Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning documentary Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got has compelling and intimate on-camera interviews with Artie Shaw, Mel Tormé, Helen Forrest, Polly Haynes, Buddy Rich, Lee Castle, Mack Pierce, Frederic Morton, John Wexley, John Best, and the very forthcoming Evelyn Keyes on her marriage to Artie Shaw. Photo: Anne Katrin Titze
In the first instalment with Brigitte Berman on her Oscar-winning documentary Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (4K restoration and remastered sound), now screening at Film Forum in New York, we discuss how a Bix Beiderbecke interview with Artie Shaw in 1979 for her film Bix: 'Ain't None Of Them Play Like Him Yet' turned into an opportunity of a lifetime; Artie Shaw’s theme song Nightmare; the provocative titles of his books; his recordings of Frenesi and Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine; George Gershwin’s Summertime with Roy Eldridge; obsessively buying Patek Philippe...
In the first instalment with Brigitte Berman on her Oscar-winning documentary Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (4K restoration and remastered sound), now screening at Film Forum in New York, we discuss how a Bix Beiderbecke interview with Artie Shaw in 1979 for her film Bix: 'Ain't None Of Them Play Like Him Yet' turned into an opportunity of a lifetime; Artie Shaw’s theme song Nightmare; the provocative titles of his books; his recordings of Frenesi and Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine; George Gershwin’s Summertime with Roy Eldridge; obsessively buying Patek Philippe...
- 1/6/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Alexander Payne (Adapted Screenplay Oscar wins for Sideways with Jim Taylor and The Descendants with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) at JFK airport with Anne-Katrin Titze on the Wc Fields poster in The Holdovers: “I remember that. I had that poster in my room growing up.”
In the second instalment with Alexander Payne, director of the Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson), starring Dominic Sessa and Golden Globe nominees Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, we start out discussing the Oscar-shortlisted score by Mark Orton after my recommendation of Wurzel-Sepp, an apothecary shop in Munich from 1887. From there we move on to the Trapp Family recordings of The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night, plus Cat Stevens in the soundtrack; the influence of Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse, Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, Robert Donat in Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and...
In the second instalment with Alexander Payne, director of the Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson), starring Dominic Sessa and Golden Globe nominees Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, we start out discussing the Oscar-shortlisted score by Mark Orton after my recommendation of Wurzel-Sepp, an apothecary shop in Munich from 1887. From there we move on to the Trapp Family recordings of The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night, plus Cat Stevens in the soundtrack; the influence of Marcel Pagnol’s Merlusse, Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, Robert Donat in Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and...
- 1/1/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled its Wavelengths program for artist-driven experimental work that includes films by avant garde directors Denis Côté, Radu Jude, the late Chantal Akerman and Wang Bing.
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
There’s selections for Isiah Medina’s He Thought He Died, an experimental heist film; Angela Schanelec’s Music, a retelling of the Oedipus myth; and Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, which stars Larissa Corriveau and will first bow at the Locarno Film Festival.
Wavelengths also booked fiction debuts with Rosine Mbakam’s Mambar Pierrette, a portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress; and Phạm Thiên Ân’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the Vietnamese director’s hypnotic first feature about a man haunted by past memories when returning to his hometown that picked up the Caméra d’Or in Cannes.
“The increasing necessity to support artists willing to take risks, break rules and challenge the status quo — especially in our over-saturated media landscape — bears repeating,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or winner “Farewell My Concubine” is a highlight of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Classics strand while Jean-Luc Godard’s last film will feature in Wavelengths.
The Classics strand also includes Canadian producer-director Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature documentary “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” (1985), portraying the life of the clarinettist and bandleader, and, after decades of oblivion Jacques Rivette’s New Wave classic “L’amour fou” (1969), whose original celluloid elements were damaged in a fire. A 50th anniversary screening of “Touki Bouki” (1973), from Sengal’s Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène’s “Xala” (1975), presented in 4K, complete the program. Classics is curated by Robyn Citizen, director of programming and platform lead, with contributions from Andréa Picard.
The Wavelengths strand has 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by...
The Classics strand also includes Canadian producer-director Brigitte Berman’s Oscar-winning feature documentary “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” (1985), portraying the life of the clarinettist and bandleader, and, after decades of oblivion Jacques Rivette’s New Wave classic “L’amour fou” (1969), whose original celluloid elements were damaged in a fire. A 50th anniversary screening of “Touki Bouki” (1973), from Sengal’s Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène’s “Xala” (1975), presented in 4K, complete the program. Classics is curated by Robyn Citizen, director of programming and platform lead, with contributions from Andréa Picard.
The Wavelengths strand has 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by...
- 8/11/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced this year’s Wavelengths and Classics sidebars, the former section known for its politically charged, geographically diverse fare with a wide range of work drawn from the worlds of documentary, contemporary art, and international art-house cinema.
Wavelengths this year counts 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by the singular Chantal Akerman.
Of note in the Wavelengths short section, North American audiences will finally get to see Jean-Luc Godard’s swan song short, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, which played Cannes this past spring.
Another highlight in the Classics sidebar is the 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, the only movie from China to win the Palme d’Or. The original film had 20 minutes cut by then Miramax Boss Harvey Weinstein much to the chagrin of jury...
Wavelengths this year counts 12 feature films and 19 shorts, as well as a suite of four restored early films by the singular Chantal Akerman.
Of note in the Wavelengths short section, North American audiences will finally get to see Jean-Luc Godard’s swan song short, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, which played Cannes this past spring.
Another highlight in the Classics sidebar is the 4K uncut restoration of Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, the only movie from China to win the Palme d’Or. The original film had 20 minutes cut by then Miramax Boss Harvey Weinstein much to the chagrin of jury...
- 8/11/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Classics includes restored version of Jacques Rivette’s New Wave film L’amour Fou.
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced selections in the Wavelengths and Classics programmes ahead of the festival (September 7-17).
The expanded Wavelengths section offers 11 features and 19 shorts including the world premiere of Canadian artist and filmmaker Isiah Medina’s deconstructed heist tale He Thought He Died (pictured), Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, and Angela Schanelec’s retelling of the Oedipus myth, Music.
“Wavelengths is a testament to the range of cinema celebrated at TIFF,” said Anita Lee, TIFF’s chief programming officer. “It is also evidence...
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced selections in the Wavelengths and Classics programmes ahead of the festival (September 7-17).
The expanded Wavelengths section offers 11 features and 19 shorts including the world premiere of Canadian artist and filmmaker Isiah Medina’s deconstructed heist tale He Thought He Died (pictured), Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, and Angela Schanelec’s retelling of the Oedipus myth, Music.
“Wavelengths is a testament to the range of cinema celebrated at TIFF,” said Anita Lee, TIFF’s chief programming officer. “It is also evidence...
- 8/11/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival has added an additional 17 films to its 2023 lineup, with the new entries the work of a variety of bold international directors, from Radu Jude and Kleber Mendonca Filho to the late Jean-Luc Godard and Chantal Akerman.
The Wavelength section contains 12 features, two films paired in a single program and 19 shorts grouped in three separate programs. It is devoted to “artist-driven experimental films,” in the words of TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “Wavelengths continues to be a celebration of subversion, personal expression, and the vast, inexhaustible capabilities of cinema to enlighten, inspire, awe, resist, disrupt, and propose new ways of seeing and being in the world.”
Films in the section include “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” from the fiery Romanian satirist Radu Jude, “Here” from Belgian director Bas Devos,” the “Oedipus” retelling “Music” from Angela Schanelec, Brazilian Kleber Mendonca...
The Wavelength section contains 12 features, two films paired in a single program and 19 shorts grouped in three separate programs. It is devoted to “artist-driven experimental films,” in the words of TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “Wavelengths continues to be a celebration of subversion, personal expression, and the vast, inexhaustible capabilities of cinema to enlighten, inspire, awe, resist, disrupt, and propose new ways of seeing and being in the world.”
Films in the section include “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” from the fiery Romanian satirist Radu Jude, “Here” from Belgian director Bas Devos,” the “Oedipus” retelling “Music” from Angela Schanelec, Brazilian Kleber Mendonca...
- 8/11/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
This year’s Academy Awards could be decided by a few votes among the Academy’s 9,000 or so members. No category is as down-to-the-wire as Best Actress, with experts making the case for any of the nominees to prevail, as four of the women have evenly split the precursor awards. TheWrap’s Steve Pond is forecasting Carey Mulligan of “Promising Young Woman” to win, but writes, “Does anybody have a four-sided coin I can flip?”
In 1969, the Best Actress category was host to the most spectacular tie in Oscar history, with two of the most famous performers of the twentieth century each winning the statuette. Here are the six times that ties have occurred since Oscar’s beginning. A seventh could be right on track for this year.
1932: Best Actor
Fredric March in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Wallace Beery in “The Champ”
The 5th Annual Academy Awards...
In 1969, the Best Actress category was host to the most spectacular tie in Oscar history, with two of the most famous performers of the twentieth century each winning the statuette. Here are the six times that ties have occurred since Oscar’s beginning. A seventh could be right on track for this year.
1932: Best Actor
Fredric March in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Wallace Beery in “The Champ”
The 5th Annual Academy Awards...
- 3/25/2022
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
Bix Beiderbecke with his cornet and the Wolverine Orchestra featured in Brigitte Berman’s superb Bix: 'Ain't None Of Them Play Like Him Yet' Photo: courtesy of Brigitte Berman
Bix Beiderbecke, called a “born genius” by his friend Louis Armstrong, who also provided the quote in the film’s title, died far too young at the age of 28 in 1931. Almost half a century later, between 1978 and 1980, Brigitte Berman interviewed family, friends, and many of the musicians and admirers, including Hoagy Carmichael, Bill Challis, Charlie Davis, Artie Shaw, Spiegle Willcox, Fred Bergin, Doc Cheatham, Matty Malneck, Esten Spurrier, and many more who played with Bix to get a sense of the man who left behind this remarkable music that borders on the otherworldly. A very impressive array of paintings by Edward Hopper visually doubles the effect of the experience.
Brigitte Berman with Anne-Katrin Titze on Wim Wenders: “His films have...
Bix Beiderbecke, called a “born genius” by his friend Louis Armstrong, who also provided the quote in the film’s title, died far too young at the age of 28 in 1931. Almost half a century later, between 1978 and 1980, Brigitte Berman interviewed family, friends, and many of the musicians and admirers, including Hoagy Carmichael, Bill Challis, Charlie Davis, Artie Shaw, Spiegle Willcox, Fred Bergin, Doc Cheatham, Matty Malneck, Esten Spurrier, and many more who played with Bix to get a sense of the man who left behind this remarkable music that borders on the otherworldly. A very impressive array of paintings by Edward Hopper visually doubles the effect of the experience.
Brigitte Berman with Anne-Katrin Titze on Wim Wenders: “His films have...
- 2/8/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Whistler Film Festival comes of age with 18th edition featuring more high-profile premieres, filmmakers, artists and industry executives in attendance than ever before. ‘On the Basis of Sex’ wins the Wff Audience Award.
The 18th edition of the Whistler Film Festival (Wff) wrapped Sunday night, living up to its reputation as ‘Canada’s coolest film fest’ with more premieres, filmmakers, artists and industry executives in attendance than ever before. With unique experiences ranging from live music to mountain top events, cinematic excellence remained at the heart of this year’s festival.
With more than 1,000 submissions, festival goers experienced 85 fresh films (50 features and 35 shorts) in 104 screenings from over 12 countries, including leading award season fare, meritable Canadian content and more female directed films than ever before. Wff remained true to its mandate of discovering new talent, with the inclusion of 16 first time feature films, 21 feature films directed by women (representing 46%), and with...
The 18th edition of the Whistler Film Festival (Wff) wrapped Sunday night, living up to its reputation as ‘Canada’s coolest film fest’ with more premieres, filmmakers, artists and industry executives in attendance than ever before. With unique experiences ranging from live music to mountain top events, cinematic excellence remained at the heart of this year’s festival.
With more than 1,000 submissions, festival goers experienced 85 fresh films (50 features and 35 shorts) in 104 screenings from over 12 countries, including leading award season fare, meritable Canadian content and more female directed films than ever before. Wff remained true to its mandate of discovering new talent, with the inclusion of 16 first time feature films, 21 feature films directed by women (representing 46%), and with...
- 12/21/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Eleven World Premieres plus $146,500 in cash and prizes to be awarded.
‘Mary Queen of Scots’ and ‘Momentum Generation’ to bookend festival.
Canadian Premieres include ‘On the Basis of Sex’, ‘Stockholm’, and ‘Untogether’. Western Canadian Premieres include ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, ‘Roma’ and ‘At Eternity’s Gate’
The 18th annual Whistler Film Festival (Wff), November 28 to December 2, selected its opening night film and full program lineup from over 1,000 submissions. Festival goers can look forward to 85 fresh films including 50 features and 35 shorts representing 12 countries. Selections for this year’s festival include leading award season fare, quality Canadian content (69% of the lineup) and more female-directed films than ever before (46% of the lineup).
‘Canada’s coolest film fest’ remains true to its mandate of discovering new talent, with the inclusion of 16 first time feature films, 21 feature films directed by women, and with 64% of its program premiering Canadian features, more than any other international Canadian film festival this year.
‘Mary Queen of Scots’ and ‘Momentum Generation’ to bookend festival.
Canadian Premieres include ‘On the Basis of Sex’, ‘Stockholm’, and ‘Untogether’. Western Canadian Premieres include ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, ‘Roma’ and ‘At Eternity’s Gate’
The 18th annual Whistler Film Festival (Wff), November 28 to December 2, selected its opening night film and full program lineup from over 1,000 submissions. Festival goers can look forward to 85 fresh films including 50 features and 35 shorts representing 12 countries. Selections for this year’s festival include leading award season fare, quality Canadian content (69% of the lineup) and more female-directed films than ever before (46% of the lineup).
‘Canada’s coolest film fest’ remains true to its mandate of discovering new talent, with the inclusion of 16 first time feature films, 21 feature films directed by women, and with 64% of its program premiering Canadian features, more than any other international Canadian film festival this year.
- 11/20/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Hugh Hefner's posthumous reputation gets a boost in Hugh Hefner's After Dark: Speaking Out in America, a comprehensive, if a bit windy, appreciation of the late Playboy founder's brief but culturally significant television career. As few people under 60 will be aware of the two politically progressive talk-and-music syndicated shows Hef produced and hosted at the beginning and end of the 1960s, Brigitte Berman's documentary will be a bit of an eye-opener, primarily due to the shows' then-unheard-of racial mix and political talk but also as a curious cultural artifact of the Swinging Sixties.
Having in 2009 made the ...
Having in 2009 made the ...
Hugh Hefner's posthumous reputation gets a boost in Hugh Hefner's After Dark: Speaking Out in America, a comprehensive, if a bit windy, appreciation of the late Playboy founder's brief but culturally significant television career. As few people under 60 will be aware of the two politically progressive talk-and-music syndicated shows Hef produced and hosted at the beginning and end of the 1960s, Brigitte Berman's documentary will be a bit of an eye-opener, primarily due to the shows' then-unheard-of racial mix and political talk but also as a curious cultural artifact of the Swinging Sixties.
Having in 2009 made the ...
Having in 2009 made the ...
A selection of films from the 2016 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has been unveiled, with films by Jim Jarmusch, Maren Ade, Tom Ford, Paul Verhoeven, Damien Chazelle, and many more.Opening NIGHTThe Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua)GALASDeepwater HorizonArrival (Denis Villeneuve)Deepwater Horizon (Peter Berg)The Headhunter's Calling (Mark Williams)The Journey Is the Destination (Bronwen Hughes)Jt + The Tennessee Kids (Jonathan Demme)Lbj (Rob Reiner)Lion (Garth Davis)Loving (Jeff Nichols)A Monster Calls (J.A. Bayona)Planetarium (Rebecca Zlotowski)Queen of Katwe (Mira Nair)The Rolling Stones of Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America (Paul Dugdale)The Secret Scripture (Jim Sheridan)Snowden (Oliver Stone)Strange Weather (Katherine Dieckmann)Their Finest (Lone Scherfig)A United Kingdom (Amma Astante)Special PRESENTATIONSLa La LandThe Age of Shadows (Kim Jee-woon)All I See Is You (Marc Forster)American Honey (Andrea Arnold)American Pastoral (Ewan McGregor)Asura: The City of...
- 8/12/2016
- MUBI
The third cascade of world premieres in 15 days flowed from the headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday as programmers revealed their Midnight Madness, Tiff Docs, Vanguard, Tiff Cinematheque and Short Cuts selections.
This week’s offering includes Ben Wheatley’s all-star gangster thriller Free Fire, which opens Midnight Madness one year after the premiere of the British auteur’s High-Rise; fast-rising Chadwick Boseman in revenge thriller Message From The King in Vanguard and a Tiff Docs strand that features climate change documentary The Turning Point, featuring and produced by Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio.
The 41st Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 to 18.
Wp = world premiere, IP = international premiere, Nap = North American premiere, Cp = Canadian premiere, Tp = Toronto premiere.
Midnight Madness
Ben Wheatley’s all-star gunfight Free Fire starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Cillian Murphy will open the section, which includes Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Rats, Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch, André Øvredal’s [link...
This week’s offering includes Ben Wheatley’s all-star gangster thriller Free Fire, which opens Midnight Madness one year after the premiere of the British auteur’s High-Rise; fast-rising Chadwick Boseman in revenge thriller Message From The King in Vanguard and a Tiff Docs strand that features climate change documentary The Turning Point, featuring and produced by Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio.
The 41st Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 to 18.
Wp = world premiere, IP = international premiere, Nap = North American premiere, Cp = Canadian premiere, Tp = Toronto premiere.
Midnight Madness
Ben Wheatley’s all-star gunfight Free Fire starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Cillian Murphy will open the section, which includes Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Rats, Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch, André Øvredal’s [link...
- 8/9/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival has nearly completed its slate announcement this year — expect a few stragglers to be announced in the coming days, but this is about the size of it — rounding out its lineup with today’s announcement of its Docs, Midnight Madness, Vanguard and Tiff Cinematheque picks. And what a group this is, including plenty of returning favorites and some very exciting new names.
Tiff’s Docs section features a collection of works from award-winning directors including Steve James, Raoul Peck, Errol Morris and Werner Herzog. Leonardo DiCaprio even pops up for a “rousing call to action on climate change” in “The Turning Point,” made in collaboration with Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens and already picked up by National Geographic.
Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’
The beloved Midnight Madness section offers...
Tiff’s Docs section features a collection of works from award-winning directors including Steve James, Raoul Peck, Errol Morris and Werner Herzog. Leonardo DiCaprio even pops up for a “rousing call to action on climate change” in “The Turning Point,” made in collaboration with Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens and already picked up by National Geographic.
Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’
The beloved Midnight Madness section offers...
- 8/9/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
After a promising initial line-up, the Toronto International Film Festival has delivered more titles with their full Canadian slate. Among the line-up is Xavier Dolan‘s It’s Only the End of the World, Bruce MacDonald‘s new feature Weirdos, Deepa Mehta‘s Anatomy of Violence, as well as Two Lovers and a Bear, starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan, which we have the first trailer for today.
We said in our review from Cannes, “Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear is a film that suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Like an indie playlist stuck on constant shuffle, unapologetically reveling in a sort of manic unclassifiable genre. This isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but, for some reason, Nguyen’s scattershot tonal shifts — which hop between a romance on the rocks; a self-serious study of grieving; and a surreal buddy comedy — can prove quite jarring.
We said in our review from Cannes, “Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear is a film that suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Like an indie playlist stuck on constant shuffle, unapologetically reveling in a sort of manic unclassifiable genre. This isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but, for some reason, Nguyen’s scattershot tonal shifts — which hop between a romance on the rocks; a self-serious study of grieving; and a surreal buddy comedy — can prove quite jarring.
- 8/4/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Toronto Film Festival has revealed the lineup of titles that will make up its Canadian offerings next month. Running the gamut from documentaries to dramas, biographies, thrillers and animation, the roster includes veteran filmmakers and emerging talent. Among the world premieres are docs The River Of My Dreams from Oscar winner Brigitte Berman, and Anatomy Of Violence by Oscar-nominated Water helmer Deepa Mehta. North American premieres include Xavier Dolan’s Cannes…...
- 8/3/2016
- Deadline
A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
- 8/3/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
- 8/3/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced an additional selection of feature picks — all falling under the banner of Canadian-made films, appropriately enough — along with their Tiff Rising Stars group, the recipient of the Len Blum Residency and a selection of Canadian shorts. Major programming standouts including Xavier Dolan’s Cannes Grand Prix winner “It’s Only the End of the World” and Nathan Morlando’s Cannes debut “Mean Dreams.” Other films of note include April Mullen’s “Below Her Mouth” and Kim Nguyen’s Dane DeHaan-starring “Two Lovers and a Bear.”
This year’s Tiff Rising Stars — four Canadian actors who will take part in a series of specialized programming organized by Tiff’s Industry team — include Jared Abrahamson, Grace Glowicki, Mylène Mackay and Sophie Nélisse. Additional international Rising Stars will be announced in the coming weeks.
Screenwriter and filmmaker Andrew Cividino is the 2016 Len Blum Resident. Cividino,...
This year’s Tiff Rising Stars — four Canadian actors who will take part in a series of specialized programming organized by Tiff’s Industry team — include Jared Abrahamson, Grace Glowicki, Mylène Mackay and Sophie Nélisse. Additional international Rising Stars will be announced in the coming weeks.
Screenwriter and filmmaker Andrew Cividino is the 2016 Len Blum Resident. Cividino,...
- 8/3/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
By Patrick Shanley
Managing Editor
This year’s best documentary feature nominees continues a long trend of music docs being recognized by the Academy, as two music-related films have earned nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Amy, which tells the story of late songstress Amy Winehouse in her own words through never-before-seen archival footage and unreleased tracks and is nominated for best doc this year, earned nominations for the Queer Palm and Golden Eye awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for director Asif Kapadia.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus earned the second nomination of her career with the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? The film focuses on the life of iconic R&B singer Nina Simone and her life as a singer, mother, and civil rights activist. Garbus earned her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for her documentary The Farm: Angola, USA.
Music-related docs have been a hot topic for the Academy in years past,...
Managing Editor
This year’s best documentary feature nominees continues a long trend of music docs being recognized by the Academy, as two music-related films have earned nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Amy, which tells the story of late songstress Amy Winehouse in her own words through never-before-seen archival footage and unreleased tracks and is nominated for best doc this year, earned nominations for the Queer Palm and Golden Eye awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for director Asif Kapadia.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus earned the second nomination of her career with the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? The film focuses on the life of iconic R&B singer Nina Simone and her life as a singer, mother, and civil rights activist. Garbus earned her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for her documentary The Farm: Angola, USA.
Music-related docs have been a hot topic for the Academy in years past,...
- 1/22/2016
- by Patrick Shanley
- Scott Feinberg
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
Keep on Keepin’ On, director Alan Hicks’ debut film, follows four years of the friendship and mentorship between jazz legend and trumpeter Clark Terry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and taught a young Quincy Jones how to play, and Justin Kauflin, a talented 23-year-old blind pianist. The two musicians support each other as Terry begins to lose his eyesight due to health issues and as Kauflin deals with stage fright as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. The film is one of 15 films on the Oscar documentary shortlist, five of which will be nominated on Jan. 15.
The Academy is particularly fond of music-related documentaries, nominating 17 since 1942, with eight winning. Keep on Keepin’ On could join the following Oscar-nominated films:
Festival (1967)
Director Murray Lerner’s black-and-white documentary offers a glimpse into three years (1963-1966) of the Newport Folk Festival, which...
Managing Editor
Keep on Keepin’ On, director Alan Hicks’ debut film, follows four years of the friendship and mentorship between jazz legend and trumpeter Clark Terry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and taught a young Quincy Jones how to play, and Justin Kauflin, a talented 23-year-old blind pianist. The two musicians support each other as Terry begins to lose his eyesight due to health issues and as Kauflin deals with stage fright as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. The film is one of 15 films on the Oscar documentary shortlist, five of which will be nominated on Jan. 15.
The Academy is particularly fond of music-related documentaries, nominating 17 since 1942, with eight winning. Keep on Keepin’ On could join the following Oscar-nominated films:
Festival (1967)
Director Murray Lerner’s black-and-white documentary offers a glimpse into three years (1963-1966) of the Newport Folk Festival, which...
- 1/8/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
A special personal Holiday thanks this year to the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Anchor Bay Canada, Am PR, BigGameHunter, Brigitte Berman, Canadian Film Centre, DC Comics, Dw Communications, Gat PR, IMDb, Jake Dolgy, Jay Leno, Joe Medeiros, Kale & Nori Culinary Arts, Lauren Mote, Mary-Catherine Snelgrove, Mvd Entertainment Group, Marvel Entertainment, NEXTMedia, OneStopMedia, Shelly Faber, Sony Pictures Releasing Canada, Squigly Media Corp, TorontoFilm.Net, Toronto International Film Festival, Touchwood PR, Union Of British Columbia Performers, VancouverFilm.Net, Wizard World and a whole lot more !
From all of us @ SneakPeek.Ca, wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday !
Click the images to enlarge...
From all of us @ SneakPeek.Ca, wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday !
Click the images to enlarge...
- 12/28/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Playboy Magazine publisher Hugh M. Hefner, is releasing his 'Lindsay Lohan' pictorial issue one week early.
This is after photos of the shoot were leaked online, featuring the "Mean Girls" star.
"Because of the interest and the internet leak, we're releasing the 'Lindsay Lohan' issue early," said Hef.
The magazine's nude pictorial of Lohan is in homage to actress Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe appeared as Playboy Magazine's first 'centerfold' in 1953.
In other Playboy news, Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker Brigitte Berman's documentary "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" continues to show interest.
"...'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel' is a revealing look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the "Playboy" empire.
"With humor and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists.
"Rare footage and compelling interviews with a remarkable who's who of 20th Century American pop culture,...
This is after photos of the shoot were leaked online, featuring the "Mean Girls" star.
"Because of the interest and the internet leak, we're releasing the 'Lindsay Lohan' issue early," said Hef.
The magazine's nude pictorial of Lohan is in homage to actress Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe appeared as Playboy Magazine's first 'centerfold' in 1953.
In other Playboy news, Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker Brigitte Berman's documentary "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" continues to show interest.
"...'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel' is a revealing look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the "Playboy" empire.
"With humor and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists.
"Rare footage and compelling interviews with a remarkable who's who of 20th Century American pop culture,...
- 12/11/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
"Fifty years ago this July," begins Michael Fox in the Sf Weekly, "Bruce Baillie and Chick Strand set up a sheet in their backyard in the California town of Canyon to project avant-garde films. This low-key, lo-fi setup, fortified with red wine, became a weekly bastion for filmmakers as well as their associates, friends, and lovers. Baillie and Strand went on (separately) to make landmark experimental films while shepherding their small artistic and social scene into incarnations that continue to thrive today: San Francisco Cinematheque (exhibition) and Canyon Cinema (distribution). The second annual Crossroads Festival launches tonight with Radical Light: Cinematheque at 50, part of a program honoring the Bay Area’s broad, important, and entertaining history of avant-garde filmmaking."
"Opening night includes at least one city symphony (Timoleon Wilkins' Chinatown Sketch), a form expanded upon in several subsequent Crossroads shows," notes Max Goldberg in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "Jeanne...
"Opening night includes at least one city symphony (Timoleon Wilkins' Chinatown Sketch), a form expanded upon in several subsequent Crossroads shows," notes Max Goldberg in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "Jeanne...
- 5/12/2011
- MUBI
Martin Scorsese has chosen the upcoming London International Documentary Film Festival to host the UK premiere of his so-called "labour of love" Letter to Elia.
This highly personal feature documentary looks at the life and influence of Greek-American director/actor Elia Kazan. Scorsese (pictured) recalls how seeing Kazan's On the Waterfront and East of Eden was a life-changing experience for himself as a young man growing up in Little Italy.
He takes us through Kazan's life and his own as well, and his growing realisation that there was an artist behind the camera, "someone who knew me better than I knew myself."
Letter to Elia is about being exposed to the right movies at the right moment in adolescence and being inspired to chart a course into filmmaking.
Also debuting at the event will be Brigitte Berman's Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel along with Steven Soderberg's entertaining...
This highly personal feature documentary looks at the life and influence of Greek-American director/actor Elia Kazan. Scorsese (pictured) recalls how seeing Kazan's On the Waterfront and East of Eden was a life-changing experience for himself as a young man growing up in Little Italy.
He takes us through Kazan's life and his own as well, and his growing realisation that there was an artist behind the camera, "someone who knew me better than I knew myself."
Letter to Elia is about being exposed to the right movies at the right moment in adolescence and being inspired to chart a course into filmmaking.
Also debuting at the event will be Brigitte Berman's Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel along with Steven Soderberg's entertaining...
- 4/29/2011
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Sneak Peek your first look at actress Amber Heard ("Drive Angry 3D"), on the set of the upcoming NBC TV pilot "The Playboy Club".
Emmy award winning director Alan Taylor ("The Sopranos"), who also helmed the Emmy award-nominated pilot for AMC's "Mad Men" is directing the "Playboy" pilot, written by Chad Hodge ("Tru Calling").
The one-hour dramatic, crime series is set in the world of owner Hugh M. Hefner's 1960's-era 'Playboy Clubs'.
Hodge's script follows a group of women working as Playboy 'Bunnies' in the original, and first Chicago club.
At the time, Bunnies wore a costume called a "bunny suit" inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy Magazine rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs and fluffy cottontail.
The Playboy Club chain of nightclubs owned/operated by Hefner's Playboy Enterprises, opened up @ 116 E. Walton in downtown Chicago, Illinois, February 29, 1960, as a cocktail bar with entertainment,...
Emmy award winning director Alan Taylor ("The Sopranos"), who also helmed the Emmy award-nominated pilot for AMC's "Mad Men" is directing the "Playboy" pilot, written by Chad Hodge ("Tru Calling").
The one-hour dramatic, crime series is set in the world of owner Hugh M. Hefner's 1960's-era 'Playboy Clubs'.
Hodge's script follows a group of women working as Playboy 'Bunnies' in the original, and first Chicago club.
At the time, Bunnies wore a costume called a "bunny suit" inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy Magazine rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs and fluffy cottontail.
The Playboy Club chain of nightclubs owned/operated by Hefner's Playboy Enterprises, opened up @ 116 E. Walton in downtown Chicago, Illinois, February 29, 1960, as a cocktail bar with entertainment,...
- 4/2/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Actress Amber Heard ("Drive Angry 3D") will top-line the new NBC TV series pilot "Playboy".
Emmy award winning director Alan Taylor ("The Sopranos"), who also helmed the Emmy award-nominated pilot for AMC's "Mad Men" will direct the "Playboy" pilot, written by Chad Hodge ("Tru Calling").
The potential, one-hour episodic dramatic series will be set in the world of owner Hugh M. Hefner's 1960's 'Playboy Clubs'.
Hodge's script follows a group of women working as Playboy 'Bunnies' in the original, and first Chicago club.
At the time, Bunnies wore a costume called a "bunny suit" inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy Magazine rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs and fluffy cottontail.
The Playboy Club chain of nightclubs owned/operated by Hefner's Playboy Enterprises, opened up @ 116 E. Walton in downtown Chicago, Illinois, February 29, 1960, as a cocktail bar with entertainment, featuring Bunnies serving drinks to keyholders and...
Emmy award winning director Alan Taylor ("The Sopranos"), who also helmed the Emmy award-nominated pilot for AMC's "Mad Men" will direct the "Playboy" pilot, written by Chad Hodge ("Tru Calling").
The potential, one-hour episodic dramatic series will be set in the world of owner Hugh M. Hefner's 1960's 'Playboy Clubs'.
Hodge's script follows a group of women working as Playboy 'Bunnies' in the original, and first Chicago club.
At the time, Bunnies wore a costume called a "bunny suit" inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy Magazine rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs and fluffy cottontail.
The Playboy Club chain of nightclubs owned/operated by Hefner's Playboy Enterprises, opened up @ 116 E. Walton in downtown Chicago, Illinois, February 29, 1960, as a cocktail bar with entertainment, featuring Bunnies serving drinks to keyholders and...
- 2/3/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Here are links to each of the 41 one-on-one interviews — from A(ronofsky) to Z(sigmond) — that I have conducted over the course of the 2010-2011 awards season thus far. (Other high-profile talent are being added to the schedule each day.)
Darren Aronofsky (director, “Black Swan”) Brigitte Berman (documentary filmmaker, “Hefner”) Halle Berry (actress, “Frankie and Alice”) Claire Bloom (actress, “The King’s Speech”) Danny Boyle (co-writer/director, “127 Hours”) Jeff Bridges (actor, “True Grit”) Helena Bonham Carter (actress, “The King’s Speech”)* Ethan Coen/Joel Coen (co-writers/co-directors, “True Grit”) Jeff Cronenweth (cinematographer, “The Social Network”) Matt Damon (actor, “True Grit”) Stephen Dorff (actor, “Somewhere”) Kirsten Dunst (actress, “All Good Things”) Robert Duvall (actor, “Get Low”) Colin Firth (actor, “The King’s Speech”) Andrew Garfield (actor, “The Social Network”) Greta Gerwig (actress, “Greenberg”) Ryan Gosling (actor, “Blue Valentine”) Jake Gyllenhaal (actor, “Love and Other Drugs”) Hugh Hefner (documentary subject, “Hefner”) Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (co-writer/director,...
Darren Aronofsky (director, “Black Swan”) Brigitte Berman (documentary filmmaker, “Hefner”) Halle Berry (actress, “Frankie and Alice”) Claire Bloom (actress, “The King’s Speech”) Danny Boyle (co-writer/director, “127 Hours”) Jeff Bridges (actor, “True Grit”) Helena Bonham Carter (actress, “The King’s Speech”)* Ethan Coen/Joel Coen (co-writers/co-directors, “True Grit”) Jeff Cronenweth (cinematographer, “The Social Network”) Matt Damon (actor, “True Grit”) Stephen Dorff (actor, “Somewhere”) Kirsten Dunst (actress, “All Good Things”) Robert Duvall (actor, “Get Low”) Colin Firth (actor, “The King’s Speech”) Andrew Garfield (actor, “The Social Network”) Greta Gerwig (actress, “Greenberg”) Ryan Gosling (actor, “Blue Valentine”) Jake Gyllenhaal (actor, “Love and Other Drugs”) Hugh Hefner (documentary subject, “Hefner”) Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (co-writer/director,...
- 1/21/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
On Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to spend a half-hour at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills with Hailee Steinfeld, the 14-year-old best supporting actress SAG Award nominee/Oscar hopeful for her performance as a young firebrand in Ethan Coen and Joel Coen’s “True Grit” (Paramount, 12/22, PG-13, trailer), which ranks among the greatest big screen debuts of all-time. The night before we met, we both attended the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which are determined by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, of which I am a member. I had voted for Steinfeld in the category of “best young actor/actress,” and sure enough she won, prompting a loud ovation from the audience and a charming speech from her. When I walked into her hotel suite for our interview the next day, she was still on a high from the excitement of attending her first awards show — and winning her...
- 1/20/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Nicole Kidman is a 43-year-old wife and mother of four who also happens to be one of the biggest movie stars in the world and one of the most respected actresses of her generation. Therefore, as you can imagine, it was a great privilege and thrill for me to be granted a half-hour one-on-one interview with her last Saturday — the day between the Critics Choice and the Golden Globe awards, both of which she attended as a best actress nominee for her performance as a mother grieving over the death of her child in the critically-acclaimed low-budget indie “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate, 12/17, PG-13, trailer) — and pick her brain about a wide-range of topics. We met on the second floor of Siren Studios, a sparsely decorated building used by professional photographers for photoshoots like the one that Kidman was to be a subject of following our conversation. The corner where we sat...
- 1/19/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Here’s a look back at the 30 extensive, 1-on-1 interviews — from A(ronofsky) to Z(sigmond) — that I have conducted over the course of the 2010 awards season thus far. I really have to pinch myself when I reflect on just how many wonderful opportunities I have had to speak with the people most responsible for the best films of this year — and many others — and how many more exciting interviews are already being lined up for the coming weeks and months. For now, though, enjoy…
Darren Aronofsky (director, “Black Swan”) Brigitte Berman (documentary filmmaker, “Hefner”) Halle Berry (actress, “Frankie and Alice”) Danny Boyle (co-writer/director, “127 Hours”) Jeff Bridges (actor, “True Grit”) Matt Damon (actor, “True Grit”) Stephen Dorff (actor, “Somewhere”) Kirsten Dunst (actress, “All Good Things”) Robert Duvall (actor, “Get Low”) Colin Firth (actor, “The King’s Speech”) Andrew Garfield (actor, “The Social Network”) Ryan Gosling (actor, “Blue Valentine”) Hugh Hefner (documentary subject,...
Darren Aronofsky (director, “Black Swan”) Brigitte Berman (documentary filmmaker, “Hefner”) Halle Berry (actress, “Frankie and Alice”) Danny Boyle (co-writer/director, “127 Hours”) Jeff Bridges (actor, “True Grit”) Matt Damon (actor, “True Grit”) Stephen Dorff (actor, “Somewhere”) Kirsten Dunst (actress, “All Good Things”) Robert Duvall (actor, “Get Low”) Colin Firth (actor, “The King’s Speech”) Andrew Garfield (actor, “The Social Network”) Ryan Gosling (actor, “Blue Valentine”) Hugh Hefner (documentary subject,...
- 12/29/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Every time the interviewees in Brigitte Berman’s 2009 documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist And Rebel say the words “people forget”—whether they’re talking about how conservative the ’50s were, how restrictive race and sex laws used to be, or the bygone days when magazines routinely sold in the millions—the point becomes less convincing. It isn’t that the motley crew of comedians, musicians, actors, models, and journalists that Berman interviews in Hugh Hefner are wrong about Hefner and Playboy’s role in the sweeping cultural changes of the ’60s and ’70s; it’s just that the repetition ...
- 12/22/2010
- avclub.com
Chicago – The duality of “Playboy” reflects the duality of the man who created it. On one hand, the magazine notoriously fetishizes female sexuality with all the airbrushed idealism of a horny adolescent. On the other hand, it’s a reputable publication of great sociopolitical depth, with a history of voicing unpopular views at the times they were most needed.
Brigitte Berman’s eye-opening documentary “Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel” is not a probing study of the iconic “Playboy” creator so much as it’s a provocative portrait of his rather unheralded work as a civil rights crusader. It’s a compulsively watchable, occasionally fascinating couple of hours, but it comes dangerously close to idolizing its subject, without ever truly grappling with the views of his detractors, and the argument that “Playboy” is inherently demeaning to women.
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0
Much like how “The September Issue” was more interested in “Vogue” than its editor,...
Brigitte Berman’s eye-opening documentary “Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel” is not a probing study of the iconic “Playboy” creator so much as it’s a provocative portrait of his rather unheralded work as a civil rights crusader. It’s a compulsively watchable, occasionally fascinating couple of hours, but it comes dangerously close to idolizing its subject, without ever truly grappling with the views of his detractors, and the argument that “Playboy” is inherently demeaning to women.
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0
Much like how “The September Issue” was more interested in “Vogue” than its editor,...
- 12/9/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"Cronos" (1993)
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Released by Criterion Collection
After years of being out of print, Guillermo del Toro's feature debut is getting the Criterion treatment and del Toro has gone all out to make it one of the best discs ever with new interviews, his 1987 short "Geometria," two audio commentaries, a video tour of his home office, and more.
"300 Killers" (2010)
Directed by Matt Jaissle
Released by Midnight Releasing
A police chief (Johnny Andrews) who sees his city falling under the thumb of a ruthless drug dealer and sends out his best detective (Anthony Tomei) to put a stop to it in Matt Jaissle's action film.
"Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright" (2010)
Directed by R. Ellis Frazier
Released by Maya Home Entertainment
Aidan Quinn stars as a billionaire who flees to Tijuana after he's on the run...
"Cronos" (1993)
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Released by Criterion Collection
After years of being out of print, Guillermo del Toro's feature debut is getting the Criterion treatment and del Toro has gone all out to make it one of the best discs ever with new interviews, his 1987 short "Geometria," two audio commentaries, a video tour of his home office, and more.
"300 Killers" (2010)
Directed by Matt Jaissle
Released by Midnight Releasing
A police chief (Johnny Andrews) who sees his city falling under the thumb of a ruthless drug dealer and sends out his best detective (Anthony Tomei) to put a stop to it in Matt Jaissle's action film.
"Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright" (2010)
Directed by R. Ellis Frazier
Released by Maya Home Entertainment
Aidan Quinn stars as a billionaire who flees to Tijuana after he's on the run...
- 12/5/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
According to Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker Brigitte Berman ("Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got"), her acclaimed 2010 documentary "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" will be available on DVD, December 7, 2010.
"...'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel' is a revealing look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the "Playboy" empire.
"With humor and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists.
"Rare footage and compelling interviews with a remarkable who's who of 20th Century American pop culture, present a brilliant and entertaining snapshot of the life of an extraordinary man and the controversies that surrounded him..."
In addition to Hefner, the film includes interviews with Joan Baez, Jim Brown, Dick Cavett, Pat Boone, Susan Brownmiller, Gene Simmons, Jenny McCarthy, Mike Wallace, Dick Gregory, Tony Curtis, Shannon Tweed, Jesse Jackson, Tony Bennett, James Caan, David Steinberg, George Lucas, Ruth Westheimer, Bill Maher and Pete Seeger.
"...'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel' is a revealing look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the "Playboy" empire.
"With humor and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists.
"Rare footage and compelling interviews with a remarkable who's who of 20th Century American pop culture, present a brilliant and entertaining snapshot of the life of an extraordinary man and the controversies that surrounded him..."
In addition to Hefner, the film includes interviews with Joan Baez, Jim Brown, Dick Cavett, Pat Boone, Susan Brownmiller, Gene Simmons, Jenny McCarthy, Mike Wallace, Dick Gregory, Tony Curtis, Shannon Tweed, Jesse Jackson, Tony Bennett, James Caan, David Steinberg, George Lucas, Ruth Westheimer, Bill Maher and Pete Seeger.
- 12/2/2010
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
From the moment that Hal Holmes and I slipped quietly into his basement and he showed me his father's hidden collection of Playboy magazines, the map of my emotional geography shifted toward Chicago. In that magical city lived a man named Hugh Hefner who had Playmates possessing wondrous bits and pieces I had never seen before. I wanted to be invited to his house.
I was trembling on the brim of puberty, and aroused not so much by the rather sedate color "centerfold" of an undressed woman, as by the black and white photos that accompanied them. These showed an ordinary woman (I believe it was Janet Pilgrim) entering an office building in Chicago, and being made up for her "pictorial." Made up! Two makeup artists were shown applying powders and creams to her flesh. This electrified me. It made Pilgrim a real person. In an interview she spoke of her life and ambitions.
I was trembling on the brim of puberty, and aroused not so much by the rather sedate color "centerfold" of an undressed woman, as by the black and white photos that accompanied them. These showed an ordinary woman (I believe it was Janet Pilgrim) entering an office building in Chicago, and being made up for her "pictorial." Made up! Two makeup artists were shown applying powders and creams to her flesh. This electrified me. It made Pilgrim a real person. In an interview she spoke of her life and ambitions.
- 11/7/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
I am going to start by saying that I Would Love To Shake This Mans Hand!
Hugh Hefner has become a household name. Whether people love him or loath him, they know his name and his profession. As the founder of Playboy Magazine, Hefner was a big influence to the sexual revolution here in the United States. He broke stereotypes, boundaries, and barriers on his way to the top, owning one of the most successful publications of all times.
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist And Rebel, by director Brigitte Berman, takes a look into the life of a man so wealthy that he never has to change out of his pajamas. More importantly, it goes behind the scenes, and takes a look back into the history of the man that changed the world as we know it.
Many of us, although being very familiar with the name Hugh Hefner. have...
Hugh Hefner has become a household name. Whether people love him or loath him, they know his name and his profession. As the founder of Playboy Magazine, Hefner was a big influence to the sexual revolution here in the United States. He broke stereotypes, boundaries, and barriers on his way to the top, owning one of the most successful publications of all times.
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist And Rebel, by director Brigitte Berman, takes a look into the life of a man so wealthy that he never has to change out of his pajamas. More importantly, it goes behind the scenes, and takes a look back into the history of the man that changed the world as we know it.
Many of us, although being very familiar with the name Hugh Hefner. have...
- 8/24/2010
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Director Brigitte Berman accepts that the image people hold of Hugh Hefner — Playboy’s publisher/lothario clad in silk pyjamas with a half-naked woman on each arm — will continue to reign supreme, she just wants us to know there’s a lot more to the 84-year-old cultural icon.
Did you know he airlifted Vietnamese orphans to safety in the Playboy jet during the Vietnam war, or that he helped free a woman jailed for having an abortion, or that he deliberately flouted segregation laws by hiring black entertainers to work his clubs?
We learn this, and a whole lot more, in Berman’s documentary nod to Hef, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.
Did you know he airlifted Vietnamese orphans to safety in the Playboy jet during the Vietnam war, or that he helped free a woman jailed for having an abortion, or that he deliberately flouted segregation laws by hiring black entertainers to work his clubs?
We learn this, and a whole lot more, in Berman’s documentary nod to Hef, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.
- 8/6/2010
- by Ingrid Randoja - Famous Magazine
- Cineplex
Before I could ask Brigitte Berman about the mixed reception that her new documentary about Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has received, she wanted to make one thing clear: "You cannot do a valentine piece. You must not. If you do, you discredit everything."
For some, Hefner will never receive much credit, but that is exactly what Berman attempts to rectify in "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel," a leisurely biography that's very much like his glossy magazine: an easy sell because of the busty bombshells found within its pages, but just as seductive for its willingness to inject itself into the politics and culture of the era.
Alongside the centerfolds, Berman offers up a different definition of T & A in regards to Hefner, chronicling his tenacity and ambition as an innovator of cross-platform media, a savvy tastemaker, and a champion of the First Amendment who used his many outlets...
For some, Hefner will never receive much credit, but that is exactly what Berman attempts to rectify in "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel," a leisurely biography that's very much like his glossy magazine: an easy sell because of the busty bombshells found within its pages, but just as seductive for its willingness to inject itself into the politics and culture of the era.
Alongside the centerfolds, Berman offers up a different definition of T & A in regards to Hefner, chronicling his tenacity and ambition as an innovator of cross-platform media, a savvy tastemaker, and a champion of the First Amendment who used his many outlets...
- 8/2/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Oscar-winning documentarian Brigitte Berman was not prepared for the accolades nor criticism she has received for her film Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel. Passionate about her friend of over 5 years, Berman insists her film has a balanced view of the iconic American figure and new insights into his life that have never been covered on film before. Although she has a generally positive disposition, one cannot ignore her slight irritation at what she views as some of the unfair and slanted news coverage some media outlets have given the documentary. Working on such subjects as Artie Shaw, Robert Bateman and even the Osbournes was no match for the tremendous press coverage her newest film has encountered. However, Berman has never been more proud and excited about a film's debut. Hugh Hefner: Plaboy, Activist and Rebel offers one...
- 8/1/2010
- by Jeff Rivera
- Huffington Post
The Hugh Hefner story is as familiar a piece of modern mythology as there is. Here's the guy who helped foment the sexual revolution in this country by creating a magazine that said, hey, sex isn't obscene -- it's fun and natural. So it's disappointing that Brigitte Berman's Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel isn't a better movie. Not that it's a bad one -- but, were cable standards a little less skittish, it would fit right in on the Biography channel. Charting Hefner's rise from lowly magazine writer to emperor of the largest men's-magazine empire in the country, Berman's film touches all the bases, yet still has an almost perfunctory, pro forma feel. Yes, she has Hefner himself, talking about his life, detailing the various steps in Playboy's rise, telling stories on himself. And there are a variety of witnesses -- everyone...
- 7/30/2010
- by Marshall Fine
- Huffington Post
Director Brigitte Berman opens Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, her hydroponically grown laurel for the Playboy kingpin's commemorative bust, with two irrelevant blowhards -- Gene Simmons and Jenny McCarthy -- outdoing themselves. Simmons, who is called back into the film whenever the level of deterministic horseshit runs low, proclaims that there is not a single man -- of any age or in any period of human history -- who would not essentially sacrifice his manhood (I believe "left nut" is the phrase) to be Hugh Hefner.
- 7/29/2010
- Movieline
Time has a way of forgiving the past. Just ask Hugh Hefner, who has somehow gone from illicit to iconic over the past 50 years, outshining – and in many cases outliving – most of his critics. Hefner was the first to put nudity on newsstands, the first to expose the one thing all of us loved and none of us acknowledged, the first to transform sex from a closeted ritual to the great American pastime. And he did it all during the feel-guilt Fifties – a time when most sex acts weren’t only considered immoral, they were downright illegal.
Thus is the early premise of Brigitte Berman’s “Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.” Berman’s documentary is an engaging, if often one-sided, portrayal of Hefner as a progressive visionary who went from creating the Playboy philosophy to becoming the ultimate personification of it. Berman’s Hef is a counterculture hero,...
Thus is the early premise of Brigitte Berman’s “Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.” Berman’s documentary is an engaging, if often one-sided, portrayal of Hefner as a progressive visionary who went from creating the Playboy philosophy to becoming the ultimate personification of it. Berman’s Hef is a counterculture hero,...
- 7/19/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
New York, July 19 – Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner has in an interview shared his opinion about fake breasts and on how he always scores with women.
Hefner, 84, spoke of fake breasts never going out of style in a documentary by director Brigitte Berman titled, “Hugh Hefner: layboy, Activist and Rebel”.
“I see no evidence of it. I think, quite frankly, it’s nicer if you’re well endowed, but if you come up lacking in that department, one understands that that’s what cosmetic surgery exists for,” the New York Post quoted him as saying.
When.
Hefner, 84, spoke of fake breasts never going out of style in a documentary by director Brigitte Berman titled, “Hugh Hefner: layboy, Activist and Rebel”.
“I see no evidence of it. I think, quite frankly, it’s nicer if you’re well endowed, but if you come up lacking in that department, one understands that that’s what cosmetic surgery exists for,” the New York Post quoted him as saying.
When.
- 7/19/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
New York, July 19 – Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner has in an interview opened up about late American clergyman Martin Luther King, Jr. hanging out at his mansion.
Hefner, 84, had revealed about King in a documentary by director Brigitte Berman titled, ‘Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel’.
“Back in the 1960s, a lot of members of the clergy came to the Playboy Mansion,” the New York Post quoted him as saying.
“It was a time of real revolution in the social scene in America, and the church was very much involved in that. So the same kind of re-evaluation in terms of values.
Hefner, 84, had revealed about King in a documentary by director Brigitte Berman titled, ‘Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel’.
“Back in the 1960s, a lot of members of the clergy came to the Playboy Mansion,” the New York Post quoted him as saying.
“It was a time of real revolution in the social scene in America, and the church was very much involved in that. So the same kind of re-evaluation in terms of values.
- 7/19/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
Who wants to see a Hugh Hefner biopic? I figure not that many of you, unless you really want to know the backstory behind Playboy magazine, or just want to see the pictures. Perverts. Any who, we present to you the first official trailer to "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel". The documentary, directed by Brigitte Berman, centers on the controversy and life of the iconic man.When Hefner launched Playboy magazine in 1953, he became a champion of the sexual revolution and, immediately, the forces of Church and State initiated a war against him that raged over the decades. Hefner is revealed both as a hedonistic playboy, but, more importantly, as the man who's been a groundbreaking advocate and catalyst for civil rights, the First Amendment, and human rights.With humor and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right, and militant feminists. Compelling...
- 7/14/2010
- LRMonline.com
Take a look at the new artwork supporting the Canadian documentary feature Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Brigitte Berman. "...There's no arguing that few magazines have had as great an impact on American culture as 'Playboy', which helped launch several major salvos in the sexual revolution and broke down barriers about what was acceptable to show and say in print. "But while the magazine's founder and publisher Hugh Hefner has a well deserved reputation as a free speech advocate and a man who embraces the good life in every way he can, the person behind the carefully cultivated public image remains a mystery to many. "Filmmaker Brigitte Berman presents an in-depth portrait of a man who has quietly promoted many causes other than wine, women and song in the documentary 'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel'. In addition to chronicling the rise of his publishing empire,...
- 6/29/2010
- HollywoodNorthReport.com
Sneak Peek the new poster supporting the documentary feature "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel", directed by Canadian filmmaker Brigitte Berman.
"...There's no arguing that few magazines have had as great an impact on American culture as 'Playboy', which helped launch several major salvos in the sexual revolution and broke down barriers about what was acceptable to show and say in print.
"But while the magazine's founder and publisher Hugh Hefner has a well deserved reputation as a free speech advocate and a man who embraces the good life in every way he can, the person behind the carefully cultivated public image remains a mystery to many.
"Filmmaker Brigitte Berman presents an in-depth portrait of a man who has quietly promoted many causes other than wine, women and song in the documentary 'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel'. In addition to chronicling the rise of his publishing empire,...
"...There's no arguing that few magazines have had as great an impact on American culture as 'Playboy', which helped launch several major salvos in the sexual revolution and broke down barriers about what was acceptable to show and say in print.
"But while the magazine's founder and publisher Hugh Hefner has a well deserved reputation as a free speech advocate and a man who embraces the good life in every way he can, the person behind the carefully cultivated public image remains a mystery to many.
"Filmmaker Brigitte Berman presents an in-depth portrait of a man who has quietly promoted many causes other than wine, women and song in the documentary 'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel'. In addition to chronicling the rise of his publishing empire,...
- 6/24/2010
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
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