April 28, 2004

Fests and shorts.

If you're planning on catching what you can at Tribeca or even if you're "only" interested in scanning blurbs on the films New York will be talking about over the next several weeks, the Village Voice provides a handy service, a "survival guide: a handpicked, literally all-over-the-map short list of the festival's 25 best, or at least most noteworthy, films. Unless indicated, all titles are without US distribution at press time."

Tribeca

Another guide, a day-by-day itinerary of events for May 1 through May 9, appears beneath a piece by Jake Brooks in the New York Observer in which, in his robust, gossipy and highly readable fashion, he makes the case that this is the year Tribeca "finally proves itself a viable marketplace for independent films."

Aaron's got a few tips for you, too, at Out of Focus.

There's news from Cannes, as Eugene Hernandez reports: "The lineup for the Quinzaine des Realisateurs, also known as the Director's Fortnight [May 13 - 23], was unveiled in France today by new artistic director Olivier Pere." Also at indieWIRE: Wendy Mitchell scans the lineup for the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, opening tomorrow and running through May 4, and Rania Richardson previews the Israel Film Festival, also opening tomorrow, but in LA and running through May 13.

In San Francisco, even as SFIFF is on the verge of wrapping, the San Francisco Documentary Festival is gearing up for four full days, May 13 through 16, of just over two dozen films.

Filmmaker will be presenting Brad Anderson's The Machinist at the Nantucket Film Festival in June.

On the DVD front, big news from Masters of Cinema: They're cooperating with Eureka Video, an independently owned distributor in the UK, to get an excellent selection of titles out on DVD. You'll find a few more details at filmjourney.org.

How does 8 Mile stack up against Purple Rain? Al Reid (who's on a roll all of a sudden, warning you off Van Helsing with his very next breath) knows. And he will tell you.

A Girl and a Gun is back from Europe, having caught three films while there but not on the plane, where the portable DVD players had 5" by 8" screens, about the size of his paperback: "I tried to imagine watching a film on the surface of the book, and decided it would be about as comfortable as reading a book on a theater-sized, or even television-sized, screen." Confession: I actually watched Lawrence of Arabia on one of those things. Same airline and everything. What can I say. It was the best film on offer.

Cinema Minima is looking for actors who blog.

The Saddest Music in the World

Back to the Voice:

Dennis Cooper has a fine long chat with John Waters about his art in BOMB.

With In America coming out on DVD next month, Gil Jawetz has an excellent reason to interview Jim Sheridan for DVD Talk.

Lew Rywin, who co-produced Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and Roman Polanski's The Pianist, has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 30 months in jail. It's all part of Poland's "worst corruption case in 15 years of democracy, a scandal that helped to bring down the centre-left government of prime minister Leszek Miller," reports Ian Traynor. Also in the Guardian:

  • Dan De Luce files from Tehran. The Lizard is a comedy that pokes a bit of fun at the clergy, albeit without poking too hard. Still, it's something of a breakthough and it's become quite a hit.
  • Charlotte Higgins somehow manages to file a decent-sized report on Sam Taylor-Wood's 107-minute film of David Beckham sleeping without mentioning Warhol even once. And so did London Times critic Richard Brooks back in January.
  • A couple of quizes: Hollywood stars on the London stage. (Ugh. 6 out of 9. Must follow the theater section more carefully.) Video directors turned movie directors. (7 out of 10. Sheesh.)
  • Sarah Boseley on producer David Puttnam's battle against chronic fatigue syndrome.

Last Exit to Brooklyn In the New York Times:

  • Hard to believe South Park can still make news and Virginia Heffernan seems as surprised as anyone: "Depending on whom you asked, that episode, 'The Passion of the Jew,' proved that the show's still got it or that it's made a comeback or that it's better than ever. In any case, it was good."

  • On another TV-related note, Bill Carter reports that Ted Koppel will read 530 names of US soldiers killed in Iraq on Nightline Friday night. For Movie City News, Gary Dretzka listens in on Koppel's analysis of where TV news has gone wrong. As for the upcoming program, Margaret Cho has a few related (and chilling) thoughts.

  • Hugh Selby Jr, co-screenwriter on Requiem for a Dream, based on his own book, has died at the age of 75. His 1964 collection of stories Last Exit to Brooklyn was adapted for a 1989 film directed by Uli Edel. Anthony DePalma quotes Selby, surprised as he was at the furor the book caused at the time: "These are not literary characters; these are real people. I knew these people. How can anybody look inside themselves and be surprised at the hatred and violence in the world? It's inside all of us." More from Eric Homberger in the Guardian; and Filmbrain has an excellent related entry.

  • Laurie Goodstein: "Word that the director Ron Howard is making a movie based on the book has intensified the critics' urgency. More than 10 books are being released, most in April and May, with titles that promise to break, crack, unlock or decode The Da Vinci Code."

  • Micheline Maynard on new programs theater chains are introducing that allow families with babes and toddlers to get out and see a movie.

You do read the cinetrix every day, don't you? Good. Just checking.



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Posted by dwhudson at April 28, 2004 4:16 PM