No matter how many times we pronounce it dead, the western remains gratifyingly unwilling to turn up its boots. Just last year saw several worthy additions to its ranks, including “The Hateful Eight,” “The Revenant,” “Bone Tomahawk,” and “Slow West.” Not bad for a deceased art form.
Still, that’s a far cry from the 1950s, which saw more westerns released than all other movie genres combined. One theory for the western’s decline is as American urbanization expanded, frontier settings seemed increasingly alien. Cattle gave way to Cadillacs, Winchesters to Winnebagos. There were 26 western series on TV in 1959, the year that the U.S. made Hawaii its 50th and final state. As the space race turned our attentions to the skies, the frontier started to gather tumbleweeds.
However, westerns aren’t about time or place so much as they are about the process of building society in a wild and unruly land.
Still, that’s a far cry from the 1950s, which saw more westerns released than all other movie genres combined. One theory for the western’s decline is as American urbanization expanded, frontier settings seemed increasingly alien. Cattle gave way to Cadillacs, Winchesters to Winnebagos. There were 26 western series on TV in 1959, the year that the U.S. made Hawaii its 50th and final state. As the space race turned our attentions to the skies, the frontier started to gather tumbleweeds.
However, westerns aren’t about time or place so much as they are about the process of building society in a wild and unruly land.
- 9/23/2016
- by Sam Adams
- Indiewire
We open today's round of news and views with reviews of three newish books, one telling the wild story of North Korea's Kim Jong-Il as a kidnapping producer, another measuring the impact on Hollywood of the death of William Desmond Taylor in 1922, plus a collection of criticism by Gregory J. Markopoulos. Also: Reassessing David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, a list of under-appreciated films by John Ford, an interview with Wim Wenders, a Věra Chytilová primer—and Kristen Stewart has joined Michelle Williams and Laura Dern in Kelly Reichardt’s forthcoming untitled drama. » - David Hudson...
- 3/1/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
We open today's round of news and views with reviews of three newish books, one telling the wild story of North Korea's Kim Jong-Il as a kidnapping producer, another measuring the impact on Hollywood of the death of William Desmond Taylor in 1922, plus a collection of criticism by Gregory J. Markopoulos. Also: Reassessing David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, a list of under-appreciated films by John Ford, an interview with Wim Wenders, a Věra Chytilová primer—and Kristen Stewart has joined Michelle Williams and Laura Dern in Kelly Reichardt’s forthcoming untitled drama. » - David Hudson...
- 3/1/2015
- Keyframe
Editor's Note: RogerEbert.com is proud to reprint Roger Ebert's 1978 entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica publication "The Great Ideas Today," part of "The Great Books of the Western World." Reprinted with permission from The Great Ideas Today ©1978 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
It's a measure of how completely the Internet has transformed communication that I need to explain, for the benefit of some younger readers, what encyclopedias were: bound editions summing up all available knowledge, delivered to one's home in handsome bound editions. The "Great Books" series zeroed in on books about history, poetry, natural science, math and other fields of study; the "Great Ideas" series was meant to tie all the ideas together, and that was the mission given to Roger when he undertook this piece about film.
Given the venue he was writing for, it's probably wisest to look at Roger's long, wide-ranging piece as a snapshot of the...
It's a measure of how completely the Internet has transformed communication that I need to explain, for the benefit of some younger readers, what encyclopedias were: bound editions summing up all available knowledge, delivered to one's home in handsome bound editions. The "Great Books" series zeroed in on books about history, poetry, natural science, math and other fields of study; the "Great Ideas" series was meant to tie all the ideas together, and that was the mission given to Roger when he undertook this piece about film.
Given the venue he was writing for, it's probably wisest to look at Roger's long, wide-ranging piece as a snapshot of the...
- 2/12/2015
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2014?
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
- 1/5/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
There are few greater enigmas to the outside world than North Korea, represented to us with sparse a limited set of images—most of them insufficient, be they from biased material, reductive documentaries, or the media. It’s an off limits, alien place. The result is that we can barely even begin to grapple with understanding it. In Songs From the North, director Soon-Mi Yoo has created over the course of three visits to North Korea a diary film that gives the viewer an invaluable, albeit brief and obstructed, view into another world. Mixed together with what she shot on site is archival footage of various musical performances, as well as excerpts from propagandistic cinema and television—blending together the nation’s reality with its façade, until there is hardly a line between them. The result is an increasingly ambiguous, incomplete portrait of an unknowable place, with an entirely different system of meaning,...
- 9/6/2014
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Men in War
Written by Philip Yordan
Directed by Anthony Mann
USA, 1957
Director Anthony Mann was a specialist at genre filmmaking. From early crime dramas like T-Men and Raw Deal, to historical epics like El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire, he seemed to have a knack for working within — and working with — the conventions of a given generic formula. His Westerns, especially, are among the best that that particular type of movie has to offer. And when he set his sights on the war film, his natural aptitude for genre would be as prominent as it was anywhere. Men in War, from 1957, his second war film of the decade (released two years after Strategic Air Command), contains much of what makes Mann a distinct filmmaker, and reveals much of what makes the war film its own unique form of motion picture.
Set in Korea, 1950, Men in War...
Written by Philip Yordan
Directed by Anthony Mann
USA, 1957
Director Anthony Mann was a specialist at genre filmmaking. From early crime dramas like T-Men and Raw Deal, to historical epics like El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire, he seemed to have a knack for working within — and working with — the conventions of a given generic formula. His Westerns, especially, are among the best that that particular type of movie has to offer. And when he set his sights on the war film, his natural aptitude for genre would be as prominent as it was anywhere. Men in War, from 1957, his second war film of the decade (released two years after Strategic Air Command), contains much of what makes Mann a distinct filmmaker, and reveals much of what makes the war film its own unique form of motion picture.
Set in Korea, 1950, Men in War...
- 5/2/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Mark Harris's study of the interwoven war careers of Ford, Wyler, Capra, Stevens and Huston impresses Philip French
The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...
The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...
- 3/17/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2013—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2013 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
- 1/13/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The Venice International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 70th edition.
Official Competition
Es-Stouh (Merzak Allouache, Algeria/France)
L'Intrepido (Gianna Amelio, Italy)
Miss Violence (Alexandros Avranas, Greece)
Via Castellana Bandiera (Emma Dante, Italy/Switzerland/France)
Tom à la ferme (Xavier Dolan, Canada/France)
Child of God (James Franco, USA)
Philomena (Stephen Frears, UK)
La Jalousie (Philippe Garrel, France)
The Zero Theorem (Terry Gilliam, UK/USA)
Ana Arabia (Amos Gitai, Israel/France)
Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, UK/USA)
Joe (David Gordon Green, USA)
The Police Officer's Wife (Philip Gröning, Germany)
Parkland (Peter Landesman, USA)
The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan)
The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld (Errol Morris, USA)
Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, USA)
Sacro Gra (Gianfranco Rosi, Italy)
Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang, Chinese Taipei/France)
Out Of Competition
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (Shinji Aramaki, Japan)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, USA)
Summer '82 — When Zappa Came to Siciliy (Salvo Cuccia,...
Official Competition
Es-Stouh (Merzak Allouache, Algeria/France)
L'Intrepido (Gianna Amelio, Italy)
Miss Violence (Alexandros Avranas, Greece)
Via Castellana Bandiera (Emma Dante, Italy/Switzerland/France)
Tom à la ferme (Xavier Dolan, Canada/France)
Child of God (James Franco, USA)
Philomena (Stephen Frears, UK)
La Jalousie (Philippe Garrel, France)
The Zero Theorem (Terry Gilliam, UK/USA)
Ana Arabia (Amos Gitai, Israel/France)
Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, UK/USA)
Joe (David Gordon Green, USA)
The Police Officer's Wife (Philip Gröning, Germany)
Parkland (Peter Landesman, USA)
The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan)
The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld (Errol Morris, USA)
Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, USA)
Sacro Gra (Gianfranco Rosi, Italy)
Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang, Chinese Taipei/France)
Out Of Competition
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (Shinji Aramaki, Japan)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, USA)
Summer '82 — When Zappa Came to Siciliy (Salvo Cuccia,...
- 7/26/2013
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Following the announcement that came earlier this week, launching yet another hugely impressive line-up at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the respective line-up has now been announced for what is in some ways its European counterpart, the 2013 Venice Film Festival.
The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.
In Competition
Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...
The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.
In Competition
Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...
- 7/26/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
14th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) announced its complete lineup today in a press conference. Mff will be held from October 18th to 25th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues. Click here to watch trailers and highlights from the festival.
Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)
International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors
1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)
Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)
2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)
Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)
3. The Sapphires
Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)
4. The Wall (Die Wand)
Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)
5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)
Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)
6. Augustine
Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.
Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)
International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors
1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)
Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)
2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)
Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)
3. The Sapphires
Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)
4. The Wall (Die Wand)
Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)
5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)
Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)
6. Augustine
Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.
- 9/24/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
The Mumbai Film Festival (October 18 – 25, 2012) is the largest film festival in India with over 100,000 attending. The Festival is 14 years old itself but Reliance Big Entertainment, the company that backs both Dreamworks and Im Global, one of U.S.’s foremost international sales agents, has backed this festival for the last 4 years and the result is a scaled up festival. It is part of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, a not for profit trust founded in 1997 by Indian Film Industry personalities led by renowned filmmaker late Hrishikesh Mukherji. Its 220 films are all free.
Parenthetically, though not part of the festival itself, Mumbai is "'in the news" with the Tiff's City-to-City program focusing on Mumbai. This was organized by Cameron Bailey directly with filmmakers in Mumbai and is not a Mumbai Film Festival program…Also of interest is that Mumbai also hosts India's largest international Queer Film Festival For Everyone which was held in May of this year with the Alliance Francaise de Bombay.
The Mumbai Film Festival also works with Unifance and French Rendez-Vous.
Sections include Discovery, Retrospective - this year to feature 50 years of the Cannes Critics Week, International Competition which awards $200,000 to a first feature.
Three new developments are taking place this year.
1. To celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema, the festival is launching a new competition for Indian films (called 'India Gold') with cumulative cash rewards of around $30,000 Us. The winners will be selected by an international jury to be announced.
2. The festival is moving to historic South Bombay. The festival, previously held mostly in the Juhu and Andheri districts of Mumbai – where Bollywood is located - will now take place in the south of the city, the historic center of old colonial Bombay with amazing Victorian landmarks – train station, court house, with the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox Theatre as the main venues. The retrospective of restored films will be screened in a third theater - a historic art deco theater named the Liberty Cinema – so named because it was built in 1949, the year of India's independence from Britain. For more information on the Liberty see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Cinema
3. The Spotlight on Film Restoration and Preservation. For the first time, a section of the festival (programmed by Ian Birnie, U.S. Representative for the Mumbai Film Festival) will be devoted to screenings of restored classic films with a particular focus on Twentieth Century Fox. Screenings will be introduced by various archivists all of whom are leading experts in the field. A panel will bring together Western archivists and their Indian counterparts and the discussion will focus on the economic challenges and new technologies that are changing the future of film preservation.
The American participants are:
Schawn Belston, Senior VP, Library and Technical Services, Twentieth Century Fox
Margaret Bodde, Executive Director, The Film Foundation
Mike Pogorzelski, Director, The Academy Film Archive
Douglas Laible, Managing Director, World Cinema Foundation
TheTwentieth Century Fox Archive will present 8 films spanning 40 years in the 'Fox Classics' series. Note: all were restored in-house at Fox, and by Fox in association with the Academy Film Archive (Afa) and with The Film Foundation (Ff)
Sunrise (1928/b&w/94 min.) dir: F.W. Murnau; w /George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.(Fox/Afa)
How Green Was My Valley(1941/b&w/118 min.) dir: John Ford; w/ Walter Pigeon, Maureen O'Hara. (Fox/Afa)
Laura (1944/b&w/88 min.) dir: Otto Preminger; w/ Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb. (Fox in-house)
Leave Her to Heaven(1945/color/110 min.) dir: John Stahl; w/ Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain. (Fox/Afa/Ff)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953/color/91 min.) dir: Howard Hawks; w/ Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell.(Fox in-house)
Wild River(1960/color/110 min./CinemaScope) dir: Elia Kazan; w/ Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet. (Fox/Afa/Ff)
The Leopard (1963/color/187 min.) dir: Luchino Visconti; w/ Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale.(Fox/Ff/Cineteca di Bologna)
Two for the Road(1967/color/110 min./Panavision) dir: Stanley Donen; w/ Audey Hepburn, Albert Finney. (Fox/Afa)
In addition to the Fox titles, 7 additional restored films will be screened.
The Academy Film Archive will present two recent restorations from their ongoing project to restore all the films by the great Indian director Satyajit Ray:
Charulata(1964/b&w/117 min.) w/ Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee.
The Chess Players (1977/color/129 min.) w/ Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi
The Film Foundation will present two recent restorations:
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1945/color/163 min.) dir: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger; w/ Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984/color/ ??? min.) dir: Sergio Leone; w/ Robert DeNiro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern.
The World Cinema Foundation will present its new restoration of a classic Indian film:
Kalpana (1948/b&w/155 min.)
The Cineteca Bologna will present two restored Italian silent classics as part of an Italian Cinema retrospective.
Sections of the Festival
Dimensions Mumbai, a short film competition of films dealing with any aspect of life in Mumbai and targeted to the Mumbai Youth below 25 years was introduced in 2008.
An International Competition for the First Feature Film of directors with the award money of Us $ 150,000 (Us $ 100,000 for the Best Film and Us $ 50,000 for the Jury Grand Prize) was introduced in 2009. The UK Film 'White Lightn'in won the 2011 Best Film Award and Austria-Italy co-production La Pivillina won the Jury Grand Prize.
The Audience Choice Award carrying U.S. $ 20,000 for any film participating in the Festival, (excepting the Retrospectives and Tribute sections) was introduced in 09 as well. The Indian Film 'Road to Sangam' won this award.
International Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on the Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos.
A new initiative Mumbai Young Critics was introduced in '09 as well. 24 college students selected from more than 80 aspirants recommended by the colleges in Mumbai went through a workshop conducted by the German writer and film critic Daniel Kothenschulte for three days before the Festival. This group watched the films in the festival, wrote about them in Festival publications and newspapers and also selected a film for the Mumbai Young Critics Award.
Last year the festival showcased over 200 films from 60 countries across various sections at its three venues- Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas.
The festival hosts a special section ‘4me Rendez-Vous’, in collaboration with Unifrance, Embassy of France in India and Consulate General of France in Mumbai. The section screens the best of New French Cinema, which last year included ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’, ‘The Conquest’ and ‘Declaration of War’ amongst others.
Last year's highlight was the special presentation by Lee Yong Kwan, Director, Busan International Film Festival, who presented a selection of the latest Asian Films from Busan.
Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on the legendary actor Morgan Freeman. Olivia Harrison widow of George Harrison presented the documentary film “George Harrison: Living in the material World”.
The Festival strengthened and consolidated its academic activities with an Indo-German Script Development Workshop scheduled from 11th to the 13th of October just ahead of the festival opening. Speakers at the workshop included the renowned directors Dani Levy, Thorsten Schulz, Screenwriters Anjum Rajabali and Sooni Taraporevala amongst others.
This year's Festival continues to facilitate cinema business with the Mumbai Film Mart, created 'by' the industry, 'for' the industry, 'in' the industry hub - Mumbai, the Film Capital of India. The Mumbai Film Mart saw participation from the biggest Entertainment Industry players, both from India and abroad. In the three days, over 2,000 meeting requests were received, 400 meetings were carried out face to face, while an equal number took place among the senior decision makers from leading film production houses, buyers, sellers, festival programmers and independent filmmakers as they milled around and networked with each other.
Among the many firsts, the Mart attracted all the forthcoming big ticket films such as ‘Ra One’, ‘Don 2’, ‘Rockstar’, ‘Ricky Behl v/s Ladies’, ‘The Dirty Picture’, ‘DesiBoyz’ , tabled for acquisition and distribution in the non-traditional markets for Indian Cinema in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Germany, France and Latin America. The focus on these countries attracted leading buyers that included Huayi Brothers Media Corp. (China), NikkatsuCorp.(Japan), Happinet Corp.(Japan), Showbox (Korea), Apex Entertainment (Korea), Cj Entertainment (Korea), Top Films (Ukraine), Novo films (France), Rapid Eye (Germany), Im Global (USA), amongst many others.
The International Jury will be responsible choosing the winners out of 14 films, all first features of debut filmmakers around the world, awarding them with a huge cash prize. This way we would like to recognize and encourage the first time filmmakers, going in line with the festival theme of discovery.
Apart from the main international section, there are many other sections including the world cinema, Indian Frame, New Faces in Indian Cinema, Documentaries etc. Please do check out their website www.mumbaifilmfest.com for more information. Last year, it screened about 220 films from 60 countries.
Composition of Mami:
Shyam Benegal, Eminent Filmmaker – Chairman
Amit Khanna, producer, lyricist and Chairman of Reliance Entertainment
Amol Palekar, acclaimed actor-director
Ashutosh Gowarikar (Oscar Nominee - Best Foreign Language Film for Lagaan)
Farhan Akhtar, one of the youngest directors and actor
Jaya Bachchan, acclaimed and award winning actress
Karan Johar, director-producer of some of the most successful films at the box office
Ramesh Sippy, well known filmmaker of Sholay fame
Shabana Azmi, renowned actress who has won acclaim and awards Internationally
Yash Chopra, producer-director, doyen of the Hindi film industry.
Narayan is the Director and head programmer, Anu is second in command.
And there is a selection committee that screens all the competition films – industry people and critics in Mumbai.
About Reliance Big Entertainment
Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd. (Rbel) is the flagship media and entertainment arm of India's Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, with a significant presence in film entertainment (film production, distribution, and exhibition), broadcasting and new media ventures.
Rbel's motion picture brand, Reliance Big Pictures ( www.reliancebigpictures.com ) has built a impressive film production slate in Hindi, English & other Indian languages, which it markets and distributes worldwide. Following Reliance Big Picturess association with Im Global, the company now benefits from an international sales team with an excellent reputation and global presence dedicated to selling its Bollywood and regional language slate. Going into production in November is the $45 million ðDreddð, which Reliance Big Entertainment is co-financing with Im Global.
In Hollywood, Reliance Big Pictures has partnered with Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider on the formation of DreamWorks Studios and hasdevelopment deals with Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films, Jim Carrey's Jc 23 Entertainment, George Clooney's Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus'1492 Pictures, Tom Hanksð Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment, Jay Roach's Everyman Pictures, Brett Ratnerðs Rat Entertainment,Julia Robertsð Red Om Films and Brian Grazer and Ron Howardðs Imagine Entertainment.
Also worth noting: the competition section of the festival is for first features and carries a Grand prize of Us$100,000 and a Jury prize of Us$50,000.00, with a percentage of the money of allocated to the sales agent who submitted the film. With 14 features, the odds are better than most lotteries… This was last year's lineup http://www.mumbaifilmfest.com/Mami/films_list.php The Salesman, one of the films their U.S. Representative Programmer, Ian Bernie (former longtime Lacma programmer) selected, won the Jury Award and Best Actor.
Parenthetically, though not part of the festival itself, Mumbai is "'in the news" with the Tiff's City-to-City program focusing on Mumbai. This was organized by Cameron Bailey directly with filmmakers in Mumbai and is not a Mumbai Film Festival program…Also of interest is that Mumbai also hosts India's largest international Queer Film Festival For Everyone which was held in May of this year with the Alliance Francaise de Bombay.
The Mumbai Film Festival also works with Unifance and French Rendez-Vous.
Sections include Discovery, Retrospective - this year to feature 50 years of the Cannes Critics Week, International Competition which awards $200,000 to a first feature.
Three new developments are taking place this year.
1. To celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema, the festival is launching a new competition for Indian films (called 'India Gold') with cumulative cash rewards of around $30,000 Us. The winners will be selected by an international jury to be announced.
2. The festival is moving to historic South Bombay. The festival, previously held mostly in the Juhu and Andheri districts of Mumbai – where Bollywood is located - will now take place in the south of the city, the historic center of old colonial Bombay with amazing Victorian landmarks – train station, court house, with the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox Theatre as the main venues. The retrospective of restored films will be screened in a third theater - a historic art deco theater named the Liberty Cinema – so named because it was built in 1949, the year of India's independence from Britain. For more information on the Liberty see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Cinema
3. The Spotlight on Film Restoration and Preservation. For the first time, a section of the festival (programmed by Ian Birnie, U.S. Representative for the Mumbai Film Festival) will be devoted to screenings of restored classic films with a particular focus on Twentieth Century Fox. Screenings will be introduced by various archivists all of whom are leading experts in the field. A panel will bring together Western archivists and their Indian counterparts and the discussion will focus on the economic challenges and new technologies that are changing the future of film preservation.
The American participants are:
Schawn Belston, Senior VP, Library and Technical Services, Twentieth Century Fox
Margaret Bodde, Executive Director, The Film Foundation
Mike Pogorzelski, Director, The Academy Film Archive
Douglas Laible, Managing Director, World Cinema Foundation
TheTwentieth Century Fox Archive will present 8 films spanning 40 years in the 'Fox Classics' series. Note: all were restored in-house at Fox, and by Fox in association with the Academy Film Archive (Afa) and with The Film Foundation (Ff)
Sunrise (1928/b&w/94 min.) dir: F.W. Murnau; w /George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.(Fox/Afa)
How Green Was My Valley(1941/b&w/118 min.) dir: John Ford; w/ Walter Pigeon, Maureen O'Hara. (Fox/Afa)
Laura (1944/b&w/88 min.) dir: Otto Preminger; w/ Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb. (Fox in-house)
Leave Her to Heaven(1945/color/110 min.) dir: John Stahl; w/ Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain. (Fox/Afa/Ff)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953/color/91 min.) dir: Howard Hawks; w/ Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell.(Fox in-house)
Wild River(1960/color/110 min./CinemaScope) dir: Elia Kazan; w/ Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet. (Fox/Afa/Ff)
The Leopard (1963/color/187 min.) dir: Luchino Visconti; w/ Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale.(Fox/Ff/Cineteca di Bologna)
Two for the Road(1967/color/110 min./Panavision) dir: Stanley Donen; w/ Audey Hepburn, Albert Finney. (Fox/Afa)
In addition to the Fox titles, 7 additional restored films will be screened.
The Academy Film Archive will present two recent restorations from their ongoing project to restore all the films by the great Indian director Satyajit Ray:
Charulata(1964/b&w/117 min.) w/ Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee.
The Chess Players (1977/color/129 min.) w/ Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi
The Film Foundation will present two recent restorations:
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1945/color/163 min.) dir: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger; w/ Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984/color/ ??? min.) dir: Sergio Leone; w/ Robert DeNiro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern.
The World Cinema Foundation will present its new restoration of a classic Indian film:
Kalpana (1948/b&w/155 min.)
The Cineteca Bologna will present two restored Italian silent classics as part of an Italian Cinema retrospective.
Sections of the Festival
Dimensions Mumbai, a short film competition of films dealing with any aspect of life in Mumbai and targeted to the Mumbai Youth below 25 years was introduced in 2008.
An International Competition for the First Feature Film of directors with the award money of Us $ 150,000 (Us $ 100,000 for the Best Film and Us $ 50,000 for the Jury Grand Prize) was introduced in 2009. The UK Film 'White Lightn'in won the 2011 Best Film Award and Austria-Italy co-production La Pivillina won the Jury Grand Prize.
The Audience Choice Award carrying U.S. $ 20,000 for any film participating in the Festival, (excepting the Retrospectives and Tribute sections) was introduced in 09 as well. The Indian Film 'Road to Sangam' won this award.
International Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on the Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos.
A new initiative Mumbai Young Critics was introduced in '09 as well. 24 college students selected from more than 80 aspirants recommended by the colleges in Mumbai went through a workshop conducted by the German writer and film critic Daniel Kothenschulte for three days before the Festival. This group watched the films in the festival, wrote about them in Festival publications and newspapers and also selected a film for the Mumbai Young Critics Award.
Last year the festival showcased over 200 films from 60 countries across various sections at its three venues- Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas.
The festival hosts a special section ‘4me Rendez-Vous’, in collaboration with Unifrance, Embassy of France in India and Consulate General of France in Mumbai. The section screens the best of New French Cinema, which last year included ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’, ‘The Conquest’ and ‘Declaration of War’ amongst others.
Last year's highlight was the special presentation by Lee Yong Kwan, Director, Busan International Film Festival, who presented a selection of the latest Asian Films from Busan.
Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on the legendary actor Morgan Freeman. Olivia Harrison widow of George Harrison presented the documentary film “George Harrison: Living in the material World”.
The Festival strengthened and consolidated its academic activities with an Indo-German Script Development Workshop scheduled from 11th to the 13th of October just ahead of the festival opening. Speakers at the workshop included the renowned directors Dani Levy, Thorsten Schulz, Screenwriters Anjum Rajabali and Sooni Taraporevala amongst others.
This year's Festival continues to facilitate cinema business with the Mumbai Film Mart, created 'by' the industry, 'for' the industry, 'in' the industry hub - Mumbai, the Film Capital of India. The Mumbai Film Mart saw participation from the biggest Entertainment Industry players, both from India and abroad. In the three days, over 2,000 meeting requests were received, 400 meetings were carried out face to face, while an equal number took place among the senior decision makers from leading film production houses, buyers, sellers, festival programmers and independent filmmakers as they milled around and networked with each other.
Among the many firsts, the Mart attracted all the forthcoming big ticket films such as ‘Ra One’, ‘Don 2’, ‘Rockstar’, ‘Ricky Behl v/s Ladies’, ‘The Dirty Picture’, ‘DesiBoyz’ , tabled for acquisition and distribution in the non-traditional markets for Indian Cinema in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Germany, France and Latin America. The focus on these countries attracted leading buyers that included Huayi Brothers Media Corp. (China), NikkatsuCorp.(Japan), Happinet Corp.(Japan), Showbox (Korea), Apex Entertainment (Korea), Cj Entertainment (Korea), Top Films (Ukraine), Novo films (France), Rapid Eye (Germany), Im Global (USA), amongst many others.
The International Jury will be responsible choosing the winners out of 14 films, all first features of debut filmmakers around the world, awarding them with a huge cash prize. This way we would like to recognize and encourage the first time filmmakers, going in line with the festival theme of discovery.
Apart from the main international section, there are many other sections including the world cinema, Indian Frame, New Faces in Indian Cinema, Documentaries etc. Please do check out their website www.mumbaifilmfest.com for more information. Last year, it screened about 220 films from 60 countries.
Composition of Mami:
Shyam Benegal, Eminent Filmmaker – Chairman
Amit Khanna, producer, lyricist and Chairman of Reliance Entertainment
Amol Palekar, acclaimed actor-director
Ashutosh Gowarikar (Oscar Nominee - Best Foreign Language Film for Lagaan)
Farhan Akhtar, one of the youngest directors and actor
Jaya Bachchan, acclaimed and award winning actress
Karan Johar, director-producer of some of the most successful films at the box office
Ramesh Sippy, well known filmmaker of Sholay fame
Shabana Azmi, renowned actress who has won acclaim and awards Internationally
Yash Chopra, producer-director, doyen of the Hindi film industry.
Narayan is the Director and head programmer, Anu is second in command.
And there is a selection committee that screens all the competition films – industry people and critics in Mumbai.
About Reliance Big Entertainment
Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd. (Rbel) is the flagship media and entertainment arm of India's Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, with a significant presence in film entertainment (film production, distribution, and exhibition), broadcasting and new media ventures.
Rbel's motion picture brand, Reliance Big Pictures ( www.reliancebigpictures.com ) has built a impressive film production slate in Hindi, English & other Indian languages, which it markets and distributes worldwide. Following Reliance Big Picturess association with Im Global, the company now benefits from an international sales team with an excellent reputation and global presence dedicated to selling its Bollywood and regional language slate. Going into production in November is the $45 million ðDreddð, which Reliance Big Entertainment is co-financing with Im Global.
In Hollywood, Reliance Big Pictures has partnered with Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider on the formation of DreamWorks Studios and hasdevelopment deals with Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films, Jim Carrey's Jc 23 Entertainment, George Clooney's Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus'1492 Pictures, Tom Hanksð Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment, Jay Roach's Everyman Pictures, Brett Ratnerðs Rat Entertainment,Julia Robertsð Red Om Films and Brian Grazer and Ron Howardðs Imagine Entertainment.
Also worth noting: the competition section of the festival is for first features and carries a Grand prize of Us$100,000 and a Jury prize of Us$50,000.00, with a percentage of the money of allocated to the sales agent who submitted the film. With 14 features, the odds are better than most lotteries… This was last year's lineup http://www.mumbaifilmfest.com/Mami/films_list.php The Salesman, one of the films their U.S. Representative Programmer, Ian Bernie (former longtime Lacma programmer) selected, won the Jury Award and Best Actor.
- 8/31/2012
- Sydney's Buzz
Typecasting is a terrible fate to befall an actor. Many of them have suffered from it over the years, accepting role after role in similar films with similar plots and similar characters simply because they have no real alternative. However, in spite of the risks involved there are also those who subvert this association; those who have elevated themselves to near legendary status within their chosen genre. Their performances define it and are woven inextricably into its rich tapestry. Two such actors are pictured above and are the subject of this article – one, a silent and anonymous loner with no time for small talk and very direct methods of dealing with his adversaries, the other a straight talking, no – nonsense peacekeeper with a trademark southern drawl. Both are perhaps best known for their westerns, although they also directed, produced and starred in a variety of other films too including military epics and ‘unorthodox’ police procedurals.
- 11/23/2011
- by Jame Simpson
- Obsessed with Film
In recent years France has been among the front-runners in pushing the boundaries of modern horror. With such offerings as Frontier(s), Inside and High Tension, French filmmakers have been making us seriously squirm. It is with this reminder of the quality of their filmmaking that we at Dread Central bring you an announcement of the film list from the 17th Annual L'Etrange Festival, France's biggest horror film festival.
With over 70 films being screened and more than 17,000 attendees expected to descend on Paris, Le'Etrange Festival
Below we have the Complete listing of the festival's events:
From the Press Release
L’Étrange Festival – a unique event bringing filmgoers a fascinating roster of provocative and eye-opening films – is thrilled to announce the line-up for its 17th edition, September 2 – 11, 2011 in Paris, France.
The 2011 line-up continues the tradition of highlighting emerging talent, paying homage to independent-minded filmmakers and featuring a truly diverse program that includes cutting-edge works,...
With over 70 films being screened and more than 17,000 attendees expected to descend on Paris, Le'Etrange Festival
Below we have the Complete listing of the festival's events:
From the Press Release
L’Étrange Festival – a unique event bringing filmgoers a fascinating roster of provocative and eye-opening films – is thrilled to announce the line-up for its 17th edition, September 2 – 11, 2011 in Paris, France.
The 2011 line-up continues the tradition of highlighting emerging talent, paying homage to independent-minded filmmakers and featuring a truly diverse program that includes cutting-edge works,...
- 8/25/2011
- by Doctor Gash
- DreadCentral.com
Chicago – Brendan Wayne is certainly no stranger to cowboys. As the grandson of one of the greatest western stars ever, John Wayne, Brendan carries on the family tradition in the upcoming Jon Favreau film “Cowboys & Aliens,” featuring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
Born Daniel Brendan La Cava, son of the John Wayne’s daughter Toni, Brendan took on the Duke’s last name as he was moving up as a working actor. After taking on a series of smaller TV and movie parts, his breakthrough came portraying Randy in the TV remake of “Angel and the Badman” (2009), with Lou Diamond Phillips in the role his grandfather made famous. He adds the bloodline to the the new film, “Cowboys & Aliens,” portraying lawman Charlie Lyle.
Legacy: Grandfather (John Wayne in ‘Stagecoach’) and Grandson (Brendan Wayne in ‘Angel and the Badman’)
Photo credit: Warner Home Video & Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Brendon Wayne called HollywoodChicago.
Born Daniel Brendan La Cava, son of the John Wayne’s daughter Toni, Brendan took on the Duke’s last name as he was moving up as a working actor. After taking on a series of smaller TV and movie parts, his breakthrough came portraying Randy in the TV remake of “Angel and the Badman” (2009), with Lou Diamond Phillips in the role his grandfather made famous. He adds the bloodline to the the new film, “Cowboys & Aliens,” portraying lawman Charlie Lyle.
Legacy: Grandfather (John Wayne in ‘Stagecoach’) and Grandson (Brendan Wayne in ‘Angel and the Badman’)
Photo credit: Warner Home Video & Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Brendon Wayne called HollywoodChicago.
- 7/27/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Dedicated in solidarity to Béla Tarr.
* * *
During my stint with the San Francisco C.G. Jung Institute, I learned that the original context of the "symposium" was a strategic shift away from hierarchy to insure that all participants involved were on an equal plane, side by side, "rubbing shoulders" with each other. Not only is such parity a welcome approach to learning; but, its suggestion of sensorial pleasure by physical proximity (often with food or drink in hand) is an essential element. This is why I feel pleasure when I am learning from someone else, especially someone of such unique brilliance that—when I rub shoulders with them—I feel that some of their brilliance might rub off on me: like the pollen that is the rhyme and reason of cross-pollination.
Thus I am deeply grateful to the organizers of last weekend's Uc Berkeley international symposium on silent cinema—Cinema...
* * *
During my stint with the San Francisco C.G. Jung Institute, I learned that the original context of the "symposium" was a strategic shift away from hierarchy to insure that all participants involved were on an equal plane, side by side, "rubbing shoulders" with each other. Not only is such parity a welcome approach to learning; but, its suggestion of sensorial pleasure by physical proximity (often with food or drink in hand) is an essential element. This is why I feel pleasure when I am learning from someone else, especially someone of such unique brilliance that—when I rub shoulders with them—I feel that some of their brilliance might rub off on me: like the pollen that is the rhyme and reason of cross-pollination.
Thus I am deeply grateful to the organizers of last weekend's Uc Berkeley international symposium on silent cinema—Cinema...
- 3/20/2011
- MUBI
The headline may seem obvious in these incredible days of surplus moving images (in both senses of the term) of the Middle Eastern revolutions, but let's not forget within the immediacy of the action of moving images (things happening) can lay a startling and equally immediate reality (that right there is something).
Case in point—accompanying the above image in John Ford's short documentary This Is Korea! (1951) the line by an unknown screenwriter: "Where that guy is with the rifle is the front of the war." What was shocking about this moment of the film, which I saw last week, was the realization that this unnamed cameraman captured an intangible and abstract idea forever bandied about during war ("the front") and in an instant like any other grounded it in documentary: these five figures (and cameraman), this land, that sky, that hill, uncrested, the literal edge of a national conflict.
Case in point—accompanying the above image in John Ford's short documentary This Is Korea! (1951) the line by an unknown screenwriter: "Where that guy is with the rifle is the front of the war." What was shocking about this moment of the film, which I saw last week, was the realization that this unnamed cameraman captured an intangible and abstract idea forever bandied about during war ("the front") and in an instant like any other grounded it in documentary: these five figures (and cameraman), this land, that sky, that hill, uncrested, the literal edge of a national conflict.
- 3/4/2011
- MUBI
With 2010 only a week over, it already feels like best-of and top-ten lists have been pouring in for months, and we’re already tired of them: the ranking, the exclusions (and inclusions), the rules and the qualifiers. Some people got to see films at festivals, others only catch movies on video; and the ability for us, or any publication, to come up with a system to fairly determine who saw what when and what they thought was the best seems an impossible feat. That doesn’t stop most people from doing it, but we liked the fantasy double features we did last year and for our 3rd Writers Poll we thought we'd do it again.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
- 1/10/2011
- MUBI
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