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NEWS
- Renowned composer Krzysztof Penderecki, best known to moviegoers for his work in The Shining, Wild at Heart, and The Exorcist, has died. In the Guardian's guide to Penderecki's inspirational catalog, Philip Clark writes
- Partnering with Art House Convergence and Janus Films, the Criterion Collection has announced an online fundraiser for art house cinemas impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Funds will be distributed among theatres according to needs, and will go towards helping theatres survive temporary closures.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- This week, the late Albert Maysle's final film In Transit (co-directed with Lynn True, David Usui, Nelson Walker III, and Benjamin Wu) is available to stream for free. The film follows passengers travelling across America aboard Amtrak's Empire Builder. In his review of the film at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, Tanner Tafelski writes that the film has a "go-west-young-man romanticism, and plenty of humanism."
- Isiah Medina—whose films Semi-Auto Colours, 88:88, and Idizwadidiz previously screened on MUBI—has released his latest, Inventing the Future, on YouTube for free. Based on the book Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work, Medina has also made the film available for free download at the film's website.
RECOMMENDED READING
Frederick Wiseman by Adrien Toubiana
- In a new interview with PKM, Frederick Wiseman discusses his childhood, his focus on institutions, and the "bullshit meter" necessary for anyone making documentaries.
- A more in-depth look at the Covid-19 pandemic's effects on Hollywood by the Hollywood Reporter details the benefits and limitations of new business models, digital platforms, and delayed release dates.
- Sabzian has translated excerpts from Histoire du cinématographe: de ses origines à nos jours (1925) by Georges-Michel Coissac, in which he describes the very first screenings in cinema history by the Lumière brothers in Paris.
- In a video message posted to Instagram, Spike Lee shares that he has made his 1996 script for his unmade dream project, a Jackie Robinson biopic starring Denzel Washington, available for download at Dropbox.
- Adapted for "current circumstances and confined spaces," filmmaker and choreographer Yvonne Rainer provides instructions for a D.I.Y. dance, involving steady walking and furniture, for those now spending most of their time at home.
- Ehsan Khoshbakht of the Notes On Cinematograph blog shares Abbas Kiarostami's illustrations for a 1969 children's book by poet Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, and delves into detail regarding the auteur's prolific work as an illustrator, graphic designer, photographer, and film titles sequence designer.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- From True/False Film Fest, Beatrice Loayza interviews experimental filmmaker and visual artist Christopher Harris regarding his most widely appraised work, the 2002 film still/here.
- The latest Notebook Soundtrack Mix is a celebration of the soundtracks of films by Andrei Tarkovsky, aiming to deliver "a textural experience weaving through captured sounds from across Tarkovksy’s work, [...] a nonlinear and dreamlike atmosphere, inside its own reality, in keeping with the master himself."
- Bedatri D.Choudhury gives Govind Nihalani's Party (1984) its Close-Up, uncovering the film's roots in India's Parallel Cinema movement of the 1950s and its nontraditional depiction of liberal women. The film is now showing in the series A Journey into Indian Cinema.
EXTRAS
- From New York gallery Posteritati, a collection of Penderecki's gorgeous, handwritten scores.
RIP Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the most important avant-garde composers of the 20th century, defined the sound of modern terror in The Shining, The Exorcist, Twin Peaks: The Return, Inland Empire, and The Saragossa Manuscript.
Penderecki’s handwritten scores: pic.twitter.com/oFFuep8KoJ
— Posteritati (@Posteritati) March 29, 2020
- In this short clip from BBC's Art of the Image, explore the matte paintings of Return of the Jedi.
"More painterly, more sketchy matte paintings are a more convincing illusion than more precise, digital ones."
Turns out matte paintings far better simulate the way that we actually look at the world.#AgeoftheImage@doctorjamesfox pic.twitter.com/w58RYzCJ1o
— BBC Four (@BBCFOUR) March 30, 2020