Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
-
Create Your Own Kinetoscope at Thomas Edison’s Black Maria Studio
Before the projector, there was the kinetoscope. Conceptualized by Thomas Edison in 1888 and developed by William Dickson, the device provided a peephole into early moving pictures. Mono No Aware, the Brooklyn-based cinema organization, has scheduled a visit to the Thomas Edison National Historical Park and its adjoining Black Maria Studio to allow participants to produce their own takes on these iconic film strips, at the very birthplace of movie production. An on-site workshop will equip attendees with 16 mm, and the resulting kinetoscopes will be screened and digitized in the same afternoon. To sign up for this Sunday’s excursion, head to […]
-
Transformers: The Asian American International Film Festival
Over the years, many New York-based media arts organizations and the film festivals they produce have folded, or scraped by in spite of outdated approaches and rigid programming. Asian CineVision and its offspring, the Asian American International Film Festival, on the other hand, have proven to be the little engines that could. The secret to their success: a keen awareness of shifts in the zeitgeist and talent pool, without losing sight of the Asian American community they serve (with a value added outreach to non Asian American communities). They are masters of reinvention. The 37th edition of the AAIFF (July […]
-
First Batch of 2014 TIFF Titles Announced
In a press conference this morning, Cameron Bailey and Co. released the Special Presentation and Gala selections for the upcoming edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. Lots to parse through as the slate boasts world premieres from Christian Petzold, Mia Hansen-Løve, Noah Baumbach, David Gordon Green, Hal Hartley, Liv Ullman, Barry Levinson and several others. There are a few of the requisite Hollywood entries (Jason Reitman, Chris Evans’ directorial debut, two Reese Witherspoon vehicles, for starters), alongside Cannes entries Wild Tales, Force Majeure and Whiplash, but the festival looks to be off to an auspicious start. Let the Venice speculation begin. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 99 Homes. Ramin Bahrani, USA, […]
-
Czech Dream: The 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Though the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival bills itself as “the most important film event in Central and Eastern Europe,” such a bold declaration belies the fact that KVIFF is anything but snobby and self-serious. Back in 2011 I covered the prestigious fest, located in a fairytale scenic, spa city – once frequented by Beethoven and Goethe – about an hour-and-a-half from Prague by car. (That would be a BMW, the “official car” of KVIFF, the company having its own “BMW Zone” where you can check out the latest models nearby the ultra-chic Grandhotel Pupp.) Returning three years later I […]
-
Latinbeat: Five Vettings and a Funeral
Once again, this festival of both rarefied and salt-of-the-earth films from all over Latin America graces the Big Apple at the Walter Reade Theater, once again with a delicious menu that does the Film Society of Lincoln Center proud. I’ve been drawn to Latinbeat since now-retired FSLC Program Director Richard Peña established it in 1997. It has consistently displayed not only fine titles but also a less apparent connective tissue that has been expertly if unconsciously simulated, one affording us more than single plotlines, and which provokes a pleasurably heady and arty stretch. Now in its 15th edition, the films […]
-
Borscht Corporation Launches Crowdsourced Scarface Redux
“Say hello to my little friend!” If you’ve ever fantasized unleashing your inner Tony Montana — or, more accurately, your inner ’80s-era Brian DePalma — then the latest crowdsourced art project from the Miami-based Borscht Corporation is for you. Borscht has announced Scarface Redux, a fan remake of the 1983 drug lord epic, with filmmakers from all over the world invited to direct and submit their own 15-second segment. The clip can be “live action, animation, puppets, legos, Chihuahuas, it doesn’t matter!”, the site says. The finished film will be screened at the Borscht Film Festival in December at a […]
-
Four Nights in D-Town: The Third Annual Oak Cliff Film Festival
A few days before the summer solstice, I arrived on an oddly cool night in Dallas for the Third Annual Oak Cliff Film Festival. A driver picked me up from the airport and whisked me directly to a pre-festival soiree at a bar called Wild Detectives where everyone seemed to know each other already. A few houses from the corner of East 8th St. and North Bishop Ave., Wild Detectives is proof Dallas’ zoning rules are the envy of lushes everywhere; the bar is a two-story house right in the middle of a residential neighborhood! That neighborhood, from which the […]
-
Adam Rifkin on Giuseppe Makes A Movie
With the maniacal film geek erudition of Quentin Tarantino and the madcap family values sensibility of John Waters, Giuseppe Andrews has made 30 independent features that you’ve most likely never heard of. And he probably couldn’t care less about that. A veteran of both Hollywood and indie film, Adam Rifkin, on the other hand, is a name familiar to any fan of the 1999 cult comedy Detroit Rock City, which Rifkin directed, and which starred Andrews alongside Edward Furlong. Now Rifkin and Andrews have teamed up again as Rifkin follows the director in his quest to shoot in two days […]
-
Looking Both Ways: Tales of Future Past at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014
Talent, money, and press descended on the otherwise quiet northern English city of Sheffield last week for the 21st edition of Doc/Fest — officially named the Sheffield Documentary and Digital Media Festival. With its mix of screenings, live events, music, and genuinely fantastic parties, this five-day celebration earns its reputation as the Glastonbury of documentary festivals (albeit without the mud). The analogy is encouraged by the seemingly endless days (the sun doesn’t set until 11pm), as well as some remarkable outdoor venues. These include a giant cave affectionately known as the Devil’s Arse, where I caught an evening screening of […]
-
MoMA Björk Retro in 2015 to Feature Installation Directed by 25 New Faces Alum
A new press release from MoMA announces that the museum will be the sole host of a Björk retrospective from March 7 to June 7. From the press release: The installation will present a narrative, both biographical and imaginatively fictitious, cowritten by Björk and the acclaimed Icelandic writer Sjón Sigurdsson. Björk’s collaborations with video directors, photographers, fashion designers, and artists will be featured, and the exhibition culminates with a newly commissioned, immersive music and film experience conceived and realized with director Andrew Huang and 3-D design leader Autodesk. Andrew Thomas Huang, who directed Björk’s “Mutual Core” video, was one of […]
