JP he is all yours if you want him. I don’t think I have the time to tackle the monster that is Lav Diaz at the moment. He needs to be included, though.
JP grabs the last spot with authority!
so…now what?
Tomorrow we’re going to update you about the project, Sekzee. This is going to be great.
awesome, I should be getting this tomorrow so I can officially begin my preparations :)
Thank you Fin De Cinema and Josh.
Considering now the “monster” that are Lav’s works, I think now it is best to focus more on him and help out when I can with Tsai and Noonan’s works.
@JP
If Diaz isn’t accepted, for whatever reason I would be glad to have help on Noonan. I’ve got the introduction to the filmmaker portion, and the film intros done (it’s only two:)), but I could always use more questions for the interview.
I’m glad you’re going to participate, JP Carpio. Like most people who know about Lav Diaz’s works but live outside the Philippines, I haven’t been able to see “Batang West Side” and “Evolution of a Filipino Family”, but was at least lucky enough to watch “Death in the Land of Encantos” at a local film festival. I’ve seen and read some interviews with Lav Diaz in which he explained the duration and long takes of his film, and am looking forward to get to know more about the man. Here’s the list of the 21 directors who will be part of the project:
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Adam Cook / Adam)
Michael Haneke (Josh Ryan / Josh S. / Drew / Scooter Downey)
Hong Sang-soo (Blue K)
Claire Denis (Kurt Walker / NEH)
Naomi Kawase (Apursansar)
Jia Zhangke (Myra)
Hirokazu Kore-eda (Fin de Cinéma)
Lisandro Alonso (Lucas Granero)
Tsai Ming-liang (Zachary Phillip Brailsford)
Lucrecia Martel (Javier Quintero)
Lav Diaz (JP Caprio)
Sion Sono (Jaime Grijalba Gómez)
Dardenne Brothers (Kai White)
Steven Soderbergh (L.A. Alguera)
Tom Noonan (Mike Spence)
Béla Tarr (Tom)
Nick Broomfield (Den)
Guy Maddin (Joshua W)
Harmony Korine (Surrealist Gesture)
Andrew Bujalski (Mike Spence) (confirm. awaited)
Wong Kar-wai (Sekzee)
Can’t wait to see what you all come up with! I love this.
Can’t wait to see what you all come up with! I love this.
Can’t wait to see what you all come up with! I love this.
Oh, I thought you were still waiting to hear about another person’s participation. I will definitely do Bujalski. It just needs to be after April 6 for the Beeswax release. Consider me confirmed if that timetable works.
Thanks Apursansar.
>I’m glad you’re going to participate, JP Carpio. Like most people who know about Lav Diaz’s works but live outside the Philippines, I haven’t been able to see “Batang West Side” and “Evolution of a Filipino Family”, but was at least lucky enough to watch “Death in the Land of Encantos” at a local film festival. I’ve seen and read some interviews with Lav Diaz in which he explained the duration and long takes of his film, and am looking forward to get to know more about the man.
Lav’s tough to discuss in one sense regarding the film’s length and the difficulty of getting copies for repeat viewings, and there may be some details that you forget or leave out because of the length.
@Mike: Would it be fine for you to make an introduction without “Beeswax” and add a separate thread as soon as it has been released? We’re currently considering that it would be easiest to organize if all participants publish their introduction threads around the same time since the interviews depend on when each director will find the time to respond, and will therefore be rather difficult to coordinate in one-week intervals.
That works for me. I will get started on the intro ASAP.
Awesome.
We’ll be back with updates later today.
@Mike Spence
I’d be glad to help out with some interview questions for Noonan.
If you guys would like any assistance on discussion of Michael Haneke’s films or interview questions, please let me know. I’ve studied all his features multiple times. Thx!
Justin
Justin: Thanks for the offer—we have all the introductory threads for the films covered, but since you’re a Hankephile please feel free to PM me interview questions, and DEFINITELY come back to contribute to the discussion threads, since we’ll need some informed opinions.
so the update didn’t come today?
In fact T and I had been planning a chat session for today before making the announcement, but it didn’t work out since we were both busy. Please stay tuned, we will soon let you know about what’s expected from you.
I know you both are extremely busy.
Everyone—let’s allow them a little leeway while setting this thing up.
Take your time. I’m sure it will be worth it.
I need all the leeway I can get 0_o my films/book still havent come in the mail yet (hopefully tomorrow)
@apursansar; the list is great…wish there were more, how about:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Carlos Reygadas
Jafar Panahi
Bahman Ghobadi
Yesim Ustaoglu
You’re right, both T and I would have also wished Pedro Costa to be selected. Dimitris initially thought about doing Nuri Bilge Ceylan, but finally didn’t take part. We have meanwhile decided on the timescale, and I will make the announcement in the next hour.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The “CINÉMA 21” project is officially going to start on February 14th. We’re going to select five directors to be discussed at a time in intervals of 10 days, and would like the participants to send us their introductions and interview questionuntil the date the director they’re coordinating is going to be discussed. The five directors that have been selected for February 14th are:
Hirokazu Koreeda (Fin de Cinéma)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Adam Cook and Adam)
Guy Maddin (Joshua W)
Claire Denis (Kurt Walker and NEH)
Andrew Bujalski (Mike Spence)
We would like the mentioned coordinators to send us a confirmation to the newly created “Cinéma 21” account which T and I are going to co-manage, and also send us their introductions and interview questions to that account or to the e-mail adress theauteurs.cinema21@gmail.com before February 14th. The directors are going to be discussed and interviewed between February 14th and 23rd, and we’re going to proclaim the next group of directors that will be discussed in about 10 days.
I am filled with glee.
We would like the mentioned participants to send a confirmation to this account. Thanks!
JP Carpio
As a filmmaker from the Philippines, I would like to offer my assistance on Lav Diaz.
Lav is a friend and someone I look up to among all the contemporary filmmakers from my country.
I feel he is the most important filmmaker working right now in the Philippines, and one most qualified through experience and artistry to express facets of our “the Filipino soul”.
I have seen all his works except for his final mainstream studio project Hesus Rebolusyonaryo, a forgettable short related to our war with the local film censorship board, and his latest works: the short Butterflies Have No Memories and his work-in-progress Agonistes.
(I feel he is at his best with his long form works while his shorts leave something to be desired).
Of course, considering the lengths of the films Batang Westside and upwards, copies are hard to come by even within the Philippines. I don’[t own any personal copies of Lav’s work.
I feel that his best work so far is Heremias Book 1": The Legend of the Lizard Princess, and if he ever gets to finish Heremias Book 2: The Land of the Blind (a scene from a screening of this work-in-progress moved me to tears inexplicably), that most likely would be included in my list.
I also would like to help out on Tom Noonan (I’ve seen WHW, and The Wife, with the former being one of my formative film experiences), and Tsai Ming-Liang’s work is always a terrible delight.