"The only way you can be a mark is if you want something for nothing. If you're greedy, you're set up." - Maya Angelou, as told to Studs Terkel in 1970
The personal blog of filmmaker Dimitri Vorris.
5.23.2019
MAYA ANGELOU: CON MEN STORY
"The only way you can be a mark is if you want something for nothing. If you're greedy, you're set up." - Maya Angelou, as told to Studs Terkel in 1970
FRANCIS FORD COPOLLA ON SOLITUDE AND THE GAME ON THE ZOETROPE ELEVATOR
"Death is on the back of everyone’s minds whether they want to admit it or not" - Francis Ford Coppola on July 28, 1996
5.17.2019
STEPHEN KING ON CHILDHOOD ANIMATED VIDEO (BLANK ON BLANK)
"The things that really scare us are the things that are going on just outside the spotlight that you can’t quite see" - Stephen King on October 22, 1989 The author takes us on a journey back to his childhood and the roots for his decades crafting memorable horror fiction. Learn more about Stephen King's theory on evil and horror, the films made from his books, and his brilliant Twitter feed: http://blankonblank.org/stephen-king
Interview originally aired on the Public Radio Book Show and it comes to us courtesy of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Writers Institute. Subscribe for new episodes every other Tuesday... it's free: http://bit.ly/1TO2vCL
Recent Episodes Leonard Cohen on Moonlight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9-A4...
Ronald Reagan on Making America Great Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAEI4... Jimmy Carter on God and Power https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dsok...
Aldous Huxley on Techondictators: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIgju...
Bob Dylan at 20 on Freak Shows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrgs5...
Patti Smith in 1976 on Getting Bleeped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbCc...
Frank Zappa in 1971 on Fads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WEU...
Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyrDf...
Martin Scorsese on Framing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGyYO...
Carl Sagan on Extraterrestrials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9WHs...
David Bowie on Stardust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFIDX...
Lou Reed on Guns & Ammo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcd9B...
Kurt Vonnegut on Man-Eating Lampreys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWMH...
BRIAN DE PALMA'S "DOMINO" WITH GOT'S NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU HITS GERMAN MARKET
(Above, with De Palma directing actress Sachli Gholamalizad).
With info from:
http://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/blog/
WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA AGENCY CAMPAIGN: ISSUES AFFECTING SCREENEWRITERS
This is a transcript of a 7+ minute video the WGA put out yesterday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ON VIMEO
Michele Mulroney: And I’m Michele Mulroney.
John August: We’re members of the WGA West Board and the Agency Negotiating Committee.
Michele Mulroney: And we’re both primarily screenwriters. That’s why we wanted to take a few minutes to talk about some of the issues affecting screenwriters in this time when most of us are working without agents.
John August: Some of these issues are new, but some have gone back decades. Over the past two years, we’ve met with hundreds of screenwriters at lunches and meet-ups. And the message has been clear: the Guild needs to be doing more to combat free work and late pay, because our agencies aren’t.
Michele Mulroney: Time after time we’ve heard horror stories of 60-page treatments written for free. Checks that are six months late. And we’d ask, “Where are your agents? Why are they letting this happen?”
John August: It happens because it’s largely invisible. Most screenwriters, we work alone. And we’re afraid to complain, because we might be labeled “difficult.” Difficult is a code word for standing up for yourself.
Michele Mulroney: The thing is, screenwriters are not alone. The Guild can and should be the bad guy on behalf of screenwriters. It can step in to file claims and collect interest on late pay. It can help to fight back against free work. But the Guild can’t enforce contracts it doesn’t see.
John August: That’s why the agency Code of Conduct requires agencies to provide the Guild with our contracts and invoices. Once the Guild has this information, we can protect not only individual screenwriters but all of us. We can identify patterns, see where there are shortfalls in writer income, and shape proposals for future MBA negotiations.
Michele Mulroney: Next, we want to talk about agency-affiliated production companies. This is where your agency owns or co-owns its studio.
John August: To me, this is the next step beyond packaging. These agencies don’t want 10% of a writer’s salary; they don’t want the 10% of the backend they’d get with packaging. They want 50 to 60% of the profits. They want to own the property. And to do that, they turn you from a client into an employee.
Michele Mulroney: Right now, we have Wiip, Endeavor Content, and Civic Center Media. Members ask us, “Why did the Guild ever let these companies become signatories?” The answer is, we want more buyers, particularly in film. We want these companies to thrive. We just don’t want them to be owned or controlled by agencies.
John August: Let’s talk about why agency production companies are bad for screenwriters. Let’s say you have a spec script. Your agency is going to take it out on the town. But if they have their own studio, realistically, they’re going to take it there first.
Maybe that company wants to buy it. Great! As a client, how do you know your agent is getting the best deal for you? When your agent is also the buyer, that’s the clearest conflict of interest imaginable.
Michele Mulroney: Or, maybe the company doesn’t want to buy your spec script. That’s awkward. Your own agency’s affiliated studio is passing on your project. So how exactly is that helping you as a client?
John August: Spoiler: It’s not. But for screenwriters, it gets even worse when it’s not your original project. These little mini-studios, they’re buying IP. They’re competing with you for the rights on books. If you’re a screenwriter who wants to get hired on that book adaptation, you better be represented by that agency.
Michele Mulroney: This isn’t a hypothetical, by the way. We checked the receipts. 75% of writers creating projects at affiliated studios, they’re CLIENTS of that agency. They’re keeping the work in house. It’s like the old studio system.
John August: But kind of worse in a way. I don’t want a future where we’re negotiating the terms of our MBA with our own agencies sitting across the table.
Michele Mulroney: Next, let’s talk about indie film. We heard screenwriters loud and clear when you said you wanted us to keep as much of the indie film ecosystem intact as possible.
John August: Our Code of Conduct allows agencies to continue to provide financing and sales services to their clients. It also insists on full transparency and consent, so screenwriters can see any fees the agency would take on their project.
Michele Mulroney: And to clarify a point of confusion in the Code of Conduct: agencies can take these fees — subject to the writer’s approval — on projects with an intended budget under $20 million. For budgets over $20 million they will need a waiver from the Guild after they have consulted with the screenwriter.
John August: This is not meant to be a roadblock, but a reality check. We don’t want studio features masquerading as indies, and we don’t want packaging fees in features to become the kind of problem we are fighting in TV.
Michele Mulroney: So how do we screenwriters navigate this period of displacement? Especially those of us who don’t have managers or robust networks to rely on.
John August: Unlike in TV, screenwriters don’t hire each other. We have to make sure that screenwriters still get read and hired by producers and studio executives. We need make sure pitches and specs still sell. To do that, the Guild has put in place several new tools that can all be accessed via the Guild website.
Michele Mulroney: First, we recently launched the Weekly Feature Memo. It goes out every Friday to a list of around 750 producers and development executives. Writers simply upload the logline for their spec or pitch and then producers can contact you to request your spec, set a pitch meeting or a general.
John August: Next, without an agent, how do producers and executives find you? The Find a Writer directory is the easiest way. Four things you should do today:
Check that your credits are accurate. The system will only list your final Guild credits, so if you’d like to include development credits or animation, for now, list them in your bio section.
Upload a writing sample if there’s something you’d like buyers to be able to read. Opt-in to letting producers and executives contact you via email.
Finally, mark yourself as “available” if you’re open to work.
Michele Mulroney: Agencies traditionally keep lists of Open Writing Assignments. In the next couple of weeks, the Guild will be launching its own Open Writing Assignment Memo. Here, producers will submit details of any OWA’s, including pieces of IP in search of a writer. The Guild will distribute this to screenwriters in a weekly memo. Then, sort of like the staffing submission system, you will be able to submit yourself for these opportunities. We’ll of course make sure the process is user-friendly and easily sortable on the producers’ end.
John August: Once you’re hired on a project, we’d strongly encourage you to use the Start Button. The Start Button lets the Guild know what screenwriters are working on, and follows up to make sure you’re getting paid on time, and not being asked to do free work. Particularly in this period without agents, the Start Button can be an important tool for tracking your work.
Michele Mulroney: Finally, the Guild will be hosting an Indie Film Panel at the end of the month, featuring fellow Guild members with extensive experience in indie film, along with producers, financiers, and sales and distribution panelists to discuss making features without agencies. So if you’re in the indie world, please join us.
John August: Now, even with all these tools and all of the hustle we’re seeing from screenwriters, anxiety is natural. It’s inevitable. Especially for early-career screenwriters and those without deep networks and connections. So how can we best support our most vulnerable screenwriters during this time?
Michele Mulroney: First, share what you read. Pass along a script to producers and executives you know. Read early-career screenwriters and give them a boost.
John August: If a screenwriting assignment comes across your radar and you can’t take the job, consider sharing the info with other writers or…recommend a less-established screenwriter who might not be on their radar.
Michele Mulroney: Be as generous as you can in offering advice, guidance, contacts and resources. Those of us who have been around for a while have a lot of open doors…Maybe your open doors can open a door for another screenwriter.
John August: And finally, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any member of the Board, Council, or Negotiating Committee. We’re here to listen. We need to hear your ideas, criticisms and concerns. All the tools we’ve talked about today came directly from screenwriters reaching out to us.
Michele Mulroney: One place you can do this is at the May Wednesday evening mixers at the Guild. It’s a chance to mingle, network, and have one-on-one conversations with your elected leadership.
John August: This campaign’s success depends on us all hanging together, staying strong, and helping one another as best we can.
Michele Mulroney: The union is us and we are the union. Thanks for listening.
John August: Thanks.
It is inspiring to see the resolve of the Guild membership not only stick together in this dispute, but also generate work-arounds to help writers promote their work and hopefully land gigs without the aid of the agencies. If that effort succeeds, one would think it would compel the ATA to rethink their obstinate ‘bargaining’ position. Indeed, the Guild’s tactics seem to be working if this news is any indication.
To watch the video, go here.
3.07.2019
JULY 23 WILDFIRES: AND JUSTICE FOR NOBODY
Greek prosecutors have filed charges against 20 people over deadly wildfires in 2018.
The accused, including the greater Athens regional authority chief, two local mayors, the former civil protection head and fire service officials, were hit with charges that reportedly include involuntary manslaughter, causing bodily harm due to neglect, and arson through negligence.
The July 23 fire in Mati killed 100 people, injured 250, and burnt to the ground over 2.500 houses leaving the seaside resort town devastated. The disaster led to a series of resignations or sackings of fire and police chiefs.
Most of the victims died in traffic jams as they fled, while others drowned escaping into the sea.
3.05.2019
DE PALMA DOUBLE FEATURE AT THE DAVID HOCKNEY POOL
Three months after David Hockney’s swimming pool canvas sold for $90 million, the art world is gathering around an actual pool the British artist painted at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Hockney decorated the pool’s bottom with blue swirls in 1987, almost six decades after the historic Los Angeles building hosted the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. This week, the surrounding cabanas will exhibit works by local and international artists as part of a new art fair called Felix.
The event, co-founded by former Walt Disney Co. executive Dean Valentine, is among at least six art fairs taking place as the city vies to become an art-market epicenter, something that has eluded Los Angeles despite being home to major artists, patrons, art schools and institutions. Frieze, which hosts art fairs in London and New York, will debut this week at Paramount Pictures.
“Los Angeles has always had the artists,” said Valentine, 63, rattling off legends such as Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari and Chris Burden. “Now there’s more art market infrastructure here. It’s firing on all cylinders.”
International players including Hauser & Wirth and Sprueth Magers joined L.A.’s vibrant, but decentralized, gallery scene in recent years, though some upstarts have since closed. Billionaire Eli Broad and the brothers behind Guess jeans, Maurice and Paul Marciano, opened private museums.
Southern California collectors used to head to New York and Basel to buy art, but now “collectors from all over the world are coming here because the art scene is so exciting,” said Jeffrey Deitch, a dealer and former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. In September, Deitch opened a local gallery because he “saw an international market.”
Frieze will emphasize Los Angeles by giving prominent space to local galleries and offering VIPs a program that includes visits to studios as well as conversations with artists and collectors living in the area.
“We know that L.A. likes to tell stories about itself,” said Bettina Korek, executive director of Frieze Los Angeles, which will host 70 galleries.
At Blum & Poe’s booth, Dave Muller will create a site-specific mural, titled “Oh Hollywood.” David Kordansky will have a solo presentation of Kathryn Andrews, whose works feature film props and sleek surfaces, a hybrid of Pop art and minimalism. Landscapes and cityscapes of California by 98-year-old Wayne Thiebaud, as well as his iconic pastry images, will be the focus of New York’s Acquavella Galleries, with prices ranging from $350,000 to $5 million. Deitch will present abstract works by Judy Chicago, painted during her L.A. sojourn. Hauser & Wirth will stage the U.S. debut of “Unisex Love Nest,” a 1999 installation by Mike Kelley, a South Pasadena-based artist who died in 2012. The asking price is $1.8 million.
At Felix, 41 galleries will present paintings, sculptures and video art in hotel rooms and around the Hockney pool. The setting draws inspiration from an earlier era of art fairs: in 1994, the Armory Show took place at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York and the Chateau Marmont in L.A.
“It was amazing,” Valentine said, recalling works by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Thomas Schutte. “You walked from room to room, bumped into other collectors in the hallways and then had a drink at the bar.”
Some say that sense of discovery, fun and intimacy is largely absent from the relentless art fair circuit these days. “It’s become this mega shopping experience,” Valentine said. “I find it hard to get into.” Felix is an attempt “to replicate the things that are missing from the art world,” he said. “More intimate, conversational and fun. Less hyper-capitalistic.”
More details about Felix are provided by The Hollywood Reporter's Laura van Straaten:
Felix joins two established L.A. fairs, Art Los Angeles Contemporary (now in its 10th year) and stARTup (hosting its fourth L.A. fair), as well as heavy-hitting newcomer Frieze, the influential London-based fair that is seen as the linchpin of what is sure to be the city's most robust arts week ever (all four fairs wrap on Feb. 17). Valentine, a board member of the Hammer Museum, says the choice of the hotel format is meant to evoke the storied but short-lived Gramercy International Los Angeles at the Chateau Marmont in the mid-1990s, considered by some gallerists and collectors to be a key inflection point in L.A.'s emergence as an art city. The Roosevelt also has its own associations: It was the site of the first Academy Awards in 1929. And many rooms, including those being put to use by Felix, overlook the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater. Valentine hopes the varied spaces and presentations at the hotel will give visitors “the surprise of turning a corner” and finding an unexpected object, moment or connection with another art lover. The name "Felix" came in part from one of Valentine's favorite cartoon characters, Felix the Cat; it's also a nod to a favorite painting, Paul Signac's seminal portrait of the 19th-century art critic and anarchist Felix Feneon. The allusion to anarchy may be apt because Felix is being produced somewhat on the fly, especially compared to Frieze, which has spent years laying a foundation for its expansion to Southern California and has a well-oiled, well-heeled and market-savvy operation (as well as majority owner Endeavor) behind its presentation of 60 galleries.
Source: Geoff/ De Palma a la Mod
2.20.2019
JUST A BLAST FROM THE PAST
Ηere's a selfie of mine, a while back ago, before the term "selfie" was even invented....Love you all!
1.27.2019
JANUARY 27, 2019 MARKS THE DAY OF THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ CAMP
...Soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates
of Auschwitz Concentration Camp on January 27, 1945. The prisoners
greeted them as authentic liberators. It was a paradox of history that
soldiers formally representing Stalinist totalitarianism brought freedom
to the prisoners of Nazi totalitarianism. The Red Army obtained detailed information about Auschwitz only after
the liberation of Cracow, and was therefore unable to reach the gates of
Auschwitz before January 27, 1945.
“We’re once again facing the perennial demons of intolerance - anti-Semites, radical extremists and religious fanatics that provoke hate crime.”
1.21.2019
"DOCTOR WHO" STREAMING IN TWITCH
This month, Twitch is presenting a marathon streaming of classic Doctor Who episodes.
Continuing through January 25th, they plan to broadcast "11 to 12 hours
of new episodes per day (~27 episodes), repeating once so you can catch
Doctor Who nearly 24 hours a day, every day..." Stream the episodes here on Twitch.
https://www.twitch.tv/twitchpresents
https://www.twitch.tv/twitchpresents
12.31.2018
12.30.2018
RINGO LAM, HONG KONG DIRECTOR OF "CITY ON FIRE" PASSES AWAY...
Ringo Lam was the director of such classics as "City on Fire", "Prison on Fire" and "Full
Alert". Ringo was part of Hong Kong’s New Wave movement from the late
80’s to early 90’s that put Hong Kong cinema on the map and made it an international phenomenon. A true maestro of film...
Hong Kong media outlets reported the director, who was born Lin Lingdong, was found unresponsive in bed on Saturday by his wife. He was 63.
The 1986 “City on Fire” is considered a landmark film about Hong Kong triads, and won best director at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was a major influence on Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs.” Lam followed that film up with “Prison on Fire” and “School on Fire.”
“Tarantino has never tried to hide his love for ’70s cinema, and this is part of what makes his take on ‘City on Fire’ so interesting,” wrote IndieWire in an explanation of Tarantino’s influences.
With several “Reservoir Dogs” shots recalling “City on Fire,” such as the image of four men in black suits and a man shooting a cop with with two guns, cinephiles have questioned whether Tarantino’s references were homage or rip-off...
Source: Variety
Hong Kong media outlets reported the director, who was born Lin Lingdong, was found unresponsive in bed on Saturday by his wife. He was 63.
The 1986 “City on Fire” is considered a landmark film about Hong Kong triads, and won best director at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was a major influence on Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs.” Lam followed that film up with “Prison on Fire” and “School on Fire.”
“Tarantino has never tried to hide his love for ’70s cinema, and this is part of what makes his take on ‘City on Fire’ so interesting,” wrote IndieWire in an explanation of Tarantino’s influences.
With several “Reservoir Dogs” shots recalling “City on Fire,” such as the image of four men in black suits and a man shooting a cop with with two guns, cinephiles have questioned whether Tarantino’s references were homage or rip-off...
Source: Variety
12.28.2018
TEΛΕΙΩΜΟ ΔΕΝ ΕΧΟΥΝ ΟΙ ΓΚΑΦΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΣΚΑΝΔΑΛΑ ΣΤΗ "JUMBO"
...Εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες ΄Ελληνες έχουν χύσει το αίμα τους για να ξεκουμπισθούν οι φασίστες και οι Ναζί από την Ελλάδα από τον Β' Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο μέχρι σήμερα, συμπεριλαμβανομένων και των παπούδων μου... Οχι όμως και ο Απόστολος Βακάκης, ο υποτίθεται, πιο επιτυχημένος ΄Ελλην επιχειρηματίας, και η αυλή του από ότι φαίνεται! Τα Jumbo, υποτίθεται και πάλι, είναι η πιο πετυχημένη "ελληνική" εταιρεία. Με, υποτίθεται και πάλι, σχεδόν 500.000.000 ευρώ σε καταθέσεις μετρητών. Υποτίθεται!!! Στελεχωμένη με... κορυφαία στελέχη, που υποτίθεται ότι έχουν διεθνείς "περγαμηνές"....
... υποτίθεται και πάλι που τους ξέφυγε ο Aδόλοφος Χίτλερ και το σύμβολο των Ναζί, στη σφραγίδα της Luftpost, από σακούλα που ήδη πουλήθηκε έναντ 0,50 ευρώ σε δεκάδες χιλιάδες κομμάτια...και λέγεται CRAFT LONDON!--τι σχέση έχει με το Big Ben και το Λονδίνο, η πεταλούδα, το Τρίτο Ράιχ, ο Χίτλερ, μόνον το "θολωμένο" management των Jumbo μπορεί να απαντήσει...Tελικά μετά τον σάλο θα αποσύρουν τη σακούλα οι αθεόφοβοι, αν και, γνωρίζοντας την προιστορία τους, μάλλον το έκαναν επίτηδες, πιστεύοντας ότι θα περάσει απαρατήρητο από τους καταναλωτές που τρώνε...σανό και κανείς δεν θα τολμήσει να διαμαρτυρηθεί! Μια ακόμη απόδειξη ότι δεν έχουμε ελπίδα ως χώρα και είμαστε εντελώς καταδικασμένοι!....
12.24.2018
"A FISTFUL OF YOJIMBO".....
"Yojimbo" by Akira Korosawa and "A Fistful Of Dollars" by Sergio Leone.
...Kurosawa wrote Leone a letter: 'You made a very good movie, but it's not your movie.' Leone's response was: 'Omg, I got a letter from Kurosawa!!' Rather than realizing he was in for some legal problems....Anyway. Both movies were masterpieces. Yojimbo was based on a Dashiell Hammett novella called "Red Harvest", according to a few scholars, in which the protagonist was a depression era thug in a gangster war in a western town.
12.23.2018
Rashomon - Renegade Cut! (with Akira Kurosawa interview quotes)
BC: You said earlier that all you are really capable of doing is creating films, not explaining them or how they are supposed to be made. And, of course, someone like me comes at films from the opposite perspective. Could you say a bit more on this subject?
AK: Critics take my work and say things about it such as, “This scene in Kurosawa’s film means such-and-such.” But it’s not true! I was not thinking of that at all! Really, my films are created in a totally natural way; I just film them as I go along. They may turn out to affect people in a certain way, but I don’t create films by rationalizing my thoughts and then putting them on celluloid. My way of creating, my style if you want to call it that, is something that I was born with: it comes naturally. …
In sum, I don’t think the “messages” of my films are very obvious. Rather, they are the end products of my reflection; my views are thus implicit in any finished work because I, the creator, am a living, thinking human being who lives now, in the present. I am not consciously trying to teach a lesson or convey a particular message, to express any philosophical or political views, since audiences don’t like that. They are sensitive to such things, to such “sermons,” and rightly shrink from them. People go to see films to enjoy themselves, and I think that I have made them aware of certain problems without their having had to learn about them so directly. …
BC: One can divide your films schematically into two categories: gendai-geki (modern film stories) and jidai-geki (historical film-stories). Is this distinction connected to a precise intention on your part in the formulation of a scenario and in the filming of it?AK: I myself do not perceive any difference. The only advantage of historical film stories, with the possible exception of Throne of Blood, comes from their greater potential for spectacle. … For myself, action-adventure is spectacle in the historical film story, whereas adventure in a modern film story is more often of a metaphysical, moral, and social kind.
What really interests me is the interior or exterior drama of a person and how to represent that person through his particular drama. To describe a person effectively, for instance, a social or a political context is necessary. Moreover, I don’t think that one should depict events of the present day in a coarse manner; the public is shocked if it is plunged coarsely into contemporary reality. One can only make the public accept such a reality through indirect means: the story of a person living in this world. I would make a similar remark with regard to your classification: it is somewhat schematic. Gendai-geki and jidai-geki are different genres, but the subject always determines the form. And there are subjects that one can treat more readily in the form of jidai-geki.Additionally, the 1993 interview with Fred Marshall includes the following comment:
BC: Like Rashomon, which some have called a “modern” film that has an “historical” context.
AK: Yes. To repeat: I, Kurosawa, live in modern society. Thus it is normal that my “historical” films contain “modern” dimensions.
BC: For you, isn’t Rashomon an “historical” film in the cinematic sense, too?
AK: Yes, I think it is, and the historical reference here is silent film. Since the advent of the talkies in the 1930s, I felt at the time of Rashomon‘s conception, we had forgotten what was so wonderful about the old silent movies. …
Rashomon would be my testing ground, the place where I could apply the ideas and desires growing out of my silent-film research.
(From: Akira Kurosawa: Interviews, 174-176)
Q: How do you go about expressing the Truth in your films?
A: I must find a way to put it across, but it’s difficult to raise money by speaking the truth to your contemporaries. It’s easier to depict Japanese history and express its cultural values. I have to emphasize, however, that it is not my intention to impose my specific philosophy on a film. If I had a message or thesis to express, I could do so in words, and it would be much cheaper and quicker to paint those words on a sign and carry it around for all to see.
(From: Akira Kurosawa: Interviews, 184-185)
Art Film Analysis: The Secret of Rashomon Revealed by Wolfcrow
What is an art film? And what are the important elements of an art film? Wolfcrow explains why Rashomon is probably the greatest art film ever. And walks the very thin line between truth and lies... And for Rashomon fans - the mystery is solved! The solution to what really happened that afternoon, with clues from the great Akira Kurosawa himself!
"Rashomon": Murder Mystery? Thriller? Ghost Story? See for yourself...
Why movies are entertainment + Story behind the screenplay of Rashomon + Macbeth quote, etc.: https://wolfcrow.com/blog/rashomon-ho...
Focal Lengths Kurosawa used: https://youtu.be/UsuT2wjvZTo
12.21.2018
Samuel Fuller: Forty Guns (1957)
....Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyck saddled up with writer-director Samuel Fuller ( "I Shot Jesse James", "Hell and High Water", The Baron of Arizona), for the pulp maestro’s most audacious western, a boldly feminist spin on the genre that pivots effortlessly between ribald humor, visceral action, and disarming tenderness. High-riding rancher Jessica Drummond (Stanwyck) commands a forty-strong posse of cowboys, ruling Cochise County, Arizona, without challenge. When U.S. Marshal Griff Bonell (Barry Sullivan) and his brothers arrive in town with a warrant for one of her hired guns, Jessica begins to fall for the lawman even as he chips away at her authority. With astonishing black-and-white CinemaScope photography, hard-boiled dialogue laced with double entendres, and a fiery performance by Stanwyck at her most imperious, Forty Guns is a virtuoso display of Fuller’s sharpshooting talents.
Barbara Stanwyck in FORTY GUNS from Criterion Collection on Vimeo.
Kenji Mizoguchi: A Story from Chikamatsu-aka The Crucified Lovers
One of a string of late-career masterworks made by Kenji Mizoguchi (A Geisha, The Love of Actress Sumako, Flame Of My Love, The Woman In The Rumor, Tales of Taira Klan) in the first half of the 1950s, A Story from Chikamatsu (a.k.a. The Crucified Lovers) is an exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Based on a classic of eighteenth-century Japanese drama, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker’s wife and his apprentice after each is unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Bound by fate in an illicit, star-crossed romance, they go on the run in search of refuge from the punishment prescribed them: death. Shot in gorgeous, painterly style by master cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, this delicately delivered indictment of societal oppression was heralded by Akira Kurosawa as a “great masterpiece that could only have been made by Mizoguchi.”
A Story from Chikamatsu was restored by Kadokawa Corporation and The Film Foundation with the cooperation of the Japan Foundation.
PANIQUE (1946) BY JULIEN DUVIVIER FROM THE CRITERION COLLECTION.
Proud, eccentric, and antisocial, Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon)
Panique - Trailer from William Hohauser on Vimeo.
QUENTIN TARANTINO'S "THE NEW BEVERLY CINEMA" : A MOVIE THEATER WORTHY OF YOUR CINEPHILE SUPPORT
The #NewBeverlycinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, Phone 323.938.4038, plays only 35mm prints....Here's the schedule for December 2018. Also featuring movies from the Tarantino's vault. In case you didn't know about the existence of this movie theater....After 10 years of being a benefactor of the theater, Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino became owner and head programmer. Committed to celluloid, Quentin made the unique decision to have the New Beverly solely project film prints.
"...I want the New Beverly to be a bastion for 35mm films. I want it to stand for something. When you see a film on the New Beverly calendar, you don’t have to ask whether it’s going to be shown in DCP or in 35mm. You know it’s playing in 35 because it’s the New Beverly."
..It's a movie theater and a cause worthy of your cinephile support!
"...I want the New Beverly to be a bastion for 35mm films. I want it to stand for something. When you see a film on the New Beverly calendar, you don’t have to ask whether it’s going to be shown in DCP or in 35mm. You know it’s playing in 35 because it’s the New Beverly."
..It's a movie theater and a cause worthy of your cinephile support!
http://thenewbev.com/schedule/
12.19.2018
Elemental: Ancient Greek mathematics meet modernist design in Taschen's edition about Euclides
For two millennia, Euclid's Elements,
the foundational ancient work on geometry by the famed Greek
mathematician, was required reading for educated people. (The
“classically educated” read them in the original Greek.) The influence of the Elements in
philosophy and mathematics cannot be overstated; so inspiring are
Euclid’s proofs and axioms that Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a sonnet in his honor. But over time, Euclid’s principles were streamlined into textbooks, and the Elements was read less and less.
In 1847, maybe sensing that the popularity of Euclid’s text was fading, Irish professor of mathematics Oliver Byrne worked with London publisher William Pickering to produce his own edition of the Elements, or half of it, with original illustrations that carefully explain the text.
“Byrne’s edition was one of the first multicolor printed books,” writes designer Nicholas Rougeux. “The precise use of colors and diagrams meant that the book was very challenging and expensive to reproduce.” It met with little notice at the time.
Read more:
http://www.openculture.com/2018/12/a-beautifully-designed-edition-of-euclids-elements.html
In 1847, maybe sensing that the popularity of Euclid’s text was fading, Irish professor of mathematics Oliver Byrne worked with London publisher William Pickering to produce his own edition of the Elements, or half of it, with original illustrations that carefully explain the text.
“Byrne’s edition was one of the first multicolor printed books,” writes designer Nicholas Rougeux. “The precise use of colors and diagrams meant that the book was very challenging and expensive to reproduce.” It met with little notice at the time.
Read more:
http://www.openculture.com/2018/12/a-beautifully-designed-edition-of-euclids-elements.html
12.06.2018
"Η ΕΞΕΓΕΡΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΗ": ΓΙΑΤΙ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΘΥΜΟΜΑΣΤΕ!
6 Δεκεμβρίου. Eπέτειος της δολοφονίας του 15χρονου μαθητή Αλέξανδρου Γρηγορόπουλου σήμερα. Πρέπει να θυμόμαστε γιατί η ιστορία επαναλαμβάνεται.
"DECEMBER RIOTS": A FILM ABOUT POLICE BRUTALITY AND THE MURDER IN COLD BLOOD OF A 15 YEAR-OLD STUDENT
"DECEMBER RIOTS" AUTOPSY CLIP. MUSIC BY MOBY. from Dimitri Vorris on Vimeo.
"December
Riots is important, timely, and hits it's mark. Acclaimed Greek-born
filmmaker Dimitri Vorris has beautifully interwoven fact and fiction, to
create a dramatic tale, that is both horrifying and thought-provoking".
Christopher Martini, Director-Producer "The Stone Child", "Trooper"
Christopher Martini, Director-Producer "The Stone Child", "Trooper"
Amos Poe, Filmmaker, Leading figure of the No Wave Cinema Movement, "UNMADE BEDS", "THE FOREIGNER", "SUBWAY RIDERS", "EMPIRE II", "THE GUITARS", "ROCKET GIBRALTAR"
“... Independent, handmade, and made possible with countless fights on the side of its creator, December Riots,
comes to remind us the life we never lived, the fight we never fought and the reasons we got here, with bowed heads and humiliated lives ... "
Chrisostomakis Laktaridis, DOCTV.GR
TIME magazine readers voted protesters—from Occupy Wall Street to the violent streets of Athens—as Person Of The Year and “DECEMBER RIOTS,” written, produced and directed by Dimitri Vorris, depicts exactly that.
The film's epicenter is the cold-blooded execution of 15 year-old student Alexander Gregoropoulos by two policemen in a downtown Athens café on December 6, 2008. "December Riots," is a film about the Gregoropoulos killing, an incident that sparked riots in over seventy cities and twenty-two countries worldwide including the US. The filmmaker acquired exclusive access to never-before-seen court documents and evidence from the trial that followed Gregoropoulos’s killing. The independently financed, claustrophobic thriller, focuses on a group of Europeans and Americans trapped in an art-house movie theater in downtown Athens during the 2008 riots.
The film is featuring four tracks courtesy of electronica superstar Moby.
9.19.2018
ΠΕΝΤΕ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΗN ΠΡΟΜΕΛΕΜΕΤΗΜΕΝΗ ΔΟΛΟΦΟΝΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΥΛΟΥ ΦΥΣΣΑ....
...Οι δολοφόνοι του κυκλοφορούν ελεύθεροι. Η δίκη συνεχίζεται, όταν δεν διακόπτεται λόγω ελλείψεως στέγης. Δεν έχει μπεί κανείς φυλακή από τους σχεδόν 90 κατηγορούμενους. Οι κατηγορούμενοι ούτε καν μπαίνουν στον κόπο να παρουσιάζονται στο δικαστήριο. Ελεύθερα κυκλοφορούν και τα στελέχη, και οι βουλευτές, της Χρυσής Αυγής παρόλο που κατηγορούνται για "...σύσταση και λειτουργία εγκληματικής οργάνωσης". Φυσικά για τους τελευυταίους οι μισθοί "πέφτουν" κάθε μήνα κανονικά από τα κορόιδα τους φορολογούμενους. Κατά τα άλλα "Δικαιοσύνη Για ΄Ολους" που έλεγε και ο τίτλος της κινηματογραφικής ταινίας.
Shortly after midnight on 18 September 2013, Pavlos Fyssas, a young Greek anti-fascist rapper, was murdered in his home neighbourhood of Keratsini, Athens. The killer and others who participated in the attack were members of the neo-Nazi organisation Golden Dawn. Golden Dawn have brutally attacked migrants and political opponents ever since their formation in the late ‘80s, with most of their crimes going unpunished through the silent support of the Greek police aligned to their nationalist cause. Following the murder of Fyssas, a Greek citizen, the government was finally forced to make a series of arrests. Sixty-nine members of Golden Dawn, including all of their fifteen parliamentarians, were brought to trial. Charges in the trial, relating to events as far back as 2008, allege that even while holding seats in the Greek parliament, Golden Dawn operated as a criminal organisation. Even as the ongoing trial threatens the existence of Golden Dawn as a political party, the Greek courts remain reluctant to investigate the role of the police in covering up these crimes.
Forensic Architecture was commissioned by the Fyssas family and their legal representatives to reconstruct the events of the night from the audio and video material made available to the court. The resulting video investigation and accompanying report, presented to the Athens courtroom on 10 and 11 September 2018, brings together CCTV footage, recordings of communications between police and emergency services, and witness testimony. We established a precise timeline and reconstruction of the events that led to the murder. The investigation established that members of Golden Dawn, including senior officials, acted in a co-ordinated manner in relation to the murder, and that DIAS officers were present at the scene before, during and after the murder, and failed to intervene.
Συμπεράσματα
Από το αποτέλεσμα της μελέτης προέκυψε το ακριβές χρονοδιάγραμμα της δολοφονίας και η σχετική θέση των εμπλεκόμενων προσώπων: του θύματος, των δραστών και της αστυνομίας.Από το συγχρονισμένο υλικό παρατηρήθηκαν τα εξής:
1) Η άφιξη τεσσάρων αστυνομικών μοτοσυκλετών της ομάδας ΔΙ.ΑΣ. στις 23:58:11. Σημειώνεται ότι περίπου τρία λεπτά αργότερα οι αστυνομικοί δήλωσαν στο εσωτερικό σύστημα επικοινωνίας τους ότι ήταν μόνο μία ομάδα (2 μοτοσυκλέτες/4 αστυνομικοί) παρούσα. Επίσης στις καταθέσεις τους δήλωσαν ότι έλαβαν την κλήση για να παρέμβουν μόνο στις 23:59.
2) Η άφιξη μίας πομπής αυτοκινήτων και μοτοσυκλετών με κατεύθυνση από την λεωφόρο Σαλαμίνος (που οδηγεί στα γραφεία της Χρυσής Αυγής Νίκαιας) προς την καφετέρια Κοράλλι (όπου ξεκίνησε η εμπλοκή) στις 23:59:08. Το πρώτο εκ των αυτοκινήτων ταιριάζει στην περιγραφή του αυτοκινήτου του Γ. Ρουπακιά – ένα ασημί Nissan Almera.
3) Στις 23:59:40 οι τέσσερις αστυνομικές μοτοσυκλέτες ξαναεμφανίσθηκαν επί της οδού Τσαλδάρη – εκτιμάται ότι έκαναν τον κύκλο του οικοδομικού τετραγώνου (γεγονός που δεν μεταβίβασαν στο κέντρο τους ούτε ανέφεραν στις καταθέσεις τους).
4) Στις 00:01:49 φάνηκαν άτομα να τρέχουν επί της οδού Τσαλδάρη και να στρίβουν.
5) Παρατηρήθηκε επίσης η άφιξη ενός αυτοκινήτου ασημί Nissan Almera, ο οδηγός τους οποίου, εκτιμάται ότι ήταν ο Γ. Ρουπακιάς, ο οποίος εξήλθε κοίταξε προς το σημείο του εγκλήματος και ύστερα ξαναμπήκε στο αυτοκίνητο, έκανε οπισθογωνία και εισήλθε στην οδό Τσαλδάρη ενάντια στο ρεύμα της κυκλοφορίας (00:02:10-00:03:00).
6) Η δολοφονία υπολογίζεται ότι έλαβε χώρα μεταξύ των 00:03:23 και 00:04:06.
7) Εντός του χρονικού πλαισίου της δολοφονίας, στις 00:03:35, ένας εκ των αστυνομικών διαβίβασε στο κέντρο επιχειρήσεων της ΔΙ.ΑΣ. ότι προσπαθούν να χωρίσουν τα άτομα.
8) Στις 00:05:20, οι αστυνομικοί διαβίβασαν στο Κέντρο επιχειρήσεων της ΔΙ.ΑΣ. ότι ο Παύλος Φύσσας είχε τραυματιστεί.
Διαβάστε ολόκληρη την έκθεση του ερευνητικού κέντρου Forensic Architecture
9.17.2018
Camera Angles Movement: Rules of the Game, by Jean Renoir
Rules of the Game (La Règle du Jeu), directed by Jean Renoir, is one of the greatest movies ever made. In this video I show you how Renoir achieved deep focus cinematography, and how he blocked actors and moved the camera. In the video wolfcrow explains the L movement, actor blocking and camera movement in a breath-taking movie. Renoir was a big influence on Spileberg regarding the "L-system" or "L-movement" of the camera.
9.11.2018
ARROW'S DE NIRO/DE PALMA EARLY FILMS
Arrow Video announced that it will release a Limited Edition Blu-ray box set November 12 (November 13 in the U.S.) called "De Niro & De Palma: The Early Films." The set will include The Wedding Party (new 2K restoration from the original film negative), Greetings (new 2K restoration from original film materials), and Hi, Mom! (new 2K restoration from original film materials). Our old friend Chris Dumas (author of Un-American Psycho) will have a written piece in the set's booklet, and there will be brand new interviews with Charles Hirsch, Gerrit Graham, and Peter Maloney. Also included will be a new (audio?) commentary on Greetings by critic Glenn Kenny, author of Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor. Here are the full details as posted at Screen Anarchy:
NEW UK/US/CA TITLE: De Palma & De Niro: The Early Films (Blu-ray) Brought together for the first time – and each newly restored – these three films offer a fascinating insight into the early careers of two American cinema’s major talents.
... Release dates: 12/13 November
In 1963, Robert De Niro stepped in front of a movie camera for the first time. The resulting film, a low-budget black and white comedy called The Wedding Party, would take three years to complete, and another three years to be released, but it would also establish a hugely important working relationship for the aspiring actor. One of the filmmakers, long before he became synonymous with suspense thanks to Carrie, Dressed to Kill and other classics, was Brian De Palma. He and De Niro would team up again in the next few years for two more comedies, both with a countercultural bent.
Greetings, the first film to receive an X certificate in the United States, is a freewheeling satire focusing on a trio of twentysomething friends – a conspiracy theorist, a filmmaker, and a voyeur played by De Niro – as they try to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Hi, Mom!, originally named Son of Greetings, returns to De Niro’s voyeur, now an aspiring maker of adult films, for another humorous glimpse at late-sixties society, this time turning its attentions to experimental theatre, cinéma vérité, the African American experience, and the white middle classes.
Brought together for the first time – and each newly restored by Arrow Films especially for this release – these three films offer a fascinating insight into the early careers of two American cinema’s major talents. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 2K restoration of The Wedding Party from the original film negative, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films
• Brand new 2K restorations of Greetings and Hi, Mom! from original film materials, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films
• Original uncompressed mono soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on all three films
• Brand new commentary on Greetings by Glenn Kenny, author of Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor
• Brand new appreciation of Brian De Palma and Robert De Niro’s collaborations by critic and filmmaker Howard S. Berger
• Brand new interviews with Charles Hirsch, writer-producer of Greetings and Hi, Mom!
• Brand new interview with actor Gerrit Graham on Greetings, Hi, Mom! and his other collaborations with Brian De Palma
• Brand new interview with actor Peter Maloney on Hi, Mom!
• Hi, Mom! theatrical trailer
• Newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
• Limited collector’s edition booklet featuring new writing on the films by Brad Stevens, Chris Dumas and Christina Newland, plus an archive interview with Brian De Palma and Charles Hirsch
http://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/blog/
Posted by Geoff at 10:03 PM CDT
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