Though it won’t hit theaters for nearly six months, The Birth of a Nation got its first trailer today — and it’s a stunner. The film — written, directed, produced and starring Nate Parker — wowed critics and audiences at Sundance earlier this year, where it won both the Audience Award and Jury Award and sold to Fox Searchlight for a record $17.5 million, making it the biggest Sundance deal of all time. Set to Nina Simone’s cover of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” the trailer artfully presents snippets of the story, which follows Parker’s Nat Turner as becomes the leader of the 1831 slave rebellion. […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 15, 2016To celebrate the November 18 Blu-Ray and DVD release of Jacques Rivette’s opus Out 1: Noli Me Tangere, the French label Carlotta Films has put out a 2 minute trailer for the 775 minute film. For those of us who don’t own a region agnostic Blu-Ray or DVD player (but live in the New York area), it’s worth trying to catch the film at BAM, showing in four parts from November 4 – 19.
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 25, 2015Peppered with documentary elements, Alexander Sokurov’s Francofonia returns the director to similar territory of his much heralded Russian Ark, this time among the hallowed halls of Paris’ Louvre. The film will explore the relationships between art and culture, war and power, throughout the centuries of the museum. Francofonia premieres in competition at Venice and will be shown in the Masters program at TIFF. Check out the first trailer above.
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 1, 2015Here’s the first teaser for Todd Haynes’ Carol, the Cannes hit starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as star crossed lovers in 1950s Manhattan. Conveyed through glimpses and gestures, the trailer boasts the characteristically stunning cinematography of Ed Lachman and Haynes’ deliberate direction. Carol opens from The Weinstein Company on November 30.
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 18, 2015Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River was torn limb from limb by critics at Cannes, followed by the news that it would be a straight to VOD release. The latter appears to have been an overreaction, as Warner Brothers quickly confirmed it’s set to receive a day and date limited spring run, but in any event, it’s a significant demotion for someone of Gosling’s pedigree at the hands of a major studio. The first trailer is now out, and I’m getting definite shades of Malick, Lynch and Tarkovsky, with Benoît Debie’s colorful lensing recalling his work on Irreversible, Enter the Void and Spring Breakers, in particular. There’s […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 3, 2015