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NEWS
- Changes continue to ripple throughout the film industry: Following the cancellation of this year's SXSW, the festival has paired up with Amazon Prime and invited filmmakers of their lineup to take part in a 10-day "online festival," streaming on Prime for users in the U.S.
- Both Cannes and the Venice Film Festival have announced that neither will be moving forward with a digital festival, committing to plans for physical events for later this year.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- NHK World is offering its four part documentary, 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki, on its website for free. The series offers an exclusive look at the animation auteur's production of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.
- A new short film by Jean-Marie Straub, France Against Robots, has premiered on the Kino Slang blog. The film's title is based on the eponymous 1945 essay by Georges Bernanos, and is dedicated to Jean-Luc Godard.
- During this time, J.L.G. himself remains active: Though currently only available in French, you can watch a recording of his special appearance on Instagram Live—in which he discusses his Cahiers peers, the role of the auteur and producer, and his new film. Presented by the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL), an English-subtitled version of the virtual event will be available soon!
- For the New York Times' Anatomy of a Scene series, Eliza Hittman details the two-camera set-up and filming of a scene from Never Rarely Sometimes Always featuring actress Sidney Flanagan. Read our interview with Hittman, whose film is now available on VOD, here.
RECOMMENDED READING
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's plum tree. (Indiewire)
- Distributor Strand Releasing recently reached out to filmmakers and artists regarding the impact of the pandemic. Apichatpong Weerasethakul shares a message for fans via IndieWire, reporting on the fruits of his plum tree and musings on death and new life.
- Also under quarantine in Madrid, Pedro Almodóvar has penned an essay describing his first eleven days in self-isolation, memories of Sean Connery and Chavela Vargas, and Víctor Erice's The Quince Tree Sun.
- During this time, we're also returning to the wealth of essays and overviews provided by the Women Film Pioneers Project, including Jane Gaines and Michelle Koerner's look at the role of women camera operators during the silent era.
- Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan is stepping down from his position of nearly 30 years, and the Times has gathered tributes from filmmakers such as Clint Eastwood, Mike Leigh, and Jane Campion.
- In a new translated excerpt of Luc Moullet’s 1993 book Politique des acteurs, Moullet considers the dynamic between filmmakers and "cursed" movie actors, and an "underplaying" acting style versus "overplaying" as it manifests in various national cinema histories.
- Rotten Tomatoes recently added a large range of past film critics to its database. The New Yorker's Richard Brody has profiled the once excluded, important names (particularly women and people of color) unearthed by the site whose work is now available to the public, from Iris Barry to John Kinloch.
- A very insightful interview with Hollywood historian William Mann on the impact of Spanish Flu on Hollywood from 1918 to the early 20s, from the pandemic's influence on the creation of the studio system, the mass closures of movie theatres, and the long recovery of the industry in the year following.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- It's the Pictures that Got Small, a new podcast by Nate DiMeo and Karina Longworth, follows the hosts as each week they contact a guest who then "[picks] a movie they’ve heard is great but never found the time to watch." The first episode stars Rian Johnson, who talks about Cast Away.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- Beatrice Loayza gives Marguerite Duras's India-set drama India Song, starring Delphine Seyrig, its Close-up. India Song (1975) is now showing April 4 - May 3, 2020 in the United States.
- The latest State of the Festival focuses on the short films by artists like Bruno Delgado Ramo, Ismaïl Bahri, and Jodie Mack, featured at this year's Rotterdam. Lawrence Abu Hamdan's Once Removed, featured in the article, has been made available for free on YouTube.
- Jorge Suárez-Quiñones Rivas's new video essay, "From Void to Memory," investigates the cinematic infusion of empty spaces with the ghosts of memory as seen in films by Ozu, Ford, Akerman, and more.
EXTRAS
- Not pictured: a meatloaf in the oven.
my zoom meeting background is jeanne dielman's kitchen pic.twitter.com/1Q1hp8NmVy
— trisha low (@tuhreesha) April 2, 2020
- For your entertainment, movie gaffes: water bottles in Little Women, and the more unfortunate case of feline private parts in the incredibly thorny production of Cats.