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NEWS
Above: Julia Ducournau at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale / Getty Images)
- Cannes has come to a close with the Palme d'Or win of Titane, making Julia Ducournau only the second woman to win the prize in the festival's history. Check out the rest of this year's winners here.
- Following Cannes, we're looking ahead to fall festival season: San Sebastian's lineup includes the latest by Lucile Hadzihalilovic and Terence Davies; and Locarno has added films by Charlotte Colbert and Russian Gleb Panfilov to its now-complete roster.
- The Museum of the Moving Image's First Look Fest has also announced its full program, which will showcase films by Claire Simon, Lina Rodriguez, James Benning, and more, as well as the world premiere of Ken Jacob's 3D film, Double Wow.
- The much-anticipated lineup for this year's Toronto International Film Festival is still being unveiled. The festival will be opening with Stephen Chbosky's Dear Evan Hansen, and closing with Zhang Yimou's One Second. You can find the rest of the lineup here.
- Due to limited attendance, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will be discontinuing two of its cherished programs: the film program, as well as the interdisciplinary online publication, Open Space.
- Park Chan-wook's next project is an HBO and A24 series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's novel The Sympathizer, about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the Vietnam War. Robert Downey Jr. is set to star as the main antagonist.
- On the fifth episode of MUBI Podcast: Encuentros, Matías Piñeiro and Nicolás Pereda—two of the most prolific independent filmmakers in Latin America—reflect on how their similar creative processes have produced remarkably different works. With great humor, the two friends discuss being in a permanent and natural state of filming, being inspired by literature and the experiences of their casts, and the narrative possibilities of cinema. We also hear more about their much-anticipated next projects. To listen to this episode and subscribe on your favorite podcast app, click here.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- A teaser for Hit the Road, directed by Panah Panahi, the son of Jafar Panahi. The film, which premiered at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, follows a family on a road trip in a rugged landscape.
- The new trailer for the fourth Jackass film and the first in 10 years, Jackass Forever, reunites the gang for new stunts involving cannons, motorcycles, tarantulas, and plenty more.
- Neon's official trailer for Jonas Poher Rasmussen's animated documentary feature Flee, the Grand Jury Prize winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
- Filmmaker and founder of the virtual studio Kinet Media Isaac Goes has released his new film, entitled Worlds. Produced by Isiah Medina, the film blends 16mm and digital footage of countries and cities, and moves in and out of editing systems.
- The University of Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery is currently screening The Poetry of the Everyday, a program of wonderful short films by Rose Lowder, Tara Merenda Nelson, Helga Fanderl, and Anne Charlotte Robertson. Available July 19–July 31, the films "highlights a personal practice of filmmaking rooted in intimacy and observation."
RECOMMENDED READING
Above: Gong Li in The Hand (2004)
- Criterion's Andrew Chan has assembled a dream team of "U.S.-based writers with roots in various parts of the Chinese-speaking world" to reflect on their favorite Wong Kar-wai actors, from Aliza Ma on Rebecca Pan to Phoebe Chen on Gong Li.
- "Honestly, I think if I were a man, nobody would say that. How many men direct horror movies that are so much more graphically shocking than what I do?" In an interview with Vulture, Julia Ducournau discusses her Palme d'Or winner Titane, and the role that violence plays in her films beyond gratuitous provocation.
- From Los Angeles, two tales of two very different theatres: Mark Olsen reports on the beloved Vidiots video store's reopening as a Santa Monica theatre; and Jordan Cronk investigates the implications behind Netflix's purchase of the iconic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
- Nicolas Cage speaks with Esquire about his leading role in Michael Sarnoski's Pig, being inspired by Picasso, and returning to his true passion for drama.
- Jessica Kiang reflects on the many songs, bodily injuries, cars, and connections made at the Cannes Film Festival after last year's cancellation.
- Following the release of Isaac Goes' Worlds on Kinet Media, filmmaker Isiah Medina and critic Kelley Dong interview Goes in a conversation that covers online distribution, the works of Stan Brakhage and Len Lye, and the dialectic between film and digital.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- On BBC Radio 3, host Matthew Sweet, author Tom McCarthy, film historian Phuong Le and French cultural historian Agnès Poirier discuss the works of screenwriter, novelist, and philosopher Alain Robbe-Grillet.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- "As you can see, the characters, the locations, the memories and the daily life of this film are as real as the air we breathe." Fradique introduces his film Air Conditioner, which is exclusively showing on MUBI in many countries in the series Debuts.
- In this translated interview, filmmaker Paula Gaitán speaks with curator Francis Vogner dos Reis on the occasion of her new film and Paula Gaitán: Acid Portraits, an online retrospective of her work.
- Leonardo Goi concludes his coverage of Cannes 2021 with reviews of Justin Kurzel’s Nitram and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero.
- Saffron Maeve encapsulates Mike Leigh's game-changing dramedy Meantime in one shot.
- To mark the occasion of Film Forum's ongoing series Bogart, Jeremy Carr provides an overview of Humphrey Bogart's collaborations with director Michael Curtiz.
EXTRAS
- For some summer sartorial inspiration, follow Sophie Kemp's advice and turn to the crisp white shirts and bell bottoms of the Rohmer Guy. (Photo by Le Films du Losange / Criterion Collection)
- From Dan Ryckert on Twitter, a photo of Sammo Hung in Incite Magazine "kicking ass with full-on Dreamcast and PSX consoles."
