Shorts, 6/10.

Until recently, the state-regulated film industry in Iran had remained the one aspect of cultural life that had somehow circumvented the regime's suffocating influence. But since the recent appointment of conservative apparatchiks who vet films, the atmosphere has deteriorated.... With the breathing space for cinema shrinking, film-makers may soon have to choose between sacrificing artistic freedom or working in exile and sacrificing ties to their homeland.

Also in today's paper: Jimmy McGovern speaks in defense of Sunday on behalf of those who produced it; they evidently feel slighted by remarks Bloody Sunday director Paul Greengrass made in a recent interview. But there's more to McGovern's piece than just that: He also lays out some pretty admirable rules for making docudramas.

The Stranger selects its final round of SIFF picks. Brendan Kiley on Paul Willis's adaptation of Hedda Gabler and David Smader on Saved!.

Robert Gabriel talks to Charlie Ahearn about his 1982 landmark doc, Wild Style. Also in the Austin Chronicle: Marc Savlov chats briefly with Craig Baldwin, "one of the pillars of American cinematic subterfuge."

For those who read French, Antoine de Baecque interviews Jonathan Rosenbaum for Libération. Also via filmtagebuch, two interviews in German with David Cronenberg: Fritz Göttler in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Rüdiger Suchsland in Telepolis, where Krystian Woznicki reviews Spider.

Jump Cut's filmfilter is also written in German, but the excellent team has found much in English to point to as well:

• Four stories on the other SIFF, the Shanghai International Film Festival.
• Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece in PopMatters on last month's Wong Kar-wai retrospective at the BAMCinematék.
• For Malaysia's Star, Rizal Johan has a good long talk with John Woo about the films he hopes to make in the future and Tham Ai Mei talks to Johnnie To about Breaking News.
• Here's one ff found at Long Pauses: The 2004 Arts&Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films.
• Samanth Subramanian profiles Mani Ratnam for Living in India.

John Powers: "Nothing captured the psychological underpinnings of the Reagan years more acutely than the ironic happy ending of David Lynch's Blue Velvet." Nikke Finke writes that Reagan will be remembered in Hollywood most for "how he misused his power as head of the Screen Actors Guild."

Also in the LA Weekly:

• Robert Abele interviews Steve Coogan; and the topic really is Steve Coogan, not just Around the World in 80 Days
• Ella Taylor on Maximilian Schell's disturbing My Sister Maria.
• Scott Foundas on Napoleon Dynamite, "a thrift-shop Wes Anderson pastiche masquerading as the latest in cult-film haute couture." On a related note, indieWIRE's Wendy Mitchell interviews director Jared Hess.
• Doug Harvey on "some serious confusion and anxiety about the relationship between art and reality coming to the surface."

Docs are doing very well on the indieWIRE BOT, reports Brian Brooks.

In Kung Fu Cinema, Danny Shamon interviews Grayce Wey and Mark Pollard previews Im Kwon-taek's Raging Years.

"Now if thousands wanted to stand in line to walk by his wood box, I may understand." Aaron points to the AP's obituary for Ray Charles, 1930 - 2004.

Posted by dwhudson at June 10, 2004 3:30 PM