Before we can even get on the record, before that most familiar robot warning of “This meeting is being recorded,” Frederick Elmes is swapping stories about Albert Brooks. After greeting me by name, he mentions a news piece I had written––a blurb about the recent Brooks documentary Defending My Life. He worked with Brooks some, he says, as a camera operator, goes on to speak generously and thoughtfully about the atmosphere the director cultivated and maintained on set, what that meant in turn to his work as a cinematographer, to the cast and crew more generally. I am sitting and grinning like an idiot, not unlike an ancillary Brooks character––maybe Bruno Kirby in Modern Romance. It strikes me that this moment represents Elmes’ approach to tending the moving image: careful research, a focus on listening, the sharing of ideas stemming from observation, and an immediate instinct for collaborative thinking.
- 4/11/2024
- by Frank Falisi
- The Film Stage
Next week marks Charles Burnett’s 80th birthday, which the filmmaker will celebrate tonight in long-gestating style: by premiering the restoration of his “The Annihilation of Fish” in Los Angeles. Burnett first premiered the film at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, and for 25 years he’s struggled to get it in front of audiences.
“I’m curious, because it’s been locked away for a very long time for all sort of reasons and you sort of wonder if it’s still relevant, how audiences are going to take it,” Burnett told IndieWire on the eve of his birthday and tonight’s screening.
Tonight’s free screening is part of the UCLA Festival of Preservation, a full circle moment for Burnett, who learned his craft at UCLA’s film school. Fifty years later, his alma mater helped restore a film that, at times, looked like it might be locked in a Technicolor vault forever.
“I’m curious, because it’s been locked away for a very long time for all sort of reasons and you sort of wonder if it’s still relevant, how audiences are going to take it,” Burnett told IndieWire on the eve of his birthday and tonight’s screening.
Tonight’s free screening is part of the UCLA Festival of Preservation, a full circle moment for Burnett, who learned his craft at UCLA’s film school. Fifty years later, his alma mater helped restore a film that, at times, looked like it might be locked in a Technicolor vault forever.
- 4/5/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Most filmmakers only really get going when the pain of not making a movie finally boils over to the point where it exceeds the pain of making a movie. And once this pivotal point-of-no-return is reached, the accumulated velocity of ambition will not allow petty inconveniences to impede the ultimate realization of its goal. Not even a punishing lack of start-up capital–or even, it turns out, a torrential Southern California downpour choking the streets of LA to a frigid standstill.
So despite being rescheduled from February 6 due to an aggressive late-winter rainfall, Fi’s Filmmaker Tuesday session, The Evolution of Microbudget Filmmaking, finally happened last week on March 19, featuring a panel of four acclaimed indie producers and directors (not to mention Fi Fellows!) who have all managed to make big waves with their work despite microscopic production budgets. They were: Iram Parveen Bilal, Ron Najor, Gia Rigoli and Avril Speaks.
So despite being rescheduled from February 6 due to an aggressive late-winter rainfall, Fi’s Filmmaker Tuesday session, The Evolution of Microbudget Filmmaking, finally happened last week on March 19, featuring a panel of four acclaimed indie producers and directors (not to mention Fi Fellows!) who have all managed to make big waves with their work despite microscopic production budgets. They were: Iram Parveen Bilal, Ron Najor, Gia Rigoli and Avril Speaks.
- 3/27/2024
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Indie icon Kim Gordon, whose excellent solo album “The Collective” dropped last week, is this month’s featured film curator for Galerie, the new online film club launched by Indian Paintbrush. Below, Gordon shares a deeply personal curation of eight films that influence and reflect audio, visual art, and personal style. While best known as a musician and cofounding member of Sonic Youth, Gordon’s art has long stretched into multiple other disciplines, with film being just one.
“Morvern Callar,” dir. Lynne Ramsay, 2002
I love the way Lynne Ramsay uses sound dynamics. In this movie the music is like another character. The mixtape that her dead boyfriend made and left for her (saying “Keep the music to yourself”) becomes a thread throughout the film. He is the music — it not only keeps him alive for her but replaces him.
“Clouds of Sils Maria,” dir. Olivier Assayas, 2014
The relationship in this...
“Morvern Callar,” dir. Lynne Ramsay, 2002
I love the way Lynne Ramsay uses sound dynamics. In this movie the music is like another character. The mixtape that her dead boyfriend made and left for her (saying “Keep the music to yourself”) becomes a thread throughout the film. He is the music — it not only keeps him alive for her but replaces him.
“Clouds of Sils Maria,” dir. Olivier Assayas, 2014
The relationship in this...
- 3/13/2024
- by Kim Gordon
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSEvil Does Not Exist.We are saddened to learn that Issue 97 will be Cinema Scope’s last in its current form. To “do something valuable in this field,” editor and publisher Mark Peranson writes, “one needs creative freedom.” This is exactly what, for twenty-five years and just under 100 issues, Cinema Scope was able to provide, offering a space that allowed, per Peranson, “a certain kind of filmmaker’s work to be treated with the intellect and respect they deserve.” The print issue is on its way to subscribers now, and its entire contents—including interviews with Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Rodrigo Moreno, and Alex Ross Perry—can also be read online.Sandra Milo has died at the age of 90. She starred in Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1963) and Juliet of the Spirits...
- 1/31/2024
- MUBI
Kino Lorber, at the Lumiére Festival and International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon with a number of new restorations, including Stanley Kubrick’s “Fear and Desire,” will next release Bridgett M. Davis’ 1996 drama “Naked Acts” and a complete retrospective of Oscar Micheaux, the first black filmmaker.
Also headed for release is “The Dragon Painter,” a rare, 1919 silent film with an all Asian cast, with the feel of an old Japanese film but entirely shot in the San Francisco area. It stars Sessue Hayakawa, who produced it himself, as well as his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki.
Kino Lorber is partnering with Milestone Films to release “The Dragon Painter” in 4K in 2024 with a new score.
Likewise set for a 4K release next year in partnership with Milestone is “Naked Acts,” which follows young Black actress Cicely, who is about to make her acting debut in a low budget film. As...
Also headed for release is “The Dragon Painter,” a rare, 1919 silent film with an all Asian cast, with the feel of an old Japanese film but entirely shot in the San Francisco area. It stars Sessue Hayakawa, who produced it himself, as well as his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki.
Kino Lorber is partnering with Milestone Films to release “The Dragon Painter” in 4K in 2024 with a new score.
Likewise set for a 4K release next year in partnership with Milestone is “Naked Acts,” which follows young Black actress Cicely, who is about to make her acting debut in a low budget film. As...
- 10/18/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAggro Dr1ft.NYFF have announced a few new lineups, including their adventurous-looking Spotlight section, with new work by Harmony Korine, Hayao Miyazaki, Nathan Fielder & Benny Safdie, and more. They've also shared the experimental program for Currents, which opens with Eduardo Williams’s The Human Surge 3 and features James Benning, Deborah Stratman, and Pham Thien An. And finally, their Revivals section includes restorations of Jean Renoir’s “almost ghostly last film in Hollywood,” The Woman on the Beach (1947); Niki de Saint Phalle's first solo feature Un rêve plus long que la nuit (1976); and a 4K restoration of Horace Ové’s Pressure (1976), world-premiering in conjunction with the London Film Festival. Following news last week that Leila’s Brothers (2022) filmmakers Saeed Roustayi and Javad Noruzbegi have been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended over five years,...
- 8/23/2023
- MUBI
We ranked the 100 best movies of the ‘80s, and listed our favorite performances, scores, and anime of the decade. We interviewed Charles Burnett about his compromised masterpiece “My Brother’s Wedding,” Susan Seidelman about bringing a new kind of woman to the big screen, “Buddies” actor David Schachter about the first movie to tackle AIDS head-on, and went deep with Hal Hartley on the making of “The Unbelievable Truth.” Michael Giacchino waxing poetic on “Raiders of the Lost Ark?” Griffin Dunne reflecting on “After Hours?” The story of the Sundance Institute from the people who brought it to life? A true Day One exclusive.
We ran essays about the synth invasion of Hollywood scores, the uncomfortably comedic role that consent played in ’80s comedies, the birth of the steadicam, the ending of “Fatal Attraction,” and — of course — why “Streets of Fire” should’ve been the biggest rock musical of our lifetimes.
We ran essays about the synth invasion of Hollywood scores, the uncomfortably comedic role that consent played in ’80s comedies, the birth of the steadicam, the ending of “Fatal Attraction,” and — of course — why “Streets of Fire” should’ve been the biggest rock musical of our lifetimes.
- 8/18/2023
- by David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland and Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Charles Burnett is best known for his landmark portraits of Black American life, from the aching neorealism of “Killer of Sheep” to the mordant mysticism of “To Sleep with Anger,” his films aim to depict the broken contract the country made with its African American citizens in the aftermath of World War II.
His lesser-known masterpiece “My Brother’s Wedding,” however, is emblematic of a different continuum running through Burnett’s films: the theme of becoming.
An intimate window into early ’80s Los Angeles, where confluences of Black Southern roots were still trying to flower in a hostile urban environment — “My Brother’s Wedding” is a heated tale about the perils of upward mobility, the rising drug epidemic, and the tight alliance shared by two Black men, Pierce (Everett Silas) and Soldier (Ronnie Bell), the latter of whom has just been released from prison as the film begins.
Young and proudly working-class,...
His lesser-known masterpiece “My Brother’s Wedding,” however, is emblematic of a different continuum running through Burnett’s films: the theme of becoming.
An intimate window into early ’80s Los Angeles, where confluences of Black Southern roots were still trying to flower in a hostile urban environment — “My Brother’s Wedding” is a heated tale about the perils of upward mobility, the rising drug epidemic, and the tight alliance shared by two Black men, Pierce (Everett Silas) and Soldier (Ronnie Bell), the latter of whom has just been released from prison as the film begins.
Young and proudly working-class,...
- 8/17/2023
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
A low-key, poetic exploration of life’s ironies, Monica Sorelle’s feature debut Mountains frames the disappearance of Miami’s Little Haiti with a warm, compassionate gaze recalling the masters of social realism––akin to Roberto Rossellini with the touch of Ousmane Sembène’s lighter films. With a title drawn from a Haitian proverb “behind mountains there are mountains,” the film retains a light touch, somewhat more sad than mad as Little Haiti disappears in the city’s building boom. A modest dream home is unobtainable once the real estate vultures circle the neighborhood and Xavier Sr. (Atibon Nazaire), a demolition worker, plays a role in changing his neighborhood permanently, making way for young Whole Foods-shopping professionals to displace families and small businesses.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
- 6/12/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Mubi is adding over 50 features from the Sony Pictures’ library to its U.S. streaming service. The mix of studio and arthouse fare includes Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich and films from Wes Anderson, Pedro Almodovar and Guillermo Del Toro.
The company’s growing and global streaming service currently offers over 900 titles in the U.S., where it adds one new film to the platform daily. The Sony deal is a significant haul, especially since studios have become more aggressive in retaining content for their own services. Sony, uniquely, doesn’t have a streaming platform in-house.
Each Sony film has its own window, with some available already and all cycling onto the service at some point through the end of 2024. Others titles in the deal include 2046 by Wong Kar-wai; Volver by...
The company’s growing and global streaming service currently offers over 900 titles in the U.S., where it adds one new film to the platform daily. The Sony deal is a significant haul, especially since studios have become more aggressive in retaining content for their own services. Sony, uniquely, doesn’t have a streaming platform in-house.
Each Sony film has its own window, with some available already and all cycling onto the service at some point through the end of 2024. Others titles in the deal include 2046 by Wong Kar-wai; Volver by...
- 3/30/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai, Steven Spielberg, Claire Denis, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Kelly Reichardt, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Charles Burnett, Lynne Ramsay, Lee Chang-dong, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mia Hansen-Løve, Bi Gan, Michael Haneke, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Those are just a few of the directors who have been featured at New Directors/New Films throughout its 52-year history.
With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.
Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...
With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.
Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...
- 3/28/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Everything Everywhere All At Once was the big winner at the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, winning seven awards out of its eight nominations.
The genre-bending film won best feature, and Michelle Yeoh won best lead performance, while Stephanie Hsu won best breakthrough performance and Ke Huy Quan won best supporting performance, beating out his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis. The filmmaking duo Daniels also won best screenplay and best director, while Paul Rogers won best editing for the film.
Through tears, Yeoh said, “The Daniels, my boys, thank you for writing such an incredible script that gave us the opportunity to be here to be seen to be heard. And I want to dedicate this to all our mothers. Without our mothers, none of us would be here. … Thank you to all of you for believing in us and giving us a seat at the table. And for all...
The genre-bending film won best feature, and Michelle Yeoh won best lead performance, while Stephanie Hsu won best breakthrough performance and Ke Huy Quan won best supporting performance, beating out his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis. The filmmaking duo Daniels also won best screenplay and best director, while Paul Rogers won best editing for the film.
Through tears, Yeoh said, “The Daniels, my boys, thank you for writing such an incredible script that gave us the opportunity to be here to be seen to be heard. And I want to dedicate this to all our mothers. Without our mothers, none of us would be here. … Thank you to all of you for believing in us and giving us a seat at the table. And for all...
- 3/5/2023
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy)
Everything you need to know about Alice’s (Anna Kendrick) state of mind concerning the abuse inflicted by her boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick) are the words “it’s not like he hurts me.” We feel Sophie’s (Wunmi Mosaku) wince in our bones—”hurt” doesn’t only become noteworthy when wrought by a physical altercation. Alice is glued to her phone to ensure she doesn’t miss a call or text. She wakes up super early to apply make-up and style her hair to Simon’s preference. Parrots all the soundbites he uses to police her eating habits about the toxicity of sugar. And literally pulls her hair out of her head whenever she has a spare second...
Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy)
Everything you need to know about Alice’s (Anna Kendrick) state of mind concerning the abuse inflicted by her boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick) are the words “it’s not like he hurts me.” We feel Sophie’s (Wunmi Mosaku) wince in our bones—”hurt” doesn’t only become noteworthy when wrought by a physical altercation. Alice is glued to her phone to ensure she doesn’t miss a call or text. She wakes up super early to apply make-up and style her hair to Simon’s preference. Parrots all the soundbites he uses to police her eating habits about the toxicity of sugar. And literally pulls her hair out of her head whenever she has a spare second...
- 2/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Since the creation of the camera and the dawn of cinema, film has been one long experiment. Experimental film has often been defined through its rejection of traditional storytelling and structure, its defiance of logic or reason while creating mesmerizing scenes through dreamlike abstraction and subjective narrative.
A key figure in the early history of experimental film was the French filmmaker Georges Méliès. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Méliès was one of the first filmmakers to use special effects and trick photography to create fantastical and surreal images on the screen. His films, such as A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, were some of the first examples of what would later be called experimental film. Another important trailblazer during the silent era was female director Lois Weber who is credited in creating an estimated 200 to 400 films. She was credited with pioneering the use of the...
A key figure in the early history of experimental film was the French filmmaker Georges Méliès. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Méliès was one of the first filmmakers to use special effects and trick photography to create fantastical and surreal images on the screen. His films, such as A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, were some of the first examples of what would later be called experimental film. Another important trailblazer during the silent era was female director Lois Weber who is credited in creating an estimated 200 to 400 films. She was credited with pioneering the use of the...
- 1/19/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, a series celebrating Black cinema with works from Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ephraim Asili, Bill Duke, and more.
Additional highlights include Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Albert Brooks’ Modern Romance, Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, shorts by Emilija Škarnulytė, and the beginning of a series spotlighting Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
February 1 – Softie, directed by Samuel Theis | From France with Love
February 2 – The Sleeping Negro, directed by Skinner Myers
February 3 – Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater
February 4 – To Sleep with Anger, directed by Charles Burnett
February 5 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer | Performers We Love
February 6 – Aphotic Zone, directed by Emilija...
Additional highlights include Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Albert Brooks’ Modern Romance, Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, shorts by Emilija Škarnulytė, and the beginning of a series spotlighting Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
February 1 – Softie, directed by Samuel Theis | From France with Love
February 2 – The Sleeping Negro, directed by Skinner Myers
February 3 – Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater
February 4 – To Sleep with Anger, directed by Charles Burnett
February 5 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer | Performers We Love
February 6 – Aphotic Zone, directed by Emilija...
- 1/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Edward R. Pressman, the prolific Hollywood indie producer behind Wall Street, Badlands, American Psycho, Das Boot and The Crow, among dozens of others, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 79.
His death was confirmed to Deadline his company, Pressman Films.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Bruce Gowers Dies: Groundbreaking Music Video Director Of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" Was 82 Related Story Jeff Shuter Dies: Producer Of Motion Comics For "Invincible" & "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" Was 41
With dozens of acclaimed and impactful films and TV movies stretching back to the late 1960s and including now-classics like Conan the Barbarian, Talk Radio, Bad Lieutenant and Brian De Palma’s 1972 Sisters, Pressman was noted for discovering talented directors early in their careers. In addition to Sisters he produced De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise, and, with the acclaimed 1973 TV-movie Badlands, Terrence Malick. Jason Reitman made his...
His death was confirmed to Deadline his company, Pressman Films.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Bruce Gowers Dies: Groundbreaking Music Video Director Of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" Was 82 Related Story Jeff Shuter Dies: Producer Of Motion Comics For "Invincible" & "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" Was 41
With dozens of acclaimed and impactful films and TV movies stretching back to the late 1960s and including now-classics like Conan the Barbarian, Talk Radio, Bad Lieutenant and Brian De Palma’s 1972 Sisters, Pressman was noted for discovering talented directors early in their careers. In addition to Sisters he produced De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise, and, with the acclaimed 1973 TV-movie Badlands, Terrence Malick. Jason Reitman made his...
- 1/18/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
In a major shift one of the nation’s premier arthouses, Karen Cooper will be exiting as director on June 30 after 50 years running the Film Forum in New York City. Deputy Director Sonya Chung will assume the role.
Cooper has led the nonprofit cinema since its first iteration in 1972 as a 50-seat loft space on the Upper West Side open only weekends, to a multi-million dollar operation with four screens and 500 seats in lower Manhattan. She’ll remain an advisor to Chung with a focus on programming premieres and fundraising
“To say this is a transitional moment would be a vast understatement – for virtually all of its history, Film Forum has been energetically and most ably guided by Karen, not least during the very challenging pandemic period from which we are emerging. My board colleagues and I are extremely grateful for her tenure, and excited that in Sonya we have...
Cooper has led the nonprofit cinema since its first iteration in 1972 as a 50-seat loft space on the Upper West Side open only weekends, to a multi-million dollar operation with four screens and 500 seats in lower Manhattan. She’ll remain an advisor to Chung with a focus on programming premieres and fundraising
“To say this is a transitional moment would be a vast understatement – for virtually all of its history, Film Forum has been energetically and most ably guided by Karen, not least during the very challenging pandemic period from which we are emerging. My board colleagues and I are extremely grateful for her tenure, and excited that in Sonya we have...
- 1/9/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Every 10 years, the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine asks hundreds of film critics to name what they believe to be the 10 greatest movies of all time. From this, a master list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time is compiled. Once released, there's a brief period of effusion followed by days of rage. How could "[insert masterpiece here]" rank below so many films that are clearly inferior, or, god forbid, miss the list entirely? For some, the final list is too esoteric while others find the list too beholden to tradition. Many correctly point out that there's historically been a decided caucasian male slant.
The BFI addressed this last complaint in 2022 by expanding its scope from 846 critics to 1,639. This broadening of perspectives has resulted in what is easily the most racially and ethnically diverse list in the poll's 70-year history. Films from Ousmane Sembène ("Black Girl"), Julie Dash ("Daughters of the...
The BFI addressed this last complaint in 2022 by expanding its scope from 846 critics to 1,639. This broadening of perspectives has resulted in what is easily the most racially and ethnically diverse list in the poll's 70-year history. Films from Ousmane Sembène ("Black Girl"), Julie Dash ("Daughters of the...
- 12/2/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
It’s been less than 24 hours since the announcement of Sight and Sound’s greatest films of all-time polls. While we have a decade more of discourse, the first reactions were expectedly divisive when certain 21st-century films make the list and other venerated classics are dropped. As interesting as the top 100 is to discuss, we wanted to look a bit deeper to see how the reception of certain films shifted over the last decade, with a rundown of the films that were added and those removed.
As one can see below, about a quarter of the list switched up this time, with major showings for a number of women filmmakers—Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman, Julie Dash, Jane Campion, Barbara Loden, Céline Sciamma, Maya Daren, and Věra Chytilová. Wong Kar-wai, Hayao Miyazaki, Charles Burnett, Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, and Bong Joon-ho were also well-represented.
The films that were dropped...
As one can see below, about a quarter of the list switched up this time, with major showings for a number of women filmmakers—Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman, Julie Dash, Jane Campion, Barbara Loden, Céline Sciamma, Maya Daren, and Věra Chytilová. Wong Kar-wai, Hayao Miyazaki, Charles Burnett, Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, and Bong Joon-ho were also well-represented.
The films that were dropped...
- 12/2/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Another decade, another Sight & Sound poll. On Thursday, the British magazine unveiled the 2022 edition of its long-running critics’ poll on the greatest films of all time, with “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” taking the top spot — the first film from a female director to achieve the honor since the poll began in 1952.
Directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman and released in 1975, “Jeanne Dielman” is a three-hour, 20-minute film following the title character (Delphine Seyrig), a single mother and prostitute, as she carries out a monotonous daily routine that slowly breaks apart and collapses. Since its premiere, the film has been highly acclaimed as a landmark of feminist cinema. Previously, it ranked 36 on Sight & Sound’s 2012 edition of the poll, where it was one of only two films in the top 100 from a female filmmaker; the other, “Beau Travail” by Claire Denis, is now ranked at number seven.
In celebration...
Directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman and released in 1975, “Jeanne Dielman” is a three-hour, 20-minute film following the title character (Delphine Seyrig), a single mother and prostitute, as she carries out a monotonous daily routine that slowly breaks apart and collapses. Since its premiere, the film has been highly acclaimed as a landmark of feminist cinema. Previously, it ranked 36 on Sight & Sound’s 2012 edition of the poll, where it was one of only two films in the top 100 from a female filmmaker; the other, “Beau Travail” by Claire Denis, is now ranked at number seven.
In celebration...
- 12/1/2022
- by Wilson Chapman and Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Newsrrr.First: Notebook is launching a weekly email newsletter in 2023! Sign up here to keep up with our latest writing in this precarious digital age.At a recent screening of Rrr in Chicago, S.S. Rajamouli mentioned that his father and screenwriting partner V. Vijayendra Prasad is beginning to draft a sequel. In the meantime, Rajamouli is preparing an untitled film starring Mahesh Bubu, set to begin filming in the spring.In this Willamette Week article about George Saunders’s new short story collection Liberation Day, there is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mention of a film project. Richard Ayoade will direct an adaptation of Saunders’s 2012 short story “The Semplica-Girl Diaries,” set to begin filming next year. Though Ayoade stole the show in both parts of Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, this will be his...
- 11/16/2022
- MUBI
A comprehensive, personal, and kaleidoscopic look at representation, Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough For You?!? is a passionate and loving walk through film history framed by Blaxploitation cinema of the 1970s. Written, directed, and narrated by the master conversationalist, curator, film scholar, and cultural critic, this is a densely packed visual essay told through film clips, archival materials, and interviews with Black stars of multiple eras who speak to the influence of this sub-genre on their lives and careers.
Borne from the notion that America was in a freefall spiral circa 1968, a new kind of subversive independent cinema arrived on the scene, forcing Hollywood to compete and adapt. Mitchell notes landmarks of representation along with the way—including Robert Downy Sr.’s Putney Swope, an experimental comedy set in the world of advertising,, and Martin Ritt’s The Great White Hope starring James Earl Jones.
Black Enough is...
Borne from the notion that America was in a freefall spiral circa 1968, a new kind of subversive independent cinema arrived on the scene, forcing Hollywood to compete and adapt. Mitchell notes landmarks of representation along with the way—including Robert Downy Sr.’s Putney Swope, an experimental comedy set in the world of advertising,, and Martin Ritt’s The Great White Hope starring James Earl Jones.
Black Enough is...
- 11/9/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
That’s The Honourable Sheryl Lee Ralph to you!
On Monday, Emmy-winning “Abbott Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph shared a post on Instagram from the King’s House, where she was awarded the Order of Jamaica.
Read More: Sheryl Lee Ralph Reacts To Beyoncé Sending Her Flowers Following Her Big Emmy Win
Along with Ralph, the ceremony honoured 143 notable Jamaicans, including recording artist Agent Sasco, jazz pianist Monty Alexander and others.
“Well, it is now official! I am The Honourable Sheryl Lee Ralph Oj,” Ralph wrote in the caption. “Warrior Woman!”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Sheryl Lee Ralph (@thesherylleeralph)
The honour was celebrated by fans, including “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson, who commented with a heart eyes emoji.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaas!!!!! ,” wrote Kerry Washington, while Joe Pantaliano added, “You were always Honorable m!!! ”
Read More: Jennifer Hudson Fangirls While Teaming Up With ‘Original Dreamgirl’ Sheryl Lee...
On Monday, Emmy-winning “Abbott Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph shared a post on Instagram from the King’s House, where she was awarded the Order of Jamaica.
Read More: Sheryl Lee Ralph Reacts To Beyoncé Sending Her Flowers Following Her Big Emmy Win
Along with Ralph, the ceremony honoured 143 notable Jamaicans, including recording artist Agent Sasco, jazz pianist Monty Alexander and others.
“Well, it is now official! I am The Honourable Sheryl Lee Ralph Oj,” Ralph wrote in the caption. “Warrior Woman!”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Sheryl Lee Ralph (@thesherylleeralph)
The honour was celebrated by fans, including “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson, who commented with a heart eyes emoji.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaas!!!!! ,” wrote Kerry Washington, while Joe Pantaliano added, “You were always Honorable m!!! ”
Read More: Jennifer Hudson Fangirls While Teaming Up With ‘Original Dreamgirl’ Sheryl Lee...
- 10/17/2022
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
When discussing representation, we emphasize the necessity of Black people living in this moment and seeing themselves onscreen. But in the past, Black audiences had a much stronger need to visualize a different, more prosperous future in the wake of the violent realities of Jim Crow, segregation, and the Civil Rights movement. They needed to see a world where Black people were allowed to meet their full potential as artists, thinkers, and craftspeople.
In the opening lines of the new documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” director Elvis Mitchell speaks of his grandmother, remarking that “movies changed the way she dreamed.” For people in her generation, those dreams could be life-changing.
But most of the faces she saw onscreen at the movies were white. For the Black cinephile in the early years of Hollywood, projecting oneself onto characters was necessary. And yet, there were filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and,...
In the opening lines of the new documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” director Elvis Mitchell speaks of his grandmother, remarking that “movies changed the way she dreamed.” For people in her generation, those dreams could be life-changing.
But most of the faces she saw onscreen at the movies were white. For the Black cinephile in the early years of Hollywood, projecting oneself onto characters was necessary. And yet, there were filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and,...
- 10/11/2022
- by Jourdain Searles
- Indiewire
The title of Elvis Mitchell’s documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” is a rallying cry heard in Ossie Davis’ “Cotton Comes to Harlem,” and it reflects the exuberant tone of this very wide-ranging, essayistic tribute to the Black-centered movies of the 1970s.
Mitchell describes his intentions on the soundtrack and says that this film is an examination of how “one decade forever changed the movies and me.” Though we never see him on screen, it is Mitchell’s voice guiding us throughout, and that voice is never less than lively, witty and provocative.
Premiering at the New York Film Festival on its way to Netflix, “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” runs 135 minutes and takes in an enormous amount of material; Mitchell’s insights into any particular film or subject have to be both brief and acute, and this suits Mitchell perfectly, because he has always been a...
Mitchell describes his intentions on the soundtrack and says that this film is an examination of how “one decade forever changed the movies and me.” Though we never see him on screen, it is Mitchell’s voice guiding us throughout, and that voice is never less than lively, witty and provocative.
Premiering at the New York Film Festival on its way to Netflix, “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” runs 135 minutes and takes in an enormous amount of material; Mitchell’s insights into any particular film or subject have to be both brief and acute, and this suits Mitchell perfectly, because he has always been a...
- 10/10/2022
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
"This is the story about a group of artists that changed the culture forever." Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for Is That Black Enough For You?!?, a documentary film directed by the film critic and radio host Elvis Mitchell. You may have heard of him before? If not, check him out here. This doc tracks the history of Black cinema, focused mainly on the '70s (1968-1978), with archival and new interviews with many of the key players from the era. Crucial artistic voices, including director Charles Burnett, Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Laurence Fishburne, Zendaya and others, offer their distinctive prism on the creators and the many films that dazzled and inspired. The doc provides insight into the history of Black representation going back to the earliest days of cinema, and the cultural impact of witnessing unapologetic Blackness. This looks fantastic!! An exciting and empowering trip back through cinema history.
- 10/7/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The era of 1970s Black cinema is at the forefront for film critic Elvis Mitchell’s Netflix documentary, “Is That Black Enough for You? How one decade changed the movies (and me).”
The documentary, which makes its world premiere in the Spotlight section of the 2022 New York Film Festival, debuts in select theaters October 28 before streaming on Netflix November 11. Mitchell writes, directs, and narrates the feature, which includes interviews with Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Zendaya, and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as actors Billy Dee Williams, Harry Belafonte, Mario Van Peebles, Margaret Avery, and Charles Burnett.
“They were proof that we were here, that we create culture, that we have voices, and that we will be heard,” Fishburne says in the trailer about the legacy of Black filmmakers.
David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh produce the documentary, along with Angus Wall and Ciara Lacy.
The official synopsis reads: From celebrated writer and film historian Elvis Mitchell,...
The documentary, which makes its world premiere in the Spotlight section of the 2022 New York Film Festival, debuts in select theaters October 28 before streaming on Netflix November 11. Mitchell writes, directs, and narrates the feature, which includes interviews with Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Zendaya, and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as actors Billy Dee Williams, Harry Belafonte, Mario Van Peebles, Margaret Avery, and Charles Burnett.
“They were proof that we were here, that we create culture, that we have voices, and that we will be heard,” Fishburne says in the trailer about the legacy of Black filmmakers.
David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh produce the documentary, along with Angus Wall and Ciara Lacy.
The official synopsis reads: From celebrated writer and film historian Elvis Mitchell,...
- 10/7/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
The American Film Institute’s Los Angeles-based film festival AFI Fest has revealed this year’s crop of red carpet galas including films from Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro, Maria Schrader and Florian Zeller.
As previously announced, AFI Fest will open with the world premiere of Apple’s Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me on Nov. 2 and close four days later with the U.S. premiere of Universal Pictures’ and Amblin Entertainment’s The Fabelmans from Steven Spielberg.
Iñárritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, which will screen Nov. 3, centers on Silverio, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker living in Los Angeles who returns to his native country, unaware that this simple trip will push him to an existential limit. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid and Iker Solano star in the film.
On Nov. 4, notable journalist,...
The American Film Institute’s Los Angeles-based film festival AFI Fest has revealed this year’s crop of red carpet galas including films from Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro, Maria Schrader and Florian Zeller.
As previously announced, AFI Fest will open with the world premiere of Apple’s Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me on Nov. 2 and close four days later with the U.S. premiere of Universal Pictures’ and Amblin Entertainment’s The Fabelmans from Steven Spielberg.
Iñárritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, which will screen Nov. 3, centers on Silverio, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker living in Los Angeles who returns to his native country, unaware that this simple trip will push him to an existential limit. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid and Iker Solano star in the film.
On Nov. 4, notable journalist,...
- 9/20/2022
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ second major temporary exhibition, opening Aug. 21, is a nuanced exploration of the ways in which Black filmmakers and performers have impacted, defined and expanded American movies. The exhibition (which was five years in the making) takes a comprehensive look at film history and Black visual culture more broadly, highlighting notable items like original costumes worn by Lena Horne in Stormy Weather (1943) and Sammy Davis Jr. in Porgy and Bess (1959), tap dance shoes from the Nicholas Brothers and one of Louis Armstrong’s trumpets.
The beginning of the show, 1898, marks the creation of “the first known moving image footage of African American performers onscreen, [seen] in a dignified way,” says Doris Berger, co-curator and vp curatorial affairs at the Academy Museum. The show concludes with material from 1971, the dawn of the Blaxploitation subgenre, acknowledging the...
Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ second major temporary exhibition, opening Aug. 21, is a nuanced exploration of the ways in which Black filmmakers and performers have impacted, defined and expanded American movies. The exhibition (which was five years in the making) takes a comprehensive look at film history and Black visual culture more broadly, highlighting notable items like original costumes worn by Lena Horne in Stormy Weather (1943) and Sammy Davis Jr. in Porgy and Bess (1959), tap dance shoes from the Nicholas Brothers and one of Louis Armstrong’s trumpets.
The beginning of the show, 1898, marks the creation of “the first known moving image footage of African American performers onscreen, [seen] in a dignified way,” says Doris Berger, co-curator and vp curatorial affairs at the Academy Museum. The show concludes with material from 1971, the dawn of the Blaxploitation subgenre, acknowledging the...
- 8/21/2022
- by Evan Nicole Brown
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is celebrating 73 years of Black film artistry with the new exhibit titled Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971.
Curated by the Academy Museum’s Doris Berger and Rhea Combs of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the first-of-its-kind exhibition features seven galleries exploring Black representation in film, from portraits of icons like Ruby Dee and Nina Mae McKinney to home videos of the Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to help expand the conversation around American cinema, essentially, by bringing forward these important contributions by Black filmmakers as well as performers and other artisans and technicians,” Combs tells Variety.
Since 2017, Berger and Combs have been acquiring a vast collection of costumes, scripts, drawings and other historical materials for “Regeneration” by digging through multiple archives at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library and even traveling to Berlin and Paris.
Curated by the Academy Museum’s Doris Berger and Rhea Combs of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the first-of-its-kind exhibition features seven galleries exploring Black representation in film, from portraits of icons like Ruby Dee and Nina Mae McKinney to home videos of the Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to help expand the conversation around American cinema, essentially, by bringing forward these important contributions by Black filmmakers as well as performers and other artisans and technicians,” Combs tells Variety.
Since 2017, Berger and Combs have been acquiring a vast collection of costumes, scripts, drawings and other historical materials for “Regeneration” by digging through multiple archives at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library and even traveling to Berlin and Paris.
- 8/19/2022
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDavid Warner in The Wars of the Roses.David Warner, who died earlier this week, is warmly paid tribute to by artist and filmmaker Tacita Dean in the Guardian. In the piece, Dean talks about her admiration for the actor's performance in Alain Resnais' Providence and how she convinced him to star in her own film of the same name.Mary Alice also passed away this week, aged 85. A Tony- and Emmy-winning actor, Alice was known for her roles in Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger, Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, and Penny Marshall's Awakenings, among many other performances on both stage and screen.As part of a series of events investigating "the new languages of the contemporary," the Locarno Film Festival will host a 24-hour-long talk titled "The Future of Attention,...
- 8/3/2022
- MUBI
Click here to read the full article.
Mary Alice, the Tony- and Emmy-winning actress who starred in the original Broadway production of Fences, portrayed the mother of three singing daughters in Sparkle and appeared as The Oracle in The Matrix Revolutions, has died. She was 85.
Alice died Wednesday in her Manhattan apartment, an NYPD spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.
In 1990 films, Alice played Nurse Margaret opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall; the family matriarch dealing with a disruptive guest (Danny Glover) in Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger; and a woman whose son was struck by a car in the South Bronx in Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.
The onetime Chicago schoolteacher received back-to-back Emmy nominations in 1992 and ’93 — winning in the second year — for her supporting turn as Marguerite Peck, whose child is murdered, on the Atlanta-set NBC legal drama I’ll Fly Away,...
Mary Alice, the Tony- and Emmy-winning actress who starred in the original Broadway production of Fences, portrayed the mother of three singing daughters in Sparkle and appeared as The Oracle in The Matrix Revolutions, has died. She was 85.
Alice died Wednesday in her Manhattan apartment, an NYPD spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.
In 1990 films, Alice played Nurse Margaret opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall; the family matriarch dealing with a disruptive guest (Danny Glover) in Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger; and a woman whose son was struck by a car in the South Bronx in Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.
The onetime Chicago schoolteacher received back-to-back Emmy nominations in 1992 and ’93 — winning in the second year — for her supporting turn as Marguerite Peck, whose child is murdered, on the Atlanta-set NBC legal drama I’ll Fly Away,...
- 7/28/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Just four years ago, Cicely Tyson made history as the first Black female recipient of an honorary Oscar, which was given in recognition of her six decades of immeasurably influential acting work. Now, the academy’s board of governors have demonstrated their commitment to continue showing appreciation toward Black women in film by announcing Euzhan Palcy as one of this year’s honorary awardees. The innovative director-writer-producer, whose professional career dates back 40 years, follows Sidney Poitier, Spike Lee, and Charles Burnett as the fourth Black filmmaker to receive this distinction, and stands as the fifth female one to do so after Lillian Gish, Agnès Varda, Lina Wertmüller, and Elaine May.
Along with Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, and Peter Weir, Palcy is set to be recognized at the upcoming 13th annual Governors Awards. The 64-year-old’s tribute comes in acknowledgment of her status as “a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance...
Along with Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, and Peter Weir, Palcy is set to be recognized at the upcoming 13th annual Governors Awards. The 64-year-old’s tribute comes in acknowledgment of her status as “a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance...
- 6/29/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Click here to read the full article.
Beloved actor and Parkinson’s disease activist Michael J. Fox will be celebrated with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award while 13-time songwriting Oscar bridesmaid Diane Warren, six-time directing-writing Oscar runner-up Peter Weir and trailblazing Black director Euzhan Palcy will collect honorary Oscars at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 13th Governors Awards on Nov. 19, the Academy announced Tuesday.
“The Academy’s board of governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” outgoing Academy president David Rubin said in a statement. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and...
Beloved actor and Parkinson’s disease activist Michael J. Fox will be celebrated with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award while 13-time songwriting Oscar bridesmaid Diane Warren, six-time directing-writing Oscar runner-up Peter Weir and trailblazing Black director Euzhan Palcy will collect honorary Oscars at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 13th Governors Awards on Nov. 19, the Academy announced Tuesday.
“The Academy’s board of governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” outgoing Academy president David Rubin said in a statement. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and...
- 6/21/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If you don’t recognize the name Sheryl Lee Ralph, we’re afraid that you’ve got some work to do. Currently part of the acclaimed ensemble for the ABC comedy “Abbott Elementary,” Ralph is simply a living legend. She originated the role of Deena Jones in the original Broadway production of “Dreamgirls”. She spent five seasons playing Brandy’s mom on the ’90s sitcom “Moesha.” She won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Charles Burnett’s classic film “To Sleep with Anger.” She was part of the original Broadway cast of Best Musical winner “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” She’s been working almost non-stop since she got her first television guest spot in, wait for it, 1977.
Continue reading Yep, Sheryl Lee Ralph Improvised “Sweet Baby Jesus, And The Grown One Too” On ‘Abbott Elementary’ [Interview] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Yep, Sheryl Lee Ralph Improvised “Sweet Baby Jesus, And The Grown One Too” On ‘Abbott Elementary’ [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 6/13/2022
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” concluded its breakout first season on May 8 with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980 NBA Finals, the team’s first of five titles in eight years. But much like the real Showtime Lakers of the 1980s, there is no rest for the weary. The “Winning Time” cast is already training for Season 2, as star DeVaughn Nixon, who plays his father Norm Nixon, tells Gold Derby during a break in practice.
“You’ve got the authentic interview,” the son says with a laugh while taking a breather inside the show’s training facility.
See‘Winning Time’ reviews praise HBO’s flashy Lakers series from Adam McKay
Nixon has been an actor since he was a child – his first screen credit was in the acclaimed Charles Burnett film “To Sleep With Anger” and he later appeared in blockbuster...
“You’ve got the authentic interview,” the son says with a laugh while taking a breather inside the show’s training facility.
See‘Winning Time’ reviews praise HBO’s flashy Lakers series from Adam McKay
Nixon has been an actor since he was a child – his first screen credit was in the acclaimed Charles Burnett film “To Sleep With Anger” and he later appeared in blockbuster...
- 5/13/2022
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wednesday detailed how its upcoming exhibit “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971” will explore Black filmmakers from Oscar Micheaux to Melvin Van Peebles.
The Museum shared details of the exhibit, which will open on Aug. 21 and run through April 9, 2023 in the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery. It is the second major temporary exhibit at the Academy Museum, after the current installation devoted to the work of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
In a press release, the Academy Museum described the exhibition this way:
“The exhibition explores the achievements and challenges of both independent production and the studio system, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s through the height of the civil rights movement. ‘Regeneration’ features rarely seen excerpts of films restored by the Academy Film Archive, as well as other narrative films and documentaries; newsreels and home movies; photographs; scripts; drawings; costumes; equipment; posters; and historical materials,...
The Museum shared details of the exhibit, which will open on Aug. 21 and run through April 9, 2023 in the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery. It is the second major temporary exhibit at the Academy Museum, after the current installation devoted to the work of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
In a press release, the Academy Museum described the exhibition this way:
“The exhibition explores the achievements and challenges of both independent production and the studio system, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s through the height of the civil rights movement. ‘Regeneration’ features rarely seen excerpts of films restored by the Academy Film Archive, as well as other narrative films and documentaries; newsreels and home movies; photographs; scripts; drawings; costumes; equipment; posters; and historical materials,...
- 5/4/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
To celebrate Black history month, Ava DuVernay’s indie distribution, arts and advocacy collective Array has produced “28 Days of ‘Sankofa,'” an event series where select cinemas, universities and festival locations throughout the U.S. are screening Ethiopian director Haile Gerima’s “Sankofa” for free, one screening for each day of February. In addition, Array created a free learning companion designed to help viewers process the weight of what they’re watching.
Gerima is best known as one of the leading members of the L.A. Rebellion, which was a movement of artists who studied film at UCLA from the late 1960s to early 1980s. Along with figures like Julie Dash and Charles Burnett, Gerima made a name for himself with movies that provided a Black alternative to the style of classical Hollywood. “Sankofa,” which was nominated for the coveted Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival in...
Gerima is best known as one of the leading members of the L.A. Rebellion, which was a movement of artists who studied film at UCLA from the late 1960s to early 1980s. Along with figures like Julie Dash and Charles Burnett, Gerima made a name for himself with movies that provided a Black alternative to the style of classical Hollywood. “Sankofa,” which was nominated for the coveted Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival in...
- 2/18/2022
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
The Haile Gerima story is one of personal and professional resistance. A warrior whose chosen weapon is cinema, Gerima has been at the forefront of the Black independent film movement for almost 50 years, leading a charge to counter the West’s history of gross misrepresentations of the Black experience with complete and complex stories about what it means to be Black, viewed through a global lens.
Most exemplary of this ethos is his epic 1993 slavery-era revolt drama, “Sankofa,” which has now been given new life in a partnership between Gerima’s Mypheduh Films and Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing. A brand-new 4K restoration of the film is available today on Netflix in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Gerima will also be honored by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with its inaugural Vantage Award as part of its opening gala on September 25.
For Gerima, the chance...
Most exemplary of this ethos is his epic 1993 slavery-era revolt drama, “Sankofa,” which has now been given new life in a partnership between Gerima’s Mypheduh Films and Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing. A brand-new 4K restoration of the film is available today on Netflix in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Gerima will also be honored by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with its inaugural Vantage Award as part of its opening gala on September 25.
For Gerima, the chance...
- 9/24/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Francis Ford Coppola for Wall Street Journal. (Photographed by Austin Hargrave) In a new interview with Deadline, Francis Ford Coppola has announced that he's starting to assemble a cast and prepare financing for his long-gestating passion project, the epic film Megalopolis. "I’m still willing to do the dream picture, even if I have to put up my own money, and I am capable of putting up $100 million if I have to here." Hou Hsiao-hsien and Lee Kang-sheng are currently attached to Twisted Strings, a TV anthology series written and directed by Huang Xi. Hou will be the executive producer of the series, while Lee will star in a role that is "like nothing he had ever portrayed before." Kaycee Moore, the star of Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, has died. Throughout her career,...
- 9/1/2021
- MUBI
Kaycee Moore, star of “Killer of Sheep” and “Bless Their Little Hearts,” died on Aug. 13. She was 77.
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Moore met director Charles Burnett while he was still in film school at UCLA, booked her first major role as Stan’s wife in his 1978 film “Killer of Sheep.” Burnett received an honorary Oscar in 2018 for his films such as “Killer of Sheep,” which depicted the realities of socioeconomic oppression faced by the Black community in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Five years later, Moore starred as Andais Banks in “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was written by Burnett and directed by Billy Woodberry. The film, which followed a family in Watts as it navigates race, money and gender, was met with critical acclaim.
Moore also appeared in Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” and the 1999 film “Ninth Street,” directed by Tim Rebman and Kevin Willmott.
Three...
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Moore met director Charles Burnett while he was still in film school at UCLA, booked her first major role as Stan’s wife in his 1978 film “Killer of Sheep.” Burnett received an honorary Oscar in 2018 for his films such as “Killer of Sheep,” which depicted the realities of socioeconomic oppression faced by the Black community in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Five years later, Moore starred as Andais Banks in “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was written by Burnett and directed by Billy Woodberry. The film, which followed a family in Watts as it navigates race, money and gender, was met with critical acclaim.
Moore also appeared in Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” and the 1999 film “Ninth Street,” directed by Tim Rebman and Kevin Willmott.
Three...
- 8/25/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
In June Dedza Films and Kino Lorber announced their first collaborative release, an anthology picture, Who Will Start Another Fire, containing nine independent short films by young emerging filmmakers hailing from underrepresented communities. Dedza’s first curatorial and distribution project, the film has already been released through Kino Lorber’s virtual cinema platform, playing day-and-date on Tvod and in select arthouse theaters. And this week there’s physical media: a DVD that features an introduction by Charles Burnett. All told, it’s a robust roll-out that augurs well for the vitality of this new voice in discovery and distribution. The filmmakers included in the […]
The post With a New Charles Burnett-Intro’d DVD, Dedza Films Raises Voices of Young, Emerging Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post With a New Charles Burnett-Intro’d DVD, Dedza Films Raises Voices of Young, Emerging Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/10/2021
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In June Dedza Films and Kino Lorber announced their first collaborative release, an anthology picture, Who Will Start Another Fire, containing nine independent short films by young emerging filmmakers hailing from underrepresented communities. Dedza’s first curatorial and distribution project, the film has already been released through Kino Lorber’s virtual cinema platform, playing day-and-date on Tvod and in select arthouse theaters. And this week there’s physical media: a DVD that features an introduction by Charles Burnett. All told, it’s a robust roll-out that augurs well for the vitality of this new voice in discovery and distribution. The filmmakers included in the […]
The post With a New Charles Burnett-Intro’d DVD, Dedza Films Raises Voices of Young, Emerging Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post With a New Charles Burnett-Intro’d DVD, Dedza Films Raises Voices of Young, Emerging Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/10/2021
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The 24th Annual Reel Black Men Short Film Festival kicks off on Saturday with films from Charles Burnett, David M. Massey, and 19 other Black filmmakers. The festival, which will be held virtually through August 22, is put on each year by the Black Hollywood Education Resource Center. The 21 films being screened came from 500 semifinalists that were culled from 1,700 entries submitted from across the globe.
This year’s line-up is “truly outstanding,” said John Forbes, Bherc’s executive director. “They are great stories that include drama, horror, romantic comedy, documentary, and sci-fi. The content is diverse and tells both historical and contemporary, fictional and non-fictional stories. They are compelling in many cases, including the issue of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Bherc, is a former president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP, and the cousin of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Last year, she became...
This year’s line-up is “truly outstanding,” said John Forbes, Bherc’s executive director. “They are great stories that include drama, horror, romantic comedy, documentary, and sci-fi. The content is diverse and tells both historical and contemporary, fictional and non-fictional stories. They are compelling in many cases, including the issue of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Bherc, is a former president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP, and the cousin of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Last year, she became...
- 8/7/2021
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
by Cláudio Alves
Danny Glover's cameo in Bamako
Despite his fantastic career as an actor, Danny Glover isn't receiving an Honorary Oscar to recognize that work. Instead, AMPAS is honoring him with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award as a way of celebrating his lifelong actions as a community activist, fighting for worldwide justice, and other such efforts. If anything, those values are more imminently evident in Glover's filmography as a producer rather than as an actor. Since the early 90s, after becoming a box-office star, the American thespian started leveraging his success to try and make specific projects happen. Charles Burnett's To Sleep with Anger marked Glover's first experience as a producer, and the funding was mainly secured through his participation in Lethal Weapon 2. From then on, Danny Glover has been a strong supporter of underrepresented filmmakers, helping them make their cinematic dreams come true…...
Danny Glover's cameo in Bamako
Despite his fantastic career as an actor, Danny Glover isn't receiving an Honorary Oscar to recognize that work. Instead, AMPAS is honoring him with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award as a way of celebrating his lifelong actions as a community activist, fighting for worldwide justice, and other such efforts. If anything, those values are more imminently evident in Glover's filmography as a producer rather than as an actor. Since the early 90s, after becoming a box-office star, the American thespian started leveraging his success to try and make specific projects happen. Charles Burnett's To Sleep with Anger marked Glover's first experience as a producer, and the funding was mainly secured through his participation in Lethal Weapon 2. From then on, Danny Glover has been a strong supporter of underrepresented filmmakers, helping them make their cinematic dreams come true…...
- 7/24/2021
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
We'll be celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their career. First up is Danny Glover.
First and foremost, a big fucking congratulations to Danny Glover, whose long, reliable, multi-pronged career is tremendously deserving of the Jean Hersholt Award he will be awarded this year. 2021’s absolutely superb group of Honorary winners makes it all the more fucking absurd these shows aren’t televised, but that’s a whole other tangent. We here at The Film Experience are paying tribute to our favorites among Glover’s remarkable body of work, and when pressed about my favorite of his performances, I immediately went for Charles Burnett’s 1990 feature To Sleep With Anger.
As with Places of the Heart, Glover’s arrival comes just around the fifteen minute mark, by which time we have not only met most of the cast but have gotten acquainted with...
First and foremost, a big fucking congratulations to Danny Glover, whose long, reliable, multi-pronged career is tremendously deserving of the Jean Hersholt Award he will be awarded this year. 2021’s absolutely superb group of Honorary winners makes it all the more fucking absurd these shows aren’t televised, but that’s a whole other tangent. We here at The Film Experience are paying tribute to our favorites among Glover’s remarkable body of work, and when pressed about my favorite of his performances, I immediately went for Charles Burnett’s 1990 feature To Sleep With Anger.
As with Places of the Heart, Glover’s arrival comes just around the fifteen minute mark, by which time we have not only met most of the cast but have gotten acquainted with...
- 7/23/2021
- by Nick Taylor
- FilmExperience
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Closeup of Fay Wray from Doctor X after restoration work. Image from https://www.cinema.ucla.eduNEWSAfter working together in the film Rojo (2018), director Benjamin Naishtat and actor Alfredo Castro reunite to talk about the terror, pleasure and mystery involved in the process of creating a film. They agree that for both director and actor, the seed of creation is the irrationality of madness, and that uncertainty is an essential factor in filmmaking. Castro and Naishtat call for a subversive cinema that cannot be domesticated by current narrative paradigms and that is also capable of using the imagination as a means and a catalyst to reinterpret our history. To listen to this episode and subscribe on your favorite podcast app, click here.The great French film director Jacques Rozier is being evicted from his...
- 7/14/2021
- MUBI
Filmmaker Dee Rees made history on June 29 when her debut feature “Pariah” joined the Criterion Collection, making the Oscar and Emmy nominee the first Black American woman to have her work included. Before Rees, Euzhan Palcy, who is from Martinique, was the lone Black woman to have a film (1989’s “A Dry White Season”) selected.
“It feels like a formal acknowledgment of the film’s impact to the canon and being a part of the culture,” Rees tells Variety of having her movie chosen. “Even though artists have to try to find your validation from inside, it’s nice to be seen.”
And as a Black filmmaker in particular, Rees adds, “it’s important to be included for future generations of filmmakers, if [Criterion] is the thing that’s being taught in schools.”
“When they’re absent, then the assumption is there’s none in existence,” she explains. “There’s no Black filmmakers here,...
“It feels like a formal acknowledgment of the film’s impact to the canon and being a part of the culture,” Rees tells Variety of having her movie chosen. “Even though artists have to try to find your validation from inside, it’s nice to be seen.”
And as a Black filmmaker in particular, Rees adds, “it’s important to be included for future generations of filmmakers, if [Criterion] is the thing that’s being taught in schools.”
“When they’re absent, then the assumption is there’s none in existence,” she explains. “There’s no Black filmmakers here,...
- 7/2/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Filmmaker and Snowfall actor Malcolm M. Mays has been tapped by Amazon Studios to write a new script for the film Steal Away about the daring theft and escape of Robert Smalls, a slave in 1862 Charleston, Sc.
Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) is attached to direct with Cotty Chubb and George Plamondon producing.
Mays recently wrote the reboot of New Jack City for Warner Bros., which we first reported, and is attached to write, direct and produce the feature Flint with John Ortiz and T.I. attached to star. The film is described as a modern-day Chinatown set against the Flint, Mi water crisis. Previously, Mays gained notoriety for his film Trouble, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in at age 17 about the African American and Latin American (Black vs. Brown) tension in South Central Los Angeles. The film was recognized by Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program as well...
Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) is attached to direct with Cotty Chubb and George Plamondon producing.
Mays recently wrote the reboot of New Jack City for Warner Bros., which we first reported, and is attached to write, direct and produce the feature Flint with John Ortiz and T.I. attached to star. The film is described as a modern-day Chinatown set against the Flint, Mi water crisis. Previously, Mays gained notoriety for his film Trouble, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in at age 17 about the African American and Latin American (Black vs. Brown) tension in South Central Los Angeles. The film was recognized by Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program as well...
- 6/17/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
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