Following their stellar Main Slate lineup, the 60th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Spotlight section, featuring a number of notable world premieres. Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s David Johansen documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only will debut at the festival, along with Maria Schrader’s She Said, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough for You?!?, and James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s A Cooler Climate.
Also in the lineup is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Sarah Polley’s Woman Talking, a special 50th anniversary presentation of Solaris with a new live score, a new documentary on the late Robert Downey, Sr. by Chris Smith and new series from Lars von Trier and Marco Bellocchio.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres,...
Also in the lineup is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Sarah Polley’s Woman Talking, a special 50th anniversary presentation of Solaris with a new live score, a new documentary on the late Robert Downey, Sr. by Chris Smith and new series from Lars von Trier and Marco Bellocchio.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Criterion Channel’s February Lineup Includes Melvin Van Peebles, Douglas Sirk, Laura Dern & More
Another month, another Criterion Channel lineup. In accordance with Black History Month their selections are especially refreshing: seven by Melvin Van Peebles, five from Kevin Jerome Everson, and Criterion editions of The Harder They Come and The Learning Tree.
Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.
See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992
All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955
The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970
Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980
Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998
Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006
Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984
Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...
Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.
See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992
All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955
The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970
Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980
Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998
Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006
Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984
Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...
- 1/24/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The triple-threat talent Gordon Parks gets carte blanche to film his own autobiographical novel back in his old home town — and the result is one of the better depictions of growing up black in the Midwest. Parks’ memories don’t wield a fiery political agenda, nor does he say that ‘there were good people on both sides.’ It was what it was and it wasn’t always pretty. As young Newt, Kyle Johnson ‘does the right thing’ and his experience helps explain the pervading lack of faith in justice, to put it mildly. Parks’ beautiful film remains positive, reflecting his warm memories, and his direction gives us a full ensemble of black talent at work: this is said to be the first Hollywood film produced and directed by a black man.
The Learning Tree
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1107
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 14, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Kyle Johnson,...
The Learning Tree
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1107
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 14, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Kyle Johnson,...
- 12/21/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWerner Herzog is set to publish his first novel, a semi-fictional retelling of the story of Hiroo Onda. A friend of Herzog, Onda is a former Japanese soldier known for spending 29 years in the jungle on an island in the Philippines, refusing to surrender at the end of World War II. Penguin Random House states that the novel is written in "an inimitable, hypnotic style—part documentary, part poem, and part dream." Following his erotic nunsploitation film Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven is making the erotic political thriller Young Sinner. The film, according to Verhoeven and RoboCop co-writer Edward Neumeier, will take place in Washington DC and focus on a young staffer "drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger." As this is a Verhoeven film, Neumeir promises that there will be "also be a little sex.
- 12/13/2021
- MUBI
All products and services featured by IndieWire are independently selected by IndieWire editors. However, IndieWire may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
There’s no better time to start putting together your holiday gift list. If you’re shopping for a movie buff this holiday season, the Criterion Collection will be releasing a few new movies on Blu-ray this month, including Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.”
The Criterion Collection version of King’s feature film directorial debut will be released December 7, which gives you plenty of time to pre-order the Blu-ray to give as a gift.
Adapted by Kemp Powers from his 2013 play, “One Night in Miami” shares a fictional take on a real-life meetup between Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Malcolm X, and Sam Cooke. The story unfolds at a Miami motel on...
There’s no better time to start putting together your holiday gift list. If you’re shopping for a movie buff this holiday season, the Criterion Collection will be releasing a few new movies on Blu-ray this month, including Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.”
The Criterion Collection version of King’s feature film directorial debut will be released December 7, which gives you plenty of time to pre-order the Blu-ray to give as a gift.
Adapted by Kemp Powers from his 2013 play, “One Night in Miami” shares a fictional take on a real-life meetup between Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Malcolm X, and Sam Cooke. The story unfolds at a Miami motel on...
- 12/2/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Even though there are a number of award-winning films being released through streaming platforms, that isn’t stopping The Criterion Collection from making sure they get added to the esteemed library. And in December, Criterion adds another with Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” as well as classics such as “The Learning Tree” and “The Red Shoes.”
Read More: Criterion Releasing First Batch Of 4K Discs & ‘Once Upon A Time In China’ Box Set In November
Released less than a year ago, “One Night in Miami” has a very short turnaround before being added to the Criterion Collection in December.
Continue reading Criterion Collection Adds ‘One Night In Miami,’ ‘The Learning Tree’ & ‘The Red Shoes’ In December at The Playlist.
Read More: Criterion Releasing First Batch Of 4K Discs & ‘Once Upon A Time In China’ Box Set In November
Released less than a year ago, “One Night in Miami” has a very short turnaround before being added to the Criterion Collection in December.
Continue reading Criterion Collection Adds ‘One Night In Miami,’ ‘The Learning Tree’ & ‘The Red Shoes’ In December at The Playlist.
- 9/15/2021
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Criterion have followed one of their biggest, most historic months ever with a lighter selection—”lighter” including a 4K debut for one of the greatest films anybody will ever make, mind. Joining the 2,160-pixel gang is Powell & Pressburger’s The Red Shoes, presented in Dolby Vision Hdr and retaining supplements from Criterion’s 2009 Blu-ray.
New additions are Regina King’s One Night in Miami…, which we praised last year for “expert precision inside an impeccably written script,” and Gordon Parks’ The Learning Tree, the first Hollywood feature directed by a Black American. Though there are fewer releases this month out than we might expect, all three are packed—a reassurance that, in times when home-video supplements are increasingly treated as extraneous, some things are being kept for future appreciation.
See artwork below and further details on all titles here:
The post Criterion's December Lineup Include The Red Shoes in 4K and One Night in Miami.
New additions are Regina King’s One Night in Miami…, which we praised last year for “expert precision inside an impeccably written script,” and Gordon Parks’ The Learning Tree, the first Hollywood feature directed by a Black American. Though there are fewer releases this month out than we might expect, all three are packed—a reassurance that, in times when home-video supplements are increasingly treated as extraneous, some things are being kept for future appreciation.
See artwork below and further details on all titles here:
The post Criterion's December Lineup Include The Red Shoes in 4K and One Night in Miami.
- 9/15/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Fifty years ago this month, Isaac Hayes changed the course of movie music with his score for “Shaft.” Not only did Hayes, 29 at the time, become the first Black man to win a music Oscar for his title song, but the success of his two-lp soundtrack album assured that every Black action-adventure film for the next several years would be scored by a major artist of color.
“It was the achievement of his life,” says his son, Isaac Hayes III, “coming from poverty the way that he did, and the struggles that he had. ‘Shaft’ was something otherworldly for a kid from Memphis, Tennessee, that picked cotton, worked in a hog factory and got all the way to the Academy Awards. As a Black man, in 1971, it was incredible.”
“Shaft” came during changing times for movie music — it followed successful pop and rock soundtrack albums for “The Graduate” and “Easy Rider...
“It was the achievement of his life,” says his son, Isaac Hayes III, “coming from poverty the way that he did, and the struggles that he had. ‘Shaft’ was something otherworldly for a kid from Memphis, Tennessee, that picked cotton, worked in a hog factory and got all the way to the Academy Awards. As a Black man, in 1971, it was incredible.”
“Shaft” came during changing times for movie music — it followed successful pop and rock soundtrack albums for “The Graduate” and “Easy Rider...
- 6/25/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Black Westerns
An often overlooked aspect of the western genre is the emergence of the Black-led films born around the Civil Rights era and continuing throughout the century. With essential context from guest programmer and film scholar Mia Mask, The Criterion Channel is now presenting a series of these works, including Rutledge (1960), Duel at Diablo (1966), The Learning Tree (1969), El Condor (1970), Skin Game (1971), Black Rodeo (1972), Buck and the Preacher (1972), The Legend of Black Charley (1972), Thomasine and Bushrod (1974), Posse (1993), Buffalo Soldiers (1997), and Rosewood (1997).
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Center Stage (Stanley Kwan)
Following her breakout with Jackie Chan in Police Story and before her iconic roles in the films of Wong Kar-wai and Olivier Assayas,...
Black Westerns
An often overlooked aspect of the western genre is the emergence of the Black-led films born around the Civil Rights era and continuing throughout the century. With essential context from guest programmer and film scholar Mia Mask, The Criterion Channel is now presenting a series of these works, including Rutledge (1960), Duel at Diablo (1966), The Learning Tree (1969), El Condor (1970), Skin Game (1971), Black Rodeo (1972), Buck and the Preacher (1972), The Legend of Black Charley (1972), Thomasine and Bushrod (1974), Posse (1993), Buffalo Soldiers (1997), and Rosewood (1997).
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Center Stage (Stanley Kwan)
Following her breakout with Jackie Chan in Police Story and before her iconic roles in the films of Wong Kar-wai and Olivier Assayas,...
- 3/12/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
After unveiling the discs that will be arriving in April, including Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder, Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep, and more, Criterion has now announced what will be coming to their streaming channel next month.
Highlights include retrospectives dedicated to Guy Maddin, Ruby Dee, Lana Turner, and Gordon Parks, plus selections from Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg’s stellar box set. They will also present the exclusive streaming premieres of Bill Duke’s The Killing Floor, William Greaves’s Nationtime, Kevin Jerome Everson’s Park Lanes, and more.
Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, which recently arrived on the collection, will be landing on the channel as well, along with a special “Lovers on the Run” series including film noir (They Live by Night) to New Hollywood (Badlands) to the French New Wave (Pierrot le fou) to Blaxploitation (Thomasine & Bushrod) and beyond. Also...
Highlights include retrospectives dedicated to Guy Maddin, Ruby Dee, Lana Turner, and Gordon Parks, plus selections from Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg’s stellar box set. They will also present the exclusive streaming premieres of Bill Duke’s The Killing Floor, William Greaves’s Nationtime, Kevin Jerome Everson’s Park Lanes, and more.
Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, which recently arrived on the collection, will be landing on the channel as well, along with a special “Lovers on the Run” series including film noir (They Live by Night) to New Hollywood (Badlands) to the French New Wave (Pierrot le fou) to Blaxploitation (Thomasine & Bushrod) and beyond. Also...
- 1/26/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Golden Anniversaries, which is co-presented by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) and the St. Louis Public Library, features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event will highlight films from 1971.
Because in-person screenings remain problematic during the pandemic, Cinema St. Louis will hold free online conversations on the films, with people watching the films on their own but gathering virtually to discuss them.
Film critics, film academics, and filmmakers will offer introductory remarks and then participate in discussions about the films. In addition to a fine selection of St. Louis critics, Golden Anniversaries will feature several experts from elsewhere.
The conversations will be offered as free livestreams at 7:30 Pm on the second Monday of every month in 2021 except November, when the St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) hopes to feature several in-person Golden Anniversaries selections.
The first four discussions are already scheduled:
Jan. 11: Peter Bogdanovich...
Because in-person screenings remain problematic during the pandemic, Cinema St. Louis will hold free online conversations on the films, with people watching the films on their own but gathering virtually to discuss them.
Film critics, film academics, and filmmakers will offer introductory remarks and then participate in discussions about the films. In addition to a fine selection of St. Louis critics, Golden Anniversaries will feature several experts from elsewhere.
The conversations will be offered as free livestreams at 7:30 Pm on the second Monday of every month in 2021 except November, when the St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) hopes to feature several in-person Golden Anniversaries selections.
The first four discussions are already scheduled:
Jan. 11: Peter Bogdanovich...
- 1/7/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Easily the best family-oriented black experience movie of the early 1970s, the Third World Cinema Corporation’s first film features Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones in a funny, endearing saga of life in the welfare system, with human feeling and compassion to spare. But the triumphant socially progressive movie fails the 2020 diversity test — its primary producer, cameraman, writers and director are white. Are we still allowed to enjoy it?
Claudine
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1052
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 13, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell, David Kruger, Yvette Curtis, Eric Jones, Socorro Stephens.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: Louis San Andres
Original Music: Curtis Mayfield
Written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine
Produced by J. Lloyd Grant, Hannah Weinstein
Directed by John Berry
In 1974 Claudine impressed this viewer quite a bit. I hadn’t seen many really good...
Claudine
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1052
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 13, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell, David Kruger, Yvette Curtis, Eric Jones, Socorro Stephens.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: Louis San Andres
Original Music: Curtis Mayfield
Written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine
Produced by J. Lloyd Grant, Hannah Weinstein
Directed by John Berry
In 1974 Claudine impressed this viewer quite a bit. I hadn’t seen many really good...
- 10/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Only in a career as pioneering and storied as Gordon Parks‘ could an achievement like “first Black director of a Hollywood studio movie” fall into the second paragraph.
Yet, Parks’ significance as a photographer and renaissance man does often overshadow his film efforts. Sure, fans may know him as the director of the original “Shaft” (1971), but this virtuoso visualist offered the 20th-century film canon much more in “The Learning Tree” (1969) and “Leadbelly” (1976).
Continue reading Gordon Parks: The Overlooked Films Of A Legendary Black Artist [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.
Yet, Parks’ significance as a photographer and renaissance man does often overshadow his film efforts. Sure, fans may know him as the director of the original “Shaft” (1971), but this virtuoso visualist offered the 20th-century film canon much more in “The Learning Tree” (1969) and “Leadbelly” (1976).
Continue reading Gordon Parks: The Overlooked Films Of A Legendary Black Artist [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.
- 8/12/2020
- by Chance Solem-Pfeifer
- The Playlist
This weekend marks the 49th anniversary of the release of “Shaft.” Released in 1971, it grossed about $90 million in adjusted prices — a huge success, more than 25 times its cost. More importantly, it forced studios to acknowledge the Black audience segment that was long taken for granted.
Hollywood studio filmmaking is 105 years old. But it took more than half of those years for major studios to release a film from a Black director. There were Black directors, but they were too few and far between. And The first Black director was silent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, whose parents were former slaves. In the sound era, the first Black director was Spencer Williams, an actor best known as Andy of Amos n’ Andy. And while films in the 1960s began to tell Black stories such as “Lilies of the Field” and “A Raisin In the Sun,” they inevitably reflected white perspectives and denied Black...
Hollywood studio filmmaking is 105 years old. But it took more than half of those years for major studios to release a film from a Black director. There were Black directors, but they were too few and far between. And The first Black director was silent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, whose parents were former slaves. In the sound era, the first Black director was Spencer Williams, an actor best known as Andy of Amos n’ Andy. And while films in the 1960s began to tell Black stories such as “Lilies of the Field” and “A Raisin In the Sun,” they inevitably reflected white perspectives and denied Black...
- 7/5/2020
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
With the latest incarnation of "Shaft" about to hit theaters starring Samuel L. Jackson and the original star of the franchise, Richard Roundtree, the Hollywood Reporter's Bill Higgins looks back on how the 1971 release of the original film revolutionized the film industry and brought in the first major era for African-American action heroes. The film also established Gordon Parks as a bankable director. His first film, "The Learning Tree", released in 1969, won critical acclaim but it was "Shaft" that really broke the glass ceiling for black movie directors, though it would take many years before the opportunity was extended to other talented filmmakers. Click here to read.
- 6/10/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
Four of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 21st-century movies are playing on prints provided by the director.
The series on Kay Francis is still running.
News from Home and Shiraz have screenings. while a restoration of Ken Loach’s Riff-Raff has begun playing.
MoMA
The 16th annual edition of “To Save and Project” continues, with two...
Metrograph
Four of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 21st-century movies are playing on prints provided by the director.
The series on Kay Francis is still running.
News from Home and Shiraz have screenings. while a restoration of Ken Loach’s Riff-Raff has begun playing.
MoMA
The 16th annual edition of “To Save and Project” continues, with two...
- 1/25/2019
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Here’s something I never expected to see: I ran to the blaxploitation attraction Willie Dynamite because I like actress Diana Sands, and it’s her last picture in a too-short career. But the main character on view, a gaudy fur-wearing pimp, is played by none other than Roscoe Orman, well known to a couple of generations of kids as none other than ‘Gordon’ in the long-running TV show Sesame Street. It’s like watching MisterRogers play Hannibal Lecter!
Willie Dynamite
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker, Roger Robinson, George Murdock, Albert Hall, Norma Donaldson, Juanita Brown, Royce Wallace, Tol Avery, Robert DoQui, Slim Gaillard.
Cinematography: Frank Stanley
Film Editor: Aaron Stell
Original Music: J.J. Johnson
Written by Ron Cutler & Joe Keyes Jr.
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown
Directed by Gilbert Moses...
Willie Dynamite
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker, Roger Robinson, George Murdock, Albert Hall, Norma Donaldson, Juanita Brown, Royce Wallace, Tol Avery, Robert DoQui, Slim Gaillard.
Cinematography: Frank Stanley
Film Editor: Aaron Stell
Original Music: J.J. Johnson
Written by Ron Cutler & Joe Keyes Jr.
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown
Directed by Gilbert Moses...
- 1/8/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
22 September 1969: An interview with the black photographer who exposed poverty in America and directed the first blaxploitation films
There is a picture of Gordon Parks now in American school books. This only emerges casually and extremely modestly at the end of our conversation. “As a matter of fact I’m opposite Buffalo Bill, in full colour, and that’s good, because it gives the Negro kids something to identify with.”
It’s not surprising that he is a kids’ hero. He is a “Life” photographer, writer, composer, and now the first Negro film director and producer. “The Learning Tree,” his first feature film, was screened at the Edinburgh Festival. He is 56, with a handsome lived-in face and greying hair, a vivid talker whose opinions have been forged by tough experience.
Continue reading...
There is a picture of Gordon Parks now in American school books. This only emerges casually and extremely modestly at the end of our conversation. “As a matter of fact I’m opposite Buffalo Bill, in full colour, and that’s good, because it gives the Negro kids something to identify with.”
It’s not surprising that he is a kids’ hero. He is a “Life” photographer, writer, composer, and now the first Negro film director and producer. “The Learning Tree,” his first feature film, was screened at the Edinburgh Festival. He is 56, with a handsome lived-in face and greying hair, a vivid talker whose opinions have been forged by tough experience.
Continue reading...
- 9/22/2016
- by Stacy Waddy
- The Guardian - Film News
The Directors Guild of America (which is the official craft union for film and TV directors and assistant directors) has honored pioneering African-American film director, Gordon Parks (1912-2006), by putting his image on their official 2015 membership card. It's appropriate that the picture of Parks obviously comes from a set photo, taken while he was directing his first feature film, "The Learning Tree" for Warner Bros, released in 1969, which was based on his semi-autobiographical book telling of his experiences as a young man in rural Kansas, during the late 1920’s. But to say that Parks was just a film director is only telling part of his...
- 12/26/2014
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
The Learning Tree is an old 1960s film finally making its way to the DVD format. Following the story of Newt Winger (Kyle Johnson), an African American teenager growing up in Kansas beginning in the late 1920s. Newt is forced to confront the prejudice of the era and deal with differing perspectives on the world between his friend and himself. Things come to a head when Newt finds himself caught between his own morality and his loyalty to friends in the face of a crime that takes place.
Watching the film there are some strong similarities to the tone and themes of this film to To Kill a Mockingbird and fans of that film will find plenty to enjoy here, though none of the characters carry the same gravitas as Atticus Finch. The players and production are all very adequate to telling the type of story encapsulated here. Johnson is...
Watching the film there are some strong similarities to the tone and themes of this film to To Kill a Mockingbird and fans of that film will find plenty to enjoy here, though none of the characters carry the same gravitas as Atticus Finch. The players and production are all very adequate to telling the type of story encapsulated here. Johnson is...
- 3/7/2011
- by Tom Hoeler
- JustPressPlay.net
It goes without saying that filmmaking is truly a labor of love.
Whether it be a film breaking box office records with a team of writers and a director who is simply there to shoot actors acting, or be it the smallest of small independent film, within any production you will find a person or group of people putting their heart and soul into the film.
This may not be any more clear in the 1969 film, The Learning Tree.
Written and directed by Gordon Parks, the film is based off of a 1964 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, penned by Parks, and now, 22 years after being selected to join the National Film Registry here in the Us, the Warner Archive has brought the public this beloved and absolutely fantastic look at not only growing up, but growing up in a time and world where you aren’t wanted.
Learning tree...
Whether it be a film breaking box office records with a team of writers and a director who is simply there to shoot actors acting, or be it the smallest of small independent film, within any production you will find a person or group of people putting their heart and soul into the film.
This may not be any more clear in the 1969 film, The Learning Tree.
Written and directed by Gordon Parks, the film is based off of a 1964 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, penned by Parks, and now, 22 years after being selected to join the National Film Registry here in the Us, the Warner Archive has brought the public this beloved and absolutely fantastic look at not only growing up, but growing up in a time and world where you aren’t wanted.
Learning tree...
- 3/4/2011
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
The newest clutch of classic Doctor Who releases includes a special edition re-release of the much-requested - and actually pretty decent, despite what you might have heard - 1996 made-for-tv Doctor Who: The Movie (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 Srp), starring Paul McGann in his only outing as the 8th Doctor. Also getting a release is the Jon Pertwee story The Mutants (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 Srp). Both...
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
The newest clutch of classic Doctor Who releases includes a special edition re-release of the much-requested - and actually pretty decent, despite what you might have heard - 1996 made-for-tv Doctor Who: The Movie (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 Srp), starring Paul McGann in his only outing as the 8th Doctor. Also getting a release is the Jon Pertwee story The Mutants (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 Srp). Both...
- 2/11/2011
- by UncaScroogeMcD
Back during the early days of S & A I wrote about legendary photographer, author, composer filmmaking pioneer and all around Renaissance Man Gordon Parks’ truly wonderful and beautiful 1969 film The Learning Tree. (Here)
The film based on Parks autobiographical novel about growing up in rural Kansas during the 1920′s starred Kyle Johnson (Lt. Uhura Nichelle Nichols’ real life son) and was the first film to be directed by a black director for a major Hollywood film studio, Warner Bros and I lamented that this wonderful film was not available on DVD. However that has been, at last, finally corrected. Today the film was released and is now available on DVD on the Warner Archive label (Here).
Unfortunately, as with all Warner Archive releases and other DVD-on demand from other companies, there are no special extras (a commentary by Johnson would have been great) but at least we finally now have...
The film based on Parks autobiographical novel about growing up in rural Kansas during the 1920′s starred Kyle Johnson (Lt. Uhura Nichelle Nichols’ real life son) and was the first film to be directed by a black director for a major Hollywood film studio, Warner Bros and I lamented that this wonderful film was not available on DVD. However that has been, at last, finally corrected. Today the film was released and is now available on DVD on the Warner Archive label (Here).
Unfortunately, as with all Warner Archive releases and other DVD-on demand from other companies, there are no special extras (a commentary by Johnson would have been great) but at least we finally now have...
- 2/2/2011
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Gordon Parks, who became the first black person to direct a major studio feature when Warner Bros. released his autobiographical film The Learning Tree in 1969 and helped create the blaxploitation genre with 1971's Shaft, died Tuesday in his home in New York. He was 93. A versatile photographer, writer and filmmaker, Parks was a cultural icon whose accomplishments inspired succeeding generations of black artists. He was the first black photographer to work at Life and Vogue, and he reported and photographed the lives of black Americans for Life from 1948-68. Along with director Melvin Van Peebles, he is credited to giving birth to blaxploitation movies with Shaft and its sequel, Shaft's Big Score!...
Gordon Parks, who became a pioneering and influential force in African-American cinema with the films The Learning Tree and Shaft, died on Tuesday in New York; he was 93. Born in Kansas, Parks was orphaned at 15 and grew up homeless, taking jobs wherever he could before becoming interested in photography in the 1930s, working several government jobs during World War II. He ultimately joined Life magazine in the late 40s as the publication's first African-American photographer, and his worked ranged from celebrity shoots to photo essays chronicling the effects of poverty, segregation, and crime. In the 60s, his work covering the Black Power movement and a poverty-stricken family in Rio de Janiero became some of his most notable, with a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel, The Learning Tree, also published early in the decade. With encouragement from John Cassavettes, Parks became the first African-American filmmaker to helm a major studio film with his 1969 adaptation of The Learning Tree, which was among the first 25 films to be preserved in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. His second film, the groundbreaking cult classic Shaft (1971), was a resounding commercial success, and despite Parks' protestations that the movie was not meant to be exploitative, helped launch the "blaxploitation" movement of the 70s. Parks went on to direct Shaft's Big Score, The Super Cops, and Leadbelly in the 70s; his son, Gordon Parks Jr. (who died in a plane crash in 1979), directed another cult classic, Superfly. Photography and filmmaking were just two of Parks' accomplishments, as he also wrote novels, memoirs, poetry and music, receiving a National Medal of Arts, and was the co-founder of Essence magazine. Married and divorced three times, Parks is survived by a son, two daughters, and several grandchildren. --Prepared by IMDb staff...
- 3/8/2006
- WENN
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