Obituaries
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Getting Close: Remembering Albert Maysles
I woke up in a strange bed in Harlem on a cold and rainy Saturday morning. I was in the second floor guest bedroom of a beautiful old brownstone. The bookshelves were lined with revolutionary material from all cultures, resources for creating manned insurrections, overthrowing governments and surviving months in the wild with only a backpack. Stacks of old records littered the room, mostly ’70s funk, Afro-Cuban jazz and Fela. I grabbed my iPhone, which had slept by my head next to the pillow and considered tweeting or instagramming the moment but quickly dismissed the idea. I stumbled down a […]
by Adam Bhala Lough on Mar 9, 2015 -
The Radiant Godfather’s Trusty Sarcophagus: A Requiem for René Ricard
Lipstick Traces René Ricard, Massachussets-born poet, painter, art critic and Warhol superstar, died February 1 after a battle with cancer, and the Botticellian angels quarrel, seeking revery as trumpets blare in heavenly jubilee for a luminous child. Ricard was published as a teen in the Paris Review in 1967. During the ’70s and ’80s, his articles for Artforum magazine helped launch the careers of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Julian Schnabel and Francesco Clemente. Upon meeting the pop artist Andy Warhol and his protégée, Edie Sedgwick, Ricard found his feral adopted family and went on to appear in the 1965 film […]
by Michele Civetta on Feb 5, 2014 -
“The Minute You Walk Out the Door You’re Risking Something”: Philip Seymour Hoffman on the Challenge of Acting
In a free-flowing interview with June Stein in the Spring, 2008 issue of BOMB Magazine, Philip Seymour Hoffman discusses the insights into acting he gleaned from his experience as a director. Early on there is the following remarkable exchange, in which Hoffman says that acting is not about embracing one’s first instincts: PS: … Actors’ first instinct is to make themselves feel comfortable, to do things to make themselves feel like they’re in it, they’re truthful; I’m moving over here and that feels right, blah, blah, blah…. That’s what I do; so when I see another actor doing that, I […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2014 -
R.I.P., Lou Reed
Lou Reed died today. My condolences to his wife, Laurie Anderson, as well as to everyone who, like me, he meant so much to at so many different stages of our lives. Here are just a few of my favorite Lou Reed songs.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 27, 2013 -
Arthur “Sandy” Mandelberger, 1954 – 2012
I was very sorry to hear this week of the passing of Sandy Mandelberger, an indefatigable champion of independent film and independent film festivals. I first met Sandy almost two decades ago, when he was the Associate Market Director of the IFP’s Independent Feature Film Market. I remember him as a sunny, enthusiastic and engaged professional who thought very clearly about the ecosystem that supports independent film. He went on to form his own company, International Media Resources, where he consulted with both filmmakers and film festivals on their promotion and industry branding. He also organized the Independents Showcase at […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 19, 2012 -
A BAD CAREER MOVE: REMEMBERING GORE VIDAL, 1925 – 2012
Sometimes the most upsetting news comes in twos. It was only a few years ago that, in what was surely the toughest one-two punch to cinephiles in modern history, we lost Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni on successive days. Now, it’s happened again: two days after Chris Marker’s passing, Gore Vidal has died. A prolific screenwriter (he was such a good script doctor that, at one point in the 1950s, MGM had him on their weekly payroll) and sometimes-actor (screen appearances included roles in Gattaca and Bob Roberts), his contributions to the film world were notable (Caligula aside – yikes!). […]
by Zachary Wigon on Aug 1, 2012 -
Filmmakers Also Die: Remembering Chris Marker
In Sans Soleil, a cine-essay from 1983 that feels like it’s from 2083 (and remains the paragon of the form), the narrator speaks of an idea for a film. This imaginary film would be about a man on our planet, from the year 4001 AD, who comes back in time to our era and is moved by the realization that in our time, people are capable of forgetting. You see, this time-traveler comes from a future where forgetting is impossible, where humans have figured out how to condition the brain to remember everything. In this future society, memories hold none […]
by Zachary Wigon on Jul 30, 2012 -
LENA DUNHAM REMEMBERS NORA EPHRON
For The New Yorker, Lena Dunham has penned a wonderful remembrance of writer/director Nora Ephron, who passed away this week of leukemia. Not surprisingly, they knew each other and, last year, had become friends. Here’s Dunham on that friendship: …I devoured her prose, her other film offerings, and became a fangirl right along with my mother, aunt, grandmother and every other intelligent woman in the tristate area. Which is why it was so momentous when, in March of 2011, I received a short, perfect e-mail from Ephron, saying she had seen and enjoyed my film and would like to take […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 28, 2012 -
A TRIBUTE TO AN EXCEPTIONAL MAN: MICHAEL RIVA, IN THE DETAILS
Production designer J. Michael Riva passed away in Los Angeles on June 7. Below he is remembered by Jon Reiss. — Editor When I first met Michael Riva I thought he was a bit nuts. It was thirteen years ago on a pre-school camping trip for our sons and he had outfitted his tent fit for a bedouin princess. This was accomplished without any expense – a brightly-colored French handkerchief over a side table here, a cot and mattress covered by sheer Indian fabric there, and on the “wall” of the tent he somehow managed to jerry-rig a small landscape. […]
by Jon Reiss on Jun 11, 2012 -
JAMES BENNETT, 1950 – 2012
Composer James Bennett, who brought musical wit and a lyrical touch to his work in film and theater, died in New York this week of a heart attack. He was classically trained on piano and later was a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, an innovative New York City program known for training composers, lyricists and librettists. His work in theater includes collaborations with Charles Horne on the scores for the Off-Broadway shows Eva Braun and Dogs. Though Jim composed music for only two feature films — Todd Haynes’ Poison and my film Swoon — he brought […]
by Tom Kalin on Jun 8, 2012
