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NEWS
Above: Siân Heder's Coda (2021).
- The winners of this year's Sundance Film Festival have been announced, with Siân Heder's Coda and Questlove's Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) sweeping the top prizes.
- Chloé Zhao's Nomadland, David Fincher's Mank, and Jason Woliner's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm lead the Golden Globe film nominations, also announced today. See more here
- The international jury of the 71st Berlinale includes six previous winners of the Golden Bear: Mohammad Rasoulof, Nadav Lapid, Adina Pintilie, Ildikó Enyedi, Gianfranco Rosi and, finally, Jasmila Žbanić. The festival's industry event will be taking place March 1-5, with a "summer special" taking place in June.
- More information has emerged regarding Tilda Swinton and Joanna Hogg's next collaboration, The Eternal Daughter. Executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and filmed in Wales during lockdown, the film follows a middle-aged daughter and her elderly mother who return to their family's old manor, which has become a mysterious hotel.
- Claire Denis is working on a new film with Juliette Binoche, Mati Diop, Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colins. Entitled Fire, the film is written by both Denis and Let the Sun Shine In co-writer Christine Angot, and is about a love triangle that "[spirals] out of control."
- Per Cineuropa, the Dardenne brothers have secured funding for their next film, Tori et Lokita, about the friendship of two "youngsters" who arrive alone in Belgium from Africa.
- The Film Stage also reports that Ryusuke Hamaguchi's follow-up to Asako I and II will be an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story Drive My Car, in which a widowed actor seeks a chauffeur.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- The trailer for IFC's digital release of Claude Lanzmann's landmark documentary Shoah (1985), coming to virtual cinemas March 2nd.
- Netflix has released the official trailer for A Sun, Taiwan's Oscar entry. Directed by Chung Mong-hong, the epic saga follows a family of four struck by tragedy.
- Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi's latest reboot, Shin Ultraman, features Ultraman in a large-scale battle against kaiju Neronga and Gabora, characters first introduced in the original 1966 Ultraman TV series.
- From Neon, an official trailer for Philippe Lacôte's Night of the Kings, the Ivorian entry for the Oscars. Inside a prison, a young pickpocket must tell a story to the other prisoners to survive.
RECOMMENDED READING
Above: The Digital Transgender Archive.
- Over at Criterion's Current, critic Caden Gardner dives into the Digital Transgender Archive and uncovers a history of trans communities' thoughtful, varied responses to trans film images. Accompanying the essay is an essential interview with the DTA's director, K.J. Rawson, who discusses the important ways the archive brings these under-researched materials to light.
- In a new essay on the tradition of the Oscars and what comes next, New York Times critic A.O. Scott proposes that the academy see this year's Oscars as an opportunity to "find new ways of designating excellence."
- 4Columns editor Melissa Anderson reviews Frank Beauvais's Just Don't Think I'll Scream.
- We highly recommend following critics Vadim Rizov and Abby Sun's dispatches from the Sundance Film Festival at Filmmaker Magazine.
- The new issue of Senses of Cinema features its annual World Poll, Leonardo Goi's report from the 2020 Viennale, an expansive interview with Kazuo Hara, and more!
- In a new interview with Slate, Tom Noonan discusses his newly restored independent romance What Happened Was... (1994), the possibility of a sequel, and his friendships with Charlie Kaufman and Wallace Shawn.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- For her latest episode of Sounds on Screen at NTS, Florence Scott-Anderton compiles a mix featuring iconic soundtrack moments from films starring Harry Dean Stanton, including Alien (1979), Repo Man (1984), and The Straight Story (1999).
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- "Our need to understand the unthinkable often propels us to create distance with those who commit these acts." Dea Kulumbegashvili introduces her debut feature film, Beginning, which is exclusively showing on MUBI starting January 29, 2021 in many countries in the Debuts series.
- In a conversation with Leonardo Goi, Andrei Konchalovsky discusses his devastating period piece and Venice Film Festival prizewinner, Dear Comrades!.
- From Kevin B. Lee and Arbelos Films, Lee's new video essay on the shots of Béla Tarr's Sátántangó (1994), made for the release of the film's new restoration. The video essay is also available on the Arbelos's Sátántangó Blu-ray.
- Adrian Curry's latest entry for his Movie Poster of the Day column features various designs for—and troubled distribution history of—Andrei Tarkovsky's most personal film (and one of Curry's most favorite films), The Mirror.
- On the occasion of the Museum of the Moving Image’s retrospective, “Lynne Sachs: Between Thought and Expression,” Kat Sachs provides an overview of Sachs' deeply personal work.
EXTRAS
- For those who need help managing their Netflix binge-watching habits, Netflix has introduced a Timer feature that allows viewers to have "more control of their day and their Netflix experience."