Cineaste. Fall 07.

"For the 40th anniversary issue of Cineaste editors were asked to pick their favorite political films from 1967 - 2007," blogs Robert Cashill. "The lists make for interesting reading - how did I, of all people, forget about Dawn of the Dead?... Left off, however, were the explanations for each entry." But that's what blogs are for.

But there's another list, too, a list of ten films in no particular order, each reviewed by a staff member and chosen because it has "a special personal meaning and/or which reflects significant aesthetic, social, or political distinction."

20 years ago, the editors wrote, "Cineaste believes that a cinema which engages its audiences in issues of social and political concern, and which succeeds in doing so in a dramatically compelling or artistically innovative manner, is a cinema truly worthy of support and critical attention." In this issue, the editors reaffirm that mission.

What's more, they place Cineaste in it historical context: "40 years is a longevity rarely seen in the publication of film magazines in the US. The roll call of American film periodicals that have ceased publication during Cineaste's lifespan is a long one, including Film Society Review, Cinema, Film Heritage, Film Culture, Film Reader, Women & Film, American Film, The Independent, and, most recently, Premiere. Among critical film quarterlies in this country, only Film Quarterly... has published longer than Cineaste."

The editors also "present a special opportunity to lift the lid on Cineaste's archives and take a first-hand glimpse at the magazine's origins, its evolution, and some of the highlights of its first 40 years." That glimpse includes four editorials, three interviews and two reviews.

"When histories of Cineaste come to be written - after the first one, there are sure to be rebuttals - the magazine's interviews are likely to be of primary importance." And so they're at the center of Robert Sklar's "interim report from a single, unofficial point of view, focusing on the magazine's early years of struggle, in more than one sense of the word."

The interview online from this issue is Cynthia Lucia's, with Patrice Leconte.

"The only mensch among the New German wunderkinder who invaded the American art house in the mid-70s - the other marquee names were Rainer Fassbinder and Wim Wenders - [Werner] Herzog has proven the most durable and prolific of the lot, his career sustained by the same thick-skinned tenacity and fleet-footed adaptability that compelled him to walk from Munich to Paris to meet film critic Lotte Eisner and that kept him from being frightened off a mountain by something as trivial as an impending volcanic eruption." Thomas Doherty reviews Rescue Dawn.

Oliver William Pattenden reviews Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture, and Politics: "Because of the attention paid to which of the contesting groups had greater influence in the film industry, [John] Hill's informed and frequently engrossing text ultimately serves as a broader analysis of Northern Ireland's cultural history, as well as a meticulous catalog of film production in Northern Ireland."

Robert Cashill watches his way through two robust DVD packages, Criterion's Monsters and Madmen and Warner's Cult Camp Classics and marvels: "These figures were the kings and queens of the drive-ins in their day, the creepy-crawly side of the supposed age of innocence, yet still a little stuck in their conservatism. Something far scarier and more unpredictable than the giant behemoth was waiting for them all, promising liberation and annihilation, and this monster mash of countercultural currents was just around the corner: the 60s."

"As the Tribeca Film Festival gradually develops into an annual fixture on the New York movie scene, it's become increasingly clear that its documentary offerings are consistently the strongest," argues Richard Porton.

"Tongues Untied is both a documentary and a work of poetry," writes David A Gerstner. "[Marlon] Riggs was a unique figure who fused his roots in journalism with an embrace of the arts in general (including dance, music, film, and poetry). Tongues Untied and (arguably) the later Black is... Black Ain't (1994) meld the qualities of reportage with an experimental esthetic form that seeks to grasp the black-queer experience."

Posted by dwhudson at September 19, 2007 12:14 AM