It doesn’t get much better than this…..the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which presents the New York Film Festival each Fall, is in the midst of a revelatory review of one of the major film movements of the 20th century, presenting a list of acknowledged classics along with previously unknown (at least to me) gems. ITALIAN NEOREALISM AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN CINEMA is an exhaustive look at the cinema that flourished in Italy in the post-war period and that still remains a high poi...
Guru Dutt in PYAASA (1957)
With the continued appeal of Bollywood and last year’s Oscar win by SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the history of Indian cinema is en vogue. This year as part of its Masterworks section, the New York Film Festival is offering the first compete New York retrospective of the works of Indian film artist Guru Dutt.
Born in 1925, Dutt was an Indian film director, producer and actor, who is often credited with ushering in the golden era of...
Penelope Cruz in BROKEN EMBRACES (Spain)
The New York Film Festival, which enters its final weekend today, has presented a program with a large emphasis on European cinema. With a strong showing of films from Portugal (http://www.fest21.com/en/blog/filmnewyork/a_peek_at_portugese_cinema_at_nyff) and
France (http://www.fest21.com/en/blog/filmnewyork/the_french_invasion_of_new_york), the Festival finds that contemporary European cinema from other nations not only has...
It's been nearly five years since Todd Solondz, one of American independent cinema's most respected (and controversial) auteurs, has been seen at a film festival. His last film PALINDROMES (2004) premiered at the Venice Film Festival but was roundly hissed by most film critics and its subsequent release was very anemic. After his earlier successes, including his debut WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE (1995), the heartfelt and uncomfortably intimate HAPPINESS (1998) and the less well receive...
Oscar, meet Precious........the Academy Awards have just gotten their first blast of ghetto love with the rising tides surrounding the urban drama PRECIOUS: Based On A Novel By Sapphire by producer-turned-director Lee Daniels. The film, a major hit out of Sundance and screening as the Centerpiece Film this past weekend at the New York Film Festival, is getting some of the hottest reviews of the year and positioning its director, screenwriter, actors and techicians into the Oscar gold ...
DON'T LET ME DROWN (Cruz Angeles, USA)
Filmmakers, industry mavens, film critics and local film buffs gathered last evening at the historic Backstage Productions Arts and Entertainment Complex in Kingston, NY for the awards ceremonies of the 10th edition of the Woodstock Film Festival. The film event closes today, celebrating 10 years of exceptional independent film, panels, concerts, events and parties, with the best of the best in the indie film world.
Emceed by actor/dire...
Uma Thurman in MOTHERHOOD
At the Woodstock Film Festival, which today concludes its five-day marathon of film premieres, industry seminars, music concerts and groovy parties, film directors generally get all the attention. However, after my own personal marathon screenings, it is the performances of several standout actors that has made the biggest impression. Of course, for an independent filmmaker, casting is a critical part of the process. Luckily, it has been par...
CHILDREN OF INVENTION With a festival which prides itself as being “fiercely independent”, the Woodstock Film Festival, which concludes today, is committed to the discovery of new talents, both behind and in front of the screen. With budgets that are tight in the extreme, more often that not, the actors used are new to the screen and unknown to the public (I included myself in this). However, when a performance of great depth or realism is given by someone you do not know, my tende...
TREES OF SYNTAX
The New York Film Festival, which features the latest works from established masters, also is a vehicle for introducing curious audiences to more challenging work by new film artists. This weekend, the Festival is hosting its annual avant-garde showcase that holds some of this event's most memorable programming.
The 13th edition of VIEWS FROM THE AVANT GARDE will showcase features eleven programs. A total of 61 works will be presented, 21 by artists being s...
The horrors of war and the toll that it takes on both civilians and the soldiers themselves are film topics that, unfortunately, never go out of style. While it can be argued that audiences tend to stay away from such strong fare, a film that brings the audience to the center of the action and that involves it emotionally has a better chance to transcend the grimness of the material and make an impact with what is often a reluctant public.
LEBANON, the new Israeli film by Samuel M...
Woodstock is synonymous with music, so it makes perfect sense that one of the highlights of the Woodstock Film Festival is a series of highly anticipated music films. The films range from folk to rock to punk and everything in between, and are often accompanied with live music performances (another Woodstock staple).
Festivities kick off Friday evening with a live music event featuring the “father of Ukulele hip hop”, rapper/songwriter Jon Braman, Jim & Liz Beloff, and...
Award-winning producer Ted Hope, one of the most respected independent producers in the film industry, will be honored with the honorary Trailblazer Award at the 10th Anniversary edition of the Woodstock Film Festival, which opened today. Hope is a true indie pioneer who has shepherded dozens of American indie films over the past three decades. He will be honored at the WFF Gala Awards Ceremony on Saturday night, October 3rd.
Hope enjoys a reputation as an unparalleled spotter o...
The Woodstock Film Festival, which opens this evening with a pre-Festival screening of Oscar winning documentarian Barbara Kopple's WOODSTOCK: NOW AND THEN, is celebrating its 10th anniversary as one of the independent film festival's most intriguing and enjoyable events.
The Festival, which runs through Sunday, is set in the idyllic town of Woodstock, New York, about 3 hours north of Manhattan. While many might associate the town with the legendary 1969 rock concert (and cultur...
The New York Film Festival provides extraordinary access to some of world cinema's most interesting film talents via the HBO Films Directors Dialogue Series. Among those who are participating (all of whom have films in the festival proper):
MARCO BELLOCCHIO
With a career that spans the heyday of 60s Italian art cinema (Fists in the Pocket, China is Near) to religion (My Mother’s Smile, NYFF 2002) to political drama (Good Morning, Night, NYFF 2003 and this year’s Vincere), Marco B...
TO DIE LIKE A MAN (Joao Pedro Rodrigues)
Portugese cinema has had a bit of a low profile of late (overshadowed by its Iberian neighbor Spain) but this year's New York Film Festival has a surprising number of new films from Portugal that are among the highlights of this year's film gathering.
Reaching one's 100th birthday is an accomplishment for anyone anywhere, but while most in their centenary are content to sit on the back porch reminiscing about their lives, director...
Alain Resnais Meets Jonathan Demme
at the 2009 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
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The New York Film Festival, which is in full swing following a busy weekend of films and premieres, will be presenting a number of special presentations in the days ahead. One of the more intriguing takes place this Wednesday evening.
Chandleresque: Raymond Chandler on Film and Television is an illustrated lecture by Film London CEO and former London Film Festival topper Adrian Wootton. Raymond Chandler, who is oddly more revered in Europe than in his native America, is the mos...
BRIDGE (Wang Bin, 1949)
This year's Masterworks series at the New York Film Festival draw on repertory collections of films that highlight (mainly) unknown aspects of global cinema. The first program is (RE)INVENTING CHINA: A New Cinema for a New Society, focusing on Chinese films made during the height of the Maoist revolution from 1949 to 1966. The series brings together twenty rarely seen works from the crucial early years of the People's Republic of China.
Fol...
Henry-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno / L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot
Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea, 2009, France
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvaDOZKPyMw&feature=channel
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BLUEBEARD (Catherine Breillat)
With French film master Alain Resnais kicking off the 47th edition of the New York Film Festival last evening with his Cannes Film Festival winner WILD GRASS, this year's event is another example of the New York audience love affair with French cinema. With French filmmakers and actors in town for the Festival, the premieres this week of Cedric Klapisch's PARIS and Anne Fontaine's COCO BEFORE CHANEL (starring Audrey Tautou), not to mention the on...
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