6300 Results for “Open ”
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Director Cate Shortland on Lore
In telling the story of Lore (Saskia Rosendahl), a 14-year-old daughter of Nazi parents who travels across a devastated Germany in 1945, Cate Shortland’s Lore, adapted from Rachel Seiffert’s novel The Dark Room, plays with fire. As the director acknowledges, it could easily be misread as a statement that (Gentile) Germans were also victims of World War II. Instead, the film suggests what it’s like to fall from great privilege. Without fully understanding what it means to be a Nazi and what responsibility for evil her parents hold, Lore goes from being rich and well cared for to being treated […]
by Steven Erickson on Feb 5, 2013 -
Five Questions with Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder Director Christopher Felver
Lawrence Ferlinghetti makes a brief appearance in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz — an appearance Christopher Felver wanted to include in his new documentary about the poet and First Amendment hero. But when Felver realized he couldn’t get the footage for what he felt was a reasonable price, he didn’t see it as a make or break moment. After all, as someone who’s been training his camera on Ferlinghetti for 30 years, Felver had plenty of raw material. Assembled from footage shot as far back as the 1980s, Felver’s Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder opens February 8 at the Quad Cinema […]
by Kevin Canfield on Feb 5, 2013 -
Neutralizing Net Neutrality
Net neutrality may end this year. Verizon, AT&T and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are spearheading a three-pronged attack against the open Internet and other open forms of digital communications. If they succeed, telecommunications will be further “deregulated” and, thus, further privatized and monopolized. As a consequence, telecom services will get more expensive, local requirements subordinated to the whims of huge corporate monopolies, competition and innovation will suffer and U.S. world ranking in terms of broadband speed – 15th today! – will further erode. One attack involves Verizon’s court challenge to the FCC’s very authority to regulate digital communications. […]
by David Rosen on Feb 4, 2013 -
In Praise of Doubt
It turned out to be incredibly prophetic that my first day in Venice, Italy, as one of the leaders for the Biennale College-Cinema was spent at collector François Pinault‘s incredible Punta della Dogana. This beautiful museum opened in 2009, with its closest neighbor — the Santa Maria della Salute Church — constructed almost four hundred years prior. It was but the first example of old masters sitting side-by-side in conversation with the new I experienced during this magical and inspiring week. Filmmaker and fellow IFP Lab leader Jon Reiss and I entered the exhibition. In Praise of Doubt was based […]
by Amy Dotson on Feb 1, 2013 -
Holy Motors
“The social web can’t exist until you are your real self online,” said Sheryl Sandberg on Charlie Rose last year. “I have to be ‘me’, and you have to be ‘Charlie Rose,’” the Facebook COO told the talk show host. “It’s me” — that single line appearing late in Leos Carax’s Holy Motors unexpectedly devastated me at the film’s Cannes premiere, and perhaps its memory is what’s causing me to recall Sandberg’s statement, which is certainly in line with similar comments by her boss, Mark Zuckerberg. In an age in which online platforms offer the possibility for anyone to craft for themselves a variety […]
by Billy Brennan on Feb 1, 2013 -
SXSW Announces 2013 Lineup
A few weeks ago, the opening night movie at SXSW, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone — plus a handful more choice titles, such as Spring Breakers and the Evil Dead remake — were announced, but today the full line-up was unveiled. As ever, there’s a ton of titles here by directors we know little or nothing about — SXSW is a true discovery festival — but there’s also a fair amount here that grabs the attention straight away. In the narrative competition section, there are new films from Todd Sklar, Chris Eska (August Evening) and former “25 New Faces” alum Destin Daniel […]
by Nick Dawson on Jan 31, 2013 -
Critic’s Notebook: In Rotterdam, a Strong Crop of American Indies
With its famously catholic tastes and sprawling slate, the International Film Festival Rotterdam is a place to get lost. A week into its 10-day run, a fairly subdued 42nd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has unfurled a smattering of buzz-worthy world premieres and its usual mix of budding talents from unusually farflung spots on the globe, high-art provocations, exhaustive considerations of an emerging national cinema or two and obscure auteur retrospectives. However, I’ve found that it’s always the surprises here that grab you, little films you’d otherwise never see except in this context, that make the trip worthwhile. I […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 30, 2013 -
“Tough Little Stories”: Director Walter Hill at 92Y Tribeca
Tuesday night at 92Y Tribeca in downtown Manhattan, critics Nick Pinkerton and Nicolas Rapold presented Walter Hill’s 1981 Southern Comfort and the man himself afterwards. “I’m very pleased that you’re looking at this movie 30 years later,” Hill first said when sitting down for a 57-minute Q&A. “You’ve made an old man happy. The movie, when it came out, got mostly bad reviews and did absolutely no business. Did better in Europe and Asia.” “Did better in Europe and Asia” is a common lament for American director prophets without honor in their own country. Hill’s not precisely one of those […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 29, 2013 -
Story as Software
We are swimming in a sea of data. In 2012, Facebook passed the one billion-user mark, 48 hours worth of new video was uploaded to YouTube every minute and Apple received their one-millionth app submission while the Android store listed more than 600,000 apps with more than 20 billion installs. These stats represent an incredible amount of online activity with a decent percentage attributed to a rise in smartphone and tablet usage. Fame and riches await those who can effectively capture and monetize even a small percentage of this activity. In April, Facebook announced that they were acquiring Instagram, a […]
by Lance Weiler on Jan 29, 2013 -
Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2012
Opening a film festival with Leos Carax’s Holy Motors shows sullen optimism, of which the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival had plenty. The 10-day event in mid-November brimmed with hope and sunshine, but also what felt like bone-weariness from six years of producing both the international and the spring documentary festival with declining resources in a country where bankers and politicians are determined to spiral into further decline. Past parallel events, such as filmmaker master classes and a daily convocation of directors called “Just Talking,” were missed. Neither a first-time festivalgoer nor the crowds would notice: Capacity was reported at […]
by Ray Pride on Jan 29, 2013
