Cinéma 21 (A GARAGE DISCUSSION GROUP)

Here’s the current list of users who confirmed their participation:

Adam Cook – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Law (assistant: Blue K) – Hong Sang-soo
Kurt Walker: Claire Denis
Apursansar: Naomi Kawase
Myra: Jia Zhangke (or Wang Bing)
Jaime Grijalba Gómez: Sion Sono

Looking good!

Depending on how Myra decides to go:

I’ll throw my hat in for Wang Bing if she decides not to (or I will assist her if she does decide to do one on him). Also, I’ll throw my hat in for Hirokazu Koreeda.

Let me go another few days and when I see Death in the Land of Encantos and Hermias I might be willing to start one on Lav Diaz, also.

Would it be too much to ask for someone with a high profile like Brian DePalma cause i would happily do one for him.

I’m in for Haneke.

^ I’ll second that.

i think we can allow Haneke and anyone close to 1990 but i don’t think DePalma is able to participate since we’re trying to discover contemporary film-makers, not individuals who started off during the 60’s ;)

Great to see you’re on board, Josh. Koreeda would be an excellent choice. I hope that the three directors you mentioned will be part of the project, maybe Carlo would also be interested to do something on Lav Diaz.

I´m sorry, but Brian De Palma doesn’t qualify, Luis. His most relevant films can be found back in the 70’s and 80’s, but we’re looking for directors who emerged in the 1990’s and made their mayor contributions in the 21st century. In case that you’re interested you can select one of the directors I mentioned on the first page, or suggest an alternative contemporary director.

I’d also be willing to assist with any director who has films readily available if someone is interested in having someone to bounce ideas off of.

Cool, i will check out your list and i will submit Soderbergh who’s first film was in 1989 but obviously grew into his own in the 90’s.

Anyone keen on doing one on the fantastic Aki Kaurismaki? His most popular film was released in 1989 though.

That’s somewhat of a big maybe on Diaz, though. At the most I can see four of his features (and not his generally accepted masterpieces Evolution of a Filipino Family, or Batang Westside) and a few more of his shorts. He certainly is one of the most interesting figures in cinema today, though, so I certainly think he should be included.

Koreeda’s a definite, though.

Kaurismaki began filming feature films during the 80’s, not 90’s ;)

Yes. We know that.

sure, so he and DePalma are out ;)

That means Josh Ryan and Josh S. are going to form a Haneke-team, am I right? Dimitris might do one on Nuri Bilge Ceylan or Reha Erdem.

I agree with you, Josh. The two films you mentioned are the ones I also haven’t managed to track down yet. On the other hand, “Death in the Land of Encantos”, “Heremias” and “Melancholia” would offer us more than enough material to discuss, so there would be no problem. It might be a lot of work due to the length of the films, but maybe Carlo would be able to assist you (also when it comes to language issues). I’m counting you in for Koreeda.

Apursansar: Yes it does, you don wanna mess with da Joshes……

I’m waiting for NEH to arrive to this thread, I’m sure he’ll be interested in coordinating a Claire Denis thing with me.

I have two possibles:

Tom Noonan, who has only released 2 films as a director since the nineties ( I could supplement with some of his work as an actor but I’m not very interested in that)

Kiarostami, started way before the parameters but became prominent with Close-Up.

Will either of these be allowed?

Hi. OK, good. Shaping up.
In reply to the question as to how we get the interviews… we have a couple of mechanisms in development…

1. The first and best way is via an app which is essentially a program that we email to the filmmaker. This opens up a webcam on their computer (or can take a feed from another camera, I think): they then record themselves answering the questions we have asked. At that point they can edit / re-take until they are happy with the result and then send it back to us: we take it , add the Garage logo to the head of the video, and embed it into a Garage channel, at which point anyone can embed it where they want (in the forum, on a website…)

2. We phone them. This is really not the best way to do this, but it would work in some cases… We simply record the audio and create a film made of a still (or sequence of stills, or cuts from a film they have made) and again embed it into the Garage channel we will open for this project.

PLEASE BE AWARE this is one of the first steps towards bridging the gap between filmmaker and audience (the other way we have created is to make an exclusive thread, invite only, as we did with the Clive Holden TRAINS OF WINNIPEG topic…) Presumably any filmmaker we invite will be reading these threads, seeing how seriously we are taking this, how much effort we put in. The more thorough (and respectful) we are, the more likely we are to get a good interview back. In some cases we might be able to get direct engagement for a limited time on an exclusive Garage thread, so bear that in mind too.

Some people may say no, so we need to finalise the list and have back-ups / or be prepared to do some of the discussions without feedback from the director themselves if we’re determined to discuss a specific work.

Final note…
It doesnt have to be a director. It can be a cinematographer, or a composer, or an actor, or a producer. Obviously we’re all mostly focused on directors, but I think it would be interesting to think outside the box a little on this project…

OK any more questions, you know where to ask.

In terms of debating who the final 21 are— let’s try and focus on those who emerged with serious intent in the past two decades. I realise this is a task in itself: so if in doubt and it comes down to a choice between two directors and one was working more obviously before the 21 year mark, then we choose the one who wasn’t.
But it’s all about those who either defined or represented something of cultural, social, political or artistic significance in the past 21 years, and ideally has been an energetic force impacting upon world cinema, however obliquely that may be (thats up to us to decide: we’re curating, we’re thinking this through— dont just go for people you’d like to chat to— go for the ones who did work that was difficult, that was important). We’re looking back, rediscovering, and hopefully bringing great and perhaps neglected work to the fore.

If the Joshes don’t mind I’d love to join the Haneke group!

a few other people i’d like to put forward (but cannot coordinate since I’m covering Claire Denis)

Guy Maddin (he would definitely do this. a very laid back guy.)
William Lubtchansky (he’s worked with many important auteurs in the last two decades. would prove interesting)
Philippe Garrel

Well i guess my submission will be for Steven Soderbergh!

Soderbergh is a controversial choice since part of his work can certainly be classified as mainstream cinema. It’s up to you to decide, but I must admit that I would feel more comfortable if you selected someone like Lodge Kerrigan (also in regards to the above statement by T).

Moderated

Moderated

I think that we can include Soderbergh if Luis definitely wants to, and maybe focus on his more independent work. He’s not the most ideal choice, but doesn’t disqualify either. As for Clair Denis, you will be able to form a team with Kurt, and divide the work. The two of you would be responsible to start an introduction thread about her life and work, contribute in the film discussion threads, and prepare a short interview with her.

“Since Adam Cook mentioned him in first place, it’s up to him to decide wether he prefers to coordinate Weerasethakul’s cinema alone or in a group.”

I’d be more than happy to include the other Adam!

So the Joshs and the Adams are teaming up. What is this—Nameism?