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NEWS
Above: The Souvenir Part II. (Courtesy of A24)
- NYFF has announced its full main slate, which includes Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta, Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir Part II, Julia Ducournau's Titane, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria, and more.
- A long-gestating epistolary documentary that consists of a dialogue between Jean-Luc Godard and Iranian filmmaker and intellectual Ebrahim Golestan is set to premiere on the international festival circuit. The project consisted of Golestan sending emails with text and no visuals to Godard, who would respond with visuals and aphorisms.
- Mel Brooks' memoir, My Remarkable Life in Show Business, will be released November 30. The book is said to follow the "peaks and valleys" of Brooks' storied life beginning with his childhood, retold with his signature irreverent humor.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- The official trailer for Andreas Fontana's riveting political thriller Azor, about a Swiss banker travelling through military-ruled Buenos Aires following the mysterious disappearance of his partner. Azor arrives in US theaters September 10 & UK cinemas October 29. It will also be coming soon to MUBI in the US, UK & Ireland, India, Italy and Turkey.
- The long-awaited trailer for Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho is finally here, featuring long drives, horses, chickens, as well as Clint Eastwood throwing a punch. The film stars Eastwood as a former rodeo star tasked with bringing a young boy from Mexico to Texas, and it will be in theaters and streaming exclusively on HBO Max September 17.
- From August 3-15, Maysles Documenary Center and SAAID (South Asian Artists in Diaspora) are co-presenting KRAANTI: Visions of Resistance, a virtual film series curated by Devika Girish and Bedatri Datta Choudhury. The series consists of 9 documentaries that explore the "long-standing legacy of grassroots resistance against the violences of caste, capitalism, patriarchy, and settler colonialism in India."
RECOMMENDED READING
Above: Beau Travail (1999) by Claire Denis.
- In an extensive interview with Reverse Shot's Nicolas Rapold, prolific cinematographer Agnès Godard discusses her collaborations with Claire Denis, making actors comfortable, and filming both beauty and violence.
- Alex N. Press of Jacobin Mag investigates the rise in organizing among overworked, physically injured, and underpaid film workers who are demanding improved working conditions as they return to sets after an extended lockdown.
- "In the last few years, Brazil has too often been associated with images of fire." For Film Comment, Fábio Andrade sums up the current catastrophe facing the Cinemateca Brasileira, the largest film archive in Latin America.
- Continuing last year's reading recommendations list, Moviemaker has asked Bing Liu, Michael Almereyda, Sean Price Williams, R. Emmet Sweeney, and more for what to read this summer.
- Yasmina Price has written a moving tribute to the late pioneer of Black British cinema, Menelik Shabazz, describing how his legacy has influenced the works of filmmakers like Barry Jenkins and Steve McQueen.
Above: Burning an Illusion (1981) by Menelik Shabazz.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Above: Joan Bennett and Walter Wanger.
- Hosted by Karina Longsworth and Vanessa Hope, the narrative podcast Love is a Crime is a 10-episode deep dive into the scandal of actress Joan Bennett and her husband, the producer Walter Wanger, who murdered an agent he suspected of having an affair with Bennett. The podcast stars Zooey Deschanel as Bennett and Jon Hamm as Wanger.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- Lynne Siefert introduces her film Generations, which is exclusively showing on MUBI starting August 9, 2021 in the United States and Canada.
- Daniel Kasman interviews Soi Cheang, whose bruising new film Limbo signals that the Hong Kong director is back and more fierce than ever.
- In the wake of Youssef Rakha’s book on the film, Hazem Fahmy delves into the influence and cultural importance of Shadi Abdel Salam’s epic The Mummy.
- Ela Bittencourt reports back from this year's edition of the International Film Festival Oberhausen 2021.
EXTRAS
- From Agustín Almodóvar, the official poster for Pedro Almódovar's Parallel Mothers, which will open the Venice Film Festival this year. Instagram has already apologized for initially removing the poster.
