Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Shiva Baby (2020) Emma Seligman's Bottoms now has a cast, which includes Shiva Baby star Rachel Sennott, Havana Rose Liu, Ayo Edebiri, and former NFL player Marshawn Lynch. Written by Seligman and Sennott, the film is a high school sex comedy about "two unpopular queer girls in their senior year who start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders." Michel Bouquet, the prolific French film and theater actor, has died at 96. Early in his film career, Bouquet narrated Alain Resnais' Night and Fog (1955), then went on to appear in films by François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Deray, and many more. Among his later performances was the role of the tiular painter in Gilles Bourdos's Renoir (2013). Submissions are now open for "The Video Essay," the annual collaborative section of...
- 4/13/2022
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Lee Isaac Chung's Minari. Nomadland, Minari, Soul, and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm are among this year's Golden Globe winners. Find our complete list of nominees and winners here. Canyon Cinema Foundation has announced a new curatorial fellowship, Canyon Cinema Discovered, that will offer four fellows the opportunity to curate programs from Canyon's collection of films. Applicants can be based in anywhere in the world. Spike Lee and HBO will be teaming up for the multi-part documentary NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½, described as “an epic chronicle of life, loss and survival in the city of New York over the twenty years since the September 11th attacks.” The film will include first-hand stories told by over 200 New Yorkers. Recommended VIEWINGThe official teaser trailer for Barry Jenkins' series The Underground Railroad, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel,...
- 3/3/2021
- MUBI
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.In 1878, Eadward Muybridge stood atop Nob Hill in San Francisco and took a panoramic picture of the city. It was the same year that he captured a horse in motion, but this was a different type of temporal photograph. He’d developed a new method that mimicked the experience of the human eye rotating 360 degrees, creating a seamless panorama of the city, a still moving picture. This is one place to start a primer on San Francisco on film, at the very beginning. Two decades before the Lumières premiered their first actualities, Muybridge was capturing a portrait of San Francisco in time. As I began researching this primer, Muybridge seemed like a key precedent for many 20th century Bay Area filmmakers. He was an innovator that developed a new technology parallel...
- 1/20/2021
- MUBI
Fred Mogubgub is primarily known for his television advertising work, but he also made underground short films that combined animation, illustration and live action, such as The Pop Show (1966).
Mogubgub’s name does not appear in most — if any — texts discussing avant-garde and experimental film made in the late ’60s and early ’70s, even though the Underground Film Journal has found that his work was included in “underground” screenings in 1970.
A night of Mogubgub’s films was included in the 1970 New York Underground Film Festival that screened at Max’s Kansas City on October 12-19. Mogubgub’s films screened on the 14th and it’s fairly likely that The Pop Show was included in the event, but cannot be verified. Mogubgub passed away in 1989.
Most notable about The Pop Show is the appearance of Gloria Steinem, who appears in the film uncredited.
Mogubgub is possibly most famous for a mural...
Mogubgub’s name does not appear in most — if any — texts discussing avant-garde and experimental film made in the late ’60s and early ’70s, even though the Underground Film Journal has found that his work was included in “underground” screenings in 1970.
A night of Mogubgub’s films was included in the 1970 New York Underground Film Festival that screened at Max’s Kansas City on October 12-19. Mogubgub’s films screened on the 14th and it’s fairly likely that The Pop Show was included in the event, but cannot be verified. Mogubgub passed away in 1989.
Most notable about The Pop Show is the appearance of Gloria Steinem, who appears in the film uncredited.
Mogubgub is possibly most famous for a mural...
- 1/21/2019
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I.Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno (1964) is one of the most tantalizing unfinished projects in cinema history. If completed, it would have told a story of extreme jealousy and obsession. The plot is simple—a hotel owner, Marcel (Serge Reggiani), begins to suffer from nightmarish visions in which his young wife Odette (Romy Schneider) appears in various lascivious poses and sometimes erotically interacts with another man. Marcel gradually descends into madness and may, in the end, be driven to kill his wife. Generously backed by Columbia (via the French production company Orsay Films), Clouzot shot in black and white as well as in color, employing three separate film crews, no less than 12 cameras, and a large number of technicians and film craftsmen, including some of the most established industry names of the time. For six months, three cameramen—Claude Renoir, Armand Thirard and Andréas Winding—shot seemingly endless studio tests and,...
- 9/28/2018
- MUBI
After years of planning, the Anthology Film Archives first opened its doors in New York City towards the end of 1970. That opening came with great interest and fascination of how the world’s first “museum of film” was going to operate like no other theater before it.
Articles on the Anthology’s grand opening ran in both the New York Times and New York magazine in late November. Plus, the Anthology itself ran a full page ad in the Times with the screening calendar of its first four days. Through that printed material, those early days can be pretty well reconstructed.
The Anthology itself says that it opened its doors on November 30, 1970; but, according to an article in the Times the previous day by film critic Vincent Canby, that opening was an invitation-only event at which work by George Méliès, Joseph Cornell, Jerome Hill and Harry Smith was screened. Jonas Mekas...
Articles on the Anthology’s grand opening ran in both the New York Times and New York magazine in late November. Plus, the Anthology itself ran a full page ad in the Times with the screening calendar of its first four days. Through that printed material, those early days can be pretty well reconstructed.
The Anthology itself says that it opened its doors on November 30, 1970; but, according to an article in the Times the previous day by film critic Vincent Canby, that opening was an invitation-only event at which work by George Méliès, Joseph Cornell, Jerome Hill and Harry Smith was screened. Jonas Mekas...
- 6/2/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
(Click image to read article as originally printed.)
From the Arizona Republic, March 16, 1964:
Twelve American filmmakers will receive a total of $118,500 from the Ford Foundation in its first move to aid creative artists in motion pictures. The grants range up to $10,000 for a one-year period. They will be used by the recipients either to produce short films or for travel and study.
The awards are part of a long-range plan of the foundation to include motion pictures in its program.
The undertaking was described as a “pilot project” by W. McNeil Lowry, director of the foundation’s program in humanities and the arts, when it was established last June.
The moviemakers chosen are professionals but their works are generally unknown to viewers of popular film fare.
The 12 winners were selected from 177 nominees considered by a panel of judges. More than 400 letters had been sent to producers, directors, writers, critics...
From the Arizona Republic, March 16, 1964:
Twelve American filmmakers will receive a total of $118,500 from the Ford Foundation in its first move to aid creative artists in motion pictures. The grants range up to $10,000 for a one-year period. They will be used by the recipients either to produce short films or for travel and study.
The awards are part of a long-range plan of the foundation to include motion pictures in its program.
The undertaking was described as a “pilot project” by W. McNeil Lowry, director of the foundation’s program in humanities and the arts, when it was established last June.
The moviemakers chosen are professionals but their works are generally unknown to viewers of popular film fare.
The 12 winners were selected from 177 nominees considered by a panel of judges. More than 400 letters had been sent to producers, directors, writers, critics...
- 6/10/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Há Terra!I want to apologize for providing this Wavelengths avant-garde preview a little later than I might've liked. Hell, given that it's been over a week since movies died, I'm not exactly sure how much more kindling I can chuck onto the pyre. But I should remark that compared with previous years' iterations of the Tiff Wavelengths series, 2016 does feel a bit...off. I'm chiefly referring to the experimental short films here. (My second part, addressing the Wavelengths features, will be along in a matter of days.) Make no mistake. There's plenty of great work in this year's programs. But I do feel that the disparity this year between the truly exceptional films and the mediocre-to-not-very-good ones is markedly high.I enjoy films, and more than this, I enjoy enjoying them. I hardly get my kicks by being a nattering nabob of negativity. But programmers have to work with what is available to them,...
- 9/13/2016
- MUBI
As an educator, I’m constantly cycling through the history of animation on a zoetrope hamster wheel, noting how each technical development re-investigates the same fundamental principles set forth by painting, literature, theatre, photography, or any method of communication and presentation. The constantly evolving modes of production in cinema foreshadowed our economy of planned obsolescence via a quest for re-perfection. As revealed by animation historians like Donald Crafton and Maureen Furniss, principles of Taylorism—standardized animation production methods spawning uniform products—governed industry practices. This model re-packages pre-existing modes/products with advances in technology. In this case: 3D is sound; 3D is color; 3D is analog/Sd/HD/2K/4K/6K/Xk video; 3D is IMAX; 3D is new media. I ask my students: have you ever noticed that life is actually in 3D? For me, an obscure and underground experimental animator, cinema is about learning or remembering how to see,...
- 5/11/2015
- by Jodie Mack
- MUBI
Let Your Light ShineIt took over a century, but 3D is finally generating some cultural goodwill. With two major retrospectives of 3D filmmaking taking place next month—one at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (May 1-5), focusing on a broad range of stereoscopic experimentation throughout avant-garde history, and the other, BAMcinématek’s “3D in the 21st century” series (May 1-17), looking at both experimental and mainstream manifestations from the last fifteen years—the tenacious ‘here again/dead again’ format is apparently beginning to transcend its stigma as a box office gimmick; its capacity for new formal breakthroughs now more than ever met with inklings of trust instead of contempt. Pernicious connotations of commerce, power, and excess haven't been exorcised from 3D so much as they've been fused into its very infrastructure, opening up new opportunities for radical abstractions, poetics, disruptions, and historical inquiries to subvert grand institutions and languages from within the form itself.
- 5/1/2015
- by Blake Williams
- MUBI
The 26th annual Images Festival will be taking over Toronto on April 11-20 with an epic series of experimental film screenings, media installations, expanded cinema performances, workshops, artist talks and tons more. With so much going on, the Underground Film Journal is just listing all the screening events below. For everything Images has to offer, please visit their official website.
Before the screenings list, here are some of the highlights:
Opening Night: Accompanying the documentary imagery of prolific filmmaker Robert Todd will be live music performed by electronic music deconstructionist Tim Hecker. Plus, there will be a new audiovisual work by SlowPitch called Emoralis, which pairs images of snails with crackly and droning rhythms.
Closing Night: Corredor will be a live performance piece combining South American imagery by artist Alexandra Gelis, accompanied by live music by drummer Hamid Drake and saxophonist David Mott.
Live Performances: Jodie Mack will provide live...
Before the screenings list, here are some of the highlights:
Opening Night: Accompanying the documentary imagery of prolific filmmaker Robert Todd will be live music performed by electronic music deconstructionist Tim Hecker. Plus, there will be a new audiovisual work by SlowPitch called Emoralis, which pairs images of snails with crackly and droning rhythms.
Closing Night: Corredor will be a live performance piece combining South American imagery by artist Alexandra Gelis, accompanied by live music by drummer Hamid Drake and saxophonist David Mott.
Live Performances: Jodie Mack will provide live...
- 4/11/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Photo courtesy of Abby Rose Photography.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which would be a milestone for any cinema-related event in the U.S. But for a festival that has carved out a niche in the area of experimental and avant-garde film and video, Aaff's achievement is especially noteworthy. Even within the rarefied realm of cinephilia, the avant-garde tends to be something on the margins, or even in the best of circumstances (e.g., the Rotterdam, New York, or Toronto film festivals) one part of a much larger whole. So the fact that Ann Arbor and its intrepid citizens have continued to support this strange little festival, and all the bizarre films the festival has thrown their way over the years, speaks very highly of both the town and the festival founders and organizers (many of whom were present for an on-stage birthday ceremony,...
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which would be a milestone for any cinema-related event in the U.S. But for a festival that has carved out a niche in the area of experimental and avant-garde film and video, Aaff's achievement is especially noteworthy. Even within the rarefied realm of cinephilia, the avant-garde tends to be something on the margins, or even in the best of circumstances (e.g., the Rotterdam, New York, or Toronto film festivals) one part of a much larger whole. So the fact that Ann Arbor and its intrepid citizens have continued to support this strange little festival, and all the bizarre films the festival has thrown their way over the years, speaks very highly of both the town and the festival founders and organizers (many of whom were present for an on-stage birthday ceremony,...
- 5/7/2012
- MUBI
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and they’re preparing an all-out blowout on March 27 to April 1 to celebrate! The fest is crammed to the gills with the latest and greatest in experimental and avant-garde film, in addition to a celebration of classic work from Ann Arbors past.
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
- 3/7/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
George Kuchar‘s 1977 short film I, an Actress has been accepted as one of twenty-five films into the 2011 National Film Registry. This means that the film will be preserved for future generations due to its “enduring significance to American culture,” according to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
Sadly, this prestigious accomplishment comes several months after Kuchar’s passing back in September. I, an Actress was released on DVD in 2009 on the Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947 — 1986 box set put out by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Two other underground films were also accepted into the National Film Registry this year: Jordan Belson’s Allures (1961) and Chick Strand’s Fake Fruit Factory (1986). Belson and Strand also passed away recently. Belson, on the same day as Kuchar (Sept. 6, 2011), and Strand on July 11, 2009. Fake Fruit Factory can be seen alongside I, an Actress on the Treasures IV box set.
The National Film...
Sadly, this prestigious accomplishment comes several months after Kuchar’s passing back in September. I, an Actress was released on DVD in 2009 on the Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947 — 1986 box set put out by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Two other underground films were also accepted into the National Film Registry this year: Jordan Belson’s Allures (1961) and Chick Strand’s Fake Fruit Factory (1986). Belson and Strand also passed away recently. Belson, on the same day as Kuchar (Sept. 6, 2011), and Strand on July 11, 2009. Fake Fruit Factory can be seen alongside I, an Actress on the Treasures IV box set.
The National Film...
- 1/2/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
"The second-to-last interview that Pier Paolo Pasolini gave before he was murdered in 1975 (a case that still remains mysterious) and that was long believed lost has turned up," reports the New Yorker's Richard Brody. "Eric Loret and Robert Maggiori tell the story in Libération — Pasolini was introducing his work in Sweden, a round-table discussion was recorded for broadcast, then held, then lost, until his Swedish translator, Carl Henrik Svenstedt, recently found his personal recording of the talk. The Italian weekly L'Espresso has published a partial transcript of the discussion, along with the audio recording." And he's got excerpts. For example: "I consider consumerism to be a Fascism worse than the classical one, because clerical Fascism didn't really transform Italians, didn't enter into them. It was a totalitarian state but not a totalizing one."
In other news. "This month Offscreen groups together (four of the five) essays that attempt to illuminate...
In other news. "This month Offscreen groups together (four of the five) essays that attempt to illuminate...
- 12/30/2011
- MUBI
Fake Fruit Factory from Guergana Tzatchkov on Vimeo.
"Every year, Librarian of Congress James H Billington personally selects which films will be added to the National Film Registry, working from a list of suggestions from the library’s National Film Preservation Board and the general public," reports Ann Hornaday for the Washington Post. This year's list of 25 films slated for preservation:
Allures (Jordan Belson, 1961) Bambi (Walt Disney, 1942) The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) A Computer Animated Hand (Pixar, 1972) Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963) The Cry of the Children (George Nichols, 1912) A Cure for Pokeritis (Laurence Trimble, 1912) El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez, 1992) Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968) Fake Fruit Factory (Chick Strand, 1986) Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) Growing Up Female (Jim Klein and Julia Reichert, 1971) Hester Street (Joan Micklin Silver, 1975) I, an Actress (George Kuchar, 1977) The Iron Horse (John Ford, 1924) The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921) The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) The Negro Soldier (Stuart Heisler,...
"Every year, Librarian of Congress James H Billington personally selects which films will be added to the National Film Registry, working from a list of suggestions from the library’s National Film Preservation Board and the general public," reports Ann Hornaday for the Washington Post. This year's list of 25 films slated for preservation:
Allures (Jordan Belson, 1961) Bambi (Walt Disney, 1942) The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) A Computer Animated Hand (Pixar, 1972) Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963) The Cry of the Children (George Nichols, 1912) A Cure for Pokeritis (Laurence Trimble, 1912) El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez, 1992) Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968) Fake Fruit Factory (Chick Strand, 1986) Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) Growing Up Female (Jim Klein and Julia Reichert, 1971) Hester Street (Joan Micklin Silver, 1975) I, an Actress (George Kuchar, 1977) The Iron Horse (John Ford, 1924) The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921) The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) The Negro Soldier (Stuart Heisler,...
- 12/30/2011
- MUBI
A terrific year for avant-garde film and video--much more so than had been forecast for 2011- -was matched by mid-year woe and commemorative celebration as a string of successive losses reminded us that many of the great, pioneering voices of the sixties and seventies (largely considered the “second wave” of cinematic avant-gardists, some limning the “New American Cinema”) were dying off, or nearing the end of their lives. 2011 brought with it the passing of Lithuanian-born anarchic filmmaker Adolfas Mekas, legendary animator Robert Breer, enigmatic prankster Owen Land (a.k.a. George Landow), visual music animator Jordan Belson, the inimitable underground camp supernova, trash enthusiast and twin extraordinaire George Kuchar, as well as Chilean-French master Raoul Ruiz and British bad boy Ken Russell, both avant-garde in their own amazing, hallucinatory (and very different!) ways. And yet, to proclaim a ceremonial changing of the guard would be...
- 12/29/2011
- Indiewire
©Paramount Pictures
“My momma always said, .Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get..” That line was immortalized by Tom Hanks in the award-winning movie “Forest Gump” in 1994. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today selected that film and 24 others to be preserved as cultural, artistic and historical treasures in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Spanning the period 1912-1994, the films named to the registry include Hollywood classics, documentaries, animation, home movies, avant-garde shorts and experimental motion pictures. Representing the rich creative and cultural diversity of the American cinematic experience, the selections range from Walt Disney.s timeless classic “Bambi” and Billy Wilder.s “The Lost Weekend,” a landmark film about the devastating effects of alcoholism, to a real-life drama between a U.S. president and a governor over the desegregation of the University of Alabama. The selections also...
“My momma always said, .Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get..” That line was immortalized by Tom Hanks in the award-winning movie “Forest Gump” in 1994. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today selected that film and 24 others to be preserved as cultural, artistic and historical treasures in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Spanning the period 1912-1994, the films named to the registry include Hollywood classics, documentaries, animation, home movies, avant-garde shorts and experimental motion pictures. Representing the rich creative and cultural diversity of the American cinematic experience, the selections range from Walt Disney.s timeless classic “Bambi” and Billy Wilder.s “The Lost Weekend,” a landmark film about the devastating effects of alcoholism, to a real-life drama between a U.S. president and a governor over the desegregation of the University of Alabama. The selections also...
- 12/28/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Hannibal Lector was locked away with Bambi? Well, they will be, and I imagine Bambi won't last very long. The National Film Registry has added 25 more films that will be preserved in the Library of Congress. To be included in the registry the film need to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” They have to be at least ten years old and are chosen from a list of films nominated by the public. This year the list contained 2228 nominations, and here are 14 of the 25 films from that list that were chosen to be preserved.
A Computer Animated Hand (1972, Ed Catmull)
A Cure for Pokeritis (1912, Laurence Trimble)
Allures (1961, Jordan Belson)
Bambi (1942, David Hand)
El Mariachi (1992, Robert Rodriguez)
Faces (1968, John Cassavetes)
Forrest Gump (1994, Robert Zemeckis)
The Iron Horse (1924, John Ford)
The Kid (1921, Charlie Chaplin)
The Lost Weekend (1945, Billy Wilder)
Norma Rae (Martin Ritt, 1979)
Porgy and Bess (1959, Otto Preminger,...
A Computer Animated Hand (1972, Ed Catmull)
A Cure for Pokeritis (1912, Laurence Trimble)
Allures (1961, Jordan Belson)
Bambi (1942, David Hand)
El Mariachi (1992, Robert Rodriguez)
Faces (1968, John Cassavetes)
Forrest Gump (1994, Robert Zemeckis)
The Iron Horse (1924, John Ford)
The Kid (1921, Charlie Chaplin)
The Lost Weekend (1945, Billy Wilder)
Norma Rae (Martin Ritt, 1979)
Porgy and Bess (1959, Otto Preminger,...
- 12/28/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Christmas isn't just about getting stuff. It's about giving too, Charlie Brown. I know what you're thinking: Tell that to the U.S. government, who seems to delight only in taking — be it our money or our personal freedoms.
But each December, there is a certain federal institution that gives we the people a little gift…emphasis on the "little." That's right, it's time once again to see what films have been designated as American treasures by the Library of Congress.
Every year, 25 movies are chosen by the Librarian of Congress for addition to the National Film Registry. If my math is correct (and there's a good chance it's not), there have been 575 films deemed worthy of preservation by the Library of Congress since this all began in 1989. To give you some perspective, that's about the average number of movies released each year. Coincidentally, it's also the number of average movies released each year…...
But each December, there is a certain federal institution that gives we the people a little gift…emphasis on the "little." That's right, it's time once again to see what films have been designated as American treasures by the Library of Congress.
Every year, 25 movies are chosen by the Librarian of Congress for addition to the National Film Registry. If my math is correct (and there's a good chance it's not), there have been 575 films deemed worthy of preservation by the Library of Congress since this all began in 1989. To give you some perspective, that's about the average number of movies released each year. Coincidentally, it's also the number of average movies released each year…...
- 12/28/2011
- by Theron
- Planet Fury
I’m never one to put significant stock in the film-based choices made by any kind of committee — be it an awards group, critics circle, soup kitchen line, etc. — but the National Film Registry is a little different. Not that they’re any different than those aforementioned organization types, but because the government assemblage preserves works deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” No small potatoes.
Their latest list — created for both public awareness and the opportunity to grumble, as I’ll do in a second — has been unveiled, and the selections are none too out-of-left-field. The biggest of these 25 would have to be Forrest Gump, a choice I fully understand but completely disagree with on an opinion and moral scale. The only other true objection I can raise is toward El Mariachi, film school-level junk from a director whose finest works are the direct result of working with those more talented.
Their latest list — created for both public awareness and the opportunity to grumble, as I’ll do in a second — has been unveiled, and the selections are none too out-of-left-field. The biggest of these 25 would have to be Forrest Gump, a choice I fully understand but completely disagree with on an opinion and moral scale. The only other true objection I can raise is toward El Mariachi, film school-level junk from a director whose finest works are the direct result of working with those more talented.
- 12/28/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
In 1988, the National Film Preservation Act create the National Film Registry, which selects a couple dozen films each year for preservation in the Library of Congress. Up to 25 films are selected annually as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films." These have to be at least ten years old, can be feature, short experimental or 'other' -- anything that is film, really -- and are chosen from a list of films nominated by the public. This year, 2228 films were nominated by the public and twenty-five were selected for preservation. Among those are the big Oscar winner The Silence of the Lambs, everyone's favorite autistic history hero Forrest Gump, Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and one of the greatest (and earliest) train movies ever made, John Ford's The Iron Horse. We've got a more complete list below. The New York Times [1] has the rundown on some of the new inductees, which will be fully announced today.
- 12/28/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Every year, the National Film Registry announces 25 films that it will toss gently into its vault for safe keeping. This year, they’ve chosen a hell of a list, but (like every year), the movies saved act as a reminder that even in a digital world where it seems unfathomable that we’d lose art, we’re still losing art. The task of actively preserving films is an honorable, laudable one, and it’s in all of our best interests to see movies like these kept safe so that future generations (and those attending Butt-Numb-a-Thon 55) will be able to screen them as they were meant to be seen. So what 25 movies made the cut this year? Let’s explore: Allures (1961) – The short from director Jordan Belson was abstract, like all of his work. Belson passed away in September of this year, and it’s a great thing to see his trippy work preserved. Bambi...
- 12/28/2011
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Gloria Grahame, The Big Heat Forrest Gump, Bambi, The Silence Of The Lambs: National Film Registry 2011 Movies Besides the aforementioned Hester Street and Norma Rae, women are also at the forefront of Julia Reichert and Jim Klein's Growing Up Female (1971); Chick Strand’s Fake Fruit Factory (1986), a documentary about Mexican women who create ornamental papier-mâché fruits and vegetables; and the recently deceased George Kuchar’s experimental short I, an Actress (1977), which is available on YouTube. I couldn't find any titles focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual, multisexual, etc., or transgender characters. As so often happens, political correctness will go only so far. Anyhow, more interesting than p.c. choices was the inclusion of A Cure for Pokeritis (1912), an early comedy starring then-popular (and quite odd) couple John Bunny and Flora Finch; and what may well be my favorite noirish crime drama, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953), starring Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame.
- 12/28/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
As year-end rituals go, remembering those we've lost over the past twelve months is the solemn twin of list-making, though it's often no less an act of celebration. In the new issue of the Brooklyn Rail, Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee look back on the life of George Kuchar, "one of the most creative, original, and influential filmmakers of our time, straddling two generations of North American iconoclasts, from Stan Brakhage, Ken Jacobs, Rudy Burckhardt, Kenneth Anger, and Michael Snow to Warren Sonbert, Ernie Gehr, Abigail Child, and Henry Hills. Often collaborating with his twin brother, Mike, George Kuchar started making films as a Bronx teenager, and the brothers' early films already show the ingenuity, exuberance, and do-it-yourself charm that would pervade scores of their subsequent films."
More from Clara Pais in the freely downloadable December issue of One + One, which also features Diamuid Hester on Jacques Tati, Donna K on Brent Green,...
More from Clara Pais in the freely downloadable December issue of One + One, which also features Diamuid Hester on Jacques Tati, Donna K on Brent Green,...
- 12/11/2011
- MUBI
François Ozon has completed shooting his 13th feature, reports Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa. An adaptation of Juan Mayorga's play The Boy in the Last Row, Dans La Maison features Fabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner and Denis Ménochet and is slated for a release in France next fall.
"As the repression of Iranian filmmakers and actors intensifies, a group of prominent Iranians — including artist Shirin Neshat, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo — have called on countries worldwide to boycott official Iranian film and TV organizations and sanction its members." Anthony Kaufman has the full statement.
"A pioneer of what film scholar Gene Youngblood called 'expanded cinema,' San Francisco artist Jordan Belson developed his majestic form of abstract cinema over six decades of work," writes Max Goldberg. "He died last month at 85, the same day as George Kuchar. Belson worked on a very different plane than Kuchar: his films were non-representational,...
"As the repression of Iranian filmmakers and actors intensifies, a group of prominent Iranians — including artist Shirin Neshat, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo — have called on countries worldwide to boycott official Iranian film and TV organizations and sanction its members." Anthony Kaufman has the full statement.
"A pioneer of what film scholar Gene Youngblood called 'expanded cinema,' San Francisco artist Jordan Belson developed his majestic form of abstract cinema over six decades of work," writes Max Goldberg. "He died last month at 85, the same day as George Kuchar. Belson worked on a very different plane than Kuchar: his films were non-representational,...
- 10/19/2011
- MUBI
For fans of experimental film, 2011 has been a year of heavy losses. Yet even as we mourn the deaths of pioneer filmmakers including Jordan Belson, George Kuchar, George Landow (aka Owen Land), and Adolphas Mekas, the 2011 Wavelengths programs at the Toronto International Film Festival indicated that experimental film is alive and well… and living in Canada.
Aberration of Light: Dark Chamber Disclosure is a site-specific live projection performance that was a highlight of this year’s festival. In the projection booth, Brooklyn-based artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder distilled a found 35mm commercial film print into rich, gorgeous beams of light that danced on the screen, the auditorium walls, and the faces of the rapt, dreamy spectators who filled the theatere at the Ontario Gallery of Art. (The movie that was the basis for the work was never identified to the audience, and the artists have never watched it in its entirety.
Aberration of Light: Dark Chamber Disclosure is a site-specific live projection performance that was a highlight of this year’s festival. In the projection booth, Brooklyn-based artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder distilled a found 35mm commercial film print into rich, gorgeous beams of light that danced on the screen, the auditorium walls, and the faces of the rapt, dreamy spectators who filled the theatere at the Ontario Gallery of Art. (The movie that was the basis for the work was never identified to the audience, and the artists have never watched it in its entirety.
- 9/18/2011
- by Livia Bloom
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
This week’s links is dedicated to George Kuchar who tragically passed away this week. Most of the links are, of course, about him:
The San Francisco Art Institute, where George taught and inspired so many future filmmakers for so many years, offers up a touching remembrance.The San Francisco Chronicle has an official obituary.As does the New York Times.Aaron Zeghers, who has done an admirable job taking over Cineflyer, has a very nice article on George, who visited Winnipeg last year for the Wndx festival.ArtInfo has a very long piece.Andy Ditzler of the Film Love screening series in Atlanta offers two inspiring quotes from his late friend.Cinemad has two very nice pictures of George. (One of which I stole for this post that you see above.)Making Light of It posted a scan of an old Film Culture interview with George and his brother Mike,...
The San Francisco Art Institute, where George taught and inspired so many future filmmakers for so many years, offers up a touching remembrance.The San Francisco Chronicle has an official obituary.As does the New York Times.Aaron Zeghers, who has done an admirable job taking over Cineflyer, has a very nice article on George, who visited Winnipeg last year for the Wndx festival.ArtInfo has a very long piece.Andy Ditzler of the Film Love screening series in Atlanta offers two inspiring quotes from his late friend.Cinemad has two very nice pictures of George. (One of which I stole for this post that you see above.)Making Light of It posted a scan of an old Film Culture interview with George and his brother Mike,...
- 9/11/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Sadly, the Center for Visual Music confirms the news many of us first heard from Jacob W. when he responded to yesterday's entry: "George Kuchar and Jordan Belson on the same day, yet another enormous blow…" Cvm, which released the DVD Jordan Belson: 5 Essential Films in 2007 and offers further research material at its site, notes that Belson "died peacefully early Tuesday morning, September 6, at his home in San Francisco, of heart failure. He was 85. A memorial screening is planned for October 19 in the San Francisco Bay Area, plus tribute screenings in several other cities later this fall. Details will follow soon."
Last year, Cindy Keefer, archivist and curator at Cvm, wrote for Sfmoma, "Jordan Belson is an enigma and a legend of the experimental film world. He has produced a remarkable body of over 33 abstract films over six decades, richly woven with cosmological imagery, exploring consciousness, transcendence, and the nature of light itself.
Last year, Cindy Keefer, archivist and curator at Cvm, wrote for Sfmoma, "Jordan Belson is an enigma and a legend of the experimental film world. He has produced a remarkable body of over 33 abstract films over six decades, richly woven with cosmological imagery, exploring consciousness, transcendence, and the nature of light itself.
- 9/8/2011
- MUBI
Eugen Illés's Mania: The History of a Cigarette Factory Worker (1918) with Pola Negri has been rediscovered, restored and presented in Warsaw… Quite a find at All Things Shining: Terrence Malick talks about the making of Badlands in an interview that appeared in Filmmaker's Newsletter in 1974 … German film journals: Cargo 11 is out and Revolver 14 is online … Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet) is adapting Craig Davidson's story collection Rust and Bone and Marion Cotillard has signed on … Amitabh Bachchan joins Leonardo DiCaprio in the cast of Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, currently shooting in Australia … MoMA's Roman Polanski retrospective is on through September 30, and I'm gathering notes and links in the roundup on Carnage … Remembering George Kuchar and Jordan Belson.
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For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @thedailyMUBI on Twitter and/or the RSS feed....
- 9/8/2011
- MUBI
New York filmmaker Scott Nyerges, known for his hand-crafted experimental films, seems to not be satisfied with the lack of credit he is given for allowing Terrence Mallick to use twelve seconds of footage from his short film Autumnal in The Tree Of Life. When Nyerges was first contacted by Malick’s production company, they requested his involvement in the film, but later decided instead to license the 12 seconds from his short. The image below is one of the frames from the footage used, and also used in the poster for Malick’s opus. Yet, Autumnal and Nyerges are not credited on IMDb.
Recently speaking to Fandor, Nerges was quoted as saying: “Experimental filmmakers have a tacit understanding, that if you’re going to do this you’re not going to see your name in lights.” Nyerges went on to say, “In the media coverage on this film no one...
Recently speaking to Fandor, Nerges was quoted as saying: “Experimental filmmakers have a tacit understanding, that if you’re going to do this you’re not going to see your name in lights.” Nyerges went on to say, “In the media coverage on this film no one...
- 6/3/2011
- by Kyle Reese
- SoundOnSight
The Formal Life of Thom Andersen opens tonight at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle and runs through Tuesday. Andersen will be on hand for every screening and will speak after the closing film, Get Out of the Car. E Steven Fried talks with him about Los Angeles and the movies for Parallax View.
Michael Joshua Rowin for the La Weekly: "Still the foremost name in 'cosmic,' 'expanded' or, simply put, 'triply' cinema, 85-year-old Jordan Belson will be deservedly celebrated by Lacma on Saturday with a program presented by the Center for Visual Music, surveying six decades of the filmmaker's mind-altering visual palette."
More goings on in Los Angeles: Long Live Our Love: New Works by Laida Lertxundi, Michael Robinson, and Ben Russell happens tomorrow evening, followed on Monday with Victory over the Sun: Films and Videos by Michael Robinson at Redcat. Genevieve Yue for Artforum: "Robinson mines artifacts...
Michael Joshua Rowin for the La Weekly: "Still the foremost name in 'cosmic,' 'expanded' or, simply put, 'triply' cinema, 85-year-old Jordan Belson will be deservedly celebrated by Lacma on Saturday with a program presented by the Center for Visual Music, surveying six decades of the filmmaker's mind-altering visual palette."
More goings on in Los Angeles: Long Live Our Love: New Works by Laida Lertxundi, Michael Robinson, and Ben Russell happens tomorrow evening, followed on Monday with Victory over the Sun: Films and Videos by Michael Robinson at Redcat. Genevieve Yue for Artforum: "Robinson mines artifacts...
- 3/26/2011
- MUBI
Gaspar Noé is no stranger to controversy, as 2002's "Irreversible" -- and, specifically, its nine-minute single-take depiction of violent rape -- firmly established his reputation as a boundary-pushing provocateur. Almost a decade later, he returns to feature filmmaking with this week's extravagant "Enter the Void," a similarly audacious work about a teenage drug dealer's (Nathaniel Brown) post-death experiences as a ghost watching over his stripper sister (Paz de la Huerta) in neon-lit Tokyo.
Utilizing multiple points of view, immersing itself in extended "2001"-style drug hallucinations, and offering up a mélange of sex, violence, spirituality, philosophy and one unbearably harrowing car crash sequence, it's a film that risks being silly in search of the sublime, and thus provokes unlike anything else this cinematic awards season will have to offer. Shortly after introducing the longer original version of the film at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, Noé spoke about the reasons for creating different cuts,...
Utilizing multiple points of view, immersing itself in extended "2001"-style drug hallucinations, and offering up a mélange of sex, violence, spirituality, philosophy and one unbearably harrowing car crash sequence, it's a film that risks being silly in search of the sublime, and thus provokes unlike anything else this cinematic awards season will have to offer. Shortly after introducing the longer original version of the film at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, Noé spoke about the reasons for creating different cuts,...
- 9/20/2010
- by Nick Schager
- ifc.com
September 23
7:00 p.m.
Goethe-Institut
5750 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Hosted by: Center for Visual Music
The Center for Visual Music — the Los Angeles-based archive dedicated to the preservation and promotion of both classic and modern avant-garde and experimental media — is holding a special benefit to raise money for their Fischinger Preservation and Conservation Project. Tickets can be purchased directly from Event Brite. (To be clear: This event is Not a screening, so don’t go expecting to see a screening of Fischinger’s films. This is simply a benefit.)
The event is being held on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Elfriede Fischinger (1910 — 1999), the widow of experimental animation pioneer Oskar Fischinger (1900 — 1967). There will be paintings and unshot animation drawings by Oskar, but half of the exhibition will be about the life and work of Elfriede. Also, there will be a wine reception and a silent auction.
Oskar Fischinger...
7:00 p.m.
Goethe-Institut
5750 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Hosted by: Center for Visual Music
The Center for Visual Music — the Los Angeles-based archive dedicated to the preservation and promotion of both classic and modern avant-garde and experimental media — is holding a special benefit to raise money for their Fischinger Preservation and Conservation Project. Tickets can be purchased directly from Event Brite. (To be clear: This event is Not a screening, so don’t go expecting to see a screening of Fischinger’s films. This is simply a benefit.)
The event is being held on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Elfriede Fischinger (1910 — 1999), the widow of experimental animation pioneer Oskar Fischinger (1900 — 1967). There will be paintings and unshot animation drawings by Oskar, but half of the exhibition will be about the life and work of Elfriede. Also, there will be a wine reception and a silent auction.
Oskar Fischinger...
- 9/20/2010
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Embedded above is a brief segment from the 1999 British TV show Dope Sheet on Mary Ellen Bute, the experimental animation pioneer who produced over a dozen abstract animated films between the 1930s and ’50s. While her contribution to experimental film has largely been overlooked except by hardcore animation buffs, there’s been a slow resurgence in interest in her work.
Her name crossed my path in a significant way this past week or so while I was building the beginning stages of my underground film timeline. The timeline currently credits her with just 11 films, 10 of which are abstract animations and one, The Boy Who Saw Through, is a live action short film that, according to the above documentary, stars an extremely young Christopher Walken. The documentary also credits Bute for having made 15 animated films between 1935 and 1956.
However, there’s some dispute between the information I currently have. For example, the timeline says her first film,...
Her name crossed my path in a significant way this past week or so while I was building the beginning stages of my underground film timeline. The timeline currently credits her with just 11 films, 10 of which are abstract animations and one, The Boy Who Saw Through, is a live action short film that, according to the above documentary, stars an extremely young Christopher Walken. The documentary also credits Bute for having made 15 animated films between 1935 and 1956.
However, there’s some dispute between the information I currently have. For example, the timeline says her first film,...
- 7/19/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
First the history, then the list:
In 1969, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas decided to open the world’s first museum devoted to film. Of course, a typical museum hangs its collections of artwork on the wall for visitors to walk up to and study. However, a film museum needs special considerations on how — and what, of course — to present its collection to the public.
Thus, for this film museum, first a film selection committee was formed that included James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney, plus, for a time, Stan Brakhage. This committee met over the course of several months to decide exactly what films would be collected and how they would be shown. The final selection of films would come to be called the The Essential Cinema Repertory.
The Essential Cinema Collection that the committee came up with consisted of about 330 films.
In 1969, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas decided to open the world’s first museum devoted to film. Of course, a typical museum hangs its collections of artwork on the wall for visitors to walk up to and study. However, a film museum needs special considerations on how — and what, of course — to present its collection to the public.
Thus, for this film museum, first a film selection committee was formed that included James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney, plus, for a time, Stan Brakhage. This committee met over the course of several months to decide exactly what films would be collected and how they would be shown. The final selection of films would come to be called the The Essential Cinema Repertory.
The Essential Cinema Collection that the committee came up with consisted of about 330 films.
- 5/3/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
So, I’m currently working on a big research project, the results of which won’t be seen unless you happen to be poring through Bad Lit’s sister site the Underground Film Guide — and the way that site is woefully under-updated, why would you?
The Ufg, as I like to call it, is a database project of underground filmmakers and films. Recently I decided to halt adding new entries and to make the old filmmaker entries I previously uploaded more comprehensive. One way I’m doing that is going through books on underground film and, if a filmmaker is written up in each book, I’ll add that book’s info to the filmmaker’s profile. If you’re interested and want an idea of what I’m talking about, go look at John Waters’ entry and scroll down to the book section.
One book that is a tremendous...
The Ufg, as I like to call it, is a database project of underground filmmakers and films. Recently I decided to halt adding new entries and to make the old filmmaker entries I previously uploaded more comprehensive. One way I’m doing that is going through books on underground film and, if a filmmaker is written up in each book, I’ll add that book’s info to the filmmaker’s profile. If you’re interested and want an idea of what I’m talking about, go look at John Waters’ entry and scroll down to the book section.
One book that is a tremendous...
- 4/17/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This review contains both mild spoilers and enthusiastic praise.
Enter the Void is a 21st century "head" movie designed for consumers of psychedelics, designer drugs, and potent substances yet to be invented or discovered. Points of reference include the Star-Gate sequence from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and the work of experimental non-narrative filmmakers like Kenneth Anger, Tony Conrad, Stan Brakhage, and Jordan Belson. Gaspar Noe's goal is obviously not to tell a traditional story or create "likable" characters. The intent is to create an immersive experience that replicates varied states of human consciousness (real or imagined). To this end, Enter the Void is a success. The film is most certainly flawed: it is self-indulgent and barely holds together at times. However, the pureness of Gaspar Noe's vision and the innovative means by which his vision is achieved trumps any of the film's faults.
Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) and Linda (Paz De La Huerta...
Enter the Void is a 21st century "head" movie designed for consumers of psychedelics, designer drugs, and potent substances yet to be invented or discovered. Points of reference include the Star-Gate sequence from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and the work of experimental non-narrative filmmakers like Kenneth Anger, Tony Conrad, Stan Brakhage, and Jordan Belson. Gaspar Noe's goal is obviously not to tell a traditional story or create "likable" characters. The intent is to create an immersive experience that replicates varied states of human consciousness (real or imagined). To this end, Enter the Void is a success. The film is most certainly flawed: it is self-indulgent and barely holds together at times. However, the pureness of Gaspar Noe's vision and the innovative means by which his vision is achieved trumps any of the film's faults.
Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) and Linda (Paz De La Huerta...
- 3/21/2010
- Screen Anarchy
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