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

Ninjas Converge on Old School Kung Fu Fest in NYC

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 27 March 2015 16:35

Written by Renzo Adler & Brad Balfour

Silent, deadly, and sometimes delightfully campy, the ninja became ingrained in the world’s subconscious during the 1980’s when Japan was enjoying unprecedented economic prosperity. But the ninjas have their film roots in Japanese cinema dating back to the 1960’s, and now that rich heritage of highly choreographed bloodshed is being celebrated. Presented by Subway Cinema (they of the New York Asian Film Fest) and the Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Ave, New York, NY), The Old School Kung Fu Fest ‘15: Enter the Ninjas (April 16 - 19, 2015) brings cinematic ninja escapades from the ‘60s to the '90s to NYC.

Since it’s initial incarnation in the early ‘00s, the OSKFF has brought some truly odd and unique cinematic gems, and this year’s entry is no exception. Films include hairspray infused Western fare such as American Ninja and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation. Shaw Brothers give their unique kung fu spin on ninjas with Five Element Ninjas. From Japan comes Samurai Spy, directed by Masahiro Shinoda (Double Suicide), taking a noir twist to an ancient story of betrayal and intrigue in old Edo. The 1963 rarity from Toei, Seventeen Ninja, is so hard to come by, that it’s special screening will feature live subtitles, since an official subtitle print was never created. And while we’re celebrating all things ninja, there will be a screening of the original 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in all it’s rubber-suited glory.

On Sunday April 19 is the Super Special Secret Screening of a film so secret, *we* don’t even know what it is. We only know that it was a 1970s grindhouse favorite distributed by Roger Corman, the patron saint of schlock. The screening will include special ninja themed prizes and announcements about the lineup for this year’s New York Asian Film Fest.

To learn more, and a complete line up of films, go to: http://www.subwaycinema.com/oldschool15/ or www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

The Old School Kung Fu Fest 2015: Enter the Ninjas!
April 16 - 19, 2015

Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003