Lee Grant, the Oscar-winning actress (“Shampoo”) says she decided after her win to try to direct since good roles for older women were limited. It turns out that was about the halfway point of her 98 year (so far) life. What followed was a narrative feature (“Tell Me a Riddle”) and several documentaries, including “Down and Out in America,” which won an Oscar.
When we last ran our list of the oldest living feature film directors in late 2022, where Grant stood was a mystery. Since her breakout in William Wyler’s “The Detective Story” (1951), her first nomination, her year of birth was unclear. But recently she has clarified that that she was born in 1925. That makes her, to the best of our knowledge, older than any of her peers.
Below are listed the 25 oldest. Since our most recent list, Norman Lear, Robert M. Young (both of who briefly were the oldest...
When we last ran our list of the oldest living feature film directors in late 2022, where Grant stood was a mystery. Since her breakout in William Wyler’s “The Detective Story” (1951), her first nomination, her year of birth was unclear. But recently she has clarified that that she was born in 1925. That makes her, to the best of our knowledge, older than any of her peers.
Below are listed the 25 oldest. Since our most recent list, Norman Lear, Robert M. Young (both of who briefly were the oldest...
- 2/16/2024
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
- 3/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Tuesday, DVD roundup day, is a fine day for taking a look at the new Summer 2011 issue of Cineaste, particularly since, among the online samplings this time around, DVD reviews outnumber all other types of articles combined.
To begin, Darragh O'Donoghue on Harun Farocki's Still Life (1997): "Five aphoristic essays on 17th-century Dutch still-life painting, of about three minutes each, bracket four documentary sequences of photographers creating modern still lifes for magazine advertisements. These two levels, though defined by opposites — stasis/motion, tell/show — are linked by visual motifs and rhymes, just as the modern products echo the subjects of the paintings. The documentary sequences have no commentary, mostly last ten to fifteen minutes, and take their cue from Farocki's earlier An Image (Ein bild, 1983). In that short, he recorded the shooting of a German Playboy centerfold spread, from the building of sets and the arrangement of props (including...
To begin, Darragh O'Donoghue on Harun Farocki's Still Life (1997): "Five aphoristic essays on 17th-century Dutch still-life painting, of about three minutes each, bracket four documentary sequences of photographers creating modern still lifes for magazine advertisements. These two levels, though defined by opposites — stasis/motion, tell/show — are linked by visual motifs and rhymes, just as the modern products echo the subjects of the paintings. The documentary sequences have no commentary, mostly last ten to fifteen minutes, and take their cue from Farocki's earlier An Image (Ein bild, 1983). In that short, he recorded the shooting of a German Playboy centerfold spread, from the building of sets and the arrangement of props (including...
- 6/7/2011
- MUBI
"Margot Benacerraf, now in her 80s, only ever made one feature-length film," begins Josef Braun, "but that film remains so extraordinary, so very nearly singular, that it merits an admiration on par with many more prolific and esteemed bodies of work. After studying and gathering numerous influential allies in France and elsewhere, Benacerraf returned to her native Venezuela, specifically to an island no one had heard of, though when was discovered by the Spanish 450 years earlier it was deemed a sort of paradise on account of its abundance of one resource: salt, as valuable back then as gold. We can see the ruins of colonial fortresses erected to protect the island and its salt marshes, once the center of piracy in the Caribbean, during the prologue of Araya (1959). But historical context quickly gives way to the seeming timelessness of hard labour, to Benacerraf's lyrical approach to depicting the life of a community that was,...
- 5/17/2011
- MUBI
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.
The Beautiful Person (2008)
Streaming Available: 05/17/2011
Synopsis: After transferring to a new high school, beautiful Junie (Léa Seydoux) starts dating fellow student Otto (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), but she soon finds herself falling for Nemours (Louis Garrel), an Italian teacher already entangled in secret affairs with a pupil and colleague. Loosely based on Madame de Lafayette’s novel La Princesse de Clèves, this French drama explores the great pain that often accompanies love.
Average Netflix rating: 3.2 Araya (1959)
Streaming Available: 05/17/2011
Synopsis: Director Margot Benacerraf offers this acclaimed 1959 film that chronicles the harsh existence of Venezuelan laborers who manually recover salt from the tropical marshes in Araya, an ancient salt-producing region in that country.
Average Netflix rating: 3.3 Red,...
The Beautiful Person (2008)
Streaming Available: 05/17/2011
Synopsis: After transferring to a new high school, beautiful Junie (Léa Seydoux) starts dating fellow student Otto (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), but she soon finds herself falling for Nemours (Louis Garrel), an Italian teacher already entangled in secret affairs with a pupil and colleague. Loosely based on Madame de Lafayette’s novel La Princesse de Clèves, this French drama explores the great pain that often accompanies love.
Average Netflix rating: 3.2 Araya (1959)
Streaming Available: 05/17/2011
Synopsis: Director Margot Benacerraf offers this acclaimed 1959 film that chronicles the harsh existence of Venezuelan laborers who manually recover salt from the tropical marshes in Araya, an ancient salt-producing region in that country.
Average Netflix rating: 3.3 Red,...
- 5/17/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Your Weekly Source for Blu-Ray and DVD Release News Blu-Ray for Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) An early Al Pacino in …And Justice For All (1979) Dudley Moore is a happy drunk in Arthur/Arthur 2: On The Rocks (1981/1988) Cute pork for kids… Babe (1995) Another dose of the villainous Mark Hamill in Batman: Return Of The Joker (2000) Forgotten good rom-com with Johnny Depp… Benny & Joon (1993) From the late George Hickenlooper, Kevin Spacey is Casino Jack (2010) Shocking dolphin documentary The Cove (2009) Kevin Kline & Ashley Judd star in De-lovely (2004) Fiddler On The Roof: 40th Anniversary Edition, Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (1971) Jim Carrey & Ewan McGregor star in I Love You Phillip Morris (2010) Rose McGoawn stars in the dark high school comedy Jawbreaker (1999) Ryan Gosling stars in Lars And The Real Girl (2007) Robert DeNiro & Ben Stiller star in Little Fockers (2010) Romantic comedy, Shakespeare-style with Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Julia Roberts...
- 4/4/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Unfortunately time would vindicate me. Not everything has been beneficial for the people of Araya." - Venezuelan director Margot Benacerraf may have only made two films, the 1950s documentaries Reveron and Araya, but her efforts in supporting great Latin American cinema over the past 45 years has made her a national treasure in Venezuela, and in 1990, Araya, depicting the day to day lives of salt miners on a Venezuelan peninsula, had been chosen as one of the five best films in the history of Latin American cinema by the Neighborhood Film/Video Project of Philadelphia. Largely forgotten due to lack of distribution, Araya was stunningly restored for its 50th anniversary, re-released by Milestone films, and enjoying an October run at the IFC Center in NYC. Joining the ranks of other lost documentary classics like I Am Cuba and Killer of Sheep, it is a hidden gem that was not only an early documentary,...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
A film of the simplest and most complex of working worlds. A wonderful visual poem .Araya. was originally produced in 1959 when writer/director Margot Benacerraf (co-written by Pierre Seghers) was nominated for the Golden Palm award at Cannes. She is credited with only one additional film, .Reverón. in 1952. The film is a complex combination of documentary and narrative in the spirit of the French New Wave. It tells the story of one day in the life of a seaside community in the extreme north of Venezuela. The occupants of the town make their living almost exclusively from the production of salt. The salt is mined from the vast Caribbean Sea marshes that extend out from the town. The...
- 10/11/2009
- by Ron Wilkinson
- Monsters and Critics
Fifty years after Margot Benacerraf’s documentary Araya played in competition at the Cannes film festival—in the year of The 400 Blows and Hiroshima Mon Amour, no less—it’s been beautifully restored for a belated U.S. release. But anyone coming to Araya expecting a great, lost classic of world cinema is likely to walk away disappointed. The movie is visually stunning, deploying fluid camerawork and stark black-and-white imagery to record the hardscrabble lives of Venezuelans living and working on a remote salt marsh. As a piece of documentary filmmaking though, Araya is more noteworthy for what it ...
- 10/8/2009
- avclub.com
Continuing its mission to rescue lost classics from obscurity, Milestone Films follows up recently restored releases “Killer of Sheep” and “The Exiles” with Margot Benacerraf’s lyrical and commanding “Araya,” a film which, though it shared the International Critics Prize with “Hiroshima mon amour” at Cannes in 1959, has eluded wide distribution until now. Venezuelan filmmaker Benacerraf focuses on the populace of the titular setting, vast salt marshes located on a peninsula …...
- 10/5/2009
- Indiewire
This week's releases arrive draped in a pervasive air of dissatisfaction -- Chris Rock's daughter is unhappy with her hair, a '70s feminist movement is unhappy with their options, and Jason Ritter and Jess Weixler are unhappy with each other. Elsewhere, British cultural icons are talked up while global corporate interests are torn down.
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"After The Storm"
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Oscar-winning filmmaker and activist James Lecesne's decision to bring a production of the Off-Broadway musical "Once on This Island" to the storm-ravaged city of New Orleans was both obvious and inspired, with an extra layer of resonance provided in the casting of local kids affected firsthand by the disaster. Captured by director Hilla Medalia, this documentary takes us behind the scenes of the production to follow 12 young actors...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 19:59 minutes, 18.3 Mb)
Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"After The Storm"
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Oscar-winning filmmaker and activist James Lecesne's decision to bring a production of the Off-Broadway musical "Once on This Island" to the storm-ravaged city of New Orleans was both obvious and inspired, with an extra layer of resonance provided in the casting of local kids affected firsthand by the disaster. Captured by director Hilla Medalia, this documentary takes us behind the scenes of the production to follow 12 young actors...
- 10/5/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
- Following up on from the vault releases of Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and Kent Mackenzie’s The Exiles (a pair of films which I have criminally still yet to see), Milestone Films has restored and presenting what is labeled as a Venezuelan Masterwork called Araya. The Cannes winner (it shared the International Critics Prize with Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima, Mon Amour) is opening at the IFC Center on October 7th, 2009. Margot Benacerraf (a one time filmmaker) will be in attendance. A film that Jean Renoir said "Don't Cut a Single Frame", sees Benacerraf’s portray a day in the life of three families living in one of the harshest places on earth — Araya, an arid peninsula in northeastern Venezuela. For 450 years, since its discovery by the Spanish, the region’s salt was manually collected and stacked into glowing white pyramids. Overlooking the area, a 17th-century fortress built to
- 7/22/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Berlin -- Richard Loncraine's "My One and Only," a '50s-era comedy starring Renee Zellweger and Kevin Bacon, was squeezed into the competition lineup for this year's Berlin International Film Festival, barely a week before the event kicks off.
Zellweger plays a glamorous single mom on the hunt for a rich man to foot the bill for her and her sons' lifestyle. Produced by Merv Griffith Entertainment and Ray Gun Prods., "My One and Only" will have its world premiere in Berlin. Essential Entertainment is handling international sales.
Berlin also added Lone Scherfig's Sundance favorite "An Education" with Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson and Davis Guggenheim's music documentary "It Might Get Loud" for its Berlinale Special Galas, ensuring the films will get the red carpet treatment without any of the pressure of competition.
All three films should give an added boost of star power to...
Zellweger plays a glamorous single mom on the hunt for a rich man to foot the bill for her and her sons' lifestyle. Produced by Merv Griffith Entertainment and Ray Gun Prods., "My One and Only" will have its world premiere in Berlin. Essential Entertainment is handling international sales.
Berlin also added Lone Scherfig's Sundance favorite "An Education" with Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson and Davis Guggenheim's music documentary "It Might Get Loud" for its Berlinale Special Galas, ensuring the films will get the red carpet treatment without any of the pressure of competition.
All three films should give an added boost of star power to...
- 1/27/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cologne, Germany -- The Berlinale's avant-garde sidebar Forum has completed its lineup, adding new political documentaries from the likes of Hans-Christian Schmid, Simone Bitton and Thomas Heise.
Bitton follows up her Sundance award winner "Wall" (2004) with another documentary focused on the conflict in the Middle East. "Rachel" takes up the story of U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed in 2003 while trying to prevent the destruction of houses in the Gaza Strip.
Schmid, whose drama "Storm" will screen in competition in Berlin, has a Forum entry with the doc "The Wonderful Life of Laundry," a look at the lives of Polish workers who launder the dirty linen trucked across the border from Berlin luxury hotels. Heise's new documentary, "Material" is also set in Berlin and features previously unreleased footage of events surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Other nonfiction entries at the 2009 Forum include Thai documentary "Citizen Juling,...
Bitton follows up her Sundance award winner "Wall" (2004) with another documentary focused on the conflict in the Middle East. "Rachel" takes up the story of U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed in 2003 while trying to prevent the destruction of houses in the Gaza Strip.
Schmid, whose drama "Storm" will screen in competition in Berlin, has a Forum entry with the doc "The Wonderful Life of Laundry," a look at the lives of Polish workers who launder the dirty linen trucked across the border from Berlin luxury hotels. Heise's new documentary, "Material" is also set in Berlin and features previously unreleased footage of events surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Other nonfiction entries at the 2009 Forum include Thai documentary "Citizen Juling,...
- 1/19/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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