New month, new horror recommendations from Deep Cuts Rising. This installment features one random pick as well as four selections reflecting the month of May 2024.
Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.
This month’s offerings include a self-loathing serial killer, a violinist’s murderous ghost, and a postmodern vamp flick.
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
Pictured: Ted Bessell and Sian Barbara Allen in Scream, Pretty Peggy.
Directed by Gordon Hessler.
The TV-movie Scream, Pretty Peggy first aired as part of ABC Movie of the Week. Bette Davis plays the mother of a reclusive sculptor (Ted Bessell), and after the previous housekeeper goes missing, a local college student (Sian Barbara Allen) fills the position. Little does she know, though, the young employee’s predecessor was murdered — and the killer is still on the loose.
Admittedly,...
Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.
This month’s offerings include a self-loathing serial killer, a violinist’s murderous ghost, and a postmodern vamp flick.
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
Pictured: Ted Bessell and Sian Barbara Allen in Scream, Pretty Peggy.
Directed by Gordon Hessler.
The TV-movie Scream, Pretty Peggy first aired as part of ABC Movie of the Week. Bette Davis plays the mother of a reclusive sculptor (Ted Bessell), and after the previous housekeeper goes missing, a local college student (Sian Barbara Allen) fills the position. Little does she know, though, the young employee’s predecessor was murdered — and the killer is still on the loose.
Admittedly,...
- 5/1/2024
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
Dang, the New York Film Critics Circle is getting old. The group’s 90th-annual ceremony is promising to be a toast each and every one of those nine decades come 2025.
The NYFCC will ring in its 90th anniversary with a Gala Awards dinner on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at Tao Downtown. IndieWire can confirm that a special anniversary program is in the works to celebrate this historic milestone for the NYFCC.
“This has already been an exciting time for moviegoing, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2024 holds before our 90th anniversary dinner,” NYFCC Chair David Sims said. “NYFCC has always been there to recognize and celebrate the best in cinema, and we’ll be sure to put on an especially fun show next January.”
Sims will serve as the 2024 Chair of the NYFCC, Stephen Garrett will continue as the group’s General Manager. IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland...
The NYFCC will ring in its 90th anniversary with a Gala Awards dinner on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at Tao Downtown. IndieWire can confirm that a special anniversary program is in the works to celebrate this historic milestone for the NYFCC.
“This has already been an exciting time for moviegoing, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2024 holds before our 90th anniversary dinner,” NYFCC Chair David Sims said. “NYFCC has always been there to recognize and celebrate the best in cinema, and we’ll be sure to put on an especially fun show next January.”
Sims will serve as the 2024 Chair of the NYFCC, Stephen Garrett will continue as the group’s General Manager. IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland...
- 4/30/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Every time I’ve seen The Beast there comes some point where I think Bertrand Bonello is the world’s greatest under-60 filmmaker. Not quite a new stance for me (declaring Saint Laurent the best movie of the 2010s was a lonely battle), but it’s exactly this accumulation of films through years and years of appreciation that makes his newest film’s climax so powerful, so cascading in its effects, so potent in the question of who’s even treating images and montage in service of such heady narrative frameworks and sharp-tuned performances. If I confess unique bias, having worked on Bonello’s films in the distribution realm––the theatrical and home-video release of Nocturama, the digital debut of Ingrid Caven: Music and Voice, and producing a vinyl LP of his original soundtracks––it means I’ve also seen a shift in perception, from cult figure to major figure of world cinema.
- 4/4/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
To be or not to be. That was the question facing so many artists at the height of the Covid pandemic (let’s call it January 2021), when the crisis seemed as if it might continue forever, and the absence of an audience threatened to chip away at the creative spirit itself. Suddenly unemployed and unable to support his family after landing the biggest role of his life (the titular wizard in the London production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”), British actor Sam Crane couldn’t help but wonder — to quote a certain Danish prince — “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.” Crane may not have shared Hamlet’s attraction to suicide, but he certainly entertained the idea of laying his career to rest before he was...
- 3/11/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHard Truths.Mike Leigh’s forthcoming Hard Truths will reunite him with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, star of Secrets and Lies (1996). It will be the British director’s first film set in the present day since Another Year (2010).Jia Zhangke has divulged some details of We Shall Be All, now in the early stages of post-production. In production off and on since 2001, the film will be his first feature since Ash Is Purest White (2018). “I travelled with actors and a cameraman to shoot, without a script, without any obvious story,” the director told Variety. “This is a work of fiction, but I have applied many documentary methods.”Robert Bresson’s rarely seen Four Nights of a Dreamer is being restored by MK2 Films, set for a spring release.
- 2/28/2024
- MUBI
The U.S. trailer for Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast has arrived. The latest film from Bonello marks his third collaboration with Léa Seydoux, who gives not one but three great performances across three different timelines. The Beast enters release on April 5, and our next issue will feature an interview with Bonello conducted by Michael Almereyda.
The post Trailer Watch: Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/13/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The U.S. trailer for Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast has arrived. The latest film from Bonello marks his third collaboration with Léa Seydoux, who gives not one but three great performances across three different timelines. The Beast enters release on April 5, and our next issue will feature an interview with Bonello conducted by Michael Almereyda.
The post Trailer Watch: Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/13/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Exclusive: Annette Bening is joining Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein lore feature at Warner Bros; the studio making it official that this is a go-project. Cameras roll in Q1. This package with its attachments has been out there since it was at Netflix, and the deals have finally closed with everyone. Jessie Buckley is the star of the movie which follows Frankenstein’s pursuit of love.
There’s already been word out there about the cast, including Buckley, and it’s a murderers’ row with Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. Bale and Buckley have been circling this project well before the strikes.
Logline: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the...
There’s already been word out there about the cast, including Buckley, and it’s a murderers’ row with Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. Bale and Buckley have been circling this project well before the strikes.
Logline: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the...
- 1/12/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
If it’s been a patchy few years for Errol Morris––one solid doc in-between a bad Steve Bannon portrait and iffy look at John le Carré––our interest in his thorough, startling oeuvre remains strong, and it’s naturally a thrill to hear word of two new features. On the documentary front he’s been adapting, for Netflix, Tom O’Neill’s Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, which quickly engendered great attention for challenging standard Manson Family narratives; and there’s a feature screenplay about Ed Gein, who Morris interviewed in 1975 for a never-completed documentary. If it doesn’t feature that footage and opts for a biopic / procedural path, it would make Morris’ first narrative since 1991’s The Dark Wind. [Screen Daily]
Meanwhile, Michael Almereyda has found his first feature since Tesla. Per Deadline, he and Courtney Stephens are developing an untitled documentary about John C. Lilly,...
Meanwhile, Michael Almereyda has found his first feature since Tesla. Per Deadline, he and Courtney Stephens are developing an untitled documentary about John C. Lilly,...
- 12/20/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Indie filmmakers Courtney Stephens and Michael Almereyda are teaming to direct a new documentary about controversial scientist John C. Lilly, Deadline has learned.
Funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the project will look at the countercultural figure’s work as the inventor of the isolation tank, as well as his pioneering studies of dolphin intelligence and support of psychedelics as a positive means for expanding consciousness. The storytelling will be supported by interviews with Lilly’s contemporaries and colleagues, as well as extensive archival records.
Stephens was drawn to Lilly, having grown up near Marine World in the Bay Area, where the scientist worked with trained dolphins and computers in the early 1980s, hoping to teach the animals an Esperanto-like language that would allow for interspecies communication. Apple donated equipment to the lab, which was visited by figures ranging from Ram Dass to Olivia Newton John.
Funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the project will look at the countercultural figure’s work as the inventor of the isolation tank, as well as his pioneering studies of dolphin intelligence and support of psychedelics as a positive means for expanding consciousness. The storytelling will be supported by interviews with Lilly’s contemporaries and colleagues, as well as extensive archival records.
Stephens was drawn to Lilly, having grown up near Marine World in the Bay Area, where the scientist worked with trained dolphins and computers in the early 1980s, hoping to teach the animals an Esperanto-like language that would allow for interspecies communication. Apple donated equipment to the lab, which was visited by figures ranging from Ram Dass to Olivia Newton John.
- 12/19/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Greek non-profit creative incubator Oxbelly has revealed the participants of its 2023 retreat for writers in episodic, fiction and poetry.
Founded by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Oxbelly is known for its screenwriters and directors labs — which run under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari — and draws a number of international filmmakers every summer to Greece. Past participating mentors include Maren Ade, Michael Almereyda, Paul Thomas Anderson, Willem Dafoe, Dee Rees and Lulu Wang.
Advisors for the 2023 program include Barry Jenkins, Rebecca Makkai, Nadifa Mohamed, Sue Naegle, Fiammetta Rocco, Anuradha Roy, Vera Santamaria, Anna Winger, Jörg Winger, Lulu Wang, Graham Yost and Tsangari.
The 2023 writers retreat, which took place in June, was led by program director Chigozie Obioma. The episodic program supported writers interested in entering a career in television by unpacking the many facets of the role of television writer through sessions that included a series of simulated writers room exercises,...
Founded by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Oxbelly is known for its screenwriters and directors labs — which run under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari — and draws a number of international filmmakers every summer to Greece. Past participating mentors include Maren Ade, Michael Almereyda, Paul Thomas Anderson, Willem Dafoe, Dee Rees and Lulu Wang.
Advisors for the 2023 program include Barry Jenkins, Rebecca Makkai, Nadifa Mohamed, Sue Naegle, Fiammetta Rocco, Anuradha Roy, Vera Santamaria, Anna Winger, Jörg Winger, Lulu Wang, Graham Yost and Tsangari.
The 2023 writers retreat, which took place in June, was led by program director Chigozie Obioma. The episodic program supported writers interested in entering a career in television by unpacking the many facets of the role of television writer through sessions that included a series of simulated writers room exercises,...
- 12/11/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
For the past decade-and-a-half, cinematographer Sean Price Williams has been a staple of the New York indie-film scene, lensing features for (naming just a handful) the Safdie brothers, Alex Ross Perry, Michael Almereyda, Robert Greene.
The Sweet East finds Williams moving to the director’s chair with a script from film critic Nick Pinkerton. Deliberately provocative and very funny, The Sweet East begins with a Pizzagate sequence that separates high-schooler Lillian from her classmates in D.C. From there she drifts throughout the Northeast, mingling with a cast of outsiders who all take a special, often sexual interest in her, among them a disorganized band of Antifa-esque punks, an over-eager filmmaking duo (Ayo Edebiri and playwright Jeremy O. Harris), and closeted Neo-Nazi academic Lawrence (Simon Rex).
Fans of Pinkerton’s film criticism and Twitter account will be pleased by the wordsmithery of his dialogue, especially Lawrence’s extended monologues on...
The Sweet East finds Williams moving to the director’s chair with a script from film critic Nick Pinkerton. Deliberately provocative and very funny, The Sweet East begins with a Pizzagate sequence that separates high-schooler Lillian from her classmates in D.C. From there she drifts throughout the Northeast, mingling with a cast of outsiders who all take a special, often sexual interest in her, among them a disorganized band of Antifa-esque punks, an over-eager filmmaking duo (Ayo Edebiri and playwright Jeremy O. Harris), and closeted Neo-Nazi academic Lawrence (Simon Rex).
Fans of Pinkerton’s film criticism and Twitter account will be pleased by the wordsmithery of his dialogue, especially Lawrence’s extended monologues on...
- 12/1/2023
- by Caleb Hammond
- The Film Stage
Jeremy Thomas with Anne-Katrin Titze on his next mission, Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder and Me to be directed by Stephen Frears and starring Christoph Waltz as Billy Wilder: “We’ve got all the locations in Corfu and Paris where the drama is set. Now I’m looking for eight million dollars more …”
In the first instalment with producer extraordinaire Jeremy Thomas we discuss his work and admiration for Nicolas Roeg, Wim Wenders, and Matteo Garrone.
Jeremy Thomas with Glenn Kenny and Michael Almereyda at the Posteritati Gallery reception Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Karel Reisz’s Everybody Wins (written by Arthur Miller) came to Jeremy’s mind; the connection between Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (winning nine Oscars), Paul Bowles and The Sheltering Sky; Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) plus Glazer’s Martin Amis adaption of The Zone Of Interest (a Main Slate selection of...
In the first instalment with producer extraordinaire Jeremy Thomas we discuss his work and admiration for Nicolas Roeg, Wim Wenders, and Matteo Garrone.
Jeremy Thomas with Glenn Kenny and Michael Almereyda at the Posteritati Gallery reception Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Karel Reisz’s Everybody Wins (written by Arthur Miller) came to Jeremy’s mind; the connection between Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (winning nine Oscars), Paul Bowles and The Sheltering Sky; Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) plus Glazer’s Martin Amis adaption of The Zone Of Interest (a Main Slate selection of...
- 9/23/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Around the turn of the century, modern reimaginings of Shakespeare had reached a fever pitch. Audiences were rediscovering the Bard's work through a string of stylish Hollywood films ranging from Baz Luhrmann's bombastic “Romeo + Juliet” to Michael Almereyda's gen-x-courting “Hamlet” to fun teen comedies like “10 Things I Hate About You.” It wasn't long before the trend reached the Indian film industry, which had previously produced only a small selection of Shakespeare adaptations. The charge was led by Vishal Bhardwaj, who received widespread acclaim for 2003's “Maqbool,” his violent take on “Macbeth” featuring Irrfan Khan in the lead role. Transposing the Scottish Play's power struggles to 21st-century Mumbai, Bhardwaj takes a haunting approach to the material, leaning into the bloodshed while playing with the supernatural moodiness and psychological torment of its protagonist. Bhardwaj would continue his Shakespeare trilogy with “Omkara” (“Othello”) in 2006 and “Haider” (“Hamlet”) in 2014, both...
- 8/19/2023
- by Henry McKeand
- AsianMoviePulse
Utopia has acquired North American rights to “The Sweet East,” a contemporary travelogue that marks the feature directing debut of Sean Price Williams. The sale comes after the film debuted at Director’s Fortnight during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Williams has a reputation as one of the most talented cinematographers in the independent film space, having previously worked with the likes of the Safdie Brothers, Alex Ross Perry, Michael Almereyda, Abel Ferrara and Albert Maysles. Here, he brings a script by cult film critic Nick Pinkerton to the screen.
Critics hailed the film as fresh and often funny, while praising the performance of Talia Ryder, who played a key supporting role in “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” In “The Sweet East,” she plays Lillian, who runs away while on a school trip, encountering everyone from white supremacists and Islamic radicals to neo-punks and woke avant-gardists. The film also stars Simon Rex...
Williams has a reputation as one of the most talented cinematographers in the independent film space, having previously worked with the likes of the Safdie Brothers, Alex Ross Perry, Michael Almereyda, Abel Ferrara and Albert Maysles. Here, he brings a script by cult film critic Nick Pinkerton to the screen.
Critics hailed the film as fresh and often funny, while praising the performance of Talia Ryder, who played a key supporting role in “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” In “The Sweet East,” she plays Lillian, who runs away while on a school trip, encountering everyone from white supremacists and Islamic radicals to neo-punks and woke avant-gardists. The film also stars Simon Rex...
- 7/27/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including the exclusive streaming premiere of Lars von Trier’s The Idiots in a new 4K restoration, Céline Devaux’s anti-romcom Everybody Loves Jeanne, and Tyler Taormina’s Happer’s Comet.
Additional selections include three films by Wong Kar Wai, a Robert Altman double feature, four works by Jacques Rivette, plus shorts by Mia Hansen-Løve and Yorgos Lanthimos.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
July 1 – Synecdoche, New York, directed by Charlie Kaufman
July 2 – 2046, directed by Wong Kar Wai | As Time Goes By: Three by Wong Kar Wai
July 3 – The Exiles, directed by Kent MacKenzie
July 4 – Ivansxtc, directed by Bernard Rose
July 5 – Un Pur Esprit, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve | Short Films Big Names
July 6 – Contemporary Color, directed by Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross | Turn It Up: Music on Film
July 7 – The Idiots, directed by Lars von Trier...
Additional selections include three films by Wong Kar Wai, a Robert Altman double feature, four works by Jacques Rivette, plus shorts by Mia Hansen-Løve and Yorgos Lanthimos.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
July 1 – Synecdoche, New York, directed by Charlie Kaufman
July 2 – 2046, directed by Wong Kar Wai | As Time Goes By: Three by Wong Kar Wai
July 3 – The Exiles, directed by Kent MacKenzie
July 4 – Ivansxtc, directed by Bernard Rose
July 5 – Un Pur Esprit, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve | Short Films Big Names
July 6 – Contemporary Color, directed by Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross | Turn It Up: Music on Film
July 7 – The Idiots, directed by Lars von Trier...
- 6/26/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights on U.S. cinematographer and filmmaker Sean Price Williams’s feature directorial debut The Sweet East ahead of its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in May.
Written by the film critic and programmer Nick Pinkerton, the movie is described as a picaresque journey through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the United States undertaken by Lillian, a high school senior from South Carolina who gets her first glimpse of the wider world on a class trip to Washington, D.C.
Separated from her schoolmates, she embarks on a fractured fairy tale travelogue into America, where she is granted access to a variety of the strange factions that proliferate the present-day unreality of contemporary life.
Williams’s credits as a cinematographer include Owen Kline’s Funny Pages (2022), Abel Ferrara’s Zeros and Ones (2021), Michael Almereyda’s Tesla (2020), Alex Ross Perry...
Written by the film critic and programmer Nick Pinkerton, the movie is described as a picaresque journey through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the United States undertaken by Lillian, a high school senior from South Carolina who gets her first glimpse of the wider world on a class trip to Washington, D.C.
Separated from her schoolmates, she embarks on a fractured fairy tale travelogue into America, where she is granted access to a variety of the strange factions that proliferate the present-day unreality of contemporary life.
Williams’s credits as a cinematographer include Owen Kline’s Funny Pages (2022), Abel Ferrara’s Zeros and Ones (2021), Michael Almereyda’s Tesla (2020), Alex Ross Perry...
- 4/21/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Film is directorial debut of prolific cinematographer Sean Price Williams.
The Match Factory has boarded Sean Price Williams’ The Sweet East which world premieres next month in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
Written by the film critic and programmer Nick Pinkerton, it is the first feature film directed by cinematographer Price Williams, whose credits Owen Kline’s Funny Pages (2022), Abel Ferrara’s Zeros and Ones (2021), Michael Almereyda’s Tesla (2020), Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell (2018) and the Safdie brothers Good Time (2017).
The Sweet East is billed as picaresque journey through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the US undertaken by Lillian,...
The Match Factory has boarded Sean Price Williams’ The Sweet East which world premieres next month in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
Written by the film critic and programmer Nick Pinkerton, it is the first feature film directed by cinematographer Price Williams, whose credits Owen Kline’s Funny Pages (2022), Abel Ferrara’s Zeros and Ones (2021), Michael Almereyda’s Tesla (2020), Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell (2018) and the Safdie brothers Good Time (2017).
The Sweet East is billed as picaresque journey through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the US undertaken by Lillian,...
- 4/21/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
The Match Factory has boarded Sean Price Williams’s “The Sweet East,” which has its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival in May.
It is the first feature film directed by Price Williams, the cinematographer of Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages” (2022), Abel Ferrara’s “Zeros and Ones” (2021), Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla” (2020), Alex Ross Perry’s “Her Smell” (2018) and the Safdies’ “Good Time” (2017).
The screenplay is by film critic and programmer Nick Pinkerton.
“The Sweet East” is a picaresque journey through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. undertaken by Lillian, a high school senior from South Carolina, who gets her first glimpse of the wider world on a class trip to Washington, D.C.
“Separated from her schoolmates, she embarks on a fractured fairy-tale travelogue into America, where she is granted access to a variety of the strange factions...
It is the first feature film directed by Price Williams, the cinematographer of Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages” (2022), Abel Ferrara’s “Zeros and Ones” (2021), Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla” (2020), Alex Ross Perry’s “Her Smell” (2018) and the Safdies’ “Good Time” (2017).
The screenplay is by film critic and programmer Nick Pinkerton.
“The Sweet East” is a picaresque journey through the cities and woods of the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. undertaken by Lillian, a high school senior from South Carolina, who gets her first glimpse of the wider world on a class trip to Washington, D.C.
“Separated from her schoolmates, she embarks on a fractured fairy-tale travelogue into America, where she is granted access to a variety of the strange factions...
- 4/21/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
If we lived in an alternate universe where Bill Nye never got his big break, relegated to shooting his lo-fi children’s show from his garage and submitting tapes to a local affiliate in hopes he’d advance to a prime Sunday morning slot, it would look something like the one Cameron Edwin (Jim Gaffigan) occupies. As his marriage is also on the brink of collapse, his midlife crisis conveniently dovetails with an old Russian rocket falling in his backyard. Edwin decides to make the most of the opportunity and attempt to fulfill his dreams of being an astronaut. An effective concoction of cosmic mystery and earnest emotion to elevate its small-scale, homespun design, Colin West’s Linoleum evolves into a nifty, heartfelt sci-drama.
Though initially drawing, liberally, from Donnie Darko, with its aerial disaster phenomenon and dreamy slow-motion introduction to a sunny high school recalling the “Head Over Heels” montage,...
Though initially drawing, liberally, from Donnie Darko, with its aerial disaster phenomenon and dreamy slow-motion introduction to a sunny high school recalling the “Head Over Heels” montage,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The novel White Noise by Don DeLillo is a landmark work of literary fiction. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction when it was released in 1985, and DeLillo’s poetic satire of American society remains as vital now as it was when the book was first released.
Hollywood loves to mine the world of literature for new IP, but early attempts to turn White Noise into a movie were unsuccessful. Barry Sonnenfeld was set to direct an adaptation in 2004, and Michael Almereyda was announced as the writer and director of a different version in 2016.
Adam Driver as Jack, Greta Gerwig as Babette, and Don Cheadle as Murray | Wilson Webb/Netflix
These false starts contributed to the idea that White Noise was an “unfilmable” book, but the third time’s a charm. Noah Baumbach created a film version of the novel for Netflix, bringing together a talented cast...
Hollywood loves to mine the world of literature for new IP, but early attempts to turn White Noise into a movie were unsuccessful. Barry Sonnenfeld was set to direct an adaptation in 2004, and Michael Almereyda was announced as the writer and director of a different version in 2016.
Adam Driver as Jack, Greta Gerwig as Babette, and Don Cheadle as Murray | Wilson Webb/Netflix
These false starts contributed to the idea that White Noise was an “unfilmable” book, but the third time’s a charm. Noah Baumbach created a film version of the novel for Netflix, bringing together a talented cast...
- 1/26/2023
- by Produced by Digital Editors
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Former Sundance Institute director Caroline von Kuhn has been appointed executive director of Greek non-profit Oxbelly.
Founded by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Oxbelly is known for its screenwriters and directors labs — which run under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari — and draws a number of international filmmakers every summer to Greece. Past participating mentors include Maren Ade, Michael Almereyda, Paul Thomas Anderson, Willem Dafoe, Dee Rees and Lulu Wang.
Von Kuhn will help Oxbelly expand its operations and break the traditional lab model with its annual gatherings of international creatives.
“Oxbelly was started with a vision to construct an international community of world builders, based on the values of generosity and inclusiveness inherent in Greek hospitality,” said Konstantakopoulos. “I can’t think of a better person than Caroline to lead Oxbelly into our next chapter, as we expand our programs, to serve and empower storytellers...
Founded by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Oxbelly is known for its screenwriters and directors labs — which run under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari — and draws a number of international filmmakers every summer to Greece. Past participating mentors include Maren Ade, Michael Almereyda, Paul Thomas Anderson, Willem Dafoe, Dee Rees and Lulu Wang.
Von Kuhn will help Oxbelly expand its operations and break the traditional lab model with its annual gatherings of international creatives.
“Oxbelly was started with a vision to construct an international community of world builders, based on the values of generosity and inclusiveness inherent in Greek hospitality,” said Konstantakopoulos. “I can’t think of a better person than Caroline to lead Oxbelly into our next chapter, as we expand our programs, to serve and empower storytellers...
- 1/12/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Former Sundance Institute director Caroline von Kuhn has been appointed Executive Director, of Greece-set, non-profit film and TV Lab Oxbelly created by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos.
Von Kuhn will lead Oxbelly as it expands its activities bringing international storytellers together in a communal atmosphere.
“Oxbelly was started with a vision to construct an international community of world builders, based on the values of generosity and inclusiveness inherent in Greek hospitality,” said Konstantakopoulos.
“I can’t think of a better person than Caroline to lead Oxbelly into our next chapter, as we expand our programmes, to serve and empower storytellers on their own terms in the ever-shifting creative industries.”
Since its creation in 2015, as a non-profit focused on film and TV education, it has supported more than 60 projects by around 80 filmmakers and screenwriters across the world. The initiative takes its name from a beach in Oxbelly after a beach near Pylos,...
Von Kuhn will lead Oxbelly as it expands its activities bringing international storytellers together in a communal atmosphere.
“Oxbelly was started with a vision to construct an international community of world builders, based on the values of generosity and inclusiveness inherent in Greek hospitality,” said Konstantakopoulos.
“I can’t think of a better person than Caroline to lead Oxbelly into our next chapter, as we expand our programmes, to serve and empower storytellers on their own terms in the ever-shifting creative industries.”
Since its creation in 2015, as a non-profit focused on film and TV education, it has supported more than 60 projects by around 80 filmmakers and screenwriters across the world. The initiative takes its name from a beach in Oxbelly after a beach near Pylos,...
- 1/12/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHale County This Morning, This Evening.RaMell Ross—whose 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening was among the best releases of the 2010s—will direct an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winner The Nickel Boys, which will star Aunjanue Ellis. In another major production announcement, Kantemir Balagov will make his English-language debut with Butterfly Jam, produced by Ari Aster. (Ela Bittencourt wrote about Balagov’s WWII-set sophomore feature Beanpole for Notebook.)’Tis the season. Yorgos Lanthimos is also about to begin filming his next movie—the un-Googleable And—in New Orleans. The cast includes Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, and, for Stars at Noon fans, both Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn.That’s not all. James Gray is on board to direct and substantially revise the screenplay for a “young John F. Kennedy” biopic.
- 11/1/2022
- MUBI
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including new restorations of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom I & II ahead of the third installment beginning to roll out right after Thanksgiving. Additional highlights include Christos Nikou’s Apples, Lorenzo Vigas’ The Box, Paweł Łozińsk’s The Balcony Movie, and Antonio Marziale’s short Starfuckers, along with films by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Park Chan-wook, Lucrecia Martel, and more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
November 1 – A Married Woman, directed by Jean-Luc Godard | For Ever Godard
November 2 – No Ordinary Man, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt | Portrait of the Artist
November 3 – Time to Love, directed by Metin Erksan | Rediscovered
November 4 – Apples, directed by Christos Nikou | Mubi Spotlight
November 5 – The Assassin, directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien | Hou Hsiao-hsien: A Double Bill
November 6 – Daughter of the Nile, directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien | Hou Hsiao-hsien: A Double Bill
November...
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
November 1 – A Married Woman, directed by Jean-Luc Godard | For Ever Godard
November 2 – No Ordinary Man, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt | Portrait of the Artist
November 3 – Time to Love, directed by Metin Erksan | Rediscovered
November 4 – Apples, directed by Christos Nikou | Mubi Spotlight
November 5 – The Assassin, directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien | Hou Hsiao-hsien: A Double Bill
November 6 – Daughter of the Nile, directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien | Hou Hsiao-hsien: A Double Bill
November...
- 10/30/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Long before “Marriage Story” writer-director Noah Baumbach was attached to Netflix’s “White Noise,” several filmmakers mounted attempts to adapt the notoriously “unfilmable” novel of the same name written by Don DeLillo.
Variety reported in 2004 that “The Addams Family” director Barry Sonnenfeld was on board to direct the film, known as his “longtime passion project.” The torch was then handed off to Michael Almereyda, best known for his 2000 film “Hamlet” starring Ethan Hawke, after Uri Singer acquired the rights to DeLillo’s novel.
Baumbach’s “White Noise” served as the opening night screening for the 60th annual New York Film Festival on Friday, making its North American debut after a divisive premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The director told Variety on the red carpet that he didn’t give a second thought to the idea that his film’s source material was unadaptable.
“I didn’t have any relationship to that narrative,...
Variety reported in 2004 that “The Addams Family” director Barry Sonnenfeld was on board to direct the film, known as his “longtime passion project.” The torch was then handed off to Michael Almereyda, best known for his 2000 film “Hamlet” starring Ethan Hawke, after Uri Singer acquired the rights to DeLillo’s novel.
Baumbach’s “White Noise” served as the opening night screening for the 60th annual New York Film Festival on Friday, making its North American debut after a divisive premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The director told Variety on the red carpet that he didn’t give a second thought to the idea that his film’s source material was unadaptable.
“I didn’t have any relationship to that narrative,...
- 10/1/2022
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Roxy Cinema
Michael Almereyda’s rarely screened and extremely funny Twister plays on 35mm this Friday and Saturday, while a print of Godard’s King Lear shows Saturday and Sunday; on Sunday, Stephen Dwoskin’s The Carnal Screen plays on 16mm and Morvern Callar shows on 35; “City Dudes” returns this Saturday for a secret screening.
Film Forum
Choose your fighter: as 4K restorations of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series start, so does Breathless on 35mm; Carnal Knowledge continues while The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings screens this Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
A packed weekend for The Caan Film Festival is headlined by The Gambler, while Safety Last! screens this Sunday.
Film at Lincoln Center
New 4K restorations of the Infernal Affairs trilogy continue.
IFC Center
Godard’s Sympathy for the Devil has late-night screenings; “World of Wong Kar-wai” returns; Pulp Fiction,...
Roxy Cinema
Michael Almereyda’s rarely screened and extremely funny Twister plays on 35mm this Friday and Saturday, while a print of Godard’s King Lear shows Saturday and Sunday; on Sunday, Stephen Dwoskin’s The Carnal Screen plays on 16mm and Morvern Callar shows on 35; “City Dudes” returns this Saturday for a secret screening.
Film Forum
Choose your fighter: as 4K restorations of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series start, so does Breathless on 35mm; Carnal Knowledge continues while The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings screens this Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
A packed weekend for The Caan Film Festival is headlined by The Gambler, while Safety Last! screens this Sunday.
Film at Lincoln Center
New 4K restorations of the Infernal Affairs trilogy continue.
IFC Center
Godard’s Sympathy for the Devil has late-night screenings; “World of Wong Kar-wai” returns; Pulp Fiction,...
- 9/22/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Don DeLillo’s post-modernist 1985 novel White Noise long has been desired by filmmakers trying to crack the nut of how to bring the complex dark comedy to the screen. Barry Levinson made an attempt in 2004 that didn’t come to fruition. Director Michael Almereyda was announced in 2016, also going nowhere. James L. Brooks’ Gracie Films had it optioned at one point. But it seems entirely appropriate that it finally should land in the hands of Noah Baumbach, a self-professed mega-fan of the book he read first in college in the late ’80s and saw it as a very satiric yet accurate account of the sad state of affairs of the world at that time. However, by 2021, when he got around to adapting and directing the first of his own films he didn’t write as an original screenplay, the multiple themes running though the book not only still were relevant,...
- 8/31/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)
Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...
The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)
Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...
- 7/1/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Two months after the debut of musical rom-com “Marry Me,” starring Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson and Maluma, Bobby Crosby is getting another one of his Keenspot graphic novels adapted for the big screen. Israeli producer Uri Singer has secured the film and television rights to “Dreamless,” a Keenspot graphic novel by Crosby illustrated by Sarah Ellerton.
“Dreamless,” which was first a Keenspot webcomic in 2009 before being collected into a graphic novel, has been read by more than four million people worldwide. It is a romance about a girl from America and a boy from Japan, born on the same day in 1923. Since birth, they have somehow mind-swapped in their sleep, experiencing each other’s lives instead of dreaming. Then, their relationship is tested during World War II in young adulthood. The project is currently out to talent.
“I love ‘Dreamless,’ ” Singer told Variety. “We look forward to bringing this beautiful...
“Dreamless,” which was first a Keenspot webcomic in 2009 before being collected into a graphic novel, has been read by more than four million people worldwide. It is a romance about a girl from America and a boy from Japan, born on the same day in 1923. Since birth, they have somehow mind-swapped in their sleep, experiencing each other’s lives instead of dreaming. Then, their relationship is tested during World War II in young adulthood. The project is currently out to talent.
“I love ‘Dreamless,’ ” Singer told Variety. “We look forward to bringing this beautiful...
- 4/15/2022
- by Mónica Marie Zorrilla
- Variety Film + TV
There’s been no shortage of near-future sci-fi that bucks the trend of technological menace to explore instead the high-concept ways that scientific advancement can fill an emotional void in human lives. Spike Jonze’s Her and Michael Almereyda’s Marjorie Prime are superior examples; this year has seen two fine entries in Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man and Kogonada’s After Yang. Irish writer-director Benjamin Cleary, who won a 2016 Oscar for his short film Stutterer, mines that territory with his first feature, a soulful drama acted with great sensitivity by a strong cast, which unfolds to considerable atmospheric effect in the soft, somber light of the Pacific ...
- 11/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
There’s been no shortage of near-future sci-fi that bucks the trend of technological menace to explore instead the high-concept ways that scientific advancement can fill an emotional void in human lives. Spike Jonze’s Her and Michael Almereyda’s Marjorie Prime are superior examples; this year has seen two fine entries in Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man and Kogonada’s After Yang. Irish writer-director Benjamin Cleary, who won a 2016 Oscar for his short film Stutterer, mines that territory with his first feature, a soulful drama acted with great sensitivity by a strong cast, which unfolds to considerable atmospheric effect in the soft, somber light of the Pacific ...
- 11/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDario Argento's Dark GlassesFollowing his appearance in Gaspar Noé's Vortex, Dario Argento returns to directing with Dark Glasses, his first feature since Dracula 3D (2012). Starring Asia Argento and Andrea Zhang, the thriller follows a serial killer, a blind sex worker, and a 10-year-old Chinese boy in Rome's Chinese community. John Woo is also set to make a return to Hollywood with Silent Night, a "no dialogue" action film about a father (played by Joel Kinnaman) who seeks to avenge his son's death. Film Labs, a "worldwide network of artist-run film laboratories," now has a new website! The website includes more than 500 films made at artist-run film labs from Vancouver to South Korea, as well as technical resources and distribution information. Dancer, choreographer, theatrical director, and filmmaker Wakefield Poole has died. A pioneer of the gay pornography industry,...
- 11/3/2021
- MUBI
The early days of awards season bring buzz and promise, but they also mean it’s time for studios to develop strategy and brainstorm opportunities to strike.
With the Toronto International Film Festival handing out its prestigious People’s Choice prize to Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” the Focus Features drama has the authority to declare itself the best picture front-runner for this awards season — but holding on to the throne won’t be easy.
Speaking of thrones, Joel Coen’s adaptation of “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” his first solo directorial helm without his brother Ethan in years, played like gangbusters at the Sept. 24 opening night of the New York Film Festival.
Taking on William Shakespeare is always a daunting task, with some films finding success (such as Branagh’s 1996 “Hamlet” or Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version of “Romeo + Juliet”) and others not so much.
Set as a black-and-white period piece,...
With the Toronto International Film Festival handing out its prestigious People’s Choice prize to Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” the Focus Features drama has the authority to declare itself the best picture front-runner for this awards season — but holding on to the throne won’t be easy.
Speaking of thrones, Joel Coen’s adaptation of “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” his first solo directorial helm without his brother Ethan in years, played like gangbusters at the Sept. 24 opening night of the New York Film Festival.
Taking on William Shakespeare is always a daunting task, with some films finding success (such as Branagh’s 1996 “Hamlet” or Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version of “Romeo + Juliet”) and others not so much.
Set as a black-and-white period piece,...
- 9/30/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Producers Adam Mirels and Robbie Mirels of 141 Entertainment, the team behind Ana Lily Amirpour’s hotly anticipated “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” which plays Sunday in competition at the Venice Film Festival, have signed an option to remake director-writer Sameh Zoabi’s 2018 Venice Horizons Award entry “Tel Aviv on Fire.” The adaptation will be set on the border between the Sonora region of Mexico and a small Arizona town.
Zoabi’s original film nabbed the best actor award in Venice Horizons and went on to receive a host of international kudos. The film uses comedy to explore the absurdity of everyday life under a militarized border force. The remake will utilize these themes and the universal romantic-comedy at its core.
141 Entertainment will attach a Spanish-speaking writer and director to adapt the work to its new U.S. border setting. Zoabi will remain involved creatively and will also serve...
Zoabi’s original film nabbed the best actor award in Venice Horizons and went on to receive a host of international kudos. The film uses comedy to explore the absurdity of everyday life under a militarized border force. The remake will utilize these themes and the universal romantic-comedy at its core.
141 Entertainment will attach a Spanish-speaking writer and director to adapt the work to its new U.S. border setting. Zoabi will remain involved creatively and will also serve...
- 9/4/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: The Souvenir Part II. (Courtesy of A24)NYFF has announced its full main slate, which includes Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta, Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir Part II, Julia Ducournau's Titane, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria, and more. A long-gestating epistolary documentary that consists of a dialogue between Jean-Luc Godard and Iranian filmmaker and intellectual Ebrahim Golestan is set to premiere on the international festival circuit. The project consisted of Golestan sending emails with text and no visuals to Godard, who would respond with visuals and aphorisms. Mel Brooks' memoir, My Remarkable Life in Show Business, will be released November 30. The book is said to follow the "peaks and valleys" of Brooks' storied life beginning with his childhood, retold with his signature irreverent humor. Recommended VIEWINGThe official trailer for Andreas Fontana's riveting political thriller Azor,...
- 8/11/2021
- MUBI
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Hottest August (Brett Story)
Where better than New York City to make a structuralist film? Cities are iterative, their street grids diagrams of theme and variation, and New York most of all—with its streets and avenues named for numbers and letters and states and cities and presidents and Revolutionary War generals spanning an archipelago, intersecting at a million little data points at which to measure class, race, culture, history, architecture and infrastructure. And time, too—from this human density emerge daily and seasonal rituals, a set of biorhythms, reliable as the earth’s, against which to mark gradual shifts and momentary fashions. Summer is for lounging on fire escapes, always, and, today, for Mister Softee. Yesterday it was shaved ice.
The Hottest August (Brett Story)
Where better than New York City to make a structuralist film? Cities are iterative, their street grids diagrams of theme and variation, and New York most of all—with its streets and avenues named for numbers and letters and states and cities and presidents and Revolutionary War generals spanning an archipelago, intersecting at a million little data points at which to measure class, race, culture, history, architecture and infrastructure. And time, too—from this human density emerge daily and seasonal rituals, a set of biorhythms, reliable as the earth’s, against which to mark gradual shifts and momentary fashions. Summer is for lounging on fire escapes, always, and, today, for Mister Softee. Yesterday it was shaved ice.
- 8/6/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Jonathan Taplin on Wim Wenders: “If you think about Wings Of Desire, I think it’s one of the most profound spiritual films that ever has been made.”
In my conversation with Wim Wenders on Until The End Of The World (Bis Ans Ende Der Welt), his masterwork from 1991, he told me how it was his "dream come true" that Jeanne Moreau "accepted to travel all the way to Australia with us and spend months and months in the Outback." Wim spoke about the relationship between Max von Sydow and William Hurt, the influence Sam Shepard had, the contributions from Peter Carey and Michael Almereyda on the script, the scenes of Tom Farrell, and that ultimately the film is Solveig Dommartin's and his story.
Until the End of the World producer Jonathan Taplin on Wim Wenders’ script: “He wrote it before Paris, Texas …” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with Jonathan Taplin,...
In my conversation with Wim Wenders on Until The End Of The World (Bis Ans Ende Der Welt), his masterwork from 1991, he told me how it was his "dream come true" that Jeanne Moreau "accepted to travel all the way to Australia with us and spend months and months in the Outback." Wim spoke about the relationship between Max von Sydow and William Hurt, the influence Sam Shepard had, the contributions from Peter Carey and Michael Almereyda on the script, the scenes of Tom Farrell, and that ultimately the film is Solveig Dommartin's and his story.
Until the End of the World producer Jonathan Taplin on Wim Wenders’ script: “He wrote it before Paris, Texas …” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with Jonathan Taplin,...
- 8/4/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced the 395 artists and executives that have been invited to join this year — about half the number of last year’s class. The 2021 class is comprised of 46% women, 39% underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 53% international from 49 countries outside the United States. Of the 395 invitees, 89 are former Oscar nominees, including 25 winners.
Eight individuals have been invited to join by multiple branches and must select one branch upon acceptance. They include Leslie Odom Jr, Kaouther Ben Hania, Craig Brewer, Lee Isaac Chung, Emerald Fennell, Shaka King, Alexander Nanau, Florian Zeller.
Other big names among the newly invited include Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek, “Promising Young Woman” original screenplay winner Emerald Fennell and “Minari” stars Steven Yeun, Ye-ri Han and recently crowned supporting actress Yuh-Jung Youn.
In the directing category, new invitees include Janicza Bravo, Nia DaCosta, Cathy Yan, Darius Marder, Michael Almereyda, Lizzie Borden,...
Eight individuals have been invited to join by multiple branches and must select one branch upon acceptance. They include Leslie Odom Jr, Kaouther Ben Hania, Craig Brewer, Lee Isaac Chung, Emerald Fennell, Shaka King, Alexander Nanau, Florian Zeller.
Other big names among the newly invited include Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek, “Promising Young Woman” original screenplay winner Emerald Fennell and “Minari” stars Steven Yeun, Ye-ri Han and recently crowned supporting actress Yuh-Jung Youn.
In the directing category, new invitees include Janicza Bravo, Nia DaCosta, Cathy Yan, Darius Marder, Michael Almereyda, Lizzie Borden,...
- 7/1/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Rooftop Films announced Stefani Saintonge and Yvonne Michelle Shirley will receive a $15,000 grant to support the production of “Point 5,” a film inspired by the edicts of the Black Panthers that will explore radical liberation and the function of systemic oppression.
The duo’s past works include “Flowers,” “F*cked Like a Star,” “Black Girl Magic” and “Frame by Frame.” They, along with an anonymous Rooftop Films alum, are among the top recipients of the Water Tower Feature Film cash grants, which are supported by the Laurence W. Levine Foundation. In total, 18 cash and service grants are awarded to independent filmmakers to support their next short or feature film.
“This year’s grantees are bold storytellers who are pushing the boundaries of film and serial forms and changing the relationship between maker and audience as they create new art in response to the important issues of the day,” Laurence W. Levine...
The duo’s past works include “Flowers,” “F*cked Like a Star,” “Black Girl Magic” and “Frame by Frame.” They, along with an anonymous Rooftop Films alum, are among the top recipients of the Water Tower Feature Film cash grants, which are supported by the Laurence W. Levine Foundation. In total, 18 cash and service grants are awarded to independent filmmakers to support their next short or feature film.
“This year’s grantees are bold storytellers who are pushing the boundaries of film and serial forms and changing the relationship between maker and audience as they create new art in response to the important issues of the day,” Laurence W. Levine...
- 6/25/2021
- by Haley Bosselman
- Variety Film + TV
While the summer movie season will kick off shortly––and we’ll be sharing a comprehensive preview on the arthouse, foreign, indie, and (few) studio films worth checking out––on the streaming side, The Criterion Channel and Mubi have unveiled their May 2021 lineups and there’s a treasure trove of highlights to dive into.
Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….
On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...
Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….
On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...
- 4/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The title of Lee Daniels’ new biopic doesn’t just refer to an official court case brought upon by the American government against legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, but a far more sinister and clandestine effort of censorship perpetrated by federal agents acting at the behest of white supremacist institutions. When threatened by prospects of change, the political establishment often tries to demean and defame artists of color grappling with the hard truths about this country’s history of injustice, and Holiday’s circumstances were no different.
With hate crimes reaching unprecedented highs and rumblings of the Civil Rights Movement just beginning in 1947, J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I. specifically saw Holiday’s sublime “Strange Fruit” as an anthem of Black resistance. The song’s haunting and horrific depiction of a lynching struck at the raw nerve of racial violence in the post-war era that had become all too commonplace at this point,...
With hate crimes reaching unprecedented highs and rumblings of the Civil Rights Movement just beginning in 1947, J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I. specifically saw Holiday’s sublime “Strange Fruit” as an anthem of Black resistance. The song’s haunting and horrific depiction of a lynching struck at the raw nerve of racial violence in the post-war era that had become all too commonplace at this point,...
- 2/25/2021
- by Glenn Heath Jr.
- The Film Stage
New Indie
Michael Almereyda has tackled science (as a topic of either biopics or dramas) in a fascinating way in “Experimenter” and “Marjorie Prime,” and now he’s bringing that same energy to the inventor-biopic with “Tesla” (Shout Factory/IFC), a bold and audacious look at the life of Nikola Tesla. Ethan Hawke, in the title role, is evenly matched by Eve Hewson’s Anne Morgan, and they both nail Almereyda’s unique tone, which throws in anachronisms and green-screens to tell the story of someone who stretched the notions of what his peers imagined could be possible.
Also available: Madison Iseman plays a young girl with mental-health issues who can’t convince anyone she’s witnessed a crime in “Fear of Rain” (Lionsgate); 2012 indie “Watching TV with the Red Chinese” (Mvd Visual), co-starring Constance Wu and Gillian Jacobs, makes its U.S. DVD debut; Sienna Miller and Diego Luna...
Michael Almereyda has tackled science (as a topic of either biopics or dramas) in a fascinating way in “Experimenter” and “Marjorie Prime,” and now he’s bringing that same energy to the inventor-biopic with “Tesla” (Shout Factory/IFC), a bold and audacious look at the life of Nikola Tesla. Ethan Hawke, in the title role, is evenly matched by Eve Hewson’s Anne Morgan, and they both nail Almereyda’s unique tone, which throws in anachronisms and green-screens to tell the story of someone who stretched the notions of what his peers imagined could be possible.
Also available: Madison Iseman plays a young girl with mental-health issues who can’t convince anyone she’s witnessed a crime in “Fear of Rain” (Lionsgate); 2012 indie “Watching TV with the Red Chinese” (Mvd Visual), co-starring Constance Wu and Gillian Jacobs, makes its U.S. DVD debut; Sienna Miller and Diego Luna...
- 2/17/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Don DeLillo’s rarely been adapted for film and Noah Baumbach’s never adapted a novel*. Does that make them certain bedfellows? Well, no, probably not even a little bit—different fixations, ways of weighing the world, and, I think most crucially, senses of humor. Which could be just the stuff for a worthwhile moment in time and good reason Baumbach is, confirming rumors we heard in recent months, adapting DeLillo’s seminal novel White Noise. Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig will star, Netflix produces, and per a Production Weekly listing (filtered via Jason Osia on Twitter), shooting commences in June.
A campus satire / oddball marriage comedy / horror story about industrialization, White Noise concerns Jack Gladney (that’ll be Driver), professor of Hitler studies at the university referred to only as (again: campus satire) The-College-on-the-Hill. His life as teacher of Hitler, husband to Babette (Gerwig), and father to four children...
A campus satire / oddball marriage comedy / horror story about industrialization, White Noise concerns Jack Gladney (that’ll be Driver), professor of Hitler studies at the university referred to only as (again: campus satire) The-College-on-the-Hill. His life as teacher of Hitler, husband to Babette (Gerwig), and father to four children...
- 1/14/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Tesla Review — Tesla (2020) Video Movie Review, a movie directed by Michael Almereyda, written by Almereyda, and stars Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Kyle MacLachlan, Jim Gaffigan, Hannah Gross, Josh Hamilton, Lucy Walters, James Urbaniak, Ian Lithgow, and Donnie Keshawarz. Crew John Paesano created the music for the film. Sean Price Williams crafted the screenplay [...]
Continue reading: Video Movie Review: Tesla (2020): The Ethan Hawke-starring Film Loses its Luster with Alacrity...
Continue reading: Video Movie Review: Tesla (2020): The Ethan Hawke-starring Film Loses its Luster with Alacrity...
- 1/8/2021
- by Andrew Toy
- Film-Book
Exclusive: This year’s Oxbelly Labs has set creative advisors including directors Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Mati Diop (Atlantics), Ulrich Köhler (In My Room) and Lulu Wang (The Farewell), as well as producer-seller Michael Weber, founder of The Match Factory.
The Lab is designer to offer promising international filmmakers the opportunity to work on their first or second feature script, as well as workshop and direct one scene from it, with guidance from industry mentors.
Led by Oxbelly’s artistic director and Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg), the Lab is being hosted online this year.
Returning creative advisors include Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread), Michael Almereyda (Tesla), Ritesh Batra (Photograph), Lisa Cholodenko (Olive Kitteridge), Willem Dafoe (Tommaso), Naomi Foner (Running On Empty), Nick Kroll (Big Mouth), Jeff Nichols (Loving), Olivier Père and Eva Stefani (Manuscript).
The Labs were established...
The Lab is designer to offer promising international filmmakers the opportunity to work on their first or second feature script, as well as workshop and direct one scene from it, with guidance from industry mentors.
Led by Oxbelly’s artistic director and Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg), the Lab is being hosted online this year.
Returning creative advisors include Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread), Michael Almereyda (Tesla), Ritesh Batra (Photograph), Lisa Cholodenko (Olive Kitteridge), Willem Dafoe (Tommaso), Naomi Foner (Running On Empty), Nick Kroll (Big Mouth), Jeff Nichols (Loving), Olivier Père and Eva Stefani (Manuscript).
The Labs were established...
- 11/12/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Tesla Review — Tesla (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Michael Almereyda and starring Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Josh Hamilton, Lucy Walters, Kyle MacLachlan, Jim Gaffigan, Donnie Keshawarz, Rebecca Dayan and Jameal Ali. Michael Almereyda’s Tesla is delightfully imperfect. It does not follow the typical biopic route, tracing a life from birth to death. [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Tesla (2020): Entertains While It Takes an Incisive Peek Into the Brilliant Inventor’s Mind...
Continue reading: Film Review: Tesla (2020): Entertains While It Takes an Incisive Peek Into the Brilliant Inventor’s Mind...
- 10/29/2020
- by Tanushree Mukherjee
- Film-Book
Photo: 'Tesla'/IFC Films Who was Nikola Tesla? Viewers of Michael Almereyda’s new biopic, which stars Ethan Hawke as the enigmatic inventor, may find themselves with more questions than answers by the end of the film. Perhaps, however, this is by design. The focus of Almereyda’s narrative, in its attempts to meaningfully synthesize Tesla’s life, career, and impact into its 102-minute runtime, flits like the electric bolts inside of one of the inventor’s famous coils. Also, like the Tesla coil, the film is dazzling to behold, but one might need to consult Google to fully understand what exactly its purpose is. That too seems to be intentional. Google is in fact mentioned so often in this film that it’s practically another character in the film, like New York is in You’ve Got Mail. Eve Hewson, who plays Tesla’s financial go-between turned love interest, Anne Morgan,...
- 10/11/2020
- by Trent Kinnucan
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Ethan Hawke and Kyle MacLachlan star in Michael Almereyda’s humorous and ambitious film about the under-appreciated visionary
Every historical drama involves some element of pure invention: maybe it happened like this? Perhaps she said it like that? But Michael Almereyda’s biopic of the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943), is rather more open about this process than most. Ethan Hawke, who also starred in the director’s contemporary New York-set Hamlet 20 years ago, plays the under-appreciated visionary. Now, Tesla has a clean energy company named in his honour, is thought to have predicted the internet age, and has been played on screen several times, most recently by Nicholas Hoult in The Current War. But he died in poverty after alienating his wealthy investors and consequently struggling to obtain the funding to realise his grand visions.
Every historical drama involves some element of pure invention: maybe it happened like this? Perhaps she said it like that? But Michael Almereyda’s biopic of the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943), is rather more open about this process than most. Ethan Hawke, who also starred in the director’s contemporary New York-set Hamlet 20 years ago, plays the under-appreciated visionary. Now, Tesla has a clean energy company named in his honour, is thought to have predicted the internet age, and has been played on screen several times, most recently by Nicholas Hoult in The Current War. But he died in poverty after alienating his wealthy investors and consequently struggling to obtain the funding to realise his grand visions.
- 9/18/2020
- by Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.
Does genius have an aesthetic? And what would it look like? Tesla poses this question in a big way, tossing out the visual parameters of a typical period piece in the process. Director Michael Almereyda has said that he was inspired by “Derek Jarman, Henry James and certain episodes of Drunk History,” which absolutely comes through - and is a good thing. But, to be honest, Tesla also reminded me of a major component of the 21st century tech aesthetic: the Ted Talk.
It’s in the script, too. The first thing we hear is a tale of the title inventor’s childhood, told by our narrator Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson). The young Tesla once noticed static electricity on a cat, a little memory that will...
Does genius have an aesthetic? And what would it look like? Tesla poses this question in a big way, tossing out the visual parameters of a typical period piece in the process. Director Michael Almereyda has said that he was inspired by “Derek Jarman, Henry James and certain episodes of Drunk History,” which absolutely comes through - and is a good thing. But, to be honest, Tesla also reminded me of a major component of the 21st century tech aesthetic: the Ted Talk.
It’s in the script, too. The first thing we hear is a tale of the title inventor’s childhood, told by our narrator Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson). The young Tesla once noticed static electricity on a cat, a little memory that will...
- 9/9/2020
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
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