer Alain Gomis, or fest darling “The Wound,” by South Africa’s John Trengove. Both were shortlisted for the Oscar but failed to make the final cut.
Related Content Critical Analysis: Prior Nominees Canada and Australia
Even as recent years have showcased a wealth of burgeoning talent in sub-Saharan Africa, moviemaking on the continent remains a challenge, and few countries find the resources to produce Oscar-worthy candidates year after year. Tellingly, it took funding from five countries to power “Felicité...
- 11/8/2018
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Jean-Luc Godard, the subject of a film showcase at this year’s Lumière Film Festival in Lyon that includes his latest film, “The Image Work,” remains a hot commodity for Paris-based sales group Wide.
The company, which is attending the fest’s International Classic Film Market with a strong heritage film lineup, recently signed a number of new deals for Godard’s 1962 drama “Vivre sa vie” in major markets in Asia. Wide sold the newly restored 4K version of “Vivre sa vie,” which stars Anna Karina, to Japan’s Zazie Film and Alto Media in South Korea as well as to the China Film Archive.
“We see that the Asian market is really looking into the classics,” said Maxime Montagne, Wide’s head of business affairs and acquisitions, noting that China in particular is looking to put together a catalog of important classics.
The China Film Archive also picked up...
The company, which is attending the fest’s International Classic Film Market with a strong heritage film lineup, recently signed a number of new deals for Godard’s 1962 drama “Vivre sa vie” in major markets in Asia. Wide sold the newly restored 4K version of “Vivre sa vie,” which stars Anna Karina, to Japan’s Zazie Film and Alto Media in South Korea as well as to the China Film Archive.
“We see that the Asian market is really looking into the classics,” said Maxime Montagne, Wide’s head of business affairs and acquisitions, noting that China in particular is looking to put together a catalog of important classics.
The China Film Archive also picked up...
- 10/20/2018
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Fespaco@50-Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Africa’s Most ImportantFilm Festival and Cultural EventFive decades ago, many of the founding figures of African cinema found themselves carrying their first films under their arms, unable to screen them in movie theaters across their newly independent countries. These screens were literally ‘occupied’ by the more powerful film industries of Hollywood, Europe and to some extent Bollywood.
The filmmakers banded together and set out to create ‘liberated zones’ for African cinema, first in Carthage in 1966 and later in Ouagadougou in 1969.
The year 2019 will mark the golden jubilee or fiftieth (50th) anniversary of the founding of the festival that later become the Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), the most important film and cultural event on the African continent.
Home of Fespaco
Over the years, the festival has, in addition to being a genuinely indispensable biennial exhibition space, become a “locus classicus...
The filmmakers banded together and set out to create ‘liberated zones’ for African cinema, first in Carthage in 1966 and later in Ouagadougou in 1969.
The year 2019 will mark the golden jubilee or fiftieth (50th) anniversary of the founding of the festival that later become the Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), the most important film and cultural event on the African continent.
Home of Fespaco
Over the years, the festival has, in addition to being a genuinely indispensable biennial exhibition space, become a “locus classicus...
- 7/31/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
I imagine it’s a thrill for any filmmaker to share a documentary with an audience. Since the premiere of our film “Sembene!” three years ago, I’ve had the luck to be able to do that many times. But not all screenings are equal. This weekend, the experience of showing the film had a much deeper impact on me. This weekend, when looked into the audience … I saw myself.
“Sembene!” tells the story of Ousmane Sembene, Senegal’s most influential writer and filmmaker. Our film has won awards, been broadcast in more than a hundred countries and helped introduce new generations to the man known as “the father of African cinema.” Only rarely, however, has it been seen by the audiences most important to me: Africans.
Before making the film, I knew how far our global media culture tilts away from the so-called “developing world,” or global south, and towards Europe and the U.
“Sembene!” tells the story of Ousmane Sembene, Senegal’s most influential writer and filmmaker. Our film has won awards, been broadcast in more than a hundred countries and helped introduce new generations to the man known as “the father of African cinema.” Only rarely, however, has it been seen by the audiences most important to me: Africans.
Before making the film, I knew how far our global media culture tilts away from the so-called “developing world,” or global south, and towards Europe and the U.
- 6/14/2018
- by Samba Gadjigo
- Indiewire
Above: illustration by Jean-Marie Troillard.When the great arthouse impresario Dan Talbot passed away last week, just two weeks after the announcement of the closing of the Lincoln Plaza, his flagship Upper West Side multiplex, it was a double-blow to the New York film community. To me and to a number of my friends and colleagues it was also a deep personal loss. Dan had given me my first job in New York in 1990 at his distribution company New Yorker Films, hiring me first to type up their annual catalogue and then to be an assistant to himself and his right-hand man, Jose Lopez. Ironically, it was a New York Times article about the closing of another of Dan’s theaters, the Cinema Studio, that alerted me not only to Dan and to New Yorker Films, but also to the whole concept of film distribution. Dan took a chance on...
- 1/5/2018
- MUBI
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