Archive for February, 2008
Friday, February 29th, 2008
After I posted links to various summaries of the Edison Chen nude picture scandal, a flurry of new news appeared online. Last week the actor held a press conference in Hong Kong where he stated that “society as a whole has been affected” by the scandal, apologized to “all the ladies and all their families,” and announced his indefinite hiatus from the film business:
It seems that Chen has now left Hong Kong for the States where he will lay low… at NYU Film School? Meanwhile, Radar Online aggregates some of the latest developments, including the theory that Chen leaked the photos himself, as well as news about the impact of the scandal on Chen’s girlfriend:
Reports are also surfacing that Chen tried proposing to his mob-connected girlfriend (and featured star of many of the leaked photos) Vincy Yeung four times in an effort to avoid a hit from the Triads, the underground Chinese criminal organization you might recall from such fine films as Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2, and Lethal Weapon 4. Yeung’s uncle, Albert Yeung, is a famous Hong Kong gangster who evidently didn’t take kindly to seeing shower pics of his niece on the Web.
The Life After the Agency blog has more, including the author’s predictions on the ability of the scandal’s various participants to survive it.… Read the rest
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
From Fogonazos:
Kolmanskop is a ghost town in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. In 1908, Luederitz was plunged into diamond fever and people rushed into the Namib desert hoping to make an easy fortune. Within two years, a town, complete with a casino, school, hospital and exclusive residential buildings, was established in the barren sandy desert.
But shortly after the drop in diamond sales after the First World War, the beginning of the end started. During the 1950′s the town was deserted and the dunes began to reclaim what was always theirs.
Soon the metal screens collapsed and the pretty gardens and tidy streets were buried under the sand. Doors and windows creaked on their hinges, cracked window panes stared sightlessly across the desert. A new ghost town had been born.
Passage credit: Kolmansokp – ghost town in the desert, from Encounter South Africa.
… Read the rest
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
ALEJANDRO POLANCO IN DIRECTOR RAMIN BAHRANI’S CHOP SHOP. COURTESY KOCH LORBER FILMS.Ramin Bahrani’s films are what one could term “outsider cinema,” and yet they are made with the quiet confidence of someone who knows he belongs. Iranian-American Bahrani was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and moved to New York to study film at Columbia University. After making the short films Backgammon (1998) and Strangers (2000), he spent three years living in Iran, his parents’ former home country. Once back in the U.S., his awareness of immigrant life and the psychology of the outsider found a voice in his debut feature, Man Push Cart (2005). The story of Ahmed, a former Pakistani rock star who works as an anonymous push cart vendor in New York, the film revealed Bahrani’s talents for capturing small moments and telling ostensibly low-key stories in a compelling manner. After premiering at Venice and then also playing Sundance, Man Push Cart was released theatrically to glowing reviews.
Bahrani’s sophomore feature, Chop Shop, another tale of minority struggles in New York, is very much a companion piece to Man Push Cart. It centers on precocious teenager Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), who works doggedly at a garage in Willets Point, Queens, as he tries to save enough money to buy a food van that he hopes to run with his older sister, Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). Chop Shop is more minimal and pared down in style than Bahrani’s debut as he focuses more intently on resonant human stories told in simple, understated ways. Once again, Bahrani gets fine naturalistic performances from a cast of non-actors, principally youngsters Polanco, Gonzales and Carlos Zapata. Bahrani’s movies are unashamedly “small” in their scope, yet the emotional purity and power he manages to convey in his films eclipses that of bigger, grander productions.
Filmmaker spoke to Bahrani about his distinctive creative process, making the camera invisible, and Queen Latifah movies.
DIRECTOR RAMIN BAHRANI WITH ACTOR ALEJANDRO POLANCO AND D.P. MICHAEL SIMMONDS ON THE SET OF CHOP SHOP. COURTESY KOCH LORBER FILMS.Filmmaker: When did you first discover … Read the rest
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Category Director Interviews | Tags: alejandro polanco, chop shop, documentary, goodbye solo, iran, man push cart, michael simmonds, new york, outsider cinema, ramin bahrani,
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
… is the very eye-catching come-on for the theatrical release of Tarsem’s long awaited, long in production second feature, The Fall. Previously Tarsem directed the underrated The Cell as well as some classic music videos, including R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” Here’s the trailer.
… Read the rest
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Over at The Workbook Project, M. Dot Strange offers the case study of his film We Are the Strange that he prepared for the Berlin Talent Campus. Here’s his intro:
This was part of a presentation called “Adventures in self distribution” I describe the journey I took with my animated feature film “We are the Strange” From my bedroom to Sundance and beyond and back to my little studio again after turning down Hollywood deals and deciding to self distribute and make my films my way.
And here’s the embed:
M dot Strange: Berlin Talent Campus 08 from M dot Strange on Vimeo.… Read the rest
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Us Magazine has a piece on their website about why Brad Renfro didn’t appear in the Oscar tribute last night to those who passed away in the preceding year. For the record, an Academy spokesperson chalks it up to “an editing decision.” There’s an active comment section following the article and most are outraged that the talented actor, who died of a heroin overdose on January 15 and who spent half his life working in the movies, wasn’t included.… Read the rest
Monday, February 25th, 2008
The filmmakers behind From Here to Awesome have made this short video entitled “Why Film Festivals Don’t Work” to explain the thinking behind their new festival, which you can read more about at the link above.
submit films | watch films | learn to make films | fest news | fest stream… Read the rest
Monday, February 25th, 2008
.. over at the Director Interviews.
An excerpt:
Filmmaker: What was the process of casting like? It seems that who was playing the roles was integral to the movie’s success.
Bahrani: I learned on Push Cart that the biggest job in learning to work with the actors is casting. We were relentless on the casting: we looked for months for the kids, we saw probably 2-3,000 kids, I put 625 interviews on tape. Usually the first step is Q&A: “Who are you? Where are you from?” After you get them comfortable and you get them talking, you start asking things like, “So, have you ever stolen anything?” “No.” “Really?! You haven’t stolen anything?! Why not?” Then sometimes you’ll get, “Well, one time…” “Oh, cool. Tell me more about that.” Then you start getting into things that match the character: “Would you kill someone if they were hurting your sister?” “You wouldn’t?! You wouldn’t think about it?” Alejandro was close to that, and he and Isamar were from the same school so they already had a rapport of some sort. She had stood up for his real sister and so he already loved her and looked up to her. After that, it was just constant rehearsing.
… Read the rest
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Hillary Clinton’s “Shame on you, Barack Obama!” outburst at the weekend has not only become a popular video on YouTube but, inevitably, spawned a mashup. Because of YouTube, people are now empowered to express themselves politically in a forum where the most intelligent voices will be seen and heard worldwide by millions. Pushed forward by figures such as Rx (who I have posted about a few times before), the political mashup has increasingly become one of the most vital and persuasive forms of political commentary.
Below I have posted a few videos featuring arguably the most potent source of mashup material, Hillary Rodham Clinton. In addition to the “Shame on you!” video, I have posted Slate‘s now-classic melding of Clinton and Election‘s Tracey Flick, and my personal favorite, which mixes two of the most recognizable YouTube moments of 2008 to great effect.
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
I’m not much on post-Oscar pontificating — there are plenty of others who do it much better than me. But, the show did seem awfully low-key this year. I guess the writer’s strike necessitated a slimmed down show overloaded with film clips and tributes. Anyway, I was happy to have interviewed three of the Oscar winners. For Filmmaker I interviewed Best Actress winner Marion Cotillard and the director of the Best Documentary, Alex Gibney. And for the FilmInFocus site I interviewed the winner of the Best Score Oscar for Atonement, Dario Marianelli. Also, here’s Lisa Garibay, who interviewed Best Original Screenplay winner Diablo Cody (Juno) for Filmmaker‘s Fall 2007 issue. And Nick Dawson interviewed Stefan Ruzowitzky, the director of the Best Foreign Film, The Counterfeiters, for his Director’s Interviews.… Read the rest
