We’re sitting in the middle of the street, a truck is heading toward us, and we can’t move. Not on principle — we’re not staging a sit-in. It’s because we’re mic’ed up and shooting a TV show at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. King Street is closed, but festival-approved vehicles still have the right of way. Luckily, the driver sees us and as soon as it passes, without skipping a beat, our host launches into “Hello, and welcome to BBC Culture at the Toronto International Film Festival. I’m Tom Brook.”
With decades of experience under his belt, Brook is unflappable. No wonder his show, “Talking Movies,” is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. If you’re a movie lover and have never heard of “Talking Movies” there’s a gaping hole in your cinephilia: this half-hour show airs monthly in the Us and around the world...
With decades of experience under his belt, Brook is unflappable. No wonder his show, “Talking Movies,” is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. If you’re a movie lover and have never heard of “Talking Movies” there’s a gaping hole in your cinephilia: this half-hour show airs monthly in the Us and around the world...
- 1/16/2019
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Adolfas Mekas made his mark in American independent filmmaking with this avant-garde comedy that shook up film festivals circa 1963. Although it is said to have inspired Andy Warhol, it’s its own animal entirely, eighty minutes of cinematic frivolity that’s too sincere to be a parody of the filmic conventions it so happily celebrates.
Hallelujah the Hills
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1963 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 30, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Peter Beard, Sheila Finn, Martin Greenbaum, Peggy Steffans, Jerome Raphael, Blanche Dee, Jerome Hill, Taylor Mead, Ed Emshwiller.
Cinematography: Ed Emshwiller
Film Editor: Louis Brigante, Adolfas Mekas
Costumes: Bathsheba
Original Music: Meyer Kupferman
Produced by David C. Stone
Written and Directed by Adolfas Mekas
Trying to describe Adolfas Mekas’ Hallelujah the Hills is a real chore. It is avant-garde in a way that no longer seems all that ‘avant,’ yet its impact in 1963 was very strongly felt in independent filmmaking everywhere.
Hallelujah the Hills
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1963 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 30, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Peter Beard, Sheila Finn, Martin Greenbaum, Peggy Steffans, Jerome Raphael, Blanche Dee, Jerome Hill, Taylor Mead, Ed Emshwiller.
Cinematography: Ed Emshwiller
Film Editor: Louis Brigante, Adolfas Mekas
Costumes: Bathsheba
Original Music: Meyer Kupferman
Produced by David C. Stone
Written and Directed by Adolfas Mekas
Trying to describe Adolfas Mekas’ Hallelujah the Hills is a real chore. It is avant-garde in a way that no longer seems all that ‘avant,’ yet its impact in 1963 was very strongly felt in independent filmmaking everywhere.
- 12/1/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In 1962, Kenneth Anger moved to Brooklyn, New York and began living with married filmmakers Willard Maas and Marie Menken. Originally from Los Angeles, Anger had lived for a time in Europe because his early films, such as Fireworks (1947), had been received extremely well overseas. Alas, films that Anger worked on in France and Italy have been either disowned by the filmmaker or were never completed.
Once in Brooklyn, however, Anger became acquainted with a local motorcycle gang and shot footage that would eventually become his most celebrated work, Scorpio Rising (1963). You can watch this underground film classic and read about it here. It is also available on the Complete Magick Lantern Cycle DVD collection.
A year earlier, Menken had made a film about her future roommate, Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (1961), which is included on the DVD documentary Notes on Marie Menken. Willard Maas’s film output was scant in the...
Once in Brooklyn, however, Anger became acquainted with a local motorcycle gang and shot footage that would eventually become his most celebrated work, Scorpio Rising (1963). You can watch this underground film classic and read about it here. It is also available on the Complete Magick Lantern Cycle DVD collection.
A year earlier, Menken had made a film about her future roommate, Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (1961), which is included on the DVD documentary Notes on Marie Menken. Willard Maas’s film output was scant in the...
- 9/23/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
On November 30, 1970, New York City’s Anthology Film Archives opened its doors as the first ever “museum of film” at its original location at 425 Lafayette Street. That was an invitation-only Opening Night event with the first public screening occurring the following night, December 1.
A previous article on the Underground Film Journal uncovered the first five nights of screenings at the Anthology, and the reaction in the NYC press to this unique movie theater.
Digging around in the digital archives of the Village Voice, the Journal has been able to piece together most of the screening lineups for the month of December. Unfortunately, these archives do not contain issues for the last week of November nor the first week of December, so we do not have screening info for December 5-9.
However, below are the screenings for December 10-30. The Anthology’s original plan was to have three screenings every night...
A previous article on the Underground Film Journal uncovered the first five nights of screenings at the Anthology, and the reaction in the NYC press to this unique movie theater.
Digging around in the digital archives of the Village Voice, the Journal has been able to piece together most of the screening lineups for the month of December. Unfortunately, these archives do not contain issues for the last week of November nor the first week of December, so we do not have screening info for December 5-9.
However, below are the screenings for December 10-30. The Anthology’s original plan was to have three screenings every night...
- 8/5/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In a letter dated June 1, 1962, the newly formed Film-Makers’ Cooperative offered their first list of films that were available to rent. Fourteen filmmakers were represented.
The need to form a cooperative distribution center for what were then called “independent filmmakers” was made in a series of meetings in the autumn of 1960. The meetings were organized by Jonas Mekas and Lew Allen; and included New York City-based filmmakers such as Robert Frank, Shirley Clarke, Adolfas Mekas, Ben Carruthers, Peter Bogdanovich and others. These informal meetings would eventually coalesce into the formation of the New American Cinema Group.
On September 30, 1960, Jonas Mekas presented The First Statement of the New American Cinema Group manifesto. One of the items in the manifesto stated that filmmaker Emile de Antonio was entrusted with the task of forming the distribution center, although there’s no record of de Antonio’s actual involvement beyond that.
The distribution center...
The need to form a cooperative distribution center for what were then called “independent filmmakers” was made in a series of meetings in the autumn of 1960. The meetings were organized by Jonas Mekas and Lew Allen; and included New York City-based filmmakers such as Robert Frank, Shirley Clarke, Adolfas Mekas, Ben Carruthers, Peter Bogdanovich and others. These informal meetings would eventually coalesce into the formation of the New American Cinema Group.
On September 30, 1960, Jonas Mekas presented The First Statement of the New American Cinema Group manifesto. One of the items in the manifesto stated that filmmaker Emile de Antonio was entrusted with the task of forming the distribution center, although there’s no record of de Antonio’s actual involvement beyond that.
The distribution center...
- 4/1/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This is Part Two in a series about Chicago’s Experimental Film Coalition; and covers their screening series. You can read Part One here.
Formed in 1983, the Experimental Film Coalition started holding regular monthly screenings starting in 1984. The screenings brought to Chicago the work of independent, experimental filmmakers across the country, as well as screening local work.
Screenings were held at the Randolph Street Gallery, an alternative performance and exhibition space located at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. The Gallery eventually closed down in 1998 and donated their archives to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; which exhibits some of the Coalition’s flyers on their website.
Below is a sample of screening information culled from those archives, listed in chronological order:
1984
March 23
2 Razor Blades, dir. Paul Sharits
Make Me Psychic, dir. Sally Cruikshank
Unsere Afrikareise, dir. Peter Kubelka
Roslyn Romance, dir. Bruce Baillie
Musical Poster #1, dir. Len Lye
April 27
Rainbow Dance,...
Formed in 1983, the Experimental Film Coalition started holding regular monthly screenings starting in 1984. The screenings brought to Chicago the work of independent, experimental filmmakers across the country, as well as screening local work.
Screenings were held at the Randolph Street Gallery, an alternative performance and exhibition space located at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. The Gallery eventually closed down in 1998 and donated their archives to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; which exhibits some of the Coalition’s flyers on their website.
Below is a sample of screening information culled from those archives, listed in chronological order:
1984
March 23
2 Razor Blades, dir. Paul Sharits
Make Me Psychic, dir. Sally Cruikshank
Unsere Afrikareise, dir. Peter Kubelka
Roslyn Romance, dir. Bruce Baillie
Musical Poster #1, dir. Len Lye
April 27
Rainbow Dance,...
- 12/17/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In 1966, as the underground film wave was sweeping the country, a Boston off-shoot of New York City’s Film-Makers’ Cinematheque opened at a performance space at 53 Berkeley Street. Underground films were shown on weeknights, while on the weekends the space transformed into a music venue called The Boston Tea Party.
The Cinematheque and the Tea Party were founded and run by a controversial figure named Mel Lyman, a harmonica player and the leader of a hippie commune in Boston’s Fort Hill neighborhood. Lyman has also been considered a cult leader on par with Charles Manson, except Lyman’s followers never actually murdered anyone. According to the book Apocalypse Culture, Lyman claimed to be an extraterrestrial and was seemingly obsessed with “ruling” the country’s underground culture.
Whatever Lyman’s background, the Cinematheque showed some cool films, according to the actual flyers from that time period below. Click each poster...
The Cinematheque and the Tea Party were founded and run by a controversial figure named Mel Lyman, a harmonica player and the leader of a hippie commune in Boston’s Fort Hill neighborhood. Lyman has also been considered a cult leader on par with Charles Manson, except Lyman’s followers never actually murdered anyone. According to the book Apocalypse Culture, Lyman claimed to be an extraterrestrial and was seemingly obsessed with “ruling” the country’s underground culture.
Whatever Lyman’s background, the Cinematheque showed some cool films, according to the actual flyers from that time period below. Click each poster...
- 8/6/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Andy Warhol by Marie Menken. Competed 1965.
Marie Menken made several films inspired by and starring artists she knew, such as Visual Variations on Noguchi (1945) and Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (1961). According to Warhol’s memoir Popism: The Warhol Sixties (written with Pat Hackett), in 1963 Warhol was brought by his friend Charles Henri Ford to a party hosted by Menken and her husband Willard Maas at the couple’s apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Warhol and Menken hit it off immediately and he would go on to cast her as an actress in his films, such as Chelsea Girls and The Life of Juanita Castro.
Close to the same time, Warhol was also introduced to Gerard Malanga, who would become Warhol’s main art assistant throughout the ’60s and who is featured prominently in this short film. In Popism, Warhol describes Menken and Maas as “sort of godparents” to Malanga.
Andy Warhol presents...
Marie Menken made several films inspired by and starring artists she knew, such as Visual Variations on Noguchi (1945) and Arabesque for Kenneth Anger (1961). According to Warhol’s memoir Popism: The Warhol Sixties (written with Pat Hackett), in 1963 Warhol was brought by his friend Charles Henri Ford to a party hosted by Menken and her husband Willard Maas at the couple’s apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Warhol and Menken hit it off immediately and he would go on to cast her as an actress in his films, such as Chelsea Girls and The Life of Juanita Castro.
Close to the same time, Warhol was also introduced to Gerard Malanga, who would become Warhol’s main art assistant throughout the ’60s and who is featured prominently in this short film. In Popism, Warhol describes Menken and Maas as “sort of godparents” to Malanga.
Andy Warhol presents...
- 7/29/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” Andy Warhol famously said, but the legendary artist probably didn’t expect that such a sentiment would apply to his own screen tests, which have endured over the decades as a curious, intimate look at the inner workings of his creative process.
Filmed during the ’60s-era heyday of his Warhol Factory, the black and white screen tests feature a slew of Warhol regulars — from Ondine to Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed to Bob Dylan — and other famous faces of the day, all lensed on Warhol’s own Bolex camera. Nearly 500 of the screen tests were filmed, though Warhol did not use or exhibit all of them. Favorites were arranged into various compilations that were then screened by Warhol for assorted audiences, though they’ve continued to inspire and delight fans for decades past their original filming.
Read More: Quad Cinema Reborn:...
Filmed during the ’60s-era heyday of his Warhol Factory, the black and white screen tests feature a slew of Warhol regulars — from Ondine to Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed to Bob Dylan — and other famous faces of the day, all lensed on Warhol’s own Bolex camera. Nearly 500 of the screen tests were filmed, though Warhol did not use or exhibit all of them. Favorites were arranged into various compilations that were then screened by Warhol for assorted audiences, though they’ve continued to inspire and delight fans for decades past their original filming.
Read More: Quad Cinema Reborn:...
- 5/3/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Milestone wraps up its ‘Project Shirley,’ an in-depth study of the independent director of The Connection and Portrait of Jason. Practically all of Shirley Clarke’s small and experimental films are here from the early 1950s forward, plus a wealth of biographical film.
The Magic Box: The films of Shirley Clarke, 1929-1987
Blu-ray
The Milestone Cinematheque
1929-1987 / B&W + Color
1:37 flat full frame / 502 min.
Street Date November 15, 2016 / 99.99
featuring Shirley Clarke
Produced by Dennis Doros & Amy Heller
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc boutique companies license ready-made movie classics for home video, and some slap whatever odd-sourced items can be had into the Blu-ray format and call it a restoration. Although the general tide for quality releases is rising, only a few companies will invest time and effort in historically- and artistically- important films lacking an obvious commercial hook. Milestone Films has been consistent in its championing of abandoned ‘marginal’ films,...
The Magic Box: The films of Shirley Clarke, 1929-1987
Blu-ray
The Milestone Cinematheque
1929-1987 / B&W + Color
1:37 flat full frame / 502 min.
Street Date November 15, 2016 / 99.99
featuring Shirley Clarke
Produced by Dennis Doros & Amy Heller
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc boutique companies license ready-made movie classics for home video, and some slap whatever odd-sourced items can be had into the Blu-ray format and call it a restoration. Although the general tide for quality releases is rising, only a few companies will invest time and effort in historically- and artistically- important films lacking an obvious commercial hook. Milestone Films has been consistent in its championing of abandoned ‘marginal’ films,...
- 11/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stand back, watch the fur fly and don't forget to duck -- this is surely the most psychologically toxic play ever adapted for film. The legends Liz and Dick are terrific, and Mike Nichols conquers the screen in his first job of direction. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1966 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date May 3, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis. Cinematography Haskell Wexler Film Editor Sam O'Steen Original Music Alex North Written by Ernest Lehman from the play by Edward Albee Produced by Ernest Lehman Directed by Mike Nichols
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I remember what my reaction was, when I was younger, to movies adapted from plays: no matter how brilliant the dialogue, the thought of people standing around rooms talking was stultifying. Even for great epics and action pictures, I tended to go into a...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I remember what my reaction was, when I was younger, to movies adapted from plays: no matter how brilliant the dialogue, the thought of people standing around rooms talking was stultifying. Even for great epics and action pictures, I tended to go into a...
- 5/3/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Get your beret and warm up the espresso! Some of the most famous deep-dish art film is here -- in HD -- starting with attempts to translate various art 'isms' to the screen, to graphics-oriented abstractions, to 'city symphonies' to the dream visions of Maya Deren and beyond. The careful remasters reproduce proper projection speeds and original music. Masterworks of American Avant-Garde Experimental Film 1920-1970 Blu-ray + DVD Flicker Alley 1920-1970 / B&W and Color / 1:33 full frame / 418 min. / Street Date October 6, 2015 / 59.95 With films by James Agee, Kenneth Anger, Bruce Baillie, Stan Brakhage, James Broughton, Rudolph Burckhardt, Mary Ellen Bute, Joseph Cornell, Jim Davis, Maya Deren, Marcel Duchamp, Emien Etting, Oksar Fischinger, Robert Florey, Amy Greenfield, A. Hackenschmied, Alexander Hammid, Hillary Harris, Hy Hirsh, Ian Hugo, Lawrence Janiac, Lawrence Jordan, Owen Land, Francis Lee, Fernand Léger, Helen Levitt, Jan Leyda, Janice Loeb, Jonas Mekas, Marie Menken, Dudley Murphy, Ted Nemeth, Bernard O'Brien,...
- 10/6/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Want to see great movies for free? This Friday, Lincoln Center brings Film Foundation-restored titles to you at no cost. Ford‘s Drums Along the Mohawk, Scorsese‘s The King of Comedy, John M. Stahl‘s Leave Her to Heaven, Fosse‘s All That Jazz, Donen‘s Two for the Road,...
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Want to see great movies for free? This Friday, Lincoln Center brings Film Foundation-restored titles to you at no cost. Ford‘s Drums Along the Mohawk, Scorsese‘s The King of Comedy, John M. Stahl‘s Leave Her to Heaven, Fosse‘s All That Jazz, Donen‘s Two for the Road,...
- 9/25/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
In a festival whose dedication to celluloid is readily apparent, why not declare it directly? And so one of the Vienna International Film Festival's Special Programs this year is a bastion of that most wonderful format, 16mm film. Programmed by Katja Wiederspahn and Haden Guest with an admirably variegated range, the programs were gathered around collective films, war films, sex films, expanded cinema, and more. Key to the section's expanse, which begins in the 1920s and touches every decade between here and there, is also in highlighting new work done in this increasingly outmoded, "out of date," and unprojectionable format. Included amongst these are films every bit as exciting as the history and canon "Revolution in 16mm" touches on: Jodie Mack's Razzle Dazzle (written about here), Richard Touhy's masterpiece of color Ginza Strip, and, most excitingly, a quartet of new films by Nathaniel Dorsky, the film poet who makes...
- 11/3/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
This week’s Must Read: Making Light of It has posted another one of its wonderful filmmaker profiles, this time for Marie Menken.Here’s a new site to take notice of: The Avant-Garde Film Index, which does exactly what its name implies, indexing experimental, avant-garde and underground films. The site appears to be in its very early stages, but we wish them the best of luck and we’ll keep our eye on it as it grows into the essential resource we’re sure it’ll become.At the Chicago Reader, Ben Sachs interviewed filmmaker Lori Felker about a program of films by Robert Nelson that screened over the weekend at the Gene Siskel Film Center.The Tucson Weekly profiles the Arizona Underground Film Festival, which is going on right now and is having its biggest year ever, especially focusing on the film The Exhibitionists.For the next couple of months,...
- 9/23/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Larry Jordan, occasionally known in more formal circles as Lawrence Jordan, has been making experimental and animation films for half a century now. He grew up in Denver, won a scholarship to Harvard, then dropped out to start a theater back in Colorado with his high school friend, Stan Brakhage. "Stan was always the director," Jordan wrote in a remembrance in the Millennium Film Journal in 2003. "He seemed to have far-reaching radar for locating people and works in the art world. Five of our gang came out to San Francisco in about 1954. (Stan came first — always the avant-garde.) When I arrived, he was living in the basement of poet Robert Duncan and painter Jess Collins. We had one old car, a flatbed trailer for our gear, and about five films between us. So naturally we started out to tour California, showing our wares."
They eventually wound up in New York,...
They eventually wound up in New York,...
- 3/27/2012
- MUBI
Mostly known for her animated films, Martha Colburn returns to live action with a short experimental documentary on the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been going on since mid-September. The above embedded video is actually two short films that should play one right after another. Rather than get into the goals and message of the protestors, Colburn simply documents the scene, displaying the same kind of frenetic montage that her animated films have.
What’s particularly appealing about this short doc is that it also displays a heavy ’60s underground film vibe. While Colburn leaves her shots a little longer than the then-popular “single-frame” shooting technique, the effect is essentially the same, creating a disorienting, kaleidoscope documentary vision. The film is not unlike classic undergrounds like Marie Menken’s Go! Go! Go! and Shirley Clarke’s Bridges-Go-Round.
Also, the “single-frame” technique is particularly appropriate here, centering the action right...
What’s particularly appealing about this short doc is that it also displays a heavy ’60s underground film vibe. While Colburn leaves her shots a little longer than the then-popular “single-frame” shooting technique, the effect is essentially the same, creating a disorienting, kaleidoscope documentary vision. The film is not unlike classic undergrounds like Marie Menken’s Go! Go! Go! and Shirley Clarke’s Bridges-Go-Round.
Also, the “single-frame” technique is particularly appropriate here, centering the action right...
- 10/14/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
’60s underground filmmaker Marie Menken would be 102 today. She passed away on Dec. 29, 1970.
In her honor, go buy or rent the documentary Notes on Marie Menken, directed by Martina Kudlácek. It’s available on Amazon and Netflix. The DVD also includes three of Menken’s short films.
Read More:7 Cool Documentaries About FilmmakersOutrageous! EmpireMartin Scorsese: Champion Of The UndergroundL.A. Filmforum: Treasures From American Film Archives IV Selections...
In her honor, go buy or rent the documentary Notes on Marie Menken, directed by Martina Kudlácek. It’s available on Amazon and Netflix. The DVD also includes three of Menken’s short films.
Read More:7 Cool Documentaries About FilmmakersOutrageous! EmpireMartin Scorsese: Champion Of The UndergroundL.A. Filmforum: Treasures From American Film Archives IV Selections...
- 5/25/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday announced its lineup for the 2011 Special Events and Tribeca Talks panel series. The full press release follows.
New York, NY [March 23, 2011] – The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced its lineup for the 2011 Special Events and Tribeca Talks® panel series. The component programs are “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie,” “Tribeca Talks: Industry,” “Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper, hosted by Barnes & Noble,” the Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival panel, and new this year, in celebration of the tenth Festival, the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series,” featuring one-on-one conversations with acclaimed filmmakers, plus the premiere of five new documentary films and a one-of-a-kind videogame-film event.
This year, Tribeca’s annual panel series, a collection of special events, conversations and audience Q&A’s designed to spark a richer dialogue about film, has expanded to include the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series.” The series invites audiences to...
New York, NY [March 23, 2011] – The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced its lineup for the 2011 Special Events and Tribeca Talks® panel series. The component programs are “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie,” “Tribeca Talks: Industry,” “Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper, hosted by Barnes & Noble,” the Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival panel, and new this year, in celebration of the tenth Festival, the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series,” featuring one-on-one conversations with acclaimed filmmakers, plus the premiere of five new documentary films and a one-of-a-kind videogame-film event.
This year, Tribeca’s annual panel series, a collection of special events, conversations and audience Q&A’s designed to spark a richer dialogue about film, has expanded to include the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series.” The series invites audiences to...
- 3/23/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday announced its lineup for the 2011 Special Events and Tribeca Talks panel series. The full press release follows.
New York, NY [March 23, 2011] – The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced its lineup for the 2011 Special Events and Tribeca Talks® panel series. The component programs are “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie,” “Tribeca Talks: Industry,” “Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper, hosted by Barnes & Noble,” the Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival panel, and new this year, in celebration of the tenth Festival, the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series,” featuring one-on-one conversations with acclaimed filmmakers, plus the premiere of five new documentary films and a one-of-a-kind videogame-film event.
This year, Tribeca’s annual panel series, a collection of special events, conversations and audience Q&A’s designed to spark a richer dialogue about film, has expanded to include the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series.” The series invites audiences to...
New York, NY [March 23, 2011] – The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced its lineup for the 2011 Special Events and Tribeca Talks® panel series. The component programs are “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie,” “Tribeca Talks: Industry,” “Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper, hosted by Barnes & Noble,” the Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival panel, and new this year, in celebration of the tenth Festival, the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series,” featuring one-on-one conversations with acclaimed filmmakers, plus the premiere of five new documentary films and a one-of-a-kind videogame-film event.
This year, Tribeca’s annual panel series, a collection of special events, conversations and audience Q&A’s designed to spark a richer dialogue about film, has expanded to include the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series.” The series invites audiences to...
- 3/23/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Alessandro Cima wrote a new article inspired by my old “What’s an Underground Film, Anyway?” post. In it, Cima argues that the definition of “underground film” should include “a requirement of hostility.” I like what Cima is saying and I get where he’s coming from, but I haven’t decided if I totally agree with him yet. While I certainly like a little hostility in my underground films, the problem is that sustained hostility can a) get tiring; and b) leads to burnout. But, good stuff to contemplate in the article. (P.S. Driving or walking by a row of StarWagons never gets not-exciting to me.) Donna k. muses on why more filmmakers don’t tour with their films like Brent Green does. For what it’s worth, here’s my short answer: Most filmmakers don’t create the ancillary product that would make touring profitable. Green has it all: Music,...
- 10/3/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
First the history, then the list:
In 1969, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas decided to open the world’s first museum devoted to film. Of course, a typical museum hangs its collections of artwork on the wall for visitors to walk up to and study. However, a film museum needs special considerations on how — and what, of course — to present its collection to the public.
Thus, for this film museum, first a film selection committee was formed that included James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney, plus, for a time, Stan Brakhage. This committee met over the course of several months to decide exactly what films would be collected and how they would be shown. The final selection of films would come to be called the The Essential Cinema Repertory.
The Essential Cinema Collection that the committee came up with consisted of about 330 films.
In 1969, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas decided to open the world’s first museum devoted to film. Of course, a typical museum hangs its collections of artwork on the wall for visitors to walk up to and study. However, a film museum needs special considerations on how — and what, of course — to present its collection to the public.
Thus, for this film museum, first a film selection committee was formed that included James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney, plus, for a time, Stan Brakhage. This committee met over the course of several months to decide exactly what films would be collected and how they would be shown. The final selection of films would come to be called the The Essential Cinema Repertory.
The Essential Cinema Collection that the committee came up with consisted of about 330 films.
- 5/3/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
So, I’m currently working on a big research project, the results of which won’t be seen unless you happen to be poring through Bad Lit’s sister site the Underground Film Guide — and the way that site is woefully under-updated, why would you?
The Ufg, as I like to call it, is a database project of underground filmmakers and films. Recently I decided to halt adding new entries and to make the old filmmaker entries I previously uploaded more comprehensive. One way I’m doing that is going through books on underground film and, if a filmmaker is written up in each book, I’ll add that book’s info to the filmmaker’s profile. If you’re interested and want an idea of what I’m talking about, go look at John Waters’ entry and scroll down to the book section.
One book that is a tremendous...
The Ufg, as I like to call it, is a database project of underground filmmakers and films. Recently I decided to halt adding new entries and to make the old filmmaker entries I previously uploaded more comprehensive. One way I’m doing that is going through books on underground film and, if a filmmaker is written up in each book, I’ll add that book’s info to the filmmaker’s profile. If you’re interested and want an idea of what I’m talking about, go look at John Waters’ entry and scroll down to the book section.
One book that is a tremendous...
- 4/17/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Bad Lit’s inaugural Underground Film Links post last week proved to be pretty popular, so here’s a second edition with hopes to keep it going:
In case you missed it, Jonas Mekas has a spiffy new website after splitting with the Stedhal Gallery last year. His old website is now completely dead. The new site has an RSS feed and he’s already put up a couple blog posts already with video clips. It’s a really nice site befitting the man and his work. Bookmark or subscribe! Also in case you missed it, I’ve made the Jonas Mekas entry on my own Underground Film Guide much more detailed with tons of links, book and DVD references and a YouTube video player with lots of videos. If I missed something that should be included — and I’m sure I have, feel free to let me know. Not...
In case you missed it, Jonas Mekas has a spiffy new website after splitting with the Stedhal Gallery last year. His old website is now completely dead. The new site has an RSS feed and he’s already put up a couple blog posts already with video clips. It’s a really nice site befitting the man and his work. Bookmark or subscribe! Also in case you missed it, I’ve made the Jonas Mekas entry on my own Underground Film Guide much more detailed with tons of links, book and DVD references and a YouTube video player with lots of videos. If I missed something that should be included — and I’m sure I have, feel free to let me know. Not...
- 4/11/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This is the 6th post in a series covering the most outrageous moments in underground film history. You can follow the entire series here.
Film: Empire
Director: Andy Warhol
Year: 1964
During his entire filmmaking career, artist Andy Warhol filmed lots of outrageous stuff. With films with titles like Lonesome Cowboys, Nude Restaurant, Mario Banana, Suicide, Bitch — and worse! — it was clear Warhol liked to shock, enrage and embarrass his audiences.
However, the most outrageous thing Warhol ever filmed? The Empire State Building. One shot. For six hours straight. Well, Warhol filmed the topmost portion of the then world’s tallest building for six hours, but when projected he slowed the film down so that he expected audiences to watch a single, static shot for over eight hours.
According to Warhol assistant Gerard Malanga in the Victor Bockris biography The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, filmmaker John Palmer came up with the concept for Empire.
Film: Empire
Director: Andy Warhol
Year: 1964
During his entire filmmaking career, artist Andy Warhol filmed lots of outrageous stuff. With films with titles like Lonesome Cowboys, Nude Restaurant, Mario Banana, Suicide, Bitch — and worse! — it was clear Warhol liked to shock, enrage and embarrass his audiences.
However, the most outrageous thing Warhol ever filmed? The Empire State Building. One shot. For six hours straight. Well, Warhol filmed the topmost portion of the then world’s tallest building for six hours, but when projected he slowed the film down so that he expected audiences to watch a single, static shot for over eight hours.
According to Warhol assistant Gerard Malanga in the Victor Bockris biography The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, filmmaker John Palmer came up with the concept for Empire.
- 1/27/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
On Sunday, Martin Scorsese was given the Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award honoring him equally for his long filmmaking career and for his film preservation work.
In 1990, Scorsese created The Film Foundation along with several other distinguished filmmakers like Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The Foundation runs several programs dealing with film education, artists’ rights and film preservation.
Actual film is an extremely brittle material prone to rapid decay. Due to improper storage and care, the Foundation says “half of all American movies made before 1950 have already disintegrated and are lost forever, and a mere 10 percent of the films produced in the United States before 1929 are still in existence.”
While the Foundation doesn’t provide a full list of films it has helped preserve — and hopefully someday it will — there is a sample list on their site that specifically includes two underground films.
In 1990, Scorsese created The Film Foundation along with several other distinguished filmmakers like Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The Foundation runs several programs dealing with film education, artists’ rights and film preservation.
Actual film is an extremely brittle material prone to rapid decay. Due to improper storage and care, the Foundation says “half of all American movies made before 1950 have already disintegrated and are lost forever, and a mere 10 percent of the films produced in the United States before 1929 are still in existence.”
While the Foundation doesn’t provide a full list of films it has helped preserve — and hopefully someday it will — there is a sample list on their site that specifically includes two underground films.
- 1/20/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
James Cameron in Los Angeles with 70Mm prints of "Aliens" and "The Abyss"?!?! The Dardenne brothers in New York for a career retrospective?!?! The instant cult classic "The Room" with Tommy Wiseau live in Austin?!?! Be still my heart. There's something for all tastes this summer on the West Coast, the East Coast and as you'll notice, the Third Coast on our calendar of the must-see events on the repertory theater circuit in May, June and July. And don't miss our look at the indie films that are hitting theaters or headed to online, VOD or DVD premiere this summer.
Anthology Film Archives
With the New York Polish Film Festival (May 6-10) and first-runs of the docs "Ice People" (May 1-7) and "Audience of One" (May 8-14) and Ken Jacobs' reinvention of his 1969 work "Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son" with the 3D "Anaglyph Tom" (May 15-21) taking up the Anthology's screens,...
Anthology Film Archives
With the New York Polish Film Festival (May 6-10) and first-runs of the docs "Ice People" (May 1-7) and "Audience of One" (May 8-14) and Ken Jacobs' reinvention of his 1969 work "Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son" with the 3D "Anaglyph Tom" (May 15-21) taking up the Anthology's screens,...
- 5/5/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Art Radio International renegotiated the terms of its lease of the Clocktower Gallery with MoMA recently, consequently serving subleasers The Film-Maker’s Co-op (Fmc) with an eviction notice. Founded nearly 50 years ago, Fmc is one of the longest-running distributors of experimental and independent film in the world, its offices operating in the same building since 2000. The organization houses thousands of 16mm prints, many of them unique and irreplaceable including those by Stan Brakhage, Paul Sharits, Carolee Schneeman, Tony Conrad, Hollis Frampton, Jennifer Reeves, Jack Smith, Ken Jacobs, Peggy Ahwesh, Joyce Wieland, Michael Snow, Maya Deren, Marie Menken, Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Martha Colburn, Leslie Thornton, and literally hundreds of other artists, as well as an invaluable paper archive of letters, program notes and other materials. According ...
- 2/5/2009
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
Art Radio International renegotiated the terms of its lease of the Clocktower Gallery with MoMA recently, consequently serving subleasers The Film-Maker’s Co-op (Fmc) with an eviction notice. Founded nearly 50 years ago, Fmc is one of the longest-running distributors of experimental and independent film in the world, its offices operating in the same building since 2000. The organization houses thousands of 16mm prints, many of them unique and irreplaceable including those by Stan Brakhage, Paul Sharits, Carolee Schneeman, Tony Conrad, Hollis Frampton, Jennifer Reeves, Jack Smith, Ken Jacobs, Peggy Ahwesh, Joyce Wieland, Michael Snow, Maya Deren, Marie Menken, Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Martha Colburn, Leslie Thornton, and literally hundreds of other artists, as well as an invaluable paper archive of letters, program notes and other materials. According ...
- 2/5/2009
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
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