Film / Video

Apichatpong Weerasethakul was at Walker in November 2004 to present New Language from Thailand
Regis Dialogue: Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Chuck Stephens.

At that time Walker presented regional premieres of his films Sud pralad (Tropical Malady) and Sud Sangeha (Blissfully Yours.)

Lesser known in 2004, especially outside of international cinema circles, this Thai artist has just been awarded the Fine Prize, established by the Fine Foundation, at the Carnegie International exhibition that opened last weekend at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.

Link to info about the dialogue and Chuck Stephen’s essay printed in the Walker's Regis brochure.

The 26th annual Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival is upon us, and Al Milgrom and his cohorts over at the Minnesota Film Arts offices have put together an impressive slate of films to say the least. It’s daunting to sort through and pick from the 150 or so programs, so for my sake - and yours, I’ve asked some colleagues and friends to pass on their recommendations. Here they are:

Sheryl Mousley, Curator, Film/Video, Walker Art Center

• You the Living (April 18 and 19)
• Momma's Man (April 18 and 20)
• Alexandra (April 22 and 29)
• Up the Yangtze (April 28)

Dean Otto, Assistant Curator, Film/Video, Walker Art Center

• And Along Come Tourists (Saturday, April 19)
• Still Life (Sunday, April 20)
• Irina Palm (April 21 and 25)
• The Way I Spent the End of the World (April 21)
• Woman on the Beach (April 21)
• Red Elvis (April 23)
• Dry Season (April 24)
• Patti Smith: Dream of Life (Saturday, April 26)
• The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (April 25 and 27)
• Savage Grace (April 27 and 28)
• Import/Export (April 29 and May 2)

Verena Mund, Women With Vision Program Associate

• All of the bove recommendations, and…
• Yella (April 19 and 25)

Rob Nelson, Film Critic, Walker Blog Contributor

• The Last Mistress (April 27)
• Momma's Man (April 18 and 20)
• Nerakhoon (The Betrayal) (April 26 &27)
• Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome (April 18 screening only)
• Woman on the Beach (April 20 and 21)

Kathie Smith, Flim Critic and blogger extraordinaire

• Little Moth (April 19 and 29)
• Still Life (Sunday, April 20)
• Woman on the Beach (April 20 and 21)
• Alexandra (April 22 and 29)
• You the Living (April 18 and 19)
• Dry Season (April 24)

I’d also like to add a plug for Song Sung Blue (April 26). It was nothing I had expected and completely blew me away.

See you at the movies!

Film Critic and Walker Blogger Rob Nelson, clearly a man of many hats, is currently teaching a documentary film studies class at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He asked his students to weigh in on Nina Davenport’s documentary Operation Filmmaker, which will be playing at the Walker this Thursday (It’s a free screening!) as part of the Women With Vision Film Festival. Head over to the MinnPost page to read what they had to say.

February 11, 2008

Well, it's day five of the festival and I've finally found my groove. The Berlinale continues to grow in the number of screenings, especially in the European Film Market which runs concurrent with the festivals established programs including the Competition, Panorama, Forum, Retrospectives, and Generation--the new identity for the children's film series. The film catalogues resemble phone books in their thickness and with nearly 30 films playing at the same time, quite a bit of work goes into planning a daily screening schedule to maximize coverage.

Most mornings, I'm out the door by 8:45 to get to the first screenings that usually start at 9 am. Having a European Film Market pass has allowed me to bypass most of the daily ticketing which also begins at 9 am. With a huge number of accredited guests for the festival, lines for tickets can reach back a couple blocks in the mornings. If I feel that a screening will sell out, I'll stop off to pick up tickets, but for the most part I've been waived into public screenings with this time-saving pass. The market screenings are much easier. Most of the films are screened in small cinemas with around 30 seats within one of two multiplexes next to each other. The main point of this program is to provide an opportunity for buyers to consider films for distribution, but many film festivals also take part in this as new films and works-in-progress are screened. If you see something good, you can negotiate with the sales agents who are all making deals in the Martin Gropius Bau--normally an exhibition space that is converted into a market for the run of the festival.

Since, I arrived on Thursday morning, I've seen some exciting new films including two super films from Mexico. One of my favorites so far is Fernando Eimbcke's low-key Lake Tahoe. With a tone reminiscent of the early films of Jim Jarmusch, the sparse story of a teens search to have his car fixed over the course of a day slowly unfolds as a funny and sweet tale. The other, Stolen, is a damning documentary on the inconsistencies in the 2006 Mexican presidential elections and the protests that erupted in light of fraud allegations.

One of my other favorite films was Wonderful Town a Thai drama on a blossoming relationship between a big city architect and a shy innkeeper in a small vacation village struggling in the wake of the Tsunami disaster. I had read great things about the film that also played in Sundance.

There were a couple of other films with connections to artists who have been presented at the Walker. Yousry Nasrallah's new film The Aquarium had its world premiere in the Panoram program on Saturday evening. Nasrallah was at the Walker two years ago to present his film Mercedes in one of the first partnerships the Walker had with the Institute for Advanced Study Film Collaborative. There were new documentaries on British Artist Derek Jarman (directed by Isaac Julien) and Gilbert and George (by one of their former models Julian Cole). Patti Smith was on hand for the post-screening Q & A (thankfully due to missing her train to Paris) for an insightful documentary Patti Smith: Dream of Life. Finally, Isabella Rossellini's hilarious brief series Green Porno was installed in small vitrines in the lobby outside the Arsenal theatre where the viewer could use the attached magnifying glasses to view the work which played on screens which could not have been one-inch across.

Leading up to my departure on Friday, there are several films that I'm looking forward to seeing. Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure plays in competition. Bruce La Bruce's Otto; or, Up with Dead People. Jesus Christus Savior, the documentary on Klaus Kinski's contentious one man performances portraying his interpretation of Christ which led to near riots in the 5,000 seat halls where it played. There is a short section of one of the concerts in Werner Herzog's My Best Fiend. Matt Wolf's Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russel focuses on the amazing underappreciated musician. Noam Gonick and Luis Jacob's installation Wildflowers of Manitoba which I missed in Toronto as it played in a gallery that was nearly as far away as Winnipeg. It's closer here. Finally, Heinz Emigholz who has several of his films playing at Walker this weekend, is back with a new Film Loos Ornimental and his exhibition The Basis of Make-Up is currently on view at the Hamburger Bahnhof museum nearby.

To finish off the year, I asked a number of folks here at the Walker to list their top three films of 2007. Enjoy. Happy New Year! Look for more blogging in 2008.

Greg, Beckel, Pre-Press Production Specialist, Design
1. Day Night Day Night (Julia Loktev)
2. Once (John Carney)
3. No Country for Old Men (Ethan and Joel Coen)

Joe Beres, Assistant, Film/Video
1. Sunshine (Danny Boyle)
2. Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno)
3. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)

Emmet Byrne, Designer, Design
1. Bladerunner: Final Cut (Ridley Scott)
2. Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright)
3. Mutual Appreciation (Andrew Bujalski)

Evan Drolet Cook, Intern, Film/Video
1. Red Road (Andrea Arnold)
2. Superbad (Greg Mottola)
3. I Think I Love My Wife (Chris Rock)

Justin Heideman, New Media Designer, New Media Initiatives
1. Sicko (Michael Moore)
2. Grindhouse (Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez)
3. The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass)

Mike Lyon, Ghost of Intern Past, Film/Video
1. No Country For Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen)
2. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
3. The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson)

Verena Mund, Program Associate, Film/Video
1. Longing (Sehnsucht) (Valeska Grisebach)
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
3. Zodiac (David Fincher)

Ryan Nelson, Fellow, Design
1. No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers)
2. Hotel Chevalier (Wes Anderson)
3. Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck)

Dean Otto, Assistant Curator, Film/Video
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and Two Days (Christian Mugiu)
2. Persepolis (Marjan Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud)
3. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas)

Matt Reints, Mailroom Services Coordinator, Mailroom
1. No Country for Old Men (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
3. The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass)

Reid Selisker, Public Relations Coordinator, Marketing & Public Relations Department
1. Zodiac (David Fincher)
2. Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)
3. No Country for Old Men (Ethan and Joel Coen)

Daniel Smith, Assistant Archivist, Library/Archives
1. Blade Runner - Final Cut (Ridley Scott) -Ridley Scott and Syd Mead imagined a future that grows ever more believable…
2. The Simpson's Movie (David Silverman) -Oh, Spiderpig!
3. Superbad (Greg Mottola) -Jonah Hill's performance is a rare thing in comedy, teen or otherwise: suffused with anger.
*Runner up: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (Dave Willis) -Why was this made, and why did it make me laugh?

Kathie Smith, blogger, Film/Video
Three films is just mean. Once I narrowed down to movies that start with “i” it became much easier.
1. Inland Empire - David Lynch
2. I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone - Tsai Ming Liang
3. I’m Not There - Todd Haynes

Morgan Wylie, Department Assistant, Education & Community Programs
1. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
2. Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie)
3. Sicko (Michael Moore)

I honestly never thought I would see this happen. For the longest time, the only way to see the work of Frederick Wiseman was via a projected 16mm print. That was certainly the case when we presented a retrospective in conjunction with a Regis Dialogue back in 2003. Cinephiles knew they needed to get here to see the films as catching up with them on video was not an option. Since then, Wiseman’s company, Zipporah Films, began to offer VHS copies of his work for sale to institutions. Even that seemed revolutionary given his long-standing stance on presenting his work on film, protecting himself from lost revenue from bootlegged video copies. I was really excited to see today, on Michael Tully’s blog, that Zipporah has now crossed over to DVDs, offering them for sale not only to institutions, but to individuals as well. Now so many more people will be able to catch up with some of the greatest documentaries ever produced. I count High School and Titicut Follies amongst my favorites, but all of his work is worth checking out.

We’re just past the halfway point of our run of the 2007 British Television Advertising Awards having sold almost every single seat for each of the screenings thus far. Thanks to all that have and will join us for a screening.

Last year people used the blog as a means to seek out and offer tickets to the sold out screenings. Please comment on this post to do so again for upcoming screenings.

As of this writing, we have tickets remaining for the 9pm screening on Saturday, December 22 and the 1pm screening on Sunday, January 23. Those are selling quickly, and beyond that, all advance tickets are sold out for the screenings leading up to the Christmas holiday. There are currently still tickets available to most of the screenings occurring between Christmas and New Years’ Eve, but those are virtually guaranteed to sell out as well, and I encourage you to get your tickets soon. Good luck and thank you for your support.

Click here to go directly to the ticketing page to see what is available.

Just a wee note to keep Walker Film/Video programs on your mind through this Thanksgiving weekend.

First, thanks to all the people who made who turned out to make our last Cinemateca screening of the season, Francisco Vargas' The Violin, such a great success. Although I was unable to attend the screening myself, from what I've heard, Mr. Vargas was quite a crowd pleaser, eliciting some great comments from our friend, Bre Blaesing, a WACTAC member. Cinemateca returns in January with a whole new slate of films so stay tuned for information on that as if becomes available.

In other news, Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's documentary Nanking which screens here at the Walker (as a part of Premieres: First Look series) a week from this Wednesday, November 28, was short listed by the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences (AMPAS) for a Best Documentary Oscar. Also short listed, another amazing documentary we screened at the Walker last spring, The Rape of Europa.

Finally, we are happy to announce another Premieres: First Look screening, this time with close Minnesota ties, Jason Reitman's Juno. Written by former City Pages writer Diablo Cody, the screening will take place December 13^th at 7:30 PM and will be followed by a post-screening discussion with Ms. Cody taking questions from the audience.

Tickets for Nanking (screening November 28 at 7:30 pm) are $12 ($10 for Walker members).

Tickets for Juno go on sale to WALKER MEMBERS on Wednesday November 28 at 11am. Any tickets remaining on December 4 will then be made available to the general public. Tickets are $12 ($10 for Walker Members).

This Thursday, October 18, we will be offering a sneak preview screening of Things We Lost in the Fire.

Walker Art Center's annual Women with Vision film festival presents new work by women directors from around the world. A discovery in 2002 was Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, then unknown to US audiences, with her film Open Hearts. In 2005 the festival showed her next film, Brothers. Now working in the United States, Bier's first studio film is Dreamwork's The Things We Lost in the Fire.

Academy Award-winners Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro star in director Susanne Bier's (the Oscar-nominated After the Wedding) powerful new drama Things We Lost in the Fire, a compelling drama about two people brought together by fate.

Audrey Burke (Berry) is reeling from the shock of the news that her loving husband of 11 years, Brian (David Duchovny), the father of their two young children, has been killed in a random act of violence. Desperate to fill the painful void caused by her husband's death, Audrey impulsively turns to Jerry Sunborne (Del Toro), a down-and-out addict who had been her husband's close friend since childhood. She invites him to move into the room adjacent to their garage in the hope that he can help her and her children cope with their sudden loss. Jerry faces a daily battle to stay off drugs, but in his unexpected role as surrogate parent and friend to Audrey's son and daughter, he finds a core of inner resilience. As Jerry and Audrey navigate grief and denial, they discover the strength to move forward. 2007, 35mm, 117 minutes.

Things We Lost in the Fire

Thursday, October 18. 7:30pm

Walker Cinema

European director Susanne Bier (director of the Academy Award Nominated After the Wedding) makes her American directorial debut with Things We Lost in the Fire. The film centers around a recent widow played by Halle Berry and her two children dealing with the loss of the families patriarch (played by David Duchovny). While grieving, Berry invites her husband's drug addled best friend (Benicio Del Toro) to come live with the family while they both try to put their separate lives back together, even if she never understood why he and her husband were friends. What unfolds is not just a common story about coping with loss but an examination of what happens when people try and hold their worlds together, even as it falls apart around them. The film treads dark territory, but manages to take seemingly cliché ideas and turn them on their head.

Due to inclement weather tonight’s event has been relocated to the Walker Cinema. Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective will begin at 7pm, and Magnificent Obsession will begin at 8:30pm. As seating is limited, the performance and film will be ticketed separately. Free tickets to the performance and/or the film will be available from the Bazinet lobby desk starting at 6:30 pm.

Here are a couple shots taken by our photographer Cameron Wittig in the Walker Cinema during the Regis Dialogue with Michel Gondry and Jonathan Rosenbaum.

I was absolutely thrilled to see the artist Vladimir, who presented Vladmaster shows here at the Walker in March 2006 (the photo above was taken during the Women With Vision opening reception), was covered in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

Hopefully, you’ve been fortunate to catch one of the magical live performances. If you haven’t, you can keep up with her upcoming performances or even buy your own Vladmaster show here.

· Depressed? Finding it hard to get to work? So is Lars Von Trier. Reuters reports. I hope he makes Antichrist. I’ve been looking forward to it.

· A good day for DVD shopping - hitting shelves today: Army of Shadows, The Fountain, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Canyon Passage. See the New York Times for reviews and more information.

· I’m such a sucker for Wong Kar Wai that even a gander at a poster for a new film is exciting. As seen on Twitchfilm.

·Francis Ford Coppola’s first foray into directing in 10 years, Youth Without Youth, is scheduled to have it’s premiere at the Rome Film Festival this October.

·Tsai Ming-liang has accepted the cuts proposed cuts to his film I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Playing at the Walker in June) from Malaysian censors, and hopes to use this as a means to create a dialogue about censorship. Twitchfilm reports.

·Our own Paul Schmelzer posted an interesting piece on his Eyeteeth blog about handpainted movie posters in Belarus. Take a look.