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Film Festivals
New Italian Cinema Stands Out in Open Roads 2015
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 01 June 2015 11:34
- Written by Brad Balfour
For 14 years, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema has offered a diverse lineup of contemporary Italian film at The Film Society of Lincoln Center. This year’s program, organized in collaboration with Istituto Luce Cinecittà and the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, strikes a balance between emerging talents and esteemed veterans. And one master, Ermanno Olmi, is included this year having been one of Italy’s leading lights in film for over half a century.
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema — the 15th edition running from June 4th to 11th, 2015 — is programmed by Isa Cucinotta and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Dennis Lim.
As always, the series includes both commercial and independent fare, ranging from stage adaptations to biopics, warm human comedies to experimental dramas. And audiences attending screenings at The Film Society's Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street), will get a fairly representative taste of recent Italian cinema, with a select number of in-person appearances by many of the filmmakers during the opening weekend.
In addition to the films there’s an exhibition, "Guardando con Michelangelo Antonioni," showcasing Renato Zacchia’s rare photographs of Antonioni taken during the shoot of one of his final documentaries (Sicily, 1997). This event organized by EVOL Design.
The opening night film, making its North American Premiere, is director Cristina Comencini’s Latin Lover which features such noted actors as Almodóvar veterans Candela Peña, Lluís Homar, and Marisa Paredes, with poignant turns from three-time David di Donatello winner Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Human Capital) and the late Virna Lisi (Queen Margot) in her final screen appearance.
It tells of the lovers and offspring of Italy’s most popular movie star (and most prolific ladies’ man) who gather in his hometown on the 10th anniversary of his passing to grasp the puzzle of his life. Comencini will be on hand for a Q&A at the June 4th screening.
For further information, go to: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/open-roads-new-italian-cinema-2015
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema
June 4th to 11th, 2015
The Film Society of Lincoln Center Walter Reade Theater
165 W 65th St
New York, NY 10023
The Human Condition on Film: Nakadai at The Museum of the Moving Image
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Thursday, 14 May 2015 02:03
- Written by Renzo Adler
Nakadai in The Human Condition Part I
With a career spanning decades, Tatsuya Nakadai is one of Japan’s most memorable actors, displaying everything from menacing swagger, to ruthless cunning, to nuanced introspection. Masaki Kobayashi (1916 - 1996) brought a stunning visual flair to films like the haunting Kwaidan, and the monumental Human Condition trilogy. Together, the two created visually breathtaking and hard-hitting films. Now the Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, New York, NY) celebrates the two legends of Japanese cinema with Portraying the Human Condition: The Films of Masaki Kobayashi and Tatsuya Nakadai from May 15 to 24.
Presented in gorgeous 35mm, these films represent a watershed moment in post-war Japanese cinematic history, celebrating the rogues, the outsiders, the rebels going against the constraints of society. Nakadai himself will be present to discuss The Human Condition Part I on May 16 and Harakiri on May 24. According to legend, the Masaki Kobayashi discovered the young actor Tatsuya Nakadai working as a shop clerk in Tokyo and, casting him in a small part in his film The Thick-Walled Room (1953), gave Nakadai his first role, initiating one of the most legendary collaborations in all of Japanese cinema. Director Kobayashi was a pacifist who had suffered for his convictions during World War II. Summarizing his work, he said “All of my pictures are concerned with resisting entrenched power. I suppose I have always challenged authority.”
To learn more, go to: http://www.movingimage.us/films/
Portraying the Human Condition: The Films of Masaki Kobayashi and Tatsuya Nakadai
May 15 - 24
The Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Ave.
New York, NY 11106
Music & Cinema: The Montclair Film Fest
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Friday, 01 May 2015 13:50
- Written by Brad Balfour
Mavis!
The Montclair Film Festival (May 1 - 10, 2015) brings together filmmakers from all over the world to Montclair New Jersey for a non-profit cinematic gathering. Not simply an anual festival, the MFF also helps organize film-related events throughout the year in New Jersey and nurturing aspiring filmmakers and educational programs.
One of the highlights of the festival, The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller, is a “live documentary” by Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground) featuring a live score by Hoboken’s own Yo La Tengo on May 7th at the Wellmont Theatre (5 Seymour St, Montclair, NJ 07042). The film traces the career of twentieth-century futurist, architect, engineer, inventor, and author R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), a proponent of conservation and sustainability. This performance will feature Green narrating the film in person and cuing images from a laptop while Yo La Tengo perform their original score. The work features a unique combination of film clips and live music, as Green’s in person cinematic narration draws inspiration equally from old travelogues, the Benshi tradition, and TED talks.
Jessica Edward’s film Mavis!, which follows the life of gospel singer and activist Mavis Staples, as she sang delta-inflected gospel sound she helped pioneer in the 1950s, to the “message songs” of the civil rights era marching beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to massive hits such as “I’ll Take You There” in the soul-filled Stax era, and her recent Grammy-winning work with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. After a screening of the documentary, Mavis Staple will do a Q&A session with Stephen Colbert on May 8th.
Director David Gordon Green, actor Dane Dehaan, and Montclair legend Olympia Dukakis will attend the festival to participate in Q&A sessions at festival screenings and conversations. David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Prince Avalanche) will attend the festival on Saturday, May 9th to participate in a Q&A for his new film, Manglehorn, screening that day at the Bellevue Theater (260 Bellevue Ave, Montclair, NJ).
This is only a sampling of the films at the Montclair Film Festival, which is gearing up to be a stalwart cinematic event.
To learn more, go to: http://montclairfilmfest.org/
Montclair Film Festival
May 1 - 10, 2015
Bellvue Theater
260 Bellevue Ave.
Montclair, NJ 07043
Wellmont Theatre
5 Seymour St.
Montclair, NJ 07042
And various locations throughout Montclair NJ
16th Havana Film Fest: History, Music, & Cinema
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 08 April 2015 22:50
- Written by Brad Balfour
Boccaccio in Havana
Now in it’s 16th year, the Havana Film Festival (April 9 - 17, 2015) celebrates the culture and history of Latin American cinema. Held at locations throughout the city, including the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the BAM Cinematek, Quad Cinema and the Museum of the Moving Image, the Havana Film Festival has over fifty films being screened, along with competition brackets for fiction and documentary films.
Films in competition include:
- Road 47
Based on real events about Brazil’s involvement in World War II, this film recreates an unusual meeting between deserters from three different nationalities (Brazil, Germany, and Italy) during the war. - Open Cage
The economy has collapsed and among those affected are rebel teenager Flavia, and her elderly and grumpy neighbor, Martin. Both will learn to relate to each other, not only to survive the crisis, but to find meaning in their lives. - Boccaccio in Havana
Boccaccio in Havana intertwines three stories through a main thread: a writer’s room where people go to share anecdotes hoping to make some money and become characters of a novel or a movie. An urban Boccaccio, a Havana Decameron; the film exudes sensuality, irreverence and hidden passions. - Mr. Kaplan
Uruguay’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards, Mr. Kaplan is a vibrant comedy about a Jewish retiree who believes a German café owner is a former Nazi.
The Havana Film Fest also has a series of panels on subjects including filming in Latin America, a discussion on the life of novelist Gabriel García Márquez and the film following his life (Gabriel García Márquez: Cinephile), along with a screening of the short film The Blue Lobster.
Nosotros la Musica portion of the festival (We the Music) looks at Cuban documentary cinema that featured many of its landmark figures; classics; groups of all formats, tendencies, genres and movements of different periods; music festivals and gatherings; as well as international artists visiting the island. These musical films include Ritmo de Cuba (Rhythm of Cuba) from 1960, Con Todo Mi Amor, Rita (With all My Love, Rita) from 2000, and Las Manos Y El Angel (The Hands and the Angel) from 2002.
Now a city mainstay, the Havana Film Fest offers a cinematic perspective on the history, culture, music, and lives of Latin Americans.
To learn more, go to: http://www.hffny.com/
The Havana Film Festival
April 9 - 17, 2015
Various locations
