the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.
Previews
50th New York Film Fest Pulls Out the Stops
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Thursday, 27 September 2012 15:09
- Written by Renzo Adler
The New York Film Festival (September 28 – October 14, 2012) at Lincoln Center (165 West 65th Street, and various locations) is putting on one hell of a show this year. As the 50th installment of the NYFF, exemplary films, both classic and new are being shown in this colossal event.
Opening the NYFF is Ang Lee’s technical marvel, Life of Pi, based on the novel by Yann Martel. It’s safe to say the film will be visually stunning, but can Lee deliver the emotional goods in this story of a young boy living on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger?
Lee Daniels’ Nicole Kidman vehicle, The Paperboy, starring the waifish Zac Efron, is a coming of age story mixed with a sexualized thriller as the titular paperboy (Efron) gets wrapped up in an affair with Kidman, who has a fiancée on death row. Nicole Kidman, director Lee Daniels, and star Macy Gray will also be at the screening in person to discuss the film.
Caesar Must Die, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, shows inmates in an Italian prison putting on a production of Julius Caesar, while their rivalries have to be kept in check to prevent bedlam from breaking. Already a winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Caesar has been attracting attention because several of the cast members are actual former inmates and gangsters.
Considered one of cinema’s greatest achievements (or a teaching tool in moral ambiguity if you saw Prometheus) Lawrence of Arabia is being screened with a new 4K restoration which Sony worked on laboriously and premiered earlier in Cannes to much aplomb. Another classic being shown is Walt Disney’s Snow White, which is also being opened with a new animated short by director John Kahrs, Paperman, which has been a hot topic among animation fans.
Cinema Reflected is a special block of documentaries focusing on the men and women behind great films. Casting By looks at the complex world of casting films (natch), Celluloid Man is about P.K. Nair, the founder of India’s National Film Archive.
Room 237 is the new and hotly debated analysis of Kubrick’s The Shining and how the enthusiasts have been attaching different meanings to the film for decades. One of the stranger entries of Cinema Reflected is Final Cut- Ladies and Gentleman, a sort of experimental large scale clip show, it assembles scenes from over 450 films to create its own narrative.
Holy Motors, directed by Leos Carax, is a stream of consciousness film described by Carax as “a film about a man and the experience of being alive.” A man taking on multiple identities over the course of a day as he is shuttled around Paris by Edith Scob from Eyes Without a Face and an appearance by Kylie Minogue, Holy Motors defies description.
Childhood favorite of 80’s kids, The Princess Bride is celebrating its 25th anniversary at the NYFF with a special reunion of director Rob Reiner with Billy Crystal, Cary Elwes, Carol Kane, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn and Robin Wright, who will be having an onstage conversation after a screening of a 35mm print of the quotable classic.
Typical only for being exemplary, the NYFF’s selection this year is quite possibly it’s most varied and celebrates not only the modern movie darlings, but also the entirety of cinema history.
To learn more, go to: http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2012
The 50th New York Film Festival
September 28 – October 14, 2012
The Walter Reade Theater
70 Linclon center plaza,
165 West 65th Street #4
New York, NY 10023
Edmonton International Film Fest to Conquer Canada
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 26 September 2012 13:44
- Written by Renzo Adler
Oh Canada, home of great film festivals. Summer gave us the expectedly stellar Fantasia Film Fest, but now that it’s the autumn months it’s time for Edmonton to shine. The Edmonton International Film Festival (September 28 – October 6, 2012) at the historic Garneau Theatre (8712 109 St NW, Edmonton, Canada) has, since 1986, embodied the theme of “discovery.” Touting that “every night is opening night,” the EIFF features an assortment of unusual films, most of which cannot be seen outside of the festival.
The opening night gala film is Becoming Redwood, the strange odyssey of a man obsessed with beating Jack Nicklaus at golf because he believes it will reunite his estranged parents. Shown throughout the festival is LUNCHBOX Shorts, a block of short films with different films each day.
Our Own Backyard is a block of films produced by Albertans with Q&A’s following the features. The closing night feature, It’s A Disaster (Starring Mr. Show alum David Cross) follows the oh-so-popular trend of apocalyptic films like 4:44 and Melancholia by showing several couples bickering with each other so much that they hardly notice the world is ending.
EIFF U is a special program designed to bring cinema to the classroom by presenting films aimed towards junior and senior high school students.
EIFF continues the tradition of Canada being America’s cinematic sanctuary to the north.
To learn more, go to: http://www.edmontonfilmfest.com/
Edmonton International Film Festival
September 28 – October 6, 2012
Garneau Theatre
8712 109 St NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1E9, Canada
Experimental Films of Nobuhiko Obayashi At Anthology Film Archives
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 24 September 2012 16:12
- Written by Renzo Adler
On December 9, 2012, the Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue, New York) will be screening Nobuhiko Obayashi: Early Experimental Films. Obayashi started out as a darling of the Japanese experimental film boom of the 60’s and utilized his visual flare by making commercials through 70’s, and eventually shifted his focus to feature length films.
By applying the camera trickery and style of his experimental films, his commercials made him a renowned director and even featured celebrities like Kirk Douglas and Charles Bronson (search Mandom on YouTube).
In 1977, Toho wanted a horror film to compete with Spielberg’s Jaws, so Obayashi was assigned his first feature film and made House. Based on the nightmares of his young daughter, House is about seven young girls that are devoured by a haunted palatial estate. Simplistic premise aside, House is as bright and gleeful as it is sadistic and bizarre, like a marriage between Hello Kitty and Evil Dead.
Even though Obayashi has only recently caught the eyes of Western audiences when the Criterion Collection released House on DVD, he is revered in Japan as a master director to the point where whole generations of film-makers were dubbed “Obayashi’s Children.” These early films of Obayashi set his playful tone for decades to come and are a rare treat since almost none of them have been released in the states (except for Emotion as an extra on the DVD for House).
Obayashi’s films are dream-like in quality, as they can be sad and contemplative, or madcap and bizarre. The works of Obayashi, whether experimental, commercial, or cinematic, represent an enthusiam for cinematic experimentation that reminds me why I love Japanese cinema.
To learn more, go to: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org
Nobuhiko Obayashi: Early Experimental Films
December 9, 2012
The Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Harlem International Film Fest
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 19 September 2012 15:19
- Written by Renzo Adler
Taking inspiration from the Harlem Renaissance, the Harlem International Film Festival (September 19 – 23, 2012) at the Schomburg Center (515 Malcolm X Boulevard) embraces the unique stories that all people have to tell. Not only a venue for international cinema, HI emphasizes the history, art, and youth culture of Harlem. HI brings together a unique selection of films from countries who’s cinematic achievements often go unnoticed.
The opening night celebration is the New York premiere of Angad Bhalla’s Herman’s House, a documentary about an artist’s friendship with one of America’s longest serving solitary prisoners. Herman’s House will be preceded by a dance showcase by Deeply Rooted Dance Theater. Both Bhalla and the Deeply Rooted dancers will be doing a that evening.
A Gran Plan is a Singaporean film about a 10 year old Eurasian boy from a broken home and an Indian grandmother and the journey both have to try and find a complete life. Director Sangeeta Nambiar will be in attendance and do a Q&A after the screening.
The Chebeya Affair – A Crime of The State is a work of Congolese cinema and a court-room drama examining the suspected murder of a human rights activist at the hands of several police officers.
In Bringing King to China, after her father is killed in a suicide attack in Iraq; a woman relocates to China to teach civil rights and puts on a play about Martin Luther King while attempting to reconcile cultural differences and the global image of America’s foreign policy.
Many of the films in HI are very political in nature and broach subjects that are current, daring, and dangerous. HI embodies the artistic and socially minded works of the Harlem Renaissance.
To learn more, go to: http://www.harlemfilmfestival.com/
Harlem International Film Festival
September 19 – 23, 2012
Schomburg Center
515 Malcolm X Boulevard
New York, NY 10037
