Deaf representation has come a long way in Hollywood.
“Coda’s” release and subsequent best picture Oscar win marked an important moment for deaf audiences. It showed the most significant representation of the community on a global stage since 1986’s “Children of a Lesser God” earned Marlee Matlin a best actress prize.
“Hollywood is making that shift from diversity for optics to something deeper,” says Lauren Ridloff, a deaf actor best known for her work on “Eternals” and “The Walking Dead.”
That deeper shift includes recent projects where deaf representation has been the focus of major storylines. Director James Cameron called on C.J Jones to create Na’vi sign language, featured in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” HBO’s “The Last of Us” offered up another landmark moment when the show about a post-apocalyptic world featured Keivonn Woodard, as a young deaf Black man trying to survive zombie hordes. Last year,...
“Coda’s” release and subsequent best picture Oscar win marked an important moment for deaf audiences. It showed the most significant representation of the community on a global stage since 1986’s “Children of a Lesser God” earned Marlee Matlin a best actress prize.
“Hollywood is making that shift from diversity for optics to something deeper,” says Lauren Ridloff, a deaf actor best known for her work on “Eternals” and “The Walking Dead.”
That deeper shift includes recent projects where deaf representation has been the focus of major storylines. Director James Cameron called on C.J Jones to create Na’vi sign language, featured in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” HBO’s “The Last of Us” offered up another landmark moment when the show about a post-apocalyptic world featured Keivonn Woodard, as a young deaf Black man trying to survive zombie hordes. Last year,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Tribeca and Comedy Dynamics are reteaming for a slate of 10 stand-up comedy specials to be filmed at the Tribeca Film Festival, which runs June 9-20 in New York City.
The two entities partnered up in early 2020 to produce original stand-up comedy specials that were slated to be filmed at the annual fest. But after Covid restrictions took hold nationwide, they pivoted and evolved the indoor festival into an outdoor comedy drive-in set across the country at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Tribeca x Comedy Dynamics Drive-In featured hourlong comedy sets from Ester Steinberg, Dave Helem, Erica Rhodes and Daniel Webb — the first set of drive-in comedy specials filmed in the midst of the pandemic.
Produced by Tribeca and Comedy Dynamics and directed by the latter’s founder and CEO, Brian Volk-Weiss, this month’s slate of specials is part of Tribeca’s expansion into new storytelling platforms and its...
The two entities partnered up in early 2020 to produce original stand-up comedy specials that were slated to be filmed at the annual fest. But after Covid restrictions took hold nationwide, they pivoted and evolved the indoor festival into an outdoor comedy drive-in set across the country at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Tribeca x Comedy Dynamics Drive-In featured hourlong comedy sets from Ester Steinberg, Dave Helem, Erica Rhodes and Daniel Webb — the first set of drive-in comedy specials filmed in the midst of the pandemic.
Produced by Tribeca and Comedy Dynamics and directed by the latter’s founder and CEO, Brian Volk-Weiss, this month’s slate of specials is part of Tribeca’s expansion into new storytelling platforms and its...
- 6/1/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
In today’s TV news roundup, HBO set the release date for its new baking competition series “Baketopia,” hosted by YouTuber Rosanna Pansino, and Syfy announced the premiere date for the fifth and final season of “Van Helsing.”
Dates
BET Plus announced that the second season of Will Packer-executive produced comedy series “Bigger” will premiere April 22. Tanisha Long, Angell Conwell, Rasheda Crockett, Chase Anthony and Tristen Winger will return as series regulars while Angela Ko, Bechir Sylvain, Alyssa Brooke and Warren Burke will return as recurring guest stars. The new season also features notable guest stars including Tori Spelling, Jasmine Guy, Christopher “Play” Martin, Eva Marcille, Devale Ellis, Toccara, Karlie Redd, Debbie Morgan, Curtis Washington, Charmin Lee, Alexa Rachelle Jennings and more. Created by showrunner Felischa Marye, “Bigger” follows a close-knit group of 30-somethings as they balance love, friendships and career ambitions. Season 2 will kick off three months after the...
Dates
BET Plus announced that the second season of Will Packer-executive produced comedy series “Bigger” will premiere April 22. Tanisha Long, Angell Conwell, Rasheda Crockett, Chase Anthony and Tristen Winger will return as series regulars while Angela Ko, Bechir Sylvain, Alyssa Brooke and Warren Burke will return as recurring guest stars. The new season also features notable guest stars including Tori Spelling, Jasmine Guy, Christopher “Play” Martin, Eva Marcille, Devale Ellis, Toccara, Karlie Redd, Debbie Morgan, Curtis Washington, Charmin Lee, Alexa Rachelle Jennings and more. Created by showrunner Felischa Marye, “Bigger” follows a close-knit group of 30-somethings as they balance love, friendships and career ambitions. Season 2 will kick off three months after the...
- 3/12/2021
- by Natalie Oganesyan
- Variety Film + TV
The Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented by Bank of America benefitting Children's Hospital Los Angeles (Chla) held its 33rd annual event on September 14th and 15th, 2019 at Zuma Beach, Malibu, California raising a total of $1,352,603.
Scott Eastwood Takes Part in Nautica Malibu Triathlon
Credit/Copyright: Getty Images/Tasia Wells for Nautica
The donation check was presented to Chla during an awards ceremony led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA all-time leading scorer and six time NBA champion. In addition, Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented a check of $282,000 raised by Bob Iger and the Disney triathlon team. Since the establishment of the Nautica Malibu Triathlon helmed by Executive Producer Michael Epstein, the event has raised over $15 million to benefit basic and translational cancer research programs at the Cancer and Blood Diseases center at Chla.
Thousands of participants competed including celebrities such as Scott Eastwood, Luke Hemsworth, Mark Feuerstein, Geoff Stults, Steve Howey, Bryan Greenberg as...
Scott Eastwood Takes Part in Nautica Malibu Triathlon
Credit/Copyright: Getty Images/Tasia Wells for Nautica
The donation check was presented to Chla during an awards ceremony led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA all-time leading scorer and six time NBA champion. In addition, Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented a check of $282,000 raised by Bob Iger and the Disney triathlon team. Since the establishment of the Nautica Malibu Triathlon helmed by Executive Producer Michael Epstein, the event has raised over $15 million to benefit basic and translational cancer research programs at the Cancer and Blood Diseases center at Chla.
Thousands of participants competed including celebrities such as Scott Eastwood, Luke Hemsworth, Mark Feuerstein, Geoff Stults, Steve Howey, Bryan Greenberg as...
- 9/23/2019
- Look to the Stars
American singer-songwriter Usher recently headlined Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research 14th annual summer concert, raising more than $3.4 million to support medical innovations.
Feinstein Institutes Summer Concert Headlined by Usher
Credit/Copyright: Northwell Health
“We are grateful to our benefactors and philanthropists – their support enables us to achieve our not-for-profit mission to produce knowledge to cure disease,” said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes.
Over the last 14 years, the Feinstein Concert has raised more than $25 million to drive research innovation and growth. This event helps Northwell continue to pioneer solutions and unearth new discoveries that are impacting the trajectory of medicine around the world.
At this year’s event at Old Westbury Gardens, Kristina Deligiannidis, MD, a reproductive psychiatrist, and Theodoros Zanos, PhD, a neural engineer, spoke about the need to rapidly surface clinical answers and develop innovative treatments to improve health care and save lives.
Feinstein Institutes Summer Concert Headlined by Usher
Credit/Copyright: Northwell Health
“We are grateful to our benefactors and philanthropists – their support enables us to achieve our not-for-profit mission to produce knowledge to cure disease,” said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes.
Over the last 14 years, the Feinstein Concert has raised more than $25 million to drive research innovation and growth. This event helps Northwell continue to pioneer solutions and unearth new discoveries that are impacting the trajectory of medicine around the world.
At this year’s event at Old Westbury Gardens, Kristina Deligiannidis, MD, a reproductive psychiatrist, and Theodoros Zanos, PhD, a neural engineer, spoke about the need to rapidly surface clinical answers and develop innovative treatments to improve health care and save lives.
- 8/5/2019
- Look to the Stars
On the heels of last year’s Imagine reissue, a new documentary will examine John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship before and leading up to the album’s release. John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky features new interviews with Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon, and the musicians who played on Imagine, among others.
A new trailer for the film, shows the couple spending time on the estate where they recorded Imagine, while others recount the time they spent together and how they would collaborate, with Ono writing lyrics next to Lennon.
A new trailer for the film, shows the couple spending time on the estate where they recorded Imagine, while others recount the time they spent together and how they would collaborate, with Ono writing lyrics next to Lennon.
- 7/30/2019
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
The largest and most expensive trial in U.S. Marine Corps history began as the result of an event in November 2005, wherein an Ied blast hit a patrol in the western Iraq town of Haditha, killing one Marine. The initial story from the military was that the bomb had also killed 15 civilians. But the people brought into nearby hospitals didn’t have bomb blast injuries, but gunshot wounds. The gap between the official story and the massacre that happened, and the protracted attempt to bring the two together, is told in Michael Epstein’s studious and frustrating documentary, “House Two,” having its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
- 4/28/2018
- by Chris Barsanti
- The Playlist
“I hope James Mattis sees this film,” says Michael Epstein, director of House 2, a feature doc about the Haditha massacre and the subsequent criminal investigation, which was the most expensive in Marine history. “I hope he realizes truly how fucked up it is and goes in and fixes it. Now as Secretary of Defense, he’s in a position to something, he can find out what really happened and hopefully he really will.”
House 2 tells the story of a criminal defense attorney and an NCIS special agent turned whistleblower who seek to exonerate a Marine charged with 18 counts of murder in Haditha, Iraq, and, in so doing, uncover the truth about one of the furthest-reaching cover-ups in U.S. military history.
The documentary, which is playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, saw Epstein join the defense team of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, one of eight Marines charged in a civilian...
House 2 tells the story of a criminal defense attorney and an NCIS special agent turned whistleblower who seek to exonerate a Marine charged with 18 counts of murder in Haditha, Iraq, and, in so doing, uncover the truth about one of the furthest-reaching cover-ups in U.S. military history.
The documentary, which is playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, saw Epstein join the defense team of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, one of eight Marines charged in a civilian...
- 4/24/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Documentary filmmakers will descend on Sheffield in the coming days to offer a window on the past, present and virtual future. Michael Rosser reports
The 23rd Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15) kicks off today and promises to be one of its most eclectic to date, with its typically diverse line-up of documentaries from around the world complemented by big name speakers and a major showcase of virtual reality content.
Its 160 feature and short films will be bookended by opening film Where To Invade Next, from Oscar-winning Us director Michael Moore, and The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger. Moore and actress Tilda Swinton, a co-director on the latter doc, will both be in Sheffield to present their films.
Moore’s film and accompanying Q&A will also be live streamed to 120 cinemas across the UK through distributor Dogwoof – the second time Doc/Fest has done this, following Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets...
The 23rd Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15) kicks off today and promises to be one of its most eclectic to date, with its typically diverse line-up of documentaries from around the world complemented by big name speakers and a major showcase of virtual reality content.
Its 160 feature and short films will be bookended by opening film Where To Invade Next, from Oscar-winning Us director Michael Moore, and The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger. Moore and actress Tilda Swinton, a co-director on the latter doc, will both be in Sheffield to present their films.
Moore’s film and accompanying Q&A will also be live streamed to 120 cinemas across the UK through distributor Dogwoof – the second time Doc/Fest has done this, following Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets...
- 6/10/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Competition titles revealed; retrospectives of Ken Loach and Chantal Akerman; speakers include HBO documentaries president Sheila Nevins and revered filmmaker Da Pennebaker. Scroll down for competition films
Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15) has unveiled the programme for its 23rd edition, including 160 feature and short documentaries, an alternate realities line-up and a series of on-stage interviews and debates with major filmmakers and industry figures.
As previously announced, Michael Moore’s Where To Invade Next will open the festival with the Us documentarian in attendance at Doc/Fest for the first time since 1998.
The UK premiere and Q&A will be live streamed to 114 cinemas across the UK through distributor Dogwoof. It marks the second time Doc/Fest has streamed its opening, following Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets in 2014.
There are a total of 27 world premieres, 15 international, 19 European and 52 UK premieres with documentaries from 49 countries including Mexico, Cuba, China and Peru.
Competition titles...
Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15) has unveiled the programme for its 23rd edition, including 160 feature and short documentaries, an alternate realities line-up and a series of on-stage interviews and debates with major filmmakers and industry figures.
As previously announced, Michael Moore’s Where To Invade Next will open the festival with the Us documentarian in attendance at Doc/Fest for the first time since 1998.
The UK premiere and Q&A will be live streamed to 114 cinemas across the UK through distributor Dogwoof. It marks the second time Doc/Fest has streamed its opening, following Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets in 2014.
There are a total of 27 world premieres, 15 international, 19 European and 52 UK premieres with documentaries from 49 countries including Mexico, Cuba, China and Peru.
Competition titles...
- 5/5/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Competition titles revealed; retrospectives of Ken Loach and Chantal Akerman; speakers include HBO documentaries president Sheila Nevins and legendary filmmaker Da Pennebaker.Scroll down for competition films
Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15) has unveiled the programme for its 23rd edition, including 160 feature and short documentaries, an alternate realities line-up and a series of on-stage interviews and debates with major filmmakers and industry figures.
As previously announced, Michael Moore’s Where To Invade Next will open the festival with the Us documentarian in attendance at Doc/Fest for the first time since 1998.
The UK premiere and Q&A will be live streamed to 114 cinemas across the UK through distributor Dogwoof. It marks the second time Doc/Fest has streamed its opening, following Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets in 2014.
There are a total of 27 world premieres, 15 international, 19 European and 52 UK premieres with documentaries from 49 countries including Mexico, Cuba, China and Peru.
Competition titles...
Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15) has unveiled the programme for its 23rd edition, including 160 feature and short documentaries, an alternate realities line-up and a series of on-stage interviews and debates with major filmmakers and industry figures.
As previously announced, Michael Moore’s Where To Invade Next will open the festival with the Us documentarian in attendance at Doc/Fest for the first time since 1998.
The UK premiere and Q&A will be live streamed to 114 cinemas across the UK through distributor Dogwoof. It marks the second time Doc/Fest has streamed its opening, following Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets in 2014.
There are a total of 27 world premieres, 15 international, 19 European and 52 UK premieres with documentaries from 49 countries including Mexico, Cuba, China and Peru.
Competition titles...
- 5/5/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Every global movement has its watershed event, but few are as little-known as the 1995 Beijing Conference. Widely considered the major turning point for the women's rights movement, the conference marked the first mass gathering in history to address women's issues on a global scale. Over 47,000 women and men hailing from nearly every country in the world descended upon Beijing and a suburb, Huairou, for two galvanizing weeks to address major inequalities women face, such as genital mutilation, arranged marriage, honor killings and unequal pay. At the time, the Un regarded these issues as "women's issues." The goal of Beijing was to render them human rights violations — and to work toward collectively eliminating them. Read More: Charles Ferguson Explains Why Nobody Can Make a Good Movie About Hillary Clinton A new documentary by Dyllan McGee and Michael Epstein, "Makers: Once and For All," brings to life the suspenseful moments that...
- 11/23/2015
- by Emily Buder
- Indiewire
"Thom Powers, the artistic director of Doc NYC, the largest festival of documentary films in the country, said he didn’t realize what he had done until after this year’s lineup of 104 features was released," begins Mike Hale in the New York Times. "Someone else had to point out to him that his opening night, closing night and centerpiece selections were all directed or co-directed by women…. The films Mr. Powers chose for his most high-profile slots are Barbara Kopple’s Miss Sharon Jones! (opening night); Amy Berg’s Janis: Little Girl Blue (centerpiece [reviews]); and Dyllan McGee and Michael Epstein’s Once and For All (closing night), about the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing." We're collecting reviews and more from this year's edition. » - David Hudson...
- 11/12/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
"Thom Powers, the artistic director of Doc NYC, the largest festival of documentary films in the country, said he didn’t realize what he had done until after this year’s lineup of 104 features was released," begins Mike Hale in the New York Times. "Someone else had to point out to him that his opening night, closing night and centerpiece selections were all directed or co-directed by women…. The films Mr. Powers chose for his most high-profile slots are Barbara Kopple’s Miss Sharon Jones! (opening night); Amy Berg’s Janis: Little Girl Blue (centerpiece [reviews]); and Dyllan McGee and Michael Epstein’s Once and For All (closing night), about the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing." We're collecting reviews and more from this year's edition. » - David Hudson...
- 11/12/2015
- Keyframe
It’s been a couple months since the last edition of What’s Up Doc? placed Michael Moore’s surprise world premiere of Where To Invade Next at the top of this list and in the meantime much shuffling has taken place and much time has been spent on various new endeavors (namely my Buffalo-based film series, Cultivate Cinema Circle). Finally taking its rightful place at the top, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hagedus’ Unlocking the Cage is in the midst of being scored by composer James Lavino, according to Lavino’s own personal site. Though the project has been taking shape at its own leisurely pace, I’d expect to see the film making its festival debut in early 2016.
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
- 11/5/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
A handful of days ago, on October 9th, John Lennon would have turned 75. And while there isn’t much that can be said about the man — arguably the most famous pop star of all time — that hasn’t been said a dozen times before, the truth is, even 35 years after his death, there is still so much to be explored, mulled over, and picked apart. Which, of course, illustrates perfectly the undeniable power of Lennon’s myth. The 2010 documentary “LennoNYC,” an episode of the PBS TV series “American Masters,” has arrived online to take another long look at the megastar. The doc focus on the artist's post-Beatles life, and attempts to flesh out Lennon as a man, a human being with a family and flaws like anyone else. But it also takes a look at the genius lurking within, and the perilous balance between his two lives: the public and the private.
- 10/16/2015
- by Gary Garrison
- The Playlist
Read More: Doc NYC Announces 'Short List' Program of 15 Documentaries, Including 'Going Clear' and 'Amy' Doc NYC, America's largest documentary film festival, has announced the full lineup for its sixth edition, running November 12-19 at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village and the Bow Tie Cinemas and Sva Theater in Chelsea. The 2015 festival includes 104 feature-length documentaries and has expanded to showcase over 200 films and events overall. Included are 27 world premieres and 15 U.S. premieres, with more than 200 filmmakers and special guests expected in person to present their films, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. As previously announced, Barbara Kopple's music doc "Miss Sharon Jones!" will open the festival. The New York City premiere of Amy Berg's "Janis: Little Girl Blue" and the world premiere of Michael Epstein and Dyllan McGee's "Once and For All" will round out the gala screenings as the Centerpiece and Closing Night...
- 10/14/2015
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
(Michael Cimino, 1980; Second Sight, 15)
This important double-disc set contains two essential films. This is the first time Michael Cimino's epic 216-minute western has been available for domestic viewing in Britain. The second disc contains a shortened version of Michael Epstein's documentary feature Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate. Beautifully restored on DVD and Blu-ray, Heaven's Gate is one of the finest westerns ever made. It's a measured, magisterial account of the Johnson County War in 1892 Wyoming, when the powerful stock growers' association brought in a vast posse of assassins to destroy the wave of European immigrants they saw as threatening their monopoly of grazing land.
The film is seen largely through the eyes of an alcoholic aristocrat belonging to the stock growers (John Hurt) and two class enemies: a Harvard-educated sheriff who sides with the settlers (Kris Kristofferson) and an immigrant hired gun working for...
This important double-disc set contains two essential films. This is the first time Michael Cimino's epic 216-minute western has been available for domestic viewing in Britain. The second disc contains a shortened version of Michael Epstein's documentary feature Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate. Beautifully restored on DVD and Blu-ray, Heaven's Gate is one of the finest westerns ever made. It's a measured, magisterial account of the Johnson County War in 1892 Wyoming, when the powerful stock growers' association brought in a vast posse of assassins to destroy the wave of European immigrants they saw as threatening their monopoly of grazing land.
The film is seen largely through the eyes of an alcoholic aristocrat belonging to the stock growers (John Hurt) and two class enemies: a Harvard-educated sheriff who sides with the settlers (Kris Kristofferson) and an immigrant hired gun working for...
- 12/8/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
(Michael Cimino, 1980; Second Sight, 15)
This important double-disc set contains two essential films. This is the first time Michael Cimino's epic 216-minute western has been available for domestic viewing in Britain. The second disc contains a shortened version of Michael Epstein's documentary feature Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate. Beautifully restored on DVD and Blu-ray, Heaven's Gate is one of the finest westerns ever made. It's a measured, magisterial account of the Johnson County War in 1892 Wyoming, when the powerful stock growers' association brought in a vast posse of assassins to destroy the wave of European immigrants they saw as threatening their monopoly of grazing land.
The film is seen largely through the eyes of an alcoholic aristocrat belonging to the stock growers (John Hurt) and two class enemies: a Harvard-educated sheriff who sides with the settlers (Kris Kristofferson) and an immigrant hired gun working for...
This important double-disc set contains two essential films. This is the first time Michael Cimino's epic 216-minute western has been available for domestic viewing in Britain. The second disc contains a shortened version of Michael Epstein's documentary feature Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate. Beautifully restored on DVD and Blu-ray, Heaven's Gate is one of the finest westerns ever made. It's a measured, magisterial account of the Johnson County War in 1892 Wyoming, when the powerful stock growers' association brought in a vast posse of assassins to destroy the wave of European immigrants they saw as threatening their monopoly of grazing land.
The film is seen largely through the eyes of an alcoholic aristocrat belonging to the stock growers (John Hurt) and two class enemies: a Harvard-educated sheriff who sides with the settlers (Kris Kristofferson) and an immigrant hired gun working for...
- 12/8/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Thirty years ago, the world lost John Lennon. The former member of the Beatles was shot and killed outside of his apartment in New York City, a place that he had embraced as his second home, at one time saying "I should have been born in New York." In the three decades since then numerous films have told the stories of John Lennon, from his life as an orphan in England, to meeting Paul McCartney and starting the greatest band of all-time nearly every portion of his life has been cataloged. With LennoNYC, writer/director Michael Epstein wanted to look at Lennon beyond all of that. After the lights had faded and Beatlemania had waned, there was still John and Yoko.
The documentary chronicles the post-Beatles years for Lennon and Yoko Ono, after leaving England to move to New York City where they feel as if they will have more privacy and can live freely.
The documentary chronicles the post-Beatles years for Lennon and Yoko Ono, after leaving England to move to New York City where they feel as if they will have more privacy and can live freely.
- 1/17/2011
- by Tom Hoeler
- JustPressPlay.net
DVD Playhouse December 2010
By
Allen Gardner
America Lost And Found: The Bbs Story (Criterion) Perhaps the best DVD box set released this year, this ultimate cinefile stocking stuffer offered up by Criterion, the Rolls-Royce of home video labels, features seven seminal works from the late ‘60s-early ‘70s that were brought to life by cutting edge producers Bert Schneider, Steve Blauner and director/producer Bob Rafelson, the principals of Bbs Productions. In chronological order: Head (1968) star the Monkees, the manufactured (by Rafelson, et al), American answer to the Beatles who, like it or not, did make an impact on popular culture, particularly in this utterly surreal piece of cinematic anarchy (co-written by Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo), which was largely dismissed upon its initial release, but is now regarded as a counterculture classic. Easy Rider (1969) is arguably regarded as the seminal ‘60s picture, about two hippie drug dealers (director Dennis Hopper...
By
Allen Gardner
America Lost And Found: The Bbs Story (Criterion) Perhaps the best DVD box set released this year, this ultimate cinefile stocking stuffer offered up by Criterion, the Rolls-Royce of home video labels, features seven seminal works from the late ‘60s-early ‘70s that were brought to life by cutting edge producers Bert Schneider, Steve Blauner and director/producer Bob Rafelson, the principals of Bbs Productions. In chronological order: Head (1968) star the Monkees, the manufactured (by Rafelson, et al), American answer to the Beatles who, like it or not, did make an impact on popular culture, particularly in this utterly surreal piece of cinematic anarchy (co-written by Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo), which was largely dismissed upon its initial release, but is now regarded as a counterculture classic. Easy Rider (1969) is arguably regarded as the seminal ‘60s picture, about two hippie drug dealers (director Dennis Hopper...
- 12/20/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Thirty years ago, the world lost John Lennon. The former member of the Beatles was shot and killed outside of his apartment in New York City, a place that he had embraced as his second home, at one time saying "I should have been born in New York." In the three decades since then numerous films have told the stories of John Lennon, from his life as an orphan in England, to meeting Paul McCartney and starting the greatest band of all-time nearly every portion of his life has been cataloged. With LennoNYC, writer/director Michael Epstein wanted to look at Lennon beyond all of that. After the lights had faded and Beatlemania had waned, there was still John and Yoko.
The documentary chronicles the post-Beatles years for Lennon and Yoko Ono, after leaving England to move to New York City where they feel as if they will have more privacy and can live freely.
The documentary chronicles the post-Beatles years for Lennon and Yoko Ono, after leaving England to move to New York City where they feel as if they will have more privacy and can live freely.
- 12/14/2010
- by Tom Hoeler
- JustPressPlay.net
By Christopher Stipp
The Archives, Right Here
Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Little Fockers - Screening
Live in Phoenix or the nearby environs? Interested in seeing Little Fockers on December 16? Then, pal, I have just the ticket for you. In fact, I have a lot of tickets so by all means shoot me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll see about hooking you up with passes to see it.
Need to know more? Here’s some information:
This holiday season come Little Fockers the third installment in this blockbuster series (Meet The Parents and Meet the Fockers.) The test of wills between Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) escalates to new heights as Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and the family...
The Archives, Right Here
Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Little Fockers - Screening
Live in Phoenix or the nearby environs? Interested in seeing Little Fockers on December 16? Then, pal, I have just the ticket for you. In fact, I have a lot of tickets so by all means shoot me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll see about hooking you up with passes to see it.
Need to know more? Here’s some information:
This holiday season come Little Fockers the third installment in this blockbuster series (Meet The Parents and Meet the Fockers.) The test of wills between Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) escalates to new heights as Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and the family...
- 12/10/2010
- by Christopher Stipp
Jason Solomons at the London film festival sees Ron Galella reverting to type, notes Darren Aronofsky's links to the 'hottest Jewish actresses' and recommends five festival highlights
Once a paparazzo…
Among the excellent documentaries at Lff was Smash His Camera, by Leon Gast (When We Were Kings), focusing on pioneering New York paparazzo/celebrity photographer Ron Galella, the man Brando thumped and Jackie O sued. As the Lff programme notes: "At 79, Ron will still take considerable risks for his shots." Indeed. Ron was a fully accredited guest of the festival last week. However, on his way in on a rare excursion behind the velvet ropes of a VIP area, Ron spied Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell attending the line-up for their film, Conviction. Quick as a flashbulb, Ron left his delegation, whipped out his camera and fired off some very up-close shots of a surprised Hilary. Cinema: the great leveller of celebrity.
Once a paparazzo…
Among the excellent documentaries at Lff was Smash His Camera, by Leon Gast (When We Were Kings), focusing on pioneering New York paparazzo/celebrity photographer Ron Galella, the man Brando thumped and Jackie O sued. As the Lff programme notes: "At 79, Ron will still take considerable risks for his shots." Indeed. Ron was a fully accredited guest of the festival last week. However, on his way in on a rare excursion behind the velvet ropes of a VIP area, Ron spied Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell attending the line-up for their film, Conviction. Quick as a flashbulb, Ron left his delegation, whipped out his camera and fired off some very up-close shots of a surprised Hilary. Cinema: the great leveller of celebrity.
- 10/23/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Saturday night in Central Park, on the 70th anniversary of John Lennon’s birthday, a couple hundred folks had the pleasure of an outdoor screening of Michael Epstein’s doc “LennonNYC” - which looks at the period of time Lennon spent living in New York City during the 1970s - and the added bonus of one Lou Reed taking the stage to help introduce it. “LennonNYC” premieres on PBS November 22nd as part of American Masters.
- 10/11/2010
- Indiewire
"Two new films bookending the life of John Lennon, who would have turned 70 on October 9, elide his momentous trajectory through the 1960s," begins Graham Fuller at Artforum. "Although Nowhere Boy (2009), a fictional movie directed by the artist Sam Taylor-Wood, shows how Lennon (Aaron Johnson) met Paul McCartney and George Harrison and brings him to the eve of their band's departure for Hamburg, the Beatles aren't mentioned by name. The film nods ironically to the Liverpool glory years in a scene in which drunken young John is turned away from the Cavern Club, but it is concerned with something more primal than creativity and fame: how Lennon's troubled mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff) fought a battle of wills for emotional possession of her son with her stable older sister, his widowed Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas). The emotional upheavals it depicts see the emergence of the cruel and self-destructive side of Lennon's...
- 10/8/2010
- MUBI
John Lennon, too many, is the most influential musician of the last century. He led the one of the most iconic bands of all time into the history books and then followed it up as a symbol for peace as war divided the country. Yet the years John spent after the Beatles with Yoko Ono has always been entangled with controversy and never truly been examined in depth, until now. Working from a vault of rare studio outtakes and a plethora of never before seen personal films, Lennonyc is a rare and personal glimpse into the life of John Lennon as both a musician in his post-Beatles phase of his career and, perhaps more importantly, a father and loving human being.
Michael Epstein has crafted a pitch perfect portrait of Lennon as an artist finding redemption not from the spotlight he craved so dearly as a young aspiring musician, but...
Michael Epstein has crafted a pitch perfect portrait of Lennon as an artist finding redemption not from the spotlight he craved so dearly as a young aspiring musician, but...
- 9/28/2010
- by Raffi Asdourian
- The Film Stage
Filed under: Documentaries, Cinematical
Three documentaries screening at this year's New York Film Festival are biographical portraits of artists. There's Michael Epstein's 'LennonNYC,' about the final years of John Lennon, Martin Scorsese's 'A Letter to Elia,' a tribute to legendary filmmaker Elia Kazan, and the greatest of the three, 'Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff,' Craig McCall's look at the titular cinematographer, who is best known for his work with Powell and Pressburger ('Black Narcissus,' 'The Red Shoes').
You can find my thoughts on each of these films after the jump.
Continue Reading...
Three documentaries screening at this year's New York Film Festival are biographical portraits of artists. There's Michael Epstein's 'LennonNYC,' about the final years of John Lennon, Martin Scorsese's 'A Letter to Elia,' a tribute to legendary filmmaker Elia Kazan, and the greatest of the three, 'Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff,' Craig McCall's look at the titular cinematographer, who is best known for his work with Powell and Pressburger ('Black Narcissus,' 'The Red Shoes').
You can find my thoughts on each of these films after the jump.
Continue Reading...
- 9/24/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Cinematical
If every Beatle-related documentary could be done as well as “Lennonyc,” they’d all be worth seeing. New York City was the place John and Yoko Ono could escape to and be just ordinary human beings. “We were New Yorkers in our heads,” she says in the film. And in Michael Epstein’s riveting, insightful, well-made film, audiences can get to see what that meant: Lennon the immigrant, Lennon the dad, Lennon the regular man.
There are the expected milestones: The “bed-ins,” the activism, the battles with immigration (Lennon ignored deportation orders for years). But there are the less-known highlights (and lowlights), including his drunken Los Angeles exile when he and Ono separated; the Elton John concert that reunited them; and his break from music whileraising his son, Sean. Avoiding well-traveled roads, Epstein makes judicious use of interviews, deftly mixes still photos with home movies, and doesn’t go overboard...
There are the expected milestones: The “bed-ins,” the activism, the battles with immigration (Lennon ignored deportation orders for years). But there are the less-known highlights (and lowlights), including his drunken Los Angeles exile when he and Ono separated; the Elton John concert that reunited them; and his break from music whileraising his son, Sean. Avoiding well-traveled roads, Epstein makes judicious use of interviews, deftly mixes still photos with home movies, and doesn’t go overboard...
- 9/24/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche’s film centered on the story of Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman, otherwise derogatorily known as the Hottentot Venus, will be screening at the New York Film Festival, which begins its run September 24th. You know I’ll be there to see it, with my thoughts on the film to follow on this blog.
Recall back in April, we alerted you to the fact that the film was being made under the title Black Venus (which will remain), claiming its spot as the first feature-length film to have Baartman as its subject – at least, that’s what my research tells me.
At the time of my initial post, I couldn’t find much info on the project; however, I did think it odd that the list of cast members on the film’s IMDb page didn’t (and still don’t) list a Saartjie Baartman (or even Hottentot Venus) as a character.
Recall back in April, we alerted you to the fact that the film was being made under the title Black Venus (which will remain), claiming its spot as the first feature-length film to have Baartman as its subject – at least, that’s what my research tells me.
At the time of my initial post, I couldn’t find much info on the project; however, I did think it odd that the list of cast members on the film’s IMDb page didn’t (and still don’t) list a Saartjie Baartman (or even Hottentot Venus) as a character.
- 8/16/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
The folks over at the Film Society of Lincoln Center have announced their main program for the 48th annual New York Film Festival running from September 24th - October 10th.
In addition to the already announced open night heavy hitter that is David Fincher's The Social Network, they've added another Hollywood big gun with Clint Eastwood's supernatural tale Hereafter, starring Matt Damon and Bryce Dallas Howard. The centerpiece film will be Julie Taymor's latest Shakespeare spectacle, The Tempest.
The real meat of the line-up *ahem* comes with Mexican cannibal feature, We Are What We Are, a film we've been pretty supportive of here at Twitch since its Cannes premiere. The complete list for the main slate is listed below with the expected bevy of Cannes holdovers and late year awards hopefuls.
Tickets go on sale to the public starting September 12th. And yes, we press hope to...
In addition to the already announced open night heavy hitter that is David Fincher's The Social Network, they've added another Hollywood big gun with Clint Eastwood's supernatural tale Hereafter, starring Matt Damon and Bryce Dallas Howard. The centerpiece film will be Julie Taymor's latest Shakespeare spectacle, The Tempest.
The real meat of the line-up *ahem* comes with Mexican cannibal feature, We Are What We Are, a film we've been pretty supportive of here at Twitch since its Cannes premiere. The complete list for the main slate is listed below with the expected bevy of Cannes holdovers and late year awards hopefuls.
Tickets go on sale to the public starting September 12th. And yes, we press hope to...
- 8/16/2010
- Screen Anarchy
The New York Times announced the 2010 New York Film Festival lineup this morning. They even beat the festival's own website to the news. Kyle Chandler would be proud.
Anyway, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, organizers of Nyff, had already announced David Fincher's Facebook biopic "The Social Network" as their Opening Night film. Now they've added twenty-five features to their roster, plus Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" as the Closing Night selection. The Times describes the film as the story of "the gradual connections of an American psychic (played by Matt Damon); a French journalist (Cécile de France) who has a brush with death in the 2004 tsunami; and a London schoolboy who loses his twin brother (Frankie and George McLaren)." "Hereafter," by the way, makes nine movies for Eastwood in nine years. It's like he and Woody Allen are locked in a weird game of directorial chicken or something.
As usual,...
Anyway, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, organizers of Nyff, had already announced David Fincher's Facebook biopic "The Social Network" as their Opening Night film. Now they've added twenty-five features to their roster, plus Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" as the Closing Night selection. The Times describes the film as the story of "the gradual connections of an American psychic (played by Matt Damon); a French journalist (Cécile de France) who has a brush with death in the 2004 tsunami; and a London schoolboy who loses his twin brother (Frankie and George McLaren)." "Hereafter," by the way, makes nine movies for Eastwood in nine years. It's like he and Woody Allen are locked in a weird game of directorial chicken or something.
As usual,...
- 8/16/2010
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
It's another "Cannes heavy" selection this year for the 48th edition of the Nyff. With the majority of the titles coming from the Croisette (look out for some personal faves in Cristi Puiu's Aurora and Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro Volte) and the Lido (Abdellatif Kechiche's Black Venus, Kelly Reichardt's Meek’s Cutoff, Hong Sang-soo's Oki’s Movie, Pablo Larrain's Post Mortem, Patrick Keiller's Robinson in Ruins, Alexei Fedorchenko's Silent Souls, plus Raul Ruiz's miniseries Mysteries of Lisbon), I figure it be fun to take a closer look at the non-Cannes/Venice offerings. Not sure if this constitutes the film's world premiere, but with a date closer to its theatrical release than what Tiff's dates could provide, Clint Eastwood's Hereafter will be closing the festival. Before it preems on PBS in November, Michael Epstein's Lennon NYC will show --- the doc comes with...
- 8/16/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Clint Eastwood will unveil his Peter Morgan-scripted Matt Damon-starrer Hereafter as the closing night film of the New York Film Festival. The fest previously set the David Fincher-directed Facebook film The Social Network to open the festival and Julie Taymor's The Tempest to be its centerpiece. All three figure to be players in the Oscar race this year. Here is the rest of the Nyff program: Another Year Mike Leigh, 2010, UK Aurora Cristi Puiu, 2010, Romania Black Venus (Venus noire) Abdellatif Kechiche, France Carlos Olivier Assayas, 2010, France Certified Copy (Copie conformé) Abbas Kiarostami, 2010, France/Italy Film Socialisme Jean-Luc Godard, 2010, Switzerland Inside Job Charles Ferguson, 2010, USA Le Quattro Volte Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010, Italy Lennon NYC, Michael Epstein, 2010, USA Meek's Cutoff Kelly Reichardt, 2010, USA My Joy (Schastye moe) Sergei Loznitsa, 2010, Ukraine/Germany Mysteries Of Lisbon (Misterios de Lisboa) Raul Ruiz, Portugal/France Of Gods And Men (Des homes et des dieux) Xavier Beauvois,...
- 8/16/2010
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Rapper Lloyd Banks has had assault charges filed against him in Canada dismissed. The G-Unit star, real name Christopher Lloyd, and three of his associates were taken into custody by police in Ontario in January on suspicion of beating up club promoter Chris Hines.
Hines claimed Banks showed up 90 minutes late to play a gig at the Nv nightclub and was upset to discover many fans had already left. Banks is then believed to have cut his set short, prompting an argument between the rapper and Hines over his booking fee. The promoter alleged he was later confronted by a group of four men, including Banks, upon his return to his hotel room and the reported attack left him needing hospital treatment for his injuries.
Banks denied the claims and Justice Michael Epstein ruled in his favor last week after one of the other suspects, Nicklas Sloane, pleaded guilty to assault.
Hines claimed Banks showed up 90 minutes late to play a gig at the Nv nightclub and was upset to discover many fans had already left. Banks is then believed to have cut his set short, prompting an argument between the rapper and Hines over his booking fee. The promoter alleged he was later confronted by a group of four men, including Banks, upon his return to his hotel room and the reported attack left him needing hospital treatment for his injuries.
Banks denied the claims and Justice Michael Epstein ruled in his favor last week after one of the other suspects, Nicklas Sloane, pleaded guilty to assault.
- 7/23/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
BERLIN -- Films about films tend to be straightforward "making of" efforts, but a pair of movies screening during the Berlinale have taken a different approach. Based on a True Story, directed by Dutch documentary maker Walter Stokman, tries to unravel the real-life drama behind the Brooklyn bank robbery that inspired Sidney Lumet's 1975 picture Dog Day Afternoon, and Michael Epstein's The Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate puts forward a case for re-evaluating Michael Cimino's epic, which became notorious as one of the biggest flops in Hollywood history. Both films could play a role in rekindling interest in the originals, offering the possibility of premium bonus material on any DVD rereleases.
- 2/18/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE -- A newly restored and uncut version of Michael Cimino's epic 1980 western, the financially disastrous Heaven's Gate, will screen at this year's Berlin International Film Festival in the International Forum sidebar, organizers announced on Thursday. Cimino's monumental depiction of the 1890s Johnson County Wars in Wyoming was the director's follow-up to his Vietnam classic The Deer Hunter. But Heaven's Gate, which featured an all-star cast including Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt and Isabelle Huppert, was a boxoffice flop blamed for single-handedly bringing down production studio United Artists. The forum will screen the original 225-minute cut of the film, which was never released commercially in Europe. The forum will also feature the European premiere of Michael Epstein's new documentary on the film's evolution and the ensuing financial fall-out: Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of 'Heaven's Gate'.
- 1/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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