· Deb Wallwork and Mike Hazard’s C. Beck, featured in the 2007 edition of MNTV, took the grand prize from Independent Lens‘ online shorts fest. Indiewire reports. If you missed the airing of MNTV, the films can still be viewed online.
· Past Regis Dialogue guests Ang Lee and James Schamus talk to Entertainment Weekly about Heath Ledger, the new Hulk movie, and their upcoming project. Thanks to Matt Dentler’s blog, as EW is nowhere near my radar.
· I look forward to David Bordwell’s posts from Hong Kong every spring. They are always envy-inducing and chock-full of great snapshots. Head here to read about his trip thus far and check out that picture with him and Hou Hsiao-Hsien!
· R.I.P. Charles Nelson Reilly - like so many others, I knew Reilly from his game show and other television appearances, until recently. I caught a screening of a documentary called The Life of Reilly at the Wisconsin Film Festival. It’s essentially a fairly straight-forward capturing of the autobiographical one-man-show he was performing a few years back. It presented his often tragic life story in a funny and dynamic way. It revealed not only an amazing talent for storytelling, but an unbelieveable ability to act. I hope more people can catch this film and get a better sense of the funnyman behind the big glasses.
· The Winners are in - The winners of the Cannes Film Festival were announced Sunday night. The Palm d’Or went to the Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and Two Days. Julian Schnabel took the Best Director prize for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. indieWire has the full story.
· 30 years ago…
· Heath Ledger won me, and million of others, over through his role in Brokeback Mountain. Also, I am a big fan of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and a recovering comic book geek. With Nolan back at the helm and Ledger playing the Joker, the sequel to Batman Begins looks more than promising. Twitch has some news on the film and the first image of Ledger in the film. It looks like they are borrowing from Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer, but Heath looks pretty menacing nonetheless.
· So Yong Kim, her In Between Days just played at the Walker during Women With Vision, has a new film at the Cannes Film Festival. indieWire has published a new interview with her to mark the occasion.
· Roman Polanski still seems to be able to create controversy. Read indieWire’s account of a heated press conference in which some of the world’s foremost filmmakers gathered to discuss the state of cinema and mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.
· Cannes to open with the first English language film from Wong Kar-Wai. Many other titles also announced. indieWIRE reports.
· R.I.P. James Lyons. The longtime Todd Haynes collaborator passed away last Thursday. NY Times Obituary.
· Best website ever? Artist and filmmaker Miranda July (her film Me and You and Everyone We Know was part of Women With Vision 2005) has created an incredible website for her new book.
· Twitch pointed me to an amazing trailer for an upcoming documentary about David Lynch making Inland Empire. If the film is half as entertaining as the trailer, it should be excellent.
· Twitch also reports that Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinema is finally being released on DVD. It’s a French, region 2 DVD, but it supposedly has English subtitles, at least on the feature content. Cross your fingers.
· Grindhouse, the long anticipated exploitation double feature from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino hits theaters today. As a fan of the genre, I hope to catch this one in theaters, but I definitely have my reservations about the filmmakers. What are your thoughts? Comment here.
· Several of us here in Film/Video are fans of good design, especially when it pops on on film posters and DVD covers. If you are, too, I highly recommend checking out this post at On Five on the design process behind the covers for the Criterion Collection release of Jules Dassin’s Night and the City.
· David Bordwell at the Hong Kong Film Festival. His first report is up on his blog, and more are promised. It’s always a fun read.
· If you are anywhere in or near San Francisco tomorrow, I highly recommend taking in the San Francisco Film Society’s Trapped in the Closet sing-a-long. The event promises to be “an exploration of R. Kelly’s artistic canon.” I wish I could be there.
· Bob’s shorts? - The shorts Robert DeNiro wore in Raging Bull and costumes from 12 other films are on display in Austin, Texas. Austin 360 reports. I don’t really need to see the shorts, but I’d love to see Raging Bull on the big screen again.
· David Lynch interviewed by The Guardian. Live from the stage atthe NFT after a screening of Inland Empire. It’s one of the more candid and chatty interviews I’ve read.
· Francis Ford Coppola working on TWO films? Apparently so. Youth Without Youth is currently in post-production and scheduled for release late this year. It will be the first film by the elder Coppola to hit the screens in 10 years. Ain’t It Cool News also reports that he has begun work on another feature called Tetro.
· To follow up on Mike’s post yesterday. Twitch has posted a link for a teaser trailer for Takeshi Kitano’s Kantoku-Banzai! Kitano is also one of my favorites, and this looks promising. Take a Look!
·Lars Von Trier to work with Anders Thomas Jensen for his upcoming horror film Antichrist. Jensen co-wrote Open Hearts (presented in Women With Vision 2003) and worte and directed the lauded Adam’s Apples. We’ve also premiered Von Trier’s Dogville and Manderlay. One of the greatest living directors working with one of the best Danish writers - on a horror film, I can’t wait. Twitch reports.
·Martin Scocese wins top prize from the Director’s Guild of America. Might he finally get his Oscar? indieWire reports.
·The Mystery of the Missing Directors. The New York Times published an interesting piece on the lack of work from some of the turn of the century’s most promising filmmakers. Alexander Payne (Former Regis dialogue participant), Kimberly Pierce, and David O’Russell are all mentioned.
·Museums Breathe New Life into Documentaries. indieWire cites the Walker’s film program and specifically, our upcoming presentation of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
·My cinema-scholar hero and friend, David Bordwell, has a blog! He and his partner, Kristin Thompson, have been posting their observations on film and art there. It was always a pleasure to work with and learn from them both, and I’m thrilled to able to do so again from afar. Check it out! Be sure to take a look at Kristin’s post on Snakes On a Plane.
·Silverdocs lauds Demme. Jonathan Demme will be honored for his documentary work in the upcoming Silverdocs festival. He is currently working on new films about Jimmy Carter and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Variety reports.
·Film is Dead, says David Lynch. I can’t say i agree, but i haven’t seen Inland Empire yet. Reported by AFP via indieWire.
·The Winners of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival have been announced. Manda Bala took the top prize.
·ReverseBlog reviews Colossal Youth, which was presented at the Walker in October, and graced top ten lists of critics worldwide.
· The New York Times reviewed the upcoming Kenneth Anger DVD. As exciting as it will be to finally have these films more widely available, you do not want to miss your chance to see these restored 35mm prints on the big screen in the Cinema at the Walker on Friday. Dr. Anger will be present. It will be a spectacular evening.
· Fox Searchlight has picked up the worldwide rights to Waitress, the final film written and Directed by the late Adrienne Shelly. indieWire reports.
· Am I the only one that finds it a bit funny that Variety actually posted a review of the Academy Award nominations announcement.
· indieWire has announced the 9 film “shortlist” of contenders for the Best Foreign Language. Look for Avenue Montaigne to hit the Walker Cinema during Women With Vision in March.
· I was thrilled to see a post on Twitch entitled Geek Bonanza! The Bonanza is an R2D2 video projector. I may be a geek, but I couldn’t sink this low.
· A new trailer for David Lynch’s Inland Empire has surfaced. Thanks, again, Twitch. I really need to see this film.
· Eugene Hernandez of indieWire has named the likely candidates for best picture Oscar. The official nominations will be announced on January 23.
· Stephen Frears will head up the Jury for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
· The Museum of Modern Art has a YouTube Channel. Currently on view are two trailers for Doug Aitken’s Sleepwalkers. Thanks, Paul.
• The National Society of Film Critics have named Pan’s Labyrinth best movie of the year. indieWire reports.
• indieWire has also posted a Helen Hill obituary.
• The New York Times published an interesting piece about music in Alfred Hitchcock’s films, and the recently published book on the topic. (I do look forward to reading the book, but I really wanted an excuse to post that picture of Hitchcock.)
